Holy Innocents Church Chicago IL

2012-01-07T09:41:00.001-08:00

AN EPIPHANY HOME BLESSING

All family members gather by the main entrance to the family home. The prayer leader offers this prayer:

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation: by the guidance of a star, you led the Magi to your child, and by the light of faith, you bring us to know Christ as Lord, the Messiah you have sent. Bless us as we use this chalk to mark our door in your honor. May the church where these things are used in faith be a house of prayer full of goodness, humility, self-control, mutual respect, hospitality to strangers, and loving obedience to your Word.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then one member marks the lintel above the main door of the home with chalk in the following pattern:

20 † C † M † B † 12

While the door is being marked, another family member may say:

May all who come to our parish church this year rejoice to find Christ living among us; and may we seek out and serve in everyone we meet Jesus who is our Lord for ever and ever. Amen.

There are two explanations for the letters, and both have significance for us. The first is that they are the initials of the legendary Magi: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. The second is that they abbreviate a Latin phrase: Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless this dwelling place.”

2011-12-24T20:41:00.001-08:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

Every once in a while, I see someone with a button or bumper sticker that says, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Now that I’m on Facebook, I hear a lot about the “war on Christmas,” as if there is some concerted effort on the part of our society to ban the holiday or minimize its importance. I suppose I would experience much more of that sort of talk if I could bring myself to watch FOX news or listen to the silly pundits on talk radio.

Here’s the truth of it.

“Jesus is the reason for the season” that renews itself today, here and in churches all over the world. Before today, whether you first saw something resembling a Christmas display a few days before Thanksgiving, or around Halloween, or nearer to Labor Day (which is when I saw Christmas gear for sale for the first time this year), Macy’s is the reason for the season. Or maybe it’s Kohl’s, or Family Dollar, or wherever it is that you happen to shop. From the first time you noticed a display all the way through close of business on December 24, commerce was the reason for the season. Retail establishments everywhere need for us to drop much money into their registers so they can survive another year.

The “war on Christmas” might have something to do with some poor, unfortunate retail clerk saying “Seasons greetings” or “Have a happy holiday” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Or perhaps it has its roots in the legal ploys of some disgruntled people who do not want to spend public money on Christmas displays in town squares. Certainly, there is enough effort to prevent public school students from singing religious songs at their holiday pageants.

I’ve noticed something interesting about people who work in retail. The smart ones repeat whatever you say. If you lead with “Have a nice holiday,” they say it back or say, “Same to you.” If you say, “Have a nice Christmas,” they say much the same back. They try their best not to be offensive because they want you to come back to their store. This is not an exercise in “political correctness,” whatever that means, as much as an attempt to continue to have jobs to report to every day.

And if you want your children to sing religious songs in Christmas pageants, well, there are a great many Catholic schools in our community. In education, as in so much else in this world, you really do get what you pay for. We live in a secular world, and that world must take care of many different kinds of people with a variety of belief systems or no belief at all. The bigger surprise to me is that non-religious schools still gather audiences to watch their children sing about Rudolph or snow. If you want to hear a chorus of school children singing “Silent Night” or “Joy to the World” on the stage of their auditorium, you may well have to pay tuition.

Please note that I said that the season that Jesus is the reason for renews itself today. The season itself began when Jesus was born of Mary in a stable in the town of Bethlehem about 2,000 years ago. Ever since then, God has been Incarnate in the world, first in the person of Jesus and after his resurrection in the Eucharist reserved in tabernacles everywhere. That Christians are still intolerant of others or willing to do violence in the name of God proves only that we are sinners and have not yet fully absorbed what it means that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to be our Savior.”

In terms of the liturgy of the Church, the Christmas season begins today. Our festive observances continue rather intensely through the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord two Sundays from now, but the season itself does not conclude until February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in the Temple.

As the secular world packs away its Christmas displays and the sales end, we can keep the spirit of the liturgical season alive by attending and participating in the Eucharist here in church and by making sure we continue to be open to the generosity of spirit all Christians are called to as we respond to God’s gift of Jesus with our gift of love and compassion for others. The true season of the Incarnation never ends when we embody the Incarnate Lord in our own actions.

There is no war on Christmas that matters to us as long as we make Christ real to others. We do that by loving everyone with the same love that Christ showed to us by becoming one of us. Be Christ for others.

Merry Christmas!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2011-04-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

I was once involved in a funeral for a person who had died relatively young after a rather hard life. He had never married and had outlived his parents and aunts and uncles, so his only remaining relatives were his siblings and their spouses. If those siblings had any children, I never met them. Although this family had grown up with Catholic education, they were not believers and were certainly not practicing their religion. The deceased family member was the only one who had attended church with any regularity beyond eighth grade, and he was quite a faithful man.

One of the family members confronted me with a great many questions: “Why would God take him so young? Why did he have such a hard life? Was his painful death a judgment by God on him or any of us?” Once I knew the family’s circumstances, which included a dysfunctional family life when they were growing up, I almost predicted the questions. They were no great surprise to me. I spoke to the answers in my homily at the funeral, but I feel safe in guessing that the siblings didn’t really listen to what I said or understand it even if they heard it.

If the truth of our existence can be summed up in one simple statement, it could well be this: “Are you unaware that we who are baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life; for if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in his resurrection.” (Romans 6:3-5)

Baptism changes our existence and makes everything different for us. St. Paul says that we were crucified with Christ so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. One of my seminary teachers said that if we ever traced every individual sin to its root, all sins would be an exercise in idolatry, the act of putting something or someone ahead of God. Sin stems from fear and leads to shame, and it has been so ever since the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The biggest personal fear that most people have is the fear of death, and the heathens engage in all sorts of wicked deceptions to convince themselves of their own mortality. But we are not heathens, and we don’t have to fear death because, as St. Paul says so clearly, we are already dead and risen.

Certainly, this perspective does not change our earthly existence. These mortal bodies of ours, like everything else in the created universe, must die. It simply changes the way we are free to live. We marvel at the strength of martyrs who could go joyfully to their deaths or at least face them with dignity, but they understood the great statement of Jesus that they could be killed, but not harmed. The eternal reality is always protected and always honored by God even when that which is earthly must perish.

What we gain by our belief is this: because we know that we are part of eternal life through Christ’s cross and our baptism into his death, we can live without fear. Fear prevents love. Jesus loved perfectly even though he knew that his earthly life would end with crucifixion. Had he been afraid, he would never have taught or healed. We would never have known him. The martyrs understood that they could be persecuted and even killed if they continued to live out their faith, but they were not afraid. They knew what their belief was all about. All the holy women and men of our history, whether or not recognized by the Church with canonization, made their sacrifices and lived their heroic lives because they were not afraid. They knew they would be loved even if they failed to love as well as they could at one moment or another.

The family of that young man who died could not hear talk of this kind of love because they were afraid of death and afraid of every kind of suffering or hardship. They learned the old line from the Baltimore Catechism, that God made us to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this life and to be happy with Him forever in the next, but they didn’t believe it. Because they could not see past this moment and this life into the mystery of eternity, they were mired in their fears.

It is not too simple to say that love is the great reality of the universe. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God in them. Love results in the union of God with humanity in the Incarnation. Love allows the sacrifice of Jesus in the crucifixion. Love bursts forth in the resurrection because God refuses to allow the tomb to close Jesus in. Love frees us to give ourselves to others because we know we will be filled with grace and not emptied by the effort. Love joins us to God and God to us.

When we love, we do not have to be afraid, and when we live without fear, we are joined with God today and for all eternity. Today matters because we are here and can embrace our faith and live with love. Today is not all we have, not even close. Because we have died and risen with Christ through baptism, we have all things in God. Reflect on that when you renew your baptismal promises today.

Happy Easter!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2010-05-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

I want you to know about someone I knew a long time ago, a woman named Nora Lee who was a person I visited with Holy Communion frequently back when I was new at being a priest. Nora had horrible physical problems. She was afflicted with severe Parkinson’s and equally terrible arthritis. She shook all the time. Even when she sat with a board across her lap, her elbows on the board, and her chin in her hand, I saw the tremors. With her poor circulation, she often had swollen legs and feet, which left her chair-bound. She was almost completely homebound except for doctor visits.

When I met her, Nora was a widow in her 80s whose only child, a son, had died a few years before. He suffered a sudden, unexpected heart attack and left his wife and four children. A heart attack or any sort of sudden death is devastating when it happens to a young man, maybe more to his children than anyone else. Nora told me little things about their relationships with their father. It made me think about how special it is to be a parent.

But the story isn’t about Nora’s son. It’s about her. As time went on, Nora spoke more of her daughter. It was curious to me because I knew she had only one child. I let it go for a long time, maybe three visits. She had such obvious affection for this daughter, whoever she was, and I wasn’t about to break her illusions.

In time, I decided to ease my curiosity. I asked Nora about her daughter. She told me very simply that she was talking about her daughter-in-law, whose own mother had recently died. Nora thought she needed one. The fact that her own son had died made this relationship that much more important. Nora’s daughter-in-law didn’t mind. In fact, she welcomed the extra closeness.

Nora often mentioned her family in her prayers. One month, there was extra urgency in her voice. Her daughter had been diagnosed with a cancer that would probably be terminal in a short time, no more than six months. The woman was 44 years old and would leave four children orphaned. Over those months, Nora had some problems of her own and was even in the hospital for a few days here and there. She tried hard to keep her attitude positive.

One Holy Thursday, Nora told me that she had been to her daughter’s funeral that Monday. It was her first time out of the house for anything except a medical issue in over a year. She told me about her grandchildren in greater detail than ever before. At the time, the oldest was 22. She was in medical school at the University of Chicago, but she took off a year to care for her mother. The second girl was 21 and engaged to a very wonderful young man. The third girl was 18 and just about to finish high school and was headed to college. Nora was so proud of her only grandson. He was ten and on the 5th grade basketball team at his school. She was so amazed at the life he brought to her life. Her grandchildren were her daily miracles.

As we prayed that day, Nora said something I always remember, something that makes me sure God exists every time I think of it. She spoke of those children. First, their father died in a way too sudden even for farewells. Then, their mother died in a way too painful to think about. Children don’t deserve to be orphans. Nora said, “I guess I have to be their mother now.”

She was already 83 and couldn’t leave her house. They actually were her caretakers, shopping for her, cooking and cleaning, taking her to her doctor’s appointments. Nora didn’t care. She saw children without a mother and knew it was up to her to fill the gap. She loved them like a mother for the rest of her life, which was less than a year from that time.

I finally met the grandchildren at her wake. We spent a long time talking. They were as beautiful and gracious as she said. I told them what Nora told me. They never knew the words, but they felt the reality. Nora never trumpeted her love. She just did it. They weren’t surprised, and they weren’t even overly impressed. It was just another story about their grandmother turned mother.

The point of the story is very simple. A mother’s love transcends everything thrown in its path. It defeats pain, suffering, age, infirmity, legality, and even death. Especially death. That is God’s promise and His way of loving. Nora’s four grandchildren were blessed to have her. They have the example of their own mother and their replacement mother. They have the example of a simple, courageous woman to show them how to love. I hope all four of them have learned to love as well as Nora loved them. I pray I learn to love so well.

Happy Mother’s Day!

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2010-01-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

A NOTE FROM THE PASTOR (for the January 24 bulletin)

On Sunday, January 17, the rectory was robbed. The theft happened between 9 and 10 in the morning at a time when no one was in the building. The most serious loss was the collection from the 5 pm and 7:45 am Masses. All four collection bags as well as the cash from the candle offerings was taken. I also lost some cash from my own personal quarters. Because the collections were not yet opened or counted, I do not know how much money was taken from the parish, and I am not interested in telling anyone how much money I lost in the theft. The police and the archdiocese have been informed, and we will determine what losses may be covered by our diocesan insurance. Now I am informing you. I suggest that all who donated by check last weekend monitor those checks and stop payment on them if possible.

I am embarrassed and disappointed by this theft for several reasons. One reason is that I was too trusting that our rectory would not be violated by crime. We are not cavalier with collection money, but it was too easily accessible for the thief. It appears that this could have been an “inside job” of sorts — not that it was performed by someone who works or volunteers at the parish, but that someone had unauthorized access to a key to the rectory and knew exactly where cash was likely to be, both on the office level and in my own living space. Another larger reason is that I did not act decisively enough to secure the money that people so generously gave to the parish. The third is that the collection for Haiti produced a larger than normal amount at all the other Masses and probably had done so in the two that were stolen.

Please accept my humble apology for my mistakes that allowed this theft to be so damaging to our parish. I will work with the police to the extent that I must to catch this criminal and bring about justice, but we all know that there is no real likelihood of an arrest. I will also make sure that our collections are safeguarded at any time when no authorized people are in the rectory.

Thank you for your ongoing generosity to the parish. I hope that this incident will not make you reconsider your contributions. I assure you that I will do everything in my power to make sure that such a crime is never repeated.

Fr. Phil Cyscon

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

Even before the crime that befell us over the weekend, I had been thinking about this topic for my reflection. There are a few times a year when the theme of forgiveness is expressed in the readings, and I usually take those opportunities to reflect on the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.

Forgiveness is the act of pardoning someone for a mistake or wrongdoing. Reconciliation is the ending of conflict or renewing of a friendly relationship between disputing people or groups. We know from sacred Scripture that God always forgives. We also know from both Scripture and church tradition that God always wishes to be reconciled with sinners. God wants us to know that we are always pardoned, and God always wishes for us to be in relationship with him. That is a great comfort and ought to be a delight for all sinners.

