March 10 – Fourth Sunday of Lent

You can find many statistics and studies pointing to the fact that faith in first world countries is in decline. The question “why is this happening?” can be asked. How could the cultures and countries that were instrumental in the spread of the Catholic faith now be lacking in faith? One thing I would propose is that we are going too fast. These countries and peoples, which include us, are not taking time to recollect, reflect, and pray.

Have you ever tried to recall an event that happened suddenly in your life, such as an accident?  Many times, we struggle to put all the details together. Or have you ever tried to capture information while traveling down a highway? If you aren’t giving your complete attention, you will miss all the details as you go by.

In our first reading, in the midst of the sorrow and sadness of being in exile, King Cyrus issues a decree allowing the Jewish people to return to their land and rebuild their temple. Here the Lord is acting through a world leader. As the Jewish people return to rebuild, they still mourn because the new temple would never measure up to the glory of Solomon’s original temple. The people were failing to see God’s hand in it, despite the fact that he had freed them from years of captivity and oppression.

In our second reading, St. Paul asks the people of Ephesus to recall God’s Mercy in Christ. In a way, they had forgotten about it, maybe due to the busyness of their lives. How many times have we been so caught up in our busyness that we fail to recall God’s Mercy in our lives? Do we fail to reflect on what Christ has done for you and me?

Finally, in our Gospel today Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, a sign that he was searching for the true Light of the World. It was also at a time when there was nobody else around. Nicodemus went to encounter Christ when the world was sleeping; he went to seek him in the silence.  This first encounter would lead to Nicodemus’s conversion, and eventually to his acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice, as he would help bury our Lord’s body after the Crucifixion. 

What can we do to grow in our faith, especially in the season of Lent?  May I encourage us to slow down, take time to recollect, and reflect on the way the Lord has worked, is working, and continues to work in our lives? May we never get too busy to miss the workings of the Lord and his presence in our lives, thanking him for all the good he has done for us.

Father Michael

March 3 – Third Sunday of Lent

When I was a little kid, I would watch a show called The Big Comfy Couch, in which most of the adventures took place on the eponymous sofa. One of my favorite segments of the show was the “Ten Second Tidy.” At the end of the show, the characters would clean up the mess they made in ten seconds by comically shoving everything into the couch cushions. Of course, this show influenced how I cleaned as a child.

One day, as we were leaving a friend’s house, my mom said I had to clean up my mess really quickly before we left. “Ten second tidy?” I said. She nodded, probably thinking I meant that I would clean really fast. When we got back home, my mom received a phone call from my friend’s mom. “We can’t find our remote control. Do you have any idea where it might be?” She looked at me for a second and replied, “Have you checked your couch cushions?”

Even now as an adult, I still do not enjoy cleaning, and much of my “tidying” probably still resembles shoving everything out of sight into the couch cushions. During this Lent, we are called to do a kind of “spring cleaning” of our souls. But left to ourselves, our cleaning might look more like a “ten second tidy,” shoving problems out of sight rather than truly removing them from our lives. So how can we truly clean our souls?

In the Gospel, where Jesus makes a whip and drives all the money changers out of the Temple. What does that have to do with us? John gives us a clue: “But he was speaking about the temple of his body.” Jesus refers to His body as a Temple, and because we are joined to His Body through Baptism, St. Paul can call our bodies Temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19).

We need to invite Jesus to cleanse the temples of our bodies and souls of any sin. We do this primarily through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but as we go to receive this sacrament during Lent, we should take Jesus as a model of the attitude we need to have toward sin. He doesn’t allow any of the money changers to remain in the Temple, but drives them completely out. In the same way, we cannot make any compromises with sin, but resolve to drive it completely out of our lives.

This driving out of the money changers isn’t without purpose. The Temple is a place of communion with God, and even more so the Temple of the Body of Christ. So we allow Jesus to cleanse the temples of our souls so that we can enter more deeply into communion with Him, especially through the Holy Eucharist. As we prepare for Easter, let’s remember that going to Confession shouldn’t be a “ten second tidy,” but a true cleansing of our sins so that Jesus can fill us with His Presence.

