Prayer to our Lady of Mount Carmel ( 7- 15 July)

O blessed Virgin, full of grace, Queen of all Saints, how sweet it is for me to venerate thee under the title of our Lady of Mount Carmel.
It takes me back to the days of the prophet Elias, when thou wast prefigured on Mount Carmel under the form of the little cloud, from which, as it increased, there fell a kindly rain, symbolic of the sanctifying graces that come to us from thee.
Even from the days of the Apostles, thou hast been honored under this mystic title; and today I am filled with joy at the thought that we are united with those first clients of thine, and in union with them we salute thee, saying: O beauty of Carmel, glory of Libanus, thou purest of lilies, mystic rose in the flowering garden of the Church.
Meanwhile, O Virgin of virgins, be mindful of me in my misery, and show thyself my Mother.
Shed upon me ever more and more the living light of that faith which made thee blessed;
inflame me with that Heavenly love wherewith thou didst love thy dear Son, Jesus Christ.
I am filled with miseries both spiritual and temporal. I am straitened by many sorrows in body and soul, and I take refuge, like a child, in the shadow of thy motherly protection.
Do thou, Mother of God, who hast such power and might, obtain for me from blessed Jesus, the Heavenly gifts of humility, chastity, and meekness, which were the fairest ornaments of thine Immaculate soul.
Do thou grant me to be strong in the midst of the temptations and bitterness, which so often overwhelm my spirit.
And when the days of my earthly pilgrimage are accomplished according to God's holy will, grant that my soul may obtain the glory of Paradise, through the merits of Christ and thine intercession. Amen.

Total Consecration to Mary

I. Nature

Jesus, my Savior, I give myself entirely to Thee through Mary. That the gift of myself may be most pleasing to Thee and more nearly complete, I consecrate myself entirely to Thy dear Mother Mary, and I wish to live and act in perfect dependence on her for the remainder of my life. May she, in turn, make me wholly Thine Own!

FLOWER

II. Extent

  Mary, my dearest Mother, I give myself over to thee and through thee to Jesus.

  1. I give thee my body with all its senses, pledging myself not to use them except in accordance with thy good pleasure and that of Jesus. Moreover, I accept beforehand whatever God may have in store for me as regards sickness and health, life and death.

  2. I give thee all the possessions I have in the world. I wish to use them only in dependence on thee and for thy honor and the Glory of God.

  3. I give thee my soul with all its faculties, dedicating them under thy guidance to the service of God and the good of souls. At the same time I renounce whatever may stand in the way of my sanctification or endanger my salvation.

  4. I give thee all my interior and spiritual treasures. I surrender to thee:

  (a) The meritorious value of my acts.

  The merits by which I procure for myself an increase of grace and glory and which I cannot give away, I present to thee, not in order to apply them to others, but that thou mayest hold them in trust for me and give them increase.

  (b) The satisfactory value of my acts.

  The satisfactory value of my acts, which supplies for the punishment due to my sins, as well as the indulgences I may gain, thou mayest dispose of and freely apply to whomsoever thou willest since I can give all this to others.

  (c) The impetratory value of my acts.

  Even the impetratory value of my acts and prayers, by which I can intercede for others, I give to thee.

  Mary, I beg thee to favor according to thy good pleasure those to whom I am bound by ties of affection or relationship and to whom I am under special obligation. Loving Mother, I entrust to thee all those who are near and dear to me. I am all thine and thou art mine! All mine is thine! Draw on what I have given thee, but more still on the treasury of thine own merits and those of thy dear Son, in order to help those I have entrusted to thy motherly care.

FLOWER

III. Excellence

Accept, dearest Mother, my consecration as an act of childlike abandonment and self-surrender to thy motherly care.

  1. I wish that my consecration may be an act of religion toward God, the Word-Made-Flesh, and toward thee, Mary, Mother of God. By it I wish to acknowledge God's absolute dominion and my own nothingness, and proclaim at the same time, with heart and soul, those rights over me which God hast given to thee.

  2. I wish that my consecration may be an act of humility, for by it I want to acknowledge my nothingness and helplessness. I divest myself of everything that I have received from God and restore all to the Giver through thy hands, Mary, for through thy Divine Son and thee I have obtained every good gift from God. 

 3. I wish that my consecration may be an act of confiding love for thee, because love consists in the gift of self, and to give myself entirely and unreservedly presupposes firm confidence and living faith.

FLOWER

IV. Fruit

<> 1. My dearest Mother Mary, by my consecration I wish to glorify God and thee in the highest possible manner, for I give myself to God forever with all that I am and all that I have, without measure or selfishness. I do so after the manner of Divine Wisdom, that is, returning to God in the very way He chose to come to me, and hence in the way that is most pleasing to Him.

  2. By my consecration I wish to secure my own sanctification. I know, dearest Mother, that thou art most willing to help sanctify one who, having disposed of his person and goods in thy behalf, is, so to speak, thine own property. I trust that thou willest most assuredly secure for me choice graces to safeguard my little spiritual treasure, and that thou willest make it grow and have it bring forth fruit until the the hour of my death. I am sure that thou willest help me by means of thy own rich merits and satisfaction and through thy powerful intercession with God.

  3. By my consecration I wish to insure the sanctification of my neighbor. I know that, having left the apportioning of my merits to thy good pleasure, everything will be done with greater wisdom, for thou art by far more prudent, thoughtful and devoted than I can ever be.

  Mother, I put all my trust in thee. I rely entirely upon thee because I love thee sincerely. Amen.

Raccolta Oration to the Virgin Mary Under the Title, Our Lady of Pity

Kneeling at thy most sacred feet, I venerate thee, great Queen of Heaven, with the deepest reverence, and I confess that thou art the Daughter of God, the Father, the Mother of the Divine Word, and the Bride of the Holy Ghost.

Thou art full of grace, virtue and heavenly gifts; thou art the most pure temple of the Holy Trinity. Thou art the treasurer and dispenser of God's mercies.

Thy pure heart is overflowing with charity, sweetness and tenderness for us, poor sinners; wherefore we name thee our Lady of Divine Pity.

Hence it is with sure confidence that I present myself before thee, our most loving Mother, afflicted and straitened on every side, and I beseech thee to make me feel the love thou hast for me, by granting me, if it is in conformity with the will of God and profitable to my salvation.

Ah, I beseech thee, turn thy pure eyes upon me and upon all who are dear to me. Consider the cruel warfare waged by the world, the flesh and the devil against our souls, and see how many are perishing in the strife.

Remember, most tender Mother, that we are thy children, purchased by the Precious Blood of thine only-begotten Son.

Deign to pray for us without ceasing to the Blessed Trinity, that we may have the grace to be ever victorious over the devil, the world and all our perverse passions; that grace whereby the just may sanctify themselves ever more and more, sinners may be converted, heresies destroyed, unbelievers enlightened and the jews brought to the light of faith.

Ask this grace for us, dearest Mother, through the infinite goodness of God most high, the merits of thy most holy Son, the anxious care wherewith thou didst wait upon Him, the love with which thou didst cherish Him, the tears thou didst shed and the sorrows thou didst undergo during His Passion. Amen.