of St John the Baptist Mary, show me your Son As you are about to recite the Rosary, holding it in your hands, go ahead and tell the Blessed Virgin: "Mary, show me your Son." Mary is the mother of all of [...] the Rosary is not a prayer of praise to Mary, but a path to Christ. Each decade is a meditation on a different mystery of the life of Christ. While the ten "Hail Mary" beads slide through our fingers, we [...] follows the next, the Rosary takes us through scenes of Christ’s life - the Annunciation of the Angel to Mary, the birth of the child Jesus, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, the Transfiguration, the Last Supper
Fatima (Portugal) A Christian painter meets Mary The work of the contemporary Christian painter François-Xavier de Boissoudy, tells the story of the Virgin Mary, and of holiness. His works were recently [...] question of holiness, to wonder what it means to live with God even through trials. The figure of Mary obviously comes to mind, because her role in God’s plan is always unpredictable. How did she do this [...] try to follow her, to accompany her. I made as many paintings as I had to, about fifty in all ... Mary is more self-restrained than she is assertive. She is on the relational level rather than focusing
in the fruit of the Blessed Virgin Mary” In eating the forbidden fruit, Eve broke the image and likeness of God she possessed. In the blessed fruit of her womb, Mary, and with her all Christians, found [...] have eternal life. Eve was after a kind of transitory beauty and she picked a deadly fruit, whereas Mary has given mankind the most beautiful fruit that angels will ever contemplate. He is the most handsome [...] blessed, but her fruit, Jesus, is even more blessed." (Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on the Hail Mary ) Mgr Francesco Follo The Vatican, December 30, 2016, Zenit.org
(d. 1270), foundress of a convent dedicated to the "Humility of Our Lady" Mary full of grace In the greeting of the Angel, Mary is called “full of grace.” In Greek, the term “grace,” charis , has the same [...] same linguistic root as the word “joy.” In this term too the source of Mary’s exultation is further clarified: her joy comes from grace, that is, from being in communion with God, from having such a vital [...] connection with him, from being the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, totally fashioned by God’s action. Mary is the creature who opened the door to her Creator in a special way, placing herself in his hands
February 27 - Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows (d. 1862) The memory of Mary did not leave him, even during his sleep Brother Gabriele dell'Addolorata (St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows) was the name [...] constantly strived towards an intimate union with his Mother of Heaven. He would never lose sight of Mary, even as he slept, often seeing the Mother of God in his dreams. A few moments before he breathed
(France, 1858) – Series of apparitions in Pellevoisin (France, 1876) I begged the Virgin Mary to help me Reine Marie was miraculously healed at the baths of the Shrine of Lourdes (France) in September 2015 [...] me that I would never recover the use of my legs. I abandoned myself to prayer. I begged the Virgin Mary to help me to walk again… Last September I went to Lourdes on a pilgrimage with Lourdes Cancer Espérance [...] her birthday. When I told her I had been miraculously cured in Lourdes, she cried with joy! Reine Marie (France) Published in the Lourdes Journal des Grâces - February/March 2016
Empire) “I don’t know where to put Mary!” Sometimes we might be afraid to welcome the Virgin Mary into our lives. The root of this fear is the place that the Virgin Mary could occupy in our spiritual life [...] unceremoniously told me: “I don’t know where to put Mary!” In his youth, Saint John Paul II had his doubts too: “At one point I began to question my devotion to Mary, believing that, if it became too great, it [...] was greatly helped by a book by Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin … There I found the answers to my questions, Yes, Mary does bring us closer to Christ; she does
February 18 – Saint Bernadette Soubirous (d. 1879) At Lourdes, Mary prayed her Rosary In the life of Saint Bernadette, the Rosary is a consistent thread between the different periods: Just before the [...] that remarkable, considering that she had received a special prayer just for herself from the Virgin Mary? She could have considered that this prayer, given to here directly, devalued the commonplace, popular
Portaitissa ("She who resides by the door" or "Keeper of the gate") also known as Theotokos Iverskaya Mary at Beauraing (Belgium, 1933): “I will convert sinners” Gilberte Degeimbre, the last of the five seers [...] testimony of the seers, of communicating it differently," declared the shrine of Beauraing. The Virgin Mary appeared in Beauraing 33 times, from November 29, 1932 to January 3, 1933, to five children: Fernande
February 20 – Blessed Jacinta Marto, seer of Fatima (d. 1920) Each Hail Mary destroys evil God has granted an immense power to Our Lady: she crushes the head of the "serpent"—symbol of the forces of Evil—under [...] Benedict XVI tells us: "The Rosary contains the saving force of the name of Jesus" (May 3, 2008). Mary never ceases to gather her children for this fight. In each Marian apparition she shows us the Rosary [...] appeared to me. He gave me a sword. I grabbed it, and it immediately turned into a Rosary!" Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort tells us that "the Rosary makes us victorious against all our enemies." So let's
