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This Week at Ascension + February 19, 2025
"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." - Psalm 96
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Ash Wednesday
March 5, 2025
8 a.m. Low Mass & Imposition of Ashes
12 p.m. Low Mass & Imposition of Ashes
7 p.m. Solemn High Mass & Imposition of Ashes
pictured: Fr. F. William Orrick, Ash Wednesday, ca. 1965
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Stations of the Cross &
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
March 7, 14, 21 & 28, April 4 & 11
at 6 p.m.
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Weekday Mass Schedule
12 p.m. on Monday & Friday
8 a.m. on Tuesday & Thursday
6:30 p.m. on Wednesday
View the Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Live-stream Mass here
VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE
Weekday Offices
7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer via Zoom
6:00 p.m. Evening Prayer via Zoom
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From the Rector
Immediately after the Beatitudes’ exhortation, our Lord moves the goal posts. Not only does he instruct his disciples to care for the poor, the hungry, and the reviled, but to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.” (Luke 6:27-29)
Our Lord’s new teaching, which we will hear proclaimed in our Sunday Gospel, can too easily be filed away under the “easier said than done” category. While we can splice and dice our Lord’s teaching, embracing some of it and leaving some of it behind, the fact that when most of us hear our Lord’ teaching we wrestle to embrace it whole cloth is not a bad thing. Our Lord’s teachings are not meant to comfort us, but challenge us. Maybe the challenge, take for example the Beatitudes, comforts us because it addresses the need and injustice we see in the world. However, sometimes our Lord’s teachings, rather than move us into action, freeze us in place.
As a Baptized Christian and as a priest in the Church, my job is to join you in wrestling through our Lord’s teachings. Believing, knowing, and trusting in our Lord’s words yet still struggling to figure out how to make sense of them, how to live by them, and how to incorporate them into my life. And when, not if, I fall short of our Lord’s teachings not being ashamed to return to God. Trusting that his teachings through the varied chances and changes of life will become clearer and easier to comprehend and embrace. Because, as our Sunday Gospel concludes, the goal of all of our Lord’s teaching is to “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Not just to be more like God, but to be more human.
Fr. de la Torre
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February Faith Formation
Glorious Companions in the Catholic Faith
at 12:45 p.m.
“There is one body and one Spirit... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Our February formation series will introduce us to lesser-known spiritual companions who have influenced our presenters' own spiritual journeys and the Church at large, renewing its Catholic faith, identity, and practice. A hearty lunch will be provided.
February 23 - Charles Gore and Walter Frere:
Founders of The Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield and Bishops in the Church of England. Presentation by Dr. Nicholas Groves
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2025 Acolyte Day
Acolytes, please join us for our 2025 Acolyte Day on Sunday, March 2 after the 11 a.m. Mass. Lunch will be provided, and we'll enjoy an afternoon of fellowship and training together as we honor and give thanks for your service at the altar. All acolytes are welcome, whether you serve often or occasionally. Mark your calendars and expect more details soon!
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In the footsteps of St. James:
from Pillar of Strength to Field of Stars
Experiencing the Camino
October 13-24, 2025
As part of St James Cathedral, Chicago’s Sesquicentennial Celebration, Dean Lisa Hackney-James will lead a 10-day pilgrimage, following the Camino de Santiago (The Way of Saint James) and culminating at the Cathedral Santiago de Compostela.
The Dean will be assisted in leading the pilgrimage by Alvaro de Salas Gimenez de Azcarate, Consul General of Spain to the United States. He will provide translation and help us experience the Camino through the eyes of a local. We will stop in Zaragoza to visit a site lesser known in the United States, but a major pilgrimage destination for Christians in Spain: the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar (pictured above), which commemorates an apparition of Mary, Jesus’s mother, whose likeness appeared to James as he knelt and prayed on the banks of the River Ebro.
Click Here for more information.
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The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will offer a combined concert on Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 pm in St. James Cathedral, under the direction of CBASO Music Director Jennifer Huang and CBA Chorus Director Stephen Blackwelder, with Jeremy Vigil, CBA Chorus pianist and accompanist.
If you're in attendance, you will spot our own Clarissa Galaviz Lizarraga in the choir. For tickets & more information, please visit https://cbamarch.eventbrite.com/
If you're interested in attending as part of a parish group, please contact Father de la Torre: cdelatorre@ascensionchicago.org
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Creation Care Working Group
Eco DioChicago, a working group of the Diocese of Chicago dedicated to creation care and climate justice, recently published its initial version of a theological and liturgical resource guide. Led by Ellie Simpson, and assisted in its work by Seán Hansen, the group encourages parishioners to peruse its guide, and it welcomes any suggestions for inclusion in future iterations of the same.
Additionally, Eco DioChicago is seeking to form and coordinate green teams--lay organizations at parishes which have discerned a call to the work of creation care--and would love to work with Church of the Ascension in that regard. If you have interest in forming a parish green team or questions about what that would look like, contact Ellie at ecodiochicago@gmail.com or Seán at s.hansen.biz@gmail.com.
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New Online Coffee Hour Sign-Up Sheet
If you're looking for a way to give back and support Ascension's robust parish life, we hope you'll consider serving as a coffee hour host. With our new online sign-up sheet, it's now easier than ever to sign-up for coffee hour : https://tinyurl.com/y66pztfz. A hard copy continues to be available in Wheeler Hall, and will be updated and reprinted every week to prevent accidental "double bookings."
