Don’t forget! Today is the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church

May is a beautiful month to honor the Blessed Mother -- but there are surprisingly few official, universal feast days that are celebrated during this month.

That should make it all the more important to celebrate one of the newest Marian feasts to be inserted into the universal calendar of the Roman Rite.

Pope Francis established this feast in 2018 in a decree dated February 11, the 160th anniversary of the apparition of Mary at Lourdes.

It is a feast that "makes sense," as the Virgin Mary is deeply tied to the events of Pentecost. In the Acts of the Apostles the apostles are described as being united in prayer with the Mother of God:

Paintings of Pentecost, as well as the icon that is used by Eastern Catholics on this feast day (see below), all depict Mary in the center of the scene, with the apostles surrounding her, all receiving the tongues of fire.

We can then imitate that example on the Monday following Pentecost by praying with Mary for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, according to the official decree, the celebration was established to "help us to remember that growth in the Christian life must be anchored to the Mystery of the Cross, to the oblation of Christ in the Eucharistic Banquet and to the Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Redeemed, the Virgin who makes her offering to God."

Additionally, "Having attentively considered how greatly the promotion of this devotion might encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety, Pope Francis has decreed that the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, should be inscribed in the Roman Calendar on the Monday after Pentecost and be now celebrated every year."

You might still be forgetting this feast, since it is so new and on a Monday, but we should do what we can to pray with Mary in the joyous aftermath of Pentecost.