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Dear Friends,
 
During the month of May, we have a special devotion to Mary our Blessed Mother. I would like to encourage each of you to pray at least a decade of the Rosary each day during this month asking for Mary’s intercession for you, your family, our church, and our world. I want to draw your attention to the story of Fatima this week. May 13th, 1917 was the 1st apparition of Our Lady at Fatima to three young children (Francesco, Lucia, and Jacinta). At Fatima, Our Lady instructed the three children to pray without ceasing and to offer their suffering as reparation against the sins committed against God and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Mary asked the children to pray the Rosary daily for the conversion of those who had rejected Jesus’ invitation to love Him and His Church.  Our Lady also stressed the importance of receiving the Eucharist as the means to holiness and union with Jesus. To that end, I would ask you all to please pray asking Mary always to intercede for all of us and our world broken down by sin. Let us hold fast to the Rosary as we place all our concerns under the protective mantle of Our Lady of Fatima, confident that in the end, Her Immaculate Heart will help us to Triumph!
 
I Invite you all to join us to pray the Rosary together on May 13th at 6:30pm at St. Patrick Church, Prayer Garden. 

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Friends, while we honor Mary in the month of May as the Mother of the Church and our heavenly Mother, we also honor our earthly mothers on this Mother’s Day weekend. None of us can ever fully repay our mothers for the gift of life, the nurturing they gave us as children, and their unfailing love and support throughout life’s journey. In observing my own Mom’s tireless work-ethic in raising eight children as well as becoming an expert grandmother, I have also grown in appreciation for motherhood in watching my sisters raise their families in collaboration with their husbands. The selfless, sacrificial, and life-giving dimensions of motherhood often go unnoticed and overlooked.
 
Every child learns, as soon as they are born, to trust their mother. Mothers have a special connection to their children that can never be broken. This is the point I would like to make on this Mother’s Day, do not allow the darkness and separation you may be feeling separate you from the love of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the love of your beloved mother, whether she be living or deceased. Instead, let us remember the words of the Memorare Prayer, “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.” Call out to Mary, she will help you. To every one of our mothers, thank you for the gift of life, your vocation, and the nurturing love you show your children. In this time of spiritual darkness, the beauty of your vocation shines through and allows us to see just how much God the Father loves us through your unconditional love as we entrust our desire to grow in holiness to Mary, Mother of the Church.

 

On this 4th Sunday of Easter also, which is also referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday, we are invited to pray for vocations. We are asked to follow Christ our true Shepard to hear his voice, to know him and to follow him. Let us pray in particular for a great flourishing of priestly vocations from this pastorate and throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.
 
When I was a child, I always knew I wanted to be a priest. With many wonderful priests inspiring me, this dream became a reality. It came about too because of the prayers of many people including my parents. I ask you all today to pray for our young people, that they will be open to hearing the voice of God calling them to minister in his mission field. As a priest I know that through the sacrament of Holy Orders, we priests are united in a singular and exceptional way to the Eucharist. In a certain way we derive from it and exist for it. No work we do as priests is more important than the Eucharist. The celebration of the Eucharist is the way that we best serve our brothers and sisters in the world because it is the source and center of the dynamism of their Christian lives. Pray for all priests as well today.
 
Mary, Mother of the Church - Pray for us!
 
God Bless you all.
 
Fr. Francis