A Word from Your Pastor - May 1

Dear Parishioners:

As we begin the month of May, we enter into a very hectic season.  It is important that we find a way to keep ourselves centered and to hold steady on our priorities.  God must be first in our lives.  As Catholics and Christians, we have to allow Church to be in our view at all times.  We live in the world, but we are not of the world.  It is all too easy to forget this in the face of schedules full of activity.

The Church invites us in May to keep Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our own Heavenly Mother in our minds and hearts.  Can we as a Parish, a School and as a family of families do our best to attend to our Mother?  I suggest that you consider establishing a family devotion to Mary.  Pray the Rosary together.  Create a May Altar in your home.  Include a Hail Mary with your usual daily prayers at meal time and at bed time.  Make sure that you have a picture or statue of our Blessed Mother in a place of honor in your house or yard.  Learn a new Marian prayer by heart: the Memorare, the Salve Regina, the Magnificat.  As your older relatives to recite their favorite prayer to your children.  Sing a Marian hymn as part of your own family prayers.  Be creative and don’t forget to honor your earthly mother and/or the mother of your children as well.

The best way to honor Mary, of course, is to show the respect and love due to her Son and to the God Who gave Mary the highest honor given to the human race.  Cooperation with the Holy Spirit in the work of proclaiming the Gospel is a truly Marian action.  Mary’s “Yes” to God is what allowed God to enter our world.  Our continued “Yes” to God’s Will in our own lives opens us to even greater gifts.  Let us pray for the outpouring of God’s Spirit on the Church and on the world.  “Come, Holy Spirit!” is a powerful prayer that can change everything.