Category: What’s New?

In ancient times, people often used anointing oil for its healing properties. Even today, faith-filled Christians around the world use oil to bless themselves and their loved ones in an appeal to God for the grace of healing. For an offering of $17, you may request a half-ounce bottle of oil blessed at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and touched to a first-class relic of Saint Catherine Labouré. Used in faith, it can open your heart to receive the manner of healing God wills to bestow upon you and those close to you. Read Father Clay’s letter about the Blessed Oil.

“Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters
of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him]
with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save …”
James 5:14-15

The Association of the Miraculous Medal is pleased to offer this year’s Mother’s Day Spiritual Remembrance Cards! Request one or more to honor the beloved moms in your life. Your recipients will be remembered on Mother‘s Day and during Masses celebrated at the National Shrine throughout the month of May. You may also send your special intentions and/or request a Votive Light to burn for your loved ones as another sign of your affection.

Any offering you make is deeply appreciated. Your generosity will further AMM’s ministry to draw all people closer to Jesus by spreading devotion to Our Blessed Mother, Mary.

Read Fr. Clay’s letter to learn more.

Please send your intentions for remembrance during AMM’s Annunciation Octave of Masses and request Votive Lights to burn at Our Lady’s Shrine. The octave begins Monday, April 8, and we want to remember you and your prayer requests throughout the eight days. (The Church defers its celebration of the traditional March 25 feast of the Annunciation when that date falls within Holy Week.) We pray to surrender ourselves to God’s will with an unconditional and joyous YES, as Mary did. Saint Louis de Montfort wrote that “Mary is the safest, easiest, shortest, and most perfect way of approaching Jesus…” When we imitate the one who said, “Let it be done to me according to your Word,” we will more easily embrace trials that Divine Providence allows to come our way. We hope you will join us in prayer during our Annunciation Octave of Masses.

The church and grounds remain open daily for your “anytime” visit during daylight hours.

Holy Thursday – Good Friday – Holy Saturday – March 28-30

No Triduum services or 12:10 p.m. Mass will be held on these days at the Shrine Church. The church will, however, be open for personal prayers.

Easter Sunday – March 31

Mass will be celebrated in the Shrine Church at 11:00 a.m., CT, and will be broadcast via live stream from our Facebook page. Note: The office of the Association of the Miraculous Medal will be closed beginning on Good Friday through Monday, April 1. The office will reopen on Tuesday, April 2. The Miraculous Medal Gift Shop will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

From May 13-23, 2024, Fathers Kevin McCracken, C.M., and Clay Kilburn, C.M., (current and former Spiritual Directors of the Association of the Miraculous Medal), will lead a pilgrimage visiting sacred sites throughout France. You are invited to send your prayer intentions for remembrance throughout this journey. AMM is offering a one-of-a-kind, custom-designed Three Apparitions Keepsake.  Each bead memorializes Our Lady’s three appearances to Saint Catherine Labouré. We will bring your Keepsake to France, where it will be blessed at one of the sacred sites we visit and then mailed to you the week of May 28, shortly after our return. For a suggested offering, you may reserve yours now.

Read Father Clay’s letter to learn more. Follow our itinerary and recite the prayer to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal each day of the journey. Watch Facebook, Twitter, and AMM’s website homepage for daily updates throughout the pilgrimage.

 This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad. Psalm 118:24

Entrust yourself to Jesus through Our Lady. Send us your special intentions and those of your loved ones for remembrance in the Masses and prayers throughout the Easter season.

Request a Votive Light to burn as a sign of your everlasting love and gratitude for the gift of salvation — won for you by God’s only begotten Son, delivered to the world through the Blessed Virgin Mary.

May the One who is first and last be your Way, Truth, and Life, forever and ever.  Amen.

Read Father Clay’s letter that shares what took place in the days just before the May 1917 apparitions at Fatima, along with his invitation to be part of AMM’s May Procession on Sunday, May 5, at 1:00 p.m., CT, here at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville, Missouri.

We hope you will gather friends and family to visit the Shrine and pray with us in person. Please join us in spirit if you are unable to attend. Go here to add your personal intentions for remembrance at the May Procession and throughout the month of May.

Any gift you share in support of Our Lady’s ministry at AMM will be used to educate more people about Mary and — through her — bring them into closer union with her Son. Your contribution also supports the Vincentian priests and brothers in their varied ministries and helps form tomorrow’s clergy. Thank you for your generosity. We hope to see you on May 5!

