Hello St. Charles Family,
We would like to invite you to join us in growing your spiritual life with the help of Mary. In our wealth of Catholic devotions available, a beautiful gem called Marian Consecration stands out among the rest. The devotion was developed by St. Louis de Montfort in the 1700's and is known as "the surest, easiest, shortest, and the most perfect means" to grow in holiness. Sounds appealing to me! A general understanding of this devotion is that we are able to grow closer to Jesus and devote more of our life to him through the help of his mother. Recall the first miracle Jesus acted which set off his life of ministry, the Wedding Feast at Cana. It was by Mary's prompting that Jesus acted telling the servers to, "do whatever he tells you." Our relationship with Mary can only help our relationship with Jesus and through consecration, we are better apt to understand her holy role in salvation. Personally, it was influential in much of my life journey and helped me trust in God's plan when nothing made sense. I've renewed my consecration each year since my first time in 2013.
There have been many versions developed since the first from St. Louis de Montfort, but a popular preparation in recent times has been from Fr. Michael Gaitley, entitled, 33 Days to Morning Glory. Through this book, each day for 33 days we are to read about a page and a half to learn about Mary and her role in salvation, then a few prayers to recite. That's about it. This little way is how we grow.
Fr. Adam Mauman will be leading us on this journey together and invites you to join him. We will begin on Thursday, December 31st and end on the Feast of The Presentation of the Lord on Tuesday, February 2nd. Fr. Mauman will post a weekly reflection video on Facebook on Wednesdays. The videos can be watched after the fact but we encourage you to watch during that week as it pertains to the particular readings. If you've already completed this consecration, we invite you to renew your consecration with us and invite a friend!
Another resource to aide you in the journey is a weekly video on
Formed.org. Go to Formed and type in "33 Days to Morning Glory" then click collections at the top. There will be one video per week hosted by the author, Fr. Michael Gaitley.
If you are interested in purchasing your own and won't get the book for a few days due to delivery, let us know and you can borrow one and return it after you get yours. Below is an image of the book for your reference.
Prayers up for you all.