This Friday, March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, will be consecrating and entrusting Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at 5:00 p.m. Rome time.
At Noon EST, parishioners are invited to pray the Rosary, followed by the Prayer of the Reconsecration that Catholics are praying around the world. All are invited to join us. The prayer will also be live-streamed so if you aren't able to join us, please pray along at home or at your office.
TO VIEW VIA LIVESTREAM, PLEASE CLICK HERE
To follow along with Rosary, click HERE
The Annunciation Novena
I greet you, Ever-blessed Virgin, Mother of God, Throne of Grace, miracle of Almighty Power!
I greet you, Sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity and Queen of the Universe, Mother of Mercy and refuge of sinners!
Most loving Mother, attracted by your beauty and sweetness, and by your tender compassion, I confidently turn to you, miserable as I am, and beg of you to obtain for me from your dear Son the favor I request in this novena:
For the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to your Immaculate Heart
Obtain for me also, Queen of heaven,
the most lively contrition for my many sins
and the grace to imitate closely those virtues
which you practiced so faithfully,
especially humility, purity and obedience.
Above all, I beg you to be
my Mother and Protectress,
to receive me into the number
of your devoted children,
and to guide me
from your high throne of glory.
Do not reject my petitions, Mother of Mercy! Have pity on me, and do not abandon me during life or at the moment of my death. Amen.
Act of Consecration
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Basilica of Saint Peter
25 March 2022
O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you. As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence! You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Yet we have strayed from that path of peace. We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars. We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young. We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns. We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons. We stopped being our neighbour’s keepers and stewards of our common home. We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters. We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves. Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord!
Holy Mother, amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses, amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war, you remind us that God never abandons us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life. He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for all humanity. By God’s gracious will, you are ever with us; even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love.
We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart. We are your beloved children. In every age you make yourself known to us, calling us to conversion. At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort. Say to us once more: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?” You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times. In you we place our trust. We are confident that, especially in moments of trial, you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid.
That is what you did at Cana in Galilee, when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs. To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer, for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope, joy has fled, fraternity has faded. We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace. We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness. How greatly we need your maternal help!
Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer.
Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war. Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.
Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.
Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness. Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons. Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love. Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.
Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.
O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts. May the tears you shed for us make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew. Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace. May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer and flee from the rain of bombs. May your motherly embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land. May your Sorrowful Heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside.
Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: “Behold your son” (Jn 19:26). In this way he entrusted each of us to you. To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: “Behold, your Mother” (v. 27). Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history. At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ. The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty.
Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine. Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love. Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world. The “Fiat” that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace. We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more. To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world.
Through your intercession, may God’s mercy be poured out on the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days. Our Lady of the “Fiat”, on whom the Holy Spirit descended, restore among us the harmony that comes from God. May you, our “living fountain of hope”, water the dryness of our hearts. In your womb Jesus took flesh; help us to foster the growth of communion. You once trod the streets of our world; lead us now on the paths of peace. Amen.
![]() March 23, 2022 Dear Family of the Archdiocese of New York. Let me begin by thanking you for the many calls, cards, messages of sympathy, and, most importantly, your prayers for the repose of the soul of my dear Mom, Shirley Jean Radcliffe Dolan and for the consolation of my family and me. They are much appreciated. Might I give you an update on a few things? I promise to be brief. This Friday, March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, our Holy Father will be consecrating and entrusting Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at 5:00 p.m. Rome time. I will be joining in that consecration from Saint Patrick’s Cathedral immediately prior to the Noon Mass. If you can’t be there in person, you can follow the livestream on the Cathedral website here. A copy of the prayer of consecration follows. The following auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese will also recite the prayer of consecration in their home parishes at Noon.
Many of you have asked how to help support the Ukrainian people, particularly the efforts of the Church in Ukraine. This week’s issue of Catholic New York has a list of Catholic agencies providing relief, especially for Ukrainian refugees. You can find it in the print copy, or by visiting the website here. Let me close by reminding you that Holy Week is coming soon, and that Monday, April 11, 2022 will be Reconciliation Monday throughout the Archdiocese of New York, as well as the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Confessions will be available in all churches in our three dioceses from 2 – 4 p.m. and 6 – 9 p.m. Why not take advantage of this great opportunity to prepare yourself to celebrate the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord by making a good confession? Don’t worry if you haven’t been to confession in ages. You can find resources to help you prepare here, and you can always simply tell the priest that it’s been a long time, and he will happily guide you! With prayerful best wishes for a blessed Lent, I am, Faithfully in Christ, + Cardinal Timothy Dolan Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan Archbishop of New York |
Pope Francis announced yesterday that he will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25th from St. Peter’s Basilica. You can pray this novena leading up to the day of the consecration. It starts on Thursday, March 17 and continues through to March 25. The timing of the Pope's announcement is perfect to pray this Novena.
A consecration ceremony will also take place in Fatima presided over by Cardinal Konrad Krajewski.
The Novena prayer is the same each day, and is included below. Please join us in this powerful Novena for a world so desperately in need.
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lord Jesus, we join together in prayer as the Holy Father prepares to consecrate Russia and Ukraine to your Mother's Immaculate Heart. May our prayers of consecration be united with the Pope, the bishops and all the faithful and may the promises of peace by Our Lady of Fatima be fulfilled.
Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Pope Pius XII:
Let us pray...
Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our country and all the world.
Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world.
O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.
We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with your rule, triumph in every heart and home.
Amen.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Join people throughout the world in praying this Novena, beginning Friday, February 25th. Sign up HERE or by clicking on the photo below.
With the most recent news about the state of Ukraine, let us continue to offer up our prayers and sacrifices of our daily lives for the intention of bringing peace to the nation and the world. Let us also seek the intercession of Our Lady of Ukraine, as we all pray together for peace and an end to this conflict.
The Ukrainian Catholic Bishops of the U.S. have called for a three-day prayer vigil "for peace and the conversion of the hearts of those who preach violence and escalate war."
"We ask that each pastor and community, each family and each person, participate in this vigil in whatever way is possible for them," said the bishops. "May our churches be open throughout the day, may the prayer of the church interchange with personal contemplation.
"Conduct and participate in services, pray the Jesus Prayer, the Marian rosary, the Paraclesis (a prayer service of supplication), sit with the Scriptures. Fast in order to focus on the hope that only God gives."
Pope Francis called for the 26th to be a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine during his Angelus address last Sunday. “I invite you to pray for peace in Ukraine and to do so often throughout this day,” the Pope said at the end of his general audience.
“Think that more than five million were annihilated during the time of the last war. They are a suffering people; they have suffered hunger, they have suffered so much cruelty and they deserve peace,” Francis said.
“May the prayers and invocations that are being raised to heaven today touch the minds and hearts of those in positions of authority on earth, so that dialogue may prevail and the good of all be put before the interests of one side. Please, no more war.”