Dearest Mom (Esperanza),

I may be miles away from home, but here’s to wish you a Happy and Blessed Mother’s Day !

With Much Love,

Angelyn

Prayer and Blessings on Mother’s Day

Loving God, as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children, so you watch over your Church. Bless these women, that they may be strengthened as Christian mothers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters , may honor them always, with a spirit of profound respect. Grant this through Christ our Lord. +Amen

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace , for the end of World War I, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia.

Mary gave the children three secrets. Since Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta the following year, Lucia who later becane a Carmelite nun, revealed the first secret in 1927, concerning devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell.

Pope John Paul directed the  Holy See’s Secretary of State to reveal the third secret in 2000, it spoke of a “bishop in white ” who was  shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many people linked this to the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II  in St.Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.

The feast of Our Lady of Fatima was approved by the local bishop in 1930; it was added to the Church worldwide caledar in 2000. Sister Lucia died in 2005   at the age of 97.                    

A late copy of Our Sunday Visitor gives us the “then ” and “now” of the day of the Lord. Then : Family Mass (morning), family lunch and dinner, afternoon nap or visit with friends children playing with their cousins . . .  a special day , a day of celebration, a day of rest. Now : Just another day (for some people), supermarkets and shopping malls crowded, 1/3 of us at work, no time for Sunday dinner or playing with cousins. Sunday no longer a day of celebration or rest. Looks to much like  Monday and the rest of the week.

I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate , the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Peace I leave with you : my peace I give to you. Nor as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

John 14:25-27