MOST BLESSED TRINITY, WE COME TO PRAY WITH THE MOTHER OF GOD AND WE PRAY IN REPARATION FOR THE SINS OF ALL YOUR CHILDREN. WE ARE SIMPLE AND HAVE SIMPLE WAYS AND SO WE OFFER YOU OUR LITTLE HEARTS AND SOULS THAT THEY GIVE YOU COMFORT AND APPEASE YOU. YOUR CHILDREN HAVE STRAYED AND LIKE SHEEP HAVE SCATTERED - LET OUR SIMPLE HEARTS, SOULS AND PRAYERS, DRAW THEM BACK TO YOU. AMEN.
"I AM A CHILD OF GOD, PLACED IN THE CARE OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY - MOTHER OF GOD, AND I SHALL REMAIN THERE FOREVER"
CONSECRATION TO THE ETERNAL FATHER
For the greater glory of GOD and for the salvation of all, I consecrate myself to YOU O ETERNAL FATHER as one of your faithful remnant. Behold, I come to do YOUR WILL. With the help of YOUR GRACE. I will keep YOUR COMMANDMENTS. I will love and reverence YOU with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. I will love my neighbor as YOU love me.
I make this consecration through the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Your beloved Son, JESUS.
O ETERNAL FATHER send forth Your Holy Spirit to restore our broken image and likeness of YOU.
Send forth also the celestial choirs of Your angels to aid us in our struggle against all the forces of evil in this present darkness.
Amen.
LITANY OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING
In thanksgiving, let us bless the name of the Lord, for he is good:
R. We praise you, O Lord, for we are your people.
- With the Virgin Mary, Mother of God: R.
- With all the choirs of angels: R.
- With all the saints: R.
- With the Church throughout the world: R.
Personal praise or petitions
Our Father...
God and Father of us all, your care for us is great. Grant us this day the gift of joyful praise and thanks for all that you have done to lead us into your own household, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
PRAYER TO DEFEAT THE WORK OF SATAN
O Divine Eternal Father, in union with your Divine Son and the Holy Spirit, and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg You to destroy the Power of your greatest enemy -- the evil spirits.
Cast them into the deepest recesses of hell and chain them there forever! Take possession of your Kingdom which You have created and which is rightfully yours.
Heavenly Father, give us the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I repeat this prayer out of pure love for You with every beat of my heart and with every breath I take. Amen.
Imprimatur, March 1973, Richard H. Ackerman, Bishop of Covington
THE MOTHER OF SORROWS
(Sept. 15)
MEDITATION
The seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary that have made the strongest appeal to devotion are: the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the three days' loss of Jesus, the meeting with Jesus carrying His Cross, His Death on Calvary, His being taken down from the Cross, and His burial in the tomb.
Simeon foretold to the Mother the opposition the Redeemer would arouse. When she offered her forty-day Child to God in the Temple, he said, "This Child is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed -- and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword" (Lk 2:34).
Mary's sorrow on Calvary was deeper than any sorrow ever felt on earth, for no mother in all the world had a heart as tender as the Heart of the Mother of God. As there was no love like her love, there was no sorrow like her sorrow. She bore her sufferings for us that we might enjoy the graces of Redemption. She suffered willingly in order to prove her love for us, for true love is proved by sacrifice.
It was not because she was the Mother of God that Mary could bear her sorrows, but because she saw things from His point of view and not from her own -- or rather, she had made His point of view hers. We should do the same. The Mother of Sorrows will be on hand to help us.
Devotion to the Sorrows of Mary is the source of great graces because it leads into the depths of the Heart of Christ. If we think frequently of the false pleasures of this world, we shall embrace patiently the sorrows and sufferings of this life, and we shall be penetrated with a sorrow for sin.
The Church urges us to give ourselves over to the love of Mary completely and bear our cross patiently with the Mother of Sorrows. She earnestly wants to help us to bear our daily crosses because it was on Calvary that her dying Son entrusted us to her care. It was His last Will that she should be our Mother. It was also His last Will that we love His Mother as He did.
THE WORD OF GOD
"This Child is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed -- and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword -- so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare." -- Lk 2:34-35
Joyful Mysteries
Sorrowful Mysteries
Glorious Mysteries
Luminous Mysteries
Chaplet of Divine Mercy