First Saturday Parish Rosary at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 10/1/2016

6 years of Prayers, Saints, and Blessings! This month's meeting marked another milestone for our parish's First Saturday Rosary Devotion - it was the 6th Anniversary of our coming together consistently to pray for World Peace. Most of the regulars were in attendance, and today was all about the importance of the Rosary Devotion, given that October is the month of the Holy Rosary.

   

Pictured above, my pilgrim statue of Our

Lady of Fatima.  On the display altar with

Our Lady's statue was a smaller one of Bl.

Alexandrina and a 2nd Class Relic from

the Beata's clothing.

First off, I left my Rosa Mystica pilgrim statue at home today and opted to have my lovely Fatima statue make a rare appearance instead. Mary identified herself as the "Lady of the Rosary" in her final appearance at Fatima, Portugal, on October 13th, 1917, so it was fitting that this statue was our group's main devotional focal point for this month.

In addition, the featured Saint of the Month was Bl. Alexandrina Maria Da Costa, a Mystic and Victim-Soul who is often referred to as the "fourth seer of Fatima" because of the intense devotion she had to Our Lady of Fatima and her propagation of the Fatima Message to all who came to see her in the Portuguese village of Balasar. 

Golden escarchas that manifested
on the palm of my right hand.

A 2nd Class Relic from Alexandrina's dress was also made available for the edification of our prayer participants today. The people were in awe as I relayed the incredible story of Bl. Alexandrina's life and the miracles Jesus worked through her. In the end, I emphasized that the ultimate message we should take away from this holy woman's example is two-fold: Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist... and the message of Fatima continues to be relevant in our current times; that we urgently need to put Our Lady's request into practice to bring Peace into our lives and the rest of the world.

Lastly, there was a rare manifestation of escarchas. They appeared on my right hand and in the pew during the Mass in the main church. Perhaps it was Jesus and Mary's way of congratulating us on our anniversary... or maybe their way of punctuating the month's theme of the Rosary... or perhaps it was for both reasons. Whatever the case, I took the sign of the escarchas as a most welcome blessing to cap off the evening.

Hopefully, God be willing, our First Saturday Rosary will continue for another year with more positive fruits for our parish. For now, the next meeting will be held on November 5th, beginning at 4:25pm with the introduction of another Saint of the Month.  All are invited to participate.