married another man. This was a painful event for Rafael, who found refuge and support with the Virgin Mary and the Lord. Before, Rafael was a "cafeteria Catholic", but his divorce marked a turning point in [...] Rafael says. The Rosary and his devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe brought him closer to the Virgin Mary, and the Eucharist helped him to have a real encounter with Jesus. Since his divorce, Rafael has been

But the metaphor suddenly seemed new to me; I went home, wrote it down, and pondered its meaning. Mary gives us a picture of a human soul so completely united to God that she becomes translucent; she shows [...] of his redemptive work - the vast expanse he traverses to draw near us, to pitch his tent among us. Mary, full of grace, exhibits a restoration of the imago Dei, the divine image etched upon the human creature

This 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 [...] 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 without original sin. [...] Since the 1860s, Church officials

spring and made the sign of the cross. The Virgin appeared and said: "I come to alleviate suffering." Mary appeared again on the following February 15 and 20 to the young girl, asking her insistently to "pray [...] Mariette saw the Virgin again for the last time, on Thursday, March 2. She delivered the message given by Mary: "I am the Mother of the Savior, Mother of God. Pray very much." Father Joseph Schmetz

led them to Bethlehem: § 221- The oldest of the Magi speaks on behalf of them all. He explains to Mary that one night the previous December, they saw a new star of an unusual brightness appear in the sky [...] Catholic Italian mystic and writer. She was a Franciscan tertiary and a lay member of the Servants of Mary who reported personal conversations with, and dictations from, Jesus Christ. She lived much of her

coastal beaches and hills overlooking the ocean. The number 53 was chosen because there are 53 Hail Marys in the Rosary . After Ireland, Italy’s coastal parishes organized the Rosary… Adapted from an article

disciple of Christ, the friend who leaned upon his chest at the Last Supper, and to whom the Virgin Mary was particularly entrusted: John "the Theologian." Sometime after the burial of the holy Apostle John

Lady of Holy Hope (Pontmain, France, 1871) The baby pointed and said “Zesus!” On January 17, 1871, Mary appeared in Pontmain, 40 km from a routed French army after the defeat of Le Mans (a city in western

encouraged praying the Rosary: “It is a synthesis of Divine Mercy. In the mysteries of the Rosary, with Mary, we contemplate the life of Jesus who radiates the Father's mercy”. fr.zenit.org

with Our Lady begins with a gesture of poverty. As Jesus came to the world in a humble manger, so did Mary come to Massabielle, a muddy grotto filled with rubbish that washed up from the river, dressed in