Novena to Servant of God Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan of Vietnam

Recently Tran, one of our Children's Rosary group leaders in Bien Hoa City Vietnam, asked if we could invite, Servant of God Cardinal Francis Xavier, to be a member of the Children's Rosary. He hoped that we might add him to the list of Saints we have prayed to for our Children's Rosary intention. Cardinal Francis Xavier is well known in Vietnam but possibly less known in other parts of the world. Tran shared some of his background. His life is a beautiful example of love, mercy and sacrifice. Tran also shared that he has a second class relic of Servant of God Cardinal Francis Xavier. 

Tran wanted to invite others to join him in a nine day Novena to begin November first, the Feast of All Saints. He promised to pray before the relic of Cardinal Francis Xavier for the members of the Children's Rosary and also those joining in the Novena.  

This seemed a beautiful invitation from Tran who yet only 16 years old, has tried to both continue the Children's Rosary group in this parish and spread the Children's Rosary. This after the death of his beloved Pastor Fr. Augustine in August. Tran, following in the example of his late Pastor has shared prayers for the members of the Children's Rosary before many relics of saints. As the Children's Rosary grows and more individuals from other parts of the world join, we have the wonderful blessing to know of many saints that otherwise we might be unfamiliar with in our home countries.  How beautiful to have this sharing of faith. It was our hope to invite all the Saints in Heaven to be a part of the Children's Rosary and to intercede for us. Slowly we are trying to move toward that goal.

Background

Cardinal Francis Xavier was born in Vietnam on April 17, 1928. He was brought up in a Catholic home and was introduced the life of St. Therese of Lisieux by his mother when he was a child. He was ordained a priest in 1953. In 1975, on the Feast of the Assumption, he was detained and held in house arrest. Without a trial, he was taken to North Vietnam where he was imprisoned for his Religious beliefs. He spent 13 years in prison and 9 of which were in solitary confinement. He was released on the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady. Despite the religious persecution he experienced he lived a spirit of forgiveness and preached reconciliation. In the year 2000 he was invited by Pope St. John Paul II to preach a Lenten retreat to the Curia. The Holy Father had a private audience with Cardinal Francis Xavier and gave him a chalice. Cardinal Francis Xavier said, "Twenty-four years ago, I said Mass with three drops of wine and one drop of water in the palm of my hand, I never would have thought that today the Holy Father would give me a gilt chalice. Our Lord is great indeed and so is his love”. Cardinal Francis Xavier died on September 16, 2002 in Rome.

Prayer for Beatification

16 Sep 2007 | The Most Reverend Giampaolo Crepaldi

O mighty and eternal God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
I offer thanks for giving to the Church
the heroic testimony
of Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân.

The suffering he experienced in prison,
which he united with the crucified Christ
and commended to the maternal protection of Mary,
is for the Church and the world
a shining witness of unity and forgiveness,
and of justice and peace.

His loving person and his Episcopal ministry
radiate the light of faith,
the enthusiasm of hope and the warmth of love.

Now, my Lord,
through his intercession
and according to your will,
grant me the grace I am imploring
in the hope that he will soon be elevated
to the honour of sainthood.

Amen. (source: Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan Foundation)

Children's Rosary Intention

MAY THE CHILDREN’S ROSARY, THEIR FAMILIES, THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHILDREN’S ROSARY INCLUDING OUR PRIESTS, OUR BISHOP AND OUR HOLY FATHER THE POPE BE THE EXTENDED HANDS OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER AND HER SON.  MAY WE GATHER A GREAT MANY SOULS ESPECIALLY YOUNG PEOPLE FOR THE LORD.  MAY WE EXPERIENCE RENEWAL OF FAMILY PRAYER AND SPREAD IT ACROSS THE GLOBE. IN A SPECIAL WAY WE ASK SERVANT OF GOD CARDINAL FRANCIS XAVIER TO CHOOSE AN INDIVIDUAL, FAMILY OR A PRIEST, ASSOCIATED WITH OUR CHILDREN’S ROSARY GROUP TO LEAD IN THEIR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY. DEAR CARDINAL FRANCIS XAVIER, PRAY FOR OUR EXTENDED GROUP THAT WE MAY EMBODY THE VIRTUES YOU EXEMPLIFIED HERE ON EARTH.

To become a member of the Children's Rosary one only has to tell the Lord in their heart of their desire to be a part of our group.  You will then be included in all the novenas being said and all of the rosaries being prayed daily.

