Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary’s of the Lake: 

◆   We are now in the second half of the month of October –the annual Month of Rosary. Over the centuries, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary has assumed various forms, and the 'Hail Mary' has perhaps been the most common & familiar devotional prayer. The first part of the Hail Mary includes the Archangel Gabriel’s greetings –‘Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you’, and Elizabeth’s proclamation –‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb...’ The second part –‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners…’ was added in the sixteenth century. Introduced by the Sign of the Cross, the Creed, the Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, and the Glory Be, praying the Rosary normally involves the recitation of 5 decades each consisting of the Our Father, 10 Hail Marys and the Glory Be. During this recitation, an individual or a group meditates on Jesus’ Life & Ministries, Suffering, Death & Resurrection, and the faithful witness of our Blessed Mother. Altogether there are 4 sets of meditations for the Rosary called 4 'Mysteries' –i.e. The Joyful, The Luminous, The Sorrowful and the Glorious Mysteries. These Mysteries are taken mainly from the Bible, and The Rosary is thus considered very biblical. Be sure to teach your children and grandchildren the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father & the Hail Mary, the Glory Be; and gradually teach them how to pray the Rosary.

 

 ◆   October has also been set aside annually as Respect Life Month. We are reminded that Life is a great gift from God, who is the source and author of all life. As Jesus’ followers we are called to stand for life, to value life (even to defend life) & to respect life ‘from the womb to the tomb’ –i.e. from conception to natural death. ‘The most fundamental right of all is the right to life. Without this most basic right, there is no dignity of human life whatsoever... This is not a Catholic issue per se, this is a human issue. Life is the sine qua non, which means without this, all else cannot be. I pray for the day when there will be a comprehensive awakening in the minds and the eyes of our society that through abortion we are slaughtering our own innocent children, and in the not-too-distant future, our society will justify disposing of our elders or those with physical or mental abnormalities. Our response to that awakening must be clear, swift & comprehensive in educating all of our parishes in the awareness of the sanctity of all human life.’ (From Bishop Ricken’s Pastoral Letter 2011).

Fr. Philip