Greetings to you! How are you today? I hope that this message finds you doing well. As Catholic Christians we have the opportunity on an annual basis to honor our Blessed Mother in the months of May and October. The thirty-one days of May are dedicated to prayerful appreciation of Mary through a variety of devotional activities. Throughout the thirty-one days of October the rosary is traditionally prayed on a daily basis to grow in friendship with the Blessed Virgin. As believers and followers of Jesus this makes a lot of sense.
We want to love who he loves and do what he does to the best of our ability. Since he loved his Mother Mary with such a tender heart we too are invited to do the same. When Jesus was on the cross he looked at His Blessed Mother and said that St. John the Beloved Disciple would now be “her son” and that she would be “his mother” (John 19:26-27). In that significant moment of salvation history John was standing as a representative of the entire Christian family. Our Blessed Mother was literally the Mother of Jesus in his earthly life and it is through the saving waters of baptism that all who are drawn into the Mystical Body of Christ are then her children as well.
According to the Jewish tradition it was not the wife of the King who was the Queen but rather his own Mother. Therefore, our Blessed Mother, being the Mother of Christ the King, is rightly referred to as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. For this reason at some point within the month of May it is fitting that a statue of Mary is crowned with flowers as a humble recognition of her royal place in the Kingdom of God.
At Immaculate Conception we will have many prayerful moments to express our heartfelt gratitude and love to our Blessed Mother. Every weekday at 6:00 pm our community will gather together to pray the rosary outside of the grotto near the school. On Sundays after the 10:00 am Mass members of the CCW will lead the rosary in church. The morning of May 2 we had a May Crowning at the grade school Mass at 8:30 am. There will also be a crowning on Saturday May 4 at the 5:00 pm Mass and on Sunday May 5 at the 10:00 am Mass. To conclude the month of May on the 31st, the daily Mass at 8:30 am will be the liturgical celebration of the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth.
You and your loved ones are cordially invited to participate in any/all of these wonderful opportunities to honor and revere and cherish the great gift that we have in Our Blessed Mother Mary. Through her intercession we pray that this May would be a time of spiritual growth for each and every one of us.
