4.6 Commitment
STAGE 4: Towards the Likeness of Jesus Christ
JESUS AND CONSECRATION
THE CAPTIVATING MODEL
COMMITMENT
Aim: To commit ourselves to the “Marian” dimension of our consecration.
Reading
Slave of Jesus in Mary (TD 243-244): “In this consecration we honour and imitate the wondrous dependence which God the Son chose to have on Mary, for the glory of his Father and for the redemption of man. This dependence is revealed especially in the mystery of the Incarnation where Jesus becomes a captive and slave in the womb of his Blessed Mother, depending on her for everything. […] Please note that I usually say ‘slave of Jesus in Mary’, ‘slavery of Jesus in Mary’. We might indeed say, as some have already been saying, ‘slave of Mary’, ‘slavery of Mary’. But I think it preferable to say, ‘slave of Jesus in Mary’”.
Comment
The consecration of Jesus to the Father is Marian. As mentioned earlier, at the Incarnation “Jesus became a captive and slave in the womb of his Blessed Mother, depending on her for everything” (TD 243). “It was here that he perfectly restored the glory that sin had taken from his Father. It was here again that our Lord, by the sacrifice of himself and of his will, gave more glory to God than he would have given had he offered all the sacrifices of the Old Law. Finally, in Mary he gave his Father infinite glory, such as his Father had never received from human beings” (TD 248).
Our consecration to Jesus Christ is Marian, too. Montfort writes: “As all perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus, it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotions is that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completely to Jesus. Now of all God’s creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for the most effective consecration and conformity to him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus” (TD 120).
In other words, “perfect consecration to Jesus is but a perfect and complete consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin; or it is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism” (TD 120).
Personal Reflection and Sharing
By the “Montfortian Consecration”, I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ through the hands of Mary. In other words, I renew the vows and promises of my baptism “voluntarily, responsibly and wholeheartedly” (cf. TD 124).
How determined am I to comply with the above statement? And what vision and service in life do I commit myself to, in order to give flesh to my consecration?
[4-6] CALL RESPONSE COMMITMENT PRAYER