DAY 23 OF 33 TOTAL CONSECRATION

[Dawn Marie]

Begin With The Following Prayers:

Come Holy Ghost...

The Holy Rosary...

The Magnificat...

 

 

From True Devotion To the Blessed Virgin Mary, Nos. 120-121

Nature of perfect devotion to the Blessed Virgin perfect consecration to Jesus Christ

120. As all perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotions is that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completely to Jesus. Now of all God's creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for the most effective consecration and conformity to him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus. That is why perfect consecration to Jesus is but a perfect and complete consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin, which is the devotion I teach; or in other words, it is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism.

121. This devotion consists in giving oneself entirely to Mary in order to belong entirely to Jesus through her. It requires us to give:

(1) Our body with its senses and members;

(2) Our soul with its faculties;

(3) Our present material possessions and all we shall acquire in the future;

(4) Our interior and spiritual possessions, that is, our merits, virtues and good actions of the past, the present and the future​.​

In other words, we give her all that we possess both in our natural life and in our spiritual life as well as everything we shall acquire in the future in the order of nature, of grace, and of glory in heaven. This we do without any reservation, not even of a penny, a hair, or the smallest good deed. And we give for all eternity without claiming or expecting, in return for our offering and our service, any other reward than the honour of belonging to our Lord through Mary and in Mary, even though our Mother were not - as in fact she always is - the most generous and appreciative of all God's creatures.

 

Reading: Mary’s Pure Heart

By St. Alphonsus de Liguori

Cont. from yesterday

Imagine, for instance, Mary on the road to Jerusalem on the first Presentation Day. She hurries toward the place of sacrifice and holds the beloved Victim in Her arms. She enters the Temple, approaches the altar, and there, unassumingly, humbly and devoutly presents Him to the Most High. Meanwhile holy Simeon, who had been promised by God that he should not die without first having seen the expected Messiah, takes the Divine Child from the hands of the Blessed Virgin and, inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells Her how much the sacrifice of Her Son will cost Her. He tells Her too that together with Him Her own blessed soul will also be sacrificed.

In a sermon on the Purification, St. Thomas of Villanova pictures the holy old man becoming troubled and silent at the thought of having to make such a gloomy prophecy. Then he pictures Mary asking: "Why are you troubled on such a happy day, Simeon?" "O royal Virgin," he replies, "I wish I did not have to give You such bitter news. But God wills it for Your greater merit. Listen then to what I have to say. This Child who is now such a joy to You------and how rightly so, O God------this Child will one day cause You such bitter grief as no other creature has ever experienced. You will see Him persecuted by men of all types and made a butt for their scoffing and outrages. They will even go so far as to put Him to death as a criminal before Your very eyes. You are most happy to have this Child, but I tell you that He will be a stumbling block to many, a sign of contradiction. After His death there will be many Martyrs who will be tortured and put to death for the love of Your Son. They will suffer Martyrdom in their bodies, but You, O holy Mother, will suffer it in Your heart."

Yes, Mary was to suffer in Her heart. Her compassion for Her most beloved Son was the sword which was destined to pierce Her motherly heart, as St. Simeon accurately foretold: And Thy own soul a sword shall pierce [Lk. 2: 35].

