Mary, Our Lady of Ransom, have mercy on all captives

As we celebrate Mary during this month of May, thoughts turn to the many Vatican-recognized Marian apparitions through the centuries. Among the lesser known is Mary’s appearance as Our Lady of Ransom to Peter Nolasco on August 1, 1218. She requested that he found a religious order specifically to ransom Christian captives.
 
During that time, Christians who were captured by Moors were sold into slavery. In 1218, Nolasco founded the Royal and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy of the Redemption of the Captives, known today as the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy. These Mercedarian men were bound by vow to redeem Christian souls from captivity by Muslim Moors. If the captive’s faith waned, the ransomer became the enslaved.

The Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament was founded in Mexico City by Maria del Refugio Aguilar in 1910. She desired that the sisters dedicate their lives to loving Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and making reparation for the offenses He receives in this sacrament. In June 1925, the Mercedarian Sisters were aggregated to the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy. Today, the order has more than 500 sisters who staff schools, catechetical centers, and parish and diocesan ministries in 13 countries.
 
Through prayer and fasting, the Mercedarian Sisters in the United States are reaping an ever-growing harvest of vocations. In fact, they are building a two-story, 14,574-square-foot facility to accommodate novices at Cypress Springs Mercedarian Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, LA. With God’s grace and generous benefactors, the sisters pray to retire the remaining $2.5 million debt by Our Lady of Ransom’s feast, September 24.
 
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF RANSOM
 
Mary, Our Lady of Ransom and Mercy, Sweet Mother of God, Who loves the liberty of your children, and suffers with those who are imprisoned, Listen to the request I make of you: Break the chains of our sin and the structures of sin in our world, so that, free from them, we might unite ourselves completely to your Son, Jesus, and live like Him in freedom, dedicated to that for which we were created: to love. Amen.

MARIAN FRUIT TRIFLE • serves: 10-12 guests • prep time: 1 hour

Ingredients for custard:
• 2 cups half and half cream
• 4 egg yolks
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• Pinch of cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• ¾ tbsp. corn starch
• 1 tbsp. water

Method:
• Place the cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a low boil. 
• In a mixing bowl, whip eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 
• In a measuring cup, combine corn starch and water. Dissolve well and set aside.
• Once cream begins to boil, remove from heat and pour approximately one cup into the egg mixture. Using a wire whisk, whip constantly. 
• Pour the egg and cream mixture back into the pot with the remaining one cup of cream and continue to stir. 
• Return the saucepan to heat, pour in corn starch, and stir until custard begins to thicken. 
• Remove from heat and continue to stir 3–5 minutes. Set aside.

Ingredients for trifle:
• 1 angel food cake 
• ¼ cup praline liqueur
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 cup sliced blueberries
• 1 cup sliced bananas
• 1 cup blackberries or raspberries
• 2 cups prepared custard sauce 
  (see above)
• 1 cup sweetened cream, whipped

Method:
• Cut angel food cake into one-inch squares. Place squares in large mixing bowl and sprinkle with brandy. 
• In a large, footed trifle dish, layer the cake, fruit, and custard sauce until all is used. 
• Top with the whipped cream. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint
  and a sprinkle of cinnamon.