To Jesus through Mary: Four Bloggers share their Consecration Experiences
One of my best friends told me a few months ago that she didn't feel that she has had a personal encounter with Mary yet. After my Consecration to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I realized that neither did I!
The preparation for the Consecration is made through 33 days of prayers and reflections based in the Saint Louis de Montfort method.
A few years ago I started the preparation but I didn't conclude it. Perhaps my soul was not ready yet for a gift so precious... With highs and lows, I persisted this time around and I followed the path until the end.
Besides following the Consecration materials that one of my friends sent me daily, I read the "Treatise on the True Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary", also by Montfort. I can't recommend it enough! It was the perfect companion on this journey.
The love and intimacy that I have now for our Blessed Mother is brand new... I never felt like this before!
The book prepares the path so you can grow in closeness with our Mother Mary. First of all, it helps you to explore this wonderful mystery of who she really is: "This woman dressed of sun... to whom even the angels honor".
One of the images of the book that moved me deeply was this one: the fact that yes, the Lord is our King and we are His, but we are sinners too, and slaves of our passions. So we need an intercessor, and the best way to approach the King is going to the Queen first. If we give our offering to the Queen, she will place it on a golden plate and that will get the attention of the King. How beautiful is this!
During those days, we had Our Lady of Fatima Pilgrim statue at home. It was a great joy for the family!
Our little ones were excited and happy to pray with us. The days flew by and they were really special. We had a beautiful Advent.
Now as I reflect on my Consecration, I can say that my faith has reached a new level. There is something very powerful in leaving our own will aside and offering it to the Lord and our Blessed Mother.
I feel much more motivated to pray the Rosary. I feel that I know Mary and I wish to get to know her better. I feel bundled in her love and I feel her protection over our family everyday, even in the simplest ways. My heart longs to go to Jesus and Mary daily, more and more...
After my Consecration, I became curious on what this devotion has meant for other women of faith. So, today I will share with you the experiences of four of our favorite bloggers:
I went to my Pastor to ask if he wanted me to do a morning Bible Study to match the one we had done at night over the summer. Instead out of my mouth comes: 'Or I can do the 33 days to Morning Glory Consecration'.
Being the 100th Anniversary of Fatima, the time was perfect to finish on October 13th. He was thrilled, as that was EXACTLY what he needed help with! So... there it was, we ended up giving out over 400 pamphlet sized books, and about 40 people publically made their Consecrations. (This was my 5th re-consecration; I had just done it over the summer with friends).
During my Consecration prayers time, I had one intention. 'Blessed Mother', I prayed, even out loud a few times, 'I just want a job doing Facebook for your Son'. On Oct 13th, I was offered a part time position as a social media consultant for a Catholic Market company.
I then found out another company was interested in my social media help; and another company I've been helping for free said they wanted to pay me! It was insane!
The blessings just poured in, Our Blessed Mother is so pleased when we give her our graces and merits; it is clear she begs her Son to return the favor in spades. Each time I've done the Consecration, a blessing I could have never imagined happens. This was financial, but in the past it has been ministry opportunities, peace in a broken relationship and once a healing.
While attending the World Meeting of Families in Philly in 2015, I was given the Consecration material. I'm a convert, so it was all new to me. At first I was hesitant, but decided to do it right before my family moved across the country. Not the brightest idea. I started it in November and I found myself getting frustrated because with the holidays and moving, I didn't feel I was giving it my full attention.
Most days it was a struggle just to squeeze in the time. But, when the day came in January for the final Consecration, I found a beautiful statue of Mary at the new church we were attending.
We had just moved to Las Vegas and I was overwhelmed, felt out of my element, and I wondered if I had even done it right. But, as I stood there in front of the statue and read off the Consecration, tears just flowed from my eyes. I was so moved by the words and how I felt that I couldn't hold back the tears. It was a very emotional and beautiful experience. It has helped me grow much closer to Mary.
Growing up a Protestant, I had zero to no relationship with her and I find now that she truly does draw you closer to her son. I would like to do the Consecration again at a more calm time, so that I can focus a little more, but, apparently, I was given a lot of grace during the first time--it has made a difference.
When Joseph and I started dating, we intentionally incorporated prayer and our Catholic faith into our relationship. When we planned our wedding a year ago, we wanted to include aspects of our faith life that we’d had throughout our entire relationship into the wedding ceremony.
One of the most important devotions we practiced during our relationship was a devotion to Mary. We both had already consecrated ourselves to Mary, but we decided to renew our Consecration on our wedding day, during our wedding ceremony.
It can be easy after consecrating yourself to Mary and ending a 33 day retreat to not incorporate this devotion into your daily life. Because we struggled with this after our Consecration this summer, Joseph and I wanted a concrete way to remind ourselves of the significance of our Consecration together to Mary.
Our Consecration day was our wedding, so we integrated symbols of our Marian Consecration into our wedding ceremony itself. Three components that St. Louis de Montfort suggests on the day of Consecration are: the Rosary, an external sign of devotion, and a tribute to Mary on the day of Consecration.
We incorporated the Rosary through the wedding tradition of the lasso. The wedding lasso is two large rosaries tied together that is placed around the necks of the bride and groom after the vows. The lasso that we used for our wedding day belonged to my parents, and was used in their wedding twenty-two years ago.
Our public act of Consecration was an external sign of devotion – we repeated our Consecration out loud in front of all our wedding guests at the Mass.
Then, for the tribute of love to Mary, we placed a flower bouquet at the feet of a statue of Mary while the Ave Maria was sung.
Now, in our one year wedding anniversary, we’re renewing our Consecration again as husband and wife. A devotion to Mary has been such a blessing in our marriage and we highly recommend Marian Consecration to others, too!.
I have done this three times. Each time I grow closer to Mary. When I was young my relationship with Mary was non-existent, as my relationship with my mother was a difficult one, I’m pretty sure that affected my relationship with Mary.
After consecrating myself to Jesus through Mary, I feel Mary’s love more deeply each day. She has filled the void of what I was lacking with my own mother, and she loves me perfectly, as only she can do. And Mary never just stops with her loving me, but after consoling me, always then leads me to Jesus.
I believe through consecrating myself to Jesus through Mary my relationship with my mother has healed in many ways. Mary has showed me how to be a better wife and daughter. By loving me in her perfect way, she taught me how to love others and Jesus more perfectly.
Main photo credit: Pixabay/Antranias
Nelly Sosa is a catholic wife, mom, and blogging enthusiast. She started her career as a reporter, but God had different plans for her. Away from home, she experienced her conversion a few years later and started to blog about it on El Arbol Menta. Nelly loves Adoration, spiritual books and spending time with her family, and happily serves as cantor in her Church. She will start a new chapter in her life soon as a homeschool mom. She firmly believes that prayer life and apostolate can change the world.
