Not going anywhere,
nothing special to do,
just taking Wednesday off...
See you on Thursday morning!
11/18/25
NIGHT PRAYER: Tuesday 11/18
Day is done, Lord...
For this day's noontime warmth
and for the wispy clouds above
and for November's grateful simple joys,
I give you thanks and praise...
But evening shadows shiver now,
turning me and autumn leaves
to seasons' change and touch
deep in my heart...
The chill shakes awake the fall
within my sleepy self
and I seek pardon, Lord,
for any early frost upon my soul...
for any early frost upon my soul...
I thank you for the moonlight
shining down upon my path
through lanky branches up above,
now leafless, stark and bare...
Yes, day is done, Lord, day is done
but I wait for tomorrow
when like the sun you'll rise up
with healing, light and warmth...
Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake
and watch over me while I sleep
that awake, I might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace...
Amen.
This piano solo with a NASA video of the moonscape
seems just right for this evening's prayer...
Claire de lune by Debussy
performed by Timothy Hammond
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Homeland Security, ICE and "high public safety risk"
From the Chicago Tribune (11/14/25)
By Jason Meisner, Madeline Buckley, Gregory Royal Pratt, Rebecca Johnson and Laura Rodriguez Presa
The Trump administration on Friday released the names of 614 people whose Chicago-area immigration arrests may have violated a 2022 consent decree, and only 16 of them have criminal histories that present a “high public safety risk.”
The list was produced as part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging immigration agents have repeatedly violated the terms of the in-court settlement, mostly during “Operation Midway Blitz,” that puts a high bar on making so-called warrantless arrests without a prior warrant or probable cause.
The Department of Homeland Security has claimed since the outset of the operation that they were going after the “worst of the worst,” including convicted murderers, rapists and other violent offenders who were allegedly taking advantage of Illinois’ sanctuary policies to terrorize the citizenry.
But the government’s own data, provided in a filing posted to the public docket Friday, appeared to show otherwise. Of the 16 arrestees with criminal histories — or about 2.6% of the 614 people — five involved domestic battery, two were related to drunken driving, and one allegedly had an unidentified criminal history in another country.
One person was deemed a national security risk, another had a narcotics conviction, and five more had been accused of various forms of battery, including two involving guns, the records indicated.
No one had any convictions for murder or rape.
Meanwhile, the other 598 people on the list had no criminal history listed at all, yet 42 of those were still classified by the DHS as having a “high” security risk. The reasons for that assessment were not explained.
The government said in a supplemental filing later Friday that those with a high risk should remain in detention.
The people on the list were all arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prior to Oct. 7. In the coming weeks, the government was expected to produce a much lengthier list of more than 3,300 arrestees, including those arrested by Border Patrol later on in the operation.
Among those on the list were several featured in stories by the Tribune, including a couple arrested by ICE in September while driving their eldest son to his university to drop off school materials and later meet the rest of the family in church.
The couple, Moises Enciso Trejo and Constantina Ramírez Meraz, were released Thursday and reunited with their four children, according to their attorney, Shelby R. Vcelka.
Also on the list was Darwin Leal, a 24-year-old Venezuelan migrant arrested Sept. 14 while driving in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood with his wife and two young kids. Leal, who is still detained in Texas, was classified by ICE as in the “low” public safety risk category.
The list was produced by order of U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings, who said he will grant a $1,500 bond to anyone who is still in custody in the U.S. and who is not confirmed by the government to be a safety risk or subject to a prior removal order.
Cummings said he’d also order some form of monitoring of the arrestees, including electronic ankle monitors, pending the outcome of immigration proceedings. Most of those arrested were originally processed at the ICE processing center in west suburban Broadview, but have since been moved to jails around the country.
Cummings also ordered the release of 13 other arrestees no later than Friday, as the Department of Justice had not claimed they posed a security risk.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, 10 of those 13 had indeed been released, according to Mark Fleming, the lead attorney in the lawsuit that led to the consent decree. He said attorneys were still awaiting word on the other three, who were in custody out of state.
A DHS spokesperson did not respond Friday to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Cummings’ decision will ultimately affect a much wider segment of the thousands of arrests made by ICE and U.S. Border Patrol in Chicago since the Trump administration’s enhanced immigration-enforcement operations.
