Pilgrimage to France

The District of Asia will be sending a group of over 100 pilgrims to France today, with Singapore having the largest delegation of more than 30 pilgrims. They will embark on a highly spiritual journey, visiting great Marian Shrines in France, which used to be the Eldest Daughter of the Church. They will join the rest of the 10 000 pilgrims from the Society of St Pius X and other affliated traditional Catholic religious orders all over the world next weekend in the magnificent and solemn Marian Pilgrimage to Lourdes, in honour of the Apparition of the Immaculate Mother to little Bernadette 150 years ago.

In your charity, please keep them in your prayers, and unite your prayers and petitions to the Blessed Virgin and the great Saints of the Church with those of the pilgrims.

St James the Greater, Patron of Pilgrims, pray for them!

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

When the Blessed Virgin ended her earthly course in her Dormition, the Apostles thought that she was dead and laid her in the tomb. All the Holy Apostles were present, except for St Thomas.

St Thomas came along, deeply grieved by the death of the Holy Mother. He requested to be brought to the tomb to take a look at the fair countenance of Our Lady for a final time and pay his last respect and homage to his Mistress and Mother.

The Apostles led St Thomas to the tomb of the Blessed Virgin, but to their astonishment, the tomb was opened, and the body of Our Lady disappeared. The tomb was strewn with countless roses of bright colours and stunning beauty, and a heavenly fragrance shrouded the area.

A bewildered St Thomas turned to his brethren, who were also astounded by the mysterious disappearance of Our Lord, "Where is the Holy Virgin Mother?"

There was a silence, no one spoke for a long time. Everyone just stared at the empty tomb. Suddenly, one of the Apostles broke out, "Our Lady... Perhaps she is taken up into Heaven?"

"Well," said St Thomas, "that is the Assumption."

"Chilli! Chilli!"

I was leaving a local Catholic bookstore on my last visit there when I saw a Filipina approaching, with a happy group of three four-year-olds running before her. I would suspect that the little children were Filipinos too, and they were in their uniform, which led me to assume that they were dismissed not too long ago from their kindergarten at a church nearby.

While waiting at the bus-stop, which happens to be just outsie the Catholic bookstore, the group of children, who were also at the bus-stop waiting for their bus with the lady, they started peeking through the glass windows of the display shelves of the bookstore. They must have seen a statue of the Sacred Heart, and called out frantically, trying to get the lady's attention, "Papa Jesus! Papa Jesus!"

I smiled to myself, but I never expect what is to come. What happened next almost caused me to trip over and burst out laughing.

One of the children, getting excited by the many statues on the display shelves, saw the statue of the Immaculate Heart. Without hesitation, he lifted his finger and pointed at the statue of Our Lady with her Immaculate Heart, he screamed, "Chilli! Chilli!"

I managed to hide my surprise and chuckle by quickly turning away. Deep down, I was laughing, laughing out loud. Not for the boy's ignorance that the chilli-shaped thing he is referring to is actually the Heart of the Mother of God, but more of a certain joy, a certain unspeakable joy, that the child is still so innocent, so pure, so child-like.

The lady quickly corrected the child, saying that the statue is a depiction of 'Mama Mary'. She, too, is evidently controlling her laughter.

'Papa Jesus', 'Mama Mary'. How lovely, how sweet, how endearing do these little children address their Saviour and their Virgin Mother! Our Blessed Lord and Our Blessed Mother Mary in Heaven would have, I believe, showered the little boy with many graces and clapped their hands in joy at that very moment, as they gazed down lovingly at this little child from their thrones in Heaven, this little soul shining like a diamond amidst the dark, corrupted world around it, still innocent, undefiled by actual sins.

Prayers need not be long and elaborate. Sometimes, the mere addressing Our Lord and Our Lady as 'Papa' and 'Mama' is more than sufficient, if you truly love them as your Father and Mother.

And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

St Matthew 18:3

Memorare of St Francis de Sales

Ayez mémoire et souvenance, très douce Vierge, que vous êtes ma Mère et que je suis votre enfant, que vous êtes très puissante et que je suis un pauvre petit être bien faible, je vous supplie, ma très douce Mère, de me gouverner et défendre dans toutes mes voies et actions.

