No Parochial Vicar for a Time
We will NOT receive a parochial vicar anytime soon to replace Fr. Peter Okola, and I do not know when we will receive one. I was half-expecting this; it is the inherent risk of depending upon international priests who are on loan to the Diocese of Peoria – as unsteady as the Holy Trinity rectory foundations. For the next few months, Fr. Rogers Byambassa graciously will offer one of our Saturday evening Masses, and either he or Msgr. Hennessy will offer the Monday morning Mass. Even Fr. John Pham from Saint Mary’s will help with a couple of Masses. When a priest is unavailable, however, some daily Masses will be cancelled when I am out of town. We will play it by ear.
Saints Speak of the Rosary
Again, that great crowd – I could see great sorrow and suffering in their faces – I was kneeling near Our Lady, who was facing them. I did not see her face, but I heard her say, “Take care of them – they are mine. – Bring them to Jesus – carry Jesus to them. – Fear not. Teach them to say the Rosary, the family Rosary, and all will be well.” (Saint Mother Teresa of Kolkata)
The Rosary is a great test of faith. What the Eucharist is in the order of Sacraments, the Rosary is in the order of sacramental – the mystery and the test of faith – the touchstone by which the soul is judged in its humility. The mark of the Christian is the willingness to look for the Divine in the flesh of a baby in a crib, the continuing Christ under the appearance of bread on an altar, and a meditation and a prayer on a string of beads. (Venerable Fulton J. Sheen)
The person with the rosary in hand has the key to learning the most important of all lessons: the love of God for us, the destiny He has in store for us and the way He is helping us to reach that destiny. (Venerable Patrick Peyton)
The Rosary. Today not a few bible scholars say, “I am a great theologian, an adult Christian. I fill my lungs with the air of the Bible…and you ask me to say the Rosary?” Very well, yes! The Rosary, with the fifteen mysteries, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed – there you have the Bible, and a Bible which does not puff one up with pride and does not dry up one’s soul, as not infrequently happens to certain biblical scholars. (Cardinal Albino Luciano [the future Pope Saint John Paul the First] at Fatima in 1967)
~Fr Loftus