My Angel in May

A few years back, the same date as today, God sent me an angel and named him Francis. That was my happiest day; the day my son saw the light in this world. Being given the responsibility to be a vessel of creating another life is the most wonderful miracle that happened to me. The beauty of being a mother made me a complete woman. Today, my son is 15 years old; time passes by so quickly, I missed a lot of time away from him. But looking back and feeling sorry for all the moments away from him will not make our life any better, but cherishing our time together and spending it as best as we can is better. I am so grateful to God for all the blessings in our life especially for keeping my son safe and healthy, for giving me a wonderful son that every mother can dream of. Happy birthday, sweetheart, you're our Angel in May and all the days since you were given to us. 

Springtime is a universal growth, a season to celebrate motherhood; a reason May is dedicated to Mary, Our Blessed Mother who willingly accepts the role of motherhood to humanity. I am happy as wife and mother; like Mary, I willingly accepts and fulfill my responsibility of being a mother.

Here's another poem in honor to Our Lady of May:

THE MAY MAGNIFICAT

May is Mary's month, and I 

Muse at that and wonder why: 

Her feasts follow reason, 

Dated due to season-

Candlemas, Lady Day: 

But the Lady Month, May, 

Why fasten that upon her, 

With a feasting in her honor? 

Ask of her, the mighty mother: 

Her reply puts this other 

Question: What is Spring? 

Growth in every thing-

All things rising, all things sizing 

Mary sees, sympathizing 

With that world of good, 

Nature's motherhood.

Well but there was more than this: 

Spring's universal bliss 

Much, had much to say 

To offering Mary May.

Poem source: The Magnificat

A Reflection: Our Lady of Fatima

I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep. St. John 10:11

Happy Mother's day to all mothers, specially to Our Blessed Mother and to my mother!

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Today we remember the first of the six apparitions of Our Blessed Mother in a little town in Portugal. And today is the 9th day of our novena to Our Lady of Fatima. Two kinds of novenas were posted here last May 5. Click this link to pray the Novena to Our Lady.

Because of the Blessed Virgin's singular cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit, the church loves to pray in communion with Mary, to magnify with her the great things the Lord has done for her and to entrust supplication and praise to her. This prayer to Mary has found expression in the "Ave Maria"; Let us all pray the Hail Mary:

Much has been written concerning the six famous apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a little town in Portugal between May 13 and October 13, 1917. Later it would be said, and rightly so, that everything She predicted there to the three little shepherds has been fulfilled point by point. The story is too long to tell in detail in a few words, and indeed it is not over yet.

Our Lady of Fatima was sent to warn the 20th century that humanity had not followed the path that had been indicated to it by her Son; humanity had not developed as God intended, and the time of the last and worst enemy was fast approaching. She said that if Her requests for prayer and penance were not heard, Communism would spread its errors all over the earth. She appealed to the Apostles of the Latter Times to come forth, those who lived in humility, poverty and contempt for the world, repeating what She had already said at La Salette, France, in greater detail in 1846.

During the final apparition on October 13th, She appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, accompanied by Saint Joseph and the divine Child. Through Lucy of Fatima, Mary had promised a miracle to convince doubters of the reality of Her presence and the Will of God She had conveyed by Her words, and She fulfilled that promise. On October 13, 1917, the great Miracle of the Sun occurred, witnessed by all who were present at Fatima, an international crowd of 70,000 spectators. The sun whirled about and seemed to be plunging down as it sent off multicolored rays; many cried out that it was the end of the world.

A large shrine was built at Fatima, and in the 1940’s more than a thousand miracles had already been duly confirmed there. The famous “Secret of Fatima,” part of which was disclosed by the Vatican to certain heads of State in 1963, still remains largely a secret for most of the people who have been waiting for it since 1960, the year that the Virgin said it was to be made public.

Source/Reference: The Marnificat: Lives of Saints

Mother to her Son

This poem of a mother is copied from Good Housekeeping Magazine 1928 issue. I just thought it's a wonderful poem of a mother, thinking of her fellow mothers with a son; like Mary Our Mother. It's a beautiful poem to reflect on Mary's life as a Mother to Our Savior Jesus Christ; and to meditate on her life as a role model to us, mothers of this world.

Mother

I wonder if all mother's of small sons, 

Grow as perplexed as I have often grown?

Do they, through lack of wisdom, stand dismayed,

And falteringly face each day alone?

I think of all the mother's of the earth, 

I wonder, sometimes, would they, too, be glad 

To know how Mary of old Nazareth 

With daily wisdom reared her little lad, 

I know God spoke to her through those brief years 

Of all things that concerned their precious One, 

And when the grave eyes questioned, surely God 

Helped Mary answer well her little Son. 

Could I have come some summer afternoon 

And sat on the low doorstep at her feet, 

While Jesus and his younger brothers played 

Upon the bright grass by the shady street, 

I would have learned from her; oh, many things, 

I think i would have grown so very wise 

That I could answer truthfully at last 

The thousand questions in these upturned eyes. 

And here's another poem for Mary; Our Queen of May

Sources: 1. Good Housekeeping Magazine;1928 - by Grace Noll Crowell
              2. May Poetry