Happy New Year with a Feast of the Motherhood of Mary

The article was written for the Feast of the Motherhood of Mary

Happy New Year everyone! What a great way to start the first day of 2022 with a Feast of the Motherhood of Mary! We’re in a very special and exciting time, not only are we starting another year but because of the abundance of graces there are. 

In the Gospel for this feast day, the picture of the nativity with the Holy Family and the shepherds are painted. The birth of Our Lord, Our Saviour, that Mary herself have longed prayed for has now been answered. Mary, The Mother of God, whom Jesus’ humanity came from and through whom “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn 1:14)

Just as Jesus was formed in Mary’s womb, let yourselves be formed by her too.

St. Louis de Montfort in True Devotion to Mary, says that “Mary being the most conformed of all creatures to Jesus Christ, it follows that, of all devotions, that which most consecrates and conforms the soul to Our Lord is to His Holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to Mary, the more is it consecrated to Jesus.” In the same book, St. Louis de Montfort have strong conviction that a devotion to Mary “is an easy, short, perfect, and secure way of arriving at union with Our Lord.”

Mary subtly leads and transforms us to her Son.

The preparation for consecration to Mary consists of 33 days of preparation with prayers and reflections, and on the day after the 33 days of preparation is when the consecration to Mary is made. To put simply, a consecration to Mary means the offering of ourselves to God through Our Mother Mary.  A list of some materials can be found below.

Jesus entrusted us to her Mother, when He said on the Cross “Woman, behold your son”, “Behold Your Mother” (Jn 19:26, 27) Mary is Our Mother too. St. John Bosco said “When Mary became the Mother of God, true God and true Man, she also became our Mother. In his great mercy, Jesus wished to call us His brothers and sisters, and by this name He constituted us adopted children of Mary.” Just like any mother, Mary as Our Mother means that she knows our needs before we even ask God for them and she intercedes for us.

Redemptoris Mater, an Encyclical Letter of St. Pope John Paul II on The Mother of the Redeemer, has got more to say about the Motherhood of Mary. “Without any doubt, Mary is worthy blessing by the very fact that she become the mother of Jesus according to the flesh (“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked” (Lk 11:27)), but also and especially because already at the Annunciation she accepted the word of God, because she believed it, because she was obedient to God, and because she “kept” the word and “pondered it in her heart” (cf. Lk 1:38, 45; 2:19, 51) and by means of her whole life accomplished it.” 

Starting this New Year with the Feast of the Motherhood of Mary, may we remind ourselves of the grace and blessing of having Mary as our mother too.

May you all consider doing the preparation for consecration to Mary this year. As St. Louis de Montfort said “to do all our actions through Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary, so that we may do them all the more perfectly through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus and for Jesus.” So that our Mother Mary may help us be transformed to Jesus. And as the beloved disciple St. John said in his Gospel during the wedding at Cana where Mary said “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5) Our Lady, being obedient that she is, knows that whatever her Son tells us to do will be what is best for us. God’s will, ultimately, is for the salvation of our souls. Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, may God bless you all this year!

Andrea Nunez Cabanas

Some materials on preparation for consecration to Mary:
Preparation for Total Consecration according to Saint Louis Marie de Montfort
True Devotion to Mary with Preparation for Total Consecration, Saint Louis de Montfort
33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration, Michael E. Gaitley