Featured Image: Flickr, by Lawrence O.P.
On Friday, March, 25, 2022, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Francis and bishops throughout the world consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, praying especially for peace and an end to war. Please unite your prayers with theirs.
If you were not able to join live, take time to pray in union with this consecration this week:
English translation: Act of Consecration prayed by Pope Francis, March 25.
A Personal Prayer for the Consecration of Russia & Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
More prayers to our Blessed Mother
Learn more about this consecration.
Letter from Holy Father to all bishops.
News story about the consecration>>>
The Vatican text of the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, sent to bishops throughout the world. Pope Francis has invited bishops and the rest of the world to join him when he recites the prayer on March 25 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Basilica of St. Peter
March 25, 2022
O Mary, Mother of God and our mother, in this time of trial we turn to you. As our mother, you love us and know us: No concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence! You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the prince of peace.
Yet we have strayed from that path of peace. We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars. We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young. We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns.
We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons. We stopped being our neighbor’s keepers and stewards of our common home. We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war, and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters. We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves. Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord!
Holy Mother, amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses, amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war, you remind us that God never abandons us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life. He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the church and for all humanity. By God’s gracious will, you are ever with us; even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love.
We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart. We are your beloved children. In every age you make yourself known to us, calling us to conversion. At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort. Say to us once more: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?” You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times. In you we place our trust. We are confident that, especially in moments of trial, you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid.
That is what you did at Cana in Galilee, when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs. To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer, for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope, joy has fled, fraternity has faded. We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace. We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness. How greatly we need your maternal help!
Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer.
Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.
Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.
Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.
Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.
Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons.
Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.
Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.
Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.
O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts. May the tears you shed for us make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew. Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace. May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer and flee from the rain of bombs. May your motherly embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land. May your sorrowful heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside.
Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: “Behold your son” (Jn 19:26). In this way, he entrusted each of us to you. To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: “Behold, your Mother” (Jn 19:27). Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history.
At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ. The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty.
Therefore, Mother of God and our mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine. Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love. Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world. The “fiat” that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace. We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more. To you we consecrate 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 on the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days. Our Lady of the “fiat,” on whom the Holy Spirit descended, restore among us the harmony that comes from God. May you, our “living fountain of hope,” water the dryness of our hearts. In your womb Jesus took flesh; help us to foster the growth of communion. You once trod the streets of our world; lead us now on the paths of peace. Amen.
Read on Vatican website in various languages>>>
Personal Prayer for the Consecration of Russia & Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Most glorious Mother,
Queen of Heaven and Earth,
To you do we turn in our time of need.
Your Heart is most pure,
Your virtues overflow in superabundance,
You are the Immaculate Conception,
You are our Mother and Queen.
In the face of grave evil,
In this time of war,
In this time of devastation and chaos,
We entrust all to you.
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Please pray for us,
Cover us with your mantle of protection,
Free us from violence,
Free us from war.
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Call us to repentance,
Open the eyes of sinners,
Pour down your Son’s mercy,
Pour down His abundant grace.
We consecrate to your Immaculate Heart this day,
Ourselves and our loved ones,
Our families and churches,
Our communities and countries.
Most Immaculate Heart of Mary,
In union with the Holy Father in Rome,
With the bishops throughout the world,
With all the faithful at prayer,
We consecrate Russia and Ukraine to you.
Receive them into your Immaculate Heart,
Bring healing and peace,
Strength and wisdom,
Love and compassion,
Mercy and forgiveness,
Reconciliation to all.
Through the powerful mediation of your Immaculate Heart,
Bind satan and all demons,
Thwart their evil plots.
St. Michael the Archangel,
All angels and saints,
Pray for Ukraine,
Pray for Russia,
Pray for peace in the world,
Pray for peace in every heart.
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Pray for us.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, I trust in You.
Jesus, I trust in You.
Jesus, I trust in You!
Amen.
A Personal Act of Consecration to the Blessed Mother
O Most Holy Mary, Virgin Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, in accordance with thy wish made known at Fatima, I consecrate myself today to your Immaculate Heart. To you I entrust all that I have, all that I am, to your blessed charge and special keeping and into your Immaculate Heart. For this day, for every day of my life, and at the hour of my death, I commend my soul and body.
To you do I entrust all my hopes and consolations, all my trials and miseries, my life and the end of my life, that through your most holy intercession and your merits all my actions may be ordered and disposed according to your will, and that of your Divine Son.
Reign over me dear Mother, that I may be yours in prosperity, in adversity, in health and in sickness, in life and in death. Grant that I may have no other spirit but your spirit, to know Jesus Christ and His Divine and Holy Will; that I may have no other soul but your soul, to praise and glorify the Lord; that I may have no other heart but your heart, to love God with a pure and burning love like yours.
My beloved Mother, my glorious Queen, I am all yours and all that I have is yours. Amen.
Pope invites bishops to join him in consecration of Russia and Ukraine
LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Dear Brother,
Nearly a month has passed since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine that is daily inflicting immense suffering upon its sorely tried people and threatening world peace Read more>>>
Various diocesan information on joining the consecration can be found here.
Also see:
Why Consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary?
In an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal on July 13, 1917, our Blessed mother made the following request:
You see Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse one will begin in the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that is the great sign God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this I come to ask the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not she will scatter her errors through the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.
Read more about Our Lady of Fátima from EWTN>>>
LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Dear Brother,
Nearly a month has passed since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine that is daily inflicting immense suffering upon its sorely tried people and threatening world peace. At this dark hour, the Church is urgently called to intercede before the Prince of Peace and to demonstrate her closeness to those directly affected by the conflict. I am grateful to the many people who have responded with great generosity to my appeals for prayer, fasting and charity.
Now, also in response to numerous requests by the People of God, I wish in a special way to entrust the nations at war to the Blessed Virgin Mary. As I announced yesterday at the conclusion of the Angelus prayer, on 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, I intend to carry out a solemn Act of Consecration of humanity, and Russia and Ukraine in particular, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Since it is fitting that we should invoke peace with hearts renewed by God’s forgiveness, the Act of Consecration will take place in the context of a Celebration of Penance to be held in Saint Peter’s Basilica at 5:00 p.m., Rome time. The Act itself will take place about 6:30 p.m.
This Act of Consecration is meant to be a gesture of the universal Church, which in this dramatic moment lifts up to God, through his Mother and ours, the cry of pain of all those who suffer and implore an end to the violence, and to entrust the future of our human family to the Queen of Peace. I ask you to join in this Act by inviting the priests, religious and faithful to assemble in their churches and places of prayer on 25 March, so that God’s Holy People may raise a heartfelt and choral plea to Mary our Mother. I am sending you the text of the prayer of consecration, so that all of us can recite it throughout that day, in fraternal union.
I thank you for the attention you will give to this request and for your ready cooperation. With great affection, I bless you and the faithful entrusted to your pastoral care. May Jesus protect you and the Holy Virgin watch over you. I ask you, please, also to pray for me.
Fraternally,
From Saint John Lateran, 21 March 2022
FRANCIS