Dearly Beloved:
Friday the 4th of May, St. Lawrence had our annual School May Crowning. The 8th Grade did a tremendous job leading us in this prayerful walk with Our Lady in worshipping God and honoring her - His Mother and Our Mother. I extend, in the name of St. Lawrence, a big Thank You to all of the 8th grade, as well as the teachers, staff, and volunteers who assisted them. As of this writing, those same 8th graders are in Washington D. C., and as we prayed for them last weekend, so we also are keeping them in our prayers even now. By the time you read this, they will be back here, home.
And this weekend, Religious Education finishes this semester with a family celebration which includes a May Crowning at 10:30am in Fr. Conen Hall.
Graduation time is fast approaching for the 8th graders, seniors in high school and college, and many others.
Last week I wrote we would be having an Archdiocesan Seminarian Charles Peñalosa with us this summer. Schedules have changed and he, along with his classmates, will be in Nebraska taking a whole summer course on prayer. We keep Charles in our prayers, along with all the seminarians, and hope he will be able to join us next summer.
We also continue to pray for vocations: stronger vocations of marriage, and more and faithful vocations to the priesthood, deaconate, and religious sisters and brothers.
Please continue your prayers and education in Religious Freedom, and also Christian Sexual Ethics, as these are driving issues involved in the continuing HHS Mandate brouhaha that our nation is involved in, and could significantly affect our ability to serve as a parish, especially one with a school.
And please continue to deepen your Faith: both the knowledge of what we believe and Who we believe in; and your relationship to The Lord Jesus through your daily prayer, solid devotions, frequent and necessary partaking of the Sacraments, and fellowship with the Body of Christ. As Mark Shea said in a recent article: “The Faith is an anvil that has worn out a lot of hammers.”
May Our Faith be Ever Growing,
In Easter Joy,
Fr. Tom
