Help
With Your Rule
Re Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary
Dear Holly,
I have been considering the idea of total consecration to Jesus through Mary for several years, on and off. I've been a Catholic for 16 years now; I grew up evangelical Protestant. I've come across the idea of consecration to Jesus through Mary several times, and been intrigued -- but hestitant. I think I've overcome most of my Protestant baggage on this one, but there is still this niggling doubt. Total consecration to Jesus -- no problem! I've been trying to live this since I was baptized at 16 (I'm 43 now). Asking for help on this from Mary -- again, no problem. Makes perfect sense. And if it was good enough for John Paul the Great, it ought to be good enough for me, shouldn't it?
I guess the thing that I hesitate about comes down to something like this: how do I know that I should do this? How can I know that Jesus wants this of me, in particular? Or do I really even need to know that? If this is something that is really just a logical extension of my baptismal vows, and something that every Christian is somehow called to, then I guess I wouldn't need a personal invitation, so to speak. But I want to know that this is being asked of me, or maybe offered to me. Otherwise, it seems rash, or presumptuous, or something like that. I mean, just walking up to someone and saying "I put myself at your complete disposal" seems a bit impertinent, unless one has been invited to do so, at least implicitly. Otherwise, it would be a bit like just walking up to someone and starting to say marriage vows, or like nominating oneself to be someone's very, very best friend.
Does this make any sense to you at all? I really want to belong to Jesus completely, and I want to take whatever path He intends to that. But making a lifelong vow is something I need certainty about, or I couldn't do it in good conscience.
Labels: 1st P Prayer
posted by Holly at 4:25 PM
2 Comments:
FIrst off, good questions and your sincerity is beautiful.
I can only share with you how I look at it, as I consecrated , or 'set myself apart' for Mary's purposes many many years ago...
Remember the wedding at Cana in Scripture? Well, that reveals what Mary's purposes are - "Do whatever He tells you." Mary wants to help us AND to fulfill God's intent. That's it, and THAT is what I consecrated myself to.
In addition, look at my marriage. I may dedicate my life to serving my mother-in-law for example and still not have this interfere with my married life because my husband would be pleased with my attention to his mother. Seeing how Christ told us "Behold your Mother" at the cross - means to me that there was a general call to the Christian Church to TURN TO MARY because that was Christ's dying wish... It is Jesus' will that we develope a relationship with Mary.
Also - I agree you can't just go up to a stranger and say, "Hey! Behold your Dedcatated Servant Forever ... Oh, and my name is..." All of this must be based on personal knowledge of the person and a loving response. There ought to be NO consecration outside of this. So, the real question to ask yourself is, or better, to ask Mary is - "Hhmmm! How can you and I get to know each other better?" And praying the rosary and asking her help is the best way.
Finally - I would suggest you tell Jesus that IF HE WISHES you to do this, that you will not be able to forget about it for a whole year - that the sense of His desire for you to do this will not go away... I have done this - and have found that natural things tend to wear away, but supernatural drawings tend to stay.
I dont' know if this answers questions, but it is how I view it.
Having heard some about the consecration but knowing little about it and being shy to press anyone on the topic, I began to read St. Louis De Monfort's "True Devotion to Mary". For me, it was a paradigm shift of great magnitude. I've never read anything like it and it illuminated scripture in such a beautiful way for me. It put my faith in technicolor. Perhaps, reading it may help you further discern the direction to go. The back of the book includes the consecration process in it which you could review or skip altogether. God bless you.
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