“Totus Tuus” John Paul II
Every summer my spirituality seems to take a vacation. I’m not sure what causes it, but for whatever reason, during the summer, my spiritual well runs dry. It’s almost as if the hot sun has a drying effect on my soul.
A few days ago, a friend invited me to start the Marian consecration. To be honest, I had no idea what she was talking about. But I knew that I needed to get back on my spiritual track, so I ordered the book that she recommended. I started reading it on Thursday, and I learned that a Marian consecration is “a new way of life in Christ.” t thought that a Marian consecration meant that I would consecrate myself to Mary, but instead, what it means is that I will consecrate myself to Jesus through Mary.
This reminded me of what I learned during my Holy Land pilgrimage five years ago. On that pilgrimage, at the Church of the Visitation, I felt in love with a painting on the back wall of the church that shows Mary standing with the moon at her feet. Father Willie, our spiritual director during the pilgrimage, told us that the reason why Mary is shown many times standing in top of the moon is because Mary is like the moon. Just like the moon does not have light of its own but instead reflects the light of the sun, Mary reflects the light of her Son. Therefore, it makes sense that a Marian consecration doesn’t mean that we are going to be consecrated to Mary, instead, she will help us to get closer to her Son.
The book that my friend recommended for the consecration is called “33 days to Morning Glory,” by Father Michael Gaitley. It’s basically a 33 day retreat that should lead me to “a gloriously new day, a new dawn, a brand new morning in (my) spiritual journey.” I’m on day three of the retreat, and I am so excited. I feel that this is exactly what I needed to water my dry well.
I know that sticking to this for 33 days will not be an easy task because life has a way to get in the way. But I like the fact that the book addresses this: “33 days is a long time to be on retreat, and it just might happen that, despite our good intentions and best efforts, we’ll miss a day (or days) of the readings and prayers. If this happens, we need not get discouraged, and we surely shouldn’t quit!” This alone gave me hope because I have the tendency to quit if things don’t go as planned, and missing a day of the retreat would be enough for me to call it quits.
Therefore, I am starting this journey to “Morning Glory” with every intention to keep up with the daily readings and prayers. But if for whatever reason, I happen to miss a day (or days), I will not quit, I will “simply read the text for the days (I) missed as soon as (I) can and keep going with the retreat.”
Hopefully, by the time I reach the end of the retreat on August 15th, the feast of the Assumption, I will experience “a gloriously new morning in my walk with Christ, now with Mary.” And hopefully by then, my spiritual vacation will have reached its end, and I will be fully consecrated to living “a new way of life in Christ.” As St. John Paul II used to say, “Totus Tuus.” I am “Totally Yours” Christ, do with me as You wish.
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