Maria! It is with great joy that I announce to you that the MI National US has found a home in the diocese of Peoria, Illinois! We have been temporarily located in Santa Maria del Popolo Parish in Mundelein, Illinois, for a year and a half while praying and searching for a home with more permanent status. The Peoria site gives the MI a central location in the United States and an established presence of MI members who hopefully will be willing to provide the needed volunteer help in carrying out the MI National mission. This area also happens to be the home diocese of one of the great evangelizing figures of the last century, none other than Servant of God Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
For me, one of the most touching passages in the New Testament is the reaction of St. John to the gift of Mary to himself and the Church. The Gospel of St. John simply says the following: “And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home” (Jn 19:27). Can there be any more perfect description of what the MI National home ought to be than that of Our Lady’s home and her movement’s home?
In keeping with its modest size, the MI National Council has decided to call it the
Little Garden of the Immaculata, in tribute to the City of the Immaculata St. Maximilian founded in Japan—Mugenzai no Sono, that is, the Garden of the Immaculata. It is appropriate that the house be small, modest like the home at Nazareth, where the true image of every family discovers its truest form and where Jesus dwelled and was loved with a love beyond all telling. We will strive to make this house such a place.
May the Little Garden of the Immaculata become indeed the warm, generous home of those who strive with all their might to make it the living dwelling of hearts dedicated to the ultimate goal of total consecration: to make the Sacred Heart known and loved.
May the Little Garden in Peoria radiate the presence and love of the Immaculata: “Your name spreads like perfume.” And may this “perfume” dispel the stench of evil that hovers over our land.
We moved into the house in the latter part of July and will have an open house on the feast of St. Maximilian, August 14. The Little Garden houses a relic of St. Maximilian brought all the way from Niepokalanow, Poland. St. Maximilian always wanted to visit America; he is here in the form of his relic.
Please continue to pray for the MI National Council, as we pray for all of you! Praised be Jesus Christ in His Immaculate Mother!
“Arise, let us be on our way!”