1 May – The Holy Father’s PRAYER INTENTIONS for MAY 2018
MAY
EVANGELISATION:
The Mission of the Laity
That the lay faithful, may fulfil, their specific mission,
by responding with creativity, to the
challenges, that face the world today.
Day: May 1, 2018
Thought for the Day – 1 May – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide, the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker and the 1st day of the Month of Mary
Thought for the Day – 1 May – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide, the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker and the 1st day of the Month of Mary
May, The Month of Promise
Why is May chosen as the month in which we exercise a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin?
The first reason, is because, it is the time when the earth bursts forth into its fresh foliage and its green grass, after the stern frost and snow of winter and the raw atmosphere and the wild wind and rain, of the early spring. It is because the blossoms are upon the trees and the flowers are in the gardens. It is because the days have got long and the sun rises early and sets late. For such gladness and joyousness of external Nature is a fit attendant on our devotion to her, who is the Mystical Rose and the House of Gold.
A man may say, “True but in this climate, we have sometimes a bleak, inclement May.” This cannot be denied; but still, so much is true that at least it is the month of promise and of hope. Even though the weather happen to be bad, it is the month that begins and heralds in the summer. We know, for all that may be unpleasant in it, that fine weather is coming, sooner or later. “Brightness and beauty shall,” in the Prophet’s words, “appear at the end and shall not lie: if it make delay, wait for it, for it shall surely come and shall not be slack.”
May then is the month, if not of fulfillment, at least of promise and is not this the very aspect, in which we most suitably regard the Blessed Virgin, Holy Mary, to whom this month is dedicated?
The Prophet says, “There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse and a flower shall rise out of his root.” Who is the flower but our Blessed Lord? Who is the rod, or beautiful stalk or stem or plant out of which the flower grows but Mary, Mother of our Lord, Mary, Mother of God?
It was prophesied that God should come upon earth. When the time was now full, how was it announced? It was announced by the Angel coming to Mary. “Hail, full of grace,” said Gabriel, “the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.” She then was the sure promise of the coming Saviour and, therefore, May is, by a special title her month…. taken from Meditations for the Month of May, by Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
Holy Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, Pray for us!
Quote of the Day – 1 May – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker
Quote of the Day – 1 May – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker
“Work done grudgingly, is servitude.
Work done willingly, is service.
Work done lovingly, is a Sacrament!”
Unknown
One Minute Marian Reflection – 1 May – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide, the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker and the 1st day of the Month of Mary
One Minute Reflection – 1 May – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide, the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker and the 1st day of the Month of Mary
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David and the virgin’s name was Mary...Luke 1:26-27
REFLECTION – “MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD: “When the Blessed Virgin said yes, freely, to the plans revealed to her by the Creator, the divine Word assumed a human nature — a rational soul and a body – which was formed in the most pure womb of Mary. The divine nature and the human were united in a single Person: Jesus Christ, true God and, thenceforth, true man; the only begotten and eternal son of the Father and from that moment on, as man, the true son of Mary. This is why our Lady is the mother of the Incarnate Word, of the second person of the Blessed Trinity, who has united our human nature to Himself for ever, without any confusion of the two natures. The greatest praise we can give to the Blessed Virgin is to address her loudly and clearly by the name that expresses her very highest dignity: ‘Mother of God’.”
Let us offer to our Mother today:
Brief but frequent prayers of love, such as – “Mother of God, your petitions are most powerful.”… St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975) – “Mother of God and Our Mother,” – Friends of God 274
PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, Your ways are not our ways, teach us to willingly agree to them, for You know which way we should go. Help us to say “yes” always to Your plan and to render ourselves as a sacrament of Your divine love to all we meet. Fill us with the grace to be your tools to bring glory to Your kingdom. Our Father, who art in heaven, may Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Mary Mother of God, pray for us! Through our Our Lord Jesus Christ with You, in the union of the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Rejoice! It’s 1 May and the beginning of the Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Rejoice! It’s 1 May and the beginning of the Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“God wills that all his gifts should come to us through Mary”
St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Mellifluous Doctor
It was in Rome, towards the end of the eighteenth century, one fine evening in May. A child of the poor gathered his companions around him and led them to a statue of Mary, before which a lamp was burning, as is the custom in that holy city. There, these fresh young voices sang the Litany of our Lady. The next day, the little group, followed by other children, again gathered at the feet of the Mother of God. Next came their mothers, to join the little assembly. Soon, other groups were formed and the devotion rapidly became popular. Holy souls, troubled by the disorderly conduct which always increases and becomes graver at the return of the pleasant springtime, saw in these growing practices the hand of God and they co-operated with the designs of Providence by approving and promoting this new devotion, as a public and solemn act of reparation. The Month of Mary was founded! … A Carthusian, A Month with Mary, London: Burns and Oates, 1950.
“This is the month in which, in the churches and individual homes, the most affectionate and fervent homage of prayers and devotions from the hearts of Christians are raised to Mary. It is also the month in which from His throne, descend upon us, the most generous and abundant gifts of the Divine Mercy.” … Blessed Pope Paul VI, The Month of Mary,1967
In our own times, we Catholics, wanting to be close to her always, offer her special presents in May: pilgrimages, visits to churches dedicated to her, little sacrifices in her honour, extra Devotions in her honour, floral ‘Crownings’, periods of study and well-finished work offered up to her and a more attentive recitation of the Marian Litanies and the Holy Rosary.
Opening Hymn from the Little Office of Mary
O Mary of all women,
You are the chosen one,
Who, ancient prophets promised,
Would bear God’s only Son;
All Hebrew generations
Prepared the way to thee,
That in your womb the God-man,
Might come to set us free.
