St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish/the Sanctuary of The Divine Mercy, Chicago

"Along the frenetic Kennedy Expressway, in the heart of Chicago, St. Stanislaus Kostka Church/the Sanctuary of The Divine Mercy, stands as a sign of contradiction, a light to the world, an oasis of life-giving water calling all of God's people to find peace by turning with trust to The Divine Mercy."  ~Fr. Anthony Bus, C. R., pastor

My family and I were blessed to pay a visit St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish/the Sanctuary of The Divine Mercy and home of the world's largest monstrance, Our Lady of the Sign-Ark of Mercy in Chicago.  It was a gorgeous, gorgeous church!  We were greeted at the door by a woman who was mopping the floor.  She was so friendly and welcoming and invited us to come back anytime.  The church is open 24/7 for Eucharistic Adoration.  We will be sure to take her up on her kind offer the next time we are in Chicago.

For more information on St. Stanislaus Kostka parish, visit this link.

greeted by Our Lady in the church vestibule

The confessional looks so welcoming with the open doors!

beautiful stations!

The breathtaking frescoes look like they need some care as the paint is showing signs of peeling.

Isn't the altar magnificent?

altar details

Of course, pictures don't do justice to the beauty of the church.

Adoration is in a side chapel within the main church.

Here I am praying for your intentions.

The image of the Divine Mercy can be seen just beyond the monstrance.  Jesus, I trust in you!

Oremus MKE (Milwaukee)

"A Church which 'goes forth' is a Church whose doors are open...Often it is better simply to slow down, to put aside our eagerness in order to see and listen to others, to stop rushing from one thing to another and to remain with someone who has faltered along the way."   ~Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium

Fr. Tim Kitzke, the pastor of three East Side Milwaukee parishes that include seven churches, recently told a story about his high school seminary days.  He said that he used to ponder the idea of becoming a missionary in some exotic country, and now, here he is, a priest on Brady Street.  Brady Street, part of Milwaukee's "Fashionable East Side"or FES for short, is home to many bars, coffee shops, restaurants and tattoo shops.  The residents are known to be the most trendy young people around, and whenever I visit the area I marvel at the amount of people who sport tattoos, face piercings, gauge earrings and non-traditional hair styles and colors.  Brady Street is definitely exotic!

In an effort to evangelize the neighborhood, Fr. Tim, along with some young adult parishioners, have begun a wonderful new initiative called Oremus MKE (Milwaukee).  On a recent Saturday night, the busiest night of the week on Brady Street when the bars and restaurants are filled to capacity, Fr. Tim opened the doors to St. Hedwig's Church (part of Three Holy Women Parish) that sits in the midst of all of the life and activity on Brady Street, from 9 PM to Midnight for Eucharistic Adoration and confession.  He sent many young parishioners out into the neighborhood to invite passersby in for a few moments of prayer.

Two of my sons and I had the joy of attending for the first grace-filled hour.  The church was ablaze with candles, and local and extremely talented organist, Jake Heidel, and equally talented violinist, Brandon Rindfleish, set the prayerful mood with lovely strains of music such as the Salve Regina and God Beyond All Praising.  All evening long people steadily streamed into the church.  They were given candles to place at the foot of the altar near an icon of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and encouraged to spend a few minutes in prayer before the Eucharist.  Information sheets were placed in the pews explaining the Catholic belief in the Real Presence along with promotional materials for Theology on Tap.  Four priests awaited anyone who would be moved to confess their sins and then the evening closed with benediction at Midnight.  As we left we were told that Oremus Milwaukee would be offered again later this summer or in the early fall.  I highly encourage those in the Milwaukee area to attend and bring along a friend or two.

What exactly was it that the organizers hoped to achieve with Oremus MKE?  From the Mission Milwaukee website: 

 "We are doing it  because in Milwaukee we have a lot events (most of them are good events by the way) just for Catholics; there are service events, social events, liturgical events,  but there is no bridge for inviting people outside of the Catholic circle to come to Catholic events. And even though most events in the church are open to everyone, how do we go about inviting people? Most people (including myself) get nervous when talking with a non-Catholic about our faith.  We get so stuck in our little Catholic world that we don’t take the time to invest in people who are not part of the Catholic church. We only invest in people who are already Catholic but don’t take the time to invite other people who are outside of the faith. It forces us outside of our comfort zone. It's safer to talk to Catholics
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But guess what; non Catholics find us intriguing. To a hipster a faithful Catholic might seem ‘anti-establishment’ or ‘going against the grain’ of culture. To a young person a faithful Catholic might look like someone who has a strong sense of identity, both personal and corporate. At the very least, an offer to come into a Catholic church to pray [for peace if that's what we ask for. its universal, its biblical, its something that people want] and feel like they are participating in something. Why into the church? Why not a prayer garden? Why can’t we just invite people into the prayer garden, or to the lakefront. Those places are good, but Catholics have something great we call ‘The Real Presence of Jesus Christ’ in every church. Perhaps nothing happens [to those who come into the church], but later on, when they are out at a ….bar…a party…they remember the moment of silence and peace and they realize for a just a moment that there is something more for them to do and…believe…but even if all they do is pray (unknowingly) before the Blessed Sacrament and the Sacrament (AKA Jesus, Real Presence) is present for them, is there for them, maybe this will prompt something for them. Maybe the Holy Spirit will work in their lives. What is the ultimate goal? To fill the pews; not really. To promote peace; maybe, to bring about peace; maybe. To bring people into union with Jesus, yes. To bring people before the Lord. Yes. It’s simple enough. Just open the door, and invite them in."  

Visit the Mission Milwaukee website here for more information.

photo credit:  Sam Vosters/Tom Klind

photo credit: Sam Vosters/Tom Klind

The de Chantal Society/St. Catherine of Siena

The de Chantal Society of St. Francis de Sales Seminary, led by Lydia LoCoco and Bishop Donald Hying, is now into its third year of bringing women in the Archdiocese together for an evening or morning of quiet prayer and reflection followed by socialization, three times each year.  The description found on the seminary website is quite lovely and enticing:

"We invite you to take a short respite that promises, like a breath of fresh air, to offer you silence, prayer, meditation and spiritual formation - time for you.

We are the de Chantal Society. Sponsored by Saint Francis de Sales Seminary and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee's Nazareth Project, our mission is to spiritually form and inspire Catholic women like St. Jane de Chantal, who are integral to our families, vocations and the Catholic Church.

We ask nothing of you (except prayer!). Our mission is to support you.  Please choose the gathering that works best for you."

Attending the de Chantal Society is one of my very favorite things to do.  Not only do I enjoy the quiet of silent prayer before our Eucharistic Lord, and the joy of fellowship with other Catholic women, but Bishop Hying never fails to inspire as he shares stories of the lives of women saints upon whom we can model our lives.  

At the most recent de Chantal Society gathering, Bishop Hying shared the story of St. Catherine of Siena of whom I knew very little, so I took careful notes and am happy to review them and share the gist of his reflection here.

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Quotes from St. Catherine of Siena:

"Love transforms one into what one loves."
"You are she who is not. I am He who is."
"If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire."
"I am the fire and you are the sparks."

St. Catherine of Siena (source)

As far as saints are concerned, according to Bishop Hying, St. Catherine of Siena is in the stratosphere.  She was a mystic, which means that she had a direct knowledge of God obtained through subjective experience. She knew God, not just through an intellectual belief, but through a real human experience.  For St. Catherine, God was so real that she could actually reach out and touch Him, and then boldly act upon that vision.

Like many saints, St. Catherine of Siena only lived on this earth for a short time, dying at the age of 33.  It was almost as if a fiery explosion propelled her into the world, and like a meteor she flew through the heavens and then sparked out.  To be holy like St. Catherine and other saints who die young, Bishop Hying says it seems as if we have to "get it right quickly and then check out, because the longer we stay around, the more we mess it up."

She was born during the time of black death, on March 25th, 1347, was one of 22 children, many of whom died during infancy and childhood, and had a very strong will.  She had her first vision of God when she  was only five or six years old.  She saw Christ seated in His glory.  By age seven she vowed to give her whole life to God.  It's as if God reaches down and chooses certain souls to show us who He is, and St. Catherine was one of them.  There are two types of saints-those that are born holy and those who are wild and have a conversion.  St. Catherine was clearly of the first type.

She didn't feel called to marriage or to religious life.  In fact, when her sister died in childbirth, her family expected her to marry.  She performed a massive fast to get her way and avoid marrying her sister's widower. Eventually she became a Dominican Tertiary which was a mendicant order, meaning she didn't live in a convent or monastery, but remained in the world.  Most of the others in her order were older and lived in community, but she chose to live in a little shack in her parent's back yard.  She learned to read and lived in silence and solitude.  She demanded nothing for herself, rarely slept, and performed many long fasts often only eating the Eucharist.

At age 21 she had a mystical and emotional marriage with Jesus.  She wore a ring on her finger that no one else could see.  She took care of the poor in hospitals and homes.  People would often gather around her and she gave communal spiritual direction.  She was called to delve into the world as if God had pushed her to live an extension of His life.  Like St. Catherine, we, too, are called to be in the world but not of the world, by living in deep union with Jesus.

