I didn't realize something when I consecrated myself to Mary

[TheLittleLady]

Absolutely. Not quite sure why some posters find this uncomfortable? Those who do the Consecration REALLY want to do it, it is not some whim. I have one friend who wanted to do it, but, the author himself advised her to wait at least a year because of some other things in her life. It is serious business!

 

[Servant31]

Don’t get me wrong I’m a big Mary fan. But I think this is part of the issue. I was in an adoration chapel doing adoration. The parish group came in and basically (literally) pushed this paper at me. I was thinking, Meh catholic pray , I’ll join in. About halfway through I was thinking…uhhhh WHAT? I stopped immediately. After learning more I was good with it. But honestly I think we rush into things on occasion, or push things on occasion people may not understand quite yet. It’s a commitment and choice, and should be understood. I’ve herd people say that Mary is the only way to salvation. That’s just not accurate. Again a BIG Mary fan. However I think we need to be clear that she is a powerful saint, but not God.

 

[Servant31]

I’ll just throw my opinion

OP- so I think your good either way. If you direct your prayers to God with that intent I don’t envision Mary blocking anything in any way. Even if you’ve prayed the consecration prayer. In this case I wouldn’t imagine anything hurting you or limiting you. But only helping you. I just personally don’t see heaven getting super legalese about it. It’s about loving God and loving others… Mary is look it help.

 

[TK421]

Mary is in full communion with God so she won’t ever do anything on your behalf that would ever harm your soul. You can literally trust her with the same perfect trust that you have in God himself, because she is bound to Him in the Beatific Vision, and people in Heaven cannot sin or do anything evil or unjust.

 

[OurLadyofSorrows]

Thank you for this post. One thing though, and I know this sounds silly, but can I still pray directly to God? Oh gosh that sounds silly, but for some reason I need confirmation.

Of course you can. One Priest, an expert in Marian Theology, who used to frequent CAF said we should use the term ‘entrusting ourselves to the care of Mary’ rather then the term consecration. There are many saints with Marian Devotion. One recent saint is St John Paul II. We can pray to him or any of the saints, requesting intercession. Or as you say, we can pray directly to God.

Be at Peace. I would advise reading other saints who also had great Marian Devotion. It will give you a broader view and some of the language is more up to date then that of the earlier saints. Their language can leave a person scratching their head on the true meaning. St John Paul 11 is a great example of a modern day saint.

 

[OurLadyofSorrows]

Also, it’s a standard principle of consecrating yourself to Mary that you give her all your prayers and merits.

Is this standard Catholic Teaching? We can entrust ourselves to more then one saint and give them our prayers.

If not, then why consecrate yourself to her?

We entrust ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the care of St Joseph, to the care of St Michael the Archangel for different reasons.
I have not heard it said in offical Church teaching that we should only send our prayers and merits to one saint alone.

 

[OurLadyofSorrows]

A person could choose to not renew their consecration to Mary and retract those vows.

These are promises, not vows in the sense of religious life. As such, a person can choose to retract them, renew them or not. Vows take on different protocols when a person wishes to retract them.

I love Mary, I pray monthly a prayer of entrustment to her, as well as others. We lose the wood for the trees or the trees for the wood, when we believe (this might not be the right term) we can only entrust ourselves to Mary using a devotion outlined by one certain saint.

 

[twf]

Not in the “same” way… Christ as the one mediator between man and God is the source of Our Lady’s mediation. Her role as mediatrix is derived from and sustained by His role as mediator. I know you know that… it was just your use of the word “same”.

 

[Mark121359]

Why are people so prepared to risk their souls on a gamble with Mary

One of the most ridiculous comments I’ve ever seen posted on this forum! Look, this is a CATHOLIC forum. You’ve been a member here for all of four months. Why don’t you show some respect for the many members on here who love our Mary with great affection. I take such rude comments personally, because she means the world to me. And I’m sure that many other forum members feel the exact same way.

 

[OurLadyofSorrows]

Why are people so prepared to risk their souls on a gamble with Mary when Jesus provides a no error guarantee?

Mary is a great saint, she is the greatest saint. We pray to Mary to ask her to bring us closer to her Son, Jesus. We pray that we become worthy enough to see

'The blessed fruit of thy (Mary’s) womb, Jesus.

There are so many other passages that confirm this and none that say otherwise.

We are a Sacred Tradition and a Sacred Scripture church. We do not just go on Scripture alone.

People can already go to Mary yet they want to make it obligatory that everyone does, why?
Is this God’s will?

No one wants to make it obligatory, where is that written in Church documents?

Mary is our example of how we should live and how we should love God.

 

[Greenfields]

There is never a 'gamble 'with Mary.
So very often I ask Our Lady to place my prayers where she knows they are best needed.
I hope and pray you come to love our Queen in heaven as Catholics ought and need to.
God bless.

 

[Leferdion]

Of course you can. You are not Mary’s slave. You are God’s child, and God alone is Master and Father. Mary is mother. You can always talk directly to your dad right? Although your mum could convey your worries to your dad in a…well, more gentle and graceful way…

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Not in the “same” way… Christ as the one mediator between man and God is the source of Our Lady’s mediation. Her role as mediatrix is derived from and sustained by His role as mediator. I know you know that… it was just your use of the word “same”.

