The First Sunday of Lent (Cycle C)

March 8-9, 2025

Gospel:  Luke 4:1-13

Some of you may remember that many years ago a comedian, Flip Wilson,… he did a comedy sketch that popularized the saying; “The devil made me do it!”  Perhaps you have used that sentence to excuse yourself or justify your actions at some point in life.  I have been known to use it a time or two or three or 27 times myself.

 I suppose if Jesus had succumbed to the temptations of the devil in today’s Gospel, He could have said, “The devil made me to it.”  But He didn’t succumb. He didn’t say it.  Jesus’ journey into the desert (and ours into Lent) invite us into a different space.  The space is one of being purified, enlightened and united with the image of God each of us is.  When this happens, our whole life changes and we can do things we thought we never could.  This is true conversion, and that is what Lent is all about.  Jesus shows us the way.  The desert and Lent have something in common. Both invite a “claiming” of our TRUE SELVES. 

 In the desert, Jesus came to better self-knowledge – who He was, who He was called to be.  Lent is a special season of our liturgical year that calls us to follow Jesus’ example.  In Lent, we are encouraged to take some desert time.  We are invited to make room for two treasures: solitude and prayer.  In the times of solitude and prayer, we are invited to remember who we are and what God asks of us. 

We are invited in a special way this season, to look at ILLUSIONS.  Think about that word.  We know that an illusion is a perception or image that deceives or misleads. God knows we see and hear it every day in the media…

 In this Lent (more than any of our past), let us look and listen to the Ashes we received on Wednesday.  Serious reflection can clear our minds of FOUR big illusions that often seem operative in our living…

 First, ashes are a vivid reminder that we will die.  Secondly, we make plans for a “some day” that never arrives ergo missing TODAY’s blessings.  Thirdly, we let worry become a lifestyle (as if worry will prevent misfortune).  Lastly, the feeling of being indispensable, that “they can’t get along without me” attitude… 

 Living life filled with illusions is like looking at oneself in a broken or severely scratched mirror. What you see isn’t real; it is not the whole picture.  Real life is a freedom from illusions.  Here in our parish these 40 days and 40 nights, you are invited to “listen to the ashes” each time you come here.  We ask ourselves honestly, “What are the attitudes, the habits; the ways of thinking that are the illusions that keep me from loving Jesus… myself… my neighbor…  Whenever you look at your reflection at home or away, may it cause you to reflect on what’s in your life that prevents Christ’s love from breaking through…      

 Honestly, it was not a devil that made you or I do what we did…ever… or at least, not alone!  It was an illusion of self that made certain choices.  Can we live with that or can it be make it right?  It depends on repentance, deeper awareness, the need for conversion and breaking through the illusion.

 Ours are blessed ashes, holy ashes and they hold the promise of Resurrection.  As Jesus went out into the desert to do what needed to be done, so too are we sent forth in this season of Lent to ask for serenity to ‘accept the thing we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference… just for today.’        

Ash Wednesday 2025

March 5, 2025

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6; 16-18

Everyone has seen it at one time or the other… a thought put on a button, bumper sticker, just about anything… message:

Please be patient.  God isn’t finished with me… yet!

Whether we realist it or not, today we proclaim that same message.  We don’t do it with a button… but with the ashes on our foreheads.

The askes we will wear announce to the world a plain fact… we are not perfect, we are sinners…

These ashes tell all who see us that we are beginning 40 days of prayer, repentance and sacrifice – that we are Catholic Christians seeking somehow to reconcile ourselves with God.

These ashes say that we are a work in progress.

They say: please be patient.  God ISN’T finished with me.

In a word, He isn’t finished with any of us.

That is the great wonder and consolation of Lent!

As we enter this holy season, we should approach it soberly and seriously.  But we should not mistaken “seriousness’ for ‘solemnity’.

The Gospel reminds us; “Do not look gloomy… anoint your head and wash your face.”  I’d take that one step further; add to this season of penance and prayer a sense of possibility.  Make it an occasion of Hope.  And yes, even Joy… and most definitely Mercy…

We think of Lent as a time for ‘giving up’… let us shorten our work to ‘giv-ing’… begin by giving JOY.

