Dear Parish Family, From the gospel of Luke, we read the passage about Jesus curing ten lepers. In those days, being infected with leprosy was a terrible thing. It was a great suffering, not only for the consequences of the illness as such, but for the social consequences that a leper faced. As soon as a person was infected with leprosy, he/she was declared unclean by a priest. The person was forbidden from any public appearance and forced to live outside the city until he or she died. A leper was a person without any hope whatsoever. Notice the details in the Gospel: as Jesus was entering a village, ten lepers met him. The lepers stood at a distance from Jesus and raised their voices saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” Out of compassion for the undignified life conditions, Jesus ordered them, “Go and show yourselves to the priest.” And as they were going they were cleansed. The priest was the one who declared them unclean and so it will be the priest who will declare them clean. We may ask, in what way did Jesus’ healing miracle impact the lives of these ten men? First, they were free from leprosy. But even more important, they were allowed to come in and live in the city with their families and other people. They could enjoy the security of being in the city. They were allowed to enter the temple and worship God. Jesus, therefore, cured their illness, restored their dignity and gave them their place back in society and the right to enter the temple for worship. I think in our time, society is much better prepared to deal with people with contagious diseases than back in the time of Jesus. I remain though with Jesus’ act of mercy: restoring the ten lepers’ dignity. I think about the times I have gone to Confession. God cleansed me from my sins. It is like God removing something dirty from me which affects my dignity as a person. God restores our dignity in the sacrament of Confession. There are many other moments in which God restores our dignity and gives us back the place in our family and community which we deserve. God bless you all. Father Lopez
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Dear Parish Family, Next Sunday it will already be October. Religious Education is in their third week. We have consolidated all grades of catechesis to Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. We are also offering a combined program of devotions and catechesis for parents who have children in religious education. These sessions will take place during RE classes either in the church or at the Parish hall. October has been declared by the Catholic Church in the United States as Pro-Life month. Pro-Life Ministry has organized a set of activities for St. Patrick Church. Every weekend you will receive a flyer regarding Pro-Life topics. These topics will cover post abortion healing, miscarriages, infertility, suicide, etc. These themes inform us and make us aware of the need to pray and to give counseling to those families who have been affected by one of these difficult situations. We are also invited to participate in the Baby Bottle Boomerang, a baby shower for Giana’s House, and a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI. Watch for more information in the upcoming bulletins. The Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe will be on Saturday, October, 29th. If you choose to leave earlier, we will all meet at 10 am at the Shrine. As you may know, His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke was the founder of that beautiful shrine. During my years of seminary formation at Saint Louis, MO, I had the opportunity to speak with Cardinal Burke on several occasions, as he was the Archbishop for the diocese of St. Louis. He told me that his vision was to spread the devotion of Our Lady of Guadalupe and to entrust the unborn to her the protection . He personally asked me, as a priest for the diocese of Rockford, to organize pilgrimages to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I hope that I will see you there on October 29th and spend a day of prayer together. God bless you. Father Lopez Dear Parish Family, The core and center of our worship is the Sunday Mass. As we come to celebrate the Sunday Mass, we become God’s chosen people. The Holy Eucharist is a communal prayer. This communal prayer takes us through different moments. We are called to sing, to pray, to meditate, to listen, to worship. In other words, we are called to live the Holy Eucharist in full, conscious and active participation. We are called to live the Holy Eucharist with the fullness of mind, heart, and body. We come to the Holy Eucharist as a whole. We are conscious about who we are: God’s people, His disciples. We are called to go out and proclaim the good news to the world. We offer our very self; our joys and sadness, our achievements and failures, our supplications and thanks. We are aware that we are participating in the mystery of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. We are conscious of Christ’s divine presence through the bread and wine being transformed into his Body and Blood. Active participation in the Holy Eucharist does not mean that everyone should be an usher, lector, extra-ordinary ministry of Holy Communion, etc. Being active means that we are called to be aware of every moment during the Holy Eucharist; we are asked to stand, to sit, to listen, to kneel, to pray and to sing. Singing is one of the primary ways that we are called to actively participate in the liturgy. We are encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalms, antiphons, and hymns. The Sunday Mass is the most beautiful communal prayer which we can offer to God. It is a divine dialogue between God and us. It is a life transforming moment to us. God bless you all. -Father Lopez Dear parish family,
