May Crowning
You will often see a crown of flowers placed on the head of a statue of Mary at Mass on the first Sunday of May. And the good news is, this is a tradition you can incorporate into your home as well! All you need is a Marian statue, a few pipe cleaners, glue and tissue paper. Create the flowers by cutting the tissue paper into 4 inch by 4 inch squares and pinch and twist them together in the middle. Put a dab of glue on the bottom of the pinched paper and glue to the pipe cleaner. Repeat this until the pipe cleaners are covered in flowers. Bend the pipe cleaner into a circle, attaching more flowered pipe cleaners together based on how large of a crown you need for your statue. You create a crown with fake or real flowers and wire if you choose.
If you do not have a Marian statue and want to involve your kids, try printing off a coloring sheet of Mary online and creating the tissue paper flowers as described above. Rather than gluing them to the pipe cleaners, glue them to the coloring sheet around Mary’s head. Have your kids color in the rest of the sheet and hang up in your house!
Create Your Grotto
As the weather gets warmer, May is a great time to get outside and plant some flowers! And an outdoor grotto to Mary in your own backyard is the perfect way to celebrate our Blessed Mother this May. Simply choose a corner of your yard, place a Marian statue, and surround it with beautiful flowers and maybe even a rock border. If you don’t have space or the ability to dig up your yard, the same can be accomplished in a planter! Just be sure to have a Marian statue scaled to the right size planer. This little grotto will be the perfect place to enjoy the fresh air and pray with Mary.
Pilgrimage to Mary
A pilgrimage to Mary doesn’t have to involve a lot of travel to far off lands. You can simply go to your own local church and present a bouquet of flowers at the foot of the statue of Mary. There are also a number of dedicated Marian shrines across the country, including The National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, PA and the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Hope in Champion, WI.
Marian Prayers
Mary loves to talk with us and to bring our deepest prayers to her son, Jesus Christ. As mother to all humanity, Mary is a great intercessor to pray with every day. This May, try incorporating some new Marian prayers to your daily prayer life such as the Consecration to Mary, the Memorare, the Magnificat or a simple Hail Mary. As the Memorare says, “never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, was left unaided,” so turn to your Mother this May and celebrate and honor her this month!
