Welcome To Our New Parish Website

• Written by randyfronek

Happy Laetare Sunday! We must rejoice, because Lent is now more than half over, and the coming joys of Easter will soon be upon us – that our Lord, Jesus Christ, has defeated our two worst enemies: sin and death! Our Lent has been, what I like to say: a gritty one this year – what with our usual penances of prayer, fasting, and alms-giving for the remittance of the sins of those we love and our enemies’ sins, but with the Coronavirus scare – our Lent has taken on an even grittier nature. Yet, we have been going through Lent this year with our Lady Most Admirable – our great Patroness, who is teaching us how to see the invisible love of God that is all around us. Mary is teaching us how not to focus on visible realities, because visible, tangible realities are typically used by Satan to lead us into sin – remember the apple in the garden of Eden!? Our Lady says, fix your gaze on the invisible, the invisible presence, the invisible life, the invisible action, and most of all the invisible love, which is Jesus Christ. During this difficult time, we continue to pray: Lady Most Admirable, give us a right understanding of the essential (your Son), and a hunger for Him in the Eucharist.

With the Coronavirus scare, our Bishop has granted a dispensation to miss the Holy Mass on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation. Of course, Holy Mother Church encourages us to continue to live the Commandments, and since we are unable to go to Mass, to still make Sunday a holy day – by perhaps, gathering with family and praying the readings of the Mass, practicing devotionals like praying the Rosary – especially the Sorrowful mysteries during Lent, but also by watching a Catholic Mass on TV and participating in the Mass, saying the responses, and assuming the correct postures at their appropriate time, and then making a spiritual communion. We now have the technology of a webpage for our three parishes of OLPH, St. Mary of the Assumption, and St. Patrick Churches. A life-time license for an internet set was bought by a generous parishioner and another generous parishioner has been fervently creating our Webpage. Through the technology of a Youtube video, you can now watch your priest celebrate the Sunday Mass, and make a spiritual communion. And since it appears that we will not be allowed to gather for the Masses through Easter Sunday, we hope to video the liturgies of Holy Week, the Easter vigil, and Easter Sunday as well. Please take advantage of praying the Mass along with me for the intentions, which you have already made.

I will continue to celebrate all the Masses for the repose of your loved ones just as was scheduled and appear in our bulletins. For example: this weekend, when we were to celebrate 3 Masses all out at St. Patrick’s Maytown Church for their Patronal Feast day – yesterday, I celebrated Mass with my Dad in his hospital room down at NorthWestern Hospital. I celebrated the Mass for our beloved Lynn Peterson, and Dad received Holy Communion – one of the few lay persons in Chicago that was able to receive our Lord, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. See parents, what perks come to you, if your son becomes a Catholic priest. Then this morning I celebrated Mass at a private chapel for the intention of Douglas Blaine, and the Youtube video of the Mass, I celebrated for all the people of our parishes both living and deceased – that Mass can be seen on the internet – just go to our homepage: olphmarystpatrick.com. I will continue to celebrate all the Masses in the bulletin, so if you would like to be in solidarity in praying those Masses with me, please pick up a bulletin at the Church or you can go online to view an electronic copy. Again please keep checking our website for updated information on the sacraments during this time. The web address again is www.olphmarystpatrick.com. As of now our Churches will remain open during the day, for private prayer, the Diocese asks that you would please keep respectable social distances, if others are present in the Church.

Again, we invoke our Lady Most Admirable for her constant help during this extra- gritty Lent, and be assured of my prayers as your priest, as I continue to lift the chalice, a 2^nd class relic of Pope St. John Paul the second, above the altar for your intentions.

Have a blessed Laetare Sunday.

St. Patrick…pray for us!

Our Lady Most Admirable…pray for us!

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