She advocated for reform of the clergy.  During her lifetime there was a schism in the Church with three separate popes. She felt empowered to go to the real pope and convince him to return from France to Rome.  How many people can go to the pope, tell him what to do, receive a personal audience and then watch as he follows their advice? The fact that St. Catherine was able to achieve this shows that true power doesn't come from office, it comes from holiness.

She was taken by the transcendence and immanence of God-He's above us, but also has entered into our experience, close to us and within us.  This is the amazing truth that before the world was created, each one of us was already loved in the mind and heart of God.  We exist and that is the ultimate expression of His love for us.  The trinity dwells in us through sanctifying grace; the astounding conviction that through the sacraments, God comes to live in us.

St. Catherine had a deep love for the Trinity and believed that heaven is standing at the heart of the Trinity. She knew that there is an overwhelming force of God's love for us to the point where we are moved to tears, where our head knowledge of God suddenly explodes in the heart.  St. Catherine's lived experience of God changed everything.  She said, "God pressed Himself into my being and that's who I am."  She had ecstasies that took her out of herself and transported her into the heart of God.  It is only for a few rare souls that this is possible on this side of death.

As a priest, Bishop Hying says that there are times during the elevation when the host is so light and times when it is heavy.  There are moments when he is unmoved and then at other times he is deeply moved by the Real Presence.  There are times when God seems close and other times when He seems far away.  The moments of grace are the times when, in a profound and real way, we feel His overwhelming love for us.  St. Catherine felt His overwhelming love all the time.

What matters for us today is that we take the things she teaches us and live them out.  St. Catherine of Siena shows us that God's love for us is prodigal, infinite, unending, divine fire.  We are to see ourselves as an extension of Jesus in the world.  St. Catherine was so submerged in God that there was a fine line separating the two.  Her divine power came from the Lord using her, but God is the one who is; she is the one who is not.

To read Catherine's works is daunting and overwhelming, but she has something to say to all of us, and that is that throughout her life she took the next step and stayed true to herself because she knew who she was in God's eyes.  Holiness doesn't make us odd.  Like St. Catherine of Siena, holiness makes us beautiful.

The Skin of God

"I know that God will be here with me, but I need someone in this room who has some skin!"  
~Fr. Ronald Rolheiser

It's been six months since I began the practice of remaining for ten minutes after every Mass to offer thanksgiving for the gift of the Eucharist.  When I attend early morning daily Mass I usually extend that ten minutes to 45 minutes and include the Stations of the Cross in my morning prayer and then stop to light a candle for a friend on my way out of church.  My silent time with the Lord has come to be a daily treasure that I do not want to forgo.

And yet, there are times...

There are times when it feels so lonely.  There are times when I feel so anti-social, turning my back on my friends who are visiting and laughing with one another as I silently kneel before the tabernacle.  I long to join them in conversation but I can't bear to leave Jesus alone in His golden tabernacle.  There are times when I wish someone would join me, just silently kneeling beside me offering their own act of thanksgiving to the Lord.  And there are times when I wish someone would walk the Stations of the Cross with me, being my companion in that journey of loving prayer.

Sometimes I can almost sense the eyes of the maintenance man who busily cleans while I pray, and who is my silent company in church most days, looking at me as if I were nothing more than a pious old church lady, as if that were a derogatory term,  and it makes me feel even more lonely in my prayer.

But I want to be with Jesus.  I want Him to know that I love Him.  I want to feel that He loves me.  So I firmly commit to my daily time of prayer despite the loneliness that it entails.  Sometimes I feel sorry for Jesus, because even though I physically remain in His presence, my heart is often far away and my thoughts wander....

That's where I was this morning, full of wandering thoughts...thrilling for a friend who just brought home a beautiful baby from China...fearing for a friend who's son was undergoing surgery for a collapsed lung...worrying about all the daily tasks that await me at work and at home and about all of the problems that weigh heavy on this worn and weary mother's heart.  I wanted to share them with a real person, to pray about them with someone, instead of silently giving them to God who was only offering me silence in return.  With my face buried in my hands as I knelt before the tabernacle, I tried to give my day and my worries to God, and I barely noticed the soft footsteps approaching. I peeked through my fingers and saw my son, Joe, standing before me.

Joe has been working at our parish for the summer, helping with cleaning and yard work.  He told me that his job today would be to dust-mop the church floor, carefully cleaning between and beneath every pew.  His appearance felt like an answered prayer and even though he wasn't able to kneel beside me or walk the Stations of the Cross with me, just sensing his presence as his mop bumped around the pews, gave me peace and reassurance.  It was as if God came to me in the person of my son and accompanied me in my prayer.  Joe became the "skin of God" with a dust-mop for this lonely and pious old church lady.  And as my time of prayer was coming to an end, I embraced him, whispered my love, and then lit a candle for him in the hopes that the flame of that prayer would burn brightly for him throughout the day, assuring him of my gratitude for his presence within my prayer.

