Children studying at a Carmelite school in Kobayat, near Tripoli in Lebanon, gave thanks recently to the Blessed Virgin Mary for having saved two of their schoolmates from a forest fire, and at the same time called on children around the world to join in this increasingly popular Rosary campaign on October 18.  

By Maria Lozano

Father Raymond Abdo, the Carmelite Provincial in Lebanon, explained to the international Catholic pastoral charity and pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International) how the children from the Al-Carmelia Mejdlaya school had gathered to pray on a hillside burnt by a forest fire in order to “give thanks for the protection of Our Lady and the rescue of two of our pupils whose lives were in great danger from the forest fire in the mountains”.

“We wanted to make some sort of symbolic gesture, in the midst of a dead and burned out nature, to give thanks for the two children who were saved and rescued by the Red Cross and to encourage as many other children as possible to entrust themselves to the power of prayer”, Father Raymond explained.

The pupils of the Al-Carmelia Mejdlaya school, which two years ago entrusted its students and staff to the protection of Our Lady of Fatima, also prayed for their own country and for peace throughout the world. “The Virgin Mary protects and listens to our children. We told them that on October 18 many children all over the world will join together in reciting this prayer”, Father Raymond told ACN.

Every year, on October 18, ACN sponsors the popular children’s prayer campaign, One Million Children praying the Rosary, which recalls the words of Saint Padre Pio: “When a million children pray the Rosary, the world will begin to change.” Last year saw record numbers of children participating and this year over 120,000 children have already registered with the programme, including the pupils of the Al-Carmelia school in Lebanon.