May is the Month of Our Lady

We begin on May 1st with the feast of Saint Joseph the Workman, a feast which reminds us of the dignity of holy employment.  There is much that can be contemplated on this, these days.  So many people are drawn into working for a system which is worldly at best and diabolical at worst.  It takes great trust to be willing to leave a job because it compromises your Catholic beliefs.  It is a leap of faith that God certainly will look kindly upon.  Let us pray to Saint Joseph for all those struggling with these issues.

The Ascension of Our Lord is celebrated on the traditional Thursday, the 9th or Sunday, the 12th.  Check your diocese to see if the 9th is a Holy Day of Obligation, though of course, those who love Our Blessed Lord would flee with great joy to attend Holy Mass and receive His Body…lest these great privileges be taken from us once again, as they were during the dreadful and unjust time of Covid lockdown. 

We have several Marian feasts in this month of Our Lady.  Our Lady of Fatima, whom Nomen Christi Apostolate is dedicated to, is celebrated on the 13th, the date of the first Fatima apparition to the 3 children.  In the new calendar, we have the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, on the 20th.  On the 31st, we have a double Marian feast…the Visitation in the new and the Queenship in the trad.  There are so many ways to honor Our Lady during this month.  Consider attending Mass on one of her feasts or choose another devotion.  This is a wonderful time to think about the requests of Our Lady of Fatima, such as starting the First Saturday Devotions and praying the Rosary daily.

Pentecost or Whitsunday is celebrated (following the Vigil) on the 19th, followed by the traditional Octave of Pentecost.  Trinity Sunday is one week later, beginning a new Liturgical Season in the trad, Time After Pentecost, which remains until Advent.  We also remain in the Cycle of Easter, when we meditate upon the Mystery of the Redemption.  Upon Advent, we begin the Cycle of Christmas, the Mystery of the Incarnation.

Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) is the 30th, Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

We’re not done yet!  May gives us not only the Minor Rogation Days from the 6th to the 8th, but also the Ember Days of Summer, the 22nd, 24th and 25th.  So, a lot of prayer and penance this month for the coming season and for mercy.  The Rogation Days and The Ember Days are similar in spirit and intention, but with different origins.  A few more notable feasts…

3rd-Saints Philip and James the Less, new

11th-Saints Philip and James the Less, trad

14th-Saint Matthias

15th-Saint Isidore the Farmer (we like him!) Another link. Farmers need our support these days. Let’s not forget about our local farms. Saint Isidore, pray for us!

Here is the full trad calendar for May:  calefactory.org

May is the Month of Our Lady

Quick Update: Due to the aforementioned health issues, along with other things going on in my life, I will have to change my writing style here. I will have to write shorter, simpler ideas, in order to keep things going at a reasonable pace. I hope you enjoy the new format and I wish all of you blessings and everything wonderful!

Getting a late start this month, but that’s okay, because the most interesting feasts are the latter part of the month…

On the 13th we have Our Lady of Fatima, to whom this ministry is dedicated. She gives us the antidotes to our times in her Fatima requests. And she also gives us hope in promising a period of peace after a time of trial. Learning more about Fatima and Our Lady’s requests would be a wonderful way to celebrate this month dedicated to her. Try doing a search to the right-we have a lot of info here.

Saint Isidore the Farmer is on the 15th, which is also the first of the 3 Minor Rogation Days, days of prayer and penance, similar to the Ember Days. We like Saint Isidore because he was a farmer. Farming is good. People should like farmers more. We don’t have food without farmers. We should all learn how to farm. (This is how I write when I totally don’t try. Like a first grader’s homework assignment. You might have to get used to this.) But seriously, I am jesting because respect for food production and the importance of food self-reliance should be self-evident. It’s not anymore. Food is good. You die without food. Are people so gone that they need to be reminded of this?

We have Ascension Thursday on the 18th (check if it’s a Holy Day of Obligation in your Diocese) and Ascension Sunday, or whatever they’re calling it these days, on the 21st.

Pentecost, that glorious feast, is on the 28th, in both the trad and new. Come Holy Ghost! Do you have a red shirt? I don’t. I should buy one. I had one I liked once.

On the 31st, we have the Visitation (new) and the Queenship (trad) of Our Lady-a double Marian feast in this Month of Mary. This is also Ember Wednesday, the start of the Ember Days of Summer. Let us pray for the coming season to be productive and fruitful in many ways for the children of God.

May is the Month of Our Lady

O Mary, powerful Virgin, thou art the mighty and glorious protector of the Church. Thou art the marvelous help of Christians. Thou art terrible as an army in battle array. Thou alone hast destroyed every heresy in the whole world. In the midst of our anguish, our struggles and our distress, defend us from the power of the enemy, and at the hour of our death, receive our souls in paradise. Amen.

