Text Box: Used Book Sale next Sunday, May 3, in the hall from 9:00 AM until ? TORCH of the East Bay is sponsoring a used book sale to raise funds to purchase books for their library, which is stored at St. Margaret Mary parish. Other used educational materials, audio and video will be available too. Come by and pick up a few good deals! If you are doing some “spring cleaning” and would like to donate books for the sale, please contact Lily Mullen at (925) 827-1946 or lily.mullen@gmail.com to arrange a pick up. What is TORCH of the East Bay? Traditions of Roman Catholic Homes is a support network of Catholic home schooling families. Our chapter is consecrated to St. Joseph, Guardian of the Redeemer, and is based in the East Bay, having members as far away as San Francisco, Brentwood, and Livermore. We support each other in the wonderful adventure of home educating our children! 92nd ANNIVERSARY OF OUR LADY’S APPARITION AT FATIMA Every year from May to October, in many Catholic parishes around the world, Catholics celebrate the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three Portuguese children: Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia. We plan to celebrate Fatima services in our Church every month with Holy Mass, the Rosary in different languages and a candlelight procession. The first service will be on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 7:30 PM. Please come and invite others. If you speak other languages, please contact Fr. Stan at 510-482-0596. WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS Sunday, May 3, is a special Easter celebration of Good Shepherd Sunday. In 1963, Pope Paul VI designated this day as World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The world-wide Church honors all Christian vocations by praying for the grace for us to be open to God’s call and ready to accept his gift. Please join the universal church in praying for all Christian vocations and, in particular, for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life, especially within our diocese. For more information and resources, please see http://www.oakdiocese.org/vocations/WPD09.htm. MAY AND MOTHER’S DAY The springtime month of May is popularly devoted to Mary. Statues dedicated to her are showered with bouquets and crowns of flowers. The second Sunday of May, Mother’s Day (celebrated in Spain on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8), often takes on Marian nuances. There was an annual Mothering Sunday celebrated in England on the fourth Sunday of Lent, from at least the 17th century until the early 19th. Our Mother’s Day, however, has become a secular observance although it did not begin that way. The tradition began through the efforts of Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948) with church services in Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in honor of Anna Jarvis’s own mother. In 1910, the governor of Oklahoma issued the first Mother’s Day proclamation. The following year all the states did so. Congress and the Executive Office cooperated in 1913 in a national resolution establishing the second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day. Anna Jarvis died, disillusioned that her religious efforts had become almost entirely secular and commercial. Text Box: MARIAN LITANIES Late in the Middle Ages, litanies seeking Mary’s intercession became common. This simple and popular form of praying addresses Mary using a series of titles with the petition, “Pray for us.” The Litany of Loreto, familiar to Catholics, was ap­proved by Sixtus V in 1587. It received this title because it was popular at the shrine of Loreto in Italy. This litany was made popular by St. Peter Canisius. It has about fifty titles for Mary, the most recent, “Queen assumed into heaven,” was added by Pius XII in 1950. ANGELUS In the 15th century, it became customary to ring church bells to remind the faithful to pray in honor of Mary and to remember the mystery of the Incarnation. This tradition of the Angelus (from the Latin angelus, “angel,” the first word of the Angelus prayer) imitates the ancient monastic call to prayer by ringing the church bells. It is still popular today in many parishes. A series of Hail Marys, spaced with invocations to Mary and a concluding prayer, are prayed as the church bells ring at 6 AM, noon, and 6 PM. MAY May 1 – St. Joseph the Worker, patron saint of workers. May 2 – St. Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church. Athanasius died in 373; bishop of Alexandria for 45 years; champion of Nicea in 325 and prolific polemicist against the Arians, who exiled him five times; one of the four great doctors of the Eastern Church; wrote On the Incarnation, the Discourse Against the Arians, and The Life of Anthony (17 Jan.);known as the “Doctor of the Incarnation”. May 3 – Sts. Philip & James. St. Philip, from Bethasaida, was among the first disciples called by Jesus (Jn 1:43-44). Tradition holds he preached in Phrygia, dying on a cross at Hierapolis in the first century. Two apocryphal works are attributed to him. With James, venerated as the patron saint of Uruguay. St. James, the son of Alphaeus and cousin or “brother of the Lord”; surnamed “the Less” (see July 25) or “the Just” for his piety; leader of the Jerusalem Church. An epistle is ascribed to him. He is believed to have been beaten or stoned to death in 62 AD. He is the patron of the dying. Both saints are mentioned in the Roman Canon. May 10th – Blessed Damien Joseph de Veuster of Moloka’i, priest (USA), died April 15, 1889 at age 49. A Belgian who joined the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and arrived in Honolulu on Mar.19, 1864. In 1873, he began his work on Moloka’i, known as “Devil’s Island”, a colony for 800 lepers. He was diagnosed with leprosy in 1885 and beatified in 1995. “I make myself a leper with the lepers, to gain all for Jesus.” May 12th – Sts. Nereus, Achilleus & Pancras, martyrs. Nereus and Achilleus died at the end of the first century. Their acta reported that they were beheaded during the reign of Trajan on the island of Terracina. Pancras died in the year 304. His “acts” state that he was a Syrian or Phrygian orphan who came to Rome, where he was converted to Christianity. He was beheaded under Diocletian and buried on the Via Aurelia.