Since everything Mary does is willed by and tasked to her by God/ Christ, your point is obvious to me, but if you felt it had to be said, fine. A mediator is a mediator; the mediation is done in the same manner; hence use of the word “same”. I don’t think it needs a big exegesis, but I don’t disagree with your point.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Why are people so prepared to risk their souls on a gamble with Mary when Jesus provides a no error guarantee?

Speaking with Mary is NEVER a gamble. You are free to speak directly to Jesus if you want, but there is ZERO risk in asking for Mary’s intercession. It’s frankly alarming that you would call it a “gamble”, if you are Catholic, which I presume that you are given that you are using a Sacred Heart user avatar. It shows a significant lack of understanding of Mary’s role as taught by the Church, and a lack of trust in Jesus, who gave Mary to us. I would suggest you read and learn a little more about Mary.

St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the Seven Founders of the Servite Order, and many more great saints of the Church who had Marian devotions all had no fear of having to explain their love for Mary to Jesus, or their asking for Mary’s intercession. He’s obviously fine with it. As TK421 posted below, it is scripturally based in Jesus giving us Mary for our mother from the cross.

Her 4 dogmas have already puzzled so many people, why invent more?

First, this thread has nothing to do with “inventing a dogma”.

Second, in addition, dogmas are never “invented”, they are the truth from the beginning of time and the Church simply expresses that truth formally.

Third, when the Church determines a truth, it does not shy away from expressing that truth because people may be “puzzled” by it. Transubstantiation of the Eucharist is extremely “puzzling” to people, to the point where many followers of Jesus walked away from him when he taught it, but it’s the truth, so it is taught.

Fourth, there is nothing “puzzling” about asking for the intercession of a Saint. Mary is the greatest of the saints. We ask her to intercede with God for us. Simple. You’re making this into some huge deal when it’s very basic.

Fifth, as Our Lady of Sorrows mentioned, Marian consecration is not obligatory and there is no movement to make it obligatory. If you don’t like the idea, don’t do it. Others are free to do it; it is an Optional spiritual activity and it has been already posted on the thread that it is Optional, a free choice of the person involved, and is a spiritual practice originally developed by great saints of the Church.

 

[TK421]

@Pai_Nosso

Jesus Christ is the 2nd Person of the Trinity and was Incarnate as a man to be our savior. All prayers go to him no matter what.

Consecration to Mary is pleasing to Jesus because Mary’s vocation is to be our spiritual mother. This is why he entrusted her to the apostle John, and John to her:

When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household .After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John 19: 27-30

On a bigger picture, this all fits in with the divine economy of salvation. God doesn’t want people - spiritually speaking - living on isolated islands and saying prayers to him. He wants us to be a communion of saints, just as he is a Communion of Persons. The communion of saints is an imitation of the Trinity when we get along together perfectly, trust each other perfectly, and give ourselves to each other perfectly.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Is this standard Catholic Teaching? We can entrust ourselves to more then one saint and give them our prayers.

It’s traditional for those who have consecrated themselves to Mary in some manner to give her all your indulgences, all your merits, etc which she takes to Jesus. For example, the Morning Offering for devout wearers of the Brown Scapular, which I say daily, is as follows:

O my God, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (here kiss your Brown Scapular *) I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from all the altars throughout the world, joining with it the offering of my every thought, word and action of this day.
O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit I can and I offer them, together with myself, to Mary Immaculate, that she may best apply them to the interests of Thy most Sacred Heart.

• Precious Blood of Jesus, Save us!
• Immaculate Heart of Mary, Save us!
• Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have mercy on us!

Morning Offering to the Sacred Heart - Prayers - Catholic Online

O my God, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (here kiss your Brown Scapular *) I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from all the altars throughout the world, joining with it the offering of my every thought, word and action of this day. O my Jesus, I desire today to gain ...

www.catholic.org

Obviously there are many other forms of the Morning Offering where you offer all your merits directly to God. So a person does not have to say this one - it’s for those devotees of Mary who wear the Scapular and/or have consecrated themselves to Mary.

St. Louis de Montfort originated the concept of “giving everything to Mary” when you consecrate yourself to her. Many people considering Marian consecration struggle a bit with this concept at first, as I did. Here is a good article about it:

Giving Everything to Mary

Advent is a season of preparation, and for those of us making the consecration to Jesus through Mary, Advent is a season of double preparation. Just as the Church gives us Advent to prepare our hearts to receive Jesus, so too she recommends the 33 days leading up to a Marian feast as a period […]

catholicexchange.com

 

[BigRon]

I wear the brown scapular and pray the morning offering every day but am I allowed to choose the odd prayer request of my own choosing still?

 

[Pai_Nosso]

One of the most ridiculous comments I’ve ever seen posted on this forum! Look, this is a CATHOLIC forum. You’ve been a member here for all of four months. Why don’t you show some respect for the many members on here who love our Mary with great affection. I take such rude comments personally, because she means the world to me. And I’m sure that many other forum members feel the exact same way.

Instead of getting all emotional over some simple questions how about addressing some of them.

We are a Sacred Tradition and a Sacred Scripture church. We do not just go on Scripture alone.

Yes I understand this but there is meant to be no contradictions

No one wants to make it obligatory, where is that written in Church documents?

I was referring to the petition to make Mary co-redemtrix a declared dogma. That would make it obligatory.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Yes, you’re allowed.

 

[BigRon]

I think of her putting all the prayers into a big pretty basket and carrying them to Jesus.

Like this?

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