Thoughts on Consecration to Mary

From the Mary Vitamin Yahoo Group

Mary Vitamin for August 30

Topic: Consecration to Our Lady

Quote:

"[Consecration to Our Lady] means to sink our roots in Mary's Heart with the happy certainty that he who plants his roots in Mary becomes holy" (St. Bonaventure.)

Father Stefano Manelli, FI,  Devotion to Our Lady,  (Academy of the Immaculate), 140.

Meditation:

Father Manelli explains:

"There are two kinds of consecration to Our Lady:

1)     Simple consecration. This is one that is made privately, or in some pious Marian associations (as the Daughters of Mary, the Legion of Mary, the Militia of the Immaculate), and it entails a generous and fervent individual apostolate.

The consecration of families (strongly recommended by St. Gregory), of children (even before birth), of a school, a town, of a nation, etc., belong also to this kind of consecration.

2)     Consecration of ourselves as "slaves" of Mary, or as her "property", or as a victim in a total sacrifice of love for her.

The consecration of oneself as a slave is taught by St. Louis de Montfort, and it expresses principally the sacrifice of one's liberty in order to live fettered and ruled by the love for Our Lady.

Consecration of oneself as her "property" was taught by St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, and this principally expresses an unconditional surrender of oneself into Mary's immaculate hands as her 'instrument or property.'"

Father Stefano Manelli, FI,  Devotion to Our Lady,  (Academy of the Immaculate), 139.

Resolution:

Today I will say, as St. Louis de Montfort recommends:

Living with Mary

For Mary

In Mary

Each time I say these words, I will think of my spiritual roots sinking deeper into the Heart of Mary, and I will become holier. It will not matter if I do not feel holier. I will just trust, as Father Manelli points out, that the experience of the saints shows that one becomes holier with the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Manelli, 140)

Marian Vow:

Father Manelli says 'The consecrated person ought to succeed in "living with Mary, for Mary, in Mary" and then he asks "But how many are there who truly practice and live their Marian consecration in this way?"

Father Stefano Manelli, FI,  Devotion to Our Lady, (Academy of the Immaculate),  139.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate & AirMaria