So, what does hosting coffee hour entail? We ask that you set-up, provide and prepare snacks, and clean up Wheeler Hall. You can provide any food items you wish and there are always pastries available in the freezer for easy thawing. Coffee and cold beverages are provided by the church. Reimbursement funds are available for coffee hour expenses, but please make sure to provide a receipt in order to complete a reimbursement request.
If you have any questions about hosting coffee hour, please speak to Father de la Torre or Hospitality Committee members Josh or Ellie Simpson, LaVerne Saunders or Carol Noren. They will be glad to help and guide you.
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Donate Flowers in the Coming Year
2025 flower sign-up sheets are now available on the table in the narthex. Donations may be given in memory of departed loved ones or in thanksgiving for a birthday, anniversary, or an important milestone. Flowers may be donated at the High Altar, the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Shrine of Saint Michael the Archangel, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. If you’re interested in donating flowers, please see the sign-up sheet on the table in the back of the church.
You can also make a flower donation online by visiting Ascension's PayPal page. Once you’ve made your donation, please email the parish office any personal dedications. As of January 1, 2025, the donation amount to cover the cost of flowers on the High Altar is $65 and on any one of the Shrines the amount is $35.
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The Prayers of the People
As part of our Sunday offering of the Mass, we bring to God our petitions and thanksgivings. As a community, we do this by bidding the parish’s intentions in the Prayers of the People. If you wish to have someone added to the Prayers of the People, please email Father de la Torre or the Parish Office.
Lord, hear the prayers of thy people; and what we have asked faithfully, grant that we may obtain effectually, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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For our prayers
Herm Laninga and the Laninga Family, Steven Cooksey, Mark Shuldiner, Seán Hansen,
Arlina Perez, Bekah Hurty, Samuel Gibbons, Nate Cole, Ed Blatz, Bonnie Joseph, Kelly Callahan Turcy, Kristin Harrison, Lois Peterson, Fredo Caliva, Ruby Woods, Grace Ellen Rivera, Malcolm Wood, Carolyn Wiggins, Marlea Edinger, Elizabeth McLaughlin, MB Hwang, Juanita Malone, Richard Francis Tracz, Victor Fernandez, Claire Green, Beth Hall, Brenda Martins
Birthdays
Courtney Walsh, 2/22, Mark Tabbut, 2/22
Requiescat in pace
Matt Laninga, Ruth Schram, 2/16/2023; Clark Allan Montgomery, 2/22/2003;
Geraldine Wilbur Ruhling, 2/22/2005; Laurence (Larry) P. Myers, 2/22/2018
Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them;
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
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Organ and Choral Repertoire for
February 23, 2025
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ORGAN *
Le dimanche Sexagésime
Prélude à l'Introït; Offertoire;
Elévation; Communion
Charles Tournemire (1870-1939)
Opening Hymn
404 OLD 124th
At the Offertory
621 RHUDDLAN
At the Communion
603 ST. BOTOLPH
Closing Hymn
610 BLAENHAFREN
ORGAN *
Le dimanche Sexagésime
Pièce terminale: Fresque
Charles Tournemire
*[Continuing the 2022-2025 series
of the Organist’s offering the complete
L’Orgue Mystique of Tournemire]
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Herbert Howells
(1892-1983)
Office of Holy Communion “Collegium Regale” (1956)
George Walker
(1922-2018)
O Praise the Lord (1975)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
(c. 1525-1594)
Tantum ergo
The Gregorian Chant Propers from Graduale Romanum
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Between Masses, please don’t forget that The Choir of the Ascension has recorded upwards of 60 tracks that you can listen to anywhere you have an internet connection. They can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/choir-of-the-ascension
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Ascension Connections
(with your click and God's help)
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Weekly Ascension Schedule
For connections:
via Zoom (click here)
SUNDAYS
7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer via Zoom
9 a.m. Sung Mass
11 a.m. Solemn High Mass
VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE
MONDAY-FRIDAY
7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer via Zoom
6 p.m. Evening Prayer via Zoom
Weekday Low Mass Schedule
12 p.m. on Monday & Friday
8 a.m. on Tuesday & Thursday
6:30 p.m. on Wednesday
View the Wednesday Mass here
VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE
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The Rev. Carlos de la Torre, Rector
cdelatorre@ascensionchicago.org
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Wardens
David A. Robertson, Sr. Warden
drobertson@ascensionchicago.org
Victoria Dvonch, Jr. Warden
vdvonch@ascensionchicago.org
Vestry
Ken Cozette, Ellie Simpson, Samuel Sommers (Clerk), 2026
Nancy Pardee, Jay Peterson, DiAnne Walsh, 2027
Jim Drury, Alexis Sarkisian, Andrew Smith, 2028
Susan Schlough, Treasurer
Finance@ascensionchicago.org
Br. Nathanael Deward Rahm BSG, Parish Office
Office@ascensionchicago.org
Approved minutes of Vestry meetings are always available online to parishioners who request the link. If you would like Internet access to these Vestry Minutes, please email the Parish Office and request the link. Once you access the web page, you can read all recent Vestry meeting minutes.
The link remains live indefinitely. Any parishioner who has the link will not need to request a new link from month to month.
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