February 12, 2012

February 19, 2012

Tuesday, February 28
The desert is a wilderness, a harsh environment that can test any of us. What in your life feels like a desert? In what ways are you feeling tested? What are you learning in “the desert?”

Wednesday, February 29
St. Francis is believed to have once said, “Proclaim the Gospel every day, as a last resort, use words.”  What is it in your actions, in your decisions, that proclaims the Gospel?  Who, by her/his actions most effectively proclaims the Gospel to you?

Thursday, March 1
“This is the time of fulfillment.” There is a sense of urgency in this Gospel.  The present moment is charged with the promise of the kingdom of God. What can you do today to make this “the time of fulfillment” and not just Thursday?

Friday, March 2
The kingdom of God is the place, the reality, where God’s will is done. The more we do God’s will, the closer we come to bringing about the kingdom. Today, find that place within you where God is.  Know yourself as God’s beloved child. Try to see the world around you with God’s eyes. Now, ask yourself, what needs to be done?

Saturday, March 3
In reviewing your daily reflections on this week’s Gospel, what stands out? Has there been a moment or an insight that especially enlightening, puzzling, or revealing ? Did this week’s Lenten exercise lead you to any new decision or action?

• by looking into getting involved in our North Lawndale Kinship Initiative*
• finding ways to support the works for justice going on in our city and neighborhoods
• responding with grace and generosity to requests for your time
• reassess where your time, attention, resources are going and possibly make adjustments so that they are aligned with your deepest values

• train us to RISK letting go of the familiar, to make do without the seemingly indispensable
• heighten our awareness of hunger and poverty in the world
• to overcome our fear of change and to embrace growth

This Lent, consider practicing fasting:

• joining the rest of the universal Church in observance of the Lenten Fast
• choose to add your own day/time of fasting to heighten your awareness for the ways God nourishes you
• abstaining from negative talk (complaining, stereotypes, etc.)

Easter speaks to us of restored relationships, of forgiveness and reconciliation, of people living as sisters and brothers.  The practice of almsgiving:

• brings to light our dependence on each other
• calls us to reexamine the hidden roots of poverty and suffering
• challenges us to include justice as a part of all our decision making – in our work, our families, our civic lives, our investment choices, and our financial purchases.

• lead us into a deeper, more intimate relationship with the God who dwells in each of us
• help us to remember our deepest identity as beloved children of God
• nourish us so that we might live our vocation – our life and work in the world

This Lent, consider practicing prayer:

• through nightly 5-minute “overviews of your day,” looking for where God might have been present to you or where you might have missed God’s presence
• by celebrating our Sunday liturgies (7, 8, 9:30, and 11:15 a.m., and 12:45 and 5 p.m.) or our weekday liturgies (7 a.m. and 12:10 p.m.)
• joining us for Wednesday evening Lenten Vespers (Evening Prayer) followed by some quiet time with Christ in Eucharistic Adoration (6:30 p.m. in the church)
• listening to our mid-week Lenten podcast reflection, found on our Old St. Pat’s website
• celebrating the gift, joy, and sacrament of Reconciliation on Wednesday, March 21 (6 p.m. in the church)

Whether we have the correct answer to a question or we have figured out some challenge, equation, or problem in life, nothing causes more excitement than when we have found our way in.  Think about it another way:  we have gained Access.  There is not a person reading this bulletin today who is not holding on to some pin number, an access code, special keys, or a password that gives us access to something.  From our homes to our garages to our bank or email accounts to our files to the simple combination lock at the gym, having access to the valuable and important items of our lives is a really big deal.  It is like having the answer in class.  We get excited like students who have found access into their minds and their intelligence.

With the coming of Ash Wednesday in a few days on February 22, I would like to welcome you to what we at Old St. Patrick’s are going to call:  Lent 2012: From Ashes to Easter. From Death to Life:  Accessing the Mystery.  Lent can be defined and explained in many different ways but this year, we hope you will see this sacred season as an opportunity to access the Mystery of God in your life.  Lent, we believe, is a journey toward Easter.  Thirty-nine members of Old St. Pat’s are journeying through prayer and reflection toward the Easter sacraments as they prepare themselves in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.  We all engage this season, inaugurated on Ash Wednesday, with moments of Fasting, Prayer, and Almsgiving as a way of deepening Faith and hopefully gaining better access to the power of Divine Mystery in each of our lives.  And when we have experienced or we have been touched by the Holy, we become like kids in class groaning in excitement that we have made access and found the One who brings us life.