To Join the novena please say the prayer for Beatification above and the intention in bold for nine days. We will be starting the Novena on November 1, 2016 and concluding on November 9, 2016. However, if you are not able to begin with us on this date we still invite you to pray the Novena at a later date.

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New Children's Rosary at St. Anne School

This week we received a picture from our new Children's Rosary group at St. Anne Catholic School in Beaumont, Texas USA. They held their first meeting on October 7th 2016. The group was Consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary at the first meeting. In this way the group is under the protection and guidance of Christ and His Mother. The group has chosen to meet weekly on Fridays before school from 7:15-7:45 AM CT. In the picture above you can see the roses placed before the feet of Our Lady during their Children's Rosary.  In addition to the prayers and roses the children give to Our Lady each week they make the added sacrifice to get up a bit early on Fridays to join her in prayer. What joy must exist in Heaven to see these little ones coming together each week to kneel in prayer of the Rosary.  

A special thank you and welcome to the children of this new group! 

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Mass Offered on October 25th 2016 for all the Members of the Children's Rosary

On the 25th of every month a Mass is offered for all members of the Children's Rosary and all those who help the Children's Rosary.  It is a small thank you to the many who have helped this prayer movement.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us so beautifully the importance of the Holy Eucharist:
The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life. The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." (Catechism 1324)

The picture above we recently received from our Children's Rosary group in Muhammad Pura, Pakistan. The children kneel in prayer of the Rosary during their meetings. But as children so much love to sing and dance they also enjoy this, too!

A special thank you to all the members of the Children's Rosary and all who help the Children's Rosary. May Our Lord bless you. Amen.

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First Children's Rosary in Uganda!

We are excited to share that we have a new Children's Rosary group in Uganda.  They met for the first time yesterday at Our Lady of Fatima (Mwera) Parish in Kiyinda Mityana Diocese.  Approximately 40 children came together for the first meeting. Fr. Jude Ssali, pictured above with the children, shared that the new group was Consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary. In this way the group is under the protection and guidance of Christ and his Mother.

We are so excited to welcome this new Children's Rosary group from Uganda!

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Hello From Nigeria!

Last fall we met Fr. Paul Miapkwap at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  USA. He had traveled from his home country of Nigeria.  After hearing about the Children's Rosary he was excited to try and begin a group in his own parish. Several months later we received news from him that a group had begun at his Parish of St. John of the Cross in Shimankar. This is within the Catholic Diocese of Shendam, Plateau State Nigeria.  He reported that the children of his group have been meeting twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays from 6PM - 8PM. Father sent the picture above of he and the children.

Father Paul Miapkwap had more news to share. His Diocese has just sent him to study Missiology at the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome. Father shared that the picture above was taken just before he told the children he was leaving. The news brought on many tears, for the children will indeed miss their Pastor.  Yet the Children's Rosary group will continue he explained, and we look forward to receiving more news from Fr. Paul Miapkwap and the new Pastor.

Father had these words to share with the Children's Rosary, "Thank you for the inspiration I got..which helped to develop the spiritual life of the little children in the parish."

Praise God for such graces. We are so grateful for Fr. Miapkwap's "Yes" that helped to introduce the Children's Rosary to his Parish and we thank the children for embracing prayer with an open heart.

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Candlelit Rosary

This week we received news from our Children's Rosary group at St. Paul's Parish in Fenton, Missouri. They hold their monthly Children's Rosary on the 13th of each month. This month they planned a special candlelit Living Rosary.  The group leader wrote that many people attended their Children's Rosary group on Tuesday evening and they had enough people so that each person was able to represent a bead of the Rosary.

This being the month of the Rosary, it has been beautiful to see so many groups sending in pictures. Each picture is different.  While the groups share the unifying bound of coming together as a prayer group to pray the Rosary, to see such glimpses into these different prayer groups is indeed very special.

Thank you all for making this month of October so special!

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The Loss of a Child

We received news this weekend that one of the children who is part of our Children's Rosary group in Rombo, Kenya died. 

This past Sunday the Children's Rosary group in Rombo traveled to the boy's home to hold their Children's Rosary (see photo above).  Several of the other Children's Rosary group leaders from the area also attended and the Pastor.  Br. Cleophus shared that the family was greatly comforted by the children coming to pray with them. The boy who passed away was just 11 years old and died of lung failure.  His sister is present in the photo praying with the other children.

Seeing this sight of the children coming together to support each other in such times of pain and struggle one sees how important such support is for children.  Children like adults suffer illness, pain and loss.  They too need support and prayers from their friends. 

