Pastor’s Letter: May 25, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: May 25, 2025

23 May 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings to you all this weekend!  I hope all of you enjoy it—know of my prayers for anyone who is traveling and for God’s blessing on all gatherings this weekend. Each year, Memorial Day weekend is one that the priests of the Diocese look forward to—celebrating together our priesthood ordinations. One of my favorite parts is how each priest has his own way of welcoming new brothers to serve alongside us in our Diocese. Some will go with the traditional “Congratulations!” and “Welcome aboard!”  Others will say things like, “We are glad to have you with us!” or “The people at St ___ are great; you will love it there!” My favorite are the simple reminders of what a joyful life it is to serve God and his people in our Diocese. Please pray for our three new priests ordained this weekend and that God will bless their service to our Diocese. We will look forward to welcoming back Fr. Ben Schoonmaker for our 4:30pm Mass on June 7—what a great joy!

In recent weeks, I have overheard several people talking about whether or not we have new bells that we are using at Mass. When they have asked me, I have answered, yes and no…they are actually old bells but we did recently start using them after Easter. Our previous bells came apart during the joyful Easter ringing…so as a quick fix I swapped them with another set of bells that we had in storage. Several altar servers right away commented on how they are easier to ring and a few people have noticed the slightly different sound to the ring—perhaps a gift that does exactly what the bells are supposed to do for us! Just like in other parts of our lives, bells/signals/alarms help us to notice when something important is happening. For many of our students, the bells ringing throughout the day lets them know when it is time to switch classes, go to lunch, or get ready to go home at the end of the day. In the Mass, the bells are traditionally rung to catch our attention at a key moment…in some of our Masses (daily and 7:30am Sunday), a bell signals it is time for Mass to begin. During the Mass, the bells alert us to the moments of calling down the Holy Spirit upon the gifts on the altar and the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. These are incredibly important moments in the Mass…so a different bell sound than we are used to in that moment can refresh our attention to our Lord becoming truly present on the altar. What a gift!  What started as a practical switch has become a nice helpful signal for us!

You might have noticed a couple of other things that are both old and new…the altar cloths we have been using during the Easter season are a combination of cloths we had in storage and a few we received from St. Patrick in Ransom, IL, which closed earlier this year. When talking with their pastor, I had asked if they had a destination for any extra altar cloths—they had a couple which didn’t fit with their new combined church, but just happened to be a perfect fit here for us! Another item that is new to us from St. Patrick in Ransom is the pedestal Holy Water font in the mosaic area of our link hallway. I know several people have asked over time if we could have a font in that location—I’m happy to say it is another great fit that keeps in use a liturgical treasure from our Diocese. For those of you that pass by this font, please say a prayer for the people of Ransom during their transition and that their new church will be a true spiritual home that helps them be close to the heart of Jesus. I pray that it will serve us well in the months and years ahead!

One more great treasure from our storage here—a set of six tall candlesticks which you will see in the near future. These six candlesticks match our Easter candle stand and typically would be used near the tabernacle to add some additional honor to our Lord’s presence there and some extra solemnity to the celebration of Mass. Some churches also would use them on the sides of the front altar which we use during Mass. If you can’t tell, one of the things I really enjoy is connecting with our past ancestors in the faith through using some of these special liturgical items. For me, it is a great reminder of how we are united in Christ, even over the distance of time and place. I hope that our prayer together at Mass will be enriched and refreshed through some of these special things—may the Lord reward the generosity of those who provided them. Know of my prayers and blessing for you all this week!

In Christ,

Father Luke