One of the symbols you will see in this year’s logo at Old St. Pat’s is the Cross of Ashes on banners and other supportive materials.  In this age of technology and social media, what you will find in the middle of the cross is a QR code.  Most people, though not all, have the capacity with their phones nowadays to scan the QR code which automatically will give you access to our Lenten section of our website.  We hope you will enjoy some of what you will read and hear that will help guide us and give us further access to the Paschal Mystery.  Like technology, for many of us, it can be confusing, intimidating and overly complicated.  We might get frustrated and simply give up, saying:  I do not know how to access it!  Isn’t this a similar reaction sometimes with our spiritual life and the life of faith?  Accessing the Divine Mystery can be terribly disappointing at times.  We are not always sure how to do it.

I hope these days of Lent will be Holy and fulfilling for all of us.  I hope we will discover new ways and create new “codes” of how to access the Presence of the Living Jesus in our lives.  I hope, especially, that Easter will find us filled with the excitement of school children with hands raised and some guttural sound flowing forth from their spirits, eager to share the answer or insight they so long to proclaim: He is with us; He brings us new Life!

A blessed Lent to you all,
Fr. Tom Hurley

Whether we have the correct answer to a question or we have figured out some challenge, equation, or problem in life, nothing causes more excitement than when we have found our way in.  Think about it another way:  we have gained Access.  There is not a person reading this bulletin today who is not holding on to some pin number, an access code, special keys, or a password that gives us access to something.  From our homes to our garages to our bank or email accounts to our files to the simple combination lock at the gym, having access to the valuable and important items of our lives is a really big deal.  It is like having the answer in class.  We get excited like students who have found access into their minds and their intelligence.

With the coming of Ash Wednesday in a few days on February 22, I would like to welcome you to what we at Old St. Patrick’s are going to call:  Lent 2012: From Ashes to Easter. From Death to Life:  Accessing the Mystery.  Lent can be defined and explained in many different ways but this year, we hope you will see this sacred season as an opportunity to access the Mystery of God in your life.  Lent, we believe, is a journey toward Easter.  Thirty-nine members of Old St. Pat’s are journeying through prayer and reflection toward the Easter sacraments as they prepare themselves in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.  We all engage this season, inaugurated on Ash Wednesday, with moments of Fasting, Prayer, and Almsgiving as a way of deepening Faith and hopefully gaining better access to the power of Divine Mystery in each of our lives.  And when we have experienced or we have been touched by the Holy, we become like kids in class groaning in excitement that we have made access and found the One who brings us life.

One of the symbols you will see in this year’s logo at Old St. Pat’s is the Cross of Ashes on banners and other supportive materials.  In this age of technology and social media, what you will find in the middle of the cross is a QR code.  Most people, though not all, have the capacity with their phones nowadays to scan the QR code which automatically will give you access to our Lenten section of our website.  We hope you will enjoy some of what you will read and hear that will help guide us and give us further access to the Paschal Mystery.  Like technology, for many of us, it can be confusing, intimidating and overly complicated.  We might get frustrated and simply give up, saying:  I do not know how to access it!  Isn’t this a similar reaction sometimes with our spiritual life and the life of faith?  Accessing the Divine Mystery can be terribly disappointing at times.  We are not always sure how to do it.

I hope these days of Lent will be Holy and fulfilling for all of us.  I hope we will discover new ways and create new “codes” of how to access the Presence of the Living Jesus in our lives.  I hope, especially, that Easter will find us filled with the excitement of school children with hands raised and some guttural sound flowing forth from their spirits, eager to share the answer or insight they so long to proclaim: He is with us; He brings us new Life!

A blessed Lent to you all,
Fr. Tom Hurley

The first step in this man‘s healing was his friends placing him in presence of God. When the man came in the vicinity of Jesus, Mark tells us the teacher — saw their faith. It was the faith of the man‘s friends as well as his own faith that impressed Jesus. The man who was paralyzed was blessed by his own faith, but he was also blessed by the faith of his friends. The faith of friends, who were determined to bring him into Jesus‘ presence. The faith of friends who would not be deterred by the crowds and obstacles. Mark tells us  Jesus saw their faith, not just his faith, but their faith and it was their combined faith that opened the door to Jesus blessing. We all are like that paralyzed man with needs we need to place in the presence of God.

