Catholic Fire

1. This is the time of year that I devote 33 days to prayer and study in order to prepare to renew my Marian consecration, which I originally made over twenty years ago. This week, I wrote an article entitled "What is Marian Consecration?" in which I explain the reasons for Marian consecration and the ways in which it is done. I also learned something new today. In preparation for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, beginning on December 8th, the Marians of the Immaculate Conception are putting the stories and devotions from the book: 33 Days to Morning Glory online. It is an awesome opportunity to reap the benefits of a most beautiful book and devotion! Click here for Day 1.  Don't worry if you see this late or can't make every day -- go ahead and begin. You won't regret it. 2. We celebrated All Saints' Day this past week. Here are seven quotes from the saints on sanctity. 3. Are you praying for the Souls in purgatory? November is devoted to the Holy ...

Several years ago, a reader asked me:  "What is consecration? Why would someone want to consecrate themselves to Mary?" How do I go about doing it?" Since this is the time of year that I try to renew my Consecration to Jesus through Mary, I think this is a good time to discuss Marian consecration. Consecrate comes from the Latin word consecrare: "to dedicate, to set aside for a holy purpose." Consecration to Jesus through Mary is a formal and total act of self-surrender and self-giving which doesn't stop at Mary, but which is actually directed toward Christ. Consecration to Mary is consecration to the "perfect means" which Jesus chose to unite Himself with us and vice versa. Consecration to Mary heightens the depth and truth of our commitment to Christ. Love for Mary always leads us to a greater love for Jesus, as she points the way to His heart. When we consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary we promise to become dependent on Mary in...

August 14, 2013. (Romereports.com) The statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima will travel all the way from Portugal to the Vatican, where Pope Francis is planning on consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.   The 'Marian Day' ceremony, which is scheduled to take place at the Vatican on Sunday, October 13th, will be attended by hundreds of religious movements and institutions that have a special Marian devotion. This Mass is one of the last main events scheduled for the 'Year of Faith.' Even before that Mass, things will be busy at the Vatican. On Saturday October 12th, different prayer events are scheduled along with a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter. Then on the 13th, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Square before thousands of faithful. The Statue of Our Lady will make its way to Rome, at the request of Pope Francis, who has shown a great devotion to Mary, since the very first day of his pontificate. The Statue will ...

Via CWN: At the request of Pope Francis, Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo of Lisbon dedicated this pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima, in a ceremony on May 13—the feast of Our Lady of Fatima—at the Marian shrine in Portugal. Cardinal Policarpo said that the Pontiff had twice asked him to make the dedication. The Portuguese prelate wrote his own prayer for the occasion, saying it at the end of a Mass concluding an international pilgrimage to the Fatima shrine. “Give him the gift of discernment to know how to identify the ways of renewal of the Church,” the cardinal prayed. “Give him the courage not to hesitate to follow the ways suggested by the Holy Spirit; support him in the hard hours of suffering to overcome with the charity the trials that the renewal of the church will bring.” During the same pilgrimage Archbishop Orani J0ao Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro dedicated this year’s World Youth Day celebration, which will be held in the Brazilian city in July, to Our Lady of Fatima a...

April 18, 2013. (Romereports.com) Just hours after being elected, Pope Francis asked Portuguese Cardinal José Policarpo for a special request. The Pope asked the patriarch of Lisbon to consecrate his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima.   In the month of April, Portuguese bishops held their annual meeting, where they all agreed to carry out the consecration ceremony together.   The celebration will held on May 13th and it will be led by Cardinal Policarpo, who also serves as the president of Portugal's Episcopal Conference. The bishops have also invited pilgrims to take part in the ceremony to honor the 'Pope's pastoral service.'

As my regular readers know, today is a special day for me, as it marks the 16th anniversary of my Marian consecration. Today is the feast of  Our Lady of of Lourdes -- the anniversary of the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858 to St. Bernadette Soubirous. Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, the Blessed Mother appeared to a poor, uneducated, sickly fourteen-year-old Marie Bernade (St. Bernadette) 18 times in the hollow of the rock at Lourdes, called “de Massabielle”. On March 25, the feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1858, she said to the little shepherdess who was only fourteen years of age: "I am the Immaculate Conception." Because the dogma of the Immaculate Conception had been officially proclaimed less than four years earlier, and Bernadette could not have even known of its existence, when Bernadette repeated the words, it gave credibility to her apparitions. It was confirmation from heaven that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was in...

Totus Tuus Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia meatua sunt, O Virgo, super omnia benedicta. Translates as: I am all yours, and all that is mine is yours, O Virgin, blessed above all. Louis de Montfort's life is inseparable from his efforts to promote genuine devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus and mother of the church. Totus tuus was Louis's personal motto; Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul the Great) chose it as his episcopal motto. Born to a poor family in 1673 in the Breton village of Montfort, as an adult, Louis identified himself by the place of his baptism instead of his family name, Grignion. After being educated by the Jesuits and the Sulpicians, he was ordained as a diocesan priest in 1700. He preached parish missions throughout western France, walking from city to city. His years of ministering to the poor prompted him to travel and live very simply, sometimes getting him into trouble with church authorities. In his preaching, which attracted thousands of people back to t...