Pleas in Mense Maio

This is the reason why during the month of May, Catholics all over the world pray fervently to the Blessed Mother. He said: “This pious practice, by which the Blessed Virgin is honored and the Christian people enriched with spiritual gifts, gladdens and consoles us. Mary remains ever the path that leads to Christ. Every encounter with her can only result in an encounter with Christ Himself.” The Pope encouraged us to appeal to the Blessed Mother either collectively or individually. The three appeals were:

1. We pray to the Blessed Mother for renewal in the Church. Since the issuance of this Encyclical Mense Maio was during the last stretch of the Second Vatican Council, the trend of the times was all about how the Church could cope with the rapid changes of the times. Therefore, Paul VI desired that the renewal that is expected from the Church would be brought and entrusted to the Blessed Mother. The immense mission of the Church in the midst of a complicated and challengeable world has to be interceded by the Blessed Mother especially in the month of May because “it is precisely because the month of May is a powerful incentive to more fervent and trusting prayer, and because during it our petitions find their way more easily to the compassionate heart of Our Blessed Lady.” For Paul VI, the intercession of the Blessed Mother is important as the Church faces the challenges of the contemporary societies and times. The Second Vatican Council is expected to be pivotal event in the Church’s renewal. “This momentous event confronts the Church with the immense problem of how to renew herself in accordance with the needs of the times. On its outcome will depend for a long time to come the future of the Spouse of Christ and the destiny of innumerable souls.”

2. We pray to the Blessed Mother for world peace. Paul VI was guiding the Church towards third millennium and at the same time the world was conflict. In the 1960s there was a shift in the world order which ushered various forms of conflict. There were five centers of economic concentrations in the world: the United States and Europe; Soviet Union and its Allies; China and Southeast Asian countries; Africa, and Latin America. There was also the dichotomy between the United States and its allies that formed the West; and the Soviet Union with its satellites that formed the East. The 1960s witnessed the height of the Vietnam war; in 1964 both France and China detonated their first atomic bombs; as early as 1961, the Berlin Wall was constructed to prevent East Germans to defect to the West. The revolutionary movements in Latin America were emerging and President John F. Kennedy described Latin America as the “most dangerous area in the world.” In other parts of the world, conflicts such as civil wars, cold wars, wars of independence, coup de etat, etc. contributed much to the world in conflict. Paul VI desired that the month of May should be a moment that the Church entrusts to the Blessed Mother the world for peace. The Church has to pray for peace because peace comes from heaven. Peace is a gift from God which man could not just create it. He said that peace “is not solely the work of man. It is also, and primarily, a gift from God. Peace comes from heaven. It will truly reign among men when we have finally proved ourselves worthy to receive this gift from Almighty God.”

The conflicts in world has multiplied thinking that peace can be conquered through arms race; through the victory of the fittest, and the conquest of the brave men on the planet. Paul VI encouraged the Church to value prayer. God will indeed hear our pleas. “and so we shall obtain this lofty benefit by praying to God; by praying with constancy and watchfulness, as the Church has been wont to do from her very beginning; by praying, in particular, for the intercession and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the Queen of peace. So, Venerable Brothers, 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. Even if the grave sins of men provoke God's justice and merit His just punishments, we must not forget the he is “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort,” that He has appointed Mary most holy as the generous steward of His merciful gifts.”

3. We pray to the Blessed Mother for the Poor. Paul VI desired that the month of May be an occasion where the Church learns to bring our pleas to the Blessed Mother for those who are poor. In times of conflicts, the poor are always the first victims. “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 and the human race.” May she also listen to the cry of the weak and those who are vulnerable. As the Church worships the Son, may she also learn to call on the Blessed Mother to aid those who are weak and those who are hopeless. “What we seek is true peace grounded on the sturdy foundations of justice and love—on a justice which recognizes the legitimate rights of the weak as well as those of the strong; on a love which keeps men from falling into error through excessive concern for their own interests. Thus, each person’s rights may be safeguarded without the rights of others being forgotten or violated.” To pray for the poor is a manifestation of a desire for peace.