Thursday 24 March 2022

A Prayer to the Mother of God

BENEATH YOUR PROTECTION, O holy Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, we place ourselves, trusting that no earthly trouble is hidden from your tender care. 

MOST HIGHLY-FAVOURED LADY, amid the misery of our sinfulness, weakness and failures, you never cease to remind us that the bountiful God does not abandon us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever-ready to forgive and restore us to new life, if we but turn to Him in repentance. 

ACCORDING TO HIS LOVING PURPOSE, you are ever with us, O Virgin Mary, and in our most troubled moments, you guide us with your motherly concern. God has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for the entire human race. With confidence, therefore, we now turn to you, knocking upon the door of your tender heart. 

CLOSE NOT YOUR EARS to our supplications, O blessed Mother, nor delay to come to our aid but untie the knots of our hearts and of our world. At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort, for we place our trust in you. 

STAR of the SEA, guide us, lest we be shipwrecked in the tempest of war. 

O PITYING MOTHER, may your intercession soften men’s hardened hearts. Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayers, O Queen of Peace, turn men’s thoughts away from war. May the tears you shed over our strife make this vale of tears - scorched by hatred and violence - blossom anew. May your maternal embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land, fleeing from the lords of war. May your sorrowing Heart move us to compassion for our brothers and sisters, God’s children, who are injured and cast aside. 

PILLAR OF JUSTICE, bring to repentance those who have brought misery through the violence of war. 

A WEARY and FEARFUL WORLD stands with you beneath the saving Cross, needing to entrust itself to you, O Heavenly Mother, and, through you, to dedicate itself to Christ. Under your protection we place the Faithful of the Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples ravaged by war, cruelty and poverty. 

INSPIRED WITH DEVOTION and CONFIDENCE, therefore, O holy Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, we entrust and dedicate ourselves, the Church and all mankind, but especially the Ukraine and Russia, to your Immaculate Heart. To you we dedicate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world. Through your intercession, may God’s mercy be poured out upon the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days. 

O GRACIOUS QUEEN of HEAVEN, restore God’s reign within our hearts and to this troubled world. Amen.

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PLEASE NOTE :

This is a recension of the Act of Consecration issued by the Holy See for the corporate prayer of the Catholic Bishops of the world on the Feast of the Annunciation.  The text above is purely for personal devotional use, whereas the text of the Act issued by the Holy See is intended to be a public prayer, fulfilling the requests of our Lady during the Fatima Apparitions.