By Anne DiBernardo - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | The Archdiocese of Miami is holding the third annual Eucharistic Rosary Congress Oct. 5 thru 11, 2024. As part of the urgent plea for prayer, each day six diocesan parishes will host 24 hours of eucharistic adoration, beginning with the celebration of the Holy Mass, followed by the prayer of the rosary aloud every hour.

At the top of this year’s prayer intentions is stopping the passage of Amendment 4. The hope is to storm heaven with prayer to defeat this extreme and deceptive abortion amendment on the November ballot, which would amend the Florida State Constitution to provide unfettered access to abortion at any time and eliminate the requirement for parental consent in the state of Florida, according to Vicky Yardley, chair of the Florida S.E. Chapter of the Columbiettes’ Catholic Action Committee.

The event was organized by a team of Archdiocese of Miami Columbiette auxiliary members assisted by clergy of the six host parishes.

The Rosary Congress is a week of prayer that hastens the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. “This truly spiritual experience is a foretaste of how beautiful the world will be when humanity returns to the love and service of God. It will be that period of peace foretold by Our Lady of Fatima wherein the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus will be the center of our lives, and the Holy Spirit will fill our hearts with the fire of his love to renew the face of the earth. Finally, the Rosary Congress is enveloped in a spirit of penance and reparation for our sins and for the sins of humanity, in order to call down God’s mercy upon the whole world,” as stated on the website of the Eucharistic Rosary Congress.

“This is our response to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) call for a Eucharistic Revival,” said Yardley.

She also hopes that people receive whatever graces and healings they are seeking personally, that people fall in love with the Blessed Sacrament and realize that it is an extension of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. She hopes that they fall in love with Jesus in the Mass, which she describes as “Heaven on Earth” and that they understand there is no greater hour in a Catholic’s life than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

“There will also be an opportunity to venerate a first-class relic of the Blessed Mother’s veil, so everyone will go home with a rosary touched by the relic of her veil,” Yardley said. Rosaries will be available for those who do not have one.

The Rosary Congress is held simultaneously in dioceses across the United States. For the first time, five of the seven dioceses in the state of Florida are participating, said Yardley.

The origin of the Eucharistic Rosary Congress can be traced to 1979 when, through our Lady’s powerful intercession with her Divine Son, Pope John Paul II’s visit to Poland, which was denied by the communist government, was suddenly lifted after seven days of and nights of continuous rosaries offered aloud in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The Rosary Congress came to America in 1988 with the first event held in Washington D.C., at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.

“Our patroness for this is Our Lady and we are hoping she gives us the graces that we need. We are really answering her call from Fatima, for conversion, prayer, and for everything she has called for, including peace in our country, in our homes, and in our marriages,” Yardley said.

During her apparitions at Fatima in 1917, Our Lady called for conversion, consecration, and prayer and to make reparation for the grave offenses and sacrileges committed against God, and to prevent Russia from spreading her errors throughout the world.

It was during the last of her six apparitions to the three shepherd children on Oct. 13, 1917, that she appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel holding a brown scapular. She emphasized the primacy of the rosary and the brown scapular, noting that they are inseparable. She also told us that in the end, her Immaculate Heart will triumph. Along with that message was the call to conversion, penance, prayer, almsgiving, and special devotion to the first Saturday.

Anyone who has not been enrolled in the brown scapular or made a family consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary is encouraged to attend the closing Mass on Oct. 11, which will include a procession of the life-size statue of the Virgin Mary, and an opportunity for investiture in the brown scapular, and family consecration to the Two Hearts.

Eucharistic Rosary Congress 

This year’s the Eucharistic Rosary Congress will begin with the opening Mass on Saturday, Oct. 5 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Coral Springs and conclude with the closing Mass on Friday, Oct. 11 at St. Pius X Parish in Ft. Lauderdale.

The 24-hour period in each participating parish will begin with the celebration of Mass, followed by eucharistic adoration, where people will take turns sitting before the Lord in the Eucharistic, praying the rosary for these various intentions.

To participate in person in the hours of adoration, it is necessary to register at one of the participating parishes. Those who are unable to attend are encouraged to search online for a live eucharistic adoration site and pray with them in unity.

For more information, please contact Mary Ann at 954 263-5428.

Below is a list of participating parishes and Mass times.

• Day 1 – Opening Mass, 5:30 p.m. - Saturday, Oct. 5, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Coral Springs, Louis 954-753-3330
• Day 2 – Mass, 5:30 p.m. – Sunday, Oct. 6, St. Louis Parish, Pinecrest, Kristin 786-338-0145
• Day 3 – Mass, 6 p.m. – Monday, Oct. 7, Nativity Parish, Hollywood, Ronnie 954-494-1809
• Day 4 – Mass, 6 p.m. – Tuesday, Oct. 8, St. Bonaventure Parish, Davie, Donna 954-296-9507
• Day 5 – Mass, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, St. Gabriel Parish, Pompano Beach, Mari Helen 954-592-7483
• Day 6 – Mass, 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, St. Pius X Parish, Fort Lauderdale, Dolores 954-684-6708
• Day 7 – Closing Mass 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, St. Pius X Parish, Forth Lauderdale.