MARVELOUS MAY

It’s May!

It’s May!

A month of celebration!

Easter, roughly translated, means Spring.

Flowers are bursting forth . . .  especially the forsythia.

Grass begins to grow through the mud puddles.

Anticipation of a grand summer begins . . .  even if snow storms are still on the horizon.

Let’s linger awhile and drink in words of wisdom, words of affirmation, words regarding the wise ones, the saints, the martyrs and so much more.

May 1, 2019   "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”   Matthew 6:14-15

May 2, Thursday  "Many try to fly away from temptations only to fall more deeply into them; for you cannot win a battle by mere flight.  It is only by patience and humility that you will be strengthened against the enemy.  Those who shun them outwardly and do not pull them out by the roots will make no progress; for temptations will soon return to harass them and they will be in a worse state. 

It is only gradually—with patience and endurance and with God's grace—that you will overcome temptations sooner than by your own efforts and anxieties . . . Gold is tried by fire and the upright person by temptation.  Often we do not know what we can do until temptation shows us

what we are . . . This is how temptation is: first we have a thought, followed by strong imaginings, then the pleasure and evil emotions, and finally consent. This is how the enemy gains full admittance, because he was not resisted at the outset. The slower we are to resist, the weaker we daily become and the stronger the enemy is against us.”   Thomas à Kempis,  Imitation of Christ.

May 3  "As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”   Colossians 3:12-13

May 4     Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69-155 A.D.) became a Christian in his youth, a disciple of John the Evangelist. John ordained him Bishop of Smyrna (in modern day Turkey) and from this position Polycarp became one of the most illustrious of the Apostolic Fathers. His closeness with the Apostles, and the long life that he lived, enabled him to protect the Church against heresy. The account of his martyrdom is well-preserved and is one of the earliest in the Church. Knowing the government was seeking his life, he received a vision while praying that he would be burned alive. After his capture he was encouraged to submit to Caeser in order to be released, but he refused. He was then taken to a public arena to be killed. He gave an outstanding testimony, declaring that he had served Christ for 86 years. Witnesses of his execution saw the flames surround his body without burning it, and that Polycarp began to glow and emit a sweet aroma. This amazed the crowds, and his executioners were then ordered to stab him to death.

May 5  Third Sunday of Easter
 "But I say to you that listen, love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ... Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  Luke 6:27-31

May 6   "You must first have peace in your own soul before you can make peace between other people. Peaceable people accomplish more good than learned people do. Those who are passionate often can turn good into evil and readily believe the worst.  But those who are honest and peaceful turn all things to good and are

suspicious of no one. ... It is no test of virtue to be on good terms with easy-going people, for they are always well liked. And, of course, all of us want to live in peace and prefer those who agree with us. But the real test of virtue and deserving of praise is to live at peace with the perverse, or the aggressive and those who contradict us, for this needs a great grace. ... in this mortal life, our peace consists in the humble bearing of suffering and contradictions, not in being free of them, for we cannot live in this world without adversity. Those who can best suffer will enjoy the most peace, for such persons are masters of themselves, lords of the world, with Christ for their friend, and heaven as their reward.”  Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ.

5-7  “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.” 

Colossians 3:14-15

5-8  St. Mark the Evangelist (1st c.) was born to Jewish parents living in Libya in North Africa, later settling in Cana of Galilee not far from Jerusalem. Mark became one of the 70 disciples of Jesus and the author of the Gospel that bears his name. According to tradition, Peter the Apostle was married to a relative of Mark's father, and after Mark's father died, Peter looked after him like his own son. Being a close disciple of St. Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, Mark's Gospel is addressed to Gentile converts to the Christian faith living in Rome. Most of what we know about his life and missionary activity is recorded in the New Testament. He traveled to Egypt and founded the Church there, and was martyred c. 68 A.D. by being dragged through the streets of Alexandria until his body was torn to pieces.

