A Saint’s Unique Method To Bind Your Child to Mary’s Heart

Or, you can do what we did, and give all of your children, male and female, "Mary" as part of their baptismal name, and we both have it too.

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

St. Louise de Marillac recommended this prayer for parents who are praying the Rosary, as a way to bind their children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As parents, we have a duty to look after our children and to do all that we can to ensure they are faithful to God and the Catholic faith we raise them in.

However, the world, the flesh, and the Devil are hellbent on separating them from the Catholic Church and our own loving arms.

The reality is that we can only do so much and ultimately we have to commend them to God and beg for mercy, hoping and praying that God will keep them close.

One way to bind our kids to God's loving care is to consecrate them to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for she takes everyone who is offered to her and brings them closer to God.

Binding prayer to the Immaculate Heart

St. Louise de Marillac knew first-hand this reality, as she was married and had a son, doing all that she could to raise him in the Catholic faith.

She was later supported by her spiritual director, St. Vincent de Paul, and helped him in his service to the poor and vulnerable. After her husband died, she consecrated her life to God and founded the Sisters of Charity.

One quote that is attributed to her reveals a total trust in the Immaculate Heat of Mary, especially in regards to a parent's role in safeguarding their children's faith:

"The faults of children are not always imputed to the parents, especially when they have instructed them and given good example.

Our Lord, in His wondrous Providence, allows children to break the hearts of devout fathers and mothers.

Thus the decisions your children have made don’t make you a failure as a parent in God’s eyes. You are entitled to feel sorrow, but not necessarily guilt. Do not cease praying for your children; God’s grace can touch a hardened heart.

Commend your children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

When parents pray the Rosary, at the end of each decade they should hold the Rosary aloft and say to her:

With these beads bind my children to your Immaculate Heart!

She will attend to their souls."

It is a beautiful devotion, one that places our children in the hands of the Blessed Mother, trusting that she will take care of them and lead them back to God.

We can only do so much on this earth for our children. The rest we leave to Jesus and his Mother.