A Note From Fr. Vince

Hello everybody! I hope your Holy Week was as surreal as mine. How many times in the past 8 weeks have we said " we’ve never seen anything like this ”? We might as well retire that one. We can also quit saying ‘ unprecedented ’ or comparing things to ‘ normal ’. Well, we might as well laugh at this so it keeps us from screaming or crying.

As I’ve said before, it looks like we are all in this together. People/families are close to losing their jobs, their businesses, and/or their savings for retirement or kids’ education (or have already lost these). The only ones seeming to be safe are those richer than God or me. I’m still getting Social Security, a small priest retirement, a little savings not in the stock market, and my prescription meds. There was a cartoon in the paper last week with the captain of the Hindenburg Air Ship in 1937 saying “We’re all going down with the ship, and your helium stock will be worthless tomorrow!”

I was watching The Two Popes on Netflix. Pope Benedict XVI says “God never changes!” Archbishop Bergoglio (soon to be Pope Francis) responds something like “God is always changing!” Do you have an opinion of which you like? I grew up as a good Catholic kid memorizing that God never changes. But I’m with Pope Francis. We can argue all day about the Catholic Catechism answer or whether we were/are bound to believe one thing or another. Let’s just get pastoral and personal.

Easter celebrates that God raises up his faithful son. A son who lived a fully human life. A son who went to his death over what he believed was his mission from God. Jesus is the Cosmic Christ, forever. The theology of the Cosmic Christ is that his presence is with us always, and accessible to us all. So we pray to him and tell him of our joys, sorrows, dreams, or temptations. As soon as you say that the presence of Jesus, who is the Christ, listens to your prayers---and you can converse with the Lord---and you can sense his presence, that is the moment that you have proven that God changes. You can’t be in a relationship with anyone with whom you don’t change each other as the relationship grows. If it only changes at your end, and not on the Lord’s end, then it is not exactly a relationship. If the relationship is to grow, then your conversations/prayers have to pick up where they left off yesterday. Plus, even better, we believe that the Lord treats you like an equal in the relationship. You ask things of him and he asks things of you. He consoles you in your sufferings, and you feel his. You celebrate the joy of his Resurrection, and he celebrates your joys and accomplishments. Etc. etc. etc.

I really enjoy when you email back to me your thoughts, questions, disagreements, ideas, or stories. Maybe we will strike up a conversation----heck, even have a relationship. At 6 ft. of course!

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April 14 th , 2020
Daily Gospel Reflection
by Deacon Kurt Heinrich

Gospel                                             JN 20:11-18
Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he had told her.

Dear Friends and Family,

I have always found it fascinating that after the resurrection, the Apostles of Jesus do not recognize him immediately. It has only been three days since they last encountered Jesus and now they do not know Him. It is clear that the Resurrection has changed our Lord, or maybe the apostles are simply prevented from recognizing him for a short time. So what happens next? What allows them to recognize the Risen Jesus? A simple answer might be that Jesus does something familiar that they are able to comprehend. For Mary, Jesus calls her by name. How many times had she heard Jesus call her name in the three years of his public ministry? How many times had they conversed and Jesus spoke to her by name? It’s the familiarity, built in an ongoing relationship that opens the eyes of the faithful. Do we share that same kind of relationship with our God? If he called up by name would we recognize who is speaking to us, would we hear the love he has for us?
Parish Outreach:  
Serving One Another
During these times of uncertainty and need for community, we have decided to launch  Serving One Another ; an initiative to connect with our faith family during this unprecedented time.
Volunteers are needed. Each volunteer will have a defined list of St. Augustin parishioners to call. The more volunteers we have, the lower the call number. A call-script will be provided. Volunteers  may  be asked to do basic services such as, picking up a prescription, or making additional phone calls to provide companionship.
  • Please call Pam Arnold Powers at (515) 778-7629 to volunteer to serve your fellow parishioners.
  • If you have any urgent, or immediate needs at this time, please call the parish office at (515) 255-1175.
Are you passionate about Catholic Education? Are you willing to share your time, talent and treasure to ensure that St. Augustin leads the way in preparing our children to live faith filled lives? Are you willing to share your thoughts and ideas to constantly improve the future through the education of our youth? If so, please prayerfully consider submitting your name for consideration of a three-year board term. Board applications can be downloaded at this link .
Applications must be returned by April 24th, 2020 to the school office .