CONSECRATION TO
THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

(We thank Merciful Love in Fresno, California, for their permission for our reprinting and distributing this article excerpted from their publication:  Divine Love, #3, 1958.)

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One of the least understood parts of the message of Fatima, is the request made by the Blessed Virgin Mary, that people consecrate themselves to her Immaculate Heart.  Yet, this consecration really is very easy to understand; is a perfectly natural request for our Heavenly Mother to make of her children; and give her a very powerful weapon for offsetting evil, saving souls and the world, and preserving peace.

According to St. Louis de Montfort, and many other saints, Almighty God has established His Blessed Mother as Mediatrix of All Graces; that all the treasures of Heaven have been placed in her care, to dispense "to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills, and when she wills."  (True Devotion, No. 25).  Some say this will be the next dogma to be defined by the Church.  The Mexican Hierarchy already has petitioned the Holy See to this end.  The word "consecrate" means to set aside for a particular purpose and no other.  For example, the chalice the priest uses in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is a consecrated object, and cannot be used for anything else.  The Blessed Mother is asking us to do the same thing—reserve ourselves exclusively for her use.  Each of us has a free will.  We can be consecrated for good or evil.  For good, by giving ourselves to God, through His Mother, in leading Christian lives and obeying the Commandments.  For evil, by giving ourselves up to the pleasures and sins of the world.  Mary is asking us to give ourselves to Jesus through her, so she can protect us against the snares of the devil, who is trying to destroy our souls for all eternity.  In an apparition to a young girl in Germany in 1946 the Blessed Mother reportedly stated:  "If you consecrate yourselves to me without reserve, I shall take care of all the rest."  Isn't it logical that, in proportion to our love for Mary, and the degree to which we live our consecration to her, she in turn, will pour out upon us the infinite treasures of Heaven, spiritual and material, which God has placed at her disposal?  The Little Flower once wrote:  "The treasures of a Mother belong to her children; and I am thy child, O, Dear Mother Mary."  (Daily Thoughts from the Little Flower)  And the greatest treasure Mary gives those who truly are her children, is her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and happiness with Him forever.

Mary Wants to Protect Us

From a purely practical point of view, the Mother of God wants us to consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart for two reasons:  (1) To protect us and our families in the momentous days ahead; (2) To get help from us to save sinners from Hell.

When we consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we are, in effect, placing ourselves, our homes and our families under Our Lady's protection, admitting that we need her help in the dangers ahead—be they spiritual or physical.  At the same time, we give to her our prayers, sacrifices and merits from good works that she may use to help save many souls from Hell—including our own.

Anyone who has ever lived on a farm knows that, when a storm arises, the mother hen usually runs out and tries to gather all the little chickens under her wings.  If they remain there, they may look out and be frightened at the thunder, lightening and rain, but they have nothing to fear, for the mother hen will protect them. 

It is the same with our Blessed Mother.  We are all her children.  She loves us very much.  She does not want to see any harm come to us, any more than we want to see our children harmed.  She has promised a great triumph of her Immaculate Heart.  There are indications this may come soon.  But before it comes, there is liable to be a period of storm and danger.  The Blessed Mother can see this coming, even if we cannot.  So our Heavenly Mother is hurrying about as fast as she can, trying to gather all her children, who will listen, under her mantle of protection while there is still time.  Those who will do so, by granting her requests and consecrating themselves to her, may look out in the days to come, and may be frightened at what they may see.  This may include the destruction of cities, but, especially the despair of those who will have built their hopes in material security, and will see their castles come tumbling to the ground.  Yet the Blessed Mother tells her children they will have nothing to fear, for she will protect them spiritually and materially, come what may.

Another very important reason, is to get help to save the souls of dying sinners from Hell.  At Fatima, after Our Lady had shown the three children the horrible vision of Hell, she stated sadly:  "Many poor sinners go to Hell because they have no one to pray or make sacrifice for them.  To help save them, God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart."

What Consecration Does

When we consecrate ourselves to Mary Immaculate, in proportion to how completely we live this consecration, all our thoughts, words, actions, prayers, suffering, merits from our good works, and the fulfillment of daily duties, take on a stupendous increase in value.  Then, the Blessed Mother can do much more with all these things than if we are not consecrated.  This can be explained by various examples.

In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the priest uses three ingredients: water, wine and a host or wafer of bread.  The total monetary value of these is very low.  Yet, when the priest pronounces the words of consecration, these articles take on an infinite value, and become the Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Then, tremendous graces flow through Them for the salvation of souls.  We cannot see the change, but our faith tells us it has taken place.

Our thoughts, words, actions, prayers, and sacrifices, of themselves, certainly are not very powerful in trying to save a world from destruction or many souls from Hell.  Yet, when we consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, all we give her increases greatly in value; Mary herself adds the extra value in proportion to our degree of consecration.  We cannot see the change, any more than we can see the change of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Our Lord.  Yet Mary assures us that it takes place, and she is able to accomplish much more with what we have given her.  Thus, those consecrated to Mary could be the means of buying the grace of salvation for many of other souls.  It often has been said: "For the sake of the few, many will be saved."

It is also logical that if we help Mary save other souls, she will help us save our own.  Our Lord once told Sister Josepha Menendez (The Way of Divine Love) that if He finds one soul in a family, who lives for His sake, gives Him all that He asks, sacrifices herself for Him and does not count the cost—in other words, is totally consecrated to Him—for the sake of that one, He will save all the members of that soul's family, so long as they are willing to be saved.  If the soul does not wish to be saved in spite of the graces God may give, then that soul will not be saved.  But there may be many in a family, away from God through fear, ignorance, pride, misunderstanding, weakness, or other reasons, who truly would like to be at peace with Him.  All these, for the sake of the one totally given to God, can be saved.

Mary Purifies Our Gifts

The same is true of those totally consecrated to Mary; for, as St. Louis de Montfort writes, when we consecrate ourselves to her, we really consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary.

There are many good souls who do not like the idea of going to Jesus through Mary.  They want to go directly to "headquarters"—to Jesus, Himself—with their petitions and offerings.  They do not seem to realize that, when they approach Our Lord directly, they are going on their own merits alone.  No matter how good they may be, their prayers and offerings cannot possibly have the same value as would be the case if they placed them in the hands of Mary.  In proportion to their consecration of love for her, Mary would add many merits of her own.  She would then present their offering or request to God.  Having lived with Jesus 30 years, Mary, more than anyone else, certainly knows the way to His Heart.  If we place our cares, needs and gifts in her hands she will cleanse and purify them, and add what is necessary to make them pleasing and acceptable in the sight of Almighty God, Our Father.  Thus, we stand a much better chance of having our requests granted.  If we do not get what we ask—because it may not be for our spiritual good—then Mary will obtain for us other needed graces.  One way or the other, we will not be turned away empty-handed.

As we have written so often, no devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is a true devotion if it does not lead the soul closer to Jesus and more frequent reception of the Sacraments, and obedience to God's Laws.

Jesus and Mary are NOT in competition with each other.  Rather, both are as one in desiring, seeking and working for the salvation of souls.  The Blessed Virgin Mary was given to us as our Mother, at the foot of the Cross, out of the providence, love and mercy of God for all poor sinners.

At Fatima Our Lady revealed not just her will, but the WILL OF ALMIGHTY GOD, concerning devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, when she said:  "Tell everybody that God gives graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Tell them to ask graces from her, AND THAT THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS WISHES TO BE VENERATED TOGETHER WITH THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY.  Ask them to plead for peace from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the Lord has confided the peace of the world to her."