Within the Octave of the Ascension
Young Adult Get-Together
This summer, we are hosting a young adult get-together. We hope to draw Traditional Catholics from across the country. Visit our event website for more information.
YAG Cincinnati Website
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Watch a very short video with scenes from our May crowning.
We had a large turnout for our first Fatima Rosary Procession of the year.
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Daily Sermons
May 19 – Fr. Lehtoranta – Holy Mass at the Home of St. Pudentiana
May 22 – Fr. Lehtoranta – How God Answers Prayers
May 23 – Fr. Lehtoranta – Sin and Bessie the Python
May 24 – Fr. McKenna – Mary, Help of Christians
May 25 – Bp. Dolan – Silence and the Sacrifice
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
The beautiful days of May are drawing to a close, now under the warmth and light of the Holy Ghost whose solemn novena leads us to Pentecost. I was praying my Rosary on the porch just now, and wondered where the fragrance came from, thinking of the Holy Wounds of Christ at His Ascension. Remember Thursday’s sermon? But it really was a beautiful smell. Was I having a mystical experience? Not hardly! It was the clover, fragrant under the warm Spring sun. But then the man came round and cut it all down during Mass, and the smell was of fresh mown grass. “All flesh is grass.” Even nature conspires to aid our prayer these sweet days of May. End them with Mary. Wednesday is her Queenship.
The Holy Day had its high point at the High Mass, with its symbolic extinction of the Paschal Candle, which will return now only for Saturday’s Blessing of the Font. Thursday’s weather was a trial, but we had an hour of glorious sunshine after the 9, and a whole day’s worth on Friday, as we began our Novena to the Holy Ghost.
The Lesser Litanies went well. The crowd was small but orderly. No breakaways. Fr. Cekada and I led the Litany, raising the pitch from time to time, and trying to keep our place in the book. Wednesday the rain threatened, and we stayed under roof. How handy to have a handsome cloister at the ready! There we humbly prayed, perseveringly, despite heavy humidity and dark clouds.
Over the past few years the morning Holy Day Masses have grown more popular, and the 5:45 attendance steadily smaller. Interesting. It is edifying to see so many at the Workers’ Mass sacrificing to assist at the Holy Sacrifice before a day’s work. Would anyone like such a Mass say, once a week? Someone suggested 7:30 AM for a good Summer weekday Mass time?
Many thanks for the great and generous meals we enjoyed this week. After the 5:45 on Thursday Fr. Cekada kindly packed up our share of the Sisters’ fine, fresh supper and headed over to the rectory. There he was met by an evidently proud Puccini, dead bunny at his feet. This must be the same little cottontail Caravaggio delivered the other day. I wondered what happened to it.
After the 7 on the Holy Day, I gave a last traveller’s blessing to Tom and Karen Simpson, who were heading to Florida, where they will be living near Bishop Sanborn’s church. We certainly wish them well in the Sunshine State.
Tom Simpson has been an important and valued part of our church for over thirty years. For many years he led a fine crew of adult altar servers. In time, boys joined, always edified by the example of the men who set the gold standard. It was an excellent system, which Tom helped to maintain by his precise rubrical studies, his great organizational skills, and wonderful devotion to the Mass. Tom promises to return to help for Holy Week, and in the meantime we wish him and Karen a happy, and very traditional, Florida retirement.
Well, tomorrow, Memorial Day, we meet at 8 and 9, with Rosary in between, to pray for our dead, our Springtime All Souls Day. Fr. McGuire will be driving back from Milwaukee and the missions to join us for the traditional afternoon barbecue. Enjoy your holiday, but do remember all of our dead, even as you celebrate with the living. How great to be a Catholic! You can do both.
Please note the special schedule this weekend for First Friday (no All Night Adoration) and First Saturday, with the Pentecost Vigil ceremonies and Confirmations. Pray for the little ones who will join me for their Recollection on Thursday, and be enlisted among the Soldiers of Christ come Saturday.
Don’t forget that Thursday we begin the Month of the Sacred Heart, our own particular parish devotion. May the Holy Ghost inspire this, and fill you all with the fire of His love.
– Bishop Dolan