Our Lady & Jesus smile after 4 daysOur Lady's statue crying/bleedingOur Lady's statue bleeding
Baton Rouge and Our Lady of La Vang
Baton Rouge, Louisiana July 17, 2016
Four years ago in the hot, summer month of July something unusual happened in Baton Rouge which interestingly happened only, two short, miles from where the senseless killing of three police officers took place this morning at 8:30 am. On July 6, 2012, a statute of Our Lady of La Vang located in the Broadmoor neighborhood (1000 Broadmoor Circle) began to bleed from her forehead.
Thousands of people began to gather and pray on a daily bases at the bleeding statue until the city officials had to put a stop to it because it became a logistics nightmare. Some people in the neighborhood even stopped walking their dogs to avoid the pilgrimage traffic.
Was Our Lady of La Vang trying to give the people of Baton Rouge a heavenly message four years ago at this very spot where the statue bled only blocks away from now, a national, news event? At many of Our Lady's apparition sites, Our Lady is trying to awaken her children to a closer relationship with her son through prayer and fasting. In many cases, it may also have a more serious consequence if the people do not heed her call to prayer! Impending war was often on the horizon, like at Fatima where Our Lady said, "If we do not pray the Holy Rosary daily, WWI would end but an even greater war would come!" And indeed the WWI did end and hence the horrors of WWII began!
At times the statue in Baton Rouge wept, and at other times, she and the infant Jesus, she held in her arms, seemed to smile! Could it be they were smiling because of the outpouring love and prayers by the people who came to Our Lady's statue? One family member said there were as many as 10,000 people who came.
The story of Our Lady of La Vang is about the Vietnamese Catholics fleeing from an evil emperor, Canh Thinh. The Emperor restricted the practice of Catholicism in the country in 1798. Many of the Catholic people suffered persecution and death. They had to flee to the jungle to escape and eventually grew ill. They would gather around huge trees every night and pray the rosary and ask for a healing. One night Our Lady of La Vang appeared to the people and told them to boil the leaves on the trees. They did as she instructed and were healed!
Let us continue to heed to Our Mother's call to especially pray the Holy Rosary for the police officers who lost their lives today, for peace throughout our cities, in our nation and in the world.
Our Lady of La Vang is not officially approved by the church, but she has a universal appeal to the Vietnamese Catholics.
Editor, Tricia Parsons
Video of the Vietnamese Catholics gathered in the evening to pray the rosary at the bleeding statue in Broadmoor, Baton Rouge, 2012.
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This is the official endorsement of “Novena for Our Nation”
by His Eminence, Cardinal Raymond Burke:
“There is no doubt that our beloved nation is in one of the worst crises which it has ever experienced, a profound moral crisis which generates division on all levels and results in an ever-greater more pervasive violence and killing. For Roman Catholics, who have always been known for their faith-filled patriotism, the first response to this crisis is fervent prayer and, in particular, prayer through the intercession of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Mary Immaculate who is also the patroness of our nation.
One of the most powerful prayers which is ours in the Church is, in fact, the Holy Rosary. I think, for instance, of the Battle of Lepanto and the victory which was won on October 7, 1571, over the Saracens who were bent on conquering Christian Europe. Let us now turn to the powerful prayer of the Holy Rosary, asking Mary Immaculate to intercede with Our Lord to bring healing to our nation and to inspire in her citizens the holiness of life which alone can transform our nation.
I wholeheartedly endorse the Novena for Our Nation (Starting August 15) and the Rosary Rally on October 7th next, the 445th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto. I urge as many as are able to participate in these great spiritual works for the sake of our entire nation. In a special way, as the spiritual advisor to the Holy League, I urge all members of the Holy League to give strong leadership in this great campaign of prayer for our nation.”
The Catholic Church's most recent APPROVED APPARITIONS
Kibeho, Rwanda Kibeho is a small town in the diocese of Butare. The Shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho commemorates very recent apparitions of Our Lady, who gave her principle messages between 1981 and 1983. The Virgin Mary appeared to seven girls at a boarding school in Kibeho. According to the visionaries, the apparition introduced herself as Our Lady of Sorrows.
On August 15, 1982, the visionaries saw the Virgin Mary "cry." Then on August 19, 1982, the visionaries witnessed terrifying visions of the impending civil war in Rwanda. On both August 15 and November 28, 1983, Our Lady asked that a chapel be built in her honor. It was given the name of the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows
"The principal message given to Marie Claire Mukangango concerned the recitation of theChaplet of the Seven Sorrows!" Go here to get the chaplet.
This chaplet, which is not a substitute for the Rosary, has been known since the 14th and 15th century. It was made popular by the Rhenan mystics, the Dominicans, the Servites of Mary and others. And yet, it fell out of use. So forgotten that no one in the middle school could recite it properly. There was just an old sister who vaguely remembered some of it. This apparition then was the one that taught Marie Claire how to recite the chaplet. It was not a new revelation, but a reminder of an element of the Church tradition. Get the entire article here at La Carte Mariale du Monde
This is a Jubilee Year of Mercy that Pope Francis has so generously lavished upon us! This is the perfect time to reflect, learn and practice the message of God's Divine Mercy.
The Holy Father is only imitating what God, Our Father is so eagerly wanting to give us. This Year of Mercy obtains a plenary indulgence- the complete remission of all temporal punishment due to sin. To obtain this indulgence, the faithful must go through a Holy Door usually found in all cathedrals and other churches in each diocese across the globe designated by the local bishop. This action reflects a deeper desire for conversion. Also, the faithful must receive Holy Communion, go to confession and pray for the Holy Father.
One of the most important and powerful ways to learn about God's Divine Mercy is through the message of Divine Mercy in St. Faustina's Diary. St. Faustina was the first saint to be canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II in the year 2000 which was also a Jubilee Year! In the Diary, Our Lord told St. Faustina, "The greatest sinner has the greatest right to His Mercy!" (Entry 146) There are so many great promises in the Divine Mercy Message: Divine Mercy Sunday, The Divine Mercy Hour,Divine Mercy Novena, and Praying the Chaplet by the bedside of the sick and dying.
In turn, we must imitate that Mercy to others so we can all benefit from His gracious gift, a kind of a "Pay it Forward!" In the context of God's Divine Mercy, these acts of Mercy are defined as the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.
Mobile Confession for the Year of Mercy in Acadiana, Louisiana
For the Year of Mercy, the diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana is introducing a new mobile confessional to help bring people back to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Made from a donated and converted ambulance, the confessional on wheels will officially begin service Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the beginning of the year Pope Francis has declared a “Jubilee of Mercy.”“During the Year of Mercy we want to bring the sacrament to areas where people otherwise might not be able to get to confession,” said Father Michael Champagne, the priest behind the project.“As the pope was saying, we have to smell like sheep. These days it’s more like leaving the one to go after the 99,” he said.
