O
Mother, help us to be faithful stewards of the great mysteries of God. Help us
to teach the truth proclaimed by your Son and to spread love, which is the
chief commandment and the first fruit of the Holy Spirit. Help us to strengthen
our brethren in faith, help us to awaken hope in eternal life. Help us to guard
the great treasures stored in the souls of the People of God entrusted to us.
We
offer you the whole of this People of God. We offer you the Church in Mexico
and in the whole continent. We offer it to you as your own, You have entered so
deeply into the hearts of the faithful through that sign of your presence
constituted by your image in the Shrine of Guadalupe; be at home in these
hearts, for the future also. Be at home in our families, our parishes,
missions, dioceses, and in all the peoples.
Do
this through the Holy Church, for she, in imitation of you, Mother, wishes in
her turn to be a good mother and to care for souls in all their needs, by
proclaiming the Gospel, administering the Sacraments, safeguarding family life
with the sacrament of Matrimony, gathering all into the Eucharistic community
by means of the Holy Sacrament of the altar, and by being lovingly with them
from the cradle until they enter eternity.
O
Mother, awaken in the younger generation readiness for the exclusive service of
God. Implore for us abundant local vocations to the priesthood and the
consecrated life.
O
Mother, strengthen the faith of our brothers and sisters in the laity, so that
in every field of social, professional, cultural and political life they may
act in accordance with the truth and the law brought by your Son to mankind, in
order to lead everyone to eternal salvation and, at the same time, to make life
on earth more human, more worthy of man.
The
Church that is carrying out her task among the American nations, the Church in
Mexico, wishes to serve this sublime cause with all her strength and with renewed
missionary spirit. Mother, enable us to serve the Church in truth and justice.
Make us follow this way ourselves and lead others, without ever straying along
twisted paths and dragging others with us.
We
offer and entrust to you everybody and everything for which we have pastoral
responsibility, confident that you will be with us and will help us to carry
out what your Son has told us to do (cf. Jn 2:5). We bring you this unlimited
trust; with this trust I, John Paul II, with all my Brothers in the Episcopate
of Mexico and Latin America, wish to bind you still more strongly to our
ministry, to the Church and to the life of our nations. We wish to place in
your hands the whole of our future, the future of evangelization in Latin
America.
Queen
of the Apostles, accept our readiness to serve unreservedly the cause of your
Son, the cause of the Gospel and the cause of peace based on justice and love
between individuals and peoples.
Queen
of Peace, save the nations and peoples of the whole continent—they have so
much trust in you—from wars, hatred and subversion.
Make
everybody, whether they are rulers or subjects, learn to live in peace, educate
themselves for peace, and do what is demanded by justice and respect for the
rights of every person, so that peace may be firmly established.
Accept
our trustful offering, O handmaid of the Lord. May your maternal presence in
the mystery of Christ and of the Church become a source of joy and freedom for
each and every one, source of that freedom through which "Christ has set
us free" (Gal 5:1), and the end a source of that peace that the world
cannot give but which is only given by him, by Christ (cf. Jn 14:27).
Finally,
O Mother, recalling and confirming the gesture of my Predecessors Benedict XIV
and Pius X, who proclaimed you Patroness of Mexico and of the whole of Latin
America, I present to you a diadem in the name of all your Mexican and
Latin-American children, that you may keep them under your protection, preserve
their harmony in faith and their fidelity to Christ, your Son. Amen
-Blessed
John Paul II, 1979
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