And if you truly want to give up something, don’t settle for chocolate or pizza or cheesecake or alcohol or tobacco or shopping or the casinos or whatever… you name it…

Go further.  Go deeper.  Try giving up something REALLY hard… give up cynicism… or jealousy… or backstabbing…

Give up gossip.  Give up regrets for choices you never made or paths you never took.  Give up the Blame Game. Give up fighting God’s Will for you.  Give up acting “MY will be done” rather “THY will be done”.

Need help?  Try this: give up whatever fear or anxiety is keeping you from celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation… pull a Nike… Just Do It… go.  Look for opportunities… they are there…

Give up being too busy to pray or being too worriedto Hope.  As I know is said in AA… let go, let God.  As it is also said, ‘there is no better time than the present’.  As scriptures says, ‘now is the acceptable time’…

The point of all this isn’t just to take others feel better – or make ourselves feel holy.  It is to draw us closer to The One who makes everything, including redemption… possible.  And we do it now for a good reason.  Lent pushes us to admit something we prefer to ignore.  You know, we don’t have forever.  Look in the mirror after Mass tonight, we have been marked.  The clock is ticking… and there is work to do…

As we ‘Remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return’ OR ‘Reform your life and believe in the Gospels’; we remember to start ‘over and over and over’ in these 40 days to become better… not perfect.

Be patient with yourselves… and with everyone else; especially the unsensible…

God isn’t finished with any of us… yet. 

The 8^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle C)

March 1-2, 2025

Gospel:  Luke 6:39-45

This is a story about a normal family, like many here today.  A family with the last name of STRESS. S-T-R-E-S-S…

Bob Stress is a 50 something year old man who has a strong desire to be in control.  Bob’s mom is 80 years old and has come to live with her family while she recovers from a broken hip.  Most of mom’s care falls on Theresa, Bob’s wife of several years.  There are also two teenage kids under the same roof; Kevin who is 15 and Emily who is 14 whose only three basic desires in life are (A) to control their own lives (B) to be popular and (C) do whatever produces pleasure… 

Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning, Bob, Theresa, Kevin, Emily and Granny sit in their usual pew at Mass, but their minds and hearts are not on God, except pouting Emily who sent a plea heavenward, “Jesus, if you care, please help my family get along and quit yelling at each other…”   

After Mass, they greet the handsome pastor and go toward the car and, walking up behind them is Jesus, yes! The Son of God!

“Do you have an extra seat?”  Dumfounded, Bob nods and unlocks the doors.  “Am I gonna die?”  “No”, chuckles Jesus.  “Emily asked if I could help your family get along better and since, you only seem to talk to me once a week in church, I thought may we could go to your house for a little family conference… You do need my help don’t you Bob?… Bob, what do you need to be happy in this family?”

BOB: I’ll tell you what I need.  I need some respect and appreciation for how hard I work to keep this family in groceries.  I need them to understand all the pressures I’m under and to not add any more…”

JESUS:  I understand your pressures, Bob.  Your family is scared of you, of your anger, your criticisms.  I know what you are facing with work (and your mom coming to live with you.)  Draw near to me and let me take that worry and fear from you and the log of self-pity out of your eye.  I gave you Theresa and the kids to be a support for you, … if you let them instead of ordering them around all the time.  I have forgiven you so many times, Bob.  Can you forgive them for failing in your eyes?”

Theresa, what do you need?

THERESA: I need time alone with my husband.  It’s been a month since we’ve been out.  I need to feel like we’re a team with the kids, and the finances and his mother coming.  I need some time for myself to rest…”

JESUS: Theresa, I understand your loneliness.  I faced it often with my disciples.  It seemed like they expected me to do everything.  But you have not spent time alone with me for over a month either.  And I have wanted to give my rest to your exhausted spirit. Draw near to me and drink of my peace and let me take that log of bitterness from you eye”

Kevin, what do you need?

KEVIN: I need for Dad to listen to me, to understand my side of things, instead of always judging me.   Nothing I ever do is ever good enough for Dad…

JESUS: It’s good enough for me, Kevin.  I love you just the way you are, even though you have a smart mouth.  And yes, your dad doesn’t listen to you.  I was fifteen once too, you know, and my dad didn’t always listen to me, what with the carpenter shop, taxes, Roman soldiers… but that is no reason to judge your father as unloving and argue with him all the time.  He needs your love, too, but you want it on your terms.  Draw near to me Kevin and let me love you even when your dad can’t…and oh, take that log of selfishness out of your eye.

Emily, what do you need?

EMILY: I need someone to like me, I’m ugly and fat and my hair isn’t right, my nose is too big and my eyes are the wrong color.  I hate my brother because he is always calling me names.  It just isn’t fair.  I need a life…

JESUS: I like you, Emily.  I think you are very special, but you want other kids approval more than you want mine, no matter what it costs you.  I created that nose and your curly black hair, and those beautiful brown eyes.  I have a wonderful plan for your life, but you never ask me what it is.  You will have lots of friends and they will like you for YOU, but only ifyou are the Emily I created.  I didn’t let you become a cheerleader because you were becoming a snob you know – like when you gossiped about that girl last week so that your friends wouldn’t invite her to the party Friday night… Draw near to me Emily, so I can help you love yourself… and OH, let me take the log of snobbishness out of your eye.”

Granny, I did not forget about you, what do you need?

GRANNY: I need you to sit down with each of us every night like this… and Jesus agreed, and they ALL agreed … for the first night in a long, long time the sun did not go down on their anger.  Oh… they still had their spats but there was never any resentment living in the STRESS house again…

When angry; do not let your wrath, your fury or indignation last until the sun goes down.  In a word, leave no room for the devil… Lucifer’s strategy is simple.  Make sin look normal and make righteousness look weird.  Unfortunately, ours is a time where Satan doesn’t even hide anymore, and yet the world still cannot see him.  Something is not right when the world is offended by everything but sin.  I think it most important to remember how valuable your soul must be for The Evil One to tirelessly pursue it, … and for Christ the King to lay down His own life for it!

In a word, there is always hope… Hope is our focus in this Holy Year!  I pray that is where you choose to hang your hat…

Click on here to view the latest edition of the Honor Thy Children Newsletter.

Monday Night Men’s Basketball League starting soon! Men 18 years and older are invited to play. Contact Luke Ezell at the number below for more information.

ATTENTION HIGH-SCHOOL SENIORS– Don’t miss out on the opportunity to apply for the $5,000 Pat French Scholarship. This scholarship was established in honor of Patricia K. French to be awarded to a high-school senior who is a member of St. Francis Xavier Church. This person should be service-oriented and a person of high Christian moral values. In addition, this person should be a dedicated student, demonstrating a good work ethic. The recipient may use this one-time, non-renewable award to pursue any program of studies at any accredited college or vocational school. Complete the application below and return to the SFX Parish Office Attn: Wende Aubrey, no later than Friday, March 14, 2025.
Applications, reference letters and transcripts may also be emailed directly to wende.aubrey@sfxmw.com .

Applicants who are chosen to interview for the scholarship will be contacted by the parish office. Interviews will be conducted on Monday, April 7th.

Click HERE to view the latest edition of The Crossroads Messenger.

Please note that if Bullitt County Schools are closed due to inclement weather, the parish office will be closed, and weekday Mass will be cancelled. Weekend Masses will continue as scheduled.

Office staff will be working from home and can be reached by email. Click HERE for contact information.

Your Annual Stewardship packets are available in the back of the church until February 18th. Included in your packets are the 2024 Contribution Letters and Stewardship Renewal Forms. Please help us save on postage by picking up your letter after one of the Masses and return the Stewardship Forms to the office by March 21, 2025. Your Time and Talent commitment helps our ministries in their planning for the year. Your commitment of Treasure helps us as we are planning the 2025-2026 budget. Forms may also be placed in a sealed envelope and dropped in the collection basket.

 The 2025 Guidebooks are being mailed directly to your home from Guidebook Publishing. Be on the lookout for them to arrive in the next few weeks.

