Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord

And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed. Luke 2:34-35

This Baby, Our Lord, was to be the fall of sin and evil, the fall (death) of the Savior through the great sign of contradiction... The Cross... and the rise of goodness and the rise (resurrection) of the Savior.  And through this, Our Blessed Mother's soul would be pierced, for she suffered with her Son.  She was to be Our Mother, also, so as we suffer, so Our Mother suffers with us.  Never doubt Our Blessed Mother, she is always there and like all mothers, desires for her children to come to her.

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The lovely story is written up here HERE  at Our Lady of the Rosary Library.  It's such a beautiful story.  Please do indulge in a good read!

However, this morning, as I was stumbling through my missal looking for the readings for the feast day today, I stumbled across another feast of Our Lady!  December 11th is the feast of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I am going to copy the blurb from my missal as it is so beautiful, "The whole life of the Blessed Virgin Mary was a continual practice of humility.  She had renounced all the vanities and honors of the world from the moment when, as a child, she offered herself to God in the Temple.  She felt confused when she heard the Angel's saluation. She ever sought to appear as a servant although she had been exalted to be the Queen of the universe. She was in very deed the humble handmaid of the Lord, as she terms herself in the Magnificat.".

So what is humility? It was once described to me as how we should see ourselves in the Eyes of God.  Our Blessed Mother saw herself as she was... as a creature... as nothing.  And yet!  She was the perfect mirror of the image and likeness of God!  God made us all in His image and likeness, but funny how we are mostly not very much like that mirror image but we think pretty highly of ourselves.  We are so blessed to have such a humble Mother, otherwise we wouldn't have someone who would constantly stoop to grace us with her presence, with her love and guidance and beseech God for us and give us of her overflowing abundance of Grace from God. 

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

I am the Immaculate Conception
 

This is the day in which we remember the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Mother in the womb of her mother, St. Ann.  She was filled with Grace from the moment of her conception.  Today's Gospel tells us so, in the words of the Angel Gabriel, "Hail full of grace!"  We receive this grace at our Baptism and must work to make this grace grow within our own souls that we may be true mirrors of the image and likeness of God... as was our Lady.  As our priest said in his homily, we need to be mistaken for Christ, just as St. Francis of Assisi was.... just as Mary was!  There's a goal:  to be so purified in soul, so filled with grace, so filled with love that people see you as another Christ. 

 

We had a lovely High Mass today followed by an enjoyable luncheon.  All you have to do is ask our TLM community to bring something and we have the party food explosion.



 

 It was at this point my camera battery went dead so "That's all folks"

Except that I cannot resist the picture one of the children took earlier of a certain boy who always dresses up rather interestingly.  C'est la vie.

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Can you just imagine this beautiful moment when the Blessed Virgin Mary in all her purity, beauty and radiance was brought to the temple of the Jews to be offered.... and to offer herself... in consecration to God? 

We should all consecrate ourselves to God... and we should most definitely consecrate our children to God!  Religious parents never fail by devout prayer to consecrate their children to the divine service and love, both before and after their birth. (Butler)  If you have never done this, it is time.  Offer your children born and unborn to the service of God. They aren't ours anyway, they are His, we are merely weak instruments to train up our children in the Love of God.   And we will be ridiculed for it.  It never ceases to amaze me how far the spirit of the world and the spirit of the anti-family has penetrated in our society. 

Consecration of ourselves to God is a total giving of ourselves in the service of God.  This does not by any means mean that we are able to spend our lives in the church building on our knees but actually, that every act we do is either in the service of God.... or not.  We are either totally in love with God... or not.  We are either living for Him... or not.  Turning our backs on God starts with the little things.  Starts with each act of "I will not serve".  In raising children this is an ever constant battle.  And when we let our diligence down, the ever-prevelant nature of the beast is right there.  It's right there waiting to devour.  Devour our children.  I see it constantly every day. 

We must first have at least a simple yet real prayer life.  I always laugh that our prayers center around food.  We say our Morning Offering and Spiritual Communion before we say Grace at meals. We say the Angelus for Purity before we say Grace at meals.  We say our Rosary and Night Prayers right after dinner/clean-up.  I can tell it is getting near Advent, a time of penance because little practices have gotten a little sloppy.  Taking time in meditation, family spiritual reading, personal spiritual reading just getting missed a bit here and there.  Each little bit of sloppiness is turning ourselves bit-by-bit away from God.  Holy Mother Church in her great Wisdom knew we needed these times of penance to tighten up the belt a bit.  As I have been reading from Purgatory and from Hell for November I just can't get over how easy it is to get to Hell and how hard it is to get even into Purgatory.  And don't be the fool who aims for Purgatory, aim only for Heaven and then be grateful if you get to Purgatory.  It's not so easy. These souls in Purgatory are suffering intense pain for mere faults... others for sloppy venial sins, others for deliberate venial sins.  We can never do too much to purify ourselves on this earth and do penance. Pray for compunction.

