Welcome

The Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation welcomes you. The Basilica is open for prayer at any time of day or night.   Please note the schedule for Masses, Devotions and the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the right hand column of this page.  Come and experience the consolation of our Blessed Mother’s intercession.

Lent

Lent is rightly a time of penitence, but it is not simply for the sake of penitence itself.  Repentance literally means “change.”  The acts of penance we might do to show God our true desire to repent are not for show (as Ash Wednesday’s Gospel proclaims) or for their own sake.  They are to be out of a response to the love God has already shown to us.  His desire is that we love as he loves us. 

Our prayer, fasting and almsgiving, whether it is done in Lent or any other time of the year is the response of a heart being changed by the love of God, so that it becomes more like God’s heart.  Whenever we act in a loving way, whether that is by praying for someone else’s good, giving to those who are less fortunate than we are or fasting for the sake of the Kingdom of God, we are showing our love for God as we act more lovingly to other people.  Jesus invites us to do these acts of penitence in secret for the sake of our relationship with God and for the love of our brothers and sisters.

Stations of the Cross

We Adore You, O Christ,
and We Praise You.
Because by Your Holy Cross,
You have Redeemed the World.

Fridays during Lent at 7:00 pm
Upper Basilica