Month of Our Mother

“Grant, we pray, that with her [Mary’s] loving help your Church may be more fruitful day by day
and, exulting in the holiness of her children, may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples…” – Excerpt from the Collect prayer from the memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church.

What a time to be a Catholic.

This bulletin article is being submitted on the morning of Tuesday, May 6^th, a day before the conclave begins in Rome. By the time you are reading this, we may have a new Pope! Or we may not.

This is a historic moment in the life of the Church as we call upon the Holy Spirit to inspire the cardinal-electors in electing the Pope that our Church needs.

When we find ourselves in need, to whom do we turn? Of course, we can and should always turn to God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – who is the giver of all good things and is the source of all life and love. In this month of May, we might also find ourselves turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary who is Mother of God and Mother of the Church.

At the beginning of the month, I received an email from a Catholic organization that called us to fervently seek Mary’s intercession this month. Two sentences from that email stirred my heart.

“From the Annunciation to Calvary and Pentecost, Mary's life is a masterclass in trust, surrender, and mission. She is the first disciple, the perfect model of evangelization, and our spiritual mother.”

As we live into the call of all the baptized to become disciples of Jesus who live holiness and mission, we can find in Our Lady the pathway to a free and fruitful response to God’s grace.

This journey of discipleship begins on the day of our baptism and ends when our bodies are laid to rest and our souls journey to our heavenly homeland. As a priest, I have marked these two occasions with the traditional Hail, Holy Queen prayer sung in Latin (Salve Regina). Parishioners have asked me if at a baptism or at the graveside if they would be able to join me in singing this hymn.

My answer is: ABSOLUTELY.

The hymn along with the chant notation can be found HERE. There are many video and audio clips online also where you can find this version of the hymn so you can learn it and can sing along.

Gracias a Dios.