May 6, 2005

Mary's Month

by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke


Introduction

We, in the Church, dedicate the month of May to the honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In our families, we give special attention to the praying of the rosary and to making a May Altar. In our parishes, Catholic schools and other Catholic institutions, it is also the month for the celebration of public devotions to the Mother of God, including the May Crowning, the crowning of the statue of the Blessed Mother with beautiful flowers as a sign of her honor and our devoted love. 

May is a fitting time to give attention to our relationship with the Virgin Mary and to grow in our love of her. In May, the earth becomes fresh with new growth. The many flowers and flowering trees, especially the fruit trees, are a sign of the beauty and fruitfulness of the earth. Farmers plow the fields and plant the seeds which soon sprout, giving hope of an abundant harvest to feed and clothe us. Gardens are hoed and sown with seeds of flowers and vegetables. 

Spiritually, we consider the unimaginable spiritual fruitfulness of Mary who conceived our Lord in her womb, through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, and brought him into the world at Bethlehem. Mary is indeed the Mother of our Redeemer. Her spiritual motherhood is fully expressed in a life totally dedicated to our Lord, her Divine Son. She was not only His mother but also His best disciple. We see Mary’s discipleship powerfully reflected in her standing at the foot of the cross, assisting her Divine Son at His dying, and in her care for our Lord’s burial. Perhaps the words which describe best the life and vocation of Mary are the last of her words to be recorded in the holy Gospels. At the Wedding feast at Cana, she said to the wine stewards who came to seek her help: "Do whatever He tells you" (John 2:5). Her help was to send those in need to Christ. Surely, we want to do whatever Christ tells us, and it is Mary who will never fail to bring us to her Son, to know His will and to do it with a pure heart, like her own Immaculate Heart. 

Devotions in the home and parish

As a child, I always looked forward to May as a time to show special love to our Blessed Mother. Especially in Wisconsin, where I grew up and where the winter months are long, May is most welcome. 

In my home, the May Altar was placed in a prominent place. A special table was designated and covered with a beautiful cloth. The statue of the Blessed Mother was placed on the table. A candle and vase with fresh flowers was placed near the statue. We children took care to gather the fresh flowers, lilacs and other flowers which bloomed in May for our heavenly Mother. Daily prayers venerating our Blessed Mother and asking her intercession were offered before her enthroned image.  The family rosary gave special joy and inspiration during May. With the new growth of the springtime, there was also a new spiritual growth in appreciation of the depth and power of the Church’s favorite prayer to Mary. The Memorare also became a favorite prayer. It expresses so well our filial relationship with the Mother of Christ, whom, in the moment of His greatest act of love for us, He gave to us as our mother. 

Public praying of the rosary in the parish and Catholic school, processions in honor of the Mother of God and the crowning of her statue all helped me to become a more loving and obedient son of Mary. The beautiful hymns to the honor of Mary — "The Lourdes Hymn"; "Hail Holy Queen, Enthroned Above"; "Daily, Daily Sing to Mary"; "Sing of Mary"; "O Sanctissima"; "Be Joyful, Mary"; "Ave Maria"; "Salve, Mater Misericordiae," to name a few — expressed a son’s fervent love and helped inspire a more fervent devotion to our Blessed Mother.  The special prayers, hymns and devotions are, of course, also the occasion for parents to speak with their children about the Virgin Mary and her place in our spiritual life. In Catholic school and in the Parish School of Religion, May is also a time for lessons in Marian devotion, the study of the classical Church teaching regarding our Blessed Mother and familiar conversation about her. 

Cardinal Carberry’s plan

Cardinal John Joseph Carberry, the sixth bishop and fifth archbishop of St. Louis, proposed an excellent plan for the observance of Mary’s month. It is described in his book, "Mary, Queen and Mother: Marian Pastoral Reflections," published by the Daughters of St. Paul in 1979, from page 26 through page 32. Cardinal Carberry reminded us of how easy it is take a relationship for granted, even our relationship with our Blessed Mother. He urged us to make May a time to reconnect or to connect more strongly with our Mother in Heaven. He wrote:

"For the month of May we would ask you to do the following: think of Mary; pray to Mary;  speak of Mary; and read about Mary. It is hardly asking too much, for everyone, young and old, if they will, (to) have the name of Mary in their minds. They can whisper it in daily prayer, they can pronounce it in conversations with their companions, and lastly they can constantly read the beautiful praises that are written to the honor and glory of Mary" (p. 27).

May devotions give the occasion to carry out the excellent program of Cardinal Carberry. 

