M
Familial Love
ay and June are the months which Catholics everywhere dedicate to the Virgin
Mary, Mother of God, and her spouse St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus. For
some 30 years they lived together in Nazareth as an example of familial love. They devoted the whole of their lives to each other, in good times and, with the
crucifixion of Our Lord and Savior, their earthly son, in sorrow and pain; but always together.
We honor them as the perfect model for all Christian families. Throughout the month of
May, we remember Mary as Mother of God and intercessor for us with her Son, Jesus, and
on May 1, his feast day, we honor St. Joseph as foster father and patron of workers. In
honoring them we honor our own parents, living or dead, who formed the central focus of
our own families.
Examples of parental love, care and protection are always evident, and some can be
profoundly moving. After the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan a mother was found
roaming through the rubble looking for her five children. Two weeks after the devastation
she still continued to search. Asked why she did not give up, she answered, “Because we
loved each other, and I believe love will bring us together again.” Let us hope and pray that
this woman and thousands of other suffering men and women in Japan may indeed reunite
with their loved ones in the aftermath of this horrendous disaster.
In our country, so far away, let us remember the tragedy across the sea and join together in
celebration of the faith and love that unite us as a family in Christ. This year our Mother’s Day Novena is on April 30 – May 8 and the Father’s Day Novena
on June 11 – 19. While both Novenas are not preached they enable us to salute our parents
with spiritual bouquets that express our love for them and our gratitude for the example
they set us of familial love. Please complete and return to us your spiritual bouquet form.
It will adorn the St. Jude altar and be offered in the prayers and Masses of the Dominican
Friars of the Shrine.
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My ministry as director of the Shrine will end in a couple of months. I am privileged to
have been with you these past four years. I am grateful for the blessing of your friendship
and for the chance to have shared in your stories of faith and hope – and sometimes of
suffering – which you entrusted without fail to the loving intercession of our holy patron
St. Jude. Fr. Allen Duston, O.P., my successor, will introduce himself more fully to you in
the newsletter for the St. Anne Novena in July, but for now, please join with me in praying
for him as he and our excellent staff, with your help, continue to promote the devotion to
St. Jude, thereby building up the Church and building something beautiful for God.
Please know of my continued prayers for you during this time of transition.
In Christ’s Peace and with St. Jude,
Fr. Martin Walsh, O.P.
Mother's Day Novena Spiritual Bouquet at the Shrine of St. Jude Thaddeus
April 30 - May 8, 2011
Dear Father,
Please pray for ______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
My donation is____________.
Please place this slip with your donation in an envelope and return it to the Shrine of St. Jude
either by mail or by depositing it into the black candle collection box at the Shrine. Thank you.
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Father's Day Novena Spiritual Bouquet at the Shrine of St. Jude Thaddeus
June 11-19, 2011
Dear Father,
Please pray for ______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
My donation is____________.
Please place this slip with your donation in an envelope and return it to the Shrine of St. Jude
either by mail or by depositing it into the black candle collection box at the Shrine. Thank you.