I think the month of May is the most beautiful month of the year. The flowers are blooming. The days are warmer but not yet unbearably so. It is a time of new life and promise. May is also traditionally celebrated by Catholics worldwide as the Month of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
Saint Clement of Alexandria writes of this weekend’s readings for Mass:
"In our sickness we need a savior, in our wanderings a guide, in our blindness someone to show us the light, in our thirst the fountain of living water which quenches for ever the thirst of those who drink from it. We dead people need life, we sheep need a shepherd, we children need a teacher, the whole world needs Jesus!”
I would like to add that we also need our Mother Mary. She is the nurturing face of our Church. Like a mother who kisses boo-boos, who brings comfort to suffering children, who clears monsters from closets or under the beds and who stands up for her children in times of turmoil and conflict, so our Blessed Mother stands by us all the days of our life. She tends to us with the same tender care she showed to Her child, Jesus. Since that time when Jesus gave His Mother to John and John to His Mother, we have been her children. Do you have the best mother in the world? Now you have two! Has that wonderful mother-child relationship been denied to you due to circumstances beyond your control. Now no more! Do you, with grief and gladness long for those days when you still “had” your mother. That day is now.
So let Mary take you by the hand. She will lead you to Her Merciful Son. Talk with Her. She will most lovingly present your petitions to Jesus. Learn from Her. Her mind is clear and Her Heart is Immaculate. She will never mislead, confuse or confound.
When I read or watch movies about the saints I am always inspired. I want to be more like them. I long to be stronger in my faith. I hope I can be as steadfast and committed as they are in the face of persecution. I even dream, from time to time, of becoming a saint myself. Longing, hoping and dreaming transcend possibility and become a reality when I am with my Lady in prayer and meditation.
Pray the Rosary many times this month, perhaps daily. You will see the effects of inviting Jesus into all aspects of your life—Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous and Glorious.
Pray the beautiful Litany of Our Lady of Lourdes. With each petition we learn more about the nature of the task God has entrusted to Her. Here are some of the roles we learn in this short Litany: help of Christians, source of love, mother, friend, comforter, shelter, guide, strength, refuge…Queen.
Chesterton has written of Mary, "You cannot visit the child without visiting the mother, you cannot in common human life approach the child except through the mother. If we are to think of Christ in this aspect at all ... we must admit, if only as we admit it in an old picture, that those holy heads are too near together for the haloes not to mingle and cross.”
Perhaps, with the Grace of God, the Mercy of Jesus and the Mothering of Mary, our haloes may with theirs "mingle and cross".
prayerfully yours,
fm
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