In the early fourth century, somewhere in northern Africa, in the town of Tagaste (the modern-day Souk Ahras), there lived a woman named Monica. Tagaste, a city that holds a notable place in the history of western civilization, was one of the cultural and socio-economic hubs of the civilization championed and shaped by Christianity. In this city, Monica was born, raised, and given in marriage to a pagan man – Patritius.

Already a Catholic before her marriage to Patritius, Monica devoted herself to the conversion of her pagan husband. To do this, Monica lived a holy and prayerful life. She was also very loyal and affectionate to her husband. Persevering in these virtues, Monica was blessed to have her husband voluntarily convert to the Catholic faith about a year before his death.

Around this time, Augustine left the faith as a young adult. He became wayward and openly scornful of the Catholic faith. Augustine engaged in various kinds of sinful behaviors that both severed his relationship with his mother and endangered his life. “He went astray in faith and manners” so much that his mother cried and prayed relentlessly for his conversion.

Monica’s motherly love for Augustine, like most mothers for their children, was boundless. She prayed unstoppingly and would always approach any priests and bishops she met to ask for prayers for her son. As we all know that God does not fail, Monica’s prayers were answered superabundantly. Through the instrumentality of St. Ambrose, then bishop of Milan, whom Monica had asked to pray for Augustine, the young man converted to the faith. He later became a priest and later a bishop. Today, Augustine is one of the most influential figures in Christian theology and philosophy, Catholicism, and a Saint for all times.

What a perfect model for Christian wives and mothers! We all can agree that there would not be any St. Augustine today without St. Monica. How inspiring!

Today, we live in a world and culture where most adults who grew up Catholic no longer practice the faith. Many of these people have left the Church and have become very hateful of the Church and its teachings. Some of these people grew up in homes where faith was never an essential part of family life. However, a good number of the people who have left the Catholic faith were raised in good practicing Catholic homes. Like in the case of the young Augustine, it is evident that he grew up in a practicing Catholic home but still left the faith. But his mother did not abandon him or give up on doing the needful. She prayed for Augustine relentlessly and would ask for prayers and counsels from priests and bishops.

Are you a wife and your husband is not serious with his faith or has left the faith entirely? Be like St. Monica!

Are you a mother, and your children have left the faith or are not serious with it? Be like St. Monica!

A few weeks ago, we heard in our Sunday Gospel reading the first of the seven “I AM” statements that Jesus uses in the Gospel of John.  This first statement: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) might be His most important title, as it is at the heart of His teaching on how He offers Himself to us in His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, which is the “source and summit” of our lives as Catholics.  In that same Gospel passage, as Jesus is describing this gift He will give, His disciples say: “Sir, give us this bread always.” (Jn 6:34)  Their hearts had been stirred and they desired to receive this gift as often as possible.

It is my hope that our focus on the Eucharist over the past several weeks has stirred in your hearts a desire to receive our Lord in Holy Communion with greater love and to receive Him more frequently.  It is on the topic of frequent reception of the Eucharist that I would like to conclude our reflections on this most important topic of our faith.  You may recall that I have mentioned Pope St. Pius X in a couple of my Sunday homilies, how we was the pope that lowered the age for first reception of Holy Communion.  He also wrote about the proper motivations we should have when receiving the Eucharist.  One of the most significant topics he addressed in his writings on the Eucharist was the encouragement to receive Holy Communion more frequently, even daily if possible.  Before that time, frequent reception of Holy Communion, even every Sunday, was not very common.  Some Catholics were content only to receive Holy Communion once a year during the Easter Season, which is the origin of the term “Easter Duty.”  To instill a greater love for this gift and to open the door to the graces contained in this gift, the Holy Father wrote:

But since it is plain that by the frequent or daily reception of the Holy Eucharist union with Christ is strengthened, the spiritual life more abundantly sustained, the soul more richly endowed with virtues, and the pledge of everlasting happiness more securely bestowed on the recipient, therefore, parish priests, confessors and preachers, according to the approved teaching of the Roman Catechism should exhort the faithful frequently and with great zeal to this devout and salutary practice.

