Proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord St. Lambert Parish

8148 Karlov Ave. | Skokie, IL 60076 | 847.673.5090

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Sunday, April 26– May 1, 2020 Mail in Envelopes: $1,655.00 Give Central : 2,445.00 Total: $4,100.00 Donations: $1,953.00 Easter: $350.00

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Rectory: 8148 N Karlov Avenue Skokie, IL 60076 Phone: (847) 673-5090

E-mail: saintlambert@aol.com Sunday Masses: (5 pm Sat) 8am, 10am, 12pm Weekday Masses: 7:15 am (Mon-Fri) 8am on Sat. Confessions: Saturday at 8:30am Pastor: Rev. Richard Simon Rev. Know-it-all: reverendknow-itall.blogspot.com Deacon: Mr. Chick O’Leary Music Director: Mr. Steven Folkers Office Staff: Debbie Morales-Garcia debbie.stlambert.@aol.com. Mr. George Mohrlein Religious Education: Gina Roxas youthchurchred@gmail.com Baptisms: Third Sundays of the month at 1:30 pm. Baptismal Prep Class is the first Tuesday of each month at 7 pm. For guidelines and to register, call the rectory. Weddings: Arrangements must be made 6 months in advance. Website: www.StLambert.org To Register as a Parishioner: Go to stlambert.org under “About Us” or by phone. Bulletin Guidelines: Submissions should be received at the office 10 days preceding the date of bulletin publication. Submissions should be in electronic format and sent to debbie.stlambert.@aol.com.

St. Lambert Parish - Skokie, IL

READINGS FOR THE WEEK Monday: Acts 11:1-18; Ps 42:2-3; 43:3, 4; Jn 10:11-18 Tuesday: Acts 11:19-26; Ps 87:1b-7; Jn 10:22-30 Wednesday: Acts 12:24 — 13:5a; Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Jn 12:44-50 Thursday: Acts 13:13-25; Ps 89:2-3, 21-22, 25, 27; Jn 13:16-20 Friday: Acts 13:26-33; Ps 2:6-11ab; Jn 14:1-6 Saturday: Acts 13:44-52; Ps 98:1-4; Jn 14:7-14 Sunday: Acts 6:1-7; Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19; 1 Pt 2:4-9; Jn 14:1-12

Page 2 St. Lambert Parish 4th Sunday of Easter

Call Philip the gospel’s “Answer Man.” “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathaniel asked Philip, who had proclaimed Jesus “the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets” (John 1:45). Jesus asked Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” (John 6:5). Greeks brought Philip their request: “We would like to see Jesus” (John 12:21). Philip’s answer to each ques on: bring people to Jesus! At the Last Supper, finally, Philip had a request of his own: “Show us the Father!” (John 14:8). Jesus had three last ques ons for Philip: “You s ll don’t know me? How can you ask that? Don’t you believe?” And an answer: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:10). Today’s James is not John’s brother, Zebedee’s son, but, tradi on says, author of the New Testament Le er of James, who died praying for his murderers in Jesus’ words: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Few historical details for either saint, but lessons aplenty: Bring every ques on we have and everybody we meet to Jesus; be, as James’ le er challenges, “doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22).

—Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

May 3, 2020 Proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord Page 3

Friends, Once the lady next door encountered a small garter snake while working in her garden. I ran outside hearing the screams and watching her streak past me in terror. When I found out it was a very small, harmless snake, I thought; "What a shame Eve didn't have that reaction when she met the snake in the Garden of Eden." Things would probably make a lot more sense now if she had run for her life then. So it is with us. If we could only react to the venom of sin the way some people react to slithering beady eyed reptiles in the garden. But we don't.

I have had so many people ask me if this current situation is the result of our sins as a nation. They then mention the sin they love to hate most, be it greed, sex, abortion, war, environmental degradation, global warming etc. etc. etc. I have no idea. The Almighty so rarely consults me on these things, If this is a chastisement, it's not much of a chastisement. The black plague in the middle ages, now there was a chastisement! Actually, I don't think even that was a chastisement. No, all these things are the result of Adam and Eve getting cozy with that original snake. Nature is broken. Always has been, always will be until the creation is renewed by the Lord. Actually, speaking of the middle ages, I heard someone say that this is a lot like the middle ages: two popes and a plague. In the middle ages you had a schism in the church, a pope in Rome and a pope in Avignon. It was called the Great Schism. It weakened the church and opened the way to the Reformation and the subsequent wars of religion. Two popes, a plague, and to this add interdict. Interdict was among the most frightening weapons that the pope had in the ages when people really took this stuff seriously. When a pope put a city or a country under interdict, no sacraments could be celebrated in that place. People died without the sacraments, babies went unbaptized, the sick died without absolution and the people starved for the Eucharist. The entire Catholic Church has been placed under a partial interdict. This is not a chastisement, more properly it is an interdict. The odd thing about chastisement and interdicts is that they punish the innocent with the guilty. Just look at the Bible. David sins, the people are socked with a plague. It doesn't seem fair, but I don't make the rules. The plague element of this illness is not too shocking, very sad but not too shocking. It is a serious situation, but in terms of mortality it may or may not match up to influenza. Everyone dies. This current pandemic doesn't change that at all. What I find curious is the interdict element. The Almighty has permitted that we be denied sacraments for going on two months now with no idea when it will end. Our governor here in Illinois has generously allowed us to pray together in groups no larger than ten, provided we wear masks and don't get near each other. How this helps a church of one thousand plus people I have no idea. Back to the idea of interdict. The current plague has not changed the rate of human mortality. It is still 100%. It has silenced the church in a way that all the tyrants of history have unable to do in two thousand years. What, I would ask, is the Lord trying to tell us? Fr. Simon PS. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE GOVERNOR'S CONCESSION MEANS. I AM WAITING FOR WORD FROM THE ARCHDIOCESE AND WILL LET YOU KNOW THE MINUTE I HEAR ANYTHING OFFICIAL AND CONCRETE

