Easter IV
In your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of a SGG former parishioner who died suddenly in early April.:
Melissa Kunkel.
Melissa was 41 and the mother of 13 children.
Please keep her, her husband Tom, and her children in your prayers.
Father Cekada
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Ordination to the Subdiaconate of Rev. Mr. Nkamuke Okechukwu by Bp. Sanborn
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This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:
Apr. 18, 2013: St. Joseph by Fr. Hecquard
Apr. 19, 2013: Pope St. Leo the Ninth by Fr. Lehtoranta
Apr. 22, 2013: Saints Soter & Caius by Fr. Lehtoranta
Apr. 23, 2013: St. George by Bp. Dolan
Apr. 26, 2013: Our Lady of Good Counsel by Fr. Lehtoranta
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Our quiet joyful April ends on Tuesday, with the great Catherine of Siena, and the Little Jesus, Doctor of the Sick. Already Easter, the feast of feasts, seems to recede, and May with its Marian devotions beckons to us. But first let us keep watch this Friday, First Friday, with our Risen Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as we honor His glorious and Holy Cross, and dwell in His Sacred Heart.
Devotions, feasts and observances are many in May. Do keep them with us in church as you can, but don’t keep them just “for church.” Remember, each Catholic home is a little or family church, whose heart should be the family altar or shrine. The Sacred Heart should be enthroned here, and Mary reign as Queen here.
This should be especially obvious by means of the May Altar. Remember how St. Thérèse and her family lavishly and lovingly decorated theirs each day. How the fresh flowers and flickering candles invite us to pause and draw near and pray. It is Mary’s month of May.
Remember, too, the story of a non-practicing Catholic man who gave in to despair and cast himself off a bridge. His widow almost despaired for his soul, but was reassured by the Curé of Ars: “He is saved!” And why? Simply because he sometimes joined in the May devotions his wife prayed in front of the family altar. Our Lady obtained for him the grace of contrition before he died. Never despise the little, and you will see real good come of it. Little Flower, pray for us!
Protestants would not like this story, but it shows us the consoling truths of our Faith and inspires us to do the same. The Mother of God! We can never honor her enough. De Maria numquam satis. (Of Mary, there is never enough.) When we go with her, each virtue flourishes, and our many duties and devotions are duly and devoutly done. Religion sinks in and softens our hard hearts, steeling too our wills to accomplish God’s will in family and home, and Church and society.
Fr. Hecquard has returned home to France, where he hopes to dedicate himself to the blessed apostolate of preaching retreats. His will be based on the exercises of St. Gertrude. May our patroness bless and guide him.
Meanwhile, Fr. McGuire is making his mission rounds and praying “the creek don’t rise” so that he may visit the flood-prone faithful of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The rains here have been salutary so far, making the grounds green and the flowers to flourish.
We had a good pilgrimage to St. Joan of Arc Chapel in Milwaukee last weekend, with 38 in attendance. St. Joan teaches us to love our own, our native land, and that Our Lord blesses those who practice the piety of true patriotism, even as He punishes empire builders, scourging them with wars without end. May St. Joan of Arc be our model in our love for our own country. God has blessed our land with great beauty and wealth and power. Now, may God bless our beloved America by bringing her back to God.
The strength of a country is not economic nor military, but rather domestic, and founded on the family. Our country’s leaders, and all of the one-worlders in every land, are working with all of their might and main to destroy the family. Do your part to build it up, to strengthen it with family ties forged at the family altar with prayer. Start with your May altar this week, and daily Rosary right at the supper table.
May the Holy Ghost breathe anew the spirit of devotion for His Immaculate Spouse in our homes and hearts.
–Bishop Dolan