Friday May 4, 2012
Next Sunday marks the 95th anniversary of the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the three shepherd children on a hillside outside Fatima, Portugal. Our Lady of Fatima promised the children that the world would know peace through prayer and repentance.
Close to a century later, the world is still riven by wars and moral upheaval, including the great holocaust of abortion. And so, for this week's novena, I have chosen a prayer To Our Lady of Fatima, for peace in our nation and in the world. If you start this novena on May 4, you will finish it on the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
If you have a favorite novena that you'd like me to choose as Novena of the Week, or if you'd like me to suggest a novena for a particular intention, send me an e-mail, and I'll work it into the rotation.
Other Fatima Prayers and More on Fatima:
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Thursday May 3, 2012
Each month, Pope Benedict XVI announces his special prayer intentions—particular things that he wishes all Catholics to pray for that month.
(When, for instance, we pray the rosary and say the prayers at the end for the intentions of the Holy Father, these are the intentions for which we're praying.)
Pope Benedict offers two prayer intentions each month, one general, and one for a particular Catholic missionary activity. The Holy Father's prayer intentions for May 2012 are particularly appropriate for a month that begins with the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker and which is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
You can read Pope Benedict's prayer intentions for May 2012, and find some appropriate prayers to join your intentions to his.
(Children dressed in traditional Bavarian costumes dance for Pope Benedict XVI during his 85th birthday celebration in the Clementine Hall, April 16, 2012, in Vatican City. Photo by Alessia Giuliani-Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
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Tuesday May 1, 2012
May 1, 2011, was the Octave of Easter, known today as Divine Mercy Sunday.
On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II established the feast when he canonized St. Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Polish nun who had received revelations from Christ concerning His Divine Mercy, and to whom John Paul was devoted.
And so, when the time came to announce the beatification of Pope John Paul II in 2011, few were surprised that Pope Benedict XVI chose to hold the beatification on Divine Mercy Sunday. Today, of course, because Easter is a moveable feast, we're celebrating the first anniversary of the beatification of Pope John Paul II in the Fourth Week of Easter, but as we look back we should keep in mind the important role that the Divine Mercy played in his life.
Last year, on the day of John Paul's beatification, I wrote The Beatification of Pope John Paul II: A Personal Reflection. Looking at it today, there is very little that I would add, except to say that the controversy over his beatification has died down over the past year, and that is a good thing. Whatever one may think of the way in which John Paul II governed the Church, the question of his beatification (and his possible canonization) has to do with the way in which he lived his life—especially, as I discussed in my personal reflection, the way in which he bore his enormous suffering for the sake of Christ and His Church.
(A tapestry of Blessed Pope John Paul II is unveiled on the central balcony in St. Peter's Square, May 1, 2011. Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)
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Tuesday May 1, 2012
May 1 has long been celebrated as "May Day," a holiday dedicated to laborers.
For many years, May Day was associated with socialism and communism, and the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries held massive rallies and parades to mark the day.
The religious significance of May Day is less well known. In 1955, Pope Pius XII designated May 1 as the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. A staunch anticommunist, Pope Pius wanted to stress the Christian dimension of labor and hoped that the feast would draw attention to the Church's social teaching, which has been critical of the exploitation of workers under both communism and capitalism.
With the revision of the Catholic calendar after Vatican II, the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker was made an optional memorial. While the celebration is less public, devotion to Saint Joseph the Worker continues.
(Statue of Saint Joseph in the Lourdes Grotto, Saint Mary Oratory, Rockford, Illinois. Photo © Scott P. Richert)
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