Five years ago, the Ministry of Prayer was created at Old St. Pat’s. The members of this faithful ministry  were amazed at the response of members of this community asking for prayers of all manners of companionship: physical, emotional,  and spiritual. I believe this group was so well received because the prayers were held by a circle of faith-filled folks who joined together seeking wholeness, and drawing confidence through their shared connection. The faithfulness of this ministry has helped me experience a reality I suspect the paralyzed man discovered as well. Even without being free of physical disease, we are offered God’s transformative gift of love that can mean more than healthy bodies. As Paul insists in his letter to the Corinthian church, every one of God’s promises is a yes. Sometimes, the no we hear from elsewhere opens the door to hear a Divine yes with fresh clarity and profound gratitude.

Jesus’ words of forgiveness to the paralyzed man turn out to be God’s most transforming yes, thanks to his friends. And we are invited to be friends who join together and carry others so they, too, can be reminded of the compassion and presence of God.

Bernadette Gibson is the Director of Pastoral Care at Old St. Patrick’s. If you know someone who is in need of prayers, a home communion delivery or spiritual companionship please contact Bernadette Moore Gibson @ 312.298.2389.

Do you ever find yourself
pondering questions on God, Catholicism, life, spirituality, theology, morals, Jesus…?   

Me too!

We should talk. 

Religion and spirituality are often a huge part of peoples’ lives that are not talked about nearly enough. If you have doubts, questions, thoughts,  I would love to hear them. I have often found in my own spiritual journey that the most helpful people were the ones who would listen to my questions and offer guidance/insight. My hope is that I can try my best to offer similar guidance to some of you in the Old St. Pat’s community.

A little about who I am:  my name is Erin and I am currently at Old St. Pat’s as a ministry intern. I am also going to graduate school and am in my second year of the Master of Divinity Program at the University of Chicago Divinity School. I am not a therapist, social worker, evangelist, or certified life guide, but I am open-minded, relaxed, and passionate about people/religion. I got this idea because I heard about a similar program working out well in a fellow Catholic community.

If you are interested, please email me at mccarthy.erinm@gmail.com to schedule a time to meet.  I am available on Sundays and Mondays. We will meet at the Old St. Pat’s offices, Fr. Jack Wall Mission Center,  711 Monroe, Chicago, or we could even meet for a caffeine boost at the near-by Starbucks.  We can meet for 45 minutes.  Just bring yourself and your thoughts!

The North Lawndale Kinship Initiative is a new and bold collaboration, based on camaraderie and Christian love, not just service.  As we explore this journey together, we hope to expand our commitment  and to become better acquainted with the community of St. Agatha’s.  Just like family, we will meet with them; share our stories, our hopes and our dreams.  We will worship together, break bread together and weave the threads of our histories together.

St. Agatha’s opened its doors in 1893 and today it is home to 450 member families and includes a grade school.  St. Agatha’s hosts the S.A.F.E. Program (St. Agatha Family Empowerment) where the school and neighborhood children have a place to call home after school.    Fr. Larry Dowling is  the pastor of St. Agatha’s.

A small group of Old St. Pat’s members have been worshipping with members of St. Agatha’s during this past month.  Old St. Pat’s members also have been paired with members of St. Agatha’s to become better acquainted.  We are taking baby steps in the relationship building process together.

Are you up for for the challenge and reward in getting to know the St. Agatha’s community on a more personal basis?  For more information on how you can become involved, contact Beth Marek at elizabethm@oldst.pats.org, or 312.831.9361.

Beth Marek is Director of Outreach at Old St. Patrick’s Church.

The approach to Reconciliation is so different today than it was “years ago.”  I think one of the messages we kept forgetting to emphasize years ago was the idea of Celebration.  It is not celebrating what we have done wrong; but the sacrament of Reconciliation, like all sacraments, is celebrating God’s goodness, God’s grace, and indeed God’s understanding.  Celebration is at the heart of every sacramental moment we have in our lives.  Even though the “fear factor” will always be present in this particular sacrament, emphasizing Reconciliation as a moment of celebration and joy are paramount to a more healthy and life-giving approach to this time of grace.  God and the presence of the Holy is not something to be feared, but welcomed and celebrated.

That is what I like so much about the way in which Bea Cunningham, Clare Hurrelbrink, Brigid Cashman, and the team of catechists and teachers from Partners and the FXW School emphasize in the celebration of First Reconciliation.  First of all, there is no creepy confessional box in Old St. Pat’s; we sit face-to-face with good priests who represent the compassionate Christ; we proclaim the story of the Prodigal Son emphasizing the Father’s tremendous party he throws for his son upon his return home; and we light candles that brighten the experience of forgiveness and lighting our path to try again in this thing called life.

