Blessings for this Mother’s Day. We recognize, celebrate, and entrust our mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and aunts to the beautiful intercessory assistance of the Blessed Mother, the Mediatrix of all Grace.
Loving God,
as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children,
so you give life and care for your Church.
Bless these women, as we celebrate this day in their honor.
May they be strengthened as Christian mothers.
Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.
Grant that we, their sons and daughters,
may honor and appreciate them with a spirit of profound respect.
May the example of Mary, mother of Jesus, inspire them to live their vocation as Christian mothers and call their children to faith. Guide and protect them in challenging times and help them to continue to trust in you all the days of their life.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sixty years ago, on the eve of the month of May, Pope St. Paul VI wrote The Encyclical Mense Maio about the beauty of the month of May and the relationship that the Church has established between the month of May and the Blessed Mother. The following are excerpts from that document.
The month of May is here, a month which the piety of the faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God. Our heart rejoices at the thought of the moving tribute of faith and love which will soon be paid to the Queen of Heaven in every corner of the earth. For this is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God’s merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother’s throne.
We are delighted and consoled by this pious custom associated with the month of May, which pays honor to the Blessed Virgin and brings such rich benefits to the Christian people. Since Mary is rightly to be regarded as the way by which we are led to Christ, the person who encounters Mary cannot help but encounter Christ likewise. For what other reason do we continually turn to Mary except to seek the Christ in her arms? Yes, we turn to Mary to seek our Savior in her, through her, and with her.
Because the month of May is a powerful incentive to more frequent and fervent prayers, and because our petitions more readily find access to her compassionate heart during it, it has been a favorite custom of our predecessors to choose this month, dedicated to Mary, for urging the Christian people to offer up public prayers whenever the needs of the Church demanded it.
So, 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 blessings. We must not forget that God is “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort,” and that He has appointed Mary most holy as the generous steward of His merciful gifts. May she who experienced the cares and hardships of earthly life, the weariness of daily toil, the hardships and trials of poverty, and the sorrows of Calvary, come to aid the needs of the Church.
We also ask that you make provisions for special prayers during the month of May. Do not fail to put repeated emphasis on the recitation of the Rosary, the prayer so pleasing to Our Lady and so often recommended by the Roman Pontiffs. It affords the faithful an excellent means of complying effectively and pleasingly with our divine Master’s command: “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.”
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.