1st Marian Conference Japan (MCJ 2023)
‘Our Lady of Perpetual Help’ in May, the Month of Mary
MCJ-N0002
Press Release
October 26, 2022
‘Marian Conference Japan’, (May 5th, 2023), is a conference that,
- – honors Our Blessed Mother in her role as ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Help’,
- – highlights May, the month of ‘Our Blessed Mother Mary’,
- – is a collective prayer for the intercession of ‘Our Blessed Mother’,
- – for the healing power of Christ in our daily lives,
- – for protection of the Holy Spirit against evil and temptations,
- – for uniting our petitions with the sacrifices of her son, Our Savior, Christ the King.
In the icon of ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Help’ we see the child Jesus, fearful, rushing into His mother’s arms, with His sandal falling off. Jesus, by the appearance of Archangel Gabriel (holding a cross that symbolizes the crucifixion of Jesus), and Archangel Michael (holding the spear that symbolizes the piercing of Jesus’s side), sees His passion and death that is to come.
We are reminded that we, the children of God, can be comforted by ‘Our Blessed Mother’, even though we can face great fear, suffering and loss, as Jesus did.
We see in the icon also ‘Our Blessed Mother’ with her hand open to receive Jesus as she also can receive us when we call on her in prayer. She also points to Jesus so that we can be comforted in knowing our petitions are directed to Jesus through ‘Our Blessed Mother’. In these times of temporal and spiritual erosion of the blessings, rights and joy of family life and the gift of children, we plead to ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Help’ to come to our aid, to the aid of families and children.
May is also the Month of Mary which includes the following feast days of ‘Our Blessed Mother’.
- May 13th: – Feast of our Lady of Fatima
- May 24th: – Feast of our Lady Help of Christians
- May 31st: – Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Pope Paul VI wrote a short encyclical (MENSE MAIO – April 29 1965) on the month of May. He wrote that May is an occasion for a “moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world pay to the Queen of Heaven.”
In the Rosary, the great prayer of meditation, given to us through Mary’s apparition before Saint Dominic in the 13th century, we have in the ‘Luminous Mysteries’, the heart-warming meditation of ‘Jesus through Mary’. As Jesus told us, “I am the Way, the Truth and Life”, Our Blessed Mother, as the mother of Christ provides us also a way to Christ. “Do as He says!” With these words of ‘Our Blessed Mother’ at the ‘Wedding Feast of Cana’, we are reminded of the great joy open to us by following Jesus, by putting our trust in Jesus, and by accepting Jesus into our lives.
With the power of the Holy Spirit working through ‘Our Blessed Mother’, we too can have the consolation of the Holy Spirit working through us. By God’s great intervention in the life of Mary, inviting her to become the mother of His son, Jesus, and her humble acceptance of God’s invitation, through devotion to Mary, we can become closer to God. We can learn from Mary, the joy of humility, that leads to a life of holiness so that, we too, can be united with Christ on earth today, and in the life that is to come, in heaven.
For people today, who are not satisfied with the short-term promise of material possessions, who are seeking the meaning of life, and who are in need of healing, by turning to ‘Our Blessed Mother’ and seeking her help and intercession for our petitions, we can receive comfort and relief in both our daily lives, and our spiritual journeys.
Marian Conference Japan (MCJ)
Inspired by the courageous faith of the ‘Hidden Christians’ of Japan, MCJ is an annual grassroots conference, for spreading devotion to Our Blessed Mother Mary. MCJ is organized by a lay-Catholic group, Evangelii Network Japan, which consists of volunteers from the parish of St. Ignatius Church, Tokyo, and other parishes.
Evangelii Network Japan
Email: contact@marianjapan.org
“He (Jesus) wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout the world.”
Fatima: – June 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin to Sr Lucia,
