09/26/2022 – Feast of Mary Divine Shepherdess

Today is the Feast of Mary, the Divine Shepherdess.

In 1703 Mary was given the title Divine Shepherdess, bestowed upon her by Father Isidore of Spain after a vision in which the Blessed Mother appeared to him as a shepherdess.

Father Isidore … erected small shrines to Our Lady along the roadways. They taught the people how to sing the rosary walking along the street. This custom Father Isadore brought with him on returning to Seville. In such a worldly atmosphere this came as a surprise to the people. Cantina and tavern loungers found themselves sliding out of the taverns and joining him, to become part of the sheepfold of Mary.

During one of these rosary procession street tours Christ’s words, ‘I am the Good Shepherd” flashed across the Father’s mind. That night he had a vision of the Blessed Virgin. She appeared as a young shepherdess with a crook in her hand and a large straw hat falling over her shoulders….

“Our Lady,” he said, sat on a rock under a tree. Her face radiated divine and tender love. Over a red tunic she wore a jacket of white sheepskin such as shepherds wore; from her shoulders hung a blue mantle. A large straw hat, held by a ribbon, dangled over her left shoulder.

Near her right hand was a shepherd’s crook, symbolic of the love and care she gives her children. In her left hand she held a rose, while the right hand rested on the head of a lamb, which had sought shelter in her lap. The flock of sheep which surrounded her carried in their mouths – the Virgin’s Flower.

P.S. The Coastal Rosary for LIFE & FAITH in Ireland is on Sunday October 9th at 2.30pm. Sign up a location at www.coastalrosaryireland.ie

09/02/2022 – st Teresa of Child Jesus

Sr Francisca Teresa of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face (named after the Little Flower) turned 99 years old this year. She has been a cloistered Carmelite nun for almost 80 years.

Sister was the oldest of eight children. She recalls that her grandmother’s love of the Blessed Virgin “ served as a guide in my life,” “My family was very decisive in my vocation. My father was a man of prayer, he not only went to Mass, I saw him pray.

Praying the Rosary as a family for me was an everyday thing,” “The Blessed Virgin held a privileged place in my family, She was the mistress of the house, the Queen of the home.” Even though “we didn’t lack difficulties in life, when you have faith, everything is experienced differently, even suffering finds its meaning. I learned all this in my family.”

Sister Francisca Teresa has wonderful words for us “ I can say that I have been happy in my consecrated life,” In religious life “I haven’t been without difficulties, but it’s worth living a life given to God. The greatest desire of my heart has been union with Jesus, to be Light with him. And I very much want to see him soon.”Sister Francisca Teresa calls Mary “My Dear Mother Virgin” and that “in her I find everything. I invite you to try invoking her as a mother.” (ACI Prensa)

Abbeyleix – Our Lady’s Grotto, Ballinakill, Thornberry at 1pm

Arklow – St Mary’s Park at Main Street

Athlone – Fair Green Car Park at 1pm

Carlingford – Opposite the Village green and beside the Coastal Wall at 1pm

Cork – 2pm at the Grand Parade

Dublin – North Earl Street (by the Spire) at 2pm

Ennis – The Square at 1pm

Kells – Headford Place at 4pm

Kilkenny – 1pm at St James’ Green (next to the Cathedral)

Knock – 1pm at the Plaza

Limerick – Thomas Street at 1pm

Moville Inishowen – market Square at 1pm

Portadown – Market Street at 1pm

Sligo – Wine Street Car Park at 2pm

Thurles – Outside Scoil Angela, The Square at 2pm

Tralee – The Square at 1pm

Tubbercurry (Sligo) – The Square at 3pm

Waterford – Barronstrand Street (near McDonalds) at 3pm

Wexford – On the Quay (Opposite South East Radio) at 12 Noon

08/14/2022 – St. Maximillian Kolbe

Today we would normally celebrate the feast of St Maximillan Kolbe.

He is of course one of the giants of the Rosary and Marian Consecration which he promoted throughout Poland through his publication, Knight of the Immaculate, and his campaign, Militia Immaculata.

His work prepared the Polish people to meet the trials of Nazi and Soviet occupation. Lead by Providence, St Maximillan also brought this preparation to Nagasaki Japan shortly before WWII.

On the fourth anniversary of St Maximillan’s martyrdom in Auschwitz, the Japanese Empereor, following the bombing of Nagasaki, agreed terms of surrender. The surrender was official on the following day the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady.

St Maximillan Kolbe explains why we must turn to Our Lady and pray her Rosary to defeat evil in our lives but also evil in the world.

“The Immaculate alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan. She seeks souls that will consecrate themselves entirely to her, that will become in her hands forceful instruments for the defeat of Satan and the spread of God’s kingdom.”

”The conflict with Hell cannot be maintained by men, even the most clever. The Immaculata alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan.”

08/07/2022 – Sister Andre Randon

Sister Andre Randon, a French nun, celebrated her 118th birthday on Feb. 11 last. She is the oldest religious and the oldest person in Europe and second oldest in the word.Sister was a protestant in her childhood but has been a Catholic for a hundred years. In 1944, she became a nun and spent WWII, caring for the injured and ill.

So what does one give someone that old for their birthday…a rosary! And that is what Pope Francis did, for her 115th birthday three years ago, he blessed a special rosary and sent it to her with a message of congratulations. Sister Andre prays with the papal rosary every day.

When she turned 116 in 2020, the Vincentian nun shared her “recipe for a happy life” — prayer (especially the rosary) and a cup of hot cocoa every day.

Last year she recovered from Covid and when asked if she had been frightened she said, “No, I wasn’t scared because I wasn’t scared to die … I’m happy to be with you, but I would wish to be somewhere else — heaven with my big brother and my grandfather and my grandmother.”

(Francesca Pollio Fenton)

P.S. The latest episode of The Totus Tuus Show is now available to view. We discuss the GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. I hope you enjoy it!

08/05/2022 – Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion

During Covid lockdown, Erin McColl Cupp wrote:

“As Catholics … when we are reminded of our vulnerability, we are supposed to turn to prayer. Our family has practiced the Family Rosary in general for many years, but since lockdown began, we’ve been praying with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s nightly Rosary Rally.

Our family also has a certain devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus …the more we pray, however, and the more devotions we practice, the harder things seem to be getting right now….

Then the voice in the back of my head starts to whisper, “Your prayers aren’t working. Why do you keep praying?”That voice asks a good question. The statement before it, however, makes an assumption: how do I know our prayers aren’t working? Yes, our vulnerabilities are exposed more now than ever before. What evidence do I have, however, that it wouldn’t be worse without prayer?

I have none. Yes, our world is sick and on fire. It has been so since The Fall. It will remain so until we all turn to the Heart of Jesus and grow in pure love for Him and for each other.The Sacred Heart celebrates that Jesus offers us His vulnerability.He comes to us with a heart in flames—both from the ways we hurt Him and each other and from His indefatigable love for us. Our coldness cannot extinguish these flames, nor can our violence. Our prayers, including the Rosary, hide us in the furnace of His heart, so that we may be purified to withstand however much worse it can get, as long as we remember that nothing is worse than the loss of a soul to sin….

Prayer might not seem to be making things better right now, but “seems” isn’t “is.” We are called to trust that hearts turned to the prayer that promises eternal rather than temporal protection can only be part of God’s plan to make things better. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
P.S. The Men’s Rosaries continue around Ireland on Saturday, the First Saturday. Don’t forget also…….confession (within 20 days), 15 min meditation, and Holy Communion – all offered for the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Abbeyleix – Our Lady’s Grotto, Ballinakill, Thornberry at 1pm

Arklow – St Mary’s Park at Main Street

Athlone – Fair Green Car Park at 1pm

Carlingford – Opposite the Village green and beside the Coastal Wall at 1pm

Cork – 2pm at the Grand Parade

Dublin – North Earl Street (by the Spire) at 2pm

Kilkenny – 1pm at St James’ Green (next to the Cathedral)

Knock – 1pm at the Plaza

Limerick – Thomas Street at 1pm

Sligo – Wine Street Car Park at 2pm

Thurles – Outside Scoil Angela, The Square at 2pm

Tralee – The Square at 1pm

Waterford – Barronstrand Street (near McDonalds) at 3pm

Wexford – On the Quay (Opposite South East Radio) at 12 Noon