It isn’t so easy or clear for people. When Peter asked Jesus how often he needed to forgive a brother who wronged him, Jesus replied in essence that he must forgive every time. The trouble with sins is that they tend to stick more to the victim than the perpetrator. Let one terrorist come onto an airplane with a bomb in his shoe, and every single person who flies must stand barefoot while all the shoes are x-rayed. Let one thief steal a collection bag from a rectory, and forever will we have locked rooms and lock-boxes to protect these precious gifts from our parishioners. Let one person lie to you, and you are likely to carry around distrust for that person for a long time to come.

We forgive to get rid of the burden of carrying around the hurt done to us. We do not want to hate, and unforgiven sin leads to hatred. Eventually, we get over airport security, or security measures in our parish house, or even the checking we must do for our family members because we don’t want to carry anger or something worse with us.

That is very different from giving someone the chance to hurt us again. I want any terrorist punished to the fullest extent of the law. I want the same for the thief. I want the liar to be forced to tell the truth all the time, even if I must follow the person around to make sure it happens. Just because I am willing to put down the anger and hatred caused by the sin doesn’t mean I want to or need to allow the person the opportunity to sin again.

I forgive for my own sake. I reconcile in order to have a relationship again. Reconciliation is serious business because it is the act of love. If Peter had asked Jesus how many times he must reconcile with someone who had sinned against him, I suspect that Jesus would have given a very different answer than the one he gave about forgiving. Jesus would have known that sometimes a relationship is irrevocably broken by the sin or dispute. He would have known that sometimes it is better not to allow a person the chance to hurt us again.

I reconcile when I want more than anything else to build a loving and respectful relationship with a person who has sinned against me. I seek reconciliation with someone I have wronged when I want them to know that my love is greater than the hurt I have caused. It doesn’t always happen, and it isn’t ever automatic. As I work through feeling angry, hurt, and embarrassed by the person who stole from our parish and from me, I am already in the process forgiving the unknown thief. I don’t know whether I’ll ever be able to reconcile if I even had a prior relationship with the person who did this evil deed.

Please consider the persons who have wronged you. Forgive them always, and reconcile with them when it is possible to rebuild a loving, trusting relationship. Please consider all the persons you have sinned against. Seek their forgiveness, and reconcile if they allow it.

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2009-12-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD for Christmas 2009

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;

upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom, a light has shone.”

These are the great words of Isaiah that begin the Scriptures for Midnight Mass, true words in the time of the prophet, and true words today.

Our nation is embroiled in two wars, and there are other wars and conflicts always at work in the world. The economy, while seeming quite sublime for a few, has been atrocious and frightening for many. This land is beset by partisan politics in which the best of ideas, when proposed by one side, must be rejected without hope of compromise or statesmanship by the other. We might have a flicker of hope for some meaningful health care legislation, but we haven’t even touched the problem of justice for immigrants. We look with hatred and fear at those who are different, especially if they come from the Middle East or worship Allah. Homeless people freeze, and hungry people starve in the middle of a place that, despite the recession, remains the nation with the most economic clout anywhere.

The leaders of the church I belong to have not yet figured out the benefits of openness and transparency in our dealings both with members of the congregation and people in the wider world. Therefore, the hardships created by the sexual abuse crisis and the sporadic episodes of financial mismanagement by various parishes and dioceses linger, fester, and even grow. Some of our leaders complain of how the media has exacerbated the problems when it is our ordained leaders (no matter how small or large the numbers may be) who have abused the children and stolen the money. At a time when the Catholic Church uses a TV campaign to reach out to those who have drifted away for all sorts of reasons, and those who have left in anger over our problems, and those who feel disenfranchised because they have in some way violated the rules, we have other Catholics who think more should be forced away from the People of God because they are not serious enough about following the rules (or not serious enough in the eyes of those who are doing the complaining).

These are only a few of the public woes that keep us walking in darkness. This time of year, more than any other, heightens the gloom of personal woes. Those who grieve feel it more keenly when the houses are decorated and the carols are sung. Depression can easily deepen for addicts, the unemployed, and their families. Those who have a soldier or civilian contractor in a war zone feel their normal fears more acutely around this time of year.

And yet there is light. And always there is hope. Isaiah tells us again:

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us,

upon his shoulders dominion rests.

They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-hero,

Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.

His dominion is vast and forever peaceful,

From David’s throne, which he confirms and sustains

By judgment and justice, both now and forever.”

The great hope of our time and all time is the Incarnation. When Jesus took flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary, humanity itself was transformed by God’s wish and God’s will. That means that all of life is a sacrament, a way of making Jesus present through us, his Mystical Body on earth. The work of the Incarnation is that of justice. We must be about the things that Jesus did in his life. As he tells us in the Gospel of John, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” If we are to continue the work of Jesus Christ, then we must reconcile, forgive, heal, and bring about God’s mercy through our own sacrificial acts. Then Isaiah’s words will be true that “the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster [God] has smashed.”

It’s all about love. It’s all about the truth that “God so loved the world that he gave his only son to be its savior.” It’s about our belief in that amazing truth and our willingness to act it out in our own lives. God has touched the world in a definitive way when he allowed himself to be born in the person of Jesus Christ. We touch the world in thousands and millions of ways when we show the love we have received through that miraculous Nativity.

“The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!”

Merry Christmas!

God bless you always!

Father Phil Cyscon

(The Scriptural words quoted above come from Isaiah chapter 9, verses 1-6, and the Gospel of John, chapters 3 and 15.)

2009-12-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD for December 13, 2009

We hear more from John the Baptist in the Gospel reading today, but the great feasts of this week have me thinking about the Blessed Virgin. We celebrated her Immaculate Conception on Tuesday and the great feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe just yesterday. We will also hear part of Mary’s story on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, part of the tradition of the season.

The Blessed Virgin Mary has a dual role in the season of Advent, and this mirrors the dual theology of the season, that we are preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ and also to be ready for him when he comes in judgment.

As Mother of God, the first part of her role is obvious. Mary accepted God’s invitation that came to her through the angel Gabriel. She took her place as the servant of the Lord who was willing to do God’s will no matter the consequences. Because of that, she allowed God’s power to come upon her and cause the conception of Jesus. With the help of Joseph, she was in Bethlehem at the time of birth of Jesus, and she followed all the proper forms in making sure that he was accepted as part of God’s covenant with the people of Israel.

Mary’s second role is related in the Scriptures that tell us that she was at the foot of the cross when her Son died and that she was with the church as it awaited the first Pentecost.

As Jesus died, he placed her into the care of his Beloved Disciple, who was both a real person and a symbol standing for the Church. Mary was in the care of this man for the rest of her life, and the devotion of the Church has continued and grown throughout the centuries. We are devoted to Mary under many names and titles, two of which we celebrated just this week. Under these titles, Mary is patroness of our nation and the Americas.

Mary did more than sit passively in the care of the Beloved Disciple. She did not enter into retirement. As the Acts of the Apostles reports, she joined the infant Church in the upper room and was present with them during the days of waiting before the Holy Spirit came. Mary was one of the first believers, one of the first to make herself and the world ready for her Son’s coming in glory. As such, she becomes a true example for us. Mary did not sit back on the laurels of her status as Mother of God. Nor should we sit back and think that because we are members of the church, all things will happen for us automatically. We have a responsibility to make ourselves ready for his coming just as Mary did.

We have a few more days to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christmas, and a lifetime (however short or long our time remaining) to be ready to greet the Lord when he comes in his glory. We can do no better than to join Mary in saying yes to the will of God and standing with the Church.

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2009-12-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD for December 6, 2009

John the Baptizer is one of the major figures of Advent. Along with the Blessed Mother, he dominates the Gospel readings of the season. John appears in the Gospel passage we hear today as well as the one we hear next Sunday.

Jesus is the only single person who receives more space in the Gospels than the Baptizer. He is present more than Peter or any individual disciple; his actions are given a prominence of position greater than that of anyone else. There is a reason for that, and I will examine it shortly. First, let’s look at some of the things the Baptizer was and did, especially how this touches the ministry of Jesus.

John the Baptizer came first. Not only did he appear on the public scene before Jesus, but Luke reports that the two were kinsmen, related through their mothers, and that John was first-born by a few months. Not only did John precede Jesus into the public eye, but he also was the first to see the world.

It isn’t clear how long John preached before Jesus arrived. He had many followers, some of whom remained his disciples even after his death, so there probably was a good long period for him to preach and baptize.

His surname, “Baptizer,” is a fine descriptive. John was the first recorded person who offered to act as an intermediary in the performance of baptism. The Jews knew forms of ritual washing which were done by the person alone. They might receive the prompting of a preacher, but the washing was done as an act of self-surrender.

John’s baptism was different. It was for discipleship. John called people to himself, to hear his message and act on his preaching. They were to repent so their sins could be forgiven. Then they were to act in a way that was approved by their master, John, pointing always to what was to come, waiting with great expectation for the imminent Messiah.

The theme of waiting was a unique feature of the Baptizer’s ministry. He didn’t claim to be the Messiah; in fact, he clearly refused the honor. He didn’t even claim to be Elijah, the prophesied forerunner of the Messiah. True, he did dress as Elijah, but in the only instance in which he was asked directly, John denies being Elijah or one of the prophets. He said he was waiting for the one who came with the power of God. This modesty had its reason and place.

So here, finally, is the reason John the Baptizer got so much “ink” in the Gospels: his followers thought he was the Messiah.

That’s quite true. The Acts of the Apostles reports finding a group of believers in the Baptizer in the city of Ephesus [Acts 19:1-7]. Early Christians had to move strongly and diplomatically in order to resist the claims of John’s disciples while bringing them to faith in Jesus, the true Messiah. It wasn’t an easy task.

In Mark, it was enough to identify John as fully as possible with Elijah. If John is the forerunner, he can’t be the Messiah. The other Synoptic writers disagree on John’s role. Matthew follows Mark in making him Elijah. In Luke, no such identification is made, and John is not even explicitly noted as the one who baptized Jesus. The Gospel of John, written in Ephesus according to tradition, goes even further. It does not even report that Jesus was baptized. To do so would have given the Baptizer power over Jesus, and this he did not have. In fact, John is given a vision, a revelation that shows him truly that Jesus is the one for whom the people have waited.

As time passed and theology developed, it became more and more apparent that Jesus was the Messiah with John as forerunner and prophet. Still, some groups of believers in the Baptizer have lasted even into modern times, mostly in the Middle East. I apologize for not knowing more about them, but they have incorporated elements of other faiths, especially Christian and Moslem beliefs, but their overall faith is in John as the Messiah. You begin to see how important it was for early Christian writers and preachers to put the role of John in perspective. They were battling a movement that could have crippled the early church before it got rolling.

John is given great prominence in the Gospels for what he was as well as what he could have been. He was the prophet of the Messiah. He would have been hailed as the Messiah if he had only asked. It is a mark of his acceptance of the will of God that he refused, that he kept his place as prophet without greater claims for himself. This is why he is so important to our celebration of Advent.

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2009-11-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

“The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise.” So says Jeremiah in the first words of Scripture we hear in a new liturgical year. The promise is actually twofold — God’s presence with his people in this world and his people’s presence with him in eternity. The promise is fulfilled with Emmanuel, “God with us.”

And so it begins again. Advent is a season of complex reality. We prepare ourselves to celebrate the feast of Christmas, the nativity of Jesus born in time. We celebrate the presence of Jesus in the sacraments and the Church. We also look ahead to a day and a time we do not know, the time of culmination when Jesus will come to us in glory, as the traditional formulation puts it, to judge the living and the dead. We also focus on a different Gospel. Instead of the abrupt stridency of the Gospel of Mark, we move into the more measured tones of Luke’s writing. According to tradition, Luke was a physician. He was aware that Jesus brought healing of both body and spirit to the people of his own time and the people of the Church that began with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Traditionally, the church only gives us the words of Jesus on the First Sunday of Advent. After hearing about John the Baptist for the next two Sundays, we begin to tell the story of Christmas by relating Mary’s acceptance of God’s plan and the events that led to the birth of Jesus. We even hear stories of his infancy and childhood before we hear of the first appearance of the adult Jesus at his baptism. We won’t hear from Jesus again until the middle of January, but he tells us something very important today, something that fits well with Luke the physician and his knowledge of what people need to be healthy. It comes right in the middle of one of those apocryphal statements about the end of time.

“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life,” Jesus says to us. He wants us to avoid the extremes of escape and worry. If we are to “be vigilant at all times,” we have to be conscious and aware of what is going on around us. Luke and Jesus don’t want us to be stupefied or paralyzed as we begin this Advent season. If we are, we might not notice the presence of God around us.

Perhaps the best way to do this is to follow the exhortation of Paul to “increase and abound in love for one another and for all. When we love, we are attentive to others and grounded in reality because our love is meant to be an act of service. We can’t be buried in foolishness or fear when we strive to “conduct ourselves to please God.”

God bless you!

Father Phil Cyscon

2009-11-21T08:43:00.000-08:00

A THANKSGIVING STORY

In Depression time, as Thanksgiving week began, Jocko Smith was 300 miles from home, working for peanuts. Two months before, he left his wife and two daughters in Chicago and took a job, the first real work he'd had in two years. It was a nice feeling to work again, to have a little control of his own destiny. Jocko hated to be idle. It led him to horrible thoughts about his own worth. Work, however menial, was the only tonic. It was then that he felt release.

Jocko wasn't his real name. In fact, he'd forgotten how he got the nickname over time. He was plain old Daniel when he went into the army. After a year in France at the end of the Big War, he came back to the States as Jocko. He picked it up and never put it down again. The only person in the world who called him Daniel was his wife, Maria. They met after the war and married in 1920. The two were true love birds. They made life sing for each other. It took a while, with many fits and starts, but they managed to have the two children. Jocko thought them to be the most lovely beings in the world. He hated every moment away from them.

By age 34, he knew he'd never be rich. In fact, his eighth grade education wouldn't get him much better work than he had right now, laying ties before the track men came through with the rails. It was backbreaking work, seven days a week and eleven hours a day, but the kind he was used to. Jocko knew he'd face a lifetime of that kind of work from the moment he took his first job.

Still, if ever a man embodied Murphy's Law, it was Jocko Smith. Everything that could go wrong did. The job was supposed to be in Joliet. If nothing else, he could have been home for weekends. Instead, the company sent him most of the way to St. Louis. On top of that, he had no steady address. Laying track isn't a stationary job. His three women wrote every day, but he saw their letters once a week if he was lucky. When the mail packet came, he tried to be disciplined about it - one letter a day to prolong the good feeling - but it never worked.

Back at home, his wife Maria was struggling to keep things afloat. She'd been working some until his job came through. With Jocko gone, however, she needed to be at home with the girls. He sent money regularly, but it wasn't quite enough. Jenny, the six year old, was sick. The doctor was treating her at no charge, but he was worried. A bad cold had turned into a chronic condition. He feared it was developing into something worse. Beth, a pretty girl of nine, was a worrywart. She was always asking her mother to let her get a job. She wanted to help. The neighbors did as much as they could, but they had problems of their own.

At the beginning of Thanksgiving week, Jocko told his foreman that he was going home for the holiday. "When will you leave?" the foreman asked. "Wednesday morning, "Jocko replied. "Don't bother coming back, then. We'll have you replaced by Wednesday noon." The foreman wasn't being heartless, only practical. If the track wasn't done in a month, the crew wouldn't make it home for Christmas.

Jocko used a few pennies to send a wire. "Coming home. Bringing turkey. Love you." It was all he could afford. He didn't even sign it. He knew they'd know it was him. The turkey was a parting gift from the railroad. They weren't cruel. They knew the living conditions their workers were forced to face.

As the bird was a parting gift, so was the train ride home. It was three in the morning when the train roared into Union Station. Jocko spent the last hour with his nose pressed to the window, searching for the first glimpse of the city. When he saw the buildings looming out of the prairie, he sat back and smiled. He'd make it in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

When Maria got the cable, she cried with joy. She spent the day getting ready for the special meal. Miraculously, Jenny's health improved the minute she heard the news. She wasn't well by any stretch of the imagination, but the fearsome rasping was gone from her breath. The doctor examined her and pronounced her lungs clear. Beth told all her friends about the turkey. They'd be the only ones on the block with a real Thanksgiving feast. Far from being jealous, the other children were thrilled for her. They knew how much it meant.

On the long walk home from the station, Jocko noticed the homeless, hungry people all around, their numbers seemed to grow by the hour. There was no help for these people - not from government, not from charity. They had to make do as they could. Jocko bundled himself deeper into his coat and said a silent prayer for them. His lonely walk continued through the dark hours. Bag in one hand, turkey in the other, he was headed home.

Three miles into his walk - halfway home - Jocko passed through what had been an industrial district. The factories had been closed and shuttered when the economy collapsed. Between the buildings, there were now fifteen or twenty shanties. The poorest of the poor lived there. Their shacks were made from scraps of wood and tin. People lived by the warmth of fires they couldn't safely bring inside. At the occasional fire, an old man or woman sat. They were desperately seeking warmth. He said a prayer for them as he passed.

A thought intruded on his prayer. It was a Gospel story, the one about the sheep and the goats. "Why now?" he asked himself. "Why am I thinking about doing something for the least of my brothers?" Still, he couldn't shake the story, and one line in particular: "When I was hungry, you gave me to eat.' It rang through his head and echoed in his brain. He stopped at one of the fires.

The old woman there said, "That's a beautiful bird. Your family will have a wonderful meal." Jocko said, "It should be very good. It will be a great Thanksgiving." Then, before he thought about what his question meant, he asked, "What could you do with this turkey here?" The woman answered his question simply. "Well, I'd make a pot of soup, a huge pot. Everyone here would get enough for today and tomorrow." Jocko grimaced. He knew what his response would be. When he got up to leave, he took his bag. The woman called out, "You left your bird," but he pretended not to hear.

After a little more wandering, it was nearly dawn. He woke the butcher and bought what he could afford - a duck, and a scrawny one at that. He sucked up his courage and went into his house. Maria met him with a kiss and a long embrace. Jenny and Beth jumped into his arms. They kissed and hugged him until he finally begged for a chance to breathe. They talked a bit about their adventures in the past two months. It was such a joy to be together again. When everything finally settled, Beth noticed the bird. "That's not a turkey," she said. "I know," Jocko replied, "but we'll make do on love."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2009-11-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

When Pilate interrogated Jesus before sentencing him to death, he probably had a very specific goal in mind. Perhaps he hoped Jesus would say something inflammatory enough to justify his execution. Perhaps Pilate wanted him to go in the exact opposite direction so he would have a reason to exonerate Jesus. Whatever the case, it seems clear that Pilate and Jesus are talking about two very different things when they speak about kingship.

Pilate may want to know if Jesus sought some form of rebellion or if he was simply insane enough to think he could liberate the Jewish nation from Rome. Pilate displays no knowledge of anything spiritual or supernatural. This isn’t terribly surprising. Actually, I’d have been more surprised to see the Roman governor reach for any definition of king that wasn’t earthly and political.

Jesus tried to help Pilate understand his reality: “My kingdom does not belong to this world.” Nor does it belong to this world’s categories and understandings. Jesus takes a meandering path to a place where he can reply, “You say I am a king,” but even then he refuses to surrender. He wants to explain himself, and he wants his answer in the brain of the Roman: “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”

I have always been uncomfortable with using the regal titles (Lord, King) for Jesus. It’s not so much because I think he doesn’t deserve them as because too many Christians have gone the route of Pilate in misunderstanding the sort of kingship Jesus wants. They have used it, and in some ways continue to use it, to justify their own political lordship and kingship. Whenever Christians have done such a thing throughout history, they have distorted the truth to which Jesus testified.

Ever since this liturgical year began on the first Sunday of Advent, we have been hearing Jesus describe himself, mostly in the words of the Gospel of Mark. As Mark portrays him, Jesus comes to serve others (as a preacher, healer, and bringer of reconciliation, among other ways) and to sacrifice himself on the cross for the sake of everyone’s salvation. Even though we end our liturgical year by dipping back into the Gospel of John, Mark’s strong statements resonate when Jesus says, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

As the John of Revelation writes, Jesus “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” If we listen to his voice and follow the example of his actions, we will strive to serve others and to sacrifice our own selfish needs for their good. Instead of seeking earthly power or authority over others, we will care enough to place them first, to touch them with our love, and to bless them.

That’s when we will know without doubt the truth of what the kingship of Christ means.

God bless you!

Father Phil Cyscon

2009-11-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD for November 22, 2009

Besides Ash Wednesday and the holy days of the Sacred Triduum just before Easter, perhaps the best weekday of the year to attend church is Thanksgiving Day. It’s one of those days when we don’t have an obligation to attend, and yet attendance seems to be so important that many would never miss Mass that day. It makes perfect sense. If we plan on spending at least part of the day gathering with family and friends to give thanks for our blessings, it stands to reason that we ought to start the day giving thanks to God as the source of all our blessings.

There is something wonderful about coming to church when we don’t have to. Our worship is simpler and purer than when we work under an obligation. In any act of love, we’re always better when we act freely, and the same applies to our prayer and worship as any of the other ways we love. I’ve always been very happy that the church did not act to make Thanksgiving Day Mass a precept. As a free act, it becomes more of a blessing for us.

We will have a single Mass at 10 am on Thursday. I hope to see you there.

* * *

Since the Thanksgiving holiday is so associated with food, it is good for us to consider the needs of those who are hungry, poor, and unemployed. Please bring canned or pacjaged food items on Thursday. We will gather them and deliver to the food pantry at St. Stanislaus. Our gifts of food for the needy will become part of our procession of the gifts to the altar. Please hold your food donation until I call everyone to come forward when the gifts are brought up. We seldom see the generosity of our community at work in such a way, and it is an inspiring and beautiful sight.

* * *

Thank you to the team that has prepared and run the Bazaar this weekend. Your generosity of spirit and willingness to give your time and effort is an inspiration for us. I hope that everyone will stop by to play some chances, eat some good food, and spend an enjoyable afternoon or evening with your fellow parishioners.

* * *

The work of rekeying the doors on parish buildings will be complete early this week. If you have need of a key to any door in the parish for the purpose of caring for the buildings, running organization meetings, or acting in any ministerial capacity, please see me as soon as possible.

* * *

Tomorrow, my father, John Cyscon, celebrates his 91st birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad. Sto lat!

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2009-11-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD for November 15, 2009

In the apartment where I lived when I was a boy, my bedroom was farthest from the gas space heater in the dining room. It didn’t matter which of the two “kid’s” bedrooms I was in. They were the same distance from the heater. This time of year, it would start to be quite cold at bedtime. I always felt fortunate to have a pierzyna, a down-filled comforter.

Getting into an extremely cold bed was quite the laborious process. The pierzyna eventually did its magic, but it didn’t retain heat or simply gather it from the air. Once an area was warm, the pierzyna never let a single degree escape, but it could take a minute or two, and it required a warm person beneath it to provide the heat. So I would crawl under the heavy blanket, squeeze into as tight a ball as I could, and let my body heat slowly build up. As I felt warm and comfortable, I would very tentatively poke out an arm or leg until that area grew warm. Before too long, maybe ten or fifteen minutes, I could finally stretch out fully and get to sleep. Sleeping under a pierzyna was one of the truly wonderful parts of winter when I was a child.

I don’t know why they went away, but they did. When I was a teenager, the pierzynas went to the attic and didn’t return. I didn’t pay too much attention to them for a long time. I could have used one when I was assigned to St. Columbanus and the rectory heat seldom worked, but I never really thought about looking through my parents’ attic. I rescued them when they moved to Tinley Park. I salvaged four of them, took them to be cleaned, and stored one myself and three in the garage at my sister’s house.

The pierzyna has finally made its reappearance on my bed. I’ve always preferred a cold bedroom. If we didn’t have a researcher boarding in the rooms below mine, I would have the thermostat a lot lower than it is. With flannel sheets and a slightly warmer room, I don’t need to follow the old ritual for getting into bed, but there is something very wonderful about having a pierzyna to hold in all my body heat and make sleeping such a comfort.

I don’t miss a great many childhood things, but I’m really happy to be using a pierzyna again. I hope that you have a warm and comfortable place to sleep as well.

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2009-11-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD for November 8, 2009

Communication is the most necessary, and sometimes the most difficult, art in all our interactions as people. Good communication allows a group to function. Excellent communication allows it to do so at a very high level. Poor communication, even in a solitary instance, has an unfortunate tendency to destroy whatever good will has been built up over a long period of time.

Listen to some of the pained voices talking about the recent troubles and scandals that plague our church. I’m not speaking of the outsiders who would just as soon demolish the church with their criticisms or the alleged anti-Catholicism some of us claim comes from the media and other sources. I’m talking about the people who have stayed and yet remain hurt even though, for instance, their own contributions have not been embezzled or misused or their children (or themselves) have not been abused by the clergy. They speak of a history in which the hierarchy failed to see and fix obvious problems, often by transferring abusers and thieves from one parish to another, and a present in which the unwillingness of some in the church hierarchy to have transparent communication makes them think that the sins and crimes may perhaps continue.

Communication in a parish is hard enough when everyone is more or less the same in culture and language. People don’t always see things the same way, and small misunderstandings can erupt into large problems if left untended. In our particular situation, we have many more complications because of the different languages and cultures. I see a parish with three very distinct and valid spiritual styles and practices, and you may well see a pastor who doesn’t even speak two of the languages and struggles to lead even the simplest prayers in them. I also see a parish in which every group, despite their obvious gifts, often have questions about how they fit into the whole.

We have Poles who have been here a very long time and often travel great distances to worship here. These Polish people sometimes feel left behind because their numbers are smaller than they used to be. We have Hispanics who still remember being uprooted from their spiritual home even though it happened two decades ago. Many of the Hispanics also travel long distances to enjoy the community they have built together even when they feel that they are not really integrated into the broader whole. We actually have two separate groups of predominantly English speakers. One group has been here for decades, and some follow the theme of coming a long distance to pray and do service here. Many of them choose to lead the traditional organizations or feel that responsibility has been thrust upon them and won’t be taken away. The other English speakers are relatively new both in our neighborhood and our parish. They want to find a spiritual home close to home.

Each of these groups has a beautiful spirituality. Each has an important place around the altar at Holy Innocents. Because of that, good communication is even more necessary. That is the purpose of today’s Parish Day. We will try for the first time, and certainly not the last, to come together as a large group to voice and hear our concerns. Some will be matters of mutual importance. Some will matter only to one of our smaller groups. All are important.