Father Frank

February 25 – Second Sunday of Lent

Well, we are in the season of Lent again!  And for some reason, every year the sacrifices seem to get harder, not easier. The thought might come across our minds: “do I have to sacrifice anything this year?”  It sometimes seems that we find ourselves going in circles. As we see in our yearly liturgical calendar, the weeks flow from Advent to Christmas into Ordinary Time, and from there they flow into Lent, Easter, and finally back to Ordinary Time again. We continue to see this cycle repeat each subsequent year.    

This repetitive pattern might look like we are going in circles, but what if there is something else going on. What if the Lord is using this pattern to help us enter more deeply into our relationship with Him?  One image that was given to me over 20 years ago has helped me tremendously in moving away from only going in circles. Instead, it helped me see the growth and depth that the repetition of the liturgical calendar has in our spiritual lives.  All you need to do is go to your nearby garage or wood shop; grab a wooden board, a screwdriver and screw.  When you start putting the screw into the board, it seems to simply go in circles if you looked at it solely from the top. You only need to look at it from the side to realize that the screw is not just stationary, but it is going deeper into the board!   

People may not like repetition, but it is in the repetition, the going in circles, that we can actually enter more deeply into the Paschal Mystery of God: his Passion, death, and Resurrection. It’s the constant sacrifices that allow us to enter into the greater joy of Christ’s Resurrection! So, if you are frustrated that it is the Lenten season again, I encourage you to look at the ways the Lord is trying to grow deeper in relationship with you. Then, I guarantee that the sacrifices won’t be so difficult!

“Brethren, Lent is already galloping past and the soul rejoices at the imminence of Easter, because by it, it finds rest and is relieved of many toils.”- St. Theodore the Studite  

Father Michael

February 18 – First Sunday of Lent

As a kid, I loved to watch the Tobey Maguire Spiderman with my dad and my brother. Because of this, I was dismayed when they decided to reboot the series with a new actor, Andrew Garfield, and I refused to watch it. After this, it was rebooted once again with another actor, Tom Holland. I thought, “If I didn’t watch the Andrew Garfield reboot, I’m definitely not going to watch this one.” But in the most recent Spiderman movie, No Way Home, something surprising happened. (This movie came out in 2021, so I don’t feel guilty about giving spoilers). The filmmakers decided to bring back the two other Spiderman actors, and make them part of the story, as Spidermen from different universes. As a result, their stories continued and were even able to find satisfying conclusions.

At first glance, it seems like God is trying to reboot humanity in the Great Flood, having Noah replacing Adam in the starring role of the father of humanity. And if this were the case, it would seem to be a mistake. Noah ultimately has his own fall like Adam, and evil still persists in the heart of man. But God is not really trying to reboot humanity. If anything, He is showing us that this is impossible. In the First Reading, God renews the covenant with creation that He had created with Adam and promises never to allow a Great Flood to destroy humanity in the future. He invites Noah to remember Adam, giving him an opportunity to return to Adam’s goodness while also having a chance to move beyond his mistakes.

Throughout salvation history, we see many more figures arise like Noah, receiving a chance to enter into relationship with God, but to greater or lesser degrees falling short. Finally, in the Gospel, we come to Jesus, and perhaps once again, it seems like a reboot. Like Adam, Jesus is tempted by Satan, and like Adam, Jesus lives in harmony with angels and wild beasts. But unlike Adam, Jesus conquers Satan, and as He does this, He is not trying to erase the memory of Adam. Instead, He is beginning a new chapter in the story, in fact the culmination of the story. Jesus takes up everything that has come before Him, but rather than erasing it or repeating it, He fulfills it.

As we begin Lent, it might seem like it’s time for a reboot, to give up what we’ve done in the past and start again. As tempting as it might be, we shouldn’t try to start with a blank slate. Instead, we should see it as a new chapter in our story, a chapter where we begin again, while also keeping in mind all that has gone before us to help us to avoid similar sins in the future. This Lent is the latest part of our story, and with God’s help, we don’t have to reboot it, but instead write the most interesting chapter so far.

Father Frank

February 11 – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This weekend, we continue reflecting on the Gospel according to Mark. We reflect upon Jesus miraculously healing a leper and then instructing him to tell only the priests. The leper, in turn, disobeys Jesus and publicizes his healing to the crowds.

