Ma(r)y . . . Renewed Life

The month of May is traditionally a time for prayers seeking the intercession of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  It is naturally appealing in a way too.  May, at least in the northern hemisphere is a time when the ground is fruitful.  New life is bursting forth.

And there is something both new and cyclical about it.  The prayers that are used and the hymns and music, in particular, are familiar.  They are used again and again.

In my years at St. Peter's Seminary in London, Ontario, we used to return to the chapel (I've included a photo of it) after our evening meal.  The lighting in the chapel would be subdued and a spotlight illuminated the statue of Mary.  We prayed each night for the alumni of the seminary and then sang together a hymn in honour of our Blessed Mother.

Sometimes it was chant like the Salve Regina; other times it was more contemporary hymn.  Sometimes it was accompanied with organ but often it was not accompanied at all.  The chapel there has wonderful reverberation and delivered a great halo of sound, making rather musically indifferent seminarians sound like they were disciplined monks from Solesmes.  Perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration, but we sounded pretty good.


Even though we did the same thing five nights of the week, this ritual never became boring for me.  It was comforting in a way.  On its own that can be a bit spiritually dangerous.  It can give us the excuse we are looking for to stay the same.  It can also be a doorway to deeper prayer, appreciation and openness to conversion.  Even though I did the same thing each night, my life had changed each day.  Ritual can be like a milestone marking the progress of our spiritual journey -- progress that thankfully we are unaware of most of the time.

This is why we often sing the same hymns whether in honour of Mary or in the various liturgical seasons.  Our attachment to certain Christmas carols can be very strong, for example.  While anthropologists, historians, philosophers and theologians might have varied theories around ritual, the power of ritual remains to embed things that are deep and to propel us into new life adventures.

So ritual is a powerful gift that needs to be used responsibly.  That is one reason I rejoice in the long experience of the Church.  This is something the Church has been doing for a very long time while helping its members to flourish spiritually and humanly.