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CONSECRATION OF OUR FAMILIES to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Gianpaolo Mosconi

All booklets are published thanks to the generosity of the supporters of the Catholic Truth Society

This booklet is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

“Totus tuus Maria”

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Fr John Lawrence M. Polis, FI for checking this booklet for theological errors and suggesting ways to improve it.

ISBN 978-1-78469-923-9

Introduction

This booklet is written by a father who invites all Catholic parents to consecrate their families to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

First and foremost, consecration is in response to the message of Our Lady of Fatima. The Blessed Virgin very clearly asks us to be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. This consecration is integral to the message of Fatima that Our Blessed Mother revealed to the three children. This booklet is also written in response to the very grave attacks on the family. Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a means of defending our families. In the official biography on the life of Sister Lucia, one of the three visionaries of Fatima, we are told of three social sins ‘that require reparation and conversion: divorce, abortion and the civil marriage between persons of the same sex. It is the great moral crisis that explains all other crises.’1 What these three social sins all have in common is that they are an attack against the family; they undermine its very foundation. As the biography states, these social sins require reparation. Very interestingly, Sr Lucia states, ‘For the sin of the person, that person is responsible and pays for it, but for the sin of the nation all the people pay for it

because the rulers who enact unjust laws do so on behalf of the people who elected them.’2 Consecration of the family by parents helps to make up for the sins of the world though the majority of the world does not recognise this! Parents draw down grace upon their families through this act and as families are the building blocks of society, it follows that this grace is brought down upon the world. It should be no surprise that Satan and his forces are attacking the very fabric of society by attacking the family. In 2008, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra former Archbishop of Bologna was interviewed by Tele Radio Padre Pio, after he had celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the tomb of St Pio of Pietrelcina. Cardinal Caffarra was given charge by Pope St John Paul II to plan and establish the Pontifical Institute for the Studies on Marriage and the Family. His Eminence, Cardinal Caffarra, said that when he was asked to establish the institute, he wrote a letter to Sr Lucia, asking for her prayers at the beginning of this important ministry for the family. He was surprised to find that she wrote him a lengthy letter in reply, which read in part:

The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be fought and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue…however, Our Lady has already crushed its head.3

We read very much about how the family is attacked from all fronts. As we read about these attacks the stories become more horrific. It is clear that we must make reparation for the sins of the world through prayer and sacrifice, but if it is the family that is being attacked there is an additional form of action that the family needs to take – Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This booklet will explore what consecration means and why it is so important. If the reader accepts the premise that consecration of our families is so necessary, it is hoped that fathers and mothers will consecrate their families to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A recommended formula is provided on the next page. If parents find it too long, a shorter version could be used, ideally to be said every day and the longer formula could be used on special feast days and Sundays (see the Simple Act of Consecration also provided). Grandparents and godparents are also recommended to make these acts of consecration.

‘It is through Mary the salvation of the world was begun, and it is through Mary that the salvation is to be consummated.’

St Louis de Montfort4

Why Consecrate our Families to the Immaculate Heart of Mary?

Part 1: To counteract evil in the world and to protect our families

It has already been pointed out in the introduction that Sr Lucia of Fatima said there were three social sins ‘that require reparation and conversion: divorce, abortion and the civil marriage between persons of the same sex.’6 It was also mentioned that these three sins have a common feature: they are all an attack against the family; they undermine its very foundation. Families need to be protected against this onslaught and who better to protect our families than Mary the Mother of God. And if Sr Lucia says that the final battle will be over the family, surely families must be an integral part of Our Lady’s army whose armour is consecration to her Immaculate Heart and whose weapon is the Rosary. As Fr Patrick Peyton used to say, ‘The family that prays together, stays together.’7 Daily family consecration could take part as a prelude to the daily family Rosary.

The great concern Sr Lucia expressed about the family mirrored that of His Holiness, Pope St John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio , in which he stated: