Welcome Seth Moland-Kovash
Seth will join us at all liturgies this weekend to share details for this year’s Lenten Social Justice Project. He is the Executive Director of Partners for Our Communities, a coalition of organizations and services for many in need in our local area which is located near the intersection of Rand and Dundee Roads in Palatine. Seth is an ordained Lutheran minister previously serving as Pastor at All Saints Lutheran Church in Palatine.
Your generosity in support for Partners for Our Communities this Lent will carry out our belief in all of the Seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching:
The Dignity of EVERY Human Person
The Rights and Responsibilities to Care for all Human Life
The Call to Strengthen Community and Family Life
The Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers
Solidarity
Care for God’s Creation
Fundamentally Helping the Poor
Please be attentive to the symbols that we will be processing in and placing near the altar during Lenten Masses that help us to see the Catholic Social Teaching tenets that we are expressing. Each symbol will then be a part of the display in the Narthex that gives more detail about Partners for Our Communities.
Lent 2025 GROW
Our Lenten theme of GROW hopefully speaks to all of us as the traditional disciplines of PRAYER, FASTING and CHARITY all have the potential to help us GROW in our relationship with God.
How can we grow in prayer?
Prayer is such a multifaceted and multi-disciplinary practice. Consider experimenting with different forms of prayer. Research it and discover new techniques that may expand your practice of prayer. One of my favorite prayer practices, and that of any Jesuit, is the Examen. Ignatius of Loyola gives us this simple practice that can be done anytime of the day and multiple times during a day, but ideally at night to prayerfully review the day and to pay particular attention to your feelings about the day’s experiences. You can download a free app that will lead you through the process.
Our website has a great collection of resources, including podcasts, to assist you in praying with Scripture as well as other presentations that are archived for you to review and pray with. Please keep in mind that our weekly Mass is not only available via livestream at 9:00 am each Sunday morning but beginning at 10:30 Sunday morning it is available all week long at any time you or anyone that you encourage may wish to view and pray along with.
How can we grow in fasting?
Often, we think of fasting as giving something up. May I suggest another approach that may connect you more powerfully with the hunger that Jesus experienced in the desert? There are various forms of intermittent fasting that you may try. As with any fasting, please consult a doctor or dietitian before attempting any type of fasting routine, but the most common form is to choose an eight-hour period of time during which you may eat and then a sixteen-hour period during which you fast. This practice may also help you to lose weight, but particularly during the hours of fasting to pray into any hunger that you experience and use it as a way to spiritually heighten your hunger for God.
How can we grow in charity?
Our Ash Wednesday reading reminds us every year that our charitable giving should be done in secret. If you choose to support our Lenten Social Justice Project financially, you may accompany that generosity with quiet, silent prayer for those who will benefit from your generosity. Your contribution will be part of a larger communal effort of charity with many others in our community.
All Parish Reconciliation Service March 19
This coming Wednesday evening, March 19, at 7:00 pm we will offer all to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation in this form every Advent and Lent.
Lent is a season of Reconciliation and thus offering the Sacrament is one of the most fundamental and prayerful ways to enter into this holy season of preparation for Easter. If you have never received the Sacrament in this form, I highly recommend it.
Such services include gathering together in church with others seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness. This reminds us that we ALL need not simply Confession but Reconciliation. In a special way this year we are suggesting that the Sacrament of Reconciliation helps us to GROW in our relationship with God and others.
The service includes listening to one of the many scripture passages that we root the Sacrament in. That is followed by a homily by the priest, then a series of questions and statements that help us to examine our conscience. That is followed by a group reciting of the Act of Contrition. Then you have the option of a personal, private and protected conversation with one of several priests during which you verbalize anything that you wish God to forgive you for. The priest often provides some pastoral words of encouragement and compassion. He will then give you a Penance and then conclude with the sacred prayer of Absolution. I always remind people that the prayer of Absolution is my prayer for them, it is God’s prayer for them, and it is the Church’s prayer for them.
Please also remember that we offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation EVERY Monday evening from 5:30-7:00 pm in church. This is the original one-on-one private, prayerful and compassionate form of the Sacrament, and on the last two Mondays of Lent we add additional priests and expand the time that the Sacrament is offered leading up to Easter.