I find myself saying on every Labor Day weekend – “Can you believe that summer is over already!”  While summer is over in the sense of outdoor swimming pools and beaches we know summer doesn’t officially end until September 22 this year, so we still have time to enjoy God’s gift of the beauty of summer.  Don’t put those BBQ grills and patio deck chairs away just yet!  And one of the great things I enjoy about Labor Day weekend, it kicks off the college football season.  Go Irish!  But just as on Memorial Day weekend that unofficially starts the summer season, we don’t want to forget there is a reason for this holiday.  On Memorial Day, we remember those who have died defending the ideas and principals of our nations.  Labor Day, started in the 19^th century honors the American labor movement and the contribution that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of our country.  Our Church, through the teachings and proclamations of several popes and American bishops promote the dignity and rights of workers, as well as fair and just salaries.  So on this holiday weekend, let us not forget those who are un-employed, under-employed, and all who struggle to make ends meet.

As I did last year on the weekend after Labor Day, I will be speaking at all the Masses next weekend to share with you the annual fiscal report for the fiscal year July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018. I will share with you some of the highlights and good news for the past fiscal year as well as some of the budgetary needs for the current fiscal year that just started July 1^st.  As always I am so very grateful for the sacrificial support you have given to Our Lady of Mercy as well as the sharing of your time and talents in our various ministries and outreach programs.  The weekend of September 15^th and 16^th will be our annual stewardship commitment weekend for your financial support of OLM through the Sunday collection.  In the week prior to commitment weekend you will receive in the mail your commitment card.  As you review the materials and consider the needs I will outline next weekend, I ask you to prayerfully consider your weekly or monthly contribution, and if possible make a small increase to help us reach our goals for the 2018 – 2019 fiscal year.  Please bring your completed commitment card to Mass the weekend of September 15/16.  We will have cards in the pew in the event you forget your card.

Again, Fr. Mark and I are so very grateful for the spiritual support and affirmation you have given us, and we have seen that support by the increase in the Sunday collection for the year.  Please be assured that we remember you and thank God for you in our daily prayers!

Have a blessed Labor Day weekend!

Father Don

Today is the conclusion of the “bread of life” discourse from the Gospel of John.  We have been hearing this discourse for the past four Sundays.  Today’s reading focuses on the responses of different people to Jesus’ proclamation: that He is the true bread come down from heaven; that  he gives his flesh for the life of the world; that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood will never die.  Overall, the people were not impressed.  Their responses include grumbling, disbelief, rejection, and betrayal.  The Twelve however, in the name of Peter make a confession of faith to Jesus and remain committed to following him. It wasn’t until after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus that his followers begin to grasp the kind of intimacy with God that Jesus offers through the Eucharist.   At the Last Supper, Jesus leaves us his legacy.  “Do this in memory of me.”  How do we listen to Jesus’ challenge?  We often limit our thinking so that “Do this” only references the blessing, breaking, giving and sharing of the bread.  Jesus calls us to more.  What if we interpret “do this” as “Do my whole life” – healing, forgiving, including outsiders, challenging wrongful authority, taking time to go away and pray, serving others by washing feet – so that it is we who are blessed and broken open so that we can give and share of ourselves to feed the world?  Jesus still patiently waits for us to grasp the power he left within us.  When we act in loving ways we are using that power, the power of the Holy Spirit.  In my article last week, I shared with you that in the “bread of life” discourse, Jesus gave us a model for evangelization.  I informed you that we are in the preparation phase to feed both body and spirit of those who hunger for God, for love, for acceptance, for meaning by undertaking the Alpha initiative.  Our Lady of Mercy is preparing to be a new force of evangelization to Catholics, non-Catholics, non-believers, the lost, the lonely, the abandoned not only in our parish, but in our local community. All will be welcomed here!!

In the year and two months that Fr. Mark and I have been here, many have remarked to us of a re-vitalized energy and enthusiasm within the parish.  Praise God for the Spirit working and moving among our parishioners!  We have identified two areas that we realize we can’t do alone.  Evangelization and Communications.  A unique opportunity has arisen to hire an individual that can assist us – and you – become evangelizers and communicators.  I am pleased to inform you that I have hired parishioner Zara Tan as Director of Evangelization and Communications.  Zara has already been volunteering in the development of the new parish website and APP, as well as leading adult faith formation programs.  Zara graduated two years ago from the Lay Leadership Program at Mundelein and has a burning desire to reach those who don’t yet know Jesus and our Catholic Faith.  Zara will begin her position on September 3^rd.  Please welcome her to our staff!

Father Don

The most important belief and teaching of the Catholic Church, that distinguishes us from all other Christian denominations, is faith that Jesus is TRULY (not symbolically) present – body, soul and divinity in the consecrated elements of bread and wine.  And to make a point of how important this belief is, we have been hearing what is known as “the bread of life” discourse from the Gospel of John for 4 Sundays, with one more to go. And imagine, it all began with an unnamed boy giving what he had – 5 barley loaves and 2 fish!  As we have progressed over the weeks, Jesus has given us the model for evangelization.  In the multiplication of the loaves and fish, Jesus fed the physical hungers of the crowd, but he knew there were much deeper hungers to feed as well.  But before people could be open to the spiritual food Jesus would offer, he accepted first where they were at physically, emotionally and spiritually. He took care of their immediate needs. Only then could he gradually offer them a bread that would satisfy the much deeper hungers.  While most of us are well fed physically, we all have spiritual hungers that we need to satisfy as well.  We at Our Lady of Mercy are in the preparation stages to undertake an evangelization initiative this fall/winter that will speak to both, the physical and spiritual hungers of people.  This initiative is called Alpha.  In preparation to launch Alpha, currently the Parish Pastoral Council members and parish staff are experiencing Alpha with a weekly meal (dinner for the PPC and at lunch for the staff) and view a video and join in discussion afterward. The goal is to come to know Jesus.  Not academic head knowledge, but a deepening personal relationship.  Alpha is for those who have never heard of Jesus and his mission as well as for those in the pews that have a static or no real relationship with Jesus.  Coupled with Alpha, we will also be embracing what is called a paradigm shift to the way we think about being parish.  You will hear more about all this in the coming weeks and months.

