Dear Parishioners,
I have always found interesting the notion that there will be no “sacraments” in Heaven. It makes logical sense (in Heaven we’ll have Jesus directly and won’t need any mediation), but it still seems strange. Our lives as Catholics seem to be so ordered to the sacraments, that we won’t have them in eternity is a startling reality. We cherish the sacraments. We all know what it felt like to not be able to go to Mass or Confession during the shut-down, to postpone weddings, baptisms, first communions, etc. Some priests could give the anointing of the sick, but, during the shut-down, many other family members could not be present to witness that final sacrament. So, the proposal that when we reach the pearly gates we “dump” the sacraments, like that bag of old clothes we toss in the Saint Vincent de Paul box over by Saint Juliana, is a head-scratcher.
Dear Parishioners,
We “see” God differently throughout our lives. Moses first saw God as a young Jewish man. He saw God as the majority of most people would: from a distance. Moses identified himself as a Jew, but he didn’t truly live as a Jew.
Dear Parishioners,
This weekend’s first reading from Genesis is psychedelic. Maybe we’ll play something from The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd while the lector is reading. “Hey You” from The Wall would be good too. It is a fitting tune to characterize the trance that Abraham falls into and the mysterious “smoking fire pot and flaming torch” that suddenly appear.
Father James Wallace grew up in Winnetka, Illinois and attended Sts. Faith Hope and Charity grammar school, New Trier High School, and then The George Washington University in Washington DC, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science in 2007. He attended seminary at The Pontifical North American College in Rome and was ordained a priest in 2012 for the Archdiocese of Chicago. In addition to being the pastor of Saint Paul of the Cross Parish, he serves as a canon lawyer for the Archdiocese, a dean in Vicariate II, and a professor of canon law and spiritual director at Mundelein Seminary. He is also one of the featured Mercy Home Sunday Mass celebrants, airing Sundays at 9:30am on WGN.
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