We will be celebrating our Forty Hours Devotion this year on October 9, 10, and 11 in the usual style. The theme will be “The Servant of God Maria Esperanza Speaks to St. Peter’s Parish”. Maria Esperanza visited our parish twice in 1999. Since then, her beatification cause was opened in the Diocese of Metuchen.
In combination with our usual solemn liturgical celebrations, we will be hosting the daughter of Maria Esperanza, Coromoto Marrero, and Michelle Bowers, whose son was healed through the intercession of the Servant of God.
For those of you who do not know her, Maria Esperanza is the wife, mother, mystic and missionary who was the protagonist of the Marian apparitions in Betania, Venezuela in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. These apparitions were approved by the Church in 1987. Maria Esperanza was commissioned by the Blessed Virgin Mary to announce a message of fraternal unity and family reconciliation for our times. Providentially, she spent the last eight months of her life in Long Beach Island, NJ, and died there on August 7, 2004. I visited her almost daily during the last months of her life and celebrated her last Mass the night before she died.
In this difficult age of confusion, persecution and disintegration of the nuclear family, Maria Esperanza’s message of hope and unity are very encouraging. The words that Maria Esperanza addressed to our parish are as relevant now as they were when first spoken to us.
I am sure that you will find these nights of celebration exciting and inspiring. Please spread the word and come to Church early to get a seat.
Many blessings,
Fr. Tim Byerley
Novena to Maria Esperanza
O great flower of Betania, Maria Esperanza.
You were left here as our consolation
when Padre Pio was called to high glory in heaven.
Your smile lit the way in times of trial and despair.
Your courage and willingness to bear in some part
the burdens of our Pope gave us hope.
Intercede for us Blessed Maria,
that we may not falter in our daily trials
and that we may grow in faith and love
for our Lord Jesus through the Blessed Mother Mary.
Please, Maria, grant us our petition as we make it known to you here
(make your request).
The answer to this prayer will require the intercession
of a loved and respected servant or our Lady.
You are the servant Maria.
Please hear us and grant this petition.
We promise, Maria, to make known to all the granting of this request
and promise to help propagate devotion to you in this regard.
Thank you for listening flower of Betania. Amen.
Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, one Glory Be.
Maria Esperanza, pray for us.
O Jesus, full of grace and charity, victim for sinners,
so impelled by love for us that You willed to die on the cross,
we humbly beseech You to glorify in heaven and on earth,
Maria Esperanza of Venezuela,
who generously suffered for Your Sake,
and loved you so much and labored so faithfully
for the glory of Your heavenly Father and for the good of souls.
With this confidence we beseech You to grant us,
through her intercession,
the graces which we ardently desire
(make your request).
Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, one Glory Be.
Maria Esperanza, pray for us.