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May 31, 2023By James Ramos, OSV News
HOUSTON (OSV News) -- The alluring scent of roses, orchids and other fresh cut flowers seemed to be just as noticeable as the flourishing bouquets of greenery and petals that towered over hundreds of Vietnamese Catholics at Our Lady of Lavang Church in northwest Houston.
Gathered for a massive, three-day Marian festival that featured special prayers, youth events and speakers in early May, hundreds attended outdoor Masses and prayed the rosary while joining a long Marian procession to honor Mary, Queen of Peace.
A bright statue of the Blessed Mother surrounded by flowers followed the procession, with other floats covered with flowers honoring the Holy Family, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the image of Divine Mercy, as well as a mobile reliquary with relics of the Vietnamese Martyrs.
Despite rain showers, hundreds still attended the Mass concelebrated May 6 by visiting Bishop Joseph Ðang Ðuc Ngân of Da Nang, Vietnam.
Before the Mass, Vietnamese youth and women performed elaborate dances with flowers, bouquets and incense to honor Mary. There also was a lengthy Marian procession, which was joined by the Vietnamese Dominican priests and Dominican Sisters of the Mary Immaculate Province.
Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell'Oro of Galveston-Houston, a member of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs, presided over a bilingual Mass celebrated May 7.
In his homily, Bishop Dell'Oro encouraged the attendees to "bridge all the gaps" so that "no widows, no orphans and no strangers" are left unattended or not cared for in the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese. He urged Massgoers to cross barriers of language and culture and bring the gift of charity and mercy.
He also asked all to turn to Mary, who molded the human heart of Jesus to become compassionate, merciful and gentle, so that the Blessed Mother might mold our hearts like his heart.
He told a similar message to the Legion of Mary Senatus gathering May 7 at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart for the group's annual May crowning.
There, he incensed a statue of Our Lady of Fatima that he also crowned. He encouraged the hundreds of women and their families, attending from parishes all over the archdiocese, to turn to Mary in faith and in prayer.
At St. John of the Cross Parish in New Caney, Texas, some 30 miles northeast of Houston at the edge of the Piney Woods of East Texas, a May crowning festival surrounded the parish's new Marian meditation garden found under a towering tree.
Colorful papel picado-style banners fluttered as they lined tents that sold dozens upon dozens of flower bouquets, blossoming pots and even more varieties of food. Parishioners served up plates of parish-made tacos, taquitos, flautas, fresh juices and even hot-from-the-brick-oven pizza pies.
Baile folklórico dancers performed, with several participants from the parish's Asociacion Mexicana de Superacion Integral de la Familia (Mexican Association of Integral Improvement of the Family) group, an educational formation program that integrates mostly immigrant Hispanic women into their parish communities.
The New Caney church joined other parishes and Catholic schools around the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, small communities held special May crowning devotions, carrying forward a long-standing tradition where a statue of the Blessed Mother is crowned with flowers. From New Caney, to Galveston and to the heart of Houston, thousands turned to Our Lady and her Son in prayer and faith.
While the statues varied in their devotion to Our Lady, with some crowning statues of Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe or the Miraculous Medal, the choice of the faithful to ask for Mary's intercession remained the same.
