More May Celebrations

I love the end of May for its Feast Days--St. Joan of Arc and the Visitation and this year it was also Trinity Sunday. What a beautiful gift. I marvel at how beautifully we learn about salvation history, first that there is a God who is the creator of everything, seen and unseen; second, that Jesus is God, the only-begotten Son of God, who comes down from heaven to redeem us; and third, that their love itself is the Holy Spirit. I might not be stating this correctly and any analogy I might use will fail because He's an ineffable mystery. Theologians speak of the Holy Trinity with regard to their role: Father, Son, Holy Ghost; Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier; Lover, Beloved, Love. The relational aspect blows me away. Mary is daughter of the Father, mother of the Son, and spouse of the Holy Ghost. She is the only creature who is exalted even above the angels. She sings Magnificat (I love this simple psalm tone for singing) when Elizabeth, her elderly cousin blesses her, not once, but twice!  "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb...And blessed art thou hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord." I love this first chapter of Luke so much!     

I love Memorial Day Weekend too because our remembrance of our fallen dead is so very important, especially now, for the gift of freedom we enjoy. We watched a lovely movie, A Bear Named Winnie, about a little black bear that Lt. Harry Coleburn of the Canadian Veterinary Corps rescued while they were training to fight during WWI. The tension comes from the fact that the little bear is very attached to Lt. Harry and used to human companionship, yet they are preparing to go off to war, and there's just no place for a bear. A little boy, Christopher Robin, visits Winnie at the London Zoo, and his father, the playwright and poet A. A. Milne, begins writing his stories about Winnie the Pooh. I love how children bring out some of the best in adults.

And dear St. Joan--she was but a child, a mere teenager, when she fought for France. What courage! We ask for her intercession as well as St. Michael the Archangel, and St. Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes, daily. And today, we especially pray for all who've died defending all that America stands for. Requiescat in pace.