So far, the government has identified more than 3,300 such arrests, the vast majority of which plaintiffs’ attorneys believe will prove to be unlawful.
In explaining his decision on Wednesday, Cummings read from a summary he and his law clerks compiled from more than 150 ongoing immigration petitions in federal court, where arrestees were challenging deportation. He said the circumstances of the arrests showed him that, by and large, Operation Midway Blitz was not targeting hardened criminals.
Of them, Cummings said, 54 people were arrested while at work, including 20 landscapers, four Uber or taxi drivers and two street vendors. Another 20 were arrested while commuting to or from work, and nine were detained at a Home Depot or Menards, where they were presumably either seeking work or buying job supplies, the judge said.
The Trump administration on Friday released the names of 614 people whose Chicago-area immigration arrests may have violated a 2022 consent decree, and only 16 of them have criminal histories that present a “high public safety risk.”
The list was produced as part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging immigration agents have repeatedly violated the terms of the in-court settlement, mostly during “Operation Midway Blitz,” that puts a high bar on making so-called warrantless arrests without a prior warrant or probable cause.
The Department of Homeland Security has claimed since the outset of the operation that they were going after the “worst of the worst,” including convicted murderers, rapists and other violent offenders who were allegedly taking advantage of Illinois’ sanctuary policies to terrorize the citizenry.
But the government’s own data, provided in a filing posted to the public docket Friday, appeared to show otherwise. Of the 16 arrestees with criminal histories — or about 2.6% of the 614 people — five involved domestic battery, two were related to drunken driving, and one allegedly had an unidentified criminal history in another country.
One person was deemed a national security risk, another had a narcotics conviction, and five more had been accused of various forms of battery, including two involving guns, the records indicated.
No one had any convictions for murder or rape.
Meanwhile, the other 598 people on the list had no criminal history listed at all, yet 42 of those were still classified by the DHS as having a “high” security risk. The reasons for that assessment were not explained.
The government said in a supplemental filing later Friday that those with a high risk should remain in detention.
The people on the list were all arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prior to Oct. 7. In the coming weeks, the government was expected to produce a much lengthier list of more than 3,300 arrestees, including those arrested by Border Patrol later on in the operation.
Among those on the list were several featured in stories by the Tribune, including a couple arrested by ICE in September while driving their eldest son to his university to drop off school materials and later meet the rest of the family in church.
The couple, Moises Enciso Trejo and Constantina Ramírez Meraz, were released Thursday and reunited with their four children, according to their attorney, Shelby R. Vcelka.
Also on the list was Darwin Leal, a 24-year-old Venezuelan migrant arrested Sept. 14 while driving in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood with his wife and two young kids. Leal, who is still detained in Texas, was classified by ICE as in the “low” public safety risk category.
The list was produced by order of U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings, who said he will grant a $1,500 bond to anyone who is still in custody in the U.S. and who is not confirmed by the government to be a safety risk or subject to a prior removal order.
Cummings said he’d also order some form of monitoring of the arrestees, including electronic ankle monitors, pending the outcome of immigration proceedings. Most of those arrested were originally processed at the ICE processing center in west suburban Broadview, but have since been moved to jails around the country.
Cummings also ordered the release of 13 other arrestees no later than Friday, as the Department of Justice had not claimed they posed a security risk.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, 10 of those 13 had indeed been released, according to Mark Fleming, the lead attorney in the lawsuit that led to the consent decree. He said attorneys were still awaiting word on the other three, who were in custody out of state.
A DHS spokesperson did not respond Friday to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Cummings’ decision will ultimately affect a much wider segment of the thousands of arrests made by ICE and U.S. Border Patrol in Chicago since the Trump administration’s enhanced immigration-enforcement operations.
So far, the government has identified more than 3,300 such arrests, the vast majority of which plaintiffs’ attorneys believe will prove to be unlawful.
In explaining his decision on Wednesday, Cummings read from a summary he and his law clerks compiled from more than 150 ongoing immigration petitions in federal court, where arrestees were challenging deportation. He said the circumstances of the arrests showed him that, by and large, Operation Midway Blitz was not targeting hardened criminals.
