Consecration to our Lady

Dear Friends in Christ,

Last week we explained the doctrinal basis for consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This weekend we will renew our consecration on this feast of the Assumption. There are four practical aspects of consecration to our Lady that will help us to live this consecration day by day.

First, our union with Mary requires a strong prayer life. Everyone is involved in activity in our busy world, work, family, church, school, and many other areas. We need time to re-charge spiritually so that our lives reflect our Christian commitment. Mary was also a busy person. She had to care for the Child Jesus as well as the home at Nazareth. The Holy Family was poor and so she had all the work of maintaining, cooking, cleaning, and child care without any of the modern conveniences of today. In spite of the hardships Mary had a deep prayer life which made her radiant with God’s love.

Secondly, we imitate Mary by obedience. Mary was always obedient to God’s will from the moment of her consent at the Annunciation to the sorrowful acceptance of her Son’s sacrifice on Calvary. We know that our true happiness lies in conformity with God’s will even when this seems very difficult. For Mary there were many difficult times, the miraculous pregnancy, the journey to Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt, the hardships of Nazareth, following Jesus in his public ministry, and finally the great trial of His passion and death. Mary’s acceptance of these trials as God’s will should inspire us also to accept our trials with patience.

In addition, we should always obey the Church’s Magisterium and our bishop when they teach in matters of faith and morals. Jesus said to His apostles: “He who hears you hears me” (Luke 10: 16). When we listen with obedient ears to the apostolic teachings in the Bible, when we heed the Holy Father’s advice and are faithful to the Church, we know that we are doing the Lord’s will. Love is the third sign of our consecration. Jesus says, “This is how all will know you for my disciples: by your love for one another” (Jn. 13: 35). Mary is the model for the disciple. Her love for Jesus was supreme, and her love for us is shown in her role as mother of the Church. We return this love by our consecration which perfects our union with her for the good of the Church and the salvation of others.

The last element in our consecration is suffering out of love. We know that Mary accepted sufferings as part of God’s plan. Her presence at the foot of the cross is proof of that. When we consecrate ourselves to Mary we make over our sufferings to her so that she can use them for the salvation of souls. The challenge for us is to suffer out of love. St. Maximilian Kolbe, whose act of consecration we will recite today at Mass, made the ultimate offering of his life to save another man from death. He was able to do this because of his consecration to Mary the Immaculata.

We may not be called to give up our life as a martyr, but we can offer all of our sufferings daily in prayer and in union with Mary. Let us renew our consecration today with great confidence that Mary will help us to grow more and more like her Son.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Hildebrand