Blessed Virgin Mary

Saint Joachim

DVRodriguez2025-10-21T13:54:22-04:00

Saint Joachim is the patron of fathers, grandparents and married couples. His name means “Preparation for the Lord.” The glory and intercessory power that St. Joachim has are proportioned to the merit and dignity of being the Father of Mary and grandfather of Jesus. In fact, the more grace a soul possesses, the more powerful are its prayers. (Our prayers are often weakly effective for we lack grace.) The grace which a soul possesses at the moment of death is the grace it will have for all eternity. Rightly then is Our Lady called the Mightiest Helper of the Christian people.

Saint JoachimDVRodriguez2025-10-21T13:54:22-04:00

Called to Be Especially Devoted to the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart

DVRodriguez2025-10-20T10:49:21-04:00

Our Lady’s Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart has loved God more purely and ardently than all the holy hearts of angels and saints combined. God used the blood in her heart to create the human nature of His Son. Christ depended upon His Mother’s Heart for His existence. Mary’s heart preserves and glorifies the marvelous mysteries of Her Son’s life, passion, death and resurrection. This is in fact the very mission of the Church. It is also an aim of the Rosary. We all need conversion and Mary’s heart serves as a marvelous ‘road map’ in this necessary work. Being devoted to [...]

Called to Be Especially Devoted to the Immaculate and Sorrowful HeartDVRodriguez2025-10-20T10:49:21-04:00

Why You Must Take Our Lady Into Your Home

DVRodriguez2025-09-30T13:16:44-04:00

Every Christian land has shrines to Our Lady. Yet the focus in these shrines is on Her Son, not Mary. We see this same pattern in the Scriptures. Consider the Wedding at Cana, the Visitation, and Calvary. At His death, Jesus asked John to take Mary into his home. Also, God asked Joseph to take Mary into his home. Every disciple of Christ makes a place for Mary in his home. And if she comes to a home, we can be sure her Son will be with her. Our Lady takes every praise or prayer we direct to her, augments and [...]

Why You Must Take Our Lady Into Your HomeDVRodriguez2025-09-30T13:16:44-04:00

More Spiritual Lessons from the Assumption

DVRodriguez2025-09-30T07:30:21-04:00

The Mystery of Mary’s Assumption provides valuable lessons. It shows the centrality of Christ and how Mary is the path to Christ. Since Our Lady shared in Jesus’ sufferings in a completely unique way, so she too shares in His glory in a completely unique way. Yet there is great glory for ALL who carry their cross faithfully. Imitating Our Lady, we are to persevere in God’s grace and keep our focus always on Heaven. May this mystery also inspire us to seek God’s will above our own in all things, especially as regards sickness and death. Our Lady willingly denied [...]

More Spiritual Lessons from the AssumptionDVRodriguez2025-09-30T07:30:21-04:00

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

DVRodriguez2025-10-02T09:23:04-04:00

Tradition holds that four famous portraits of the Virgin and Child were painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. One of these is the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, located today in the Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome. The order St. Alphonsus founded, the Redemptorists, have done much to promote this devotion after it was already greatly venerated in the East. St. Luke painted it on a table top crafted by Our Lord. The image was blessed by Our Lady, and she promised: “My grace will accompany it.” In this icon, Mary directs us to her Son. The Child [...]

Our Lady of Perpetual HelpDVRodriguez2025-10-02T09:23:04-04:00

The Prayer of St. Anne

DVRodriguez2025-09-08T12:26:58-04:00

“By their fruits you shall know them.” Let us apply our Lord’s words to St. Anne. She is Our Lord's grandmother and Our Lady's mother. St. Anne is a patroness for many, although her intercession is particularly focused on the family. She excelled in charity for the poor and love of God. She fervently prayed for a husband who would help her live according to the divine law. She and St. Joachim bore very heavy crosses with faith and humility. In fact, her deeds and prayers and deeds serve as a powerful example and inspiration. May we each grow in our [...]

The Prayer of St. AnneDVRodriguez2025-09-08T12:26:58-04:00

Christ’s Suffering and Christ’s Love

DVRodriguez2025-07-14T09:36:22-04:00

There is nothing more conducive to the glory of God and sanctification of one’s soul than to think every day on the pains that Christ suffered for love of us. This is what Catholicism is. In these two mysteries –suffering & love– we learn the great truths about life. The Mass is our perpetual remembrance of them; at every moment it is being offered somewhere in the world. Yet the Mass is also a perpetual presence of His cross and death, from which we all can draw life, strength and grace. The more we do so, the more we reject sin [...]

Christ’s Suffering and Christ’s LoveDVRodriguez2025-07-14T09:36:22-04:00

Prayer to Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth
Gallery

Prayer to Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth

DVR Fatima2025-06-06T16:20:59-04:00

The prayer from the sermon 'The Queenship of Mary' given on May 7, 2016 O Mother of my God, and my Lady Mary; as a beggar, all wounded and sore, presents himself before a great queen, so do I present myself before thee, who art the Queen of heaven and earth. From the lofty throne on which thou sittest, disdain not, I implore thee, to cast thine eyes on me, a poor sinner. God has made thee so rich that thou mightest assist the poor, and has constituted thee Queen of Mercy in order that thou mightest relieve the miserable. Behold [...]

Prayer to Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and EarthDVR Fatima2025-06-06T16:20:59-04:00

Mother of Grace, CoRedemptrix, and Mediatrix

DVRodriguez2025-06-06T16:03:39-04:00

God’s best and perfect gift is Jesus Christ, Whom God willed to give us through the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is God’s plan since before time began and it does not change. He manifested this truth at Bethlehem, then again at Fatima, and still at every Mass. Let us deepen this understanding by considering three of Our Lady’s titles and seven things she requested at Fatima.

Mother of Grace, CoRedemptrix, and MediatrixDVRodriguez2025-06-06T16:03:39-04:00

The Devotion of Our Lady of Sorrows
Gallery

The Devotion of Our Lady of Sorrows

DVR Fatima2025-04-07T09:16:37-04:00

Origins of the Devotion Devotion to the Mother of Sorrows dates back to the beginning of the Church. The first explicit instance is St. John at the foot of the Cross. This devotion was enshrined in apostolic history through the fourth gospel narrative —“Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother…” (John. 19:25) Though the devotion has always been part of Catholic piety, it was not until the 13th Century that the devotion of meditating on the sorrows of Our Lady began to flourish and spread. It was at this time that the hymn, Stabat Mater, was most likely [...]

The Devotion of Our Lady of SorrowsDVR Fatima2025-04-07T09:16:37-04:00