The Church invites us to reflect on this Gospel passage in light of the first and second readings. The first reading gives us context for understanding leprosy. Isolating those with leprosy was good for the public health of the community, but in the time of Jesus being afflicted with leprosy was also a spiritual matter. If you were afflicted with leprosy, you could not go to worship. Thus, being afflicted with leprosy meant a disruption in your relationship with God. Leprosy then, is a powerful image of sin. It gradually takes hold of a person, and even those around them become affected after prolonged exposure.

The second reading continues with the idea that our actions have outward effects. It is important to not only consider the good our actions do for us, but also how they can impact others. Effectively, this means there are certain actions we should avoid doing, not because they are bad, but because they may be a source of scandal for others growing in their faith. For example, living a life of extreme luxury without any sense of simplicity or solidarity with the poor can lead to scandal. Others may have a misunderstanding of virtue or be confused on how to live as a Catholic.

It can become easy to feel distant from the sufferings of the poor. That distance can be so great that we fail to recognize that the poor can sometimes be us! The poor can have Christ in their hearts and authentically live from that place of deep freedom, while we can live in a disposition of scarcity despite being blessed abundantly by the Lord. Mother Teresa acknowledged this by saying “The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”

This weekend is also significant because Bishop Hicks is coming to dedicate our new Adoration Chapel. My invitation is for us to recognize that perhaps we don’t have leprosy in the physical sense. However, in the spiritual sense, we need his healing touch. Christ in the Eucharist is going to be in our Adoration Chapel. If you desire him and go to pour out your heart, Christ can heal and change you- even in one weekend! Christ is willing to meet us in our poverty, and he has been waiting for us our entire lives. This applies to those who rarely frequent adoration, as well as those like myself who go every day. I will leave you to reflect on this theme in general: Have you have been living from a place of scarcity with the Lord? And if so, what is he inviting you to do about it?

Jonathan Hernandez

February 4 – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

I’m pretty good at throwing parties, in particular, pity parties.  When I was 25 years old, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  As I look back, I know that the Lord uses all things for His glory because my diagnosis led to my priestly discernment.  But, for selfish reasons, it added to my pity party; I was now a proud owner of “the cancer card”! I remember one time when my sister and I were discussing with my mom where we should all go to dinner.  My sister and I had different ideas of which restaurant to go to, but ultimately, I won in the end. Why? Because I had cancer! 

I bring this up because in our first reading, Job is throwing his own pity party.  “Job spoke, saying: ‘Is not man’s life on earth is a drudgery?’” (Job 7:1) Now, I don’t think it’s just Job or myself that tend to feel this way sometimes. Why? Well, when we are going through our crosses and trials, or when we are hurting, we typically feel isolated and alone. We may feel like no one can grasp or comprehend what we are actually going through. 

However, what our faith makes clear is that we are never alone, and the Lord knows exactly what we are going through.  In our Gospel reading today, the Lord seeks out Peter’s Mother-in-Law who is sick.  Not only does the Lord seek us out, but we are also able to approach him and call out in our need.  Later in Job’s story, he will cry out to the Lord and the Lord will hear his cry. In the Gospel, many people come to Lord seeking healing as the sun sets. 

May I invite us, especially with the crosses we bear, to seek out the Lord in prayer instead of throwing a pity party and feeling isolated.  Next Sunday, February 11th, after the Noon Mass Bishop Ronald Hicks will dedicate our new Adoration Chapel.  My hope is that this sacred space may become a place where many can come and bring their crosses before the Lord, knowing that they are never alone, and that the Lord is with them!

Father Michael

January 28 – Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Hi! For those who have not had the chance to meet me yet, my name is Jonathan. I am a seminarian who has been serving the parish on the weekends while also commuting an hour to Mundelein Seminary on weekdays for my studies. I am thankful to get the opportunity to write this week’s bulletin. Furthermore, I am very happy to announce that my full time internship at the parish begins today! I look forward to serving the parish to a fuller extent. Feel free to approach me and invite me to help you in your parish ministry!

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark describes Jesus entering the local synagogue and preaching with authority. The response of the people was that of astonishment because this man did not speak as the scribes. He did not support his words by referencing those before him, but spoke with the same authority as the prophets! To emphasize the authority that he possessed, Jesus drives out an unclean spirit from a man.

