MORE than 600 people made the annual pilgrimage to Marian Valley, Canungra, for the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady on Saturday, September 7.
The feast day is regarded as one of the most significant celebrations for the Pauline Fathers, who as part of their charism oversee the popular Marian shrine.
People were invited to pray to Our Lady for World Peace, a tradition connected to the universal Rosary bouquet, a movement that began in the 1970s by a couple from Mount Tambourine whose daughter was in a serious accident.
The couple asked people to pray and ask for Our Lady’s intercession to heal their daughter, who as a result of her accident was comatose for years.
In 1990, the couple could no longer continue the movement and the Pauline Fathers, who were established in Mount Tambourine at the time, took responsibility for it.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge celebrated the feast day Mass and expanded on the need for peace amidst the “mess” and chaos of the world.
Celebrating the day of the federal election, Archbishop Coleridge said it was important to remember a more heavenly election.
“Today, we are here to celebrate the greatest election of all, the election of Mary as the Mother of Christ,” the Archbishop said.
“We in society look to have the most popular candidate guide our country, but Our Lord picked a nobody from nowhere to be the mother of His Son.”
Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading, the genealogy of Jesus, he reminded the congregation about God’s perfect order.
Archbishop Coleridge referenced the conflict in Syria, and said a clear message of the genealogy of Christ is that God was behind all of history.
“Our lives are a mess, with chaotic and random happenings, but you can be sure that there is absolutely nothing random or chaotic about the genealogy of Our Lord,” he said.
“Even the fact that Mary was conceived without sin shows God’s perfection.
“Underneath all the problems of this world, the genealogy of Christ shows us that God always has a plan, and is always constant.”
