To Honor Our Mother

The beautiful tradition of honoring the Blessed Mother during the month of May has been carried out with a May Crowning and Eucharistic Rosary Procession by Milwaukee's Roses for Our Lady for the past 36 years.  This year on the day of the May Crowning the group was blessed with beautiful weather and the presence of Archbishop Listecki and four Milwaukee priests, we were treated to beautiful singing by the Andress and Urlakis sisters, we were delighted by many reverent First Communicants and were joined by many religious and laity.  What a beautiful day and wonderful way to spend Mother's Day honoring Our Blessed Mother!

Here are images and video of Roses for Our Lady's 36th Annual May Crowning and Outdoor Eucharistic Rosary Procession held on Mother's Day, May 8th, 2016 at the Archdiocesan Marian Shrine in Milwaukee.  Photo credits to Mary Anne Urlakis, Terry Boldin, Jazmin Trujillo and Mary Bender.  Video credit to Sylvester Markowski.  You may view the videos here and here or at the bottom of this post.

A Birthday Party for the Blessed Mother-UPDATED

Roses for Our Lady in Milwaukee has an annual tradition of celebrating the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a Mass or Holy Hour and an outdoor Eucharistic Rosary Procession each year. This year that celebration took place at Old St. Mary in downtown Milwaukee.

We are blessed to be joined by the Dominican Sisters, and this year they shared the facebook post with details of the event with the caption "Let's party!"  Doesn't that make you smile?  And it really is a party; a party that sends the devil running, as Fr. Tim Kitzke, Vicar General for the Urban Ministry in the City of Milwaukee and Spiritual Advisor for Roses for Our Lady, told us during his homily.

This year our procession walked right past a downtown location where a gentleman's strip club is being proposed.  Fr. Tim has been working hard to fight against that club being allowed a license, and has been asking for the help and prayers of everyone who attends Mass at Old St. Mary.  As our procession moved past the empty building of the proposed club we paused to pray a decade of the rosary there, and then Fr. Tim blessed the building with Our Lord in the monstrance.  At the very instant that he blessed the building, the church bells rung out.  It was a powerful moment of prayer! Fr. Tim said that he felt that the ringing of the bells was a sign from God.  Let's continue to keep the devil on the run as we invoke Our Lady's assistance in all that we do!

UPDATE:  The Milwaukee Common Council voted 3-2 against granting a license to the Gentleman's Club on September 17th.  Much thanks is due to Fr. Tim and all who worked and prayed to keep it away from our downtown neighborhood so close to Old St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist Cathedral, and most of all, thanks be to God for all of His blessings.  Story here and here.

(All photos courtesy of Jazmin Trujillo)

Family Service

Paul and our four sons with Bishop Hying at Roses for Our Lady's 2012 Corpus Christi procession
(photo credit:  Mary Anne Urlakis)

Popular Catholic author and columnist  Marge Fenelon recently wrote a story for Our Sunday Visitor about families that volunteer together and included a piece about my family in the article.

“Volunteering as a family gives Paul and I a shared experience of planning and working together, supporting each other’s decisions and growing ever more deeply in love with God and each other through a joint gift of service,” -from Our Sunday Visitor column, Families Grow While Serving Together by Marge Fenelon.   

I hope that Marge's story inspires many families to look for ways that they can give back to the Lord as a united group and will find that the benefits they reap from their volunteer efforts are many.  You can read the entire story here.

My family preparing to celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Mother with Roses for Our Lady on September 8th, 2014 (photo credit:  Terry Boldin)

For more images of Roses for Our Lady's celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother, visit this link.

Happy Birthday Blessed Mother/And in Her Morning

Photo from Roses for Our Lady's Mass in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, 2013

I'm so excited about the Blessed Mother's birthday this year!  Roses for Our Lady will be celebrating in a big way with a Mass and outdoor Eucharistic Rosary Procession by candlelight at Divine Mercy Parish in South Milwaukee.  Mass with Bishop Donald Hying, Fr. Bob Betz, Fr. Joseph Sebastian, Fr. Tim Kitzke and Fr. Luke Strand is at 7 pm.   The beautiful and talented Grace Urbanski, who works and writes for the Apostleship of Prayer, (listen to Grace sing the Ave Maria here), and the St. Stanislaus Schola, will provide the music.  Then we'll have a Eucharistic procession by candlelight while praying the rosary in the lovely Divine Mercy neighborhood.  The weather forecast looks perfect!  And we'll finish off the celebration with a birthday party complete with cake and punch.  For more details, visit this link.

One of my favorite poets, Jessica Powers, aka Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, wrote a beautiful and moving poem about our Mother, and in honor of her September 8th birthday, as my own gift to her, I invite you to pray with it here.

And in Her Morning by Jessica Powers
from The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers

The Virgin Mary cannot enter into
my soul for an indwelling.  God alone
has sealed this land as secretly as His own;
but being mother and implored, she comes
to stand along my eastern sky and be
a drift of sunrise over God and me.

God is a light and genitor of light.
Yet for our weakness and our punishment
He hides Himself in midnights that prevent
all save the least awareness of Him.
We strain with dimmed eyes inward and perceive
no stir of what we clamored to believe.
Yet I say:  God (if one may jest with God),
Your hiding has not reckoned with Our Lady
who holds my east horizon and whose glow
lights up my inner landscape, high and low.
All my soul's acres shine and shine with her!
You are discovered, God; awake, rise
out of the dark of Your Divine surprise!
Your own reflection has revealed Your place,
for she is utter light by Your own grace.
And in her light I find You hid within me,
and in her morning I can see Your Face.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLESSED MOTHER MARY!

A Banner for Our Lady

2013 Roses for Our Lady May Crowning

2013 Roses for Our Lady May Crowning

2013 Roses for Our Lady May Crowning
Bishop Donald Hying, Fr. Tim Kitzke, Fr. Paul Schneider, OFM Conv., Fr. Enrique Hernandez

2013 Roses for Our Lady May Crowning
Fr. Matthew Widder carrying the Eucharist

Over the years that I have been writing Imprisoned in my Bones, I have shared many posts about Roses for Our Lady, an organization of laity in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee which seeks to bring honor and glory to Jesus and Mary in our world today.  One of the ways in which Roses for Our Lady brings about that honor and glory is through Eucharistic Rosary processions. Each year, Roses organizes at least three processions, one on Mother's Day, which also includes a traditional May Crowning, one to celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Mother and another on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.  In addition to these, Roses is the only non-Italian organization to participate in the annual Festa Italiana Mass and Eucharistic Procession, devoutly praying the rosary as we process through the Summerfest Grounds in Milwaukee.

When Roses for Our Lady was first organized as a religious society over 30 years ago, we proudly carried a banner during our processions, but with the passing of time, that banner is no longer in existence.  We are currently working on designing another banner to carry in our processions and to display during our monthly holy hours for vocations at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee. The cost of a custom-designed hand-made banner is quite expensive, and we are currently holding a fund-raising drive to raise the necessary money to purchase the banner with the hopes that it will be ready for the Festa Italiana Mass and Procession this July.

If you would be interested in making a donation to this fund-raising effort, we would be most grateful!  Memorial donations will be accepted in honor of your deceased loved ones, and they will be remembered at our Mass in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother which will be held at Divine Mercy Parish in South Milwaukee on Monday, September 8th at 7 PM with Bishop Donald Hying presiding.

To make a donation, please visit the Roses for Our Lady website donations page and conveniently pay using pay pal, or send a check to the address listed.  Please make sure to send us the name of the person you would like us to pray for in the comments box or on the memo line.  Thank you so much and may God bless you and Our Lady love you!

A Very Special Consecration

On Sunday, October 13th, when Pope Francis consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Rome, Roses for Our Lady in Milwaukee, joined the Pope in spirit with our own consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during our holy hour for vocations with Fr. Jim Kubicki, SJ, the National Director of the Apostleship of Prayer, with nearly 100 Roses for Our Lady members and friends in attendance.

Fr. Jim shared the story of when Pope John Paul II had been shot by a would-be assassin on May 13th, 1981, the 64th anniversary of the original visions of Our Lady of Fatima by Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco in 1917.  Regarding the fact that his life was spared, Pope John Paul II proclaimed that "one hand held the gun and another guided the bullet."  The hand that guided the bullet was that of the Blessed Mother whose intercession kept the bullet from fatally wounding the pope.  Later, the bullet that shot Pope John Paul II was inserted into the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.  It was a perfect fit, as if the crown, made in 1946, was created to hold the bullet shot in 1981!

Following the picture of the crown below, are the pictures from the holy hour with Fr. Jim in Christ King Chapel at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary.  All of the holy hour photos are courtesy of Mary Anne Urlakis. Below the pictures, you will find the consecration prayer of Pope Pius XII that we prayed at the holy hour, and then the prayer that Pope Francis prayed at the Vatican.

Crown of Our Lady of Fatima (source)

A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our country and all the world.

Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world.

O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.

We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with your rule, triumph in every heart and home.

Amen.

~Venerable Pope Pius XII

Consecration Prayer of Pope Francis

Holy Mary Virgin of Fatima,

with renewed gratitude for your maternal presence

we join our voice to that of all the generations

who call you blessed.

We celebrate in you the works of God,

who never tires of looking down with mercy

upon humanity, afflicted with the wound of sin,

to heal it and save it.

Accept with the benevolence of a Mother

the act of consecration that we perform today with confidence,

before this image of you that is so dear to us.

We are certain that each of us is precious in your eyes

and that nothing of all that lives in our hearts is unknown to you.

We let ourselves be touched by your most sweet regard

and we welcome the consoling caress of your smile.

Hold our life in your arms:

bless and strengthen every desire for good;

revive and nourish faith;

sustain and enlighten hope;

awaken and animate charity;

guide all of us along the path of holiness.

Teach us your own preferential love

for the little and the poor,

for the excluded and the suffering,

for sinners and the downhearted:

bring everyone under your protection

and entrust everyone to your beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus.

Amen.

[Translation by Joseph Trabbic]

~source:  Zenit

Inseparable Hearts

My friend, George Zagel, paints "pinstripe" on bottles,
 and he surprised me with the gift of this Immaculate Heart of Mary bottle

 

I like this effect with the rays of sunlight shining around it.
It makes me think of the rays of His love surrounding her heart.

Exchange of Hearts by Christi Jentz, Lumen Christi Art, details here.  A must read!

Inseparable Hearts

It was her "yes" that allowed

His tender heart

to grow within her

bearing the marks of her love-

the gift of a mother to her child.

While presenting 

her Son to the Lord

the old man eerily pointed toward

her bosom and spoke the words

that would forever haunt her thoughts-

"a sword shall pierce your very heart."

Her Immaculate Heart 

beat within His Sacred Heart

always, always.

They were inseparable.

And that day, that dark, black day

she stood there, 

stood with her grief, her sorrow, her pain

and helplessly watched as His Heart broke

from so much love freely given,

her own heart breaking, too.

When His Heart beat no more,

the sword came, and pierced it through,

with the blood and water of our salvation

spilling upon the ground.

She, too, felt the stabbing wound,

and once again she heard those eerie words

echoing within her soul-

"a sword shall pierce your very heart"

Her Immaculate Heart

beat within His Sacred Heart

always, always.

They were inseparable.

Today begins the Novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in anticipation of Pope Francis' Consecration of the World to Her Immaculate Heart on Sunday, October 13th.  You can have the novena prayers emailed to you by visiting Pray More Novenas blog and signing up.  The novena prayer includes the following Act of Consecration by Pope Pius XII which very fittingly unites the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Act of Consecration by Pope Pius XII

Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our country and all the world.

Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world.

O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.

We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with your rule, triumph in every heart and home.

Amen.

This post is part of a First Friday link-up at O Most Sacred Heart blog.  

Visit here for more posts on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and feel free to add your own.

If you are in the Milwaukee area, join Roses for Our Lady at our monthly holy hour for vocations on Sunday, October 13th at 2 PM at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary.  Fr. Jim Kubicki, SJ, will join us and will lead us in a Consecration to Jesus through Mary in union with Pope Francis as he consecrates the world to her Immaculate Heart.

