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Show Month of May. THE month of May has been set apart by the Catholic church to be devoted to the Virgin Mother of the Redeemer of Mankind. The devotion sanctioned, by the church is a continuation of her own prophetic utterance ut-terance when selected by God to become be-come mother of the Messiah: "From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." It is honoring her be; cause of her exalted position as mother of Jesus. An angel assures her that she has been favored in heaven, is full of grace, and blessed among women. The reward of her virtuous life is the selection to become the mother of the future Savior. All her dignity and grandeur comes from her close connection con-nection with Jesus as mother. Luther in 1551, one year after he protested against the Catholic church, wrote: "To be the mother of God is a prerogative so high, so immense, as to surpass all understanding. There is no honor, no beatitude capable of approaching ap-proaching an elevation which consists in being, of the whole human race, the sole person, superior to all others, un-equaled un-equaled in the prerogative of having one common Son with the Heavenly Father. In this unique word, therefore, there-fore, is contained all honor for Mary, and no one could sound her praises in more splendid terms had he tojigues as numerous as the flowers and blades of grass upon earth, the stars In heaven, and grains of sand in the sea." Christian faith in every age has been enlivened by devotion to the mother of its divine founder. Whilst it never exalts ex-alts her dignity beyond that of a creature, crea-ture, yet it represents her as the masterpiece mas-terpiece of all created beings. Her litany lit-any of praises recalls her many virtues, and every appeal to her is as an in tercessor to obtain spiritual favors from her divine son. All objections, to the position of the Catholic church in sanctioning devotion to her arise from a misunderstanding of what she teaches. Sounding the praises of a good, devoted mother is always pleasing pleas-ing to a loving child. Why should Jesus be an exception? Favors are readily granted by the child when a fond mother asks. In this light only is an appeal made to Mary by Catholics. Catho-lics. She could not forgive the smallest small-est sin, but could ask her son to blot out many sins. She could appeal to Him to soften the heart of the prodigal prod-igal by His grace so that he may return re-turn to his Father's house. May devotions consist in singing her praises, asking her Son, through her Intercession, to bestow on all who are separated from Him, either through want of faith, or sin, the gift of faith, or the grace of conversion. What could be more laudable? It is a zealous zeal-ous desire that all mankind should be united with God and attain their end, namely, infinite happiness. |