Living the Liturgical Year Well: May, the Month of Mary
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May is such a lovely month! Flowers are everywhere, you can hear bird songs so early in the morning, the grass is green. It is just a lovely month. And to make it even better the Church has dedicated it to our mother, Mary. Several Marian Feasts are in May and many great saints are also honored during that month. Let’s explore how to deepen our faith and help our children grow in their faith through this beautiful month.
Devotion to Mary
I have a great devotion to Our Lady, she is such a tender Mother and she is so accessible. On the Cross on Good Friday, Christ entrusted each one of us to her when he told Saint John “Here is your Mother” and to Our Lady “Here is your son”. Therefore I can run to her as my mother and entrust to her my boo boos and hurts to present them to her Son, Christ, to make them better. She is a very powerful intercessor. She presents my petitions to her Divine Son, on my behalf. How much more powerful is a request when it comes from the queen rather than the peasant? This month, I want to deepen my relationship with Mary as well as my children’s relationship with her. We will do this through prayer and picture books.
Mary picture books
- The Virgin Mary Around the World: A Pilgrimage of Faith, by Chantal Baros
- An Alphabet of Mary, by George and Brenda Nippert
- Mary, My Mother, by Father Lawrence Lovasik
- Take It to the Queen: A Tale of Hope, by Josephine Nobisso
- Mary, the Mother of Jesus by Tomie dePaola
- Mary, Mother of Jesus by Mary Joslin
- The Life of Mary by Inos Biffi
- Miracles Through Our Lady: True Stories of Everyday People That Can Change Your Life Forever. This is a chapter book of short miracle stories. It is perfect for Morning Time.
- Mondays with Mary by Meredith Henning. This is a great addition to any Marian library. Meredith Henning offers prayers, crafts and food suggestions for many Marian feast days throughout the year.
We will be reading both Miracles Through Our Lady and The Life of Mary by Inos Biffi during Morning Time for the month of May.
History of the Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee,
Blessed are thou amongst women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen
The best known prayer to Our Lady is of course the Hail Mary, or Ave Maria. By praying the Hail Mary we both praise our Lady in the first half, and ask for her help in the second half.
The words of this prayer can be traced back to the Annunciation as they are the words of Saint Gabriel the Archangel: Hail Mary, Full of grace, the Lord is with thee (Luke 1:26-38).
Through this greeting Saint Gabriel showed his respect to Our Lady, and praised her. In the second part: Blessed are thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. These words are from Elizabeth’s greeting to her cousin during the Visitation (Luke 1:42), which we will be celebrating on May 31st. Again, they are words of praise and blessings. The second half of this beautiful prayer is our personal supplication to Our Lady to assist us and intercede for us to Our Lord. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. We ask her to be by our side, always! We entrust our entire self to her care. What better intercessor could we have than the Mother of God herself?
This month we will be focusing on praying this simple and beautiful prayer most devotedly.
Hail Mary picture books
- Hail Mary by Xavier Deneux
- Catholic Children’s Treasure Box #7
- Hail Mary, by Maite Roche
- My First Prayers with Mary, Maite Roche
The Three Hail Marys Devotion
A beautiful way to pray to Our Lady is through the Hail Mary, and the most powerful devotion is through her holy Rosary. But sometimes, our lives are too busy to pray a whole Rosary (which means we are way too busy, but that’s for another post). When that happens, there is another, somewhat little known, way to have recourse to our Mother for help, it is the Three Hail Marys devotion. In brief, this devotion was introduced to Saint Mechtilde in the thirteenth century and promoted by many great saints through the centuries since. It is a very simple and easy devotion. Our Lady requested that a person prays three Hail Marys, one in honor of each person of the Holy Trinity. Through this devotion Our Lady promises to come to our aid during our life and especially at the hour of our death. Here is a simple summary of this beautiful devotion. I use this prayer format for all that ask for my prayers as well. I find it a simple and efficient way to pray for others in all circumstances.
