Prayer of Consecration to Mary by Pope John Paul II 1982

To You, Oh Mary!

Prayers of Consecration Kneeling before the image of Our Lady "Salus Populi Romani," at the end of the Mass he celebrated in the Basilica of St. Mary Major on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Father renewed the act of consecration of the Church and the world to Mary. Part of the Holy Father's prayer is printed below:

Prayers of Consecration O Mother of men and peoples, you know all their sufferings and their hopes, you feel in a motherly way all the struggles between good and evil, between the light and the darkness which shakes the world, accept our cry addressed in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart and embrace with the love of the Mother and the Handmaid of the Lord the peoples who await this embrace the most, and likewise the peoples whose consecration you too are particularly awaiting. Take under your motherly protection the whole human family which we can consecrate to you, O mother, with affectionate rapture. May the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, justice and hope, approach for everyone.

Prayers of Consecration O you, who are the first handmaid of the unity of the Body of Christ, help us, help all the faithful, who feel so painful the drama of divisions of Christianity to seek with constancy the way to the perfect unity of the Body of Christ by means of unconditional faithfulness to the Spirit of Truth and Love, which was given to them by your Son at the cost of the cross and death.

Prayers of Consecration O you, who are so deeply and maternally bound to the Church, preceding the whole People of God along the ways of faith, hope and charity, embrace all men who are on the way, pilgrims through temporal life towards eternal destinies, with that love which the divine Redeemer himself, you Son, poured into your heart from the cross. Be the Mother of all our earthly lives, even when they become tortuous, in order that we may all find ourselves, in the end in that large community which you Son called the fold, offering his life for it as the Good Shepherd.

Prayers of Consecration O you, who were with the Church at the beginning of her mission, intercede for her in order that going all over the world she may continually teach all the nations and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.

Prayers of Consecration O you, who have known in the fullest way the power of the Holy Spirit, when it was granted to you to conceive in your virginal womb and to give birth to the Eternal Word, obtain for the Church that she may continue to give new birth through water and the Holy Spirit to the sons and daughters of the whole human family, without any distinction of language, race, or culture, giving them in this way the "power to be come with children of God." (Jn. 1:12).

Prayers of Consecration O you, who have always wished to serve! You who serve as Mother the whole family of the children of God, obtain for the Church that enriched by the Holy Spirit with the fullness of hierarchical and charismatic gifts, she may continue with constancy towards the future along the way of that renewal which comes from what the Holy Spirit says and which found expression in the teaching of Vatican II, assuming in this work of renewal everything that is true and good, without letting herself be deceived either in on direction or in the other, but discerning assiduously among the signs of the times what is useful for the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Prayers of Consecration O you, who--through the mystery of your particular holiness, free of all stain from the moment of your conception--feel in a particularly deep way that "the whole creation has been groaning in travail" (Rom. 8:22), while, "subjected to futility," "it hopes that it will be set free from its bondage to decay" (Rom. 8:20-21), you contribute unceasingly to the "revealing of the sons of God," for whom "the creation awaits with eager longing" (Rom. 8:19), to enter the freedom of their joy (cf. Rom. 8:21).

Prayers of Consecration O Mother of Jesus, now glorified in heaven in body and in soul, as the image and beginning of the Church, which is to have its fulfillment in the future age--here on earth, until the day of the Lord comes (cf. 2 Pt. 3:10), do not cease to shine before the pilgrim people of God as a sign of sure hope and consolation (cf. Lumen Gentium, 68).

Prayers of Consecration O you, who more than any other human being have been consecrated to the Holy Spirit, help your Son's Church to persevere in the same consecration.

Prayers of Consecration Holy Spirit of God, Who are worshipped and glorified with the Father and Son! Accept these words of humble consecration addressed to You in the heart of Mary of Nazareth, Your bride and mother of the Redeemer, whom the Church too calls her Mother, because right from the Upper Room at Pentecost she has learned from Her, her own motherly vocation! Accept these words of the pilgrim Church, uttered amid toils and joys, fears and hopes.

– written by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II Reprinted in Soul Magazine, March-April 1982