May 2015 Bulletin: Catholic Prayer and Devotions

Lead article from the May 2015 bulletin, online now. Reprinted from the KC Supreme website.

The human heart is drawn to the divine.  Many people have a sincere longing for holiness and that is why they spend time in contemplation.

We are encouraged to cultivate a profound inner life, contact with Jesus Christ that is both personal and constant.  The Fathers of the Church have consistently said that without true friendship with Jesus, it is impossible for a Christian to fulfill the mission of the Lord.

The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church may help focus our attention on the nature of prayer.  Here is a sampling of what you will find:

What is Prayer?
Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God, or the petition of good things from him in accord with his will.

It is always the gift of God who comes to encounter man.  Christian prayer is the personal and living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is infinitely good, with his Son Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit who dwells in their hearts.

How Does Jesus Teach Us to Pray?
Jesus teaches us to pray not only with the Our Father but also when he prays.  In this way he teaches us, in addition to the content, the dispositions necessary for every true prayer: purity of heart that seeks the Kingdom and forgives one’s enemies, bold and filial faith that goes beyond what we feel and understand, and watchfulness that protects the disciple from temptation.

Why is Our Prayer Efficacious?
Our prayer is efficacious because it is united in faith with the prayer of Jesus.  In him Christian prayer becomes a communion of love with the Father.  In this way we can present our petitions to God and be heard: “Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full” (Jn 16:24).

God Bless,
Jim 

For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ. 

-- Philippians 1:20

April 2015 Bulletin: Get Active, Stay Active!

Lead article from the April bulletin, online now.

Well, it’s that time of year again.  Time to get ready for the State Convention by preparing all those forms.

As I complete the forms and look back at the past year, I have noticed how many activities we do in our council.  We have a very active council and many different programs which we couldn’t do without you!  I would like to thank you all for your involvement; being active in parades and Albertville City Days in the summer, to the tree lot & toy drive in the winter.  You probably do not realize that in just about every month we have some sort of event going on.  We could not do all of these without your time and effort.  It is greatly appreciated and I look forward to your continued support of all our different activities.  April is our Senior Citizen Dinner.  Contact Cory Sommer  at sommerhome66@gmail.com to help out.

A great resource for you to find out about our activities is at our business meetings which we have the first Thursday of every month, 7:00 PM at the St Albert’s Parish Center in Albertville.  If you can’t make it to that, we have a monthly newsletter, web site (http://kc4174.org) and Facebook also.  I would really like to encourage you to come to a business meeting, that’s where you are going to hear the most about how the council is doing and keep you updated on upcoming events.  Our April lecture program is a Micro-Beer Tasting. This is an Open Meeting and spouses are welcome.

The past few months our meeting attendance has been down and I would really like to see some fresh faces show up to these important meetings.  If I need to change how the meetings are run or if I am the reason that the attendance is down, I need your feedback.  Don’t worry about hurting my feelings, I have big shoulders.  So please let me know if I should be doing something differently.

I know everyone is busy and it is hard to make every meeting but it would be great if you could make a few during the year.  You could even heckle me and let me know everything that I did wrong or right in the meeting!!  We do a pretty good job of keeping the meetings to an hour and then you are free to go or stay.  We have some food and drink and a lecture program after every meeting that you can listen to.  In past lectures, we have learned about new tax laws, what’s going on with housing in our area, and updates on the Catholic school.  Again I hope to see you at an upcoming meeting.

Have a great Easter and Lenten season

God Bless,
Jim Wiegers