New Booklet Published on Consecrating Families to the Immaculate Heart| National Catholic Register
A new booklet has been published by the Catholic Truth Society in Great Britain to provide guidance on how a family can consecrate itself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Written by British Catholic author Gianpaolo Mosconi, Consecration of Our Families to the Immaculate Heart of Mary aims to nurture Marian devotion “within the family and to create a fruitful, flourishing Catholic home” through simple consecration prayers that every family can recite.
In this May 15 interview with the Register, Mosconi says he has tried to show in the booklet that, at a time when marriage and the family are under spiritual attack, a consecration “is the armor” in the battle to defend the family, “and the Rosary is the weapon.”
He recalls evidence of the power of consecration to Our Lady through history and notes how it changes lives. “Being consecrated to Our Lady, we will want to act as she would want us to act,” says Mosconi. “We will think as she wants us to think. We will have an inner joy and peace, a peace that the world cannot give because if Mary is living in our hearts, Jesus will be there too. Mary draws Jesus like metal to a magnet.”
Mr. Mosconi, what prompted you to write this booklet specifically on consecrating families to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and how does it respond to modern family challenges like those in today’s secular world?
As a young man in my 20s, I bought a book on Fatima, called Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words. I began to develop a devotion to Our Lady. I saw in Our Lady’s words that they were not simply addressed to the three children. The message of Fatima is for the whole world! “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.”
As I wrote in my booklet: “Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means to be devoted to her who is totally pure and spotless, in other words, the Immaculate Conception.” Consecration to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart means we give ourselves totally to her. We give our being to her being. We give all that we are and have to all that she is and has. And what does she have? She has Jesus! When we consecrate ourselves to Our Lady, she takes that consecration and gives it to Jesus in the most perfect manner possible, because she is totally pure, as seen in the ancient hymn of the Church: Tota Pulchra es, Maria (“You are completely beautiful, Mary”).
When I began to focus my attention on the family, I discovered that Venerable Lucia wrote: “The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family.” She said that there are three social sins “that require reparation and conversion: divorce, abortion and the civil marriage between persons of the same sex.” These all undermine the family. They lead to sterility and now, finally, the world is noticing what Holy Mother the Church warned about for decades, such as in Humanae Vitae.
I thought if the final battle with Satan is over the family, the family is clearly integral to the life of the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of the family as a domestic church (1655-1658) and elsewhere calls it an image of the communion of the Persons of the Trinity (2207). Without the family, this vital cell of society, civilization itself will crumble and ultimately perish. Priests, religious and laity are all fruits of the family. Without families there would be no priests. Without priests there would be no Mass. As Padre Pio said: “It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”
Families, then, should take Mother Mary into their homes, like St. John the Evangelist, when Jesus gave his last gift to humanity on the cross: Mary. “Behold thy Mother.” The Bible says that St. John then took her to his home. But there is in this a much deeper meaning: We should take Mother Mary not only into our physical homes, but the homes of our hearts.
What simple, daily practices does the booklet recommend for families to live out this consecration amid busy schedules, especially with children?
The booklet recommends daily consecration of the family to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. There is a formula of consecration that could be said by the family before the family Rosary. I try to show in the booklet that consecration is the armor in the aforementioned battle, and the Rosary is the weapon. They are integral; they go together. Our Lady of Fatima said twice that God wishes to establish in the world devotion to her Immaculate Heart. It would be natural, then, for good Catholic families who are devoted to Our Lady to want to be consecrated to her. If we really love someone, we want to make it formal. That is why we have the sacraments of holy orders and marriage. Families who love our Blessed Mother should formalize that love by making an Act of Consecration to her Immaculate Heart. She will present that consecration to her Son, who will be so pleased to see that his children love his Blessed Mother.
I give two formulas of consecration, a long one and a short one. The long one states at the end: “May our home be a ‘City of the Immaculate,’ where the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Your Son, reigns for ever and ever.” This is the ultimate aim of consecration to our Blessed Mother: consecration to Jesus and a family where the Hearts of Jesus and Mary reign supreme!
How might family consecration to the Immaculate Heart contribute to the Church’s evangelization or societal renewal?
Jesus says: “The truth will set you free.” We need to proclaim the truth about Our Lady. We need to proclaim from the rooftops the glories of Mary. St. Maximilian Kolbe said words to the effect that Mary is so lovable that we must bring her to the world. When the world loves her, she will do the rest. She will bring the world to Jesus. I think this is why Jesus sent Our Lady to Fatima. He came as the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century with a very important message, but France and the world did not listen. Then Our Lady came to Fatima, showing her Immaculate Heart, with a message to save the world. It is as if Jesus is saying, “The world will not listen to me. I know what to do. I will send my mother. Surely, they will listen to my mother!”
Consecration of ourselves and our families, together with prayer and penance, shows that we are listening. It will change our lives. Being consecrated to Our Lady, we will want to act as she would want us to act. We will think as she wants us to think. We will have an inner joy and peace, a peace that the world cannot give because if Mary is living in our hearts, Jesus will be there too. Mary draws Jesus like metal to a magnet.
As a Catholic author who has spoken on saints like St. Padre Pio, what personal experiences or spiritual insights shaped your approach to family consecration in this work?
It is through reading about the lives of these saints and formation by good Marian Catholic priests that I have shaped my ideas about family consecration. First and foremost, I thank Our Lady of Fatima, and Venerable Lucia for writing faithfully what Our Lady asked her to write. As I said before, the message of Fatima changed my whole life.
No saint can be a saint if they do not love Mother Mary, and the first place that children learn to love Mary is from their parents. These families lived out consecration to Mary! I love the words of St. Don Bosco’s mother to her son the day before he left the family home to enter seminary. “When you came into the world, I consecrated you to Our Lady. … Now, I beg you to take her for your Queen.”
How does the booklet draw on Fatima’s messages and papal consecrations — such as those by Pius XII or recent popes — to ground family devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart?
In an excellent book called Fatima: The Great Sign by Francis Johnston, the author points out that Pope Pius XII’s consecration in October 1942 led to a marked turnaround in the Second World War. At the time, it looked like Nazi Germany was heading for unstoppable victory. However, in the following month, three operations by the Allied forces led to a remarkable turnaround.
One also cannot ignore Pope St. John Paul II. Venerable Lucia said that his consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1984 was accepted by heaven. She also said that it averted a nuclear war. We cannot doubt the efficacy of consecration to Our Lady, and a section of my booklet focuses on Pope St. John Paul’s personal and papal consecration, expressed by his moto Totus Tuus, as a model and example of family consecration to the Immaculate Heart.
In what ways does your guide differ from other Marian consecrations, like those of St. Louis de Montfort, to make it accessible for everyday Catholic households?
I remember reading an article by a Catholic mother of a large, growing family. She described the various distractions by the younger children during the family Rosary, but they persevered to the end. There are so many pressures in the world, and the “butterflies of distraction” come to our minds. The 33-day consecration of St. Louis de Montfort is excellent and strongly recommended for adults and older children. However, the consecration prayers I use are much shorter and geared towards families, who may not have time for the longer formula of St. Louis de Montfort. The formula I use would take one and a half minutes and is taken from a book by Father Luigi Faccenda on St. Maximilian Kolbe. If that is still too long for busy families, a shorter version is given, which is based on a consecration prayer I found in a leaflet on the Brown Scapular. This should only take 20 seconds.
It is my hope that we will heed the message of Our Lady of Fatima, the most important message of our times. I firmly believe that consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary will hasten the day on which Our Lady prophesied:
“In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
