We welcome Bishop Nickless to our parish as he offers the Sacrament of Confirmation to forty-five of our students. In his last month before he officially retires as our shepherd for the diocese with Bishop John Keehner’s ordination on May 1st, he continues to minister and proclaim with passion and conviction. He has made difficult decisions for our diocese and within parishes due to the priest shortage and cultural changes. For nearly twenty years he has come to Boone County to administer this Sacrament; may this, his final time, provide him the graciousness and generosity of our Catholic faith. Upon his retirement, he will continue to reside in Sioux City, offering his support for Bishop Elect John Keehner, and prayers for our Catholic faith within our Diocese. I imagine he will sustain his allegiance to the Denver Broncos. We welcome you Bishop Nickless, and thank you!
A custom within our diocese is for each Confirmed to choose a saint, hopefully after some research and reflection. For those who desire to continue in their journey of faith in the Catholic Church they are, for their Confirmation, to ‘adopt’ a saint as a personal patron, to seek guidance from the life experiences of that particular person, and to seek their intercession in prayer. A saint who will share the Confirming's faith journey, and connection to the Communion of Saints. Nearly sixty years ago I, along with other boys from my fourth grade class, chose St. John the Baptist as our saint for the Sacrament of Confirmation. While each student wisely choose a particular saint that reflects in some way their faith and character, I want to highlight three of the forty-five chosen.
St. José Luis Sánchez del Río was born on March 28, 1913 in Sahuayo, Mexico as the third of four children in his family. José loved his Catholic faith with a strong devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. When the Mexican government began to extinguish the influence of the Catholic Church by seizing churches, persecuting priests and religious, and shutting down Catholic schools, there was an organized rebellion against the government. Jose’ at age 12 joined those who fought against such anti-Catholic aggression. He was captured and tortured but would not recant his Catholic faith. Regardless of the threats, the persecution, he held fast to his faith and intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, finally martyred in February, 1928. Pope Francis canonized him in October, 2016. 
Blessed Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian teenager, died of leukemia at 15, and was beatified in 2020. In his short life span, he had a love of the Eucharist, displayed considerable computer skills, always for the use of good, of virtue, of spreading the Catholic faith amongst other teenagers struggling to find their place in this world within the love of God. His website documented Eucharistic miracles, earning him the title "patron saint of the Internet.” During his short life, Carlo used his skills to update and develop the websites and communication platforms of his parish and school, evangelizing to the youth and sharing the Good News using positive media that they could relate to within their own life journeys. For Carlo, information technology was a tool to share good news, to connect, and to do good.  St. Genesius of Rome is a legendary but little-known Christian saint from the late third century. Genesius was a talented comedian and actor who would mock the new converts to Christianity through his roles and onstage performances. During one particular play in which he scorned Christians by belittling the ritual of baptism, he had a spiritual experience on stage that immediately converted him. He proclaimed his conversion to Christianity, refusing to renounce it when the emperor Diocletian (who derisively persecuted Christians) ordered him to publicly do so. He was martyred in 303, and once canonized by the Catholic Church, Genesius became the patron saint of actors, musicians, comedians and lawyers. But a subtle reminder from St. Augustine: “There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.” Blessings to those who will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this Sunday. Especially, thank you parents for supporting and encouraging the Catholic faith within your family.
Our gospel passage from John on this Fifth Sunday of Lent has a mysterious background. Scripture scholars have concluded the ‘stoning of the adulterous woman’ was inserted in John’s gospel somewhere around the third century, noting that it has none of John’s style of writing or theology. Possibly, the individual (or copyist) who inserted this passage into John’s manuscript was attempting to emphasize Jesus’ exhortation, verse 18; “I pass judgment on no one.” With many hypotheses, no final conclusion of what Jesus may have wrote in the sand. Some scholars though have suggested a reference to Jeremiah 17:13, “those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord.” Regardless of how or who was responsible for this abrupt passage in John’s gospel, the Church feels it conveys a dynamic teaching. As Pope Francis said, “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: 'Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?' We must always consider the person.” As Mother Teresa affirms in brief: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” 
God Bless, Fr. Tim 
FYI: "April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." (William Shakespeare)