Ne me dites pas, gracieuse Vierge, que vous ne pouvez: car votre bien-aimé Fils vous a donne toute puissance! Ne me dites pas que vous ne devez: car vous êtes la commune Mère de tous les humains et singulièrement la mienne…

Si vous ne pouviez, je vous excuserais, disant: Il est vrai qu’elle est ma Mère et me chérit comme son Fils : mais la pauvrette manque d‘avoir et de pouvoir!

Si vous n’étiez ma Mère, avec raison je patienterais, disant: Elle est bien riche pour m’assister, mais hélas, n’étant pas ma Mère, elle ne m’aime pas…

Puis donc, O très douce Vierge, que vous êtes ma Mère et que vous êtes puissante, comment vous excuserais-je si vous ne me soulagez?

Vous voyez, ma Mère, que vous êtes contrainte d’acquiescera à toutes mes demandés. Pour l’honneur et la gloire de votre Fils, acceptez-moi comme votre enfant, sans avoir égard à mes misères et péchés. Délivrez mon âme et mon corps de tout mal, et me donnez toutes vos vertus, surtout l’humilité!

Enfin, faites-moi présent de tous les dons, biens et grâces qui plaisent à Sainte Trinité, Père, Fils, et Saint-Esprit.

Ainsi-soit-il.

For the unofficial English and Chinese, kindly contact me directly or drop me a comment with your contact information. Thank you.

Les Dialogues de Carmelites

During the French Revolution, France, the Daughter of God, was rapidly secularised. The hatred for God and His Church of the revolutionalists had led to the closing down of churches, monasteries and convents.

It was a living hell for many of the priests and religious. However, for others, it was a step closer to receiving the martyr's palm and beholding the Beatific Vision in heaven, like these Carmelites in this most touching and inspiring play, Les Dialogues des Carmelites.



How lovely, how magnificent is the Salve Regina! Our Lady of Mount Carmel must have gladly received the Carmelite souls who, clothed in the Brown Scapular, suffered martyrdom joyfully for the sake of the Holy Religion.

Queen of Martyrs, pray for us!

Via Crucis

Jésus-Christ Monte au Calvaire

Jésus-Christ monte au Calvaire,
Il y va pour y mourir.
Suivons-le, c'est notre frère,
Qui pour nous, voulut souffrir.
En mourant, il nous délivre
Du fardeau de nos péchés,
Et celui qui veut le suivre,
Sous la Croix devra marcher.

Chez Pilate, on le compare
Au dernier des scélérats.
Que dis-tu, peuple barbare?
Tu réclames Barabbas!
Quelle indigne préférence;
Le coupable est pardonné
Et malgré son innocence,
Jésus-Christ est condammé.

Mais voici que l'on présente
Une Croix au doux sauveur,
Sur sa chair encor sanglante,
Elle ajoute à ses douleurs.
Et pourtant il la désire,
Il la veut depuis toujours,
Depuis toujours elle attire
Son regard brûlant d'amour.

Ô Jésus, vos mains calleuses,
Ont manié bien d'autres bois.
Vos épaules laborieuses
Ont plié sous d'autres poids.
Il est donc bien redoutable
Ce fardeau, mon doux Jésus,
Puisque ce poids vous accable
Et que vous n'en pouvez plus.

Au chemin de la souffrance
Pour l'aider, Marie est là;
Elle veut par sa présence
Soutenir ses derniers pas.
Ô Vierge, en notre faiblesse,
Nous avons besoin de vous,
Puisque nous tombons sans cesse
Demeurez tout près de nous.

Quand Simon, l'un de mes frères
Est choisi pour te porter;
Ô Croix, tu parais légère,
Qui voudrait se dérober?
Pour la tâche, Ô divin maître,
S'il vous faut des ouvriers,
Me voilà, de tout mon être,
Je suis prêt à vous aider.

Tous vos traits, par la souffrance
Sont creusés de durs sillons;
Nos péchés et nos offenses
Sont gravés sur votre front.
Souvent, on déforme encore
Votre image autour de nous;
Au monde qui vous ignore
Nous saurons parler de vous.

