Marian Resources for Young and Old
Mary has a unique and privileged place in salvation history and in the Church. Because she responded yes to becoming the Mother of God, she is our first model of discipleship and our model of grace and trust in God.
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Talking with kids about Mary - teachingcatholickids.com
In order for Jesus to be born, God wanted to prepare a special mother for him. From the moment that Mary was conceived in her own mother’s womb (St. Anne), Mary was without the stain of original sin. Throughout her entire life, Mary never sinned and was always a faithful servant to God. This is why Mary is called “full of grace.” God granted her every blessing he could to help prepare her to become the mother of Jesus.
God wanted to prepare Mary for a special task — but only if she was willing to accept it. Because God allows each of us to make our own decisions (free will), he left it up to Mary to decide if she wanted to become the mother of Jesus. And so Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38)
Mary, with the help of St. Joseph, taught Jesus many skills and lessons, just like your parents do. The Bible tells us that Jesus, “went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient” to Mary and Joseph (Lk 2:51). In fact, Jesus did not even start his public ministry until his mother asked him to!
At the wedding at Cana, when Jesus was about 30 years old, Mary told Jesus that there was no more wine to celebrate the occasion. Because Mary asked Jesus to help, Jesus decided to perform his very first miracle: turning water into wine. Since that day, Mary has been a great intercessor for us. She will tell Jesus about our prayers, and she will pray that we come to know and love him more.
Hail, Holy Queen Prayer
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, hail, our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary
[Leader]: Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God
[All]: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
Why is May Mary’s month?
Here’s a brief explanation.
The origin of the conventional May devotion is still relatively unknown. The scholar, Fr. Herbert Thurston, SJ identifies the seventeenth century as the earliest instance of the adoption of the custom of consecrating the month of May to the Blessed Virgin by special observances. It is almost certain that this form of Marian devotion began in Italy. Around 1739, witnesses speak of a particular form of Marian devotion in May in Grezzano near Verona, Italy. In 1747 the Archbishop of Genoa recommended the May devotion as a devotion for the home. Eventually specific prayers for this Marian devotion were promulgated in Rome about 1838.
According to Historian Fr. Frederick Holweck, the May devotion in its present form originated in Rome where Fr. Latomia of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus, to correct actions among the students, made a vow at the end of the eighteenth century to devote the month of May to Mary. In Rome by 1813, May devotions were held in around twenty churches. From Rome the practice spread to the other Jesuit colleges and then to nearly every Catholic church of the Latin rite. From Italy, May devotions soon spread to France. In Belgium, the May devotions, at least as a private devotion, were already known by 1803. The tradition of honoring Mary in a month-long May devotion spread eventually around the Roman Catholic world in the 19th century together with a month-long devotion to Jesus in June and the Rosary in October.
The ways Mary is honored in May are as varied as the people who honor her.
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