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Sacred Heart & St. Patrick Catholic Churches

Fr. Pat will be hearing confessions outside of St. Pat’s church in Hennepin. You are to remain in your car and only one person in your car and line up in front of the church and hall with your windows closed respecting the privacy of others.  He will be underneath the overhang by the kitchen. When it is your turn you will make the turn from the front of the building to the side of the building. After confession you may exit through the cemetery.  He will be hearing confessions from 10-11 am on Sunday morning (3/29) and will stay longer if needed.

On Sunday (3/29) at 1 pm at St. Patrick’s, he will be at the front of Church with the Most Holy Eucharist. He will bless you with the Eucharist. You must remain in your cars. The line can start in parking lot and then drive to the front of the building. Stop for a moment to adore Jesus and receive a blessing. He cannot give out Communion at this time.  Please tell others about this special grace.

Here is my homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent

The story is told of a man named Giuseppe Berardelli who was born in Italy in 1947. He entered the seminary and was ordained a priest on June 30, 1973 at the age of 26. Everyone that knew him said that he was always happy and full of enthusiasm. They also said that Father was a good listener and took his time with his people. And he was always quick in helping those in need. Father and another priest were instrumental in opening a center for families in need.

Fr. Giuseppe was a pastor in one of the hardest hit areas affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. I recently read that over 50 priests have died in Italy due to the virus. Due to the shortage of respirators, his parish purchased one. In time, it was Fr. Giuseppe who needed it after contracting the virus himself. But astonishingly, father gave up his respirator for someone younger than himself. Fr. Giuseppe Berardelli passed away March 23 at the hospital.

How does a person make the decision to give up his respirator with full knowledge that he would die? Father had faith that death does not have the final say, that Christ has conquered death through His resurrection on Easter Sunday. This is the reason that St. Paul could taunt death by saying, “Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?” Our faith tells us that Jesus conquers death, which was evidenced by Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead for four days, which we read in today’s gospel.

Jesus said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” He did not just ask for Martha’s faith, “do you believe this?” But he did more, he showed he had the power even over death itself. Who else has the power to raise the dead? The Lord asks us today as he asked Martha: “Do you believe this?” “Do you believe that everyone who lives and believes in me will never die?

But Jesus’ words are not limited to the experience of death. We all experience many losses in in our life. Jesus wants to remind us that even in this present crisis that He is totally in control. Again, it reminds me of the story of the disciples, which Pope Francis used as his meditation yesterday in Rome, who were in the boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee when a storm came up. The disciples were panicking while Jesus was sleeping peacefully. The disciples wake Jesus up because their lives were in danger. And what was Jesus’ reaction, he was frustrated at their lack of faith.

The greatest fear that people have is death. The biggest fear we have of the COVID-19 pandemic is possible death. What does our faith tell us during this time of fear? Jesus has conquered death. If Jesus can conquer death, is there anything else in this life that is outside of Jesus’ power? The answer is simply NO!

I believe it is likely to assume that Lazarus would not have feared death the second time. Jesus had already brought him back to life. He knew that his rising from the dead was just a sign of a greater miracle yet to happen, that Jesus would bring him into eternal life. We get a taste of that eternal life whenever we put our trust in God, even amid great darkness. Faith in Jesus empowers us to live in true freedom: freedom of fear, freedom of the power of death and freedom to live by the Holy Spirit which God has placed in us at our Baptism.

Fr. Giuseppe Berardelli pray for us!

If you have a prayer intention, I will bring with me to tomorrow’s Mass.  My hope is not only to bring these intentions with me to Mass but that we as a faith family may join our prayers together. It’s a way to come together while social distancing ourselves from each other. If you want to be totally anonymous in your intentions, you can text them to me at 1-815-252-4400, it will be totally confidential.

Love & prayers,

Fr. Pat

Prayer intention: 3/28/2020

Yesterday’s prayer with the holy father, Pope Francis, was a mountain top experience for me. Just the thought of praying in solidarity with hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world lifted my spirits. It was truly the work of the Holy Spirit bringing us together as one, fulfilling the prayer of Jesus to His Father that we may be one as He and Father are one. This is the reason that Christ became one of us, to reconcile us to the Father, to bring us in Union with God and through our union with God, to bring us in Union with each other. Again, we were created to share God’s life and love in His kingdom as a community.

And yet, Satan, who can do nothing against God given the fact that the fallen angels are also created by God, does all he can to sow division among us, to separate us from God and each other. It is in unity that we are strong and able to resist the enticements of Satan. Looking at our world today it seems that he has been pretty effective. Take for instance politics, it has literally divided this country. People are so filled with anger, bitterness and even hatred that it has hardened many hearts where God is no longer able to sow seeds of His love into the soil of our hearts. I think that sometimes we care more in what politicians say then what God has uttered for thousands of years. We have in fact, socially distanced ourselves in our hearts for years now.

But once in awhile, usually a tragedy, will wake us up. All of a sudden people are turning back to God. It reminds me of the aftermath of the tragedy of 9/11. People were flocking into churches. I heard God’s name more than I had ever heard it and from sources I never expected. We saw people putting their differences aside and coming together in solidarity. Unfortunately, after returning to some normalcy, it was back to divided hearts.

I see in this present day crisis that the same phenomena is occurring. Commercials are popping up about how we will get through this together. There is a message from the founder of Jersey Mike’s that ends his message with the words, “Be safe and God Bless.” Once again, our hearts are softened and God is able to sow His love into our hearts.

My prayer intention is that we take this time and grow in our relationship with God so that when we pull through this pandemic and things return back to normal, that we may be better tuned into the voice of God than the multitude of voices from the world. After all, the world wishes to conquer by dividing while God wishes to conquer by uniting. It all comes down to the question, which will I choose, hatred or love?

All Masses at both parishes have been suspended due to the Coronavirus threat.  We will post here when Masses resume.  

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