Day 11: 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 11 of 33: 
WEEK 2: Contemplate the Our Father as we take St. Maximilian Kolbe as our guide.

Action: 
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.
Start by contemplating the Joyful mysteries of the Rosary - see day 8 for instructions/ guidance on how to fit this into your day.
Also, pray and contemplate the 3rd Luminous Mystery - the Proclamation of the Kingdom and the Call to Conversion

Today we contemplate the 3rd Luminous Mystery - The Proclamation of the Kingdom and the Call to Conversion. We could meditate on a thousand scriptures to plunge to the depth of this Mystery - of God becoming man to restore the lost, to bring sight to the blind, to free those in bondage, to heal, to teach, to encourage, to walk among us and to show mercy and compassion upon us...
We ask for fresh eyes and ears to enter into these Scriptures as if we are hearing them for the first time! To truly be moved and in awe of the Jesus' power and might and compassion and mercy! To be moved to repent and believe and follow Him in whatever way He asks... 
to become poor in spirit ... humble enough to enter into this consecration to Jesus through Mary...  

Let us also be moved by the fire of love of St. Maximilian who lived out the call of Jesus: to help God's Kingdom to come and His Will be done on earth as it is in heaven, as he sought:
“To conquer the whole world for Christ through the Immaculata.” 
[He saw this as possible through] the “total and limitless” belonging to the Immaculata [that] widens toward the passionate search for the heart of man, of all men, of all the billions of hearts beating on earth beyond Poland and Japan (cf. KW 647).

He lived this out through starting an apostolate called: "The City of the Immaculata" that housed 800 friars who worked tirelessly to promote and share the love of Mary.

St. Louis de Montfort also seeks to bring about God's kingdom with and in Mary, who is our safeguard against evil. It is below, but I share it here, because I feel it is especially important for us in these times of such grave evil.  
He wrote:
88. 
2. The evil spirits, cunning thieves that they are, can take us by surprise and rob us of all we possess. They are watching day and night for the right moment. They roam incessantly seeking to devour us and to snatch from us in one brief moment of sin all the grace and merit we have taken years to acquire. Their malice and their experience, their cunning and their numbers ought to make us ever fearful of such a misfortune happening to us. People, richer in grace and virtue, more experienced and advanced in holiness than we are, have been caught off their guard and robbed and stripped of everything. How many cedars of Lebanon, how many stars of the firmament have we sadly watched fall and lose in a short time their loftiness and their brightness!
What has brought about this unexpected reverse? Not the lack of grace, for this is denied no one. It was a lack of humility; they considered themselves stronger and more self- sufficient than they really were. They thought themselves well able to hold on to their treasures. They believed their house secure enough and their coffers strong enough to safeguard their precious treasure of grace. It was because of their unconscious reliance on self - although it seemed to them that they were relying solely on the grace of God - that the most just Lord left them to themselves and allowed them to be despoiled. If they had only known of the wonderful devotion that I shall later explain, they would have entrusted their treasure to Mary, the powerful and faithful Virgin. She would have kept it for them as if it were her own possession and even have considered that trust an obligation of justice.
89. 
3. It is difficult to persevere in holiness because of the excessively corrupting influence of the world. The world is so corrupt that it seems almost inevitable that religious hearts be soiled, if not by its mud, at least by its dust. It is something of a miracle for anyone to stand firm in the midst of this raging torrent and not be swept away; to weather this stormy sea and not be drowned, or robbed by pirates; to breathe this pestilential air and not be contaminated by it. It is Mary, the singularly faithful Virgin over whom Satan had never any power, who works this miracle for those who truly love her.
Additional Options: 
See Frances Hogan's study (referenced in the video teaching) on the Beatitudes --
https://franceshogan.com/Voyage%20episodes/Episode%2014.html
the whole video leads up to her teaching, but she expressly starts speaking about the beatitudes at 6:15 in the video.

