Our church Deacon went on a trip with a group from the parish to Fatima. He came back with a large statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary that was supposedly blessed by a bishop over there. The statue is now being given to families to bring home for a week to pray the rosary around it.
I can’t seem to put my finger on it, but something about this doesn’t feel right.
Comments? Discussion?
We have this tradition at my parish, too.
It’s called a “Visitation from Mary,” and the idea is to help people become re-energized in their Catholic faith. At our parish what happens is that the family receives a blessing from the priest and the statue to take home with them for a week.
Members of the Legion of Mary go over to their house and pray with them, including the Rosary, the Tessera, and other traditional Catholic prayers. There is also a time of social discussion, finding out about the family, and what kind of support they might need from the parish, and during the week, the family becomes kind of a focal point for the parish priest and other staff members, to meet their spiritual and material needs, and if there is any kind of long-term need, to get them pointed toward the right kind of long term help. The family also prays the Rosary together every day during that week, for the intention of becoming more like the Holy Family, in overcoming any problems they are having, and making themselves a model Christian family.
At the end of the week, the members of the Legion of Mary go back to the house, pray with the family again, and bring the statue back to the Church to give to the next family that wants to have it.
I think it’s a really great program, because it’s a very friendly way to do re-evangelization; it’s all about helping the family, and there’s no sort of, “Oh, you’re such a sinner, you need to pray,” but rather, “Hey, here’s an opportunity to become more like Jesus and Mary, and more in tune with your Catholic faith,” without it seeming like some kind of judgemental thing.
