Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Ash Wednesday is this week, the start of our Lenten journey. The ashes will remind us that we are sinners, and the cross traced on our foreheads with those ashes will remind us that we have a savior.
We will be most blessed to host a powerful 3-night Parish Mission starting Sunday, February 22, to get Lent started on the right foot. Our mission preacher is the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Cary, IL, and one of my very best friends, Fr. Keith Romke of the Diocese of Rockford, IL.
Our friendship started on the Sea of Galilee. We were on pilgrimage in the Holy Land over the Christmas break from our seminary, the Pontifical North American College in Rome. After Mass in the chapel built over St. Peter’s house in Capernaum, our group was offered the opportunity to either take the bus back to our hotel or to walk the 2 miles along the shoreline. I wasn’t going to miss a chance to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, and the only other person from the group to opt to walk was Keith. And thus it began.
It’s not at all lost on me that the Lord was up to something, drawing brothers together to form them, empower them, and send them as His disciples, from these sacred shores, just as He had done 2,000 years ago. And Fr. Romke has been a passionate disciple, won over by grace into faith, and an exceptional instrument in the hand of the Lord.
Fr. Romke is also a rabid Cubs and Bears fan (he left vacation one summer when he was invited to Ryne Sandberg’s statue unveiling at Wrigley Field), a sous-vide master chef (ask him the most unusual thing he has cooked…brace yourself!), an avid SCUBA diver (he took that famous picture of my “handshake with an octopus”), and a true brother from another mother.
You will be inspired, encouraged, and challenged through the mission he is coming to preach. With a theme of Receiving, Restoring, and Resting in Who You Are, Fr. Romke will share the power of the Gospel and give us all an opportunity to lean into what the Lord Jesus promised when He said “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Come one, come all. The Lord has graces in store for our parish through Fr. Romke’s mission.
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
All you holy saints of God, pray for us!
Peace in Christ,
Fr. Michael Silloway
Pastor