See also Dr. Pitre's study on Mary the Mother of the Messiah sometime during this 2nd week if you have time:
https://watch.formed.org/lectio-mary-with-dr-brant-pitre/season:1/videos/mother-of-the-messiah

Action:
1. Skim through the accompanying pictures and words below that highlight the extraordinary wisdom of St. Louis. Read them more thoroughly as the Holy Spirit inspires you and as time allows and when it is possible.
2. 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 entire Joyful Mysteries as well as the 3rd Luminous Mystery  - 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

Praying over and reading Christ's Teaching

Praying with the Heart

Examining our conscience 

Learning about Mary's place in God's plan 

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

“Come, Holy Spirit, living in Mary. Renew the face of the earth, so that all creation may return to God.”

CLICK HERE for Podcast of Day 11 

© 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.

Day 6: 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 6 of 33: Contemplating the Hail Mary. 

Action: Pray one decade of the Rosary contemplating the 5th Joyful Mystery - The Finding of Jesus in the Temple. 

Providentially it is the feast of Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome as I write this meditation on the finding of Jesus in the Temple.
At first glance, it is always a curious thing when a feast day of the Church honors a building, but the readings demonstrate why we give honor to the the oldest Church in Rome and the Pope's Cathedral - for they give insight into the multi-layered meaning of the reality of the Temple of the Lord and its rightful worship. Thus, by our honoring of this magnificent Basilica, we are called to recognize that:
1. Jesus, Himself is the Temple, it is He Who fills this magnificent Cathedral and makes it Holy. 
2. The Temple is also "His Father's House". 
3. And, because we are in Christ, we also are the Temple of the Lord, as St. Paul tells us in the second reading, "You are God’s building." 

In the Gospel, Jesus, with great power and authority cleansed His Temple. Scripture tells us the disciples discerned it was because, "Zeal for God's house will consumed Him." Jesus was and is consumed with us! 
-with defending our honor and with cleansing us from everything that is unfitting to God's Holy Dwelling, to His Father's House!  
In His Power he overturned the "money changers' tables" [the sin and all that we cling to in place of God] in our hearts. 

Again, St. Paul writes: 
 
"But each one must be careful how he builds upon [the Building of God, which you are]...
for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there,
namely, Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple,
God will destroy that person;
for the temple of God, which you are, is holy."

Jesus died to free us from the sins that destroy our life and foundation - our dignity and holiness - for:

"Our human dignity lies in the fulfillment of our nature, which is found solely in union with God. Mary is the height and expression of human dignity as she truly attains the highest imaginable union with God in whose image she is made." Fr. Michael Paris

To the extent we give ourselves to Mary is the same extent Mary she is able to give herself back to us; and thus, the more she is able to share the height and glory - the inestimable union with God - that she obtained. It is this union with the Father that Jesus zealously longs for us to obtain as well, and yet:

 

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” 

"Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat (truly lies hidden)—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden."

-- C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

I love these quotes!!! 
(I used the second one already in a video teaching, but I couldn't help myself from using it again here).

Today's readings from 33 Days to Morning Glory, Fr. Gaitley echoes these truths - expressed in a slightly different way, as he writes about:
St. Faustina’s vision of the differing degrees of glory in heaven. After seeing this, St. Faustina writes that if we could see the heights that a soul could reach in heaven “we would willingly suffer anything on earth just to move one degree higher.” Diary 605 
God has given Mary everything, even the ability to help us attain these great heights of heaven; for He allows her the grace to fill the empty thrones in heaven that the fallen angels lost with the souls of her consecrated children!
What wondrous love is this!!! 
 
Let us, then, resolve to strive to live for our fulfillment, our union and our glory with God instead of the false pleasures of this world that diminish us. We ask this in Jesus' Name with and in and through Mary's fullness of grace and help. Amen. So be it.

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 5th Joyful Mystery of the Rosary- the Finding of Jesus in the Temple - 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:

Help me to give great glory to God by giving all I am and have to Mary.” 

CLICK HERE for podcast of Day 6 

© Janet Moore 2019. All Rights Reserved.