Tag Archives: Mary

Day 34 – Total Consecration

Day 34 – Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary

After 33 days of preparation, we are ready to make, or renew our consecration to Jesus through Mary. Saint Louis de Montfort has several encouragements for how to live this day. His recommendations are outlined concisely in his book True Devotion to Mary and repeated in various places on the internet such as here, where you can also find some practices to follow after making the Consecration. The most important recommendation to follow is regarding the Sacraments: there is no better preparation than a humble and sincere Sacramental Confession and a devout participation in the Holy Eucharist including Sacramental Communion. If it is not possible, for some reason, to receive the Sacraments, at least make a sincere act of contrition and a spiritual Communion.

The text for the Consecration can also be found at the link above or a more modern translation can be found here. It is beneficial to write out the Consecration for the sake of investing more love and attention in the words and solemnizing this important moment of prayer. Typesetting with a word processor and printing out a copy that you can sign is also appropriate.

Finally, we provide a slightly altered version of Saint Louis de Montfort’s Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary that captures all the depth and theological importance while adjusting the language slightly to favor the loving image of being in the womb as opposed to the less palatable image of slavery. As expressed in the Introduction at the beginning of our journey, there is no greater “slavery” than being in the womb. A baby in the womb is totally helpless with no will other than the will of the Mother. A baby in the womb is totally dependent on the Mother. And yet there are none of the negative connotations about being in the womb as compared with the many distortions that are found with “slavery.” We recognize that slavery is also a biblical concept and it is not problematic theologically, but especially in light of our American history with slavery, it can be distracting from the essence of Consecration which is about love and trust and carries none of the risks or ambiguity of the term slavery.

One other adjustment in the prayer of Total Consecration is more corrective. Though certainly well-intended by Saint Louis de Montfort, the notion that Jesus would reject or despise us and the idea that Mary is somehow a better mediator or a more merciful advocate than her Son is contrary to Catholic teaching. Saint Louis de Montfort likely expressed things in this way according to the cultural idioms of his time and to inspire greater trust in our Lady, but his expression is in danger of reinforcing false images of Jesus that could undermine our absolute trust in His Infinite Mercy. For this reason, we adjust that sentence of Saint Louis de Montfort’s formula. We leave it to our readers to decide which formula for Consecration they would prefer, but we offer this especially for the sensitive souls who need more comfort and trust than harshness and fear.

Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary

Eternal and incarnate Wisdom, most lovable and adorable Jesus, true God and true man, only Son of the eternal Father and of Mary always Virgin, I adore you profoundly, dwelling in the splendour of your Father from all eternity and in the virginal womb of Mary, your most worthy Mother, at the time of your incarnation.

I thank you for having emptied yourself in assuming the condition of a slave to set me free from the cruel slavery of the evil one. I praise and glorify you for having willingly chosen to obey Mary, your holy Mother, in all things, so that through surrendering all my power and self-determination by dwelling in her womb I may always be your faithful lover.

But I must confess that I have not kept the vows and promises, which I made to you so solemnly at my baptism. I have not fulfilled my obligations, and I do not deserve to be called your child or even your loving slave.

Because I have turned away from you in my sins and I feel so little and poor in my weakness, I do not feel great enough to approach your divine Majesty, but I do feel that I can approach you in your littleness as you dwell in Mary’s womb. That is why I turn to the intercession and the mercy of your holy Mother, whom you yourself have given me to be my meeting place with you. Through her, in her womb, I hope to obtain from you contrition and pardon for my sins, and that Wisdom whom I desire to dwell in me always.

I turn to you, then, Mary Immaculate, living tabernacle of God, in whom eternal Wisdom willed to receive the adoration of men and angels. I greet you as Queen of heaven and earth, for all that is under God has been made subject to your sovereignty. I call upon you, the unfailing refuge of sinners, confident in your mercy that has never forsaken anyone. Grant my desire for divine Wisdom and, in support of my petition, accept the promises and the offering of myself, which I now make, conscious of my littleness.

I, __________________, an unfaithful, repentant sinner, renew and ratify today through you my baptismal promises. I renounce forever Satan, his empty promises, and his evil designs, and I give myself completely to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after him for the rest of my life, and to be more faithful to him than I have been till now.

This day, with the whole court of heaven as witness, I choose you, Mary, as my Mother and Queen. I surrender and consecrate myself to you, body and soul, with all that I possess, both spiritual and material, even including the spiritual value of all my actions, past, present, and to come. I give you the full right to dispose of me and all that belongs to me, without any reservations, in whatever way you please, for the greater glory of God in time and throughout eternity. I entrust myself to your loving, maternal care with the same total abandon as the Baby Jesus who chose to dwell in your womb.

