• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Translate: ||

Our Lady of Peace Catholic Parish

  • About
    • Mass Times
    • Parish History
      • Church Windows
    • New Parishoner Registration
    • Pastor’s Messages
    • Ministry Guide (pdf)
    • Contact Staff
      • Priests
      • Deacons
      • Staff
    • Marian Order
    • Council/Committee
      • Parish Council
      • Finance Committee
    • Bulletins
    • Sitemap
  • Sacraments
    • Sacraments for Elementary School Students
    • Baptism
    • Marriage
    • Divorce and Annulments
    • Becoming Catholic
    • Sacrament Certificates
    • Eucharistic Home & Hospital Visits
    • Funerals
  • Worship
    • Mass Times
    • Eucharistic Home & Hospital Visits
    • Vocations Prayer Calendar
  • Serve
    • Parish Life/ Volunteer
    • Council/Committee
      • Parish Council
      • Finance Committee
    • Eucharistic Home & Hospital Visits
    • Find a Ministry
    • Ministry Proposal Form
  • Formation / Religious Ed
    • Welcome
    • Registration Forms
    • Sacraments for Elementary School Students
    • Sacrament Forms
    • Calendars
    • Volunteers
    • Contact Religious Education
  • Stewardship
    • Time, Talent, Treasure
    • Donate Today!
    • Find a Ministry
  • Connect

Archives for April 2018

Why Train the Mind?

April 26, 2018

In Seminary I was taught how to gauge a person’s dedication to their Catholic religion by questioning which doctrine they truly held, which made the most sense to them, etc., as opposed to those doctrines they either did not understand at all, or had to admit that they truly did not believe. So, for example, a person might still be considered Catholic if he/she believed strongly in God, but had some reservations about the concept of Purgatory. I would invite him/her to reconsider, but meanwhile, the person is still considered Catholic. On the other hand, if a person was a staunch believer in Purgatory but did not believe in God whatsoever, this person essentially excommunicated him/herself. This person was simply not a Roman Catholic. Here, one would not even qualify as Christian. The lecture presented me with an interesting experiment. It allowed me to evaluate someone’s Catholic identity by how they prioritized their assent in those beliefs taught by the Church.

Such a concept of prioritizing what one holds dear is not new. Science fiction writers over the years have often invited their readers to evaluate their belief structures, which they truly held sacred, by means of various science fiction scenarios. It seems safer to mentally play with such choices for after all; if it is science fiction then it is all “make believe.” I am not actually threatened by such decisions. One such example here might include survival questions, based on situations found much like on the former TV show “Lost.” In this case, if you could keep only one of your possessions on a marooned island, what would it be? Likewise, if you could choose several people to be with you in this marooned situation, who would they be? By answering such questions, one is being compelled to prioritize what object would be most important to you; and along with that choice, which people would be most important to you. Choosing people would be the most difficult selection, I would think. Choosing objects would be comparatively easier. Without being compelled to make choices, we might naturally say that everything we own is important and everyone we know is important. Of course, we never had a reason to think of such questions before. Science fiction gives us the reasons, even if fictitious, and once again we can do so knowing that we are safe. We are not actually saying “goodbye” to anyone or anything. We cannot but find such an exercise helpful.

Take it one more step. If you are willing to play with this concept, why not do some prioritizing now? It’s always fascinating to learn about oneself, and in this case, to learn specifically what one holds dear. So, for the sake of increasing self awareness, what institution is most important to you? What institution is so important to you that you simply cannot imagine it not being there for you and your family? When I worked with such choices myself, I easily could imagine hospitals and food establishments on the list. But, wouldn’t we also choose schools and churches? As a clarification, these are institutions and not buildings necessarily. In a situation of war or any sort of calamity, one can get medical care and receive food in a tent. One can pray outside, if necessary, and over the time of rebuilding, structures would slowly and naturally go up. Meanwhile, we would still have the institutions that are central to our life, physically and spiritually. Basically, what these places are, and what they mean to you, represent the soul, the very life, of the buildings that they are in.

If you agree with my choices, if you know that you, yourself, would put these institutions on the list, perhaps you can also see how important it is to support these institutions now. This is especially true for our own parish church. What can you do to insure that our parish church of Our Lady of Peace, both as a meaningful institution as well as a beautiful building, can always remain strong?

Peace & Blessings, Fr. Walt

Our Lady of Peace Parish and School Celebrate Arbor Day on Thursday, April 26

April 19, 2018

Hold On To Your Peace

April 12, 2018

A spiritual writer named Henri Nouwen was quite popular in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Perhaps he is not so popular now. Many people I suspect are not familiar with the name, even though his works are still available. Anyway, he quoted Matthew, chapter 10 where Jesus is giving an assignment to his disciples to minister in various towns, and when they would visit any home they ought to salute it. If the occupants are deserving, God’s peace would remain on it. If they were not deserving, this peace would return to the apostles who visited. Henri Nouwen plays off this quote by Matthew and relates it to us today. He says that we should not let anybody steal our peace. Rather, we should maintain it . I suppose that implicit to his suggestion is the added on concept, “as best we can.”

It’s important. Christ says that He gives us His Peace, just not as the world gives it. Whenever we celebrate the Mass together and pray the Our Father, the celebrant blesses everyone with the peace of the Lord, and invites those in attendance to share that peace with each other. The Sign of Peace!

Shouldn’t we conclude from the above examples alone that we ought to inculcate an attitude of Peace? And not limit it to the Mass, but rather inculcate it in everyday life? It is the principle lens through which we ought to see the world. View the world! Understand how we ought to help the world!

Pope Francis has placed an emphasis on helping the poor. The poor, of course, refers to those in need, and that can be anybody. Yes, it can be a street person, and most people think along those lines when trying to wrap their minds around what the Pope is saying. But in truth the poor can refer to anybody. It can be the person seated right next to you in the pew during Mass. It can be your neighbor. Don’t be fooled by how big the house is, or by how many cars are in the garage. The needy can be anybody.

How can I help anybody who is in need? Sounds like a tall order. Initially it is, or better stated, it certainly looks that way. But it can be done. By attending Mass and frequenting Sacraments, by doing spiritual reading and the like, by praying in whatever way I am drawn, we begin to feel the very peace of God. It becomes more real. God’s Word can nourish us this way. Experiencing God’s Peace, we find that we are expanding our availability.

Feeling my own sense of peace (the peace of the world) comes from serving my own needs and this decreases my availability. I’m too self-absorbed. All that I can ever see here is me and my own wants and desires. All that I can see is my own ego, as it were, and what it wants. That peace is fragile and does not last. Sadly it may be all that we know, severely limiting our understating of what Christ is saying. But the main idea here is to remember that Christ says that He does not give peace as the world gives it. Isn’t that true? He gives us His Peace instead and that allows us to see the needs of others. And this “seeing” is precisely what expands our availability.

“The Peace of the Lord be with you always! And with your Spirit. Offer to each other the sign of Peace” Amen!

Peace & Blessings, Fr. Walt

Older Posts

Primary Sidebar

Contact Us

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Footer

Contact Us

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Quick Links

Parish Registration Form
Give Online
Employment Opportunities
Sitemap

Catholic Resources

Relevant Radio EWTN The Pope's Five Finger Prayer

Social Media

  • Facebook

Address & Map

701 Plainfield Road
Darien, IL 60561
630.323.4333

Copyright © 2021 · Log in