Chartres

Chartres
British Pilgrims entering the Cathedral at Chartres

Saturday 4 May 2019

Vigilate, Orate, Amate -- Prepare for the Consecration to Our Lady!

These are the three key words that are the perfect summary of the life of Our Lady and the formal instructions of our daily life .
 John Paul II reminds us: "We can gather (in the Rosary) all the events of our individual or family life, of the life of our country, of the Church, of humanity" (RVM 2). He says it and repeats it without tiring: "Mary, be with us, watch over all our human being, over every woman and every man, every child conceived in the maternal womb" .
Is not this what the Queen of France has always done, considering the adoration of the Magi, finding Jesus in Jerusalem, following Him in all His public life, being the first at the tomb on Easter morning. "The whole life of Mary was only a succession of moments, very humble sometimes, but lived with the maximum of love ... In Mary, the sun does not make shade" . (Father Victor). "All of them, with one heart, persevered in prayer, with women and Mary, the Mother of Jesus" (Acts I.14).
Our Lady has always prayed like her Divine Son, knowing instinctively that "to pray is to act invisibly on God and by Him on men and on the whole universe" (Cardinal Saliège). At the foot of the Cross, Mary loved to the end: she accepted the Sacrifice of her Son and even more the maternity of all the men whom He proposed to her. Thus, "as Mother of the Savior, she was co-redeemer of the human race, as a Bride of the Holy Spirit, she participates in the distribution of all graces." (Saint Maximilian Kolbe).
 Our faith in God remains incomplete, if we do not recognize in the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God, the Queen of Saints and Angels, and the Hope of the world ... All the poverty and all the wisdom of all the Saints are in the real, living human person, who is the Virgin, Mother of Christ. Holiness came to them through Her, because in the order desired by God, all graces reach men through Mary. That's why loving and knowing it means discovering the true meaning of things and accessing wisdom.
Without it, the knowledge of Christ is only intellectual, but in Mary, it becomes experience by what it has received the humility and the poverty without which one can not know the Christ. His holiness is the silence in which only Christ can be heard, and we can perceive the voice of God through his contemplation.
"The emptiness, inner solitude and peace without which we can not be filled with God have been given to Mary, that she may receive God in this world, and offer her the hospitality of a perfectly pure, silent being. , resting, at peace, and totally humble "(Thomas Merton).
So, what to do: it is the little Saint Teresa who gives us the answer: "The Blessed Virgin ... never fails to protect me as soon as I invoke her.If I get a worry, an embarrassment, very quickly, I turn to her and always as the tenderest of mothers, she takes care of my interests.
Our Lady - herself - in the many appearances that favored France, always asked us to pray, to do penance and to convert, and at Fatima she asked more insistently for our personal consecration to her Immaculate Heart, which is proposed for each pilgrimage to Chartres.
She knows how much daily life is full of dangers, "filled with obstacles that are found everywhere: the materialism surrounding, the lie established, the force of inertia". That is why Our Lady offers herself to us, offers us this extraordinary way: every morning, to repeat to her our filial love, to ask her humbly - as to our Mother - to hold our hand in all our difficulties, our hesitations, our doubts, our temptations, accepting that we call it "as soon as we begin to falter", and thanking her in the evening.
Father Berto sums up perfectly the necessity of this consecration to Mary: "It is possible that there are many ways from the earth that go to God, but the paths, after a while, come together. all of them to make one, if at some distance from the starting point, we have not met the Blessed Virgin, it is certain that we are lost. "
Reminder: the preparation for the consecration to the Blessed Virgin begins on May 6th, so you only have ONE DAY TO REGISTER on our siteYou will receive by mail the daily texts during the 33 days preceding the pilgrimage.  This email will be in French, so you may need to obtain a translation (Google translate?).  Alternately, you can use information from the website fish eaters to support the consecration.  

This preparation for the Consecration is an excellent means to make our pilgrimage fertile.  It is also a beautiful way to thank Our Lady for all the glaces she never ceases to obtain for us with her Son.  







Monday 29 April 2019

Used with permission of The Evening Standard
Dear Friends,

The fire of the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris this Monday of Holy Week can only make us think of the words of Our Lord "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it" (Saint John 2, 13-25). God has allowed incomparable sufferings with the Passion of Jesus; we must keep a supernatural view of our trials.

Yesterday morning, I listened to Bishop Aupetit ask us to question the deep spiritual reasons that led to the construction of Notre Dame de Paris. He also called us to reconstruct the Church which is not made only of buildings.

Many wondered about the changes that this drama could have on our pilgrimage of Christendom. The pilgrimage will, of course, go ahead!  How could it be otherwise! "It is necessary that France, it is necessary that Christianity continues" said Charles Peguy.

We will inform you as soon as possible of practical changes concerning the first day of pilgrimage, on June 8th. Our Support Teams are currently working on the different options. Be vigilant by regularly consulting our website (www.nd-chretiente.com) or by calling our secretariat (01.39.07.27.00).

In these trials, let's try to mobilize the pilgrims in an exceptional way this year. The fervor of the passers-by on the square of Notre Dame in flames must continue with the fervor of the pilgrims of Christendom!

John Paul II pronounced, on May 30, 1980, this beautiful prayer at the foot of the statue of Notre-Dame de Paris:

 "Virgin Mary, in the heart of the City
We pray for this capital city.
You, the Untainted, keep the purity of faith!

Virgin Mary, from this edge of the Seine,
We pray for the country of France.
You, Mother, teach them hope!

Virgin Mary, in this high place of Christendom,
We pray for all the peoples of the earth.
You, full of grace, make them one in Love. "


Our Lady of Paris, pray for us.
Our Lady of Chartres, pray for us.
Our Lady of Holy Hope, convert us.


Jean de Tauriers
President of Our Lady of Christendom

Thursday 28 March 2019

Our Coach is Full!

I am pleased to report that we have now filled all the places on our coach to France.  We look forward to meeting or re-meeting all those pilgrims who have already registered in London or France!  Chartres Sonnez!  And many have answered that call!

Thursday 7 March 2019

Ready, Set ....

Dear Prospective Pilgrim,         

Re:  Chartres Pilgrimage 2019

The 37th Chartres Pilgrimage has, as it’s theme, “The Peace of Christ through the Reign of Christ”.  We hope you are able to join us for this unforgettable pilgrimage in honour of Our Blessed Mother and the Holy Ghost. 

The 26th British Pilgrimage leaves London on Friday, 7 June 2019 at 7:30 AM.  (There will be a Mass of Departure in Westminster Cathedral Crypt at 7:00 AM).  Deposit by 25 March, with payment in full by Palm Sunday, 14 April 2019 please.  We arrive back in London about 8PM on the following Tuesday, 11 June 2019.  Following the Mass before departure; we take the Ferry to France; overnight stay Friday at the Hotel ibis, Aulnay sous Bois; 3 days of Pilgrimage; a hot meal and overnight stay in Chartres (L’Hotel); Mass in Chartres Cathedral Crypt; and return via Eurotunnel to London.  The full cost is £285.00 (£140.00 for Children under 12).   Further information is on the website.      

We will have one Youth chapter (ages 13-30) dedicated to St. Alban and one chapter (Our Lady of Walsingham) for everyone else!  We may also have a family chapter.    

Please contact us for any further information on email: Chartres@duc-in-altum.co.uk.  We look forward to seeing you on the road to Chartres, Deo volente!

God bless,

Francis and Julie Carey