Accept, gracious Virgin, this little offering of myself, to honor and imitate the obedience, which eternal Wisdom willingly chose to have towards you, his Mother. I wish to acknowledge the authority which both of you have over this pitiful sinner. By it I wish also to thank God for the privileges bestowed on you by the Blessed Trinity. I solemnly declare that for the future I will try to honor and obey you in all things as an infant in your womb. O admirable Mother, present me to your dear Son as His little twin in your womb, so that he who redeemed me through you, will now receive me through you.

Mother of mercy, grant me the favour of obtaining the true Wisdom of God, and so make me one of those whom you love, teach and guide, whom you nourish and protect as your own infant in your womb.

Virgin most faithful, make me in everything so committed a disciple, imitator, and twin infant of Jesus, your Son, incarnate Wisdom, that I may become, through your intercession and example, fully mature with the fullness which Jesus possessed on earth, and with the fullness of his glory in heaven. Amen.

Day 33 – Knowledge of Jesus Christ

Day 33 – Christ brings us life and light in Baptism

From the Holy Gospel According to Matthew:

Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. Behold, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Hail!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:1-10)

From Pope Benedict XVI’s homily for the Easter Vigil 2006:

His death was an act of love. At the Last Supper he anticipated death and transformed it into self-giving. His existential communion with God was concretely an existential communion with God’s love, and this love is the real power against death, it is stronger than death. The Resurrection was like an explosion of light, an explosion of love which dissolved the hitherto indissoluble compenetration of “dying and becoming”. It ushered in a new dimension of being, a new dimension of life in which, in a transformed way, matter too was integrated and through which a new world emerges. …

The great explosion of the Resurrection has seized us in Baptism so as to draw us on. Thus we are associated with a new dimension of life into which, amid the tribulations of our day, we are already in some way introduced. To live one’s own life as a continual entry into this open space: this is the meaning of being baptized, of being Christian. This is the joy of the Easter Vigil. The Resurrection is not a thing of the past, the Resurrection has reached us and seized us. We grasp hold of it, we grasp hold of the risen Lord, and we know that he holds us firmly even when our hands grow weak. We grasp hold of his hand, and thus we also hold on to one another’s hands, and we become one single subject, not just one thing. I, but no longer I: this is the formula of Christian life rooted in Baptism, the formula of the Resurrection within time. I, but no longer I: if we live in this way, we transform the world. It is a formula contrary to all ideologies of violence, it is a programme opposed to corruption and to the desire for power and possession.

From Pope Benedict XVI’s homily for the Easter Vigil 2008:

Through his radical love for us, in which the heart of God and the heart of man touched, Jesus Christ truly took light from heaven and brought it to the earth – the light of truth and the fire of love that transform man’s being. He brought the light, and now we know who God is and what God is like. Thus we also know what our human situation is: what we are, and for what purpose we exist. When we are baptized, the fire of this light is brought down deep within ourselves. Thus, in the early Church, Baptism was also called the Sacrament of Illumination: God’s light enters into us; thus we ourselves become children of light. We must not allow this light of truth, that shows us the path, to be extinguished. We must protect it from all the forces that seek to eliminate it so as to cast us back into darkness regarding God and ourselves. Darkness, at times, can seem comfortable. I can hide, and spend my life asleep. Yet we are not called to darkness, but to light. In our baptismal promises, we rekindle this light, so to speak, year by year. Yes, I believe that the world and my life are not the product of chance, but of eternal Reason and eternal Love, they are created by Almighty God. Yes, I believe that in Jesus Christ, in his incarnation, in his Cross and resurrection, the face of God has been revealed; that in him, God is present in our midst, he unites us and leads us towards our goal, towards eternal Love. Yes, I believe that the Holy Spirit gives us the word of truth and enlightens our hearts; I believe that in the communion of the Church we all become one Body with the Lord, and thus we encounter his resurrection and eternal life. The Lord has granted us the light of truth. This light is also fire, a powerful force coming from God, a force that does not destroy, but seeks to transform our hearts, so that we truly become men of God, and so that his peace can become active in this world.

Reflection:

Christ’s Resurrection has changed everything. He has come down to take our hand and He has come down to illumine the way. He helps us navigate the treacherous paths of life, picking us up and walking with us even across the threshold of death, when the time comes for us. Because He has come and changed us into Himself through Baptism, we are never alone, “we grasp hold of the risen Lord, and we know that he holds us firmly even when our hands grow weak.” We do not need to fear our weakness, but it becomes the point at which we meet Him. When we were most desperate He came to us and took us by the hand. When the night was darkest, He came to us and brought us the light of heaven. “Now we know who God is and what God is like.” Now we have a fire from heaven that warms us and transforms our hearts. This is the fire that first burned in the Heart of Mary who was the first redeemed. This is the fire that warmed the Infant God in her womb and warms each us of us who choose to rest in her womb, beneath her Immaculate Heart.

