Our Lady of the Golden Heart, pray for us.
The month of October, the Month of the Rosary, is also the month of the universal mission of the Church, whose institution by Pope Pius XI in 1926 we commemorate this year on its centenary.
Christians are called to participate in this mission by virtue of the Sacrament of Confirmation, each according to his or her state in life. The Christian united to Christ and to the Church, His Mystical Body, shares by grace in her intimate life. Through fidelity to observing the Commandments, the precepts of the Gospel and the practice of the works required by his or her state in life, the Christian is called to become the good fragrance of Christ and to spread it in a world that is often hostile to him: “For we are the aroma of Christ for God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Cor. 2:15).
The Rosary was revealed in the twelfth century to Saint Dominic by the Most Blessed Virgin Mary as a providential instrument for preserving the faith undefiled and morals upright, by combating errors and encouraging the practice of the virtues taught by Christ in the Gospel. The daily prayer of the Rosary is a missionary prayer insofar as it opens us to the Love of the Heart of Christ, who never ceased desiring to spread the fire that He came to cast upon the earth: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I desire, if it is already kindled?” (Lk. 12:49).
Withdrawn from the world, with no other acts than her heroic fidelity to following the Rule of Carmel, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux was proclaimed “Patroness of the Missions” by His Holiness Pope Pius XI in 1927. She is the supreme example of a holiness radiating throughout the Church and, through the Church, throughout all humanity, as witnessed by the construction in Lisieux of the basilica dedicated to her name.
The Rosary is a school of radiant holiness, a school of missionary love drawn from the Heart of Mary. For it was to Mary’s maternal love that the teaching, guidance, nourishment and protection of the true disciples of Jesus Christ were entrusted. This love, drawn from the Heart of the Immaculate Virgin, has led so many souls to leave the world in order to carry the light of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. These missionaries still baptize today in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19). They bear witness to Christ, even to the shedding of their own blood in fidelity to Him. They teach and enlighten the nations with the Light of the Doctors of the Church. The latter proclaim the eternal and unchanging ways of divine Wisdom, through which the Kingdom of God is established in justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17).
The Rosary is a true Marian school in which the Blessed Virgin teaches us the virtues of Christian life. She also teaches us to preserve the treasure of the faith, to continually increase our love of God and love of neighbour, even to the point of self-denial (cf. St Augustine, The City of God). Mary is the example of the perfect fulfilment of the precepts of the Gospel and, from Pentecost onward, of her radiance for the growth of the Church and the salvation of the world.
On Saturday, 3 October 2026, the first Saturday of the month of October, we are invited to make the Rosary a great common prayer carried throughout Belgium, going beyond our limitations and weaknesses, which may be our comfort, our habits and sometimes our fear of witnessing to our Christian commitments.
The choice of this first Saturday of the month for this gathering is not accidental. It allows us to begin or continue our response to the request made by Our Lady of Fatima to Sister Lucia concerning the devotion of the First Saturdays for five consecutive months.
Our Lady to Sister Lucia, 10 December 1925:
“See, my daughter, My Heart surrounded by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console Me and say that all those who, for five months, on the first Saturday, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, in a spirit of reparation, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls.”
Sister Lucia of Fatima, in a letter addressed to Father Aparicio in March 1939, identifies the devotion of the Five First Saturdays of the month and the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope as the decisive spiritual keys for establishing peace in the world and, fundamentally, for avoiding the loss of souls.
These intentions, carried with perseverance and charity, will support our prayer for Belgium and the world. They will help open our hearts to this missionary impulse to which Christ calls us, and after Him, so many of His apostles and disciples. As children of our mother, Holy Church, we are invited to make the graces received at Baptism and Confirmation bear fruit and thus contribute to the flourishing of the faith, to the protection of Life from conception until its natural end, and to obtaining the peace of Christ in souls throughout the whole world.
May these times of prayer, enhanced by a few hymns, take place in serenity and radiate that peace which only Christ can leave us in His charity, that is, in the unconditional love of God and of our neighbour. In humility and filled with confidence in God, we wish to appeal to Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted, so that she may lead us towards a peaceful solution to the crisis we are experiencing. With perseverance, we wish to ask for her all-powerful intercession before the Heart of God. She will help us emerge from the difficult situation into which the nations have plunged themselves because of their rejection of God and of Christ Jesus, sent to save them.
We invite you to create places of prayer for Saturday, 3 October at 3:00 p.m., if possible, and to send us their details so that other people who wish to pray may join you by finding them on the map and/or in the list provided on this same page.
The weekday Rosary prayer throughout the year always takes place on the day announced on the website, unless otherwise indicated. Let us take advantage of these special occasions to establish groups of a Living Rosary. The prayer of the Rosary is one of the Christian’s spiritual means of support, helping us to keep on course.
Create places of prayer! Join these places of prayer whenever possible! Encourage others to do the same!
To help you share this information with those around you, please feel free to download the flyer, print it and distribute it.
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Thank you in advance!
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