Marian Consecration: The Quickest Way to Sainthood
What is Marian Consecration?
By Gabbie Ramos, N'20
“I’ll be praying for you everyday this year and especially right now, but I also think you should read 33 Days to Morning Glory and consecrate yourself to Mary.” There I was sitting around a candle, in a darkened high school gymnasium while praying with a youth minister from middle America who I would never see again. I was on a mission trip the summer before starting college and I had expressed some worry over how my faith would be put to the test in college. I was a product of a strong Catholic education and years of involvement in my parish, youth ministry, and campus ministry at my high school. I was headed into a major life transition and I was so focused on gripping tightly onto my faith that I had forgotten that God’s love reminds us to stop “holding on and just be held” (like the Casting Crowns song). That night He was offering his mother to me and I wasn’t even paying attention.
I just let life happen and did not give Marian Consecration a second thought. Then an old high school teacher of mine asked me about it. My parish priest brought it up on conversation. Every time I walked into the Newman Center my eyes would wander to the bottom of the book shelf and dwell on the yellow cover and I always felt the need to grab it. During my weekly ENDOW (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) small group, I learned some of the women not only found this to be a transformative experience, but many wanted to renew their consecration on the upcoming feast of the Annunciation. The stirring in my heart that continued to strengthen every time I heard a story about those who have consecrated themselves to Mary.
So I picked up the book and here we are. I am now ready for this journey and just by the very fact that you are reading this post I believe you are called to walk it with us.
So what does Marian Consecration mean?
So I keep throwing this word around and I know it may sound kind of scary. Consecration. What does it actually mean?
Webster defines consecration as “the action of making or declaring something sacred.” It’s time for us to make ourselves more holy, so sharing in Jesus’ salvific work on our life
Moments before Jesus died, He gave Mary one more special task. He gave us Mary as our mother. Just as Mary cared for Jesus, she wants to take care of us by helping us grow in holiness. Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, author of 33 Days to Morning which we will be reading together, reminds us that “it’s Mary’s great God-given task, in union with and by the power of the Holy Spirit, to form every human being into “another Christ,” that is, to unite everyone to the body of Christ and form each person into a fully mature member of His Body.”
To become closer to Jesus, we need to become closer to his mother. Like Mary’s fiat at the Annunciation, the day in which we will make our consecration, all we have to do is say yes.
How do we do this?
We do this by saying a prayer and reflecting each day for 33 days beginning on Monday, February 20 and making our consecration together on March 25 for the Feast of the Annunciation. You can either email me to have an email delivered to you the next 33 days, or you can pick up a copy of the book 33 Days to Morning Glory at the Newman Center!
Still unsure about this? St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Pope Saint John Paul II have all cited these the Marian Consecration as a transformative moments in their journey. And for many of them it happened during their college years!
Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary truly is the “surest, easiest, shortest, and the most perfect means to becoming a saint.”
And I don’t know about you, but I need some help to get there.
Interested? Fill out this form here or email Gabbie at pennnewman.selfreconciliation@gmail.com with any questions!
Want to get a little deeper? Check out additional resources here, on Formed.org.