Dear friends, In this month of May, in honor of Mary, I propose that you form with me a "Crown of Roses" so that, through prayer, our world in danger may be protected. It is simply a matter of reciting Ten "Hail Marys" per day (five minutes), at a time that suits you. This prayer is a very powerful protection. If you wish to participate, here is the link to pray the "short version" of the "Perpetual Rosary for the World": I download the prayer - https://www.chapeletperpetuelpourle...Crown-of-roses-Perpetual-Rosary-for-the-World I am also attaching a link to this site so that you can discover the importance of your prayers for the world. Perpetual Rosary for the World - https://www.chapeletperpetuelpourle...Crown-of-roses-Perpetual-Rosary-for-the-World Thank you for answering me if you are interested. In prayerful union with you, Sparrow
Sharing a nice reflection from Fr. Steve…. Mary – In Her Month By Fr. Steve Ryan, SDB Mary’s month is here. May is a month where Catholics focus on the Blessed Mother. We do some extra devotions honoring her – like praying the rosary or having a May Crowning in parishes and schools. Why pray to Mary? The best answer comes right from the Bible. Dying on the cross, Jesus instructed St. John, the youngest apostle – and us – “Behold, your mother!” (Jn 19:27). The Gospel relates that “from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” This does not just mean that the young John brought Mary to live in his house, to take care of her in her golden years. It means rather that he incorporated the Mother of God into his life deeply and personally. He was invited/commanded by our Lord (in some of the last words Jesus ever said while here as a man on this earth) to do this: Receive my mother as your own mother. Embrace her. Make her an indispensable part of your relationship with God. This was a huge gift to John and a huge gift to the Church and to all disciples in every generation. Among all the gifts conferred upon believers by Jesus Christ, the gift of His mother enables us to live a holy and happy life. Mary’s help has been at the top of the list of the ‘tools of sanctity’ for believers throughout the history of the Church. The great apostle of Marian devotion, St. Louis de Montfort (1673–1716) declared, “I do not believe that any person can achieve intimate union with our Lord unless he has established a very deep union with the Blessed Virgin and a great dependence on her help.” This makes sense because there is no other person upon whom God has showered more blessing and delight than upon Mary. Marian devotion consists in staying close to Our Lady and taking delight in the delight that God has in His mother. In St. Louis de Montfort’s book True Devotion to Mary, he asks Christians to make a “total consecration to Jesus through Mary.” Pope John Paul II highlighted this total consecration in his papal motto, a phrase he used up until his death: Totus Tuus. The entire phrase from St. Louis de Montfort is “I belong entirely to you and all that I have is yours. I take you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart.” St. Louis de Montfort said, “In repeating every day ‘Totus Tuus’ and living in harmony with her, one can attain to the experience of the Father in limitless confidence and love, to docility to the Holy Spirit, and to the transformation to the image of Christ.” Another great saint, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, left us a beautiful Catholic prayer which we ought to remember to pray often – The Memorare. Do you remember to pray it? Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, we fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins our Mother; to thee do we come, before thee we stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer them. Amen.
