May 31 - Mary's Coronation as Queen of Heaven

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

Source

The Queen stood on Thy right hand in gilded clothing. (Psalm XLIV:11)

1. It was not enough that Mary should be received into heaven. She was to be no ordinary denizen of the celestial court. Mary was, by her perfect and unfailing conformity to the will of God throughout her life, raised to a pre-eminence to which none other of the saints could attain. By her cooperation in the Passion of her Son she had a dignity beyond the reach even of the highest of the archangels. Mary was to be crowned Queen of heaven by the eternal Father: she was to have a throne at her Son's right hand.

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2. Mary, too, enjoyed a happiness different from that of all the other saints. All others knew that if they had been more faithful they might have been more full of happiness. Though their happiness is perfect, it is not perfect with the same perfection as Mary's. She possesses all that it was possible for God in the present order to bestow upon her. What must be her happiness now! Short only of the infinite happiness of the infinite God!

O Mary, conceived without sin!3. But Mary is not Queen of heaven only for her own sake, but also for ours. Day by day, hour by hour, she is praying for us, obtaining graces for us, preserving us from danger, shielding us from temptation, showering down blessings upon us. She is our dear Mother as well as Queen of heaven. How she loves us! What a confidence we should have in her! Once more we will cry out:

O Mary, Queen of heaven!

Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary! That never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, and sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin or virgins, my Mother! To thee I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate! Despise not my petitions, but, in thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.

Source

May 30 - Mary's Assumption into Heaven

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell: nor wilt Thou give Thy holy one to see corruption. (Psalm XV:10)

1. On the third day after Mary's death, when the apostles gathered around her tomb, they found it empty. The sacred body had been carried up to the celestial paradise. Jesus Himself came to conduct her thither; the whole court of heaven came to welcome with songs of triumph the Mother of the divine Word. What a chorus of exultation! Hark, how they cry, "Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, and the Queen of glory shall enter in."

2. Why was Mary's body received into heaven instead of remaining in the earth, like the rest of mankind? The grave had no power over one who was immaculate. Her flesh could not see corruption. Her body had been overshadowed by the Holy Ghost; it had been the sacred temple in which had dwelt God Incarnate, and so it had a claim to ascend whither the body of her Son had already gone before.

3. But the chief reason was that as she had shared in each detail in the sorrows and agony of her Son, so it was right that she should take part in His triumph. To her it was due that she should without delay enter into the joy of her Lord, her Son, her God. Oh, happy Mary! What were all her dolors compared with the joy of that first moment of heaven! How light are all our sorrows compared with the eternal weight of glory prepared for us!

See the Virgin Mother rise,

Angels bear her to the skies!

Apologies

I apologize for not having the May devotions up lately. Life has interrupted. They'll be up today.

May 29 - Mary's Death

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. (Psalm CXV: 15)

1. During the years which succeeded Our Lord's Ascension, Mary had been making a progress in holiness and perfection which surpassed all that had gone before. She had become more and more a partaker of the divine nature, more and more like to the image of her divine Son. What a contrast I am to Mary! Yet at least I can admire her and rejoice in her unspeakable perfections.

2. At length the time came when this soul, so exquisitely beautiful, was too beautiful for earth to detain longer. She had long been languishing with love - yearning after her Beloved. Her death was not like that which we call death. She had no sickness, no pain. She died simply of love, of her insatiate desire for God. Do I long for the presence of God, for the day when I shall behold Him face to face?

3. Why was Mary's death such a triumph, such a scene of peace and joy and heavenly consolation? Because she was sinless. The sting of death is sin. It was also because she had stood by her Son's deathbed of the cross, and shared by her compassion in His agony. In return for this, Jesus Himself came to receive the sacred soul of His dear Mother. All the angels of heaven were present there, singing sweet melodies.

O happy, happy death!

If death indeed could be,

Blest Virgin, that sweet end

Which God bestowed on thee.

May 28 - Mary the Mother of the Infant Church

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

Her children rose up and called her blessed. (Proverbs 31:28)

1. When Our Lord ascended into heaven, we are told that the apostles went back to Jerusalem with great joy (St. Luke 24:52). But there was none of them so joyful as Mary. Her sacred heart overflowed with happiness and delight. The greatest possible joy for her was thus to witness the triumph of her Son and to hear the angels welcoming the King of glory to His throne in heaven.

2. Yet Mary's life must have been one long desire after heaven, more so than ever after Jesus had ascended. Still she had no wish even for the heavenly paradise as long as it was God's will that she should remain on earth. She was quite content to wait. Am I resigned and patient when the will of God contradicts my inclinations and desires?

3. Why was Mary left on earth? To comfort and sustain, to instruct and advise the first disciples of Christ. None knew like her the secrets of His Sacred Heart; none had such an instinctive perception of what He would desire in the many doubts and difficulties that arose; none could impart such sweet consolation to the afflicted. How often the disciples beheld in her their Mother! In heaven she is still our comforter, adviser, guide.

