Dear Family,
Happy Mother’s Day. I did a little bit of reading about it, and my search reminded me that Mother’s day has its origins in the early 1900’s with Anna Jarvis who was not married nor a mother. She did it in memory of her own mother who was, among other things, a Civil War nurse.

The observation caught on very quickly and Woodrow Wilson made it official in 1914. Ironically, Anna was so distressed by the commercialism, (cards, flow¬ers, gifts, etc.,) that grew up around the holiday, that she spent the rest of her life (she died in 1948) trying to reclaim the specific idea of a child simply honoring his or her own mother. Note it’s Mother’s and not Mothers’ Day.

I read she died poor, having spent her wealth on trying to copyright the day’s name, etc. The article said that florists and card-makers paid for her final days in a sanatorium in Philadelphia.

Maybe all that was too much information. As I read over it, I’m almost tempted to erase the whole story.

Dear Family,
“A great 20th-century theologian said, ‘No matter how low you fall in your life, you will meet Jesus coming up from deeper down to meet you.’”

You heard me use that quote last Sunday. Since then, I’ve labored in vain to find out who the theologian is. However, I’m contacting the good Dominican in Dublin who included the quote in his gospel commentary in Today’s Good News.

It’s funny how you can get caught up in something that in the long haul probably doesn’t make much difference. After all, it’s the message that matters, not the messenger. Being lifted up with the Lord’s support under you is a pretty good message.

Truthfully, I really have thought more about the message than the messenger. Remembering that Christ supports me, enlivens me, empowers me, en¬courages me to pass on His words through my actions. At the end of the day, that’s quite an examination of conscience: “What did my actions say today?”

Dear Family,
Tomorrow, we enter May, the month of Mary. The tradition of dedicating the month of May to Mary, came about in the 13th century, some say because it was created to replace various pagan cults. The actual reason is the fact that this month is the time when spring is at the height of its beauty. Spring is also connected with nature renewing itself.

I have “borrowed” most of this Twitch from a great article by Evan Ponton who writes for The Catholic Apostolate Center.

“May is Mary’s Month,” began the great poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ, in “The May Magnificat.” For centuries, the Catholic Church has emphasized the month of May as a time of honor and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Parishes and families often celebrate with special pilgrimages, devotions, or placing a crown on a statue of Mary, traditionally called a “May Crowning.”

On April 29, 1965, Pope Blessed Paul VI promulgated his encyclical Mense Maio (“The Month of May”), which promoted May devotions to the Blessed Mother, knowing that, “the person who encounters Mary cannot help but encounter Christ likewise”.

Dear Family,
Did you ever think the day would come? At long last we are beginning. This weekend, after the five p.m. Saturday liturgy, we “broke ground” for the kitchen addition and the new storeroom. The kitchen is on the northeast corner of the parish hall and the storage area will be on the north wall.

It’s been a long time coming, but the good news is that it’s paid for. The money we have saved includes the cost of the equipment as well.

I know over the years there has been some discussion about whether we needed a kitchen. We certainly seem to do pretty well most of the time.

My hope for the kitchen is not just making our current uses easier. Let’s imagine what else we might be able to do. The mantra in the back of my mind has been, “If you build it, they will come.” Who is “they?’ I don’t know, but if we build it, we will find out.