May Day in 2023

May Day is celebrated May 1st every year.

This holiday has been celebrated by many societies since ancient times. The Celtic culture believed Beltane on May 1 was the most important holiday of the year. They believed the May 1 holiday separated the year in half between light and darkness.

"The First Day....And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day" Genesis 1:4.

Major Historical May Events

May 1, 1840 – England releases the first 1st adhesive postage stamp.

May 1, 1841 – The first wagon train leaves Independence, Mo for California.

May 1, 1883 – “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s first Wild West Show.

May 1, 1884 – Construction begins on the first skyscraper, the 10 story Home Insurance Company building in Chicago, IL.

May 1, 1931 – The Empire State Building was dedicated.

May 1, 1941 – The cereal “Cheerios” hits store shelves.

May 1, 1951 – Slugger Mickey Mantle hits his first home run.

May 1, 1952 – Mr. Potato Head is introduced.

Mother’s Day, May 14
 

Always celebrated on the 2nd Sunday in May

In the USA, Mother’s Day is always celebrated on the second Sunday in May.

It essentially began as a women’s movement to better the lives of other Americans.

When is Ascension Day in 2023?
 

Ascension Day in 2023 is on Thursday, the 18th of May.

How are Ascension Day dates determined?

Ascension Day, also called Holy Thursday, Ascension Thursday or the Feast of the Ascension, is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter, although sometimes it is celebrated on the following Sunday.

One of the main Orthodox holidays, the Ascension of the Lord falls annually on the fortieth day following Easter. In 2023, the event of the Savior's ascension to heaven (or Ascension Day).
According to the Holy Scriptures, Jesus Christ, after his Resurrection, repeatedly appeared to the apostles, earthly disciples, preached the Kingdom of God, instructed how people should be converted to Christianity. The flesh-and-blood teacher testified to the victory over death.

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A Personal View of the Ascension by Janet Rae Schwarze

HE HAS THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS

Either God is all knowing, all powerful and all encompassing or He is not God at all. He was God yesterday and is God today.  He never steps aside from that position.....certainly not to give us “free choice”.  That would be like a father giving his deeply loved 2 yr. old child the option to jump out of a window or put his hand into a fire. Our Heavenly Father knows we are not wise enough to have such control.  We are  his children with a capacity to learn, but lacking His enlightenment.
 

This “Stage of Life” exposes our eternal soul to a drama where good ideas are portrayed in contrast to bad ones.  This tangible instruction fills our deep void of knowledge and leads us out of darkness and into light. HIStory ends with the abortion of every deformed idea.  “Free Choice and self glorification” cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with Our Heavenly Father’s power, righteousness, truth and  love.  We are destined to learn--not by choice, but by design and the love of Christ--that evil and death will not and cannot ever destroy us.   If  it could, then eternity is meaningless because Eternity is without Beginning or End.  Since we are God’s children, we are NEVER  truly put  in harm's way.  Like Jesus, we have always been with God and have never been out of his sight.  We belong to Him.  He is our Heavenly Father.  He chose our name, designed every moment we’ve lived and numbered the hairs on our head before our earthly conception took place.

“My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

 Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.”

 Psalm 139:15 & 16

We cannot be destroyed.  What can and will be destroyed is disinformation, the idea of death and evil because they are not eternal, they have been staged to enhance our comprehension and guide us to truth.  Just as the letters in “earth” can be transformed into “heart”, God uses our time on earth to give us a heart to know Him.

 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? “  Matthew 6:25-34

 Imagine your kindergarten teacher instructing you about how kidnappers work. She writes a play and puts each actors’ part into a big box. Then, the children all line up to draw  the role they will perform. She doesn’t let them decide which character they’ll portray or what they will say or do. Like us, they must follow the script so all of the children will learn the much needed lessons. That is the stage we are currently in. We are here to learn the truth.  We cannot alter the script which has been designed by the author of the universe (our all powerful Father), nor should we condemn those who must act out the display of wickedness.

In preparation for Ascension Day, understanding (truth and light) will cause all God's children to put down the differences they so accurately portrayed during their time on Earth. EVERYONE will be at the grand celebration and certification of eternal life—the resurrection of the body of Christ.  All ideas of hell and evil will be swallowed up in victory and time will be no more because there will be no darkness or ignorance to separate us from God’s light.  God will accomplish all he has planned and NOTHING can stop Him...certainly not the concept of “Free Will”.  That idea will be aborted because it is not viable and does not demonstrate the power and goodness of God.

Another way of looking at this is to imagine going to a melodrama where the audience participates by cheering the good guys and booing the bad ones. At the end, the good guys win and the show is over. Then, all the cast returns to the stage, takes off their costume and ALL of them are cheered. At that time, everyone will realize those actors who played the evil roles were just as important to our Father as those who portrayed the heroes. It is the display of  truth’s victory over dark thought  that forms and unifies the body of Christ.  He is putting His light into all of us....everyone.  Jesus knows the importance of his body’s wholeness.  He knows how to cast out every demonic concept and make all of us one with him and his righteousness.  He will not fall short of the goal Our Father has given him, after all he has eternity to accomplish the task!. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made (Satan NEVER created even one thing).  In him was life, and that life was the light of ALL MANKIND (not just a few who made the right choices)."  John 1:1-3

We must understand what truth is because that is God's will--His choice....NOT our imagined free will.  We won't be allowed to pat ourselves on the back for receiving the gifts Jesus has for us, because there is only ONE giver of life and it is not us and the choices we make.

Memorial Day is a Day to honor the veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  It’s a time remembering those who lost their lives and could not come home. Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL who served in the United States Armed Forces—in wartime or peacetime—regardless of whether they died or survived. Veterans Day is always observed officially on November 11, regardless of the day of the week on which it falls   Flying Old Glory Flag etiquette on Memorial Day is unique. At sunrise, flags are to be raised to full staff briskly, then lowered to half staff position, where they will remain until noon. See guidelines for flying the American Flag.

 

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History of September

September (from Latin septem, "seven") or mensis September was originally the seventh of ten months on the ancient Roman calendar that began with March (mensis Martius, "Mars' month"). It had 29 days. After the reforms that resulted in a 12-month year, September became the ninth month, but retained its name. September followed what was originally Sextilis, the "sixth" month, renamed Augustus in honor of the first Roman emperor, and preceded October, the "eighth" month that like September retained its numerical name contrary to its position on the calendar. A day was added to September in the mid-40s BC as part of the Julian calendar reform. September has none of the archaic festivals that are marked in large letters for other months on extant Roman fasti. Instead, about half the month is devoted to the Ludi Romani, "Roman Games", which developed as votive games for Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("Jupiter Best and Greatest"). The Ludi Romani are the oldest games instituted by the Romans, dating from 509 BC. On the Ides of September (the 13th), Jupiter was honored with a public banquet, the Epulum Jovis. A nail-driving ritual in the temple marked the passing of the political year during the Republican era, and in the earliest period, the consuls took office on the Ides of September. The month was often represented in art by the grape harvest.  September was the birth month of no fewer than four major Roman emperors, including Augustus. The emperor Commodus renamed the month after either himself or Hercules—an innovation that was repealed after his murder in 192. In the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, the year began with September on some calendars, and was the beginning of the imperial tax year.  Wikipedia