I am grateful to our grammar school children and this weekend’s milestone moment for reminding us again of the importance and relevance of not just enduring the sacrament of Reconciliation, but truly celebrating  God’s gift of forgiveness and starting over.

Have a great week, and Happy Valentine’s Day….

Fr. Tom Hurley

What about those other times? Like Job in the first reading today who said “life on earth is a drudgery… I have months of misery… the nights drag on and I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.”  It was not quite as easy to find the wonders of God after getting sick on the plane and arriving back from the warmth of Florida to a car buried in seven inches of snow. What about all of the people around me who deal on a daily basis with pain, loss and difficult situations? When I am pulled in all directions, how do I find time to notice where God is? I so want God’s grace to flow through me and sometimes I have trouble believing grace is present at all! How is it possible to be aware at all times that Love is all around?

Maybe it is not possible to tune in 24 hours a day. I need to keep stepping back to pay attention. Then I can see with a new perspective that ordinary moments are filled with blessing. It is like pausing to notice my breath that I take for granted most of the time.

Spiritual direction gives me the space once a month to pay attention. I step back with my spiritual director and take notice of the signs of Love in my ordinary daily moments. My spiritual director constantly reminds me, “What if God loves you anyway?”  Whatever is going on in my life, however imperfectly I seem to live this life, God loves me anyway.

What if God loves you anyway? Old St. Pat’s offers the opportunity for you to pause each month with a trusted companion in spiritual direction. Contact Tammy Roeder to find out more about meeting with one of Old St. Pat’s spiritual directors.

There are other opportunities through Old St. Pat’s to stop and pay attention to God’s Love all around. For more information or to register for any of the following, contact Tammy Roeder, tammy.roeder@oldstpats.org, or 312.798.2350.

• v There are still openings for the Beloved Retreat February 17-19.To dive into the heart of God’s grace today is to be gratefully aware of the abundant love that has fed me from the beginning and to hear the call to participate from the deepest part of who I am.
• Another “Gathered and Sent” mini-retreat (Retreat for really busy people or people who are not sure they like retreats) will be happening during Lent. Be on the lookout for more information about “Being Light in the Darkness.”Taking some time to reflect, contemplate, pause, breathe, weep and laugh… to retreat is very good for the soul.
• The third Ignatian Retreat in daily life will begin during Lent.St. Ignatius wants us to learn how to pay attention because God is always present in our experience. God is incarnate in each of our life stories. The Exercises of St. Ignatius help us to reflect on the experience of God in our story, so we can experience more of God in our story.

Give yourself a chance to step back and be more aware of God’s love all around you, like the air you breathe.  Consider connecting with a spiritual companion, or participate in one of the above retreat options.

Laura Field is a Spiritual Director at Old St. Patrick’s Church.

Just for today, however, I would like to give thanks and praise to a segment of our young adult members who really “knocked one out of the park” last Friday with our first annual Broadway on Adams St!  Through the great inspiration of Michael Neary, Mark & Aimee Scozzafave, and Megan Buckley, the young adults of Old St. Pat’s stepped forward, initiated, and produced one of the most enjoyable evenings you will find on a Friday night in January!  If you find your way to the 5 p.m. Mass on Sunday at Old St. Pat’s, you will find a tremendously energetic and wildly talented group of young adults who primarily make up the choir for this particular Liturgy.  Through their love for song and kinship, this marvelous group put together a cabaret of tunes from 24 different musicals including 42nd Street, Guys & Dolls, Wicked, and Rent to name just a few.  I am so grateful to these talented performers and especially to Keara Coughlin on our staff who directs our Young Adult Outreach.  Along with our RCIA (of which this year we have another great number of 39 young adults who are preparing for initiation into the church at Easter), Keara and her team of young adults continues to foster a great spirit of welcome and excitement for church through numerous service opportunities, faith sharing groups, socials, book club conversations, and events such as Broadway on Adams.

I am tremendously grateful for the presence of so many young adults who find their way to Old St. Pat’s.  When it comes to church life, the practice of faith, and people in those years of their 20’s and 30’s, they can be pretty tough and a somewhat confusing time.  While I am well pleased by the many dimensions of Old St. Pat’s, I hope and pray we continue to keep a strong focus on our young adult population.  I am particularly excited and grateful to our young adult members who continue to increase and enhance our Liturgical ministries and especially our 5 p.m. Mass on Sundays.  Like all of our Liturgies, my hope is to see them grow and flourish.  My deep thanks to all of you who create life at Old St. Pat’s and especially our young adults in 2012.

