Rome, July 31^st, 2016

18^th Sunday in the Ordinary Time

Dear Fathers, Brothers, and Friends:

Between the 13^th of May and the 13^th of October in 1917 the six apparitions at Fatima – with their message of repentance, comfort, warning, and singular protection – took place. In May of next year, we will celebrate the 100^th anniversary of this memorable event which has left a deep mark not only on the Church of the twentieth century, but also on Marian devotion, on the Christian conscience, and even on the actions of some Popes (pilgrimages to her shrine, the revelation of the secrets pronounced by the Blessed Virgin Mary to Venerable Sister Lucia and to Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco, as well as the consecration of the world to Mary’s Immaculate Heart). As is known, the prayers of our Mother, and those intentions that She asked the Church to pray for – the world and some countries in particular (Russia) – were decisive in the events of the end of the last century, in a special way in the fall of the Soviet regime, one of the most anti-Christian empires in all of history.

Ours is a time full of lights and shadows, of hopes and predictions of future storms, of political uncertainties and doctrinal confusion, some of them unlike ever before. Today, as in so many crucial moments, we need the particular intervention of this protective Mother and a new triumph of her Immaculate Heart. Once again, the Church goes through history “amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God” (St. Augustine), and many hearts are troubled by anxiety and uncertainty. The proximity of the next celebration is a special opportunity to call upon our Mother with all of our strength.

A unique way to prepare for the centennial of her protecting providential help is with a novena, though not of days, but of months. Beginning in August, which starts tomorrow, we have exactly nine months before next May.

Proposals for preparation

That is why, from the General House of the Institute, we want to guide and make our own an initiative that was presented to us by Father Miguel Ángel Fuentes.

It is the following: without overloading the regular activities with which we already express our Marian devotion, but rather by ordering and emphasizing them, we can make this work of preparation an opportunity to express a distinctive Marian devotion that should characterize us because of our fourth vow of Marian slavery.

Our proposal consists in coordinating these nine months by devoting each to exalt one of the main privileges of Mary and performing various activities, some of which are listed below, as well as all those you would like to add (recitation of the Rosary in community or in family, a continuous recitation of the Rosary on some occasions, pilgrimages to her shrines, etc.).

This is an invitation for everyone: priests, men and women religious, and the lay people of our Third Order, who would like to join us in this communal prayer, widespread in its dimensions, just like the expansion of our Religious Family, and long-lasting, like the upcoming nine months. However, at the same time, it is a free and spontaneous response of all those who wish to accept it.

Marian privileges to remember each month

The privileges that we should keep in mind each month are the following (all of them can be found in the work of Antonio Royo Marín, The Virgin Mary, or in any of the good treatises on the Blessed Virgin Mary, all of which are easily found online):

Several activities could be performed each month:

1. To celebrate all Saturday Masses in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the liturgy allows.
2. To preach on the Blessed Virgin Mary at least two Saturdays each month, if possible, on the privilege to which the month is dedicated.
3. To offer all the rosaries that will be prayed during these months for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary over the dangers that the Church is going through in our time and asking for a special protection for persecuted Christians – particularly, those in the Middle East – and for our Religious Family and vocations.
4. To offer the Saturday hour of adoration or that of the first Saturdays in atonement for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary: “Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation” (Words of the Infant Jesus to Sister Lucia on December 10, 1925).
5. To fulfill monthly the conditions that the Church requires to obtain indulgences: confession, communion, and prayers for the Pope.
6. This could be a good opportunity to renew and promote the consecration to Mary according to St. Louis Marie de Montfort’s method among the Third Order members and the laity in general, with the thirty three days of preparation as indicated by the saint.

Father Miguel Fuentes has offered to write each month some devotional thoughts regarding the corresponding Marian privilege which will be sent out via email.

The intentions of this novena are essentially threefold:

1. To ask for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary over the dangers that the Church is going through in our time.
2. To request a special protection for persecuted Christians, especially for those in the Middle East.
3. To pray for our Religious Family and for vocations.

The novena should begin during the month of August this year (2016), simply by letting everyone know that it is taking place and by beginning with what we can do from day one: we must keep in mind those intentions which are being offered as part of the novena, as well as the prayers for the intentions already indicated, to which everyone can add more, if desired. The Superiors of each Province and House will then suggest other activities that can be done. From what has already been said, the reading of and meditation on some classic books on Mary, such as the works of St. Louis Marie de Montfort, St. Alphonsus Liguori, Roschini, Antonio Royo Marín (the explanation of the aforementioned privileges can be taken from his work The Virgin Mary), and others, is also recommended.[1]

We thank Father Miguel Ángel Fuentes for having taken the initiative to propose this nine-month novena and we wish you all a very fruitful preparation to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria in 2017.

P. Gustavo Nieto, IVE
Superior General

P. Ricardo Clarey, IVE
Pro-Secretario

[1] Some of the works that can be used are the following: Fulton Sheen, La Señora [The World’s First Love]; Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary; Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary; Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, The Secret of Mary; Royo Marín, A., La Virgen María; Roschini, G., La vida de la Virgen María; Garrigou- Lagrange, R., La Madre del Salvador y nuestra vida interior; Bernadot, La Virgen María en nuestra vida; Philippe, M-M., El misterio de María; Carlos Buela, Fátima – Y el sol bailó; etc.