From the Pastor’s Desk
The month of May is traditionally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. May from the earliest days of the Church has held Mary with a special devotion. Beginning at the end of the 13th century the Catholic Church has emphasized the month of May as a time of honor and devotion. The month of May is part of the Easter Season, between Easter and Pentecost. In 1945, Pope Pius XII established the feast of the Queenship of Mary on May 31, solidifying May as a Marian month.
Our Vietnamese Community here at St. Agnes holds Mary in the highest regard due to her protection through her son, Jesus Christ during the persecution in Vietnam in 1798 in which over 100,000 was killed.
The association of Mary with flowers has been a part of the liturgy for many centuries. Mary is often shown with flower imagery which comes from books of the Bible, in the form of Canticles found in Wisdom, Proverbs and Sirach. This symbolism emphasizes her purity, beauty and spiritual blossoming. Hopefully this will help us to understand our Vietnamese Community use of flowers during the Month of May in honoring Mary.
This weekend as we remember our mothers, whether living or deceased, remember them in prayer. The flowers are nice, taking them out to lunch or dinner is great, but remember them in prayer. Our mothers spent countless hours in prayer for each of us. The nights they stayed awake until we walked in the back door. All the chauffeuring to music events, sporting events, to the pool, to the movies, you name it, our mothers did it out of love. So spend some time in prayer for them, because God knows how much prayer our mothers have sent heavenward for us, their sons and daughters.
This coming Tuesday evening we will celebrate the 2024 Graduation Mass for St. Agnes Cathedral Grade School. My prayers are with each of the graduates as they end one part of their lives to begin another. I thank their parents who entrusted their children for us to teach, coach, but especially to help guide them in their spiritual growth