Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Happy Mother’s Day! Thank God for all mothers.
This week has been a week full of blessings for our parish––blessings and reminders of the great gift of life. From Mother’s Day, to First Communions, to Confirmation, to May Crownings of Mary, this week has given us much to be thankful for and to give praise to God.
Mother’s Day is a perfect moment to thank our mothers for giving us life. A mother, like no one else, has the power to open our minds and hearts to the reality that not only is life good, but your life and my life, by name, is very good, and has an infinite value and God-like dignity. As St. John Paul II so beautifully pointed out, part of the genius of woman is the indispensable role she plays in showing all of humanity the tremendous value of every human person. Our mothers have this role in a preeminent way. They give us life. But a mother’s role doesn’t stop there. We know they are meant to feed us, to love us, to raise us, to pass on the faith and lead us to Jesus, to teach us by their actions and words that you are so important that God died to save us and make us his friend. How desperately our world needs mothers and their witness to human life. What a task! What an amazing person a mother is! Take a moment today; thank and love your mother.
May is about Mary, our Mother!
Even if our own mother has fallen short in some ways, and we know that some of us may have had absent mothers, mothers that passed away when we were young, or mothers that didn’t love us as they should, each of us has a second mother, a perfect mother––Mary. Mary isn’t a young girl from ancient history who’s long gone (and far away) or a statue in our church or flower garden. Mary is our living mother, who desires to have a relationship with us, who labors every day to help us know how much God loves us by name and how important it is to love Him in return. May is a month when we turn to Mary in a special way. May is an opportunity from God to grow in our relationship with Mary.
How real is Mary to you? Do you talk to Mary in prayer each day as you would a mother? Are you struggling to know God’s love or to love someone else (maybe even your own mother)? Turn to Mary, talk to her, ask for her help, as a young child would to a loving mother. Mary never grows weary of helping us. With Mary, just like any relationship, there is always more – more life to share and receive, more to know, more to experience, more to love.
May is about New Life in Jesus!
Finally, the First Communions by our boys and girls and the Confirmation of over 80 of our youth is a powerful reminder of the great gift of eternal, abundant life that God freely gives to all who ask. We know that when one of us in Christ is blessed, we are all blessed, because we are all one Body (Rm 12:15; 1 Cor 12:12-31). We share in their gift of new life, and our gratitude and praise for this blessing, increases God’s presence and power in our own souls. Whether you personally know any of those receiving these sacraments of initiation, thank God for what He has done for us and His saving presence in our midst. Let God surprise us with His gifts of joy, energy, enthusiasm and peace as we step forward in faith and give Him thanks and praise in all things.
May God bless you and your family abundantly this week.
Fr. Jonathan