Side note:  many people have been asking me about a comedy thing that you may have seen advertized on WTTW.  Many months ago, I was asked by a friend of mine (who himself is a young adult; and whose wedding I presided at last year) to participate in what is called The Chicago Stand Up Project, sponsored by WTTW and Zanies Comedy Club.  Pat McGann, my friend, is one of the lead hosts at Zanies and he is the one who got me roped in to this thing!  After a few meetings, I finally hit the stage back in November and tried my hand at stand-up comedy.  The show will be televised on all the Fridays of February and my segment will be aired on Friday, February 24 at 8:30 p.m., Channel 11.  It was quite an experience and great fun.  But trust me, I am not quitting my day job to pursue a life in comedy!  The Chicago Live advertisement you saw in the Chicago Tribune was strictly an interview with Rick Kogan to talk about the project.  How do I get myself into these things?

Have a good week and keep laughing,

Fr. Tom Hurley

…the fullness of the life
our God desires for us can be found in between, in spite of,
and in the midst of life’s challenges and our frailties.

In his new book, Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, poses the question:  Why is it that so much of what we see of religions and “religious people” seems to be so serious … and even gloomy?   The thesis Martin spends nine chapters arguing toward is the proclamation that joy, humor, and laughter are, in actuality, “at the heart” of the spiritual life.  He admits the Gospel writers were indeed very focused on telling the stories of Jesus’ ministry, but especially as that ministry built up to Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.  But, Martin asks, as Christians who believe in not only the “Divine” Christ but also the “human” Jesus … isn’t it important that we consider what might have been going on “between the lines” and between the stories that are recorded for us?   For example, Luke’s Gospel is full of stories of Jesus dining with people, on his way to someone’s house, or having just come from someone’s house after sharing a meal with them.  Would you not think that in all this time Jesus spent at the table … there must have been laughter, stories, joking, and many moments of pure fun?

In fact, the presence of joy in Jesus might have been exactly why people were so attracted to Jesus in the first place!  Something tells me that when he proclaimed he came so that we might have “life” and “have it to the fullest” — what he meant was that he wanted for us not simply beating hearts, functioning lungs, and operating nervous systems.  My sense from reading the gospels is that Jesus wanted us to enjoy all that life had to offer us: not the least of which is joy, love, relationship, laughter, and peace.   By facing suffering, betrayal, and sorrow in his own life, Jesus proclaimed even more profoundly the fullness of the life our God desires for us can be found in between, in spite of, and in the midst of life’s challenges and our frailties.

…what He meant was that he wanted for us not simply beating hearts, functioning lungs, and operating nervous systems.

Sometimes the Church, in her efforts to teach and guide Christians in the way of the Gospel, can work against itself by failing to acknowledge and celebrate the importance of joy in the Christian life!  When we (the Church) take ourselves so seriously that we have lost the ability to laugh at life and at ourselves, we not only fail to attract people to the life of discipleship, but we also fail to give life to a world that so desperately needs it.  I simply have to believe that having a serious job to do does not require one to swear off all but “serious things.”  Perhaps that will be my goal as these winter months get all the more gray and cold … to remember the joy of the gospel message as I try to share and live it with fervor, earnestness, and lots of laughter.

Keara Ette is Director of Young Adult  Ministry and RCIA at Old St. Patrick’s Church.

This past Tuesday, I had the privilege again of going over to the Cara Program just down the street on Des Plaines and Jackson.  Though many of you know this already, Cara (which comes from the Gaelic for Soul Friend) was started on the campus of Old St. Patrick’s 20 years ago.  The mission of the Cara Program is to help in the process of transforming the lives of individuals who have been homeless, faced addiction, or in some way found themselves among the at-risk population in Chicago.  Cara is wildly successful; it is an inspirational program bringing forth new hope and resurrected life to a lot of people.  More than just a “welfare to work” type of program, Cara is about the “whole person” and helping people find the inner strength and deepest truth of who they are.

