Gratitude for our Mothers

How wonderful that the tradition of “Mother’s Day” falls in the Easter Season and in the month of May, when we have special devotions to our Blessed Mother Mary. As we celebrate the new life that the Risen Christ bestowed on the world through His Resurrection, so, too, do we give thanks to God for how our mothers reveal God’s unconditional love.

We also keep in our prayers today all those who grieve the loss of their mothers. And for some, this can be a difficult day if their experience of a ‘mom’ was not so pleasant growing up. We also pray for mothers-tobe, women who are waiting for a child to adopt, adoptive moms, single moms, and all women who offer a mothering kind of love to the world.

The month of May is also a perfect time to honor our spiritual Mother, the Virgin Mary, whom Jesus gave to us as our mother as He was dying on the Cross. This a good time for parents to remember to include Marian devotions in your home, such as saying a Hail Mary before bed with the children and/or praying a decade of the Rosary together after dinner. You may also join us for our ‘parking lot Rosary’ each Monday night of May starting this Monday night, May 9 at 6:00 in the church parking lot near the pavilion.

Gratitude for your generosity…
On the next page of the bulletin, you will see our quarterly financial report as our finance council continues to be transparent at how your generous donations make a difference. The really great news is that our contributions have increased $103,000 over last year at this “third quarter” time. Thank you! The flip side is that having restored all our parish ministries after being on ‘break’ during covid, our expenses to serve all our parishioner’s needs have also increased compared to last year. Thank you for helping us meet our budget for this year which ends on 30 June.

Thank you to all who helped prepare our students and adults for Confirmation and those who volunteered to provide such a beautiful Confirmation Liturgy. Special thanks to the Hospitality Committee and ninth-grade parents, who provided such a large buffet reception afterward in our new, larger Fellowship Hall. God bless you all!

Easter Peace,
Fr. Jim Deiters