We celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. This moment of grace begins the public ministry of Jesus. The Father publicly recognizes His Son as beloved and the Holy Spirit is seen in bodily form. The Trinity is revealed. Jesus invites us to come to know the Father, to enter into a relationship with a community of persons: the Trinity. This opportunity is given to us on the day of our baptism. This is a friendship that can truly last forever. On this feast day do we recall the date that we were baptized. Do we do anything to mark the beginning of grace in our lives? If not this is the year to do it, to start and make that day a special day.
Coming up this Thursday is the Dean’s meeting with Bishop Battersby in La Crosse. Pray for safe travels. This coming weekend, as noted by the wedding banns, there will be a wedding on Saturday; please pray for that couple and all who will be a part of that day of celebration for them. On Sunday following the 10:30 Mass there will be a general informational meeting about the upcoming pilgrimage to Rome as part of the 150th anniversary that St. Peter will be celebrating in 2026.
2025 is a Jubilee year. Pope Francis has opened the Holy Doors. Bishop Battersby also has issued a decree concerning Pilgrim places in the diocese of La Crosse. In accord with the Holy Father’s Bull of Indiction, the Apostolic Penitentiary has issued norms for obtaining and rendering spiritually fruitful the practice of the Jubilee indulgence.
“During the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025 the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin (cf. Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, IV ed., norm. 20, § 1), who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the Holy Year, purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins, which can be applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory. “The faithful, pilgrims of hope, will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence granted by the Holy Father if they undertake a pious pilgrimage” which may be accomplished “by visiting the Cathedral or other church or sacred place designated by the local Ordinary.”
Therefore, in communion with our Holy Father and in the spirit of pastoral solicitude for the Christian faithful entrusted to my care, I, Gerard William Battersby, Bishop of La Crosse, in accordance with the Papal Bull for the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025, designate the following church and holy places as places of pilgrimage:
The Cathedral of Saint Joseph the Workman in La Crosse;
The Shrine of our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse; Wausau;
Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Nekoosa
Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Eau Claire;
Church of the Resurrection Catholic Church in Wausau;
Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Nekoosa
—Fr. John Potaczek
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