May I Call Your Attention to the Month of May. For centuries, the Catholic Church has set aside the entire month of May to honor our blessed Mother Mary. Why do we honor Her in the month of May in a very special way?

In the early Church, there is evidence of a major feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrated on the 15th of May each year, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that May received a particular association with the Virgin Mary. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “The May devotion in its present form originated at Rome where, Father Latomia of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus, to counteract infidelity and immorality among the students, made a vow at the end of the eighteenth century to devote the month of May to Mary". From Rome the practice spread to the other Jesuit colleges and thence to nearly every Catholic Church. In 1945, Pope Pius XII solidified May as a Marian month after establishing the feast of the Queenship of Mary on May 31st. After the Second Vatican Council, this feast was moved to August 22, while May 31st became the feast of the Visitation of Mary which commemorates the Virgin Mary's visit to her cousin, Elizabeth.

Marian apparitions are considered expressions of Mary's ongoing motherly care for the church. The understood purpose of each apparition is to draw attention to some aspect of the Christian message, given the needs of a particular time and place. Let me discuss one important apparition. One of the well known Marian apparitions is known as The Five Stone of Medjugorje. Where David and Goliath’s story is familiar to every Christian. A 14-year-old boy was given courage to conquer evil with no weapon other than 5 stones. The Lord told him to gather five stones in the river and face the giant. Trusting only in God’s help, David went forth; he defeated and killed Goliath. The Five Stones of Medjugorje – The Little-Known Connection to the Biblical Story of David and Goliath, are Prayer, Fasting, The Bible, The Holy Eucharist and the Holy Mass, Confession.

Let us be aware of these five stones especially in the month of May.