Why Marian consecration? Here's why...

I have felt prompted for some time to start a thread on why we should consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary. I am hoping to post a little blurb each day on why one would do this from my own personal experience or from what others have said about it, with others being de Montfort, Kolbe, JPJII, Mother Theresa, etc. I am hoping all on here will join in to keep this thread going, since most here have done the consecration or are thinking of doing it and would have much to add to this thread. Why did you go through with the consecration and why would you encourage others to do it?

Marian consecration is the total consecration of ourselves to Jesus through Mary, which is the surest, easiest, shortest, and most perfect means to becoming a saint.

As if that is not enough to convince us to consecrate ourselves to Mary, here are more reasons why...

 

When I was discerning whether to consecrate myself to Mary or not, it seemed that whenever I turned on EWTN radio they were talking about it, or interviewing someone about it, etc. So, I was discerning it and leaning towards doing it and it was one sentence from Mother Angelica that finally convinced me that this was something I must do. To paraphrase her:

When you consecrate yourself to Mary, you can get closer to Jesus in 1 day than you could in 25 years on your own.

Who wouldn't want this?? With time so short before events begin, I knew that I didn't have a lot of time to meander my way to Jesus and get lost a few times on my journey...I want to get close to Jesus NOW!!

 

Great Thread Potato Sack. I would encourage most people to do it. I could not say it is for everyone. For example if you are not going to take it seriously or devote even 20 minutes a day to prayer then I would say no. Just my personal opinion. It is a serious deal, but not something to be scared of. I cannot even pretend to understand it fully.

I was so messed up when I first came back to the faith that I did my consecration without being back at the sacraments first. I would not encourage anyone to do this. You can make yourself a target for the enemy, especially if you are in mortal sin. However Our Lady is much more powerful than the enemy. Stay close to her and she will guide you through the storm that lies ahead. As I have said before it seems to me that she makes you advance spiritually even when you are hardly trying.

 

It is first on my to do list after the Easter Vigil when I can take communion- (if we make it that far.....). Still preparing myself for my first confession as our class was given the go ahead to start at any time- frightened and excited at the same time!

 

I was led to do the consecration by many of the wonderful people here on the Mother of God forum. This, I feel, is one of the MANY great fruits of this forum that Padraig was led to host.

The fruits of the consecration have been so incredibly many, but here's two to start with:

1)While doing the consecration, I learned that I could take ALL my needs and turn them over into one simple prayer: I could ask Mary to intercede on my behalf and take all my needs to Jesus--who better to reach her Son, than His mother!

2)Since consecrating myself I have said a daily rosary, except for one day that I recently missed when old skinny legs had me chasing my tail for a day. But I said it twice the next day

 

After so many little happy coincidences over the years that came about when trying to remember Blessed Mother was always so close to Jesus in His earthly life.

And after all the suffering our sins caused Jesus and Mary. The Total Consecration seems the best way to show love and gratitude, and say thank you Heavenly Mother for your love and generosity to us.

 

A friend sent me this information about a Family Prayer Consecration program. It starts November 29th and continues for 33 days until January 1st. I believe that the daily prayers can be found online. They even have coloring pages for the young ones.



33 Days to a Great Family Prayer Life
Posted by: Allen Hebert


On November 29th, 2014, work began on the 33 day Family Prayer Consecration Program. Family friendly reflections were written for each day of Fr. Nathan’s Totus Tuus, A Contemplative Approach to Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary. Together with my wife’s family, we prayed, discussed and grew closer to the Lord as a family. When we completed the 33 days of preparation, on January 1st, the feast of Mary, Mother of God, each member of our family consecrated themselves as best as they were able to Jesus through his Blessed Mother. Over the course of the next 6 months we ran a pilot program with ten families, took the book through a comprehensive theological review with Fr. Nathan Cromly, CSJ and polished up the text under the keen eye of David Brandt. When we started the consecration back in late November of 2014, I never intended to publish a book, but Our Lady had different plans.

A Guide to Family Prayer
Family prayer is essential to raising a holy family, but many families struggle with this task. My wife and I felt called to develop an easy to use program to help families of all sizes and situations to learn how to begin a life of prayer within their family. At times in our own family life, we have done a very poor job of regular prayer time with our children. The temptation to give up completely was very real, but our Lord shows us by his example in the scriptures, that it is precisely at those times in our lives when we feel the most stress or pressure that we should have recourse to prayer. Jesus prayed often with his disciples and instructed his followers in how to pray. No doubt this life of prayer was something that was ever present in the Holy Family of Jesus, Joseph and Mary.

