A Glorious Day

Happy Easter!!! There is so much to be thankful for right now, and of course first and foremost I am thankful for God and the marvelous gifs that he has given us. I am also thankful for all the wonderful parishioners that we have here at St. Ambrose, there is something about Easter in which I fall more deeply in love with the parishioners that I serve. I hope to write some more about this soon, so stay tuned. I pray that you all have a glorious day, and a wonderful Octave of Easter. Make sure to celebrate and remember that the Lord is Risen. Alleluia, Alleluia!!!
P.S. The picture of the book will make sense once you watch the homily.

Do You Love Me?

This is also a good homily to listen to on Holy Saturday, which should also be a day of fasting and abstaining if possible. Make sure to finish the Triduum well.

Third Reflection

Below is my final reflection on the series of reflections I have been offering through Lent. This one is essentially me telling the stories of some modern day Saints and offering my own reflections on them. One of the Saints that I referenced was St. Stephen of Hungary and here is a link to the letter that he wrote to his son Emeric which I definitely think is worth a read. Also, a couple of the Saints that I reference in the reflection I learned about from the book "Saintly Women of Modern Times" which is written by Joan Carroll Cruz. She also has books on Saintly Men and Saintly Youth of modern times. The little that I have read of these books I have been impressed with, and highly recommend them to everyone.

It is my hope that these reflections have been helpful to all of you, and that you have been able to see that God choses ordinary men and women to do extraordinary things, and this includes you as well.
Here is the reflection for the men:

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Here is the reflection for the women:

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Here is the website where you can download the audio if you want http://fathercarlson.podbean.com

Making Every Week Holy

Second Reflection

Below is the audio from the second reflection that I offered in the series "Men and Women of the Past who Inspire us Today". For the men I reflected on the Apostles and in a particular way how they abandoned Jesus during his persecution, but were still able to receive his love. For the women I reflected on the daughters of Jerusalem, the one's who stayed by Jesus' side, even though they endured persecution because of it as well. Please take a listen if you would like, and just like last time please only listen to the one for your gender:

For men here is the reflection:

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For women here is the reflection:

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Once again if you want to download the audio (so you can listen to it on your ipod, etc.) you can visit http://fathercarlson.podbean.com 

Respecting the Person and the Law

Some Useful Prayers

Here are the prayers from the Roman Missal for the Election of a Pope that I think might be useful for all of us to pray and reflect on:

Entrance Antiphon

1 Sm 2:35

I will raise up for myself a faithful priest,
who shall do according to my heart and mind; I will establish a lasting house for him
and he shall walk before me all his days.
Collect

O God, eternal shepherd,
who govern your flock with unfailing care,
grant in your boundless fatherly love
a pastor for your Church
who will please you by his holiness
and to us show watchful care.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer over the Offerings
May your abundant kindness favor us, O Lord,
that, through the sacred offerings we reverently bring to you, we may come to rejoice that a pastor pleasing to your majesty presides over your holy Church.
Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon
I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, says the Lord, fruit that will last.

Jn 15:16

12

Prayer after Communion
As we have been renewed, O Lord,
with the supreme Sacrament of salvation,
the Body and Blood of your Only Begotten Son,
may the wondrous grace of your majesty
gladden us with the gift of a shepherd
who will instruct your people by his virtues
and imbue the minds of the faithful with the truth of the Gospel. Through Christ our Lord. 

Praying and Preparing for the New Pope

Once again there will be a special Mass for the election of a Pope offered tomorrow Tuesday March 12 at 5:30 PM. Please join me for this special Mass.
Here are some of the links that I mentioned in the video above:
Pope Alarm this can send you a text or an email when the smoke is coming up the chimney.
The Pope App which gives you tons of videos, live events, and webcams.
Adapt a Cardinal pretty self explanatory.
Here is a picture of the Sweet Sistine (once again entertainment only)

A special note of thanks to my sister Sarah for drawing my attention to these great resources.

Fr. Carlson what are Stations of the Cross all about?

First Reflection

This past week I offered my first reflection for a series that I am offering at the parish. Unfortunately on Tuesday morning mother nature decided that it was a great time to snow, so the attendance at the men's sessions was fairly small. However, I have decided to record these reflections and to post them online. I would just like to point out that these reflections are not meant to be official teachings of the Church (although I don't think I say anything controversial in them) and also would like to point out that they are intended for a specific audience of either women or men. So, depending on your gender, please listen to the one for you, and not the other. I hope that some of you get something out of them, and also I hope that some of you can join me for the reflections in person in a couple of weeks where I will take a look at the disciples for the men, and the women of Jerusalem for the women.

Here is the reflection offered for men on Nicodemus:

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And here is the reflection offered for women on the woman at the well:

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If you want to download them you can find them at this site: http://fathercarlson.podbean.com

Repent

Holy Men and Women of the Past who Inspire us Today

Here is my Bulletin Article for this week:
I recently was asked by a group of youth what I was doing personally for the Year of Faith that the Church has declared this year to be. I answered that one of the things that I have been doing is attending a class on Saturday mornings which the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has been putting on for priests called “Renewal of Faith”, which explores what the Church actually teaches about faith and how we can grow deeper in our faith. I also mentioned to the youth that I don’t necessarily enjoy sitting in a classroom, but every time that I go to one of these sessions, I learn so much more about God, and I am always grateful that I have gone.

 This comes back to that first question though, what are you doing for the Year of Faith? I hope that many of you have or are in the midst of reading Matthew Kelly’s Rediscover Catholicism book, which will help you grow in your faith. I know that many of you have even joined book discussion clubs to talk about the book, which is great. I also hope that many of you were able to attend our parish mission with Bishop Remi De Roo.

I also want to draw your attention to another event and invite you to come to a series that I will be offering in March that offers reflections on Holy Men and Women of the past who inspire us today. This series is meant to help you increase your faith in God by showing that God has taken ordinary men and women like us in the past and did wonderful things with them once they encountered Him.

These sessions are being offered for the women of the parish on Wednesday mornings from 9:30 – 10:30 AM March 6, 20, 27 and we will take a closer look at the women at the well the first session, the women of Jerusalem at the second session, and some modern day saints at the third session. There will not be childcare available for these sessions, but you are welcome to bring your children with to the sessions.

These sessions are being offered for the men of the parish on Tuesday mornings from 6:00 – 7:00 AM March 5, 19, 26 and we will take a closer look at Nicodemus at the first session, the Apostles at the second session, and some modern day saints at the third session. Just like in December, there will be plenty of coffee for everyone.

I hope that some of you will be able to attend these sessions, even if you can only make it to one, which is fine. I would ask that if you do come please bring a Bible with you, because we will be looking at some Scripture passages.

What are you doing for the Year of Faith? Maybe you are like me, and don’t necessarily enjoy going back for education. However, in these reflections, we are learning something greater than just basic education of math or science. We are learning more about God, and is there anything greater than God?

God Bless,

Fr. Carlson