Dear Brother Knights,
 
St. Augustine in his book Confessions recounts the last moments of his mother’s life on earth.  His mother, St. Monica, was a devout woman who prayed for the conversion of Augustine, who throughout his youth lived a Godless, debauched life.  He, of course, had a great conversion, and became one of the great leaders in the history of the Church.
 
St. Monica became ill in the year 387 as she was traveling near Rome.  She and her family lived in the Roman Empire, but in North Africa—not Rome.   
 
Augustine and his brother were with her on her death bed, and his brother mentioned to her that he was hoping that she might make it back to her homeland before she dies. Augustine said that upon hearing this, “she reproached him with a glance because he had entertained such earthly thoughts.” 
 
She said to them, “bury my body wherever you will, let not care of it cause any concern.  One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be.”
St. Monica, a canonized saint in the Church was asking for nothing else on her deathbed, but prayers. 
 
We hope that we, too, when we are facing our looming death will have the same purity of intentions as St. Monica. In this month dedicated to the poor souls, let us remember those who have gone before us with the greatest gift possible: our prayers.
 
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Kipper

Dear Brother Knights,

On Oct. 1, we celebrated our parish feast day of St. Teresa. Se. Teresa is, of course, known for her “little way.” The little way is essentially doing little things with great love.

In Lisieux where St. Teresa lived, you can visit the Carmelite monastery where she is laid to rest. It’s a small, simple place where St. Teresa lived her very simple life. She lived in a tiny monastery. But she possessed what we could call magnanimity, or greatness of soul. She did little thinks with great love. She wrote in her story of the soul about the tender love of Jesus. She lived a very short life, as she died of Tuberculosis at the age of 24.

In the eyes of the world, St. Teresa didn’t do much in her life, but the effects of her magnanimity are very much apparent. St. Teresa wanted to be a missionary. She wanted to go to the far corners of the world to preach the gospel. She was obviously never able to do this in this live but she continues to do it through her prayers. Christians from all over the world have devotion to her, and so she really did become a missionary!

One of her great sayings is that she wants to “spend her heaven doing good things on earth.” St. Teresa, pray for us!

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Kipper

Dear Brother Knights,

We are deeply saddened at the loss of live and injuries caused by the shooting at Annunciation Church in Minnesota. This senseless act of violence is even more painful in that it took place at a school Mass for young children on the first day of school.

Jesus has conquered sin and death, but that needs to be realized in individuals. As this event shows, the evil one still tempts us towards evil. He tempts us not to accept redemption in Christ, which is lived out in charity and prayer.

This horrible tragedy took place during the celebration of the greatest prayer, the Mass. The Mass being the re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice of himself to the Father. Jesus was there at that Mass, present with those children. And Jesus is always with us.

Since this tragedy, I have heard pundits speak with cynicism about the fruits of prayer in response to this incident. It goes something along the lines of “prayers don’t stop school shootings” or “the kids were literally praying, so offering prayers as a response isn’t going to help.”

Prayer is not a transaction; prayer is conversation with God that develops our relationship with him. Yes, one of the aspects of prayer is intercessory prayer. But, we don’t pray as some kind of magical formula to end all tragedy or end all evil. Evil will always be in our midst.

Jesus himself on the cross, as he was suffering for us, prayed to his Heavenly Father. Cynical bystanders were telling him if he’s really the Messiah, he should pray to his Father to be spared of this death, and yet, as we know that didn’t happen.

Annunciation church in Minnesota is hundreds of miles away from us. There is not a whole lot that we can do to help them in a practical way right now. However, prayer is the one thing we can absolutely offer right now for the people affected by this horrible event.

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Kipper

Dear Brother Knights,

On July 29, the Church celebrated a relatively new feast: the memorial of Saints Marth, Mary, and Lazarus. For many years Saint Martha was celebrated, but Pope Francis recently included all of these Saints together in one feast day.

It’s a beautiful feast day in may respects. We are probably familiar with the gospel passage of Marth and Mary. Jesus comes to the home of Martha and Mary (this is not the Blessed Virgin Mary, but another Mary). Mary is at the feet of Jesus and listening to him, and Mary is doing the serving. Basically, Mary is present to Jesus, recognizing the blessing of his presence; Marth does the work. We, in a similar situation would probably react like Marth.

And yet, Jesus says that Martha has chosen the better part. But she’s not doing anything, right? Exactly. Putting it another way, Martha says in her mind, “Jesus is here, I need to clean the house.” Mary says in her mind, “Jesus is here, I need to spend time with him.”

Both Marth and Mary offer tremendous hospitality to Jesus. I’m very grateful as a priest for the many people who are so hospitable to me in so many ways, including opening their home to me as Martha and Mary did for Jesus. But so many people are like Martha and Mary to me in their great kindness and generosity.

Martha, Mary and Lazarus were all sibling. That adds to the beauty of this passage. Most of us have siblings, but do we think of ourselves as helping our siblings in our spiritual journeys? These are people that God has specifically placed in our lives. We can assist our siblings throughout our lives in drawing nearer to Jesus.

Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, pray for us!

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Kipper

Dear Brother Knights,

I hope all of you had a Blessed Mother’s Day! One of the most basic human needs is the need to receive the love of a mother. The need for the tenderness of a mother is something that never really goes away.

Through the incarnation, the mystery of God taking on a human nature, we note that God did not exempt himself from this precious, human need. God allowed himself to be subjected to that tender, motherly love. This truth shows how close God wants to be with us and connects with us. Christ became one of us as a man; Christ chose to need a mother.

As enter this month of May, the month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, we look to deepen our relationship with Mary as our mother. This should never cause us fear that we are taking something away from Jesus as we turn to her as our mother. Rather, she will always draw us nearer to her son.

-The great preacher and promoter of devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort talked about how when we give ourselves entirely to Mary, she will give herself entirely to us. He said, “Mary will share her faith with you. Her faith on earth was stronger than that of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and saints.”

Jesus, God himself, subjected himself to the tender love of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us do the same and we will be richly blessed.

Sincerely in Christ,

Father Kipper