Dear Folks,

Happy Mother’s Day!  We owe such a debt of gratitude and prayer to our mothers!  May the Lord protect them and keep them always in His loving heart!

Which reminds me: we need to thank our heavenly mother!  So May Crowning next Sunday… remember this from prior to the pandemic?

This year we will try something different: at the end of each Mass, all (in church and PLC too) will be invited to process out to the outdoor statue where we can place a flower offering and sing a song in honor of Our Lady.

At its heart, a may crowning is a simple act of love for our heavenly mother.  Today we are honoring our mothers with flowers or breakfast in bed or even doing the dishes without complaining!  Does any mother refuse such acts of tenderness?  Once I gave my mother eight very small flowers that I brought back from a pilgrimage to a Marian Shrine.  One flower for each of her eight children.  Mom treasured this gift.

But imagine if you gave mom flowers by just tossing them at her feet and then going about business as if it were just another day.  An external act, if it is not also internalized, is meaningless.  So much of our Catholic way of liturgy finds itself at this nexus.  The external is not itself the meaning, but it gives expression to and forms the internal.  Show me how you pray, and I will show you how you believe.

So next weekend all (but especially the young) are invited to bring a flower for Our Lady.  And If you forget to bring one, don’t panic… we will have some extras for you.  May the flowers at the feet of Our Lady, be an external manifestation of the many more acts of Love we place in her hands for her to give to Jesus.

pax,
fr mosimann