Pope praying to Mary

To You, O Mary!

Kneeling before the image of Our Lady "Salus Populi Romani," at the end of the Mass he celebrated in the Basilica of St. Mary Major on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Father renewed the act of consecration of the Church and the world to Mary. Part of the Holy Father's prayer is printed below:
O Mother of men and peoples, you know all their sufferings and their hopes, you feel in a motherly way all the struggles between good and evil, between the light and the darkness which shakes the world--accept our cry addressed in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart and embrace with the love of the Mother and the Handmaid of the Lord the peoples who await this embrace the most, and likewise the peoples whose consecration you too are particularly awaiting. Take under your motherly protection the whole human family which we can consecrate to you, O mother, with affectionate rapture. May the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, justice and hope, approach for everyone.
O you, who are the first handmaid of the unity of the Body of Christ, help us, help all the faithful, who feel so painful the drama of divisions of Christianity to seek with constancy the way to the perfect unity of the Body of Christ by means of unconditional faithfulness to the Spirit of Truth and Love, which was given to them by your Son at the cost of the cross and death.
O you, who are so deeply and maternally bound to the Church, preceding the whole People of God along the ways of faith, hope and charity, embrace all men who are on the way, pilgrims through temporal life towards eternal destinies, with that love which the divine Redeemer himself, you Son, poured into your heart from the cross. Be the Mother of all our earthly lives, even when they become tortuous, in order that we may all find ourselves, in the end in that large community which you Son called the fold, offering his life for it as the Good Shepherd.
O you, who were with the Church at the beginning of her mission, intercede for her in order that going all over the world she may continually teach all the nations and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
O you, who have known in the fullest way the power of the Holy Spirit, when it was granted to you to conceive in your virginal womb and to give birth to the Eternal Word, obtain for the Church that she may continue to give new birth through water and the Holy Spirit to the sons and daughters of the whole human family, without any distinction of language, race, or culture, giving them in this way the "power to be come with children of God." (Jn. 1:12).
O you, who have always wished to serve! You who serve as Mother the whole family of the children of God, obtain for the Church that enriched by the Holy Spirit with the fullness of hierarchical and charismatic gifts, she may continue with constancy towards the future along the way of that renewal which comes from what the Holy Spirit says and which found expression in the teaching of Vatican II, assuming in this work of renewal everything that is true and good, without letting herself be deceived either in on direction or in the other, but discerning assiduously among the signs of the times what is useful for the coming of the Kingdom of God.
O you, who--through the mystery of your particular holiness, free of all stain from the moment of your conception--feel in a particularly deep way that "the whole creation has been groaning in travail" (Rom. 8:22), while, "subjected to futility," "it hopes that it will be set free from its bondage to decay" (Rom. 8:20-21), you contribute unceasingly to the "revealing of the sons of God," for whom "the creation awaits with eager longing" (Rom. 8:19), to enter the freedom of their joy (cf. Rom. 8:21).
O Mother of Jesus, now glorified in heaven in body and in soul, as the image and beginning of the Church, which is to have its fulfillment in the future age--here on earth, until the day of the Lord comes (cf. 2 Pt. 3:10), do not cease to shine before the pilgrim people of God as a sign of sure hope and consolation (cf. Lumen Gentium, 68).
O you, who more than any other human being have been consecrated to the Holy Spirit, help your Son's Church to persevere in the same consecration.
Holy Spirit of God, Who are worshipped and glorified with the Father and Son! Accept these words of humble consecration addressed to You in the heart of Mary of Nazareth, Your bride and mother of the Redeemer, whom the Church too calls her Mother, because right from the Upper Room at Pentecost she has learned from Her, her own motherly vocation! Accept these words of the pilgrim Church, uttered amid toils and joys, fears and hopes.
  • written by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II
  • Reprinted in Soul Magazine, March-April 1982

Marian Prayer Day by Day

Sunday

Mary, Mother of our Redeemer and Mother of the Church, we offer you the praise of the Angel of the Annunciation–Hail, full of grace! Through you the Holy Spirit gave this world Jesus its Savior–Son of God, Word made Flesh, Foundation of the Church.

Monday

Through you God's holy people, his Church on earth, appeals for light and strength in its pilgrimage of faith. You have gone before us on the same journey and are now glorified in heaven. Be for us who are still on that journey of faith a true Star of the Sea, leading us to the presence of your Son where he sits at the right hand of the Father, enthroned in glory.

Tuesday

You were the first to believe. You persevered in prayer with the disciples in the Upper Room. You were a unique witness to the mystery of Jesus. All generations have called you blessed. Now in this Marian year God's holy Church looks yet again to you for inspiration and help.

Wednesday

Be our Mother. Share with us your limitless faith. Take and keep us within your protective arms in a world that has largely lost faith and abandoned hope. Petition for us from your Son–as once you did so powerfully at Cana of Galilee–an increase of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life so that the Church may flourish in our time and thereby magnify his name. Touche the hearts of all our youth that they may see in every walk of life an opportunity to serve.

Thursday

Take from all our hearts the selfishness that sours relationships and keeps us centered only on ourselves. Give us hearts aflame with charity and filled with love. Make us, like the apostle John who was commended to your care, loving children of our heavenly Father, conscious always of your maternal presence in our lives.

Friday

Look favorably upon your children in our failure to provide the one flock under one shepherd for which Jesus prayed. Shine forth for us and for all the peoples as a sign of sure hope and solace as we strive to make our pilgrimage of faith hand in hand. Be our common Mother who prays for the unity of God's family. May we see in you our model of that obedience of faith which should be found in all who listen attentively to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.

Saturday

He who is mighty has done great things for you. Humbly we ask that you in turn may do for us these things for which we pray in the name and through the power of that most Holy Spirit who lives and reigns in the unity of the Father and the Son, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

-- written by Pope John Paul II

 

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