The Ascension of the Lord
“Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” Acts 1:11
We started May, the month dedicated to Mary
May is the month that the Universal Church dedicates to the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary. This time is an opportunity to renew the love of all the baptized to the Woman that God from eternity chose to give birth to and care for him. The Blessed Virgin Mary is forever the Queen of Heaven and Earth, there is no holiness without Mary because all She leads to Christ. Maria, the humblest among women, is precisely the model of every woman, as Pope Francis pointed out in April 2014 in a message to more than 20 thousand young people gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“There is only one model for you, Our Lady Mary: The woman of fidelity, the one who did not understand what was happening but obeyed. The one who knew what her cousin needed, ran away, the Virgin of the Promptitude. The one that escaped as a refugee in a foreign country to save the life of her son.” Pope Francis
To deepen and live each day this month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, the first paten of Eternal Wisdom, enter the Marian Month special at ACI Prensa.
Treasures from Our Tradition
In Ireland and the United Kingdom, Mother’s Day is over. “Mothering Sunday” was on the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Long ago, people were freed from work to travel on this day to the parish where they were baptized, their “Mother Church.” Often, people were reunited with their mothers on this day. Employers would release their workers and servants for this visit. The American celebration, while based on this custom, really has to do with an anti-war movement of mothers in Civil War times. They crusaded for better sanitary conditions for their sons. When President Wilson instituted the first Mother’s Day in 1912, it was a day to fly the flag in honor of mothers whose children had died in battle. Knowing the tradition is a good balance to our celebration today. We can enfold in prayer the mothers who have suffered the loss of their children in war.
Rev. James Field, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.
Readings for the Week
Monday:Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; Ps 113:1-8; Jn 15:9-17
Tuesday: Acts 20:17-27; Ps 68:10-11, 20-21; Jn 17:1-11a
Wednesday: Acts 20:28-38; Ps 68:29-30, 33-36ab; Jn 17:11b-19
Thursday: Acts 22:30; 23:6-11; Ps 16:1-2a, 5, 7-11; Jn 17:20-26
Friday: Acts 25:13b-21; Ps 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20ab; Jn 21:15-19
Saturday: Acts 28:16-20, 30-31; Ps 11:4, 5, 7; Jn 21:20-25
Sunday:
Vigil: Gn 11:1-9 or Ex 19:3-8a, 16-20b or Ez 37:1-14 or Jl 3:1-5; Ps 104:1-2, 24, 35, 27-30; Rom 8:22-27; Jn 7:37-39
Day: Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34; 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Gal 5:16-25; Jn 20:19-23 or Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15
Saints & Special Observances
Sunday: The Ascension of the Lord; Mother’s Day; World Communications Day
Monday: St. Matthias
Tuesday: St. Isidore the Farmer
Thursday: Julian Calendar Ascension
Friday: St. John I
Saturday: Armed Forces Day; Vigil of Pentecost; Shavuot (Jewish observance) begins at sunset