DAY 13 (September 20) THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF RECONCILIATION
33 DAYS PREPARATORY PRAYER FOR THE RE-CONSECRATION OF NIGERIA TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY.
DAY 13
(September 20)
THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF RECONCILIATION
V. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
V. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful.
R. And enkindle in them the fire of your love.
V. Send forth your spirit and they shall be created.
R. And you shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray: Oh God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation, through Chris our Lord. Amen.
HYMN TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.
1. O come to the throne of grace,
O come to the heart most pure!
To Mary, our hope of life,
In whom salvation is sure.
O Lady of Fatima, hail!
Immaculate Mother of grace;
O, pray for us, help us today,
Thou hope of the human race!
2. Immaculate Heart! we kneel
To consecrate all to thee:
The present, its pain and joy—–
The future, all it may be.
O Lady of Fatima, hail!
Immaculate Mother of grace;
O, pray for us, help us today,
Thou hope of the human race!
OPENING PRAYER.
Lord our God, through the precious blood of your Son, you reconciled the world to yourself and at the foot of his cross, you chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of reconciliation for sinners; grant through her intercession that we may obtain pardon for our sins. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
ROSARY
SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Cor 5:17-21
Brothers and sisters, whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors of Christ as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, God made Christ to be sin who did not know sin, so that in Christ, we might become the righteousness of God.
The Word of the Lord.
Jesus came to reconcile us back to the Father by taking away our sins as we could see from the above reading. Our Mother Mary has been assisting him to see to the success of that venture. On her apparition of 13 May 1917 to the three shepherd kids at Fatima, our Mother Mary asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray “the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.” Remember that at that time, the First World War was on and Russia was a frontliner in it. By March 1917, Russia had already fallen and a lot of evil was going on in it. That was the situation of things at the time our Lady visited Fatima. She noted that she could no longer restrain the hand of her Divine Son from striking the world with a just punishment for its many crimes. That punishment was the raging war that was on at that time. So she needed to be assisted. That assistance should come in three ways – Amendment of Life, penance and more dedication to prayers. She added that “If people do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.” Do you need peace in your life? Come then, let us hearken to her voice; it is for our own good.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER:
a. For our families.
b. For the Church.
c. For Nigeria.
PRE-CONSECRATION PRAYER OF NIGERIA TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Lord God, we thank you for the gift of our country Nigeria. You made it a fertile ground for the work of missionaries, guided by the power of the Holy Spirit. Your Word is now firmly established in our land such that we have not only become missionaries to ourselves but also to other nations.
As your Son Jesus Christ reposed in the arms of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so have we reposed Nigeria in her arms by making her our Patron Saint. As a nation, we are going through turbulent moments, with hunger, pain, killing, kidnapping and many other atrocities being committed against each other. We believe that never was it known that anyone who fled to her protection, implored her help or sought her intercession was left unaided. And so we come before her again, sinful and sorrowful, and desiring to re-consecrate Nigeria to her Immaculate Heart. May she intercede on our behalf to stabilize our ship of state.
We present ourselves as a nation, renouncing our past faults and offences. We resolve to imitate the exemplary life of our Mother Mary. Help us to renew and rectify the vows of our Baptism; rejecting Satan and all his works and empty promises. Obtain for us the grace for a perfect consecration of our nation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We seek her continual intercession and maternal protection.
May this this re-consecration bring forth peace, unity and tranquility to the nation and foster communion and service so as to radiate the joy of the Gospel for the common good of our country.
We make our prayer through your son, our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen
Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, Pray for us.
Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Lord our God, we pray that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may obtain the grace of your loving forgiveness and the reward of eternal redemption. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
