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Dear Folks,

Today is Mother’s Day! Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers: biological, adoptive, spiritual, godmothers. I assure you of my prayers and blessing. I offer this lovely quote from Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty:

“The Angels have not been blessed with a such a grace. They cannot share in God’s Creative miracle to bring new Saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creatures. God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation.”

This, Mother’s Day is, of course, unlike any other we have experienced. What are your usual customs? Big gathering of family, fancy dinner out, Sunday Mass together? All swept away by the CoronaVirus.While we can’t have our customary celebrations, we can certainly honor our mothers.

Pray. Any gift you can give will have some value only during this life. However, every prayer rises to God where it is like a lovely imperishable flower adorning the throne of Glory. Every single one. Because it is received by the eternal Lord, it enters into His eternal plan of love.

“Rosarium … signifying properly a collection or garland of roses…. In the course of time the name was specially appropriated to a string of Paternosters and Ave Marias to be recited in a certain order in honor of the fifteen mysteries of our Lord in which the Virgin was a partaker, and from the collection of prayers the name was transferred to the string of beads used for the purpose of keeping count in the recitation.”

Pick Flowers from your yard. Thirty some years ago I picked tiny wild-flowers for my mother on a pilgrimage to a Marian shrine. They are pressed and framed in my parents home to this day. She received many more lovely arrangements of roses, but those tiny flowers were treasured.

Make a card by hand.

However you say it, let it be known: “Moms, we love you and thank God for you.”

Pax et bonum,

Fr. Mosimann

 

Live Stream of Mass Can Be Found by Clicking HERE

 

Dear Folks,

Today I got an email from someone, about a difficult neighbor. It triggered a memory from my childhood.See, we lived in a court. This was heaven. We had a huge back yard (by suburban standards for neighborhoods built in late ‘60s). But that court! It was our basketball court (with trash cans), our street hockey rink, our wiffle ball diamond, and kick the can empire!

But other people lived in our neighborhood. And one of them often called the cops on us. It was a regular thing that any game in the court involved seeing if neighbors were home and guessing the likelihood of the cops showing up because we wanted to play catch or we might make too much noise while playing a game. Many days mom would say, ‘play in the back yard today.’ Other times a ball would go into their yard, and we knew the game was over until we could mount an operation under cover of darkness to sneak into the yard and retrieve it. No fence, no security, just the certainty that if we were seen stepping on their grass the cops would be called.

I don’t recall my parents every saying an unkind word about this neighbor. Or the others that would walk their dog always stopping in our front yard, and you know what I mean. You see, we stood out: eight children and Catholic, and with parents not afraid to invite others to know and love the Lord.

After all of us were adults and grown, this neighbor knocked on the door one day to ask my mother for forgiveness. Personal pain and loss had hardened hearts against the Lord, and the closest target was the noticeably Catholic family neighbor. Tears were shed, and my mom was overjoyed to embrace in forgiveness. I like to think that this neighbor and my mom are hugging right now in heaven.

I asked them both to pray for difficult neighbors. We all might have one. I thank my mom and dad for teaching us to “Live by the Sprit, Walk by the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit, through kindness, really does melt hearts.

 

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Mosimann

 

As the world continues to face the ongoing effects of the global pandemic of the coronavirus, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and president of the USCCB has announced that the U.S. bishops will join the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on May 1 in renewing the consecrations of the two nations to the care of our Blessed Mother.

Through a collective dedication or entrustment of a nation to Mary, an act of consecration is meant to be a reminder to the faithful of the Blessed Mother’s witness to the Gospel and to ask for her effective intercession before her Son on behalf of those in need.

The consecration on May 1 follows a similar action of the bishops’ conference of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM) who consecrated their nations to Our Lady of Guadalupe on Easter Sunday. This prayer reaffirms and renews previous Marian entrustments, and it unites us in solidarity with our Holy Father, who recently established the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, as a source of protection and strength.

Archbishop Gomez will lead a brief liturgy with the prayer of re-consecration on Friday, May 1 at 3:00 pm EDT and has invited the bishops to join in from their respective dioceses and asked them to extend the invitation to the faithful in their dioceses for their participation. A liturgy guide will be available to assist the faithful who may join in by tuning into the USCCB’s social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Live Stream Masses HERE

 

Dear Folks,

Next weekend we would be celebrating First Communions, if it were not for Corona-Apocalypse. Please pray for the children who are preparing to receive our Lord, and pray for their families who are bearing the primary responsibility of that preparation now, as we wait for the green-light to return to public Masses and Communions!

Additionally, in May we have had a simple May Crowning, where children of all ages are invited to bring a flower to Our Lady. Since we can’t yet be together in the church, I encourage you to place flowers before a statue or image of Our Lady. And as you do so, pray for our return to Holy Mass!

May Crownings remind me of some husbands talking about buying flowers for their wives. The consensus was that it was a total win to just buy them flowers ‘for no apparent reason.’ And they all agreed that you never, never but the cheapest arrangement at the store. Ever. Flowers also make a beautiful offering to the Lord! When we give good and beautiful things to the Lord, we do so in recognition of the truth that He has given us everything good: Himself. The flower that Jesus most wants is our love, but how fitting as well that plants of the earth offer up the beauty of their lives in adornment to glorify the Lord.

pax et bonum,

Fr. John Mosimann