As part of preparing for this month's study group, I needed to find something devotional for the closing prayers. Choosing for previous months had been easy and obvious, but not for August. So I asked for guidance, and the good Lord led me to the private revelations He had made to Berthe Petit just on a hundred years ago.

To find out more about her and how her spiritual experiences related to WW1, visit http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/2005/07/the-sorrowful-and-immaculate-heart-of-mary-the-revelations-of-berthe-petit/

Through Berthe Petit it was made known that Jesus wanted His mother to be honoured under the title Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, and in due course the following short but powerful prayer was indulgenced by the Church:

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to you.

What is particularly interesting is the promise attached to it, 'This devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother will restore faith and hope to broken hearts and ruined families; it will help to repair the destruction; it will sweeten the sorrow.'

I know plenty of families where members are estranged from each other, and what heartache such estrangement causes. Then there are the families suffering the long term effects of separation and divorce, and the long term effects of abortion. I am sure that you know plenty of families in these situations, too. So let us take hold of this heavenly remedy which has been given to us, and use this little prayer whenever you are reminded of your own family's sorrow or are told of the sorrows of another family.

If you'd like to take hold of this further, the PDF below has some prayers and an act of consecration to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary composed by Berthe Petit.

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, we entrust ourselves, our families and our parishes to your intercession.

Tomorrow, 13 Oct 2013, Pope Francis in union with all the bishops gathered in Rome and those united spiritually elsewhere in the world, will consecrate the world afresh to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Now this should be big news, but there has been barely a peep about it even from online Catholic sites.

To make this wonderful consecration as powerful as possible, we, too, need to consecrate ourselves, our families, our parishes, our dioceses and our nations in union with this solemn act tomorrow. At the bottom of this blog post there will be a prayer you can use until the full text of the Pope's consecration prayer is available. 

EWTN will be televising the Papal Mass at 7.30pm Sunday 13 October, Sydney time. If you are able to, join in either via their online feed or via satellite.

A thought has been striking me of late. At Fatima the three children were asked to pray specifically for the Pope - but we've never really worked out which Pope they were praying for in particular. They saw visions of him. The Pope they prayed for could well be Pope Francis.

One of the hallmarks of Pope Francis' pontificate has been his frequent and gentle requests that we pray for him. According to the big interview with journalists on the plane trip returning to Rome after WYD Rio de Janiero, asking for prayers is something that he started to do early in his priesthood, and which he increasingly did more of as greater responsibilities were given to him. How wonderful it is to conjecture that Our Lady was answering his requests for prayers some 100 years before his pontificate began, and getting Lucia, Bl Francisco and Bl Jacinta to do the same.  What a model and example our heavenly mother is! She was the very first person to start answering his pleas for prayers. 

Let us do likewise, and pray for Pope Francis - and pray with him the consecration prayer tomorrow.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Sr Lucia, Bl Francisco, Bl Jacinta, pray for us, for Pope Francis, and for our troubled world.

Consecration Prayer

Immaculate Virgin Mary, Our Lady Help of Christians, Mother of
the Church, we consecrate our family, our parish, our diocese and our nation to your Immaculate Heart. To you we entrust our country, our families, our hearts, our souls and all that we have. We make this consecration in the same spirit in which the Pope, in union with all the Bishops of the world, consecrated the world to your Immaculate Heart, thus recognizing your role as Queen of Peace and Mother of the Church. Obtain for us, through your intercession, God’s grace and protection for our family, our parish, our diocese and our nation. In order that this consecration of our family, parish, diocese and nation may be truly effective and lasting, we renew today the promises of our Baptism and Confirmation; and we undertake to live as good
Christians – faithful to God, the Church and the Holy Father. We desire to pray  the Rosary, partake in the Holy Eucharist and work for the conversion of sinners. Furthermore we promise, O most holy Virgin, that we will spread devotion to you, so that through our consecration to your Immaculate Heart, and
through your own intercession, the coming of the Kingdom of Christ in the world may be hastened. Amen.
 
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. 
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
Our Lady Help of Christians, our Hope, pray for us.