A LIFE OF CONSECRATION

Our Lord and Our Lady anxiously wish that we consecrate our entire lives to Them by turning them into prayers. To consecrate our lives to the Lord and the Blessed Mary means that we give all our thoughts, words, and acts, beginning with the most trivial ones, to Them. It means that we breathe, move around, and live in the Lord by turning everything we do into a prayer.

If we attend Masses every day, visit the Blessed Sacrament, and offer up many prayers and perform many good works for other people, and offer these up to the Lord through the Blessed Mother, they are no longer our own. Therefore, we should not feel proud of them or brag about them. Many people do not seem to understand the true meaning of consecration, and make consecration by word only and remain attached to what they have done. This is not a true consecration.

The Blessed Mother was sad about this and said, "Little souls give praise, honor and glory to the Lord and do not take away anything from me." She also said, "Not forgetting that I am always guarding and protecting you at your side, become simple like children and live a consecrated life. Then, I will blow my spirit into you and make you grow truly by my life and become my sons and daughters who manifest the presence of this Heavenly Mother of yours."

Even when we do great works for the Lord, we should offer them up to the Lord and give all the glory to Him, saying, "I only did what I was supposed to do." Then, Our Lord and Our Lady will help us accumulate treasures in Heaven. The Blessed Mother said, "My beloved children, offer up gracefully even the trivial matters in your lives. I will give you the power to transcend even the most trivial matters." For example, while a woman was at a beauty parlor for a hairdo, an incorrect chemical was used on her hair by mistake and gave off a strong, unpleasant odor. Everyone in the parlor had hard time. Immediately the woman prayed, "I offer up this bad odor for the conversion of sinners. Glory be to the Lord!" As soon as she finished this prayer, the bad odor disappeared and was replaced by a sweet fragrance of roses.

Many people put up with pains and difficulties because they love the Lord and the Blessed Mother, but still do not understand the true meaning of consecration. When we make a graceful consecration, we can not only bear the pains more easily but also receive many additional graces from the Lord and the Blessed Mother. For example, when we unexpectedly hear insults and false accusations from others, we could just put up with them. Then, the wounds caused by anger, resentment, and even hatred may remain and develop a sickness in our souls. But if we completely offer them up to the Lord through the Blessed Mother in reparation for the insults that the Lord has suffered and for the conversion of sinners, we can overcome the devil’s temptations and accumulate more merits.

In Pusan, Korea, a young man in a poor family, who had been working hard to support his mother and younger sister, was stabbed with a knife seventeen times and died. His mother was overwhelmed with sadness and a burning hatred for the murderer. With her torn heart, she attended the prayer meeting in Naju on the fifth anniversary of the Blessed Mother’s first weeping in Naju (June 30, 1990). While she was listening to Julia’s testimony on how she was able to forgive those who brutally attacked her, she was able to overcome her sorrows and offered up all her pains to the Lord and the Blessed Mother. She screamed aloud in front of the people in the Chapel, "In the name of the Blessed Mother of Naju, I forgive him." She also announced that she would accept the murderer, who was in jail, as her son and would look after him. Nearly all the people in the Chapel wept with her and repented their own sins. If she had not offered up everything to the Lord and had not forgiven the murderer, she would have had to carry the heavy and painful burden of sorrow and hatred throughout her life. This could have killed her own soul also. How can anyone say that she could go to Heaven on the last day? However, she made a beautiful consecration to the Lord through the Blessed Mother and became a faithful child of the Lord by practicing His Commandment that we should love our enemies. Thus, she obtained Heaven.

The Blessed Mother wishes all the children in the world to offer up even their sufferings that cause bleeding in their hearts. She said, "You can arrive at the glory only through suffering," and, "The souls, who are raised up high on the cross, offering themselves up gracefully as sacrifices, are the souls who make the Lord known and are closest to me." Thus, the Blessed Mother is telling us about the importance of our offering up all the pains and crosses at every moment of our lives instead of just putting up with them. She also said, "I wish to gather up the seeds of martyrdom that you, the little souls, bear through suffering, and plant those seeds in the garden of my pure Heart so that flowers may blossom. Therefore, bear many good seeds. They will be needed to save many countries and the human race at the decisive moment of trial." Therefore, if we offer up all our pains gracefully, without complaining, the Lord and the Blessed Mother will be consoled, and we will receive the crowns of victory in the next world. Let us all become little souls.

When the sounds of prayers by little souls soar up high into Heaven, many people will repent, and we will see the triumph of the Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Heart and a new dawn in a new, purified world.

— from Naju