As ardent Catholics, the role of Fatima in our lives cannot be reduced to a mere insignificance and inessential occurrence of faith. Innumerable books and speeches on the role of the apparitions of Fatima in the world have been penned to reflect the pre-eminence of God and the need for countless conversions: themes put into our hearts by our Lady of Fatima.

Hence, the new "Brief Catechism on Fatima" is a booklet which should be placed in every household; read intensely on an individual basis, or as part of a dedicated reading experience as a family. The 16-page booklet answers the numerous questions one always has with regards to Fatima. It gives us clarity of mind and creates a deeper devotion within our hearts to the Most Holy Trinity, our Blessed Mother and imbeds a glowing desire within us to pray for the reparation of the many offences against God.

The Booklet answers 33 most burning questions in 4 short Lessons: i) The Apparitions at Fatima; ii) The Secret of Fatima; iii) The Third Secret & The Crisis in the Church and iv) Practicing Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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Since the advent of Christianity, Saturdays have been specially dedicated to the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Many pious devotions and meditations have been instituted in Her honor, along with indulgences granted by saintly popes to encourage the faithful to continue and spread these Marian practices. Subsequently, the various apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself to Sr. Lucia (one of the three visionaries of Fatima), further elevated the significance of Saturdays (First Saturdays of every month in particular) in honoring the Immaculate Heart of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

We are reminded in this book that devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart is a central theme of Fatima. Due to the numerous offenses and injuries to which the Blessed Virgin Mary’s tender heart was subjected to and is constantly being subjected to even at the present moment, we are called by God through Our Lady to have compassion on Her Sorrowful Heart, to console Her Who has been very much saddened by our sins, as well as to make reparation (amends) to remove those outrageous thorns encircling Her Heart.

The question then is, “How then, can we console and make amends to the Sorrowful Immaculate Heart of Mary and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus?” This book presents a simple and beautiful approach for faithful to make reparation. Counterintuitively, we soon realize that the greatest consolation we can present to the Immaculate Heart of our dear Heavenly Mother would be our inability to do anything else besides sympathizing and suffering with the afflictions of our Beloved Mother Mary. Nothing atones for our prideful sins more than our humble and ardent love and desires to placate the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Furthermore, this book reveals that one important practice of the First Saturdays Devotion is the reception of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion. The Eucharist is the crux of the devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart because the God-Man Jesus we receive in Holy Communion was formed in the chaste womb of Mary Immaculate. By expressing our gratitude for the privilege of Holy Communion, we extend our thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary for being the source of Jesus’ Body and Blood. With Mary Most Holy so intimately and perfectly united with God, the presence of Mary’s Immaculate Heart in our hearts prepares our inner dispositions to worthily receive Her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Additionally, when we contemplate on the purity and spotlessness of Mary Immaculate, our corrupt nature and evil inclinations are made all the more visible and disgusting. Confession then becomes the solution for us wayward sinners to return back to God and restore sanctifying grace in our souls. Moreover, the fifteen-minute meditations on First Saturdays was proposed by the Blessed Virgin Mary Herself in honor of the fifteen mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary. Also essential to the First Saturday devotions is the recitation of the Holy Rosary because its mysteries provide us with what should be the main focus of our lives – God instead of Man, remind us that the narrow path to eternal life consists in embracing the Cross and suffering, as well as reassure us of the eternal reward that awaits us after our earthly life – provided we persevere till the end.

Last but not least, Our Lord Jesus Christ’s revelation to Sr. Lucia enables us to appreciate the significance of the five consecutive First Saturdays to make reparation for the five main offenses against the Blessed Virgin Mary that are clearly explained in this book.

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As if to enable us to reflect on the richness of Fatima throughout the entire centenary year of the apparitions, Fr. Karl Stehlin has provided us with a series of books, appearing with perfect timing to sustain our reflections. The first volume of Fatima, A Spiritual Light For Our Times arrived in the second half of 2016, the second volume in the first half of 2017, and now the third volume has been released in this second half of 2017.