The Eucharist, as Pope Francis reminds us, is medicine for our weaknesses, and the more we receive this medicine, the stronger we become.  It has been my experience that those who commit to frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist make significantly greater progress in living the life of Christian discipleship and find greater peace and fulfillment in their lives.

Here at the Cathedral, we have daily Mass at 7 am and 5:15 pm Monday through Friday, and at 8 am on Saturday morning.  Maybe you cannot make it to Mass every day, but could you start by trying to get to Mass for at least one daily Mass a week apart from Sunday?  That is how I started many years ago, going on Friday morning on my day off.  As I grew in my love for Jesus in the Eucharist, I wanted more, so I started going nearly every morning.  That decision to make the Eucharist a daily part of my life was one of the primary catalysts that led to my entering the seminary and eventually becoming a priest.  Frequent reception of the Eucharist transformed my life drastically, and very much for the better.  The Lord wants to do the same in your lives as well.  Will you give Him the opportunity to do so?

Father Alford     

It is almost twenty months since Covid-19 changed nearly everything in the world. Schools closed. Churches closed. Many big businesses shut down temporarily while others closed indefinitely. Still, several small businesses died a painful death. Amid all these, people’s social life is stifled to death as humanity, especially the sick and the elderly, continues to suffocate in social isolation.

While things are easing off gradually, people are almost getting used to the new lifestyle of social insulation imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. One can hardly deny the possible emotional and psychological consequences of this new lifestyle. People are getting used to being ALONE. Some of us are becoming comfortable with lonely life so much that attending any social events and making physical contacts and connections with other people are gradually becoming undesirable.

To address this social conundrum, last Wednesday, August 11th, we had a fun-full parish event – “Fishing with Father Alford.” This event, the first time in our Cathedral parish, took place at the Villa Maria Retreat Center shore of Springfield Lake. The “Fishing with Father Alford” was intended to help our people have a fun social time with one another and their priests after these loooooong months of isolation and social distancing. That goal was met with about thirty parishioners and friends gathering for nearly three hours of fishing, snacking, and chatting. There were also joyful shouts whenever someone catches a fish.

Personally, the highlight of the fishing last week was seeing Julia, one of our youngest parishioners at the event, smile and take pictures with the fishes before they were thrown back to the lake. The joy in her face and in the faces of the other children that evening was deeply Christlike! Their presence and the fun we all had reenacted a friendship and camaraderie so deep to be captured with words. I am sure that Julia and others who were part of the event will agree with me.

In these times of uncertainty with a lingering pandemic, we need to make intentional efforts to stay socially and spiritually connected to maintain our sanity. Attending Masses and other parish and community events are important if we must survive these unusual times and maintain healthy emotional and spiritual lives.

For an added opportunity, this time for a more spiritual encounter with one another and with our Lord Jesus Christ, I am inviting everyone to a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, in October. I plan on this to be a time of short retreat and spiritual renewal for everyone. We will also have a holy time to pray together, listen to a reflection, have a tour of the Shrine, do a Holy Hour of Adoration and Benediction, and celebrate the sacraments in that beautiful Shrine of Our Blessed Mother.

The registration for this pilgrimage is ongoing and will end on Monday, August 30, 2021. Please, call Bill Vogt or Lisa Duffey at the parish office at 217-522-3342 to register. For any questions about the pilgrimage, call me at the parish office or through email at [email protected].

It’s hard to play Fur Elise if you had never heard it … hard to pray the Breviary if you have never sat down with someone and seen how it is done … hard to back squat 300lbs unless you learn from someone who knows how to do it.  

It is also hard to be holy if you’ve never gotten to know a saint.

