May 13, 2012

May 6, 2012

Thank You!

In celebration of Volunteer Appreciation Week we want to extend to you our gratitude for your continued commitment to the mission of Old St. Pat’s! It is because of your generosity and hard work that we can continue to build great church!

We hold you and your intentions in prayer,
God of all life and goodness,
We thank you for the opportunity to serve
this faith community of ours – this family of which we are members.
By the power of your Spirit,
we are reminded that
we belong to you and to one another.
And it is in this same Spirit, then,
we are inspired to offer our gifts,
our talents, and our time, for the good of all:
serving the mission of being Christ-bearers
through hospitality, justice, mercy, and hope.

We ask that you continue to bless and guide our work,
so that we may ever strive to do and be “good church”
for the glory of your name.

Amen.

April 22, 2012

April 15, 2012

April 8, 2012

April 1, 2012

Litany of the Passion – Cardinal Newman 

LORD, have mercy.                 Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.                  Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.                     Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.                         Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.
Jesus, the Eternal Wisdom, Have mercy on us.
The Word made flesh, Have mercy on us.
Hated by the world, Have mercy on us.
Sold for thirty pieces of silver, Have mercy on us.
Sweating blood in Your agony, Have mercy on us.
Betrayed by Judas, Have mercy on us.
Forsaken by Your disciples, Have mercy on us.
Struck upon the cheek, Have mercy on us.
Accused by false witnesses, Have mercy on us.
Spit upon in the face, Have mercy on us.
Denied by Peter, Have mercy on us.
Mocked by Herod, Have mercy on us.
Scourged by Pilate, Have mercy on us.
Rejected for Barabbas, Have mercy on us.
Loaded with the Cross, Have mercy on us.
Crowned with thorns, Have mercy on us.
Stripped of Your garments, Have mercy on us.
Nailed to the tree, Have mercy on us.
Reviled by the people, Have mercy on us.
Scoffed at by the malefactor, Have mercy on us.
Wounded in the side, Have mercy on us. S
Shedding Your last drop of blood, Have mercy on us.
Forsaken by Your Father, Have mercy on us.
Dying for our sins, Have mercy on us.
Taken down from the cross, Have mercy on us.
Laid in the sepulcher, Have mercy on us.
Rising gloriously, Have mercy on us.
Ascending into Heaven, Have mercy on us.
Sending down the Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Jesus our Sacrifice, Have mercy on us.
Jesus our Mediator, Have mercy on us.
Jesus our Judge, Have mercy on us.
Be merciful, Spare us, O Lord.
Be merciful, Graciously hear us, O Lord.

From all sin, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From all evil, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From anger and hatred, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From malice and revenge, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From unbelief and hardness of heart, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From blasphemy and sacrilege, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From hypocrisy and covetousness, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From blindness of the understanding, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From contempt of Your warnings, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From relapse after Your judgments, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From danger of soul and body, Lord Jesus, deliver us.
From everlasting death, Lord Jesus, deliver us.

We sinners, Beseech You, hear us.
That You would spare us, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would pardon us, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would spread the truth, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would unite us to Your saints above, We beseech You, hear us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.                     Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy.                Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray.
O God, who for the redemption of the world was pleased to be born;
to be rejected; to be betrayed; to be bound with thongs; to be led to the slaughter; to be falsely accused; to be scourged and torn; to be spit upon, and crowned with thorns; to be mocked and reviled; to be buffeted and struck with rods; to be stripped; to be nailed to the cross; to be hoisted up; to be reckoned among thieves; to have gall and vinegar to drink; to be pierced with a lance: through Your most holy passion, which we, Your sinful servants, call to mind, and by Your holy cross and gracious death, deliver us from the pains of hell, and lead us where You led the thief who was crucified with You, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, world without end. –Amen.

[Courtesy of Catholic Information Network (CIN)] 

A Personal Meditation for Good Friday 

Aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, from the cross Jesus said, “I thirst.”
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine
on a sprig of hyssop and put it
up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine,
he said, “It is finished.”
And bowing his head,
he handed over the spirit. 

