15 Nov 2019

8th december Lourdes celebrates the feast of the immaculate conception be a part of the world prayer chain

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For the feast of the Immaculate Conception, present a rose to our lady of Lourdes: we will place it in the Grotto for you on the 8th december

On the same day, in every continent, a vast prayer chain will be organised, an initiative of the Family Our Lady of Lourdes and Padre Pio prayer groups (last year’s prayer chain spread over five continents). You can join them either by participating in the Lourdes Rosary (live on TV Lourdes every day at 3:30 pm in French, at 6 pm in Italian), or by gathering in your parishes, seminaries, congregations, monasteries, or families to celebrate the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Why not join them! St. Padre Pio said, “Love the Virgin and make her loved. Always pray the Rosary!”

You can email us to notify us of your participation in this prayer chain of (the prayers to the Immaculate Virgin from the prayer groups of Padre Pio of Paris can then be shared with you as well): hommagefloral-8dec2019@sfr.fr

Preparatory Novena for the feast of the Immaculate Conception

From 30th November, we are invited to prepare for this great and beautiful celebration by going to confession and a by offering a novena.

Holy Virgin Mary, who in Lourdes named herself the Immaculate Conception,
you are the most beautiful, the purest being to radiate the love of the Lord.
Through you, He come into our world.
In you we welcome Him, we poor sinners,
You teach us to open our hearts to Him.
We contemplate with Bernadette
these yellow roses at your feet, the colour of your rosary chain.
We offer our roses too …
May we join our prayers with yours,
Mother of the Church, our Mother.
May the prayers of your children, the prayers of your loving heart make this world, tainted by sin, blossom once more.
May we come to taste the happiness of paradise in you, the dawn of the new world,
Mary, the chosen one, God’s accomplishment, we bless you.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, our Mother. AMEN.

Every day; pray all or part of the rosary, offer an act of love, and say the suggested prayer, repeating the following invocation three times: O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Here are the intentions for each day:
  1. We pray especially for the Sanctuary of Lourdes, that it may respond to the desire of Mary, entrusted to Bernadette.
  2. We pray for the Church, may it be a truly Marian Church, alive in the faith of the most vulnerable and the poor, and knowing how to make them welcome.
  3. We pray for those who suffer, for victims of evil and violence, and for our persecuted brothers and sisters.
  4. With the martyrs of Algeria, beatified in Oran this 8th December, we pray for a world reconciled in fraternal life and in love.
  5. We pray that all life will be welcomed, loved and supported, from conception to natural death …
  6. May the homeless, refugees, and migrants, finally find a home, and may all our hearts be open to the gifts of God.
  7. We give thanks for the feast of Mary Mother of the Church, celebrated for the first time by the whole Church the day after Pentecost.
  8. We give thanks for the 160 years of the sanctuary of Lourdes, for all the graces from heaven that spread across our earth.
  9. We give thank for the Bernadette’s of today who respond to God’s gift.

Further intentions for each day:
For Pope Francis and his intentions
For peace
For Christian unity
For unbelievers and souls in purgatory.

For those who wish to continue to live daily in the grace of Lourdes, we offer membership to the Family of Our Lady of Lourdes: famillendl@lourdes-france.com

What does “Immaculate Conception” mean ?

According to the Catholic faith, Mary never knew evil, having been conceived without being stained by original sin. It is this absolute immunity that is called the Immaculate Conception. This dogma was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854, “The Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception … preserved intact from every stain of original sin.” The Church thus teaches its members that they should contemplate in Mary the perfect success of humanity as it is desired by God. The feast day is celebrated on 8th December.

Lourdes and the Immaculate Conception

At the end of the apparition of 25th March 1858, Bernadette went from the Grotto to the presbytery: she wanted to tell the parish priest, Father Marie-Dominique Peyramale, the name that the Lady had given her but which she did not understand. On the way she repeated the words so as not to forget them. Entering the presbytery, she said, ” Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou “ in the Bigourdan dialect (“I am the Immaculate Conception”). Father René Laurentin, historian of Lourdes, recounts the reaction of the priest, “The Peyramale rock trembles in shock, he loses his footing. The weapon of his authority, which he displays in the service of good, abandons him. From the bottom of his heart and his chest, a tide has risen, which submerges him. What arises are his tears… “ It was undoubtedly at this moment that the priest of Lourdes became convinced that the apparitions of the Virgin that Bernadette had experienced were authentic.