“We have the opportunity to consecrate ourselves to Mary so that she may help us on this path, along this baptismal experience.” This is how the Bishop of the Diocese of Piracicaba, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, described the joy of being in the Shrine Tabor of the Permanent Presence of the Father, in Atibaia. Last Sunday, April the 28th, Bishop Devair Araújo da Fonseca sealed his Covenant of Love with the Mother Thrice Admirable during the diocesan pilgrimage to the Schoenstatt Shrine.

The bishop also expressed the importance of the Covenant of Love as a testimony for his entire diocese. “It is also important as a sign, as a testimony for the diocese of Piracicaba, which is gathered here on this day on its pilgrimage. It is a beautiful, powerful moment, a testimony, a sign for all the pilgrims as well”.

Accompanied by a multitude of pilgrims

While walking towards the Shrine, accompanied by a crowd of pilgrims who were awaiting the moment, Bishop Devair spoke of Mary, the Mother who opens the doors to the road towards the encounter with the Father. “We have come here to have this encounter with God, and the one who leads us to this encounter and opens the way and shows us what to do is Mary, the Mother of the Lord. Among the few phrases that Mary says in the Gospel, besides the ‘yes’ that is fundamental in the history, there is a very important phrase that we must always keep in mind: ‘Do whatever He tells you'”.

Bishop Devair also took the opportunity to speak to the pilgrims about Mary as an educator in each moment in life. “Mary is the one who educates us in a very clear way, by living herself the will of God above all, in spite of difficulties, resistance and even misunderstanding. Mary was not clear about what was happening, but she was certain of the presence of God’s grace in her life, which is why she said her ‘yes’ with joy and grieved the suffering of her Son with sadness, but without ever losing hope. It is with this hope in which we want to walk with her towards the will of the Father that we are here today in this place, a place that God chose for us to have this encounter”.

I entrust my heart and my intellect to you…

In the Shrine, standing before the picture of the Mother Thrice Admirable, the bishop etched his name forever in the heart of the Blessed Mother, signing the Covenant book. “O my good Mother, I fervently implore you for these graces. Make me docile to your teachings. Give me a soul that vibrates upon contact with the message of your Shrine, and which aspires to the highest in my spiritual life. I consecrate myself to your voice, O good Mother, and I offer to your Capital of Grace all my joys, satisfactions, sacrifices, hard work, sufferings, struggles and all the good that I do. I surrender to you my will, of which I have emptied myself, so that you may enforce yours. I entrust to you my heart and my intellect, my body and my soul, so that they may become your images. Generate in my soul the spirit of Christ, in such a sensitive and profound way that I may irradiate it everywhere”.

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Full prayer prayed by the bishop

Here we share Bishop Devair’s profound prayer of consecration, in which he prays to Mary to educate him to form in him a new man, capable of setting hearts on fire in Christ.

Here I am, convinced and aware, to seal my Covenant of Love with you and with your divine Son. I believe that you are here with an abundance of your graces and that you wish to grant them to your beloved ones. Here you want to educate me to form in me a new man of ideals, personality, character and mindset, capable of setting hearts on fire for Christ. Here you want to teach me to live a life of practical faith in the plans of the Heavenly Father, to sanctify every day and every action.

I surrender to your Capital of Grace all my joys, sacrifices, hard work….

O my good Mother, I fervently implore you for these graces, make me docile to your teachings. Give me a soul that vibrates upon contact with the message of your Shrine and aspires to the highest in my spiritual life. I consecrate myself to you, O good Mother, and I surrender to your Capital of Grace all my joys, satisfactions, sacrifices, hard work, sufferings, struggles and all the good that I do. I surrender to you my will, of which I have emptied myself, so that you may enforce yours. I entrust to you my heart and my intellect, my body and my soul, so that they may become your images. Generate in my soul the spirit of Christ, in such a sensitive and profound way that I may irradiate it everywhere.

Your Shrine is a nest of peace, a sweet home and a source of graces

Your Shrine is a school where sublime virtues are cultivated, it is an unbreakable rock against the storms of the material world. It is a nest of peace, a sweet home, and a source of grace. Make me comprehend ever more from the Shrine how beautiful and worthy is the life that values the talents and inspirations that God has placed in the soul.

Mother, transform me into an instrument for the renewal of the world in Christ

Make me understand that you are my Mother, that you fill my emptiness, that you love me and make me happy. Receive me, tender Mother, transforming me into an instrument for the renewal of the world in Christ and the building of the new Church, which is the Kingdom of love and justice, truth, and peace. In my mission as Bishop, I ask you, on this day of my Covenant of Love, to intercede before Jesus so that the words of the Lord may be fulfilled: ‘I have made you the light of the nations, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth’. Amen.