Mary our Mother

"Immaculate Conception, Mary, my Mother. Live in me. Act in me. Speak in and through me. Think your thoughts in my mind. Love through my heart. Give me your dispositions and feelings. Teach, lead and guide me to Jesus. Correct my path, enlighten my thoughts, and expand with your love my heart. Possess my soul. Take over my entire personality and life. Replace it with yourself. Incline me to constant adoration and praise. Pray in me and through me, O Mother. Let me live in you, and keep me in this union of hearts. Totus tuus ego suum!"
John Paul the Great

Today begins the 33 day of preparation for consecration to our Lady before her feast of the Visitation, May 31st, which is also Pentecost! If you have never done this consecration before, I strongly suggest you to do it.

Consecration to Our Lady consists of acknowledging that God chose Mary to be His vessle to bring Christ into the world, and as Augustine says however Christ came into the world, we should go back through this way to get to God, therefore, going through Mary!
Consecration is simply giving ourselves totally to our Mother, asking her to bring us closer to her Son, to make us holy and love Him!

Here is a bit of an intro one of my friends wrote in an email to the house last semester:

The Total Consecration to Mary is a devotion begun by St. Louis de Montfort, a holy and devout Parisian priest of the 17th century. Renowned for his ability at teaching, he also had an incredibly strong love for Our Lady, a devotion which moved him to create a method of consecrating oneself to her in a special way, now known as the True Devotion.
In this devotion, one gives oneself totally to Mary as her slave, that she may have "the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to your good pleasure, for the greater glory of God in time and throughout eternity." Through this consecration one begins to configure oneself to Mary, that one may be molded in her likeness, who herself molded Christ within her womb.

It is a 33 day process, with the 34th being the day of consecration. It starts today and ends on May 31st, the Visitation (and Pentecost!). A useful website to go to to get more information, as well as the rest of the prayers, is http://www.fisheaters.com/totalconsecrationmontfort.html

The website suggests reading True Devotion to Mary, but it that is not necessarily suggested for everyone. The simplest way is to just start praying the rosary every day, and maybe even just the simple prayer above by John Paul the Great. Whatever you see fit for your own spiritual life (some are more ready for certain readings/prayers than others) learn to speak to Mary as your Mother, for she IS our Mother, the Mother of ALL mankind!

TOTUS TUUS! Totally yours!

In Christ and Mary,
Sam