St. Mary of Gostyn Catholic Church...Sophia Dus Enzo Espina George Fayad Charlize Fiandaca Gavin Fierstein Keegan Fitzgerald Amelia Formato Anthony Formato Evan Geyer Charlotte Gianatasio

St. Mary of Gostyn Catholic Church May 16, 2021

How do you seek God? Or, to ask in another way, is your “search” for God a “patient one”? We live in a culture that does not honor or appreciate waiting very long for anything. Why is waiting so hard for us? Is it because we are not in control of time or of what will happen? Is it because we feel we no longer have a handle on our desires and wishes? If any of this rings true for you, seeking God can be a very frustrating and disappointing endeavor.

The tradition of mystical prayer has long put its finger on what is a fundamental dilemma for many, if not most, of us: We are driven by our needs, but our needs are not ever satisfied. When seeking God, we may try to satisfy our longing by mastering a personal meditation technique or by surrounding ourselves with people who think and pray exactly as we do. In either case, we expend ourselves in attending to what is only a substitute for God’s very self. “Seek what you seek, but not where you seek it,” says Augustine.

The objective of someone seeking God lies not so much in what he or she does and adheres to as in the attitude of readiness for God—a kind of patient non-activity. Such attentive waiting is what leads to prayer. Some spiritual masters would even say that it is prayer, in that pure attention to God presupposes faith and love of God. It was Saint Augustine who said, “Your very desire is your prayer!”

Yet, to wait alone is one thing; to wait attentively in prayer together can be the occasion and the place for the Spirit to come. The beginning of the Acts of the Apostles expresses how various groups of Jesus’ followers gathered as a community of prayer around the promise of Jesus to send the Spirit, so “that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent [and] so that they may be one, as we are one.” They did so with hope, expectancy, and devoted attention.

This is the Church at prayer, a Church of which Saint Ignatius of Antioch, some sixty years later, could write: “In your concord and harmonious love, Jesus Christ is sung....It is profitable, therefore, that you should live in an unblamable unity, that thus you may always enjoy communion with God.”

The ultimate prayer of attentive waiting is when we pray together in the unity of the Spirit: “Come, Lord Jesus” (Rv 22:20).

Hans Christoffersen

Everyday Stewardship - Recognize God in Your Ordinary Moments

There’s No Place Like Home

Where do you get the best night’s sleep? For me, it’s in my own bed. I don’t even really know why. There’s something about the texture of the sheets, the groove I’ve worn in the pillow. The mattress seems to recognize my shape. I’ve got a job that sees me traveling often and I’ve stayed in plenty of nice places. But there’s just no sleep like the sleep you get at home.

There’s a feeling that we have when we’re at home. Our bodies seem to recognize it when we walk in the door. There’s a relaxation that kicks in, a peace that falls over us. I think that’s what Heaven will be like. It won’t be pleasure or happiness — those words aren’t enough to describe what it feels like to be at home, are they? It’s more than that.

If you ever wonder why there is pain in this world, it’s because we’re not at home.

That’s not to say we don’t belong here. Through God’s mercy, this beautiful world is where we live out our earthly existence, and those existences can be filled with amazing relationships and profound experiences. In fact, we might enjoy our time here so much that we don’t want to leave.

But there’s a reason this life has so many things that don't make sense: loss, fear, anger, sickness, hatred. It’s because we weren’t made for this place. For our souls, it’s like a never-ending night in a hotel bed.

— Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS

Parish News

Prayer Requests

The following persons have requested prayers from our parish community:

Nicole Moyer Charles Zezulak Sr. Sharon Kling Jerome Kupas Bob Earley John Gastaldello

Rudolph Spacal Tom Mendoza Fr. Larry Dreffein Tim Mackey Kris Grazys Dorcy Powers

Spencer Mehr Bridget Bailie Patricia Wright Frank Stefka Joseph Leto Christina Bourke

In Sympathy

Our deepest sympathy to the families of Marie Therese Donahue

Alice Wisnewski, cousin of Thomas Mendoza

May 16, 2021 Page 3

Pray for our Military Let us pray for all of our military personnel, especially the men and women of our parish who are serving

in harm’s way:

Kevin Braasch Michael Martel Natalya Brechlin John Svoboda Christopher Fountain Nathan Kijowski Bob Lang Zachary Frana Isabella Czopek

Kyle Ng Joe McSweeney Maggie Benhart Kevin Hanlon Brendan Vrtis Ben Gartlan Kathleen Halloran Peter Gartlan

Great News!

We have had such great attendance over the past months at weekend Masses as more people are being vaccinated and are returning to in-person attendance. As you all know, receiving the Eucharist at Mass is such an important part of our faith.

