Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church
620 Fifth St
Aurora, IL 60505
Phone: +1 (630) 851-1100 Fax: +1 (630) 851-4069
E-mail: OLGCchurch@aol.com
Fr. Timothy P. Mulcahey Pastor |
Welcome New Parishioners!
Through Baptism we become God’s children and brothers and sisters of one another and with Christ. Through registration we become members of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church parish family of faith. We always welcome new members and hope that you will find our parish family a place where your faith will be nourished. We ask that you visit our parish office to fill out a registration form as soon as possible. As a parish family, we are committed to share our goods, talents and faith with one another. |
POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL II CATHOLIC ACADEMY
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION/ EDUCACION RELIGIOSA
Important Dates/ Fechas importantes
Saturday, December 15 at 10 a.m.-First Reconciliation in English
No religious Education from Sunday, December 16 – 30th.
No habrá clases de religión católica desde el domingo 16—30 de diciembre
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Memorial of Saint Lucy
Matthew 11:11-15
Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus says to the crowds: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.”
The name of Flannery O’Connor’s second novel was taken from the Douay-Rheims translation of this last line: “the violent bear it away.” What do we make of this strange and famously ambiguous wording?
Many have taken it to mean that the kingdom of God is attacked by violent people, such as those who killed John the Baptist, and that they threaten to take it away. But others have interpreted it in the opposite direction, as a word of praise to the spiritually violent who manage to get into the kingdom. O’Connor herself sides with this latter group. In one of her letters, she says, “St. Thomas’s gloss on this verse is that the violent Christ is here talking about represent those ascetics who strain against mere nature. St. Augustine concurs.”
The “mere nature” that classical Christianity describes is a fallen nature, one that tends away from God and his demands. The “violent,” on this reading, are those spiritually heroic types who resist the promptings and tendencies of this nature and seek to discipline it in order to enter into the kingdom of God.
Jueves, 13 de diciembre de 2018
Memoria de Santa Lucía
Mateo 11:11-15
Amigos, en el Evangelio de hoy Jesús dice a la multitud: “Desde la época de Juan el Bautista hasta ahora, el Reino de los Cielos es combatido violentamente, y los violentos intentan arrebatarlo.”
El nombre de la segunda novela de Flannery O’Connor fue tomado de la traducción de Douay-Rheims de esta última frase: “los violentos intentan arrebatarlo”. ¿Qué sentido le damos a estas palabras extrañas y famosas por su ambigüedad?
Muchos las han interpretado como que el reino de Dios es atacado por gente violenta, lo mismo que aquellos que mataron a Juan el Bautista, y amenazan hacerlo desaparecer. Pero otros las han interpretado en una dirección opuesta, como palabras de alabanza a los espiritualmente violentos que tratan de entrar en el reino. O’Connor se pone del lado de este último grupo. En una de sus cartas, ella dice, “La glosa de Santo Tomás sobre estas palabras es que Cristo está hablando aquí sobre lo que representan los ascetas que se esfuerzan contra la mera naturaleza. San Agustín está de acuerdo”.
La “mera naturaleza” se describe en el cristianismo clásico como la naturaleza caída, que tiende a alejarse de Dios y sus demandas. Los “violentos” en esta lectura son aquellas personas espiritualmente heroicas que se resisten a los impulsos y tendencias de esta naturaleza y buscan disciplinarlo para entrar en el reino de Dios.
ROCKFORD DIOCESE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Vocation Corner by Fr. Kyle A. Manno
We are in the second week of Advent and as we continue to journey closer to the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, I sit here wondering how many of us know what Advent truly is and why it is celebrated.
To begin, the word Advent comes from two Latin words; ‘Ad’ and ‘Venire.’ Ad means ‘to’ and Venire means ‘come,’ Therefore, Advent means ‘to come.’ But what exactly is to come? Or maybe the better question is: who is to come? The obvious answer is, of course, Jesus!
Therefore, Advent is a time of preparation as we wait for the coming of Christ, his Advent!
When we hear the word ‘waiting,’ we often imagine someone sitting idly around, but that is not true waiting. Think of it this way: when we are waiting to go on a vacation we don’t just sit around waiting for the time to pass, we pack and plan. And when we are waiting for someone to come to our house for dinner we don’t just watch the minutes tick by, we cook and clean. We do this because when we are about to experience greatness we wait not passively, but actively, by preparing for what is to come.
So this Advent season I encourage you to prepare for the coming of Christ by cleaning out your soul with the grace of Confession so that you can be ready to receive the gift of His very self.
So get up and go get that soul cleansed!
Pope St. John Paul II Catholic Academy
601 Talma St.
Aurora, IL 60505
Phone: +1 (630) 851-4400 Fax: +1 (630) 851-8220
SCHOOL NEWS AND FUNDRAISER
