The church will be closed at 11:30am on Tuesday May 12 at 11:30 until 1pm for a funeral Mass.  Adoration will continue afterwards.

The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has asked all believers to join with the High Committee for Human Fraternity and make May 14 a day of prayer for the world in response to Covid-19.  More detail can be found at the Vatican Press Office linked here.

Livestream of Mass can be found by clicking HERE

Please note the church will be closed until 1pm on Sunday for Live Streaming of Masses.

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