Mary Tag

PORTUGAL, via AICA • On Sunday, November  27, the Shrine of Fatima, in Portugal, opened the Jubilee Year of 100 years of the Virgin’s apparitions to the three shepherds with a Mass in the basilica of the Most Holy Trinity celebrated by Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, António Marto. Pope Francis has granted a plenary indulgence throughout the Jubilee Year, which will end on 26 November 2017. The motto of the Jubilee is “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the road that leads to God.” During the Opening of theRead More
PARAGUAY, vía Dequeni.org.py • Within the framework of “Rebuild Hope” Campaign, the Dequení foundation held a groundbreaking ceremony to begin the work to improve “Costa Sosa” (Luque) and “Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary (Ypané) community centers, with the support received from businesses and generous donors. These community centers suffered serious damage to the roof and walls due to deterioration from the constant storms during the past year; as a result, Dequení transferred their activities to temporary locations. Thus at the beginning of this year, the Foundation proposed to implementRead More
Maria Fischer • The title of one book could be translated as “Outdated Model”, or it could also be “Setting sail”; the other book is entitled “Living with Mary”. Both are about the Pope from the “end of the world”, the Pope without a doctorate or a career in the Roman Curia, who with his message of mercy creates a holy upheaval in the church – an upheaval that feels like the Holy Spirit after Pentecost. Both books and their messages formed the focal point of the day of recollectionRead More
Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Cape Town, South Africa • Over the last few weeks, I have spent my weekly Adoration hour meditating on a series of Fr. Kentenich’s sermons given in 1962 to the German immigrant community in Milwaukee (Exchange of Hearts, translated by Fr. Jonathan Niehaus). In the series, our founder speaks about an “exchange of hearts” to describe the Covenant of Love, where we exchange our weak hearts with Mary’s strong heart.  He says that this is the antidote for the “disease” of our times, where we have forgotten howRead More
ITALY,  Fr. Rolando G. Montes de Oca Valero • Being a Pilgrim Mother missionary presupposes allowing her to choose the methods. I expected my brother, Marwan – a Maronite rite priest with whom I know at the University – would return the picture with more “solemnity”. She had visited him the previous week, accompanying him at an important time; he was grateful and was willing to “return the visit.” When he took the Pilgrim Mother books out of his backpack and placed them in my hands, along with a “ThankRead More
Maria Fischer • My life was an adventure – led by our Mother. Because it was an adventure, I am angry with no one, I pray for all, I wish everyone knowledge, and a blissful death and resurrection. Triune God, be eternally praised For all the great gifts you have given me! Those are the words on the unusual memorial card for Fr Heinz Kuenster given to the people who poured into the specially decorated house chapel of the Marienau, “his” Marienau, in the early afternoon of 8 November forRead More
CHILE, Fr. Claudio Martínez Felmer • We had a wholesome pride since the day we knew that our Blessed Mother would be present in the procession of the Virgen del Carmen and would travel through the streets of the center of Santiago with the Carmelita. So on Sunday, 25 September, on Chile’s Day of Prayer with the motto “Protect us with your Mantle,” many members of the Schoenstatt Family gathered along with the entire Church in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral to pay tribute to the Blessed Mother, ninety yearsRead More
FRANCIS IN ROME, AICA and editorial • At the Mass he celebrated in the house chapel of Santa Marta on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, Pope Francis highlighted that the Virgin Mary cares for us because she is the mother of all Christians and “the devil cannot enter” under her mantle. The Holy Father recalled that the early Russian mystics counselled seeking refuge under Mary’s mantle because “she is mother and protects like a mother.” “The West later took this counsel and the first Marian antiphon “Sub tuumRead More
PARAGUAY, Mother of Tupãrenda House, Ana María Acha • In the photos of the blessing of Mother of Tupãrenda House, Ana María Acha, president of FundaProva (Foundation of the promotion of values and the prevention of violence) is shown with one of the cabbages from the organic garden in her hands. “It seems that you had to touch it to believe that what you experienced on 22 August was real,” I told her – and as a response she sent this testimony of the “prelude” to the blessing, an unforgettableRead More
GERMANY, Maria Fischer • Did you know that Jorge Mario Bergoglio tried on three occasions – and failed! – to get his favourite quotation of Isaac of Stella taken into an official Church document, so he had to become Pope in order to be able to mention it finally in Evangelii Gaudium? And did you know that he always has “the duster of our Lady of Luján” in a cotton bag under his soutane? Did you know that he has made an essential contribution towards making the picture of “Mary,Read More