Marian Month of May

It is a centuries-old custom of Catholics to dedicate the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This month is always part of the Easter season, the fifty days we celebrate in the liturgy the Resurrection of Christ, and’s it also a time of awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They are the two greatest Feasts int eh Chruch’s year and mark the true birth of our faith.  The celebration of May as a Marian month fits well with the two feasts of Easter and Pentecost as we remember Mary’s great joy in her Son’s victory over death as well as her presence with the apostles in the upper room prayerfully awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This month is a good time to think about the faith of Mary. At the Visitation, Elizabeth said to Mary: Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. When we think of our Blessed Mother, we recognize that she is indeed blessed, not only because she was the Mother of Jesus, but because she believed in the Lord’s words. She believed with all her heart and said “yes” to become the Mother of the Messiah and Son of God. She allowed herself to be led by God’s grace throughout her life, a life rooted in a deep faith in God. She became her Son’s first and most perfect disciple. She is our model of faith and she helps us with her prayers to live by faith. She teaches us to believe as she believed. In 1965, Pope Paul VI wrote a short encyclical on the month of May. He wrote that May is an occasion for a “moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world pay to the Queen of Heaven. During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God’s mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance.”  This month why not join for May Devotions as we pray the four mysteries of the Rosary over the four Sundays of the month.  Why not give a few moments to Marian devotion at home or alone.  It’s often said no son can refuse what his mother asks.  In your prayers, this month of grace, ask the intercession of our heavenly Mother and by her help know hope and new faith in life. 

With best wishes – Fr O’Neill