Join prayerful pilgrims visiting the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal for two days of special observances happening inside the historic Saint Mary’s of the Barrens Church in Perryville, Missouri. Before and after these scheduled events, enjoy silent reflection across the serene campus of the National Shrine. Our grounds offer devotional paths, a hand-built stone grotto, Rosary Walk, a historic log cabin, beautiful sculptures and statues, and more.   

SCHEDULE OF SHRINE CHURCH EVENTS

SATURDAY, March 16
12:10 p.m., CT
Daily Mass

1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Relic Display featuring fragments of the True Cross and the Last Supper Table and relics new to the display, including:  Saint Patrick, Saint Frances Cabrini, Saint Anthony, Saint Timothy, and Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Sacrament of Reconciliation available

3:00 p.m.
Musical performance by “The Dining Room Consort”

 

SUNDAY, March 17
11:00 a.m.
Sunday Mass with Archbishop Andrew Bellisario, C.M., Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau, Alaska, scheduled to celebrate

1:00 p.m.
Award-winning author, internationally acclaimed speaker and radio host Marge Steinhage Fenelon presents “Transforming Hearts:  The Meaning and Message of Mary’s Places of Grace”

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Relic Display featuring fragments of the True Cross and the Last Supper Table and relics new to the display, including:  Saint Patrick, Saint Frances Cabrini, Saint Anthony, Saint Timothy, and Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

Are you or someone close to you in need of healing?

You are invited to attend the Association’s Mass of Healing Remembrance at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. The Liturgy takes place Tuesday, March 5, at 12:10 p.m., CT, and will be live-streamed on the Association’s Facebook page.

Share your intentions here. Your petitions will be entrusted to Our Lord through Mary’s intercession. You may also request a Votive Light to burn for these same needs.

May the God of love and mercy look upon you with compassion and bestow the wholeness of body, mind, and spirit that you seek for yourself or someone you love. Our Lady, Health of the Sick, pray for us.

In the first issue of the 2024 Bulletin, Father Clay introduces this year’s theme, which highlights three important aspects of the Vincentian ministry. Mary’s Association remains deeply united with the priests and brothers of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentian Fathers), as well as the Daughters of Charity. Along with faithful lay souls around the world, we all belong to a vast “Vincentian Family” whose members’ lives are marked by these elements lived out daily in our varied vocations.

We also remember the Venerable Felix De Andreis, C.M., the first Superior of the Vincentian Fathers in the United States. He was a man of remarkable character and tireless zeal for sharing Christ with others. The cause for his canonization has been opened.

Don’t miss the details of AMM’s 2024 May Procession, scheduled to commence at Saint Mary’s of the Barrens (the Shrine Church) at 1:00 p.m., CT, on Sunday, May 5, here in Perryville, Missouri. 

Be sure to browse our gift shop’s religious items and order Easter cards to send the gift of Masses and prayers to loved ones. In every season, you are remembered in the daily Mass and prayers here at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

Behold, now is the day of salvation.

Ash Wednesday is February 14 — a time to turn back to the source of love in our lives. Throughout the holy season of Lent, let us pray through Mary to attain a closer union with God, who is all-merciful and all-loving. AMM offers a variety of ways to assist you during your Lenten journey:

·       Send your special intentions to be placed near Mary’s Shrine Altar

·       Request a Votive Light to burn

·       Pray this Ash Wednesday prayer

·       Pray this prayer for Lent each day

·       Request Easter cards to send to loved ones

Together, let us ask Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal to bring us into ever greater union with her Son, Jesus, who saves us through his holy passion, death, and resurrection. “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.” Psalm 51:3-4

February 11 is the memorial feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and is also the World Day of Prayer for the Sick, as proclaimed by Saint John Paul II. Do you have family or friends in need of healing?

Share your petitions for remembrance throughout AMM’s Our Lady of Lourdes Octave of Masses, which begins on February 11. We will place your requests near Mary’s Altar at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

You are invited to pray this prayer daily and request a Votive Light to burn as a symbol of your devotion. May each of us place our trust in the Immaculate Conception so that she may obtain for us all that we need.

Fr. Clay writes in his Lourdes letter of Saint Bernadette, the seer to whom the Mother of God appeared in Lourdes in 1858. On the meaning of human suffering, Bernadette reflected: “Here below, pure Love cannot exist without suffering. O Jesus, Jesus, I no longer feel my cross when I think of yours … [In heaven] I shall find my Mother in all the splendour of her glory. I shall delight with her in the joy of Jesus himself in perfect safety. ”Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.