AARP will once again offer tax filing assistance on the SFX campus. This assistance is available by Appointment ONLY and scheduling will begin January 20th. Call and leave a message at (502) 709-9619 (M-F, 10AM-4PM) to schedule an appointment or visit www.aarp-tax-aide-lou.org to schedule on-line. Appointments at SFX are available on Wednesdays 9-1:30 only.

Bring last Year’s Tax Return, a Photo ID, copy of a canceled check and all your paperwork needed to prepare your return.

*Please note that the parish office cannot schedule or give information regarding appointments. You must leave a message at the number below.

2025 AD … a year of Hope… a year of Pilgrimage…  a year of Joy!

Our current Holy Father, Pope Francis, is calling on all of us, especially Catholics, to celebrate this Jubilee year of 2025.  When the successor of Saint Peter himself sets aside a certain time as HOLY, that’s not just words.  It really does become a sacred time which changes us in real time as we know it.  Pope Francis has called upon God to pour out extra graces and blessings during these 360+ days and make this a time of conversion and renewal for people of all ages. 

Today you and I gather here to open this year of Jubilee at the parish level.  {Archbishop Shelton will formally open the year for the archdiocese tomorrow morning with a Special Mass with the school children of Saint James Church.}  Historically speaking, the universal Catholic Church declared the First Holy Year in 1300 AD and this has continued in 25 year increments ever since.  These designated times are occasions for the Church, as in God’s people (you and me), to seek renewal, to undergo a ‘re-set’ and this Holy Year invites us to deepen and renew the gift of the virtue of Hope in the way we live. We make ourselves keenly aware of The Blessings asked, The Blessings given and The Blessings received. 

Some of the gifts of this Jubilee Year that are highlighted for us are Forgiveness, Freedom, Family and Fullness.  For forgiveness, any Jubilee year is a great time to practice forgiveness in our own families, in our own circles of friends.  It is a super opportunity to spend some quality time with self, examining our consciences… maybe to see if we are holding a grudge or a resentment or an unresolved anger towards anybody in our lives. When all is said and done, we must make the interior act of forgiving self FIRST and then onto an act to forgive the other person or maybe an event that has occurred in our past.  In a word, we are called to become BETTER, not perfect persons…

Now, back to the gifts: Fullness is the idea of learning how to TRUST God in providing for us.  One great way we can live fullness is Honoring the Sabbath beyond what happens at the Eucharistic Table.  Taking up OR re-taking up the practice of resting, spending the day with family (on purpose… without an agenda), preparing and enjoying a meal together, making space for prayer and maybe, God willing, some non-pious spiritual reading…

One unique feature of any Holy Year is The Holy Door, signaling a passage in moving from one decision to the next… Pope Francis has said that the Opening of any Holy Door is a message of Hope and it is a sign of closeness and compassion for all those who are struggling.  The Door represents Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the keeper of the Gate for the pins in which we all reside.  A Door can keep people in and it can also keep people out.  To open any door is to welcome the next great thing that Jesus wants us to see and to handle.  I kind of liken The Holy Door to that scene in the movie The Wizard of Oz… remember when Dorothy opened the door from black and white to that glorious Technicolor?  What a HUGE difference it made on many levels … nothing quite like ‘living color’… especially showing the viewer that Yellow Brick Road on which she journeyed to get home!      

Have you ever taken a pilgrimage?  What makes any journey or trip a pilgrimage?  The word’s definition: “an individual’s journey through life, sometimes as a general description of personal growth and exploration, and sometimes, as in Christianity, outlining a particular spiritual focus or pathway which, it is believed, we will encounter God.”

Seeking out certain holy places locally can bring a person to a greater awareness of God and God working in one’s life.  Our archdiocese, the second oldest in the history of the United States (1808), is especially blessed with places like this.  As a thought, it could become a rewarding trip to visit places of special grace and blessings in this Holy Year; such as the Louisville Cathedral of the Assumption on Fifth Street and, while there, touring The History Center that displays, in artifacts, the Catholic faith of central Kentucky.  Another great spot could be the Proto Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph in Bardstown OR the Proto-Abbey of the United States at the Abbey of Gethsemani OR four motherhouses of religious nuns: Sisters of Charity in Bardstown, the Sisters of Loretto, the Dominican Sisters in Springfield and the Ursuline Sisters on Lexington Road.  There are other places filled with graces waiting to be embraced such as the Dominican of Saint Rose Priory in Springfield OR Saint Thomas Parish and the Bishop Flaget Log House south of Bardstown which helps us stay in touch with our spiritual roots when we were an infant church in a beautiful, yet uncharted wilderness.

