Mary and the month of May

“May is Mary’s month, and I muse at that and wonder why.” So begins Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, “The May Magnificat.” It is good for us to wonder also. May crownings, Mother’s Day, the Feast of the Visitation and the abundance of springtime growth all provide good reasons for Mary’s special association with this beautiful time of year. 

During the month of May, all creation is bursting with beauty and new life. Perhaps here is the reason that Mary is associated with this season of abundance. Nature’s bounty during the month of May reflects the continuing fruitfulness of Mary’s virginal womb in the life of the Church and in her spiritual children. 

Since as early as the 2nd century, Mary has been called the New Eve, a name that means “mother of the living.” Mary truly is more worthy of this name than the first Eve, since in giving birth to Jesus, Mary gave birth to Life itself. The first Eve bestowed upon her children only the curse of sin and death.

We have received a share in this New Life through Mary, and through the Church of which she is the image and model. Moved by the stirring of grace within us, we Christians turn to Mary with the spontaneity of children turning to their mother for nurture, for comfort, for help in time of need. For us, who are her children, she is indeed, as the centuries-old Marian hymn says, “our life, our sweetness and our hope.”

Mary’s most important motherly role in our lives is to assist the Holy Spirit in bringing us to the full maturity of Christ. Gently, yet without fail, Mary leads us to Jesus. As she instructed the wine stewards at Cana, so she directs us, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn. 2:5).  

From beginning to end, the sinless Virgin Mary remained totally cooperative with the working of God’s grace in her life. Her listening heart always was ready to respond with the obedience of faith. She was always poised to do God’s will. It was never about her. As she exclaimed to her cousin Elizabeth, “The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Lk. 1:49). 

In 1965, Saint Paul VI published an encyclical letter, “On the Month of May,” in which he wrote as an encouragement to the faithful, “throughout this month of May, let us offer our pleas to the Mother of God with greater devotion and confidence, so that we may obtain her favor and her blessing.” 

May, Mary’s month, offers an opportunity for renewing or discovering some of the rich Marian devotions that the Church has offered us through the centuries. For example, we can pray the Rosary daily during May so that by pondering the mysteries of redemption with Mary we might be more perfectly conformed to her divine Son. We can pray the simple yet beautiful prayer of the Angelus daily, which recalls and invites our reflection on the mystery of the Incarnation through Mary’s consent to the Archangel Gabriel. 

The beauty of this devotion is that it helps us punctuate our day with prayer. There are many wonderful ways to honor Mary by developing sound devotional practices and imitating her virtues.

May is a time of extraordinary abundance. Abundance flows in God’s path. Mary teaches us that in order to be filled with God’s abundant life we must first empty ourselves of all that is not of God. She teaches us to make room for God. 

Mary not only is the Mother of God, but the first disciple of the child she conceived in her virginal womb: “I am the servant of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38).