This last volume considers the Third Secret of Fatima, but it does not consider that Secret in the way of so many Fatima books, which focus almost exclusively on the controversy as to whether the real secret was actually released by the Vatican in 2000. Rather, Fr. Stehlin maintains the same focus that he pursued in the first two volumes: he wants the reader to draw spiritual fruit from Fatima, and specifically to practice a greater devotion to the Immaculate Heart. That was, after all, the purpose that moved Our Lady to reveal herself at Fatima. In order to be an instrument for the fulfilment of Our Lady’s mission, then, Fr. Stehlin wants, above all, to communicate a spiritual message when treating of the Third Secret of Fatima:

The essential message of this book wants to [show that] Fatima is, with its whole message and all the apparitions of Our Lady, a great Secret of God’s mercy, his mysterious plan reserved for the last times of the world, when He will reveal to the world the great majesty and grandeur of Our Lady as the last great gesture of his mercy and our ultimate hope. (p. 7)

To accomplish this task, Fr. Stehlin begins by recounting the incredible marvels that were worked by Our Lady of Fatima around the world in the decades after the apparitions of 1917. Particularly striking is the tale of the journeys of the Pilgrim Virgin Statue. Huge crowds would come to greet the statue, in such far-flung places as Mozambique, Pakistan, and Australia. In Catholic countries, the statue would often be miraculously accompanied by a group of white doves, who would rest near the statue and not leave it for days on end. These travels of Our Lady of Fatima’s statue were a concrete sign of Our Lady’s universal role in the salvation of mankind and the special graces that God has willed to reserve for those who seek to heed the apparitions of Our Lady.

How were these resounding supernatural fruits, pouring forth on the human race, slowed down to a trickle in the 1960s? By means of a plot against the Fatima message, which Fr. Stehlin details in chapter 2. It started with the machinations of Fr. Edouard Dhanis, a Belgian Jesuit who strove, with tendentious arguments, to prove that Sr. Lucy’s Fatima memoirs could not be trusted. He reduced Fatima to a mere request for prayer and penance, instead of a call for the whole of the militant Church, starting with the Pope, to wage public battle, under the banner of Our Lady, against the forces of Satan. The real message of Fatima is wholly incompatible with the Modernist vision of the Catholic religion, and so Dhanis worked to censor Our Lady on behalf of a spirit that would ultimately triumph at the Second Vatican Council.

Tragically, Dhanis was all too successful. Fr. Stehlin details how he was even able to influence the “Fatima Pope”, Pius XII, to terminate all of his Fatima-promoting activities. Then, with the advent of Vatican II, at which Dhanis was the official consultor on Fatima, the Belgian Jesuit’s shrunken and misshapen Fatima message became just as much a party line of the Conciliar Church as ecumenism and religious liberty.

The triumph of the Modernist view of Fatima has produced the bitter fruits of which we are all aware and which Fr. Stehlin covers in successive chapters of the book: the refusal to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart (chapter 3) and the refusal to reveal the Third Secret and the releasing instead of a bogus secret in 2000 (chapter 4). These terrible facts are mysterious, but Fr. Stehlin indicates in detail that they have a spiritual significance for those who pay attention to them.

For those who wish to listen to Our Lady, even when Modernist prelates are trying to silence her, there are ready means available. There are many clues by which we are able to know the essential contents of the Third Secret. With wonderful clarity and brevity, in chapter 5, Fr. Stehlin exposes the message that Our Lady most certainly wanted to communicate to us in the Third Secret and the means by which we follow her directions.

Having explained the Third Secret, as far as he is able, Fr. Stehlin then guides the reader through an exercise that is necessary in all of our meditations on spiritual realities: once we have considered individual mysteries in detail, we must then zoom out and reflect on the overall mystery as a whole. Thus, in chapter 6, Father considers the totality of the Great Secret of Fatima—the message of Our Lady in all three of its parts. In doing so, he is able to help us understand deeply the reality and beauty of God’s plan to save the world by means of Our Lady.

The seventh and final chapter emphasizes the apostolic aspect of Our Lady’s Fatima requests. We are to be instruments for the triumph of her Immaculate Heart — certainly by our Communions, prayers, and sacrifices — but also by our apostolic labors. It is wonderful that Our Lady seemed to raise up St. Maximilian Kolbe, practically at the same time that she was working her wonders in Fatima, in order to provide us an easy means to perform Fatima missionary work. The Militia Immaculatae (M.I.) of St. Maximilian is in close harmony with the Fatima spirit and fulfills Our Lady’s requests to the letter. Fr. Stehlin explains the structure of the MI and the means by which it forms Apostles of Fatima in the army of Our Lady.

