Lent - A Time of Consecration

Lent is a time of renewal. During these 40 days of penance the Church invites us to do penance for our sins and consecrate our lives back to God. This is done most effectively with the help of Our Lady. We can use this season to either make or renew our consecration to Our Lady, as explained by Fr Stehlin below.

Why Make the Consecration?

If you have not yet made your Consecration according to St. Grignion, the Commander in chief would like to invite you to discover the secret of the sure victory in all battles and fights. If you reject this invitation you will never be an eager fighter of the Immaculata; on the contrary, you will often be too weak to resist the attacks of the terrible enemies. Besides, you won’t be able to do anything special in battle, because the general can only count on you a little, your weapons are rusty or your ammunition is used up.

If you have already received the unspeakable grace that the Queen has accepted you as a slave and child and is now theoretically able to lead you safely to the heights of perfection, it is very important to renew again and again the total surrender to Mary, at least once a year.

The reason is simple: as long as we live, we will always lack the confidence to understand fully and seriously this devotion. With each renewal of our consecration we become a little less unworthy and a little bit more faithful!

There is another reason: the fight is terrible, we’re always on the battlefield. The knight can easily get tired, especially when he is constantly occupied in helping the Immaculata to save souls. The never ending turmoil wears us out. That is why the Mother wants to draw us to herself, so that we can rest for a while, like a child at the heart of the Mother. She wants to remind us again how much she loves us, how much she is our mother and what she wants from us (2nd week of preparation). She wants us to reflect over and over again on who we ourselves are, as creatures totally dependent on God, but also as poor, fallen men (1st week of preparation). Above all, she desires to lead us to her Son, so that through her we may know and love Him fully and belong to Him who has loved us “boundlessly and who has given himself up for us to death on the cross “(3rd week of preparation)[1].

Act of Consecration to Jesus through Mary

O Eternal and incarnate Wisdom! O sweetest and most adorable Jesus! True God and true man, only Son of the Eternal Father, and of Mary, always virgin! I adore Thee profoundly in the bosom and splendors of Thy Father during eternity; and I adore Thee also in the virginal bosom of Mary, Thy most worthy Mother, in the time of Thine incarnation.  

I give Thee thanks for that Thou hast annihilated Thyself, taking the form of a slave in order to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee for that Thou hast been pleased to submit Thyself to Mary, Thy holy Mother, in all things, in order to make me Thy faithful slave through her. But, alas! Ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises which I made so solemnly to Thee in my Baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Thy child, nor yet Thy slave; and as there is nothing in me which does not merit Thine anger and Thy repulse, I dare not come by myself before Thy most holy and august Majesty. It is on this account that I have recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy Mother, whom Thou hast given me for a mediatrix with Thee. It is through her that I hope to obtain of Thee contrition, the pardon of my sins, and the acquisition and preservation of wisdom.  

Hail, then, O immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the Eternal Wisdom willed to be hidden and to be adored by angels and by men! Hail, O Queen of Heaven and earth, to whose empire everything is subject which is under God. Hail, O sure refuge of sinners, whose mercy fails no one. Hear the desires which I have of the Divine Wisdom; and for that end receive the vows and offerings which in my lowliness I present to thee.   

I,________________________________, a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before. In the presence of all the heavenly court I choose thee this day for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God in time and in eternity. 

Receive, O benignant Virgin, this little offering of my slavery, in honor of, and in union with, that subjection which the Eternal Wisdom deigned to have to thy maternity; in homage to the power which both of you have over this poor sinner, and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity has favored thee. I declare that I wish henceforth, as thy true slave, to seek thy honor and to obey thee in all things.  

O admirable Mother, present me to thy dear Son as His eternal slave, so that as He has redeemed me by thee, by thee He may receive me! O Mother of mercy, grant me the grace to obtain the true Wisdom of God; and for that end receive me among those whom thou lovest and teachest, whom thou leadest, nourishest and protectest as thy children and thy slaves.  

O faithful Virgin, make me in all things so perfect a disciple, imitator and slave of the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ thy Son, that I may attain, by thine intercession and by thine example, to the fullness of His age on earth and of His glory in Heaven. Amen.