Why Marian consecration? Here's why...

From True Devotion to Mary by de Montfort:

146. Since by this devotion we give to our Lord, through the hands of his holy Mother, all our good works, she purifies them, making them beautiful and acceptable to her Son.

(1) She purifies them of every taint of self-love and of that unconscious attachment to creatures which slips unnoticed into our best actions. Her hands have never been known to be idle or uncreative. They purify everything they touch. As soon as the Blessed Virgin receives our good works, she removes any blemish or imperfection she may find in them.

 

From True Devotion to Mary by de Montfort:

147. (2) She enriches our good works by adorning them with her own merits and virtues. It is as if a poor peasant, wishing to win the friendship and favour of the king, were to go the queen and give her an apple - his only possession - for her to offer it to the king. The queen, accepting the peasant's humble gift, puts it on a beautiful golden dish and presents it to the king on behalf of the peasant. The apple in itself would not be a gift worthy of a king, but presented by the queen in person on a dish of gold, it becomes fit for any king.

148. (3) Mary presents our good works to Jesus. She does not keep anything we offer for herself, as if she were our last end, but unfailingly gives everything to Jesus. So by the very fact we give anything to her, we are giving it to Jesus. Whenever we praise and glorify her, she sings today as she did on the day Elizabeth praised her, "My soul glorifies the Lord."

 

From 33 Days to Morning Glory (regarding concern over handing all of our prayers to our Lady p.41):

... she augments, increases, and purifies the spiritual gifts and merits we give her. When we give them to her, because she makes them more perfect, there's more grace and merit to go around.

... Mary is never outdone in generosity. So, if we're so generous as to give her the right to distribute the grace of our prayers and good works, she'll surely be especially generous to our loved ones. In fact, she'll take even better care of our loved ones than we ourselves can. For instance, let's say one of our family members or friends is in need of prayer, and we don't know it. Well, Mary knows it, and she'll make sure that that person doesn't go without. Giving Mary the right to distribute the grace of our prayers and good works doesn't mean we can't still pray for our loved ones. We can and should pray for them. It's just that we give Mary the final say in deciding to whom and for what purpose the grace of our prayers and good works should be applied.

 

my personal opinion is that marian consecration is the best thing to do to help our family and friends get to Heaven. Especially if we are very worried about them and if they seem so far from God. When we consecrate ourselves to Mary, she takes our prayers and increases them and then applies them to where they are needed most...including to our family members who are so lost. Our lady will be looking after them in ways we can not. And she will always keep a special eye on them if we are consecrated to her. So of course there are never any guarantees...but I think Marian consecration increases the odds of our family, friends, and ourselves making it to Heaven. It is a tremendous incentive for me to pray more often knowing that my prayers now go farther and some are being directed to my family members who need it most. Knowing our lady will never be outdone in generosity motivates me to be generous with my time and devote as much of it as I can to prayer. Simply put, consecrating ourselves to Mary helps us and our family get to heaven in ways that are simply not possible on our own.

 

What is a consecration? It's like a blank sheet of paper that you sign and God fills in the blank page according to His Will.
Fiat! "May it be done unto me according to thy Word."

 

From 33 Days to Morning Glory, regarding the degrees of Heaven and how to get to a high degree:

I once read a story about a saint on earth who had a vision of heaven. In her vision, she saw the saints in heaven and their different degrees of glory. With some saints, she was astonished because they had risen so high in glory as to be worshiping God with the Seraphim, the highest choir of angels. Another time, I read a passage in the Diary of St. Faustina in which Faustina had a similar vision of heaven. She related that if we were to see the differences among the degrees of glory in heaven, we would willingly suffer anything on earth just to move one degree higher. After reading these testimonies, I say to myself, "I not only want to go to heaven, but I want to reach the highest degree of glory in heaven that I possibly can." There's an easy way for us to do this: We give Mary everything. We rely not on our own merits but on hers.

Saint Louis explains:

The most holy Virgin ... who never lets herself be outdone in love and liberality, seeing that we give ourselves entirely to her ... meets us in the same spirit. She also gives her whole self, and gives it in an unspeakable manner, to him who gives all to her. She causes him to be engulfed in the abyss of her graces. She adorns him with her merits; she supports him with her power; she illuminates him with her light; she inflames him with her love; she communicates to him her virtues: her humility, her faith, her purity, and the rest. ... In a word, as that consecrated person is all Mary's, so Mary is all his.

 

More from Fr. Michael Gaitley:

Remember, Mary is not outdone in generosity. She especially hears the prayers of those of us who have given her everything — including the value of all our good works — and she wants us to tell her of the people and intentions we hold in our hearts. If we've given her everything, is there any doubt that she'll be generous in giving whatever good we ask for to those who are dear to us?

 

All I ever hoped for was my children would stay in the Faith. Well, they haven't. And when I came back to live in the area where most of my siblings live. I realised my kids were so under educated by their own choices along with their lack of faith. I changed and wanted them to be as educated as their cousins. Well they have done that, even better than most; but I have come to the conclusion I was right in the first place.

