Surgery and Mother Church
You may remember that back in February of 2021, Fr. Jedidiah Tritle had a surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. That procedure has healed well and he has been very dedicated to recovery. Unfortunately, he now has to have his left shoulder repaired. Fr. Jedidiah will have surgery to repair his left shoulder on Friday, May 13th. Please pray for him, his doctors, and all those who’ll be assisting in the operation.
Last time, he recovered fairly quickly and was back at Mass in under a week. We are hoping that the same will happen this time around. There will be one Mass on Friday and we’ll have a visiting priest, Fr. David Zink, for the weekend Masses. This isn’t how any of us envisioned his last few months serving our parish would go, but that is just the way things go. All your prayers are much appreciated.
Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty once wrote: “The Most Important Person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral -a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body. . . The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature; God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation. .. What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?”
Happy Mothers’ Day to all of our Mothers in the parishes! All of us, your sons and daughters, are grateful for your motherly love, presence, and affection. Every one of us are blessed by the sacrifices and generosity of a mother. May you experience the deep appreciation and gratitude that we have toward you.
In the Church, when we think about Mothers and Mothers’ Day we often think about the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially because May is a month dedicated to Mary. However the Church is also our mother. The Catechism states, “salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother… because she is our mother, she is also our teacher in the faith. The Church teaches, guides, and nurtures our spiritual life so that we can come to maturity in Christ.”
I would like to leave you with some beautiful thoughts from a daily homily from Pope Francis on 9/15/15:
“In these times where I don’t know if it’s the prevailing sense but there is a great sense in the world of being orphaned, it’s an orphaned world. This word has a great importance, the importance when Jesus tells us: ‘I am not leaving you as orphans, I’m giving you a mother.’ And this is also a (source of) pride for us: we have a mother, a mother who is with us, protects us, accompanies us, who helps us, even in difficult or terrible times.”
This motherhood of Mary, the Pope explained, goes beyond her and is contagious. From it, comes a second motherhood, that of the Church.
“The Church is our mother. She is our ‘Holy Mother Church’ that is generated through our baptism, makes us grow up in her community and has that motherly attitude, of meekness and goodness: Our Mother Mary and our Mother Church know how to caress their children and show tenderness. To think of the Church without that motherly feeling is to think of a rigid association, an association without human warmth, an orphan.”
“The Church is our mother and welcomes all of us as a mother: Mary our Mother, our Mother Church, and this motherhood are expressed through an attitude of welcome, understanding, goodness, forgiveness and tenderness.”
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Sean Wilson