I think it was this deep-down realization that got me interested in telling the lives of the saints last year when we all started writing for the bulletin and this past year digging into the sacraments has only deepened my love and appreciation for the saints.  I cannot recount everyone we got to know last year, but how can I forget the zeal of St. Francis Xavier – bringing baptism to as many as he could?! Or, St. Don Bosco – his vision of the Eucharist as one of the pillars that holds us on the path to Heaven?!  Or, St. Patrick – writing his own Confessio, recounting the tremendous mercy of God, offered to all of us in Confession?  Or, Mary and Joseph – their loveliness and holiness in marriage?! 

The thing is, we can study the scriptures and peruse the catechism, but if we never get to know concrete examples of the faith lived-out, we can struggle to turn the brain-knowledge of our faith into a heart transformed by grace and a life alive with God’s love.  But if we do have those examples, not only can we be inspired by their lives, and we can see in them the Gospel incarnate again and again.  But also, the saints are more than examples for us, they are friends and helpers along the way!  They not only have run this race before us, they are now on the sidelines cheering and coaching us along the way.  We see how they responded to the particular circumstances of their day, and we can speak to them about the particular circumstances of our day, and in friendship with them we grow in our friendship with God. 

This year, our overall theme for parish catechesis will be continuing onto the third pillar of the Catechism (after the first – on the creed: the what we believe, and the second – on the sacraments: the where we are sustained in our belief; and before the fourth pillar of prayer: Who we are in communion with).  This third pillar is the moral life – often called “Life in Christ”: the how we live out our faith – and though I am certain the other priests here will offer tremendous insights into our conscience, as well as the virtues, commandments, and beatitudes that composes our roadmap to sanctity, I am all the more excited to learn those things in and through the lives of our saints.  

Every saint has wrestled with vice, and discovered virtue; has fallen short of God’s commands, and received His forgiveness and continued call.  And they remain for us not only models, but continuing members of our Church, if in the life beyond!  This week, I have not chosen any saint in particular, but I offer to all of us the question: Have I befriended any saints?  St. Bartholomew (August 24^th), St. Monica (August 27^th), and St. Augustine (August 28^th) are famous ones we celebrate this week.  Do you know their story?  Do you know what they struggled with?  Do you know why they are a saint?   What about St. Emily de Vialar (spent her life in care for the poor, Feast day August 24^th), St. Zephirin (Pope, battled heresy, Feast Day August 26^th), or St. Sabine (Roman Martyr, Feast Day August 29^th)?  There are so many saints, spend a few minutes getting to know them, and then spend a few minutes talking your life over with them!  

– Fr. Dominic Rankin has long loved Pope St. John Paul II, but really got to know him better during his seminary studies in Rome, where the great saint lived so many years of his life, and is now buried in St. Peter’s Basilica.  One day, praying at JPII’s tomb, he was saddened by the fact that he would never be able to join the great pope to celebrate Mass.  And then God gave a great grace: at every Mass, everyone who is in union with Christ, is reunited around Him.  And so, we cannot be closer to the saints, including those we love the most, than when we go to Mass.  Which saints are with you in your pew?  Which saints have I concelebrated Mass with?!

At the beginning of last week’s bulletin article, I wrote about the transition in leadership in the Church that took place in 2005, following the death of Pope St. John Paul II who had served the Church as the Successor to St. Peter for more than two-and-a-half decades.  During his pontificate, this great pope made a significant impact on the Church and the world.  I recently watched the video footage of his first words as pope from the loggia of St. Peter’s as he addressed the crowd gathered in the square below.  In his off-the-cuff remarks, he said: “I was afraid to receive this appointment, but I did it in the spirit of obedience to Our Lord and with total trust in His Mother, our Most Holy Lady.”  This total trust in Mary would be a thread that would run through his entire pontificate.  In fact, his papal motto was: Totus tuus, Mater Ecclesiae (Totally yours, Mother of the Church).

In virtually every major document that he wrote, he connected the topic with the Blessed Virgin Mary, seeing in her the model for our lives as followers of her Son.  In his final encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (On the Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church), he devotes the final chapter to Mary, calling her the “Woman of the Eucharist.”  In some ways, we can see this section as a summation of his two great loves as a priest, bishop, and pope – the Eucharist and Mary.  It is therefore fitting for us to hear from his writings on these two loves as we continue to reflect on the Eucharist, especially on this Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.

