Consecrating One's Life

[AServantofGod]

What does it mean to consecrate one’s life to _____________?

What does it do for you?

How is it done?

What are the most common consecrations to make?

 

[jrabs]

AServantofGod:

What does it mean to consecrate one’s life to _____________?

I am in the middle of consecrating myself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary ( St. Loius De Montfort’s version). It will complete ( or rather start) on Dec 8th, Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

AServantofGod:

What does it do for you??

Wow - good question. I am praying for an increase in Our Lady’s motherly love and special care in all situations in my life. I am also praying for a more intimate relationship with Jesus - through His Mother.

AServantofGod:

How is it done??

This is a serious devotion in which one decides to turn over all possessions, body, goods, actions, thoughts, prayers over to Jesus through Mary. Mary is then given the ability to use all these things for the greater glory of God - to save souls, convert sinners, fight spiritual warfare, and what ever else heaven needs. The essence of the consectration is to make you a slave to Christ (through Mary).

As a slave, you are at the utter, complete disposal of your Master, Christ. But His Blessed Mother knows exactly how to guide you and what Her son needs - so She helps you in all this. This is why the consecration is Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Since you are now a slave, you abandon your will to Christ - you can no longer pray for yourself but may offer intentions for others. The thought behind this is that a slave does not ask of his master - but must trust that his master will take care of him. I trust that Our Blessed Mother knows what my needs are and will take care of me.

This has already impacted me greatly. The preparation of this consectration takes 33 days. During which time, you pray that Jesus takes away all things from your life that are hindering your committment and spiritual growth. Well, God did just that for me on the 12th day of this preparation. He took away someone from my life that I was starting to obsess over. Instead of spending time in prayer to God, I noticed I was spending time in thinking about this man , whom I love dearly.

At Adoration that night, after I decided this man had to leave my life, I asked God to show me why. He put it in my heart that this person was keeping me from my committment and my prayer life. I had been praying that God take away all things unnecessary - so He did. I could not be a slave, working toward the good of the Kingdom, if I was obsessing over a man!

It is NOT TO BE TAKEN lightly - for God will take what He needs to in order for you to be committed.

AServantofGod:

What are the most common consecrations to make?

This is the only one I have extensively looked into. Here is a website if you are interested in thinking, praying about.
kensmen.com/catholic/totalconsecrationmontfort.html

God Bless you in your search.

 

[AServantofGod]

jrabs:

Since you are now a slave, you abandon your will to Christ - you can no longer pray for yourself but may offer intentions for others. The thought behind this is that a slave does not ask of his master - but must trust that his master will take care of him. I trust that Our Blessed Mother knows what my needs are and will take care of me.

God Bless you in your search.

Wow! What a wonderful unfolding story you have. Thank you for all the heartfelt information.

The part of abandoning oneself completely to Christ is kind of scary. It’s also hard to imagine completely giving up asking for my own intentions. Could you explain this a little further. If this is to be a lifelong commitment, I don’t want to take it lightly. Is it worth deferring a consecration to get a better handle on this? Or is it better to begin consecrating one’s life knowing that there will be struggles?

I know it shouldn’t be scary since God is a good master, but it is.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Jrabs–

You are in my prayers. I also will be consecrated to Jesus through Mary on Dec. 8th. And that’s the site I use, too!

Yes, at times it’s a little scary. . .but the readings and the practices have become so much more meaningful in the last week or so.
In my life, one particular aspect–my younger daughter’s mental disorder–has overwhelmed my life for the past 10 years. There have been good and bad in the last 25 days, but even the bad has been easier to bear, in Mary’s hands, so much more capable than mine.

I was worried about getting to confession within the 8 days, and then, yesterday, Father announced that there would be a Holy Hour this Wednesday, Dec. 1, and confessions afterward–well, that’s a sign for sure.

This devotion is so powerful. . .I just wish I’d paid more attention, or found out more, earlier.

 

[jrabs]

Tantum ergo:

Jrabs–

You are in my prayers. I also will be consecrated to Jesus through Mary on Dec. 8th. And that’s the site I use, too!.

Thank you soooo much! I will pray for you as well. This will be a great day - I am very excited about it!
Tantum ergo:

Yes, at times it’s a little scary. . .but the readings and the practices have become so much more meaningful in the last week or so…

I have enjoyed the reading. And you are so right, they make so much sense this week. Very meaningful. I did take the time again this weekend to reread the entire packet from the website. At times I found myself weeping because this is EXACTLY what I needed to do with my life! This is exactly what I have been called to do.

Please tell me more of what you are feeling about this. I am in awe!
Tantum ergo:

I was worried about getting to confession within the 8 days, and then, yesterday, Father announced that there would be a Holy Hour this Wednesday, Dec. 1, and confessions afterward–well, that’s a sign for sure. .

I was lucky because my son makes his first confession on the 7th and the family is also invited to confession that evening.
Tantum ergo:

This devotion is so powerful. . .I just wish I’d paid more attention, or found out more, earlier.

This is a powerful devotion. But you were obviously called to do it at this point in your life. The Blessed Mother has now called you - it is time. She knows what is best - like the awesome Mother She is.

Please PM me to tell me how things are going for you. I feel like I have found a friend on this journey!

 

[jrabs]

AServantofGod:

The part of abandoning oneself completely to Christ is kind of scary. It’s also hard to imagine completely giving up asking for my own intentions…

That is exactly why this devotion is not common and is certainly not for everyone to take up without prayer. It is very difficult dying to self and giving up asking for things. But then again, what do we really need - God has promised to take care of all our necessities if we trust. It is a leap of trust. This devotion is meant to drive all the self out of a person. No self left. I think I really needed that demon taken right out.

