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Month: February 2022

Save the Date! Bishop Kevin Rhoades to Offer Holy Mass

February 21, 2022
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SAVE THE DATE

Saturday, August 6, 2022, at 11:00 AM EDT, Bishop Kevin Rhoades is scheduled to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center in Rome City, Indiana.  

This date is both the First Saturday of the month and the Feast of the Transfiguraion.

Please plan to attend to show your support for the devotion to Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin, Patroness of America. As a community we need to show our appreciation to Bishop Rhoades for establishing the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center as a recognized place of pilgrimage and allowing the Sacraments in the chapel.

He has given Our Lady and Patroness a place where she will provide graces of healing and conversion to those who come seeking her intercession. 

What Bishop Rhoades has done in allowing this devotion to flourish is an exceptional act of pastoral care and faith in the lay faithful. Please come and join with us in offering thanks and prayers for what he has done. And please join us in prayer that Heaven’s plans for this work will be accomplished.

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A Member of The Holy Family?

February 17, 2022
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As we head into spring, I draw your attention to Holy Family Hill which is part of the south lawn of the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center’s 62-acre pilgrimage site.  This hill which is elevated about 30 feet above the surrounding lawn and fields is a place where many pilgrims experience in a special way, Our Lady’s consolation and peace.  On the top of the hill is a statue of the Holy Family and an area where pilgrims gather to say the Rosary.

As our Lord completed his Passion on the Cross, he gives His Mother, Our Lady to Saint John to be his mother, and he gives Saint John to His Mother to be her son (John 19:26-27).  Catholic teaching says that St. John is the stand in for all Christians and that we too are sons and daughters of the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God.  

In this moment she is given to us as Our Mother, and we as her children in a familiar relationship.  She is the Mother of Christians, the Church and all seeking salvation.  It is evident that through this Divine Decree of Our Lord, we are members of the Holy Family too.  O, such graces that are given to us her children, the adopted sons and daughters of the Holy Family!

The mystery does not end there…

For Our Lady, to be chosen as the Mother of Christ is an unimaginable privilege and obligation, requiring someone of perfect holiness and absolute humility.  But there are other extraordinary titles of Our Lady in addition to her title as Mother of God.   She is also the Daughter of the Father and Spouse of the Holy Spirit, in addition to the Mother of the Son.  Our Lady has a familiar relationship with each Person of the Holy Trinity.  

Holy Family in Stained Glass Rome City Indiana

So, there is the Holy Family on Earth consisting of the Son of God, Our Lady, Mother of God and St. Joseph the Protector of the Redeemer.   And in Heaven there is the Divine Family revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit each of which individually and collectively have a familiar, yet different relationship with Our Lady.  While she is not divine, she has been adopted into the Divine Family. 

Now comes into focus that Our Lady has a familiar relationship with each Person of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And as her children we have a familiar relationship with her.  Our Lady is the non-divine connection between the Divine Family, the Holy Family and us her adopted children!  

Our familiar relationship with Our Lady, extends to us her familiar relationship with the Holy Trinity.  Albeit to a lesser degree than the Blessed Virgin Mary’s, but through her we too have a familiar relationship with the Holy Trinity.  What a mystery!  What an immense gift of Grace!

How does it feel to know you are a member of the Holy Family and have a familiar relationship with the Holy Trinity?   Awesome, Graced, Daunting, Unbelievable?

In this devotion Our Lady is calling us to imitate the Holy Family.  Not only so that we can be made worthy of the promises of Christ, but also that we may lead others to salvation, just as the Holy Family does.  To this Our Lady is calling us, to imitate the Holy Family in all things, including the calling of souls to Christ. 

There is a corollary to human adoption.  When a child, particularly one of the age of reason is adopted into a family there is a period of adjustment and assimilation where the new member is taught, formed and instructed to live to the standards of their new family.  It is no different for our adoption into the Holy Family.  The question for each of us is whether we eagerly embrace the love and standards of our new family, or in rebellion refuse the loving gifts being offered.   The choice is ours.

The devotion to Our Lady of America calls us to assimilate into the Holy Family by imitation, prayer, sacraments, and desire.  Our Lady call us to join and participate in the immense graces that she enjoys.

Pray for the Grace to be worthy of your adoption into the Holy Family and connection to the Holy Trinity.  Our Lady will teach and form you if you are willing.

On your next pilgrimage, be sure to visit Holy Family Hill. It is indeed a special place and integral to the mission of the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center.

Concerning this website and associated social media: Any reference to apparitions or other supernatural claims of Sr. Mary Ephrem, or any blog posting and comments referring to the same must be understood as alleged. Furthermore, any reference to Our Lady of America should be understood to mean Our Lady, The Immaculate Virgin, Patroness of America.

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