May Crowning

 

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope your all's month of Our Lady is off to a good start! Yesterday, on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker in this year of St. Joseph, I had the joy of being part of a backyard May Crowning with some young families (my little nephew--whom I baptized this Christmas--is the fellow I'm holding above). It was a real joy to pray some of the rosary, sing some hymns to Our Lady, and to have the children bring flowers, and a crown, to Our Lady.

Another blessing of this past week was that Monday I offered the Holy Mass at St. Ignatius High School, my alma mater, in downtown Cleveland. It was an optional, after-school, 3PM Mass. Students were offered extra credit for Latin Class if they attended. Nonetheless, we thought there might be ten boys there (it is an all-boys high school). But about 50 young men showed up. More importantly, they seemed quite attentive and reverent, and for most it was their first experience of the usus antiquior. 

The altar is a beautiful wooden high altar that was hand-carved by a Jesuit priest at the beginning of the 20th century. It was a particular joy to offer Mass on that altar and to think of all the priests who had offered Mass there--likely on a daily basis for decades.

Tomorrow I will be offering a High Mass at a classical High School called the Lyceum, which has a particularly good music program. It should be a joy to offer Mass for them.

As we continue in this month of May, you are in my daily prayers. May Our Lady watch over you and your families.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari