May is the Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

I’ve been doing these monthly posts every month, for so long (9 or 10 years), that I am starting to feel the need to shake it up somehow…maybe literally?  What if I come up with a bunch of ideas regarding the monthly themes, and pick them out of a hat (or a plastic cup)?   Let me make a list of what these could be:

1) Refer to an old post on this blog.

2) What does the old Catholic Encyclopedia have to say?

3) What does Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary have to say?

4) What does the Catechism have to say?

5) What have the Church Fathers or saints had to say about this topic?

6) What about Holy Scripture?

7) Has the Church made official pronouncements related to the theme?

8) Can I recommend some books or other products?

9) Is there a traditional hymn?

10) Is there text from the Mass, a prayer or a devotion?

11)  What does EWTN have to say?

12)  What does the Vatican News have to say?

13)  What about history relating to this monthly dedication?

14)  How does the theme relate to the Liturgical Calendar (this could be challenging)?

15)  How does it relate to the Pro-Life cause?

16)  Is there an apostolate or religious order dedicated to this person or gift of our Faith?

17)  Is there a location we could focus on?

18)  Can we come up with new ideas on how to celebrate the theme in a family or seasonal way?  Can we work it into our homeschooling? 

Okay, I am liking this idea, so let’s put it into action RIGHT NOW!  I will have my husband Don pick it out of a cup (they will be eliminated as we go)….. 

He Picked Traditional Hymn! 

That is such a great (and easy) one for Our Lady.  It’s a great idea to learn prayers in Latin, and here is a wonderful one below.  The Latin language is lyrical by nature, and lends itself to song.  The words here are so beautiful, they speak to the glory of the Mother of God.  Simply articulating these words seems to open up the clouds… 

Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria”

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.

Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus nunc, ​et in hora mortis nostrae.

Amen. 

In this month of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we celebrate Our Lady of Fatima on the 13th, which is the date of her first apparition.  This year, this is also the Vigil of the Ascension and a Lesser Rogations Day.  Are we to be joyful or penitential?  You decide.  We have one more Marian feast in the post-conciliar calendar, Mary Mother of the Church, on the 25th (which is also +Memorial Day+ and within the Octave of Pentecost in the trad).  It is fitting that Mothers Day is in Our Lady’s month and don’t forget Saint Monica on the 4th, known for being the great mother of Saint Augustine. 

As touched upon above, the Ascension of Our Lord, Ascension Thursday, is the 14th, with some dioceses transferring it to Sunday, the 17th.  Pentecost Sunday is the 24th (with a vigil) and the Most Holy Trinity, the 31st.   

This is an interesting month, in that we have both the Lesser Rogation Days and the Ember Days (being more specific to the seasons).  Double prayer and penance, 3 days each (do a search on this blog for more info).  

The US Armed Forces Day is the 16th.  Please remember our young men and women in prayer. 

We can take all these opportunities this month to pray and sacrifice for world peace and an abatement of the looming energy, supply and food crisis, what we might call polycrises or multi-front attack vectors (some entity is pulling the strings to create a perfect storm, if you are paying attention, this is very obvious…and that entity is ultimately Satan).  Our Lady of Fatima, to whom this ministry is dedicated and who we honor this month, gave us the antidote to these times in her requests!

Some other notable feasts this month:  

5th-Pope Saint Pius V

11th-Saints Philip & James, Apostles

11th to 13th-Lesser Rogations

15th-Saint Isidore the Farmer (we like him, post-con)  Saint Isidore, pray for those who are now vulnerable to hunger, due to the lack of, or the expense of fertilizer or other needed supplies in food production and transport.

18th-Pope Leo XIV, Inauguration Anniversary

27th, 29th, 30th-Ember Days of the Coming Summer

*** Prepper Challenge for Spring *** 

With current events in mind, it’s the same as it was for March & April...Make a plan! 

“15 Points Preparedness Worksheet” 

“Biblical Support for Preparedness” 

~ Noah was the original prepper ~

War with Iran: Natural Gas Crisis Hits Peru Businesses as Rationing Starts

Peru’s main natural gas fields have stopped shipping fuel just as global prices are spiking due to the war in the Persian gulf, hitting national industries that depend on cheap power.

War with Iran: QatarEnergy Declares...

“Force Majeure” After Halting LNG (Liquid natural gas) Production

Quatar is the largest producer of liquefied natural gas in the world.

ALERT: Iran Closes Strait of Hormuz

“Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed and threatened to fire at any ship passing through it. The narrow waterway is a vital chokepoint for global oil and gas, but also for other commodities such as fertiliser. FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer speaks with Noam Raydan, a maritime risk expert at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, about the potential impact of the Strait's closure and how Iran could further escalate the situation.” 

Watch video…

Iran shuts down the Strait of Hormuz. What more could it do?

