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 11^th, 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

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

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

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 11^th? 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  

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

Because my dad’s name is Joseph and my mom’s name is Maria, they would always joke that we were the “holy family.” This joke developed over time. Because Jesus is God and Mary is without sin, if there were any problems, she would joke that it was St. Joseph’s fault. In the same way, since my dad is a permanent deacon and I am a priest, if there were any problems, it was her fault. Of course, she was joking, but as we see in the Gospel, the suffering that affects the Holy Family is not all caused by St. Joseph.

Very often, we are tempted to see the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as distant from us. If they are so holy, how can they possibly relate to the problems that take place in our family? But this attitude is the exact opposite of the purpose of the Holy Family.

The Word became flesh and dwelt in a human family, not in order to distance Himself, but to draw closer to us. During the thirty years of His hidden life, Jesus chose to live as part of a family in order to show us how important the family is, and in order to make it holy.

But the fact that the life of this family was holy doesn’t mean that they got a free pass from everyday human life or even from suffering. At what should have been a joyful celebration of the birth of her son, Mary hears these words that no mother wants to hear, first, that her son will be a sign of contradiction, and second, that a sword will pierce her soul.

So why does the Holy Family still experience suffering? They do it for us. In all our sufferings, we can turn to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, knowing that they know what it’s like. They are the Holy Family not in spite of their family life, but because of it.

At this time of year, we often experience both the joys and the sufferings of family life. And maybe we feel that because our families aren’t perfect, because there are family members who have strayed from the faith, family members who like to fight, family members who won’t speak to us, that this disqualifies us from being a holy family. But far from being obstacles to this, they can be opportunities for us to become holy families.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph experienced the sufferings of family life, so we can turn to them for help and companionship. They did this for the sanctification of the family and the world, so when we unite our sufferings to Christ’s, it can make us—and the world—holy. We shouldn’t worry about being the “St. Joseph” of the family, but should instead strive to be like him in always being attentive to God’s plan for his family even though he isn’t perfect.

Father Frank

Every year, my family tries to guess when the local radio station would begin playing Christmas music. This music forms the background of our festive activities from decorating the Christmas tree to baking cookies. For the last couple years, the song “Last Christmas” by Wham! has been particularly popular, being covered by so many different singers that it feels like every other song is some iteration of “Last Christmas.” Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a catchy song, but to hear it that often tends to wear out its novelty.

The Psalm for Christmas Day proclaims, “Sing to the LORD a new song!” We are called to sing a new song because God is doing something completely new in history in the Christmas story.

For many of us, the story of Christmas is nothing new. We have our traditions such as our favorite Mass time to attend and our usual family gathering. And so when we hear the Christmas Gospel, it feels as old and comfortable as Linus proclaiming this same Gospel in the Peanuts Christmas special. But as we settle into what is old and comfortable and familiar about Christmas, we run the risk of missing what is new and unsettling and strange about Christmas.

Perhaps what is most strange about this Gospel is what is most familiar to us today: “You will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” God has become a baby in order to save the world, and He is currently lying in a feeding trough. When we think about the literal meaning of those words, they become almost ridiculous. But this strangeness isn’t just strangeness for its own sake. It points to the newness of what God is doing, perhaps the only truly new thing in history: God has become man in Jesus Christ in order to save us from our sins.

We cannot afford to let Christmas become something familiar and boring. Otherwise, it will have no effect on our lives. We instead need to receive this news like the shepherds, who are first “struck with great fear,” but after they go to see the baby in the manger, they return “glorifying and praising God.”

We are also called to encounter the baby Jesus this Christmas, and to allow His newness to make us new, so that we don’t go back to our old way of life. This new way of life might seem as strange and unsettling as the Christmas story, but as the shepherds and the saints throughout the ages show us, it is also a way of life filled with joy. When we have allowed this joy to fill our hearts, then we will want to sing a new song with the angels at the birth of Christ, even if the song we choose to sing is “Last Christmas.”

On behalf of Fr. Michael and all the staff at Our Lady of Mercy, we would like to wish you a blessed Christmas season!

Father Frank

Hopefully we all know that we are called to be Christ to others. We see this subject come up in the letters of St. Paul: “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1), as well as in the popular prayer attributed to St. Theresa of Avila which was taken up by St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta:

“Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours…”

This, of course, is quite challenging to live out as a Christian. A similar challenge came to me while I was praying with our First Reading from Isaiah, the same reading Jesus will proclaim before starting his ministry in Luke’s Gospel today:

“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,

to heal the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives

and release to the prisoners…” (Isaiah 61:1)

If these words, which are proclaimed by Christ, are to be fulfilled by us I have a few questions to ask first: How am I to heal the brokenhearted? How am I to proclaim liberty to the captives & release to the prisoners?

