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A
Little History
Many
of us grew up participating in May Crowning processions
where a crown, sometimes fashioned out of flowers, was placed on
an image or statue of Mary. But out of all of the months in the
year, why was May chosen to celebrate Our Lady?
First,
the month of May usually falls within the fifty days of Easter.
This liturgical season is a great time of rejoicing and the
whole church celebrates with Our Lady the resurrection of her
Son by praying the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven):
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Queen
of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia:
For
he whom you merited to bear, alleluia,
Has risen, as
He said, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
Because the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.
Let
us pray.
O God, who by the Resurrection of your Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, granted joy to the whole world: grant, we
beg you, that through the intercession of the Virgin
Mary, his Mother, we may lay hold of the joys of eternal
life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. |
Mary Queen of the Universe Icon
Second,
when the feast day for the Ascension of Our Lord occurs during May we also
celebrate the feast of Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles. Pope Pius XII
instituted this feast. St.
Alphonsus Ligouri writes: "Because the virgin Mary was raised to such a
lofty dignity as to be the mother of the King of kings, it is deservedly and
by every right that the Church has honored her with the title of
'Queen'."
Finally,
May 31st is the Feast of the Visitation. On this day the Church remembers
Mary's journey of love to help her cousin, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with
St. John.
| "During
those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a
town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted
Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard
Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled
with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most
blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb..."
Luke 1: 39-42 |
Pope
Paul VI wrote an entire encyclical in 1965 called Mense
Maio (Month of Mary) on the Church's world wide devotion to Our Lady
during this month. He writes that May is "A month which the piety of the
faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God...this is the month
during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin
Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the
month in which a greater abundance of God's merciful gifts comes down to us
from our Mother's throne."
How
to Celebrate Mary's Month
There
are many ways you can make the month of May a time of fitting
tribute to Our Lady. Here are some suggestions:
1.
Go to Confession and daily Mass. All devotions to Mary point us to her
Son, Jesus. She continually intercedes for us so that we may have a deeper
relationship with Our Lord. As Pope Paul VI said, "The Mass is the most
perfect form of prayer." Also, making a good confession will eliminate
spiritual barriers that prevent us from drawing closer to Jesus.
2.
Say the Rosary daily. The Rosary is easy to say during your daily
commute or while waiting in line. Or make it a family affair by praying it
together before bedtime. If the entire rosary is too much, try just a decade
or two. Visit our How
to Pray the Rosary page for more information.
3.
Learn more about Our Lady's apparitions. Over hundreds of years Mary has
come bringing messages designed to draw us closer to her Son, Jesus. From
Portugal to Mexico, and from France to Ireland, thousands of pilgrims travel
to these famous sites each year.
*
Information from The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute,
Dayton, Ohio and the Vatican website.
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