Author: Fr. John Waiss

Fr. John Waiss

Father John Waiss is the pastor of St. Mary of the Angels Church in Chicago, Illinois. He is also a member of Opus Dei, the prelature founded by St. Josemaria Escriva.

Advent and the Family

December 8, 2024December 6, 2024 Articles, Family and Kids

Advent and the Family Advent is the time that the Christian family focuses ever more on preparing to receive the child Jesus on Christmas day, just as Mary and Joseph did 2000 years ago. Mary and Joseph, relying on their recent marriage in the synagogue, helped each other prepare for the wonderful day when their […]

Thanking Christ the King

November 29, 2024November 26, 2024 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

This year we made November a special month of thanksgiving, thanking God for all those who have gone before us and who have impacted our lives, celebrating All Saints and All Souls Day. Then we thanked God for the many the living who, in quiet or profound ways, have accompanied, shaped, and helped us grow. […]

Thanking God for his Channels of Grace

November 24, 2024November 21, 2024 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

November should be a month and season of thanksgiving that culminates on Thanksgiving Day. We are grateful to God for those saints and sinners who are now with our Lord and who have enriched our lives. We wouldn’t be here without them. We also should be grateful to God for the various family, friends, fellow […]

Thanking God for Living Friends and Family

November 15, 2024November 14, 2024 Articles, Family and Kids

I n this month and season of thanksgiving we not only want to thank God for all those in our lives who have died, but also for the many people still alive whom God has placed in our path. It’s often easier to feel grateful for gifts or events that bring us joy in the […]

Covenant Signs and Memorials

October 19, 2024October 18, 2024 Articles, Catechesis

God not only calls us to worship him with praise and Scripture, but also to worship him with sacrifice (as we saw the last two weeks). God also establishes sacred covenant signs that unite the individual to God and to his holy people—his family—just as a wedding ring or the marital embrace unites spouses, renewing […]

Sacred Covenant Signs

October 11, 2024October 8, 2024 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

Sacred Covenant Signs God not only uses praise and Scripture to reveal himself and his plan, he calls us to worship him with sacrifice (as we saw last week) and links our worship sacrifices to sacred covenant signs. These signs unite the individual to God and to his holy people—his family—just as a wedding ring […]

Prayer

September 24, 2024September 26, 2024 Articles, Faith and Spirituality

Prayer is a common way to worship God, where we invoke his help, ask for our needs, beseech him with supplications, and intercede for others. We see it first when Noah called down a blessing from God on his son Shem: “He also said, ‘Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem’” (Genesis 9:26). Moses […]

Dear Mom and Dad

September 4, 2024August 29, 2024 Articles, Family and Kids

We your children look up to you. Set an example for us by not using electronics so much. We need to see that it is possible not to be on the phone or tablet. When you tell me to get off my iPad or phone you should do the same. Kids use electronics too much, […]

Peace Through the Family

August 27, 2024August 26, 2024 Articles, Family and Kids

St. James wrote: “What causes wars, and what causes fighting among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members? You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war… You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, […]

Gaudete Et Exsultate

August 23, 2024August 22, 2024 Articles, Catechesis

I thought it would be worthwhile to return to Pope Francis’ wonderful Apostolic Exhortation On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World—Gaudete et Exsultate, because this should be the goal of each one of us, as well as for the whole Church: holiness means the happiness that comes from union with God that reaches its […]

Dear 4th Grader…

August 17, 2024August 14, 2024 Articles, Family and Kids

This is a letter written by the 5th-8th grade classes to the 4th grade class at St. Mary of the Angels. Dear 4th Grader: Don’t get a phone until you really need one. Phones can be very addicting. You can become so attached to your phone that you might not want to do anything else. […]

Love Forgives

July 12, 2024July 10, 2024 Articles, Catechesis

Blessed are the Merciful… and Peacemakers. Learning to forgive is key to happiness and holiness in relationships because it is key to peace. We best learn this very Christian response, which is never easy, in the family. As Pope Francis reminds us: When we have been offended or let down, forgiveness is possible and desirable, […]

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