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Honor Your Mother
The Holy Family is the beginning of countless other holy families.
--Saint John Paul II, Letter to Families
In this wonderful month of May, dedicated to Mary, Our Blessed Mother comes to our aid to find calm in the chaos. To bring us closer to Mary, my father-in-law, José Antonio, leads the family every May on a romería or pilgrimage. We all drive to a nearby retreat house with an outdoor Rosary walk. Every several yards we find a dark wooden post decorated with Roman numerals in gold lettering and a bas-relief plaque depicting scenes in the life of the Holy Family.
The path passes through sunlight and shadow (or sol y sombra, as it’s said in Spanish). The paved road changes to gravel and then hard-packed dirt overlaid with pine needles, dried to brown but still smelling of evergreen forests.
Every family member picks an intention to pray for as we murmur the well-worn words, half in English and half in Spanish. At the end, we gather near a statue of Mary to pray a litany in Latin. Ora pro nobis, ora pro nobis, we ask again and again. The kids, untouched by suffering and unaware of the need for divine comfort, play contentedly on the grassy hillside.
In contemplating the life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we learn how much they have to teach us. In gifting our Blessed Mother with our prayers, we in turn receive the much-needed gift of peace.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Holy Family of Nazareth, pray for us!
To Ponder: How close do you feel to the Holy Family? Invite them into your heart and ask them to make your family a happier and holier one.
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Copyright 2016 Karee Santos for The Catholic Mom's Prayer Companion.
Reprinted with the kind permission of Ave Maria Press. All rights reserved.
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