The Gospel of John

The thirst of Jesus was more than the physical.
His thirst on the cross resembles his thirst
when he met the woman at the well.
“Woman, I am thirsty, give me a drink.”
His thirst was to pour God’s life into thirsting people.

And the woman with the bucket was given life-giving water
by the One with the thirst.
Now on the cross Jesus thirsts once again.
To the very end Jesus pours life into those
who hunger and thirst for God.

Look at the cross in silence for a few minutes right now.
It’s your turn to say “I thirst.” Say it now.
For what do you thirst this Good Friday?
Speak to Christ about that for a few minutes. 

All I want is to know Christ …
and become like him in his death,
in the hope that I myself
will be raised from death to life.

Philippians 3:10-11

End your personal meditation this Good Friday
by repeating slowly several times over:

“Jesus, remember me
when you come into your kingdom.” 

” You are My Son, My Beloved “ 

Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ” Father, into Your hands I commend  my spirit.” He stayed one with God and he stayed one with His neighbor.  They did everything they could to break the oneness He had with God  and His neighbor. Jesus kept them together.

He lived a different way of life within human history. And this is the source  of hope. If He only would have preached it, it would mean nothing. But He actually lived in connection with God and in connection with His neighbor.  All the forces of the world tried to tear apart this connection and they could not do it.

And when He said this ― having forgiven, having reconciled and staying in  touch with His Father ― He breathed His last.

Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he said, ” Truly, this man was righteous.” Righteous: Jesus lived what He said. He said that in all situations you should and you could extend mercy and love and forgiveness, if you are the Beloved One of God. For the Beloved One of God is not exempt from the trials and tribulations of the world. The Beloved One of God is on  a mission of love and reconciliation in the world. That’s what it means to be Beloved.

Jesus was touched by the power of love and reconciliation that was so strong that even when they tried to break that power of love in Him, they were not able to do so. They maltreated Him ― hoping that He would curse them back. And He refused to do so. He stayed faithful because the power of grace in Him was stronger than the power of sin in the world. And if we, God’s Beloved, can see Jesus that way, then the power of grace and love in us will be stronger than the power of the alienation of the world. And we will learn to transform the world by being not of it, but by being in it.

John Shea 

March 18, 2012

March 11, 2012

March 4, 2012

In this Lent season, our community has been invited to consider the ways each of us can access this Mystery of God in our own lives. God gave each of us the gift of prayer as a means of accessing His presence. The beauty and wonder of prayer for me is that it can be practiced at any time, in any place, and under any circumstances. Prayer can never be practiced too often without exception, I become more aware of my connection to God, others, and myself.  Humans need air to sustain their physical life, but prayer to sustain their spiritual lives. One of the purest forms of prayer is to simply ask for God’s will to be fulfilled in everything.  Finally, prayer is practiced is both thought and in action.

I am blessed to be a member of such an inspiring group of faith practitioners in the Old St. Pat’s community. Before arriving at Old St. Pat’s, my faith was fragile and I yearned to find a place where I would be challenged and nurtured in my faith life, but I could find no purpose or meaning in any of my experiences.  I had dealt with loss and hurt as all of us do in life. I committed to experimenting with my faith by participating in a host of prayerful opportunities, including the Beloved Retreat, Ministry of Prayer, Eucharistic Ministry, and Spiritual Direction.  Through the sharing and generosity of spirit freely given to me by this faith community, I came to know on a more intimate level a God of love and mercy. I began to access a mystery that had eluded me for most of my life.

My prayer and faith journey has not been traversed along a straight path. I’ve been tempted to sit idly with some newly found peace or grace experience as if I had reached a final destination. I’ve surrendered at times to the temptation to settle for what I believe is good enough for God as I define it.  Invariably, God invites me back into this Mystery by stirring changes that I would prefer to resist.  A friend who has recently experienced great loss in his life suggested to me God does not cause our losses, but He does expect us to endure our losses so we can become the person He knows we are capable of becoming.  It is only through persistent prayer – and lots of patience – that I have been able to accept the changes that have occurred in my life.  Prayer has become the gateway to discovering and accepting the Mystery of God in my life.  When I choose to move toward this Mystery and not away from it, I learn the Mystery of God can be boundless and freeing.