5-9  "For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly, guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones.”   Proverbs 2:6-8

5-10  "We must not wish anything other than what happens from moment to moment, all the while, however, exercising ourselves in goodness. And to refuse to exercise oneself in goodness, and to insist upon simply awaiting what God might send, would be simply to tempt God.”    Catherine of Genoa

5-11  "God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”   1 Samuel 16:7b

5-12  Fourth Sunday of Easter and Mother’s Day

This is also Good Shepherd Sunday reminding us that Jesus laid down his life for His flock.  [“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11).]  

Here is an example of a Mother who gave her life so the 'flock' could survive, Clarissa Harlowe Barton, Clara, as she wished to be called.  She is one of the most honored women in American history. 
She began teaching school at a time when most teachers were men and she was among the first women to gain employment in the federal government. 
Barton risked her life to bring supplies and support to soldiers in the field during the Civil War.  At age 60, she founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and led it for the next 23 years. 
Her understanding of the needs of people in distress and the ways in which she could provide help to them guided her throughout her life. By the force of her personal example, she opened paths to the new field of volunteer service. Her intense devotion to serving others resulted in enough achievements to fill several ordinary lifetimes. 

The Red Cross provides about 40% of our nation’s blood and blood components, all from generous volunteer donors. But supply can’t always meet demand because only about 3% of age-eligible people donate blood yearly. Each new donor helps them meet patient needs.

5-13  “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”   Romans 12:1-2

5-14  The deep secret of the mystery of faith lies in the fact that it is a “baptism” in the death and sacrifice of Christ. We can only give ourselves to God when Christ, by his grace, “dies” and rises again spiritually within us. Thomas Merton

5-15  Macarius of Jerusalem (4th c.) was the Bishop of Jerusalem from 312-335 A.D. Little is known of his life before this time. He took part in the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. and vigorously opposed the Arian heresy, which greatly threatened the early Church. It is believed that he was one of the bishops who helped draft the Nicene Creed. St. Athanasius, his contemporary, refers to Macarius as an example of "the honest and simple style of apostolical men." After the council, St. Macarius

accompanied St. Helen, the queen mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, in her successful search for the True Cross that Jesus was crucified upon. It was he who suggested to Helen that she would identify the real Cross by touching all three of those she found to a seriously ill woman, and observe which one brought immediate healing. Following the discovery of the True Cross in this miraculous manner, Constantine wrote to Bishop Macarius requesting that he oversee the construction of a magnificent church in Jerusalem, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, to commemorate the sites of the Crucifixion and Burial of Christ, which still exists today as one of the most important Christian pilgrimage sites in the world. 

5-16  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power

of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, 'The one who is righteous will live by faith.’"   Romans 1:16-17

5-17  “Whenever I go to the chapel, I put myself in the presence of our good Lord, and I say to Him, 'Lord, here I am. Tell me what You would have me do.' If He gives me some task, I am content and I thank Him. If He gives me nothing, I still thank Him since I do not deserve to receive anything more than that. And then, I tell God

everything that is in my heart. I tell Him about my pains and my joys, and then I listen. If you listen, God will also speak to you, for with the good Lord, you have to both speak and listen. God always speaks to you when you approach Him plainly and simply.”     St. Catherine Laboure

5-18  "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matthew 6:19-21

5-19  Fifth Sunday of Easter   St. James the Lesser (1st c.), also called St. James the Just, was one of the Twelve Apostles and the cousin of Jesus. Both James and his brother, Jude, began to follow Jesus in the second year of his ministry. James the Less was the first of the Twelve Apostles to whom the risen Christ appeared. After Jesus' ascension into heaven, James was given charge as bishop of the Church in Jerusalem, making him an important leader of the early Church. He was well-known for his prayer life and holiness. It is described that his knees and forehead were calloused due to long hours spent prostrate in prayer.  His sanctity was such that he was respected by the Jews and considered by many to be a holy man. James the Less is the author of the New Testament epistle that bears his name. He was martyred by being thrown from the roof of the Jerusalem temple and then stoned and beaten to death as he prayed for his murderers. He died in the year 62 A.D. during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. 