Each day, the Cara Program begins at 8:30 a.m. with what is called Motivations.  Motivations is the first 30 minutes of the day and its purpose is to motivate, inspire, empower and strengthen the spirit of all the Cara students to keep believing in the goodness within them.  Motivations takes place on the 2nd floor of Cara’s new building (after they outgrew their space at Old St. Pat’s) and if you are ever walking down Jackson Boulevard, you will hear the praise and song of women and men motivating each other and calling each other to their best selves.  I love motivations; I am disappointed I have not taken more advantage of it since it is so close!  If you want to see a great organization, go check out Motivations at the Cara Program.  Call them beforehand, however.

Though Cara is not officially a faith-based organization, it sure seems like one.  I imagine Motivations being like a synagogue service in Capernaum with Jesus calling for the best of the human spirit.  Cara’s mission is to bring forth the best in many women and men for whom life has been a real struggle.  May this wonderful example of transformation remind us of the hopeful, life-giving spirit the Risen Lord wants to call forth from each one of us everyday.  Let us stay Motivated and let us encourage each other on our daily journey.

Fr. Tom Hurley

Too Hot Choir under the direction of Bill Fraher, Music Director, Old St. Patrick’s Church;
Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Combo conducted by Suzzanne Mallare Acton.
Arranged by Bob Christianson and Gary Anderson.

Featuring:

• Roderick Dixon
• Alfreda Burke
• Karen Marie Richardson

Purchase you Tickets:

Phone: 800.982.2787
Online: Ticketmaster.com
Box Office: 50E Congress Parkway
Groups (ten or more): 312.431.2357

Old St. Pat’s Blood Drive is scheduled on Sunday, November 11, 2012 from 7 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. in the Church Hall.  To make an appointment, go to  www.givebloodgivelife.org.

I am grateful to have one of those special mentors in my life.  Truth be told, I am lucky to have a few really great priest-friends who have supported and taught me a great deal (through their example and wisdom) about what it means to be a good priest.  But this week, as he marks a special milestone, I offer my deep appreciation once again for my predecessor and friend Father Jack Wall who turned 70 on Wednesday, January 18!  I can only hope I look that good (excluding the hair line which is a lost cause!) and have as much energy and creativity as Jack when I hit that age.  For me, Jack really embodies the best that church can be.  While it can be so easy to become critical and bitter about all the things that go wrong with the church, Jack is one of the most optimistic and hopeful priests I have ever met.  He has been called a visionary by many, and I believe that is so very true.  Not only is he tremendously bright and gifted in so many ways, Jack has the wonderful ability to take the vision of the gospel and bring it alive in creative expressions today.  With all of you, especially those who have been around Old St. Patrick’s Church these past three decades, and have witnessed such powerful transformation in this church and the people who find their way here, I offer my deepest thanks and my heartiest “Happy Birthday” to Fr. Jack Wall as he celebrates this special birthday.  God’s many blessings upon you, Jack, now and for many years to come!

Cheers!!!

January 8, 2012

January 15, 2012

January 22, 2012

January 29, 2012

I am not sure how many people actually make New Year’s Resolutions today or perhaps last night on New Year’s Eve.  Traditionally, the New Year’s resolutions means we are going to make a commitment to achieving something or altering our behavior in the new calendar year.  I am sure if there is some statistic out there in “statistics world,” I would venture to guess that most people do not follow through or can even remember what their resolution actually is.  Like a lot of resolutions that may not require a lot of skin in the game, let’s face it: they fizzle out.

Which leads me back to Jack’s birthday party and his attitude toward that cake staring him in the face:  get after it!!!  I think on this New Year’s Day as we face another calendar year with so many unknowns lying before us, there is a part of me that would like to suggest that with our own “resolutions,” let’s just “get after it!”  Meaning, if we want to make this a great year, then “get after it” and do what you need to do now.  If you are looking to get more engaged in family life, re-engineer some relationships, work at your professional skills, and more importantly re-acquaint yourself with some part of your faith life, then let’s “get after it.”  Do not wait and do not make an empty resolution that will fade by mid-January.  If there are some health issues and things you can control now, then let’s get after it.  If someone needs to hear from us or there is an opportunity for personal growth we have been putting off and procrastinating about, then let’s get after it.

If you were gone last week and perhaps visiting relatives in another part of the world, then Merry Christmas to you!  We are so grateful for all of you and for the church we create together at Old St. Pat’s.  I would love to see 2012 just be a great year for us where our mission expands, North Lawndale deepens, and hospitality goes through the roof so we pack this place with searchers and seekers!  Well then, like Jack and that cake, let’s “get after it!”

Happy New Year.

Fr. Tom Hurley