As an added bonus, the book includes an appendix written by Fr. Timothy Pfeiffer which provides a analysis, in admirable detail, of the extraordinary Marian apostolate that has been taking place this past year in the Philippines through Mary’s Mission Tour. This Tour revived the travels of the Pilgrim Virgin Statue that were so fruitful from the 1920s to the 1960s; it proved that SHE is just as powerful today to produce amazing spiritual blessings in a short time as she was then. Fr. Pfeiffer, using his valuable experience from this tour, provides a template for statue tours, which can be adapted according to the concrete circumstances of countries around the world.

“Fatima — a spiritual light for our times” (vol. III) is must-reading for everyone who has a desire to understand the Fatima message and put it into practice, as THE means provided by God for the salvation of souls in our times. Fr. Stehlin has made sure that no one can have an excuse for not having access to this work — it is available for free online; it is available from Kolbe Publications; it is available at M.I. Corners in SSPX chapels around the world. Find a copy, take it up, and read, for Our Lady’s honor!

n the supernatural interventions of God in the life of the Church, particularly in many of those of the past two centuries, the Blessed Virgin takes a central place. It is She who appears and commissions Her chosen messengers to transmit to ecclesiastical authority the directives from heaven for the needs of the Church.

In contrast with miracles or apparitions of other saints, those of Our Lady, some of them at any rate, are not merely of private importance for some particular persons, but have a public character and concern the whole Church. They are like official messages from heaven. Our Lady appears for the sake of the Mystical Body of Her divine Son. Christ reveals His presence and action in the Church, not directly by Himself, but through His Mother.

If Mary is what Catholic dogma and theology say She is: Mother of God, Co-Redemptrix of our race, Mediatrix of all graces, then She must be expected to mother the Church today as She did at its beginning. Christ’s care for His bride should not unnaturally pass through Mary. If He has a message for the Church: to warn her against threatening dangers, to call up the members of His Body to crusade for the defense and spread of His kingdom in the world; when we know that His Mother and ours plays an essential role in the work of the Redeemer and Mediator, it should not be surprising that She is sent to transmit to the Church the bidding of Her Son. That is why Fatima holds a special place in the life of the Church of our times.

We can truly say Fatima is a ‘sign of contradiction’.

Forget about the modernist.

Even among the so- called conservatives we find two kinds of reaction to Fatima. One is of rationalistic scorn and the other of un-enlightened enthusiasm.

Of the latter, we see that they are mostly pre-occupied with knowing the ‘third secret of Fatima’. For them, the message of Fatima is nothing but what is in the ‘so-called unopened envelope’.. what will happen if the secret is fully revealed? Will they listen to Our Lady or will they go after other ‘undisclosed secrets’? This is not piety.

Having said this, what is Fatima is all about? What is the essence of the message? What did Our Lady want us to understand? Unfortunately, there was a dearth of material available in English to elucidate this apparition in a proper light.

Now, we cannot complain any longer.

Kolbe Publication has published the explanation of the apparition by one of the renowned Mariologist of our times, Rev. Fr. Karl Stehlin.

The author needs no introduction and especially when it comes to things dealing with our Blessed Mother.
“Fatima- a Spiritual Light for our Times” is his latest work.

“This book aims to be an answer to the request of all those who want to know more profoundly the message and the spirituality of Fatima” (Foreword).

The structure of the body is very simple - historical events and a commentary of each event. Each chapter deals with each apparition (Chapters 2-4 deals with the three apparitions of the angel and the remaining deals with that of Our Lady). Every commentary reflects sound doctrine with solid piety.
In this beautiful book of explanation on the apparition of Fatima, Fr. Karl Stehlin offers an inspiring way of renewing our reading of one of the most important events of our times. He proposes to explain the facts not only as something of the past, but one that has repercussions in the life of the Church today. (p.148). We have here solid doctrine and deep spirituality such as should be found in any literature on Our Lady.

