A few days from now will be Thanksgiving Day, the beginning of the holiday season. For most of us, the first step in making the holidays magical is dressing our homes for the season, from trimming a tree to decking the mantel to setting a table for parties and feasts. This time of year is centered around family gatherings...
Regular readers of this page in our weekly bulletin know that we always present an honest assessment of our parish finances and our goals for our shared future. We ask that everyone carefully consider what we have read and heard. Then, take an honest look at how our lives have been blessed by God and how we might repay those blessings with generosity to our parish and the many ministries through which we help and assist each other.
Stewardship involves our gifts of time, talent and treasure. Let’s talk about time. COVID restrictions are mostly an increasingly distant memory. Vaccinations are routine, school is in full session, work routines have become more flexible to adapt to people’s desires for more work from home. New experiences are planned and yet we remember the traditional need to return as a community to our basilica for worship, for prayer and for spiritual comfort...
Last week I mentioned that November is a month to remember: to remember our loved ones who have been called to our eternal home; to remember those who defend our freedom; and to remember with gratitude the many blessings from God. When we remember, we bring to mind someone or something, drawing on our memories. Memories may feel warm and comforting, filling us with joy...
There are just two months remaining in the year, so it’s time to seriously think about our 2023 tax returns and how we can support our parish in a tax-advantaged way. Certainly, the primary motivation for our charitable contributions to Queen of All Saints Parish is the generous return to God for the great gifts he has given us.
November is a special month for remembering who we are as a people and who we are as a Church. On November 1st, we gather to celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints – a day which honors the more obscure saints as well as the saints each of us have known. On November 2nd, we observe All Souls’ Day. On this day, we will have a special liturgy for families who have had loved ones buried from our parish, and for those families who have lost loved ones this past year...
Regular readers of this page in our weekly bulletin know that we always present an honest assessment of our parish finances and our goals for our shared future.
Remember how the basilica ceiling looked in 2017? We know that the last few years have been especially trying times for our parish finances from a major capital repair perspective. We were faced with the sudden and unexpected need to replace the basilica ceiling during 2017/2018...
If you stood outside a Roman Catholic church today as people came out after Mass and asked them: "Was that a good Eucharist?" most everyone would answer based on the homily and the music. Most people would answer that it had been a good Eucharist if the homily was interesting and the music lively.
Here is how our parish campus looked in 1955, when all our buildings had been erected except for the new church. Then, as now, all those other buildings were in heavy use as important parts of a healthy and vibrant parish...
Prayer - Spending Time with God Stewardship involves spending time with God. Recognizing that every day is a gift from God, we strive to spend some of each day with God, through prayer, Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, reading scripture, quiet time, meditation and other spiritual activities. During this time we ask God how he wants us to use the gifts he has given to us.
Dear Friends in Christ, In recent months, Cardinal Cupich has once again allowed, at the discretion of the pastor, for the reception of the Blood of Christ at Mass, but prior to doing this and being in this time of the Eucharistic Revival, Fr. Simon asked that a few questions be addressed that might arise concerning this.
One of the deepest desires of the human heart is to discover our identity. So often, as a society and as individuals, we identify ourselves by what we do. We base our worth on how productive we are at work or at home, and we determine our lives to be more or less good depending on the degree of our independence or pleasure. We may even begin to believe that if our lives, or the lives of others, don’t “measure up” to a certain standard, they are somehow less valuable or less worth living.
Our parish has always depended on the generosity of our parishioners and friends, and the challenges of tomorrow are no exception. There are many ways we can show our support, including...
True to last year’s script, our “Mass on the Field’ and Oktoberfest experienced rain showers, preventing us from being outside. Yet, in a flash, the ever-resourceful and quick-thinking members of the Men’s Club moved the entire operation into the cafeteria, gym and Parish Center. We celebrated the Eucharist in our beautiful basilica and enjoyed food in the cafeteria and Parish Center.
Our Annual “Mass on the Field” was born out of our experience with the “Parking Lot Masses” during COVID and the need to invite and encourage those still confined at home during the pandemic to come and celebrate with the community that which is central and essential to all of us – the Eucharist...
There is just one-third of the year remaining so it’s not too early to start thinking about our 2023 tax returns and how we can support our parish in a tax-advantaged way.
Come to me all you who labor and are burdened. (Matthew 11:28)... This scripture quotation from St. Matthew is the theme for Catechetical Sunday this year. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has designated the third Sunday in September as Catechetical Sunday. However, since we have our ‘Mass on the Field’ next Sunday, we will observe and celebrate the gift of our faith and our mission to share the Good News this weekend.
Lord Jesus Christ, As we celebrate our national holiday in honor of the dignity of labor and our duty to use the fruits of our labor for others, teach us to recognize you, and help us follow you amidst our busy life.
Happy Labor Day! As this holiday marks the end of summer activities, let us remember that work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continued participation in God’s creative action. Labor Day provides an opportunity to give thanks to God for the gift of work which ‘anoints’ us with dignity; to ask for God’s assistance in providing our nation and world with work for all that is decent and fair, and to invite God’s help in making us faithful stewards of his creation to the benefit of all humankind.