In last week’s bulletin article, as well as my Sunday homily, I announced the new addition to our church which will be a shrine to the Mother of God and the saints. You see in the photograph here the finished statue along with the unique vigil light stand that the artist is calling “The Burning Bush.” While there are many traditional features of this image of Mary, e.g., Mary seated as a source of wisdom holding Jesus, her son, that are also some creative features, e.g., Jesus’s hand extended in welcome and also the medium from which the statue is created. i.e., corten steel.

When our parish church was designed and constructed in 1976, there was a great deal of excitement as well as uncertainty as to the future of church architecture. Much of this was generated by the Liturgical Reforms of the Second Vatican Council that were attempting to respond to the needs and concerns of the modern world. After centuries of ceremonial rigidity and architectural uniformity, there was an eagerness to embrace new artistic styles as these affected ritual language, places of worship, sacred music and other forms of visual expressions of faith.

This year we will ordain five new priests for the Diocese of Joliet.   While this quantity is outstanding, so is their quality.  These five men are young, intelligent, faith filled, pastoral and enthusiastic, and they all strive for holiness.  They easily could have followed one of many good and exciting career paths offered by the world.  Counterculturally, they heard the call of the Lord and responded by choosing to follow the call to the vocation of ordained priesthood.