The day of consecration came after 33 days of reading, study and prayer. ‘33 days to Morning Glory’ opened my eyes to Mary for the first time. I mean, as a Catholic I knew who Mary is. I’ve heard of her many apparitions and I honored her for her role in Christianity. But, until this consecration process, I didn’t understand how to have a relationship with her nor how vital it was to have that relationship.
Up to this point, I found a devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes. Mostly I think because I just love the 1943 movie “The Song of Bernadette”, starring Jennifer Jones. My dream is someday to have a “Faith on the Road” post from Lourdes. Anyway. Our consecration day was set for the feast of our Lady of Perpetual Help. How providential, considering the help I would need to draw closer to the Blessed Mother in my consecration and beyond.
Some of the things that stood out to me most during the study and prayers leading up to the consecration are that Mary’s love cant be outdone and this is because she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit. A Sacramental spousal relationship means that both the bride and groom become one flesh. That means, when the wife takes the name of her husband, she is one with him, everything of the husband’s of the wife’s. This is why Mary referees of herself to St. Bernadette as the ‘Immaculate Conception”. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Immaculate Conception and Mary who is His spouse is the human Immaculate Conception.
The next, I mentioned previously, that is, surrendering our prayer to Mary. Again, by virtue of her relationship with the Holy Spirit, she knows best how to administer these prayers to build the church. She always doesn’t God’s Will perfectly because she is united with God in the Holy Spirit.
“Totus Tuus” Anyone who loved St. Pope John Paul II knows this in his motto. “Totus Tuus”, Totally Yours. His devotion to the Blessed Mother was total. He knew that he survived the assassination attempt of 1983 because, as he said, “one hand fired, and another guided the bullet”. This attempt came on the 64th anniversary of our Lady’s first apparition at Fatima – May 13. He was so convinced that Mary has saved him from the assassin’s bullet that he placed it in the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. A duplicate of which was donated by Fatima to Poland and sits in a small church in southern Poland.
When I approached the altar and statue of Our Lady of Fatima to make my consecration, I knew she was present and would be with me from that day forward. I also knew that Jesus was present and very pleased that we were all giving ourselves to His mother.
I don’t claim to be a wise man, but I know my weaknesses. And, often that is the key to overcoming those weaknesses. What better guide to growing is there than a mother? And so, what better guide to sanctity and growing to be a saint than the Mother of God? Spoiler alert – the answer is None.
And, like St. Pope John Paul II, I know a ‘hand guides’ me and so make my offering to Mary by placing my heart in her crown.
What God asks of us is expressed beautifully and simply in his Word: “My child, give me your heart” (Proverbs 23:26). Not some of your heart. All of it. In the Gospels. In our consecration with Mary with whom we are united in a profound bond of love for God. When the angel Gabriel appeared to her and asked her to be mother of the Saviour, Mary instinctively knew that this was no ordinary request. She knew that her “Yes” could not be by half. It had to be all or nothing. Her response revealed a woman of faith whose “yes” to God was total and was given with all the love of her heart: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done on to me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). Of herself, she said “Totus tuus” to God at that moment and throughout her life. She is the one who teaches us to do the same and to live the spirit of that beautiful prayer of consecration.
My consecration constantly leads me back to Mary’s example, learning from her, I look to God and I say to Jesus, “Totus Tuus”