June 28, 2026

Dear Parishioners,

Our first reading is the scene of Elisha, a prophet of ancient Israel, having dinner with a prominent husband and wife. The couple enjoys their dinner with the prophet so much they make a nice guest room for the prophet and invite him to come back on his day off in the future. Elisha takes them up periodically on the offer and eventually, because of their generosity, intercedes for the man and woman so they are able to conceive a child.

It’s a neat little story, but it seems kind of random. There are so many miraculous stories in the Bible–why is this one so unique that we would read about it at Sunday Mass?

First, a little reminder of who Elisha was might help provide some insight. Elisha was the successor to the prophet Elijah. Elijah, at the beginning of his own ministry, before Elisha was anywhere in the picture, was told by God to summon a drought and famine upon Israel. Elijah does this and he hides in the Wadi Cherith–a place in the wilderness–where he’s given water by a stream and fed miraculously by ravens that bring him food during the day. Elijah lives in solitude for a year this way. One day the stream dries up and the ravens stop bringing food. Elijah prays and hears God calling him to leave the Wadi Cherith and go to a pagan town called Zaraphath to stay with a destitute widow who has a son. The widow only has one loaf of bread, which she gives to Elijah, and, miraculously, bread, oil, and water appear each day in her kitchen. Elijah stays with the widow and her son, and the three are able to eat for a year. Elijah experienced God in solitude and nature. God nourished him contemplatively, we could say. Then Elijah experienced God in relationship with others and in a home. God nourished him communally, we could say.

Fast forward to the end of Elijah’s life. Elisha apprentices under Elijah and when Elijah is taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, Elisha begins his work as the new prophet of Israel. He spends time in solitude and in nature, and then, following his master, he goes into the town of Shunem to stay with a man and woman. Elisha realizes he is to experience God in a different way–the way of communion. He does, and both he and the woman and husband are blessed.

A quick lesson from this is to be obedient to the lessons of our masters. Elisha was a good student. So too are we called to be students of the saints and other holy men and women who have lived well and known God. The saints spent time with God in solitude and contemplation; they spent time with God in holy relationships. Do we do both? More importantly, do we learn from the saints?

It is said the most important quality in a disciple is whether the person is teachable. The person doesn’t have to have it all figured out, already be holy and skilled, be smart or social or healed. The person needs only to be open to learning and growing. For then God’s grace can work in us to mold us into the joyful people he is calling us to be. So, the question we should ask ourselves is, do we see ourselves as students? Are we humble enough to put ourselves in the classroom of love, of prayer, of maturity, of–you name it?

Now, it might seem like this first reading was chosen because its obvious connection to the Gospel, where Jesus says, “Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.” The Shunamite woman received the prophet and she was rewarded.

But there is more to it than just that. Let me put my own little twist on this. What if it wasn’t actually Elisha who was the prophet here, but the woman? It wasn’t the woman receiving Elisha, it was Elisha receiving her? It wasn’t the woman being rewarded, it was Elisha?

If this is the case, the woman didn’t need Elisha. He needed her. That is why God called Elisha to go stay with her, just like he called Elijah to stay with the widow of Zaraphath. There was something about Elisha’s heart and his ministry that still needed formation, and a lesson that could only come from this husband and wife. Elisha was formed in a particular way by Elijah, his mentor, and that was good and necessary. But there was more needed. The unexpected, average “laypeople,” if you will, put the finishing touches on Elisha’s heart to make him a fitting prophet.

Obviously I’m speaking from personal experience. I spent five years in seminary formation preparing to be a priest, learning from older priests on how to be a good and smart priest. It gave me an important foundation. But what I’ve learned now as a priest from “laypeople” has been even better. And the lessons have come in unexpected ways. Usually the layperson didn’t know they were teaching me. And they wouldn’t even guess now that they were the master, not me. Maybe someday I’ll be able to tell you more specifically what some of those lessons were and who the teachers were. I don’t want to embarrass them by doing it now. I’ll just say, “thank you.” You have given me the ‘cup of cold water’ in ways you couldn’t imagine.

You might spend some time thinking about who those ‘hidden prophets’ are in your life. How have they blessed you? Can you trust it was God working in them as much as he worked in some more overtly spiritual way, like prayer or the sacraments? Can you be open, one day, to telling them how much they helped you?

It’s all to say we are in a true household of God. It’s the relationships, under God’s guidance, that make for a meaningful life, that make for the Kingdom of God.

+

Welcome back 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). Lee is back in Chicago for a few weeks over the summer and we are delighted we will be able to have him celebrate Mass this weekend and the first two weekends in July.

Our parish garden will be featured in the Park Ridge Garden Walk this Sunday, June 28th. Our garden, as many of you already know, grows vegetables to supplement our food pantry donations during the summer months.

Happy 4th of July. Please note, there will be no 6:25am Mass this Friday, July 3rd. There will, however, be an 8:30am Mass and confessions at 8am. We will still have the 8:30am Mass on Saturday, July 4th, as well as the normally scheduled 3:15pm confessions and 4:30pm Mass.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James Wallace