"Consecration" - Pope's words

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
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In his Wednesday Audience, Pope Benedict spoke on the "Priestly Prayer of Jesus". I was blessed by his words on "Consecration" since many of us will soon be preparing to Consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary:
…At the center of this prayer of intercession and expiation for the disciples, is the request for consecration; Jesus says to the Father: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth” (John 17:16-19). I ask: what does it mean to “consecrate” in this case? First and foremost, it needs to be said that, strictly speaking, only God is “Consecrated” or “Holy.” To consecrate therefore means to transfer a reality – a person or a thing – to God’s ownership. And in this, two complementary aspects are present: on the one hand, the removal from common things, a segregation, a “setting apart” from the realm of man’s personal life, in order to be given totally to God; and on the other hand, this segregation, this transfer to the sphere of God, signifies “sending,” mission: precisely on account of its being given to God, the reality, the consecrated person exists “for” others; he is given to others.
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St. Louis de Montfort's preparation for Total Consecration, begins with 12 preliminary days of "ridding oneself from the spirit of the world", and gradually progresses through the stages of knowledge of one's own spirit and then the knowledge of Mary and finally knowledge of Jesus. In reading the above quote, I was also grateful to hear from Pope Benedict the truth that the "consecrated person exists for others". Our mission is one of love for God and others. The Pope continued:
To give oneself to God means no longer existing for oneself, but for all. He is consecrated who, like Jesus, is separated from the world and set apart for God in view of a task, and this is precisely why he is fully available to all. For the disciples, [the task] will be to continue the mission of Jesus, to be given to God so as to be on mission for all…
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And he concluded with these beautiful words:
Dear brothers and sisters, we have taken in a portion of the great richness of Jesus’ priestly prayer, which I invite you to read and to ponder, so that it may guide us in conversation with the Lord, that it may teach us to pray. Then we, too, in our prayer may ask God to help us to enter more fully into the plan that He has for each one of us. Let us ask Him to grant that we may be “consecrated” to Him, that we may increasingly belong to Him, so that we may love others more and more – those who are close to us and those who are far away; let us ask Him to grant that we may always be able to open our prayer to the dimensions of the world, not closing it in to the request for help for our own problems, but remembering our neighbor before the Lord and learning the beauty of interceding for others. Let us ask Him for the gift of visible unity among all believers in Christ – we have earnestly invoked this during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – let us pray that we may always be ready to respond to whomever asks us the reason for the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Thank you.
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Full text is[ HERE](http://www.zenit.org/article-34189?l=english)
 
It makes me glad to read this, since friends of mine are present in Rome today to hear the words first hand.

Thank you for posting this.
 
DexUK said:
It makes me glad to read this, since friends of mine are present in Rome today to hear the words first hand.

Thank you for posting this.
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Dear DexUK,

What a joy for them. and also for you to know they are there to hear words spoken by Christ’s Vicar on earth! May all of us take this message of Pope Benedict about “Consecration” into our hearts and minds, that we may begin to live consecrated lives.

If you are unfamiliar with de Montfort’s “Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary”, I encourage you to learn more, as it is a perfect renewal of our Baptismal Promises. It is a way to live as Jesus prayed.

God willing, I hope to begin a series of 33 threads, one on each day of Preparation before the Feast of the Annunciation on Mar.25 - the day on which we consecrate or re-consecrate ourselves…stay tuned for threads to begin on Feb. 20.

HERE is link for online version of St. Louis Marie de Montfort’s spiritual classic, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary which explains this Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary.
 
Dear eddadonkey,

Thanks for your reply and your prayer for all of us who, God willing, will be preparing to consecrate or “re-consecrate” ourselves to Jesus through Mary on March 25. I followed the link in your reply, also and read your thread. Yes, there are many ways in which we can express our love and devotion to Mary. The Church’s devotion is as the CCC clearly states in paragraph 971:
…“The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is intrinsic to Christian worship”…
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The word “intrinsic” is pivotal. Intrinsic means essential and something we cannot be without! I’m not trying to preach to the choir, here, eddadonkey. You obviously know how important devotion to Mary is. 🙂

There are many forms of devotion, as you pointed out, and some of us are drawn to one form or another. The important thing, it seems to me, is to remain in His Love, as Jesus tells us in His Gospel (John 15). The Pope’s words on “Consecration” within the context of Jesus’ Priestly Prayer in John 17 are so significant. As I read the first excerpt I quoted in my original post of this thread, I was struck by the resemblance to De Montfort’s stages of growth in the 33 Days of Preparation and I wanted to share it. Spiritual writers from the very beginning of the Church have seen the formation of disciples to be in “stages”: beginning, or purgative stage; intermediate or illuminative stage, and the perfect or unitive stage.

Our lives are progressively lived in “ongoing conversion” through stages, as the lives of all the saints give evidence; and as the great writers like Thomas Aquinas, St. Bernard, St. Catherine, and others have written. A good contemporary explanation of the “stages” is given HERE. If you scroll down a bit as you read, there is an excellent chart and below the chart more on the evidence from Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church.

It is really important to see all devotion to Mary within the context of God’s Love for us in Christ. Jesus told us: “Behold your Mother” because He knew our need for her. She shows us what a True Disciple is and does. The writings of the saints are further evidence of our need for Mary, yet always together with, and inseparable from, her union with Christ. I may be using far too many words to say something obvious to yourself and others, but often persons who read Catholic comments do not understand enough about Mary’s relationship to Christ and how she draws us closer to Him. Thanks again for your reply and prayers for all of us who will be seeking to prepare ourselves in this process of ongoing and deepening commitment to Jesus living in Mary.

May God continue to shower His Graces, through Mary. By His Grace, may we continually renew our baptismal promises and live consecrated lives as we are called to do.
 
MariaChristi said:
God willing, I hope to begin a series of 33 threads, one on each day of Preparation before the Feast of the Annunciation on Mar.25 - the day on which we consecrate or re-consecrate ourselves…stay tuned for threads to begin on Feb. 20.
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I just wanted to point out that this is a leap year, so the preparation starts Feb. 21.
 
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