THE P RTAL


May 2012 May, the Month of Promise! Br Sean writes


IN A charming reflection Newman wrote while in the Birmingham Oratory he discusses why Catholics dedicate the month of May to Our Blessed Lady. Newman begins by considering how the natural course of the seasons, which in spring is full of life and bloom, should be a fitting image of Our Lady.


He considers how, as winter has


passed and the darkness recedes, new life appears on earth. So too Our Lady, who as the dawn of our salvation heralded the coming of the Redeemer.


It is for this reason, Newman


claims that for such gladness and joy at the passing of winter we dedicate May especially to Our Lady.


An English May can be all but glorious Yet before he continues to


reflect at length on the glories of May and Our Lady, there comes a brief interjection in his though in which, ever sensitive to the English mind, he adds that one may easily complain that an English May can be all but glorious, and is oſten rather bleak, inclement and wet!


For those who bemoan the rain


of May, let them consider “at least as a month of promise and hope – even though the weather happens to be bad, it is a month that begins and heralds in the summer.” We can therefore look towards Our Lady in May not only as the harbinger of new life, but as the promise of a humanity redeemed. Newman adds:


“Te Prophet says, ‘Tere shall come forth a


rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise out of his root.’ Who is the flower but our Blessed Lord? Who is the rod, or beautiful stalk or stem or plant out of which the flower grows, but Mary, Mother of our Lord, Mary, Mother of God? It was prophesied that God should come upon earth. When the time was full, how was it announced?


It was announced by the Angel coming to Mary. ‘Hail, full of grace,’ said Gabriel, ‘the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou


among women.’ She then was the sure promise of the coming Saviour, and therefore May is, by a special title, her month.”


May is supremely the month of Joy Reflecting upon the liturgical


year May is supremely the month of Joy. Among all the months of the year May is at once the most


sacred, joyous and festive of all times in the ecclesiastical year. Newman asks:


“Who would wish February,


March, or April, to be the month of Mary, considering that it is the time of Lent and penance? Who again would choose December, the Advent season - a time of hope, indeed, because Christmas is coming, but a time of fasting too? Christmas itself does not last for a month.”


However May belongs to the great season


of Easter, of Ascension and


Pentecost, the birth of the Church. May is a month of “frequent alleluias” in which the joys of Easter resound and the promise of the Spirit is anticipated.


“Here then we have a reason why May is dedicated


to Blessed Mary. She is the first of creatures, the most acceptable child of God, the dearest and nearest to Him. It is fitting then that this month should be hers, in which we especially glory and rejoice in His great Providence to us, in our redemption and sanctification in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.”


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