Day 14: God Alone - With, In and through Mary - 33 Days to Total Consecration

 "I am all yours, and all that I have is yours, O most loving Jesus, through Mary, your most holy Mother" 

(True Devotion, 233).

DAY 14 of 33: 
SECTION 2: Contemplate the Our Father as we take St. Maximilian Kolbe as our guide.

Action:
1. Resolve to pray a complete set of mysteries of the Rosary every day - as an act of love to God and in fulfillment of Mary's requests to us. 
So, therefore, PRAY the Joyful mysteries of the Rosary today and every day - see day 8 for instructions/ guidance on how to fit this into your day.
2. Skim through the accompanying pictures and the extraordinary wisdom of St. Louis and St. Maximilian Kolbe, and read through as much (below) as possible. 

3. Continue to choose to enter more deeply into the daily prayer program (below) at least in this way: 

Ponder and pray the Our Father today and the accompanying Scripture texts as you meditate and PRAY THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES  - while praying for the grace to listen, to hear and respond to God as Mary does.
 Praying also for the grace to surrender whatever is keeping me from responding fully  - in and through and with Mary’s love and help.

In the light of our meditations on the Rosary and the wisdom of the saints below, let us begin, then, by praying the Our Father, with all of these mysteries in mind - while entering into the depth of this most perfect prayer that Jesus taught us:  

Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Today we contemplate how God has sent Mary to save us again and again through the power and miracles of the Rosary.
Watch for astounding miracles, many of which have taken place in our lifetime!
When we pray the rosary, we have the power to change history and the lives of countless souls who have not yet come to know the love of God!
Imagine the power in our hands! 
Imagine!

God has sent us his Divine Intervention: Mary and the Holy Rosary.
May we not reject them because they seem too insignificant.
May we not be too proud to listen and obey God speaking through Mary, Whom He has sent: 
Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.” Luke 10: 16

As Maximilian said: 
 "the first fundamental priority of the Church's mission is to imitate the Lord Jesus, the Missionary of the Father par excellence, to do as He did, that is, emptying ourselves in the womb of the same mother, Mary."
  
He also explains how we are to join our loved ones to her and our prayers for them - while also only and always giving her everything and only praying for her intentions to be realized. We do this when we entrust them to her and place them into her heart - a place of grace incomparably better than all our mere efforts that we can offer them on our own: 
"Serving the Immaculata with fidelity, we can give the best service to our family. In fact, is she not able to help our families incomparably better than we can ourselves? Let us entrust to her all of those close to our hearts, and she, the best among mothers, will help them in the best way possible."

Entrusting ourselves to Mary and living in her is like being joined to the strength of God Himself, for He has poured in her every grace and blessing and strength and courage of Himself. 
We learned today in our lesson on praying the rosary that it is infinitely better to pray with others than alone - because we are like an army fighting against evil instead of a single soul - citing the analogy of how much easier it is to break a single stick than a bundle...
While that's true and I do believe its infinitely more powerful to gather together to pray... 
it is also true that if we've consecrated ourselves to Mary - even if we are unable to pray with others - we are still joined to a powerful army of souls consecrated to God through her - for then we are united to all who have also come to live in her. 

As Jesus did in the womb, we are called to live in her in our consecration.

In this is our confidence. For when we are united to Mary and live in her - we live united to Jesus and the Blessed Trinity in and through Mary's completely open heart, not our own cluttered heart (that puts up barriers of sin and pride and selfishness that keep us being fully united to God)!  
Thus we can be fully confident - no matter what happens in our lives - that we have all of heaven with us - in and through our Mother's heart and soul.
How beautiful!

Daily Prayer Program for these 33 Days:

It is important to make a commitment to strive to pray more deeply, more intensely and with more of your heart during these days of preparation. Here are some guidelines and suggestions for how to live these days. Pray about how you can grow in each of these areas listed below and while living out this prayer program it is especially important to 

Trust in the Truth and Supernatural Reality of God’s Presence within each of them

1. Sacraments

    •            LIVE Grace and Renew our Baptism - renounce sin and Satan

    •            Mass and the Eucharist the Center of our lives

    •            Confession frequently

2. Scripture - Pray and Internalize it daily

    •           To Jelena: “I’m going to reveal a spiritual secret to you: if you want to be stronger than evil, make yourself a plan of personal prayer. Take a certain time in the morning, read a text from Holy Scripture, anchor the Divine word in your heart, and strive to live it during the day, particularly during the moment of trials. In this way, you will be stronger than evil.” (Our Lady of Medjugorje, April 19, 1984)

    •           Rosary – With and in Mary, contemplating Scripture and the mysteries of God

3. Fill mind with wisdom of Mary and the Saints

    •            God is sending Mary to earth for she is the Crusher of Satan. Listen to her words.

