May Magnificat 
A Poem by Fr Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ (1844-1889) 

 

May is Mary’s month and I 
Muse at that and wonder why: 
Her feasts follow reason, 
Dated due to season— 

 

Candlemas, Lady Day 
But the Lady Month, May, 
Why fasten that upon her, 
With a feasting in her honour? 

 

Is it only its being brighter 
Than the most are must delight her? 
Is it opportunest 
And flowers finds soonest? 

 

Ask of her, the mighty mother: 
Her reply puts this other 
Question: What is Spring?— 
Growth in every thing— 

 

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather, 
Grass and greenworld all together, 
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted 
Throstle above her nested 

 

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin 
Forms and warms the life within, 
And bird and blossom swell 
In sod or sheath or shell. 

 

All things rising, all things sizing 
Mary sees, sympathising 
With that world of good, 
Nature’s motherhood. 

 

Their magnifying of each its kind 
With delight calls to mind 
How she did in her stored 
Magnify the Lord. 

 

Well but there was more than this: 
Spring’s universal bliss 
Much, had much to say 
To offering Mary May. 

 

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple 
Bloom lights the orchard-apple 
And thicket and thorp are merry 
With silver-surfed cherry 

 

And azuring-over greybell makes 
Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes 
And magic cuckoocall 
Caps, clears, and clinches all— 

 

This ecstasy all through mothering earth 
Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth 
To remember and exultation 
In God who was her salvation. 

 

 

Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,

that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection,

implored your help, or sought your intercession,

was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence,

I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother.

To you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful.

O Mother of the Word Incarnate,

despise not my petitions,

but in your mercy, hear and answer me.

Amen.

 

Hail, Holy Queen

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, hail, our life, our sweetness and our hope.

To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! 

Pray for Us O, Holy Mother of God.

That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

 

The Angelus 

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary: And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, ...

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary...

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary...

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

 

Praying The Rosary

Pope Francis has urged us to storm heaven with prayer during May for an end to the pandemic.

During May, The Rosary will be recited before Sunday Masses.

A reminder of how to pray the rosary especially for those unfamiliar with it.

The Rosary is made up of four mysteries that find their focus in the life of Jesus Christ. We meditate on the Joyful on Monday & Saturday, the Sorrowful on Tuesday & Friday, the Glorious on Wednesday & Sunday and the Light (Luminous) on Thursday. You may wish to recite the four mysteries daily.

A. The Joyful Mysteries
The Annunciation of the Lord
TheVisitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth
The Nativity of the Lord
The Presentation of the Lord
The Finding of the Lord in the Temple

B. The Mysteries of Light
The Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan
The Sign at the Wedding Feast of Cana
The Preaching of the Kingdom
The Transfiguration
The Institution of the Eucharist

C. The Sorrowful Mysteries
The Agony in the Garden
The Scourging at the Pillar
The Crowning with Thorns
The Carrying of the Cross
The Crucifixion of the Lord

 

D. The Glorious Mysteries
The Resurrection of the Lord
The Ascension of the Lord
The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
The Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven
The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven

 

The Fatima Prayer (may be said after each decade)

O My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are in most need of Thy mercy.

 

How to pray the rosary