Pastor’s Letter: April 24

Pastor’s Letter: April 24

22 Apr 2022 | Posted by: chadmin

The April 24 bulletin is available online.

Dear friend,

I hope you had a Blessed Easter Celebration. We had truly beautiful celebrations at St. Philomena. It’s always great to see so many people come to Easter Mass. Christmas and Easter are not only pinnacle feast days of our faith, but also great opportunities to celebrate the gift of life and relationship with our loved ones. As we conclude the Octave of Easter and continue our celebration of the Easter Season, I am thankful for the parish celebration of the Lenten and Easter feasts. Each year it seems to pass so quickly, but each year brings a new experience of the Passion. As a liturgical people, Catholics repeat the high feasts year after year as a means of deepening our understanding and allowing God to consistently move us in the right direction.

As the Bishops of Illinois reinstated the obligation to attend Sunday Mass, I think we noticed an uptick in attendance the last two weeks. Hopefully all areas of our society are on the path of returning some of the former ways.

Every year at the Easter Vigil, each church receives new members into full initiation in the Church. Last week, we had 15 adults and 3 children enter into communion. At our last class on Tuesday, our new members had the opportunity to personally express aspects of their journey. Part of me wishes that the whole parish could hear the profound expressions of gratitude, wonder, forgiveness, acceptance and belonging that our new Catholics express. These dialogues are rightly ordered to be shared within the small group of the class, but please know our parish community had a great effect on these new Catholics. Many of them reflected not only on the discovery of truth, but also on the genuine expression of love of humanity at our parish. Each year many express the feeling of being welcomed home at St. Philomena and a place of spiritual comfort that invited them to a sense of belonging. All new members to a church are a gift to and an opportunity for community-wide celebration. May the Lord continue to provide us new growth. Happy Easter.

God bless,

Father David