The 6:30 am and 8:00 am daily Masses for this Monday and Tuesday will be in the Fr. Puhl Center as usual. The three morning Masses on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be at the same time but they will be celebrated at Our Lady of Visitation Church, 2531 W. 65th Place. Why the change? The parish staff will be busy converting the Fr. Puhl Center from a church back into our parish hall, so we have no place to celebrate the Mass at Holy Trinity for three days. Also , there will be no 8:00 am Mass this coming Saturday, May 15th.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers of our parish! May God give to you and your families a truly blessed and joyful Mother’s Day. We do not tell you often enough that “We love you”. On this day we renew our devotion to you and our desire to place you always in the hands of our good Lord Jesus for His safe-keeping! During the Masses today our parish prays for the intentions of all our mothers. Your intentions will remain on our altar and in our prayers during the month of May.
There will be a beautiful Holy Hour and Benediction here in the new church on Monday, May 17th, at 7:00 pm. We have the great honor of having Bishop Conley with us to lead the prayers and I encourage as many of you to come as are able. There will be many priests joining us for this special Holy Hour as well as people from the many different parishes located in the northern part of the City. This special evening of adoration is a part of the Year for Priests that the Holy Father has set aside so that the entire Church can pray for its priests and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. I hope you can come to this special Holy Hour with Bishop Conley!
You’ve seen the bumper sticker, right? “Love your Mother.” Great sentiment, almost Biblical. In fact, one of the commandments that God gave Moses on Mount Sinai, says… “Honor your father and your mother.” Except that the bumper sticker I’m referring to shows a picture of the earth, drawn in green. In other words, our mother is supposed to be the earth, or Gaia. In our neo-pagan age, folks around us who have rejected God are going back to the bad-old-days of worshiping gods and goddesses of their own making, such as, for example, Gaia. When St. Paul walked the streets of Greece, preaching the Gospel, the Greek goddess of the earth was, in fact, Gaia. Great; our mother is supposed to be a chunk of dirt.
Our Masses of Thanksgiving on Saturday and Sunday, May 15 & 16, are a beautiful opportunity for us to give thanks to God for all of our generous parishioners and friends who have made possible our newly Renovated Church. You are the special guests of honor at the Solemn Mass and the gala reception to follow in the Fr. Puhl Center!
When I first came to the United States, my husband, children and I lived in a tiny village in New Mexico. You know the type: everyone knew everyone else; I checked up on my little-old-lady neighbors every day to make sure they were OK, and they told me stories of the old West. One summer, a few parishioners got together and actually painted our church, inside and out. We knew when someone was ill and needed help, the farmers would share their extra produce with everyone, and a couple of local ranchers held an annual fabulous pit barbeque for everyone. They dug the pit, lined it with live coals and I don’t know what else, placed the steer (cow?) in it, covered it and left it there I don’t know how long. The next day the meet fell off the carcass and together with boiled pinto beans, roasted green chili and fresh tortillas provided a feast that is second to none. In other words, we loved living in that small, close knit, friendly village where everyone was like family.
Next Friday, May 7th, beginning at 5:00 pm, we will pray the Holy Rosary and the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At 5:30 pm, we will have an ad orientem Mass in Latin (the readings and collects will be in English). I invite you to join me in the church each month as we consecrate our families to the loving heart of our Lord Jesus.
On Mother’s Day we will place upon the altar the names of your mothers, living and deceased, and commend them to the Lord Jesus. How do you place your mother’s name on the altar? Just fill out the Mother’s Day offering envelope and return it by Friday, May 7th, and we’ll place it on the altar for Mother’s Day and the remainder of May. Also, the parish has printed beautiful greeting cards for you to send to your mother, telling her that she will be remembered in our Masses here at Holy Trinity. These are available at the parish office for $1.00 each.
During the entire month of May we will pray the Rosary in common before all the weekend Masses. When we pray the Rosary together, our parish asks Mary’s intercession and prayers for our families and loved ones. She always points us to her Son, Jesus, helping us to follow Him more lovingly. So, beginning next weekend, come 20 minutes before each Mass and join in this beautiful devotion!
Once in a while, at a given situation, an old Italian saying pops into my mind, and I am always struck of how deep the Catholic roots of my Country are. Last year I mentioned a few, and this year I’ll expand on the theme. You’ll notice that there are some for all occasions: some even go back to the time when in Italy we spoke Latin (which, no matter what Fr. Hilton says, was WAAAY before my time!). Let’s start with a very oldie but always goodie:
