Original plan was to design something for adults based on apparitions of Our Lady at Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes
By Deborah Gyapong
OTTAWA (CCN)

Caption: Book cover.

An Ottawa couple has created a retreat for children based on stories of Marian apparitions to encourage “little souls” to consecrate themselves to Jesus through Mary.

Dennis and Angelina Girard, who created the Divine Mercy Rosary DVD, had originally planned to design a Marian consecration retreat for adults based on the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Lourdes.

In researching the subject matter, Dennis discovered during the second apparition at Fatima, Lucia asked the Virgin Mary to take the three visionaries to heaven. She told them: “I will take Jacinta and Francisco shortly; but you will stay here for some time to come.”

The Blessed Mother then told Lucia, “[Jesus] wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace it; these souls will be dear to God, like flowers put by me to adorn His throne.”

For Dennis, it was an “Aha!” moment. “Here’s Jesus saying, ‘You want to save souls? You want to evangelize people? Establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She will bring souls to me.’ That’s what she does,” he said.

This was the genesis of what Dennis calls Mission Apparition Evangelization, “proclaiming the Gospel through Marian apparitions, because as you read them and you get to see and hear what happened with Our Lady of Gaudelupe, Our Lady of Fatima, and Our Lady of Lourdes, you can’t help but be drawn into the story and get to a place where it challenges the reader: ‘Do I believe this stuff or not?”

He realized: “Mary has actually been appearing and wants to help us in each of our missions as little souls.”

The Marian Consecration for ‘Little Souls,’ retreat uses two cartoon characters: Fr. G, a surfing priest who “surfs for souls” and BB, a blue butterfly. The stories of the various apparitions are told through a conversation between Fr. G and BB.

The character Fr. G and his “surfing for souls” had popped into Dennis’ mind back in 2015. The idea for BB, Angelina said, came from a series of experiences the couple had with butterflies, starting with an anonymous, encouraging letter they received with a blue butterfly on the envelope. Angelina wondered whether blue butterflies had any relationship to the Virgin Mary, and a simple search of the Internet revealed they do.

In 2015, Dennis had written and recorded a song about Fr. G and BB and asked his brother, who spent five years as an overseas animation director for the Simpsons, to draw the characters. He animated them for video of the song. Then, Dennis set Fr. G and BB aside and began working on another DVD project.

Last winter, during his quiet time, Dennis found he was meditating on what would bring a greater yield for Christ and what Mary’s role is in evangelization. Both Girards had experienced many graces in their lives since they made their first Marian consecration. That led to his working on the retreat for adults.

“Then one night, I don’t know, it was just dropped in my spirit, what about doing a Fr G and BB apparition-based retreat for children?”

In his research, he learned the Angel of Fatima, who appeared to the three children a year before Mary, the children were 6, 8 and 9. “Mary came when they were 7, 9 and 10,” Dennis said. “St. Bernadette was 13.”

“Juan Diego, who was in his 50s, was the only guy who didn’t follow correctly right off the bat,” Dennis said. “The little children, they just followed Mother Mary’s direction. Juan Diego, had to be brought back on track.”

The retreat with Fr. G and BB has nine MC (Marian Consecration) sections that Angelina said can be done in in flexible ways. It can be done as a family after dinner on nine consecutive days or weeks, perhaps having the children act out the parts of Father G and BB, Angelina said. “You could do it as a church group, where youth come together to make a night of it, having a boy and girl do Fr. G and BB.”

The retreat could also be done by taking children to a nearby Adoration Chapel and having them read the book there, Angelina said. “They are in the presence in the Lord and they are in quiet. Many testimonies happen from people being at the feet of Jesus.”

At the website http://www.frgandbb.com there is free downloadable manual on how to guide the retreat as well as ways to order Marian Consecration for ‘Little Souls,’ in e-format or hard copy.

Each apparition has a special focus. “Our Lady of Guadalupe builds up the trust in a little soul; the Fatima message is about turning back to God and repentance and sacrifice; the Lourdes message is about healing,” Dennis said. “Of course as we turn back to God, God wants to heal us, He wants us to know He loves us, He has a plan for us and of course Mary will help us.”

In addition to leading a little soul to make a consecration to Jesus through Mary, the book teaches children to set aside a place for daily prayer and devotion.

“That’s where they learn to make their own little secret place in their own bedroom at home,” Angelina said. “They find from BB, because she’s a butterfly, her secret place is in a tree up in a hole somewhere because she flies around.”

The retreat book suggests what a child might have in The Secret Place, such as a rosary, a Bible, spiritual reading, pictures of loved ones to pray for, and perhaps a battery-operated candle for safety reasons.

‘The Secret Place’ is based on Matthew 6:6 where Jesus says “When you pray, go into your room, shut the door, pray to your Father in your secret place and your Father will reward you openly,” Angelina said.

“We all love rewards, especially children,” she said. “If they spend time with the Lord, what kinds of rewards is He going to give them? What kind of graces does our Lord and our Mother Mary have for them? Will they discern a vocation? We’re hoping it will bring on vocations to the priesthood. It’s amazing what things can happen once children start establishing their own secret place with the Lord.”

The Girards first developed the concept of a secret place while running a retreat centre in Quebec from 2001-2001 during Dennis’ time as an evangelical pastor.

“It was through running that retreat place, we ended up being on retreat ourselves,” Dennis said. It is there leading others to a closer, more focused relationship with God in Jesus Christ, the couple came to believe in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. For Dennis it meant returning to the Catholic Church he had left as a young professional musician. For Angelina it meant converting.

“I think the idea of retreat is to make a deliberate, focused effort to separate oneself from the world and develop the relationship with the Lord, just to really set that time apart for God, with the intention of connecting with the Lord, with the intention of developing a relationship and maturing in that relationship,” he said.

The Girards hope the book will also encourage adults to make a Marian consecration. It suggests adults make a Holy Hour retreat on a Marian feast day, using the book, quoting St. Louis de Montfort, who said, “Mary is the safest, easiest, shortest, and most perfect way of approaching Jesus.” They pointed out ‘little souls’ are all those who are humble, no matter what age.

Ultimately, the Girard’s goal is to encourage adults and children to join in “apparition evangelization.”

They note that BB says: “Adults, don’t delay! Consecrate today.”