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Intro Mary Garden
Garden Consecration to Jesus through Mary
"Seek and you shall find."
Through the centuries Christians
seeking most fully to know, love
and serve God - Father, Son and
Holy Spirit - have done so by
consecrating their lives to Jesus
through the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This consecration, made in love
and devotion, rests solidly on
the theological truths that:
- God has created the world to show forth and share the
divine love, goodness and action with humans, created to
this end in the divine image and likeness;
- the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculate Conception, through
her spotless purity and total responsiveness to God's will
was and is most capable of all humans of receiving and
sharing in the divine grace, light, wisdom and power;
- God - for the fullest accomplishment of the purpose of
Creation in human persons, and in the world - has deigned
to fill Mary with grace and to call her, with her assent,
to a total human sharing in the divine action for the
redemption and renewal of the fallen world - endowing her
with the privileges and prerogatives of:
- The Divine Maternity, sharing with the Father the
parenthood of Jesus, true God and true man, the
redeeming Divine Word Incarnate;
- Perpetual virginity for her intimate union and close
cooperation with Jesus as co-redemptrix sharing in
his redemptive ministry and sacrifice; and
- Assumption body and soul into heaven, for her
continued union and cooperation with Jesus - as:
- appointed loving spiritual mother of all
humans and the Church;
- merciful human advocate and intercessor with
the Father;
- universal mediatrix and distributrix to the
world of the divine grace, light, wisdom and
power of the Holy Spirit; and
- providentially governing Queen of Heaven and
earth.
In short, we consecrate
ourselves to Jesus through
Mary because, immaculate,
humble, open, full of grace
and in intimate union
with her divine Son, she is
the model for our human
spirituality; and is also,
in the heavenly continuation
of that same union, our
divinely appointed advocate
and mediatrix who intercedes
through the Son with the
Father for petitions from
the world, and distributes
divine blessings to it.
Each time God is prayed to through Mary's intercession, and divine
grace and blessings are distributed through her mediation, a fuller
human sharing in the divine love, goodness and action is
accomplished by God in her, and in us, in ever-increasing
fulfillment of the purpose for Creation.
In what follows will be described three practices of consecration to
Jesus through Mary approved by the Church: the wearing of scapulars
and medals; the spiritual exercises and consecration of St. Louis de
Montfort; and consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The wearing of scapulars is a simple act of consecration. The
de Montfort consecration is made following preparatory purgative
spiritual exercises and in the context of extensive illuminative
and unitive insights for its perfection.
Consecration to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of
Mary summons us to make our consecration
in spiritual communion with, and
emulation of, Mary's Heart in her love
for and union with the Heart of Jesus
in his love for the Father - as
manifested in his incarnation, his
ministry, his sacrifice on the Cross,
his sending of the Holy Spirit, and
his loving mercy for us - for our
inspiration and guidance in
building the earthly Peaceable Kingdom
for grateful return to the Father at
the end of time, in the union of the
Holy Spirit of love, for all eternity.
Daily Support and Quickening of our Consecrations
Each of these consecrations is supported by ready means for their
quickening in our daily lives.
In the scapular and medal consecrations, this is accomplished
through the sight, feeling and touch of our scapulars or medals as
we move about.
St. Louis de Montfort suggests the wearing of little chains or the
carrying of our Rosary beads as quickening reminders of our
consecration. He also provides short aspirational prayers for
frequent use through the day, such as:
"I am all yours and all I have is yours, O most loving Jesus,
through Mary, your most holy Mother",
and
"Blessed Mother, use me today."
The Immaculate Heart consecration is quickened by the inclusion of
phases such as "to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate
Heart of Mary" in a number of prayers, such as morning offerings,
and by the carrying of holy cards portraying the Sacred and
Immaculate Hearts.
For those of us who garden, or
reflect on the virtual gardens
in our hearts, the symbolically
named Flowers of Our Lady of
medieval popular rural
devotional tradition - as we
behold or envisage them -
quicken our emulation of Mary's
maidenly spirituality, and our
beseeching of the exercise of
her heavenly prerogatives, to
which we have consecrated
ourselves:
Immaculate Purity - Spotless white "Annunciation Lily" or
"Madonna Lily"
Humility - Lowly, hidden Violet, "Mary's
Humility"
Openness and Filling - Tulip, "The Woman"
Fidelity to God - Fuchsia, "Our Lady's Eardrops",
adorning the ears of her who "heard
the word of God and kept it"
Divine Maternity - Peace Lily and other spathe and
spadix "Lady-Lord" flowers
symbolizing the Madonna and Child.
Perpetual Virginity - Strawberry, in flower and fruit at the
same time.
