We Celebrate Masses again!!!
Beginning Monday, May 25th at 8:30 a.m.

The Mass schedule is then as follows:
Tues - Fri 8:30 a.m. Sat. 4:00 p.m. Sun. 10:00 a.m.

The obligation to attend Sunday Mass remains waived.
Attending Mass another day assists with social distancing, especially for the vulnerable and those close to them.

Please observe posted guidelines for everyone's safety.
The First Reading begins the Acts of the Apostles, believed to be authored by the Gospel evangelist, Luke, and beginning after the Resurrection. Reasserting the evidence that Jesus was Risen, He recalls Jesus' continued teaching for forty more days.
And then He recounts the Ascension,
when Jesus returned to Heaven, but promised another Advocate
was coming to guide any who wished to be His followers.
The Psalm is fitting for today, celebrating the rising of God to His throne and the rejoicing and singing of His followers.
Great must have been the celebration of the angels
to have God the Son with them once more! 

In the Second Reading , St. Paul prays that we will truly comprehend within ourselves the reality of Jesus, and Who He is.
He provides a brief creed statement -noting the facts that are
real, true, and important.
The life of Christ is not a myth, encouraging story, or nice biography - it is a reality with huge consequences for how we live our lives here and now so that we can enjoy to the fullest the life that will never end.
 
In the Gospel , Jesus appears to the Disciples one last time before ascending Heaven recorded time, ascending to heaven.
His final directive to them - and to us - is to go forth and make disciples of all nations. Beginning in our homes, but makes clear that He and God the Father are One. To know Jesus is to know God the Father, and to obey either one is to obey the other. The Holy Spirit will come
to lead the Apostles - they will not be left without guidance.
That same Holy Spirit guides us - if we will let Him.
Newsy Notes

First Communion Families
First Communion Celebration - Date announced within the week!!

Confirmation Families
8th grade Confirmation - Date announced within the week!!
Please send your Patron Saint name to Linda ASAP!

7th grade: Continue watching Decision Point videos online
and conversing with your youth through the assigned chapters.
It is a gift for opening dialogue with them!

Totus Tuus Vacation Bible Camp 2020
We regret that STM & St. Bernadette's 2020 Summer
Totus Tuus Vacation Bible Camp has been canceled.
Pray it returns for 2021!

Praying for a faith-event this summer for your children?
Gaudeo at Guardian Angels Parish is still scheduled for June 22 - 26
Jesus waits for you!
At STM between 800 am - 4:00 pm,
or anytime at Marytown Chapel in Chicago:
Participate in Mass on Sundays and weekdays too!
Join with our Lord through the Spiritual Communion Prayer during the online Mass's reception of Communion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that You are
present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things and
I desire to receive You into my soul.
 
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there
and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Meditation

“A life without eternity is unworthy of the name of life.
Only eternal life is true.”
- St. Augustine
Greetings Parents!

      "P L E A S E can I see a friend Mom???!!!" Finally, there might be hope for being able to say, "Yes!" Good weather and loosening restrictions are making it easier to consider the possibility. If nothing else, the reality that human persons are made for community has become very evident! While some might enjoy a bit of the isolation, eventually some contact becomes desirable - even if just a conversation with a delivery person - from six feet away and wearing masks.

           Perhaps in this isolation God is trying to help us feel a hunger for something more fulfilling than what we have been using. If we've been retreating to television, social media, or online games for a pick-me-up, after so much time, does it still work? Are we ready to put in the effort for a new "hobby?" Is there any hook at all that will encourage us to at least try to give more time to God?
 
           He's given us many avenues! What are our interests? God is in them! Seek out saints who had the same interests - many famous scientists were Catholic clergy and lay saints - although school textbooks didn't include that detail. Saint biographies can help us find someone who was similar to us and hear how they walked closer to God. We're not all mystics, missionaries, scholars, or doctors. Many are parents who found their holiness in family life. Different people share words that resonate with different readers.

            But it is not only through people that God can draw us near. Interested in the supernatural? God IS supernatural! Learn about approved miracles and the facts by which their approval is based. Eucharistic miracles - including Blood and Flesh that appeared in place of consecrated hosts in the 700's A.D. in Lanciano, Italy. There are bodies of saints that haven't decayed, or parts of the bodies haven't decayed, even after hundreds of years. The sun danced in the sky on the day a miracle was predicted at Fatima, Portugal with over 70,000 witnesses, including reporters and atheists. Attacks have been stopped when invaders saw angels or our Blessed Mother between them and their target. These should not be reasons for belief, but gifts that give credence to our belief, a reminder of God's love for His children.
           
             Hug your children tight - and help them see God everyday in the sunsets and coincidences (God-incidences) of their lives so we do as God does - give confident hope that there is a greater reality than just this life. What we see is not all there is to see - what seems bad might be mercy - God allows regret so that we can alter our lives to be filled with choices of which we are always proud.

-- Linda Bader, Coordinator of Religious Education

P.S. Did you know... The Principalities (Princes) are the top of the third choir of angels and are recognized as those angels watching over nations and peoples. In their willing service to God, they serve humanity by guiding and influencing the hierarchy of the Church and nations. God is involved in every facet of Creation - not for Creation's sake, but for OUR sake. Remember, we, and creation, for the purpose of drawing each of us closer to God for all eternity - if we will say, "Yes."