December 8, 2025
Holy Day of Obligation
Masses will be held at 8:00 a.m., Noon, and 6:30 p.m.
Parishioner News
We welcome the following individuals and families to our parish: Donna Brown, Mark Rooney, and Stephanie Brown.
We celebrate the recently baptized children: Emmanuel Thomas Rodriquez and Reagan Jean Reszczynski.
We mourn the individuals from the parish who have recently died: Noreen Klopp, Margaret Mary Klar, Anna Sacher, Delphine “Jeri” Newman, Bertha Reyes, and Charles Pogorelcnik.
There will NOT be an Anointing this weekend. We will schedule it for after next weekend’s Masses.
First Mass of Christmas Eve
Earlier this fall, we received a message from Archbishop Grob that, if needed for pastoral reasons, he would give parishes a dispensation to have an earlier time for the First Mass of Christmas Eve. I did ask for this dispensation, given the needs, particularly of the ministries involved in all of our Christmas Masses. He granted us this request, which means our First Mass on Christmas Eve, December 24, will be at 3:00 p.m. instead of the usual 4:00 p.m. For those who attend this Mass, please mark your calendars.
“Waiting Well”
I would like to extend a thank you to the Knights of Columbus, who donated 100 Advent journals to help us prepare for our Christmas celebrations. All of the books were taken by the end of the 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. If you were not able to get a book, I invited us to ponder the title: “Waiting Well.” How do we “Wait Well?” What can we do to help us best prepare for the coming of Christ? What do we need to do to make even more room, more welcome of Christ in our daily lives? Yes, make room for Christ this Christmas, but also for every day of our lives moving forward. By the way, you can purchase a copy of the “Waiting Well” journal (ascensionpress.com/products/waiting-well-advent-with-fr-mike-schmitz) through Ascension Press for $13.95 or order through Amazon.
Honey Is Here!
We are once again selling locally grown honey from our parish office. There are three flavors to select from: Clover and Basswood (both light in color) and Wild Flower (a bit darker shade of amber). Each three-pound jar is $24, preferably paid in cash. It is distributed by Rolling Meadows Sorghum Mill in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
2025 Giving Tree
Advent is well underway, and the Giving Tree now has gift envelopes. Individuals and families can take a gift tag and then purchase the gift marked on the outside of the envelope, or purchase a SCRIP card through the parish if that is how the envelope is marked. Please return the gift unwrapped, with the envelope securely taped to the gift. Put your gift or gift card in the boxes surrounding the Giving Tree, and you can select an ornament to add to the tree.
Over the next few weeks, you will see the tree transformed from hundreds of tags representing gifts wanted to hundreds of ornaments representing gifts donated. All gifts must be returned by Noon on Sunday, December 14.
The parish Confirmation Candidates for Spring of 2026 will again sponsor the Giving Tree as one of their outreach service projects. This weekend, three of the Confirmation Candidates will speak about the Giving Tree before the announcements.
Gifts will be delivered to five charities in the Milwaukee area. Gifts will be in the hands of individuals and families before Christmas. Let us all share the true meaning of Christmas with those in need. On behalf of all the recipients of your generosity, a big, hearty thank you!
The Christian Women Society will be gathering for their Christmas celebration on Thursday, December 4, in the church hall at 6:00 p.m. Please remember to bring your layette items for mothers in need. Diapers, wipes, bottles, blankets, onesies, sleepers, or a monetary donation would be wonderful.
St. John’s Prayer Shawl Ministry News
The next meeting of the St. John’s Prayer Shawl Ministry is on Friday, December 12, from 10:30 a.m. to Noon. Please bring your new creations of Prayer Pockets, Shawls, Lap Blankets, Twiddle Muffs, and Baptismal Gifts. If you enjoy knitting and crocheting, they would love to have you join them and learn more about this ministry. Thank you to all who have donated new yarn and money to this ministry. The meeting location is the Building Community Room at the Highland Ridge Complex, 3993 S. Prairie Hill Lane, with easy access and no stairs. For more information, please contact Diane Oakland at (414) 617-0721 or email her at dianeoak@gmail.com.
The Holy Name Society will gather for Corporate Communion at the 8:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday, December 14. Rosary will begin at 7:30 a.m. Breakfast will follow Mass in the Church Hall. All men of the Parish (and their sons) are invited to join the Holy Name Society.
Our students were full of joy this week as they experienced the first snowfall of the season! Recess quickly turned into a winter wonderland of snow angels, snow mountain climbing, fort building, and cheerful laughter as the children bundled up and headed outside. Moments like these remind us of the simple gifts God gives us: joy, community, and the beauty of His creation.
"Live a life that reflects God's love."
This December, Pope Leo XIV calls on all of us to pray, “that Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in the Middle East, might be seeds of peace, reconciliation, and hope.” You can learn more about the pope’s monthly intentions at clicktopray.org, the official site of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, or by downloading the Click to Pray app from Apple or Google. The app helps you “connect with thousands of people on every continent who pray daily for the challenges facing humanity and for the mission of the Church as proposed in the pope’s monthly intentions.” To enter more deeply into December’s intention, you might explore Philosophies at War by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. First published in 1943, amid the turmoil of the Second World War, this work remains strikingly relevant. Archbishop Sheen reflects on the modern world’s crisis as the result of a profound divide—a separation between those who possess the Truth and those who do not. Addressing the American public both as a bishop and a thoughtful citizen, Sheen examines themes of government, politics, war, revolution, the need for an absolute (God), and the foundations of democracy, patriotism, and peace. He demonstrates that today’s cultural struggle is not only political or economic, but deeply theological.
Sheen cautions that many dangerous political movements arise as reactions to the excesses of a secular, materialistic culture—one in which society becomes little more than a tangle of individual self-interest. He incisively summarizes the false promises of totalitarian ideologies such as Marxist socialism, Nazism, fascism, and others, noting that they share a common trait: each seeks “power over the total man—the whole man, body and soul, and aims at control over the most intimate regions of the spirit.” He also critiques elements of the Industrial Revolution and Liberalism that detached the individual from responsibility for the common good. “Such is the essence of our secularist culture: the supremacy of the individual man,” he writes. In being cut off from God, from moral law, and from the brotherhood of humanity, society risks sliding into anarchy and the oppression of the vulnerable. For readers hoping to understand the ideologies shaping our world today, Philosophies at War offers timeless guidance. To obtain a copy, visit the publisher, TAN Books, or look for it through major online booksellers such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The book is 150 pages long, and it is available in print, digital, and audio formats. It retails for $24.95.
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Friends, today St. Matthew compels us to come to grips with the great Advent figure of John the Baptist. It’s really impossible to grasp the significance of Jesus without passing through the cleansing bath of John the Baptist. He provides a lens through which Jesus is properly interpreted.
John, Matthew tells us, made his appearance as a preacher in the desert of Judea. Deserts are places of simplicity and poverty, places where distractions and attachments are eliminated—and hence where the voice of God can be heard. Wealth, pleasure, power, honor—and all of their avatars and priests—are shouting at us, luring us, tempting us. But what is God saying? We have to go to these silent, deserted places to hear.
What is the first thing that the prophet says? “Repent!” This word cuts to the heart of every one of us, precisely because we all know that our lives are not where they are supposed to be. We have all fallen short of the glory of God; we have all fallen into patterns of self-absorption and addiction. So let us hear John’s word today: “Repent!”
John, Matthew tells us, made his appearance as a preacher in the desert of Judea. Deserts are places of simplicity and poverty, places where distractions and attachments are eliminated—and hence where the voice of God can be heard. Wealth, pleasure, power, honor—and all of their avatars and priests—are shouting at us, luring us, tempting us. But what is God saying? We have to go to these silent, deserted places to hear.
What is the first thing that the prophet says? “Repent!” This word cuts to the heart of every one of us, precisely because we all know that our lives are not where they are supposed to be. We have all fallen short of the glory of God; we have all fallen into patterns of self-absorption and addiction. So let us hear John’s word today: “Repent!”
-Bishop Robert Barron
St. John’s is fortunate to have 24-hour Perpetual Adoration. Please take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to draw closer to God.
We have two open hours of Adoration:
Every Other Tuesday (twice per month), 1:00 to 2:00 a.m.
Saturdays, Midnight to 1:00 a.m.
We are also seeking a second Adorer for many late-evening and overnight hours, particularly on Saturdays at 1:00 a.m. Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. Also on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 11:00 p.m. If you are looking for some quiet time to be with Our Lord, please consider signing up.
Call Kay Shomperlen at 414-763-1250 if you are interested.
Live-streaming: Mass and Adoration
We are live-streaming daily and Sunday Masses as well as Adoration for those who are unable to attend:
Daily Masses:
Monday thru Saturday 8:00 am
Weekend Masses:
Saturday at 4:30 pm
Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30 am
If you miss the Livestream, you can watch the upload of each Mass on our YouTube channel.
Scrip is available at all weekend Masses or during regular business hours at the parish office.
Download the RaiseRight app to reload cards, purchase ecards, or purchase physical cards. Contact the Parish Office or School Office for the enrollment code.