The Shrine of the Miraculous Medal

Today I had the wonderful privilege of visiting on the most beautiful shrines that I have ever seen. It was by God's providence that in a visit to Washington DC, we drove to Philadelphia where there is located the National Shrine of the Miraculous Medal. Visit the above link if you want to know more about that.

How much our Blessed Mother loves us!!! How much she wants us to experience that love. Today I did precisely that as I visited the beautiful lower chapel where the designs of the mosaics and statues are done with such love. All the details of the apparitions are beautifully depicted on either side of a statue of the Virgin holding the Globe. It says, "the globe represents the whole world and especially France..." Then before that it says, "come to the altar..."

Indeed that was a moment of prayer before the Blessed Mother to know the love of Jesus through her own heart. I imagined the pierced heart of Jesus behind the Blessed Mother and in fact being the source of her love. She generously shares that with us so that we can go on and share it with other people.

The highlight of the day was being able to Deacon at the Mass, wearing a blue colored alb with a Marian Deacon Stole. I knew that it was her wish for me to serve in her beautiful shrine. What love she shows us!

May Almighty God bless you! May Jesus heart enfold you in his Merciful Love and may the Blessed Mother shower graces upon you and your loved ones!!

Rooted in the Miraculous Medal

This weekend was an incredible experience to see the power of the Miraculous Medal at work in the life of teens from across the southern US. Steubenville on the Bayou was held where I got the opportunity to pass out 2800 Miraculous Medals. The providence of GOd was behind all of this even from the ability to obtain so many medals and the opportunity to attend this wonderful retreat. I would say that the Blessed Mother had her hand in the whole even to the point of coordinating the place where I attended my Diaconate year. So we went with 250 teens to the retreat of 3000. We were the largest group present at the event and it was very much alive with the Holy Spirit. Some experiences from the retreat were mostly the different teens that reacted so well to the Medal and especially those that came up to me asking for anther one. They knew that it was something Holy and recognized that the Blessed Mother was praying for them when they accepted to wear one. Perhaps the most beautiful sight is passing out these medals one by one to teens that otherwise would not be open to such public expressions of love for God and Mary.