As a priest, it is for me a blessing and a great joy to celebrate the sacraments with you and for you. God instituted the seven sacraments so that He could still be with us. They are the most suitable channels through which He bestows his blessings upon us. The Sacrament of Holy Anointing is that sacrament through which God’s divine presence is with us in those times of illness. It is the sacrament through which God bestows his healing grace and restores us to good health of body and spirit. This sacrament is an invitation to unite our sufferings with Christ’s passion. It strengthens our soul and rises our confidence in God’s Divine Mercy. It increases our trust in God, makes us strong to resist temptation and keeps us from despair. If it is God’s time to call us to his presence, through the Sacrament of Holy Anointing He forgives the person’s sins. The priest also has the possibility to proclaim the prayer of Apostolic Pardon upon the dying; through which God releases the person from temporal punishments and prepares him/her to the journey from this life to eternal life. I am always attentive to your requests for the sacrament of Holy Anointing for you or for someone in your family. The person (or a relative on behalf of the person if the person is not able to) needs to express a desire to receive the sacrament. As you know I go once a month to visit with and pray for our parishioners who are receiving treatments at care centers. I also go and visit them at home or hospitals upon individual requests. Every first Wednesday of the month we begun to celebrates the Sacrament of Holy Anointing during morning Mass. Last Wednesday was our first celebration and I am very pleased that eighteen of our parishioners requested the sacrament and were anointed during morning Mass. It was also a great blessing to see the community praying together for those who are in need of God’s healing grace. Our next morning Mass with Holy Anointing will be October fifth. God bless you all.—Father Lopez Dear Parishioners, We are less than three months away from presidential elections. And to be honest, it has been a bit too much for me to take. Any time I watch news on TV, read a newspaper or search media I come across a lot of information about the campaigns or candidates which I consider less than relevant for the presidential elections. Despite that, I believe we have the responsibility as faithful citizens to be well informed about the political agenda of each candidate, so that we can ensure a well-informed vote and conscience. Since my arrival to the United States back in May 2006, I have observed in the last two presidential campaigns (and the current one is no exception) that the main themes which draw people’s attention are economy, security, and immigration. Certainly they should be of high concern for every US citizen during these times of economic upheaval, eminent retreats from terrorism, and needed immigration reforms. As Catholics, nonetheless, we need to question and demand clear answers from the candidates about the main moral teachings, which lately have not been protected and endorsed by federal laws and policies. Unless we clearly understand the Church’s teaching on the sacredness and dignity of human life, sacramental marriage and the Catholic understanding of human sexuality, we will not be able to exercise our duty as faithful citizens at the voting poll. Unless we clearly understand the church’s position on the intrinsic evil of abortion, euthanasia, same sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, among others, our decision might not be in accord with the Church’s teaching. Therefore, we should take time to learn or to refresh the Church’s teachings on these matters before we approach the day of election. Please take the “Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics.” Make time to read and meditate on these highly important topics before you approach the voting poll. We have also prepared a booklet titled: “Prayers for Our Nation.” This booklet will be available for those of you who come for weekday masses and time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Praying for our nation and candidates is also of high importance and a way to prepare ourselves. God bless you all. Fr. Lopez Dear Parish Family, After listening to Jesus’s preaching in regard to the kingdom of God and the many obstacles or distractions which put at risk our salvation, someone in the crow asked