I remember shortly after being ordained, I decided that my Lenten sacrifice was going to be giving up adult beverages.  I don’t drink all too often, but it was still a sacrifice I thought was worthy to give over to the Lord.  Ash Wednesday came and the following weekend was a big St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the town.  I went to the parade; seeing parishioners in their festive green gear and I visited houses in the midst of the all day celebration.  A simple question was asked, “Father, can I get you a drink?”  You would think that my keen memory would remember the sacrifices I was going to make 3 days ago; but I forgot and I gladly said, “Yes”.  It wasn’t until that night when I got back to the Rectory that I realized, only 3 days into Lent and I already failed in my Lenten resolve.  It was a humbling experience, but another opportunity to join the patriarchs and apostles, and ask the Lord for his unending mercy!

The story of Abram (Abraham) is a story of salvation history and example of God’s patience.  The Lord even in the midst of many of Abram’s failure never removed God’s desire to be with His people.  Abram was promised great things; a great nation, a great name (dynasty), and a worldwide blessing.  But there was a requirement that we missed; he had to leave his kin behind. If you were to read one line past our first reading, you would discover he took his nephew Lot.  Throughout Abram/Abraham’s story, he falls short many times failing to give a complete surrender to the Lord; yet the Lord is kind and merciful.

This is no different for the Apostles and those who follow the Lord.  The season of Lent is a season of repentance, turning back to the Lord.  Let us ask the Lord for that continued gift to seek his mercy without end.  No matter how many times we fall. 

“Christian holiness does not mean being sinless, but rather it means struggling not to give in and always getting up after every fall. Holiness does not stem so much from the effort of man’s will, as from the effort to never restrict the action of grace in one’s own soul, and to be, moreover, grace’s humble ‘partner.'” ~ Pope St. JPII

Father Michael

Perhaps you remember some of my subtle comments from my last Sunday homily, as well as my last article where I quoted from St. Justin Martyr, writing in AD 151: “We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration and is thereby living as Christ enjoined.” At every funeral and wedding I make a similar announcement: “If you are Catholic and properly prepared to receive Communion this day—which means you’ve been to confession within the last year—we’ll form two lines…If you’re not Catholic, I invite you to receive a blessing by crossing your arms like so because receiving Communion in our faith tradition is an outward profession of the Catholic faith and an acceptance of everything the Church teaches as being true. Thank you for respecting our religion!” Why say such a thing? Isn’t it exclusive?

Well, yes, yes it is, but with good reason. First of all, I don’t want anyone who doesn’t actually believe Church teaching to unconsciously outwardly profess what they don’t actually believe! For many Protestants, communion is an expression of welcoming and loving one’s neighbor no matter who they are. For Catholics, Communion is just that: a consummation of communion with Jesus and His Body, His Bride, our Mother, the Church. Thus, if one isn’t actually in communion with Jesus or his Church—whether by deed or belief—”there’s a grave contradiction between one’s life and the meaning and content of the Sacrament.” (Feingold’s The Eucharist) St. Thomas refers to this as “lying to the sacrament.” The Church calls this “sacrilege”.

Those are strong words! Why?? Secondly, because Communion isn’t just a symbolic action: it is also Jesus Himself! It contains what it signifies. Thus St. Paul tells us: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and only then eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.” (1 Cor 11:27-29) St. Paul literally claims that people are getting sick and dying because they are receiving Communion when they shouldn’t! That’s a weird conclusion if Communion were just a symbol of God’s love for all people, but a perfectly understandable conclusion if Communion is our reception of Jesus Christ crucified for our sins.

Think of it this way: imagine a spouse who is discovered to be cheating on his wife, and then presumes to enter into the marital act with his wife without first apologizing. How insulting! You broke communion and seek bodily union without first owning your sin and seeking reconciliation?!  How much more disrespectful if we do that to our infinitely good God! That’s what we do if we presume to receive Communion if we’ve committed serious sins and not first gone to the sacrament of reconciliation. This is why the Church enjoins us as one of her five precepts: “You shall confess your sins at least once a year.” (CCC 2042) Jesus wants to forgive us our sins, and He gave us a sacrament for that too! Like a good parent, He wants us to humble ourselves, take responsibility for our sins, explicitly name them and ask for pardon, and only then presume to become one-flesh with Him. 

There are many reasons why someone wouldn’t receive Communion at Mass—maybe they accidentally broke the Eucharistic fast, don’t feel sufficiently recollected, arrived late, etc. Better that we care about offending God than worrying about what others might think of us if we don’t receive Communion every Mass! Remember my homily: Mass is more than just getting Communion. Taking Communion more seriously will seriously increase the amount of grace we receive when we do receive Him! May God bless you.