Union with Jesus - Vines, clinging to trees
Co-Redemption - Iris (spears), "Mary's Sword of
Sorrow" piercing her soul as
Co-redemptrix at the foot of the Cross
" - Virginia spiderwort, "Our Lady's
Tears"
Pentecostal Mediation - Columbine, "Holy Spirit", from dove-
like petals
Assumption - Hosta, "Assumption Lily", blooming at
the feast of the Assumption, August
15th, in northern temperate climates
Mercy - Daffodil's inclined blooms, symbol of
"Our Lady looking down from heaven"
" - Forget-me-nots, "Eyes of Mary"
Protection - Ladies Mantle, "Our Lady's Mantle
Intercession - Bleeding Heart, "Mary's Heart"
Distribution - Cowslip Primrose, "Our Lady's Keys" -
to the heavenly spiritual storehouses.
(Also "St. Peter's Keys")
Queenship - Corn Flower, "Our Lady's Crown" from
the resemblance on first opening of
its blooms to crowns
Presence with us - Golden Zinnia, "The Virgin", from its
first single glorious haloed flower
above its foliage "body".
While verbal formulas are essential to the articulation of our
consecrations, and verbal expositions are necessary for the
establishment of their theological foundations, the symbols of
their elements - especially flower symbols - have an intuitive
simplicity, directness and clarity for the quickening in daily
living of Mary's virtues and prerogatives, through emulation of
and in recourse to which we consecrate ourselves to Jesus.
o O o
While the undertaking of
responsibility for a Mary
Garden as a prayerful work
thus serves to support and
quicken our consecration
to Jesus through Mary, we
make our initial act of
consecration according to
one of the practices
formally approved by the
Church:
Scapular Consecrations
"The Mount Carmel brown scapular is the oldest among
eight scapulars that have a Marian character and were
approved by the Church. (Four of the others are white,
one is blue, one black and one green.) The brown
scapular owes its origin and existence to Saint Simon
Stock who received a large brown scapular from Our Lady
in a vision on July 16, 1251.
"A scapular is actually a sleeveless outer garment of a
monk's habit that falls from the shoulders. The original
significance implied that one was clothed with Mary's garment
in the sense of being clothed with her attitudes and devotion
to Christ. The small piece of cloth (or medal) used today
recalls the intention of being clothed in the garments of
salvation . . .
"The scapular can be worn by anyone. The wearing of the
scapular is meant to foster true devotion to Mary. This
devotion is founded on Mary's spiritual maternity and
mediation of grace. The scapular teaches confidence in the
intercession of Mary to obtain for its wearer the grace of
perseverance . . . "
(Marian Library Internet Mary Page)
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/questions/yq/yq21.html
To Saint Simon Stock:
"It is my garment; to be clothed in it means your continually
thinking of me, and I in turn am always thinking of you, and
helping you to secure eternal life."
Miraculous Medal Consecration
The wearing of the Miraculous
Medal - with Our Lady of Grace
represented on the front and
the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts
on the back - widely adopted
following its revelation in the
appearance of Our Lady at the Rue
de Bac in Paris, in 1830 -
represents an extension for our
times of scapular medal
consecrations to the Immaculate
and Sacred Hearts.
Prayer to Our Lady Of The Miraculous Medal
"Virgin Mother of God, Mary Immaculate, we unite ourselves
to you under your title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
May this medal be for each one of us a sure sign of your
motherly affection for us and a constant reminder of our
filial duties towards you. While wearing it, may we be
blessed by your loving protection and preserved in the
grace of your Son. Most powerful Virgin, Mother of our
Savior, keep us close to you every moment of our lives so
that like you we may live and act according to the teaching
and example of your Son. Obtain for us, your children,
the grace of a happy death so that in union with you we may
enjoy the happiness of heaven forever. Amen."
St. Louis de Montfort Consecration
The widely praticed St. Louis de Montfort consecration to Jesus
through Mary, as set forth in the saint's "True Devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary", of the 18th century - available on-line from:
http://www.immaculateheart.com/MaryOnLine/html/cover_story_0.html
- is made after three weeks of instructional and mortificational
exercises, as follows:
"In the presence of the heavenly
court, I choose you this day as my
Mother and Mistress. I deliver and
consecrate to you, as your slave, my
body and soul, my goods, both
interior and exterior, and even the
value of all my good actions, past,
present and future; leaving to you
the entire and full right of
disposing of me, and all that
belongs to me without exception,
according to your good pleasure, for
the greater glory of God, in time
and in eternity."
Especially significant in the de Montfort consecration to Mary is
our consecration to her of the disposition of "even the value of
all (our) good actions." This refers to the merited spiritual
fruits of our earthly works, which, as described by de Montfort,
rise as magnifications of divinely bestowed grace, light, wisdom and
power to the heavenly storehouses for distribution through Mary
Mediatrix, who has the keys to them; and through the blessings and
indulgences of Holy Church, through St. Peter's keys, to where most
needed for the furtherance of the Divine Plan for redemption,
sanctification and kingdom.
