Happy Mother’s Day
Recently a young mother and her very young son caught my attention. The boy was 3, 4 maybe 5 years of age and the two of them were joined hand in hand. The youngster was looking about in a wondrous and investigative sort of way as they made their way along a sidewalk amidst a moderate number of others.
I assumed that they were mother and son without knowing for sure or ever meeting them, but the natural way they were connected seemed to leave no doubt. The boy was tethered to mom, but seemed almost oblivious to her guiding presence.
As they approached the cross walk, many people and things caught the attention of the curious lad. Mom stopped and checked for traffic before crossing. The boy naturally halted as the guiding force of his journey had stopped. He continued his gaze of curiosity, even seemingly unaware that they had stopped – or why. Once mom ascertained it was safe, they proceeded across the street and on their way.
As I watched, I thought how much of a revelation of God that simple scene is. We are always tethered to God’s guiding hand and I would say most of the time we are not even aware of it. How often are we unaware of God’s guiding hand in our lives as we focus on so many things? So much in life can infatuate us or catch our attention. This world has a lot of wonder and distraction.
Lacking the certainty that the boy and woman were son and mother gives me the opportunity to thank all of the women, mothers or not, who hold our hand and guide us, stopping us when we need to check the safety of crossing traffic in life and revealing a God who tenderly holds our hand and guides us even when we lack awareness of the importance of that guiding hand.
This Mother’s Day let us take a moment to look up and thank God for the guidance amidst all else that captures our attention and certainly thank the women in our lives who do the same.
Confirmation
Bishop Joseph Perry was here to celebrate Confirmation with our high school teens last Friday. There are several unique elements of Confirmation here at Holy Family that few if any other parishes do. They include:
•Each Confirmand signs a book immediately after being Confirmed making a commitment to be involved in our parish post-Confirmation
•A student gives a 5-7 minute statement during the Mass on behalf of the entire class
•Confirmands who express a desire to be Eucharistic Ministers are trained and serve for the first time during the Confirmation Mass
•Each teen writes me a letter expressing why they want to be confirmed.
I always appreciate the sincerity and thoughtfulness of their letters. It lets me know that these young people, on the verge of some of the most significant decisions in their lives – dating, college, careers, marriage and more – are ready to make their faith their own.
First Communion
Half of our second graders received First Communion last Saturday and the other half will receive on Saturday, May 17. This past Saturday was a beautiful and joyful celebration and we anticipate the same on the 17th.
Bob Lanigan Ordained a Permanent Deacon
The reason for the delay in the second First Communion celebration is that our parishioner, Bob Lanigan, will be ordained a Permanent Deacon this Saturday, May 10 at Holy Name Cathedral. He will preach at Mass this Sunday during the 11:00 am Mass and there will be a light reception following and an opportunity for you to congratulate him and his wife Kristin.
May and Mary
I hope you appreciate the statue of Mary that will be present in our church throughout May. Her open hands welcome us all to receive God’s grace through the gift of her Son. Perhaps her gesture supplements her message to us first given to the servants in the story of the Wedding Feast at Cana, “Do whatever my Son tells you.”