But that these may be accepted by him, we must first prepare the present he requires of us, that is, our hearts. They must be washed and cleansed in the sacred laver of Christ's adorable blood, by means of sincere compunction and penance; and all inordinate affections must be pared away by our perfectly renouncing in spirit, honours, riches, and pleasures, and being perfectly disengaged from creatures, and ready to do and suffer all for God, that we may be entirely his, and that neither the world nor pride, nor any irregular passion may have any place in us. (Butler)

It is here that I would like to mention the Consecration of Jesus Through Mary by St. Louis de Montefort.  I would like you to seriously consider taking this consecration.  But first be sure to read the book True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Louis de Montfort.  If you truly want to purge yourself and purify yourself, this is, as St. Louis said, the "easy" way.  And believe me you will learn more about yourself than you ever could have imagined and my, will you begin to be purged.  The term I love best in this devotion is "Holy Slavery" or "Slave of Love".  But do take it seriously, it takes on the form similar to a vow, a sacred promise to God.  One line in St. Louis' book that really stuck out at me was the line where he talks about rare are the people who actually stick to this devotion.  He sure knew how to tap into my pride! :D

I will write more about this at a later date.  For today, let's consecrate all our little acts to the Lord, as Our Lady did,  that even in the little things we will never turn our backs on the Lord. 

Our Lady of Fatima

Today is the Feast of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima (it also happens to be Lady Modesty's birthday, happy birthday funny gal!).  I was going to talk about Modesty as that is one of the messages of Fatima. Our Lady said,  Certain styles and fashions are being introduced which gravely offend My Divine Son.
Isn't that the truth.  And that was back in 1913.  The pressure against those who wear skirts all the time sometimes gets annoying, but that is no reason to change one's convictions.  Not for me anyway. So I always remind myself that I have this great opportunity to make up for the sins against modesty through people who find it their duty to make you feel like you have 2 heads rather than just a skirt on.  I'm ok with that. It gives me something to offer to God, albeit something rather small but Our Lord and Our Lady like those small things, beautiful little acts of simplicity.

However, I went to the Vatican website to read some about the messages of Fatima, and read something very interesting regarding the "conversion of Russia".  In the Secret it says,

“The third part of the secret refers to Our Lady's words: ‘If not [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated' (13-VII-1917).

Our president is doing a great job spreading Russia's errors!

This was written by Sr. Lucia (the oldest of the 3 visionaries) in 1982:

The third part of the secret is a symbolic revelation, referring to this part of the Message, conditioned by whether we accept or not what the Message itself asks of us: ‘If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, etc.'.

Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfilment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the human person, immorality and violence, etc.

And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible”.

 

 

I haven't seen an era of peace since 1982, have you?  I have, however, seen a much greater decline in any moral values, an amazing increase in the most hideous sins I've ever heard of, as well as martyrs!  If you are like me, you've also noticed that there is much suffering... that is merely God's Way of purging us. He wants us in Heaven with Him. It's mutual on my account! 

Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary

It's quite common to hear people joke in their personal frustration that, "If I had a perfect Son and was perfect like Our Blessed Mother was, life would be much easier." or something along those lines.  But as we know, the Son of God became man for one purpose, to suffer and die for us.  Since a mother suffers all that her child suffers, so the motherhood of Our Immaculate and Blessed Mother is one of total and perfect suffering and death perfectly accepted and perfectly united with her Son's suffering and death.  And she is the role model for mothers.  

Isn't that a most beautiful picture?  I want one, if you have a spare :D

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Today is a reminder to renew our devotion to Our Blessed Mother through the ever-powerful Most Holy Rosary.  Her crown of victory!  Our spiritual weapon!  Our crown of victory! It only takes about 15-20 minutes.  I know it can be a zoo with the children but remember our devotion comes from within, persevere through the external distractions, and rely on the gift of Faith and Hope, that God will grant us the graces despite of the various circumstances.  Afterall....

How can we not love the circumstances, if they have been the way through which Jesus came into our lives? And, why not rejoice, whatever they may have been, if we know that they have been lovingly arranged by Him for us to find Him and achieve holiness in them and through them?
Fr. Alfonso Gálvez

Our Lady of Ransom

I tell you, Our Lady wants to be well-known through her various titles!  She knows we need her in a very special way.  Develop your devotion to her now! Today is the feast of Our Lady of Ransom (or Mercy) another beautiful title that we need so much in our day!

In 1218, Spain was under the control of  the Moors (Muslims).  Our Lady of Ransom appeared in 3 separate visions to St. Peter Nolasco, St. Raymond Pennafort and King James.  She asked them to start an order to free the Christians who had been kidnapped and enslaved by the moors.  They were to spend time in prayer and raising money to ransom the slaves of the moors.  They were also to take a vow to give themselves up as hostages should all else fail to ransom the enslaved.  Of course, the worst slavery is the enslavement of sin.  Are we willing to sacrifice ourselves for our enslaved brethren?  Do you have someone special who is enslaved in sin that you pray for, that you sacrifice for?  Our Lady of Ransom, pray for us!  Our Lady of Mercy, protect us!

In the picture above, Our Lady is holding the Scapular of Our Lady of Ransom, which I learned has the image of Our Lady of Ransom on one end and the coat of arms on the other.  In her other hand I would guess she is holding shackles of the enslaved. Some day I will learn more about the picture. 

Our Lady of Good Deliverance

Notre-Dame de Bonne Délivrance

Another title of Our Lady "Our Lady of Good Deliverance"  that I happened to stumble across this when I was reading the book I mentioned previous Sermons of St. Francis de Sales.  I really think Our Lady wants to be known by her multitudinous titles so let's please Our Mother!   

After a terrible and prolonged temptation to despair, caused by the discussions of the theologians of the day on the question of predestination, from which [St. Francis de Sales] was suddenly freed as he knelt before a miraculous image of Our Lady at St. Etienne-des-Grès (the one pictured above), he made a vow of chastity and consecrated himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Catholic Encyclopedia

True Friendship

I was reading from the Sermons of St. Francis de Sales on Our Lady this morning.  Now that is a book that is on my must-have list.  If you question whether you have a true friendship, I don't mean friends, I mean that true, deep friendship of the saints.   Try measuring it up to this beautiful quote:

For if the bond of charity so bound and united the Christians of the early Church that St. Luke assures us that they were of one heart and one mind [Acts 4:32], with how much greater reason may we not say and believe that the Son and the Mother, Our Lord and Our Lady were only one soul and one life?...

But as to her soul, it was inseparably united to the soul, heart and body of her Son, so that the blows which the blessed body of the Savior received on the Cross caused no wound to the body of Our Lady, but they gave a mighty counter-blow to her soul, so that the prophecy of Simeon was verified. Love is accustomed to receive the counter blows of the afflictions of the beloved.
St. Francis de Sales

Our Lady of Sorrows

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword has passed.

The First Sorrow - The Prophecy of Simeon - Luke 2:22-35
22 And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord: 23 As it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord: 24 And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons: 25 And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon: and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was in him. 26 And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. 27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, 28 He also took him into his arms and blessed God and said 29 Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace: 30 Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: 32 A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be contradicted. 35 And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.  

 The Second Sorrow - The Flight into Egypt - Matthew 2:13-21
13 And after they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him. 14 Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod: 15 That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son. 16 Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry: and sending killed all the menchildren that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: 18 A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. 19 But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, 20 Saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child. 21 Who arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.  

 The Third Sorrow - The Loss of Jesus in the Temple - Luke 2:41-50
41 And his parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast, 43 And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem. And his parents knew it not. 44 And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day’s journey and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. 45 And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him. 46 And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. 47 And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. 48 And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 49 And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my father’s business? 50 And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them.  

 The Fourth Sorrow - Mary meets Jesus on the Road to Calvary - No specific biblical quotations
We know that Our Lady remained constant true to Her Son as He walked the road to Calvary. So there is no doubt that they met upon the road and when they did not gaze at one another, their hearts were still so united that they shared this suffering with each other.  She was His Mother afterall.
St. Bernard:  “the most sorrowful Mother met the most sorrowful Son”

The Fifth Sorrow:  Jesus dies on the Cross - John 19:17-27

¹⁷ And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha.  ¹⁸ Where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst. ¹⁹ And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.  ²⁰ This title therefore many of the Jews did read: because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin.  ²¹ Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am the King of the Jews.  ²² Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written.   ²³The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified him, took his garments, (and they made four parts, to every soldier a part,) and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.  ²⁴ They said then one to another: Let us not cut it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled, saying: They have parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they have cast lot. And the soldiers indeed did these things.  ²⁵ Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.  ²⁶ When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son.  ²⁷ After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.

