"Love for Love" 40-Day Prayer, Fasting, & Almsgiving Campaign

What?

In honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we’re having a “Love for Love” 40-day Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving Campaign to keep Maris Stella Institute’s (MSI’s) doors wide open to do what Christ commissions: “to make disciples of all nations,… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Why?

Because of the great love of Our Lord and Our Lady upon us and upon all of humanity, MSI is a response of LOVE to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Those involved in MSI long to return LOVE to Our Lord and Our Lady by sharing the love they received from them to as many people as possible, to the ends of the earth, through their work and involvement in MSI. We invite all those who have received love from Our Lord and Our Lady to return love by monetarily, professionally, and spiritually supporting MSI, for MSI’s doors are in danger of closing, if it is not funded.

Who is MSI?

The Maris Stella Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, based in American Canyon, California. MSI currently offers a Basic Diploma in Catechetics with a Specialization in the Catechism and an Advanced Diploma in Catechetics with a Specialization in the Catechism. For those interested in deepening their knowledge of, love for, and service to Jesus Christ and His Bride, the Catholic Church, MSI provides basic, advanced, and continuing faith classes in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Together with both fellowship and spiritual enrichment opportunities (prayers, silent retreats, spiritual direction, Eucharistic Adoration, Confession, & Mass), MSI provides a Christian Community, in imitation of the Early Christian Communities, who “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). In an extremely secularized culture that seeks to eliminate God from every aspect of our lives, MSI challenges, encourages, inspires, and gives hope to others to truly live religiously in Christ Jesus, come what may, even unto death, death on a cross, for there is no greater glory than to live, suffer, and to die for Jesus Christ.

What used to be just a group of 11 young adult ministry leaders and teachers on fire with the love of God gathered around a dining room table, as of today, MSI now has over 2 dozen leadership team members and over 150 alumni who continue to lovingly labor for Christ in parishes, schools, and ministries as well as in their own families and local communities. Many are now certified Master Catechists, who teach in different languages with the heart and mind of the Church as contained in the Catechism, because of the Maris Stella Institute. Formed to love the teachings of the Church with an Oath of Fidelity, they are taught that “Jesus is our only Master, and we are His disciples.” In 2023, MSI celebrated its 15th anniversary of service to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

What this “Love for Love” 40-day Prayer, Fasting, & Almsgiving Campaign entails:

Starting on June 27, 2023 (Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help) and ending on August 5, 2023 (Feast of Our Lady of the Snow), which is 40 days, we’ll ask for the powerful intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help & Our Lady of the Snow to obtain for us the miracle of reaching our “must raise” minimum funding goal of $30,000 (though the ideal goal is $100,000 to strengthen and thrive MSI.)

How can you support MSI?

With your charity and generosity, you can help MSI:

1. Guarantee it can continue to offer basic, advanced, and continuing faith classes on the Catechism to adults and young adults in various languages (especially English, Spanish, and hopefully next in Filipino) locally in-person and globally online. (Annual Operational Costs $15,000 - $20,000)

2. Secure a fitting location where its community can grow in knowledge of their faith, worship God freely, religiously live in Christ Jesus, and deepen their union with God through prayer. (Annual Facility Use $12,000-$24,000)

3. Retain and continue to attract faithful and courageous disciples of Jesus Christ, who love God and His Church, and desire to spread the Good News to the ends of the earth for the greater glory of God and for the salvation of souls. (Staff & Faculty Recruitment & Retention $24,000-$48,000)

4. Develop and strengthen new and important relationships to continue to build up the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. (Fundraising tools for long-term sustainability $5,000-$8,000)

In order for MSI to stay open through August, we need $6,000. To effectively keep the mission of MSI going, we need a minimum of $30,000 for next year. We are aiming to raise $100,000 ideally to grow MSI and make it flourish. Every dollar counts. Thank you for your consideration!

Benefits of Participation:

You’ll be united to a Community of Prayer Warriors who will pray for your specific intentions for 40 days. This includes individuals praying the following:

40 Days of daily 1-hour Eucharistic Adoration

40 Days of the Holy Rosary

40 Days of the Divine Mercy Chaplet

40 Days of the Angelus

40 Days of the Liturgy of the Hours

40 Days of the Auxilium Christianorum Prayer

40 Days of the St. Michael Prayer

40 Days of the Memorare Prayer

40 Days of the Holy Mass

40 Days of Lectio Divina

40 Days of Fasting

40 Days of Almsgiving

God-willing, one day, when we have our own facilities, we will also have a wall of the names of all of our benefactors and donors who have supported us through the years. Be a donor today and leave a legacy!

“Love for Love” Pledges (2023-2024):

Gold Benefactor

$10,000/year or $1,000/mo.

Red Benefactor

$5,000/year or $500/mo.

Royal Blue Benefactor

$1,000/year or $100/mo.

Basic Benefactor

$100/year or $10/mo.

Let’s together bring the saving and salvific mission of Jesus through Mary to the world. May God draw our souls to Heaven one day and may we bring as many other souls as possible with us! Viva Cristo Rey! Ave Maris Stella!

As one supporter of MSI shared recently, “You help people to love and know Jesus and Mary. You have helped so many families and lifted spirits. God’s love shines through the work you have done through MSI… There is fellowship in MSI. Everyone is happy.” As the saints have said, “love can only be repaid by love.”

Please view our short 1-minute video clip of the heart of MSI and how you can respond to the everlasting love of Jesus & Mary by supporting MSI’s “Love for Love” 40-day Prayer, Fasting, & Almsgiving Campaign to keep MSI’s doors wide open.  See https://www.givesendgo.com/loveforlove

For more information on the Maris Stella Institute, please visit our website:  marisstellainstitute.org, email [email protected], and/or call/text (707) 704-9025.  If you prefer to snail mail your gift, please make checks payable to Maris Stella Institute, P.O. Box 10061, American Canyon, CA  94503.  Thank you for your gift and may God, Who can never be outdone in generosity, bless and reward you a thousandfold in return for your charity.