Time to Think

2020 Vision Update: Total Pledges/Gifts to Date: $2,356,540   Total Remaining:  $43,460   We’re 98% to Goal!    Thank you to everyone supporting this effort!  We’re on our way to doing the things we need to do to keep us focused on keeping St. Hubert a center of faith, hope, learning and charity into the 2020s.   If you’re considering a pledge or gift as part of your almsgiving program for Lent, pledge cards are available in the narthex and parish office. Thank you!

In today’s gospel, we hear the very familiar story from the Gospel of John about the woman caught in adultery.  The religious leaders bring her to Jesus to test him, because under the law they had the right to stone her and take her life.  Which would win—compassion for the sinner or the religious law?
 
Jesus brilliantly “passes the test.”  Compassion doesn’t have to be sacrificed for the law and vice versa.  Those who have stones in our hands don’t throw them when they realize, like us, they have growth to do themselves.
 
Interestingly, Jesus didn’t lecture the crowd into dropping their stones.  Instead, he gave them time to think, respecting their ability to follow their conscience, which when based in the law would be well formed.  In the time it takes to think, the Golden Rule begins to tug at the heart.  Treat others the way you want to be treated. 
 
When pressed, if it were us we’d all want the opportunity to turn it around.  The good news is that we have a God who believes in second chances when we desire to learn from the past and head forward into the future a little bit wiser than before. 

A Time for Goodbyes

St. Hubert Family Fest is April 13th!   Join us for a celebration of our families, church and school next Saturday after the 4:30 PM Mass.   Our Spring Fundraiser for the school is…  The Starry Knights Raffle   The Grand Prize: $5,000!  Someone is going to win…maybe it will be you!!  All proceeds benefit the school.

It’s with some mixed emotions that I share some news about our associate, Fr. Peter Fernandes.  He was going to be with us through July, but as you may have noticed in recent weeks, he has been experiencing some health issues related to discomfort in his joints.  He has decided the best thing to do is to return to India and to undergo
treatment there.  As such, his last day with us will be on May 1.
 
Our seminarians involved in the Mundelein Seminary’s Teaching Parish Program will also be wrapping up their year with us at the end of the month.  Deacon Tom Heathershaw will finish at Mundelein and will be ordained a priest for the Diocese of Dubuque on May 25.  We have very much enjoyed his last two years with us.  Thank you for being an active part of his formation experience and for the kindness you’ve shown him as he has developed his preaching skills and gained more confidence at the altar.
 
Ryan Brady will continue his internship through May 13, and then will be sent on his next pastoral experience as a chaplain at Northwestern University Hospital downtown.  Ryan will return to St. Hubert in the fall, as will David Jameson, our seminarian from Grand Rapids. 
 
Please join us for a reception after the 4:30 PM Mass on Saturday, April 27 to wish Fr. Peter, Deacon Tom Heathershaw and our seminarians well.