Pause for Prayer: FRIDAY 11/20

Just a little more than a week left in November, the month of All Souls, a special time to remember and pray for those who have gone before us... Let's not forget to pray for those who were often forgotten... 

I pray today for those who died
whose story was a mystery, 

    a puzzlement, a problem
for their families and their friends, 

their colleagues and their neighbors 
- but not for you, O Lord, 

    who understood and loved them...

I pray for the marginalized and unappreciated: 

    those left out of groups and games,     

    estranged from friendship circles,

        forgotten, overlooked

            just when it counted most;
    those often left behind,

        without a thought, ignored,
    those who often stood alone,

        so very much alone...

 
I pray for those 

    who suffered the pain and ache,
        of having no one to lean on,

    no one to sit with and talk to,
        no one there to share a joy,
            a sorrow, a hope, a loss, a dream
                or just a quiet moment...

I pray for those
    whose loneliness shut them out,
whose isolation hid them 

    from those who sought them out
        to speak and to be with them

- but all to no avail -
    so much had their solitude
        shaped their hidden life...

 

Lord, I pray for those who knew, like you, 
    what it means to be forgotten,
        deserted and abandoned,
    left behind,
        left to surrender to love unseen, 

    love whose arms reached out to save,

        to catch, to hold in peace
            the lonely and forgotten
    in that embrace that every soul
        desires without end...

I pray for these forgotten ones
    that now, at last, they rest in joy, 

embraced and held forever
    in your loving arms, O Lord,
made one with you 

    and all you've gathered in to share

        your never-ending peace...

Amen.

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

Message from the US Catholic Bishops

 

As pastors, we the bishops of the United States are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status. We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools. We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones. 

 

Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation. We as Catholic bishops love our country and pray for its peace and prosperity. For this very reason, we feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.

 

Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants. We bishops advocate for a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures. Human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of good will work together.

 

We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good. Without such processes, immigrants face the risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Safe and legal pathways serve as an antidote to such risks.

 

The Church’s teaching rests on the foundational concern for the human person, as created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). As pastors, we look to Sacred Scripture and the example of the Lord Himself, where we find the wisdom of God’s compassion. The priority of the Lord, as the Prophets remind us, is for those who are most vulnerable: the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger (Zechariah 7:10). In the Lord Jesus, we see the One who became poor for our sake (2 Corinthians 8:9), we see the Good Samaritan who lifts us from the dust (Luke 10:30–37), and we see the One who is found in the least of these (Matthew 25). The Church’s concern for neighbor and our concern here for immigrants is a response to the Lord’s command to love as He has loved us (John 13:34).

 

To our immigrant brothers and sisters, we stand with you in your suffering, since, when one member suffers, all suffer (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26). You are not alone!

We note with gratitude that so many of our clergy, consecrated religious, and lay faithful already accompany and assist immigrants in meeting their basic human needs. We urge all people of good will to continue and expand such efforts. 

We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement. We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials. In this dialogue, we will continue to advocate for meaningful immigration reform. 

 

As disciples of the Lord, we remain men and women of hope, and hope does not disappoint! (cf. Romans 5:5) May the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe enfold us all in her maternal and loving care and draw us ever closer to the heart of Christ.

 

11/12/2025 

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 11/20

Lord,

I trust in your presence when I feel all alone...

I trust that you'll follow when I walk away...

I trust you’ll come find me when I get lost...

I trust in your promise when my hope's run out...

I trust in your wisdom when my thinking's confused...

I trust you're still with me when others have fled...

I trust your compassion when I'm feeling distressed...

I trust in your comfort when I’m lost deep in grief...

 

I trust you'll give me your healing and peace...

I trust in your strength when I'm weak and afraid...

I trust in your love when I don't love myself...

I trust in your mercy when I've fallen from grace...

I trust in your Spirit when I’m down and out...

I trust you to hold me and never let go... 

 

I trust you to listen each time that I pray... 

I trust in you, Lord, my Savior, my God...

 

I place all my trust in you... 

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. 

 

Trust in the Lord by Mary McDonald

 

If a video doesn't appear below, click here!

 

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

Pause for Prayer: A week before Thanksgiving

    Artwork by Holly Stapleton

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving is only a week from today and preparations are underway: some are making travel plans, some are planning menus - and others are simply trying to cope with the hidden, lonely sadness this day often occasions... Thanksgiving is a time to be especially sensitive to and gentle with those who find the holidays to be a difficult time.  With that in mind, I offer each year a "Prayer by an empty chair..."

I'm posting this early for those who might find it helpful now - and so that you might share it with others...

Prayer by an empty chair... 

This Thanksgiving, Lord,

there’ll be an empty chair at our table, 

an ache in our hearts 

and tears upon our faces...

 

We might try, we might even succeed
in shielding our grief from others 

but, Lord, we can't hide our hearts from you...

So, today we pray for (name your loved ones) 
whose loving presence we sorely miss
in these days of homecoming cheer....

Help us remember and tell again  

the stories of times we shared together,

the history of how we lived and loved...

 

Open our hearts to memories, Lord,

of blessings and burdens, sorrows and joys,

bundled together with ribbons of grace...

And with your ever-so-gentle touch
smooth and mend what brokenness
still stands in need of healing...

May the bonds you forged between us, Lord,

grow stronger as we remember

and grieve the ones we've lost...

 

Help us trust, as we believe, Lord,

that those who've now gone home to you

are seated at your table...

 

And refresh our hope in your promise
to gather us all together again

in your mercy, peace and joy... 

And help us lean on each other now 
for the strength we often need
to lift our drooping spirits...

Lord, open wide our hearts and souls
to your presence, warmth and comfort
all around, within and among us...

As you embrace the ones we miss 

hold us along with them, Lord,

in your everlasting arms... 

 

May we give thanks for all your gifts

especially for the peace we know

in family, friends  and faith...

 

We thank you for those with us now

and all whom we commend, Lord,

to your mercy and your love... 

 

In all things, Lord, in joy and sadness,

help us to remember:

because today's day you've made

we give you thanks and praise...

Amen.

  

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

Taking a day off...

 

Not going anywhere, 

   nothing special to do,

      just taking Wednesday off...

 

See you on Thursday morning! 

  

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

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...

 

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

 

If a widget doesn't appear below, click here!

 

 

 

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

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.

 
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. 

 

 

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

Pause for Prayer: TUESDAY 11/18

   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

 

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

  

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 

    by Casting Crowns

 

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 

 

Chorus

 

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

 

 

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!