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1 bâü _twç Éy à{x UÜÉÉ~ ctü á{ aéüà{uüéé~? \ÄÄ ÇÉ á December 21, 2014 Fourth Sunday of Advent Our Lady of the Brook Mission Statement Our Lady of the Brook Parish is called to be a Catholic Community where all are welcome. Believing God to be the center of life, we commit to: Remember the values handed on to us in the Sacred Scriptures and teachings of the Apostles Celebrate Christ s presence among us in Word and Sacrament Act to foster peace, justice and compassion for all.

2 Our Lady of the Brook Parish Northbrook, Illinois 2 OUR LADY OF THE BROOK PARISH Parish Family Worship Center & Rectory 3700 Dundee Road Northbrook, IL Website: phone: (847) fax: (847) rectory@olbparish.org Parish Office Hours: M F 9 am to 4 pm Parish Staff/Rectory (847) Father Robert Heinz, Pastor Father Robert Herne, Pastor Emeritus Father Richard Sztorc, Pastor Emeritus Father Tom Moran, Pastor Emeritus Deacon Peery Duderstadt Deacon Dennis McAllister Eva-Maria Rill, Office Manager Catherine Colleran, Administrative Assistant Amy Principi, Bulletin Editor bulletin@olbparish.org Bookkeeper/Webmaster use above (Individual addresses are available on our website: click on contact us for a listing.) Mass Schedule Saturday Anticipated Mass - 5:00 PM Sunday Masses - 10:00 AM Daily Mass - Monday through Friday - 8:30 AM Holy Day Masses - as Announced Baptisms Baptism - 12:00 PM on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. Sacraments of Reconciliation & Anointing The Sacrament of Penance is available on Saturdays at 4:15 PM until all confessions are heard or by appointment. Anointing of the Sick and Communion to the Homebound is available upon request. Weddings Marriage - Arrangements must be made a minimum of 6 months in advance. For all of these sacraments, please call the rectory office. Mass Intentions Saturday, December 20, :00 PM Wanda Zurick request of Paul & Gerri Miller Iluminata & Epifanio Bodegas request of family Sunday, December 21, :00 AM Halina & Vitold Tomczak request of family Dorothy Plunkett Hudash request of Mary Duffy Monday, December 22, :30 AM Patrick Walsh, Jr. request of George Snurpus Tuesday, December 23, :30 AM Violet Reego request of Women s Club Wednesday, December 24, 2014 Christmas Eve 8:30 AM For Those Denied Religious Freedom 4:00 PM Sharon & Edward Swanson request of family 10:30 PM Teresa Skierska Camarata request of family Thursday, December 25, 2014 Christmas 10:00 AM Chester Zurick request of Paul & Gerri Miller Thomas Ryba request of Paul & Gerri Miller Halina & Vitold Tomczak request of family 12:00 PM For the Sick and Dying, that They may be Comforted Friday, December 26, :30 AM For Those who are Alone during the Holidays Saturday, December 27, :00 PM Dominic Bratta request of family John Weddig request of Chris & Ken Hennig Sunday, December 28, :00 AM George Snurpus Sr., request of George Snurpus Dolores Romero request of family For Those Who Have Requested Our Prayers Sidney Ament, Juan Arias, Shawna Beagle, Coleen Bokor, Jean Borin, Elizabeth Chen, Kristen Rill-Cohen, Wilfred Copa, Estelle Douglas, Gaynor Edwards, Carol Erickson, Anna Polus Esha, Anita Farenga, Sally Faso, Rev. Erwin Friedl, Anne Richardson Golm, Barbara Gryzmala, Beth Hansen, John Hyun, Brady Irwin, Milton Johnson, Sara Klimaszewski, Fr. Charlie Kouba, Diane Kotula, Todd Moser, Jane Malley, Ray and Rita Niebur, Debbie Olson, Pat Orlando, John Ormond, Carol Parker, Patti Parker, Carolyn Price, Nick Principi, Christine Rakow, Kristin Rill-Cohen, Alexandra Salamone, Talie Schnoll, Angelo Suranno, Patricia Tingay, Victor P. Villasin, Elizabeth Wagner, Marion West, Evelyn Whitson, Dennis Wimberly, Audrey Zywicki Pray Also For Those Born to Eternal Life Teresa Burn Fr Ted Schmitt

3 Fourth Sunday of Advent December 21, ADVENT: CURING FIRE BY FIRE REV. RON ROLHEISER, OMI The only hope, or else despair Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre - To be redeemed from fire by fire. Who then devised the torment? Love. Love is the unfamiliar name Behind the hands that wove The intolerable shirt of flame. Which human power cannot remove. We only live, only suspire Consumed by either fire or fire. T.S. Eliot, whose genius for being succinct remains unrivalled, wrote those remarkable words in his poem, The Four Quartets. Brief though they are, they capture an entire anthropology, a spirituality of longing, and a theology of Advent. What do they say in terms of anthropology? They tell us that we are born congenitally dis-eased, incurably erotic, restless, consumed by a thirst that cannot be quenched and a fire that will not be stilled. To be human is to be on fire for a consummation, a love, a restfulness, an embrace, and a symphony that, in this life, forever escapes us. In every cell of our bodies and in the very DNA of our souls we ache for someone or something that we have not yet known, ache in a way that leaves us too dissatisfied and restless to live fully inside our own skins. Our lives always seem too small for us. Moreover, and this is the key, this is God s doing. God is the hand behind this intolerable shirt of flame. Hence the fire inside us is not necessarily a sign that we are doing anything wrong, that we have missed the boat somewhere, are sinful, are over-sexed, or are too-greedy for our own good. What Eliot suggests is that this is the normal order of things, God s doing. The fire inside us comes from the way God made us, namely, to crave the infinite and to be dissatisfied with everything else until that wide embrace is consummated. Thus, the fire inside us will never be extinguished simply by attaining the right partner, the right job, the right city, the right set of friends, and the right recognition. We will always be on fire. The choice, as Eliot puts it, is not between being restless or being restful, between being tense of heart or calm of soul. No. The choice is between two kinds of fire, two kinds of restlessness, two kinds of inner thirsts pyre or pyre : With what kind of fire do we want our hearts to burn? We are destined to be consumed by one kind of restlessness or another, but the flames are very different. Do we want God s flames or those of our own choosing? Eliot suggests that we choose God s fire because the solution to our deep-seated restlessness will not be found in some long sought-after experience which will finally soothe the last ache within us ( At last, the thing that has forever eluded me! ). Rather the solution lies in letting our thirsts be consumed by another kind of restlessness, a higher fire, a deeper eros, God s eros. What this means is that the answer to our longing is to extend our longing, the answer to our eros is to deepen our eros, and the answer to our aching is to widen our aching. We can stew in our own fires or we can use those fires to enter the fire of God. How so? The German poet, Goethe, in a piece entitled, The Holy Longing, suggests a couple of wonderful metaphors that can be helpful here. He speaks of something he calls holy longing and goes on to define it as a desire for higher love-making, a longing to embrace the world and make love to it as God does this. Such a desire, if correctly fostered, he assures us, will wreak a painful but wonderful spiritual havoc (he calls it magic ) within us; it will is make us insane for the light, wild with the desire to transmute ourselves, grow wings like the butterfly, and fly off, not to escape the world, but to die to all the things that prevent us from, here and (Continued on page 8)

4 Our Lady of the Brook Parish Northbrook, Illinois 4 Brook Happenings Sunday, December 21, :15 AM Choir Warm-ups 10:00 AM Mass 3:00 PM Chicago Chamber Choir Monday, December 22, 2014 Parish Office Open 9 am to 4 Tuesday, December 23, 2014 Parish Office Open 9 am to 4 12:10 PM Communion Service 7:00 PM Friends of Bill Wednesday, December 24, 2014 Parish Office Open 9 am to noon Thursday, December 25, 2014 Christmas NO Adult Faith Formation or Communion Service Parish Office CLOSED Friday, December 26, 2014 Parish Office CLOSED Saturday, December 27, :15 PM Confessions 5:00 PM Mass Sunday, December 28, :00 AM Mass CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART Christmas! Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of charity in the heart. Washington Irving Don t forget that our bulletin is available online at our parish website. It s in color, and has all the information you might have missed! Deadline is noon on the Monday before the weekend. We also have a page on Facebook, which posts updates regarding Holiday Events, photos from recent events, and more. Scan the code to the right with a smartphone to go directly to our home page. Readings for the Week of Dec. 21 Monday: 1 Sm 1:24-28; 1 Sm 2:1, 4-8abcd; Lk 1:46-56 Tuesday: Mal 3:1-4, 23-34; Ps 25:4-5ab, 8-10, 14; Lk 1:57-66 Wednesday: 2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Ps 89:2-5, 27, 29; Lk 1:67-79 Thursday: Vigil: Is 62:1-5; Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29; Acts 13:16-17, 22-25; Mt 1:1-25 [18-25] Night: Is 9:1-6; Ps 96:1-3, 11-13; Ti 2:11-14; Lk 2:1-14 Dawn: Is 62:11-12; Ps 97:1, 6, 11-12; Ti 3:4-7; Lk 2:15-20 Day: Is 52:7-10; Ps 98:1-6; Heb 1:1-6; Jn 1:1-18 [1-5, 9-14] Friday: Collection Upcoming Dates Mark your Calendars Now! Dec. 20 Simbang Gabi Jan. 25: Chili Supper (see pg. 8) Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59; Ps 31:3cd-4, 6, 8ab, 16bc, 17; Mt 10:17-22 Saturday: 1 Jn 1:1-4; Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12; Jn 20:1a, 2-8 Sunday: Sir 3:2-6, or Gn 15:1-6; 21:1-3; Ps 128:1-5 or Ps 105:1-6, 8-9; Col 3: [12-17] or Hb 11:8, 11-12, 17-19; Lk 2:22-40 [22, 39-40] Stewardship of Treasure $ Not Available at press time Financial Snapshot for 7/1/14 thru 11/30/14: Amt vs Budget vs Yr Ago Ordinary Income $198, % (-7.4%) Ordinary Expense $227, % (-10.2%) Extraord Income $ 41,589 (-6.4%) Extraord. Expense $ 14,039 (-60%) Year to date ($1,116) ($29,273) Questions? Call Amy in the parish office at (847) ext. 15

5 Fourth Sunday of Advent December 21, Bulletin Building Blocks - 4th Sunday of Advent TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION By the year 800, when anointing was defined as the proper office of priests, very complicated rituals began to take shape. Perhaps this was to reassure the laity, who had memories of an earlier practice, that the new way was not only better, but impossible for a layperson to conduct. Blessings and sprinkling of holy water, the singing of as many as seven psalms, penance, anointing of all the senses, viaticum, all capped off by the clothing of the sick person in penitential garments, were part of the rite. This proved unwieldy, and creative spirits got to work. By the 1500s people made distinctions between visiting the sick, anointing, and viaticum. The attempt of the Church to be faithful to the image of a healing Christ has some complicated history, including centuries when the celebration was rare. Most sick people had no access to the rites at all; only monastics or the well off had much hope of this care. Today, those unhappy days are long behind us, and the care of the sick is an essential task in every parish s life. As Christmas approaches almost everyone comes in contact with someone who is a candidate for pastoral care. You live out the best of our tradition when you arrange for a sick person to receive Holy Communion or the sacrament of the sick and the consolation of regular contact with the faith community. Rev. James Field, Copyright J. S. Paluch Co. SAT. 5 pm Presider Fr Bob Fr Bob Sun. 10:00 am Lector Mary Beth Manso Suzanne Noonan Ministers of Communion Altar Servers Greeters Ushers Sacristan Linen Sacristan Ministry Schedule: Dec. 27 & 28, 2014 Bruno Cortis Heidi Mullejans Sal Manso Bob Alt Dcn McAllister Mary Vollkommer Marian Reid Mary Fran Bubak Laurie Alt Bob Alt Colleen Liebman Wayne Liebman Chuck Sansone Carla Milazzo Mary Ann Drogos Dee Phillips Barbara Perley Irene Homberger Allan Homberger Dcn Duderstadt Peg Kritek Donna Johnson Ginny Hartzer Justin Magsino Nolan Whalen Lettie Bratta Don Roalkvam Anna Di Filippo Georgina Winters Joe Vitu James Johnson John Willson Patti Whalen Longest Married Couple The search for longest married couples continues. In addition to honoring the longest married couple for the entire United States, recognition will also be given to a couple from each state and territories who has achieved that distinction. In the case of the United States couple, appropriate gifts will be presented to them at a ceremony to be held at their location during Valentine's week. The state winners will receive personal recognition and a special certificate of achievement during that same time frame from the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement. For more information go to wwme.org ANGEL TREE There is a special undecorated tree in the Social Area that is for you, the parishioners of Our Lady of the Brook. We are asking that you bring an angel to place on your tree to represent your family during the Advent Season and through Epiphany. You may take them home after January first. Thank you for participating in this parish-wide event!

6 Our Lady of the Brook Parish Northbrook, Illinois 6 ADULT FAITH FORMATION Be proud of your Catholic faith. Find ways to learn and grow in understanding of our history and the teachings of the Church. Participate in adult formation in your parish and share all that you learn with others (Catholics Come Home Chicago) In their pastoral letter Our Hearts were Burning Within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States, the Bishops identified six dimensions for adult faith formation content: [1] knowledge of the faith, [2] liturgical life, [3] moral formation, [4] prayer, [5] communal life, and [6] missionary spirit. Adult faith formation is as diverse as retreats, days of reflection, sacramental preparation (baptism, confirmation, and marriage), ministerial formation, our parish mission, and our speaker series, as well as on-going scripture and catechetical study. This year Winter Ordinary Time Our Sunday Scripture reflection Who Do You Say that I Am? led by Dcn Dennis McAllister will continue on the first and second Sundays of each month at a new time and place beginning January 4, 2015 after the 10:00AM Mass (at 11:30AM) in the Library of the religious education wing. Share the Gift of Learning Many adults need help with basic English reading, writing, or speaking skills. Share the gift of learning! Call Oakton Community College at (847) The required four--part training will be held on Jan. 8, Jan. 13, Jan. 24 and Feb. 7. Volunteer now! For info, visit St Norbert Daddy/Daughter Dance Saturday, Jan. 31 Bring your favorite Valentine! All ages welcome! $40 per couple/$20 per additional daughter The evening will feature a DJ, dancing, flowers, cupcakes and lots of fun! For info, Ann at amfurby@comcast.net We were looking at a variety of possibilities for this very short time, and have settled on returning to an offering using Fr. Bob Barron s Untold Blessings: Three Paths to Holiness. Sessions will be on Thursdays, at 9:15AM and again at 7:00PM in the MCR, beginning on January 8 and running through to February 19. Registration forms are on the wall racks and on our website. Our Greatest Gifts Speakers Series continues to evolve so that as speakers are lined up, we will announce their dates and topics. We hope you will enjoy the diversity of this year s offerings and will avail yourself of the opportunity as time and circumstances permit to attend one or more of our adult faith formation offerings. Dcn Peery

7 Fourth Sunday of Advent December 21, Religious Education & Youth Ministry Children s Liturgy of the Word Children s Liturgy of the Word is offered at the 10:00 AM Mass through June. This program is for children age 3 through grade 5. Liturgy of the Word for Children is an opportunity for families to attend Mass together, with children dismissed during the Liturgy of the Word to experience and learn about the readings with a community of other young people. Religious Education From the Religious Education Staff, we wish all of you a blessed Christmas and joyous New Year! There are no Religious Ed classes this week or next. Classes will resume Jan. 5 th and 7 th. So what did you find out? So how was your sabbatical to Germany? What did you find out about the parish mergers in Germany? Just before I left for Germany I shared some of the information Fr. Bill Clark, SJ and I had found out about how parish mergers operate in Northwest Germany. More than 50 from OLB gathered to hear this. In the 1950 s as the Catholic Bishops of Germany were rebuilding many of the church buildings destroyed in the war, they made the decision to add many new parishes to their dioceses. Their reasoning was twofold: convenience (no one should have to walk more than 2 kilometers to get to their parish) and implementing an ideal parish (about 500 families and one priest). However, in 2010 the math behind this diocesan-parish structure no longer added up. Most dioceses did not have enough priests to staff all these smaller parishes nor, in the modern era, were their finances adequate to support all these small parishes. So many Dioceses in Germany began a process of re-building larger parishes by combining several smaller parishes in a process they call parish mergers. I found two significant differences in the German Church from the way we form merged or larger parishes. First, the mergers focused on the parish community (if at all possible they continue to maintain all the buildings of the merged parishes). Secondly, they have tried to ground the new larger parish structure on an operative theology (a parish ecclesiology). Their challenge is to maintain the small parish community s identity while this community is also a real functioning part of the larger Church community! As I said in the fall, I would be delighted to come back and share some of the facts we have learned about how these merged parishes operate together (there were several styles) and what are the functional, financial and theological implications. I am very excited about what we have found. In fact I think these insights could well be a blueprint for the way the worldwide Catholic Church under Pope Francis will operate in the not-too-distant future. All are invited after the 10 am Mass TODAY, Sunday Dec 21 st. Fr. Bob Heidenreich

8 Our Lady of the Brook Parish Northbrook, Illinois 8 OLB Women s Club Presents: Sunday, January 25 4:00 to 6:30 pm $5/person ($7 at door) $20/family ($25 at door) 50/50 Raffle Live Entertainment & Much More! (Continued from page 3) now, already making love to the whole world. Longing is meant to be a transforming mysticism within our lives. It creates the energy for metamorphosis. John of the Cross identified this with putting on the motivation of Christ. For him, the desire for higher lovemaking was the spirit that burned inside of Jesus, the energy that motivated him and consumed, as by fire, all the more limited desires within him. He was insane for the light, on fire with God s eros, willing to die so as to be transformed and so offer the world the widest love of all, God s embrace. In Jesus, we see what it means to be redeemed from fire by fire. Advent celebrates human longing. It asks us not to deny our longings but to enter them, deepen them, and widen them until we become insane enough for the light so that, like the butterfly, we open ourselves to undergo a metamorphosis. Advent & Christmas at the Brook Sacrament of Reconciliation: Saturdays at 4:15 PM or by appointment Simbang Gabi: December 20, at 5 pm. Presented by the Filipino-American Assoc. of Northbrook, reception after Mass. Christmas Wednesday, Dec. 24: Christmas Eve 3:30 pm Christmas Carols 4:00 pm Family Mass 10:00 pm Lessons & Carols 10:30 pm Night Mass Thursday, December 25: Christmas Day Mass at 10:00 am and 12:00 pm Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God Wednesday, Dec. 31: Mass at 5:00 pm Thursday, Jan. 1: Mass at 10:00 am