Prayers:

Litany of the Powerlessness of Jesus

Litany of Christ Living in the Womb of Mary

Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas before Holy Communion

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Day 32 – Knowledge of Jesus Christ

Day 32 – Jesus Dies, the Word is Silenced

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew:

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. (Matthew 26:57-61)

From Pope Saint John Paul II’s Address in Turin May 24, 1998:

The Shroud is also an image of powerlessness: the powerlessness of death, in which the ultimate consequence of the mystery of the Incarnation is revealed. The burial cloth spurs us to measure ourselves against the most troubling aspect of the mystery of the Incarnation, which is also the one that shows with how much truth God truly became man, taking on our condition in all things, except sin. Everyone is shaken by the thought that not even the Son of God withstood the power of death, but we are all moved at the thought that he so shared our human condition as willingly to subject himself to the total powerlessness of the moment when life is spent. It is the experience of Holy Saturday, an important stage on Jesus’ path to Glory, from which a ray of light shines on the sorrow and death of every person. By reminding us of Christ’s victory, faith gives us the certainty that the grave is not the ultimate goal of existence. God calls us to resurrection and immortal life.

The Shroud is an image of silence. There is a tragic silence of incommunicability, which finds its greatest expression in death, and there is the silence of fruitfulness, which belongs to whoever refrains from being heard outwardly in order to delve to the roots of truth and life. The Shroud expresses not only the silence of death but also the courageous and fruitful silence of triumph over the transitory, through total immersion in God’s eternal present. It thus offers a moving confirmation of the fact that the merciful omnipotence of our God is not restrained by any power of evil, but knows instead how to make the very power of evil contribute to good. Our age needs to rediscover the fruitfulness of silence, in order to overcome the dissipation of sounds, images and chatter that too often prevent the voice of God from being heard.

Reflection:

Like all of us, Jesus ended as He began: helpless, powerless, and silent. This was His victory. He never fled from the limitations of our humanity, from His first moment in Mary’s womb to His last breath on the Cross, He lived our humanity to its extremes. He drank the full cup of our humanity all the way to the dregs. As Saint John Paul II reminds us, this comforts us in knowing that we are never alone when we experience the weakness and powerlessness that is a part of being human. We are never abandoned by the One who can share it with us and so also carry us through it. And just as Jesus was accompanied in His weakest moments by Mary His Mother, He gives her to us to accompany us in the same way. When we feel most weak and poor, we can know that we are safely enclosed in the womb of Mary who always loves us and cares for us.

Prayers:

Litany of the Powerlessness of Jesus

Litany of Christ Living in the Womb of Mary

Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas before Holy Communion

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Day 31 – Knowledge of Jesus Christ

Day 31 – God seeks man in the womb of Mary

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:1-7)

From Pope Saint John Paul II’s Letter Tertio Millenio Adveniente #7:

 

In Jesus Christ God not only speaks to man but also seeks him out. The Incarnation of the Son of God attests that God goes in search of man. Jesus speaks of this search as the finding of a lost sheep (cf. Lk 15:1-7). It is a search which begins in the heart of God and culminates in the Incarnation of the Word. If God goes in search of man, created in his own image and likeness, he does so because he loves him eternally in the Word, and wishes to raise him in Christ to the dignity of an adoptive son. God therefore goes in search of man who is his special possession in a way unlike any other creature. Man is God’s possession by virtue of a choice made in love: God seeks man out, moved by his fatherly heart.

Why does God seek man out? Because man has turned away from him, hiding himself as Adam did among the trees of the Garden of Eden (cf. Gen 3:8-10). Man allowed himself to be led astray by the enemy of God (cf. Gen 3:13). Satan deceived man, persuading him that he too was a god, that he, like God, was capable of knowing good and evil, ruling the world according to his own will without having to take into account the divine will (cf. Gen 3:5). Going in search of man through his Son, God wishes to persuade man to abandon the paths of evil which lead him farther and farther afield. “Making him abandon” those paths means making man understand that he is taking the wrong path; it means overcoming the evil which is everywhere found in human history. Overcoming evil: this is the meaning of the Redemption. This is brought about in the sacrifice of Christ, by which man redeems the debt of sin and is reconciled to God. The Son of God became man, taking a body and soul in the womb of the Virgin, precisely for this reason: to become the perfect redeeming sacrifice. The religion of the Incarnation is the religion of the world’s Redemption through the sacrifice of Christ, wherein lies victory over evil, over sin and over death itself. Accepting death on the Cross, Christ at the same time reveals and gives life, because he rises again and death no longer has power over him.

