“I’m Father Mathieu Rey, editorial director of Radio Maria France, based near Toulon, and I’m very happy to discover this sanctuary,” says the priest. For the Feast of All Saints, he came with a small team to broadcast the Mass and meet the faithful.
Radio Maria today has between 50,000 and 60,000 listeners in France. Some listen every day, others occasionally, and many also enjoy podcasts. The radio adventure is expanding: “Our main studio is in La Garde, near Toulon, another is in Paris, and we now broadcast on 22 frequencies, in addition to the Radio Maria Play app.”
Taking part in this liturgy in the shrine’s basilica on this feast day is awe-inspiring, considers Father Mathieu. “The liturgy is very careful crafted, and everything is uplifting,” he says. After also discovering the accommodations and the adjoining reception areas, he comments: “I get a very good first impression, this is a magnificent place next to the basilica.”
Mary, queen of all saints
At the heart of the Basilica of Montligeon stands the imposing statue of Our Lady Liberator. For Father Mathieu Rey, it is a reminder of the universal call to holiness: “Mary is the ultimate saint, the queen of saints. There is not an ounce of sin in her. From the moment of her conception, she is immaculate and all holy.
Mary’s holiness is not an unattainable ideal, but a promise targeting everyone. She manifests what God desires for everyone: a life transformed by love and open to eternal light. “Who better than Mary to show us the way to holiness?” asks the priest.
So Mary is not just a role model. She is a mother who guides with gentleness and closeness. In meditating on her, believers discover that holiness is not only for an elite, but offered to every baptized person who progresses in their daily fidelity to the Gospel.
Mary, refuge for sinners
Even if Mary is queen of the saints, her perfection is not crushing. On the contrary, her compassion attracts everyone. “Because she is free of sin, she is filled with tenderness. She does not judge, she welcomes. She is the refuge of sinners,” emphasizes Father Mathieu Rey.
This spiritual motherhood is expressed in concrete ways. Many testify that they returned to faith through Mary, sometimes after serious faults. “She doesn’t minimize the evil committed, but always opens up a path of hope. She says, ‘I love you, and there is a way out, a light for you.
Mary does not turn people away from God. Because she is totally transparent to grace, “she does not block the light”, the priest continues. Her holiness draws us to Christ, not because she demands it, but because she loves us. It consoles, uplifts and walks at your side, like a mother who never tires of hoping for her children.
The consolation of souls in purgatory
At Montligeon, a shrine dedicated to praying for the deceased, Mary’s motherly mission takes on a special dimension. “She is all holy. The souls in purgatory are on their way to purification. Mary, Our Lady of Hope, comes to hasten the moment when they will be definitively purified,” explains Father Mathieu Rey.
Before the towering statue of Our Lady Liberator, Fr Mathieu Rey meditates on this hope: “She is like a light for the souls in purgatory. She visits them, especially on liturgical feasts, to bring them courage and consolation.”
Thus, All Saints’ Day and the commemoration of the dead remind us that Mary accompanies the faithful on earth, but also the souls awaiting the vision of God. She is the sign already present of that blessed day when all will be accomplished and when “there will be nothing left to purify”.
Join the prayer of Montligeon
Father Mathieu Rey’s testimony is a reminder of Mary’s role as queen of saints, refuge for sinners and light for souls in purgatory. She leads us all to hope and to God’s mercy.
At the Montligeon shrine, thousands of faithful entrust themselves to her intercession for their deceased loved ones. You too can join this great chain of prayer by registering your deceased with the Fraternité de prière pour les âmes du purgatoire [Fraternity of Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory].
