Consecration to Mary the Desire of Jesus

by Father George Kosicki, C.S.B

Have you ever considered what Jesus wants our relationship with Mary to be? He told us at the solemn moment of His death on the cross, when He pronounced His "last will and testament "woman behold your son" then He said to the disciple " behold your mother" (Jn 19:26-27) . This "!ast will and testament " of the dying Jesus established a new family relationship called the New Covenant, a family bond, instituted and sealed by His Blood from the cross, He solemly pronounced His beloved desciple to be a blood member of His family with Mary as His Mother. What is consecration?

Let us investigate the meaning of "consecration." The root meaning of the Latin word is "to make holy, to sanctify, to set aside as sacrifice."

In the gospel according to John, Jesus uses this word "Consecrate" several times. He describes Himself as the One "whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world" (Jn 10:36). At the Last Supper He prays to the Father for His disciples: "Consecrate them by means of the truth" (Jn 17: 17). He then declares, "I consecrate myself for their sakes now, that they may be consecrated in truth" (Jn 17:19),

On the cross, Jesus ; consecrated Himself in order that we might be consecrated. The desire of Jesus in consecrating us is that we would be made holy by offering ourselves just as He offered Himself. To Jesus through Mary

Consecration to Mary is a shorthand way of expressing our consecration to Jesus through Mary. By this consecration, by this giving of ourselves totally as gift to Mary, we fulfill the desire Jesus expressed in proclaiming Mary as our mother. By this consecration we also follow the way Jesus Himself came when He was totally entrusted to the woman Mary and to her nurturing. By this consecration to Mary we share in the consecration of Christ Himself. This means we enter into both the family of God and the mission of Christ.

Pope John Paul II is clear in his teaching that our consecration to Mary is a participation in the very consecration of Christ (John Paul II, Fatima Consecration, 1982): In the words of St. Paul, we are "given the ministry of reconciliation ... this makes us ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor 5:18-21).

Our consecration is also a renewal of our baptismal consecration by which we are made children of God, members of His family. And this is the express desire and mandate of Jesus: that we all be baptized (Mt 28:19).

Consecration to Mary is 'Eucharistic'

The gospel of John does not record the words of Eucharistic consecration (transubstantiation) as do the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John does, however, develop the promise of the Eucharist (Jn 6) and the effect of the Eucharist (Jn 13-15). And, in his mystical way, he describes a "transubstantiation" at the cross.

At the cross, the words "Woman, behold your son" and "son, behold your mother" produce a "mystical transubstantiation."

By these words of the dying Jesus, the beloved disciple (and us with him) becomes the son of the mother of God! (John Paul II, homily, Fatima, May 13, 1982).

What Jesus is saying to Mary in this mystical way is "This is My Body. This is My Blood." By the dying words of Jesus, we who are represented by the beloved disciple become the Mystical Body and Blood of Christ. We become blood members of the family of God.

This is a bold interpretation of both the meaning of consecration and the desire of Jesus, but it echoes the very bold words of Pope John Paul 11 in his reflection on the words of Jesus "The solemnity of that act of entrustment ("Woman behold your son") its situation at the very heart of the drama of the cross the sobriety and pithiness of the words...could be described as proper to an almost Mystical formula ( John Paul 11, Nov.23, 1988)

By our consecdtion to Mary .. we give her permission to do what she does best - that is, by the Holy Spirit, to form us into the Body or her Son, to form us into a living Eucharist. So, then, consecration to Mary is a Eucharistic Consecration.

How beautifully the Church prays in the Third Eucharistic Prayer that we may all experience this transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit:

Grant that we who are nourished by His Body and Blood may be filled with His Holy Spirit and become one body one spirit in Christ

This prayer reflects the desire of Jesus that we will freely accept His entrustment of us to Mary ("Behold your Mother") and then permit the Holy Spirit to form us into the Body of Christ.

As Fr. Arthur Calkins writes in "Totus Tuus" To go to Jesus, then, through Mary, is not to take a roundabout route but the one that He has ordained. To consecrate ourselves to her is to consecrate ourselves to Him by the means which He has designated

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