May is the Month of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary

May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but begins with a feast of her earthly spouse, Saint Joseph the Worker.  This feast was instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955 and remains the same in the post-Conciliar calendar.  Here is some of the original text:

“Wisdom rendered to the just the wages of their labours and conducted them in a wonderful way; and she was to them for a covert by day and for the light of stars by night; alleluia, alleluia.  Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”

“O God, Creator of all things, who didst lay on the human race the law of labour:  graciously grant; that by following the example of Saint Joseph and under his patronage, we may carry out the work Thou dost command, and obtain the reward Thou dost promise.”

“Obtain for us, Joseph, grace to lead an innocent life; and may it ever be shielded by thy patronage.”

“From the work of our hands we offer sacrifice to Thee, O Lord; through the mediation of Saint Joseph may it be a pledge for us of union and peace.”

“Grant, O Lord, that what we have received may, by the intercession of blessed Joseph, crown our work and confirm our reward.”

The 11th is World Day of Prayer for Vocations, much needed.  The 15th is Saint Isidore the Farmer, invoked by gardeners and homesteaders…a great one for the topics we concern ourselves with here.  He is not to be confused with Saint Isidore, Archbishop of Seville and Doctor of the Church.  However, Isidore the Farmer was named after him, also being from Spain. 

The ASCENSION OF OUR LORD, on Thursday the 29th, is a Holyday of Obligation in the following provinces:  Boston, Hartford, New York, Omaha, and Philadelphia.  All other US provinces transfer the feast to Sunday, June 1st.  Ascension Thursday also possesses a vigil.

Remember the Major Rogation Day last month?  This month, the 26th, 27th and 28th are the Minor or Lesser Rogation Days.  They are traditional celebrations, similar to the Ember Days, in performing prayer and penance related to the season and the harvest.  I found a fabulous article at Catholic Culture connecting Saint Isidore the Farmer to the Rogation Days.  Here you will find references to the life of Saint Isidore and his wife Saint Maria de la Cabeza, the sanctity of the agrarian life, the liturgy of Saint Isidore, the Catholic Rural Life ministry, liturgical aspects of the Rogation Days and a number of links to prayers, more info on Rogation Days and Catholicism/Agrarianism…highly recommended reading…

SAINT ISIDORE THE FARMER & ROGATION DAYS

And now for OUR LADY…We have 3 Marian feasts:  Fatima on the 13th  (which celebrates the first of the 6 visions), and the Visitation & the Queenship of Our Lady on the 31st.  The 3rd is the First Saturday of the Immaculate Heart.  The First 5 Saturdays Communion of Reparation is one of Mary’s Fatima requests.  So in this month of Our Lady and the Fatima feast, isn’t it a great time to begin this devotion?  Check if your local parish performs this-if not, maybe you could start it!  See “Fatima Family Holy Hour” topic to the right>>> for a Fatima program we posted several years ago…to be done on the 13th of each month from May to October, including PDF’s.

Other notable feasts of May, in the trad and “new” calendars:

3rd-Saints Philip & James, Apostles

11th-Saints Philip & James, Apostles (trad)

14th-Saint Matthias, Apostle who replaced Judas

HOMESCHOOL ACTIVITIES FOR MAY

1)       Draw a picture of Our Lord’s Ascension.

2)      What were Our Lady of Fatima’s 4 main requests?

3)      Write an essay on the story of the 6 Fatima apparitions.  Follow this composition format:  Intro paragraph, 1 paragraph per apparition, concluding paragraph.

Random Stuff

~ Final Minor Rogation Day ~

Since the Rogation Days invoke God’s mercy and also are associated with litanies, here is the Litany of the Mercy of God. Think about praying it tonight with your family! The closing prayer is very similar to a prayer in the Divine Mercy Chaplet:

O God, Whose Mercy is infinite and Whose treasures of pity are inexhaustible, graciously look down upon us and increase in us Thy Mercy so that we may never, even in the greatest trials, give way to despair, but may always trustfully conform ourselves to Thy Holy Will, which is Mercy itself. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Mercy, Who with Thee and the Holy Spirit doth show us Mercy forever and ever. Amen.

~Bill Gates Sr, Planned Parenthood & Where it’s all Going~

I was doing some research last night and came across the assertion that Bill Gates’ father was the “president of Planned Parenthood.” I said to myself, “Why have I never heard this before?” I went down the rabbit hole to corroborate the info. An article on Lifesite quotes Gates in a 2003 interview with Bill Moyers: “My dad was head of Planned Parenthood. And it was very controversial to be involved with that.” Bill Gates Sr. died 8 months ago and the New York Times had this to say, “He was president of the Seattle/King County Bar Association and the Washington State Bar Association and a director of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the King County United Way and Planned Parenthood.” We can see that Gates’ father was indeed the director of Planned Parenthood, probably on a local level. This same New York Times piece shows us a picture of Gates Sr. holding a baby of color in his arms, next to Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter, in South Africa. Surely, he would have had no problem presiding over this baby’s death in Washington State.

His son, Mr. Covid Vaccine King, continues the wonderful legacy. Lifesite goes on, “[Bill Gates] says, he has seen that by improving health and education, population decreases as parents decide to have less children. Despite all his distancing from Malthus, Gates remains steadfast to the unfounded Malthusian fear of overpopulation.” Another article: “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s role in funding COVID-19 vaccine research has been a point of particular concern, due in large part to the couple’s history as radical advocates for abortion and population control.” Melinda Gates is quoted: "Here in the United States, it's going to be black people who really should get [the Covid vaccine] first and many indigenous people, as well as people with underlying symptoms, and then elderly people." They have it all figured out.

Yet one more Lifesite deeply concerning article tells us: ”Gates also invested approximately $20 million in MicroCHIPS, a company that makes chip-based devices, including birth-control implant chips with wireless on/off switches for remote-controlled drug-delivery by medical authorities.”

How are we to respond to all this? The Gates are for education. So must we be, in our own spheres. They’ve been busy bees. So must we be, building The Newer World Order. And as the prayer above implores, never despair. That is not our world and as we discussed on Good Friday…It Will Fail!

~ It’s Supposed to be for the Birds! ~

The squirrel likes my flax seeds. Birds don’t. LOL (I don’t mind, I love the squirrels.) I also had to remove that blue tray because it does not drain rainwater but there is plastic underneath that does drain. The blue tray will be a perfect basin for potted plants!