We have prepared a guide to help you and your family enter into this life of prayer which will not only help your family now through the struggles and stresses of daily life, but will form a solid foundation of prayer for your children as they grow and eventually leave your family to live a life of their own in the world. The 33 Day Family Consecration Program was released in mid-2015 and has been well received by families around the country. We have a couple of parishes who have conducted a 33 day family prayer programs as well as numerous individual families. The main obstacle to success is not starting at all. Fear of failure, being too busy, fear that your children will resist this activity, and the idea that your individual prayer life may be lacking are all roadblocks that need to be overcome in order to begin family prayer. Ask our Lady to help you clear the obstacles that keep you and your family from a closer relationship with her son Jesus.

The First Annual 33 Days of Family Prayer

Family Prayer

To help you overcome the obstacle of “I am not sure when to begin this program,” we are holding the first annual 33 day to family prayer program beginning on November 29th and ending on January 1st. The reason why we chose this set of 33 days is that it takes place during Advent, includes the feast days of the Immaculate Conception, Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Family and ends on the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. It is 33 days of preparation and celebration of the family. No other event in Christianity can compare with God becoming man and being born into a family to sanctify the family.

Hopefully by this point in this article Our Lady has motivated you to begin to pray as a family and to join the rest of our community of families striving for holiness in this first annual 33 days of family prayer. Here is how to begin:

1. Visit 33day.org to get the materials for your family. Three resources are available to help you: Fr. Nathan Cromly’s Totus Tuus, 33 Day Family Consecration and the 33 Day Family Consecration Coloring Book. All these resources are available in printed book and kindle format, the 33 Day resources are also available on our website for free after you sign up for a user account on our site.
2. Read through the opening sections of the 33 Day Family Consecration book to prepare yourselves to lead your family through the 33 days of family prayer.
3. Follow the helpful hints to achieve success and obtain your materials so you can begin on Sunday November 29th.
   • Subscribe to the Google Calendar (iCal orHTML), or download a printable calendar.
4. Share this program with your friends and family. There is nothing like prayer to strengthen bonds with extended family or friends. Just knowing that you are not alone in this journey of 33 days of family prayer is a huge help in persevering in this important spiritual undertaking.
   • Print out or download the promotional flyer for the 2015 33 Days to Family Prayer Event

 

I couldn't agree more P, that it is not to be taken lightly and it is not for everyone, as once you do it, it is important to live the consecration as best as you possibly can. It should be taken as a vow, similer to marriage or becoming a priest or nun. In the Secret of Mary from de Montfort, the book starts out with:

Here is a great secret chosen soul, which the most High God taught me himself. I have not found it in any book, ancient or modern. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, I am confiding it to you with this condition:

• You must not, under any circumstances, let the knowledge of this secret make you idle or inactive. The knowledge of this secret could be harmful to your soul if you respond to it with disdain or contempt.

My interpretation of this is when you do the consecration, you get many graces, so you have been given much, so much will be expected. But as P says, it is nothing to be afraid of, as our mother will guide you the whole way!

 

From True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort:

121. This devotion consists in giving oneself entirely to Mary in order to belong entirely to Jesus through her. It requires us to give:

1. Our body with its senses and members;
2. Our soul with its faculties;
3. Our present material possessions and all we shall acquire in the future;
4. Our interior and spiritual possessions, that is, our merits, virtues and good actions of the past, the present and the future.

In other words, we give her all that we possess both in our natural life and in our spiritual life as well as everything we shall acquire in the future in the order of nature, of grace, and of glory in heaven. This we do without any reservation, not even of a penny, a hair, or the smallest good deed. And we give for all eternity without claiming or expecting, in return for our offering and our service, any other reward than the honour of belonging to our Lord through Mary and in Mary, even though our Mother were not - as in fact she always is - the most generous and appreciative of all God's creatures.

 

From Fr. Michael Gaitley in 33 Days to Morning Glory

Mary has a special role in our sanctification. Therefore, we should give ourselves to the Mother of God, so she can help form us into saints, into other Christs. We should give her our yes.

 

At the crucifixion, only one apostle was at the foot of the Cross, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Mary, his mother, was there with him. Jesus entrusted them to each other. Our risen and glorified Lord wants that entrustment to take place between every disciple and his mother. That is why I've made my consecration to the Immaculate Heart and have taken Our Lady into the home of my heart. Jesus desires it. It is part and parcel of the Divine Will. Have you laid down your burdens at the foot of the Cross? If so, praise God! Mary is there waiting for you.

