INTRODUCTION

The Holy Mother Church guided by the Holy Spirit and in her wisdom has over time unveiled
incredibly rich spiritual buffet for her children. Holy Mother Church offers prayers,
devotions, liturgies, and traditions that speak to every personality and life stage of her
children. One such tradition that has been practiced throughout the centuries is the Marian
consecration. No doubt, consecrating oneself to Our Lady is a profoundly spiritual and
impactful path to sanctity. However, considering the fact that as faithful Catholics, we in one
way or the other honor the Blessed Virgin Mary when we participate actively and faithfully
in the life of the church, is there really a need for a special consecration to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary? By the help of the Holy Spirit this exhortation is aimed to help us understand
the meaning, purpose and importance of consecration to the Immaculate heart of Mary. More
so, testimonies will also be shared to boost our faith in the efficacy and special graces that
accompanies this consecration.
UNDERSTANDING THE CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF
MARY
One of the definitions for the word “consecrate” is to “dedicate formally to a religious or
divine purpose.” One of the definitions for the word “consecrate” is to “dedicate formally to a
religious or divine purpose.” Marian consecration is the act of entrusting one’s body, soul,
possessions, works, and entire life to the protection, guidance, and intercession of Our Lady.
The act of entrusting oneself to Mary’s care and intercession is nothing new. Jesus Himself
entrusted His beloved disciple, John, to Mary while He was on the Cross (John 19:26-27).
The early Christians and Church fathers recognized Mary’s holiness and her significance as
the Mother of God. We’ve been asking for Mary’s intercession and intervention in our lives
since the beginning of the Church. She is, after all, our mother, too.
By our consecration we promise to become dependent on Mary in all things: to offer all our
prayers and oblations to God through Mary, and to seek every gift from God through Mary.
And we do this with the greatest confidence. Since she is our mother, she knows our needs
better than we; and since she is Queen of Heaven, she has immediate access to the infinite
treasury of graces in the Kingdom of her Divine Son.
No wonder Pope Pius XII said this “Consecration to the Mother of God," "is a total gift of
self, for the whole of life and for all eternity; and a gift which is not a mere formality or
sentimentality, but effectual, comprising the full intensity of the Christian life - Marian life."
This consecration, the Pope explained, "tends essentially to union with Jesus, under the
guidance of Mary."
When Mary appeared to the three little children of Fatima: Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia on
July 13, 1917, she said this to them that God wishes to establish in the world devotion to her
Immaculate Heart. Her heart shared the pain of God for the salvation of the world. The
Immaculate Heart is a symbol of Mary's life with God. The heart of Mary is the symbol of a
great love for God and a great love for us. This is the heart that collaborated with God's work
of salvation in order to save you and I.
St. Augustine in talking about the Immaculate Heart of Mary, said that Mary first conceived
Christ in her mind and heart before conceiving him in her womb. Saints such as St.
Scholastica, the twin sister of St. Benedict who was the founder of the Benedictine Order,
Saint Marcellina, the only sister of Saint Ambrose, St. Philomena, etc consecrated to God at
their birth and they all became Saints.