The sad news continued this weekend for the Children's Rosary.  One of our Children' s Rosary group leaders, Shiny, lost her daughter tragically Sunday.  Through an accident her daughter was run over accidentally by a fire department vehicle responding to a call. She was just 19 years old.  

We ask that you keep these two young people in your prayers and their families.  Our Lord told us to take up our cross and follow Him. 

Yet when we are surrounded by love, support and prayers we can find comfort in our suffering. These families will need our prayers. It is never easy when one loses a child. In a special way Our Blessed Mother knows such pain and we ask her to come and provide solace and comfort to the mothers and fathers of these children along with their families.

Children's Rosary at St. Patrick's Church Celebrates their Second Anniversary

Tonight we received some pictures from our Children's Rosary group at St. Patrick's Parish in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania USA. Today they celebrated their second Anniversary.  The children made a Hershey kiss Rosary to celebrate!

We thank the children for their faithfulness to prayer. Their Heavenly Mother must be very happy.

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New Children's Rosary at Mission San Luis Rey

We are excited to share that a new Children's Rosary is forming at Mission San Luis Rey Parish in Oceanside, California USA. They will hold their first meeting on October 16th at 8AM PST.  Please consider joining the children in prayer. The children always pray for those unifying prayers with them.

The group leader has also shared that the children will also be singing the theme song for the Children's Rosary prayer group movement at their meeting.  

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Praying for the Intercession of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity for Members of the Children's Rosary

Sunday October 16th 2016 Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity will be canonized by Pope Francis.  Yesterday we received a note from one of our Children's Rosary group leaders in Vietnam, Tran.  He has a first class relic of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity. He shared that yesterday upon hearing about the upcoming canonization he lit two candles before the relic and prayed "for all the children of the Children' s Rosary groups worldwide". 

Today another note comes from another Children's Rosary group leader who likewise also has a relic of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity. Holding the relic she prayed to Bl. Elizabeth, 
"may she intercede for the Children's Rosary".

What beautiful gifts to be remembered in prayer by so many.  May I humbly thank the two group leaders that wrote and also the many who pray for the Children's Rosary and the members daily.  We are all on a journey and with the help of each other and the Mercy of God may we all reach our true home in Heaven.

Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity died on November 9th 1906. Her last word were:
 It seems to me that, in Heaven, my mission will be to draw up souls, helping them to self-denial, clinging to God through a simple and be-loving impulse, maintaining them in a great silence within themselves, the way of enabling God to impress them, to convert them in Him."  
 (Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity)

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New Children's Rosary forms at St. Mary of the Expectation Parish

We are excited to share that a new Children's Rosary is forming at St. Mary of the Expectation Parish in League City, Texas USA.  They will hold their first meeting on October 15th at 3PM CT. This new Children's Rosary group is being formed by several members of the Legion of Mary. We are so grateful for their help spreading the Children's Rosary. 

Please consider joining the children in prayer tomorrow. The children always pray for those unifying prayers with them.

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The Children Reach Out To a Leper Community

St. Francis of Assisi Chapel

Today Tran sent news from Vietnam that on behalf of the children he traveled with a team to visit people with leprosy. Below are his reflections from the day. When possible his direct words are included with small corrections as Tran speaks Vietnamese and the translation is not always perfect. There was such beauty in his words that many times when corrections in sentence structure could be made I chose not to as the spirit of his words is better then I could ever duplicate. 

Because this place is quit far away all the children could not come for such a visit.  But the children stayed at home and prayed for me. In the evening before the trip the children from all three Children's Rosary groups donated food.  They asked me to share with the poor lepers this. All children gave me everything they had such as milk, biscuits, noodles...I am very happy with that.

Tran also shared that this leper community is very poor and abandoned by society.  Tran and his team gave them a little food and prayed a Rosary with them at St. Francis of Assisi Chapel. Tran brought his guitar to provide music and helped lead the Rosary.  He also brought two relics one of St. Teresa of Calcutta and St. Maria Baouardy.

The children also shared the rosaries we had sent them.  Tran writes:
In the morning I gave the lepers rosaries. They loved them and promised daily Rosary. They also asked me to send thank you from their hearts.

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When The Impossible Becomes Possible

This is a picture from the Children's Rosary meeting at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury, CT from last Saturday.  A day before the meeting it seemed none of the four children that appear in the picture would be at the meeting.  The two children on the left are part of the family that helped begin the Children's Rosary at the Immaculate some three years ago. Last spring they began spending more time in Steubenville, Ohio. 

For many reasons the former group leader and her family wanted to attend the Children's Rosary at the Immaculate as a gift to Our Lady.  This being the month of the Rosary, there was an extra special pull to come back.  Yet the trip is a long one - 8 hours by car.  As the date of the Children's Rosary approached - October 1st 2016 a host of things seemed to be going wrong that prevented this family from coming back to CT for the Children's Rosary.  Yet through so many trials hope was not lost.  Even the night before the Children's Rosary a clear way was not seen.  Prayer continued that such a way would open. At the very last moment a few pieces clicked into place that allowed the burdens that had come down on this family to be lifted enough to take a chance.  Their mom shared with me that setting off at 7:30 AM for the 4PM Children's Rosary seemed too tight.  She worried about traffic and the need of her children for frequent stops.  Yet the children seemed to settle in beautifully and her youngest unexpectedly slept most of the way.  Traffic turned out to not be an issue despite considerable construction on the roadways.  Their mom described beautifully how her periodic checks of the time seemed to shock her as the miles seemed to be going by so fast.

Indeed it seemed they were being carried along in record speed.  They arrived in Waterbury in only 7 and a half hours.  They were overjoyed.  Many might cringe to think of a trip so long for a Children's Rosary yet when hearts are moved to give the gift of prayer and sacrifice to Our Lady and her Son such time and distance melts away.  Their early arrival meant they could purchase flowers for the  children to give to Our Lady during the Children's Rosary. There was also time for the children to get cleaned up and arrive with plenty of time for the Children's Rosary.  Upon arriving they were surprised by old friends who had also made a long drive from New York to attend. 

The photo that they sent from the Children's Rosary is included above.  It has almost a mystical appearance to it. The gold glow behind the children seems almost a glimpse into Heaven. The little girl on the right also appears to have a hallo around her head - a providential accident by standing in front of her sister's sweater.  Indeed who could deny the beauty of such a sight: four children who had sacrificed so much in the hope of giving a special gift of prayers to their Heavenly Mother.  

Many, many thanks to these children and families that came and those that helped in allowing them to be there.  A very special thank you to Our Lord and His Mother for taking care of every detail that allowed the impossible to become possible.

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A Present for Our Lady of the Rosary

Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.  For such a special day, we wanted to give Our Lady a special gift.  What does one give to the Queen of Heaven and Earth?  Could a gift be found that could have meaning for all time.  It would seem, just as a little child wants to give a gift to his parents, so often it is the parents that give the gift that the little one simply packages up and then gives back to the parent.  Such it seems is the case with the small gifts we give to Our Heavenly Mother and Father.  Without Their grace we would have nothing to give.  

Today the Children's Rosary comes before Our Lady with a perpetual enrollment for her intentions. This perpetual enrollment means that Our Blessed Mother's intentions will be remembered for all time in the treasure of Holy Masses and Prayers and in particular 2,500 Masses offered each year through the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal. As long as there are Vincentian Fathers the enrollment will continue.

As the familiar sentiment is true, "it is better to give then receive," I wanted to share the giving of this gift with all the members of the Children's Rosary.  For this gift is being given on behalf of the Children's Rosary to Our Blessed Mother.  Just as little children love to look up with eager eyes to see if their Mother is happy with their gift, so too we can come to meet Our Lady in prayer with a happy heart full of excitement with our small but precious gift since it involves the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which has infinite value.

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A Window to the World Through Prayer

Good news the package sent to Tran and the two new Children's Rosary groups in Vietnam arrived!  In the evening Tran brought the rosaries and brought the Statue of Our Lady to accompany him for the visit.  The statue was one we had sent some time ago for the groups.  

Tran wrote, "the children there are happy and the kids are free to choose a rosary that they love."  He included some pictures, one of two children looking very carefully at pictures of some of the other Children's Rosary groups around the world.  As children are known to do, they seem to be studying every detail of each picture, flipping from one picture to the next.  One picture that the children settled on shows one of the children from the United States with rosaries all around him as he gathers them together to send out in the mail.  

I began to wonder what was going through the minds and hearts of these little ones as they looked at the pictures. In prayer I began to imagine these little ones who may wonder what is outside their orphanage in other parts of the world.  This orphanage has no Internet so there would be no looking at computers.  Instead, these pictures are their window to know what is out in the world.  Might Our Lady smile, to see the window to the world was one that showed them prayer.

Tran explained that as he was leaving with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, the children asked to say goodbye to Mary.  

The children also asked if they could kiss her. Tran writes, "the children have embraced Mary with all [their] hearts." 
Indeed, I hope these pictures are a window for other children looking at them of the love and prayer that is growing in children around the world.

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