Hey everyone I was curious on how others live out their consecration to Jesus through Mary. Is there any certain prayers you recite besides the stereotypical rosary, chaplets, angelus? Also is there any certain actions you perform or do you have a unique deposition towards life?
Thank you
Well, the Holy Rosary is the spiritual warfare prayer par excellence. One could never pray it enough, and if you could catch a glimpse of the graces you merit for the whole world, you would never stop praying it.
The Angelus three times a day can be tough to follow but it’s a beautiful devotion to have (or, in Eastertide, the Regina Caeli in its place).
Also there are several versions of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary that can be accompanied to the Liturgy of the Hours or just used instead of it.
I personally pray the FSSP Little Office of the B.V.M. which has the prayers in English and Latin. There is a 1-week cycle and the hours are fairly short, so it’s doable for us laypeople to pick up perhaps one of the major hours (Lauds, Vespers), maybe a minor hour (Terce - 9AM, Sext - 12PM, None - 3PM), and definitely Compline before bed.
Other daily devotions include (for those who also belong to the Militia of the Immaculata) the prayer of St. Maximilian (“O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee, etc.”) and the Daily Renewal Prayers (either the M.I. prayer “I renew my consecration etc.” or the Montfortian prayer “Totus tuus ergo sum, et omnia mea tua sunt, etc…I am all yours, and all that I have is yours, etc.”).
Concerning living the spiritual life, the major difference is that Total Consecration means a complete entrustment in the hands of she who took care of Christ, complete childlike abandonment in her hands. I do not need to worry about becoming a saint, because she will guide me through the path of perfection. I do not need to become distressed when I fall in the way of the cross, because surely as soon as I look up I will encounter the eyes of my Mother.
Abandonment in the hands of the Blessed Virgin is to allow her to act through us and in us. And how does it happen, that the Mother of God would deign herself to act through such lowly and imperfect creatures? By way of inspiration and through the graces of the Holy Spirit of which she is the most exalted dispensatrix and mediatrix. If I pray often and contemplate often the Lord through the eyes and heart of Our Lady, if I unite myself and my sorrows and worries and joys to the Immaculate Heart, if I try to console her and spend time with her, then she will have more and more control over me and my existence. She will arrange things. She will merit the graces that I could never merit. She will take my every little offering and transform it into a gift worthy of the King of Kings.
In short, Total Consecration is a total gift of self. What will I do tomorrow? What will happen? Those questions concern those who own something. Someone who owns nothing is not concerned or worried, for she is the one in charge of every thing. I have totally given myself, body and soul, to the Queen of Heaven. All I have left now is her.
This means, of course, that not one prayer I utter goes to the Lord without passing by the hands of Our Lady - she is my most holy and divine bearer of every prayer and request, and she will discern which prayers are worthy of being brought to God and which are the fruit of pride or vanity or disordered passions. I also entrust in her hands the merits of all my works, sacrifices, and sufferings, so that she may apply them to whoever and whatever intention she wills, even if it were not the ones I personally have in mind. This is per se more meritful than any merit I may obtain, and since I, being a great sinner, can barely merit anything, I can at least count on the superabundance of Our Lady’s merits, which she will most certainly share with me since I now have nothing but her.
I hope some of this helps.
I recently received as a gift a book from a priest called Fr. Gobbi called “To the Priests, Our Lady’s Beloved Sons”, which is basically a diary of interior locutions (like private revelations) that this priest received from Our Lady. I researched it and I found that it
is in line with the Church and has brought forth good fruits. In the interior locutions, Our Lady basically requests total consecration and slowly explains how to better live it. So after two years of prayer I guess I finally found a way to deepen my service to Mary Immaculate!
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