Celebrating Moms and the Holy Spirit

This Sunday, May 11th, we celebrate Mother’s Day. We celebrate many “kinds of mothers”. We are grateful for our birth mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, adoptive mothers and for those who fulfill the role of mother in our lives. We also pray for Mother Earth and Mother Church. May we honor them always for the significant roles they play in each of our lives.

SOME QUOTES BY PEOPLE OF FAME ON MOTHERS

“All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." -- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." -- George Washington (1732-1799)

Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, is this Sunday. Thursday is Founder’s Day, a day to reflect on and celebrate the life of an awesome man of holiness, Saint John Baptist De LaSalle, founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and patron saint of all teachers. As we prepare for these two days, reflect on the following words from St. LaSalle himself. May God’s Spirit fill this place as we are reminded by our founder, “Wherever I go I will find you my God; there is no place that is not honored by your presence.” As we celebrate the awesome Feast of Pentecost, let us pray for one another, for each pilgrim’s needs, that our days will be blessed with graces to be shared and burdens made lighter by caring and loving in ways. Let us build up the Church and our School, that is, one another, instead of tearing one another apart. If anything, we should be tearing down the walls that divide us from becoming one.

A Prayer for Mothers
Father, we give you thanks for the many gifts you have given us; the gift of life, the gift of those who love us. We thank you today for the gift of our mothers and grandmothers. We give thanks for our Mothers and Grandmothers who have died and for the unique way they have revealed for us your love. We ask that you bless them and keep them in your care until the time comes for us to join them in your Kingdom. We ask your Blessing upon the Mothers and Grandmothers who are unable to be with us here today. May they know how much we love and care for them. We pray for birth mothers who have loved their children so much they have shared the gift of their child with those who could better care for them and their needs, and give them a secure home. And we pray for adoptive mothers, that they may always know their special role of being a true mother, a revelation of God's love for their children. We ask your blessing upon Mothers who have lost children through stillbirth, crib death, accident and tragedy, that they may have your continuing strength and courage. We ask your blessing too, upon those who would very much like to be mothers but who are having trouble having a child. We ask your Blessing upon the Mothers and Grandmothers standing before us here. Give them the strength to live the faithful and loving lives you call them to live. AMEN.

Afterthoughts of a Pope's Trip

The visitation by Pope Benedict XVI to the United States two weeks ago was designed to assist us all in our awareness of the Divine in ordinary human life. Let us pray that through the Papal visit people will come to an acute recognition of Divine Providence, that all will be encouraged to zealously fight evil with good, and that we might all be transfixed by the notion that it is in service to others that God is pleased and praised. Let us also hope that for us Catholics, we might see the inactive be seized by the Spirit of God, the minimalists driven to want to be and do more for God, the weary be enlivened with the divine energy, the scandalized receive the spirit of the forgiving Jesus, the bitter experience the sweetness of the Lord, and the harvest be full of new laborers as ordained priestly priests and as professed religious men and women. May Pope Benedict be the Voice of God to America to be both good and great, remembering the words of another European visitor to America many decades ago:

America is great because she is good.

She will stop being great when she stops being good.

One of the chief missions of our church is the Catholic School. Saint Patrick High School is continually progressing even as it stands true to its foundational principles. The School is based on Christ and His teachings.


Another mission of the Church is the Liturgy; the source and summit of the Christian life. Through the Liturgy, we come in constant contact with our Divine Lord. His Voice can be heard to guide us, His Body and Blood can be received to nourish us, His living example can inspire us on how to live out our lives with significance, meaning and purpose. Over the next month, we hope to recruit additional liturgical ministers, including ushers, servers, musicians, etc. With 10 Masses per school year, the potential for the Lord to touch us at liturgy is astounding. Please consider using your gifts to worship the Lord well and to be a channel of grace to the faithful by joining the Liturgy Team of our School. We know that for many students, Saint Patrick High School has become their “parish”.

Heros and Heroines

In his compelling and critical book Mysteries of the Middle Ages, author Thomas Cahill concludes by underscoring te need in our times for Christian heroes. He writes:

Like tenants on an eighteenth-century estate, we live amid romantic ruins,
a chancel arch here, a crumbling lancet window there, awaiting revenant
figures of reformation-the return of energizing, enveloping forces like
Hildegard and Francis, Giotto and Dante. We might even find ourselves
mumbling a prayer like the one whispered by the anonymous bard who
once stood looking at the ruins of Kilcash Castle on the southern slope of
Slievenamon in County Tipperary:

I beseech of Mary and Jesus
That the great ones come home again
With long dances danced in the garden,
Fiddle music and mirth among men,
That Kilcash the home of our fathers
Be lifted on high again,
And from that to the deluge of waters
In bounty and peace remain.

The gigantic heroes like those mentioned above have become celebrities. We know that there are heroes who never advance to that stage of awe and wonderment. These are the heroes of everyday life, who conduct themselves heroically in the everyday lives of ordinary men and women. I think of the teenager who stands up to peer pressure and says “no” to the temptations of instant gratification, the grandparents who have raised their family and cheerfully and lovingly commit to assist in raising their children’s children, the Catholic Christian who invites an un-churched or non-practicing person to a faith event knowing that the possibility of rejection is acutely probable, or the economically-challenged family that still shares their “bread” with the needy. I have met many heroes, both in religious or priestly garb and those without, who have inspired me. And they are not in short supply.