May 15, 2009
Nativity Youth Group ‘wows’ mothers
Youth group members Otoniel Roblero, front, Edaimi Vazquez, Egner Roblero, Marcos Nava, Eliseo Nava and Jose Lopez serve food during a Mother’s Day celebration at Nativity Church, Evansville. Click for a larger version.
By CONNIE MONTOOTH (Nativity Church, Evansville)
This morning after church [May 10] a wonderful surprise awaited me and all the other mothers of Nativity Parish. We were invited to a celebration in the cafeteria by the youth group. There we were greeted by a cheering gauntlet! As I walked through this row of clapping, appreciative teens, I knew I was in for a unique Mother’s Day event.
The youth group at Nativity has been growing since Abra-ham Brown took over the res-ponsibility of pastoral associate last fall. There are consistently about 30 kids who come to the weekly meetings on Wednes-day night. They go bowling and host game nights. But this group isn’t there just for the fun. They give back to their faith community by helping at the fish fry and spaghetti dinners. When they decided they wanted to do something nice for the mothers of the parish, Abraham helped them plan a very special tribute.
The cafeteria was decorated in balloons and big floral centerpieces and each mother was given her own floral corsage. After everyone was seated they entertained us with poems, songs, dances and a piano solo. During one of the dances they enlisted some of the mothers from the audience and got everyone clapping to the mu-sic. They all were very talented and did an excellent job. You could tell the youth group worked very hard on every detail to make this a real tribute to not just their own mothers but all mothers.
Then we were treated to an excellent meal donated by Rogelio Hernandez, owner of Mi Pueblo Restaurant. It was a full meal with a great variety of dishes — from salads and fruit to barbeque chicken and la-sagna, just to name a few of the wonderful items from Mi Pu-eblo’s menu. They also had Mi Pueblo’s traditional beans, rice, chips and salsa, as well as cake for dessert.
On our placemat was a lovely prayer to all Mothers:
Loving God, We thank you for the love of the mothers you have given us, Whose love is so precious that it can never be measured, Whose patience seems to have no end. May we see your loving hand behind them and guiding them. We pray for those mothers who fear they will run out of love, or time, or patience. We ask you to bless them with your own special love. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our brother. Amen.
I have been blessed with children who always make my Mother’s Day very special, but this Mother’s Day I was given a beautiful gift from the Nativity youth group too.