MAY, MONTH OF THE VIRGIN MARY
Below, you can find a brief reflection for each day of the month of May, the month of the Virgin Mary:
Day 1.-SAN JOS ARTISAN
The month begins with the memory of San José Obrero. It seems a good auspice because no one has loved the Virgin like Saint Joseph. No one like him felt unworthy to be with Ella. From the moment of the angel’s vision he literally put himself at the service of Mary and her divine Son. He defended them, protected them, helped them with their work.
Da 2.-THROUGH MARY
Children also know that the month of May is the month of the Virgin. The month of May is intended to honor God through Mary. Mara is the non plus ultra of holiness and dignity. According to Dante, above her there is only God. In La Salette the Virgin seems to challenge us: “No matter how much you do or receive, you can never compensate me for what I have done for you”: a mother is good for twenty children, but twenty children are not enough to compensate a mother”.
Da 3.-OUR RELIGION
How beautiful is our religion! Deep down, he commands us little: love God, love our brothers, attend the Eucharist on Sundays… Other religions demand much more. Think of so many with very severe prohibitions, heavy rites, etc. For the devotions, each one can choose their own devotion according to their culture, customs, etc.
Our Lady, here is an exceptional devotion; the Church has for her the hyperdula, a supercult; all the saints have been Marians, the artists, the poets… The Virgin is not a frame; she enters into the mystery of human redemption from the day of the Annunciation to her participation in the sacrifice of the cross.
Da 4.-POPULAR DEVOTION
Let’s admit it: our devotion to Mary should be clearer, more grounded, more biblical… but this does not mean that it should stop being humble, simple, popular. A rather learned priest said: “I like to light a candle, but first I look around in case there is some modern theologian watching me.”
Today even the so-called “moderns” have discovered the validity of popular devotion; There has been a reversal of the trend, because never have we seen so many pilgrimages to Marian shrines emerge as in our days. Lourdes, Fatima, el Pilar, el Roco, Guadalupe, Covadonga…..
Da 5.- MOTHER OF MERCY
It is not necessary to be great theologians; it is enough to examine our own life; how many miseries! how many limitations how much need we have of a Savior, of the Virgin Mary, mother of Mercy. The tears of the Virgin in her life and today, in some apparitions, explain to us what sins are. Just think how God punished one of his angels, how he punished Adam and Eve. What a tragedy and what a mystery!
Jesus came only to take away our sins. The Virgin Mary is concerned to mercifully intercede for us.
6.- THE MOST HOLY CREATURE
Priests are asked the strangest questions; They are sometimes asked if one saint is greater than another because he performs more miracles. God uses the saints as instruments of his grace. The one who performs miracles is God; but he uses some saints and, above all, the Virgin Mary. Only God is holy; He who most resembles God, who is closest to Him, is most holy. This is why the Virgin Mary is the most holy creature. Being God Love resembles God only with love.
7.- CONCEPTION OF MARY
Nothing is truer than original sin, said the great convert Chesterton; it is enough to see the physical and moral consequences in the world. There is no need to check it. When there is any misfortune, disaster, we can always say; it is the cause of original sin.
Mary’s conception was immaculate. The Virgin Mary was conceived by Joaquín and Ana, the parents according to an ancient tradition.
To the Virgin Mary, at the moment of her conception, God prevented original sin from staining that exceptional creature for the exceptional mission that the Lord entrusted to her.
Da 8.-MARY IS IMMACULATE
We all know that Mary is the Immaculate Virgin; but not everyone knows that this truth, today a dogma of faith, has not had an easy life in the history of the Church.
To us, simple faithful, it does not seem to us that there is any difficulty in admitting that Mary is Immaculate; she seems somewhat obvious since she must be the Mother of Jesus, the mother from whom she came to combat sin.
Original sin caused the loss of divine life, grace for Adam and all his descendants; if the shoot loses contact with the vine, it dries up and dies. Jesus, redeeming in him the two natures, reestablish contact…. like when a locomotive loses contact with the electric wire.
Da 9. -THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
We have understood one thing: that everything depends on the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. Yes, everything has its origin in the blood of Jesus. She alone takes away sin, all sins. The Scripture already says: “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” And this blood is applied to us with the sacraments. The water of baptism that cleanses the soul is the blood of Christ that penetrates the heart, the soul of the baptized. When the priest says: “I absolve you” he takes our stained soul and plunges it into the precious blood of Christ; and thus it arises regenerated, beautiful, with the beauty of angels.
Da 10. -THE DIGNITY OF MARY
We are here to pray to the Virgin, to honor her, to tell her how much we love her… and we will not tire of hearing about her, her greatness, her holiness, her dignity.
Her life was modest, humble: the wife of a poor craftsman, in a poor house with a fig tree in front of the door… Some say that like all the women of that time, Mary would also have two or three chickens so that the egg to her little Jesus.
Christ now has the golden crown on his head, the scepter in his hand; but then, no crowns, no fancy clothes, no thrones, but the humble footstool of the poor.