Page 4 St. Lambert Parish 4th Sunday of Easter

For more than a month, everyone in Illinois has been ordered to stay at home to prevent further spread of COVID-19. While essential workers still engage with others during work hours, most people are at home, isolated, often watching news reports about troubling times and uncertain futures.

This time of upheaval can create anxiety and depression for

people who usually don’t struggle with any kind of mental

illness. For that group, wisdom can be found among those

who, for many years, have worked to help people struggling

with their mental health.

One of those veterans is Deacon Tom Lambert at Our Lady of

Mount Carmel Parish, 708 W. Belmont Ave., who is co-chair of

the Archdiocesan Commission on Mental Illness. A father of

four daughters, Lambert has over 30 years of experience

ministering to people with mental illness, including one of his

daughters.

For those seeking peace at this time, Lambert suggests the Easter Mass readings, especially the Emmaus story, in which

two despairing disciples encounter Jesus on the road but don’t realize who it is until later.

“They’re so devastated that they don’t even recognize Jesus,” Lambert said. “This is analogous to the things that we’re

going through now with this heightened fear and anxiety. We don’t recognize maybe what we used to take for granted

in terms of our ability to worship and so on. But what does Jesus do? He is in touch with the disciples. He walks them

through how God loves them, which is the Scripture.”

The two disciples recognize Jesus during a meal when he breaks the bread, which is the Eucharist.

“Even though we can’t actually go to Mass to receive, Christ is just as present to us. God is just as present to us, I feel,

in the spiritual Eucharist when we see it on TV and pray the prayer of spiritual communion,” Lambert said.

To help manage anxiety, Lambert suggests trusting in God and going back to the basics of prayer, whatever that might

be for someone — reading Scripture, praying the rosary or a novena, silent prayer — and let that be a concrete action

each day.

“I think that will help relieve the anxiety to some to degree,” he said. “It’s not going away, but it helps us manage it.”

He also recommends reaching out to others. “Part of faith is that we see and feel God through our connection with one

another,” Lambert said. “The tangible feel of God is connecting to our neighbor, so it’s important to maintain those

connections.”

After Sunday Mass, many people check in with those they know, the priests and deacons, music ministers and others.

That check-in is gone for now.

Deacon Tom Lambert of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish on Chicago’s North Side, co-chairs the

Archdiocesan Commission on Mental Illness. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Deacon offers ways to cope during COVID-19 shutdown

By Joyce Duriga | Editor Wednesday, April 22, 2020

“That’s a big loss, but what I do now is I send emails out to the parish groups that I have lists for and try to maintain

those connections. I’ll call people and so on,” he said. “One way we can help people in their faith is to show them they

are still connected to people of faith.”

Lambert offers five tips to improve mental health during the pandemic:

• Prayer: “That’s the beginning,” he said, recommending the daily and Sunday Mass readings throughout the Easter

season, which runs through Pentecost on May 31. “This is the time of the year when the Spirit is especially alive in the

readings,” Lambert said.

• Ask, “What am I grateful for? What and who inspires me?”: “That really is good to think about,” he said.

• Stay connected with people: Connect online, by phone, with emails, etc., “to help reinforce the fact that we are not

alone. There are people among us going through this too — our friends, family, others.”

• Ask yourself, “How can I help others?”: What can we do today to make others feel connected?

• Keep a journal: “Journal your feelings and bring that to prayer,” he said.

For more information, visit miministry.org.

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IN NEED OF A SHEPHERD For a while it was very fashionable to own pigs as pets. The publicity surrounding these creatures informed us that they were—contrary to their popular image—very clean animals, and also quite smart. Sad to say, sheep will most likely never enjoy this sort of domestic vogue. They are neither clean nor smart and are largely defenseless when left on their own, even in large numbers. The biblical image of us as the flock of sheep is not a particularly flattering one. Sheep without a shepherd are truly sad, because they most likely will perish either from their inability to fend for themselves or from their lack of defenses against predators. Placing ourselves in the heart of this unflattering image can reinforce our faith. Until we come to a profound realization of how much we need a shepherd, we cannot appreciate how deeply blessed we are to have been given a Shepherd, one who laid down his life for us and was raised to life eternal in the Spirit, so he might guide us and we might follow him in faith forever. Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

May 3, 2020 Proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord Page 5

Page 6 St. Lambert Parish 4th Sunday of Easter

MUCH-NEEDED LOVE No one needs love more than someone who doesn’t deserve it.

—Anonymous