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In 1933, Our Lord communicated to Lucia that He was not displeased that His requests had
not been attended to. Then in May 18, 1936, Jesus appeared to Lucia and she asked the Lord
why He would not convert Russia without the Holy Father making the consecration? Our
Lord replied Lucia Because I want My whole Church to acknowledge that consecration as a
triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary so that this devotion will be extended and put next
to the devotion to My Sacred Heart.” The Immaculate Heart will save Russia, Jesus said. It is
entrusted to her. So, for both Jesus and for Mary, this consecration to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary is very important.
The Vatican Council and its document on the church Lumen Gentium, in Chapter eight,
number 60 speaks of Mary. And in that chapter, it says “There is but one Mediator as we
know from the words of the apostle "for there is one God and one mediator of God and
mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a redemption for all" (1 Timothy 2:5). The
maternal duty of Mary towards us does not obscure or diminish this unique mediation of
Christ, but rather shows His power. Mary helps to foster that immediate union of us with
Christ.
THE PURPOSE AND IMPORTANCE OF CONSECRATION TO THE
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Holiness of Life: The first obvious reason for this consecration is to secure the necessary
graces to live a holy life. The Catholic faithful have always implored this maternal help of
Our Lady as beautifully expressed in the prayer based on the words of Sacred Scripture and
concluding with the affirming and petitioning words of the Church—the Hail Mary. Many of
her traditional titles invoke her special role in the divine plan as our special helper on the
narrow way of holiness and heaven: Gate of Heaven, Refuge of Sinners, Help of Christians.
Scripture and Tradition recall her role in aiding the faithful in the struggle against the devil
and overcoming sin. Many of us may recall from childhood depictions of Mary crushing the
head of the ancient serpent. And speaking of Holiness, St. Maximilian Kolbe taught us a
simple equation that will always help us in remaining faithful to God. The simple equation is:
Capital Letter W + small Letter w= S. The capital W stands for God’s will, the Small Letter
w, stands for our wills. When the two wills are united, they equal Sanctity (Holiness).
Fruitfulness: Closely related to holiness and Mary always passionate in helping us, is
fruitfulness. Each of us is called to bear “fruit that will last” (John 15:16). This fruitfulness is
manifested in a famous way through the “fruit of the Spirit … love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” and is contrasted with the “works
of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19-23). We are each called to bear fruit in our respective Christian
vocations: marriage, priesthood, consecrated religious life, and the Christian single state.
Protection: Lastly, the reason for consecrating ourselves and the diocese to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary so that our lives and diocese may be protected from evil. We live in turbulent
times, but we should not fear if we hope in the Lord, who has won the victory that we share
in already. Once again, I recall the marvelous mystery of Divine Providence that God the
Father chose to entrust his only begotten Son, the Word made Flesh, as an infant, to Mary.
So, Christ bids us to turn to his Mother, entrusting ourselves, our families, our Church, to her
loving and Immaculate Heart, that we might be consoled, strengthened, and filled with peace
to respond in faith to God’s will. May we ever persevere in remaining faithful to the end of

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our lives. We petition Our Lady to intercede for this special grace in the conclusion to the
Hail Mary, as we implore her intercession for a happy death, in a state of grace, in our final
hour. As the Ark of the Covenant stood on dry ground between the Jordan River’s divided
waters (Joshua 3:14-17) while the Israelites made their crossing into the Promised Land, so
Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant stands at the divide between this life and eternity,
beckoning us and guiding us.
TESTIMONIES
Mary’s Scapular is very powerful to save us in evil situations. In 1845, there was an English
ship named the King of the Ocean. It was going to Australia. Onboard, there was a Protestant
minister, whose name was River run Fisher. The ship faced a violent storm and there were
about to be shipwrecked. A young Irish sailor named John Mc Auliff took off some things
from around his neck and threw it into the sea. The sea became calm immediately. No more
storm. The Protestant minister asked the young Irish sailor, what is that you threw to the sea?
The young man replied, My Scapular. When the Protestant minister arrived in Australia, he
said to those who greeted him. I want to find a Catholic church; I want to become a Catholic.
I have seen the power of the mother of God saving us from evil. I want to belong to this
Church. Mary protects us from evil.
In 1957 in a village in Germany. There was a fire that destroyed 22 houses. Only one house
was not destroyed. There was a scapular tied to the front door of this house. Mary saves us in
evil situations. In 1955 in Guatemala, there was an airline crash and 22 people who were on
board all died. Only one girl was saved. She was the only one wearing a scapular. Mary saves
us from evil situations.
CONCLUSION
In light of what we have reflected upon, the mystery of the finding of the child Jesus in the
Temple, as recounted in Luke’s Gospel (2:41-52), takes on deeper meaning. We hear the
reply of Jesus to the impassioned question of his mother who, with St. Joseph, had searched
for him for three days: “Why did you search for me? Did you not know I had to be in my
Father’s house?” Jesus was where he was supposed to be—in his Father’s house. But in
accepting her maternal role as Mother of the Church at the foot of the Cross (John 19:26-27),
Mary must now search for all her children who because of sin are not where they are
supposed to be, in their Father’s house. We likewise assist her in seeking out the many
around us who are lost and disoriented and know not their way to true peace. The words of
hope that conclude Pope Pius IX’s Apostolic Constitution, “Ineffabilis Deus” (Ineffable
God), on Dec. 8, 1854, defining the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, are fitting
for us to recall today: “We have, therefore, a very certain hope and complete confidence that
the most Blessed Virgin will ensure by her most powerful patronage that all difficulties be
removed and all errors dissipated, so that our Holy Mother the Catholic Church may flourish
daily more and more throughout all the nations and countries. We are firm in our confidence
that she will obtain pardon for the sinner, health for the sick, strength of heart for the weak,
consolation for the afflicted, help for those in danger; that she will remove spiritual blindness
from all who are in error, so that they may return to the path of truth and justice, and that
there may be one flock and one shepherd.” For all of these reasons tomorrow the Bishop will
perform this special consecration of our diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on May 13,
2020. May God bless us!