The rising of the spiritual fruits of our prayers (and works) to
heaven, where they are received by Mary, is also the origin of the
name of the "Rosary" - given to the "Psalter of Our Lady" after rose
pneums were perceived by those of spiritual vision to rise to Mary
from lips of persons praying the Paters and Aves (Catholic Encyclopedia).
In this, the spiritual efficacy and fruitfulness of our consecrated
prayers, acts, works and sufferings is enhanced through our
recollectedness and custody of heart; our perception or envisaging
of them in the context of the divine plan of Creation, Redemption
and Kingdom; our formulation of the intentions for which
they are offered; our clarity as to the prerogatives of Mary to
which we are making recourse; and the articulation of our prayers
with our lips ("All grace is poured forth from your lips.")
It is, together with the sacraments, from
the heavenly storehouses of the grace, light,
wisdom and power magnified through the
prayers, acts, works and sufferings of its
members, in Christ - especially through
the celebration of the Mass - that the
Church is said to be holy. It is from these
storehouses of the fruits of the Church's
prayers and acts that its sacramental
indulgences and blessings are distributed.
The Catholic Encyclopedia states of blessings:
"Blessings are... sacramentals and, as such,
produce the...following specific effects:
excitation of pious emotions and affections of the heart...
freedom from the power of evil spirits...(and) various other
benefits, temporal or spiritual.
"A blessing...imparted with the sanction of the Church has
all the weight of authority that attaches to the voice of
her who is the well-beloved Spouse of Christ, pleading on
behalf of her children. The whole efficacy, therefore, of
these benedictions, insofar as they are liturgical and
ecclesiastical, is derived from the prayers and invocations
of the Church made in her name by her ministers. . . . "
The "Catholic Rural Life Prayerbook" (1956) of the U.S. National
Catholic Rural Life Conference observes that today sacramental
blessings are "riches of the Church which have been long unknown
and unused like a treasure hidden under our very doorstep".
An extensive description of and history of garden besssings is to
be found in the accompanying article:
"The Blessing of Mary Gardens as Holy Places."
Consecration Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, of earlier origins, came
into more widespread adoption in the 18th century.
As described in a French book on the Madonna in Art:
"The winter of impiety began to yield under a new breath of
life. The cult of the Virgin was the first to feel the effect
of this reawakening.
"Everywhere it revived as though at the invitation of the
heavenly Spouse, repeating the sweet words of the holy
Canticle: 'Arise, my love, my dove, my beautiful one and
come. For the winter is past, the rains are over and done,
the flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning
has come and the voice of the turtle dove is heard.'
"All the ancient devotions to the Blessed Virgin reappeared
and new ones came to join them. Two, principally, gave a new
impetus to her cult: the Month of May and Devotion to the
Immaculate Heart."
Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
through the Immaculate Heart of Mary may be
seen as a loving, heavenly enhancement, for
our times, of the widely practiced de Montfort
consecration. We now perceive our
consecration of ourselves to act "by, with, in
and through Mary" not so much, as de Montfort
phrases it in medieval terminology, as
"servants" or "slaves" of Mary, the worthy
Mother of God (which she of course always is
and will be); but in loving spiritual
communion and cooperation with her Immaculate
Heart in her love for her Divine Son and Lord
and for the intentions of his Most Sacred
Heart, in her "intimate union and close
cooperation" with him - as called for by the
Second Vatican Council.
"Consecrations to Mary where one pledges to perform all
actions "through Mary, in Mary, and for Mary" are in fact a
pledge to perform them more perfectly through Jesus Christ,
with him, in, and for him. Dedication to the Heart of Mary
must therefore maintain the vital unity between the Heart of
Mary and the Heart of Jesus. We must confide ourselves to
the Heart of Mary in view of our consecration to God. We
offer ourselves to this divine consecration through Mary, for
she points the way to the heart of Jesus."
Marian Library Internet Mary Page
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/questions/faq/faq23.html
Personal consecration to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart
of Mary has been expressed in a number of
forms.
The Immaculate Heart consecration adopted
by the Marian Movement of Priests, for
example, includes the following:
"Virgin of Fatima, Mother of Mercy,
Queen of Heaven and Earth, Refuge of
Sinners, I consecrate myself in a very
special way to Your Immaculate Heart.
"By this act of consecration I intend
to live with you and through you the
obligations assumed by my baptismal
consecration. I pledge further to bring about in myself that
interior conversion so urgently demanded by the Gospel...that
shall free me of every attachment to myself and to every
compromise with the world, so that, like you, I may be
available only to do the will of the Father.
