To Mary for Safekeeping

We live in scary times. Sometimes we don’t know what to say or who to turn to.

Demonic forces are roaming the land and we are not equipped to fight them on our own.

The demons have a particular fear of the Blessed Virgin and with good reason.

As evidenced by the Saints below, many of the Saints felt strongly that we should turn to our Heavenly Mother for help in any situation.

“Men do not fear a powerful hostile army as the powers of hell fear the name and protection of Mary.”

St Bonaventure

O sinner, be not discouraged, but have recourse to Mary in all you necessities. Call her to your assistance, for such is the divine Will that she should help in every kind of necessity.

St Basil the Great

“When we were little, we kept close to our mother in a dark alley or if dogs barked at us. Now, when we feel temptations of the flesh, we should run to the side of our Mother in Heaven, by realizing how she is to us, and by means of aspirations. She will defend us and lead us to the light.”

–St. Josemaria Escriva

In the “To Mary for Safekeeping” prayer, we commend our souls to Mary’s loving care.

When our Lord, while on the cross said to St John, “behold thy mother”, he assigned to Mary her role as mother of the Church. A mother loves her children unconditionally and would do all that is necessary to care for them.

The prayer also says that “by your intercession you may guide and direct everything that I do according to the will of your divine son, I’ll bless his Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Isn’t it reassuring that our Mother’s greatest desire is to show us how to do the Will of her Son?

Some people are uncomfortable revering our mother because they don’t understand her role.

Her role is to show us how to be like her son; her role is to help us get to heaven.

May this prayer be a blessing for you.

See How She Loves Us

To Mary for Safekeeping

Holy Mary, merciful mother of God,

I commend my body and soul, to your loving care and safekeeping, today and every day and at the hour of my death.

To you I trust my every hope and consolation, every form of anguish and misery of mine; I surrender into your hands my life and the end of my life so that by your intercession you may guide and direct everything that I do according to the will of your divine son, I’ll bless his Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Source: A Book of Marian Prayers

Blessed Virgin Mary

• Compendium of Marian Devotions: An Encyclopedia of the Church’s Prayers, Dogmas, Devotions, Sacramentals, and Feasts Honoring the Mother of God
• Crown of the Virgin
• The Glories of Mary by St Alphonsus Liguori
• Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God by Scott Hahn
• The Five First Saturdays and Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
• The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary: From the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich
• The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Manual for Marian Devotion by the Dominican Sisters of Mary
• Marian Consecration for Children: Bringing Mary to Life in Young Hearts and Minds
• Mary, the Church at the Source by Hans Urs von Balthasar & Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• Mary’s Immaculate Heart: The Meaning Of The Devotion To The Immaculate Heart Of Mary
• The Secret of the Rosary
• Theotokos –  A Theological Encyclopedia of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• True Devotion to Mary: with Preparation for Total Consecration (St Louis de Montfort:
• The World’s First Love by Bishop Fulton Sheen