diocese of Bordeaux, France, and of course I am Vietnamese! Marcel Van (1) was unknown to me until I arrived in France in 2002 to enroll in a School of Evangelization in Paray-le-Monial, the city of the Sacred [...] the age of five or six. I liked to "play" mass with my cousins, but at the age of 15 or 16, that call faded. Curiously however, at the same age, I often went to pray at the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes [...] Heart of Mary in the church of the Sacred Heart in Bordeaux where I had lived for 5 years as a seminarian! I came to France because it has Paray-le-Monial, Lourdes and Lisieux, three roots of my priestly
it as beautiful as the one built for you on the Mount of Tepeyac. A shrine full of trust, hope, and love of Jesus growing stronger each day. Mary, you have chosen to remain with us by giving us your most [...] February 5 - Dedication of the first church of Our Lady by Saint Peter (Tripoli) Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe Dear Mother, we love you. We thank you for your promise to help us in our need. We trust [...] loving presence as we look upon your face. Like Juan Diego, give us the courage to bring your message of hope to everyone. You are our Mother and our inspiration. Hear our prayers and answer us. Amen.
Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord A Sudden Burst of Joy On January 6, 1412, Archbishop Debout wrote that the residents of Domrémy, France, went home after attending the services of the great feast of the [...] going on? Joan of Arc was born. She was the divine answer to the supplications that kings and the people had been making for a century. "I came to the King of France from the Blessed Virgin Mary," Joan said [...] reason for it to take place, a burst of joy permeated people's hearts. Startled, the villagers wondered what was happening, opened their doors and stood on the threshold of their cottages, looking up to the
meaning, the Christocentric orientation of each word, where the burning breath of the Spirit consumes all the impure dross of humanity to which the gestures of God are entrusted. She seeks a Presence and [...] February 23 - Our Lady of the Rocks (Spain, 434) Seat of Wisdom (I) Before the Annunciation, Mary had already given herself entirely to God. She is an offering, giving herself completely, she is poor, [...] and she waits. But she is still unaware to what extent the words of the Song of Songs will be carried out: "I belong to my love, and his desire is for me” (Sg 7:11). She undoubtedly knew the Scriptures
prominent place in the life of the Lord and the Mother of God. It is because of this pious solicitude that we invoke Saint Joseph to protect Christianity as he once protected Christ and Mary. In addition to the [...] served the Mother of God with virginal purity. He was, as Saint Bernard says, "the faithful and prudent servant whom the Lord appointed the comfort of his Mother, the foster-father of his humanity, and [...] March 16 – Our Lady of the Fountain (Constantinople, 460) March is the month of Saint Joseph God chose Saint Joseph to care for the virgin Mother and to be Christ’s foster father. Saint Joseph protected
became a Marian place of worship when a miraculous statue of Our Lady of the Good Journey was installed there by a Portuguese captain whose ship, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, escaped sinking [...] January 25 – Our Lady of Good Journey (India, 1599) – Conversion of Saint Paul The Basilica of the Holy Rosary, an important Marian Shrine near Calcutta The Basilica of the Holy Rosary in Bandel, also [...] also called Our Lady of the Good Journey, is located north of the city of Calcutta, in West Bengal, India. It is the oldest church in northern and eastern India and a popular destination for many Marian p
April 9 - Our Lady of Myans (Savoy, France) The Program set Before the Church of the Third Millennium To contemplate the face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the "program" which I have set [...] set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium, summoning her to put out into the deep on the sea of history with the enthusiasm of the new evangelization. To contemplate Christ involves being [...] The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a "mystery of light". Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to
meaning, the Christocentric orientation of each word, where the burning breath of the Spirit consumes all the impure dross of humanity to which the gestures of God are entrusted. She seeks a Presence and [...] February 23 - Our Lady of the Rocks (Spain, 434) Seat of Wisdom (I) Before the Annunciation, Mary had already given herself entirely to God. She is an offering, giving herself completely, she is poor, [...] and she waits. But she is still unaware to what extent the words of the Song of Songs will be carried out: "I belong to my love, and his desire is for me" (Sg 7:11). She undoubtedly knew the Scriptures
April 8 – Wednesday of Holy Week Mother of Divine Love (II) The second title may be more obscure for Catholics outside of Rome. Mother of Divine Love, or Madonna del Divino Amore , is associated with a [...] the whole city of Rome at the height of WWII. Afraid that the war would reach the city, the Roman people begged the priests and the pope to take the image from its shrine to the Church of St Ignatius in [...] the Virgin Mary. At a time of social distancing, increased anxiety and worldwide fear, Pope Francis is not just making an appeal to Catholic devotion. He is calling us all to consider Mary not as an abstract
Catherine of Siena, virgin, Dominican tertiary, doctor of the Church, patroness of Europe New categories of healing at Lourdes since 2006 and things you may not know (1) Devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes has [...] popular pilgrimage is one of the most visible examples of the devotion of many Catholics to Mary. In 1858, a 14-year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous reported having 18 visions of a beautiful “young lady” [...] confirming the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which Pope Pius IX in 1854 had declared to be an essential element of Catholic faith. This teaching holds that Mary, as the mother of Jesus, was conceived
