He must increase; I must decrease.

Merry Christmas!!! I hope that Christmas day was a great, or maybe for some of you (if not most) you started to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, so I hope that was a good day as well. I know that this past weekend the church was packed here at Epiphany, and it was great to see so many people here. I was able to make it home on Christmas night and spend some time with my family. Usually the week after Christmas is a slow week (because school is out, and a lot of people on vacation) but it will not be a slow week for me. Tomorrow through Friday I will be helping with a TEC (Teenagers Encountering Christ)  retreat here in the Twin Cities, and looking at the schedule I can see that it is not exactly going to be a restful retreat, but it should be a good one.
On Christmas I preached about how we are called to be Christians, which means that we always have to be changing. The Scripture verse that I referenced is John 3:30 in which John the Baptist states: He must increase; I must decrease. Hopefully I will have the homily posted soon, but right now I cannot find the CD and so keep on checking back to see if it is up. Have a great week, and please pray for the kids that will be making a retreat this week.

According to Your Word

I hope that you have a good final week of Advent. I know that I will be busy with confessions, a Christmas homily, and some other talks this week. However, I also hope that you can take some time this week in silent prayer. The silent prayer will hopefully help you through the rest of the busy season.
Below is my homily from last week:

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Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.

This past week my friend Fr. Dustin Boehm's brother passed away. His name was Adam Boehm and he was 24 years old. If you could please keep Adam and his family in your prayers that would be greatly appreciated.
I preached a little bit about Fr. Dustin and his family in my homily this past weekend. This homily is straight from my heart and I think that it would be a good homily for anyone to listen to if they are going through a time of trial (which is all of us sometimes), so I hope that you can get something out of it.

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St. Nicholas Challenge

Three Great Days!!!

What a busy three days it has been. On Saturday we had our first ever Gala and it was a great success. I have never seen Epiphany look as good as it did on Saturday night, so thank you to all who volunteered. Also, a big thanks to Tim and Jayne Taylor who won a day of ice fishing with me.Of course Sunday was great because we had Mass, and also because the Vikings at least made the game entertaining.

Yesterday was also a busy day in which I was able to put up my Nativity set and my Christmas Tree. Also, I took all of the ice fishing equipment out of the closet and have started to organize the gear for the season (which hopefully will begin soon).

This past weekend I preached on how Mark was more than likely the first Gospel writer. However, I failed to mention that this is not certain, but rather a belief by many scholars. I did not intend to say for fact that Mark was the first Gospel writer, but I can realize how it can come off this way. I guess in the big picture the point that I was trying to make was that it should not matter who wrote the first Gospel, because they all speak of Jesus, not themselves, which we are called to do in our lives. If you want to listen to my homily it is right here:

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And with your Spirit!!!

Be Watchful! Be Alert!

I hope that the new Mass translation went well for you. I know that on my end, I thought that it was beautiful, even if I messed up with some of the chanting. As I mentioned in my homily I love visiting other countries and going to Mass, and one of my favorite places that I did this was in Luxembourg. Here is a picture of the inside of the Cathedral.
Have a good Advent and here is my homily from this past Sunday it starts around 20 seconds in:

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Are you ready for Sunday?

Preparing for Advent

Below is my Bulletin Article for this upcoming weekend, I thought it might be good for you to have a sneak peak:

My favorite liturgical season of the year is upon us, the season of Advent. This season is a season of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. So, how can a season of waiting be my favorite? The is because it is an opportunity for all of us to get rid of some distractions in our life, while we prepare for the coming of Christ.

We all want to have God as the center of our life, but so often other distractions can come up, especially now with shopping to get done, and parties to attend. With all of the activities that this busy season brings, our relationship with God is often compromised. However, during Advent we are asked to re-examine our relationship with God, and truly prepare for His coming.

Just like the season of Lent, the season of Advent is penitential in nature, which means that Advent too is a time of fasting and penance. So, maybe we should all give something up this year for Advent. Giving  something up does not prove to God that we love him, but rather when we give something up what it should do is call to mind that God is with us, and that it is him that we are preparing for.  Also, when we give up things, it hopefully will teach us that the only thing that we really need in our life is God, and that he has to be what we desire the most.

About a month ago I asked some parishioners some of the ways that they are able to make God their main desire in the midst of all the distractions in their life and here are some of the responses:

• Spending time on Sunday morning doing a Bible Study.
• Spending 30 minutes a day in prayer which includes reading the daily readings, and trying to go to daily Mass when possible.
• A student here at Epiphany told me that she and her mom either turn the radio off or listen to religious music when they are in the car together.

I would like to add a few of my own, especially for the season of Advent:

• Pray together as a family. Don’t only do this before you eat, but spend some time every day during Advent praying together.
• Find an opportunity to volunteer in some way this Advent season. There are many opportunities here at Epiphany, but there are other places that need help as well. Maybe, the volunteering is just helping your neighbor with something. We know that when we do this it is not just our neighbor that we are serving, but that we are serving Christ as well, because Christ is in each and every one of us.
• Go to confession. If we truly want to be prepared for the coming of Christ, then we need to make sure that we are free of anything that might be blocking us from the love of God. Of course this is something that should be done not only in Advent or in Lent, but if we have committed a grave sin then we are called to confess it to God.

All of these recommendations should not only be done in Advent, but at all times, because we know that we are always waiting for the coming of the Lord. However, in order to do them at all times, we need to start doing them, and what better time than this season of waiting and preparation for the Lord.

Let us take advantage of Advent this year, so that we can truly be ready for the coming of the Lord. Please know of my prayers for you. My prayer for you this Advent season is that you will be able to clear your heart of all distractions and make way for the coming of the Lord.

In Christ,

Fr. Alex B. Carlson 

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

This past weekend we had the ministry fair, which was a great success. I am always amazed at all the ways that we minister to people here at Epiphany. The ministry fair also fit in great with our readings from this past weekend, and also fit in well with the annual stewardship renewal that is going on right now. I know that I can never say this enough, but thank you to all the people that help here at Epiphany, without you we would never be able to exist.
Below is my homily from this week:

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