Blessed New Year to You!

A blessed new year to you all!  It has been a great grace to have been with you all about 6 months now and it has been a whirlwind of events!  It truly has been a gift to be at the parishes.  Even though I still struggle to remember your many names, I am continually thankful for your patience and understanding as I adjust.  Having started at a new school, it was exciting to be a part of the Bishop Neumann family and enjoyed getting to know the students.  We also had great days this semester for the parish dinner at St. Joseph and clean-up day at St. Mary's!  Thank you to everyone who helped to make these happen.   A hearty thank you as well to everyone for praying and participating in the ballet measures this election cycle.  With the continual attack again the human family it is essential for us to stand up for the protection of mothers, fathers, and their children.

My step-father is always reminding me to have a heart filled with gratitude and so it is with this in mind that I would like to start this new year with a heart of gratitude.  I invite you all to look at back at this last year and consider the many blessings that God has granted you.  Even our crosses are a sign of God's love for us.  As J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, "Are not all of God's punishments also gifts."  Tolkien experienced much trauma as a young man.  His father died while on tour in South Africa and his mother made the decision to become a Roman Catholic.   She was then disowned by her family and any help she would have received from them was voided.  Yet, she turned to the priests of the Burmingham Oratory for financial and spiritual guidance.  When she shortly died of diabetes, a deeply sympathetic priest took her two orphaned boys under his wings where he taught and raised them.  Tolkien remembered this priest as a father figure who taught them the lessons of life and said that "he really taught us the ways of compassion and forgiveness."  He witnessed how God's allowance of the tragedies of his life was a means by which he could come to receive so much more.  Therefore, like Tolkien may we also have hearts of gratitude even in the midst of tragedy for our Lord has come to redeem and save what was lost!

May God grant you a Blessed New Year!

In Christ,  Fr. Luke Fleck