Marian Pilgrimage of Hope
Our Jubilee Pilgrimage of Hope
In honour of the “Pilgrims of Hope” Jubilee Year, we have prepared a special pilgrimage that will encourage faithful to travel across the archdiocese throughout the 2025 year.
Through the “Mary: The Exemplar of Hope” prayer chaplet and the accompanying “pilgrim’s passport”, this pilgrimage provides a way to honour the Virgin Mary and the various ways she exemplifies hope. We encourage faithful to visit any of the Marian churches, Marian grottos or the Marian statues and icons placed in our churches, offer these prayers and record them in the passport.
Whether you choose to visit every Marian church or grotto in the diocese, or just visit the Marian churches and icons/statues in your deanery, we hope this pilgrimage can help us all truly be “Pilgrims of Hope” this year.
At an archdiocesan Jubilee event we will host in October, pilgrims will receive a special keepsake and miraculous medal for taking part in our pilgrimage. So make sure to hold onto your passports throughout the year!
How to attain a passport
We have made a number of pilgrimage passports available at the parishes of the Archdiocese of Grouard-McLennan. Please check with your pastor to attain one if you haven’t yet. You can also print your own copy of the Pilgrimage Passport with this PDF. Make sure to select “Print on both sides” and “Flip on the short edge” when printing your passport.
Where are the Marian churches and grottos in the archdiocese?
We encourage all faithful to offer the “Mary: The Exemplar of Hope” prayer before any Marian churches, Marian grottos, or Marian statues and/or icons they find within our archdiocese.
While statues and icons to the Blessed Virgin Mary can be found in most churches of our archdiocese, there are also a number of grottos and Marian churches in our archdiocese we encourage pilgrims to visit. You can plan your pilgrimage around a Mass time at the church, arrange with the priest a time to visit the church, or simply pray outside of it.
Marian Churches:
Deanery 1: Notre Dame de Lourdes, Girouxville
Deanery 2: Our Lady of Peace, Peace River
Immaculate Heart of Mary, Hines Creek
Deanery 3: St. Mary’s Church, Beaverlodge
Immaculate Conception, Sexsmith
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Bezanson
Deanery 4: Our Lady of Fatima, Sucker Creek
Deanery 5: Our Lady of Good Counsel, High Level
Virgin of the Poor, Meander River
Our Lady of the Assumption, Chateh
Grottos in the Archdiocese of Grouard-McLennan:
Deanery 1: Notre Dame de Lourdes Grotto, Girouxville (neighbouring Notre Dame de Lourdes church)
Deanery 3: Marian Grotto, Webster (across from Webster community hall)
Deanery 4: Marian Grotto, Wabasca (1 minute walk from St. Martin Church)
Deanery 5: Marian Grotto, Eleske (neighbouring St. Bernadette Church)
Marian Grotto, Meander River (down the road from Virgin of the Poor Church)
Mary: The Exemplar of Hope
This prayer chaplet was devised and written by the archdiocesan Jubilee Committee.
The Annunciation
Mary, exemplar of hope, you heeded the call of the archangel Gabriel when he told you of the great providential role you would play in bringing the promised Messiah into the world. May we be inspired to live with unwavering hope in the plans God has for our lives, as you did so perfectly when you proclaimed, “Be it done unto me, according to Your word.”
Hail Mary, full of grace…
Mary Proclaims the Magnificat
Mary, exemplar of hope, in your visitation with your cousin Elizabeth, you proclaimed this great prayer of hope and trust in God – the Magnificat. May this prayer be consolation for us, and may we embody the same hope you expressed so deeply when you declared, ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my saviour, for He has looked with favour on His lowly servant.’
Hail Mary, full of grace…
The Nativity
Mary, exemplar of hope, in the night of the Lord’s birth, exiled to a cave and surrounded by animals, you brought forth the source of all of our hope – Jesus Christ – and laid Him in a manger. No trial or unfortunate circumstance was able to break your hope in God’s promise as you fulfilled this great task given to you. And now, as our constant intercessor in heaven, you still continue to bring forth your Son to us, the Son who has given us every reason to hope.
Hail Mary, full of grace…
The Wedding at Cana
Mary, exemplar of hope, you declared to the servants filling jugs of water, ‘Do whatever He tells you’. What perfect hope was expressed in these words, when you helped helped set in motion the first public miracle of Our Lord’s ministry, turning water into wine. May we too be inspired with hope to follow your advice, to always do whatever the Lord asks of us.
Hail Mary full of grace…
Mary Witnesses Our Lord’s Passion
Mary, exemplar of hope, you stood by your Son through all of the torments and pains of His Passion and Crucifixion. What unbreakable hope in God you possessed, to bear these sorrows alongside your Son, never turning away or abandoning Him, even in the darkest of moments, even when all hope seemed lost.
Hail Mary, full of grace…
Jesus falls into Mary’s Arms from the Cross
Mary, exemplar of hope, you received the body of Jesus in your arms as He fell lifeless from the Cross. Here you received the body of the Lord with the same tender care and motherly love that you always showed Him. Today we too receive the body of the Lord in the Eucharist. May we hold tight to this Blessed Sacrament, the source of our hope, and may we too receive Him as you did, with perfect love, even in moments when all may seem hopeless.
Hail Mary, full of grace…
Mary’s Assumption & Coronation in Heaven
Mary, exemplar of hope, whose body and soul were assumed into heaven, where you are crowned our Queen and Mother. What immense hope you represent for all of us in this moment, that you, a creature like us, received the crown of heaven and the greatest height of saintly perfection. May you continue to intercede for us as our Queen and Mother, protect us through all trials and tribulations, and preserve us in the hope for heavenly glory.
Hail Mary, full of grace…
Conclude with a Hail Holy Queen and the official Jubilee Prayer:
Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us
in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope
for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us
into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos
in the sure expectation
of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,
your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee
reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,
a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread
the joy and peace of our Redeemer
throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed,
be glory and praise for ever.
Amen