We invite any Catholic Daughter Chaplain, Deacon, or Spiritual Advisor (Sister) to send State Web Site Chairman, Mary E. May, 957 West Fourth St., Erie, PA 16507-1005, a message on why he/she is a Chaplain or Spiritual Advisor to the Court and what it means to them, or submit any spiritual message which they feel would be beneficial to our Catholic Daughter members and readers.

Following are excerpts from the Installation banquet speech given at the 49th Biennial Pa. State Convention by Karen M. Hurley, President General of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organization (WUCWO). She based it on the State Convention theme: "Live in the Glow of Mary."

I was asked this evening about how women around the world look to our Blessed Mother Mary for help and inspiration.

You can imagine as you travel around the world how the artistic images of our Blessed Mother reflect the particular culture of that area. Depending on the location, Mary is depicted with fair or yellow or dark skin, her eyes may be wide and blue or narrow and black, her hair varies in color and texture from trailing tresses to tight curls. Mary will be shown dressed in native costumes reflecting Asian, African, European, Latin American, Middle Eastern or North American cultures. In considering just a few of the many different titles given to Mary we can imagine the differing images of Our Lady of Guadalupe (shown as an indigenous Mexican woman) or Our Lady of Walsingham (seated on a throne reflecting English nobility) or the Russian icon of Our Lady of Kazan or Our Lady of the Southern Cross (the Australian image designed for WYD 2008) or Our Lady of Africa (showing Mary as black-skinned) or Our Lady of Peking (depicting Mary and the Child Jesus as Chinese royalty).

Each of these images offers to those who are devoted to Mary a model to whom we can relate as human yet sinless, a woman who understands our mortal concerns and who can point us toward heaven; she is our mother as well as the Mother of God. In particular we can place our trust in Mary:

Mary at Bethlehem who is an inspiration for all mothers.
Mary at Nazareth who cares for all families.
Mary at Cana who intercedes for all married couples.
Mary at the Cross who unites with all who suffer.
Mary in the Upper Room who is close to all who wait.
Mary model for all women who seek to live in her glow.

Dear Catholic Daughters, we must heed the words which (Jesus') mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5) We are called to be witnesses of God's love by sharing our faith and offering hope to a world in need. Mary always points us toward her son, Jesus, who "commits us to live for others, but only through communion with him does it become possible truly to be there for others...." (Spe Salvi, 28) Being nourished by the Holy Eucharist, frequent reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and availing ourselves of ongoing spiritual formation and education in Church teachings are vital for our ability to transmit authentic Catholic Christian values to the world...to be beacons of the light of Christ shining through storms and darkness. Prayerful discernment increases our awareness and helps us to embrace our God-given role particularly in protecting human dignity and promoting human rights as well as responsibilities...so we can inspire others to live in and share the light of Christ.

Inspired by the example of our Blessed Mother, each day Catholic Daughters demonstrate an amazing "capacity for others," through actions motivated by faith, which reflect Christian love and offer hope for the world.

In her encounter with the gentle, respectful love of God, who avails the free cooperation of his creature in order to bring about his saving plan, the Blessed Virgin was able to overcome all hesitation and, in view of this great and unprecedented plan, to entrust herself into his hands. With complete availability, interior openness and freedom, she allowed God to fill her with love, with his Holy Spirit. Mary, the simple woman, could thus receive within herself the Son of God, and give to the world the Savior who had first given himself to her.

In the celebration of the Eucharist, the Son of God is given to us. Those who have received Holy Communion, in a special way, carry the Risen Lord within ourselves. Just as Mary bore him in her womb--a defenseless little child, totally dependent on the love of his Mother ­ so Jesus Christ, under the species of bread, has entrusted himself to us, dear brothers and sisters. Let us love this Jesus who gives himself so completely into our hands! Let us love him as Mary loved him! And let us bring him to others, just as Mary brought him to Elizabeth as the source of joyful exultation! The Virgin gave the Word of God a human body, and thus enabled him to come into the world as a man. Let us give our own bodies to the Lord, and let them become ever more fully instruments of God's love, temples of the Holy Spirit! let us bring this immense gift into the world!

Let us "Live in the Glow of Mary," shining with the light of Christ for all the world to see. Let us ask Mary to teach us how to become like her, inwardly free, so that in openness to God we may find true freedom, true life, genuine and lasting joy.

O Jesus, I pray for Your faithful and fervent priests; for Your unfaithful and tepid priests; for Your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Your tempted priests; for Your lonely and desolate priests; for Your young priests; for Your dying priests; for the souls of Your priests in purgatory.

But above all I recommend to You the priests dearest to me: the priest who baptized me; the priest who absolved me from my sins; the priest at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way. Jesus keep them all close to Your heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.

Amen.