Last week on the Feast of Divine Mercy, I invited you to join me and your fellow parishioners to Consecrate yourselves, and our Parish to Jesus through Mary using the 33 days to Morning Glory Consecration. I shared with you the true story of Mary imploring people to conversion and her being so influential in the world in order to lessen and prevent evils, like Communism. I talked about how Our Lady is credited with preventing the bullet from killing her servant, John Paul II, and how she inspired and used John Paul II to spread Jesus’ message of God’s unbounded mercy. We will see in week 4 of the Morning Glory Consecration how John Paul II consecrated himself to Mary, in fact his Papal Motto was Totus Tuus- meaning ‘totally yours’. Did you know it was Mary who was the catalyst behind the holiness and legacy of now St. John Paul II? Did you know Mary was and wants to be so active in the world in preventing evils and bringing about God’s will? Have you ever wondered how much closer to God you could be if you and I would intentionally let her guide us? That’s what the Consecration is all about- letting her lead us even closer to her son Jesus and God’s will for our lives than we ever could on our own.

I admit, although I grew up Catholic and knew about Mary, I never really knew her such intimate involvement in the life and holiness of people. When I thought about Mary, I just thought about her being the Mother of Jesus, not the real and impactful Mother of the Church and the people of God. Perhaps like you, I believed in her, but didn’t really have a personal devotion to her. Yes, I knew about the Scripture verse of John 19, when Jesus says from the Cross to his beloved disciple, who represents all followers of Jesus, “Behold, your mother”. But I never really did that myself, I never really listened to Jesus and ‘beheld my mother’. But now that I look back, and in high school when I started to pray the rosary more frequently just because it was something I thought it was something I should do, I now realize it was at this time that I started to become more committed to Jesus and wanted to serve the Church in some way in my life. I was developing a deeper relationship with Jesus through Mary. I know now that Mary was leading me closer to my vocation as a priest. That is what Mary does, she always leads us closer the will of God. It was the same for Fr. Gaitley, the author of the Consecration, as he deepened his relationship with Mary, she then she stepped out of the spotlight and it was at that time that he learned more and fell more in love with Divine Mercy. He later realized Mary never left him, she just lead him closer to the will of God from behind the scenes. She wants to do the same with all of us.

I will share another piece of my past with you. Like I mentioned earlier, early in my life was, I believed in Mary but was never really devoted to her. And honestly, I was a little skeptical at the degree that some people were devoted to her. At times it would make feel uncomfortable how people honored Mary, I wondered if they were missing Jesus. It was when I was in college, at Franciscan University, that I heard about the Consecration and took a class called Mariology where I learned about the Catholic doctrines on Mary. I remember on the first day of class, the Professor said something like, ‘we learn about Mary so that we can let her be for us what God wants her to be’. In the class, I learned more about Mary’s God-given role in the life of the Church. Her role in exemplifying and leading us to full discipleship, and leading us to the Holiness God wants for us. I learned that by loving her, we are not loving God less, we are actually loving God more. Because we are doing what God wants us to do, to “behold her”. By being so devoted and honoring Mary so much, we are only doing what God the Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus did first. Keep in mind, it was God the Father who first gave his heart to Mary when He conceived her immaculately without sin. The Father gave her his heart when He asked her to be the mother of His only Begotten Son. Obviously, Jesus gave Mary his heart all throughout his life, not only by obeying her as a child, but especially upon the Cross, when He gave her to His beloved disciple. And so, when John, and whenever we “behold our mother” and “take her into our home”, we are only doing what God did first and obeying what God asks us to do.

