Our Lady Queen of May

May 1: Our Lady Queen of the May

The month of May is flower-bedecked, and to add to its loveliness it is dedicated to the most beautiful flower of all, Mary, the Mother of God; no month could be more fitting for her. She is Mary, Our Lady Queen of May.

May devotions have a splendor all their own; when “On This Day O Beautiful Mother” peals forth it brings a deep feeling of closeness to Mary. Garlands of flowers, petal-strewn processions culminating in the crowning her image, are all forms of homage to Our Queen.

Reading down through the Litany of Our Lady, we have a list of the most meaningful titles the church could bestow on any creature. As all good earthly queens look to the welfare of their subjects, so does Mary on a much grander scale care for us. She is the summit of kindness and consideration.

Though Queen of Heaven, we have no doubt that when this earth was privileged to have her as a dweller, Mary, Our Lady Queen of May, was the most humane of human beings, even through blessed far beyond our capacity to conceive of it.

Our Lady Queen of May

The fact that she is Queen of the Universe; still, she does not enjoy the loyalty of all and must suffer the indifference of those who do not deign to pay her homage. Above everything, she sorrows to see so many deny her Son.

Catholic devotion to Mary is found on all the virtues which human nature should and would possess, but seldom does. Mary is worthy of the admiration which men give her. Hers is a heart adorned as no other heart, with tenderness for the sinner Her Divine Son died to save; with meekness to confound the proud, with kindness toward human frailty; with love for all, because God has loved them first.

It is, however, Mary’s holiness and purity that become the special object of our devotion; a purity that become the special object of our devotion; a purity of soul and body that we should revere and strive to imitate. Sin and Satan were never a part of Mary’s life. Would that we could say the same! Not for a moment was there ever any difference between her will and that of the Most High. Not for a moment was there anything in Mary that could in any way displease her Lord. Of all God’s creatures, Mary is indeed all fair, the beloved of the Almighty.

During this month dedicated to her, let us admire the sinlessness of God’s Mother, of our own Heavenly Mother. With God’s grace and Mary’s assistance and intercession, we can achieve that purity of soul that is pleasing to her and to her Son. Our Lady Queen of May!

*from The Woman in Orbit