Greetings to you from all of us at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal!

I’m writing to share good news and a special invitation from Our Lady’s Association.

From May 13-23, Father Kevin McCracken, C.M., and I will lead a group of members of the Association of the Miraculous Medal on a pilgrimage to sacred sites across France.

One of the main purposes of our pilgrimage is to present your special intentions to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal at the Daughters of Charity Motherhouse Chapel where Mary appeared to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830.

Your needs will be entrusted to the Blessed Virgin Mary each day of the pilgrimage. On May 22, they will be commended to Our Lady during Mass at the very place where she charged Catherine with creating the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, today known as the Miraculous Medal.

At the same time, your needs will be remembered in the daily Mass and prayers here at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville. You can also burn a Votive Light to represent your presence with us every step of the way.

     Beyond Paris, our journey will include visits to:

• the Shrine of Our Lady of Cambrai and the famous statue of Notre Dame de Grace
• Lisieux, where we will venerate relics of Saint Therese, “the Little Flower”
• the wondrous Monastery of Le Mont Saint Michel
• the city of Tours, the Loire Valley, and Chartres

I invite you to send me your intentions to be included during the Prayers of the Faithful in each Mass offered at these sacred places.

You may also order one of the three remembrance gifts to take part in the pilgrimage.

There is a small, blue beaded Three Apparitions Keepsake for a suggested offering of $19. We will take your beaded prayer chain with us on the trip. Father Kevin and I will bless it at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Once we return, this souvenir will be mailed to you the week following our return.

Two other devotional items are available. These can be mailed to you now so you can unite with us more closely in prayer. Order Mary’s Blue Pearl Rosary and the Saint Catherine Labouré LED Candle.

A portion of your offering, and any additional gift you make “over and above,” will be used to share Mary’s medal, and God’s love, with even more people in 2024.

Our Lord has given the world a great gift of Mary as our Heavenly Mother and her gift to us of the Miraculous Medal. United in devotion to the Mother of God, we are drawn more closely together as brothers and sisters in Christ.

I look forward to remembering you and your intentions in the Masses and prayers during the France pilgrimage. May God bless your efforts to serve him and may he draw us ever closer to his saving love.

Sincerely in Mary and Jesus,

P.S. On May 19, the Easter season will conclude with the feast of Pentecost. In Angers, France, we will remember you in prayer to the Holy Spirit — from Veni, Sancte Spiritus:

Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.