    •            St. John Paul II – example of life given over – Totus Tuus

    •            St. Maximilian Kolbe – Militia Immaculata every soul consecrated to Mary will save the world

    •            St. Louis de Montfort – Mary will form the greatest saints who ever lived – easiest shortest most sure way to sanctity

    •            St. Mother Teresa and many more

PART 2: Readings and Prayers for St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary

PART 3: A taste of Fr. Gaitley's 33 Days to Morning Glory if you have time:

“Come, Holy Spirit, living in Mary, Prepare me to give all to the Immaculata for the sake of the kingdom."

CLICK HERE for Podcast of Day 14 

© Janet Moore 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Day 7: God Alone - With, In and through Mary - 33 Days to Total Consecration

 "I am all yours, and all that I have is yours, O most loving Jesus, through Mary, your most holy Mother" 

(True Devotion, 233).

DAY 7 of 33: Contemplating the Hail Mary. 

Action: Pray the entire Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary today contemplating God becoming man.

The video teaching of this week is the a visual meditation and reading of one of my most favorite meditations on the hidden life of the Holy Family, it is taken from a reflection written by Caryll Houselander entitled Wood of the Cradle, Wood of the Cross. You can find the meditation in print here.

This final day of the 1st Week of our 33 Journey to Consecration, we will ponder on the hidden life of the Holy Family. 

"The Gospels offer very sparse information about the years the Holy Family spent in Nazareth. St Matthew tells of the decision taken by Joseph, after the return from Egypt, to make Nazareth the Holy Family's permanent home (cf. Mt 2:22-23), but then gives no further information except that Joseph was a carpenter (Mt 13:55). For his part, St Luke twice mentions the Holy Family's return to Nazareth (cf. Lk 2:39, 51) and gives two brief references to the years of Jesus' childhood, before and after the episode of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem: "The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him" (Lk 2:40), and "Jesus increased in wisdom, age and grace before God and men" (Lk 2:52). 

Mary pondered these events in her heart."

(John Paul II)

“If we look carefully into this life that was apparently so unremarkable, we shall find that it was greater and more adventurous, more full of exciting events, than we are accustomed to assume in our hasty perusal of the Gospel.”

Pope Paul VI

When we look at the life of the Holy Family, we can reflect on its mysteries and incorporate them into our lives, but recognizing:
Mary is our model.  
She has gone before us as the first Christian disciple, but every action of love given to Mary (which she received in its fullness of grace) is also meant for us and given to us as well (to the extent of our capacity -- based on our humility, desire, faith and love). 
For, we, too, are called to be filled with grace and living tabernacles of God’s presence -- 
bearing Christ within our bodies so to give birth to Him to the world.  
We are called to ponder and treasure His Words, 
to live in intimacy and love with Him each day, 
to nurture His life within our families, 
to bear witness to His miracles and to the Truth of His Words, 
to stand with Him unto the Cross bearing our sufferings, 
to be one with the Apostles and pray for the Holy Spirit’s outpouring upon the Church, 
to be united with him at death, 
and taken up body and soul into glory on the last day. 

Without Mary, we would not have Jesus.  
She is an indispensable part of God's plan. 
God could have given Jesus to us a different way, but He didn't.  
He willed for Jesus to come to us through her.  
Thus, each time we say a "Hail Mary" we are simply echoing the words of the Archangel Gabriel and of Elizabeth who was filled with the Holy Spirit. Each time we say it, we are recalling the greatest event of all history, the moment that God became man in the Incarnation, through the "yes" of a virgin.  Each time we pray the Hail Mary we are invited to remember Mary's continual "yes" to God, to His Son and to the Holy Spirit -- even unto the Cross. Each time we pray this prayer from heaven, we, too, are called to consider that our "yes" to the Holy Spirit's power in our lives can bear Christ into the world.

Each day, we have multiple opportunities to either say “yes” or “no” to God. 

If we say "yes" repeatedly to God's calls, our heart truly does expand; and thus, God is able to use us, for we are open to his inspirations and we are able to do more and more with, in and through Him. 

