Dear Parishioners,
I know it’s kind of childish, but imagine Jesus was right next to you in your conversation. You’re talking with someone outside the church in the parking lot, you’re in the kitchen with some friends with a glass of wine, you’re out on the golf course, you’re writing an email or posting something on social media…Jesus is right there with you. That might stop the unkind comment about the third party who isn’t present, the crude joke, the complaint, the lie. It might actually cause us to say something kind, something insightful, something encouraging. The disciples argue among themselves about who is the greatest. They had lost sight of Jesus right next to them and so they deteriorated as a group.
Dear Parishioners,
When Jesus asks the disciples who people say he is, they respond “John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the other prophets.” This is quite the compliment. People could have said “Jehoiakim” (one of the terrible Israelite kings), “Hananiah” (one of the false prophets), or “Adam” (our disobedient ancestor). But, no, they say he’s one of the good guys.
Dear Parishioners,
Not to be macabre, but if you had to lose one of your senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste), which one would you choose? Or, if you could have only one sense, which would it be? I think it was St. Thomas Aquinas who said that the greatest sense is sight, but for you it might be different. White Sox fans wouldn’t mind being blind these days (sorry).
Father James Wallace grew up in Winnetka, Illinois and attended Sts. Faith Hope and Charity grammar school, New Trier High School, and then The George Washington University in Washington DC, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science in 2007. He attended seminary at The Pontifical North American College in Rome and was ordained a priest in 2012 for the Archdiocese of Chicago. In addition to being the pastor of Saint Paul of the Cross Parish, he serves as a canon lawyer for the Archdiocese, a dean in Vicariate II, and a professor of canon law and spiritual director at Mundelein Seminary. He is also one of the featured Mercy Home Sunday Mass celebrants, airing Sundays at 9:30am on WGN.
Phone: (847) 825-7605
6:25 am UC
8:30 am UC
8:30 am UC - weekday Mass
4:30 pm UC - vigil
7:30 am UC
9:00 am UC
10:30 am UC and HFC
12:00 pm UC