My attention was drawn to the action of Jesus driving out an unclean spirit, especially in the context of a synagogue. Often, when I teach children or teens preparing to receive the sacraments about the inside of a church, I speak about the sacredness of the space. Christ is truly present in a different way than if you were simply praying in your home. One way we remind ourselves of this reality is through the actions we do with our bodies in that space. We genuflect, make the sign of the cross, and try to respect the sacredness of the space by keeping silent. Thus, the action of Jesus driving out an unclean spirit in what is a sacred space can evoke astonishment!

I would be surprised to hear if many people have had personal experiences of unclean spirits being cast out in church. It is simply not something often experienced, heard about, or reflected upon. However, as today’s Gospel brings up, there is the reality that evil can still enter sacred spaces such as our church. What I invite you to consider is that this evil often enters through us. As humans, we aren’t perfect, we sin, and this sin over time makes us blind to our own wrongdoings. We may even become inflexible when our faults are pointed out by others. I bring this up not because I desire to see more scrupulosity. No, instead, I desire to see more people set free in the sacrament of confession. You might not have an unclean spirit, but we all are carrying some weight of sin in our hearts. I think today’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus desires to cast out all those things that keep us away from him.

 With that desire to grow closer to the Lord, I then remind you as well that Ash Wednesday is in a little more than two weeks. I invite you during this time to prepare yourself, and ask in prayer how the Lord is inviting you to grow in your relationship with him. Don’t seek to simply mortify the body because you want a physical result. Instead, seek to turn away from sin, and grow in your relationship with God.

Jonathan Hernandez

January 21 – Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

For our comprehensive exam in seminary, we were given a pastoral scenario, and we were asked to write a homily responding to it. After we had submitted the homilies, we decided to see what the artificial intelligence bot, ChatGPT, would come up with. The homily it generated started pretty well: “In this reading, Jesus calls us to love God and to love our neighbor.” But things went downhill pretty quickly. “And you, as sinners, are in direct violation of the Church’s teachings.” The AI-generated homily might have been correct in essentials, but it lacked any sense of hope in God’s mercy.

In the First Reading, we hear about Jonah’s preaching mission to the people of Nineveh. After he runs from God’s command to preach repentance, is swallowed, and spit up by a great fish, he preaches a hopeless sermon: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” But astonishingly, this pagan city repents before Jonah can even finish preaching, and God shows them mercy.

In the Gospel, Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be fishers of men. Biblical scholar John Bergsma says that this is a fulfillment of a prophecy of Jeremiah: “I will send many fishermen to catch them. After that, I will send many hunters to hunt them out from every mountain and hill and rocky crevice” (Jer 16:16). The context of the original prophecy is judgment on Israel’s idolatry. But in Jesus’ fulfillment, something surprising happens. Rather than condemning sinners, the fishermen are sent to preach repentance.

So what changes an oracle of judgment into an oracle of mercy? It is our response. We don’t change God, but He sends His messengers to preach repentance in order to change us. In both readings, we see people responding to the calls to repentance almost instantly. What moves them to respond in this way?

It is the virtue of hope. Hope looks to the future good of our eternal happiness and believes it is possible. This hope is what leads the Ninevites and the apostles to believe that God wants to show them mercy and wants a relationship with them. But how can we live the same hope in our lives?

We often think of hope as wishful thinking. But Pope Benedict XVI tells us that hope comes from the objective fact that God has come into our lives, making that future hope take root in our present. We have probably already accepted God into our lives. But this can always grow deeper so that we can truly believe that if we also turn to God in repentance of our sins, He will change us.

Unlike the AI-generated homily of my classmates, today’s readings call us to new hope in God’s mercy, not only that God wants to forgive us, but that He is longing to forgive us when we repent of our sins. It might seem impossible, but if we open our hearts to God in repentance, then He will help us the rest of the way.

Father Frank

January 14 – Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

When I was in college, I remember going to a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) conference with over 400 college students. I was then introduced to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, which was ongoing throughout the conference. The room was silent, and people were kneeling and praying with Jesus. I went in, sat there for 5 minutes, but then I had to leave. It was mainly because I was drawn to all the interactions happening outside of the quiet room, and I was completely unaware of the invitation from the Lord to remain with him. Little did I know that even though I couldn’t spend more than 5 minutes that day in silence, the Lord would continue to draw me to him in silent Adoration throughout my own life.     

