May 1 – Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker – Our Lady of Laus (France, 1664) The world's breath broke against Joseph Mary says: “I, whom the Eternal had destined to be the Queen of his angels, had two angels [...] side continually, with flashes of light and heavenly perfume, and my angelic consort, whose flesh, not darkened by the desire of blood, lived close to mine-like that of two lilies blossoming in the same [...] Virgin continued to praise the Lord as if she were assigned to the service of the altar, beyond the Holy of Holies, where the glory of the Eternal God was shining." From Maria Valtorta’s 1944 Notebook (January
patronage of the Virgin Mary, "the first missionary." The theme will be "I am the immaculate Conception." For Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in [...] January 7 – Our Lady of Charity (Rumilly, France) – Feast of Saint John the Baptist (Maronite and Byzantine rites) Lourdes is the perfect place for the mission The second annual pilgrimage of the Pontifical [...] faith, but it is a model of missionary work. Cardinal Filoni explains: "It’s a shrine we go to, but also from where we depart. Because of this, it is a place dear to the heart of all countries. I myself
his successes and failures, like his knee injury of February 12, is a way of living his faith: "I went to the Good Mother (the name given to the Virgin Mary in Marseilles) when I signed up with the OM (Olympique [...] May 20 – Our Lady of Graces (Cuneo, Italy, 1537) - Saint Germanus of Constantinople "I went to the Good Mother when I signed up " On February 23, 2017, Bafétimbi Gomis, Marseilles soccer club’s striker [...] might do. I could have taken a wrong turn and become a delinquent. Some of my brothers did. It was really my faith that got me out of there." Since then, Gomis has not missed an opportunity to express his
– Our Lady of the Thorn (Châlons-sur-Marne, France, 1400) - Saint Catherine of Sweden (d. 1381) Being a woman is not second best Mary is given as an example of the perfect accomplishment of femininity [...] Their share is that of love. And love is the very Being of God, because God IS Love! There is nothing second best about being a woman. Saint John Paul II helps us to become aware of women’s specific mission: [...] manifestation of that "genius" which belongs to women, and which can ensure sensitivity for human beings in every circumstance: because they are human!!" How could we not be reminded of Saint Therese of Lisieux
volunteered to lead a decade of the Rosary, but there was a catch — he forgot the words to the Hail Mary, Anthony said. “I kind of looked out of the corner of my eye and I saw her reach over, grab her [...] June 3 – The Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) - Our Lady of the Letter (Italy) - Saint Kevin When the Rosary brings teens closer to their parents Scott Anthony, a youth minister in Pennsylvania [...] where he has worked as the director of youth and young adult ministries for 23 years. The families had just finished a rosary-making activity and were entering into a time of prayer. The teen’s father had
to our Blessed Mother, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women,” and then proceeded to tell her she had been chosen to be the mother of the divine Savior, she replied [...] salvation. We would remain in darkness, and the gates of heaven would remain closed. Mary’s one “yes” made all the difference in the world for each and every one of us. This Advent, commit yourself to saying “just [...] most hardened of hearts to say “yes” to Jesus. Adapted from an article by Fr. Saunders, for the Arlington Catholic Herald , December 2019 Father William Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope Church in
“was born of the Virgin Mary”, the child sighed in annoyance and said, “There she is again! What am I to do?” The pastor later acknowledged that he almost suffocated when he heard the words of the young [...] Virgin Mary, even in the Creed, which he had recited so many times without noticing the words he was pronouncing! There she is in the center of our Christian faith! This marked the beginning of long r [...] could. He went readily to children with his ideas. One day he came across a young Irish girl of about eight years of age on the roadside. He stopped her, spoke a few nice words to her and then asked her to
all eternity! He, the Word, the Light, the God of gods, the Lord of Lords did not fear to become incarnate, by the Breath of His Spirit, in the womb of Mary. She is the All Pure. She is the Immaculate! And [...] Mother from the bottom of her soul? She has wept so many times over our sinful humanity. She has cried so much at the sight of pending atrocities. She has wailed so much at the sight of the Enemy turning her [...] Holy Trinity scorned and rejected everywhere. How could I not love her? Mary! Mother! Deign to look down again today upon each of us, your children. Consider neither our sin nor our poverty, but simply
"was born of the Virgin Mary", the child sighed in annoyance and said, "There she is again! What am I to do?" The pastor later acknowledged that he almost suffocated when he heard the words of the young [...] Virgin Mary, even in the Creed, which he had recited so many times without noticing the words he was pronouncing! There she is in the center of our Christian faith! This marked the beginning of long r [...] could. He went readily to children with his ideas. One day he came across a young Irish girl of about eight years of age on the roadside. He stopped her, spoke a few nice words to her and then asked her to
angel could fully understand them." Saint Thomas Aquinas, the prince of theologians, "the wisest of the saints and the most holy of the wise" according to Pope Leo XIII, preached on this Marian prayer [...] sense of ecstasy. Father Suarez, a scholarly Jesuit, declared that at the time of his death he would gladly exchange all the books he had written and all the works he had produced, for the merit of a single [...] January 24 – Our Lady of Prayer (Toledo, Spain) - Saint Francis de Sales (d. 1622) He preached on this prayer for forty days Saint Jerome said that "the truths contained in the Hail Mary are so sublime, so