In today’s gospel story, we are told that the people quarreled among themselves about how Jesus could give them his flesh to eat and blood to drink.  While that quarrel continues today among some Christians, let us embrace the mystery and come to feast on the body and blood of Jesus who gives us true food and drink.  This food leads us to the eternal banquet!

Have a blessed week!

Father Don

Correction to last week’s article….the substance of bread and wine DO change into the body & blood of Jesus….but the elements do not change…they still look like bread and wine.

In today’s Gospel Jesus continues his teaching that he is the Bread of Life.  In my homily for First Eucharist, I ask the children why it is necessary to eat every day?  And of course they know the answer:  to help us grow, be strong, and keep us alive.  Then I tell them there is another part of us that needs to grow, be strong and kept alive – and that is our spiritual self.  I tell them that the Eucharist is the original “soul” food! That Jesus is truly present in the bread and wine to feed our spiritual self.  What do you believe about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist?  A 2010 Pew Forum study found that 45 percent of U.S. Catholics did not know that Church’s teaching on the Eucharist, yet 63 percent of Catholics said they believed in it.  Only 46 percent of Catholics know the teaching about the Real Presence and believe in it.  Yet, from 800 AD to less than 25 years ago, over 175 Eucharistic miracles have been recorded and recognized by the Church.  And while we are not obliged to accept them as matter of faith, they can certainly bolster our faith and strengthen our belief in the Real Presence.  Here are just two of the miracles recorded:

   Lanciano, Italy around 750 AD: A priest, who had doubts about Christ’s real presence, was celebrating Mass.  When he consecrated the host, it transformed into flesh and blood.  Over the years, samples of the tissue have been scientifically tested.  The last testings were done in 1971 and 1981.  The flesh was found to be from the myocardium, the heart muscle that pumps blood.  The blood was human and the type AB positive.  The white blood cells showed that it was from living flesh.  Moreover, the sample indicated that the person had been in trauma consistent with a person who had been beaten about the chest.  The scientist performing the study did not know the source of the sample.  You can see this miracle in Lanciano, Italy today.

   Buenos Aires, Argentina, St. Mary Church, 1996, in the diocese of our present Pope Francis.  A woman brought an abandoned host to the priest after Mass.  He put it in water to dissolve it so it could be disposed of properly later.  When the priest checked the next day, the host had not dissolved, but he saw a bloody substance there.  He contacted the bishop.  The matter was kept silent, and the host was kept in water until October 5, 1999, when samples were taken for testing.  Findings were the same as with the Lanciano sample, including heart muscle, blood type and living tissue, indicating that the Eucharist was still bleeding.

The Church teaches that at consecration, the substance of bread and wine do not change, but the essence does.  These Eucharistic miracles are testimony that we do receive the living Christ in the Eucharist.  In Communion, we receive the bread of life from heaven.  We receive Christ – his strength, his love, his compassion.  We share in his divine life.  And in doing so, we shall not die!

Have a blessed week!

Father Don

Hurray! It’s Vacation Bible School Week!!  Welcome to all the children who will attend and be Shipwrecked only to be rescued by Jesus.  A big thank you to all the adult and teen volunteers who will lead our children through a week of fun, games, and learning about Jesus.  VBS takes place from 9:00AM to 12:00Noon this Monday – Friday.

Today is the annual Seminarian Send-Off sponsored by the Serra Club of DuPage County.  Founded in 1958, the members of the Serra Club encourage and affirm vocations to the priesthood and religious life through prayer and active fellowship.  Though a member of the international vocation apostolate Serra International, the DuPage club devotes most of its energies to fostering and promoting vocations in the Diocese of Joliet.  For 41 years, they have proudly sponsored the Diocese of Joliet Annual Seminarian Sendoff each August before the men return to the formal studies, priestly discernment and formation.  Nearly 400 people attend including the seminarians and their families, bishops and priests of the diocese, Sarrans, and many others who support vocations and the priesthood.  Today’s event is held at the Krasa Center on the campus of Benedictine University in Lisle.  If you are interested in joining the Serra Club, contact:  jmatyasik@SerraDuPage.com for more information.

So today we send-off parishioner Dave Diesem, who spent part of his summer in the Holy Land, to begin his 2^nd year of theology at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein.  Also, our intern seminarian, Senovio Sarabia, Jr. will be returning to St. Mary of the Lake to begin his 3^rd year of theology.  While seminarian Ramon Sida didn’t have any ministerial responsibilities at OLM, he lived here this summer while he and Senovio did a chaplain intern program at Northwestern Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield.  He will begin his third year of theology as well.  We wish Dave, Senovio and Ramon all the best, along with all our diocesan seminarians, as they continue their studies and discernment for the priesthood.

I hope you all enjoyed the Newman Singers with their director Joe Mattingly from the University of Iowa who led us in song at all the Masses on the weekend of July 14/15.  And their concert on Sunday evening was truly beautiful and inspirational!  I want to especially thank parishioner Carrie Nadziejko who arranged for them to be here and took care of all the details surrounding the Newman Singers visit.  Carrie sings in our choir, but has a special fondness for the Newman Singers, as she sang in the choir back when she was an undergraduate at the University of Iowa.  As St. Augustine said….those who sing pray twice!!  And as I say….if God gave you a rotten voice, give it back!  SING!!

Have a Blessed Week!

Father Don