Thinking of Mary leads us to a realization of how close she is to us, how much she cares for us, how warmly she welcomes our prayers for her intercession. The wine stewards at the wedding feast of Cana, in a moment of potentially great embarrassment, immediately thought of going to Mary for help. By looking daily upon the image of our Blessed Mother and considering her deep maternal care, we will go to Mary in all things, trusting that she will lead us to Christ. Cardinal Carberry cautions us about the result of negligence in thinking daily of Mary, as we think daily of all those we most love:

"(I)f we never think of her, if we forget that she is a real person, as real as your parents, or your children, we will reach the stage when we rarely ever think of her — and the opposite is true — if we think of Mary, understand who she was and is, know how much she loves us, and intercedes for us, if we can learn what she has done for thousands of her devoted children ... if these facts are constantly in our minds ... then, we will never forget, we will always be thinking of her!" (p. 28). Daily, we should simply repeat the name of Mary, thinking of all that she meant to our Lord and all that she means to us, then we will grow in our devotion to the Mother of God and experience her powerful help in our daily living. 

When we think of Mary, we spontaneously speak to her, pray to her. Two of my favorite prayers to Mary are the Memorare and the rosary. Both prayers are simple and yet most profound. They lead us to a deeper love of our Blessed Mother and a surer trust in her never-failing intercession. Often, we think that we do not have the time to pray the rosary. As Cardinal Carberry points out, the praying of the rosary takes 10 to 15 minutes, a relatively short time to spend with someone we love so much (p. 30). As we grow in love of our Blessed Mother, we will look forward to the praying of the rosary, which draws us to her side in contemplating the great mystery of our Redemption in her Divine Son. 

Our closeness to our Blessed Mother makes us want to speak with others about her. It is especially important that parents speak with their children about their relationship with Mary and the help which they have received in asking her intercession. Our witness to the place of Mary in our lives will help others to discover or grow in their relationship with Mary. In this regard, it is especially important that we be prepared to give an account of our Marian devotion to those who would question it or consider it to detract somehow from our relationship with Christ Who alone is our salvation. We should never be ashamed to acknowledge our love of Christ’s Mother, for she brought Christ into the world and He entrusted us to her and her to us, as he was dying on the cross (John 19:26-27). 

Lastly, Cardinal Carberry urges us to read about Mary. There are many wonderful texts of the Church’s teaching, of our Holy Fathers and of theologians, which help us to understand more fully Mary’s irreplaceable service in Christ’s saving work. I recommend to you especially Pope John Paul II’s apostolic letter "Rosarium Virginis Mariae (On the Most Holy Rosary)," published on Oct. 16, 2002, the beginning of our late Holy Father’s 25h year of service as bishop of the universal Church. It is readily available through the Daughters of St. Paul.

Three other books which I recommend are Father Benedict J. Groeschel’s meditations on the mysteries of the rosary in his book, "The Rosary: Chain of Hope," published by Ignatius Press; and Fulton J. Sheen’s "The World’s First Love: Mary, Mother of God," originally published in 1952 and reprinted in 1996 by Ignatius Press. Another helpful book for growing in an appreciation of all that the Mother of God has done and does for us is John Martin’s "Roses, Fountains and Gold: The Virgin Mary in History, Art and Apparition." It is also published by Ignatius Press. 

Mary, Woman of the Eucharist

Our May devotions to Mary have a most special meaning in the context of our observance of the Year of the Eucharist, as our late Pope John Paul II asked us to do from October of last year to October of this year. Already, in his first address to the cardinals after his election to the See of Peter, Pope Benedict XVI asked "everyone to intensify in coming months love and devotion to the Eucharistic Jesus and to express in a courageous and clear way the Real Presence of the Lord, above all through the solemnity and correctness of the celebrations." 

Chapter Six of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter "Ecclesia de Eucharistia (On the Eucharist in Its Relationship to the Church)," is titled: "At the School of Mary, ‘Woman of the Eucharist.’" In it, the Holy Father reminded us that it is Mary who draws us to Christ in the Holy Eucharist. This truth is reflected in the last of the new Luminous Mysteries of the rosary, the Institution of the Holy Eucharist. 

Our Holy Father reminded us that the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, given to us in the Most Blessed Sacrament, was first given to us in the womb of the Virgin Mary through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. Just as Mary trusted that God’s promises to her would be fulfilled and so responded to her vocation of Mother of God, so, too, we trust that God’s promises to us will be fulfilled, especially through the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and we respond to our vocation of bringing Christ to the world, as married persons, dedicated single persons, consecrated persons and priests.

