15th of September 2009

Dear Friends,

At the beginning of this new pastoral year, we are happy to be able to get back in touch with you to assure you of our prayer for you all, and also for all our brothers and sisters who take part in the chain of perpetual adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.
We pray especially for those among you whose country is at war or in deep trouble.  Only God knows your pain and only He can turn this suffering into a power of salvation for souls, so that at the end of time these trials will bear fruit.

We also pray particularly for those of you who have shared you prayer petitions with us: family trials, health problems, and professional difficulties.  Rest assured that we do not forget you.  Our Lord’s mercy will be victorious in the end and will justify you in your faith and in your persistence.

You know that our Pope Benedict XVI has promulgated a Sacerdotal Year for the Church.  This is an invitation for us to pray especially this year for the holiness of our priests, for vocations to the priesthood and to deepen our understanding of the meaning of the priestly vocation in order to give thanks to God.
This is the theme of the activities at the Basilica this year, both for conferences and for times of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
Please don’t hesitate to send us the names of priests or seminarians that you know or used to know so that we can pray for them.  You can also send us your questions, your reactions or simply your thanksgivings; we will reply to you.

To prepare this Sacerdotal Year, we have renovated the sacristy of the Basilica.  The beautiful stone walls have been whitened so that the numerous priests who prepare for Mass at the sacristy may be welcomed by beauty and light to help them pray.

The new dormitories for night adoration are now in service and it is a great blessing for us as we were very short of space before the changes. More and more of our friends that come from abroad know that they can stop over here to take part in the nightly prayer.  Please don’t hesitate to make this invitation widely known.  It is a way of helping our Basilica to fulfil its vocation of spreading the Kingdom of God to all nations.

This summer, we have also done serious repair work on our famous bell “The Savoyarde”.  It is one of the biggest swinging bells in the world, weighing in at 19 tons!!!  The work has just come to an end, and we are delighted to hear once again the Savoyarde inviting us to come and praise the Lord.

We look forward to hearing from you in the near future, and we offer each one of you to the Heart of Jesus.

God bless you all.

With all our prayers and best wishes,

Sr Marie Mechtilde