Invoke God's Consolation Through Mary

"As Mother of the Church, Our Lady always wants to comfort her children at the time of their greatest difficulty and suffering", said the Pope on 13 May before praying the Regina Coeli with thousands of faithful who had attended his Mass at the "Il Prato" park in the Italian city of Arezzo.

“So, today too, we commit to her intercession, all the people and families of your community which find themselves in situations of serious need.”

"Through Mary, we invoke moral consolation from God…."

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/full-text-popes-regina-coeli-remarks-in-arezzo

http://www.news.va/en/news/regina-coeli-resist-the-temptation-to-become-disco

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… The Church sees the Blessed Mother of God in the saving mystery of Christ and in her own mystery. She sees Mary deeply rooted in humanity's history, in man's eternal vocation according to the providential plan which God has made for him from eternity She sees Mary maternally present and sharing in the many complicated problems which today beset the lives of individuals, families and nations; she sees her helping the Christian people in the constant struggle between good and evil, to ensure that it "does not fall," or, if it has fallen, that it "rises again."

Redemptoris Mater, Encyclical of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, 1987

For the complete text, please visit:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater_en.html

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Update from the Women’s Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity:

May the Month of Mary

It is the month of May, the month of Our Lady. This is the month when nature is flowering and life is reborn. All around us we breathe the perfume of the resurrection, of hope and of eternity. To spread Marian devotion in the month of May is a way to awaken Christian life in the hearts of the faithful. It asks us to grow and flourish spiritually under the gaze of Our Lady… The tradition of celebrating the month of Mary was to be found in the colleges of the religious and in private homes until the end of the 1600s. Then it spread to parish life, and by 1800 it had become a practice in the whole Church.

Last year, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about this tradition: “we feel in communion with every community, even with the smallest, in which the tradition of dedicating the month of May to Marian devotion is kept alive. This finds expression in very many signs: shrines, churches, works of art, and especially in the prayer of the Holy Rosary, through which the People of God give thanks for the gifts they continually receive from the Lord, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, and entreat him for their many needs…."

May we never lose our devotion to Mary, a woman of strength who sustains our faith; a woman who is closely united to God and God’s work; a woman who grew in wisdom through suffering, living and sharing; a woman who communicates with words and with silence; a woman with roots planted deep and with wide horizons; a woman who generates abundant life.

Nuria Calduch-Benages, MN

For the complete text and other new articles of interest, please visit:

http://www.laici.va/content/laici/en/sezioni/donna/tema-del-mese.html

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