"To you I wish to entrust, Mother most sweet and merciful, my
Christian existence and vocation, so that you may dispose of
me for your designs of salvation. . . . I pledge to live
according to your desires, especially as they pertain to a
renewed spirit of prayer and penance, fervent participation
in the celebration of the Eucharist, and in the apostolate,
the daily recitation of the Rosary, and an austere manner of
life (in) observance of the law of God, and the practice of
the Christian virtues, especially purity. . . "
And that of the Shrine of The Immaculate Heart of Mary
http://www.immaculate.force9.co.uk
"Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Abyss of Mercy and Source of
every grace and blessing, I consecrate and unite myself
entirely to You without exception or reserve - all that I
am and all that I have, both temporal and spiritual, past,
present and future, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Your Mother.
"I leave myself entirely at Your disposal with complete
confidence in Your Mercy and Love and I beg You to look
upon this offering of my nothingness before You and to
use me for Your own glory, for the honour of Your Mother
and for the salvation of Souls.
"Help me to seek You alone in all things. Hide me in the
shelter of Your Most Sacred Heart and be my only
Consolation and Refuge. Grant me the graces I need to
joyfully accept Your Cross daily, to lead a holy life and
to die a holy death in Your service.
"Help me to trust completely in Your Mercy and Love and
never to fear to humbly throw myself before the infinite
Ocean of Mercy which is Your Most Sacred Heart, especially
at those times when I may fail in my faithfulness in Your
service.
"Through this weak and miserable instrument, may Your Mercy,
Love, glory and power shine forth.
"Above all, set my poor heart on fire with the Flame of Love
which burns in Your Most Sacred Heart and teach me how to
return love for Love."
Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
through the Immaculate Heart of Mary came
to be even more widely adopted following
on Our Lady's messages at Fatima in 1917,
where she called for the consecration, in
reparation, of the prayers, acts, works
and lives of all the world to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus through her Immaculate
Heart, for the intention of world peace:
"God desires to establish in the world
the devotion to my Immaculate Heart.
I promise salvation to those who
embrace it, and these souls will be
loved by God, like flowers placed by
me to adorn His throne.
My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will
lead you to God."
"Tell everybody that God gives graces through the Immaculate
Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask graces from her, and that
the 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."
In response to this Pope Pius XII proclaimed a Solemn Act of
Consecration to be made by the entire world to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary:
"Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender
Mother of men, to fulfill the
desires of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus and the request of the
Vicar of Your Son on earth, we
consecrate ourselves and our
families to your Sorrowful and
Immaculate Heart, O Queen of
the Most Holy Rosary, and we
recommend to You, all the
people of our country and all
the world.
"Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us
as you wish to accomplish Your designs in the world.
"O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most
Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together
with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us
from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our
hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a
virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray
the Rosary more faithfully.
"We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother
of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has
inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.
"Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make
the Heart of Jesus, together with your rule, triumph in every
heart and home. Amen."
o O o
Thus, consecration to Jesus through Mary, which was initiated with
the simple form of the scapular and medal consecrations, and then
enlarged to the fullness of the de Monfort consecration, has been
further enhanced through its loving expression as a consecration to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and
this - through the request of Our Lady at Fatima and the act of
consecration of Pope Pius XII - for the intention of peace on earth.
We rejoice that, in the state of grace
of our baptism, the undertaking of our
prayers, acts, works and sufferings for
spiritual intentions meritoriously
shares - in accordance with the purpose
of Creation, and in imitation of Mary -
in magnifications of bestowed grace,
light, wisdom and power, which rise to
the heavenly reservoirs and storehouses.
From there, together with that from the
acts and sufferings of Christ, Mary and
the saints, and from all masses
throughout the world, these are
distributed, through Mary's mediation
and the sacramental blessings and
indulgences of Holy Church, to where
they are most needed in the divine economy for love, sustenance,
protection, forgiveness, healing and justice - and especially for
world peace.
It is our faith that in this way all our daily prayers, acts, works
and sufferings consecrated to Jesus through Mary contribute to the
conversion of souls, the healing of bodies, the renewal of the
world and the building of God's Kingdom; and specifically to
those in the critical negotiations of the peace process that they
may be more fully moved by the grace needed to make the compromises
and agreements necessary for the establishment of world peace, as
the world moves towards Kingdom.
If God has endowed Mary with the prerogative of Universal Mediation
of the grace, light, wisdom and power directly bestowed by the
Trinity, surely we are to consecrate to her the mediation and
distribution of the magnification of these through our participatory
prayers and good actions by, with, in and through her, as members
of Christ's Holy Church - including those quickened by the Flowers
of Our Lady as we tend them in our Mary Gardens.
Copyright, Mary's Gardens, 1999