The Holy Father writes the following about Mary’s inseparable union with the Eucharist:

Experiencing the memorial of Christ’s death in the Eucharist also means continually receiving this gift. It means accepting – like John – the one who is given to us anew as our Mother. It also means taking on a commitment to be conformed to Christ, putting ourselves at the school of his Mother and allowing her to accompany us. Mary is present, with the Church and as the Mother of the Church, at each of our celebrations of the Eucharist. If the Church and the Eucharist are inseparably united, the same ought to be said of Mary and the Eucharist. This is one reason why, since ancient times, the commemoration of Mary has always been part of the Eucharistic celebrations of the Churches of East and West. (EE, 57)

It can be a very fruitful practice for us, when we are at Mass, to call to mind Mary’s presence among us.  That is not too difficult for us at the Cathedral, for as we look to the altar where the Eucharist is celebrated, Mary looms large in the background in the beautiful mosaic at the high altar.  The next time you are at Mass, keep this connection in mind, especially as the Word becomes flesh among us once again at the Consecration.  As Our Lord is lifted up, notice Mary looking with love upon her Son, the Bread of Life, and upon all of us, her children, as we prepare to receive Him into our hearts in Holy Communion.  Then, when we receive Him, let us ask Mary to help us receive His graces with the same openness that she had to the Lord in her life.  Perhaps we can use a portion of the prayer the Church gives to us to be prayed after receiving Holy Communion:

I ask you, most dear Mother, to obtain for me forgiveness of all my sins, the grace of serving Jesus most faithfully from now on, and the gift of final perseverance, so that with you I may praise Him forever.  Amen.

Father Alford     

Continuing with the ten commandments, I want us to reflect on the most misunderstood commandment this week. The sixth commandment – You Shall Not Commit Adultery. Before we get into it, let us keep in mind that we live in one of the most interesting times where most of us are experts on almost everything at the same time. In other words, we seem to have absolute knowledge about everything. For this reason, every subject, issue, or topic, whether political, moral, economic, medical, religious, most of us have a boundless understanding of them all. As funny and impractical it may be, this is the reality in our times.

Because of this, too many Christians today believe that they have a endless understanding of the scriptures and theology. They understand the sixth commandment to exclusively prohibit a sexual relationship between men and women outside marriage. Unfortunately, these people fail to realize that the sixth commandment also forbids every sexual act involving any form of bodily, psychological, or emotional abuse of oneself or others. The attempt to manufacture a limited or truncated understanding of the sixth commandment seems to be one of those efforts we make in justifying our sexual sins.

The sixth commandment, You Shall Not Commit Adultery, obviously includes all sexual relationships between persons not bound by the sacrament of marriage. It also consists of any form of same-sex sexual relationship, masturbation, rape, pornography, sodomy, lust, bestiality, incest, and child sexual abuse of all kinds. There are many others, but these are among the more common sexual sins. The sixth commandment encompasses them and many more.

Teaching his disciples about the sixth commandment, Jesus Christ explained that every kind of lustful looks and thoughts constitute sexual sins (cf. Matthew 5:28). There can be no better explanation of this commandment than this given by Jesus Christ. This is because most of these sexual sins begin with lustful thoughts and looks.

More so, there is something about indecent dressing that we must be aware of while reflecting on the sixth commandment. Living in a very individualistic age, many of us have forgotten that it is a moral obligation to be one’s brothers’ keeper. And what does it mean to be one’s brother’s keeper? While trying to stay away from sin, we must do well to help others do the same. But how can an indecent dressing help one to be their brother’s keeper?

While we should train ourselves to keep custody of our eyes and minds, it is important to help others do the same. Sadly, it helps throw some of us, who are less disciplined, into sinful sexual thoughts and fantasies when we dress indecently. Because of this, when we dress decently, we glorify God by helping to reduce temptation in the world.

In 2005, the Church experienced the sad loss of one of the great saints in our modern day, Pope St. John Paul II.  For people my age, he was the only pope we had ever known and I remember feeling a bit of anxiety about who would replace him.  When his successor was named, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), many (including myself) were overjoyed, for his impact on the Church as a theologian was well known.  Others were not so excited, for he was seen by some as being very rigid and too academic, and they wondered how he could possibly fill the shoes of the great pope he was to replace.

One of the early moves of his early pontificate that would calm the fears of many of those who questioned his ability to lead the Universal Church was the publication of his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love).  In that document, he wrote beautifully, blending his intellectual prowess with his pastoral heart and spiritual insights.  If you have never read this document, it is well worth your time.

In this document, he distinguishes among three Greek words that are translated in English simply as “love”, all of which carry a different connotation.  Those three words are eros, philia, and agape.  Much of the document is focused on agape love, as it is the highest form of love and the one demonstrated by Jesus in the offering of Himself to us.  It would thus become the model of the Christian love that is at the heart of the Great Commandment of love of God and love of neighbor.

The Holy Father writes about the importance of the Eucharist as it applies to this agape love.  It is in the Eucharist that we are drawn into the love the God has for us.  Our sharing in His life through this gift unites us to Him in a special way.  It is then from that union with His love that we are capable of loving our neighbor in the way that He commands us.  In fact, our reception of this gift demands that we love our neighbor.  He writes the following to make this point:

A Eucharist which does not pass over into the concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented. Conversely, as we shall have to consider in greater detail below, the “commandment” of love is only possible because it is more than a requirement. Love can be “commanded” because it has first been given. (DCE, 14)

This is a helpful point on which we should all reflect.  Does our reception of the Eucharist lead us to live this command to love our neighbor with greater intensity?  It can be a helpful practice when we come to Mass to call to mind those whom we find most difficult to love and to ask for the grace that comes from the Eucharist to love them with greater generosity.  We cannot be content to walk away from receiving the Eucharist without making a resolution to do our best to love those most difficult to love.  Think back to what Father Peter wrote so powerfully on last week about our carrying grudges.  If we walk away from Mass without a real desire to let go of those grudges, no matter how difficult it may be, our reception of the Eucharist is intrinsically fragmented, according to the pope.  The Lord’s command to love that person is possible not because of any ability that we have, but because of the love that He pours into our hearts in the Eucharist. 

Father Alford     

Dear Parishioners and Friends, with the permission of our Parish Rector, Fr. Brian Alford, I am inviting you to an overnight Pilgrimage/bus trip to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, on Friday and Saturday, October 15-16, 2021.

Founded about two decades ago by his Eminence, Raymond Cardinal Burke – the then Bishop of the Diocese of LaCrosse, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the world every year. While seeking a deeper relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ through devotions to our Blessed Mother, Catholics from around the world make this pilgrimage. Achieving this spiritual goal, many of these pilgrims end up attracting countless miracles and blessings for themselves and their loved ones.

As a privileged son of our Blessed Mother, when a group of parishioners asked me to help organize and lead this pilgrimage, I quickly agreed to it for three reasons. First, our Blessed Mother has been so kind to me and blessed me with many unmerited gifts, including my call to the priesthood and a promise to protect it until the end. Second, I have heard many people recount how blessed they feel after such spiritual pilgrimages to such powerful Shrines of our Blessed Mother. Lastly, as one of your priests, I pray every day and seek ways of helping you grow in your relationship with Christ through devotion and friendship with our Blessed Mother. For these reasons, I am inviting you all to join me on this pilgrimage. The first 50 people that register and pay will be accommodated for this pilgrimage.

To register, call Bill Vogt at the parish office (217-522-3342 ext. 131) and make your registration. The payment will be $270.00 for a private room with a standard king-size bed and $230.00 to share a room with someone else. The payment will cover the transportation, hotel, bus tip, and shrine donation expenses. Payments will be accepted by checks, cash, or ETF and must be addressed to the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, Springfield, IL.

The last day for registration with a full or half payment ($150.00) will be Monday, August 30, 2021. For half-payments, complete payment will be due on Monday, September 27, 2021.

Whether you plan to join us for this pilgrimage or not, everyone is welcome to join us on a Novena Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe. This Novena will start on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary Thursday, October 7, 2021. It will take place daily right after the 7:00am Mass (8:00am on Saturday) and will be streamed online via the Cathedral Facebook page. Please, bring your intentions and those of your loved ones to this Novena Prayer. We will conclude the Novena upon arrival at the Shrine on Friday, October 15, 2021 – the Feast of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus.

For any questions, clarifications, or inquiries about the pilgrimage, contact me (Fr. Peter Chineke) at 217-522-3342 ext. 134 or send me an email at [email protected]

As we continue our papal reflections on the Eucharist, I would like to take us back to the time just before the calling of the Second Vatican Council.  Pope St. John XXIII was elected to become pope on October 20, 1958.  Thought by many to be a leader who would keep the status quo and not advance many new initiatives due to his advance age, John XXIII surprised the Church by announcing a few months after his election that he would convoke an ecumenical council, only the 21^st time it had been done in the 1900 year history of the Church.  History therefore remembers him mostly for this historic decision.  However, there was much that this pope contributed to the life of the Church apart from calling the Council.  One of those contributions came in the form of an encyclical that he wrote in his first year as pope to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of great priest St. John Vianney’s entrance into his heavenly reward.  The name of the document was Sacerdotii nostri primordia and today marks its anniversary of promulgation (August 1, 1959).  

St. John Vianney is known for his humility and zeal for souls.  He is perhaps best remembered as one who would spend long hours (sometimes more than 15 hours) each day in the confessional, reconciling sinners to Christ and His Church.  He also found time for teaching and preaching to his people and he was considered very effective in these efforts, no doubt an overflow of his deep interior life.  Pope St. John XXIII, in reflecting on this great priest, noted how the center of his efforts was to be found in one place – the Eucharist:

The devotion to prayer of St. John M. Vianney, who was to spend almost the whole of the last thirty years of his life in Church caring for the crowds of penitents who flocked to him, had one special characteristic—it was specially directed toward the Eucharist…He did everything that there was to be done to stir up the reverence and love of the faithful for Christ hidden in the Sacrament of the Eucharist and to bring them to share in the riches of the divine Synaxis. (§45, §47)

While the Second Vatican Council would use the words “source and summit” to describe the Eucharist, St. John Vianney witnessed to this reality in his life as a priest.  Many souls who witnessed his love for the Eucharist and his reverence at Mass were profoundly impacted, thus deepening their love for this great gift.  His influence continues to make a difference in the lives of the faithful as they read about this great saint.  In particular, priests look to this man, their Patron, hoping to imitate his holiness and love for souls, particularly his love for the Eucharist.

Toward the end of the encyclical, the Holy Father invites the faithful to pray for priests, words which I think are very appropriate to repeat today as they are ever timely, especially as we prepare to celebrate St. John Vianney’s feast day on August 4:

On the occasion of this centenary celebration, We would also like to exhort paternally all of the faithful to offer constant prayers to God for their priests, so that each in his own way may help them attain holiness.  Those who are more fervent and devout are turning their eyes and their minds to the priest with a great deal of hope and expectation. For, at a time when you find flourishing everywhere the power of money, the allure of pleasures of the senses, and too great an esteem for technical achievements, they want to see in him a man who speaks in the name of God, who is animated by a firm faith, and who gives no thought to himself, but burns with intense charity. (§107)

Please ask the intercession of St. John Vianney for the priests of our diocese in general, and those of the Cathedral in particular, that we might more perfectly imitate his love for the Eucharist, which will enable us to serve all of you with greater zeal and to lead all of us to a deeper love for greatest gift we can offer to you in the Holy Eucharist.

Father Alford