"Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart." ~ Our Lady of Fatima to Lucia
The month of August is dedicated to the Most Pure Heart of Mary or, the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Dedication to the Immaculate Heart goes back to the fifteenth century with Saint Bernadine of Siena. It increased in popularity in the seventeenth century when Saint John Eudes promoted a fest in honor of the Immaculate Heart and greatly increased again in the 1800's with the propagation of the Miraculous Medal given by our Lady to Saint Catherine Labouré. In the early 1900's our Lady of Fatima specifically requested to the three seers of Fatima that devotion to her Immaculate Heart be spread across the world.
Since August sees the feast day (and holy day of obligation) to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15th, why not use this month as a starting point to greatly increase your devotion to Mary's Immaculate Heart? Even if you already practice some weekly or daily devotion to our Lady, you can always find ways to increase your devotion to her!
First and foremost: daily recitation of the rosary! Praying the rosary daily is one of the surest and best ways to our Lord Jesus, through Mary. Besides bestowing many graces, it shows great devotion to our Blessed Mother which is one of the seven signs of predestination.
Here are other ways to show devotion to our Lady:
- Daily recitation of the Angelus
- Praying the Memorare
- Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
To help you in your extra devotions to our Lady, you will find below the prayer to the Most Pure Heart of Mary, the Angelus and also the Memorare. If you're a Cross and Shield Insider Subscriber you get a free PDF copy of all these prayers for your use. Not a subscriber? Just clink the link at either the top or bottom of this page and get started!
Let us rejoice in the comforting fact that we have such a wonderful mother in heaven interceding and praying for us everyday! Let us give gratitude to our Mother by increasing our devotion to her, and let's start doing it today! PAX+
Devotions to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The Most Pure Heart of Mary
Ant. My heart hath rejoiced in God my Savior, because He that is mighty hath done great things for me.
V. And His mother kept all these words.
R. In her heart.
Let Us Pray
Almighty and everlasting God, Who in the heart of the blessed Virgin Mary didst prepare a worthy dwelling place for the Holy Ghost, grant in Thy mercy that we who devoutly venerate that most pure heart may be enabled to live according to Thy heart. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer to the heart of Mary
O heart of Mary, mother of God, and our mother, heart most worthy of love, object of the complacency of the most Holy Trinity and deserving of all the veneration and tenderness of angels and of men, Thou art most like the Heart of Jesus, of which Thou art the most perfect image. O heart full of goodness and compassion for our miseries, vouchsafe to thaw the ice of our hearts, and make them to be entirely turned into the Heart of our divine Savior. Pour into them the love of Thy virtues; inflame them with that blessed fire which Thou continually burnest. Shut up within thyself the holy Church; guard it and be always it's sweet asylum and it's tower of strength against all the incursions of its enemies. Be Thou our way to Jesus, and the channel by which we receive all the graces necessary for our salvation. Be Thou our succor in our wants, our support in our afflictions, our comfort in temptations, our refuge in persecutions, our aid and all dangers, but especially in the last combat of our life at the hour of death, when all hell will be unchained against us to snatch our souls away in that most dreadful moment on which hour eternity depends.
Ejaculation
Sweet heart of Mary be my salvation.
The Angelus
(To be recited in the morning, afternoon and evening)
V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And She conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary...
V. Be it done unto me.
R. According to Thy Word.
Hail Mary...
V. And the Word was made flesh (geneflect).
R. And dwelt among us.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Hail Mary...
Let us pray
Pour forth we beseech Thee, O Lord, They grace into our hearts; that we to Whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and cross, be
brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.