Act of Consecration of Lebanon and the Middle East to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Transcription

1 Act of Consecration of Lebanon and the Middle East to the Blessed Virgin Mary Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, You have been chosen by God Our Father, through the action of the Holy Spirit, to become the Mother of His Incarnate Son; You lived perfectly the obedience of faith, united, by your motherhood, to Your Son Jesus, by an indissoluble bond, thus listening to His words, treasuring up all these things and pondering them in Your heart; You accompanied Him throughout His early life in Nazareth, where He was growing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man; You interceded with Him in Cana of Galilee, You suffered with Him in Your motherly heart on the foot of the Cross and participated in the redemption that He accomplished, He, the only Redeemer of the world, for the sake of the entire humanity in every time and place. Your spiritual motherhood thus embraced the whole of humanity and all mankind, in all their affiliations and cultures. Today, after You were raised to the glory of Your Son risen from the dead, you continue to enfold us with Your maternal care, through Your intercession, for us to welcome the graces of the Lord that would lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven. Our Lady of Lebanon, we ask You to bestow your tenderness upon our beloved country Lebanon and all the Middle East, this region which soil witnessed the fulfillment of the events of His plan of redemption and from where the Church, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, took off to bring the Good News to the entire populations, bearing witness to the Lord Jesus until martyrdom and acting as the guarantor of the treasure of faith, in order to transmit it from generation to generation, until it reached us. O Mother of the Church, Help us through Your intercession, for we are the sons and daughters of the Church to which You belong and whose model, mother and teacher You are, so that we live the Communion of Love among ourselves and bear witness for the 1

2 human and Christian values in our family, social and national lives, working to promote those values in Lebanon and the East and turning them into a civilization that elevates the human person to listen with the utmost obedience to God who speaks constantly to his heart. O Mother of men and peoples, You who knows our sufferings and joys, our fears and hopes, Protect this region through Your intercession from all that threatens it, from violence, extremism, turmoil and turbulences and from the demeaning of human persons dignity and the infringement of their rights, freedom and integrity; we pray You to guide all the children of this East, in their diversity, that their minds be enlightened with the light of the only Creator who wants us to live as one human family tied by the bonds of brotherhood, so that every person seeks to build a bright future, on the grounds of convergence, participation, love and justice. We implore You, O Mother, to accept from us the consecration of Lebanon and the East to Your Immaculate Heart and to Your Holy patronage. We thus consecrate ourselves to God, through the action of the Holy Spirit, following the example of the Only Son who consecrated Himself to His Divine Father and was faithful to Him in all His acts and teachings, for the salvation of humanity. Pray for us, that we may live the full requirements of this consecration, thus repenting of our sins, listening to the Word of God which is our source of life and renewing our love to God by complying to His will and through our love for our neighbors expressed in the act of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence in a spirit of brotherhood. We implore Your intercession, O Holy Mary: For the human persons to be open to God and to abide by His will, thus working for the good of the entire humanity and contributing to building peace, We pray You; So that we show faithfulness to Jesus Christ in our life and we bear witness to Him in our words and deeds, through love and reconciliation, service and sacrifice, We pray You; 2

3 So that we carry the Cross of pain in our souls and bodies, on the example of Jesus Christ, and face the challenges and adversities with patience and hope, We pray You; For our bishops, priests, religious and laymen, so that God assists them in carrying out their mission, We pray You; For the preservation of the sanctity of the union of marriage and for our families to remain domestic churches that convey faith, teach how to pray and contribute in the life and the minister of the Church, We pray You; For the respect of human life from birth and until death, We pray You; For peace in the hearts, the families and communities and for the advancement of human beings, We pray You; So that each human person s dignity, rights, civil and religious freedoms and integritybe preserved, We pray You; For the political authorities to work on ensuring public good which contributes to the good of men and the nations, We pray You; So that we may be delivered from our sins that lead to divisions, aggressions and violence, We pray You; So that we give God the priority in our life, against the reality of consumerism and materialism and in light of the excessive earthly concerns and temptations of life, We pray You; O Mother of God and Lady of Lebanon, full of sanctity, intercede for us, that we may accept in our country and our East the graces that God has bestowed upon the world, by the enduring salvific power of the redemption and the merciful love that leads the consciences and sanctifies the human person, so that with You and through You we elevate the hymn of glory and praise to the Saint Trinity who has chosen You, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. To be prayed following Mass on Sunday June 16th, at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa. Dearly beloved friends, 3

4 I share some very great news with you all. Tomorrow on Sunday June 16th in Lebanon. the entire Episcopate of Lebanon, along with their Papal Nuncio and with all the Catholic Patriarchs of the Middle East will gather in Harissa, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon to solemnly Consecrate Lebanon and the Middle East to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I attach the Text of the Act of Consecration which will be prayed by all present led by the full Episcopate of Lebanon and all the catholic Patriarchs of the Middle East following solemn Holy Mass. I received this from Fr. Augustine Aoun a Maronite Priest in Lebanon this morning. He also then telephoned me to tell me that all the Patriarchs of the Middle East would be present too. All of the Church in Lebanon has been preparing for this great spiritual moment an Image of Our Lady in the past 40 days has travelled to every Parish in Lebanon. Every Parish in Lebanon will be united with the Mass and Act of Consecration tomorrow in a great union of prayer. I am inviting you all to join too with this Act of Consecration tomorrow.if you are a priest I ask you to lead your people in the prayer in your parishes tomorrow before the final blessing of the Mass. I hope you do not mind me asking you we all know that the situation in the Middle East is very, very dangerous what we can do is to spiritually unite with perhaps the greatest act of faith in the powerful Intercession of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Her beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which has ever been carried out in the Middle East. I humbly ask you to.pray much tomorrow for the Middle East. I am absolutely certain that Merciful Jesus will act at the Intercession of his Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. He can refuse her nothing! I invite you all to forward this to all your praying friends around the World to mobilize a great union and mountain of prayer with the courageous Cardinal, Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Religious and lay faithful of Lebanon and the Middle East who are such witnesses of the love and mercy of the crucified and risen Lord. I exhort you and pray with you. Please print off this and the text of the Act of Consecration to give to your priests. You can watch it live on satellite on two Lebanese TV Channels which are: MTV Lebanon, and Nourset Lebanon. The Mass will start at!0:30am local time. It will be at 8:30am in England. Below is the most venerated Image of Our Lady and Child in all Lebanon. I prayed before it in With great gratitude to God and his Holy Mother for the great faith of the Church in the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. God bless and with many prayers 4

5 Antonia Moffat Walsingham home to the National Shrine of Our Lady in England, Mary's Dowry UK The Monastery of Maifouk also houses the famous 10 th century Syro- Maronite Painting of Our Lady of d Ilige so intimately connected with the history and destiny of Lebanon and its peoples. In contemplating Our Lady of d Ilige we saw the face, before which the Holy Patriarchs meditated, prayed and begged intercession during the darkest hours of Maronite and Lebanese history. Because of this gentle and compassionate face, a smile would return, even in the most difficult of circumstances, and the light this gave, was always a sign of HOPE for all. The Mother of God, Our Lady of d Ilige has carried the sufferings and the persecutions which have overwhelmed the Church and Lebanon throughout the centuries in her heart. Miraculously the painting has been preserved down the centuries despite many attempts to destroy it There is a sense in Lebanon today that there is a need to rediscover the venerable origins of this precious painting of Our Lady. It is this image of Our Lady that you see in almost every 5

6 Church in Lebanon. May Our Lady of d Ilige pray for us. When we came before the painting we were overwhelmed by its extraordinary beauty, all the more poignant because it literally carries within it, the Christian soul of Lebanon. 6