I will ask us to accomplish something that is easy to describe in the form of ideas and hard to do in reality. We need to be patient with each other. Because we have so many people who only speak one language well, everything must be translated for the others. Our patience will be a sign that we value everyone present at the meeting. We need to be willing to speak and hear honesty. It will do us little good to come together if we are not willing to speak our hearts. After all, our ideas and dreams will come together to make Holy Innocents exactly what we want our parish to be, a house of prayer for all peoples.

I do not expect us to communicate perfectly today, but I fully expect that we will try our best because no one should feel left behind, or marginalized, or forced to do things they’d rather not have to do. That is why we start this day with not just any prayer, but the Eucharist. We come as one to the table of the Lord, and we move as one to do God’s work. Let us pray that this new step will be a good one for our parish home.

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2009-10-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

This was supposed to appear in the bulletin at St. Francis Xavier (LaGrange) this Sunday, but I sent it in too late for them to use it.

Jesus says today, “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” How much different would the church look if we had taken what Jesus said seriously? I know that we have honored and recognized such people as saints in the course of our history. In the not too distant future, Mother Teresa of Calcutta will move into our pantheon of the canonized, and rightly so, as she chose to spend her life serving the poorest of the poor. The trouble is that we have developed the church as a society in which conventional accoutrements of power are more regular and usual. We rely on our own sense of dignity instead of the dignity Jesus calls us to.

James and John are not being evil or selfish when they ask for the special places at the right and left of Jesus. They just want what they perceive as their proper dignity. The answer Jesus gives them is precious and wonderful. He tells them that they will share his sufferings as they have shared his life, but that the special places are not his to give. I love that the other ten become indignant with James and John despite the answer of Jesus. Could it be because they didn’t seize the moment and ask him first? It’s the reason that Jesus speaks of service to all of them together, reminding them that they are not at all like the usual run of lords and power-brokers. “It shall not be so among you,” he says.

I remember hearing a lot of protests one time when I told my parish that I don’t cut in line at wakes. People argued that I should, that somehow or another I ought to be able to go right to the front. My response was that my time isn’t more important than anyone else’s and that everyone needs to express their sympathy and offer their prayers. Just because I’m a priest doesn’t mean I’m able to jump ahead of everyone. I know it’s a rather simple example, but it’s part of what Jesus tells his disciples today. The leader must be the servant. The power and authority of the church comes not from our wealth or social standing, but from our willingness to care for everyone. (That’s not to say I’d ever turn someone down if they maybe send part of the fresh batch of cookies over to the rectory just to be nice to the folks there or whatever. Yes, I really believe in the dignity of being the servant of all, but we’re talking about cookies here. If you really read the Gospels, you know that Jesus wants us to keep our sense of humor about these things.)

Among the many ways Catholics differ from the other branches of Christianity is that we seldom speak of how “I am saved,” preferring to say “We are saved by the love of Jesus.” That’s our reminder that we are bound together, that we find salvation through our service of others, especially those who are the poorest and most in need. It gives the responsibility for that care to those who have the resources to do it, and it reminds us that everyone has some resources. If you want to know how this works both symbolically and in real life, just remember that the poorest parish in the Archdiocese has a sharing parish.

How much different would the church be if we had taken what Jesus said seriously? I can’t even imagine the historical changes if we could go back in time and really press being servants instead of ecclesial powers. I can only say what would happen today. We would fall all over each other to care for the poorest, the most marginalized, the most in need. We would worry less about who is here illegally and more about how to care for their children. We wouldn’t get bogged down in politics when people go to bed hungry or wake up sick and unable to pay for their care.

“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.” If the church had taken Jesus seriously when he said this, we would want nothing more than that for ourselves.

2009-10-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

Communication is perhaps the most important factor in the proper functioning of any human institution, especially a parish community. There is no purposeful way for us to grow as a community unless we are always talking to each other and listening to each other when dealing with the issues that face us. We have grown in an almost accidental way, but we will do it better when we nurture and foster our communication.

The Archdiocese of Chicago calls upon all parishes to communicate in three formal ways. We are responsible for two of them: the Pastoral Council and the Finance Council. (We are not required to have a School Board because we have no parish school.) Holy Innocents Parish has a Finance Council, but I admit to not using it properly to this point as a way of making sure you know the financial needs we have to help us function. We have no Pastoral Council at this time, and that needs to change.

I would like to make one step to move forward to improve our Finance Council and to develop a Pastoral Council. It will begin, as all good things should, with prayer and continue with conversation.

I call all of us to participate in a Parish Day on November 8. The day will begin with our Eucharistic celebration at 11 am. Our recent anniversary celebration showed once again that Holy Innocents Parish prays together beautifully. This Mass will encompass our various languages and cultures and be the only Mass on the weekend of November 7-8. It’s really time for those who have not yet experienced this joint prayer to do so. It is a wonderful way to pray, and it really does bring our whole parish together in a way that no other activity we have can possibly do.

Our Parish Day will continue with a Town Hall meeting in the school hall. I have two items for the agenda of that meeting. The first has to do with our financial situation. We will present the finance report for Fiscal Year 2008-9 and our projections for the current Fiscal Year 2009-10. The second item is the first step in a process of discernment to build a Pastoral Council to serve our parish. The two main purposes of a Pastoral Council are to advise the pastor and to develop a plan of action for the community. We cannot do these things unless we sit together and talk in a formal way with representatives chosen by and from the community to bring all our concerns to one table.

My agenda will not be the only purpose of the Town Hall meeting. The third item calls upon you to present your concerns and dreams for the further growth of our community. In listening to one another, we will learn. In learning, we will grow. By growing, we will present a vibrant and viable parish to our Ukrainian Village community, especially to the new residents who come to our neighborhood as building and gentrification continue.

As part of our ministry of hospitality, I invite you to participate in the Town Hall meeting by providing the refreshments we will share that day. Please consult the volunteer sheets at the back of the church to help with the cakes and beverages we will enjoy together after Mass.

Please plan to participate in both the multi-cultural celebration of the Eucharist and the Town Hall meeting on Parish Day, November 8.

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2009-10-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

My first boss died last week. Msgr. John Cardiff, pastor of the parish where I served my first assignment as a priest, died last Saturday. A priest’s first assignment is a special thing for a great many reasons. It’s the place where a man finds his footing and begins to learn how to minister. It’s a time for making mistakes and having successes. The pastor at that assignment is a very important person. He can nurture or stifle, affirm or squelch. John Cardiff was a great first pastor for me as we served together for six years.

When I was assigned to St. Linus parish in Oak Lawn, a great many people were surprised because Msgr. Cardiff hadn’t had much luck in working with young priests. They wondered why he would have a newly ordained come to work with him. I’m not sure why those other priests didn’t have success with Msgr. Cardiff, but I sure did. I remember what he told me shortly after I arrived. He said he wanted me to try everything and to do anything I wanted in ministry. He simply wanted to know what I did from me and not from others. He enjoyed my stories of success and helped me through times of failure. He allowed me to find my own footing as a priest. He even trusted me to take his place when he left on a sabbatical even though the usual practice would have had him choose another. I doubt that process of learning how to be a priest ever ends, but I had a good beginning with John Cardiff.

Msgr. Cardiff was a great lover of life, and he especially loved soup. My mother found that out, and she developed her own special relationship with him over the years of his retirement. Whenever she made soup, she made sure that packages ready for eating or freezing made their way to Oak Lawn. I’m praying now that she’s making soup for him in heaven.

Msgr. Cardiff would’ve been 90 on his next birthday, and he was a priest for 64 years. I know that the St. Linus community where he lived, worked, and served for the last 37 years of his life both mourns and celebrates. I do the same.

• Dzie kuje. Gracias. Thank you. I express my profound gratitude to all those who made the 104th anniversary of our parish a worthy celebration. Thanks to the musicians, liturgical ministers, those who provided pastries, and those who managed the gathering in the hall. Thanks most of all to those who attended and shared in the celebration.

• In the next few weeks, we will be changing the keys and locks on all parish buildings. If you currently have a key for any lock here at the parish and wish to continue to do so, you must speak to me. Please call me at your convenience.

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

2009-09-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD for October 4, 2009

The first time I gathered with parishioners came a few weeks after Cardinal George appointed me and a few weeks before I moved in. We sat and talked a while about hopes and dreams, expectations and needs. After the meeting broke up, I was talking to someone who mentioned that he lived around Devon and Pulaski. Not two minutes later, someone else told me he lived on 64th and Pulaski. I always remembered that because Devon Avenue and 64th Street are the same distance from the center line of the city. Since then, I’ve learned that others come from farther away. I thought to myself that this must be a special place to draw people back from such distances. It’s very easy to go to the neighborhood church, yet people make the commitment to come here Sunday after Sunday, year after year.

The Gospel today has a very simple message. Jesus is indignant when his disciples stop people from bringing children for his blessing. He is angry when anyone blocks another from feeling his love. As we celebrate the 104th anniversary of the founding of Holy Innocents Parish, let us be sure that we are not placing blocks on God’s love. Let us pray for one another, that all of us may have a deepening faith and success in our family and work. Let us pray for our nation, that we may come together to solve immigration issues and give many people true belonging in this land. Let us pray for ourselves, that we may remove the walls that prejudice and misunderstanding raise between us. Let us pray for our parish, that we may truly be a house of prayer for all peoples.

Happy Anniversary!

God bless all of us!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORD 9-27-2009

2009-09-22T08:03:00.001-07:00

FROM MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

There are some items worth repeating as well as two new items. The new items first:

• Along with celebrating our anniversary on Sunday, October 4, we will also have the annual blessing of pets to commemorate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Please bring your pet and join us on the steps of the church at 6 pm on October 4. As ever, there will be refreshments (for humans and animals) courtesy of Walter Sojka as well as attendance prizes and other fun things. Please come.

• Angel D’Amico is a new parishioner who is being married in our church soon. She created a blog for us, and I’d like to both thank her and tell you the address. Check out the Holy Innocents blog at: http://holyinnocentschurchchicago.blogspot.com/

And now the repeated items:

• The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults is the process of entry those over 18 years of age who wish to join the Catholic Church. It is meant for those who have never been baptized and those who have been baptized in another Christian denomination and wish to become Catholic at this time. If it is the right time for you to consider this or if you have a family member, neighbor, or friend who wishes to do so, please contact me by calling the rectory (312-666-3675) or by email (pcyscon@mac.com). Just so you know, there are a few ways for adults who have been baptized Catholics but have not yet received Confirmation or Eucharist to do so. Please contact me to find out how.

• Because of age or infirmity, not everyone can make it to church for Sunday Eucharist. If you or a relative have not been able to attend and wish to receive Communion at home, please contact me. Bringing Communion to the homebound is a blessing for the minister as well as the recipient. Even if I’m unable to have conversation, I promise to bring the prayers in whatever language is required. I would also be happy to provide the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick to those who wish it.

• The Mass to celebrate our parish anniversary is scheduled for October 4 at 11:00. This will be a trilingual celebration. If you are interested in singing, please talk to Mike Seiberlich. As we have done for the past year, this will be the only Mass for the weekend. Some folks have said that they do not attend these parish gatherings for a variety of reasons. I understand when it is an issue of time, but I wish that those who will not come because of the languages would please reconsider. It’s a beautiful way to pray. You can almost forget that three languages are weaving in and out. Besides that, it’s the only real chance for the whole parish to come together, and we always have some really good food after.

• The “Conversation” continues. Our next installment will be on Wednesday, October 7, at 7:30 pm in the rectory basement. There is no prerequisite for entry except a willingness to talk and listen to other Catholics. At the beginning of the conversation, we introduce ourselves and then start talking. We come up with an amazing variety of topics, and it all depends on who comes and what they want to talk about. I hope you’ll consider adding your voice to the conversation.

God bless you!

Fr. Phil Cyscon

Pet blessing

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The Church celebrates the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4. Francis has long been associated with the blessing of animals, and his feast is a good day to renew that blessing. We'll gather outside the church building at 6 pm on Sunday, October 4, to bless pets and enjoy some time together.

There will be refreshments (for humans and animals), prizes, prayers, and fellowship. Please come.

The COnversation

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Thanks to Angel D'Amico for starting this blog and posting the great pictures here. This is my first blog post ever. Can you tell how excited I am?

I want to tell everyone about something we do every month on the first Wednesday. For lack of a better name, we call it "The Conversation." Actually, that's a pretty good name because whoever gathers just talks about whatever comes up. Whether it's church history, spirituality, Scripture, politics, or just about anything else, we talk it through and try to find a good way for Catholic Christians to live out our faith in a challenging time and a complicated world.

Along the way, you can have a beer or maybe a homemade cookie or brownie, or you can bring something for the group to share. The only restriction on the Conversation (because of the beer) is that participants must be at least 21.

The next Conversation takes place on October 7 at 7:30 pm. Enter through the basement door at the rear of the rectory (743 N. Armour). Please come!

Holy Innocents Church Information

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Holy Innocents Church
743 N. Armour
Chicago IL 60642

(by Ashland and Chicago Ave)

Phone:

312.666.3675

Contact:
hirectory@sbcglobal.net

Map

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Mass Days, Hours, and Language

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Saturday: 5pm

ENGLISH

Sunday:
7:45 AM - ENGLISH
9:00 AM - SPANISH
10:30 AM - POLISH
12:00 PM - ENGLISH
1:30 PM - SPANISH

Holy Innocents Church Pictures

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Photographs by: Angel D'Amico