As a priest, a person ordained to be In Persona Christi Capitas (“in the person of Christ the head”), you can imagine the various encounters I have regularly in my priestly ministry. You can imagine the broken hearts I encounter in the Church, in hospitals, the jail and in funeral homes. How do I bring healing?

But of course, this challenge isn’t just for me! This includes all of us; we are all called to bring healing and hope to our loved ones. You may find yourself asking the same question: how? The Gospels give us insight. St. John the Baptist was a man, a fore-runner to Christ, but also an example for you and me.  When asked if he was the Messiah, the one to bring healing, his response was to point everyone to Jesus Christ. We are called to do the same.

As a priest, it’s not me who comforts or consoles, it is the Lord who does it through me.  Advent is not only a time of preparation to receive the Lord ourselves, but to point others to the Lord and his coming.  Let us ask the Lord for the strength to unite ourselves to him who can “bring glad tidings to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners”.

Father Michael

When I was a little kid, when I was bad, the usual punishment was “to go to the corner.” The corner was a literal corner in my bedroom where I had to sit for as long as my parents told me the punishment would last. I don’t know if my parents planned this on purpose, but the way my room was positioned at the end of the hall, I couldn’t see the TV or anything that was going on in the living room, but I could hear all the fun everyone was having without me. I remember crying for the entire time I sat in the corner, and I remember when my dad came to me to tell me that I could come out of the corner. My heart would lighten, and I would be so happy to be able to be part of the life of the family again.

I think as Christians, we can have the temptation to forget that the Gospel is good news. Either we are tempted to think of it as an ideal which is impossible to achieve because we keep sinning, or we can be tempted to see it as only something to make us feel good without any real effect on our lives. But what is the truth?

In the First Reading, we hear the famous words: “Comfort, give comfort to my people.” This comfort truly is good news, but it only comes after Isaiah has told Israel the bad news that as a result of their sins they would go into exile. They can only receive this comfort once they acknowledge their sins.

My joy in rejoining the life of the family was only possible after I had received the punishment of being in the corner and said sorry for what I had done. In the same way, we can receive the Good News only after we have acknowledged the bad news. What is the bad news? We are all sinners, and we all need salvation. But the Good News is that God became man in Jesus Christ in order to save us from our sins so that we can have eternal life with Him. And this calls forth a response from us, the response that John the Baptist proclaims: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” In other words, we are called to change our lives, to repent of our sins and to receive the salvation of Jesus.

We are also called, like John the Baptist, to proclaim this good news to others. But this is only possible if we truly believe that it is good news and have responded to it. During this Advent, we have the opportunity to receive the good news proclaimed by John the Baptist, but we can only do that if we acknowledge the bad news of our sinfulness and respond by changing our lives. Then, we don’t have to stay in the corner, but can return to the life of the family of God.

Father Frank

To be attentive and to stay attentive is very hard.  It takes a significant effort to stay focused on the task at hand. And yet, this is what the Lord is asking of us in our 1st Sunday of Advent readings.  As much as we like to think we can multi-task, it has been proven that it’s better to focus on one thing at a time than to try to juggle multiple activities at once. How many of us try to juggle prayer with our daily activities, only to come to the conclusion that we are failing to pray as we ought? Currently, I’m thinking of all the things I need to do to get ready for Christmas, from liturgical duties like extra confessions and Masses to buying Christmas presents for my niece and nephews so that I can keep the title of “Coolest Uncle.” Yet, in all these tasks that need to be done, the most important task should be preparing my heart for the Lord and his coming.  

The Advent season begins a new liturgical year for the Church. Similar to the resolutions we make for our calendar New Year, the Church is asking us to make a resolution now. In the Gospel today, the Lord is asking his disciples, which include us, to keep watch for his coming. We need to recommit to being attentive, and to preparing our hearts to receive the Lord. Isn’t that much easier said than done? 

The winter season naturally is a perfect time for refocusing.  As the sun sets earlier each day, nights come sooner and the temperature begins to drop. Have you ever walked outside on a crisp cold night?  I feel that during these late night walks my thoughts become clearer and prayer becomes easier. Maybe it’s the cold waking me up, the silence as nature is hibernating in the darkness, or maybe it’s the awe of looking up at the stars on a clear night. The Advent season seems to help us turn even more towards reflective prayer, just as the Lord has asked it of us.

I’d encourage you to take advantage of this Advent season. Don’t get up caught up so easily in the noise and distractions of preparing for Christmas, or in the busyness of daily life. Instead, take the time to pull away and be attentive to the longings of your heart for our Lord who has come, is coming, and will come again.

Father Michael