For the last five years, I have devoted the month of November to the topic of character development by focusing on the importance of virtues and their development in our lives. During this time, I have used Barbara C. Unell and Jerry L. Wyckoff’s book: 20 Teachable Virtues: Practical Ways to Pass on Lessons of Virtue and Character to Your Children. In their book Barbara and Wyckoff try to help people seize moments of life and use them to help us teach young people about the importance of the different virtues. Let us start pondering these last four virtues in their book.

Come and explore the art of friendship.

Learn more about this great activity that is guaranteed to help you strengthen your relationship with God.

his statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is only three and half feet tall and was carved out of oak. The artist or woodworker is unknown. According to pious legend, the statue was discarded and found by a man who was looking for firewood to start a fire. The man through the wood statue into the fire just as a monk entered the room. The monk named Brother Wouter quickly rescued the statue from the fire and was given permission from his superiors to keep the statue in his room as a private devotion.

he third image I would like to look at is called Our Lady of Garden from Genoa, Italy. For help in our exploration we will be using The Other Faces of Mary: Stories, Devotions, and Pictures of the Holy Virgin Around the World by Ann Ball.

Let us deepen our relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ by learning more about Him by learning more about his mother. For the month of October, I would like to reflect with you all on some of the different images of the Blessed Virgin Mary throughout history and across the globe. The second image I would like to look at is called Our Lady of Nyaunglebin and can be found in Myanmar. For help in our exploration we will be using The Other Faces of Mary: Stories, Devotions, and Pictures of the Holy Virgin Around the World by Ann Ball.

Growing up, I would hear priests from the pulpit and teachers in schools tell me that in order to be a good Christian that I needed to have a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I just did not know what that looked like besides trying to pray the rosary every day. It was not until I entered the seminary did I learn the truth that Mary always points us toward her Son and so the more I prayed through Mary and the more that I studied Mary’s life the closer I grew to Christ and the more I learned about Him.