5-20  “Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”   John 8:31

5-21  “We will never be free of trials and temptations as

long as our earthly life lasts. For Job has said: 'Is not the life of human beings on earth a drudgery?' (Job 7:1). Therefore, we should always be on our guard against temptations, always praying that our enemy, the devil, 'who never sleeps but constantly looks for someone to devour.' (1 Pet 5:8), will not catch us off guard. No one in this world is so perfect or holy as not to have temptations sometimes. We can never be entirely free from them. Sometimes these temptations can be very severe and troublesome, but if we resist them, they will be very useful to us; for by experiencing them we are humbled, cleansed, and instructed. All the Saints endured tribulations and temptations and profited by them, while those who did

not resist and overcome them fell away and were lost. There is no place so holy or remote where you will not meet with temptation, nor is there anyone completely free from it in this life; for in our body we bear the wounds of sin—the weakness of our human nature in which we are born.”  Thomas á Kempis Imitation of Christ    

5-22  “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”  Ephesians 2:4-7

5-23   Dismas (1st c.) is the name Church tradition has given to the "Good Thief," one of the two criminals who were crucified alongside Jesus Christ on Good Friday. All we know about Dismas is what is mentioned of him in the Gospels: "Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, 'Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.' The other [Dismas] however, rebuking him, said in reply, 'Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.'" Then Dismas, as an expression of his faith in Christ as the Messiah, said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus replied to Dismas, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”

 (Luke 23:39-42)

5-24  “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”  Luke 6:45

5-25  “On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him. Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ He will give us feelings of love if He pleases. We cannot create

them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right. But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.”  C. S. Lewis    Mere Christianity.

5-26 Sixth Sunday of Easter     "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”  Ephesians 1:3-6

5-27  Memorial Day celebrated: We celebrate those who fought for us, especially those who lost their lives so that we could retain the freedom we have as U.S. citizens.  This includes our freedom to worship as we choose.

There are also those who gave their lives so that the Gospel could spread throughout the world.  Matthias the Apostle (1st c.) followed Jesus during his entire earthly ministry and was one of his 72 disciples. Matthias was chosen by the 11 Apostles to replace Judas Iscariot after his betrayal of Christ and subsequent suicide. After Christ's Ascension into heaven, Matthias devoted himself to preaching Christianity among the pagans, some of them barbarians and cannibals, all over Judea, Cappadocia, and Ethiopia for over 30 years. Many miracles are ascribed to him as the pagans sought to kill him: that he was unharmed after being forced to drink poison, that he once hid by becoming invisible, and that the earth opened up and swallowed his attackers. Matthias also preached the need for mortification of the flesh as an aid to growth in holiness. Eventually, at God's appointed time, he was martyred for the cause of Christ, though there are 

conflicting traditions as to exactly where and how.

   

5-28  "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:16-17

5-29  “My Jesus, it is truly easy to become holy; it just takes a little good will! And if He finds this minimum of

good will in a soul, He quickly gives Himself to her. And nothing can stop Him, neither our faults nor our falls, absolutely nothing. Jesus hurries to help that soul; and if the soul is faithful to this grace from God, she can in a short time reach the highest levels of holiness that a created being can attain here below. God is very generous and does not refuse His grace to anyone. He gives even more than we ask for. The shortest road is faithfulness to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit." Maria Faustina Kowalska  from Diary of St. Maria Faustina.

5-30  Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven [10 days before Pentecost]  Jesus asked his Apostles to wait patiently for God’s power that will come into the lives of all who ‘believe.’  Luke 24:45 . . .Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.  :49 And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you; but you are to

stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.  :50  And He led them out as far as Bethany and He lifted up his hands and blessed them .  :51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up to heaven.   :52 And they, after worshipping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great Joy!  and were continually in the temple praising God!

5-31  The Visitation 

Luke 1:39-57 Mary arose and went quickly to Judah, home

of Elizabeth and Zachariah  :41 The baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb at Mary’s greeting and Elizabeth was “filled with the Holy Spirit”  :42 Elizabeth said, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! [Magnificat]  :46 My soul exalts the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . . :49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me and holy is His Name . . .:53 He has filled the hungry with good things . . . :56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth three months . . .  :57 and Elizabeth gave birth to a son [John the Baptizer]