You are invited to join the Association’s Lourdes Novena, February 11-19, in person or in spirit.  Send us your intentions now to be remembered.  Mary, under titles of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and Our Lady of Lourdes, is always ready to help her children. So many miracles at the healing pools of Lourdes, France, testify to the fact that Mary intercedes for us! 
St. Bernadette was wearing a Miraculous Medal when Mary, the Immaculate Conception, appeared to her in 1858. This close connection between Lourdes and the Miraculous Medal is why we celebrate an annual novena here at the National Shrine of the Miraculous Medal honoring Our Lady of Lourdes. Read Fr. Kevin’s letter with more information about the miracles at Lourdes.

At the Association we pray you and your family shared a blessed and holy Christmas together, celebrating the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. With the approaching new year, take a quiet moment to give thanks for the blessings granted to you in 2016.  Ask Mary, the Mother of God, to continue to intercede on your behalf in 2017.  Send in your petitions now to be placed at our Lady’s Shrine for remembrance on January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. Start 2017 with the heavenly support of Mary, the Mother of God.  Let her nurture and protect you in the way she did her Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

“Rejoice and be glad for the Savior has been born!” 

The Association of the Miraculous Medal staff would like to wish you and your family the gift of faith, the blessing of hope, and the peace of God’s love on Christmas Day and always.  May you have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year.  Here is our Christmas prayer for you. Listen as Father Kevin and Don extend blessings to you this Christmas season, and thank you for your continued support of our Lady’s Association.

The Association of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville, Missouri, invites you to participate in our 3rd Annual Rosary for Life. This event will take place on Saturday, January 21, 2017, at 10:00 a.m. at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.  The Rosary for Life will begin at 10:00 a.m. inside the Shrine Church. After the rosary is recited two speakers will talk about the preservation of life. A banner, which will be carried by a local group in the March for Life in Washington, D.C., will be available for participants to sign. Please invite your family and friends to attend this event in which we ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for the protection of life. For more information about the Rosary for Life in Perryville, call 1-800-264-6279 and ask for Frank.

Christmas is fast approaching, and many of you are feeling overwhelmed by all the preparations of the season. If you are seeing a deeper encounter with Christ this Christmas, I encourage you to offer Jesus your prayers of thanksgiving.  A perfect way to do this is to send me your Christmas petitions to be included in the Shrine’s Christmas Novena, December 16-24.  Your intentions will be placed at our Lady’s Shrine for remembrance as we prepare for the coming of our Lord.  You might also want to burn a Votive Light in thanksgiving for the blessings of the year.  I hope you will join us, either in spirit or in person, for this year’s Christmas Novena at the Shrine Church in Perryville, Missouri.