Category Archives: Prayer

Mary Help of Christians, Novena, Prayer

Second Day with Mary Help of Christians

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Don Bosco assures us that the Virgin Mary, Help of Christians imparts a special blessing on those who take care of youth (cf. BM XVI,186). Just as Jesus showed signs of particular affection and tenderness for the young, so too is Mary’s maternal kindness focused on them. For this reason, when the Lord first revealed to John Bosco his unique call for the salvation of the young, in the prophetic dream which he had at nine years of age, he assured John that: “I will give you the Teacher”; and Mary, taking John kindly by the hand, referred to all the children in that dream as “my own children”.

Like Don Bosco, we too are called by the Lord and guided by Mary’s maternal intervention to walk “side by side with the young to lead them to the Risen Lord”. In so doing, we feel that “the Virgin Mary is present in the process as a mother” (Const. 34). As she enlightened Don Bosco, she herself also enlightens us on the beauty and importance of this mission, and supports our efforts to bring it forward.

Novena, Prayer

First Day of Novena in Honour of MHC

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Goodnight talk by Fr. Biju Michael SDB, Regional Councillor for South Asia.

Dimapur: We are preparing ourselves for the feast of Mary Help of Christians (MHC) with nine days of novena. The great celebration will be on 24 May 2020. Our Lady has been always at the side of humanity particularly when she is needed most. During this pandemic caused by Covid-19, let us turn to her invoking her intercession that this epidemic may be soon wiped away from the face of the earth and bring back that joy and normalcy to the entire world. Let us remember socially all the health workers that they may be protected and guided at this moment.

Album, Mary Help of Christians, Prayer

In Honour of Mary Help of Christians

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Throughout the course of history, the Christian people have experienced the protection of the Virgin Mary. The title of Help of Christians, which Don Bosco associated with that of Mary, Mother of the Church is an indication of the special intervention of Mary in the most difficult trials of personal human life, of the Church, and of the whole human family. The title of Mary Help of Christians was present in 1500 in the Loreto litanies, and Pope Pius VII initiated the celebration of Mary Help of Christians, fixing the date as May 24th, the day of his return to Rome after liberation from Napoleonic imprisonment in 1814.

Devotion to Mary Help of Christians was spread far and wide through the work of St. John Bosco and continues to be propagated in the world by the Salesian family which recognizes and invokes Mary Help of Christians as its principal patroness. From the very beginning, St. John Bosco, the great educator, placed his work as a priest and founder under the protection of Mary Help of Christians, to whom he turned for every need. His confidence in Our Lady’s help and protection was greatest when when things were difficult or confusing, and he would often turn to her, saying, “So, shall we begin to do something? “. Don Bosco placed the Institutes he founded under her maternal protection: the Congregation of St. Francis de Sales, called “the Salesians of Don Bosco”, and the “Daughters of Mary Help of Christians,” Sisters established with the collaboration of St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello, and finally, the “Salesian Cooperators,” for lay people and priests who want to live the charism of Don Bosco. Our Lady Help of Christians is therefore inseparable from the great Salesian Family, which has given the Church a host of Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God. In 1862, Don Bosco said to Fr. Cagliero, one of his early Salesians, “Our Lady wants us to honor her with the title of Mary Help of Christians. The times are so sad that we need the Holy Virgin to help us preserve and defend the Christian faith”.

Blessing, Prayer

Rosary from the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, Turin

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Pope Francis has exhorted everyone, especially the families, to pray the Holy Rosary during the month of May. In keeping with the exhortation of the Holy Father, there will be a live streaming of the Holy Rosary prayed from the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, Turin on 1st May at 6.00 pm IST. The Rosary will be led my many of the provincials of South Asia. You are warmly invited to participate in this Rosary.Join us as we pray the Rosary together as invited by Pope Francis during these challenging times and let us pray through the intercession of our blessed Mother. The prayer is led by Fr. Jose Kuruvachira SDB, the Provincial of Dimapur Province, Dimapur.