Mary’s Month of May

May 1st – St. Joseph the Worker

Apparently in response to the “May Day” celStJoseph_Carpenterebrations for workers sponsored by Communists, Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955.
In a constantly necessary effort to keep Jesus from being removed from ordinary human life, the Church has from the beginning proudly emphasized that Jesus was a carpenter, obviously trained by Joseph in both the satisfactions and the drudgery of that vocation. Humanity is like God not only in thinking and loving, but also in creating. Whether we make a table or a cathedral, we are called to bear fruit with our hands and mind, ultimately for the building up of the Body of Christ.
read more….at   American Catholic website
First Friday promise from Jesus to  St. Margaret Mary Alacoque  –  “I  promise you in the unfath ­omable mercy of my heart that my omnipotent love will procure the grace of final penitence for all those who receive communion on nine successive first Fridays of the month;  they will not die in my disfavor, or without having received the sacraments, since my divine heart will be their sure refuge in the last moments of their life.”
As the object of this devotion is to make our Savior Jesus Christ ardently and perfectly loved, and to make reparation for the outrages offered to Him in the past, as well as for those which he daily receives in the Blessed Eucharist…Jesus Christ merits our love at all times, but alas! He is despised and outraged in the Sacrament of His love at all times, and so people should at all times make reparation to Him.     Attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is assuredly the best means of honoring and loving the adorable Heart of Jesus.
read more… at Miracle of the Rosary Mission

May 2nd – First Saturday –

“Whether the world has war or peace depends on the practice of this devotion,  along with the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is why I desire its propagation so ardently, especially because this is also the will of our dear Mother in Heaven.”  -Sr. Lucy (March 19, 1939)
I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.”
read more....   at The Most Holy Rosary website

FatimaGrMay 10th – Mother’s Day

The celebration of Mother’s Day dates back all the way to ancient times, but the idea of the celebration was first kicked around in 1872. Julia Ward Howe, author of the words to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” proposed Mother’s Day as a day dedicated to peace.

Holy Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus, Hear my prayer for my own dear mother. Take her hand as I hold her in my heart and mind.

Let the strength you have known as a mother Fill her body. Let the devotion you feel for our Lord Fill her heart. Let the grace that surrounds you Fill her spirit. Holy Mary, may your divine presence In my mother’s life, today and every day, bring her joy And peace forever. Amen.

read more…–   on the Prayers for Special Help website

May 13th- Our Lady of Fatima

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima.  Mary asked the children to  pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia.
Our Lady of Fatima explained to the children that war is a punishment for sin and warned that God would further castigate the world for its disobedience to His Will by means of war, hunger and the persecution of the Church, the Holy Father and the Catholic Faithful. God’s Mother prophesied that Russia would be God’s chosen “instrument of chastisement,” spreading the “errors” of atheism and materialism across the earth, fomenting wars, annihilating nations and persecuting the Faithful everywhere.
read more…. at the Fatima Network Essentials website

May 17th – the Ascension of Our Lord

Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father’s glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him for ever.
Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

read more… on the New Advent website

pentecostMay 24th – Pentecost Sunday

On the day of Pentecost when the seven weeks of Easter had come to an end, Christ’s Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person: of his fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance.
read more … on the National Catholic Register website

May 31st – the Most Holy Trinity

The fundamental dogma, on which everything in Christianity is based, is that of the Blessed Trinity in whose name all Christians are baptized. The feast of the Blessed Trinity  is celebrated as a prolongation of the mysteries of Christ and as the solemn expression of our faith in this triune life of the Divine Persons, to which we have been given access by Baptism and by the Redemption won for us by Christ.
read more….   on the Catholic Culture website