The Mother sits all worshipful,

With her majestic mien; 

The princes of the infant Church

Are gathered round their Queen.

May 27th - Jesus Appears to Mary after the Resurrection

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart: Thy comforts have given joy to my soul. (Psalm XCIII:19)

1. Holy Scripture tells us nothing of Our Lord's appearance to His blessed Mother after His Resurrection. It takes it for granted that He must have appeared first to her. He who doubts it has but a poor understanding of Mary's part in the work and life of Jesus. As she was first in sharing His sufferings, so she was of necessity first in being partaker of His joy.

2. How Mary had been longing and praying for the Resurrection! It is a pious belief that for her sake those three days were shortened. How eagerly she had been expecting the dawn of that first Easter Day! She had been saying over and over again to herself, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." She knew that the darkness would in God's time usher in a glorious morning. This should be my comfort when all seems dark. I, too, must pray and wait.

3. What a meeting must that have been! All her anguish was more than compensated by the ecstasy of her joy at beholding her divine Son, radiant with heavenly beauty, conqueror over hell and death. See how she falls at His feet in a rapture of delight! See how He raises her up with words of love! Who can tell the exquisite delight of hearing such words from Jesus' lips?

See the Mother's fond embrace,

See her joy to view Thy face!

When all bright in radiant bloom

Thee she welcomed from the tomb.

May 26th - Mary Sees Jesus Laid in the Sepulchre

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. (St. Matthew 6:21)

1. When Mary had finished the mournful task of preparing the sacred body of her Son for burial, the disciples carried Him to the sepulchre in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea. Watch that mournful procession, and realize, if you can, the desolation of Mary's sacred heart. All her hope, all her joys, all her affections, were buried with Jesus. He was her one and only treasure, and where her treasure was laid, there was her heart also. 

2. Mary amid all her anguish had experienced a strange and melancholy pleasure in embracing the dead body of her Son and performing for it the last offices of love. She knew, too, that though the human soul was parted from it, the divinity was still there. She could adore with the highest worship that mangled form, those limbs livid and cold. But now she was separated from that sacred body. How empty, how blank, was all around without Jesus!

3. Yet Mary, in spite of her desolation, was never dejected, never gloomy. She was full of joy and peace. In the anguish of her separation from Jesus she was more than comforted by the knowledge that all His sufferings were past and that He had already begun to see the fruit of His travail. Those who love God more than themselves have always a fount of consolation in every sorrow.

By the hope thy name inspires,

By our doom reversed through thee,

Bring us, Queen of angel choirs,

To a blest eternity!

May 25th - Jesus is Placed in His Mother's Arms

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (St. Matthew 27:46)

1. These words must have echoed in Mary's heart when the body of her divine Son was placed in her arms. She was alone! Jesus was dead. She had heard His last cry of agony, and seen the spear pierce His sacred side. She was alone! Oh, Mary, what must have been thy desolation now that thy Son and thy God was no more! Listen to her words: "Therefore do I weep, and my eyes run down with water: because the comforter of my soul is far from me." (Lamentations 1:16)

2. Watch the holy Mother as she washes the blood from the body of her Son! How she kisses each wound with adoring love! Amid all her desolation there is nevertheless an underlying fount of joy at knowing that those wounds have wrought the salvation of the world, that in the paradise of God they will shine like jewels to all eternity.

3. In this mingled joy and sorrow Mary is especially full of love for sinners, and she loves them because they cost her so much anguish and because her divine Son loved them so dearly that for them He suffered and died. Mary loves me because I am a sinner - this at least may comfort and encourage me - Jesus died for me because I am a sinner.

Oh, give me tears to shed with thee 

Beneath the cross on Calvary.

May 24 - Mary at the Foot of the Cross

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

There stood by the cross of Jesus His Mother. (St. John 19:25)

Source

1. What words can ever describe the indescribable anguish that rent the sacred heart of Mary as she looked upon her divine Son hanging on the cross! Was there ever such a spectacle? He is so torn and mangled, covered with a mantle of blood from head to foot, that one can scarcely recognize in that unsightly figure the human form. Can it be He, the fairest among the children of men? My God, what can have transformed Him into this piteous, this ghastly object?

2. Every wound in Jesus' body was also a wound in the heart of Mary: every fibre, every nerve throbbing in agnoy. Every pang He suffered reechoed in her heart. She endured by her compassion a share in all the anguish of His Passion. What was the thick darkness around compared with the black darkness that overspread her heart!

3. Why did Mary suffer all this? That she might be our Mother - the Mother of mankind. She who brought forth her divine Son without a pang suffered many a piercing pang when from the cross her dying Son commended to her the sinful sons of men. That was indeed a maternity of sorrow she suffered for our sins: for mine.

Jesus, when the three hours were run,

Bequeathed thee from the cross to me.

