A Mary Moment Monday post

Last March, I tried my hand at Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, using a $5 book and resources from Rosary Army. I feel like I mostly failed, though maybe just sticking with it to the end is a success of sorts. As with so many things in my faith life, I felt nothing. Nada. Zilch. No great insight, no wonderful choirs suddenly behind me, no rainbows and starshine around me.

God’s definition of success is different than mine, and I’ve come to accept that. Sometimes, what I find I have to do won’t score me a whole lot of emotional mileage. And that’s okay. It’s probably as much a product of who I am as anything else.

I heard about the new online resource for Total Consecration just as it was sort of tickling around in my mind. Then I clicked and read,

God brought you here for a purpose.

Guess that hint of a question, the one that had me thinking that maybe I should try this again, was answered.

Especially when I saw that it starts on July 13 and ends on the feast of the Assumption.

Especially when I considered what I have going on–only one major project, as opposed to three at once–and how I’ve been feeling a bit adrift in certain areas.

Especially…well, you get the drift.

If you’ve never done this devotion before (I’m still stumbling along with the right terminology–is it “making your Total Consecration” or “completing it” or what? And can I call it TC for short?), maybe you’ll find this site as helpful as I am.

What I especially like is how the sponsors of this website are trying to build interest and participation in this devotion. You can sign up to receive free materials (US and Canada only, though there’s an email address if you live somewhere else). You can also sign up to be a parish leader, and you’ll receive a packet along with a DVD that explains everything.

MyConsecration.org excites me for a number of reasons. First, it’s promoting a devotion that I know is important. Second, it’s making that devotion accessible both online AND offline. Third, it’s extending helpful material and a step-by-step process to people within parishes.

That last one seems key to me. I’m a parish employee, and in the six-plus years that I’ve gone from working full-time in the office to part-time from home, I have seen just how challenging religious formation is. We’re all busy, and the people who are on fire with their faith are also swamped with about a million other projects. The people with questions don’t always know enough to know who to ask or how to ask them.

Who better to help us than the Mother of God? Who more equipped for the monumental task of ongoing catechesis than the very woman who must have taught Jesus his first words?

I hope you’ll join me on this journey to Jesus through Mary. We’ll start July 13, and whether it’s a “success” in our eyes or not, we’ll be firmly holding Mary’s hand as she tugs us closer to her Son.

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In my work email, I found this great link, Rosary for America on July 4th. I’m so glad that I (a) opened the email (it was flagged as a “FWD” and oh, how I avoid those, most of the time) and (b) opened it in time to share it here. You fill out a pledge form, committing to praying a rosary for our nation and asking Our Lady to save America and solve all our nation’s problem. While that intention is worded a little differently than I’d like, the spirit behind this–praying for our nation–gets at the heart of what I think we should all be doing.

We were founded as a Christian nation, and whatever else we might be becoming, there’s always hope. Right?

So grab your rosary (or your ten fingers, or your favorite rosary app, or your mp3 rosary audio), and offer it for the grand old U. S. of A.