Marian Consecration

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation! Today is when we reflect on the beginning, the moment in time when God entered into humanity as God With Us, Emmanuel; the moment when Mary gave her fiat, her yes. Without this, we would be lost! We would be without God's redemption, without His Divine Mercy!

Heaven knows we are in need of God's Divine Mercy right now! I am grateful for solemnities during Lent, but especially this Lent amid all of this Coronavirus chaos. Solemnities give us something to be joyful about and to celebrate, and they remind us to keep our eyes and hearts on heaven.

We read about the Annunciation in the Gospel of Luke:

The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner From The Wikimedia Commons

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said,

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,

and you shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his Father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever;

and of His kingdom there will be no end. 

And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no husband?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

For with God nothing will be impossible." 

And Mary said,

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; 

let it be to me according to your word."

We can learn so much from Mary's fiat, the Latin word meaning "let it be done." Mary is our greatest example of being a "handmaid of the Lord." She is the first and greatest Christian, as she is the first to give her whole heart to Jesus and to say yes to Him. Through her example and guidance, we can learn to love Jesus as she does. 

The parishioners at St. Luke Parish have been encouraged  to consecrate themselves to Jesus through Mary, and many will be making their consecration today! So exciting! Adults have prepared themselves with the book 33 Days to Morning Glory by Father Michael Gaitley, and teens have prepared with the book Totus Tuus: Totally Yours. Our younger three children prepared using the book Marian Consecration for Children.

      

Jason and I have read the 33 Days to Morning Glory, and I have read Marian Consecration for Children to our children, and I would highly recommend them both. Also, our teens have said they would recommend Totus Tuus.

I used to have a lot of confusion about Mary. I did not really grow up with a connection to her, or an understanding of devotion to her. As I grew into my faith as an adult, I could not understand why we would need a relationship with Mary. I had heard some say that the quickest and easiest to Jesus was through Mary. But why? Isn't Jesus enough? Can't we just go straight to Him?

The answer is of course, yes, Jesus is enough, He is more than enough, and we don't need anything more than Him. But Jesus loves us so generously and wants to share His love infinitely, and in infinite ways, and one of the most powerful ways is through His own mother, Mary.

But it took be several years to learn this, and I am always learning more. 

My relationship with Mary began in my heart over four years ago, although I now know she was protecting, guiding and praying for me long before then. Our family was at Mass on New Year's Eve, 2015 for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. I was pregnant with a baby to be born that June, and we did not yet know if it was a boy or a girl. 

During the homily, the priest shared from the Gospel of John, Jesus' words to St. John and Mary from the cross: 

"He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold, your son!' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home."

In that moment in that Church, the Holy Spirit filled my heart with awe and wonder and understanding. The disciple . . . your mother. I knew in that moment, I fully knew, that Jesus was talking to me through the priest, that Mary is mother not only to St. John, but to all of Jesus' disciples, including me. 

I began to cry there in our pew. At that very moment, the baby within my womb moved for the first time! This was my fifth pregnancy, and I had experienced the first movements of a baby within me before. This was different, stronger, like a leap. Of course I recalled the Visitation when St. John the Baptist leapt within St. Elizabeth's womb at the presence of Jesus within Mary. And I knew right then, that somehow Mary was confirming that this was a message she had brought to my heart.

It was then that I began to understand that Mary was pursuing me, that she desired to have a relationship with me like the one I had formed with her Son. From that moment on, as my relationship with her began to grow, my relationship with Jesus did not diminish, but only grew like I had never imagined. 

Six months later, on June 13, 2016, our baby was born. It was my most difficult pregnancy and labor, but it brought me the priceless joy of our youngest, Maria Grace.

From then on, my relationship with Mary has grown. It has been slow. But it is now natural to come to my heavenly Mother and share with her, asking for her prayers and to bring me closer to her Son.

This is Mary's role, given to her by God the Father. She was chosen by Him to bring us Jesus; she is the New Ark of the New Covenant. She continues to live out that role today.

In the summer of 2019, Jason and I consecrated ourselves and our family to Jesus through Mary on the Feast of the Assumption. We began the preparation the day we returned home from a high school ministry trip to Alaska.

What does it mean to consecrate oneself? Simply put, it means to give oneself and entrust oneself, completely.

One can get caught on the theology of this. I did for a long time.

But Jesus gave Himself to Mary completely, entering into her womb as the most fragile and vulnerable embryo. He entrusted Himself to her care. He followed the commandments perfectly, which means that He honored His mother perfectly.

If He did, shouldn't we?

We are made in His image and called to become like Him. So too, we are called to love Mary as He does, to trust her like He did and still does. 

I am not a theologian or a scholar. If you would like to understand consecration in a deeper way, I would strongly recommend Father Gaitley's Book. It is rich and beautiful.

When it came time for my own consecration, I wrote my own prayer of consecration. Father Gaitley gives one at the end of the book that you can use, but I wanted to write my own.

It was a beautiful Mass, and afterwards, our priest prayed a blessing over our family.

On this Feast of the Annunciation, our children will each make their own personal consecration! I'm excited for them!

When I explained consecration to them again and asked if they would like to do that, they each answered something like, "Why would we not do that?"

Exactly.

It is easy for children to consecrate themselves, to entrust themselves completely. Jesus tells us to become like children so that we may enter the Kingdom of God (Mark 10: 13-16.)

During this difficult time of the Coronavirus pandemic, it can be difficult to trust in God's plan. Sometimes we don't understand, yet we are still called to trust in Him. We can decide to trust, even if we don't feel like it.

Mary is the most excellent example of trust on this Feast of the Annunciation. She knew she was to bear the Son of God, but did not know what that would mean. Yet she trusted in God's goodness. She said yes. She faced much suffering, but

she knew there would be an end to her suffering, and that in the end, 

God's goodness would prevail. 

That is a lot to celebrate!

On this Feast of Annunciation and day of consecration, we will celebrate! We will have a special at-home prayer service for the children, eat white food like we do on Marian feast days, and have a blueberry dessert! :)

Mary continues to pursue me in her meek, gentle and humble way. I now understand that she wants me to help build her Son's Kingdom, which has now become the greatest desire of my heart. Because of this desire, I joined the Militia of the Immaculata, a worldwide evangelization movement founded by St. Maximillian Kolbe, whose goal is to "win the world for the Immaculata, as soon as possible."

This is of course not necessary, but it expresses this great desire to help build God's Kingdom.

Mary desires us all to be in relationship with her, and to comfort us as a mother would in times of distress and anxiety, as this is for many of us. She prays for us unceasingly, and will bring our prayers to her Son if we ask her to.

My prayer is that during this time, more of us will bring our prayers, worries, anxiety, frustration and discouragement to our Heavenly Mother. She is there for all of us, offering her love, comfort, consolation and encouragement.

Archbishop Etienne commissioned a prayer to be written to Our Lady of Seattle, asking for Mary's intercession during this time. On this Feast of the Annunciation, let us ask Mary to pray for the Lord's healing, merciful love to be poured out abundantly over our whole world!

Our Lady of Seattle, pray for us!