May 2021: Prayers and Reflections
The Pope’s Monthly Intentions
Universal – the world of finance: Let us pray that those in charge of finance will work with governments to regulate the financial sphere and protect citizens from its dangers.
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Exam Prayer
Dear Lord,
as I take these exams,
I thank you that my life is enfolded in the embrace on your great love for me.
Help me with all the testing challenges of life that will come my way.
Holy Spirit,
guide me with the
gifts of Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding and
right Judgement.
Holy Mary, pray for us and all our young people.
May they know the touch of your loving caress.
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Our Lady of Fatima 13 May
Between May 1917 and October 1917, Our Lady appeared several times to three Portuguese children – Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin, Lucia dos Santos.
In the apparitions,
Our Lady asked the children to pray the Rosary for the world.
Let us pray during this Pentecost month that the Holy Spirit may fill us with the fruits of God’s love to serve people with the joy of the gospel.
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Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church is celebrated on 24 May, the day after Pentecost Sunday. It also coincides with the Day of Prayer for China. See Ordo, page 107 for the special Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan. The Visitation of Our Lady is celebrated on 31 May. Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote the poem The May Magnificat in 1918. In the poem he calls Mary, ‘the mighty Mother.’
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Blessed John Sullivan (1861-1933) 8 May
‘Any friend of the poor is a friend of God.’
John Sullivan is the only person to be beatified in Ireland.
Like him, may we grow every day in loving God above all things.
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Church feasts celebrating the mother-tongue of God’s Love
The Month of May celebrates the great feasts of Ascension, Pentecost and The Holy Trinity. Here we can celebrate our new life in the risen Christ. We are called as God’s people. We are guided by the Holy Spirit who will teach us everything, to usher in a new era for our world and our Church.
Whatever wilderness the Spirit has brought you to: walk in boldness, as a beloved child of God; walk in peace under the protective presence of God’s love; walk in faith, hope and love, knowing that Christ walks with you.
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St Matthias 14 May
St Matthias, like all the apostles, was chosen to become ‘a witness with us of Christ’s resurrection’. The story of his election as one of the apostles is given in the first reading. He seems to have spent a great deal of time working in Judea; then he travelled east to Cappadocia (now Turkey), where it is said that he was the vital instrument in bringing many pagans to the faith. He is said to have been martyred at Colchis on the Black Sea and his relics brought to Rome by St Helena.
Liturgical Calendar for Ireland 2021, p. 101
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Mary, the Mother who cared for Jesus, now cares with maternal affection and pain for this wounded world. Just as her pierced heart mourned the death of Jesus, so now she grieves for the sufferings of the crucified poor and for the creatures of this world laid waste by human power. Completely transfigured, she now lives with Jesus, and all creatures sing of her fairness. She is the Woman, ‘clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars’ (Rev 12:1). Carried up into heaven, she is the Mother and Queen of all creation. In her glorified body, together with the Risen Christ, part of creation has reached the fullness of its beauty. She treasures the entire life of Jesus in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19,51), and now understands the meaning of all things. Hence, we can ask her to enable us to look at this world with eyes of wisdom.
Laudato Si’ 241
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