Totally Yours!: A Profound Relationship of Love

“Totally yours” are two words of a prayer of consecration to Jesus through Mary by St. Louis de Montfort that describes a profound and intimate relationship.  The entire prayer says, “I am totally yours, and all that I have is yours, O Virgin Ever Blessed.  I accept you in all aspects of my life.  Give me your Heart, O Mary.”   St. Louis, along with many other saints, believed that to belong to Our Lady is to belong to her Son Jesus.  Jesus and Mary are so united in love and will that to go to Our Blessed Mother is to be drawn by her more deeply in a relationship of love with Christ.

The other day I saw an interview on TV with a wife and mother who had written a book for children.  It was entitled “Child Consecration: To Jesus through Mary.”   The author, Blythe Marie Kaufman, spoke lovingly about employing the book to help children make the consecration to Jesus through His Blessed Mother according to the teaching of St. Louis de Montfort.  One added element of the book is that it is done in the spirit of St. Thérèse of Lisieux,  a great  example of being childlike before the Lord.  I have not read the book (I probably will) but I mention it as an example of a basic principle of the spiritual life that St. Louis and St. Therese lived in their own lives.  This principle is that we are all called to have a deep relationship with Jesus Christ.  Pope Francis reechoed this in his Wednesday audience when he stressed that meditative prayer “means going to Jesus, and from Jesus, discovering ourselves, healed, risen, strong by the grace of Jesus…and encountering Jesus, the Savior of all…”

What does the consecration to Jesus through Mary teach us?  First, the consecration embodies this reality of an intimate encounter with Jesus.  We discover by this encounter that one’s life in the Church is not self-centered.  It is not about what I want and how I call the shots.  No, it is about going to Jesus through Mary His Mother.  It is not about telling God what I want.  Instead the consecration is about being open to receiving what Jesus wants to give me – Himself.  Who better than Our Lady who said, ”Be it done unto me  according to your word” (Lk 1:38) to teach us this?!  When we make the consecration to Jesus through Mary, it is all about coming before Jesus, through the hands and heart of His Mother and giving ourselves over to Him.  

Why do we ask Our Lady to help us in this encounter? St. Louis de Montfort teaches us that in God’s plan, Jesus came to us through His Mother Mary.  Likewise, we can and should go to Him through His Mother.  It sounds so uncomplicated.  Why? Because God’s plan is utterly simple.  This plan tells us that we should present ourselves in humble prayer to the Redeemer through the woman who said “Yes” to God’s plan at the Annunciation, who gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem and who stood at the foot of the cross as He was offering Himself for our salvation.  Her whole role in the Church is to bring God to us and us to God.  It is not insisting about our having our own way and being who we want to be.  Instead, it is about desiring His will and being whom He wants us to be by following the Blessed Mother’s lead.

Second, consecration to Jesus through Mary teaches us about a loving relationship.   This possibility of a profound personal relationship of love with Jesus Our Savior and His Mother was ratified for us when He gave her to us as He hung upon the Cross (Jn 19: 26-27).  Often we hear that people who leave the Catholic Church will claim, “I never had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”  Well, I need to say that a personal relationship with Jesus does happen for Catholics.  I have been going to daily Mass and receiving Jesus in Holy Communion for almost 50 years.  I definitely have a personal relationship with Jesus.  How could I not?  

Part of the reason that I have this relationship is that so many people in the Church, starting with my parents, have shown me that Jesus Christ is truly and substantially present in the Holy Eucharist and He loves me more than I can imagine.  Another person in my life with whom I have a real personal relationship for as long as I can remember is Our Blessed Lady.  St. Louis de Montfort’s consecration underlines that Jesus and Mary are real and alive and are always with us.  Jesus, as true God and true Man, and His Mother as a human being who by God’s grace has served Him more completely and more lovingly than anyone else ever did, draw us into a relationship of love and help us to grow in holiness.  Certainly my relationship with Our Blessed Mother has only deepened my relationship with and love for Jesus her Son.  Mary taught me this and I love her for it!

Finally, this consecration proposed by St. Louis teaches us what God asks of us.  The consecration is founded in our relationship with God Himself.  As a matter of fact, it is founded in the life of the Holy Trinity because it flows from our Baptismal promises.   When we renew these promises, we reject Satan and all evil, we confess that we believe all that God has revealed, and we promise to love and serve the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  From our Baptismal Promises comes forth our call to be apostles by evangelizing others and introducing them to Jesus and helping them to have a deep relationship with Him.  Who else would be better to enlist in this work of the new evangelization than Our Blessed Mother who brought Jesus to us in the first place?  She is always drawing us to Him through her loving and maternal heart.

Perhaps it is time in our lives to consider making the consecration to Jesus through Mary or to renew it if we have done it before.  Even though we will not use the child’s version of the consecration, we should certainly approach it with childlike humility and trust.  He never spurns hearts with that attitude. The St. Louis de Montfort method can be found in his book, Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, published by the de Montfort Fathers.  Fr. Michael Gaitley’s book 33 Days to Morning Glory has a different approach but includes the teaching of St. Louis.

Whatever method you use, know this – if you enter into the consecration with an open heart and trust in God’s grace, your life will be transformed.  Then, once you have said, “I am totally yours” to Our Lady, you will find yourself before her Son Jesus and you be be empowered to go forth and bring many souls to her and her Son!

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh