There’s this little blue book on my shelf that I’ve had for a long time. A well-meaning Catholic must have given it to me at my baptism. I have considered giving it away several times, but have never been able to actually do it. It’s by St. Louis de Montfort, and it’s called True Devotion. Knowing it had something to do with Mary, I was a bit scared of it. I just didn’t think it’d be my kind of book.
It’s a longer story, one that I’ll flesh out more in the following weeks, but I finally did pick up that book. I don’t know that I would officially recommend it even though it’s a spiritual classic. Like many books, I think it’s for certain people at certain times. I wouldn’t have been ready to read it five years ago. But it was in True Devotion that St. Louis de Montfort lays out the process of consecration, which is actually a consecration to Jesus, but through Mary, just as He came into this world.
I realized it was exactly the thing I’d been feeling called towards. The most recent scandals were breaking all over the news. It seemed a logical answer, in some ways: the Church is hurt, a little lost, looking for answers, consolation, and strength —time to run to Mama. If I want the world to love Jesus more, for Mass to be reverent, for people to uphold the dignity of life, then I need an example: Mary, as the first Christian, as the Christian who obeyed God perfectly in perfect love, is who I am looking to.
It’s customary to make the consecration on a Marian feast. As the consecration is also a way to renew one’s baptismal promises, the Feast of the Visitation seemed the appropriate Marian feast for me, as it is also the day I was baptized. As it so happens, this year the day I need to begin the 33-day devotion is Divine Mercy Sunday.
Thus I go, full-throttle Catholic nearly 18 years after my baptism, into Marian consecration. I am both excited and nervous. If you think of it, say a prayer for me, and I’ll pray for you.