Well, thank you everybody for joining us. I'm Father Chris here at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy. We're with you live. And I'm excited today to be able to, it only took me years to get to this talk, but you've heard me say, and I have done talks before. So here's your quiz. What was the first ever Marian apparition? And I've already done a talk on that,

Our Lady of the Pillar. But today, we are going to talk about the first ever Marian devotion.

And that is Mary Help of Christians. And so we're super excited to be here with you. This is a huge opportunity for us to really learn where it all started. And you're going to be

fascinated to learn what they found that goes back to prayers to Mary when you hear this.

The Bible doesn't say there's prayers to Mary, but all the early Christians, and we're going to

show you a piece of original transcript or papyrus that they found with this prayer to Mary.

It's incredible, and so we hope that you can stay with us.

Also, we'll be talking to you about some other exciting things

we have planned here at the Marian Fathers.

So let us begin with a prayer in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen, Heavenly Father, we ask for the protection

of us as Christians around the world and a world that is

hostile. As you said, the world hated you first, and therefore will hate us, but we have faith,

hope, and love, and we have trust, Lord, in the protection that you give us through your son and through our lady. And so we ask,

Our Lady, help of Christians, pray for us. In the name of the Father, and to the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, so now, Our Lady, Help of Christians, or Mary help of Christians is the topic today.

We're glad you could be with us.

We'll be following this with the first Saturday devotion.

Now, as I mentioned, our Lady of the Pillar was the first Marian apparition.

But this is the first Marian devotion.

There wasn't an appearance of Our Lady, help of Christians. I've already done all

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