The Apostles
I have just discovered something that I find fascinating. From May 3rd, the feast of Saints Philip and James the Lesser until December 27th, the feast of Saint John the Apostle, are all the apostles’ feast days. Each month there is at least one apostle’s feast day. I don’t know the apostles very well, which is something I want to fix. I mean, if Jesus chose them to be his most intimate friends here on earth, then they certainly deserve to be more than mere acquaintances… So I have decided to do a deep dive into the apostles’ lives over the next several months on each of their feast days and also through the reading of the Acts of the Apostles and the studying of the Apostles Creed. For May, let’s get to know Saints Philip and James the Lesser on May 3rd and Saint Matthias on May 14th.
The study of each apostle
I want to keep it simple so that we will actually do it. We will read the biography of each apostle from the book The Twelve Apostles by Mariana Mayers.
We will follow with an Apostle ID Card (free download). On this download you will find space to either draw or find your favorite image of this apostle, to enter his symbol, dates, and patronage. Below you will find space for a short narration and at the very bottom a space for a map of his travels of evangelization.
I have also wanted to make peg doll saints for a very long time but have never made the time to do it. With the apostles’ feasts being spread through so many months, I think we can pull it off. Here are a few tutorials that I have found, hopefully they help you get started.
– A mix of painting and mod podging peg dolls: Catholic Icing: Making Peg Dolls
– Painted peg dolls: Wooden Painted Saints: A Proper Tutorial
– Peg dolls with felt outfits: Peg People Saints: A Tutorial of Sorts!
And of course, there should be food!
May 3rd: Saints Philip and James the Less
Picture book: The Twelve Apostles by Mariana Mayers
Activities:
– Apostles ID cards
– Peg dolls
Food: Bread, bread is one of St. Philip’s symbols. He is often depicted with two loaves. The loaves of bread recall St. Philip’s remark when Jesus fed the multitude: “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” (John 6:5).
Or an Israeli Spread would honor both St Philip and St James as they were both from Israel.
May 14th: Saint Matthias
Picture book: The Twelve Apostles by Mariana Mayers
Activities:
– Apostles ID cards
– Peg dolls
Food: Since St. Matthias was sent to evangelize in Cappadocia, let’s try some Testi Kebab for dinner. Not only does it sound delicious but it is also a different way of cooking. So fun!
Other saints and feasts in May
May 1st: St. Joseph the Worker
He is a favorite of ours as he is the patron saint of our ranch! Long story short: we wouldn’t be here without him. We will celebrate by reading about him in Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints by Ethel Pochoki, illustrated by Ben Hatke, praying a Rosary and cake and ice cream.
May 13th: Our Lady of Fatima, patroness of A Daily Picture Book
We will read all about the miracle of the dancing sun in Miraculous! Catholic Mysteries for Kids, by Kathryn Griffin Swegart. We will also probably watch The Day the Sun Danced: The True Story of Fatima and then follow Meredith Henning’s suggestion for a Tea Time in honor of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.
May 15th: Saint Isidore the Farmer
We will read the life of Saint Isidore in Stories of the Saints by Carey Wallace, enjoy a walk around the farm and enjoy some Cocino Madrileno for dinner, since he was from Madrid, Spain.
May 29th: Solemnity of the Ascension
We will go for an Ascension picnic, somewhere in the mountains (or the highest place on the farm, which is not really high, lol) and probably Nature Journal about clouds.
May 30th: Saint Joan of Arc
We will read Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley and enjoy a Quiche Lorraine.
May 31st: The Visitation
We will read about this beautiful encounter in Mary, Mother of Jesus by Tomie dePaola and enjoy a Tea Time straight out of Mondays with Mary by Meredith Henning.
The Liturgical Board
Wow! That is a full month! The richness of our faith never ceases to amaze me. Our Liturgical Board might be a bit crowded this month, lol! Please share pictures of your Liturgical boards on Instagram and tag me @adailypicturebook.
Have a beautiful, beautiful month of May!
Love,
Mattie