Reflection:

God is seeking us! He is looking for you. He wants to bring you home. He longs for us, thirsts for us. Where does He go looking? Where we are most helpless, most powerless, most weak, hurting, lost, forgotten, abandoned, overlooked and hidden. When we are feeling so small that we could fit into a womb, because we are so ashamed that we shrivel up and hide in our sinfulness, because we are so belittled by the harshness and domination of others, or because we feel so weak and insignificant, that is when Christ is seeking us. He becomes small like us. He takes on our sins, the rebukes of the powerful and the weakness of our humanity. He seeks us in the womb of Mary, embracing all the littleness of and pain of being human that He might fill it with all the sweetness of divine love.

 

Prayers:

Litany of the Powerlessness of Jesus

Litany of Christ Living in the Womb of Mary

Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas before Holy Communion

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Day 30 – Knowledge of Jesus Christ

Day 30 – Mary, the Eucharist and the Incarnation

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke:

And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no husband?” And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. (Luke 1:34-35)

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the chalice after supper, saying, “This chalice which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:19-20)

From Pope Saint John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia #55:

In a certain sense Mary lived her Eucharistic faith even before the institution of the Eucharist, by the very fact that she offered her virginal womb for the Incarnation of God’s Word. The Eucharist, while commemorating the passion and resurrection, is also in continuity with the incarnation. At the Annunciation Mary conceived the Son of God in the physical reality of his body and blood, thus anticipating within herself what to some degree happens sacramentally in every believer who receives, under the signs of bread and wine, the Lord’s body and blood.

As a result, there is a profound analogy between the Fiat which Mary said in reply to the angel, and the Amen which every believer says when receiving the body of the Lord. Mary was asked to believe that the One whom she conceived “through the Holy Spirit” was “the Son of God” (Lk 1:30-35). In continuity with the Virgin’s faith, in the Eucharistic mystery we are asked to believe that the same Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary, becomes present in his full humanity and divinity under the signs of bread and wine.

“Blessed is she who believed” (Lk 1:45). Mary also anticipated, in the mystery of the incarnation, the Church’s Eucharistic faith. When, at the Visitation, she bore in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a “tabernacle” – the first “tabernacle” in history – in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, allowed himself to be adored by Elizabeth, radiating his light as it were through the eyes and the voice of Mary. And is not the enraptured gaze of Mary as she contemplated the face of the newborn Christ and cradled him in her arms that unparalleled model of love which should inspire us every time we receive Eucharistic communion?

…

What must Mary have felt as she heard from the mouth of Peter, John, James and the other Apostles the words spoken at the Last Supper: “This is my body which is given for you” (Lk 22:19)? The body given up for us and made present under sacramental signs was the same body which she had conceived in her womb! For Mary, receiving the Eucharist must have somehow meant welcoming once more into her womb that heart which had beat in unison with hers and reliving what she had experienced at the foot of the Cross.

Reflection:

Every Mass brings us to the womb of Mary, where Christ first became present in His Body and Blood. Every Tabernacle is a copy of that first Tabernacle, which is Mary’s womb, where Christ spent the first nine months of His life. If we want to be close to Jesus in His Body and Blood, even to hide ourselves away in the Tabernacle with Him, then we can do that by consecrating ourselves to Mary, by hiding away in her womb. Jesus remains there in all His hiddenness and littleness, in that first Tabernacle. Are we too big too fit, too full of ourselves, too busy with the things of the world? Or can we let ourselves be hidden in love to find the Hidden Love who remains wrapped in love? Can we allow ourselves to be confined to God’s will, which is nothing other than the womb, than the heart of Mary, who was always freely confined to God’s will? Mary teaches us to make a home in ourselves for Jesus, a Tabernacle, a womb in our hearts for Him to remain always. We do that by uttering with her our Yes to God’s will…Fiat.

Prayers:

Litany of the Powerlessness of Jesus

Litany of Christ Living in the Womb of Mary

Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas before Holy Communion

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Day 29 Knowledge of Jesus Christ – Humility of the Eucharist

Day 29 – Saints on the Humility of Jesus in the Eucharist

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John:

For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.” This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him. Jesus said to the Twelve, “Will you also go away?” (John 6:55-67)

From various saints about the humility of Jesus in the Eucharist:

Saint Francis wrote to his brothers:

“O admirable height and stupendous condescension! O humble sublimity! O sublime humility! that the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under a morsel of bread. Consider, brothers, the humility of God and pour out your hearts before Him, and be humbled that you may be exalted by Him. Do not therefore keep back anything for yourselves that He may receive you entirely who gives Himself up entirely to you.

