L.A. ARCHDIOCESE TO CELEBRATE NEW FEAST DECREED BY POPE FRANCIS HONORING THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF CHURCH
May 17, 2018  |  By:   |  Press Releases  |  

To Commemorate the New Feast, Archbishop Gomez will Offer a Blessed Image of the Virgin Mary to All Families in the Archdiocese 

Monday, May 21, marks a new celebration in the Catholic Church: the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. Pope Francis announced the new annual feast this February, which will be celebrated by Catholics worldwide for the first time ever on the Monday after Pentecost, May 21.

Archbishop José H. Gomez will celebrate the new feast with a historic Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles on May 21 at noon. The Archbishop will be joined by more than 1,000 students (K-12th) from Catholic schools throughout the Archdiocese, and hundreds of faithful.

“The image of Mary as the mother of the Church helps us to see that the family is essential to God’s plan for creation. It also helps us to see our own importance — every one of us — in the loving eyes of God,” said Archbishop José H. Gomez. “As disciples, we are called to take Mary into our homes — and into our lives and into our hearts.”

To commemorate the new feast, Archbishop Gomez will offer a special gift through AngelusNews.com, the Archdiocesan weekly news magazine and multimedia website. He will be blessing and offering an image of our Blessed Mother for every family in the Archdiocese who would like to receive one.

“There should be an image of Mary in every home, a picture of our mother,” said Archbishop Gomez. “My prayer is that families and individuals will place this image in a prominent place, and when they look at it they will remember to pray and make an act of love to our mother.”

The students will bring written prayer intentions for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Cathedral on the day of the new feast that will be delivered to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City in July during the Archdiocesan pilgrimage with Archbishop Gomez. Faithful attending the Mass will also have the opportunity to write prayer intentions for delivery to the Basilica before or after Mass.

Representatives from each school attending the Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary will participate in offering flowers to Our Blessed Mother and students from Precious Blood School will partake in the coronation ceremony.

For more information, please visit http://www.la-archdiocese.org/Pages/Mary-Feast-Day.aspx, and to receive a blessed image of our Blessed Mother visit http://marian.angelusnews.com/.

 

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