Him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Immediately a respond came from Jesus, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” The answer was short and clear, the door is open for everyone but it does not mean that everyone will be saved. We must do merits in this life in order to be recipients of the great gift of eternal life. As we listen to Jesus’ words in today’s gospel we come to understand that his love for every person in this world is equal. He is willing to shower every person with his Divine Mercy. In fact, he offered himself on the cross as a ransom for all. The question is am I willing to accept and embrace his Divine Mercy? We must accept God in our lives through an open profession of faith. We must seek and ask for his mercy. We must strive to live a life according to his plan for us. The devotion to the Divine Mercy of Jesus is so beautiful. As I get to know more about this devotion and grow more in love for this devotion I learned that it is about acknowledging God’s great love for us. It is about his willingness to cleans us from our sins and faults. It is about his willingness to offer his very self to us in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. I also notice that this devotion is also very close the heart of the people of St. Patrick. We are looking forward to share this beautiful devotion to the Community of Rochelle this weekend. For this purpose we will host a booth in downtown Rochelle on Saturday and Sunday. The St. Patrick’s Float, which will accompany us through the parade, is also dedicating to the Divine Mercy. God bless you all. Father Lopez Dear Parish Family, Having reminded the apostles and the crowd that facing the coming judgment takes patience, Jesus now goes on to speak of how difficult it will be for us to wait. He tells them that he has come to set the earth on fire. Fire is an image commonly used by St. Luke. Back in chapter 3 of Luke’s gospel, John the Baptist says to those who come to him for baptism, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3: 16). It is also St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles who describes the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles with tongues as of fire (Acts 2: 1-3). Fire is of common use for all cultures at any given time. A benefit of fire is to warm places and people on chilly days. It also has the power to transform, to destroy or consume that which is on fire. The tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost was a visible presence of the Holy Spirit in that unique moment for the apostles. It was a transformative fire. That fire filled the apostles with divine knowledge. They were able to speak in different languages and therefore to proclaim God’s message to all. The meaning of fire in today’s gospel is a fire which consumes and destroys. Jesus came to set the world on fire through his passion, death and resurrection. Jesus’ fire destroys death and sin and re-establishes for us the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life. In the sacrament of Confession we receive a purifying fire which wipes away our sins and brings us back to grace. We are not used to hearing these difficult words from Jesus. His words in today’s gospel nonetheless state the truth. It is necessary for us to be reminded that living nowadays according to Jesus’ teaching is not easy and will bring about conflicts; sometimes internal conflict in our own self and other times social conflicts with those who strongly rejects the Christian values. Today’s gospel is an invitation to be always prepared. God bless you all. -Father Lopez Dear Parish family,
We are celebrating the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time. There are two main messages which brought my attention as I meditated with the readings for this Sunday; be faithful to God and be prepared for his coming. In the Book of Wisdom we read that before a plague came upon the Egyptian families as they lost their firstborn, God allowed the Jewish families to be prepared as they celebrated the Passover and made an oath of fidelity to God. The Jewish families in Egypt were saved from the terrible famine which came upon the people in the Egyptian territory. They were saved because they were kept in vigil and made the oath of fidelity to God. We learned through the second reading to the Hebrews that Abraham’s profound faith in God gave him the ability to trust in Him. Abraham trusted God and set off in a journey to the promise land. Even though he did not live in the promise land for a day, he knew that the generation after him will live in that blessed land. Abraham was faithful to God because he knew his journey was doing God’s plan and his fidelity to God will turn into blessings for all. In today’s Gospel, (Luke 12: 32-48) Jesus makes an urgent call for us to be always prepared. To be prepared for the day when God will come and bring to fulfilment his kingdom or to be prepared for the day He will call us to eternal life. He invites us to be like servants who await their masters’ return from a wedding. If we are prepared, we will be recipients of God’s great gift to us which is eternal life. Upon Peter’s question, Jesus gives us the example of a faithful and prudent steward who will be rewarded by his master for his honest work. Being obedient and faithful to God is the way. Being obedient and trusting in Him is the best way to be watchful and to be prepared. By praying we speak to God and by reading sacred scriptures God speaks to us. God bless you all. Father Lopez Dear Parish Family, Allow me to share with you a short Lectio Divina based on the Gospel’s passage for this Sunday. Lectio Divina is a method to read and pray with Sacred Scriptures. Here I follow four steps: To pray (calling and placing oneself before God), To read (seeking God’s wisdom), To meditate (finding God’s wisdom) and Contemplation (prayer of gratitude). 