Saint Faustina wrote in her Diary (Entry #80):

O Jesus, Divine Prisoner of Love, when I consider Your love and how You emptied Yourself for me, my senses fail me. You hide Your inconceivable majesty and lower Yourself to miserable me. O King of Glory, though You hide Your beauty, yet the eye of my soul rends the veil. I see the angelic choirs giving You honor without cease, and all the heavenly Powers praising You without cease, and without cease they are saying: Holy, Holy, Holy.

Oh, who will comprehend Your love and Your unfathomable mercy toward us! O Prisoner of Love, I lock up my poor heart in this tabernacle, that it may adore You without cease night and day. I know of no obstacle in this adoration, and even though I be physically distant, my heart is always with You. Nothing can put a stop to my love for You. No obstacles exist for me. O my Jesus, I will console You for all the ingratitude, the blasphemies, the coldness, the hatred of the wicked, the sacrileges. O Jesus, I want to burn as a pure offering and to be consumed before the throne of Your hiddenness. I plead with You unceasingly for poor dying sinners.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said:

“The humility of Jesus can be seen in the crib, in the exile to Egypt, in the hidden life, in the inability to make people understand Him, in the desertion of His apostles, in the hatred of His persecutors, in all the terrible suffering and death of His Passion, and now in His permanent state of humility in the tabernacle, where He has reduced Himself to such a small particle of bread that the priest can hold Him with two fingers. The more we empty ourselves, the more room we give God to fill us.”

Saint Therese of Lisieux rejoiced in the Communion of Midnight Mass:

“God would have to work a little miracle to make me grow up in an instant, and this miracle He performed on that unforgettable Christmas day. On that luminous night which sheds such light on the delights of the Holy Trinity, Jesus, the gentle, little Child of only one hour, changed the night of my soul into rays of light. On that night when He made Himself subject to weakness and suffering for love of me, He made me strong and courageous, arming me with His weapons. Since that night I have never been defeated in any combat, but rather walked from victory to victory, beginning, so to speak, “to run as a giant”!

Reflection:

Do we see the humility of Jesus who continually comes to us in a way that makes us easily overlook Him? We cannot tell the difference between a consecrated host and an unconsecrated host—our senses cannot tell the difference between Jesus and a simple piece of bread. Do we promote ourselves? Are we offended when others do not know who we are? Do we push ourselves forward to make sure we are seen or correct others when they do not acknowledge our credentials. Do we feel self-important? Do we see how contrary these attitudes are to the humility of Jesus who remains anonymously, invisibly hidden beneath the appearance of bread and even then hidden away in a Tabernacle? This is how the baby is in the womb, especially a baby so small that the mother does not even appear to be pregnant. Are we willing to be so small, so hidden, so overlooked as to be a tiny, tiny baby in the womb of Mary? If so, then we are drawing closer to fulfilling the command of Jesus, “Be imitators of me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” (Matthew 11:29)

Prayers:

We pray first with Mother Teresa: “Mary, mother of Jesus, give us your heart, so beautiful, so pure, so  immaculate, so full of love and humility, that we may be able to receive Jesus in the bread of life, love him as you love him, and serve him in the distressing disguise of the poor.”

Litany of the Powerlessness of Jesus

Litany of Christ Living in the Womb of Mary

Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas before Holy Communion

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Day 28 Knowledge of Jesus Christ – Christ became poor

Day 28 – Christ became poor

A Reading from the Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. (2 Cor 8:9)

From Pope Francis’s Message for Lent 2014:

[Christ] does not reveal himself cloaked in worldly power and wealth but rather in weakness and poverty: “though He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor …”. Christ, the eternal Son of God, one with the Father in power and glory, chose to be poor; he came amongst us and drew near to each of us; he set aside his glory and emptied himself so that he could be like us in all things (cf. Phil 2:7; Heb 4:15). God’s becoming man is a great mystery! But the reason for all this is his love, a love which is grace, generosity, a desire to draw near, a love which does not hesitate to offer itself in sacrifice for the beloved. Charity, love, is sharing with the one we love in all things. Love makes us similar, it creates equality, it breaks down walls and eliminates distances. God did this with us. Indeed, Jesus “worked with human hands, thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, he truly became one of us, like us in all things except sin.” (Gaudium et Spes #22).

By making himself poor, Jesus did not seek poverty for its own sake but, as Saint Paul says “that by his poverty you might become rich“. This is no mere play on words or a catch phrase. Rather, it sums up God’s logic, the logic of love, the logic of the incarnation and the cross. God did not let our salvation drop down from heaven, like someone who gives alms from their abundance out of a sense of altruism and piety. Christ’s love is different! When Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan and was baptized by John the Baptist, he did so not because he was in need of repentance, or conversion; he did it to be among people who need forgiveness, among us sinners, and to take upon himself the burden of our sins. In this way he chose to comfort us, to save us, to free us from our misery. It is striking that the Apostle states that we were set free, not by Christ’s riches but by his poverty. Yet Saint Paul is well aware of the “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8), that he is “heir of all things” (Heb 1:2).

