Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

with pope francis’ intention, let us pray:

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 neighbour’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” (v. 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.

Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Basilica of Saint Peter
25 March 2022