Prayers and Consecration

Home › Hope › Prayers and Consecration

✓ Reviewed by Fr. John How this site is made

Fr. Charles Arminjon wrote that God announced the final trial in advance so that we might prepare for it “by having recourse to Him through prayer” (The End of the Present World, p. 48). Here are the prayers I would put in your hands for that preparation. None of them is new. That is their strength: the Church has prayed them through every trial she has already passed through.

The Lord's own prayer

The prayer Christ taught us ends with the very trial this site is about: “and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13). The Catechism says that in this last petition the Church asks to be delivered from Satan, “the evil one,” and that the whole prayer ends with her longing for the Lord's return: “Come, Lord Jesus” (CCC 2850–2854; Revelation 22:20). Pray the Our Father slowly, and mean its last words.

To Our Lady

We fly to thy protection (Sub tuum praesidium), the oldest known prayer to Mary:

We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

The Memorare, long attributed to St. Bernard:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Hail, Holy Queen (Salve Regina), prayed at the end of the Rosary:

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

And above all, the Rosary, every day if you can, alone or with your family. It is the prayer Our Lady asked for at Fatima (Mary and the Saints).

To the angels

To St. Michael. Pope Leo XIII's prayer, “St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle,” is given in full on War in Heaven.

To your guardian angel:

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

The prayers of Fatima

These prayers come from the apparitions at Fatima, which the Church has approved as worthy of belief. Like all private revelation, they add nothing to the faith (CCC 67), but they have helped millions to pray it.

After each decade of the Rosary, as Our Lady asked:

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy.

The pardon prayer, taught to the children by the angel:

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee! I ask pardon of Thee for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee.

The angel's prayer to the Holy Trinity:

O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners.

When offering a sacrifice:

O Jesus, it is for love of Thee, in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and for the conversion of poor sinners.

The prayer of Akita

This prayer of offering to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is prayed at Akita, Japan, and is associated with the messages received there by Sister Agnes Sasagawa. On the Church's judgment of Akita, see Mary and the Saints. Whatever one concludes about the messages, the prayer itself is sound: it gives the whole self to Christ in the Eucharist, which is the very opposite of the mark.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, truly present in the Holy Eucharist, I consecrate my body and soul to be entirely one with Your Heart, being sacrificed at every instant on all the altars of the world and giving praise to the Father, pleading for the coming of His Kingdom. Please receive this humble offering of myself. Use me as You will for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls. Most Holy Mother of God, never let me be separated from Your Divine Son. Please defend and protect me as Your special child. Amen.

Consecration to Jesus through Mary

Revelation shows two marks: the beast's, and the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants (Revelation 7:3; 14:1). To consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary is to choose, freely and ahead of time, whose mark you will bear. It is the most complete answer I know to the choice Revelation sets before us (What the Mark Is).

St. Louis de Montfort taught a total consecration, made after a time of preparation, by which we give ourselves wholly to Jesus through the hands of Mary. Its spirit is gathered up in a few Latin words, Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt: “I am all yours, and all that I have is yours.” St. John Paul II took the first two words, Totus tuus, as the motto of his whole pontificate.

If you wish to make the consecration, do it properly: use a full edition of Montfort's True Devotion to Mary with its preparation, or one of the guided preparations your parish can recommend, and choose a Marian feast for the day itself. Speak to your priest. The Montfort Fathers publish the formula of consecration.

Until then, begin with something small, every morning:

Mary, my Mother, I give myself to Jesus through you, today and every day. Keep me faithful to him. Amen.

Sources

• Matthew 6:9–13 (NABRE); Revelation 7:3; 14:1; 22:20
• Catechism of the Catholic Church 67, 2850–2854
• Fr. Charles Arminjon, The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life (Sophia Institute Press, 2008), p. 48
• The Fatima prayers, as commonly prayed in English (texts)
• St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary; the Montfort consecration

Continue