I had a situation happen with me this past year, which has really moved me to this point. It is true that God will use the trials in your life to get you where you need to be.

I have been in a trial for the past year. I would spend hours in prayer, Adoration, mass - in constant prayer. However God spoke to me one day telling me to stop praying for myself and focus my prayer on others. Wow - although I did pray for others, I guess I was selfcentered in my prayer life.

So I gave up praying for myself this summer - upon the urging of the Holy Spirit. And things have gotten better since, slowly but certainly and only after this point have I found peace amidst my trial.

Then the Holy Spirit started leading me towards this consecration. I had already adjusted my prayer life so I did not think this was going to be too hard. That’s what I find so amusing about God taking away that important man from my life on day 12 of the consecration. See, day 13 starts the serious body of the consecration, Up till then is called the introductory period. God wanted me ready for the “meat” portion. Oh you gotta love God’s timing to things!

I guess this is where faith needs to take over. One needs to have faith that Blessed Mother will take care of all our necessities. And we are told that She is abundantly generous in obtaining graces for us. We need to trust in that. Would you ever harm your children (providing you are a parent)? Never! So we trust in that.

Fear is useless - what is needed is trust.

AServantofGod:

Could you explain this a little further. If this is to be a lifelong commitment, I don’t want to take it lightly. Is it worth deferring a consecration to get a better handle on this? Or is it better to begin consecrating one’s life knowing that there will be struggles?.

It is a lifelong consecration - so pray on it. It’s better to look at the consectration timetable and pick another date for consecration than plunge into this unprepared.

Go to the website and read carefully the entire piece. After you are done, you may have a better understanding of your spiritual preparedness and decision.

This kind of sums it up - The Blessed Virgin needs soldiers. As Her slave (to Christ), She will put you where you need to be. She knows that the road may be very difficult once you have consecrated yourself because the devil hates Her and Her warriors. As a consecrated person, one now needs to stay especially close to Her and She promises to help make the road easier.

Everything She does is for Christ.
Daily rosary is essential for this.
God Bless you in your decision.

 

[AServantofGod]

jrabs,

I’m trying to understand.

You said you are no longer supposed to ask for yourself, yet you said you are praying for Our Lady’s motherly love and special care in your life. You also mentioned that you prayed for God to show you why you had to leave a special man in your life. Are these not petitions for yourself? Is it O.K. to ask for yourself when it is to improve on your relationship with Christ.

Help me understand. I don’t want to go into this unprepared. I am very literal & if I’m told I am no longer to ask for myself I would do this completely including petitions for wisdom, guidance, etc.

 

[jrabs]

AServantofGod:

jrabs,

I’m trying to understand.

You said you are no longer supposed to ask for yourself, yet you said you are praying for Our Lady’s motherly love and special care in your life. You also mentioned that you prayed for God to show you why you had to leave a special man in your life. Are these not petitions for yourself? Is it O.K. to ask for yourself when it is to improve on your relationship with Christ.

Help me understand. I don’t want to go into this unprepared. I am very literal & if I’m told I am no longer to ask for myself I would do this completely including petitions for wisdom, guidance, etc.

hmm - now you’ve got me wondering…good questions. And I am glad you are asking them - because it sounds like you are trying to discern if this is for you. So please ask all the questions you want - but remember I am a novice!

Actually, in the first part of the consectration, the instructions tell you pray to get to know Our Lady better - and to intensify your relationship with the Blessed Mother. You pray that the Holy Spirit will help you with this and to help reveal Her to us.
The purpose of this devotion is to increase your devotion to Our Lady. You need to ask for Her protection to come upon you.

While I may be way off base in asking for that - but I think that is what I am supposed to be asking - I cannot ask for God to send a new man into my life. I cannot ask God to repair this relationship. I cannot ask God to help me with my job, house, crazy neighbors, etc. Those kind of petitions. I believe I can ask for an increase in faith and protection. Within the body of the consecration prayer one asks for an increase in wisdom, forgiveness, and assistance in coming before Her Son as Mediatrix.

I do think it is OK to ask for an increase in relationship with Christ - especially as Our Mother would love to bring you closer - that is Her whole goal.

I think also, I may have confused you a bit - sorry if I did. Your question was, What will I get from this consecration. What does it do for me? My answer was that I pray ( my word selection was pray instead of the word hope) for Our Lady’s motherly love and special care in your life. That is what this consecration will do for me.

You are correct - on day 12, I went straight to Adoration to discus my situation with God. Why did this happen in the way that it did ( there were unusual circumstances and a long 20 year history with this man) and to make sense of it. I use Adoration time as conversation time.
I’ll describe how this revelation came about. I had just gotten off the phone with this man I love dearly. But I had decided I could no longer communicate with him - which saddened me. As soon as I got off the phone, I went to Adoration hoping to find comfort and an answer - but mostly comfort since God does not answer all questions. Within this past year, God has used my daily Adoration time to inspire my heart toward things. I believe He has also spoken to my heart directly and provided me with the answers and comfort I needed to help in certain trials.

While saying my rosary, God spoke to my heart and revealed why this had to be, why I had to separate myself from this person. My rosary intentions were no different than any other day. So I did not go to Adoration praying for my situation, although I may have implied that to you in my post.
I think He revealed this to me for several reasons. To help in an ongoing trial with this situation, but more importantly to help me deepen my understanding of the seriousness of this consecration. That the prayers I say in conjunction with this consecration ARE powerful and God will do what He needs to - if I am serious about my devotion to this consecration.

Does that help? Keep asking if you need to.

 

[AServantofGod]

jrabs,

Thanks for all the dialogue. It has been very helpful.