Celebrating Our Blessed Mother's Birth

On Sunday, September 8th, Roses for Our Lady celebrated the Nativity of the Blessed Mother with an outdoor Eucharistic Rosary Procession at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary during our monthly Holy Hour for Vocations.  We were blessed to be joined by Roses for Our Lady's spiritual advisor, Bishop Donald Hying. We presented gifts of non-perishable food for a local food pantry in our Lady's honor, and then, following the holy hour, we enjoyed a birthday party.  The pictures below are courtesy of Mary Anne Urlakis and her family.

3 Reasons I Love Catholicism Vol. 6

It's time once again for the monthly link-up with Micaela at California to Korea in which bloggers are invited to share three reasons for their love of Catholicism.  Here I offer my humble contribution, sharing three more reasons why I love my Catholic faith from a list that grows more and more each day.

1.  Preferential Option for the Poor

"Oh how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor."  ~Pope Francis

As a long-term employee of the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Program that offers nutrition education and vouchers for healthy foods to low income women and their young children, I love that my Church focuses on the importance of helping the poor and disadvantaged and offers many programs such as meal sites, food pantries, homeless shelters and other resources for those who are financially down and out.  I think it's significant that the Church offers not only practical help to the poor, but also spiritual help for their souls.  There are many downtown and inner city churches whose doors are open throughout the day, allowing the poor and homeless a place to sit and rest in the quiet of the presence of the Lord. How can time in His presence not spiritually enrich those who partake of it?

Recently, it was announced at my parish, that a fairly young man who had regularly patronized the parish food pantry, had recently passed away. He had few friends and family as depression had caused him to alienate himself, so when he died he had no funeral; there was nobody to pray for his soul.  When the parish volunteers who run the food pantry heard about this sad situation, they quickly sought to remedy it, and they planned a memorial Mass for Stephen Luchinske at Our Lady of Divine Providence (St. Casimir's) with Fr. Tim Kitzke presiding.  There, at that Mass, Stephen's soul was given a reverent and prayerful offering to the state of eternal rest.  What a beautiful example of serving the poor, whether in life or in death!

Eternal rest grant unto Stephen Luchinske, O God, and let perpetual light shine upon him.  May Stephen's soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

2.  Large Families

"How can there be too many children?  That is like saying there are too many flowers."  ~Mother Teresa

As the youngest of nine children and the mother of five, I love the fact that the Catholic Church teaches about the sanctity and value of all human life, and requires that married couples be open to all life within their marriage.  I can't imagine my life without a houseful of people around me.  There is always someone nearby to talk to and embrace, and with whom I can share every aspect of life.  I can never complain that life is dull or boring or lonely for long, before I become engaged in the needs of those who depend upon me, or am filled with the joy and peace that comes from being surrounded by those who care for me.  We are definitely a relational Church and healthy relationships have their ideal beginning in the Catholic home filled with love, faith and prayer.  When people look at my family and say, "You must be Catholic!"  I hold my head up high and exclaim, "Yes, we are!"

3.  Statues 

"If it is, as it is indeed, a good and virtuous thing to kiss devoutly a book in which Christ's life and death are expressed by writing, then why should it be a bad thing to kiss reverently the images by which Christ's life and Passion are represented by sculpture or painting?"  ~St. Thomas More

For me, one of the highlights of my role as President of Roses for Our Lady comes when I go to Catholic Conferences or other events where I am able to set up a table to promote Roses for Our Lady.  I always bring our statue of Our Lady of Fatima with me and place her on the table with her scapular and rosary in hand and a lit candle before her.  As I busily visit and share the history of, and events sponsored by Roses for Our Lady with those who pause at my table, I am often struck by the number of people who stop in their tracks with a look of deep love and devotion upon their faces as they gaze upon the statue of the Blessed Mother.  Many people will reach up to tenderly touch her face, or to give her a little kiss or a hug.

What joy it brings us as Catholics to have these visual reminders of the saintly ones who have gone before us, leading the way to our own sanctity by their holy examples.  Our desire to physically kiss a statue or a crucifix is simply a sign of our love for God offered through a reverent gesture of gratitude and love to those who have given their lives completely over to Him.

Photo credit:  Huffington Post

Want more reasons to love Catholicism?  Visit here for my previous posts on this topic and visit Micaela to find even more contributions.