Today in the Archdiocese of Hartford, we celebrated the Feast of Epiphany. In anticipation of the Feast my mother gave us a special gift. She long has had a star which she has displayed at her farm. In the past she tied it to a tree and hoped one day to build a Nativity scene to display under it. On New Year's eve she had a surprise. She gifted us the star. We put the star over our nativity inside. It was magnificent and cast a beautiful light on the Holy Family.Today on the Feast of the Epiphany we moved the star outside so many could see it. Interesting as the kids and I walked to Mass we could hear the Church bells chiming to the song "Star of Wonder". The same song was sung at Mass and then tonight Bishop Keenan led his nightly Rosary and concluded with the same song. It is beautiful how Divine Providence can see to bring a star to the crib of Jesus on the beautiful Feast of the Epiphany!
Children in villages in Pakistan continue to meet in their Children's Rosary prayer groups this week. This is something they do each week. Some of the groups meeting twice a week.
Despite the cold of winter they come together faithfully in prayer. Last winter we received pictures of the children helping to clean the churches in these towns and restore them.
In rural villages in Pakistan a priest may only come once a year to hold a Mass. With Masses held so infrequently, the Churches fell out of use and many needed cleaning and repair. Other villages had no churches. Yet as the children have been meeting in their Children's Rosary prayer groups, they began using these churches regularly so cleaning was needed. As some new groups had no churches in their villages construction began to build churches. Earlier this week we shared pictures of the children setting up Nativity scenes in their villages that they might be able to come and pray. Today we have pictures of Stars that have been illuminated over homes and churches representing how the star of Bethlehem came to rest over the place where the Savior was born.
No one can mistake that these villages seemed changed. But why and how did they change? One can follow how it happened. It happened in a simple and peaceful way. Little children came together to form Children's Rosary prayer groups to pray the Rosary regularly.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if children got on their kneels and prayed the Rosary together regularly? Look at these pictures and you can see. It is beautiful.
Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Start a Children's Rosary
Patiently Waiting in Pakistan
Marian Procession in Pakistan
*Visit our new Children's Rosary website to see a schedule of meetings of these groups in Pakistan. Many will be meeting on Christmas Day. This means for those of us living in the United States they will be holding their meetings in many cases on Christmas Eve in our time zones. The children invite you to join them in prayer. You will see a blue light flashing on the View from Heaven map when they are meeting. Click "join in prayer" and you can become a gold light on the map. The children always pray for those unifying prayers with them.
