Well, it is simple yet so intriguingfor some when we put Her in one of the seats of the airplane. Of course, we buy Her a ticket. Economy class, though. Interestingly, in some Catholic countries like the Philippines and Haiti, they put us in the business class when they realize ‘who” we are travelling with. The crown comes off, the royal garment (the cape) is carefully folded then put away, what is left is this 63-year old, 42 inch solid mahogany wood, inside a soft-padded bag. Yes, we put on the seatbelt for safety as well.
The same strategy is employed for land travel, particularly in our “Fatima One” vehicle.
This is no ordinary statue. This is the visual representation of the Blessed Mother of God who appeared at Fatima in 1917. Hand-carved according to Sister Lucia’s description, sent and commissioned
by the bishop of Fatima to be the “pilgrim”; blessed by Pope Pius XII while refering to it as “the messenger of Queen Mary’s royalty; venerated by more than 100 million people from all over the world. Spreading the message of conversion, prayer and penance (the peace Plan from Heaven) which is so urgent and important.
The photo below testifies to 12,500 devotees in the heart of Los Angeles at the Convention Center last August of 2010. There we process the statue like no other because She is indeed the Bride of the Holy Spirit.
We have seen 150,000 in one crowd alone in the Latin Archdiocese of Cochin, India. We had a share of the crowd of 5 million who cheered for John Paul II during 1995 World Youth day in Manila when he was on a helicopter ride to see the huge crowd for himself. Ours was the same ride in 2002 over Manila as per the request of the President of the Republic to the Palace, then to different dioceses.
