Do you ever have a conversation and after it is over you think, “Oh, I wish I would have said this or that?” It happens to me, I imagine it happens to everyone, but also for me, I finish my Sunday Masses, or sometimes even during the readings I think, “Oh, I wish I would have preached on this or that aspect.”

Last weekend I talked about letting the Bible speak to you. The Bible is the Word of God, it is living and active, God will speak to us through it. This is why we need to take time to pray, every day, with the Bible, with good Spiritual Reading, with Prayer Resources… God will speak to us if we give Him the time.

As you may know I have been a priest for six years, which means I have gone through two 3-year scripture cycles already. Our Sunday readings repeat every three years, which means that this is the third time I have preached on these readings, once at Resurrection, once at Nativity, now here. It also means that I have two old homilies I could steal.

Today’s readings are challenging, not impossible, but very challenging for our modern ears. In our first reading, if you take St. Paul’s advice seriously when he said “Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife,” then all of you students should become priests or religious. Is that really what he is saying? No, while that would be awesome, and we wouldn’t have to close any more churches for the next 50 years, it isn’t exactly his intent to encourage religious vocations.

A central theme of today's readings is healing. I used to think that healings were something that only happened in the time of Jesus but stopped with the Apostles. But in the last four years I have seen lots of healings and I am now a big proponent of healing ministry in our Church.

By now two weeks in you have all seen and / or heard about our theme for the new school year, “Not Me, But God.” This little saying from Blessed Carlo Acutis could be taken a lot of different ways, but there are a few ways that it is present in today’s readings.

My name is Fr. Andy Upah, I am the new pastor here, it has been a real joy to be here so far, and it seems like the people like me too, I mean it's my one month anniversary and they are throwing a huge party for me! I’m just kidding, this Pork Roast has been going on for a long time, and this Polka Mass, this is my first time presiding at a Polka Mass.

The predominant question for me these days is, “Are you settling in/adjusting okay?” I’m sure many of you are wondering this also. The answer is yes, all in all, I am settling in just fine. People have been very kind and welcoming. The community is great. Things are good.

In case I didn’t meet you yet, my name is Fr. Andy and I am the new pastor here, I am very happy to be here with you. For the last six years I was the Chaplain at Wahlert and Mazzuchelli in Dubuque and I’ve helped a lot at Our Lady of Guadalupe Elementary School for the last three years, and you know, I had to celebrate all of those Masses in a gym, can you imagine? It is so nice to be here in the Church with you all today. So, I hope you are having a great 1st Day of School. The first day of school is often a lot of rules, right?

When I got this new assignment, a Nativity Parishioner said to me, “Oh, you watch out, Father. You watch out. There’s a lot of good cooks down there and you’re gonna get fat!” I thought of that comment again when I read this first reading about Wisdom spreading the table and inviting us in to eat her food and drink her wine. Despite the risk of getting fat, how could I not say “yes” to your invitations to feed me? How could we not say “yes” to God when He offers to feed us?

One thing that is pretty fun about being at new churches, wherever that is, is looking at and praying with the art. The art, the statues, the windows, it is all meant to draw our hearts and minds to God in a deeper way. As humans we are tangible, we need to see and experience God with all of our senses.

My name is Fr. Andy Upah and I am happy to be here as your new Pastor. This came as quite a surprise to me about a month ago, and I am sure it did to you too, but I am looking forward to getting to know you and walking with you, and hopefully we will both grow in our faith.