So what is this poverty by which Christ frees us and enriches us? It is his way of loving us, his way of being our neighbour, just as the Good Samaritan was neighbour to the man left half dead by the side of the road (cf. Lk 10:25ff ). What gives us true freedom, true salvation and true happiness is the compassion, tenderness and solidarity of his love. Christ’s poverty which enriches us is his taking flesh and bearing our weaknesses and sins as an expression of God’s infinite mercy to us. Christ’s poverty is the greatest treasure of all: Jesus’ wealth is that of his boundless confidence in God the Father, his constant trust, his desire always and only to do the Father’s will and give glory to him. Jesus is rich in the same way as a child who feels loved and who loves its parents, without doubting their love and tenderness for an instant. Jesus’ wealth lies in his being the Son; his unique relationship with the Father is the sovereign prerogative of this Messiah who is poor. When Jesus asks us to take up his “yoke which is easy”, he asks us to be enriched by his “poverty which is rich” and his “richness which is poor”, to share his filial and fraternal Spirit, to become sons and daughters in the Son, brothers and sisters in the firstborn brother (cf. Rom 8:29).

It has been said that the only real regret lies in not being a saint (L. Bloy); we could also say that there is only one real kind of poverty: not living as children of God and brothers and sisters of Christ…

Reflection:

Jesus came to share His wealth with us. Pope Francis explains the wealth of Jesus: “Jesus’ wealth is that of his boundless confidence in God the Father, his constant trust…” and he further clarifies: “Jesus’ wealth lies in his being the Son; his unique relationship with the Father…” To share this wealth with us, Jesus became poor. He accepted human love in place of divine love: the love of Joseph and the love of Mary. He accepted human parents and human helplessness instead of His divine Father and His divine power. But because He could not actually lose His divine Father or His Father’s divine power, He actually filled the poverty of human love from human parents with divine love. Now we too, who are poor, can experience the wealth of Christ, because we can call His Father “our Father” and we can learn about His Fatherhood from our human fathers and mothers and we can receive glimpses of divine love through our experiences of impoverished human love. And so our human experience has been radically transformed because Jesus has entered fully into it and blessed all of it as the way to receive His wealth—His boundless confidence in the Father and the richness of the Father’s love. “Jesus is rich in the same way as a child who feels loved and who loves its parents, without doubting their love and tenderness for an instant.” And in opening Mary’s womb for us to share His experience, He opens the door for us to share in that richness.

Prayers:

Litany of the Powerlessness of Jesus

Litany of Christ Living in the Womb of Mary

Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas before Holy Communion

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Knowledge of Jesus Christ – Introduction and Day 27

Introduction to the Week of Knowledge of Jesus Christ

The ultimate culmination of Marian consecration according to the model of Saint Louis de Montfort is really consecration to Jesus Christ. It is a total consecration to Jesus Christ through Mary. For this reason our journey of preparation concludes with a week focused on Jesus Christ. He is, after all, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is our Savior and Lord. Saint Louis de Montfort simply intuited that a sweet and easy path to total consecration to Jesus Christ would be through Mary. As we have already been meditating, that total consecration happens particularly through the womb of Mary. That is where the God-man was formed and so that is where the “man-gods” can be formed. Jesus Christ is God by nature, but He makes us a sharer in His divinity, i.e. “God” by grace. That process of divinization is gradual and the mold is the womb of Mary. So we enter into the womb of Mary not simply out of love for Mary, but also in order to be transformed into Christ her Son.

As we have focused on throughout this preparation, a major obstacle for us is the disordered thoughts and desires of original sin, which fundamentally tempt us to try to become god without God. We seek control and self-sufficiency. We want to depend on God only insofar as it moves us to a point that we no longer need to depend on Him. We do the same with others. We are resistant to entering into truly interdependent relationships that are committed and eternal. Because of the wounds of broken trust, we always keep escape routes open in case things do not work out. Total consecration to Jesus Christ is a decision to close the escape routes in our relationship with God. It is a total consecration, involving our whole mind, heart, body and soul. It is a radical decision to enter irrevocably into a love relationship with Him starting in this moment and including all future moments as well, in time and in eternity.

