Month of Mary

Especially after a long winter, it’s great to finally be able to welcome spring as we enter May, the month dedicated to our Blessed Mother Mary, she who alone was found worthy to bring forth the surpassing Light of the Son of God into this world of darkness in our very flesh. She is the solitary boast of our race, prepared beforehand by God for this most exalted vocation by the grace of the Immaculate Conception. So even as we greet with joy the lengthened days of sunlight, the greening of all that was dry and brown, flowers and birds and new life all around, and as we continue to celebrate the Lord’s own Resurrection from the darkness of the grave throughout this Easter season, we also keep before our eyes throughout this month the all-beautiful vision of Mary the Mother of God and Queen of heaven.

Now would be a great time to begin or get back into the habit of praying a daily Rosary. Throughout the many times in history our Lady has appeared to different people, she has consistently asked us to pray the Rosary daily for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins committed, to call down God’s mercy upon the earth. And meditation upon the mysteries of the life of Christ and His Mother is essential for our growth in the virtues, “to imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.”

One recent bit of news related to Mary is the renaming of the only officially approved apparition in the United States. Long known as Our Lady of Good Help, the shrine near Champion, Wisconsin, commemorating the 1859 apparitions of our Blessed Mother to Adele Brise has been renamed Our Lady of Champion. This is more in line with the names of other apparitions, named for the place (like Our Lady of Fatima or Lourdes) rather than any devotional title of Mary. I still have yet to make a pilgrimage there myself. I have heard it is still a pretty simple and humble place, much like our Blessed Mother herself, but it’s worth looking up and visiting if you ever get the chance. One of the miracles associated was a fire that consumed everything up to the fence line all around but left just that property completely unharmed. May our Blessed Mother always intercede for us and bring us whole and unharmed into eternal dwellings out of the devastation of this present age.