I have been putting off writing this post but I keep stumbling on this topic. The last time I tried, I ended up simply typing the title and the cursor kept on blinking impatiently in front of me. It is almost Mother’s Day and I suppose writing this now is as good a time as any, God willing, for us to turn our gaze to our Mother, the Queen of Heaven.
A few years ago, our family received a gift from a friend. It was a book written by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, MIC “33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration”. But this book had been sitting in the shelf for sometime. After a few months, in 2018, I finally started reading it. Back then, I had never heard of doing a consecration to our Lady or to St. Joseph. I had never heard of a lot of things as a Catholic, mind you. Yes, I prayed the rosary and I believed I had a devotion to our Lady then. But what about being consecrated?
I mustered the courage and the discipline to actually start reading the book and to immerse myself in this period of preparation. I invited someone in my family to do it along with me but I was the only one at that time who finished it. On the 15th of August, 2018, Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, I consecrated myself to Her. During the pandemic, the rest of my family consecrated themselves as well and I renewed my consecration too. If I remember it right, St. John Paul II renews his consecration everyday.
So what is the Marian consecration? I liked how Fr. Gaitley describes it. In a nutshell, the author explains that it is “a new way of life in Christ”, “a fresh start” or “a brand new morning in one’s spiritual journey”, thus, inspiring him to come up with the phrase “morning glory”.
You might think, I thought this is supposed to be a consecration to Mary. So why then is it “a new way of life in Christ”? As we all know, Mary is the Mother of Jesus. Mary is the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Mary leads us to Jesus! She leads us to the Holy Trinity. That being said, if there is anyone who can pave the perfect path to our Lord, it is Mary, His Mother, our Mother. The Twin Hearts of Jesus and Mary are forever intertwined or united. In the process, we are actually consecrating ourselves to Jesus through Mary. Mary is favored so much by God that whatever She asks, if it is in accordance to the Will of God, will certainly be granted. It is so much better to ask God through Her because, you see, She is God’s Favorite!
Saints, usually, if not always, had fervent devotions to our Lady and to St. Joseph, whom we shall focus on in another post.
The author has made this “retreat” easy to understand and follow by dividing it into four weeks of meditation, with each week focusing on one teaching from a particular saint like St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maximilian Kolbe for the second week, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta for the third and St. Pope John Paul II on the fourth, followed by a synthesis and review of all the teachings. The book also includes very helpful information about sacramentals, popular devotions and feasts of our Lady, which will serve as a guide as to when to do the consecration.
As Christians, our goal is to love and serve God in this life and to be happy with Him forever in the next. That sounds nice but that is easier said than done. We want to be ‘happy’ on earth too by seeking pleasure and avoiding sufferings, and in the process, we get sidetracked by lots of worldly distractions.
Do we become instant saints when do the consecration? No. But before you get discouraged, let me explain that this is precisely the reason why we must do the consecration – because we are badly in need of it. We are fallen creatures. While through Baptism, we become children of God, our concupiscence or the tendency to sin remains. This means that for as long as we live, there will always be an interior battle, the struggle to stay in God’s camp, to remain focused on that road that will lead us home to our Creator.
From my personal experience, I would say there are discouraging times when I think I have somehow advanced in virtues and then I fall, likened to a board game, when having taken several steps forward, disillusioned that I am halfway, find myself landing on a block that says, “Oops! You fell into a pit. Go back. Take 10 steps backward”, or worse, “Start again”. If you experience this, well, you are not alone. Let us keep the faith. Keep going! Remember that during Her life on earth, our Lady, the Mother of God, conceived without sin, was not free from difficulties and sorrows. But She has shown perfect obedience to God. So who can set a better example than Her?
After being consecrated to Her, I thought I was merely being more devoted to Her. But everytime I was in urgent need, I would run to Our Lady, and pray the Rosary or 10 Memorare (or was it 9?) Anyway, I got this novena from St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta for whatever urgent concern, even for something as trivial as praying for the rain to stop during a relative’s occasion. And, thinking about it now, She has never failed to come to the rescue. Now, this is not magic of any kind. We come to Her, completely confident, without a trace of doubt, that if it is according to God’s Will, She will not refuse us.
A few months ago, I had this problem that really burdened me. And I did not know how to resolve the situation – it seemed like a no-way-out situation. I was almost tempted several times to speak out uncharitably. In fact, I had. In my heart and in my thoughts, I was also sinning by thinking unkind thoughts and harboring feelings of resentment. One day, I remembered about an exorcist who shared about consecrating problems or concerns we cannot somehow resolve to our Lady. I resorted to doing this, lo and behold, the problem seemed like a knot that got untied (Remember Our Lady Who Unties Knots?)
Please know, though, that prior to doing this, I have gone to Confession and gone to Mass and have been regularly praying for the intentions of the Pope for families and for the faithful. These are important, by the way, as preparations prior to doing the Consecration to Our Lady.
Anyway, going back, when I consecrated this concern to our Lady, I did my best to pray the Rosary and Memorare at the same time each day. I also offered all my sufferings caused by this particular problem, delivering all these totally unto Her Hands, and at the same time, asking Her to enlighten me in the same way that I was asking Her to enlighten the other person. I asked Her to help me see the situation in a more positive way and to help me act or respond in humility. Our Lady indeed took care of the situation. After just a few days, the other person became easier to deal with, and I found myself being more cooperative in dealing with this person, seeing things in a far better perspective than I used to. I found myself complaining less about my situation. I do not know how She did it, turning it from a no-way-out-situation to something-quite-manageable. Oh, well, She is the Queen of Heaven! And She is our Mother! Praise God and thanks to our Lady!
By doing this consecration, we abandon ourselves totally to our Mother, all our joys and sorrows, our success and failures, our works and the fruits of our work, our frustrations, our efforts – everything. By consecrating ourselves to Her, we rely on Her, with confidence, that She loves us as a Mother does to Her child, and will in fact, keep Herself busy taking care of Her children’s concerns. Daily Rosary, with frequent reception of the Sacraments, and loving obedience to God’s Commands, become our soul’s resting place, our source of strength and joy. God commands us to be perfect, just as the Father is Perfect (Matthew 5:48). Our Mother is perfect and with Her, guiding us, if we are attentive and obedient to Her leading, then we will certainly not lose our way. With Mary, who crushes the head of the serpent, we have sure victory!
Let us not hold back from running to our Lady for help or counsel. She is our Mother and She always seeks the good of her children. As we celebrate the joy of motherhood and remember our own earthly mothers, we also celebrate the comfort of having Mary as our Mother, who will keep us away from the snares of the enemy, and will guide us closer to Her Son, Jesus Christ. Happy Mother’s Day!
To God be the Glory!
(edited May 14, 2024)