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Cardinal Raymond Burke is embarking on a nine-month novena to the Virgin Mary to intercede “against the pressing crises of our age” – and he is calling on Catholics around the world and “especially in the Americas” to join him. He announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, his intention to seek “Our Lady’s intercession”, and, addressing his “Brothers and Sisters in Christ”, the cardinal says he is calling upon “all Catholics” to join him.
The initiative will begin in March and, citing “the pressing crises of our age”, the cardinal highlights the parallels between the tensions and armed conflicts in the world today and the troubled times 500 years ago when Our Lady first appeared to Saint Juan Diego in Guadalupe.
“Nearly five hundred years ago the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe changed the course of history, the cardinal says in a video explaining the initiative. “Today the hearts of Catholics around the world echo the same anxieties of 1531”. In the year 1531, the world was “grappling with great disease, a war rages on in Europe”, notes the cardinal’s website. “After years of truce, a new invasion of Palestine threatens to unsettle the Middle East. Theological debates are politicized and lead millions of believers to abandon the faith.”
The narrative highlights how at that perilous time five centuries ago a bishop wrote: “Unless the hand of God intervenes directly, all will be lost.” With the world once again “contending with disease, war, and deep spiritual confusion”, and “many poor souls” tempted to fear that all hope is lost, the cardinal says that “once again the answer to this anxiety is not temporal but spiritual”. He adds: “Now more than ever we must fly to the protection of Our Lady for her intercession. Driven by the unfailing maternal love that she has for her children, Our Lady bought the New World under the protection of her mantle and brought millions of souls to Christ. It is this maternal love and protection that we need today. A love and protection that she will grant us should we earnestly ask for it.”
Those who sign up to accompany the Cardinal “in this urgent effort” will receive short video reflections from His Eminence each month, in addition to regular written reflections and prayers, leading up to the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on 12 Dec. 2024.