As Catholics, we know that each Holy Mass has infinite value , beyond our human comprehension. St John Mary Vianney (Cure d'Ars) tries to explain this value:
“It gladdens the whole heavenly court, relieves the poor souls in purgatory , attracts all kinds of graces on earth, and gives more glory to God than all the sufferings of the martyrs put together , than the penances of all the saints, than all the the tears they shed since the beginning of the world, and whatever they may do until the end of time.”
Due to this immense value, a single mass can immensely ease the pain of the souls in purgatory or even free countless of them who reside there today (some for centuries or even millennia). And you? Do you usually offer masses for the souls in purgatory? Can you imagine how much they yearn for someone to remember them on earth and offer them masses and prayers to be freed from their tortures? After reading this miracle, you will surely remember more of them!
It was the year 1829 in Ireland . There was built in the village of Knock , County Mayo , a humble church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, in which only about 30 people could fit. It was led by Father Bartholomew Cavanah , known for being a very charitable person, as he offered all his material goods to the poor.
But he knew that not only the living need help, but also the dead! And how do they need it!!! Being devoted to Our Lady of Conception, I always asked for her intercession for these poor souls. Aware that Our Mother is aware of the sufferings of these souls, the priest did his part: he prayed 100 masses for the souls in purgatory that Our Lady most wanted to see freed soon.
The hundredth mass took place on August 21, 1879. It fulfilled its mission. And it moved the heart of the Mother who decided to show her gratitude for such a great act of love for her neighbor, making an appearance in the humble church where the priest preached.
That night of the last mass, the priest's maid, named Mary McLoughlin, passed in front of the church and saw three "images" and an altar that were not there before, under an effect of lights on them. It was strange, but he simply thought that the priest had ordered more images for the parish and some lighting game.
Talking afterwards with a friend of hers, Mary Beirne , she said that she also saw these images illuminated in the church in the distance and also found them unusual. Both returned to the church and saw the miraculous apparition:
As they got closer, they saw that they weren't images, because they were moving. They were apparitions!!! But without saying anything. They wore white clothes, gleaming like silver, just as they were enveloped in a golden light. They walked under a bunch of herbs that were in the place. Behind them loomed an altar that also glowed in the golden light. On the altar was a lamb and a large white cross, surrounded by six angels with wings.
Mary Bernie aware of the miraculous vision, ran to the neighborhood and called other people, totaling 15 visionaries of the apparitions. They unanimously claimed to be Our Lady, with Saint Joseph on her right and Saint John the Evangelist on her left. They also claimed that the apparitions were very clear, as if they had a body. They noticed that Our Lady had a golden crown on her head and Saint John carried the Gospels in his hands. The three remained in complete silence. Due to this fact, they named this apparition the Mother of Our Lady of Silence.
Source: Canção Nova
The apparition lasted about two hours. During this period, the 15 seers prayed rosaries in front of the saints and Our Lady, until she disappeared.
With the disclosure of the apparition, thousands of people began to go to the tiny church. Not only. They began to scrape the wall near the place of apparition to apply or pass where they needed cures. Father Cavanah accounted for more than 300 miraculous healings of these people!
Many of these miracles were reported to Rome along with the testimonies of the 15 seers. In 1936 it obtained full approval and recognition from the Catholic Church . Upon completing a century of the apparition in 1979, Pope John Paul II blessed the site in person in a celebration in front of thousands of faithful. Pope Francis is a current great devotee of Our Lady of Silence!!!
Miraculum team is devoted to the holy souls in purgatory and we invite you to routinely say your prayers and offer masses for these poor souls , both for their deceased relatives and for the forgotten souls, who have no one on earth who remembers them and can help them. help to get rid of or ease their torments. Also remember this phrase of Saint Augustine:
"Whoever helps the souls in purgatory the most in this life, God will make sure that he is also helped by another, when he is there in the midst of those flames"
Mother of Silence and Humility, you live lost and found in the bottomless sea of the Lord's Mystery. You are availability and receptivity. You are fruitfulness and fullness. You are attention and concern for your brothers and sisters. You are clothed with strength. Human maturity and spiritual elegance shine in you. You are mistress of yourself before being our Mistress.
In a simple and total act, your soul, all motionless, is paralyzed and identified with the Lord. You are within God, and God within you. The total Mystery envelops you and penetrates you and possesses you, occupies and surrenders your whole being.
It seems that in you everything stood still, everything identified with you: time, space, words, music, silence, women, God. Everything was assumed in you, and deified.
No human figure of such sweetness has ever been seen, nor will such an ineffably evocative woman be seen on this earth. However, your silence is not absence, but presence. You are in awe of the Lord and at the same time attentive to your brothers and sisters, as at Cana. Communication is never so profound as when nothing is said, and silence is never so eloquent as when nothing is communicated.
Make us understand that silence is not uninteresting for the brothers, but a source of energy and radiation, it is not shrinkage but projection. It makes us understand that, in order to pour out, it is necessary to fill up. The world drowns in the sea of dispersion, and it is not possible to love the brothers with a scattered heart. Make us understand that the apostolate without silence is alienation, and that silence without apostolate is comfort.
Wrap us in your mantle of silence and communicate to us the strength of your faith, the height of your Hope and the depth of your Love.
Stay with those who stay and come with those who leave. O Admirable Mother of Silence! Amen
References: Santuário de Knock, A12, Padre Alexandre Fernandes, Padre Reginaldo Manzotti, Lina Luz Oficial, Tenda do Senhor, ComShalom