Saturday Morning Rosary at St. John Vianney Church, 7/14/2012

Introducing this ministry's new pilgrim statue...

Earlier this week, the above-pictured statue of Our Lady of Fatima arrived from Ohio from where I had recently purchased it from a private seller.  It stands 27" tall from the base to the top of the head... and it is absolutely stunning!  It will be used by my personal ministry as a "pilgrim statue" to spread devotion to Our Lady and the Holy Rosary, along with my other pilgrim image - a larger Rosa Mystica statue.

This morning, when I attended Mass at neighboring St. John Vianney's church, I brought along the Fatima statue to have it blessed by the priest. After the blessing, I was invited to participate in the Rosary Prayer by a small group of parishioners who regularly pray the Rosary in the church's Blessed Sacrament Side-Chapel after the Mass.  I gladly accepted their invitation... and had the joy of presenting the statue for the veneration of the people who were gathered to pray.

Not wanting to disrespect Our Lady by placing her newly blessed image on the floor where I knelt down to pray, I placed the Fatima statue on the koa wood pedestal beside the Tabernacle for the duration of the prayers.  It was actually quite moving and inspiring to be able to pray in the physical presence of our Eucharistic Lord... while his beloved Holy Mother was represented beside him through the statue.

When the Rosary ended, several people expressed their gratitude for the statue's impromptu pilgrim visit and all commented on its exceptionally lovely face and affable expression.  My prayer is that Our Lady will use this new statue to touch many hearts for her Divine Son as I hope to make it available for future pilgrim visits to my home-parish of St. Anthony's Church in Kailua, and elsewhere where my ministry is invited and welcomed.

Our Lady of Fatima,

Queen of the Holy Rosary,

pray for us!