To Dream the Impossible Dream: The Authentic Life

I keep saying that we will go crazy if we don’t have something to balance the darkness all around us, a vision to inspire us and get us through. And of course, faith in God. Let us never lose our humanity. Let us always hold our heads up high. And ultimately, we live for the next life.

I grew up listening to this song, we need a few anthems right now…

“The Impossible Dream (The Quest)”

Richard Kiley & Cast from Man of La Mancha, 1966

To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe

To bear with unbearable sorrow

To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong

To love pure and chased from afar

To try when your arms are too weary

To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest to follow that star

No matter how hopeless, no matter how far

To fight for the right without question or pause

To be willing to march into Hell for that Heavenly cause

And I know if I only be true to this glorious quest

That my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I lay to my rest

And the world will be better for this

That one man, scorned and covered with scars

Still strove with his last ounce of courage

To reach the unreachable star

(Mitch Leigh, Joe Darion)

Our “unreachable star” at Nomen Christi Apostolate is the Resilient Catholic Community,

the Authentic Life.

believe in it.

Visualize it.

Pray for it.

Give yours a name.

Work towards it.

See the little ones at Mass in their mothers’ arms. They’re gonna need you.

"It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times..."

The first paragraph in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, words of genius, and it sounds a bit familiar:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,

It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,

It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,

It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,

We had everything before us, we had nothing before us,

We were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”

Reading these words is like looking into a prism, a many-faceted crystal, or playing with a Rubik’s Cube. So much is here to meditate upon regarding our own times. Light and Dark are rapidly separating. This could be a Lenten exercise, if paired with self-examination. Where am I in this story?

How about this one?…

From William Butler Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming:”

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre,
The falcon cannot hear the falconer,
Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed,
And everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned,
The best lack all conviction,
While the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

December is the Month of the Divine Infancy & the Immaculate Conception / December Prepper Challenge!

December is such an interesting ecclesiastical month, I hardly know where to start.  It’s chock full of every kind of feast…Our Blessed Lord, Our Lady, well-known saints, Doctors of the Church, martyrs, visionaries, 1st Century saints, Old Testament Patriarchs, the Holy Family and even Adam & Eve, an “historical” feast, on Christmas Eve.  As if that’s not enough, we also celebrate the Ember Days of Winter the week before Christmas.  And don’t forget the joyful Gaudete Sunday, the 3rd Sundy of Advent.  And Advent itself, of course!

To be clear, we discuss both trad and new feasts and the traditional calendar is below.  We will place our focus on a few feasts…

The 1st Sunday of Advent is this coming Sunday, the 3rd.  This is the beginning of the new Liturgical Year and the beginning of the Cycle of Christmas, when we await the birth of Our Savior and prepare spiritually for this great Holy Day.  On the 8th, we honor the Immaculate Conception of Mary (Patroness of the USA), a Holy Day of Obligation.  This solemnity falls on a Friday this year, so no penance is required.  Our Lady of Loreto is the 10th and Our Lady of Guadalupe the 12th. 

The Ember Days are days of prayer and penance to obtain mercy for the coming season.  As the Ember Days concern themselves with nature, it’s a particularly nice time to do crafts with children.  In this case, it can be combined with Christmas in all kinds of creative ways.  Come up with your own ideas…maybe you could even arrange a day at your parish for these activities. 

I don’t suppose I have to remind anyone about Christmas on the 25th.  But let us celebrate as holy a Christmas as we can this year, as the world continues to spiral into a plethora of polycrises.

+   +   +

December Prepper Challenge

Speaking of polycrises, how about a challenge this month?  Yes, it’s Christmastime, but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the problems in the world take a vacation.  In a month, these progressive issues, many of which are exponential in nature (speeds up over time), will be one month closer to the critical point.  That’s why action must be taken now, Christmastime or not.  The greatest gift you can give your loved ones, besides spiritual encouragement, is preparedness. 

Let us take the 2 themes of this month as inspiration, Mother and Child.  As life gets more difficult, the vulnerable will be in greater need.  We cannot help them until we help ourselves.  We must be in a strong position to help our neighbors.  We must prepare because too many are not.  We will be held accountable.  As Chris Martenson says, we will be asked one day:

“When did you see?  What did you do about it?”

If you still don’t see the need to prepare for the coming days, pray to the Holy Ghost for an illumination.

15 Points Preparedness Worksheet

Please print our worksheet above and choose 5 points to begin working on this month.  We encourage you to involve your family, discuss it together, and write out the most important things you agree should be done.  Feel free to email us with your progress and we may share your comments.  You might also think about printing a copy for your loved ones as a Christmas gift.  Roll it up with a red or green ribbon.  I guarantee they won’t get this from anyone else!  Good luck and you all will be in our prayers!

Here is the traditional Catholic calendar for December:  calefactory.org