Sixth Sorrow - Mary receives the dead body of Her Son - John 19:31-38

³¹ Then the Jews, (because it was the parasceve,) that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath day, (for that was a great sabbath day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.  ³² The soldiers therefore came; and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him. ³³ But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. ³⁵ And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knoweth that he saith true; that you also may believe. ³⁶ For these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled: You shall not break a bone of him. ³⁷ And again another scripture saith: They shall look on him whom they pierced. ³⁸ And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea (because he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews) besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.

 

The Seventh Sorrow - Jesus is laid in the tomb - John 19:38-42

³⁸ And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea (because he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews) besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.  ³⁹ And Nicodemus also came, (he who at the first came to Jesus by night,) bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.  ⁴⁰ They took therefore the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. ⁴¹ Now there was in the place where he was crucified, a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein no man yet had been laid. ⁴² There, therefore, because of the parasceve of the Jews, they laid Jesus, because the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

 

 

HERE is a beautiful reflection for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Blessed Mother.

 

Our Lady of Sorrows, Pray for us!  

 

Our Lady of Consolation

Beneath the shelter of your tender compassion we fly for refuge, Mother of God. Do not overlook our supplications in adversity but deliver us out of danger.
As I do spiritual reading about a saint or Our Lady I sometimes stumble across some very interesting subjects.  One thing that has astounded me is how many feast days there are for Our Lady, that have been dropped.  I think along with a Saint of the day, we should have a title of Our Lady of the day.  Wouldn't that be a lovely thing!  But check out this gem I ran across.
Our Lady of Consolation
This feast day is a moveable feast celebrated on the Saturday following the feast of St. Augustine, which is on August 28th.  St. Monica suffered greatly over the sinful life of her son, Augustine.  (here I recommend to you the book St. Monica)  St. Monica confided her sorrow to Our Blessed Mother.  The story goes that Our Lady appeared to her dressed in mourning clothes with a shining cincture around her waist. In her great compassion, Our Lady removed the cincture and gave it to St. Monica.  She told her to wear it.  Monica then gave it to her son, who in turn gave it to his community, who wore the cincture in honor of  Our Lady of Consolation. 

I think we live in a time that we are of urgency to bring back this devotion To Our Lady of Consolation. With the rampant sorrow that mothers, like St. Monica, suffer over their children, especially in regards to purity. 

Feast of the Holy Name of Mary

I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Sirach

In our home we honor Mary through the naming of our girls in some way associated with Our Lady. 
The Visitation, Our Lady of Lourdes, Derivitives of the Name of Mary & Mystical Rose... and on the blog... "Marigold" :)


♥ Julie

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Hail Mary full of Grace!

 

 

 

Here is a cute story "The Hail Mary of a Protestant"  Enjoy!

 

 

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.

Sirach

 

We live in an era that has lost its love for its Mother, that Immaculate Mother full of Grace given to us as Our Mother from the Cross of Christ... at that moment in which He suffered the most as if to say, "You, my children, I love you so much I leave to you My Mother."  Setting aside all the abominations against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I will simply not get into that, I have been amazed for a number of years that so many good Catholics have set aside Our Mother, the Mother of God.  The woman God Himself chose, purified, made perfect and immaculate by His Power. God did that...!   Methinks, then, we should not ignore or set her aside as she is the key to the Heart of Christ.  This is the woman in which the Holy Spirit united Himself so perfectly and with such great love, yet without violating her purity, as to bring forth the Son of God.  She contained within her very body Grace Itself. 

 

St. Louis de Montfort speaks of devotion to Jesus through Mary as the easy way. It's the little secret, that everyone should know.  This secret is to simply bring your prayers, your sacrifices and your sufferings to her, she will perfect them, make them pure and immaculate and bring them to the feet of Christ. God will not deny her... she is His Mother afterall. The one He chose to be His Mother.  St. Alphonsus Liguori spoke in the Glories of Mary that she has even begged God for souls who were corrupt at the end of their lives for the simple reason that these souls brought her flowers as a child.  As if to say  "At one time, My Dear Son, this child loved me so purely and sweetly that he adorned my feet with flowers of great love.  Have mercy, My Son." 

