Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

The 9am Mass this Saturday is a special Mass for all those suffering from mental health difficulties and their loved ones.  All are welcome.

Dear Folks,

July, my favorite month! Ok… some big parties this month, by my estimation: the Fourth of July and Bastille Day! And one of the joys of having a summer birthday is that I was never in school on my birthday! I did, however, spend 15 hours installing hot water heaters on my birthday in 1986. I’ll leave that story for another day!

Today, I want to encourage you, as life slows down a little, to habituate yourself to praying the Rosary.

One of my earliest associations with the Rosary is that our family would pray it together in the car whenever we went on a drive of more than an hour or two. Trip to Grandma’s: three hours and a Rosary. Trip to the beach: four hours and a Rosary. Trip to Charleston: ten hours and a Rosary.

When I was very, very little, I remember pretending I was asleep so that I wouldn’t have to pray. Oops… I hope it doesn’t shock you to learn that I was a normal child who didn’t always want to do the pious thing! I also remember being very anxious that I would mess up the Hail Mary, which was probably part of the reason for the pretending. But my parents were patient and gently firm, and they taught me to appreciate that our time together in the car included the Lord.

While I still often pray the Rosary in the car, I should point out that it ought not be the only time I pray the Rosary as an adult. Clearly, while driving, my attention isn’t climbing the highest pinnacles of prayer. But teaching children the value of vocal prayer and introducing them to meditation on the mysteries? That works wonderfully, because they aren’t the ones driving and can put the time to good use!

Last October, St. Bartolo Longo was canonized. He is known as the “Herald of the Rosary. ” He built a beautiful shrine right next to the ruins of Pompeii, which I encourage you to visit if you are ever in Italy. Bartolo’s is a dramatic modern conversion story. He realized that his life of dissipation and idolatry was leading nowhere, and he turned back to God. He later wrote: “As I pondered over my condition, I experienced a deep sense of despair and almost committed suicide. Then I heard an echo in my ear of the voice of Friar Alberto repeating the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ‘If you seek salvation, propagate the Rosary. This is Mary’s own promise.’ These words illumined my soul. I went on my knees. ‘If it is true… I will not leave this valley until I have propagated your Rosary.'”

Perhaps Our Lady is making the same invitation to us.Not necessarily to build a great shrine, but simply to pick up the Rosary, pray it faithfully, and let her lead us ever more deeply to her Son.

pax,

Father John Mosimann

Dear Folks,

We have had some seriously hot, long and muggy days. I remember one such day in 1986 where I felt burdened, and overwhelmed, and even a little bit sad. My University of Dallas faculty, classmates, and I were in Nafplion Greece. The day is seared into memory because some of us went swimming, and the instant I dove into the water all of the stress immediately washed out of me! It seemed supernatural, was the most amazing swim of my life, and immediately comforted my soul as if by the refreshment of swimming in God’s love.

I was also reminded of this swim when I stumbled across St. Thomas Aquinas teaching on 5 remedies for sadness (Summa Theologiae, I–II, q. 38):

1. Give yourself something you like. Why do you think so many folks turn to chocolate as an antidepressant? St. Thomas said, “Therefore just as all repose of the body brings relief to any kind of weariness, ensuing from any non-natural cause; so every pleasure brings relief by assuaging any kind of sorrow, due to any cause whatever.”

2. Weep. Wow, a good cry? St. Thomas said, “First, because a hurtful thing hurts yet more if we keep it shut up, because the soul is more intent on it: whereas if it be allowed to escape, the soul’s intention is dispersed as it were on outward things, so that the inward sorrow is lessened.”

3. Share your sorrow with a friend. “Because when a man’s friends condole with him, he sees that he is loved by them, and this affords him pleasure…. [It] follows that sorrow is mitigated by a sympathizing friend.”

4. Contemplate Truth. “The greatest of all pleasures consists in the contemplation of truth. Now every pleasure assuages pain as stated above (#1): hence the contemplation of truth assuages pain or sorrow, and the more so, the more perfectly one is a lover of wisdom.”

5 Take a nap or bath! “Moreover such remedies, from the very fact that they bring nature back to its normal state, are causes of pleasure; for this is precisely in what pleasure consists…. therefore, since every pleasure assuages sorrow, sorrow is assuaged by such like bodily remedies.”

Maybe my restorative swim was a combination of #1 and #5…. but fatigue and sadness are a part of our human condition, and it was surprising to find St. Thomas with such practical remedies!

Enjoy your summer vacations and swims as a way to restore and refresh you!

pax,

Father John Mosimann