What does being consecrated to Jesus through Mary mean? Why not just be consecrated to Jesus? I’m reading 33 Days to Morning Glory and it says that we should give ourselves completely to Mary (when consecrating onseslf to Her). Is this okay with Jesus? Shouldn’t we give ourselves entirely to Him? I know I probably sound like a Protestant, but I am not. I say my Hail Marys and I pray the Rosary. i just don’t understand and am not really informed on Marian consecration. I feel almost guilty, as if I’m putting Jesus to the side or in second place, rather than the center of my life.
I think it is common especially for those who make the consecration to have spiritual attacks of discouragement from the devil. I won’t go into that but it is wise to be aware that one is a particular target for those who have recourse to Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, Mother of God. Though Mary is much more powerful than any of us is liable to suspect.
Devotion is a readiness of our will to do the will of God. Mary’s will is always perfectly ready to do God’s will. Our love of Christ, following the example of Mary, must be real. This means it must be lived in obedience to His teaching and in the observance of His commands.
The ‘true’ devotion is only as true as it is like Mary’s devotion to her Son. She is not in competition with her Son. It is the gift of oneself to her Son but ‘through’ her, following her example and through the grace that she obtains from Him for us to do His will. There’s no true imitation of Christ without the imitation of Mary.
It means especially the imitation of her virtues, and among these especially her unshaken faith, her absolute confidence in God, virtuous sincerity and her utterly selfless charity toward others.
Mary never had any guilt on her soul. Mary never lost any grace. We should imitate her by not sinning.
The true devotion is devotion ‘through Mary’ to Christ. It is devotion ‘like Mary’ to Christ. It is devotion ‘with Mary’ to Christ. It is devotion ‘in the company of Mary’ toward Christ. It is devotion that is ‘modeled on Mary’s devotion’ to Christ.
She best knows what Jesus wants. She better than anyone else understands the mind and will of Jesus.
I grappled with questions like:
Why surrender our entire self as slaves or property of Mary when our devotion is really directed to Jesus?
I desire not to please myself or be consecrated to myself.
Becoming a slave of Mary is understood as an expression of one’s total consecration to Mary’s Son with total dedicated love. When a person with a free will gives themselves totally to Our Lady, it means complete giving of oneself and giving up everything for one’s lifetime. Giving up one’s time, one’s convenience, one’s preference. Giving all that God would demand of us. I must keep giving myself to God.
The will of the Son is the will of His mother. We obtain from her the habitual attitude of complete dependence on her in our whole life and in everything that we think and do.
Mary I leave it up to you. Mary I love you.
Jesus entrusted Himself to her motherly care. And He could trust His mother. So can we.
Do I praise Our Lady so much that I place her almost on the same level with Christ?
She won’t allow this even if it seems so. We should not only believe, but understand what we believe. Our Lady wants to make it clear that she is only the channel, the bridge to her Son. I’m simply following Christ after the example of Mary, as inspired by Mary and made possible by the graces she receives through the intercession of her Divine Son.
Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the Son of the Living God. Jesus is God.
Am I pleasing to God if don’t make the consecration to Mary?
The consecration that historically is brought into the Church by St. Louis de Montfort actually began on Calvary.
She being our mother, we may be sure that even though we do not make the consecration, Mary knows her motherly responsibility. It is not that we are instructing her and enlightening her on what she should do. It is rather to remind ourselves what we ought to do. This is a way in which the Church has approved and for those who have the grace. And it is not the only devotion to Our Lady that the Church recognizes.
Perhaps this will help clarify some questions about Marian Total Consecration or True Devotion:
The MOST Theological Collection: Vatican II: Marian Council “Chapter 18 - Consecration to Mary”
catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/getchap.cfm?worknum=198&chapNum=18
My Mother
Holy Mary, my Queen, I recommend myself to your blessed protection and special keeping, and to the bosom of your mercy, today and every day and at the hour of my death. My soul and my body I recommend to you. I entrust to you my hope and consolation, my distress and my misery, my life and its termination. Through your most holy intercession and through your merits may all my actions be directed according to your will and that of your Son. Amen.
~
Saint Aloysius