Author: root
Invite: AMM Flores de Mayo 2025
By AMM Marsfield
Swarm Cheng, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
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Join us for a special event, ‘Flores de Mayo‘, in honoring Our Blessed Mother. We will commence with a beautiful procession around the church, offering prayers, flowers, and saying the Holy Rosary. This will then lead to the first Saturday of the month Miraculous Medal novena mass inside the church.
Date – 3rd May 2025, Saturday
Time – 9:40 a.m.
Place – St Anthony’s Church, 54 Agincourt Road, Marsfield, NSW
Bring your family, flower offering, prayers and food-to-share in this sacred and meaningful celebration! Light refreshments to be provided after the novena mass. Feel free to Contact Us or email at info@amm.org.au for any questions.
By Bianca Kallukaran published last year,
The month of May is traditionally dedicated to Our Lady. This tradition began as early as the 13th century. In the Northern Hemisphere, May is considered a season of growth and flourishing. It is also a time for the renewal of nature. This period is closely connected to the Incarnation. It is when Mary gave her “yes” to God. She birthed our Lord Jesus Christ into the world. This devotion became even more popular in the 1700s. It gained popularity among students in the Jesuit Order. It was also celebrated in the Gesu Church in Rome. This led to its spread to the wider church. Interestingly, in Italy, the Flores de Mayo devotion started among the Jesuit Orders. Its purpose was to “counteract immorality and infidelity” among its students. It then spread to the other churches in the Latin Rite.
Many Popes have strongly advocated devotion to Our Lady in the church. This is especially true from the 19th century onward. Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. Pope Pius XII wrote about it in his encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy Mediator Dei in 1947. Pope Paul VI included it in his encyclical Mense Maio in 1965. Around 1854, the devotion became an integral part of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. This occurred during the time of Spanish colonization. Every year in May, flowers are offered to Our Lady. This happens daily across the Philippines. Read more at Vatican News: Flores de Mayo: Commemoration of Mary in the Philippines
It is also no coincidence that many Marian Feasts occur in May: 13th – Our Lady of Fatima, 24th – Help of Christians, and 31st – the Visitation). During this time the faithful are encouraged to foster and renew their devotions to Our Lady as Mother of Jesus and of the Church especially through the Rosary, Marian Novenas and Processions.
Easter Reflection 2025
By Fr. Kevin Canty CM (National Director)
Death for Jesus was no different from death for any of us. It meant the end of the presence that his disciples knew. No longer can they see him, touch him, or be touched by him.
The “He is not here”, that we hear at this time raises the question, “where is He?”
And our faith answers, he is at the heart of the mystery of life. As Jesus himself said,
“God is God not of the dead but of the living” (Luke 20:38).
Wherever God is, Jesus is. Since God is everywhere, Jesus is still present among us though mysteriously beyond our empirical experience.
Hence the call to remain alert (Luke 21:28) and “to stand up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near”.
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This may explain the irony of the response of the women. Instead of raising their heads, they ‘bowed their faces to the ground’. They are not expecting redemption. This is something they were invited to believe. The women themselves could not see for themselves ‘that He has risen’. This is something which they were invited to believe. Jesus himself had told them it would be so. They could find indications of it in the sacred writings of their tradition.
The women, the first missionaries of the Resurrection, tell the eleven and all the rest (i.e. the apostles) but no one believes them. Luke does not show the empty tomb as a proof of the resurrection. The women are simply ‘perplexed’, and the others do not believe. The empty tomb, though, raises a question. It is a reminder of what Jesus himself hoped for. And it prepared the women. And it can prepare us to be vigilant. So that when the risen Jesus comes to us, we will be open to his presence and his call. If we are vigilant, we will see him when he comes.
Let us conclude here with part of a reflection by Fr Ron Rolheiser, OMI, about the “Resurrection”.
The challenge of living this out is not just that of believing that Jesus rose physically from the grave but also, and perhaps even more importantly, to believe that no matter our age, mistakes, betrayals, wounds, and deaths, we can begin each day afresh. No matter what we have done; our future is forever pregnant with wonderful new possibilities. Resurrection is not just a question of one day after death, rising from the dead. But it is also about daily rising from the many mini graves, within which we often find ourselves. We are human and we cannot avoid falling into depression, bitterness, sin, betrayal, cynicism, and the tiredness that comes with age.
Like Jesus, we too will have our crucifixions. More than one grave awaits us. Yet our faith in the Resurrection invites us precisely to live beyond these. The resurrection teaches us not how to live – but how to live again, and again, and again!Daybreak Daily Reflections for Lent and Easter, page 63
Jesus is Risen and lives forever, Allelulia, Alleluia!
Matthew 28:6, 1 Corinthians 15:20, John 11:25-26, Romans 6:4
Easter blessings to everyone!
May this sacred season bring us renewed faith, love, and unity!