would have a good time. I prayed that I would be able to stay away from alcohol, which I did. I was satisfied with a glass of water or orange juice, which for those who know me was already a miracle! I [...] Medjugorje, unable to sleep and feeling restless, I decided to go for a walk in the town, where I had spotted a few bars, to have a few pints and more as usual. Then I resisted this impulse, sensing that [...] well as all the religious services, with great enthusiasm and focus. I kept finding answers to my questions in the homilies of the priests or in a casual word from a member of the group. I was also struck

received here, and that I continue to receive every time I go there, is peace with myself. I usually feel as if I am walking around with a weight on my shoulders, but in the Lourdes Shrine that weight is lifted [...] year, thanks to Lourdes, I learn how to become a better person, how to deal with my worries, anxieties, and difficult relationships. Every year, I learn a little more about what I need to do to feel better [...] Lourdes..." As I grew up, I grew more and more anxious. I worry a lot about small things and I am always stressed. In England, I have a very busy job and I am active in several charitable organizations

used the word “entrustment” as a synonym for “consecration,” connecting the practice of entrusting ourselves to Mary’s motherhood with Christ’s entrustment of John to Mary at the foot of the Cross. What [...] Consecration (True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary), I was open to hearing the Pope’s thought. He shared how “This treatise by De Montfort can be a bit disconcerting, given its rather florid and baroque [...] to her heart and motherly intercession and, united with her, renew and intentionally deepen our baptismal consecration to Jesus. Jesus, and not Mary, is the goal of our action. The Pope explained how Father

approached, they found a stone polychrome statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus in the midst of the flames. In 1406, on the very same site of the miracle, construction of a church was begun for [...] According to tradition, the discovery of a statue of the Virgin Mary took place on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation in the year 1400. Some shepherds were attracted by a light shining in the thorn bushes [...] built so rapidly--in a little over 24 years--a charming local legend claims that angels continued the work at night after the laborers had gone home. The church was elevated to a minor basilica and the

by the Church in a matter of months, occurred on August 29, 1953, in Syracuse, Sicily, in the house of a young couple, Angelo Iannuso and Antonina Giusto. The young wife was pregnant with their first child [...] days, the plaster sculpture of the Virgin Mary they had received as a wedding present and hung in their room, wept human tears. The Church received the news with caution. Scientific experts, including well-known [...] of the liquid in a test tube for analysis. On September 9, 1953, all the commission’s scientists signed a report acknowledging the reality of the phenomenon and their incapacity to find a scientific explanation

old at the time. As a child, I was raised near Paris in a practicing Catholic family who taught me the faith. But at 15, I turned away, preferring to go out with friends who had a bad influence on me. [...] In 2003, I gave birth to a little boy. His father had left me when I was 3 months pregnant. I was deeply depressed and tried to commit suicide several times. I drank a lot, a whole bottle of whiskey some [...] surprise, Mary spoke to me on the hill of apparitions, and told me that she and Jesus loved me just as I was, and that I was dear to them! I collapsed in tears, overwhelmed by a torrent of Love, by a feeling

asked for a special place to come and pray to the Virgin Mary: “Go and look for places that you like. Arrange them and we will come to them.” On March 31, 1968, a group of faithful gathered in a beautiful [...] beautiful spot covered with wild grass on a hill called Yagma. This site, now the Shrine of Our Lady of Yagma, is an important place of God’s presence. Sunday, February 4th, marked the 50 th anniversary of the [...] The Eucharistic celebration was presided by Archbishop Séraphin Rouamba of Koupela (Burkina Faso), with several cardinals in attendance. Sources: Lefaso.net and Notre Dame de Yagma

painting of the Virgin Mary was done on a piece of plywood that replaced a window Francis had removed from her mobile home. She said she wanted to replace the window with plywood because of a nosy neighbor, and [...] reportedly demanded that she remove a piece of plywood from her mobile home, on which she has painted an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. But from the sound of it, they will have a hard time getting her to comply [...] arms and two legs, I’m going to do it.” Francis said she feels blessed to even be alive, after a scrape with death during surgery 16 years ago, during which she says she was declared clinically dead for

of Christmas is given to all, but it is received in fullness only with Mary, and by imitating her. The silence of the mother of Jesus is a silence of contemplation and transformation. It helps us to understand [...] understand the mystery of divine love and to let ourselves be transformed by the God who became man in a humble stable. At the school of the Virgin of Christmas, the Christian understands that the most beautiful [...] like the Virgin did in Bethlehem, in order to see the masterpiece that God is building in our lives, with our cooperation. This is part of the grace of Christmas. Jesus wasn’t just born in Bethlehem on December

day, she asked Mary what was to become of her. The Blessed Virgin said that she would see her no more, that she would be with Estelle, but invisible. Holding out the scapular, which Mary had asked Estelle [...] wear the scapular with trust in me and spread this devotion.” As she said these words, she held out her hands and drops like rain fell down generously from them; and within each drop a grace was clearly [...] Estelle became very sad. Mary reassured her, “Be brave, if he [the Prelate] does not do what you desire, go higher up. Do not be afraid, I shall help you.” Then she turned a semicircle in Estelle’s room