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Celebrate Mary’s Month

Celebrate Mary’s Month

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The Church honors Mary, the mother of Jesus, throughout the year; however, May is traditionally celebrated as Mary’s Month in the Church, with special times for prayer, devotion, and feast days. Pope Francis recently added a new Marian feast to the Liturgical calendar. The Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, will be celebrated this year on Monday, May 21. It will continue to be celebrated each year on the day after Pentecost. The official decree reads:

Indeed, the Mother standing beneath the cross (see John 19:25), accepted her Son’s testament of love and welcomed all people in the person of the beloved disciple as sons and daughters to be reborn unto life eternal. She thus became the tender Mother of the Church which Christ begot on the cross handing on the Spirit. Christ, in turn, in the beloved disciple, chose all disciples as ministers of his love toward his Mother, entrusting her to them so that they might welcome her with filial affection.

As a caring guide to the emerging Church Mary had already begun her mission in the Upper Room, praying with the Apostles while awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1:14). In this sense, in the course of the centuries, Christian piety has honored Mary with various titles, in many ways equivalent, such as Mother of Disciples, of the Faithful, of Believers, of all those who are reborn in Christ; and also as “Mother of the Church” as is used in the texts of spiritual authors as well as in the magisterium of popes Benedict XIV and Leo XIII.

There are a number of Marian practices you can do with your children:

  • Review the doctrine associated with the Hail Mary in “Praying the Hail Mary” from Catechist magazine. For younger children, share this free printable that reviews the basics of praying the Hail Mary.
  • Review the major Marian feasts throughout the year with this Mary Days free printable.
  • The Activity Books for Seeds, Venture, and Visions also offer a Late Close Lesson focused on Mary. If your class meets after Ascension Sunday (May 13), Pflaum provides three free Late Close Lessons for Seeds, Promise, Good News, Venture, and Visions. For the most part, these are general lessons, not specifically related to the Sunday Gospel.

 

Image credit: i7do/Shutterstock.com

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David Dziena
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David Dziena is the Publisher of Pflaum Publishing Group. He has also served as Executive Editor and […]

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Joan McKamey, project editor, joined the Gospel Weeklies editorial team in September 2016. […]

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