St. Joseph, Spouse of the Mother of God and Foster Father of Jesus, is our father in a special way. To him we confide our temporal wants, to him we confide our vocations, to him do we go when in need spiritually or temporally. Each year, we pray a novena leading up to his feastday, thanking him for his care of our Community and entrusting to him our petitions.

"One day in the thirteenth century a Dominican friar named Br. Dominic of Caserta, a sacristan, concealed himself in his priory chapel in Naples. While there, he stealthily observed St. Thomas Aquinas in prayer before the crucifix, in tears. No doubt, the saint’s reverence must have moved him deeply, but, nonetheless, he must have been quite surprised when, suddenly, the voice of Christ from the crucifix called out, “You have written well of me, Thomas. What reward will you receive from me for your labor?”

One can certainly imagine Br. Dominic waiting with bated breath for an answer from the man often regarded as the greatest theologian of the Middle Ages. A saintly man, certainly he would not ask for wealth or power for himself. Perhaps inspiration for excellent argumentation with which to confute the heretics? Favorable reception of his work within the Church (the subject of great controversy, even after his death)? How about simply an increase in virtue? Doubtless, when Jesus speaks audibly from the cross, he really means it. So what does Friar Thomas ask?
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His response wasted no words: Domine, non nisi Te, that is 'Lord, nothing except you.'"
- From a Domincan Friar 

The holy season of Septuagesima which takes up the bulk—and sometimes the entirety—of the time between Candelmas and Ash Wednesday may yet be little known, however there is another, more common name for this period of time: “carnival”. ​

All feasts of Our Lady are celebrated with joy and affection by the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa, but a few enjoy particular devotion; one such is Our Lady of Lourdes. The presence of Our Lady in this apparition to the humble St. Bernadette Soubirous is moving on many accounts: Our Lady’s maternal solicitude for poor sinners, and towards St. Bernadette herself; her encouragement of obedience towards ecclesiastical authority; and her humility in identifying herself with her first great gift of grace, her Immaculate Conception. ​

"What was family life in Nazareth like? In the home of the Holy Family in Nazareth, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph sanctified their ordinary life, without doing anything spectacular or newsworthy. They led a life that was to all appearance the same as that of their neighbors, a life that was important, not because of the material things they did, but because of the love that they put into these things, in perfect union with the Will of God the Father."
​- St. Josemaria Escriva

​​How delightful it is when little children reveal their age by holding up (somewhat haphazardly) as many little fingers as they have years to their lives. If we were to have done so this year, we would need all fingers on both hands: Our Lady’s Little community turned ten years old in the 2022. We would love to recount with you, our dear friends, relatives and benefactors, the many blessings bestowed on us by God throughout the past year.