December 26 - Mary weeps for St. Stephen (Jerusalem) - Byzantine Church: Synaxis of the Mother of God The Virgin Mary was there at Stephen's burial (I) In these excerpts from Maria Valtorta's The Gospel [...] year 32: 646.1 It is the dead of night, and a very dark night, because the moon has already set, when Mary comes out of the little house at Gethsemane with Peter, James of Alphaeus, John, Nicodemus and the [...] it received during the lapidation, it is hard, stiff, all curled up as it was when he died. 646.2 Mary, Who has been mercifully kept away a few steps by John, frees Herself and runs towards that poor body

31 - Saint Mary Odigitria (“Who leads the Way) - Saint Catherine Labouré (d. 1876) The closer we get to the end of time, the more Mary becomes present Father René Laurentin (1) wrote, "Mary is present [...] Jn 19:26), Mary is at the same time the one who intercedes, who becomes a mediator for her children, throughout the Church's history and in all the corners of the world... Sometimes Mary even intervenes [...] time, the more visible Mary's presence becomes in the Church. This is how we can explain the increase of Marian apparitions over the last two centuries. Marian Encyclopedia Mary in the life of the Church

December 30 - Saint Mary of San Celso (Milan, Italy, 1485) These cloistered Dominican nuns pray the “Adoring Rosary” The Eucharist is placed at the center of our chapel, and the chapel, in turn, is located [...] the Word contemplated in my heart bears fruit through the Word preached by others. Sister Lucia Marie of the Visitation, a cloistered Dominican nun of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mary, "the dawn before the day of Christ" Instinctively, like the apostles in the Upper Room, we place Mary at the heart of the Church. She is part of the [...] that we instinctively begin to imitate her. We want to experience things like Mary does, and to look at people like Mary does. To see things more beautiful, all we have to do, without closing our eyes [...] owes everything to God's mercy, and what St. Paul says about the Church is true, even more so, of Mary: "Christ loved her, and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her by purifying her... for

November 25 - Mary Consoler of the Afflicted (Rome, Italy) The theme of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, is “Mary arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39) After the Annunciation, Mary could have focused [...] Elizabeth. (...) Within herself, Mary already bore the Lamb that was slain and yet lives. She arises and sets out, for she is certain that God’s plan is the best plan for her life. Mary becomes a temple of God [...] him “alive”, is the greatest spiritual joy, an explosion of light that can leave no one untouched. Mary sets out immediately, anxious to bring the news to others, to bear witness to the joy of this encounter

November 21 - The Presentation of Mary in the Temple The link between the old stone Temple and the Ark of the New Covenant The feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple, celebrated in the [...] the East since the sixth century, seems to be connected to the dedication of the New Church of St. Mary in Jerusalem (543). It became one of the twelve great feasts of the Byzantine liturgy: "After your [...] sanctified Virgin" (Lucernaria). Rome was more reserved with regard to the tradition according to which Mary, at the age of three, was presented to the Temple of Jerusalem to pray and serve God, and thus prepare

November 19 - Feast of Mary Seyom (Ethiopian Church) "I saw the souls fall in tight groups" In this month of November, a month dedicated to praying for the deceased, let us meditate on this message from [...] from the Virgin Mary to Sister Josefa Menendez. "My daughter, I come to tell you, in the name of Jesus, the glory that you have given today to his Heart.... Understand that whatever he allows you to see

November 5 - Mary Seat of Wisdom (Cologne, Germany, 1280) The seven words of Mary recorded in the Gospel Can we conceive of anyone, among ordinary men, who was better than this one, who deserved to become

October 16 - St Margaret Mary Alacoque (d. 1690) The Rosary was originally called the "psalter of Our Lady" In the early centuries, the Desert Fathers, who voluntarily lived in a "linguistic desert", practiced [...] name “chapelet” for the 5-decade rosary) - that was placed on the head of the statue of the Virgin Mary. To the "Our Father" were soon added the words of the Archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation, and this

evokes the Virgin Mary. A non-conformist writer that did not scoff at priests, devotions, or pious images, Frossard admired the Virgin Mary's dazzling purity. He wrote: "The 'Hail Mary' is sometimes derided [...] September 10 – Saint Mary of Life (Italy, 1613) "I would pray my rosary while polishing the floor" The famous French journalist and essayist André Frossard (1915-1995), a former communist convert, published [...] against the excessive nature of Marian devotions and its supposed mollifying effects, and against Mary's apparitions, as if this century were prone to mystical aberrations and as if it were a sign of