Ten Minutes

“O let me plead with you, dear ones, to spend at least ten minutes after Mass—I am making this the absolute minimum, ten minutes—and ask Jesus to teach you to realize the personal, intimate character of His Love, to realize the predilections He has shown for you, drawing you to His Heart and giving you the privilege in Holy Communion of resting on the Heart of Uncreated Love.”
~Father Gerald Fitzgerald, s.P.




















Last month in my Oblate formation lesson from the Handmaids of the Precious Blood, I found the above direction from Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald,sP, to spend ten minutes in a silent prayer of thanksgiving following each Mass, to be quite daunting, and I wrote to Mother Marietta about my difficutly with that request and shared my letter to her here on this blog with these words:

"I usually have no problem dwelling in silent prayer after receiving Jesus in Holy Communion and I cherish those few precious minutes that I have alone with Him, but I need to look at how I can stretch that minute or two to a full ten minutes after Mass is over. I see that I have a lot of work to do in this regard and I know that it will require a change of habit and a change of heart as well."

After only one attempt to stay after Mass in prayer which was interrupted with visits from other parishioners and the sound of the priest locking the Church doors which prompted me to shorten my ten distracted minutes and leave the Church sooner than I had planned, I gave up even trying to stay with the Lord for ten minutes and put the thought of it out of my mind.

Then I received the next lesson from Mother Marietta, HPB. This lesson which I am currently reading and reflecting upon is centered on the Holy Eucharist and again in this lesson I found the same words from Fr. Fitzgerald pleading for those ten minutes after Mass. I felt disheartened because I knew that there is no way around it, God is calling for me to spend that time with Him each day and I cannot refuse.

I was surprised to find that I almost felt a repulsion to spend that time with the Lord and I looked for excuses as to why I couldn't do it such as having to give up my exercise time and how it might look to others who already see me as quite over the top in my faith and I wondered if I should abandon my dream to become an Oblate of the Precious Blood, thinking that this one simple request for a short period of time each day was one request too many upon my already burdened shoulders. I wondered if possibly, this wasn't the right time in my life for me to embark upon this new and holy endeavor.

I spoke with my husband and children about it and those dear ones encouraged me to continue on the path and helped me to think of ways that I could fit ten extra minutes of prayer into my daily schedule. They assured me that my fears about how my extra time in church would look to others were unfounded. They reminded me that I have always told them not to worry about what others think of them, but to be leaders in the faith, doing what they know is right despite the taunting and teasing of others. Sometimes we need others to remind us of the advice we give when we ourselves are the ones in need of advice!

So today, after Mass and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Devotions, I kissed Jack and Mary good bye as they headed off to school, and I fell back to my knees to begin spending ten minutes with the Lord. I closed my eyes and soon the voices of everyone else who had been at Mass drifted away and I was alone with Jesus. When I opened my eyes once again, I found that the lights had all been turned out and the only light that shone was the flickering candle beside the tabernacle and the devotional candles on either side of the church. Then I saw a man enter the side door, bow to the tabernacle, stand in prayer for a short time before bowing once again and leaving. I thought that he must have been a school parent who simply could not come near the church without coming in to spend a few short minutes with the Lord and my heart was uplifted by his prayerful presence.

Shortly after he left, a woman from the bereavement committee came in to prepare the church for a funeral and I looked at my watch and found that 15 minutes had passed. I left the church and began the treacherous drive to work through the ice and snow and I thought about my mother and her final days on this earth.

"Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." ~Matthew 26:38

When my mom was in the hospital recovering from a second surgery to remove a brain tumor, my son Jack, who was six months old at the time, and I, went to visit her. We only had a few short minutes to spend with her because my husband was expecting us back home. With that short visit we were able to bring a little bit of needed joy to my mom. She was especially pleased to be able to see her beloved grandson whose smile lit up the room. She told us that she was very frightened and lonely and begged us to stay a little longer but I refused because something (which to this day I cannot remember what) was very important at home and we needed to be there. It was the last time that I saw my mother alive. Shortly after we left she developed a headache and slipped into unconciousness from which she never recovered. She died three days later on Mother's Day. I have always regretted the fact that my mother needed me in her final days of life and I refused her my presence for something that was clearly so unimportant that I can't even remember what it was.

So tomorrow I will remain with the Lord for ten minutes after Mass, just resting in His love with a heart full of gratitude for the great gift of His Eucharistic Body. And I will do so again and again, day after day. Jesus is begging me to stay with Him to relieve some of His fear and loneliness and there is nothing that is more important than answering His desire for my company with a short and thankful visit after Mass.