28 May - Pentecost- Our Lady of Carmine (Italy, 1663) Mary brings us into the mystery of Pentecost Mary brings us to Jesus. Mary also brings us back to him. She is the one we need to live and put into practice [...] what we have discovered in the living presence of Jesus. It is Mary, our Mother, who will bring us to glory. It is she who leads us to enter into the mystery of Pentecost. On Pentecost, Mary is waiting: as [...] the Nativity. "I will send you the Spirit." Jesus has returned to the heart of the Father, and from their eternal embrace flows the power of the Spirit. It is the living Spirit, who springs from the Father
December 29 - Our Lady of Flowers (Bra, Italy, 1336) The Madonna dei Fiori of Bra (I) On the evening of December 29, 1336, in the small town of Bra, (province of Cuneo in the diocese of Turin), a young [...] appeared to Egidia and comforted her for several minutes and assured her that the danger was over. Then Our Lady vanished. Due to such feelings of fear and emotion, Egidia gave birth at the foot of the column [...] consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the outskirts of town. Two rough soldiers, from a band of mercenaries, were lying in wait. Egidia Mathis (that was the lady's name), seeing that she was going to be attacked
November 22 - Our Lady of Soufanieh (Syria, 1982) Mary, "Mother of the Church" (II) This is a title, Venerable Brothers, not new to Christian piety; it is precisely by this title, in preference to all others [...] and the Church address Mary. It truly is part of the genuine substance of devotion to Mary, finding its justification in the very dignity of the Mother of the Word Incarnate. Just as, in fact, the Divine [...] Incarnation in her virginal bosom, joined to himself as head of his Mystical Body which is the Church. Mary, then as Mother of Christ, is mother also of all the faithful and of all the Pastors. We trust then, that
June 26 - Our Lady of Tikhvin (Russia) - Publication of the 3rd secret of Fatima (2000) - Virgin Hodegetria ("She Who Points the Way") Saint Luke, possible painter of the Virgin Hodegetria icon It is the [...] attributed to him. There is no proof that St. Luke knew how to paint, but he did know the Virgin Mary best: out of 152 verses of the New Testament evoking the Mother of God, 90 are from him. He was able to evoke [...] the way to God, who is not represented by an adult Christ but by the divine child - a reminder of Jesus’s admonition in Mark’s Gospel: "Amen, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as
February 4 - Our Lady of Fire (Italy, 1428) - St. Joan of France (d. 1505), founder of the Order of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary What is the future "Age of Mary"? Pope St. John Paul II commented [...] coming of Jesus at the end of time. Like Mary and with Mary, the saints are in the Church and for the Church, to make her holiness shine forth, to extend to the ends of the earth and to the end of time the [...] times), especially when he speaks of the 'saints of the last times' formed by the Virgin in order to bring about in the Church the victory of Christ over the forces of evil (cf. Treatise on True Devotion
asking Mary to “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death” and placing ourselves in the presence of “Our Father who art in Heaven,” at whose judgment we hope he will “forgive us our trespasses [...] signposts.” Our Lady of Fatima agreed, and put signposts up for us in the Rosary, teaching three shepherd children to add this prayer after each decade of the rosary: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save [...] from evil.” It is the final evil of hell we need to be delivered from. “Following the example of Christ, the Church warns the faithful of the ‘sad and lamentable reality of eternal death,’ also called ‘hell
January 4 – Our Lady of Roses (Italy, 1418) - Saint Angela of Foligno The strength of the Rosary is noticeable in so many children! Schoolchildren from around the diocese learned about the Blessed Mother [...] Co-Cathedral of St Joseph, Prospect Heights, a neighborhood in Brooklyn on Oct. 3. The annual Rosary rally for the schoolchildren of the diocese drew participants from 12 different schools with close to 1,000 [...] Pope Francis asked all Catholics to pray the Rosary daily during October – the month traditionally dedicated to the Holy Rosary – as a defense against Satan in a time of turbulence. During their time together
letters to the prayer of the Rosary, which led to his being called "the Pope of the Rosary" (a unique title in the annals of the Church). Here are some of his insights on the Rosary: “Let us take as our mediatrix [...] excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life. It is the remedy for all our evils, the root of all our blessings. There is no more excellent way of praying.” “In the [...] August 27 - Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine (d. 387) – Our Lady of Quézac (France) “The rosary is the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious” Leo XIII (Pope from 1878 -1903) dedicated
January 26 – Our Lady of Life (France) – Birth of Cardinal Charles Journet (1891) Sparks of love in the world We must consider the Virgin in the light, or rather in the shadow, of the mystery of the descent [...] descent of the Word to meet mankind. The tenderness of God who comes to meet the damaged world is not only for the Child Jesus, it indeed radiates all around him. This great tenderness of the descent of the [...] the Word coming to meet mankind appears first in the Virgin, and then elsewhere—in Elizabeth, the shepherds, and the Magi. As soon as the Word came down to earth, love began to send out sparks everywhere
August 9 - Our Lady of the Parish (Italy, 1829) Mary the Sign of Created Hope (I) In the meanwhile just as the Mother of Jesus, glorified in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church [...] which will be perfected in the world to come, so too does she shine forth on earth, until the day of the Lord comes, as a sign of sure hope and solace to the people of God during their sojourn on earth. [...] It gives great joy and comfort to this holy and general Synod that even among the separated brethren there are some who give due honor to the Mother of our Lord and Saviour, especially among the Orientals
