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May 1, 2025Now that we are well into the glorious Easter season and this month of May is always a busy month for most of us with First Holy Communions, confirmations, weddings and graduations, do not let all these wonderful moments overshadow this season.
The Easter season ends with our celebration of Pentecost Sunday but before we come to the official end, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, as well as several feasts of saints who should be familiar to all of us. Two feasts in particular I would like to say something about here.
May 1 is the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker and May 31 is the feast of the Visitation. While the month of May has, by a long tradition, been a month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is not just a coincidence that the month of May begins with a feast dedicated to her chaste spouse, Saint Joseph.
This particular feast in honor of Saint Joseph the Worker was established to counter the rise of Communism after World War II, especially among the working classes around the world. The Venerable Pope Pius XII’s intention in establishing the feast and its day of celebration was to counter atheistic Communism’s exaltation of the civil state over the worker with the model worker in the person of Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph is that just man who above all loves God and this love for God was expressed in his dedication to his family of Jesus and Mary, and to his work as a carpenter who fulfilled his obligations to those who sought out his services. His example of virtuous living remains for us a model of how we are to conduct ourselves in daily life, allowing our faith to imbue all that we do for the honor and glory of God.
The feast of the Visitation which ends the month of May provides us with what we need to faithfully carry Christ Jesus in our minds and hearts and bring Him to others in the course of our day. This is the second joyful mystery of the holy rosary, and it highlights why the Blessed Mother was told by the Archangel Gabriel that she is “full of grace.” Not only did the Lord God choose her to be the Mother of God and because of this she was immaculately conceived, but she is the one who is our best model of the true disciple. Her life was centered on Jesus as was Saint Joseph’s life. She not only carried Him in her arms but in time was carried by Him throughout His public life, through His Passion and Death and His glorious Resurrection and Ascension. Her love, devotion and unwavering faith in her Divine Son was rewarded at the moment of her death when she was taken up into heavenly glory, body and soul, to be with Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all eternity. She gives us the example of fidelity we all need and she also is living proof of fidelity’s reward, eternal life with God. What she has we hope to have.
What a month May is for us and let us not forget it!