 

On this beautiful Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let's renew our love for Our Blessed Mother, she whose heart was so filled with perfect love for God, that our hearts may be filled with that same love.  And how will we know if our love is true?  In how we treat our neighbor.  We can deceive ourselves in our love of God and His Mother, we cannot deceive ourselves in how we love our neighbor.  Love one another as I have loved you.  In other words, love unto death itself... but remember, it was Our Blessed Mother who stood at the foot of the cross, she stands also at the feet of our crosses.  Go to her, she will bring you to a deeper love of God.

Feast of the Assumption

Happy Feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother into Heaven!

I don't know the history behind this picture but I wondered if these were the Apostles, still themselves as ever, "Where'd she go?", their expressions made me smile and chuckle....  except St. John, who I imagine is the man in the back left looking up at his Mother.  He was so close to her, the closest of all next to her Divine Son afterall they were given to each other from the Cross by Our Lord Himself.

But this picture, although not as brilliant as the one above, I liked because Our Lady's gaze remained on her Spouse, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a beautiful white dove as she was taken up into Heaven.  Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.  I like to think about the love of the Holy Spirit and Our Blessed Mother... what a union!

I have yet to find a picture of Our Lady that matches her true beauty, then again, inner beauty is rarely... if ever... captured in a picture.  It is seen only through the eyes... and the heart and soul.

Bridey Visits Part III - The Shrine

 On Sunday we headed up to the only approved apparition in the USA of Our Blessed Mother to Adele. She is sometimes known as "Sister Adele" but was actually a 3rd order tertiary (or something like that). We began the day at a TLM High Mass which was beautiful... albeit hot!

Our Lady of Good Help. 

St. Joseph Shrine

 Our Lady of Fatima

 Although this is in the basement (crypt) of the church, originally this wasn't underground.  This is my picture however....

 This actually what it looks like.  Our Blessed Mother appeared to Adele.  Holy Mother Church approved this, though one is not bound to believe private revelation in order to remain a Catholic in good faith. But I think it is awesome that the Blessed Virgin appeared only 2-1/2 hours from our house only 150+ years ago.  (the year after Lourdes)  It was absolutely lovely.  My eyes watered as soon as I entered.

 This is Adele, to which we can see why she was called "sister".    Her left eye was marred by an accident as a child with lye.

 The Church that was built above the apparition site.  This is not the original Church built there.

 This statue is an old one from back during Adele's day, it is still used in processions. Their particular feast day is the Assumption.  But the date of the apparition is October 9th, 1859.

 The large reliquary contains pieces of the original trees to which Our Lady appeared between. They were discovered beneath the church at some point.

 St. Odilla statue from Adele's day.  She is the patron of eye problems, though it wasn't known that Adele ever received a cure for her eye problem.  That said, some people are not meant to have cures but to suffer.

 St. John Vianney. I don't know how I missed the statue of Padre Pio which was, I heard, right next to this one. 

 I first was all excited to be able to take a picture of St. Benedict for a friend of mine and St. Patrick for my Irish family, but when I got close to these they are actually Sts. Cyrl and Methodius.

 This is Adele's gravesite.

 The "back yard" was so simple and lovely.  The Peshtigo Fire of 1871 (same exact year and date as the Chicago fire but much worse in regards to loss of life had started on the other side of the Bay but due to logging was able to go across the bay on logs.  The people in this area fled to the church and processed around the outside I believe with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The fires roared right up to the edge by the Church/School which were spared.

 The Stations of the Cross were in French (Adele was from Belgium so that was her native tongue)

 Each "building" had a Station on either side. It was so beautiful.

 This was a little "roadside" chapel" that was common in Belium (Belgish?) communities.

 Our Lady of Lourdes shrine

 Loved this! Dedication to Fulton Sheen who I heard is actually considered "venerable".

 So the Great Fire wen right up to the driving area behind the church/school.

 Imagine the Faith of the people who processed to be spared from the fire.

 The backside of Adele's grave which is in English (the front is in French)

 The other little crosses are for children who died at the school. Some where orphans and this was considered their home.

 I couldnt' resist her book with Gregorian Chant!

 More wood from the original trees

 Shrine to Marigold?!

 This is the crew while I was perusing the gift shop... twice. 

Just what happens when I'm not around.  Babies climbing trees... really now.

We ran into a man who asked what Latin Mass we went to before coming to the Shrine.  He said he could tell we must go to the Latin Mass by the way we dressed (which he said admiringly) and the number of children we have.   Honestly... I felt honored.