Fr. Todd 6/14/26 Bulletin Article

Dear Sacred Heart and St. Mary on the Lake,

                 This weekend we celebrate our parish feast day, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart.  Make sure to enjoy the ice cream after the Masses.  What does this feast mean for me?

                 A common question people ask is simply this: “What is it like to be a priest?”   One way I describe it is that being a priest is to see with the heart of God.  It is a glimpse behind the veil when we see others as Jesus sees them.  It is hard to put into words the love of God that we can experience at different moments in ministry.  In the confessional and what it is like seeing with His heart this person who He loves so much, who He has seen suffering and is now permitted to draw near and heal.  At communion time and His joy at being able to be with this person who is receiving Him.  At a funeral Mass as He holds a person and their family close to His heart.  At the baptismal font and His love for this little one and their family all being united in Him.

 Parents have shared similar experiences where they see their children and they are aware that it is not just their own love they are experiencing. They are aware of moving within a love far greater than themselves.  It is as if they are seeing their children through another’s eyes.  So it is to see with the heart of God.

  What is that experience rooted in?  It is rooted in what we celebrate in the Feast of the Sacred Heart.  When Jesus revealed Himself and His Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in a series of visions over the years of 1673-1675, His most famous invitation was this: “Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love.”

 Why celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart?  Why enthrone an image of the Sacred Heart in your home? (https://www.usccb.org/consecration-united-states-sacred-heart-jesus)  So you can see yourself and others as God sees you.

 It is very fitting that we welcome Fr. Peter Randolph this weekend for Masses of Thanksgiving.  He will begin his priestly assignment at St. Patrick in Brighton, MI in July.

 I am also very excited to announce that one of our parish sons, Alex Czeiszperger, has been accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Lansing.  Alex will be entering college seminary after having spent two years at Michigan Tech.  He will be attending St. John Vianney College Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN.  During his time with us this summer before leaving for MN this fall we will have him serving Mass alongside Mason.  We will have him work through the various Masses so everyone may have a chance to get to know him.

 Thank you for your prayers and support of vocations.  I have been so very pleased to see an increase in vocational openness, from the increased number of marriages in the Church, to having a young man in seminary, to Alex’s older sister, Sr. Francis de Sales, who is now six years into her time with the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.  All ways that God calls us to give our lives to Him.  Please keep Alex, and all our seminarians, in your prayers.

God Bless,  Fr. Todd