Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Month of May Dedicated to Our Lady and a “Marathon” of Prayer to End the Pandemic

Saints: Pope Saint Paul VI (1897-1978); Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 7:19-23

Mass: Sirach 51:12cd-20; Resp Ps 19; Mk 11:27-33

The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

HOLY MARY, VESSEL OF HONOR,

PRAY FOR US.

Today we commemorate Pope Saint Paul VI or observe the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin. We can cover them both by turning to Pope Paul VI's 1965 Encyclical Menso Maio The Month of May, On Prayers for May on the Preservation of Peace.

The month of May ... a month which the piety of the faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God ...

We are delighted and consoled by this pious custom associated with the month of May, which pays honor to the Blessed Virgin and brings such benefits to the Christian people. Since Mary is to be rightly guarded as the way by which we are led to Christ, the person who encounters Mary cannot help but encounter Christ likewise. For what other reason do we continually turn to Mary except to seek the Christ in her arms, to seek our Savior in her, through her, and with her? To Him we are to turn amid the anxieties and perils of this world, urged on by duty and driven by the compelling needs of our heart, to find a haven of salvation, a transcendent fountain of life ...

May [Mary] who experienced the cares and hardships of earthly life, the weariness of daily toil, the hardships and trials of poverty, and the sorrows of Calvary, come to the aid of the needs of the Church and the human race. May she graciously lend an ear to the devout please of those all over the world who beg for her peace. May she enlighten the minds of those who rule nations. And finally, may she prevail on God, who rules the winds and storms, to calm the tempest in our warring hearts and grant us peace in our day.

(Pope Paul VI, Menso Maio, 1, 2, 12)

POPE SAINT PAUL VI,

MARY, MOTHER OF MERCY,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Praise and exalt Him above all forever.

© Gertrude Feick 2021