1. Prayer a. I pray to you good Jesus, that as you have given me the grace to drink in with joy the word that gives knowledge of you, so in your goodness you will grant me to come at length to yourself, the source of all wisdom, to stand before your face forever. Amen. -St. Bede. 2. Reading (Luke 12:13-21) a. Setting and people: This teaching moment took place on the streets of Jerusalem and therefore it was not a private event between Jesus and his disciples rather it was a public event. The people in the passage are Jesus, the person who made the request to Jesus, the crowd (among them were simple Jewish people, Sadducees, Pharisees, the disciples), the rich man in the parable, and God the Father. b. Drama and themes: a man in the crowd asked Jesus to be the judge between him and his brother about their inheritance. To whom Jesus replied, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Jesus saw the opportunity to teach not just to the man who asked but to the whole audience present there. The themes are about the sins of greed and laziness, about material possessions, earthly treasures, heavenly treasures among others. 3. Meditation a. By reading God’s word, I find a call to be aware of the proper use for material possessions. It is an invitation to live only with that which is strictly necessary, to avoid accumulation of unnecessary things which makes life more difficult. It is also an invitation to be generous with others by sharing my material blessings. It is an opportunity to make an honest examination of conscience and see whether I have been affected by the sins of envy or laziness and seek forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession. I learned that even when we enjoy many material blessings such as housing, cars, and jobs we cannot forget to work for the treasures which endure forever. We cannot forget that which make us grow in holiness such as prayer, sacraments, devotions, etc. 4. Contemplation a. Loving God, I praise you for your kindness and mercy towards me. I am grateful for the many blessings you bestow upon me: for family, the community of St. Patrick, good health, the great people you have called me to work with. Make St. Patrick a great family of love and service. Amen Dear Parish Family, This past Tuesday, we held a meeting with the Adult Faith Formation Committee. The purpose of this meeting was to evaluate the recent programs we have offered to the community and to plan for new programs as we continue to find ways to strengthen the ongoing formation for our parishioner. As you know, we registered the parish last November for a one year term to FORMED.ORG. It is the best online catholic teaching resource all in one place. We are aware that only those families who have computers and internet at home have full access to this resource. So far, we have eighty nine people registered to FORMED.ORG. It is also designed to organize study groups for gatherings to learn more about their Catholic faith. We have decided that FORMED.ORG is a great program to have, and so we are planning to renew the parish registration this coming November for one more year. I am looking forward to meeting with the Communications Committee on Monday, July 25th. This will be the second meeting since we began working with this group. On August 1st, we have scheduled a regular meeting with the Parish Finance Council. Currently we are evaluating the conditions of the parish parking lot. On Saturday, August 6th, we will host the first meeting with the Men’s Ministry. We pray and hope to create an environment of discipleship and fellowship for the men of St. Patrick Parish. On August 9th, we will meet with the Parish Pastoral Council. The pastoral council oversees the different ministries and committees and gives advice to the pastor about pastoral initiatives. I know that it is summer and several of you are taking time off; however, before the busy season of school and fast coming Advent arrive, we need to take time for planning and organizing ministries and committees. I am very pleased to see many of you taking active roles in the different ministries and committees in the parish; and for that, I want to thank you. God bless St. Patrick’s Church. Fr. Lopez |
Rev. Johnson LopezFather Lopez is Pastor of Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Rochelle, IL. Categories
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