St. Jerome assures us that the Blessed Virgin was well versed in the Sacred Scriptures and therefore was aware what the Redeemer would have to suffer during His life, and even more at the time of His death. She fully understood from the Prophets that He was to be betrayed by one of His own disciples: Even My friend who had My trust and partook of My bread, has raised his heel against Me [Ps. 40, 10]. And that He would be abandoned by them: Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered [Zach. 13: 7]. She knew all about the contempt, the spitting, the blows, the scorn that He would be made to suffer at the hands of the people: I have given My body to the strikers, and My cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away My face from them that rebuked Me and that spit upon Me [Isa. 50: 6]. She knew that He was to become the reproach of the vilest men and the outcast of the people, and would be overwhelmed with insults and injuries: But I am a worm, not a man: the scorn of men, despised by the people [Ps. 21, 7]; He shall be filled with reproaches [Lam. 3: 30]. She knew also that at the end of His life His most sacred flesh would be tom and mangled by scourges: But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins [Isa. 53 : 5]. She knew that His whole body would be disfigured and become like that of a leper------all wounds, with the bones exposed where they pierced the flesh: There is no beauty in Him nor comeliness . . . and we have thought Him, as it were, a leper [Isa. 53: 5]. They have numbered all His bones [Ps. 21, 18]. She knew that He was to be pierced by nails: They have pierced My hands and My feet [Ps. 21, 17]. And would be ranked with criminals: And He was reputed with the wicked [Isa. 53: 12]. And that finally, hanging on a Cross, He would die for the salvation of mankind: And they shall look upon Me, Whom they have pierced [Zach. 12: 10].

Mary, I say, was already well aware of all these tortures that Jesus would have to suffer, but Simeon's words, And Thy own soul a sword shall pierce, revealed to Her all the details of those sufferings, internal and external, that were to torment Him, as Our Lord Himself revealed to St. Teresa. [3] She consented to everything, however, with a steadfastness that filled even the Angels with astonishment. She pronounced the sentence that condemned Her Son to death------a death so ignominious and painful------when She said: "Eternal Father, since You will that it should be so, not My will, but Thine be done [Lk. 22: 42]. I unite My will to Your most holy will, and I sacrifice My Son to You. I am happy to have Him lose His life for Your glory and the salvation of the world. At the same time I sacrifice My heart to You so that it may be pierced with sorrow as much as You please. It is enough for Me, O My God, that You be glorified and content with My offering: Not My will, but Thine be done."

O immeasurable charity! O unparalleled constancy! O victory deserving the eternal admiration of Heaven and earth!

 

 

Meditation: Taken from “Absolute Abandonment” pg. 42-44

Perfection does not consist in knowing the Order of God, but in submitting to it.

The order of God, the good pleasure of God, the will of God, the action of God, the grace of God, all these are one and the same thing in this life. It is God laboring to render the soul like unto Him. Perfection is nothing but the soul's faithful co-operation in this labor of God. This work is silently effected in our souls, where it thrives, increases, and is consummated unconsciously to ourselves.

Theology is full of conceptions and expressions which explain the wonders of this work effected in individual souls according to their capacity.  We may know all the theory of this work, admirably write and speak thereon, and instruct and direct souls; but if our knowledge be only theoretical, then I say that in comparison with souls which live and act by the order of God and are guided by His divine will, though ignorant of the theory of its operations or its different effects, and unable to speak thereof, we are like a sick physician compared to ordinary persons in perfect health.

The order of God, His divine will, received with simplicity by a faithful soul, effects this divine work in her unconsciously to herself, just as a remedy submissively taken restores the health of a sick man, although he have not, and need not have, any knowledge of medicine.

It is the fire which warms us, and not the philosophical knowledge of the element and its effects; so it is the order of God, His divine will, and not the curious speculation on its principles and its methods, which produces the sanctification of our souls.

If we thirst, we must drink; theoretical explanations will not quench our thirst. Curiosity for knowledge only makes us thirst still more. Therefore, if we thirst for sanctification, curious speculations only keep us farther from it. We must abandon all theories and drink in simplicity of all that the will of God sends us of work and suffering. That which comes to us each moment by the order of God is best and holiest and most divine for us.

[Gloria]

Amen.

[AnnaMaria]

Amen

[Serena Joseph-Harris]

Amen!

[Flavia Talladen Schott]

Amen.

"O immeasurable Charity! O unparalleled Constancy! O Victory deserving the eternal admiration of Heaven and earth!"

Deo gratias! 

[Michael]

Amen.

[bernadette szczepkowski]

Amen+

[AnnaMaria]

Amen

[Leontine Bajer]

Amen+

[Gloria]

Amen.

[Joseph]

Day 23