Of them, Cummings said, 54 people were arrested while at work, including 20 landscapers, four Uber or taxi drivers and two street vendors. Another 20 were arrested while commuting to or from work, and nine were detained at a Home Depot or Menards, where they were presumably either seeking work or buying job supplies, the judge said.
Six were arrested “outside their home or a friend’s or relative’s home,” he said. Seven people were arrested at immigration hearings or appointments, and another 11 in public places such as shops, grocery stores, and even “a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru,” Cummings said.
“It is highly unlikely any of them are criminal gang members, drug traffickers or assorted ne’er-do-wells who fall under the category of what ICE has called ‘the worst of the worst,’” Cummings said.
The Department of Justice has asked Cummings to stay his order pending appeal, but no decision had been made on that request as of Friday evening.
On Fox News on Friday, Border Control Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who has been the public face of Operation Midway Blitz, threatened to make even more arrests, saying agents “risked their lives to apprehend those 650 illegal aliens that that judge wants to release on the streets.”
But even Bovino seemed to back down from claiming the arrestees were by-and-large dangerous, saying instead they came “from a myriad of situations, whether they were criminals or individuals who were taking jobs from Americans, you name it, that’s what they were doing.”
“And I tell you what’s gonna happen is, we’re gonna go even harder on the streets,” Bovino said. “If (Cummings) releases those 650, we’re going to apprehend 1,650 on the streets of Chicago.”
The release of the arrestee list comes amid litigation over whether immigration officials have violated a consent decree restricting warrantless arrests.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers defending those who have been arrested have accused federal officials of repeatedly breaking the terms of the consent decree and asked that Cummings issue a blanket order releasing most of the detainees on ankle monitoring. The government, meanwhile, said plaintiffs were trying to “paint with a broad brush” and that the validity of detaining someone should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Known as the Castañon Nava settlement agreement, the consent decree issued during the Biden administration bars agents from making warrantless immigration arrests unless they have probable cause to believe someone is in the U.S. unlawfully and that the person is a flight risk.
It was originally supposed to sunset in March. Instead, after the Trump administration began ramping up immigration enforcement efforts in January, lawyers for the National Immigrant Justice Center and ACLU alleged dozens of violations, mostly involving “collateral arrests,” or the detaining of individuals who are not targets.
In his Oct. 7 order extending the consent decree until February, Cummings said ICE had improperly told its field offices over the summer that the consent decree had been canceled. He also called into question the recent immigration raid on an apartment building in South Shore, where agents in military gear burst through doors and zip-tied residents regardless of citizenship.
And the judge also took particular issue with a practice by ICE agents of carrying blank I-200 warrant forms with them on missions and filling them out at the scene.
11/17/25
Pause for Prayer: TUESDAY 11/18
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| Image source |
I'm behind in posting some "November prayers" for the month of all souls, when we pray for those who have died... Here's the well known poem by Henry Van Dyke who gives us a beautiful maritime image for thinking of loved ones and their journey from this life to life forever with God...
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until at length
she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!”
“Gone where?”
Gone from my sight. That is all.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says:
“There, she is gone!”
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
“Here she comes!”
And that is dying.
-Henry Van Dyke
Night Prayer: MONDAY 11/18
In my homily yesterday I spoke of four "jewels" embedded in Jesus's words in the day's gospel. A day later, it occurs to me that those four "words" have application to the troubles our nation faces these days...
Lord, you counseled us with four words:
• Do not be deceived...
• Be not afraid...
• I will give you wisdom...
• By your perseverance you will secure your lives...
We're too easily deceived, Lord,
and tempted to deceive
when we hide or bend
or stretch the truth
or offer half-truths,
shielding others (and ourselves)
from the whole truth...
We need your help, Lord,
in calling for the truth,
in discerning the truth
- and the whole truth
and nothing but the truth...
Help us, Lord, lest we be deceived...
And we're afraid, Lord!
We're afraid of where things stand
and of how we allowed ourselves
to get to this point...
We're afraid of how easily
power and authority can be corrupted
and how easily our security can be weakened,
threatened, co-opted and abused...
We need your grace
to deepen our conviction,
to strengthen our resolve,
to encourage us in hard times
and make us fearless in harm's way...