My hope in praying this Lent is to build a greater capacity for intimacy – with God, with others, and with myself.  It will perhaps give me the kind of glimpse that Peter, James, and John received on the mountain with Jesus.  To each of you, and especially to those among you who have helped me discover the Mystery of God in my life (you know who you are!), may Lent lead you to know yourselves and God more intimately as we journey together towards Easter.

Jim Whealan has been a member of Old St. Patrick’s Church for 15 years, and is currently persuing a Masters Degree in Justic Ministry at the Catholic Theological Union.

Fr. Thomas J. Hurley, Pastor

Isn’t there an expression out there that goes something like this:  this isn’t your father’s Oldsmobile?  I know I have heard those words before and if I am correct in the interpretation, to say this isn’t your father’s Oldsmobile pretty much means that the situation or experience, to which you are referring, is not what you think!  The particular situation is, let’s just say, new, exciting, different, and captures your imagination.  It is not your father’s Oldsmobile.

Last Sunday after the 5 p.m. Mass, I went up to the Irish American Heritage Center on the north side to offer the Invocation at a concert being hosted by The Keane Machine.  Irish musician, Kathleen Keane and about 15 other wildly talented, world renowned musical artists put together one of the most creative, entertaining concerts I have heard in a long time.  Though a Sunday night may not have been the best time to attract patrons (especially competing with the Oscars), the concert itself was the most beautiful blending of various cultural instruments and sounds.  Let’s just say: it was not your typical concert of Irish music….it was better.  Blending the Irish sounds of tin whistle, fiddle and flute with the likes of Latin jazz made for a great mix.

As we get closer to celebrating the patron feast of St. Patrick, I would really like to encourage you to consider attending our sixteenth annual Celtic Celebration Siamsa Na Ngael on Monday,
March 12 at Chicago’s Symphony Center.  Not only is this one of our major events which supports the mission of Old St. Pat’s, but the approach to this celebration of Irish music and dance is not your father’s Oldsmobile.  This year’s theme focuses around The Journey to Justice.  You will not be disappointed.  The moving blend of music, dance, and story centered around two great heroes of Justice:  the Irish liberator Daniel O’Connell, and the former slave-turned-abolitionist hero Frederick Douglass.  Hearing this great story of how these two figures intersected with each other in their own passionate pursuit of freedom and “righting the wrongs” of their worlds makes this a unique, not-so-typical, St. Patrick’s Day concert.

I am so grateful to Bill Fraher, Mary Evers, and the concert choir of Old St. Pat’s for all of the long hours of rehearsing they are doing to make this an extraordinary experience.  It is events such as Siamsa Na Ngael that make the mission of Old St. Pat’s unique, vibrant, and creative.  Especially if you have never had the occasion to attend this event, please make a special effort to join us.  It will be a full week of celebrations in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.  We would be honored to have you with us!

A blessed Lent to you all,

Fr. Tom Hurley

February 12, 2012

February 19, 2012

February 26, 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?

Monday, March 5

This is my beloved Son ….” echoes the words from the story of Jesus’ baptism, affirming his identity as beloved child of God. Where, when, or how have you experienced affirmation of your identity as God’s beloved child? What does that mean to you today?

Tuesday, March 6

This mountaintop experience we call The Transfiguration illumined the minds of Peter, James, and John. They saw Jesus in a new way. Who do you need to see in a new way? How can you come to see more clearly “the beloved child of God” in those around you? What kind of blind spots prevent you from seeing the good in others?

Wednesday, March 7

One might say that the disciples had an extraordinary religious experience on the mountain. William James suggests that we should judge religious experiences by the actions that they inspire. What in your life has felt like an extraordinary experience of spirit? What action came from it?

Thursday, March 8

Who, by her/his presence, can renew your spirit? Who by his/her presence calls you to be a better person? What is it about you that has the power to call out the best in others?

Friday, March 9

We all have our moments “at the mountaintop,” moments that help define who we are; moments, maybe that we don’t want to end; moments of “coming awake.” Think about a time “on the mountaintop” and what it means to you today.