As I became a FOCUS missionary and served 6 years on 3 different campuses, I learned how to, and was encouraged to pray in silent Adoration. Each missionary was required to pray a Holy Hour every day, and was also encouraged to recite a daily rosary, read and study the Bible (as you would lead Scripture Studies), seek out spiritual direction, and frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Perhaps you can see why I stress those things now as a priest, because they changed my life!  

Our first reading today is beautiful and almost dumbfounding at the same time when you consider Samuel’s story. Samuel’s mother, Hannah was barren. She prayed profusely to have a child. The Lord heard her prayer, and Eli the priest revealed to Hannah that she would have a child despite her circumstances. Samuel was born, and when the child was old enough, Hannah gave her son back to the Lord by leaving Samuel under the guidance of Eli at the Temple. 

Samuel is being trained in the temple to be a priest like Eli. One night while sleeping, he hears a voice, and mistakes it as Eli’s. Yet, the voice was the Lord’s. Why is this dumbfounding? If anyone in the world would be able to distinguish the Lord’s voice, you would hope it would be the one in the Temple training to be a priest?! And yet, perhaps Samuel himself needed more time in silence to know and hear the Lord better.  

As I reflect on my time as a FOCUS missionary, I am grateful for the gift I received through their amazing missionary program. It was through this mission that I learned to pray and hear the voice of the Lord.  This allowed me to ultimately respond to the Lord’s calling to become a priest, and I owe my vocation to FOCUS.     

If I can encourage two things it would be to first, please support this missionary program either nationally, or by supporting our own FOCUS missionary from the parish – Lucero Manzanares at https://focus.org/missionaries/lucero-manzanares/ Secondly, like myself, I had to learn how to hear the word of the Lord through silent Adoration and prayer. May I encourage you to consider signing up for an Adoration hour once a week in our new chapel starting Feb 11th? You can sign up for an hour with a friend or family, so that you can either alternate or pray together:  https://bit.ly/adoreJesusatOLM

Father Michael  

January 7 – Epiphany of the Lord

My name is Christopher Otieno, my friends call me ‘Topher’, and so you can call me Topher too. I was born in Busia County, Western part of Kenya. I am the third-born in family of four. Our parents, Rasmos and Lilian, brought us up in a God-fearing way in the Catholic faith. My hobbies include: playing soccer, traveling, listening to music, movie watching, reading, gardening, taking nature walks, running, bicycling, eating out (I like beef), volunteer work and socializing.

I completed my elementary school in 2005 and joined St. Peter’s Minor Seminary for my High School education, where I graduated in 2009. While in Elementary School I felt the urge to become a priest. I became a Mass Server in our parish, Mary Immaculate, Kisoko in the Diocese of Bungoma, Kenya. Getting a chance to study in the minor seminary under the tutelage of priests, the urge to become a priest grew even stronger. I joined the Consolata Missionaries in 2011 since I felt the call to serve God as a Missionary Priest. I did my B.A in Philosophy at Consolata Institute of Philosophy, Nairobi – Kenya, and graduated with a Summa Cum Laude (First Class Honours) in 2015. Thereafter, I joined Tangaza University in Nairobi, Kenya, where I studied B.A in Theology and graduated in 2020 with a Magna Cum Laude – Second Class Upper-Division Honours.

In July 2020, I discerned out of formation with Consolata Missionaries but continued with my vocational discernment. Providentially, I met Fr. Clive, a Kenyan Priest working in the Diocese of Joliet, who introduced me to the Director of Vocations, Fr. Steven Borello. I have been in touch with Fr. Steven since February 2021.

While I was discerning to join the Diocese of Joliet, I took up two jobs. I worked as a Debt Collection Agent between January 2021 and October 2022 for Prestopap Technologies Company Limited. Then between October 2022 and December 2023 I worked for Call Center International (CCI) – Kenya, which is a company that offers outsourcing Customer Service, I was privileged to work as a Customer Service Representative for Shutterfly, Inc. I had a chance to offer service to a number of American customers.

I was accepted as a seminarian of the Diocese of Joliet in June 2023 and here we are! I thank God for this blessed opportunity and I believe it is His Providence that we are going to meet. I look forward to having a great experience with the parishioners of Our Lady of Mercy Parish, Aurora, IL, USA.

AMDG (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam – For the greater glory of God)

Chris Otieno

Mass Times

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Saturday 8:30AM Daily Mass and 4PM Sunday Vigil

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