And we so much need your wisdom, Lord,
the wisdom only you can give:
selfless, pure, inscrutable wisdom;
wisdom shining in our darkness;
wisdom piercing our foolishness;
wisdom born of timeless truth;
compelling, common, simple wisdom
sent to heal and make us one...
And even with your truth, Lord,
and the muscle of your holy arm
and your sage advice to counsel us
still we need your gift of grace
to help us persevere...
When the future's dark and bleak, Lord,
when the road is rough, uneven:
help us persevere...
When the common wealth of freedom
is maligned, abridged, usurped:
Lord, help us persevere...
When we're stumbling in our darkness
and we cannot find the light:
Lord, help us persevere...
When the truth is often auctioned off,
for profit and advantage:
Lord, help us persevere...
When we fear that good won't triumph
and that evil will prevail:
Lord, help us persevere...
When common sense is laughed at
and the law no longer rules:
Lord, help us persevere...
When power rests in selfish hands,
unyielding, tightly clenched:
Lord, help us persevere...
When we're tempted to give in, give up,
and say it's all too much:
Lord, help us persevere...
Give us what you counsel, Lord:
your truth and holy wisdom
for our strength and perseverance;
may your blessings, gifts and grace
renew us every day
'til the sun of justice rises
with your healing in its rays...
Protect us, Lord while we're awake
and watch over us while we sleep
that awake, we might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace...
Amen.
Praise You In This Storm
If a video doesn't appear below, click here!
I was sure by now, God you would have reached down
And wiped our tears away,
Stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
That it's still raining
As the thunder rolls
I barely hear your whisper through the rain
I'm with you
And as your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
The God who gives and takes away
And I'll praise you in this storm
And I will lift my hands
That you are who you are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise you in this storm
I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry you raised me up again
My strength is almost gone how can I carry on
If I can't find you
But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear you whisper through the rain
I'm with you
And as your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
The God who gives and takes away
I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The maker of heaven and earth
And I'll praise you in this storm
And I will lift my hands
That you are who you are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise you in this storm
And though my heart is torn
I will praise you in this storm
11/16/25
Monday Morning Offering: 11/17
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| Coffee in the Morning: George Mendoza |
Good morning, good God!
My path crosses the paths of so many others, Lord:
friends and family
parishioners and neighbors,
strangers and passersby
classmates, colleagues,
customers and clerks,
newcomers and old friends;
newcomers and old friends;
and in so many places:
at work, at home,
at work, at home,
at school and in stores,
at play, in prayer,
in sickness and health,
in wealth, in wont,
in good times and bad,
in joy and sadness...
at play, in prayer,
in sickness and health,
in wealth, in wont,
in good times and bad,
in joy and sadness...
I offer you all these, Lord,
all my moments of meeting
- and the hearts and hopes
of those who come my way...
- and the hearts and hopes
of those who come my way...
I offer you the tears I often see
running down cheeks damp with grief...
I offer you smiles of love on the faces of parents
watching their children play...
I offer you even the smallest step forward
taken by someone afraid to make a move...
I offer you the healing I see
in the hearts of those who've been forgiven
and in the hearts of those who forgive...
I offer you new resolve,
bold in the hearts of those
who are picking themselves up,
dusting themselves off
and placing their hands in yours...
and placing their hands in yours...
I offer you the gratitude of those working hard
to learn and to grow,
to learn and to grow,
and to become the persons you made them to be..
I offer you those
whose hearts are bound in love
to hearts far away or in harm's way...
to hearts far away or in harm's way...
I offer you the Spirit's touch in my own heart
and pray for the grace to be faithful to it...
and pray for the grace to be faithful to it...
I offer you the moments of grace I see
and the moments I miss and mess up...
I thank you for the ways
you show me your face,
take my hand in yours,
take my hand in yours,
walk by my side,
use my gifts,
use my gifts,
listen to my prayers,
lift me up,
lift me up,
settle me down,
calm my fears,
calm my fears,
strengthen my will,
and hold me gently, safely
and hold me gently, safely
right in the palm of your hand...
I offer you this day, Lord,
and the new week that lies before me:
help me find your face in all I meet,
and the new week that lies before me:
help me find your face in all I meet,
in all whose paths cross mine...
