Marian Helper Fall 2015

Begin on November 5 Now, maybe you’ve already consecrated yourself to Mary. Well, now is the perfect time to renew it, and I recommend that you use the most popular consecra- tion book available today : 33 Days to Morning Glory (Marian Press) b y Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC. And don’t just renew it yourself; invite others to join you. (Learn more a t AllHeartsAfire.org. ) And for those of you who have never made the conse- cration, now is the best time ever! This really is a once- in-a-lifetime opportunity to make the consecration in preparation for the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. (By the way, this is only the fourth “extraordinary Jubilee” in the whole history of the Church!) So, we’re inviting all of our Marian Helpers to consecrate them- selves on Dec. 8. To do that, we’ll begin our 33 days of preparation on Nov. 5. Please join us! Join Mary’s army. Imagine if all of our Marian Helpers joined us Marians in consecrating ourselves to Jesus through Mary on the great feast of the Immaculate Conception to begin the Year of Mercy! I know she will then use us as a powerful army for her Son to bless the whole world in this great time of mercy. God knows the world needs it, and I know that by consecrating ourselves to Mary, we can and will change the world. We will be victorious, and we will begin our march on Nov. 5, and I want you to join us. Here’s what to do For evangelization purposes, we’re offering a special on the consecration book 33 Days to Morning Glory. (Price: Your donation, plus $5.25 ship- ping. Offered until Nov. 5. Visi t ShopMercy.org/33 or call 800-462-7426. One per household. U.S. only.) Do the consecration alone or as a group.(Visit AllHeartsAfire.org for more info). Begin the consecration on Nov. 5 so that you can complete the consecration 33 days later, on Dec. 8 — th e Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the start of t he extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy! T o properly understand the essence of total conse- cration to Jesus through Mary, we need to reflect on an important point: Jesus wants to include all of us in his work of salvation. In other words, he doesn’t just redeem us and then expect us to kick back and relax. On the contrary, he puts us to work. He wants all of us to labor in his Father’s vineyard in one way or another. Jesus relies on others to spread his Gospel, and he com- missions his disciples to preach it to all (see Mt 28:19-20). He basically says to them and to us, “Let’s get to work!” Of course, that God wants to include us in his work of salva- tion is a great gift and glorious privilege. Truly, there’s no more important work to be done. While everyone is called to lend a hand in the great work of salvation, not everyone has the same role. For example, St. Paul says, “There are varieties of service and ... there are varieties of working” (1 Cor 12:5-6). He goes on to say that God has appointed to the work of salvation “first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, adminis- trators” (v. 28). Whoever we are, God has appointed us to a special task in his great work. Among the various roles God has given to his children, there’s one that’s radically more important than all the others: the task he gave to Mary. We all know that God uniquely blessed Mary by choosing her to conceive, bear, and nurture Jesus Christ, our Savior. But do we also realize that her blessed work didn’t end once Jesus left home and began his public ministry? After the three years of Mary’s hidden life during Jesus’ public ministry, Jesus brought her back into the picture of his work of salvation at its most crucial time: the “hour” of his Passion. At that hour, we might say he fully revealed Mary’s special task— the same task she had begun some 33 years before and that she still continues. Jesus fully revealed Mary’s special task shortly before his death. It happened when he looked down from the Cross and said to Mary as she stood with the Apostle John, “Woman, behold, your son” and to John, “Behold, your mother” (Jn 19:26-27). At that moment, Jesus gave us one of his greatest gifts: his mother as our mother. Of course, Mary isn’t our natural mother. She’s our spiritual mother. In other words, just as it was once her task some 2,000 years ago to give birth to Christ, to feed and nurture him, and to help him grow and develop into a man, so also, from the time she first said yes to being the mother of Jesus until the end of time, Mary’s task is to give spiritual birth to Christians, to feed and nurture themwith grace, and to help them grow to full stature in Christ. In short, Mary’s job is to help us grow in holiness. It’s her mission to form us into saints. 14 M arian H elper • F all 2015 • marian.org Why consecration to Jesus through Mary? 3 (Excerpted from 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC.) 3 3 MH MH