Pastor's Corner, May 12, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends, 

On Mother’s Day we give thanks to God for our mothers, for the divine gift of life given to us by way of our mothers, and for the gift of women. 

Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote a beautiful Apostolic Letter entitled Mulieris Dignitatem in which he observed, “As we scan the pages of the Gospel, many women, of different ages and conditions, pass before our eyes” (MD, 13). They heard the word of God, sometimes were healed of infirmities and forgiven of sins, many responded to Christ’s call to discipleship, and women were the first witnesses of the resurrection. Women and men are equal in God’s eyes with regard to their dignity as children of God and the vocation to holiness. 

According to Pope John Paul, women have “two particular dimensions of the fulfillment of the female personality;” (MD, 17) namely, virginity and motherhood. As the Pope writes so beautifully, “a woman is ‘married’ either through the sacrament of marriage or spiritually through marriage to Christ. In both cases marriage signifies the ‘sincere gift of the person’ of the bride to the groom. In this way, one can say that the profile of marriage is found spiritually in virginity” (MD, 21). 

We praise God for the gift of motherhood, both physical and spiritual, and asked God’s continued blessings on all mothers.

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker