I share with you portions of an entry from Catholic speaker and lay evangelist, Chris Stefanick from his May 15 Daily Anchor email. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. St. Dymphna, whose feast day is May 15, is the patron saint of those who suffer from mental illness, anxiety, and emotional distress. She’s also patroness of runaways and victims of sexual abuse. Born to a pagan father and Christian mother in the 7th century, she took a vow of chastity at the age of fourteen.

You may have noticed that we have recently installed a stained glass window (shown above) in our newly renovated Msgr. Glynn Parish Center. It was in storage in our attic for many years, and it seemed fitting to have this beautiful image of the Holy Family refurbished and backlit to enhance this space. It’s one of many decorative additions planned to complete the renovation. The scene depicted in this stained glass window is of the “Flight into Egypt.”

This weekend is the last of three weekends when we celebrate First Holy Communion during some of our parish Masses. It’s an important and pivotal moment in the lives of our children, not merely a rite of passage as cultural Catholics. First reception of Holy Eucharist is the second of three Sacraments of Initiation, which begins a more personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ that these young Catholics can develop as they participate at Mass each weekend and receive the “real presence” of Jesus in Holy Communion.

When we hear our Holy Father, Pope Leo speak about issues impacting members of the human family, he speaks not as a political pundit, but as a spiritual leader who seeks to highlight those Gospel values that apply to moral concerns our world faces today. One Church teaching that lies at the foundation of his remarks is the fundamental principle of the dignity of the human person. Both personal and collective actions must be judged according to whether they promote this dignity and not just one’s own self-interest, and they must also take into consideration the common good.

Lay Catholic evangelist and speaker, Chris Stefanick, shares about a letter he received recently that touched him deeply. He writes, “A man had made a donation in honor of his recently passed mom, because she loved our ministry so much. He described the joy she kept in the midst of so much pain during the last years of her life. She had lost her husband of many years who died. Not long after that she lost most of her possessions in a fire. Then she lost her best friend to cancer. Her faith never wavered. Nor did her joy.