Historic St. James at Sag Bridge Church 10600 S. Archer Avenue | Lemont, Illinois 60439-9344

(Ph) 630.257.7000 | (Fx) 630.257.7912 | E-mail: stjames1833@att.net |Website: www.historicstjames.org Facebook: https://Facebook.com/Saint James At Sag Bridge

Mass Schedule

WEEKENDS: Saturdays: 5:00pm Sundays: 8:00, 9:30 & 11:30am

HOLY DAYS: 8:15am & 7:00pm

WEEKDAYS: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 8:15am & Fridays 6:00pm

Wednesday: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at 5:00-7:00pm, w/Confessions at 6:30pm & Mass at 7:00pm.

CONFESSION SCHEDULE:

Saturdays, 9:30am-10:00am Wednesdays, 6:30pm Otherwise by appointment

BAPTISMS, WEDDINGS & FUNERALS:

Contact the rectory office (630.257.7000).

SICK & HOMEBOUND PASTORAL CARE:

Please notify rectory.

RECTORY OFFICE HOURS:

Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu & Fri: 9:30am to 1:00pm

FIRST SATURDAYS: Beginning in June until October there will be an 8:30am Mass.

August 20, 2017 Twentieth Ordinary Sunday

The Fall of 2017 will begin our year-long celebration Marking St. James’ 185th Anniversary.

Oldies, Tribute Concert to support the Lemont area Youth Ministry program, Aug 20, 5:30pm at Cog Hill golf course. Tickets are $20 (teens who help are free) Visit: www.historicstjames.org; follow Give Central icon, or the rectory.

Some parishioners of St. James on the XXX Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Czestochowa

Shrine, Merrillville, IN

Page Two August 20, 2017

FROM THE DESK OF THE PASTOR, FR. THOMAS KOYS, M.A.,S.T.L.

I really, really need one and all to help us get our Youth Ministry apostolate off to a great start by having you come out for a most enjoyable evening of sing-a-long fun with a great tribute artist. We booked the wonderful outdoor tent at Cog Hill (banquet hall if the weather is bad) and to be honest, we need lots more people to come fill the place. Even if you don’t know or like some of the oldies Will Kruger will be playing, a good time will be guaranteed. Do it for the children. It is so important that our youth have good positive experiences connected with their Catholic faith, with good faithful adult mentors that care about them. Obviously, most people cannot be youth ministers or spend time with our youth, but by coming the concert, you will help fund this important apostolic branch of our church. And speaking of this concert, I cannot help but share a simple but important reflection on one of the featured song writers, John Denver. You see, John Denver is a bit of an anomaly when it comes to the 70’s and 80’s music scene. If you’ve lived through that time, you probably have an opinion of him. It seems that most people either like him or don’t like him. There aren’t many people in the middle. Let me just say, that as a young man, who was trying my best to keep to my faith and live the way I be-lieved God wanted me to live, I found myself in a culture that was more or less spinning out of control, morally speaking. Drugs were omnipresent. I remember be so scandalized that drugs were so easy to find even in the college seminary I attended. Also, the phrase, “free sex” seemed to be some kind of new gospel that most in my generation was buying into as an alternative to the “restrictive” and “out of fashion” moral code of old Ca-tholicism. Led Zeppelin, Kiss, and something called “acid rock” were the craze with many of my generation. Then John Denver came along and sang about his wife Annie, and how he loved her so much that he wanted to “die in her arms.” He sang about the simple, innocent joys of life, like sunshine shining on your shoulder. But the biggest thing I remember about his music was arguing with my drug using friends that there can and should be a kind of “high” that you don’t get from drugs, but from the wonders and beauty of nature. I pleaded with my drug using friends to believe that it is possible to get high on life without drugs. Denver’s song, Rocky Mountain High was the perfect anthem for clean fun. So this is part of the background for arranging this Sunday’s Tribute concert. (Please see info on front cover for details) Returning to these Denver songs, and some of the other songs, “squares” like me enjoyed, you can discover a powerful element of our Christian life today. To be a good Catholic today, it is necessary to have a confidence within your soul about knowing you have “found a better away” like Denver sings in his song Poems Prayers and Promises. I heard it said by one insightful bishop, “To be a good Cath-olic today, it seems you have to be a bad Catholic”. What he meant by that was that the Catholics who receive the most praise by the populace and a good number of the

diocesan elites, you need to be a Catholic who dissents from Catholic moral teachings, in other words a “bad Catholic”. Conversely, those Catholics who defend, pro-mote and otherwise try to sound the alarm that our church is going in the wrong direction because of our neglect of solid traditional Catholic teachings are often rendered “bad Catholics”. So you see, if you think our church needs a bit of that old time religion, then an Oldies concert is just the ticket.

Join the award winning singer/songwriter Will Kruger & the Lemont Youth Ministries for an evening of music, ranging from the songs of John Denver, Simon & Gar-funkel and more. Sunday, Aug 20, 2017, 5:30pm at Cog Hill golf course, (the big tent, or inside banquet hall if weather is bad) Adults, 18 & over, $20. Teens who at-tend & help with the raffle will be admitted free. Deli-cious “finger food” included. Also, special performance by our very own “Walsh sisters singers”. Tickets will be available at the door.

LABOR DAY PICNIC IS MOVED TO SUN, SEPT. 10TH , FOLLOWING THE 11:30 MASS

The usual fare of food , games, jumping toy & Bingo will be pro-vided. White Elephant prizes are needed for Bingo & can be

dropped off at the Rectory office.

Twentieth Ordinary Sunday Page Three

HOW TO HAVE A HAPPY MARRIAGE (OR USING CHRIST'S LIKE ACTIONS TOWARDS PERPETUAL UNIONS) By Rose Cuervo In the visit to the Holy Face Monastery in Clifton, NJ in the Feast of the Transfiguration I was able to meet somebody who still brings a picture of her long deceased spouse and touches it at the call for peace and lightly kisses it. This radiant woman admits that she was blessed to meet a spouse whom they did everything together and had beautiful impassioned discussions from sports to theology, so losing him to illness was like “losing five persons”. I was touched because my husband and I have similar love of each other and share many topics and interests but we are younger still and could learn from the lessons of those that have walked the vocation of marriage into eternal bliss. From that meeting and knowing other wonderful widows cherishing their spouses’ memory and couples who are still alive to celebrate more milestone, I give a give run down of what one can do and don’t for the married state. Do aspire for holiness for it is the basis of every happy fruit. Make daily prayer life, especially Masses and rosaries, embedded in families and marriages. With it comes joy and thanksgiving which will radiate to your spouse foremost of all people, because those are the trademarks of knowing God’s love, and what better way to know it than through the sacraments. Make sacrificial gestures common place. Do not be afraid of that ac-tion which totally obliterates your preference in favor of the other’s. Marriage is a training ground for martyrdom. Giving up attachments should be easy. As a friend said, women should work to contribute to the marriage, and this includes contributing whether financially or physically but always in love, hospitality, and morality because the woman is the “light of the family” and if the light is dark, it is dark in-deed. So men, look to a woman with honor in her heart and yours. Do not think or act anything that will cause division (jealousy, hatred of the inlays, stinginess towards one’s partner). Jesus was so full of love for the Father and approached His life to being united with Him in all things. The wife should submit to the husband as is proper (1 Peter) for even in what seems to be off-putting ultimately will work for the good of those who love Him. Arguments should be obliterated in favor of peace (really the only reason for arguments is to defend the faith, and some saints like Servant of God Elizabeth Leseur who maintained a happily married life and diary despite tied to a church-defiant hus-band shows that this can be done with great tact and grace instead of nagging). An easy mnemonic would be to see Jesus crucified in the faces of the people, especially spouses when they are difficult. As Jesus loved them, so must we. This was how a couple in our church saved their marriage and they are married so long they always beat other couples in the who’s-longest-married-dance game. One of them saw Christ in the other in a vision and resolved never to aggrieve him again. Another friend of mine suggested total silence for the woman when it comes to an argument-in-the-offing. Because women can get started whether they being in the thought or the tongue level, we must stick to praising God and giving men encouragement and prayers, the real catalysts of sanctity.

There are some elements that need to be considered before delving into the depths of where and what this entity is about. First, does it even ex-ist? If it does, then what are we, the Church Militant, to do as procurers of God’s Grace for those who are the Church Penitent, unable to help them-selves and waiting for prayers from us so to enter into the gates of Para-dise. The reality of its existence can become the most mind-moving element in the spiritual journey anyone looking to spend eternity with God can imag-ine. As I write this document, my heart feels much warmer knowing that perhaps I, with many others, have been chosen to promote the beautiful essence of this perfect place, where healing souls begins in a way that represents God’s Perfect Love to purify a waiting soul to become His bride. (place; not as being physical). Today your life began as usual waking up, completing the regular morn-ing rituals, eating a quick breakfast, and preparing to hit the road. Driving on the busy highway this morning left an uneasy feeling in your stomach and disturbed you somewhat. Suddenly everything went black and you found yourself in a confused state of existence. You were just involved in a terrible auto accident and you were killed. “Where am I?” the thoughts seemed to say. Nothing appeared familiar and the realization that the only thought that mattered was God. The stories from Church about God creating us to spend eternity with Him come into your mind’s view and now why wasn’t I there? “Is it true”, you think as there appears to be familiarity in an unfamiliar existence that Purgatory as taught in the Church does exist and how will I now be able to leave and find my way to God? As the feelings of helplessness become obvious the ability to reach some living people who could, if they have an openness to spiritual reality, be nudged in some way to pray for you. That was one of the tenets you learned while attending religion classes and you hoped those people did the same. Little be little the subtle manner a spirit as yourself is able to make your presence felt, you find one who picks up on the small ways that promote his prayer time to be given for your purging. You are not confined to time and so the urging used is constant and eventually the prayers appear to come through for your ability to leave. Imagine, if you can, the moment arrives for a most exuberant celebration promised you a long time past and you can feel the palpitations of your heart beating with a rhythm like never before, as the clock reveals the magic hour is about to unfold before your very eyes. You want to thank that person who tire-lessly prayed for your release from an existence that was not terrible, but lonely without God’s Presence before you. As a recent retiree my thoughts originally were; “how will I spend my waking moments now that the everyday routine of getting up for work was over”. Since I spend a lot of time reflecting and writing, these con-cerns do not affect me. However, I know from talking with other retirees that their days can be filled with anguish and at times loneliness, espe-cially if their spouse has passed on. I find these moments are prayers as well for those in Purgatory. Pray! We do not need to pray for ourselves since God will take care of us when our prayers are directed to others, especially the Poor Souls in Purgatory. When there are spare moments in one's daily activities or lack of, prayer can be a therapeutic way of filling the void of time and helping to release a soul, or many souls from their time away from God. Remember the three states of the Church within Catholic ecclesiology. The Church Militant; those of us still on earth. The Church Penitent; those in Purgatory. The Church Triumphant; those who enjoy the beatific vision and are in heaven. This is the Communion of Saints and we all have an important position in God’s Plan. The basic thrust is prayer and we should not forget to pray for those who are unable to do so for them-selves. If we make that stop-over on the way to heaven, our hope will be that someone like ourselves will take the time to remember our waiting soul for release from Purgatory.

SOULS ARE WAITING......! By Ralph Hathaway So much has been written about Purgatory, the anguish some con-sider too much to think about while others regard this as obscene and not Godly within the realm of believers. EWTN just showed (August 6, 2017) an hour and a half documentary on “Purgatory the Forgotten Church” which was eye opening and emotional, reliving some of the most beautiful stories from past saints, mystics, and current Church leaders regarding this most wonderful stop-over on the way to Heaven.

Our Weekly Offertory collection from the weekend of August 13, 2017 was 2,235.00.

The number of envelopes used was 85.

OUR MANY THANKS TO OUR REGISTERED FAMILIES USING ENVELOPES & THE

CASH-AND-CARRY FOLKS.

Our CHURCH CLEANERS FOR FRIDAY 8/25/17 Are Chris, Peg, Bronislawa & volunteer. If you are

interested in volunteering, please contact the rectory office at 630.257.7000.

21ST ORDINARY SUNDAY

8/26 & 8/27/17

Celebrant

Altar Servers

Lectors

8:00 AM Fr. Tom Koys

S. Carver Dillenburg Dillenburg

M. Dillenburg

9:30 AM Fr. Tom Koys

N. Akroush J.P. Colarelli M. Colarelli

P. Brunk

11:30 AM Fr. Tom Koys

G. & D. Estrada A. Gallager S. Imbarrato

M. Fleckenstein

5:00 PM Fr. Tom Koys

J. Szarzynski T. Szarzynski B. Zabilka

R. Augustyn

VOTIVE OFFERINGS FORTHE WEEK OF8/20/17

St. James Altar & Rosary Society In memory of Donna Lutwyche

In memory of Lillian Simanavicius Health & Healing of Jim & Rita Wall

Health & Healing of Donald Wilkinson

Our beautiful bouquets of flowers surrounding our altar

were made available by the generosity of

SEPHORA & BRIAN HELM

Monday August 21st-St. Pius X 8:15 AM Donna Bielek

Tuesday August 22nd-The Queenship of the 8:15 AM Blessed Virgin Mary Jozef Dziaba

Wednesday August 23rd-St.Rose of Lima 7:00 PM Donna Lutwyche Special int. of the Pabin Family Birthday wishes for Nicole Walsh

Thursday August 24th-St. Bartholomew 8:15 AM William Schafer

Friday August 25th-Ss. Louis & Joseph 6:00 PM Calasanz Birthday blessings for Joshua Haluska Favorable decision about Asphalt Plant Speedy recovery for Frank Hughes

TWENTY-FIRST ORDINARY SUNDAY

Saturday August 26th-Our Lady of Czestochowa 5:00 PM Edward John Mayer IV

Sunday August 27th 8:00 AM Mary Franz & Helen Kane 9:30 AM Sylvia & Jan Raj Family 11:30 AM Stephen R. Bozec Sr. & Rudolph Bozec Sr.