"Hour of Grace for the World" on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Lady of Montichiari: "It is my wish that every year, on December 8, at noon, the hour of grace for the world will be celebrated. Through this devotion you will obtain many spiritual and bodily graces. Our Lord, my Divine Son Jesus, will send His superabundant mercy if good people continue to pray for their sinful brothers."

There is one hour of the year when Heaven bends so low to the earth that God and his eternal treasures of love is at hand. There is one hour a year when everything is possible. The promise associated with it is great! The Blessed Mother announces that for sixty minutes of the year Heaven is open to us, that everyone who closes the umbrella of unbelief held over his head during this time will receive from God what he needs most.

This is by no means a promise related to the spiritual dimension alone. God reminds us that He did not only create our souls; He also brought our body to life and gave it great dignity. In the Hour of Grace, many of us will find that God does not deny the importance of the body. Someone will be healed. Other will break out of addiction. We will cease to be a slave to sin. Most of us will experience other graces. These are great gifts that, like a powerful crane, pull us out of the ruts of everyday evil, from our tardiness, readiness to compromise and get along with the world to put us on a completely new soil, among completely new, more beautiful landscapes. And from under our feet to the distant horizon winds a narrow path. This is the path of our holiness. And in the soul will dwell the desire to run this way. Because there is no greater joy than to go towards happiness.

The Year of Apparitions

The year 1947 was full of Marian apparitions. In addition to the famous Italian Tre Fontane (district of Rome) and the French L'Ile Bouchard, Our Lady brought the message to the world in the Dutch Vorstenbosch, in the Italian Varz, in Montepoli, Grottamare and Casanova, in Urucaina in Brazil, in the Slovak Tyromestice, in the German Tannhausen, Munich and Forstweiler, in Stockport near the English city of Manchester, in the French Pieskop, in Kayl (Luxembourg) and in Hasznos in Hungary. Everywhere she called for conversion and for strengthening the Church in the face of a double threat: communism and falsely understood democracy. You could write a big book about it... But she left her most enduring message in 1947 in Montichiari.

Italian Jasna Góra

At the foot of the Italian Alps sat modestly a town with a sonorous name Montichiari. For us, Poles, this name evokes the most beautiful associations because its translation is "Jasne Góry". Today, from the shrine there, the fame of Mary, invoked as the "Rosa Mystica", spreads throughout the world, and the name of the town has taken on a new meaning: it speaks of hope for "bright days" if man undertakes the effort of climbing to the heights of union with God. The very place chosen by the Blessed Mother for the apparitions also tells a lot about the situation of the Church and the world: They need treatment, and the laity are to take care of it... This is indicated by the fact that the Blessed Mother chose a hospital for the place of the apparitions, and she chose a lay person as a visionary – Pierina Gilli, a nurse.

It was the spring of 1947 Thirty-six-year-old Pierina Gilli, a humble nurse, saw an extraordinary visitor from Heaven in the hospital room under her supervision. Before the woman stood the Blessed Mother dressed in a purple robe, with tears in her eyes and three swords stuck in her heart. Maybe she just came to the hospital to ask for help. Was Montichiari supposed to remove those three deep blades from her aching heart? How? The vision is sad, and Mary limits herself to saying three words. It is "Prayer. Suffering. Repentance." She leaves us three calls. Do they refer to the three wounds inflicted on her heart? Could it be that prayer, sacrifice and penance have the power to lead the Church out of the deepening crisis and to put her on the path of glory? And bestowal joy on the Mother-Church?

Mary's words

The apparitions were repeated very often. The most memorable one took place on December 8, 1947, in the Basilica of Montichiari. Mary said: It is my wish that every year, on the 8th of December, at noon, the Hour of Grace for the World be celebrated. Many divine and bodily graces will be received through this devotion. … This Hour of Grace will produce great and numerous conversions. Hardened and cold hearts resembling this marble will be touched by divine Grace, and they will become faithful to Our Lord in loyal love. … it is my wish that the Hour of Grace for the World be made known and spread throughout the world. … Soon one will recognize the greatness of this Hour of Grace. … If anyone is unable to visit church, let them pray at noon at home.

This was the first Hour of Grace. An extraordinary hour, because it was connected with the apparition of the Blessed Mother in the Cathedral Church of Montichiari, because it was accompanied by an extraordinary promise that remained valid in every subsequent Hour of Grace. And to this day, there have been seventy-four. When the visionary asks Holy Mother what this Hour of Grace is, she hears: "It will bear fruit in many conversions. Hearts hardened and cold like this marble will be touched by God's grace, and will become faithful worshippers of our Lord, and will love him sincerely." Tomorrow, December 08, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and tomorrow from 12 Noon to 1:00 PM - The Hour of Grace for the World.

Remember that this is not superstition or an empty ritual

Prayer offered to God with faith unfailingly reaches Him. But it is the Lord who decides what the result will be, because He knows what is good for us, what we need. Our humility consists in submitting to God's judgments. This is an important quality of a Christian.

What does the Church say?

Years passed, and pilgrimages to the place of apparitions did not stop. In 2000, faced with examples of authentic piety, numerous well-documented miracles and the spread of devotion to Mary throughout the world, the bishop there decided to accept the cult at the place of the apparitions. The devotees of the Rosa Mystica are now waiting for the next step of the Church: confirmation that in Montichiari Our Lady really came to her children. For the time being, the Church's position is marked by far-reaching caution. Today one can justifiably hope that the Church will recognize these apparitions. The statue of the Rosa Mystica is the most popular representation of the Blessed Mother next to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. In many churches the Hour of Grace is celebrated. Catholic media officially encourage the faithful to celebrate it. From all parts of the world, local Diocese receive information about extraordinary miracles, conversions and touches of grace. Our own lives will also confirm this...

Until Tomorrow

fr. george