Fr. Simon's Letter - June 13, 2021

On June 4th, fifty-nine eighth graders graduated from Queen of All Saints School. What made this graduation ceremony extra special was that all fifty-nine students were present (no quarantines) and the basilica was once again full given what we had to go through this year. While 81% of our graduates are going to Catholic high schools, most of the others are going to selective enrollment schools. It is a testament to the high academic standards we have for our students and the wholistic formation that our school provides. Congratulations to our graduates!

This past Friday, the rest of the school gathered in the basilica as one community to thank God for his protection and guidance throughout this school year. I am grateful to every single person, faculty and staff who, under the leadership of our Principal Mrs. Emily Carlson, planned, worked hard and made countless sacrifices to provide in-person learning for our school families. To put it in the principal’s own words ‘we just didn’t survive, we thrived.’ THANK YOU!

The end of the school year marks the beginning of construction, maintenance repairs and other tasks here at QAS. We will begin work on the final phase of our Capital Campaign Project as soon as the students leave school. The final phase includes returning the old library (Rose Room) to its former purpose – a parish center. This room will provide an opportunity for students to gather in larger groups for presentations, talks, retreats and other activities. Our religious education students will, especially those in the confirmation program be able to use the space. For the larger parish community, the space will be available for parent-meetings for the sacraments, formation days and trivia-night. The parish center will provide the much needed gathering space for the growing needs of our community (view room layout HERE). The entrances of the school building on Lemont Avenue will receive a face-lift to make it a more welcoming environment. Our goal is for this facility to be available to use by mid-October.

While this is going on, we will have some regular maintenance work on the rest of the property as well as finishing the work on the St. Joseph altar. We had to put off the work from last year due to COVID and we hope to finish it before the end of summer.

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This Sunday we return to the ordinary time of the year and I hope things will soon return to some semblance of pre-covid days. I had written the following section earlier this year as we began ordinary time in the Church’s calendar and I think it is worth reprinting. So here it is.

Now that we are in the Ordinary Time of the year, the Church gifts us with the opportunity to spend some quiet time, not away from the Mass, but drawing closer as a family through the shared experiences of our faith. “Ordinary” comes from a Latin word meaning ordered, numbered, counted – but NOT boring. If “Ordinary Time” is ordered or numbered time, what are we ordered toward? What are we counting to? Ultimately, Ordinary Time is moving us, as a pilgrim Church, toward the return of Christ, but until then we move toward the final Sunday in Ordinary Time, Christ the King of the Universe.

These 33 or 34 weeks allow us a chance to experience the life of Christ and the life of the Church without the intense focus of an event. We can and should soak in this time. Through this season our readings lay out for us the journey Christ took in his life. We read about his miracles, his prayer time, his friendships and sorrows. We become immersed in his day-to-day life. This is our chance to grow closer to him in the “ordinary” events of life and to be continually converted. The appropriate liturgical color for Ordinary Time is green because green is the color of growth, and we are called to grow in our faith, grow closer to Jesus, grow deeper in love during this season. It’s not stagnant. It’s alive! 

We are aware that life is what happens while we are busy making other plans. This is Ordinary Time. The time of life that passes, almost silently, while we are distracted with heat, vacations, summer and back to school planning, scheduling Thanksgiving meals with all the extended family, fretting over that post-holiday credit card bill…these are the weeks that God wants to spend some time with you, Jesus wants to give himself to you, the Holy Spirit wants to pour himself into you…even during this ‘ordinary time!’ 

Blessings!!