Happy Birthday, Blessed Mother

I always try to go to mass on Sept. 8th to honor the Blessed Mother. I don't always get to go, but this year I did. I especially liked all the red roses in the Sanctuary.

Today also has a touch of poignancy for me too. It marks the 9th anniversary of my dad's death.

RIP, I'm glad he died on a day where we celebrate our heavenly mother's birthday. I feel reassured that she was close to him and had him under her special protection when he died.

I think my dad would have liked the young priest who said the mass today a lot. Fr. Gordon is particularly a little gung ho when he invokes the prayer to St. Michael, the Archangel. Fr. Gordon was ex-military, and so was my dad.

One nice thing to mention about my dad today was how much I appreciated how generous he was to all my friends, without fail. Dad always said things like "X is welcome to come along." He always took time to chat a bit with them.

The Blessed Mother was especially good to me too, today. Let's just say I had to go down to a government office and the outcome couldn't have been better. She gave me an early birthday present on her birthday.

Karen has two mommies

But it's okay, because Mary is the other mommy. When I was tiny, and learning my prayers, which my mother heard every night, she told me that Mary was my other mommy who was in heaven. And that long after she [my mother] had died and left this earth, I would always still have Mary there for me as mom.

Fr, Blake today has some beautiful reflections on Mariology today. I think love for the Blessed Mother is best inculcated when young, well before school age. It is wonderful that God gave her to us as our mother too. We can all in truth say "I have the most wonderful mother in all the world."

I don't know if most parents still teach their children the Memorare and the Hail Holy Queen, but they were some of the first prayers I ever learned. The latter was part of the Leonine prayers said after Mass when I was little. I must say, that for a long time, though I knew that "Christ" referred to Jesus, as a toddler I associated that word with buttered toast. I always smiled when I came to that word, because I knew that nightly prayers were over, and my own mom would tuck me in.

(The above right photo is a little dog earred, because that's the one my dad always carried in his wallet.)