The Association’s annual Rosary Octave of Prayer will begin Friday, October 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Saint Pius V established this feast in 1571 in gratitude for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto, a victory attributed to widespread recitation of the Rosary. “Through the Rosary and Scapular,” wrote the Carmelite Friar Saint Dominic, “Our Lady will save the world.”

We do well to entrust to Mary the urgent temporal and spiritual needs in our families and in our world. Please be among AMM members joining us from home to pray one Rosary daily for eight days. You are also encouraged to send your intentions to be remembered during the octave at Our Lady’s Shrine. The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is a wonderful opportunity to request a Votive Light to burn for your needs, or simply as a gesture of praise and gratitude for blessings and favors Our Lady has bestowed upon you and your loved ones. God has promised salvation to the world through his Son Jesus. He has given us Jesus’ own Blessed Mother to accompany us along the journey of redemption. We implore Mary, through the most holy Rosary, to lead us to the eternal life with Christ that awaits his faithful children.

You are invited to join the Association’s octave of Masses, February 11-18, honoring Our Lady of Lourdes. Send us your intentions now to be remembered and burn Votive Lights.  Mary, under her titles of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and Our Lady of Lourdes, is always ready to help her children. So many miracles are attributed to water coming from a spring at Lourdes, France. These miracles testify to the fact that Mary intercedes for us! This close connection between Lourdes and the Miraculous Medal is why we celebrate an octave of Masses here at the National Shrine of the Miraculous Medal honoring Our Lady of Lourdes. Read Fr. Kevin’s letter about the story of young Yvonne Fournier who was blessed with an instant and complete restoration of injuries she sustained in a work-related accident after a single bath in the waters of Lourdes.