May | Page 11

Catholic Liturgical Calendar

May  2011

1 – Easter Week 2 (Ob) (P2); Last Day of Easter Octave; Divine Mercy Sunday

2 – Athanasius (M)

3 – Philip and James (F)

8 – Easter Week 3 (Ob) (P3)

10 – Damien Joseph de Veuster of Moloka’i (OM)(USA)

12 – Nereus and Achilleus; Pancras (OM)

13 – Our Lady of Fatima (OM)

14 – Matthias (F)

15 – Easter Week 4 (Ob) (P4)

18 – Pope John I (OM)

20 – Bernadine of Siena (OM)

21 – Christopher Magallanes and his companions (OM)

22 – Easter Week 5 (Ob) (P1)

25 – Bede the Venerable; Pope Gregory VII; Mary Magdalen de Pazzi (OM)

26 – Philip Neri (M)

27 – Augustine of Canterbury (OM)

29 – Easter Week 6 (Ob) (P2)

31 – Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (F)

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Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Pope Paul VI explains in ‘marialis-cultus’

31st May

18. Mary is also the Virgin in prayer. She appears as such in the visit to the mother of the precursor, when she pours out her soul in expressions glorifying God, and expressions of humility, faith and hope. This prayer is the Magnificat (cf. Lk. 1:46-55), Mary’s prayer par excellence, the song of the messianic times in which there mingles the joy of the ancient and the new Israel. As St. Irenaeus seems to suggest, it is in Mary’s canticle that there was heard once more the rejoicing of Abraham who foresaw the Messiah (cf. Jn. 8:56)and there rang out in prophetic anticipation the voice of the Church: “In her exultation Mary prophetically declared in the name of the Church: ‘My soul proclaims the glory of the Lord….’” And in fact Mary’s hymn has spread far and wide and has become the prayer of the whole Church in all ages.

Likewise, the last description of Mary’s life presents her as praying. The apostles “joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts 1:14). We have here the prayerful presence of Mary in the early Church and in the Church throughout all ages, for, having been assumed into heaven, she has not abandoned her mission of intercession and salvation. The title Virgin in prayer also fits the Church, which day by day presents to the Father the needs of her children, “praises the Lord unceasingly and intercedes for the salvation of the world.”

19. Mary is also the Virgin-Mother-she who “believing and obeying…brought forth on earth the Father’s Son. This she did, not knowing man but overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.” This was a miraculous motherhood, set up by God as the type and exemplar of the fruitfulness of the Virgin-Church, which “becomes herself a mother…. For by her preaching and by baptism she brings forth to a new and immortal life children who are conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of God.” The ancient Fathers rightly taught that the Church prolongs in the sacrament of Baptism the virginal motherhood of Mary. Among such references we like to recall that of our illustrious predecessor, Saint Leo the Great, who in a Christmas homily says: “The origin which (Christ took in the womb of the Virgin He has given to the baptismal font: He has given to water what He had given to His Mother-the power of the Most High and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (cf Lk. 1:35), which was responsible for Mary’s bringing forth the Savior, has the same effect, so that water may regenerate the believer.”

Courtesy:-

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19740202_marialis-cultus_en.html