MAY : THE MONTH OF MARY AND MOTHERS.........

5TH SUNDAY OF EASTER

My mother, Josephine Virginia Corey Feusi Powers, was the most devout Catholic in our family. From her girlhood until her death in December 1982, at age 60, she was constantly praying and faithful about attending Mass, while generously serving her family and others. Her devotion to the Rosary and the Blessed Mother were a mainstay of her spiritual life, as were receiving Holy Communion and going to Confession. She not only raised me and my 5 brothers and sisters to appreciate the importance of our Catholic-Christian Faith, but also took it upon herself to see that many of her nieces and nephews received religious education and the Sacraments of the Church.
A loving daughter, she cared daily for my grandparents, until two montths before her death, when her diabetes and leukemia, which she endured the last five years of her life, were in their terminal stages. I share this to illustrate the fidelity of faith, family, and fellowship, God desires us to live as faithful witnesses of the Catholic-Christianity we profess. I remember as a very young child how my mother would go to Mass on Sunday mornings by herself and in time, with me and my siblings. We would arrive well before Sunday Mass began and stay for several minutes afterwards, to pray. Once we made First Communion she would gather us on a Saturday evening about once a month and take us to Confession. I am convinced that her example, prayers and support, are one of the primary reasons I decided to become a priest.
In this month of May, the month of the Blessed Mother and all our mothers living and dead, this week we celebrate Mother's Day, our annual occasion for remembering and celebrating the women in our lives who brought us to birth and raised us lovingly and selflessly.
As we affirm our mothers and grandmothers anew, we also pray through the intercession of Mary our spiritual Mother, that God will bless all mothers and reward them with the ultimate blessing - the gift of eternal life.........Fr. Troy