Rogation Sunday, May 1, 2016 MAY Day Orthodox Easter
9 The LORD cries
aloud to the city (It is prudent to fear your name!): Hear, O tribe and
city assembly, 10Am I to bear criminal hoarding and the accursed
short ephah?
Israel was the chosen people yet
they did not fear the Lord. God asks
through the prophet a rhetorical question. Is He to bear criminal hoarding and
cheating during the sale of goods?
A great example for us is Mother Teresa who showed
us how mercy is the only way to find contentment through selflessness. “She
chose to live amid squalor and sickness and desperation, endured hardship and
endless toil, and might have been the happiest person on earth.” Mother did not
flee from the Lord; nor did she fear anyone. When the Lord called her; she knew
the call was authentic because it filled her with joy. The first counsel of
Mother Teresa is to put your hand in His and walk all the way with Him. When
you hear the call to follow: follow. To Mother Teresa it was never more
complicated than that. To her care of the dying was the purest expression of
love. Who around you is dying-physically, emotionally or spiritually? Love
might not heal every wound of disease but it heals the heart. McCain notes that Mother Teresa showed that
rather than chasing ambition the greatest contentment comes from having a
foundation of love. “She loved and was loved, and her happiness was complete.” [1]
Rogation Sunday
THE
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before the Ascension are observed as days of
solemn supplication, and are called Rogation Days. These three Rogation days serve
also as a preparation for the feast of the ascension, which reminds us that we
have the most powerful intercessor in our savior, who is now enthroned at the
right hand of the father. (Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896)
May Day
The earliest May Day celebrations
appeared in pre-Christian times, with the Floralia, festival of Flora,
the Roman goddess of flowers, held on April 27 during the Roman Republic era,
and with the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic countries. The day
was a traditional summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures.
As Europe became Christianized, the pagan
holidays lost their religious character and May Day changed into a popular
secular celebration. A significant celebration of May Day occurs in Germany
where it is one of several days on which St. Walburga,
credited with bringing Christianity to Germany. The secular versions of May
Day, observed in Europe and America, may be best known for their traditions of
dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen of May.
Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the giving of "May
baskets," small baskets of sweets or flowers, usually left anonymously on
neighbors’ doorsteps. Since the 18th century, many Roman Catholics have
observed May – and May Day – with various May devotions to the Blessed Virgin
Mary. In works of art, school skits, and so forth, Mary's head will often be
adorned with flowers in a May crowning. May 1 is also one of two feast days of
the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph the Worker, a carpenter, husband
to Mother Mary, and surrogate father of Jesus. Replacing another
feast to St. Joseph, this date was chosen by Pope Pius XII in 1955 as a
counterpoint to the Communist International Workers Day celebrations on May
Day.[2]
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