We make this total consecration through Mary and as we place ourselves in her womb, we let ourselves develop the qualities of Jesus Christ her Son. We need to develop especially the counter-cultural qualities that reverse the pattern of original sin. These are qualities of trust and dependency on God. We develop this trust through prayer and we develop it also through our interdependent relationships with others. Interdependency with others is part of the life of Jesus. He placed His life in the hands of others, starting with Mary and Joseph and extending to His Apostles and disciples. He placed His life so radically in their hands that He gave them power to take His life away, and even when they betrayed Him, He never took away His trust and love. These are the heights we are called to.

In this Week of Knowledge of Jesus Christ, we focus on the way that Jesus became poor, little, weak and dependent. We focus on His powerlessness in His earthly life and His dependency on others and we focus on His ongoing powerlessness in the Eucharist and the dependency and trust that He still gives to us in our response to His Eucharistic Presence. We also focus on the illumination He brings us in the Resurrection and ultimately the way He made Himself subject to death. After each day’s meditation we pray a Litany of Powerlessness, focusing on the way that Jesus who always had the power of God truly emptied Himself and subjected Himself to our human limitations, becoming powerless like us. We pray that we might lovingly embrace His powerlessness and find all the power we need through our trust in God. We pray also a litany of Jesus living in the womb of Mary, deepening our reflection on how He “consecrated” Himself to Mary in this way, allowing Himself to be formed in her womb. Thirdly, we meditate, through Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Prayer Before Communion, on the humility of Jesus in His Eucharistic Presence. If it is possible, it would be an excellent final preparation to attend Mass each day this week and offer that Prayer of Saint Thomas before Communion in the context of the Mass. And lastly we continue our prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary. Let us also ask the Divine Artisan, the Holy Spirit to form us and lead us deeper in our journey throughout this week.

Day 27 – Jesus is little, near and real

From the Book of the Prophet of Isaiah:

Thus says the Lord:
Heaven is my throne
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house which you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things are mine,
says the Lord.
But this is the man to whom I will look,
he that is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word. (Is 66:1-2)

From Pope Francis’s Homily in Czestochowa, July 28, 2016:

God saves us, then by making himself little, near and real. First God makes himself little. The Lord, who is “meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29), especially loves the little ones, to whom the kingdom of God is revealed (Mt 11:25); they are great in his eyes and he looks to them (cf. Is 66:2). He especially loves them because they are opposed to the “pride of life” that belongs to the world (cf. 1 Jn 2:16). The little ones speak his own language, that of the humble love that brings freedom. So he calls the simple and receptive to be his spokespersons; he entrusts to them the revelation of his name and the secrets of his heart. Our minds turn to so many sons and daughters of your own people, like the martyrs made the defenseless power of the Gospel shine forth, like those ordinary yet remarkable people who bore witness to the Lord’s love amid great trials, and those meek and powerful heralds of mercy who were Saint John Paul II and Saint Faustina. Through these “channels” of his love, the Lord has granted priceless gifts to the whole Church and to all mankind. It is significant that this anniversary of the baptism of your people exactly coincides with the Jubilee of mercy.

Then too, God is near, his kingdom is at hand (cf. Mk 1:15). The Lord does not want to be feared like a powerful and aloof sovereign. He does not want to remain on his throne in heaven or in history books, but loves to come down to our everyday affairs, to walk with us. As we think of the gift of a millennium so filled with faith, we do well before all else to thank God for having walked with your people, having taken you by the hand, as a father takes the hand of his child, and accompanied you in so many situations. That is what we too, in the Church, are constantly called to do: to listen, to get involved and be neighbours, sharing in people’s joys and struggles, so that the Gospel can spread every more consistently and fruitfully: radiating goodness through the transparency of our lives.

Finally, God is real. Today’s readings make it clear that everything about God’s way of acting is real and concrete. Divine wisdom “is like a master worker” and “plays” (cf. Prov 8:30). The Word becomes flesh, is born of a mother, is born under the law (cf. Gal4:4), has friends and goes to a party. The eternal is communicated by spending time with people and in concrete situations. Your own history, shaped by the Gospel, the Cross and fidelity to the Church, has seen the contagious power of a genuine faith, passed down from family to family, from fathers to sons and above all from mothers and grandmothers, whom we need so much to thank. In particular, you have been able to touch with your hand the real and provident tenderness of the Mother of all, whom I have come here as a pilgrim to venerate and whom we have acclaimed in the Psalm as the “great pride of our nation” (Jud15:9).

Reflection:

“The little ones speak his own language…” and we can imagine how twin babies communicate in such a simple way in the womb or how a baby in the womb communicates so simply with his mother. The language of love is always simple—gestures of tenderness, embraces, a mother feeding her baby with her body, a mother holding her baby in her arms. This is the first language that Jesus spoke—a language of touch, of food, of kisses and embraces. And it is the last language that He and we speak in our last moments of life. Likewise, if we let ourselves be little, we can feel the nearness of Jesus who draws close to our weakness to bring the tender touch of the Father and the realness of Jesus who does not settle for ideas, but turns them into gestures of love. All this happens when we allow ourselves to be little and enfolded in the love of Mary’s womb.

