HOW TO JOIN POPE FRANCIS IN THE CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA AND UKRAINE TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

Credit - ACI Prensa

Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Friday, March 25, and many Catholics from different parts of the world are wondering how they can participate.

The Pope will pronounce the prayer in Saint Peter's Basilica at approximately  6:30 pm (Rome time), in the context of the penitential celebration "24 hours for the Lord" that will begin at 5:00 pm The same act will be made by bishops from all over the world.

Catholics who wish to witness the event live and direct will be able to follow the broadcast in Spanish from the EWTN Español television channel and website, as well as from its Facebook page and YouTube channel .

In addition, they will be able to follow the live broadcast from ACI Prensa's Facebook and YouTube.

Pope Francis has already sent the full text of the “ Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary ” to bishops around the world . If Catholics are unable to join the Pontiff at the announced time, they can say the prayer of consecration from wherever they are and at another time on March 25

Below is the full text of the “Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary”:

O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, we, in this hour of tribulation, turn to you. You are our Mother, you love us and you know us, nothing that concerns us is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, many times we have experienced your provident tenderness, your presence that restores peace to us, because you always lead us to Jesus, Prince of Peace. 

We have lost the path of peace. We have forgotten the lesson of the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of millions of fallen in world wars. We have neglected the commitments assumed as a Community of Nations and we are betraying the dreams of peace of the peoples and the hopes of young people. 

We have become sick with greed, we have locked ourselves into nationalist interests, we have allowed ourselves to be hardened by indifference and paralyzed by selfishness. We have preferred to ignore God, live with our falsehoods, feed aggressiveness, suppress lives and accumulate weapons, forgetting that we are custodians of our neighbor and our common home.

We have destroyed the garden of the earth with war, we have wounded the heart of our Father, who loves us brothers and sisters, with sin. We have become indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves. And with shame we say: forgive us, Lord. 

In the misery of sin, in our tiredness and frailty, in the mystery of the iniquity of evil and war, you, Holy Mother, remind us that God does not abandon us, but continues to look at us with love, eager to forgive us and lift us up. again. It is He who has given you to us and has placed in your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for humanity. By his divine goodness you are with us, and even in the most adverse vicissitudes of history you lead us with tenderness. 

That is why we turn to you, we knock at the door of your Heart, we, your dear children who never tire of visiting and inviting conversion. 

In this dark hour, come to our aid and comfort us. She repeats to each one of us: “Am I not here, who am your Mother?”. You know how to untie the tangles of our hearts and the knots of our time. We put our trust in you. We are sure that you, especially in these moments of trial, do not despise our pleas and come to our aid. 

So you did in Cana of Galilee, when you hastened the hour of Jesus' intervention and introduced his first sign in the world. When the party had turned into sadness, you told him: «They have no wine» (Jn 2,3).

Repeat it again to God, oh Mother, because today we have finished the wine of hope, joy has vanished, fraternity has been watered down. We have lost humanity, we have spoiled peace. We have become capable of all kinds of violence and destruction. We urgently need your maternal help. 

Accept, oh Mother, our plea.

You, star of the sea, do not let us shipwreck in the storm of war.

You, ark of the new covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation. 

You, "land of Heaven", bring God's harmony back to the world. 

Extinguish hatred, appease revenge, teach us to forgive.

Deliver us from war, preserve the world from the nuclear threat.

Queen of the Rosary, awaken in us the need to pray and love.

Queen of the human family, show the peoples the path of brotherhood.

Queen of peace, obtain peace for the world. 

May your cry, oh Mother, move our hardened hearts. May the tears you have shed for us make this valley bloom that our hatred has dried up. And while the noise of the weapons is not silenced, may your prayer dispose us to peace. 

May your maternal hands caress those who suffer and flee under the weight of the bombs. May your maternal embrace comfort those who are forced to leave their homes and their country. May your afflicted Heart move us to compassion, impel us to open doors and take charge of wounded and discarded humanity.

Holy Mother of God, while you were at the foot of the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple next to you, said to you: "Here is your son" (Jn 19:26), and thus he entrusted us to you. Then he said to the disciple, to each one of us: "Behold your mother" (v. 27). 

Mother, we want to welcome you now in our life and in our history. In this hour humanity, exhausted and overwhelmed, is with you at the foot of the cross. And he needs to entrust himself to you, consecrate himself to Christ through you. 

The Ukrainian people and the Russian people, who venerate you with love, turn to you, while your Heart beats for them and for all the peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and misery. 

For this reason, Mother of God and ours, we solemnly entrust and consecrate to your Immaculate Heart our people, the Church and all of humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine. 

Welcome this act of ours that we perform with trust and love, make the war cease, provide the world with peace. The “yes” that flowed from your Heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace; we trust that, through your Heart, peace will come. 

To you, then, we consecrate the future of the entire human family, the needs and aspirations of peoples, the anxieties and hopes of the world.

May divine Mercy spill over the earth through you, and the sweet heartbeat of peace once again mark our days. Woman of yes, on whom the Holy Spirit descended, brings us back the harmony of God. 

You who are "living source of hope", dissipate the dryness of our hearts. You who have woven the humanity of Jesus, make us builders of communion. You who have walked our paths, guide us along paths of peace. Amen.