Our Mother of Perpetual Help Joins Our Prayers
I entered the minor seminary (high-school and first two years of college) in 1959, fresh out of eighth grade. That was not unusual in those days. Most seminarians entered the seminary at that age.
In those days vocations were abundant, and mothers were proud to have a son go to the seminary. My mother was Catholic and my father was Lutheran. It must have been bewildering to him to imagine his son would leave home at such a young age. Neighbors (mostly the non-Catholic neighbors) did not hesitate to tell my mother what a mistake she made in letting her son go. It must have been a lonely sacrifice she had to offer.
A secret I did not find out about until after my ordination was that my mother had made a promise to God. I was born two months premature. It really did not seem I would survive. She made a promise to the Infant of Prague that if God would permit this child (me) to live, she would offer him to the service of God in some way. My mother did not tell me that story until after my ordination because she did not want to influence my decision. Both parents always told me my decision about what I would do in life was my decision and mine alone.
My mother also must have found some solace in Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Our family attended an Archdiocesan parish in St Louis, but the parish hosted devotions to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on Tuesday evenings. As the family became more and more familiar with the Redemptorists, my mother learned that this was a special devotion of the Redemptorists and she would attend the Tuesday evening devotions. For my own encouragement, when I was about to leave for the seminary that late summer of 1959, Fr Henry McKeever, C.Ss.R., of the St Alphonsus Rock Church community, gave me my own small copy of Our Mother of Perpetual Help for my desk at the seminary. My mother and I both were turning to Jesus’ mother frequently for the strength and help we needed.
That’s not much of a story. Today most women will say that they do not want their sons to go into the seminary because they want grandchildren. And men are far more mature when they take that first step of entering the seminary. One thing that remains consistent, however: the prayers of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Whether it is the lonely faithfulness of the woman who let a young son follow his dream, the frightened prayers of a boy who is away from his family and far away for the first time, or today’s more mature but still scary plunge into the future without knowing really where it leads, Our Mother of Perpetual Help continues to join in our prayers and gives us her support. Mothers’ Day, the month of May (which is Mary’s month), and Our Lady of Perpetual Help remind us of such things.
Fr. Gary Lauenstein, C.Ss.R.
Also in This Issue:
The Mothers’ Saint This Mothers’s Day
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