Welcome to our 33 day Marian Consecration Retreat as we prayerfully anticipate the commencement of the Year of Mercy. Join us as we share the book 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, MIC.
Today's Reflection
We arrive now at the beautiful, important step of making our consecration to Mary. Hooray! We made it! May our eyes be unveiled to behold the fruit of this profound act of faith in our lives, and may it have ripple effects in our families for generations to come.
I made my first Marian consecration twenty-five years ago, and its fruits are still blooming in my life. Chief of these have been entering into a personal relationship with Our Lady, experiencing the healing of the wounds around my femininity, and the renewal of my understanding of what it means to be a woman, actively receptive to God and His many graces.
During my first consecration, I memorized the Consecration Prayer of St. Louis de Montfort (on page 137). I’ve prayed it often through the years, especially when an important event is taking place in life and when I need Our Lady’s intercession in a special way.
Some time after my first consecration, I learned a shorter consecration prayer that I love. My young son, Benjamin, and I spent the next few years praying it each morning in the car on the way to school:
Mary, my Queen and my Mother, I give you all of myself.
And to show my devotion to you, I consecrate to you my eyes, my ears,
my mouth, my heart, my entire self. Wherefore, oh loving Mother,
as I am your own, keep me and defend me as your property and possession. Amen.
Benjamin, now a strapping sixteen-year-old, can still recite the prayer by heart. Recently, we’ve taken up the practice of praying it as a family following our post-dinner decade of the Rosary. I can still hear the echo of his little voice as a nine and ten-year-old, sweetly giving himself to Mary.
Some days when I’m in a hurry to get somewhere in the car, I simply pray spontaneously: “Mary, I consecrate myself and my life—all that I have been, all that I am, all that I will become—to your Immaculate Heart. May my life give God glory and may you keep me always under the mantle of your peace and protection.”
However we pray it, whatever “formula” we use, I’m convinced that consecrating ourselves continually to Mary’s Immaculate Heart is one of the most important things we can do. Mary ushered Our Lord Jesus into this world at His first coming, and she will usher Him into our hearts, families, neighborhoods, country and world today if we lovingly and persistently ask. So let us consecrate ourselves today and always to Mary, our beautiful, Immaculate Mother.
To Ponder:
What fruits am I hoping and praying for in my life as I complete the consecration?
To Pray:
Mary, sweetest Mother, remind me always to consecrate myself and my family to you, and may the fruit of this act of faith be abundant in our lives. Amen.
Copyright 2015 Judy Landrieu Klein
About the Author
Judy Klein
Judy Landrieu Klein is an author, theologian and inspirational speaker whose first book, Miracle Man, chronicles her late husband Bernie's near death experience and miraculous deathbed conversion. Her new book, Mary's Way: The Power of Entrusting Your Child to God, is a CatholicMom.com imprint book published by Ave Maria Press. Judy shares her insights about the spiritual life at her blog, Holy Hope, at MemorareMinistries.com.
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