College Chaplain: Clean Churches, Clean Hearts

On his personal blog, Thomas Aquinas College chaplain Rev. Joseph Illo likens the great care that the College’s students take for Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel to the work of the Missionaries of Charity:

The Missionaries of Charity love Jesus very much. How do I know that? Because they sweep, polish, and wipe down their chapels every morning. The sisters set up their mission houses (convents) in the world’s dirtiest slums, where smoke and dust choke the air, where garbage and human waste pile up outside the convent walls. But inside those walls all is bright and all is clean, especially inside their chapels. …

I am pleased to report that the students at Thomas Aquinas College, who have graciously afforded me a place to live and work and pray, assiduously clean our temple every day as well. First, I should say, they purify it by their prayers. I rarely enter our great marble chapel without the consolation of seeing a few students at prayer. Second, I am delighted to say that three or four students are assigned to keep the chapel spotless. ….

Be sure to read his beautiful reflection in its entirety! Fr. Illo is the College’s newest chaplain, having come to campus at the start of the last academic year. He previously served for 13 years as the pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Modesto, Calif.