As Pope John Paul II pointed out, Mary anticipated each day the Sacrifice of Calvary, which is ever new for us in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The Holy Father wrote: "In her daily preparation for Calvary, Mary experienced a kind of ‘anticipated Eucharist’ — one might say a ‘spiritual communion’ — of desire and of oblation, which would culminate in her union with her Son in His passion, and then find expression after Easter by her partaking in the Eucharist which the Apostles celebrated as the memorial of that passion (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, no. 56a).

It is Mary who best teaches us what it means to have communion with our Lord, to share in His Passion in order to share also in His Resurrection. It is Mary who leads us to an ever greater wonder before the mystery of the Holy Eucharist and an ever more fruitful participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. We have seen the truth of Pope John Paul II’s teaching in his own life. He gave his life entirely to Mary (Totus Tuus), so that, with Mary, he could be totally in Christ and for Christ. 

Truly, as Pope John Paul II wrote, "[i]n the Eucharist the Church is completely united to Christ and His sacrifice, and makes her own the spirit of Mary" (no. 58a). Our growth in devotion to Mary during the month of May will be the occasion for us to grow in love of our Eucharistic Lord. 

Conclusion

For Catholics of the continent of America, love of Mary has a most special focus, for the Mother of God has appeared on Tepeyac Hill, in today’s Mexico City, in 1531, to express her maternal love for her children of our continent and of the whole world. She appeared to St. Juan Diego, a devout Native American and to his uncle, Juan Bernardino. In a most remarkable sign of love, she left her image for us on the tilma or mantle of St. Juan Diego. Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, first bishop of Mexico, witnessed directly the miracle of the image. It was to Juan Bernardino that she revealed her special title in coming to our continent: the Perfect Virgin Holy Mary of Guadalupe (A Handbook on Guadalupe, New Bedford, Mass.: Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, 1997, p. 204). 

Sadly, many of our continent, especially of North America, know very little of the apparitions at Tepeyac. They are, perhaps, the most wonderful of all our Blessed Mother’s many apparitions. Pope Benedict XIV, in 1754, when he was presented with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and was told the story of her apparitions, exclaimed in the words of Psalm 147:20, "God has not dealt thus with any other nation," "Non fecit taliter omni nationi." Pope Benedict XIV made the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12, a holy day of obligation with an octave of the first class for the Church in Mexico. The message of Our Lady of Guadalupe and her miraculous image, which can be venerated today in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, are a testimony to God’s all-merciful love of us. Our Lady of Guadalupe draws us to her Son, in order that we may know God’s mercy and love in our lives. Since the time of Pope Benedict XIV, a number of Roman Pontiffs have given special honor to Our Lady of Guadalupe and commended to her intercession the good of our continent. I think especially of Pope Pius VII, Pope Leo XIII, Pope St. Pius X, Pope Pius XI, Pope Pius XII, Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI (A Handbook on Guadalupe, pp. 174-176). 

Our late Pope John Paul II showed a special love of Our Lady of Guadalupe, visiting her in Mexico City on several occasions, beginning in 1979. In his post-synodal apostolic exhortation "Ecclesia in America (On the Encounter with the Living Jesus Christ: The Way to Conversion, Communion and Solidarity in America)," published at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on Jan. 22, 1999 (just days before his pastoral visit to St. Louis), Pope John Paul II gave his blessing to two special titles for Our Lady of Guadalupe, namely, Mother of America and Star of the New Evangelization, and he established Dec. 12 as the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe for all of America. He wrote:

"With the passage of time, pastors and faithful alike have grown increasingly conscious of the role of the Virgin Mary in the evangelization of America. In the prayer composed for the Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops, Holy Mary of Guadalupe is invoked as ‘Patroness of all America and Star of the first and new evangelization.’ In view of this, I welcome with joy the proposal of the Synod Fathers that the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother and Evangelizer of America, be celebrated throughout the continent on Dec. 12. It is my heartfelt hope that she, whose intercession was responsible for strengthening the faith of the first disciples (John 2:11), will by her maternal intercession guide the Church in America, obtaining the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as she once did for the early Church (Acts 1:14), so that the new evangelization may yield a splendid flowering of Christian life" (no. 11e). 

In a special way, I urge you to observe the month of May, the month of Mary, by growing in devotion to the Mother of God under her title, Our Lady of Guadalupe. As you grow in your knowledge of the Mother of America, she will also be the Star of the New Evangelization for you, leading you to Christ, so that you may lead others and our world to Christ.