Da 11.-THE INNOCENCE OF THE HUMBLE
The greatest Christian revolution, after Christ, was that of St. Francis of Ass “Why precisely you? Why precisely do all these people come to you?” I”. The saint considered himself meaner than the demons, and said: “if they had received the graces that I have received, they would love the Lord more than I”.
The Virgin has the same preferences as Jesus: Who does she appear to? To children, but not educated children, from good families. but to ignorant, illiterate, unattractive people. why?
The only reason was her extreme innocence, her total candor; they had defects, fruit of the ignorance of their parents, but they had no vices. Let us analyze the cases of La Salette, Lourdes, Fatima. They had all preserved the purity of the lyres.
12 GOD’S PREFERENCES
God loves all creatures; but reading the Scripture we see that God has his preferences. He preferred the Jewish people not because they had something particular, great, beautiful, on the contrary, they were a small people, without art or part, compared to other peoples. Let us think of David, of Samuel. This is how Jesus works: whom to choose as a mother? The humblest, a modest girl from a small village. As a father, to a humble craftsman, although descended from a king, according to the prophecies. Whom to choose as apostles? To twelve illiterate.
13. -THE MARRIAGE OF MARA
Was it necessary for Mara to marry? Wasn’t it better that she had remained a virgin in her house?, instead of getting married… when we all know the risks that marriage entails? Here is a historical episode. When Federico Ozanam got married, a lawyer destined to the glory of the altars, his friend and his great preacher said: “What poor Federico has not known how to avoid the trap of marriage”; but the Pope in an audience replied: “I did not know that Jesus Christ had invented and instituted the sacraments and a… trap”.
God prepared Mary for her stupendous mission as mother of God just as he prepared Joseph who would be placed next to her. “When God calls to a mission, he gives the chosen one all the virtues and gifts necessary for him to carry out that mission” says Saint Bernardino of Siena.
14. -THE BEAUTIFUL LADY
When the angel of the Annunciation appears to Mary, he does not greet her by name, but exclaims: “Hail full of grace.” Rejoice, full of God, full of joy. Only later will he say: “Don’t be afraid, Mary.” What does this name mean? For us it means the All Beautiful, the beautiful lady, the morning star, the star of love…
De Amicis said of his mother: “The more I look at her, the more beautiful she seems to me.” Mary is the purest, most holy, most immaculate creature of creation. So we too look at Mary. Her beauty will transform our hearts.
15 THE ANNUNCIATION
We all know that the story of the Annunciation is the central episode of Mary’s entire life. Blessed Angelico did not tire of reproducing it. The painters represent the Virgin on her knees, with a book in her hands, at home. The Greeks, on the other hand, say that the apparition occurs along the way when Mary returns from the source. Who is right? Certainly at home; the gospel account is clear. Let’s read it again.
16. -SON OF MARA
God reveals himself, God reveals the mystery of the Trinity. God reveals a secret: the Son of God is also about to become the son of Mary. This is the secret of secrets: never revealed even to the Old Testament saints. Therefore, God the Father does have a Son. How will the miracle happen? “The Holy Spirit will cover you with his shadow.” Be careful when the Bible speaks of a shadow, of a cloud.
The cloud indicates the presence of God! Here is how the most august mystery of the Christian religion has been revealed to Mary: a God in three persons, equal and different as the Catechism recites. We are at the central point of the Christian mystery: the encounter of divinity with humanity, the invisible becoming visible.
17. -ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION
The first time the writing speaks of Mara, it presents her as a woman. She is the mysterious woman, irreconcilable enemy of the snake and its eternal winner. She does not say if she is married, if she is a widow, her son speaks only of her lineage. What is shocking is that Jesus also addresses Mary, calling her a woman. What do I have to do, woman? (In. 2,4) at the wedding of Can. “Woman, behold your son” (Jn. 19, 26) on Calvary.
Even Saint Paul: “God sent his son, born of a woman” (Gal. 4,4) Mary did not cease to be a woman. After the Annunciation, Mary does not turn in on herself to savor the presence of Jesus who began to live in her very pure womb, in the contemplation of the immediate mystery that unfolded in her. Mary thus prepares to serve Elizabeth, her holy and ancient relative.
Here she appears first as a woman, then as a Virgin: she leaves her lofty contemplation to make the dough, take care of the kitchen, the food, the most humble things. Let’s not make flights of high mysticism: let’s be in the concrete of daily life.
18. -VIRGIN OF THE VIRGINS
The Virgin was truly chaste, pure; pure in her heart, chaste in her body. She was the first Hebrew girl to take the vow of perpetual virginity, certainly under the inspiration of God. Holiness is total abandonment in the hands of God. “Oh God, make of me what you want.” The Virgin is in the full sense of the word: Virgin of virgins. The Virgin par excellence. The French call Mara the Holy Virgin; everything is said here.
19. -THE NEW EVE
It is said that the Virgin is the perfect copy of Jesus… that her mission on earth was…