DAY 8 OF 33 TOTAL CONSECRATION

[Dawn Marie]

Begin With The Following Prayers:

Come Holy Ghost fill the hearts of Thy faithful...

The Holy Rosary

The Litany of the Blessed Virgin

 

Imitation of Christ

Of Resisting Temptations

As long as we live in this world, we cannot be without temptations and tribulations. Hence it is written in Job "Man's life on earth is a temptation." Everyone therefore should be solicitous about his temptations and watch in prayer lest the devil find an opportunity to catch him: who never sleeps, but goes about, seeking whom he can devour. No one is so perfect and holy as sometimes not to have temptations and we can never be wholly free from them. Nevertheless, temptations are very profitable to man, troublesome and grievous though they may be, for in them, a man is humbled, purified and instructed. All the Saints passed through many tribulations and temptations and were purified by them. And they that could not support temptations, became reprobate, and fell away.

Many seek to flee temptations, and fall worse into them. We cannot conquer by flight alone, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. He who only declines them outwardly, and does not pluck out their root, will profit little; nay, temptations will sooner return and he will find himself in a worse condition. By degrees and by patience you will, by God's grace, better overcome them than by harshness and your own importunity. Take council the oftener in temptation, and do not deal harshly with one who is tempted; but pour in consolation, as thou wouldst wish to be done unto yourself. Inconstancy of mind and little confidence in God, is the beginning of all temptations. For as a ship without a helm is driven to and fro by the waves, so the man who neglects and gives up his resolutions is tempted in many ways.

Pray to Know Thyself

They should then offer up all their prayers and pious actions to ask for knowledge of themselves and contrition for their sins; and they should do this in a spirit of humility.  For that end, they can, if they chose, meditate on what I have said before of our inward corruption. They can look upon themselves during this week as snails, crawling things, toads, swine, serpents and unclean animals; or they can reflect on these three considerations of St. Bernard: the vileness of our origin, the dishonors of our present state, and our ending as the food of worms. (True Devotion pp228)

They should pray Our Lord and the Holy Ghost enlighten them; and for that end they might use the ejaculations, “Lord that I may see!” (Lk. 18:41); or “May I know myself!” or “Come Holy Ghost”, together with the Litany of the Holy Ghost and the prayers which follows….They should have recourse to the Blessed Virgin and ask her to grant them this immense grace, which must be the foundation of all others; for this end, they should say the Ave Maris Stella and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. (True devotion pp228)

 

We now enter the second week of preparation---a period dedicated to knowledge of self; something indispensable for our progress in the spiritual life.  Too often we have only a superficial knowledge of ourselves---imagining ourselves to be what we are not.  The purpose of this week is to see ourselves as we really are---to see ourselves as God sees us.  How shall we achieve this knowledge of ourselves?  By…

 

Prayer---asking God for the grace to see ourselves as we really are.  True knowledge of self, will only be achieved by the grace of God and this grace will only come if we ask it of God, through humble and sincere prayer.

 

Examining Our Life---to see how we have spent or misspent our lives.  To help you examine your life thoroughly, we have included an extensive examination of conscience   (if you click the word examnation of conscience it will take you to it) for day 2 of this week.  This covers all the 10 Commandments and various sins based on different states in life.  It is also an ideal way to prepare for confession.  It is recommend that you make a general confession of your whole life, or at least from the time of your last general confession.  However this is only recommended NOT obligatory and it suffices to make a regular confession in preparation for the consecration. 

Realizing that it can be difficult to find both the priest and the time for a general confession, it is suggested that you make your confession at any time during the five week preparatory period---or in cases of impossibility, at any time before or after the consecration.

 

Reflection---on why we were created?  By Whom?  Where we came from?  Where we are going?  Everyone ends up in one of two places----heaven or hell.  Reflect upon the fact that we cannot serve God and the world.  Which one do we really put first?  Are we really committed to serving God?  Is it only on Sundays and in private?  Or only in those things which we find to our liking?

 

Meditation:

Taken From:​ ​Sin and Its Consequences

 

[Cathleen]

Thank you, Alley, I really needed that.  :-D

From someone who is weak, flighty and inconsistent more times than I care to remember.

Prayers for all Crusaders today, esp. in my Rosary

[Alley]

Sometimes when I read these instructions and prayers I see myself weak, flighty and inconsistant. But I know that when I begin my prayers by making the sign of the cross and asking Our Lady to "Please replace my sinful heart with her Pure and Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart" I know she adorns my weak, flighty and inconsistant prayers with Her love and gives that to Her Son. She wipes all the dirt and soil off, decorates my little offerings with flowers and smiles at Her Son for me.

Holy Slavery is giving yourselves to Mary! Every weakness and every strength. We (especially myself) need to remember to ask her to fix us to make us pleasing to Her Divine Son. She sees us as we really are and She takes care of Her own! The trick (if you can call it that) is to let her worry about you!

I was told once that when you start to see yourself as weak and imperfect and truly see yourself as sinful that is when God is drawing you closer to Himself. (I hope I put that right ) That is how I understand it. Seeing yourself and admitting the truth to yourself is most pleasing to God and His Divine Son and to Mary! :)

True possessions, slaves, children of Mary let her worry about themselves, which is not an easy thing to do by any means. Our human nature gets in the way, just remember it is your intention that Our lady and Her Son wants. Your LOVE! Like St Mary Magdelen much was forgiven her because she loved much!

Please forgive my long windedness :) Cathleen, Christine Our Blessed Mother is hugging you to her right now and smiling. Let yourselves hug her back.    

 

 

           

 

[Dawn Marie]

Thank you for letting me know about the link Christine.  I fixed it so it should work now.

It is the same examination as is in the tabs above.

You don't have to say those two prayers everyday but Father Vernoy does recommend a monthly renewal of our consecration after August 22.  I'll have to find the prayer which renews our consecration for each month.

[Cathleen]

I am going to have to read /re-read the postings for the past couple of days.  I  was offline for most of the weekend, but did use my book "Consecration to Mary" by Fr. Helmuts Libietis and tried to follow along.  Some of the meditations in the book are the same as are posted online. 

All I can say is that I have a Very Long Way to go!  :-o  Little things would jump out at me when I was reading the meditations and passages, as things I really need to work on.  I am too complacent at my spiritual life and especially prayer and really need to re-kindle my zeal. 

Good thing we are doing this again!  And I'm really glad to be doing it in company with all of you good folks to urge me on and provide good examples to me.  :-)