The pilgrimages of devotees of the Virgin Mary to the Marian Center of Figueira have been on the rise: between May 14 and 21, 2016, three groups coming from different places of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil – Belo Horizonte, São Bento Abade and Alfenas – have visited the spiritual sanctuary.
On Sunday, May 15, about 140 pilgrims from Belo Horizonte and nearby cities developed an intense praying schedule in the Marian Center of Figueira. They arrived at 11 a.m. in three buses, sharing a snack in the House of the Pilgrim and then they initiated a Way of the Cross to the Hill of Apparitions, which ended with an Ecumenical Communion.
Then they covered the points of prayer of the Hill: the Chapel of the Glorified Christ, the House of Immaculate Peace and the Doorway of Peace. A lunch was served and then everyone participated in the praying activities of the afternoon: the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy and the visit to the Wood of Harmony, where the Oca (Indian Hut) of the Vigil is located.
‘This visit is extremely important because it opens doors for people who have never had contact with a Marian Center and who are devotees of Mary, activates this devotion and permits to deepen this contact that today is very important’, considered Beth Picorelli, a member of the Coordinating Board of the Nucleus-of-Light of Figueira in Belo Horizonte – Sacred Heaven.
‘More than half of those who have come today are having their first contact with the Marian energy, and are relatives of friends of the ones who participate in the group of pilgrims. This can have unsuspected repercussions in the inner being of these people, as well as in those who are connected with them’, evaluated friar Thomas, the coordinator of the Monastery Doorway of the Divine Mercy, located in the Nucleus-of-Light of Figueira in Belo Horizonte.
‘We began with the idea of coming in one bus, but the adhesion increased and finally we came in three buses. The intention is to have this as a rhythm. We are already scheduling a next coming for Sunday, July 3rd‘, added the monk of the Grace Mercy Order.
Joel BarrelaAfonso discovered this work a short time ago and, in order to know it better, he decided to join the pilgrimage, together with his wife. ‘Here I find a very good energy, a lot of peace; I plan to keep attending the group in Belo Horizonte’, commented this African man, from São Tomé and Príncipe, who has been living in Brazil for 11 years.
‘After visiting the House of Prayer of Mary, I felt an affirmation of my mission as a mother, I leave with a healed heart and very willing to take the love I found here to other people. I am starting to know this work and I like it a lot’, pointed out Gabriela de Paula.
‘It is the first time I come, I have participated in two apparitions (of Mary) in Belo Horizonte; I felt a very strong energy, an energy that mobilizes’, said GuillermeFraga.
‘I am in Figueira for the second time, and I find the same harmony that I found in the first time’, told Leo Lima.
‘I feel in Heaven; for 15 years I had not come to this place’, shared Norma CampeloMartelleto. Her daughter, Giane, said that each time she comes she feels ‘an enormous and unexplainable emotion’.
A group of children and teenagers from São Bento Abade – 12 altogether – also visited the Hill of Apparitions on Saturday, May 14. They spent this weekend in the House of Light on the Hill, where they developed a program of activities, which included tasks of mandala, tapestry, watching a movie (The Voice of the Heart) and work with the garden.
On Saturday, May 21, another group, coming from Alfenas, with 46 people ages 5 thru 80, climbed the Hill of Apparitions and offered their prayers and thanks to the Virgin Mary. Then they transferred to the House of Light on the Hill, where they had lunch and prayed the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.
These visits are organized by the Association Mary, the House of Light on the Hill and the Community-of-Light of Figueira, with the support of the monks and nuns of the Grace Mercy Order.
