Join us Saturday, August 22, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Burlington for our monthly Oblate gathering. We are grateful to Msgr. Dominic Fosu, who has warmly welcomed us to the parish and made this special morning possible. Thank you, Monsignor, for your hospitality!

The day begins at 10:00 a.m., when we will join the parish community for Mass, with Bishop Roger Foys serving as celebrant and homilist. As we join the parish in its regular rhythm of prayer and worship, we invite you to pray Morning Prayer privately beforehand.

In honor of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which we celebrate that day, the Mass will also include a special blessing of flowers and herbs, drawing upon the traditional Tyrolean Kräuterweihe.

The blessing of herbs is an old Catholic custom particularly beloved in the Alpine regions of Austria, Bavaria, and South Tyrol. Traditionally, families gathered herbs, wildflowers, grains, and plants from their gardens, fields, and mountainsides and brought them to church to be blessed. The custom became closely associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the summer harvest—a beautiful expression of gratitude for God's providence and a reminder that the fruits of the earth, their beauty, nourishment, and healing properties, are gifts entrusted to our care. Afterward, the blessed herbs were often taken home and kept as a sacramental sign of God's blessing upon the household, farm, and family.

It seems an especially fitting tradition for our celebration of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth and for a morning that will lead us from the altar into the garden.

We invite you to bring a small bundle of flowers or herbs, or a small harvest from your own garden, to be blessed during Mass. We will also have some herbs available for all who are present to receive and have blessed!

Following Mass, our own Oblate Jeanette Landenwitch will introduce us to IHM's beautiful outdoor gardens. We will have an opportunity to explore the parish's garden and learn about its plants and vegetation inspired by and native to the Holy Land, bringing to life something of the landscape in which Our Lord, the Blessed Mother, and the first disciples lived and prayed.