For the weekend of May 22 and 23, we are going to open up additional seating at all Masses to be able to accommo-date an increased number of attendees. We will have every other pew available for seating, in lieu of our current every third pew. With more people at Mass, we will open up additional Communion receiving lines, eliminating the current Communion stations. We will also open up the Prairie exit restrooms.

We thank all of you for your patience during these many long months of COVID restrictions. We still ask you to wear your masks to Church, please drop your donations into the baskets at the entrances of the Church, and refrain from congregating at any of our entrance/exit doors

We look forward to opening the Church to full capacity soon for Masses. Additional opening news will continue to evolve over the next several months.

Attention Week Day Mass Attendees

We are thrilled to welcome one class a day of our school children to our regular week-day 9:00 AM Mass over the next couple of weeks. In order to accommodate them as well as our regular week-day attendees, we ask that our Parishioners sit on the Wilson side of the Church to allow the Prairie side for the children. The dates for these Masses began on Thursday, May 13, and are as follows:

5/18, 5/19, 5/20, 5/25, 5/26, 5/27

We will open the Prairie doors for the children to enter and ask that the other attendees continue to enter through the parking lot doors.

Thank you for your understanding. We are sure that you are happy, as we are, to welcome the children to share the Eucharist with us as a Parish community.

Baptism St. Mary of Gostyn Parish Family welcomed the following child to the Catholic Faith through the Sacrament of Baptism recently: Maeve Marie Cawley, Daughter of Kevin & Lauren Cawley

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MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021 6:00 PM - Dr. Victor Krynicki req. Deacon Al & Carol Agurkis TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021 9:00 AM - Franco Albian req. Family WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2021 9:00 AM - Art Stadtler req. Laughlin Family THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021 9:00 AM - Bob Noonan req. Pat Metzger-Noonan John Fitzgerald req. Joanie Kilbride & Noreen Fitzgerald FRIDAY, MAY 21, 2021 9:00 AM - Don Wood req. Mike & Mary Signer SATURDAY, MAY 22, 2021 4:00 PM - Loretta Ocwieja req. Family Anna Cullen req. Kathleen Ranft SUNDAY, MAY 23, 2021 8:00 AM - Ronald Rodi Sr. req. JoAnn Rodi & Family 10:00 AM - People of the Parish 12:00 PM - Marvin Ronaldson req. Family Bob & Grace Jacobs req. Bob & Rose Jaskula 6:00 PM - Bernie Keigher req. Deacon Bob & Donna Miciunas

Stewardship

Our Catholic Faith with Fr. Keith: In the last few years many lawns have been displaying signs with a few virtue-signaling phrases like ‘science is real’ or ‘love is love.’ These are usually platitudinous or tautological. People advertise their political preferences with these signs. As an aside, there should be some ironic version of a sign with Catholic phrases like ‘error has no rights’ or extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. At any rate, they are indicative of our post-modern and irreligious secularity. What is the value of religion in the modern world? True reli-gion, most properly, is the worship of the Triune God, especially in the context of Christianity. Nonetheless, all religions of goodwill point to a few enduring realities, namely, God is real, there is a human soul, and salvation is possible. Man has a capacity for God. And, God meets man, as a man, in the person of Jesus Christ. In turn, man responds with obedience and faith. The many attempts in the past decade at redefining the hu-man person will never obliterate these truths even if they obscure them. There is an undenia-ble necessity to faith at the end of life. Death pro-vides a perspective on life which is not only ines-capable but also universal. No one escapes death. Time, as the old saying goes, waits for no man. We may go through life barely aware of the higher things as we attend to our own thoughts, feelings, and desires. However, it would be wise to remember the words of Proverbs, “Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Should we lose heart? No! The same God who created us by love, sustains us in love. We may wander from him but he nev-er strays from us. The mercy of the Lord brings us back to himself time and again whenever we stray. Human patience may be fleeting but the Lord has an eternal perspective which is not timebound. So, religion organizes life along the will of God. It gives an architecture to our philos-ophy, morals, and choices. Faith draws the hu-man soul from lower, earthly things to contem-plate the higher things. It restores life to a pur-pose that looks past this world into the next, for as we profess in the Creed, we look forward to the “life of the world to come.”

A CALL TO STEWARDSHIP

Weekly Collection 05/09/2021 $22,591.50 Weekly Goal (Fiscal Year 2020/2021) $28,500.00

Goals to Date Sunday Goal to Date $1,254,000.00

Christmas Goal to Date $105,000.00

Easter Goal to Date $80,000.00 Collections to Date Sunday Collection to Date $1,173,220.98

Christmas Collection to Date $129,641.25

Easter Collection to Date $75,303.04

Total (Short of) Goals to Date $(60,834.73)

Thank you for your continued support and generosity!

May 16, 2021 Page 5

St. Mary of Gostyn First Communicants

Welcome to the Table of the Lord!

Alexandra Alikpala

Caroline Allen

Dominic Aquino

Gabriella Aquino

Martin Baker

Joseph Barbaro

Elizabeth Barbic

Colin Berens

Giuseppina Bernardo

Connor Betourney

Tess Bogaczyk

Adam Borchers

Nora Bossard

Michael Chico

Braden Cody

Alexandria DeGiulio

Christian DeGiulio

Roman Demo

Mila DiCosola

Aidan Dowling

Caleb Dubs

Sophia Dus

Enzo Espina

George Fayad

Charlize Fiandaca

Gavin Fierstein

Keegan Fitzgerald

Amelia Formato

Anthony Formato

Evan Geyer

Charlotte Gianatasio

Daniel Glitto

Emerson Guzlas

Bennett Hanssel

Ethan Henrickson

Benjamin Hernandez

Mateo Hernandez

Hayden Hoffman

Delaney Horner

Jacob Howe

Nina Iovino

Abigail Ittner

Evelyn Jackson

Natalie Jados

Austin King

Joshua Kors

Christian Kranz

Michael LaSota

Catherine Leahy

Niccolo Lenzo

Brooks Leyba

Anthony Maggiore

Mason Majchrzak

Blake Manthei

Lola Marti

Charlotte Maul

Francesca Mazza

Joseph McDevitt

Kaylee McTighe

Cannon Moudry

Owen Muller

Emmett Myers

Dylan Myszynski

Leonard Nelson

Gabrielle Novak

Cormac O’Driscoll

Ethan Olczyk

Mason Oresar

James Ourada

Maxwell Pampalone

Evan Paulis

Vincent Perez

Claire Petrillo

Olivia Petruzzelli

Kate Pigott

Nora Pigott

Harrison Reynolds

Samantha Rondinelli

Maxwell Rotta

Antonella Scala

Samuel Scala

Brendan Schimmel

Declan Schimmel

Jackson Schoonover

Jackson Schulz

Bennett Settle

Liam Sifuentes

Emily Sinkuler

Maximus Skillom

Jaxson Small

Edward Stark

Madeline Sullivan

Sean Sullivan

Farren Swope

Natalie Tan

Ethan Thiele

Vincent Torello

Ryer Tracy

Daniel Trail

Madeline Troelstrup

Emilia Villanueva

Mateo Weber

Audrey White

Kaylynn White

Lila Wiklund

Grayson Wilken

Reagan Young

Daniela Zotta

Evelynne Zycinski

Page 6 The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Adult Faith

NEW PARISHIONERS: We are happy to welcome new members to our community, and encourage you to register either in person at the Parish Office, or register online through our website, www.stmarygostyn.org.

BAPTISMS: St. Mary of Gostyn offers baptismal preparation sessions on a monthly basis. If this is your first child, you will need to participate in a baptismal preparation session before you can receive a date for your baby’s Baptism. Parents are the first and primary educators in the practice of the Faith. Godparents play an important role in the faith life of your child. While considering godparents for your child, be aware that at least one must be a baptized and confirmed Catholic who is active in his/her faith. Please call the parish office at 630-969-1063 to register for a preparation class and to schedule a baptismal date.

BECOMING A CATHOLIC: The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is a process of welcoming and preparing adults for the Sacraments of Initiation - Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation - for full membership in the Catholic Church. Unbaptized adults, adults baptized in another Christian faith, and baptized Catholics with little or no formal religious education are invited to participate. Please call the Parish Office for further information.

SACRAMENT of ANOINTING: Due to Covid restrictions, you will need to make arrangements by contacting the parish office.

FUNERALS: Arrangements are usually made by the Funeral Home or by a family member. A member of our Bereavement team will meet with you to plan the Funeral Liturgy. Eulogies can be given at the Wake Service, Interment at the Cemetery or at the Funeral Luncheon, but not at the Mass of Christian Burial.

MARRIAGES: Arrangements should be made at least six months in advance to provide ample time for preparation of this sacrament.

RECONCILIATION: Confessions are heard Saturday, 8:30 to 9:30 AM in church. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is also available by appointment. Please call the Parish Office (630-969-1063) to arrange to have your confession heard by a priest. ANNULMENTS: We are available to help anyone who is in need of information about how to apply for an annulment. Please contact the Parish Office at (630)969-1063.

St. Mary of Gostyn Parish 445 Prairie Avenue, Downers Grove, IL 60515 ~ 630 - 969 - 1063