What is Total Consecration?
Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary is a 33-day course that builds on True Devotion to Mary according to St. Louis Marie de Montfort. It’s an amazing way to grow deeper in your faith and draw closer to Jesus through Mary. Each of the 33 days includes a short video, some written reflections, and prayer time. Join us!
From Consecration to Adoration
My dear brothers and sisters, after walking together in these 33 days of preparation following St. Louis Marie de Montfort’s spirituality of Total Consecration to Our Lady, after placing oneself in the hands of the Blessed Mother, let us recall once again, that Mary will lead us to Jesus, and the very reason why the saint is teaching us to establish a perfect devotion to Our Lady, is in order to establish a solid and perfect devotion to Our Lord. It is, therefore, our hope that our Marian Consecration will lead us to Eucharistic Adoration. The best way to go and adore Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament is to spend time with Him with the Blessed Mother as our model adorer.
Jesus left us His Mother to be the Mother and Model of adorers. We could imagine how the Virgin Mary adores Our Lord perfectly. All of Mary’s life taken as a whole may be summed up in one word–adoration–for adoration is the perfect service to God, and it embraces all the duties of the creature toward the Creator. St. Peter Julian Eymard says, “It was Mary who first adores the Incarnate Word, and Mary’s adoration was more pleasing to Him than that of all the angels,” The saint continues, “Mary continued to adore Our Lord: first in His hidden life at Nazareth; afterward His apostolic life; and finally on Calvary where her adoration became an intense suffering.” And we could also add with certainty, that Mary adored Our Lord with greatest love and devotion in the Eucharist when St. John the Apostle celebrated the Mass.
My dear brothers and sisters, we notice here the nature of Our Lady’s adoration: She adores Our Lord according to the different states of Jesus’ life, in the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries of the Rosary. In one of our series, we talked about intimacy with Our Lord through devotion to Our Lady. In Eucharistic adoration, we establish an intimate union with God with the help of the Blessed Mother. The Holy Eucharist is also called Holy Communion (Catechism #1331). Communion is to be one with God. Our Lord says very clearly, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him.” (In. 6:56) This is Communion, to be one with Our Lord. This intimate union that Our Lord so desires in Holy Communion begins in the present, not yesterday for it’s gone, nor in the future, for it’s still to come. Today is the day that the Lord has made.
Eucharistic Adoration is the need of our time, for so many evils, are threatening our society, in your country, in my country, in the whole world, especially in the family. What we need is to go back to Jesus, to receive once again, His graces through Our Lady, to counter all these evils. And Jesus is not far from us, for He is there present and ready to welcome us in the Holy Eucharist. What is needed is a humble and contrite heart like the prodigal son described in the gospel of St. Luke. If you think you are the worst person in the world, come to Him with a humble and contrite heart, and ask for the grace of a good confession. If you come to Our Lord for Eucharistic Adoration, you bring joy to the Eucharistic heart of Jesus. I would like to share this invitation taken from Bishop James Conely’s pastoral letter, Love Made Visible, “I encourage all Catholics to make adoration of the Blessed Sacrament a daily part of life, and to be committed to a holy hour of Eucharistic Adoration at least once a week, whenever possible before the exposed Blessed Sacrament,” words from the shepherd to his flock. One final thing is a challenge for all, to move forward from Marian Consecration to Eucharistic Adoration, a continuous formation of souls, living a life of holiness, sharing and teaching others, children, friends, co-workers, and other people about consecration to Our lady and to commit time for Eucharistic Adoration during the week. Eucharistic adoration is the urgent need and the glorious mission of our time to bring people back to God in His Eucharistic Table.
Last video: Total Consecration: Where do we go from here? Bishop Conley
