Tomorrow, August 15th is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Tomorrow is also the ten-year anniversary of my Marian Consecration!

Note: The Assumption is a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States which means all Catholics must attend Mass under penalty of mortal sin (the same as Sundays)

August 15, 2015: Marian Consecration using 33 Days to Morning Glory

August 15, 2016: Divine Mercy Consecration using 33 Days to Merciful Love

August 15, 2018: Marian Consecration renewed using St. Louis de Montfort’s format 

August 15, 2020: Divine Will Consecration

August 15, 2022: Icon of St. Joseph Consecration

As you can see, the Assumption is a special day for me.

There are many things I could write about in this post.

I chose to reflect on the lead up to my Marian Consecration and one fruit of it.

Lead Up

I heard about Marian Consecration for the first time at a retreat in June 2015.

Before the retreat, I visited a church nearby.

That day was the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: June 12, 2015.

There was a statue of St. Peter in the church, and a woman told us that people traditionally make a prayer request at the statue, asking for the Saint’s intercession.

I prayed that the retreat would clarify my Vocation to consecrated life or sacramental marriage.

While attending the retreat, it seemed clear that I don’t have a Vocation to religious life.

At the end of the retreat, I received a booklet with Father Michael Gaitley’s format for Marian Consecration.

I believed that was the next step I was being called to!

The offering is typically done on a Marian feast day. I chose the Assumption because it was the soonest I could do it.

I was miraculously able to attend Mass every day while preparing for the consecration.

On Consecration Day, I felt anxious and afraid.

I felt that way because the preparation stated that your life would change after making the Act of Consecration, and I didn’t know what would happen.

I wanted to follow God’s will, but I didn’t know what that would look like or require.

I attended Saturday morning Mass (with my parents) and made the Act of Consecration after receiving Holy Communion.

On that day I became a slave of Mary, the Queen of Heaven and earth.

I, a repentant sinner, renew and ratify today in your hands, O Immaculate Mother, the vows of my Baptism. I renounce Satan and resolve to follow Jesus Christ even more closely than before.

Fruit

That same summer, I saw a young man attending daily Mass too. I didn’t speak to him, but I heard he was discerning his Vocation, particularly the priesthood.

That fall, the man entered seminary in a different diocese. He was ordained to the priesthood in May 2022!

I wrote to him after the ordination and told him about our connection. Since then, we’ve occasionally emailed each other and we pray for each other.

I didn’t think much of it in 2015, but now I wonder if my prayers helped his journey to the priesthood.

As I reflect now, I believe that a fruit of the Marian Consecration is a vocation of spiritual motherhood.

Spiritual motherhood isn’t a formal Vocation with a capital “V” but it is a vocation with a lowercase “v” and a call from God.

All women aren’t called to be physical or biological mothers, but all women are called to be spiritual mothers.

I first heard the term spiritual mother in 2021, when it was spoken to me by a priest and assigned to me by someone for a project.

Even though it’s mysterious and not a clear-cut role, I try to embrace it and discern how I’m called to live it out in my daily life.

Mary is the ultimate model for all spiritual mothers.

Mary, I give you my heart. Please set it on fire with love for Jesus. Make it always attentive to his burning thirst for love and for souls. Keep my heart in your most pure Heart that I may love Jesus and the members of his Body with your own perfect love.

Vocation

Mary, I entrust myself totally to you: my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions. Please make of me, of all that I am and have, whatever most pleases you. Let me be a fit instrument in your immaculate and merciful hands for bringing the greatest possible glory to God. 

After ten years of prayer, effort, hope, and suffering, I haven’t received a formal Vocation yet.

I’ve stopped praying about my potential Vocation, and I’m trying not to think about it…

No matter what our state of life is, we are not meant to live for ourselves. Our hearts are made to be lived for others. 

“Total gift of self” is the essence of one’s Vocation and state of life as well as Marian Consecration.

Even though I haven’t entered into a Vocation, I must try to make a gift of myself in my current state of life — even when I feel I have nothing to give.

Even if I never get to make public vows within a Vocation, I have made (and renewed) private promises to Jesus through Mary.

When I die and stand before God with empty hands, Our Lady will intercede for me because I have given myself completely to her.

I know that my Mother is here with me now, and I pray that I will be with her for eternity.

If I fall, please lead me back to Jesus. Wash me in the blood and water that flow from his pierced side, and help me never to lose my trust in this fountain of love and mercy.

With you, O Immaculate Mother— you who always do the will of God — I unite myself to the perfect consecration of Jesus as he offers himself in the Spirit to the Father for the life of the world. Amen.

(Morning Glory Consecration Prayer)