 

Prayers:

Litany of the Powerlessness of Jesus

Litany of Christ Living in the Womb of Mary

Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas before Holy Communion

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Day 26 – Knowledge of Mary

Day 26 – Mary, our refuge

A Reading from the Book of Revelation:

And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another sign appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (Rev 12:1-6)

From Pope Francis’s Homily for a Mass at St Mary Major Basilica for the Translation of the Miraculous Image of Mary, Salus Populi Romani:

The Christian people have understood, from the very beginning, that in difficulties and trials we need to turn to our Mother, as the most ancient Marian hymn has it: Beneath your protection, we seek refuge, O Holy Mother of God; do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin. Amen.

We seek refuge. Our fathers in faith taught that in turbulent moments we should gather under the mantle of the Holy Mother of God.  At one time those who were persecuted and in need sought refuge with high-ranking noble women: when their cloak, regarded as inviolable, was held out as a sign of welcoming, protection had been granted.  So it is for us with regard to Our Lady, the highest woman of the human race.  Her mantle is always open to receive us and gather us.  The Christian East reminds us of this, where many celebrate the Protection of the Mother of God, who in a beautiful icon is depicted with her mantle sheltering her sons and daughters and covering the whole world.  Monks of old recommended, in times of trial, that we take refuge beneath the mantle of the Holy Mother of God: calling upon her as “Holy Mother of God” was already a guarantee of protection and help, this prayer over and again: “Holy Mother of God”, “Holy Mother of God”… Just like this.

This wisdom, that comes to us from far off, helps us: the Mother protects the faith, safeguards relationships, saves those in storms and preserves them from evil.  Where our Mother is at home, the devil does not enter in.  Where our Mother is at home, the devil does not enter in.  Where our Mother is present, turmoil does not prevail, fear does not conquer.  Which of us does not need this, which of us is not sometimes distressed or anxious?  How often our heart is a stormy sea, where the waves of our problems pile up and the winds of our troubles do not stop blowing!  Mary is our secure ark in the midst of the flood.  It will not be ideas or technology that will give us comfort or hope, but our Mother’s face, her hands that caress our life, her mantle that gives us shelter.  Let us learn how to find refuge, going each day to our Mother.

Reflection:

Mary’s mantle is another image for her womb. We are invited to stay under the mantle of Mary, in the womb of Mary. “Where our Mother is at home, the devil does not enter in…fear does not conquer.” Our Mother is always “at home” when we are in her womb. She wants us not only to find refuge there each day, but as constantly as a baby finds refuge in its mother’s womb. The key is to spiritually press this against those places of anxiety and distress in our hearts. Remember the last time you were distressed and place it in our Lady’s womb. Remember the things that make you anxious and place them in our Mother’s womb. Let your anxious parts feel her firm support, secure refuge, tender caresses and absolutely safety from any spiritual harm.

Prayer:

Sub tuum praesidium: Beneath your protection, we seek refuge, O Holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin. Amen.

Litany of the Holy Spirit or Veni Sancte Spiritus

Rosary (or at least a decade) followed by the Litany of Loreto

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary

Day 25 – Knowledge of Mary

Day 25 – Mary, our fiercely compassionate Mother

 

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke:

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:3-7)

From Pope Benedict XVI’s homily for the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 2005:

In her, God has impressed his own image, the image of the One who follows the lost sheep even up into the mountains and among the briars and thornbushes of the sins of this world, letting himself be spiked by the crown of thorns of these sins in order to take the sheep on his shoulders and bring it home.

As a merciful Mother, Mary is the anticipated figure and everlasting portrait of the Son. Thus, we see that the image of the Sorrowful Virgin, of the Mother who shares her suffering and her love, is also a true image of the Immaculate Conception. Her heart was enlarged by being and feeling together with God. In her, God’s goodness came very close to us.

Reflection:

We see how fiercely Mary protects her children. We think of the saintly mothers throughout history, who, like Mary, would lay down their lives to protect their babies in the womb. Saint Gianna Beretta Molla and Chiara Corbella Petrillo and so many other Mary-like mothers laid down their lives to protect the babies in their wombs. Our Mother Mary loves us even more than that. When we speak of being in the womb of Mary, we know there is no pain or threat we face that she does not share with us. We know that her fiercely maternal heart fights vigorously to protect us. We know that she will never abandon us, no matter what the cost to her might be.

Prayer:

Litany of the Holy Spirit or Veni Sancte Spiritus

Rosary (or at least one decade) followed by the Litany of Loreto

Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary