July 5, 2026

Dear Parishioners,

The notion of privilege has been on my heart these several weeks. We are a privileged people. The Catholic Church and all its members are blessed and chosen specifically by God.

This isn’t anything new in the tradition. Israel was also a privileged, chosen nation. “For you are a people holy to the LORD, your God; the LORD, your God, has chosen you from all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people specially his own” (Deuteronomy 7:6).

Modern society bristles at this. Privilege, elitism, favoritism, hierarchy, inequality, exclusion are all anathemas (i.e., evils) in today’s world. Any of the above talk is seen as backward and violent. DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) is our culture’s golden calf.

And yet Jesus was exclusive. He played favorites. He chose only twelve apostles (all men, by the way). He chose only Peter, James, and John to be with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. He chose only to relax with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. He sent the twelve apostles only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and not to the gentile villages. He said, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” When a massive crowd wanted access to his heart, we hear, “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all” (John 2:25). And, then, today’s Gospel, our Lord proclaimed that he reveals his heart only to the childlike. “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” Not everyone automatically receives the revelation.

We might think this is unfair. We don’t like to be excluded. And this is a legitimate grievance. Most problems in a person’s life, I would argue, stem from the wound of rejection or abandonment. Being rejected or abandoned or unloved is tied in with privilege. The person rejected you so they could choose someone or something else. That other person was privileged. You were not. And so you were hurt and are hurting from this.

But the way to deal with the wound of exclusion isn’t to remove any possibility of future exclusions. That would be to white-wash life. This is precisely what some movements and ideologies try to do. By overemphasizing ‘welcome’ and ‘acceptance’ and ‘inclusion,’ they are trying to make everyone feel good. They don’t want anyone to be hurt. They want everyone to be happy. Eliminating privilege and hierarchy and status–”liberating” the world and the church from this oppressive force of exclusion–is what, it is thought, will bring about happiness. Not all totally bad. In fact, it actually seems quite nice. Why wouldn’t everyone want to be happy?

But the trap is subtle with this ideology. Happiness through the eradication of any sort of hierarchy–whether it’s a hierarchy of position or a hierarchy of morals–is a man-made attempt at building the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom without the cross.

The cross is our salvation, not happiness. The cross puts us in union with God. We can have a life of luxury with no problems or pains, and we’ll look back and see we haven’t lived. Real living is real encounter and real love, and real encounter and real love often come about through experiences of the cross and through union with God.

Jesus became man to take up the cross. He wants us to have the cross too. It doesn’t mean that our Lord is happy that we suffer. It means he wants us to be open to receiving his heart, and the cross is the key to opening our hearts.

So, the “solution” to dealing with hurt from rejection isn’t to never experience rejection again. Nothing isn’t something. The solution is to be actively loved; to be chosen. And we know God is the one who will love us and choose us. These “liberationist” ideologies don’t propose Jesus. They propose happiness. Their happiness is a mirage. We propose Jesus; we propose “blessedness.” That is real. Our Lord’s love can heal us and make us complete. It doesn’t mean we won’t experience rejection or pain in the future. But it does mean we will be loved and experience life.

I think of the image of pouring water at a dinner. A person fills the pitcher up from the faucet, and then from that pitcher gives water out to all the individuals. The faucet needs some receptacle. God’s grace is poured out of his heart into the receptacle that is the Church and the priest, and then we dispense that grace to others. If we eliminate hierarchy and status in the church, then all we’re doing is letting that grace pour out onto the floor. No one receives. It’s what essentially happens with communism. Equality means everyone is destitute. The Catholic Church is not communistic (nor is it feudalistic). We all are to be elevated into the life of the Trinity.

I would venture to say that you all reading this are the receptacles underneath the faucet of grace. You are the “pitchers.” Have you received the water? Have you poured it out to others? Have you been privileged to receive the heart of Jesus? He wants to give it to you.

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Last week we hosted the Park Ridge Garden Walk. Speaking of gardens, thank you again to the group of dedicated parishioners who have beautified our campus, particularly around the side of the church with the Mary statue. These individuals not only helped move the (very heavy) Mary statue, but they planted the new flowers and water them throughout the summer. This space alongside the church has become a serene and contemplative place to gather for prayer, pictures, and conversation.

As I mentioned in last week’s bulletin, we are delighted to have back with us for a few weeks Fr. Lee Noel. Fr. Lee was a seminarian with us and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming last year (May 2025). Welcome back, Lee. We are proud of you.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James Wallace