This book may be warmly recommended to priests, who have a ‘duty to prepare properly for the centenary of Fatima’ (Bp. Fellay’s letter, September 2016), but they should not expect to find ready-made conferences (or sermons even); they will find better than that, if only they can afford the unhurried and meditated reading it requires to let the ‘essence of Fatima’ sink in.
Both the author and the Publishers have placed Catholic scholarship in a heavy debt of gratitude. We can only wish that his enterprising courage and energy may be rewarded with a speedy and successful continuation of his promised work – Fatima Continued.


Fr. Therasian Xavier
Priory of the Most Sacred Heart , Palayamkottai, India

ust in time for the Fatima centenary, Fr. Stehlin has released a second volume of spiritual reflections on the Fatima message, while also promising a third volume. In the first volume, Father went through the great apparitions of 1917; in this second volume, he considers the seers and the post-Fatima apparitions; in the third, he will look at the great secret of Fatima, especially its disclosure and non-fulfillment.

Fatima, a Spiritual Light for Our Times, volume 2, begins with a fascinating view of the personality of the three Fatima seers and the spirituality that each of them followed. Anyone who has spent time reading the story of Fatima knows that Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucy were, in the words of Fr. Stehlin, “very different and even contrasting characters” (p. 8). Their varied personalities translated into a different spiritual focus for each.

Francisco, being struck most by how offensive sin is to God, sought, in his devotions, to console God. Jacinta, deeply shaken by the vision of hell, with so many souls tossing around in eternal perdition, did all that she could to prevent more souls from going there. Lucy, being chosen as Our Lady’s messenger to the world, particularly focused on spreading devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Through the inspiring spiritual lives of these three children, we understand what Our Lady desires of us, as Fr. Stehlin explains (pp. 40-41):



The life of the seers of Fatima was like a living reflection in which we can see the desires of the Immaculate Heart … in the measure that we follow the example of their virtues, we will sanctify ourselves, and the wonderful promises of Our Lady will be realized in our own souls. From Francisco, we learn perfect love of God in the prayer of consolation; from Jacinta, we learn perfect love of neighbour by praying for the conversion of sinners. From Lucy, we learn how to live constantly in the light of the Immaculate Heart.



In the second part of the book, Fr. Stehlin turns to consider four post-Fatima apparitions to Sr. Lucy, apparitions which extended and clarified the Fatima message. Two of these apparitions occurred at the convent of the Dorothean Sisters in Pontevedra, Portugal on December 10, 1925, and February 15, 1926. The other two took place at the Carmelite convent in Tuy, Spain, on June 13, 1929, and May 29, 1930.

The messages of these apparitions are crucial for understanding the Fatima message, for they treat three of its essential elements: the spirit of devotion to the Immaculate Heart; the reason for the Five Saturdays devotion and the way it is to be practiced; the request for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart.

Fr. Stehlin firstly examines closely the words of Our Lord and Our Lady to Sr. Lucy at Pontevedra, as well as the words of the seer herself. By means of his careful guidance, the reader is able to understand why Our Lady of Fatima asks for the First Saturday devotion, why she asks for the recitation of the Rosary, why she asks for Confession and Communion. On the one hand, we are to do the work of reparation, atoning for five types of blasphemies uttered against the Immaculate Heart. On the other hand, we are to grow in holiness, drawing closer to Our Lady and so also Her Son by performing the practices she requested, in the same spirit in which she requested them. “The Immaculate Heart of Mary only desires for us a perfect union with her Son” (p. 66).

At Tuy, Our Lady announced the request for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart by the Pope, in union with the bishops of the world. Fr. Stehlin points out the great significance of this request, given that the only occasion on which the Pope normally acts in union with his bishops is at a general council (p. 114). Fatima, then, is of worldwide significance, if an act of the head of the universal Church is required to fulfill its demands.

There is another remarkable aspect to this request, the fact that one body of persons is asked to consecrate another body of persons, who perhaps do not wish to be consecrated. In the mind of Fr. Stehlin, this emphasizes the fact that, not only the Pope and the bishops, but we ourselves are able to be instruments in the conversion of others. By associating ourselves with great Marian movements, such as the Militia Immaculatae, we “become channels of grace from the Immaculate Heart of Mary to all souls for their conversion and sanctification” (p. 113). In this way, we personally answer the call of Fatima, and the accumulation of these personal answers will eventually lead to the great act of Russia’s consecration, which will come late, but will come.

