I keep a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe in my kitchen. Today Jane posted these words that Our Lady spoke to Juan Diego:

“Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.”

I put a large white candle in the middle of our Advent wreath today, and we will light it in Mary’s honor.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.

Run, do not walk, over to A Friar’s Life to read The Power of Mary.

A highlight:

Catholicism offered my friends other comforts. As a kid, I would have liked a patron saint or a guardian angel, but the Methodist Church didn’t offer those. Instead we were counseled, in an ecumenically respectful way, that all that stuff was Catholic…The best thing, though, that Catholic girls got was Mary. She was presented as motherhood and sweetness, but Catholic girls got a clear message that a woman in heaven understood the female side of things.

What are you waiting for? Go read the rest! I could do without the very last sentence, but the rest of this article is fabulous.

In the month of May we honor the Blessed Mother in special ways. At Catholic Culture, we can find a wealth of practices and prayers that honor Mary. Moneybags has a wonderful post about the Power of One Hail Mary, and the illustration he used was so beautiful that I am republishing it here.

One devotion that I have recently begun to practice is the Franciscan Crown Rosary. Friar Charles has the whole story on this devotion, including how to pray it and where it came from. You don’t have to be a Franciscan to pray the Franciscan Crown. It’s based on the Seven Joys of Mary:
The Annunciation
The Visitation
The Nativity
The Adoration of the Magi
The Finding of Jesus in the Temple
The Resurrection
The Assumption and Coronation of the Blessed Mother

Franciscans have a great devotion to Mary:

In his devotion to the Mother of Christ, the Franciscan, who is united with and transformed into Christ, makes Mary his own Mother. How can it be otherwise, for it was Mary who begot Christ, and hence it is Mary who has given the True Life to the Franciscan. Mary is our Mother because she is the Mother of the Head of the Mystical Body, of which we are members — she is the one Mother of the One Christ. Thus Francis “embraced the Mother of Jesus with an indescribable love, because she made the Lord of Majesty our brother.”

So if you’re looking for a new way to honor the Blessed Mother, why not learn to pray the Franciscan Crown? Join me in this beautiful devotion during the month of May.