The Faith is and always was all I ever wanted for my children. I failed to pass the Faith on to them. Now, I just trust God through Blessed Mothers intercession to save their sorry souls. They of course think they have reached the goal life offers. But I am waiting for them to find the goal God offers. And I'll never give up on that. Amen.

 

I am new to this site but am excited to find it. I am renewing my consecration - consecration day is Jan. 1st. Julia, don't lose heart but trust in God and in Our Lady and keep praying for your children. I also was one of those grown children who had left the faith, but you know, God has a way of helping us see that we need Him. I am so blessed to have found my faith. I pray that your children, in God's time, will also come around.

 

Hi JennyS. Welcome to Padraigs wonderful even if sometimes debate gets a bit hot under the collar true Catholic forum. LOL

Thank you for your encouragement. God bless you and keep you tightly tucked under His Mighty wings.

 

I avoided making the consecration for years because I thought it was an all or nothing devotion which would mean that I could not explore the spirituality that interested me so much: the Benedictine way. I became an oblate and was active for a long time, however as life in the West has become darker, so to speak, and the powers of evil have become more bold, it seemed to me that I needed to enlist in the army of Our Lady and that I would do more under her banner than on my own. After making the consecration last year (for the first time, I renewed this year) I realised that consecration takes nothing away from us, and I could perfectly well have been a good oblate and consecrated to Our Lady. I had known a woman who lived the Marian consecration solely and was very holy.and in a way it has rather put me off, thinking it was demanding and exclusive. Perhaps this is the highest way of living it, but as someone wrote somewhere, the consecration is lived individually and we all make it our own, in our own way. I nowrealise that our heavenly mother is so generous that she will accept even me, and over time I have come to feel more and more confident in the importance of consecration. It does not take anything from us but gives immeasurably. I would recommend this to everyone.

 

After reading a few chapters of the True Devotion I was convinced I should do the consecration.

https://www.ewtn.com/library/Montfort/TRUEDEVO.HTM

It soon became a mystical journey of love, faith and truth. Since then I have no doubt that this is a consecration forever, powerful. On the first Saturday during my consecration journey I had an accident with a saw that left a permanent scar on my left hand. I see it now as a permanent reminder of my consecration, similar to the chain that we can also wear as part of the consecration.

 

Reading the last pages of my De Montfort publication on total prep for Consecration it says you can gain a Plenenary Indulgence each year on your renewal anniversary. It lists 7 times a year and the 7th is every First Saturday. So this Saturday is 1st Saturday, so renew your consecration (has to be with St Louis Prayer of Consecration) usual conditions apply Communion, Confession and prayers for the Popes intentions
per 10th edition 1994 page 88

 

Welcome to the forum Jenny! and congratulations on your consecration, with today being the day! what a wonderful way to start the new year and honor our heavenly mother!!

 

O sinner, be not discouraged, but have recourse to Mary in all you necessities. Call her to your assistance, for such is the divine Will that she should help in every kind of necessity. - Saint Basil the Great

www.catholicsaints.info

 

A beautiful outcome of consecration to Mary is she leads you directly to Jesus in the fastest way possible. She will lead you to His will for your life, which then leads to true happiness. If you are struggling to find God's will in your life...Mary will help you with this...she will lead you there...it all seems to start with us finding Jesus.

 

From True Devotion to Mary by de Montfort:

155. (b) This devotion is a short way to discover Jesus, either because it is a road we do not wander from, or because, as we have just said, we walk along this road with greater ease and joy, and consequently with greater speed. We advance more in a brief period of submission to Mary and dependence on her than in whole years of self-will and self- reliance. A man who is obedient and submissive to Mary will sing of glorious victories over his enemies It is true, his enemies will try to impede his progress, force him to retreat or try to make him fall. But with Mary's help, support and guidance, he will go forward towards our Lord. Without falling, retreating and even without being delayed, he will advance with giant strides towards Jesus along the same road which, as it is written, Jesus took to come to us with giant strides and in a short time.

 

Yes, PS, Our Lady's aid is invaluable. Notice that with Mary, we begin to abandon the path of self-will and self- reliance, which imitates the path of living in the Divine Will. There is an intimate connection between being united to Our Lady's fiat by means of our Marian Consecration and living in the Divine Will.

Safe in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!

 

There does seem to be some overlap between the divine will and living out your consecration. I think I may start a thread on that, as we have so many divine will experts here. But, both devotions or ways of life do seem to come together.

 

More de Montfort on how this consecration leads us to Jesus:

It is a smooth way made easy by the fullness of grace, the unction of the Holy Spirit. In our progress along this road, we do not weaken or turn back. It is a quick way and leads us to Jesus in a short time. It is a perfect way without mud or dust or any vileness of sin. Finally, it is a reliable way, for it is direct and sure, having no turnings to right or left but leading us straight to Jesus and to life eternal.

Let us then take this road and travel along it night and day until we arrive at the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ.