LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Raymond Burke celebrated Mass at 1:15 EST (12:15 CT) for the Solemnity of Our Lady of Guadalupe at his Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he led an act of consecration to Her after his nine-month novena leading up to the solemnity.
The Mass and consecration were streamed live on the shrine’s website. You can find the consecration prayer here and the novena here.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe said that its Masses today are full and that it “will be welcoming an unprecedented number of pilgrims” for Our Lady’s solemnity despite extreme low temperatures of between 0F-9F.
Almost 190,000 Catholics around the world participated in Burke’s novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, which has been translated into 12 languages, according to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Burke also said in September that more than 800,000 people had visited the novena website.
“Even those who will not be at the Shrine for this momentous occasion will be able to join His Eminence in the Act of Consecration from their homes, their parish churches, or even nearby shrines,” the shrine said.
The nine-month novena, which began on March 12 and concluded yesterday, implores Our Lady’s “intercession against the darkness and sin which ever more envelop the world and menace the Church.”
“Through this novena and our consecration to you, we humbly implore your intercession for our daily conversion of life to Him and the conversion of millions more who do not yet believe in Him,” it adds. “In our homes and in our nation, lead us to Him Who alone wins the victory over sin and darkness in us and in the world.”
Burke celebrated today’s Mass ad orientem, and Gregorian Chant and Latin were used throughout the Mass, which was also televised by EWTN.
Prayer intentions for the Mass included the protection and safeguarding of the family by elected leaders, an end to abortion through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn, and for expectant mothers.
Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, to whom Cardinal Burke is especially devoted, could be seen attending the Mass.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe offers the Traditional Latin Mass on Sundays at 9 a.m. There will also be a candlelight Rorate Caeli Mass in the Extraordinary Form on Saturday, December 14, at the shrine at 6:30 a.m, where Burke will preach the homily.
The cardinal founded the shrine in 2001 with Vatican approval and dedicated it in 2008. In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI affiliated it with the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.
The shrine houses numerous first-class relics, including of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Faustina Kowalska, St. Maria Goretti, St. Peregrine, and Blessed Miguel Pro. Norbertine Fathers from St. Michael’s Abbey in California oversee the spiritual care of the shrine.
Full text of Cardinal Burke’s act of consecration to Our Lady of Guadalupe
O Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God and my compassionate Mother, I, with Saint Juan Diego, your faithful and courageous messenger, prostrate myself before your Beloved Image. With all my heart, I, too, desire to be your messenger. With Saint Juan Diego, may my heart be totally one with your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, perfectly united to the glorious pierced Heart of your Divine Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Conscious of my sins, of the evils oppressing the world and threatening the Church, and of the unrelenting guile of Satan, “the father of lies,” I come before you, seeking your protection and invoking your intercession, that I may belong totally to your Divine Son, King of the Universe and King of my heart. Incarnate in your womb at Nazareth and born of you at Bethlehem, He came into the world to save me from sin and everlasting death. Obtaining my eternal salvation by His death on the Cross, He gave you to me to be my mother forever. As His Mother, bring Him to me, and, as my Mother, bring me to Him Who alone is “the way, the truth, and the life,” teaching me, as you taught the wine stewards at the Wedding Feast of Cana: “Do whatever He tells you.”
Before the troubles, the miseries, and the pains which afflict me, the world, and the Church, I am tempted to give way to discouragement and to claim helplessness. In moments of temptation, remind me that you have chosen me to be your messenger and that Our Lord, without measure and without cease, sustains with the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit a humble and contrite heart. Help me to remain, with you, one in heart with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, trusting that God’s promises to me will indeed be fulfilled. Keeping me “in the hollow of your mantle” and “in the crossing of your arms,” let no trouble, no misery, no pain obscure or diminish my service as your faithful messenger. Rather, with maternal love, encourage and strengthen me to take up steadfastly and joyfully the cross of pure and selfless love, which is indeed my only hope, my only way to joy and peace here and now, and to its fullness in the eternal life of Heaven.
Under your protection and through your intercession, may I, every day and at every moment of the day, give myself anew to Jesus, “my Lord and my God,” and may I, with you, draw to Him the many who do not yet know Him and the many who have known Him but are now far away from Him. Please intercede for me, that, through my conversion of life to Him and through His grace at work in my heart, my every thought, attitude, word, and action may attract others to Him Who alone is their salvation. Please intercede for my family and my homeland, that Christ the King may rule in all hearts from His Most Sacred Heart, pierced by the soldier’s spear as He died on Calvary and now seated in eternal glory at the right hand of the Father, dispelling all darkness, all sin, and all attraction to sin.
O Virgin Mother of God and my compassionate Mother, prostrate before your Beloved Image, I now unite my heart forever to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, finding my true and lasting home in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. I consecrate myself to you, the Perfect Virgin, Saint Mary of Guadalupe. I promise to be your ever faithful and courageous messenger on earth. Thus, at the end of my earthly pilgrimage, may I be forever in your company, together with the angels and all the saints, praising and glorifying God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Please accept my Act of Consecration and never let me betray the gift of myself to you which, today, I make with all my heart. Amen.