In belonging to her, who loves us personally and wishes our holiness,
she draws us into her universal mission: to bring Jesus to all who are longing for happiness.

Consecration to Mary comes from the will of Christ crucified, “Woman behold your son!” “Son, behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27). We consecrate ourselves to Mary because Christ gave Her to us as our Mother. Since the time of our baptism, He repeats to each one of us: “Behold your Mother.” Like the apostle John, who “took her with him,” we welcome Her together with all the other gifts that Christ has given us: the Word, the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit, grace, and we ask Her to journey with us and give witness to the Gospel in everyday life.
 
“I want to be all yours, Mary!” was the motto of the pontificate of John Paul II, who thus addressed the young people at the XVIII World Youth Day:

“Today, it is you whom Jesus expressly asks to receive Mary ‘into your home’ and to welcome her ‘as one of yours’; to learn from her the one who ‘kept all these things, pondering them in her heart’ (Lk 2,19) that inner disposition to listen and the attitude of humility and generosity that singled her out as God's first collaborator in the work of salvation. She will discharge her ministry as a mother and train you and mould you until Christ is fully formed in you.”

“It is not just a question of learning what he taught but of “learning him”. In this regard could we have any better teacher than Mary? From the divine standpoint, the Spirit is the interior teacher who leads us to the full truth of Christ (cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:13). But among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother.” (RVM, 14).

Consecration to Mary is characterized by two basic attitudes: trust and offering.
We trust Mary because we believe in her love and her mission as Mother. We experience Her to be the figure and fulfillment of what we will be, too.

From this attitude, offering springs forth. We recognize the specificity of her maternal mediation, we rely on her action, knowing that in Her hands nothing will be lost.

Why be totally consecrated to Mary?
In the Divine Plan of God He wanted her to be the most efficacious means and quickest way to reach Him.

Our consecration to Mary does not preserve us from trials and difficulties, yet it is the way that God himself choose to manifest himself to the world.

Consecration to Mary is characterized by two basic traits: trust and offering.

We trust in Mary because we believe in her love and her mission as Mother. We see in Her our model and the fullness of what we too shall become.

From here springs forth the offering; acknowledging her particular maternal mediation, we entrust ourselves to it’s action, knowing that in her hands, nothing will be lost.

What we are:
our spirit with its aspirations,
our mind with its thoughts, intuitions, troubles and desires,
our body with all its faculties and sufferings,
our heart with all its affections, sentiments, the capability to love and to give.

What we do:
every action, every word and deed.

Often it will seem that we have nothing to offer Mary because we will feel all the reality of our human and spiritual limitations; not being capable to do the good that we would like to do; the weight of our sin….but it’s just this that we have to place in the heart and hands of Mary.
She takes all that we are, enriches it with her merits and offers it to the Father as if it was her own. The imitation of Mary is the first step that springs forth from consecration to her and day after day she makes room in us for the face of Christ and makes us his witnesses.

The consecration has to be a free and conscious act, accepted and lived as a gift. To prepare ourselves worthily for this act, it is good to know the Church’s teachings about the Mother of God, and deepen the understanding and knowledge of the total consecration through appropriate reading.

Establish a date (Marian feasts are most appropriate), then in a moment of prayer or even at the end of a celebration of the Eucharist, recite the proper formula of consecration . It is highly recommended to recite this prayer daily.
As a sign of the consecration, Father Kolbe invited those consecrated to Mary to wear the Miraculous Medal. Above all the consecrant is to be a true child and apostle of Mary in one’s own environment. There is not only established an external relationship with Mary, becoming her children, but the beginning of an authentic and gradual transformation of ourselves into her.

(All of our Centers offer preparation and various occasions for the total consecration)