And I Remember Momma

 

No, this isn’t a continuation of my last posting.

Last month, I felt an urge to have a mass said for my mother, something I haven’t done in a while.  I had remembered to have one said for my sister on her birthday this year, but mom seemed to slip my mind, although I pray for her soul every day.  So, I had a mass said for mom last month.  Way back when my dad retired from his years on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad (at mom’s insistence because he worked a very stressful job) they retired to Wisconsin, selling the home where I grew up in Illinois.  Mom had a favorite rose bush in the back yard, but she decided not to try and transfer it to their new Wisconsin home, on the river.  So, I transferred it to my home here in Michigan.

I tried to make the rose bush flourish, but it had sparse roses, to say the least, and it seemed that I did not have to prune it, as it never seemed to grow much.  Until this year …

I hadn’t been out into my backyard much this Spring.  Michigan weather has been cool.  But I went out last week and was totally surprised by my mom’s rose bush.  It had tons of new roses and buds.  Nothing near this has ever happened in the past 30 years.  But I had a mass said for momma, and ….

I recalled the many conversations I have heard from parents lamenting the falling away from faith of their children.  Families have become split apart because of faith beliefs.  I’ve read of popes who said that the final fight of Satan for this world will be over the family.  Looking at the material evidence of what happened when I had said one mass for my mom (and I pray, even more spiritual evidence), I am having a mass said on June 22, for our children.  It now seems to me that having a mass said for our child, even if that would bother them if they knew, would be a good thing, and I will encourage all parents I meet to do so. 

As I have been so blessed to so fully understand of late, our God IS LOVE.  Showing our love for our children to Him, by having masses prayed for them, may bloom in ways we could never imagine.

June 22^nd is the feast of Corpus Christi, and in many parishes around the country (and world?) there will be processions of the Holy Eucharist celebrating the love of Jesus, and the continuing evidence of it in His humbling Himself to come to us in that little host.  Our group of parishes will celebrate that day again in the park in downtown Plymouth, in the center of town, surrounded by many people sitting in the many restaurants surrounding the park.  We will process around the outside walks of the entire park.  We are not afraid to openly celebrate what we believe.  And we know.