I have been praying about the beautiful and important role of our Blessed Mother, Mary, in the life of faith, and about how in her we see the Divine Light reflected in a unique purity and intensity.This awareness of the unique beauty of Mary has grown alongside a deep conviction of the unique beauty of every child of God, and of our invitation to profound intimacy with the God of Love. I see, in other words, Jesus’ immense desire to draw us close to His Sacred Heart, this Fountain of Mercy, so that we may receive the outpouring gift of His healing and transforming Love, just as Mary did… And I also see Mary’s desire to take us into her own immaculate heart and to draw us to this same place, fashioning within us the dispositions of her own heart in its virginal receptivity, in its childlike trust, in its enduring awareness of being tenderly and constantly loved by God.
One of the best ways to allow these two desires–that of Jesus and that of Mary–to meet and find their full flowering in us, is through “consecration to Jesus through Mary.” This is an act of radical entrustment into the hands of Jesus through the hands of His Mother–an act of surrender into the Heart of Jesus through the Heart of Mary, who is so close to Him. In this sense, it is simply an expression of the attitude of faith, in which, knowing my own weakness and great need, my inability to heal or change myself, I turn to another whom I trust, and give them permission to help me, indeed, give them the space to lead me where I myself cannot go, into the welcoming embrace of God’s Love. It is a matter of allowing Mary, and through her Christ, to take me up into her loving care and to draw me to the very Wellspring of Divine Love ever pouring out healing streams of grace.
As Saint John Paul II said in his homily at Fatima in 1982, concerning consecration of the entire world to Mary, the same is true for each one of us individually:
On the Cross Christ said: “Woman, behold, your son!” With these words he opened in a new way his Mother’s heart. A little later, the Roman soldier’s spear pierced the side of the Crucified One. That pierced Heart became a sign of the redemption achieved through the death of the Lamb of God.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary, opened with the words “Woman, behold, your son!”, is spiritually united with the Heart of her Son opened by the soldier’s spear. Mary’s Heart was opened by the same love for man and for the world with which Christ loved man and the world, offering himself for them on the Cross, until the soldier’s spear struck that blow.
Consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means drawing near, through the Mother’s intercession, to the very Fountain of life that sprang from Golgotha. This Fountain pours forth unceasingly redemption and grace. In it reparation is made continually for the sins of the world. It is a ceaseless source of new life and holiness.
Consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother means returning beneath the Cross of the Son. It means consecrating this world to the pierced Heart of the Savior, bringing it beck ‘to the very source of its Redemption. Redemption is always greater than man’s sin and the “sin of the world.” The power of the Redemption is infinitely superior to the whole range of evil in man and the world.
The Heart of the Mother is aware of this, more than any other heart in the whole universe, visible and invisible. And so she calls us. She not only calls us to be converted: she calls us to accept her motherly help to return to the source of Redemption.
The traditional way of making a consecration to Jesus through Mary is to spend 33 days in preparation, reflecting and praying to prepare the soil of one’s soul for this act of loving entrustment, so that it may truly bear lasting fruit in one’s life. There are a number of different books that help with this process, but I would like to offer my own contribution, to help people enter more deeply into this intimate relationship with God and His Mother, regardless of whether this is their first time to make the consecration or a renewal for the thousandth time.
Usually, consecration is made on a feast day devoted to Mary in the Church calendar, on which one recites a pre-formed consecration prayer or one’s own, and signs and dates it. This can then be renewed yearly, or indeed daily. December is a month with a two such Marian feasts, so I will begin posting short daily meditations in preparation, for 33 days, for the feasts of December. The first feast is the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, and the preparation for that begins on Monday, November 5th. I will post each reflection the evening before the specified day, on a page on this website (linked below), and you can return to this page every day, if you want to use these meditations to help facilitate your own consecration preparation.
If you want more time to think and pray about whether you desire to make a consecration to Jesus through Mary, there are later feasts, for example December 12th (our Lady of Guadalupe), with preparation beginning on Nov 9th, or January 1st the Solemnity of the Mother of God, with preparation beginning on Nov 29th. You can find a full table of feasts and preparation dates here: http://wiki.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/images/3/34/Marian_Consecration_Dates.pdf
To visit the page with my own reflections in preparation for consecration: