Today we celebrate Mother’s Day. It is a very special time for us to honor all our mothers and most of all, our Blessed Mother. Our mothers give so much of themselves to us. They care for us, they nurture us physically and spiritually, they guide us through life, they watch over and protect us, they comfort us when we are sick or hurt, and they rejoice with us in our accomplishments. Mothers are always there for us just as our Blessed Mother is always there for us in good times and bad.
Today, let us thank almighty God for the gift of our mothers; mothers, stepmothers, godmothers, grandmothers, mothers-in-law, and those who are like mothers to us. May God truly bless them with His love and always help them to be instruments of His love in our lives. We also pray for our mothers who have died, that God may care for them and guide them safely home to the Kingdom of Heaven where they may enjoy forever the light and love of God’s life.
Truly, our mothers on earth are a source of care and comfort. When we need help in our lives we often turn to our mothers. Sometimes we ask them to do things for us themselves and sometimes we ask them to intercede for us with our fathers or others whose help we need. We also do the same thing with our Blessed Mother. We pray that she will intercede for us with God, our Father, so that He will help us in doing some important or special task.
Yesterday the children of the second grade received our Lord for the first time in Holy Communion. It was a very important day in their lives and in the lives of their families. We congratulate these children and pray that they may always remain close to Jesus and know that He is always with them. May they always treasure this most precious gift of Jesus in the Eucharist and never allow anything or anyone to stand in the way of their receiving Him each Sunday as they come to worship Him at Mass.
I am very grateful to all who have worked so hard to prepare the children for this sacrament, especially their catechists, Lisa Kelley, Katherine Robbins, Michelle Tomei, as well as Abby Cook, our DRE. Thank you also to Fr. Joe Robinson, Deacon Rich, our music director, and altar servers for making the First Communion Mass so prayerful and beautiful.
Today is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The purpose of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publicly fulfill the Lord’s instruction to, “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest” (Mt 9:38; Lk 10:2). As a climax to a prayer that is continually offered throughout the Church, it affirms the primacy of faith and grace in all that concerns vocations to priesthood and to the consecrated life. While appreciating all vocations, the Church concentrates its attention this day on vocations to the ordained ministries (priesthood and diaconate), to the Religious life in all its forms (male and female, contemplative and apostolic), to societies of apostolic life, to secular institutes in their diversity of services and membership, and to the missionary life, in the particular sense of mission to all people. This year marks the 62nd Anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
It is very important for us to encourage our young people to consider answering the Lord’s call. The Lord is calling as many of our young people to serve Him and the Church in priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life as He has ever called. The problem is that few are answering that call because they convince themselves that He is NOT calling them and that He is calling them to do what they want to do. In our part of the world there are many distractions to answering the call of God to serve Him, but he same is not true in many other parts of the world especially in Africa where the seminaries and convents are not big enough to accommodate all those who wish to enter,
Parents, family, and friends should encourage any young person who expresses an interest in a religious vocation. We also need to ask all young people at some time in their lives if they have ever considered the religious life and if they say yes, we need to really encourage them and pray for them. As we pray our Hail Mary after each Mass let us also ask our Blessed Mother for the courage to speak to those young people who might make a good priest, deacon, or religious.
Please keep in your prayers the nine men who will be ordained to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ on Saturday, May 17 by Bishop Malesic. Among the men to be ordained is our own Deacon Jon Hawkins. I know many of you have been praying for him over the years and our prayers have borne fruit. Deacon Jon is the son of James and Carolyn Hawkins. He also has a brother, Charlie. The parish is very happy for the soon-to-be Fr. Jon Hawkins. He will be celebrating his First Mass here on Saturday, May 17, at 5PM with a reception to follow in McMahon Hall. Please keep him in your prayers as he begins to live his vocation as a priest of Jesus Christ.
THANK YOU! I am very grateful to all who thought of me on my birthday. Thanks for the gifts, the cards, the goodies and especially the prayers. As I begin this 75th year of life I am grateful to God for His love and goodness and to all the people of this good parish. God bless all.
