The Month of May is a month for celebrating mothers. First and foremost is Mary, the mother of God and the mother of the Church, of us all. I was reading about how the month of May became dedicated to Mary and saw that in the times of the early Church, the pagan Greek and Roman cultures in which the Christians were situated had festivals during this month dedicated to the various gods and values traditionally associated with motherhood as well as springtime and new growth. Christians re-appropriated these ideas and moved another practice called the Tricesimum (Latin for “30-day devotion to Mary”) to the month of May henceforth dedicating this time, as it were, to Mary’s honor for her supreme example of discipleship and gift of motherhood.
Accordingly, there are many and varied devotions to Mary that are celebrated at this time. We crown Mary in the month of May and we celebrated this with our first communicants and parish this past Sunday. The month of May is a special time to pray the rosary. The rosary is prayed here at St. Mary’s before each weekday Mass at 8:30am as well as in the Chapel on Wednesdays at 7:00pm. You are welcome to join us. As another idea, something we had around my family home growing up: when grandpa moved in to live with us, he brought with him the Marian Shrine he had from his old house, and we set up a garden around Mary in the backyard. Perhaps, you can create a prayer space for Mary in your home or in your garden with your family. Consider contemplating on the life of Mary – her yes to God, her following Jesus throughout his ministry to the foot of the cross, her intercession at Cana, her apparitions throughout history……… Her discipleship, her surrender, her trust and faithfulness, her charity, her prayerfulness, her purity, her care – and then go about imitating her virtues in your own life.
Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, expecting mothers, motherly figures! They have completely dedicated themselves to always wanting what is best for us. We will never know or appreciate enough all of the sacrifices of love that our mothers have made throughout our lives, themselves following in the example of the Paschal mystery of Christ. Indeed, what a wonderful and sacred vocation it is to care for others with a mother’s love, and we celebrate that in a particular way this weekend as we celebrate Mother’s Day. God bless our Moms!
Keep Smiling 
~ Fr. Luke