From The Raccolta

In this first week of May, the month dedicated to Our Lady, let us contemplate the extraordinary painting above, which is based on the Miraculous Medal.*  She seems to be lovingly gazing down upon the world as she crushes the head of the serpent with her bare foot.  Usually, we see this image with Our Lady standing upon the earth (or the firmament).  It is her children’s enemy she defeats.  She has a look of complete peace and as the rays of grace emanate from her hands, this battle seems effortless for her.  Satan, with all his wiles and powerful minions below, is no match for this simple woman from Nazareth.  What a humiliating demise as the angels look on.  A demise which awaits all those who serve him on earth.  We must trust, as we look at the corruption of the world and the ever-growing human rights abuses, that God has got this.  As we say at the outset of every Tridentine Mass…

“Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me­?  Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him, the salvation of my countenance and my God.”

Above the Queen of Heaven’s head are the other elements of the Miraculous Medal (the 12 stars on the back of the medal do not seem to be in the painting):  the Cross above her initial, the 2 Hearts and a prayer which she has herself said is one of her favorites…

“O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!”

Saint Catherine Laboure was the nun who received the Miraculous Medal from Our Lady.  Her incorrupt body lies at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris, where she received 3 visions in the year 1830 (this year is also on the front of the medal).  Pope John Paul II visited the chapel in 1980 and spoke this prayer…

"You watch over the Church for you are its Mother. You watch over each of your children. From God, you obtain for us, all graces that are symbolized by the rays of light which radiate from your open hands, and the only condition that you demand of us is that we approach with the confidence…and the simplicity of a child. And it is thus that you bring us before your Divine Son."

What does all of this mean for us?  It means our Heavenly Father has given us a great advocate to help us through anything life and this crazy world might throw at us.  When we are confused, depressed or anxious, we have only to appeal to her motherly love for us.  For if her Son loved us so much that He died for us, how could she reject us?  As the words of the “Memorare” say…

“I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins”

In this month of May, there are many ways we can give honor to the Mother of God…because she is our Mediatrix, she participated in our salvation by saying “Yes” to God, and also suffered terribly in witnessing the Passion of her Son.  Perhaps we could renew our devotion to the Miraculous Medal, learning more about it and the life of Saint Catherine Laboure.  May would also be a most appropriate month to begin the “Communion of Reparation 5 First Saturdays,” associated with Fatima.  If your local parish does not provide this devotion, think about meeting with your pastor to establish it!

May also gives us 3 Marian feasts:  Our Lady of Fatima on the 13th, The Visitation and Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, both on the 31st.  Mother’s Day is the 8th…how about a Rosary for your mother (2 birds with one stone!).

Some other feasts this month:  ASCENSION OF THE LORD, Minor Rogation Days…Doctors of the Church:  Saints Athanasius (the earliest Doctor), Gregory Nazianzen and Bede the Venerable…Saint Isidore the Farmer!

For the (trad) rest of May, here you go: calefactory.org

*  Sorry, I don’t know who the artist is.  Can anyone tell me?

Some feasts mentioned are in the new calendar.  Image from fineartamerica.com

May: Month of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary

May is jam-packed and starts off with a bang with the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. Please scroll down for our recent post on the indulgences in the “Year of Saint Joseph.” There are 2 that deal specifically with him under this title and one that refers to his feasts. Get yourself to confession and you’re all set!

There are various major feasts this month of Our Lord, Our Lady, the Holy Ghost and the Holy Trinity. We celebrate 3 Apostles and 5 Doctors of the Church, including Saint Athanasius, the earliest of the Doctors (born c 297). We recently discussed Saint Isidore the Farmer on his minor feast, but this month we have his main feast on the 15th.

May also contains both the Ember Days (of summer) and the Minor Rogation Days! These have separate origins but are very similar in character. Basically, these are traditional times of prayer and penance, associated with nature and the seasons. Trinity Sunday marks the end of Eastertide and the beginning of the Time after Pentecost, which we remain in until Advent.

And of course, May celebrates our Heavenly Mother. We have 4 major Marian feasts and a number of minor or less standard ones, not mentioned here. I will not give you a list this time of obvious ideas for Marian devotions, but pray on it and use your creativity, especially if you have young children (check this out: How to Plan a May Crowning for Kids ). Here are some wonderful products from The Catholic Company, which will serve you. As a prepper, I would be remiss if I failed to encourage you to purchase these types of products while you still can. Especially, I recommend good hardcover Catholic books and Bibles, as many as you can afford.

