Beloved Family:
Recently, a parishioner who has called Saint Mary “home” for an extraordinary number of years, named Marcelline, shared with me a beautiful prayer, which seems so appropriate to publish here, in this month of May and on Mother’s Day weekend, so that many more can benefit from it. Within Marcelline’s family, it is known simply as Grandma Blanche’s Prayer to Mary:
Blessed Queen of the Most Holy Family and Queen of Chaste Family Life, I thank you, and through you, your Divine Son, for the abundant blessings bestowed on our happy family. I offer you my devoted thanks for the motherhood with which my marriage has been so graciously blessed.
I offer, too, my thanks for the protecting hand which has guarded us against the evil that might have befallen us, for the healing hand that has restored us in our sickness, for the consoling hand that has soothed us in our moments of sorrow, for the sustaining hand that has steadied us when trials weighed us down.
I thank you, Mary, for the joys that have so brightened our lives and for the holy peace that has been granted us. For these and all the precious blessings, spiritual and temporal, that have been bestowed upon us by your tender mothering hand, I thank you, Mary, for myself and each member of my family.
May the assistance continue with us throughout our daily lives and especially may it be our consolation at the hour of our death. Amen.
Within the next several weeks, I would like to highlight some of the entities within the diocese that are slated to be beneficiaries within the Called to Flourish: Our Church for the Future campaign. This week: The Bishop Cosgrove Center, one of the many organizations under the Catholic Charities umbrella. Bishop William Cosgrove, a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland, was born in Canton, Ohio. Ordained a priest in 1943, he was then made an auxiliary bishop for Cleveland in 1968. He subsequently served as bishop of Belleville in Illinois from 1976-1981. He died in 1992.
The center named for him is one of the largest day drop-in centers in the Greater Cleveland area. At Cosgrove, guests can access such basic needs as: hot meals, shower facilities, mail distribution, basic needs assistance (obtaining a birth certificate, state identification, eyeglass assistance, rental and utility) and the opportunity to socialize by engaging in recreational activities. In addition, the center offers referrals to employment and training programs, health screening, mental health screening, veteran administration benefits and assistance with obtaining housing subsidies.
These services are provided through community partnerships with many resources such as: Catholic Charities, AARP, Volunteers of America, Care Alliance, Inc., Mental Health Services, Inc., and the Veteran Administration (information drawn from the Saint John Cathedral website). Funds raised during the campaign will make possible: roof replacement for the structure, as well as upgrading of restrooms and refreshment of classrooms, as well as an expansion of the kitchen.
Let His Peace be with you,
Fr. Stephen