Likewise, each time we say “no” our heart becomes a little harder, which makes it harder to hear God's voice; until eventually, if we keep saying “no” our heart becomes so hard that it is increasingly difficult to say “yes” and go beyond ourselves – and thus, we hinder the amazing experience of allowing God "to live and move and have His Being in us!"

Yet, God, in His Most Gracious Mercy, gives us an infinite number of times to begin again, for our human frailty often fails us! 

So, it is not about perfectly responding, but never giving up in responding. 

If we continue to strive, He continually pours out His Grace and Life to help us!

During this time of such great darkness and deceit, when Satan is inviting violence and despair, I know God is calling ALL WHO WILL LISTEN TO HIM, to live the answers He has sent to us!!!! 

Can you imagine how transformed our world would be if a countless multitude of little souls answer His Call to pray much and offer sacrifices to save others?? For He is able to:

"do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us" Ephesians 3: 20.

We are able to listen and respond to God and live this transformed life the more we pray the rosary: 

The Rosary mystically transports us to Mary's side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is “fully formed” in us (cf. Gal 4:19,15 Rosarium Virginis Mariae)

  
With all this in mind, then, let us pray for the grace to be committed to pray the rosary and make it an integral part of our lives, praying:
O Jesus, the Rosary is a prayer to draw closer to You by meditating on Your Life and Your Holy Word. May we seek to enter into the mysteries of this beautiful prayer, asking Our Blessed Mother to help us love Jesus as she does. We ask this in Your Most Holy Name. Amen.  
 

For a further meditation on St. Joseph and some of the most beautiful and profound mysteries regarding and revealed about him, see here:
https://enteringintothemystery.blogspot.com/2018/10/10-of-most-beautiful-and-profound.html

Action:
1. Read through the accompanying pictures and the extraordinary wisdom of St. Louis below if possible.
2. Continue to choose to enter more deeply into the daily prayer program (below) at least in this way: 
Ponder and pray the Hail Mary today and the accompanying Scripture texts as you meditate and pray one decade of the Rosary - the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary - while praying for the grace to listen, to hear and respond to God as Mary does.
Praying also for the grace to surrender whatever is keeping me from responding fully  - in and through and with Mary’s love and help.

Daily Prayer Program for these 33 Days:

It is important to make a commitment to strive to pray more deeply, more intensely and with more of your heart during these days of preparation. Here are some guidelines and suggestions for how to live these days. Pray about how you can grow in each of these areas listed below and while living out this prayer program it is especially important to 

Trust in the Truth and Supernatural Reality of God’s Presence within each of them

1. Sacraments

    •            LIVE Grace and Renew our Baptism - renounce sin and Satan

    •            Mass and the Eucharist the Center of our lives

    •            Confession frequently

2. Scripture - Pray and Internalize it daily

    •           To Jelena: “I’m going to reveal a spiritual secret to you: if you want to be stronger than evil, make yourself a plan of personal prayer. Take a certain time in the morning, read a text from Holy Scripture, anchor the Divine word in your heart, and strive to live it during the day, particularly during the moment of trials. In this way, you will be stronger than evil.” (Our Lady of Medjugorje, April 19, 1984)

    •           Rosary – With and in Mary, contemplating Scripture and the mysteries of God

3. Fill mind with wisdom of Mary and the Saints

    •            God is sending Mary to earth for she is the Crusher of Satan. Listen to her words.

    •            St. John Paul II – example of life given over – Totus Tuus

    •            St. Maximilian Kolbe – Militia Immaculata every soul consecrated to Mary will save the world

    •            St. Louis de Montfort – Mary will form the greatest saints who ever lived – easiest shortest most sure way to sanctity

    •            St. Mother Teresa and many more 

PART 2: Readings and Prayers for St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary

12 Days of Preparation renouncing the spirit of the world

1. Learn about Mary's place in God's plan (words of St. Louis from True Devotion of Mary)
2. Pray over Scripture
3. Pray with the Heart
4. Examine our conscience  

PART 3: A taste of Fr. Gaitley's 33 Days to Morning Glory if you have time:

 “Come, Holy Spirit, living in Mary. Help me to praise you for such a quick, easy, and secure path to holiness."

CLICK HERE for podcast of Day 7 for Podcast

© Janet Moore 2019. All Rights Reserved.