It is hoped that this brief sketch of the second volume of Fatima, a Spiritual Light for Our Times indicates, in a small way, the many riches contained within its pages. Each of us has heard so much about Fatima, but knows so little about it. Especially in this year of Fatima’s centenary, we must make an effort to really understand what our Mother desires of us. This book makes that goal easy and effortless. By picking it up and reading a few pages at a time, we will perform our First Saturdays of 2017 with proper understanding and devotion, we will recite our Rosaries with a new depth and fervor, we will become ever more effective instruments of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, for the salvation of souls and her triumph.



Fr. Paul Robinson

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As we mark the 160th anniversary (1858-2018) of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s apparitions in Lourdes, we consider the significance of this series of great events for St. Maximilian Kolbe’s apostolate for the Immaculata.

For this saint of Mary, the month of February was the month commemorating Our Lady’s apparitions in the humble grotto of Massabielle. Hence St. Maximilian urged all Knights of the Immaculata to be particularly conscious of their noble mission in life, that is, to dedicate their lives entirely to the Immaculata and Her service in order to combat the world, the flesh and the devil.

Although Our Lady’s apparitions in Lourdes do not add anything new to Church dogma, Her humble declaration to St. Bernandette that She IS the Immaculate Conception (conceived without any stain of sin) reflects the unchangeable reality that Her Immaculate Conception provides us the essential means to overcome sin and temptation, especially in the latter times.

Our Lady’s apparitions in Lourdes in the 19th century provide a prelude to Her great apparitions in Fatima in the 20th, for Her message is fundamentally the same; that sinners repent and turn back to God before they fall into the bottomless pits of Hell.

In Lourdes, we experience Our Lady’s role as the Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix for sinners. Similarly, in Fatima, we are reminded that Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart is THE MEANS that leads us sinners back to God.

Hence, the Most Holy Virgin Mary’s pleas for prayer and penance in both Lourdes and Fatima makes the Militia Immaculatae even more relevant as the latter’s very mission is to help snatch souls from the devil in order to win them for Mary Immaculate.

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When the world bathes in instant gratification and flourishes at the misconception that heaven exists solely on earth, the threat of this ideology jeopardises so many souls and deviates people from the real goal at the end of their lives.

Here, God saves us from this ruination: He sends the Immaculata to the world to remind us of the purpose for which we were created. "Lourdes, Revelation of Heaven" unfolds to its readers how the dogma of heaven becomes visible in the Immaculata because heaven is immaculate, without stain. The Book starts with the all important timeline of the 18 apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes to 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous.

The crux of Our Lady's message to Bernadette, besides the revelation of Her name, is penance and prayer for sinners. Fr C.B. Daly explains that Mary's union with Her Son's sufferings for us began with Her Son's conception in her womb. Her mind, heart and will was completely united with Her Son, Who coming into the world said, "Behold I come to do Thy will, O God!" This should be the real goal of our lives.

"Lourdes, Revelation of Heaven" is not just a book about the history of the apparitions in Lourdes or the life of St Bernadette. It progresses further in its explanations about Mary's association with Holy Communion and how this relationship is made abundantly clear in Lourdes.

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(Part 1 of 3 volumes) by Rev. Ildefonso R. Vilar, SDB. Kolbe Publications, 2018. Pp. 190

It is not easy to write well on Our Lady. Ste. Thérèse de Lisieux said in one of her last saying that “all the sermons on Our Lady that she had heard left her cold… If a sermon on the blessed virgin is to bear fruit, it must present her real life, as the Gospels let it appear not her supposed life”. The volume under review by a Salesian priest – originally written in Spanish – presents exactly that. And it succeeds in giving the reader a glimpse of the real life of Our Lady. This is what God had in his mind and it is precisely what we must imitate. This book will help you with that.

“We are dealing with a mystery. Therefore we cannot plumb the depths of it since we would be lost in its immensity. Nevertheless, it is sweet and consoling to ponder, as far as in us lies, over those reasons for which Mary… had to be our Mother” (p.24). This is what the author intends to present in 40 meditations.

After presenting who Mary is (meditation #1,2) he presents the points for meditation on the Immaculate Conception (#3-9), the name of Mary (#13,14), the Presentation of Our Lady (#15-17), the Espousal of Our Lady (#18), the Annunciation (#18-28), the Visitation (#29-31), Magnificat (#32-38), the Expectation of Christ’s Birth (#39) and on the road to Bethlehem (#40).

“Think deeply what is means. Try to be penetrate deep and deeper into this mystery. You will derive much advantage from it”. (p. 21). Indeed. What strikes one much is the fact that there is a perfect chord between doctrine & piety. This book is neither over-pious nor too complicated.

Each meditation has three (or four) points where the author presents the mystery in a simple term for our consideration. The last points are usually for practical purpose. For example, on Annunciation, “Learn prudence of Mary. How easily we believe something to be God’s business, seeing it as easily as a suggestion from an angel when it resounds to our own profit or glory. How readily we sprint towards those things that please us. And how often we afterwards realize that the inspiration did not after all come from the Angel of Light but from the Angel of Darkness, and what we thought to be a divine whisper was in reality a temptation! Examine, meditate, take advice, so that you may always be right in your choice and resolves, thereby imitating the prudence of your Heavenly Mother” (p. 129).

We do notice few misslips. p. 23 ‘that’ should be read “than” P. 74: ‘heart’ is misspelled and on p. 76: ‘Blessed Lady’, p. 150 ‘Mary’… Some phrases sound awkward like p.15 ‘Be confused in God’s love for Mary’. These are just a few slips which does not take away the essential soundness of the rest of the work.

This book may be warmly recommended to priests, but they should not expect to find readymade sermon; they will find better than that, if only they can afford the unhurried and meditated reading it requires to let the central idea of the book to sink in. They will acquire an insight into the Marian dogmas and a conviction of the meaning of her mission which may well prove the secret of fruitful preaching.

It is equally and highly recommended to laity alike. They cannot afford to miss it. This book will prove of practical use to its reader and a joy to them as well.

Kolbe Publications have done a wonderful job. The printing and color pictures throughout the book are very attractive. With these new volumes the publishers have doubled the debt of gratitude the English speaking traditional world owes them.
Fr. Therasian Babu SSPX



MARIAN MEDITATIONS - Part ll

In the second volume of his “Marian Meditations”,
Father Idelfonso Villa, SDB makes us contemplate the
Mother of God from Christ’s cradle to His burial.
At long last, Mary sees the face of the Word
Incarnate, Her divine Son. A few adore Him in His
manger and in the Temple of Jerusalem. And yet,
how true the words of Simeon that “this child shall
be a sign of contradiction”. Exiled in Egypt, He then hides Himself at Nazareth. Mary and Joseph silently marvel at God’s wisdom, goodness and beauty.
The Woman of Genesis obtains the start of Christ’spublic mission and the gift of faith for His disciples.
She now remains quiet in the background. And yet, while His disciples hide, She openly side with
Jesus during His salvific Passion. The Woman of the Apocalypse suffers the pangs of childbirth and becomes
the Mother of Christ’s many brethren and their Co-Redemptrix. When “all is consummated”, the
Sorrowful Mother longs for the Resurrection of Her divine Son.
Fr. Benoit Wailliez, SSPX

MARIAN MEDITATIONS -Part lll

In the third volume of his “Marian Meditations”,
Father Idelfonso Villa, SDB makes us contemplate
the Mother of God from Christ’s Resurrection to Her
coronation in heaven.
Our Lady’s faith is rewarded by the Resurrection
of Her divine Son and His visit to Her in the early hours of Easter Sunday. How She must have longed
to go with Him to heaven right away, on Ascension Day! But She is the Mother of the Church and She
ought to be present at Pentecost with St. Peter and the other apostles. St. John faithfully takes Mary to his own. And while on earth, Our Lady keeps giving way to Her Son and His representatives. But from heaven which She triumphantly enters, body and soul, Christ’s power, wisdom and love are given Her to act outrightly as universal Mediatrix of all graces. “To
know Mary, you must know Her Heart”, Father Villa concludes. “The more you study Her love, the more complete your knowledge of Her will be. A sweet consideration indeed and a sweet devotion too.”
Fr. Benoit Wailliez, SSPX

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"Our Lady's time was near in Nazareth; no doubt she and the neighbour women had been making fond preparations for the coming of her First-born.

Then one day, St. Joseph came home from the market place with disquieting news. A messenger of the Roman Emperor had ridden into town and made a proclamation in the public square commanding that every man must go at once to his native city to be entered in the census.

Under the circumstances, it was a harsh command for Mary and Joseph, and worldly wisdom might have counselled delay..." ~ "Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary" ~ Third Joyful Mystery.

Users of this Booklet have found the 15 meditations composed here to be deep and profound whilst being easy to peruse. R.J. Miller, C.SS.R. understood that it was sometimes difficult to know just how to go about meditating and desired that this Booklet would fill the void. Furthermore, the meditations in this Booklet not only have spiritual significance but are also filled with social relevance.
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As we mark the 102nd anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima this year (2018), we are reminded once again of the necessity of a true devotion to the Mother of God via the Rosary. The Blessed Virgin Mary herself has recommended the recitation of the Rosary, several popes over the centuries of Catholic Tradition have extoled this efficacious prayer for all Catholics and many Catholic families have alluded family harmony, peace and joy to the practice of this Marian devotion sent by Heaven.

How then, are we struggling Catholics to respond positively to the requests of the Blessed Virgin Mary and recite the Rosary well each day? Certainly the Rosary and its 53 Ave Marias (Hail Marys) are not meant to be recited mechanically without giving much thought to the rich treasures contained in the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary. Yet, many of us recite the Rosary when we are on the road or in between our duties of state, and may find oursevles in environments that are not conducive to recollected meditations befitting of this powerful Marian devotion.

Therefore, this booklet, Meditiations on the Mysteries of the Rosary, provides Catholic faithful wishing to honor Our Lady and heed her requests to pray the Rosary for world peace and the conversion of poor sinners, a portable and hence convenient means to focus our wandering thoughts to the essential episodes of the lives of Jesus and His Virgin Mother. Written by R.J. Miller in easy-to-read prose, this booklet targets audiences from all walks of life and exhorts readers to follow the footsteps of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, without any theological jargon and discourse.

"Our pains, they reply, are beyond description. When separated from our body, we saw the face of God, our Supreme Good, the Infinite Perfection. Then would we rush into His bosom, but we were driven back by His Justice, we were banished!" ~ Second Day: Pains of Purgatory

We often mourn for our loved ones to the point of never being the same person we once were. We find ourselves constantly unbraiding our thoughts: wishing that we had been better disposed toward them while they were still alive. We look for relief in anything our minds and hands can grasp and it sometimes proves to be a tenuous process.

Rev. J. F. Durin reminds us that though, as mentioned in II Maccabees, it is a holy and wholesome thing to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins, this act of charity is also profitable to the living. Our departed ones eagerly pray for us in response to our intercession and their petitions are heard by God.

The Novena for The Relief of The Poor Souls in Purgatory creates a formidable manner for us to offer our thoughts and prayers for the deliverance of the suffering souls and for their admission to the joys of heaven. Each day of the nine day Novena contains a profound meditation, a suggested opportunity to enact what we have learnt, a proposed act of resolution and a guided prayer for the faithful departed. It is our hope that these prayers from our lips will descend into purgatory and put an end to the sufferings of the poor souls.

The Novena is made suitable for personal and family intercessory prayers. Most of all, as St Thomas Aquinas has said, praying for the poor souls grants us the platform to offer to God the most estimable and acceptable form of prayer as it contains all the works of charity, both corporal and spiritual. Therefore, let us commit ourselves today to a fervent devotion in favour of the souls in purgatory.

"Give me an army of Christians who recite the Rosary well and I will conquer the world. If you want peace in your heart, in your home, in your country, assemble together every night and say the ROSARY." ~ St Pius X

"Praying the Rosary" booklet is available for all those who wish to nurture and encourage a more consistent personal devotion to the Rosary. It is also practical enough to be gifted with a Rosary to all those whom one wishes to advocate a practical guide to praying the Rosary.

St Louis de Montfort himself said that the Rosary supplies us with what is needed to pay all our debts to God and to our fellow men, and finally, it obtains all kinds of graces for us from Almighty God. Here, the Booklet dispenses us with 15 different types of Graces to ask for while we pray the 15 decades of the Rosary.