A Consecration to Mary

Wednesday, May 31st Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Gospel Reflection

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? I say this now on the day that I will be consecrated to Jesus through Mary. Several weeks ago, my two older sons asked if I wanted to participate in the Consecration to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort. My first excuse was that I had already done the consecration using 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael Gaitley. My oldest son’s response was to say, “This is the real one.” My second excuse was that I knew the undertaking, and having just finished my degree wanted my well-deserved break. I solidly told them, “No.”

The Lord had other plans, however, because I got a text in my book club chat asking that everyone begin to pray a rosary every day for the month of May. I took the hint, and let my boys know that I would be doing the consecration with them. It ended up being a beautiful month of holding each other accountable and sharing the insights and struggles we had going through the material. We did not own the book, and while we waited for our copies to be shipped in the mail, all three of us shared one borrowed book, trading it back and forth or reading from it together out loud.

I have no regrets doing this consecration together with my sons. It was a powerful rending of our hearts. It allowed us to see just how far we are from perfection, and how necessary it is to rely on the mother of our Lord in order to love him as she loves him and carry (not drag) our cross with Christ to Calvary. There are three, personal insights that I want to share that impacted me, and it is my hope that by seeing the type of contemplation used in the consecration, you will take the time to consecrate yourself to our Blessed Mother.

·         Imagine the Blessed Mother standing next to Jesus and introducing him to you saying, “Behold my Son, Jesus the Christ – savior and redeemer of the world.” The only other Being to have said this of Jesus (“this is My son”) was God Himself at Jesus’ baptism (Mt 3:17). Both Mary and the God of the universe jointly refer to Jesus as their son.

·         Why do the saints commonly say, “Of all those who deserve hell, I deserve it the most.” It is because God reveals so much of himself to the saints that they understand that the closer they are to God, the harder it is when they fall. Just as Satan was face to face with God and permanently fell into hell, so too can we draw close to God but at the risk of losing it all to sin. Yet we have Christ our redeemer who eliminated the permanency here on earth, giving us a multitude of opportunities to turn back to the Father.

·       “Jesus overthrows the pride of Satan by his love for humiliation.”

On this feast of Our Lady, prayerfully consider uniting yourself to her in a consecration. She visits us just as she visited Elizabeth. Let your response be that of Elizabeth’s – filled with Holy Spirit and with the understanding that Mary is bringing her beautiful son to us so that we may have life and have it more abundantly.