Amen.
The four jewels in Jesus' words today...
For better understanding, I suggest you read the gospel for today's mass on which my homily is based. And if a video doesn't appear below, click here.
That temple in Jerusalem - the one Jesus said would crumble stone by stone, the one adorned with costly gems – that temple was indeed destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. And Jesus' prediction of the persecution of believers also came to pass around the same time. Luke's gospel was written around 85 AD. So the text here refers to events that Jesus predicts - but have already taken place. This gospel, then, is less a crystal ball for looking into the future, and much more magnifying lens to help Luke's audience see more clearly and grapple more confidently with their present situation.
We might do well in our own present times to consider the disasters that are at hand for us. Even 2,000 years after Jesus spoke of wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, and plagues - they're still with us. And people of faith are still seized and persecuted - and some put to death. Most of us haven’t experienced that yet – but…
• Something like the collapse of personal security upon losing your job may be as real for us as was the fall of the temple in the first century.
• For some, betrayal by those closest to us (spouses, family, friends) might be the most painful, disaster we experience.
• For many, the onset of chronic or catastrophic illness might be the event that topples our sense of well-being and safety.
• Surveying the geopolitical situations around the globe is more than enough to unsettle our security and frighten us about the future of the world.
As it was when Luke wrote his gospel, we need not look to the future for such things to happen - today has trouble enough of its own.
Let me suggest, then, that we call to mind whatever our own calamities and problems and fears might be tonight, here in San Zepherin Church in Wayland, in 2025.
What are the calamities and fears we experience in our families, in our nation, in our lives, in our minds and our hearts? To just those situations in our lives, Jesus says four things tonight in the gospel. I'd liken them to four gems embedded there, in the gospel - just like the precious stones that decorated the walls of the temple. Those four jewels from Jesus:
• Don't be deceived…
• Don't be afraid…
• I will give you a wisdom…
• By your perseverance, you will secure your lives…
In whatever confusion or conflict, whatever depression or disaster we find ourselves tonight, Jesus says… Don't be deceived. Many will come promising what only I can give, and you'll be tempted to think that I've abandoned you have forgotten you. You'll wonder: what did you do, what did you do to deserve such suffering? But don't be deceived. I am never (says Jesus) I am never the source of your suffering. I come to you only with healing and mercy and strength. I come to be with you to take your hand and to lead you through the darkest of your days…
And to us in our fears, Jesus says:
Don't be afraid. Don't be terrified. There's nothing you can't face if you stand with me. I'll stand by you in everything that comes your way. I will not abandon you. I'll be your courage when you are frightened. I'll be your strength, when yours is exhausted. I'll be your guide when you are lost…
And in our doubt and confusion, Jesus assures us:
I'll give you wisdom. I'll help you understand. When you're conflicted, I'll give you my counsel. When you don't know what to do, I'll lead you to the truth. When nothing makes sense, when everything's too complex, too hard, when you're at your wits' end - come to me. And in the simplicity of my heart's mercy and peace find a place to rest in my arms. Come to me…
And in our hopelessness, Jesus says:
By your perseverance, you will secure your lives. You're never alone. I'm always at your side. When you run out of hope for tomorrow, trust in me for today. When the future seems impossible - trust that it's in my hands. Put your hand in mine, and together, we'll walk: one a day at a time, an hour at a time, a minute at a time. Stay with me and I will stay with you. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
Well, the scriptures are clear today that in every age there are signs all around us that the end time will come, that a day of judgment will face all of us. But for those who trust in the Lord, who live by his word, who seek his mercy, the Son of justice will arise with healing in its saving light. That healing is ours not only at the end of time, but even now for those who listen for the Lord and hear him say: Don't be deceived. Don't be afraid. I'll give you wisdom. By your perseverance, you will secure your lives.
Whatever burdens you and I came to mass with this evening, now is the time to lay them down at the foot of the cross, to put them on the altar of sacrifice, where Jesus gives us in the Eucharist: the companionship, the courage, the wisdom, and the hope to live a day at a time in his mercy and in his peace.
So.. don't be deceived… don't be afraid… Jesus will give you wisdom… and by your perseverance, you will secure your lives…
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