But not only did God give His heart to Mary, as He gives it to us too, but Mary perfectly gave her heart to God. She gave her heart when she called herself the handmaid of God, when she did the Father’s will and became the mother of Jesus. She gave her heart when she allowed herself to be “overshadowed” by the Holy Spirit, by doing so she surrendered her entire heart and life to His guidance. Jesus’ Sacred Heart and Mary’s Immaculate Heart are perfectly united, and Mary always knows and does the will of God- like she did on earth, she continues to do as our spiritual mother. As I said, when we give our hearts to Mary, we do so that we can give our hearts more perfectly to God’s. As St. Louis de Montfort says, “Mary is the quickest, easiest, and most sure way to holiness”. When we give our hearts to Mary, Mary prepares and purifies our hearts so that it can be a more perfect throne room for Her Son. And even though we so often pray and present ourselves to God imperfectly, Mary perfects our prayers and offerings. Loving Mary only enlarges our hearts to love God more than we ever could on our own. Mary perfectly did the Father’s will, and Mary continues to be who God has made her to be, our spiritual mother, leading and teaching us to do the Father’s will in our lives. That is why she has been and is so active in the world, because she is trying to guide her children who have strayed so far back home to God. Imagine how much more she can do in our lives, in our parish and world if we were to intentionally let her do so through this Consecration.

But still, you might ask, why now? First, because our beloved Bishop Olmsted has requested we do so. Even if you have done the Consecration before, like I have, it is always good to renew it, as each time we do we will become closer to Jesus. And yes, we can do it anytime, as long as it ends on a Marian feast day, but I ask you to join us as a parish and do it with us now. As I mentioned last week, as we begin the Consecration this Thursday, May 9th, 33 days will on the new feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. Pope Francis recently inaugurated this new Memorial feast in the Church to be the Monday after Pentecost. Even though the title Mother of the Church certainly is not new, as it was first explained by St. Augustine and Pope Leo the Great in the 4th century, it is appropriate that a feast day is dedicated to her- because we need her to help us lead the Church to influence the world today more than ever. I think we can all agree with that point. Therefore, this Pentecost, God wants to renew His Church in the Holy Spirit and send us out to be witnesses and proclaim the Good News and Mercy of Jesus Christ into a culture and world that so desperately needs it. And who better to help us do that than Mary? Mary who by the mercy of God was made full of grace and without sin. Mary who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit can help us, the Church, to become even more full of grace without sin and overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. Mary who perfectly did and still does the will of God, can teach us how to also put God first and follow Him with all that we are. So, why not, and why not now? If you want to grow in holiness, if you want to become a disciple of Christ who puts God first in everything, if you want the world to draw closer to the mercy of Jesus, then there is no better way and no better time than to Consecrate ourselves more perfectly to Jesus through His and our Immaculate Mother.

Likewise, in a special way, all of you who have children who have fallen away from God or the practice of their faith, think for a second how Mary feels? She who is the spiritual mother of your children, just as much as you are their physical parents. And so, a great thing to do is to consecrate yourself with your fallen away children in mind and heart. Mary wants their conversion even more than you do, and she also knows exactly who your children are and what they need, she knows how they need to be led closer to Jesus even more than you do. So, through the Consecration, pray that Mary will use your prayers, your sufferings, your sacrifices, for their good, and pray that Mary will teach you how if God has a role for you to play in fostering their conversion.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, consecrating ourselves is simply letting Mary do in us what she was created to do- to bring us Jesus, and lead us to live in the Holy Spirit to always do the will of God. It is my prayer that something I said inspired you in this homily, and that you feel a desire to let Mary draw you closer to God in a special way. Please pick up a pamphlet or purchase the book- 33 days to Morning Glory- and join us in our Consecration to Jesus through Mary. Plan on reading the introduction in the next couple of days, then begin the actual 33 days with Day 1 this Thursday the 9th. In addition, if possible, I encourage you to come the next 4 Thursdays to watch the summarization video of Fr. Gaitley and discuss with fellow parishioners what we read. I look forward to our Consecration Mass on Monday June 10, the Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church, and seeing the fruit of our consecration in our lives, diocese, and parish. May Mary help to make us the Corpus Christi we are meant to be.