Consecration To Mary

[jazzytakara]

I was reading through a morning prayer book, and there was a Daily Consecration to Mary. In it it stated "I give myself entirely to you"...and other phrases showing that we are Mary's. I was just wondering if someone could explain consecration to Mary to me, as I thought we were only supposed to give ourselves entirely to God. I will list the whole prayer and the source for reference:

"O Mary, my Queen, and my Mother,
I give myself entirely to you.
And as proof to my filial devotion,
I consecrate to you this day
my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart,
my whole being without reserve.
Wherefore, good Mother,
As I am your own,
Keep me and guard me
As your property and possession. Amen."

~ Tesoriero, B. (Ed.). (2008). [i]Blessed Sacrament Prayer Book[/i]. Phoenix, AZ: Aquinas Press.

Thank you!

[cappie]

We understand the consecration is the carrying out of Christ’s, let’s say, command to Saint John, “Behold, your mother.” It is one thing to have a mother, which we all have; it is something else (and how much more important) for the children to recognize and appreciate and love and be devoted to their mother. That is where I would say the consecration that historically is brought into the Church by St. Louis de Montfort actually began on Calvary.

he heart of the consecration to Mary is the gift of oneself—then three words—entirely to Jesus through Mary. I believe the three essential words to keep in mind as we explain a little more in detail what the Church understands by consecration to Mary. It is to give oneself entirely, second to Jesus, third through Mary.

Whatever else consecration means, it is no mere devotion. It is not even merely dedication. Consecration adds to devotion, even to dedication, the idea of completeness. Completeness in what sense? Completeness in time, from the time of the consecration until (as we hope) Jesus, Mary and Joseph will call us into eternity. It is therefore a completeness of duration.

It is secondly, a completeness of everything that we do. First, that we do in our own minds, in our hearts, of everything that we do externally. What a difference! What a difference between doing whatever a person may be doing for oneself. I hesitate using the expression but it may help to bring out what I want to say. I think most people, without having made an “act”, are consecrated to themselves. They are thinking about themselves “What is in it for me?” They are thinking for themselves, “What am I getting out of this?” They are seeking especially to please themselves.

Consecration therefore, is first of all a giving of oneself entirely, and only we individually can do this giving. I will add one word to the “giving”. Consecration means giving up. Giving up oneself, giving up one’s time, one’s convenience, one’s preference; second to whom? To Jesus.

It is crucial to make clear that the consecration, though it is indeed made as we have just said through Mary, the consecration is made to Jesus. If there is one thing that Our Lady wants to make clear is that she is only the channel, the bridge to her Son. What do we mean when we say consecrating oneself entirely to Jesus? We believe that Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the Son of the Living God. The most important single declarative sentence that we can make, and everything else in our lives depends on this is: Jesus is God.
But it is one thing to say it, even to believe it, it is much more to live it.

Consecration therefore, is a giving of oneself entirely—body, soul, mind and will, emotions and feelings to Jesus—who we believe is the Son of Mary, but we believe that Mary is the Mother of God.

Finally, consecration is giving oneself entirely to Jesus, but through Mary. And this is what is so distinctive about the consecration of Saint Louis de Montfort. In an absolute sense, Mary being the Mother of God and her Son being Jesus Christ, 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.

In consecrating ourselves to her Son, but through her, we mean (that is what Saint Louis de Montfort at length, went to such trouble to explain) according to Mary’s will. You might say, “Well, I thought the consecration was to Jesus.” Sure it is! But in this case, the will of the Son is the will of His mother.

What does consecration to Our Lady mean? It means that I entrust myself, listen, as completely as we may be sure Jesus entrusted Himself to her motherly care. And He could trust His mother.

Consecration to Mary means not only loving Mary, but telling her in the deepest sense in which these three monosyllables can be used; “I love you!” And in saying these words all that we are doing is what we are sure Jesus, many times, how many times, in plain simple Aramaic told his mother, I love you.