December 20 - Our Lady of Folgoët (France) I learned what it meant to “ponder all these things” “She pondered all of these things in her heart…” I’d hear this beautiful description of Mary’s love and instantly [...] tiny infants, and it frightened me. The prayer of St. Teresa of Calcutta often carried me through the chronic sleep deprivation and dark moments of doubt: “Mary, please be a mother to me now.” Over the years [...] brokenness kept my heart in a state of fragility and defensiveness. Growing up in a devout Catholic family, one would believe that I knew what it meant to embrace Mary’s love. I didn’t. We faithfully attended
the small town of Bargemon, in Haute-Provence. Having heard of the reputation of Our Lady of Bargemon, they went to visit her church. No sooner had they genuflected before the statue of Our Lady than they [...] friends, to the joyous surprise of the other citizens and all those who expected the inevitable ruin of their families! Indeed, the Virgin Mary, venerated in her shrine of Bargemon, "doesn’t care any less [...] August 14 – Vigil of the feast of the Assumption - Saint Maximilian Kolbe Before Our Lady, two men decide to peacefully reconcile In 1637, two prominent men of Marseilles, France, were locked in a long
June 16 – Our Lady of Sorrows (Italy, 1892) - Canonization of Padre Pio in 2002 Saints are made in Spanish prisons In the prison of Vitoria, Spain, a priest came to visit a prisoner and found him shivering [...] cell, with the passing of time he came to accept his fate. Near the bed were a crucifix and an image of the Blessed Virgin. Every day, he would recite the rosary, pray the stations of the cross and receive [...] perfectly calm. A witness later said, "Saints are made in Spanish prisons!" In Le Sourire de Marie ("The Smile of Mary"), n. 27, March 1975
– Our Lady of the Oak (Italy) She prepared herself. What about us? Dear brothers and sisters, Mary was being prepared to receive the Word of God. Mary prepared herself to welcome the Word of God. The same [...] should go for us. At the time of our creation, each of us was made ready to receive the Lord Jesus by the grace of our ability to love, which is a gift from God. At the moment of our new birth, through this [...] this magnificent grace of our baptism, we became the beloved children of the Father. From now on and every day of our lives, we must prepare ourselves, like Mary, by following in her footsteps, alongside
following a path of abandonment to Mary, the woman of faith; taking the path of the cross - since trials always catch up with us; and, finally, adopting an attitude of radiant joy alongside Mary, the one who [...] Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon stressed the importance of the Mother of God in his homily to the five hundred young people in our group: "To know Jesus intimately, we have to go through Mary." He advised [...] Francis of Assisi (d. 1226) Three attitudes a Christian should adopt To prepare for the WYD in August 2023, the young people of Var (a department in Southeastern France) visited the shrine of Our Lady
is also an act of intimacy with the Virgin Mary; each Hail Mary prayed is like presenting her with a rose to show love for her. “If each Hail Mary is a rose, then what an act of intimacy of prayer the Rosary [...] November 22 – The Virgin of Quinche (Ecuador) The Rosary is both a weapon and a rose The Rosary is both a weapon for spiritual warfare and a rose presented as a gift to the Virgin Mary, said a TOR (Third Order [...] Regular) friar during a talk on the importance of the prayer... Brother Daniel Klimek, TOR, who holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Catholic University of America, said that the Rosary is a unique gift
which the disciples must confront – all of us, all the disciples of Jesus, we must face this struggle - Mary does not leave them alone: the Mother of Christ and of the Church is always with us. She walks [...] October 7 - Our Lady of the Rosary The Rosary sustains us in the battle The passage from Revelation presents the vision of the struggle between the woman and the dragon. The figure of the woman, representing [...] in a way, Mary shares this dual condition. She has of course already entered, once and for all, into heavenly glory. But this does not mean that she is distant or detached from us; rather Mary accompanies
splendor of Our Trinity descend... Also, she is your Mother from all eternity. And as the Mother, she has the kind of compassion that excuses, intercedes, and educates patiently. Great is the joy of Mary when [...] Lady of Holy Desire (Italy, 1890) "I give you to the one who loves you" Jesus said, "The human eye cannot fix the sun, but it can look at the moon. The eye of the soul cannot fix the perfection of God as [...] our joy when we see one of you who, leaving my side, gets up from his knees to go to Mary, or another who, detaching himself from her bosom, comes to me... I say to you, ‘Love Mary. I give you to the one
the spread of the corona virus disease (COVID-19). “Despite the sufferings and sacrifices, don’t take advantage of the situation for profit and personal gains. Do things in favor of God and of the common [...] April 27 - Our Lady of Montserrat (Spain) - Our Lady of Vilnius (Lithuania) In these difficult times, let us remember God's promise at the Annunciation! At the end of March, Balanga Bishop Ruperto C. Santos [...] the faithful that the Feast of the Annunciation is a manifestation that God will save the fallen humanity as He promised. “The Blessed Virgin Mary received the good news. Mary has found favor with God. She
were praying the Rosary in a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, some of the women there felt the presence of the Blessed Virgin. The month of October was then chosen for this annual campaign, as it is [...] Rosary. October 18th is also the feast day of Saint Luke the Evangelist, "who passed on the story of Jesus' childhood to us and had a close connection with Mary," says ACN. The organization receives many [...] December 26 – Synaxis of the Mother of God (Byzantine Church) A million children praying the Rosary "You can tell the Blessed Virgin everything and she will be very happy if you ask her for something,
