March 24 – Our Lady of the Thorn (Châlons-sur-Marne, France, 1400) A cathedral-sized Marian shrine in a small French village! There is historical evidence of an early chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Thorn [...] region of Champagne, before it was replaced in 1405 by a larger one to accommodate larger numbers of pilgrims. This second church was completed in 1527 and still stands today. It was in fact raised to the [...] Today, the two main feasts days are the diocesan pilgrimage in the month of May and the feast of the Assumption of Mary, patroness of the Shrine. Adapted and translated from: Fr René Laurentin and Patrick
against all the powers of hell. The Mother of God, who in the past has given proofs of her maternal goodness, responds to our requests. She will not deceive us; leaning on the Mother of God, even though you [...] Homily of October 6, 1918 in La Courneuve, France. (1) Father Lamy was a Mystic and Founder of the Religious Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary. On September 9, 1909, he had a vision of the Blessed [...] April 14 - Our Lady of the Lakes (Italy, 1652) A great truth that is not sufficiently known We must be aware of a great truth that is not sufficiently known, and that is that the Rosary is a powerful weapon
January 24 – Our Lady of Prayer (Toledo, Spain) – Saint Francis de Sales (d. 1622) "Woman, here is your son" Saint Francis de Sales talks about the last will and testament of Jesus on the Cross: "He still [...] singular means of preserving the grace he had acquired and of reaching the highest degree of glory. Looking therefore with compassionate eyes at his most blessed Mother, who was standing at the foot of the Cross [...] want to give her or obtain grace for her, for she already possessed it very excellently, nor did he want to promise her glory, for she was already assured of it; but he gave her a certain union of heart
September 2 - Our Lady of Nettles (Germany, 1441) Mary’s love for us is a great blessing Pope Saint John Paul II wrote, “Mary always reminds us of the salvific value of the work of Jesus, our only Savior [...] mother in our act of faith.” Bringing Mary into our lives, into our homes, and into our faith was impressed on me by the Marists during my teenage years. How lucky I was, really, how blessed I was to learn [...] the month of May.” In this time of great suffering when we are prevented from gathering in our churches, I invite the faithful of our diocese to pray the Rosary in your home, either as a family or individually
why God wanted to have his Blessed Mother appear to bring us back to where we needed to be with prayer and penance. “One reason immediately comes to mind,” he explained. “Since the world has lost Christ [...] He was Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York in 1951, later the Bishop of Rochester, and finally the Archbishop of the titular see of Newport, Wales. NCR [...] September 25 – Our Lady of Saint Peter (Italy, 1751) The world could recover Christ through Mary Bishop Sheen (1), former Auxiliary Bishop of New York (United States), wrote in 1951: “There is Hope and
myself to remain still until the first responders arrived (35 minutes in the Provence sun, with a temperature of 34°C in the shade). While the firemen were taking care of me, I asked my friends to give me [...] that I always kept on my bike. I was able to give thanks to the Lord through his mother in the ambulance on my way to the hospital under the astonished eyes of the paramedics. They didn't understand why [...] December 16 – Our Lady of Good Deliverance "Don't worry, I'm holding you in my hand" "I was particularly touched by your email meditation this morning, and here is why. On June 24, 2017, I was riding my
May 21 – Our Lady of Ergot (Arras, France, 1105) The Virgin Mary in my life What does a young man of 20 think about? What are his dreams and hopes? In the whirlwind of my somewhat golden student days in [...] prayer of the simple, and I love it. Holding the rosary beads unites us to millions of men, and is liking holding the hand of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as Charles Péguy once said. In the whirlwind of temptations [...] in Marseille, I knew that a moment of truth was coming, an uncomfortable stage of settling down and considering what to do next. For a 20-year-old, the coming of adulthood is always a bit scary. And there
October 21 – Our Lady of Europe Immaculate Conception: What does it mean? (II) What God says, He does. The exceptional grace that God gave to Mary was the ability to say a perfectly free yes when He asked [...] asked her to be the Mother of the Savior. On her own Mary could not have escaped the mark of original sin. But to God nothing is impossible. Mary is filled with grace; the Immaculate Conception is an absolutely [...] Ineffabilis Deus and adopted it as Church dogma in 1854. In 1858, Our Lady of Lourdes said to Saint Bernadette: "I am the Immaculate Conception." Adapted from an article by Herve Marie Catta Fatima 100
service a rich tradition of praying the Rosary. Every day at 5:00 pm, children and teenagers with parents and staff members gather to pray the Rosary in front of a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes brought back [...] February 8 – Our Lady of Casimir (Poland, 1411) Pediatric oncology department prays the Rosary in Malta It was certainly the Holy Spirit, through the intercession of Mary, our Mother, who inspired my Capuchin [...] Capuchin superiors to send me to work at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Center in Malta. During the stay-at-home order of March 2020, I began an impressive spiritual journey in this place of suffering, hope
obedient to the word of God, man was reanimated and came back to life (1). This reanimation is not limited to Mary's response to the Angel; it extends to the whole of humankind throughout history and to each [...] the Son, the Love of the Father for the Son, and the Love of the Son for the Father. God is infinite and we cannot understand Him here on earth. But Love, on the other hand, speaks to our hearts by inclination [...] December 5 - Our Lady of the Annunciation (Italy, 1470) A short meditation on the Immaculate Conception It was the Holy Spirit who made the Immaculate Conception possible, and Mary in a sense took His