Saturday, March 10

Review your daily reflections focusing on the story of the Transfiguration. How about giving thanks to the Lord, right now, for those moments of grace, hope and love on which you reflected this week. Name them and thank God, one-by-one.

Monday, March 19

Jesus professes God’s love for the world, yet when we see or experience injustice, violence, or suffering the world can feel like an unloved place. Has there ever been a time when you doubted God’s love for you? What did that feel like? How can you help others move from doubt to the mature awareness that God’s love, while ever constant, does not exempt us from suffering?

Tuesday, March 20

Salvation and condemnation are presented in a startling new way in this teaching passage. They seem less the product of God’s judgement and more the real existential consequences of the way we choose to live life. Examine the direction of your life. Are you moving more deeply into life or are you making choices that slowly shut out life? Who are the people, what are the experiences that are drawing you more deeply into life? What can you do to be more receptive to life? How can you be a person that invites others to move more deeply into life? 

Wednesday, March 21

In this Gospel teaching condemnation does not appear to be God’s work. Rather, it seems to be more of a “do-it-yourself” project. Think about the day ahead of you. Where are the places, what are the decisions, when are the moments that will present you with the choice; do you turn toward God and move more deeply into life or turn toward the darkness and shut out life?

Thursday, March 23

Thomas Merton, the great spiritual teacher and Trappist monk, once wrote,” Don’t believe that because you are not pleasing to yourself you are not pleasing to God. God does not ask for results. God asks for love.” We have all made choices that we would like to keep hidden in the dark. What are the things that keep you from being free to love?

Friday,  March 24

God desires that everyone may have eternal life. Dwell on that statement – God desires that everyone may have eternal life. What does that mean for you?

Saturday, March 25

We are now into the second half of Lent. This may be a good moment to pause and take stock of how we are using this season. What has been good? Have there been any unexpected turns in your journey? How can you use the remainder of this Lenten season to move closer to God and more deeply into life?

Monday, March 26

What is unsaid is just as powerful and provocative as what is said in this Gospel passage. Jesus begins his teaching by drawing on the rhythms of nature. A grain of wheat must first die to produce great fruit. The unspoken yet obvious question for the listener is: what within you must die if you are to produce great fruit? 

Tuesday, March 27

A great paradox is at the heart of this passage, i.e., whoever loves his/her life loses it. The unspoken yet obvious questions for the listener are: what kind of loving of your life could cause you to lose it, and what of your life can be lost?

Wednesday, March 28

The second part of the paradox continues as: whoever hates her/his life will preserve it. Again, the unspoken yet obvious questions for the listener are: what in your life needs to be renounced so that you can in fact preserve it, and what of your life can be preserved?

Thursday, March 29

Dying to self, on any level that we understand that to be, is never easy. Along with Jesus we, too, are troubled when the moment of decision comes. Recall and reflect on the power of your own experiences of dying to self.

Friday, March 30

If the Paschal Mystery, the passage of Jesus from life to death to resurrected life, is also the pattern for our lives, what can you do to prepare yourself for this profound transition? Who can you look to in your own life as models for making this passage well?

Saturday, March 31

The Sunday Gospels of Lent have taken us from the desert of temptation to the mountain of illumination. We have seen Jesus consumed with zeal for life lived in God’s presence. We have heard him profess God’s love for the world. And we have listened as he breaks open for us the great mystery of death and resurrection. As you review this past week and your reflections on its profound and challenging Gospel passage, take time to review your journey through Lent. Are you in a different “place” today than the “place” you were when Lent began? What changes have you welcomed? What changes have you resisted? In your prayer today, remember that this journey will not end with Lent and that God never stops inviting us to a deeper, richer experience of Divine Love.

Though tomorrow is Palm Sunday and Lent continues until sundown on Holy Thursday, this is our last reflection page. As we move into Holy Week, we hope that you might come back to some of your thoughts or notes that you have made for yourself and find in them a resource for your prayer and celebration of the Easter Mysteries.

• 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