There are so many other sacred Catholic spaces to explore, appreciate and understand.  It is a picker’s world… you and I are very lucky!   

Friend, it is so easy to ‘write off’ a visit to any of these places and experiences because they are always with us… we grew up here, we think we know them… but do we… do we really?  Let’s find out… make plans to visit at least one of these places… let me know what you think… seriously.  Let’s seek God in these places… Take it to prayer… Take this Year of Hope, Pilgrimage and Joy to Jesus and see what He would have us do.  He is the best tour guide we will ever have, especially in these days of 2025… no one can afford to wait until 2050 to seek Him!  

What is an Indulgence? Click here to learn more.

Thank your generous gifts to SFX on Giving Tuesday!

3^rd Sunday of Advent (Cycle C)

December 14-15, 2024

Gospel:  Luke 3:10-18

Have Lori play the lyric:

“Beginning to look a lot like Christmas…” before the homily…

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”. That is, of course, the title of a holiday song written by composer Meredith Willson.  The tune has been popular for 53 years.  It is a clever little one that millions of people know.  It is a very good example of the sentimental attitude of our culture toward the Christmas season.  The song is a perfect example of the commercialization of Christmas that has gone on, like the song, for many decades… 

Unless one has been on a deserted island, one would have probably noticed that the “looking a lot like Christmas” seems to feel or occur earlier every year.  In many, many places, it has been “beginning to look a lot like Christmas” since, at least…shall we say, the day after Halloween… 

You and I, for better or for worse, live in a society that has largely forgotten Advent, OR at least its’ meaning.  This is apparently a “sign of our times”.  We do not have time to transition from one event to the next, giving a proper ending to what we’ve finished or preparing for that which is coming next.  Sometimes we dash from one event to the other without a break.  That, unfortunately, is what has happened to Advent and Christmas.  Once Thanksgiving is over, our society flies into Christmas without looking back.

Cha-ching, Cha-ching, Cha-ching.   

The Third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete Sunday is a day in the midst of our preparations for Christmas…it’s purpose: to rejoice in all God’s gifts to humankind.  Advent 2024 is one of the shorter Advents we can have. It is 24 days long (or short depending on your preparedness for the forthcoming Christmas season of 20 days …)

The Old Testament prophet Zephaniah invites all people of all generations to rejoice in the Lord.  We have a reason to sing for joy.  God has overcome the enemy to all that is good.  God rejoices with His people and renews our lives. 

Paul reminds the Christians at Philippi that the Lord is near.  Paul encourages the people to celebrate.  Rejoicing by Christian people is a result of our awareness of Christ being near.  Until Christ returns for the final time (your death as well as my own), Christians can avoid anxiety by being people of prayer.  This is how we are to present our needs and thanksgivings.  Prayer is “what we do”… well.

God’s presence will move believers to take concrete actions.  John tells his followers to share their food and clothing with the less fortunate.  John urges tax collectors to give up “business as usual” and carry out their duties fairly.  He tells soldiers to avoid bullying others and taking advantage of their position of power.  John makes it clear that he is not the Messiah.  He also makes it crystal clear the difference between baptism of water & baptism by fire. 

When we see Jesus working in our world there is cause to be pleased and happy.  Despite the very artificial celebration of Christmas that society puts on annually, we can recognize the true reason for celebration.  The Gospel tells us how to express our faith by action. 

When we show generosity to those in need and treat others fairly, we are living the Spirit of Christmas.  It goes beyond a season of awareness into an everyday reality.  The more we worship God, the more we become inspired.  The more we are inspired, the more we can do.

God is “lovin’ it”.