Pastor’s Letter: June 22, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: June 22, 2025

20 Jun 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings to you all this day! I hope everyone is enjoying this month of June! We welcome this weekend Fr. John Bosco, who is a missionary priest from Uganda who is working in our Peoria Diocese. As we mentioned last week, the Diocese asks each parish to host an annual mission—which allows us the opportunity to recall how we are part of a Universal Church spread throughout the world! Having an annual mission also gives us the opportunity to share generously from the gifts God has given us.

This weekend we also celebrate Corpus Christi—The Body and Blood of Jesus. Of course, it is a day to recall the great gift of the Eucharist—our greatest treasure—and the joy of being in the true presence of Jesus—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. What a great gift!

As we approach this special celebration of the Eucharist, I’m also reminded of a now deceased priest, Fr. Robert Zylla. Fr. Zylla was a professor at the seminary and was quite advanced in age. Fr. Zylla was known for many things—he was an amazing teacher with a brilliant mind—he had completely memorized the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas…in both Latin and English! (1000s of pages!) Without a doubt, he was one of the best and most influential teachers I had. However, when I think of him, his academic abilities are not the first thing I think of. I picture him gingerly walking up toward the altar to begin Mass…he would do a full genuflection (touching the right knee down to the floor to honor the presence of Jesus in the tabernacle), sometimes shaking a bit, sometimes needing assistance to stand back up. Honestly, it was at times painful to watch. Several of us asked him once why he still did the genuflection since it was obviously so difficult. With a smile, he started talking in the familiar tone: “The whole center of my life as a priest revolves around the belief that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity who is almighty God, is truly present there. I genuflect to honor him and I genuflect to remind myself.” What a truly powerful witness!

Almost every time I genuflect, I think of that witness…and the teaching of another influential priest in my life…Msgr. Stuart Swetland.  Msgr. Swetland was the Head Chaplain at St. John’s Catholic Newman Center when I was a senior in college. He was famous for his preaching—very long but very teaching-packed homilies. Just after Easter that year, he was preaching about Jesus appearing to the apostles and having St. Thomas examine the nail holes. The response of St. Thomas was, “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:28). Msgr. Swetland shared that he said that exclamation every time he genuflected as a reminder that Jesus truly is alive and truly is present in our midst. Since that day, I often will say the same thing whenever I genuflect.

In the course of my life as a priest, I have the privilege of genuflecting several times a day. I think of the lived witness of Fr. Zylla…I think of the shared wisdom of Msgr. Swetland. I’m thankful for them and I’m challenged to make sure my own reverence and teaching will help others grow in the same way I have grown. This leads me to a spiritual challenge to share—the next time you enter our church and are greeted by the true presence of Christ in the tabernacle, what kind of reverence will you make?  How will you honor Jesus? How will you remind yourself of Who we believe is there?

Know of my prayers and blessing for you all this week!

In Christ,

Father Luke