May, God bless it, is a wonderful month. May, traditionally the month of the cuckoo and the swallows, the month of flowers and wildlife.

In the ancient Irish Calendar May or ‘Bealtaine’ is the first month of summer. May is the month of new beginnings, often celebrated in folklore and proverbs. The Celtic year was divided into two halves, darkness and light. November or ‘Samhain’ began the period of darkness. May or ‘Bealtaine’ was the beginning of the Season of Light.

We welcome the month of May, the month devoted to Our Lady. The home in Nazareth reminds us that the most important thing that people can do in a family is to mind each other. Love in the life of a family always tries to understand and when it can’t, love makes allowances and when allowances aren’t enough, love forgives.

Someone once remarked that we have to learn to be good fathers or good mothers or even good children. It is something that we have to work at daily. Having children doesn’t make one a mother or father any more than having a piano makes one a musician!

Help us, Lord, in these times to do each day a little more than we think we can. Help us to love a little more than we think we can. Help us to forgive a little more than we think we can.

Lord be with us during this month of May. Rescue us from our anxiety about the future and from our regrets of the past. Help us to find joy in the life we have been given, even when that life is very challenging!

From the Ennis Parish Newsletter – Adapted.