John 19: 26 When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" 27 Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

 

The scripture Mario cited here makes an important point. The only apostle who didn't get lost, didn't get confused, didn't run in fear, and didn't lose faith was the one who stayed with Mary. There are so many messages in scripture, both on the surface and on a more subtle level. This is one of those points, but made in the soft spoken, humble manner of Mary.

Also interestingly, Jesus gave Mary to the disciple whom he loved the most. When you begin to doubt if God is with you or His love for you, remember He has created many souls throughout the history of the world, but very few of them has He given the knowledge of the True Devotion to Mary. We are indeed a very special and blessed group close to His Sacred Heart.

 

Beautiful Mario!! John Paul the Great referred to marian consecration as entrustment too.

 

PS,

Just the one I stole it from! Pope Saint John Paul II, pray for us!

Totus Tuos!

 

From True Devotion by de Montfort:

138. Jesus, our dearest friend, gave himself to us without reserve, body and soul, grace and merits. As St. Bernard says, "He won me over entirely by giving himself entirely to me." Does not simple justice as well as gratitude require that we give him all we possibly can? He was generous with us first, so let us be generous to him in return and he will prove still more generous during life, at the hour of death, and throughout eternity. "He will be generous towards the generous."

 

From 33 Days to Morning Glory:

From Blessed Mother Teresa regarding the role of Mary in our lives...Her role is to bring you face to face, as John and Magdalen, with the love in the heart of Jesus crucified.

 

Our Lord stated to Sister Lucia of Fatima: “I want my whole Church to acknowledge that Consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary…so that it may…put the devotion to this Immaculate Heart beside the devotion to My Sacred Heart”.

 

It is true that when you consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary, you give our Lady your prayers, sacrifices, and good works so she may do whatever she wants with them. Our Lady takes our prayers and distributes them for her intentions. At first I was taken aback by this, as in all honesty I decided to do the consecration before knowing all that was involved, so this really surprised me when I read it. But in a way, it took a huge burden off my shoulders in the sense that my prayer intentions for all my family, friends, world peace, ending abortion, our church, pope, priests, community, etc. was so long I never felt I was praying enough or I was worried that I might be praying a lot for my brother when maybe my sister needed the prayers more, but how am I supposed to know how to divide my prayer time for all of the intentions.

So that worry...gone. My prayers go up...and our Lady takes them and uses them in the most productive and efficient manner where they are most needed. Of course I still pray for specific intentions, but I try to do that in addition to my rosary for our Lady. Or I do an intention through our Lady. Either way I don't have to worry about what I pray for anymore...my mother takes care of it. Fasting, indulgences, whatever I offer up throughout the day, walking with a pebble in my shoe, sleeping without a pillow (ok, I don't do that)...it all goes to our Lady.

 

From True Devotion to Mary by de Montfort:

132. Some may object that this devotion makes us powerless to help the souls of our relatives, friends and benefactors, since it requires us to give our Lord, through Mary, the value of our good works, prayers, penances, and alms-giving.

To them I reply:

1. It is inconceivable that our friends, relatives and benefactors should suffer any loss because we have dedicated and consecrated ourselves unconditionally to the service of Jesus and Mary; it would be an affront to the power and goodness of Jesus and Mary who will surely come to the aid of our relatives, friends and benefactors whether from our meagre spiritual assets or from other sources.
2. This devotion does not prevent us from praying for others, both the living and the dead, even though the application of our good works depends on the will of our Blessed Lady. On the contrary, it will make us pray with even greater confidence. Imagine a rich man, who, wanting to show his esteem for a great prince, gives his entire fortune to him. Would not that man have greater confidence in asking the prince to help one of his friends who needed assistance? Indeed the prince would only be too happy to have such an opportunity of proving his gratitude to one who had sacrificed all that he possessed to enrich him, thereby impoverishing himself to do him honour. The same must be said of our Lord and our Lady. They will never allow themselves to be outdone in gratitude.

 

One of the best things about consecrating ourselves to Jesus through Mary is Mary takes our prayers and increases them so they literally go farther than if we prayed on our own. I couldn't believe it when I read it. God is just so generous, loving, and good!! I pray to Mary, she takes them, augments them, and uses them as she needs to. And all the while she's watching out for all my family and my friends...all the people who are dear to me. I trust that some of those prayers go toward them and their needs.

When I first read about the consecration I thought...that's great, maybe my prayers are doubled. But seeing how generous our God is...why just doubled? How about tripled, quadrupled?? You drag your butt out of bed before the sun comes up to do a rosary before work during the year of mercy...think BIG!!