Mother's Day Luncheon

This was the 6th annual Mother's Day Luncheon at our church.  We hold it on the Saturday before Mother's Day.  The Celebrate Life Ministry prepares all the food for the event and there is always a guest speaker to share a faith story.  We honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus during the month of May, and as a tradition in all catholic schools, one day in May, Mary is crowned with flowers.  I remember during my grade school years the May Day Procession and crowning of Mary.  It was quite an honor as an 8th grade student to be voted the May Queen to crown Mary.  And it just so happened I had that honor back in 1964!

During our luncheon festivities, we gather all the young girls who have come with their mothers or grandmothers and they each bring a flower to place by the statue of Mary and one girl gets to carry the crown that goes on Mary's head.

Last year when I was on my pilgrimage to Medjugorje to see the place where Mary appeared to 6 young people in 1982, we climbed Apparition Hill to the place where there is a statue of Mary at the exact spot where she first appeared.  We prayed the rosary going up the hill, then we spent some quiet time by ourselves.  After about thirty minutes we were preparing to head back down the mountain.  At that time, my friend from church and our bible study leader, Judy, asked me if I would consider telling my story about how my faith helped get through all the years of Lacey's addiction.  I waited until I got home to ask Lacey if she minded if I shared her story, she said no.  So I agreed to speak.  I spent the whole year praying to the Holy Spirit to give me the words and the courage to talk, because that is totally out of my comfort zone.  I was so afraid I would trip going up to the podium, or my mouth would be so dry I couldn't move my lips, I was imagining everything that could go wrong.  But I did it and it went fine.  I had two good friends join me for support, Becky and Liz from high school, and of course, both my daughters were there and my wonderful mother-in-law, Elsa.  Lacey invited her AA sponsee and her mother to this luncheon also.  There were about 190 ladies facing me when I got up to talk.
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It was an emotional day for many of us to relive this past however I pray that it brought hope to those who are living it now.

 After the big talk, the girls came back to the house to get a tour of the still unfinished house!