event. The theme of this next WYD will be: "Mary arose and left in haste" (Luke 1:39). Young people are called to "be light in the darkness of the night" for those who do not know "the joy of the new life [...] February 1 – Our Lady of Copacabana (Bolivia) Start reciting the official WYD 2023 prayer today! Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the next World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon, Portugal, will not take place until [...] Jesus," said Pope Francis when announcing the theme. Here is the official prayer for WYD 2023: Our Lady of the Visitation, you who left in haste towards the mountain to meet Elizabeth, lead us also to meet

actually known about Mary’s life. Of course, I believe that we must not say incredible or made-up ideas about her; for example, I would have never said that she went to the Temple at the age of three, “to offer [...] September 16 - Our Lady of La Lajas (Latin America) She is More a Mother than a Queen (I) If I could have given just one sermon about her as a priest, that would have been enough for me to get across my [...] offer herself to God, filled with intense feelings of love and great enthusiasm”, when the truth is that perhaps she only went there to obey her parents… Why do we say about Simeon’s prophetic words, that

Our Lady of Itati (Paraguay) A Large Veil Was Lifted (I) The Blessed Virgin pronounced these words, either about the secrets or rules, but at the time I was only able to guess at the meaning of the what [...] she pronounced these words. A wide panorama opened in front of me, I could now see these events and changes upon the earth through the eyes of the Eternal God in His glory as He watched the Blessed Virgin [...] Virgin lowering herself to speak with two shepherds (...) Some people have not approved of the fact the fact that Mary spoke to us in such length. It is such a pity that these people feel so miserly towards

lacking. My Mother’s name is Mary, God said. Her heart is absolutely pure and full of grace, She is a virgin and her body is inhabited by such a light that on earth I never got tired of looking at her, listening [...] August 6 - Transfiguration - Our Lady of Mercy (Italy) A Mother for All (I) God said His most beautiful creation was His Mother. I lacked having a Mother, so I created her. I created her before she created [...] her or admiring her beauty. My Mother is very beautiful, so beautiful that, aside from the splendors of Heaven, I never feel disoriented when I am near her. However, God said, I do know what it is like to

Lady of the Highest Grace (Dominican Republic, 1506) O Sorrowful Mother “O sorrowful Mother, Saint Mary, tell me something of the Passion of your Son; you saw more than any other saint because of your [...] able than any of the others to explain what I saw. I saw in that extremely terrible vision, that the Mother of Sorrows, although she was plunged more deeply than any other saint in the horror of the Passion [...] your great love. You saw everything with the eyes of your body and with those of your soul. You saw so much, because you loved so much.” Then my soul began to cry even harder. There must be another saint who

remain in a state of grace, but you will have deprived yourself of a marvellous adventure. And this sort of thing happens to us all the time. If God allows us in, one of the pains of Purgatory will be [...] Apparition of Our Lord to Our Lady God’s Deep Respect I am very fond of this saying by the English mystic, Julian of Norwich: “See what deep respect God has for his creation”. The Virgin Mary could have [...] have said ‘no’, and the course of history would have been different. But God had known for all eternity that she would say ‘yes’, and would give her unconditional assent. God gives this same deep respect

center of the great Dahomean pilgrimages in honor of the Virgin Mary, he then founded the Dassa-Zoumè pilgrimage to Our Lady of Arigbo. Since then, every year, for the feasts of the Ascension and of the [...] Lady of Lourdes (France) A Marian pilgrimage in Benin The Our Lady of Arigbo Grotto is a Catholic pilgrimage site located in Dassa-Zoumè, Benin. It became a place of pilgrimage in the Marian year of 1954 [...] by decision of Bishop Louis Parisot, the first bishop of Dahomey, after a statue of the Madonna was mysteriously found in February 1954. The bishop the solemnly blessed the natural cave of Dassa in the

and mother of 4 children, felt a sudden urge to travel to Lourdes in search of healing. Two years prior, she had fallen from a tree and severely injured her right hand. The accident left two of her fingers [...] there. Immediately, the paralysis of her fingers was gone, and she could move them just as she could before her accident. She also joined her hands to thank the Virgin Mary for the miracle. On the same day [...] March 1 – Our Lady of Machaby (Italy, 1800) – 12th apparition in Lourdes The first miracle in Lourdes The first documented miracle in Lourdes occurred in 1858 when 38-year-old Catherine Latapie, a farmer’s

has even more need of prayerful souls than of powerful preachers or men of eloquence. Today more than ever have we need of people who, by their self-immolation, disarm the anger of God inflamed by the [...] February 14 – Our Lady of Roses (Pellevoisin, France, 1876) The most needed mission in the Church Eucharistic adorers share Mary’s life and mission of prayer at the foot of the Most Blessed Sacrament. [...] crimes of nations. We must have souls who by their importunity re-open the treasures of grace which the indifference of the multitude has closed. We must have true adorers; that is to say, people of fervor

She finds herself the Mother of God, exalted above all mortals, and still remains so simple and so calm that she does not think of any poor serving maid as beneath her. Mary’s heart lets God have His will [...] poor, meek, despised, and of low degree, the Holy Spirit taught her this precious knowledge and wisdom, that God is a Lord whose work consists but in this — to exalt them of low degree, to put down the [...] January 21 – Our Lady of Altagracia (Dominican Republic, Central America, 1650) A Marian Meditation by Martin Luther When the Holy Virgin experienced what great things God wrought in her, notwithstanding