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Pastor’s Letter: January 19, 2025

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings to you all this day! I am writing this week from my continuing education program at Mundelein Seminary. This is the third week of what will be nine weeks altogether, over the course of the next three years. I really appreciate so many of you giving encouraging comments and prayers after the Masses last weekend! I have already found the first two sessions so helpful and inspiring—I am hoping that this program will push me to grow and that our parish will benefit from the fruits of that growth over time. Know of my prayers for you all in the Masses this week!

I hope all of you have been enjoying our shift back into Ordinary Time—we will be in this first section of Ordinary Time until March 5, Ash Wednesday, when we will enter into the Lenten Season. Ordinary Time certainly can sound…well…ordinary! Perhaps the name itself makes us think that this will be a time that isn’t as exciting. No doubt, the special seasons of the Church year can be full of excitement—especially our two main celebrations of Easter and Christmas.  Those celebrations focus on who Jesus is as our Savior and how close He wants to be to us. It really is incredible to think about—almighty God, the Creator of all that is—loves us and wants to be near us—that is amazing! Our seasons of preparation before Easter and Christmas help us focus on the gift of those celebrations and help us prepare to receive those gifts.

Compared to all those wonderful truths, it might make sense for us to think that Ordinary Time is not as important…but, of course, there are tremendous graces and blessings for us during this time as well! As you may know, the focus of Ordinary Time is on all the rest of the life of Jesus, when he isn’t being born among us and isn’t offering Himself as..