Consecration of the Diocese of Jackson and the Parishes in the Diocese of Jackson to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The original patroness of our Diocese was Our Lady of Sorrows. This weekend, Bishop Kopacz is asking all of our parishes in the Diocese of Jackson to consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in honor of the 100th anniversary of the last apparition of Fatima, which was yesterday, October 13. Our Diocese has a beautiful prayer of consecration written for the occasion that we will pray at the masses this weekend at the end of the prayers of the faithful. I also love this prayer written by Pope Francis when he consecrated the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in October 2013. I am so happy to be at the wonderful parish of St Jude in Pearl, Mississippi as pastor to consecrate our parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

Holy Mary Virgin of Fatima,
with renewed gratitude for your maternal presence
we join our voice to that of all the generations who call you blessed.
We celebrate in you the works of God,
who never tires of looking down with mercy upon humanity,
afflicted with the wound of sin, to heal it and save it.
Accept with the benevolence of a Mother
the act of consecration that we perform today with confidence,
before this image of you that is so dear to us.
We are certain that each of us is precious in your eyes
and that nothing of all that lives in our hearts is unknown to you.
We let ourselves be touched by your most sweet regard
and we welcome the consoling caress of your smile.
Hold our life in your arms:
bless and strengthen every desire for good;
revive and nourish faith;
sustain and enlighten hope;
awaken and animate charity;
guide all of us along the path of holiness.
Teach us your own preferential love for the little and the poor,
for the excluded and the suffering,
for sinners and the downhearted:
bring everyone under your protection
and entrust everyone to your beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus.
Amen.