O Mary, you embody
all God taught to our race,
For you are first and foremost
In fullness of His grace;
We praise this wondrous honour
That you gave birth to Him,
Who from you took humanity
And saved us from our sin.
Our Morning Offering- 1 May – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide, the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker and the 1st day of the Month of Mary
Our Morning Offering- 1 May – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide, the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker and the 1st day of the Month of Mary
An Act of Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary
By St John Berchmans S.J. (1599-1621)
Holy Mary, Mother of God and Virgin,
I choose you this day for my queen,
patron and advocate
and firmly resolve and purpose,
never to abandon you,
never to say or do anything,
against you,
nor to permit that aught be done by others,
to dishonour you.
Receive me, then, I beg you,
as your perpetual servant,
assist me in all my actions
and do not abandon me
at the hour of my death.
Amen
Memorial of St Joseph the Worker – 1 May
Memorial of St Joseph the Worker – 1 May
“May Day” has long been dedicated as a special day for labour and working people. The feast of St. Joseph the Worker was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 to Christianise labour and give all workers a model and a protector.
By the daily labour in his shop, St. Joseph provided for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God and thus became a role model for labourers. The liturgy for this feast celebrates the right to work and this is a message that needs to be heard and heeded in our modern society. How did this connection with St Joseph the Worker, which is nearly as old as Christianity, get made?
In an effort to keep Jesus from being removed from ordinary life, the Church has from the beginning proudly emphasised that Jesus was a carpenter, obviously trained by Joseph in the satisfaction 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. In addition to this, there is a special dignity and value to the work of caring for the family.
An excerpt from the Vatican II document on the modern world said, “Where men and women, in the course of gaining a livelihood for themselves and their families, offer appropriate service to society, they can be confident that their personal efforts promote the work of the Creator, confer benefits on their fellowmen, and help to realise God’s plan in history.”
St Pope Pius X (1835-1914) composed this prayer to St Joseph, patron of working people, that expresses concisely the Christian attitude toward labour. It summarises also for us the lessons of the Holy Family’s work at Nazareth.
Let us Pray:
Glorious St Joseph,
model of all who devote their lives to labour,
obtain for me the grace to work,
in the spirit of penance, in order thereby,
to atone for my many sins;
to work conscientiously,
setting devotion to duty in preference to my own whims;
to work with thankfulness and joy,
deeming it an honour to employ
and to develop, by my labour,
the gifts I have received from God;
to work with order, peace, moderation and patience,
without ever shrinking from weariness and difficulties;
to work above all with a pure intention
and with detachment from self,
having always before my eyes,
the hour of death and the accounting
which I must then render of time ill spent,
of talents wasted, of good omitted
and of vain complacency in success,
which is so fatal to the work of God.
All for Jesus, all through Mary,
all in imitation of you, O Patriarch Joseph!
This shall be my motto in life and in death,
Amen.
More info on Patronages etc here :
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/saint-of-the-day-1-may-st-joseph-the-worker/
Memorial of St Joseph the Worker, Feast of the Madonna of Giubino and Memorials of the Saints – 1 May
St Joseph the Worker (Optional Memorial)
Madonna of Giubino:
The Church of the Madonna of Giubino was built in 1721 to house a miraculous marble-relief icon of the Madonna, which is brought to a country chapel during the summer. (A copy of the relief is housed in the Church of St Joseph in Brooklyn, New York, giving testimony to the large emigrant community of Calatafimesi who lived in Brooklyn in the early 20th century). The Church of Maria Santissima di Giubino is dedicated to the patroness of the town. It has a single nave, with an elegant barrel vault decorated with frescoes and ornamental motifs. Inside it there are some important works: the painting with the Assumption, Our Lady with Angels and Saints dated 1617, the altar-piece of All Saints, an 18th-century wooden organ and a 15th-century marble alto-rilievo representing Madonna of Giubino with the Infant Jesus. In 1655 an invasion of grasshoppers was destroying all the crops in the countryside of Calatafimi: the people, assembled in a Church, decided that, after putting all the names of the saints who had an altar in town inside a ballot box, they would choose as a patron that one whose name had been drawn. After they invoked the Holy Ghost, it was chosen the name of Maria Santissima di Giubino by lots. The central part of the triptych with the image of the Virgin was soon taken out from the wall in the country church of Giubino and taken in procession: Calatafimi was free from grasshoppers. Maria Santissima di Giubino was elected patroness of the town (25 April 1655) and the bas-relief of the Virgin of Giubino was then placed on the high altar of the new Church, designed by Giovanni Biagio Amico (the same planner of the Church of Santissimo Crocifisso) in 1721. In 1931 the triptych was recomposed in the town sanctuary and restored. There was a new restoration of the Church in 1978.
—
St Aceolus of Amiens
St Acius of Amiens
St Aldebrandus of Fossombrone
St Amator of Auxerre
St Ambrose of Ferentino
St Andeolus of Smyrna
Bl Arigius of Gap
St Arnold of Hiltensweiler
St Asaph of Llanelwy
St Augustine Schöffler
St Benedict of Szkalka
St Bertha of Avenay
St Bertha of Kent
St Brieuc of Brittany
St Ceallach of Killala
St Cominus of Catania
Evermarus of Rousson
Bl Felim O’Hara
St Grata of Bergamo
St Isidora of Egypt
St Jeremiah the Prophet
St John-Louis Bonnard
Bl Klymentii Sheptytskyi
St Marculf
St Orentius of Auch
St Orentius of Loret
St Patientia of Loret
St Peregrine Laziosi (1260-1345) Incorrupt
Bl Petronilla of Moncel
St Richard Pampuri
St Romanus of Baghdad
St Sigismund of Burgundy
St Theodard of Narbonne
St Thorette
St Torquatus of Guadix
Bl Vivald of Gimignano
AnaStpaul 
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