How can I rightly love thy Son,

Sweet Mother, if I love not thee?

May 23 - Mary Meets Jesus Carrying the Cross

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

Bearing His own cross He went forth to that place which is called Calvary. (St. John 19:17)

Source

1. As the time of the Passion drew near, Mary's realization of the approaching sufferings of her Son became more vivid. The sword of Simeon pierced her heart as it had never done before. How could she endure to see her Son and her God outraged and ill-treated, insulted, and put to death? "Weeping, she hath wept in the night: there is none to comfort her among all them that were dear to her." (Lamentations 1:2)

2. At last the storm of anguish burst upon her. The apostles bring her the heart-breaking news: He has been seized by the Pharisees, insulted by the soldiers, dragged before Pilate, scouraged, condemned to the death of the cross. What a night and morning for the Morning of Jesus! Each moment full of an agony worse than death.

3. At last she could refrain no longer. She must go and meet Him Whom her soul loved. What a meeting must that have been! Her darling Son all masked in blood, toiling under the weight of the cross. Oh, holy Mother, who would not be moved with compassion? "Attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow." (Lamentations 1:12)

O thou Mother! fount of love!

Touch my spirit from above,

Make my heart with thine accord;

Make me feel as thou hast felt;

Make my soul to glow and melt

With the love of Christ my Lord.

3 1/2 Time-Outs Tuesday

1. This is going to be my 3 1/2 Time-Outs Tuesday image. I don't have a dog (owned by cats), but at my relatively young age (oh hush), I'm that cranky lady who yells "Get off my lawn" to people passing by.

2. My new favorite website: http://www.absolutelymadness.net/ Don't judge me.

3. I hate graduations and the accompanying parties. Even when I was a youth minister, I refused to go to the parties and the graduations. Maybe it's a phobia.

3 1/2. That being said, invariably, I will go to at least one a year, usually for someone I care enough about to swallow my nervousness and anxiety, and wish them well.

Head to Acts of the Apostasy for more time-outs!

May 22 - Mary During Our Lord's Public Life

Devotions for the month of May

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Introduction continued

Meditations on the Life of Mary, Conclusion

Whoever shall do the will of My Father that is in heaven: he is My brother, and sister, and mother. 

(St. Matthew 7:50)

1. When Our Lord left the cottage at Nazareth and went forth to enter on His public ministry, what an aching void must have been left in Mary's heart! How her heart must have yearned to be with Him. Earth was indeed for her a barren waste as long as He was away. Have we any of this love of the company of Jesus? Any desire to seek Him out where He awaits us in the tabernacle, that we may enjoy sweet intercourse with Him? 

2. Yet Mary murmured not. She was willing to sacrifice for the good of others even the solace of Jesus' presence. She knew that by her obedience she would be united to Him in bonds far more intimate than the bonds of the closest earthly union. Therefore in joy and in sorrow, in consolation and desolation, whether Christ was with her or far away, her only desire was to submit to the holy will of God.

3. Mary by her prayers and tears and intercession took part in Our Lord's work. He had decreed that His Mother thus should help Him in His public ministry. Though He could do all, He left something for her to do, as He does for all the saints. What a happiness and privilege this! I, too, can take my part in the redemption of mankind!

Queen of sorrows, guide and guard me,

Let me to thine arms repair;

In thy tender bosom hide me,

Mary, take me to thy care!

Clomp Clomp Clomp

Simcha Fischer reminds me of perhaps my biggest (current) pet peeve: teenaged girls and women who do not know how to walk in high heels. Simcha was wonderfully in depth in her article, I'm going to be wonderfully superficial.

Since this is a fashion staple, the fact that no one has taught girls/women to walk in high heels boggles my mind. It makes a women go from looking/seeming graceful and lovely, to a hulking and clomping, herky-jerky puppet.

At Mass on Sunday, the cantor (a lovely young woman), walks up to the lecturn - except clomping would have been a better term for what she was doing. *Clomp*Clomp*Clomp* I honestly winced, it was that bad. (I'll refrain from telling you how short her dress was.) You could tell that not only were her heels too big, she simply didn't know how to gracefully walk in them. (Yes, my mind was wandering at the moment. When children break your concentration, your mind tends to go places besides where it should.)

My mom showed me how to walk in heels, starting with a small heel for my 8th grade graduation, then I gradually worked up to taller heels. The key is to practice, practice, practice. You won't automatically be good at walking in heels. Here's a good wikihow entry on how to walk in high heels. (I've heard of models that will put double-sided sticky tape on the inside of the shoe, by the ball of the foot, that way your foot doesn't slip-slide around.) Here's the video from that link:



If you know of someone who clomps in high heels, please forward this to them. It will do us all a bit of good.

Update: Adrienne in the comments suggests that once you buy high heels, take them to a shoe repair shop and have them replace the plastic heel tips with good composition tips, as the plastic tips are slippery and noisy. Thanks Adrienne!