Consecration to Mary’s Immaculate Heart: Mary is the Way to Give Ourselves Completely to Christ
Consecration to Mary’s Immaculate Heart: Mary is the Way to Give Ourselves Completely to Christ
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I want to thank all of you who said “yes” to the Lord last weekend during our Discipleship of Treasure Commitment Weekend. By making a pledge, you recognized the many blessings the Lord has given you, and you put your trust in Him. This is what following Christ and being his disciples is all about. To be disciples of Christ is to follow Him in everything we do, have, think and say in our lives. It's a total consecration to Christ. Discipleship of Treasure helps us to love in a sacrificial way. Just loving with words is not enough for the mission God has entrusted to each one of us. We love with our sacrificial deeds.
If you did not make a pledge last weekend, you may still do so. If you did not receive a pledge card in the mail, you may take one from the pews or the Welcome Desk, take it home, prayerfully consider how much God is asking you to give, and bring the envelope back the next time you come to Mass. You may place your envelope in the offertory basket. Remember, we are not giving to a need. We have a need to give, because giving ourselves in a serious and complete way is the love Christ has for us.
To help us in in giving ourselves completely to Him, Christ has given us his Blessed Mother, Mary. God chose to come to the world through Mary. The Father gave and still gives us his Son only through her. He raises children for Himself only through her. He dispenses all his graces to us only through her.
Mary has received from God great power over the souls of the Christians. By being the Mother and keeper of the Son of God, she has become also our Mother. She can nourish us, and bring us forth to eternal life as our mother. She can form us in Jesus and form Jesus in us. For God, having given her power over his only-begotten Son, also gave her power over all of us, his adopted children.
Our Blessed Mother appeared in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 at a time of violence and evil, during the First World War. She asked that the Catholics may be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. And that’s precisely what our Archbishop is doing for all of us at the Archdiocese of Denver on Friday, October 13, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mary’s last apparition in Fatima.
Consecration to Mary consists in giving oneself entirely to Mary in order to belong entirely to Christ through her. We give Mary all that we possess, as well as everything we shall acquire in the future. We give everything to her for all eternity without expecting anything in return but the honor of belonging to our Lord through Mary and in Mary. She is the person most conformed to Christ. Jesus chose her as the perfect means to unite Himself to us and unite us to Him. Therefore, consecrating ourselves to Mary is consecrating ourselves to Christ. We give Jesus and Mary all our thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings and every moment of our lives.
I invite all of you, your family and friends to attend the Novena of Preparation our Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary every weekday from 7 to 8:30pm in the church. We will enter more deeply in the Message of our Mother in Fatima. We will also offer our sacrifices and efforts to build our new Parish Center to the Lord through the hands of Mary. We will offer all our construction endeavors to the Lord through the hands of his Blessed Mother for the salvation of many thousands of souls now and for many years to come.
In Christ,
Father Felix P. Medina-Algaba, Pastor