The Marian Groups
At the Cathedral of Montreal
Let us pray together
at Montreal's Mary Queen of the World Cathedral
Friday, October 13, 2023
Carole Arsenault had invited several Marian groups to pray together at Montreal's Cathédrale Marie Reine du Monde. Such an event is extraordinary, and should take place several times a year. Especially in the painful times we are currently living on earth. Thank you to all those who made this event such an extraordinary gathering.
Here are the videos of the speeches recorded by the Flame of Love Movement during the evening.
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Homily of Father Alain Vaillancourt
Friday, October 13, 2023
"It is a great joy tonight for Mary, Jesus of course, and for St. Joseph to see you gathered here, you from different prayer groups and what
can be considered the "beloved" of the Lord, are here tonight to unite in a single prayer at a time in our history that needs intercessors, people like you and me who pray for the Church and all humanity. At the same time, tonight we celebrate the dedication of the cathedral. Notice all the lit candles that have been placed around the cathedral, which was consecrated six years ago. We'll now take you through the Liturgy of Dedication.
Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (11:15-26)
"At that time, when Jesus had expelled a demon, some said, "It is through Beelzebul, the ruler of demons, that he expels demons." Others, to test him, sought a sign from heaven. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself becomes desolate, its houses crumble one upon another. If Satan, too, is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that by Beelzebul I cast out demons. But if I expel them through Beelzebul, by whom do your disciples expel them? Then they themselves will be your judges. On the other hand, if I expel demons by the finger of God, then the reign of God has come to you.
When the strong, well-armed man guards his palace, everything that belongs to him is safe. But if a stronger man comes along and triumphs over him, he takes away his trusted weaponry, and distributes all that he has stripped him of. He who is not with me is against me; he who does not gather with me scatters. When the unclean spirit has gone out of man, it wanders through dry places looking for a place to rest. And it doesn't find it. So he says to himself, "I'm going back to my house, from whence I came." When he arrives, he finds it swept and tidy. So he goes, and takes other spirits even more evil than himself, seven in number; they come in and settle there. So that man's condition is worse at the end than it was at the beginning."
Introducing the prayer groups
In this mystery of the Visitation that we pray in the rosary, we always remember Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth. Well, it wasn't just one visit. Mary has always continued to visit, to visit us. She has done so throughout history, even in recent times. That's why, when we think of all the occasions when Mary has manifested herself in her apparitions, we must see it as a Visitation. For example, today we celebrate (little Fatima, below) October 13, the last apparition with the sun dance.
In each apparition, each time Mary appears, she has a different name and a different, albeit similar, message. But there are points in common. It's to show us different facets of what she wants us to know about herself, and of course about her Son.
At Fatima, she made herself known as Our Lady of the Rosary and announced that her Immaculate Heart would triumph. Also, on the 13th and every 13th, as you know, we have the Rosa Mystica group. Speaking of Our Lady of Fatima, there was a group here with Mrs. Diane Talbot who died during the pandemic. Unfortunately, she never had a funeral; I've never heard of her having a funeral even though she came to Mass here every day. So maybe have a prayer for her. You remember her, she served Mass every day. So, she was in a group dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima.
Another group was Rosa Mystica, whose apparitions took place in northern Italy, hence the name "Rosa Mystica". At the same time, she asks us to pray for priests, for the sanctity of priests. We have this group here at the cathedral.
There's also another manifestation of Mary, another visitation of Mary that took place in Hungary with the Flame of Love from the Immaculate Heart of Mary that blinds Satan. This aspect of Mary's work is to blind Satan, as seen when she tramples the serpent's head with her heel. We also have this group here this evening.
There's La Légion de Marie, the well-known Legion of Mary. This time, its origins are in Ireland, and the founder wants to make its members apostolic like Mary who went out to visit others. And the group meets to pray, report and share what they have done together during the week to make Mary and Jesus known.
We also have the Dames de Notre-Dame at the cathedral, whose aim is to be with Mary, to pray to Mary.
We also have this group with ZOOM who pray to Mary. I don't know much about this because I'm not a great ZOOM specialist, but this group was lucky enough to meet our vicar Emmanuel Zetino, who was better at this sort of thing than I am. This group also exists and is visited by Mary every time they pray the rosary.
There's also Divine Mercy. Jesus also made his visitations in history, just as he was there when Mary visited Elisabeth. Jesus also visited (he was already alive in the Mother's womb), so he visited John the Baptist, he also visited his aunt Elizabeth.
And Jesus also visits. He visited Sister Faustina in Poland, and thanks to her we have Divine Mercy. We have this Divine Mercy group, which is very faithful to the Cathedral and helps to remind us how Divine Mercy is the greatest of God's virtues and attributes.
The Vie Mariale group and the Marguerites who pray for priests. This completes Rosa Mystica.
Homily
Today, in the Gospel, Jesus casts out demons. So, He was already used to fighting; He had already done it in the desert; He's going to conquer on the Cross. So Jesus teaches us how to overcome this battle, which is very well illustrated in the book of Revelation. And among you, there are groups who are more present in the battle, such as the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which blinds Satan. By the way, Marcel would like to share some things with you tonight, in the basement. So, he's holding things in his heart deep down. You'll please him if you hear him out, and if you have the time, of course, after Mass.
But let's just say that this battle is real in our time, more than ever. Satan manifests himself in different ways, for example, 1) in my opinion, the worst: violence, hatred, massacres of populations as seen in the various wars in history: Israel and Palestine. Israel is a separate story; I don't want to go into that. Then there's the Ukraine - terrible! It's certainly not God's will. The Devil is unleashed in Eastern Congo, where women are raped in large numbers, or in Haiti, where voodoo practices and street gangs sow terror. The Devil wants terror, wants hatred, wants to destroy, wants to attack the innocent, as seen in the massacre of innocent saints by King Herod. So, a first form of Satan's attacks.
Another, 2) is lies. Satan is a master of lies. He wants us to believe that what is good is evil and what is evil is good. The whole issue of the fight over abortion, life in the womb, life that already exists. Yes, we already exist. I celebrate my conception more than my birth, because I say to myself: I was already here before. Yes, I celebrate my birth, but my conception is also important. So, as we can see, we're already here: Jesus and John the Baptist were already in their mother's womb. So the lie.
The whole question of the family, these great debates going on right now about sex changes and all that stuff, is really dominated by Satan. There's also lust. There's also...
We could say a lot, but to sum up, Satan wants us to forget God. Satan wants to keep us away from God and especially from prayer. So he hates groups like you. He hates you right now, but God loves you to compensate. So, if we want to continue the fight, we pray, we love, we live the Gospel, we attend the sacraments and we love our neighbor. This is what we're going to ask the Lord for as grace, so that with Jesus we can be strong; with Mary we can triumph; with St. Joseph we can have the peace of the Holy Family. We pray Amen.