Votre pied heurte la pierre:
Vous tombez sur le chemin;
Votre sang dans la poussière
La marque d'un sceau divin.
Ô Jésus, je vous adore
Étendu sous votre Croix;
Prosterné, je vous implore,
Moi qui tombe tant de fois.

"Vous pleurez sur mes souffrances,
Pleurez donc sur vos péchés.
Puisque c'est pour vos offenses
Que mon sang sera versé
Suivez-moi vers le calvaire
Avec moi, sachez offrir
Vos souffrances pour vos frères:
Après moi, il faut souffrir."

A quoi bon tant de souffrance,
A quoi bon verser son sang,
Quand Il voit la foule immense
De pécheurs impénitents.
Et pourtant, Il se relève,
Prend la Croix à pleines mains,
Il poursuit et Il achève
Jusqu'au bout le dur chemin.

On dépouille votre taille,
Et plus rien pour vous couvrir.
Né jadis nu sur la paille,
Vous voici, nu, pour mourir.
Enseignez à tous vos frères
L'amour de la pauvreté;
Que les biens de cette terre
Sont toujours à mépriser.

A grands coups, le marteau frappe
Dans la chair, rivant les clous;
Comme une divine grappe
Que l'on presse sous les coups.
De ses mains, le sang s'écoule,
De ses mains qui, si souvent.
Ont béni d'immenses foules
Et guéri tant de souffrants.

Voici donc l'instant suprême,
Qu'il attend depuis toujours
De prouver à ceux qu'il aime,
Jusqu'où va son grand amour.
Embrassant la terre entière,
Ses deux bras sont étendus;
Il appelle tous ses frères
Et Il meurt pour leur salut.

En vos bras, quand on vous livre
Votre Fils inanimé,
Vous lisez comme en un livre
Sur son corps tous nos péchés.
Dites-nous, ô tendre Mère,
Tout ce que vous avez vu;
Gravez en nos cœurs de pierre
Les blessures de Jésus.

L'ennemi de votre gloire
Peut sourire, il est vanqueur
Et pourtant votre victoire
Est certaine, Ô mon sauveur.
Malgrè la nuit de la tombe,
Le linceul sur votre Corps,
Aujourd'hui l'enfer succombre
Vous avez vaincu la mort.

The Apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes

... in its 150th anniversary.

Born Marie-Bernarde Soubirous to a humble and devout family in the little town of Lourdes, France, St Bernadette is the eldest of the six children of Monsieur François Soubirous and Madame Louise (née Castérot) Soubirous. The Catholic Faith forms an integral part of their life, and it is the Holy Faith, and their love and support for one another, that sustained them even though they lived in extreme poverty.

St Bernadette, being the eldest of the children in the family, took on the responsibility of herding the sheep. She prays the Rosary each time she brings her sheep to graze.

On 11 February 1858, while the fourteen-year-old Bernadette was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend near the grotto at Massabielle just outside Lourdes, she had a vision of 'a small young Lady' standing at a niche in the rocks. The Lady asked that she returned to the grotto every day for fifteen consecutive days. This was the first of eighteen Apparitions of a Lady that Saint Bernadette had seen in the grotto. No one else could see the beautiful Lady.

On the ninth vision of St Bernadette, the Lady told the young seer to drink the water that flowed under the rock and eat the plants that grew there freely. The ground was hard and dry, and there was no known spring at the reported location. However, St Bernadette did as was instructed, but there was no springwater that came forth. Many people became sceptical of the Apparitions that St Bernadette claimed to have seen - but not for long.

During the sixteenth of the Lady at the grotto, St Bernadette asked the Lady what her name was. The Lady only replied by smiling lovingly back at the young girl. St Bernadette had to ask the same question three times before she got the answer from the Lady: 'Que soi er'immaculada concepcion.' ('I am the Immaculate Conception.' It is in Occitan, the dialect used in Lourdes.) This confirmed the doubts of Saint Bernadette - the Lady she had been seeing in the Apparitions was the Queen of Heaven and Earth, the Blessed Virgin Mary

These apparitions of our Blessed Mother in Lourdes was a sure sign that our Lady is well pleased with the definition and promulgation of the dogma of her Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX just four years ago, on 8 December 1854.

On January 18, 1862, Bishop Laurence, the Bishop of Tarbes, gave the solemn declaration: "We are inspired by the Commission comprising wise, holy, learned and experienced priests who questioned the child, studied the facts, examined everything and weighed all the evidence. We have also called on science, and we remain convinced that the Apparitions are supernatural and divine, and that by consequence, what Bernadette saw was the Most Blessed Virgin. Our convictions are based on the testimony of Bernadette, but above all on the things that have happened, things which can be nothing other than divine intervention".

After the series of Apparitions as seen by St Bernadette was declared to be worthy of belief by the Church, the grotto where the Apparitions took place soon became the largest Marian Shrine in the Roman Catholic Church and a major site for pilgrimage, attracting millions of Catholics each year. A beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lourdes placed in the niche of the rock, marking the sacred site of the Apparitions. When St Bernadette saw the statue, she was, however, utterly disappointed by the representation of the glorious Lady she saw in her visions.

Many people claimed to receive miraculous cure at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, but only 68 have been certified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau and the Catholic Church as medically inexplicable. Some were healed of their illness by drinking from the spring at the grotto, some by merely praying piously at the sanctified spot, and others, during the visits of our Blessed Lord in the Holy Eucharist to the Sanctuary.

Processions were held at the famous Marine Shrine of Lourdes each year, with the thousands, nay, millions of pilgrims uniting their voices to pray and sing praises to the Most Holy Virgin.

Immaculate Mary

Immaculate Mary!
Our hearts are on fire,
That title so wondrous
Fills all our desire.

Refrain Ave, ave, ave, Maria!Ave, ave, ave, Maria!

We pray for God's glory,
May His Kingdom come!
We pray for His Vicar,
Our Father, and Rome.

Refrain

We pray for our Mother
The Church upon earth,
And bless, sweetest Lady,
The land of our birth.

Refrain

For poor, sick, afflicted
Thy mercy we crave;
And comfort the dying
Thou light of the grave.

Refrain

There is no need, Mary,
Nor ever has been,
Which thou canst not succour,
Immaculate Queen.

Refrain

In grief and temptation,
In joy or in pain,
We'll ask thee, our Mother,
Nor seek thee in vain.

Refrain

O bless us, dear Lady,
With blessings from heaven.
And to our petitions
Let answer be given.

Refrain

And crown thy sweet mercy
With this special grace,
To behold soon in heaven
God's ravishing face.

Refrain

Now to God be all glory
And worship for aye,
And to God's virgin Mother
An endless Ave.

Refrain

In death's solemn moment,
Our Mother, be nigh;
As children of Mary
O teach us to die.

Refrain

Jésus, Marie, Joseph...

Je vous aime!

Sauvez les âmes!

The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima

Old, traditional Catholic movies are the best.

And this one is not an exception. Here are some excerpts compiled from this beautiful movie:

Our Lady did not, and will never, lie. The Miracle of the Sun did happen on the thirteenth day of October that same year.

How beautiful is the Regina Caeli to Our Blessed Mother! Listen to how fervently, how piously the peasants pray and sing to Our Lady in the movie! With how much more faith and reverence must to those happy souls who are present be praying and singing on that blessed day!
On Cova da Ira, the spot where the Apparitions of Our Blessed Lady took place, stands a magnificent Basilica. But woe to the unhappy Modernists, who desecrated the Sanctuary sanctified and consecrated by the Mother of God herself by allowing the pagans, the Hindus in particular, to worship and perform rituals to their idols there! Woe, woe to them!

The Procession to the Sanctuary.

Prayers of reparation for the desecration of the Sanctuary, led by the four Bishops.

The Bishops of the Society of St Pius X led thousands of pilgrims in 2005 to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima to make reparations for the desecrations. Tradition triumps over the Modernism, as the attempted interruption by the singing of the Novus Ordo nuns only encouraged the pilgrims to pray even louder the prayers of the Holy Rosary.

Let us continue to make reparations to the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary in our daily prayers!

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