If you follow mainstream Catholic social media, you already know that Pope Francis has not only added new titles to the Litany of St Joseph (just days before our new St Joseph prayerbook hits the shelves!), but has announced a "Marathon of Rosaries" for the Month of May. Each day prayers will be led in a different Marian shrine from around the world, for a different particular Intention, all of them asking for deliverance from the pandemic and its harmful effects on persons, families, and society.

It started on May 1 in the papal basilica of St Mary Major; the special intention for this first Saturday of the month (and the beginning of the "marathon") was "for the entire world wounded by this pandemic." The Holy  Father said: “At the beginning of this month dedicated to Our Lady, we join together in prayer with all the sanctuaries spread throughout the whole world, with the faithful, and with all persons of good will, to entrust into the hands of our Holy Mother the whole human race, sorely tried by this period of pandemic.”

A few highlights:

On Tuesday, May 4, prayers will be led from the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth; the intention will be "for all expectant women and their unborn babies."

On Saturday, May 8, prayers from Argentina's shrine of Our Lady of Luján will be "for all communication workers."

On Monday, May 11, from the shrine in Banneux, Belgium (the Virgin of the Poor), the intention will be "for all the poor, the homeless, and the economically distressed."

Three days later, on May 14, at the shrine of Our Lady of Health (India), prayers will especially be "for all scientists and medical research institutions."

Other groups and intentions include prisoners, migrants, law enforcement, military personnel and firefighters, social workers, victims of violence and human trafficking, teachers and students, workers and entrepreneurs, health care personnel and essential workers... 

If it has been a while since you prayed the Rosary (or if you've never given it a try), this is an opportunity to join with millions around the world in meditating on the life of Jesus in union with Mary, asking that the grace the Son of God came to reveal might spread far and wide in our day!