Here is a sampling of the feasts of May…

5/1-St. Joseph the Worker / First Saturday

5/2-St. Athanasius, Doctor, “The Father of Orthodoxy”

5/3-Sts. Philip & James the Less, Apostles, Martyrs (new)

5/4-St. Monica, Mother of St. Augustine

5/7-First Friday

5/9-St. Gregory Nazianzen, Doctor, “The Theologian” “The Christian Demosthenes”

5/10-Rogation Day / St. John of Avila, Doctor, “Apostle of Andalusia” “The Master”

5/11-Rogation Day / Sts. Philip & James the Less (trad)

5/12-Rogation Day

5/13-ASCENSION OF THE LORD (ASCENSION THURSDAY-please check your diocese for info on Holy Days of Obligation) / OUR LADY OF FATIMA / St. Robert Bellarmine, Doctor, “Prince of Apologists” “Gentle Doctor of The Controversies”

5/14-St. Matthias, Apostle who replaced Judas, Martyr

5/15-St. Isidore the Farmer

5/16-ASCENSION OF THE LORD (some dioceses)

5/22-Vigil of Pentecost

5/23-PENTECOST SUNDAY (WHITSUNDAY)

5/24-BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH

5/25-St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor, “Father of English History” (new)

5/26-Ember Wednesday after Pentecost (trad meat at one meal)

5/27-St. Bede the Venerable (trad)

5/28-Ember Friday after Pentecost

5/29-Ember Saturday after Pentecost (trad meat at one meal)

5/30-TRINITY SUNDAY / St. Joan of Arc

5/31-THE VISITATION / QUEENSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Notes: The titles of the Doctors of the Church are taken from The 35 Doctors of the Church , a wonderful book of 728 pages, well worth the price. We give both old and new feasts, since people are coming from all parts of the world and all perspectives. Also, the future Church will not be divided-we must work toward unity.

May is the Month of Our Lady!

Each month in the Catholic calendar is dedicated to a particular intention and this month, it is Our Lady. It is sad Catholics have gotten away from this unifying theme each month. We have largely forgotten that we are the Body of Christ on earth, all as one. Many are focused on their own parishes, not even having any knowledge of what is going on in the parishes around them, nevermind the larger picture. Each month, I will be discussing the focus for that month (I’m not known for being perfectly timely, as I have many domestic responsibilities, family in need and my own health issues-my hubby and I are empty nesters, but I still have lots on my plate-please be patient with me when I am flaky).

So how can we honor the Mother of God this month? I never claim to have all the answers and I always encourage others to be self-empowered and use their own creativity. What I would suggest, as I’ve been saying a lot these days, is to re-commit ourselves to daily Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart in all the requests of Fatima (which we will be discussing in the coming days in detail). Please think of how you can devote yourself to her this month with your family. God will certainly look upon the world with greater mercy if He sees there is love for His Beloved Mother!

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday in the new. Let us never feel abandoned by God, even in dark moments. If you are feeling depressed, just say “I give myself to Thee” and commend it all to Him. Our priest gave a wonderful homily this morning over the internet (where they can see everything-hmmmmm). He said you should never let anything take your joy away. We have Christ and the Good News of the New Covenant-anything less than joy is an insult to Him. He explained that when we are caught up in the cares of the world, our joy can be taken away, but we must keep our eyes on the Eternal. What a great and consoling message at this time.

Following are some notable feasts this month (some old, some new). If you have been following me for several years, you know I have a particular interest in the Doctors of the Church. I always say, if you wish to read one book of each Doctor, it will take 35 years! This month, we have 5 Doctors of the Church. My husband and I read about one of them per month in the book, The 35 Doctors of the Church: https://www.tanbooks.com/thirty-five-doctors-of-the-church.html?___SID=U This month, we are focusing on Saint Robert Bellarmine, whose feast is May 13th. I once read his “Hell and Its Torments” and was forever changed. Have a blessed month of May!

May 3-Good Shepherd Sunday (new), Sts. Philip & James the Less

May 9-St. Gregory Nazianzen, Doctor

May 10-St. John of Avila, Doctor

May 13-OUR LADY OF FATIMA* (take a look at the World Apostolate of Fatima site https://www.bluearmy.com/ for prayers and info), St. Robert Bellarmine

May 15-St. Isidore the Farmer (Nomen Christi Apostolate counts him among our patrons), St. Dymphna, patron of mental disorders (many are experiencing anxiety right now)

May 16-St. Simon Stock, seer of the Brown Scapular, another of Our Lady’s requests (good time to be wearing it!)

