What a great time was had by all!!!  It was a beautiful cool night and 150 of us gathered at Alexian Field to cheer on the Schaumburg Flyers. The game began with a play at first base where the first baseman dropped the ball. This play caused the pastor to exclaim, ”Did I go to a Cubs game by mistake. Our Choir was outstanding as they led the crowd in the National Anthem. It was a thrill to hear  the announcer say rise and join Our Lady of Hope Choir as they lead us in the Star Spangled Banner. They were so good I am surprised the Flyers didn’t record it to use at every game. Everyone seemed to have a great time and eat and drink plenty of healthy food and refreshments. It was indeed a great night and we have our youth group to thank for setting this evening up and promoting it. Thanks to their efforts we were able to have a wonderful evening and they were able to show some profit for their Ministry trip which will be taking place at the end of this month. I am extremely proud of our youth group and its efforts both here and at Camp Daniel. It was really great last Sunday to see four of the ministers at Mass be from the youth group. Thanks again for setting up the ball game and for all that you do as involved members of Our Lady Of Hope. I hope that all will be generous to our youth in their special collection which will be taken up next weekend. Kudos to the speakers who are with us this week.

  As we listen to the Gospel of the Good Samaritan we are reminded of how we are asked to show mercy and forgiveness to others. We always ask God for mercy and acceptance of our mistakes and sin but are we that generous to others? The Samaritan was merciful even to someone who disliked him and someone who he himself had no use for. In spite of all of that he knew that the right way to live was as a person of forgiveness and love. We need to learn from Jesus ‘story. Too often in our world there are prejudices and judgments that prevent us from reaching out to others. Very often we pre-judge others and therefore stay away from relationships with them. We harbor grudges and resentments and we refuse to love others unless they love us in return. Jesus tells us that we need to be merciful and loving to all people even those who hate us or do us wrong. This is a difficult message and one that it easy for us to reason away. But if we wish to be truly a follower of Christ we must love all as our neighbor and treat all as we would treat ourselves. This is the call of the real Christian. God loves us unconditionally and we must turn away from human justice and follow in God’s unconditional footsteps.

  Can you believe it is July already? Well August 15^th is coming quickly. I hope that all of you are ready for a great time on Hopefest Sunday. We will have an outside mass, entertainment, and plenty of food and fellowship. Plan on spending the whole day and get in on the Hopeful 500 raffle. It may be a profitable day for you also as the first drawing will be at Hopefest. We still need help for this big day and the wish list is in the bulletin. Please consider a donation of time and treasure to make this special day a success for the whole parish. I am really looking forward to spending this great day with all of you.

  I can’t believe that I have passed my second anniversary as pastor of this wonderful parish. They have been great years but they have passed so quickly. I am truly blessed to have been appointed by the Cardinal to come here and share with all of you and I am as happy as I have been in my nearly 40 years of priesthood. I want to thank the great staff here and all of you for making this possible.  Have a great week. Know that you are loved and live that love.