Marian Devotion

SODALITY WAY OF LIFE and
LIVING A "MORE" MARIAN LIFE

Ways to Celebrate Marian Feast Days as a Parish Sodality,
With Your Family and Fellow Parishioners

Visit with the Most Blessed Sacrament in personal prayer, in hours of adoration--"Come adore this wondrous presence"

Pray the Rosary and Marian Novenas (see below—Feast Days of Mary)

Plan and prepare for Marian Consecration using 33 Days to Morning Glory by Father Michael Gaitley, MIC (see below—Marian Consecration)and/or Consecration to Divine Mercy using 33 Days to Merciful Love

Plan a Marian Tour pilgrimage to the Franciscan Monastery (see Sodality Events page)

Give the gift of a Spiritual Bouquet and support Sodality Union’s Christmas Bouquet to the Holy Father

Commit as a parish Sodality to annually visit the National Shrine for taping of TV Masses for the homebound and supporting Sodality Union’s sponsorship of these Masses

Continue to live the Year of Mercy and Pray the Rosary, which is "meant in a particular way to draw us into God's Mercy: at the Annunciation, at the Last Supper, at the Crucifixion, at Pentecost. Each mystery of the rosary is a particular gift of God's Mercy." Fr. James M. Sullivan, O.P.

Our Blessed Mother Leads us to the Pierced Heart of Jesus, the Source for Grace and Mercy

Feast Days of Mary (* Holy day of Obligation)

January 1                   Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God *
                                  Novena begins December 23

February 2                 Presentation of the Lord
                                  Novena begins January 25

February 11               Our Lady of Lourdes
                                  Novena begins February 2

March 25                   Annunciation
                                 Novena begins March 16

April 26 Our Lady of Good Counsel
Novena begins April 18

MAY IS THE MONTH OF MARY

May 13                       Our Lady of Fatima
                                  Novena begins May 5

May 31                       Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
                                   Novena begins May 22

June 27                      Our Mother of Perpetual Help
                                  Novena begins June 18

July 16                       Our Lady of Mount Carmel
                                  Novena begins July 7

August 15                  Assumption *
                                  Novena begins August 6

August 22                  The Queenship of Mary

September 8               Birth of Mary
                                  Novena begins August 30

September 12            The Most Holy Name of Mary

September 15            Our Lady of Sorrows
                                  Novena begins September 7

OCTOBER IS THE MONTH OF THE ROSARY

October 7                  Our Lady of the Holy Rosary
                                  Novena begins September 29

November 21            Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
                                 Novena begins November 12

November 27            Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
                                 Novena begins November 19

December 8              Immaculate Conception *
                                 Novena begins November 29

December 9 St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoazin, pray for us.

"Do not let your ... heart be disturbed. ... Are you not in the hollow

                              of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms?"

December 12            Our Lady of Guadalupe
                                 Novena begins December 4

St. John Paul II called the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe the "Marian heart of America."

The Feast of the Immaculate Heart is the Saturday following the Second Sunday after Pentecost.
The First Saturday of each Month is dedicated to Marian Devotions.

MARIAN CONSECRATION

St. Louis Marie de Montfort’s Consecration to Jesus through Mary transforming period of preparation is summarized below:

It begins with preliminary preparation requiring turning from/renouncing the Spirit of the World.
It continues with knowledge of self.
It culminates with knowledge of Jesus through Mary.

The "essence of the consecration" is to give our YES, similar to Mary's fiat! She knows the power of this YES that we give when we consecrate ourselves to Jesus. Mary nourishes us in our spiritual growth, similar to how she nourished her Son. Her role in our lives is same: to form us into saints with the help of the Holy Spirit. “Mary resonates the workings of the Holy Spirit.” God gave Mary the important role in the work of Salvation, forming us into other Christ—not just to imitate the virtues. De Montfort’s Consecration is contract of the renewal of our baptism.

St. Louis Marie de Montfort was educated by the Jesuits. He was a Sodalist! He journeyed to Paris on foot for 250 miles to become a seminarian. Some opposed his zeal, his spirituality; buy after a period, reputation of his holiness brought about a benefactor and he entered a seminary. He put into daily practice dying to oneself. Among his responsibilities as a seminarian, he cared for the chapel of the Blessed Mother in the church of St. Sulpice. He studied sacred writings, including a treatise on the Slavery of the Blessed Virgin. During this period is when his love for the Blessed Mother flourished. In a treatise, he explained how OUR UNION WITH OUR LORD REQUIRES UNION WITH MARY BECAUSE “HE CHOSE TO COME TO US THROUGH HER AND THERE SHE IS THE MOST PERFECT WAY TO GO TO HIM.”

He teaches to willfully speak for oneself through Mary; to make a commitment, as in our baptism to renounce evil; to take on the mission of evangelization, that is, God gives us the dignity to participate in the work of salvation—to spread the fire of his love. We “die with Christ on the cross, we rise with him to newness of life.” The crosses in our lives are transforming moments. With eyes of Mary, we see the heart of Jesus; with the heart of Mary, we enter communion with Christ; and with the hands of Mary, we give Christ to the other. The GOAL OF Marian Consecration is to give all to Jesus through Mary, with Him and in Him and in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God the Father. THE GOAL IS GOD THE FATHER.

Plan your Sodality's or Parish's consecration by following the schedule below.

33-day Consecration Schedule

Marian Feast Date to Start Date of Consecration

Annunciation February 20 March 25

Feast of St. Louis de Monfort March 26 April 28

Feast of Our Lady of Fatima April 10 May 13

Visitation April 28 May 31

Our Lady of Perpetual Help May 25 June 27

Our Lady of Mount Carmel June 13 July 16

Assumption July 13 August 15

Queenship of Mary July 20 August 22

Our Lady of Czestochowa July 24 August 26

Birth of Mary August 6 September 8

Most Holy Name of Mary August 10 September 12

Our Lady of Sorrows August 13 September 15

Our Lady of the Rosary September 4 October 7

Presentation of Mary October 19 November 21

Immaculate Conception November 5 December 8

Our Lady of Guadalupe November 9 December 12

Solemnity of Mary November 29 January 1

Excerpt From Sodalist Lynn Hill’s (St. Elizabeth Sodality)

Writings to Sodalists on Father Gaitley’s 33 Days to Morning Glory Consecration

It’s exciting that so many of you [in 2015] accepted the opportunity to be consecrated to Mary. As Sodalists we recognize that the surest way to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is through His Immaculate Mother. Father Michael Gaitley’s “33 Days to Morning Glory” is a wonderful book which I continue to use for “reconsecrations.”

Father Gaitley calls his updated and simple book “a Marian consecration for the Third Millennium. Each week the book focuses on a different saint who lived and wrote about his/her devotion to Mary. On your journey to Jesus through Mary, you’ll read and ponder messages from St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maximillan Kolbe, Blessed Mother Teresa, and St. Pope John Paul II. The last five days contain a review of the writings. …

The four Marian saints discussed in “33 Days” are wonderful guides for us on the path to Marian consecration. As we begin our lifelong journey let’s ask them and Our mother to be with us.

* * *

Although inspired, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed or unworthy. I doubt that God is going to ask any of us to start a religious congregation or write a book about Marian devotion. I do think that He wants each of us, like Mary, to bring Jesus to others we meet.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who recourse to thee.