January 16 - Feast of Our Lady of Victories (Paris, France) We came back from Medjugorje completely transformed We would like to testify to what we received in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina. We went there [...] drug. From time to time, temptation lurks but I cry out, "Mary help me!" We find that all these resolutions taken together bring us closer together. We also try to bear witness to our faith, even though [...] though we have to face the skepticism of people, especially of priests. So we pray a lot for them. Nevertheless, we have convinced several families to sign up for the next pilgrimage. T. www.clubmedj.com
April 15 – Monday of Holy Week – Our Lady of the Wound (Italy, 1490) "The Blessed Virgin exists, God exists!" Dr. Carrel (1873-1944), one of the most remarkable surgeons of his time, had lost his faith [...] unable to accompany a train of patients going to Lourdes, asked him to go instead, which Carrel accepted to do. The friend especially recommended a young dying patient of his called Marie Ferrand. The [...] faith at the end of his studies in Paris, where the pontiffs of positivism bewitched the minds of students. According to them, only tangible realities existed. God, the soul, and the spiritual world were merely
29 - Apparition of Our Lady of Beauraing (Belgium, 1932) Mary in the Temple (IX) The king was seduced by your beauty When she who was to feed with her breasts the Christ God to be born of her, was weaned [...] weaned from the breast and had attained the age of three, her holy parents brought her to God's Temple, and consecrated her as an offering to God, according to a vow they had made before she was born. In Psalm [...] the first time to his King and Son, saying, "They placed a princess at your right hand" (Ps 45: 9). This verse alludes to the presentation to the Temple, the placing at the right side of the altar in the
29 - Apparition of Our Lady of Beauraing (Belgium, 1932) Mary in the Temple (IX) The king was seduced by your beauty When she who was to feed with her breasts the Christ God to be born of her, was weaned [...] weaned from the breast and had attained the age of three, her holy parents brought her to God's Temple, and consecrated her as an offering to God, according to a vow they had made before she was born. In Psalm [...] the first time to his King and Son, saying, "They placed a princess at your right hand" (Ps 45: 9). This verse alludes to the presentation to the Temple, the placing at the right side of the altar in the
November 17 - Our Lady of Zion (Queen of the Jews, 1393) The Caliph Who Defied the Coptic Church (I) Saint Simon was an ordinary man whose simple faith was of the kind that moves mountains. Humble in his [...] woman came into his shop to give him shoes to repair. When she took them off she exposed some of her legs, which Simon looked at lustily. When he came back to his senses, he took one of his pointed tools and [...] it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna" (Mt 5:28-29). The icon of Saint Simon depicts him deprived of his right eye. Saint Simon led
reaction is to opt for the solution that is the most respectful of Mary. This is the reaction of a good man with a generous heart. He respects Mary too much to condemn her to the reprobation of the whole [...] March 20 - Saint Joseph, Spouse of Mary - Our Lady of Abundance (Italy, 1603) Joseph understood Mary's silence A shadow has crept into Joseph's happiness. Mary is now lost to him: he will be alone, and she [...] for the world and his infinitely free choice of a woman to be intimately associated with his work of re-Creation. Jean Lévêque, Carmelite of the Province of Paris (Excerpt from his “Commentary on Matthew
August 9 – Saint Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) – Our Lady of the Parish (Italy, 1829) Where Mary is, so too is the Church I’ve sometimes had to explain to non-Catholics that we do not worship the [...] prayer, as in Acts 1:14, the mother of the Church continues to be there, quiet and faithful as ever. May she continue to bring together our warring world, “suffer us not to be in adversity, and deliver us [...] the Virgin Mary but rather pray to her with deep veneration. Manchester University’s John Rylands Library is home to a scrap of Egyptian papyrus that experts date to about 250 AD and which contains the
August 28 - Our Lady of Tears (Syracuse, Italy, 1953) - Saint Augustine - Bishop and Father of the Church She Conceived in Her Heart Mary was happier to believe in Christ than she was to conceive the flesh [...] flesh of Christ. Her maternal connection would have been no use to her, if she had not been happier to carry Christ in her heart than to carry Him in her womb.
August 28 - Our Lady of Tears (Syracuse, Italy, 1953) - Saint Augustine - Bishop and Father of the Church She Conceived in Her Heart Mary was happier to believe in Christ than she was to conceive the flesh [...] flesh of Christ. Her maternal connection would have been no use to her, if she had not been happier to carry Christ in her heart than to carry Him in her womb.
was unable to pray. Back home, I told everything to my wife. Our common conclusion was that we could not continue to live as pagans. We had to have our marriage blessed by a priest and our children baptized [...] Apparition of Our Lady of Knock (Ireland, 1879) - Saint Pius X A conversion obtained by a mother who recited the Rosary daily I was raised in a Catholic family in Portugal, but at the age of fifteen, I [...] displeasing my very religious boss. But one day he invited to me to go with him on a pilgrimage to Fatima. I didn’t dare to say no, and with a sense of shame inside, I signed up for the pilgrimage. So we went
