THE GRACE OF BEING AT HOME
(for individual visits)
BECAUSE WE NEED AND WANT TO BE LOVED, The Blessed Mother intercedes for us THE GRACE OF BEING AT HOME with God in His Heart, of being at home with her in her heart. She wants to take care of the needs of all those she encounters just as she did in the home of her cousin Elizabeth.
IN THE SPIRIT OF HOSPITALITY:
1) Greet Mary and Jesus and Welcome them as Elizabeth did: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1: 42-43). A Welcoming Prayer for the Picture of Grace should be prayed and can be found in the Rosary Campaign Prayerbook on pages 12 & 13 or pray the Children’s Welcoming Prayer on the yellow prayer card (both are included here for your convenience).
2) Give Mary and Jesus a Place of Honor in your home.
3) Acknowledge their presence, visit with them, and dialogue with them in prayer. It is suggested that the Rosary be prayed or part of the Rosary or a prayer that is special for your family.
4) Share with your heavenly guests your needs and intentions, your struggles, your joys and sorrows, and entrust your petitions to Mary’s care.
5) Experience the blessings Mary and Jesus’ visit brings to you.
6) Thank Mary for her intercession with Jesus for you and your petitions.
THROUGH THIS ENCOUNTER, with thanksgiving and gratitude, pray to be open. Pray to receive the GRACE OF BEING AT HOME in God’s heart as His trusting children, of being at home in Mary’s heart as her loving children. Pray to be persons who joyfully live the spirit of HOSPITALITY with each other in your homes, with Jesus and Mary in your homes and in your hearts, and who take this spirit of Hospitality out to your extended family, to your friends, to your Parish, to your Diocese, and to the world around you as Mary and Elizabeth did.
Prayer of Welcome to Our Mother Thrice Admirable,
Queen, and Victress of Schoenstatt, the Pilgrim MTA
(from the Rosary Campaign Prayerbook)
Dear Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen, and Victress of Schoenstatt, you have come on pilgrimage to our home. We welcome you and thank you. Sanctify our home through your presence and your love. The founder of Schoenstatt, Father Joseph Kentenich, has said: Take this picture of Our Lady and give it a place of honor in your homes. In this way they will become little shrines where the picture will be a source of grace, create a holy family land, and form holy family members.”
Mother Thrice Admirable, come and form us into a holy family, into holy men and women. We ask you for all the graces we need to become an example and an instrument in the renewal of the world. We ask you especially for the pilgrimage graces: the grace of being at home, the grace of inner transformation, and the grace of apostolic zeal. Mother and Queen, show yourself to us as our mother and educator. We give ourselves entirely to you. Accept our prayers and our efforts to lead a holy life for the religious and moral renewal of the world from Schoenstatt.
Before your picture, we now want to pray the rosary together for the renewal of family life and thereby the renewal of the world. We also wish to include all our special intentions. If it be in the plan of our loving Father, grant us what we pray for (name your special intentions).
Welcoming Prayer for Children
Dear Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt, today you wish to come to our home. We thank you and Jesus for choosing us in a special way to help you spread the love of God in the world. We promise to give your picture of place of honor in our homes and to welcome you into our families. Most importantly we promise to open our hearts to your love.
We trust that you will help us with all that we really need. Therefore, we will pray too you and we will pray with you to Jesus. We know that the rosary is a special way to pray and we will try to pray part of it when you visit our homes. We will also pray our daily prayers before your picture and invite our families to do the same.
Bless our families and friends, and all the children in the whole world who welcome your picture into their homes. Make us like the apostles who showed the love of Jesus to everyone they met.
My Queen, My Mother, I give myself entirely to you, and to show my devotion to you, I consecrate to you this day my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my entire self without reserve. As I am your own my good Mother, guard me and defend me as your property and possession. Amen.