May Procession and Mother’s Day

My Dear Parishioners,

I want to offer warm congratulations to our young people who received Jesus in Holy Communion for the very first time over the weekend. We have invited our recent First Communicants to come to Sunday Mass this weekend dressed in their First Communion outfits. If you see one of them, please help to recognize, congratulate, and encourage them to stay close to Jesus.

May is also the month of Mary and a time when we reflect on Our Blessed Mother’s willingness to make a home for Jesus within her. We too are called to make a home for Jesus in our hearts and Mary will help us do that. You are encouraged to honor Mary by reciting the rosary either privately, or join the public recitation of the rosary after the 8:00 a.m. weekday Mass or before the 5:00 Saturday Vigil Mass. We honor Mary as the Queen of Heaven and Earth in a special way tomorrow with our May Procession on Monday, May 6th. The procession begins at 7:20 pm in the grassy area between the two back parking lots (weather permitting). We invite all members of the 2024 Confirmation class and First Communion class to take a place of honor in the procession. Please wear your First Communion attire or your Confirmation robes. We also ask parishioners to bring flowers from your gardens. The flowers are carried in procession along with a statue of Mary and then placed in front of the statue as a tribute to the Blessed Virgin. After the procession we will pray the Rosary. The night closes with Benediction. It is a beautiful devotion and I hope to see you there.

Next Sunday we celebrate and honor our mothers. If you have not had a chance to write the names of the mothers and other women in your life that you wanted honored or memorialized on the Mother’s Day envelopes, please drop them off at the rectory or in the sacristy so that we may include them in our Mother’s Day Masses. The intentions will be placed in a basket in front of the Blessed Mother statue and remain there for the rest of the month of May. I found the following prayer to the Blessed Virgin for all mothers on Mother’s Day:

Prayer to the Mother of the Lord for all mothers

Mary, on this day when we honor all mothers, we turn to you. We thank the Lord whom you serve for the great gift of motherhood. Never has it been known that anyone who sought your intercession was left unaided by grace.

Dear Mother, thank you for your “Yes” to the invitation of the angel which brought heaven to earth and changed human history. You opened yourself to God’s word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Dear mother, intercede for all of our mothers. Ask your Divine Son to give them the grace of surrendered love so that they could join with you in giving their own “Fiat.” May they find daily strength to say yes to the call to the sacrificial love – the very heart of the vocation of motherhood. May their love and witness be a source of great inspiration for all of us called to follow your Son.

On this Mothers day, Mother of the Word Incarnate, pray for us who have recourse to you…

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

God Bless You!
Fr. Bordonaro