Father James

Our donors help ensure the works of the Lord can continue to be made possible throughout our diocese. It’s through gifts to the CMAA that our diocesan-wide ministries help feed and shelter the homeless, educate seminarians, teach our faith to children and adults through catholic schools and religious education programs, care for retired priests, and more.

Every gift—large and small—is appreciated and will help us to meet our goal. We encourage you to watch our testimonials and witness how your gifts will bless our ministries. Thank you to the many people who have demonstrated to those in need that we all belong to God through their gifts to the 2023 Catholic Ministries Annual Appeal (CMAA).

A Reflection from Bishop Hicks

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In his first Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul tells us, “… all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God” (1 Cor 3:22-23).

After much reflection on this passage, I believe St. Paul is essentially saying, “We belong to God!” Not only does this perfectly encapsulate the baptized missionary disciples of the Diocese of Joliet, but also how we choose to live out the Gospel through our support of the Catholic Ministries Annual Appeal (CMAA).

When we give to the CMAA, we not only show our love of God, but we also demonstrate and share God’s love with our neighbors. Every day across the Diocese of Joliet, because of your generosity, we serve people in need through Catholic Charities, form the next generation of faithful in our Catholic schools and parishes, and educate the men who will serve as our priests.

Each of us is asked to prayerfully reflect on the love God has for us as well as Christ’s Church. We are asked to put that love into action by caring for our neighbors. The stories and videos of individuals featured on our website pages demonstrate how gifts to the CMAA allow us to care for our neighbors.

I invite you to put your faith into action, with love, and make your pledge today.

Peace,
Most Reverend Ronald A. Hicks
Bishop of Joliet

When I was in college, I had a college sweet heart; her name was Katie and we met through our involvement at the Newman center at the University of Illinois.  When it came to my own spiritual growth, Katie played a very important role in my life challenging me to grow closer in my relationship to the Lord.  Katie and I dated for over year and during that time we were making plans for our engagement and wedding.  Clearly the Lord had other plans!

I learned many things about myself during that relationship.  One great spiritual lesson I learned was the following: “rules without relationship leads to rebellion.”  I learned as I was dating that rules necessarily come with relationships. I had to learn to communicate, to inform my decision-making not just based on myself but on her needs and perspectives as well, and to make various sacrifices for the sake of the relationship.  When the relationship was going well, the rules were easy and simple to follow!

However, when difficulties arose in the relationship, I started reevaluating at the all of the rules.  For example, why can’t I spend time with my other friends on the weekend?  Can I not decide to do with my free time as I wish? …you can probably sense the rebellious nature in the very questions themselves.

It is no different in our faith.  What is clear in our readings—including in our Gospel—is that the law and commandments are part of what is required to follow Christ.  It’s when we focus solely on the rules that we have a tendency to want to rebel.  Thus, when I experience temptations towards rebellion springing up in my heart, I have to stop and ask myself: How is my relationship with the Lord? My relationship with his Bride, the Church? 

Lent quickly approaches us, and the Church will be asking us to make the sacrifices of increased fasting, praying, and almsgiving.  To some, this might feel like just another set of rules to remember, but I would like to challenge you to remember that rules without relationship inevitably lead to rebellion! Let’s keep our hearts fixed first and foremost on our relationship with the One without which these rules wouldn’t make sense!

Father Michael

The Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life”. (Lumen Gentium, 11) It is our direct contact with the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As St. John Paul II put it, “The Church constantly draws her life from the redeeming sacrifice; she approaches it not only through faith-filled remembrance, but also through a real contact, since this sacrifice is made present ever anew, sacramentally perpetuated, in every community which offers it at the hands of the consecrated minister. The Eucharist thus applies to men and women today the reconciliation won once for all by Christ for mankind in every age.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 12)

There’s a lot riding on the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (the bread and wine change substantially into the Body and Blood of Jesus), so if we have any doubts about Jesus’ intentions when he instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, let’s listen to how the early Christians unerstood what Jesus meant by the words “This is my body…do this in remembrance of me.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing in AD 110: “I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible.” (Letter to the Romans 7:3)

“Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes.” (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1)

St. Justin Martyr, writing in AD 151: “We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus” (First Apology 66)

St. Irenaeus, writing in AD 189: “He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life—flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is in fact a member of him?” (Against Heresies, 5:2).

Father James