May 18-20-Minor Rogation Days-trad custom-prayer and penance

May 21-ASCENSION OF THE LORD-check your diocese if this is a Holy Day of Obligation

May 24-ASCENSION OF THE LORD (new)

May 25-St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor (new)

May 27-St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor (old)

May 30-Vigil of Pentecost

May 31-PENTECOST, The Visitation, The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (what a wonderful triple feast!)

*Nomen Christi Apostolate is dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima

Picture above is from my own yard-I believe our home has protection!

May is the Month of Our Lady

Here I am, punctual as usual!  (Yes, that was a joke.)  Actually, my life has had a number of ups and downs lately.  Let me explain what you are looking at above....

This is my beloved Blessed Mother statue in my yard, which I have had for about 17 years.  There is a whole story associated with this statue that is too much to go into right now-maybe some other time!  Let's just say it has a mysterious history.  You may be able to see faint tears coming down from the eyes, which developed after I purchased it.  The flowers, my husband gave me yesterday to console me on the passing of my beautiful black & white Cardigan Welsh Corgi, named Obi.  I had an extremely close bond with this dog and I have been beside myself for the past week after having to make that gut-wrenching decision that most pet owners eventually have to make.  I never knew how hard it would be. 

I decided to share my flowers with Our Lady and give them to her for her month of May.  Nomen Christi Apostolate has been dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima and I am very excited about the 100th Anniversary coming up as well-May 13th!  It is Mothers Day weekend and also a Saturday, which of course, is the day of the week associated with Our Lady.  Coincidence?  The rosary you see around her neck I purchased yesterday when walking around Huntington Station, NY, while my car was being serviced.  I was walking through a Latino neighborhood and found that rosary for $3.00.  I feel it was a little gift from Heaven as well, for my grief.  I have not been blogging the past month because my dog was so sick, all I could think about was taking care of him.  We tried to save him, but he was old and not responding to treatment.  If his little doggie soul goes on, I have commended it to Saint Francis, to take care of until we can be reunited in Heaven.  Call me crazy, but I believe love makes all things possible.  Who are we to put limits on God?

I also have been busy with a brand new concept which I am writing a book about and am not yet ready to announce.  So, you'll just have to keep coming back if you want to know what it is....unless I scrap the whole idea, which is always a possibility-but I don't think I will.  I've learned that not every idea is a good one, but I think I've hit the jackpot on this one.  It will take time to develop, so don't expect anything soon.  Ok....hint....its a "Life Improvement" program to help people achieve balance in their lives.  I am using myself as the initial guinea pig right now.  If all goes well, I will then do workshop trials which you may be able to participate in.  I'll keep you posted....

As usual, I have picked some of the feasts I find interesting in the month ahead....here goes...and have a blessed Month of May (please see prayer on Home page)!  (If you want to do something on behalf of the loss of my dear dog, please pray for someone somewhere who is grieving with a loss and has no one to turn to.  Thank you, my friends.)

5/1-St. Joseph the Worker/St. Peregrine, 1345-patron of cancer patients

5/2-St. Athanasius, 373-Doctor of the Church

5/3-Sts. Philip & James the Less, 61, 62/Finding of the Holy Cross

5/4-St. Monica, 387-mother of St. Augustine/Feast of the Holy Shroud

5/5-First Friday

5/6-First Saturday (great time to start this devotion which was instituted by Our Lady of Fatima!)

5/7-Good Shepherd Sunday

5/9-St. Gregory Nazianzen, 389-Doctor of the Church

5/10-St. John of Avila, 1569-Doctor of the Church

5/11-Sts. Philip & James the Less (trad)

5/13-100th Anniversary of the First Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal/St. Robert Bellarmine, 1621-Doctor of the Church/Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament

5/14-St. Matthias, 65 (Mothers Day-pro-life intentions)

5/15-St. Isidore the Farmer, 1130 (we like him!)/St. Dymphna, 7th C-Martyr for purity, patron of mental disorders

5/16-St. Simon Stock, 1265-Seer of the Brown Scapular (another devotion associated with Fatima)

5/22-Rogation Day (see previous post)

5/23-Rogation Day

5/24-Rogation Day/Our Lady Help of Christians

5/25-Ascension Thursday/St. Bede the Venerable, 735-Doctor of the Church

5/27-St. Augustine of Canterbury, 604/St. Bede the Venerable (trad)/Our Lady Queen of Apostles

5/28-Ascension of Our Lord/St. Augustine of Canterbury (trad)

5/30-St. Joan of Arc, 1431

5/31-Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary/Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary