From Season to Season

The 21st day of May is the commemoration of a group of saints honored as the "Martyrs of the Mexican Revolution ," including 22 Mexican priests and 3 laymen who were murdered between 1915 and 1928.   As the Mexican government came to adopt anti-clerical attitudes, which were to become law in the Constitution of 1917 , the Church was denied legal status and the clergy lost all political and civil rights. In response to the outbreak of widespread persecutions, the Mexican bishops suspended all public worship. As tensions mounted, the bishops ordered all rural priests to go into hiding, officially denouncing any armed uprisings or resistance. Many priests in rural areas, however, remained dedicated to providing the Sacraments for their people, and were involved in the movement for religious freedom to some degree.  It was because of the resistance soldiers' battle cry of   ¡Viva Cristo Rey! that this uprising has come to be known as the Cristero Wars .  St. Crist...

One of the most honored titles of the Mother of God is Star of the Sea . Derived from the name of Mary, this title emphasizes her role as a sign of hope and as a guiding star for Christians. The Great Cistercian writer, Saint Aelred of Rievaulx , reflected that, “We ought to lift up our eyes to this Star that has appeared on earth today in order that she may lead us, in order that she may enlighten us, in order that she may show us the steps so that we shall know them, in order that she may help us so that we may be able to ascend” ( Sermon 24 on the Nativity of Mary, 20). The Mother of God, who is also our Mother, receives us into her care, leading us to her Son. While Saint Aelred’s words were written nearly 400 years before the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, on a hill near Mexico City, in December 1531, they capture something of the important role that the Blessed Virgin played in the evangelization of the New World. Since that time, devotion to Our Lad...