Over two thousand years ago, Mary, a young girl in Nazareth who was chosen by God to be the Mother of His only begotten Son, full of the Holy Spirit, prophesied:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour; because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid. Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name” (Lk. 1:46b – 49).

We, who have been redeemed by Her only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, should, with great joy, desire to be included among all those who from generation to generation turn their hearts to Mary, the Mother of Jesus who is also our Mother and proclaim Her blessed.

Here are reasons why we (all Catholics) should consecrate our lives to Jesus through Mary and honour Her:

To provide the easiest, safest, fastest, most secure, and surest path to Jesus and to our own salvation.

To obtain Our Lady's help in bringing us from our own unworthiness to the level of conversion, holiness, and perfection in our lives needed to enable us to become saintly.

To turn our lives over completely and without reservation in service to Jesus through Mary to reflect our love and our trust in them now and for all eternity.

To obtain special graces and protection under Our Lady's sheltering mantle.

To help bring others to Jesus through Mary for their conversion, holiness, and perfection through this total consecration devotion.

To hasten the day of the Triumph of Our Lady's Immaculate Heart and the day when Mary and Jesus will reign in all hearts.

To fulfil Our Lady's request for individual consecration of our lives to her Immaculate Heart, as given to us through Sister Lucia during the Fatima apparitions.

To become an effective counter-force to the legion of evil so prevalent in the world by offering up our prayers, sacrifices, and sufferings to Jesus through Mary.

To renew our Baptismal promises and to evangelize the world to Jesus through Mary.

The most important reason why we should honour the Blessed Virgin Mary is because she is the Immaculate Mother of God, the Mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. God Himself first honoured her.

The Early Fathers of the Church, Popes, Doctors of the Church and some of the greatest saints have given us reasons why Mary must be honoured. Here are a few of them:

“O sinners, be not discouraged but have recourse to Mary in all your necessities. Call her to your assistance, for you will always find her ready to help. It is God's will that she should help in every need”.   — Saint Basil the Great (329 - 379)

“Through Mary, the miserable obtain Mercy, the graceless find grace, and sinners receive pardon”. — Saint Augustine of Hippo. (354 - 430)

“Mary, ever Virgin, is a true Mother of Mercy, who disposes Jesus to clemency. As a consoler of the human race, she never ceases to pour out before Him her prayer for the salvation of the faithful crushed by the weight of their sins”.  — Pope Saint Pius V (Reigned 1566 - 1572)

“Devotion to the Blessed Virgin in no way detracts from the Glory of God. Rather, it leads us directly back to that Author of all good, Who has willed her to be so great and so pure”. — Pope Pius Xll (Reigned 1939 - 1958)

“Every time that you honour Mary, Mary praises and honours God with you”. — Pope John Paul II (Reigned 1978 - 2005)

“The Mother of God is our mother. May the good mother ask and beg for us, may she request and obtain what is good for us”. — Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 - 1109).

“Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on His Mother. The more Mary is honoured, the greater is the glory of her Son”.  — Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 -1153)

“I command all my brothers, who are living now and who will live in the future, always to praise the Mother of God, and with every means to honour her everywhere as well as they are able, and have recourse to her with the greatest respect and surrender”. — Saint Francis of Assisi (1181 - 1226)

“Those who enjoy the favour of Mary are recognized by the citizens of heaven.  And those that bear her stamp, that is, those that have the grace to be her servants, are inscribed in the Book of Life”. — Saint Bonaventure (1221 - 1274)

“Have recourse to that dear Mary who is the Mother of Mercy. She will take you into her Son's presence, and use her Motherly intercession with Him on your behalf, so that He will be merciful to you”. — Saint Catherine of Siena (1347 - 1380) 

“The Blessed Virgin Mary has the power of delivering souls from purgatory by her prayers, and by applying her merits for them. This is especially true for souls that were devoted to her on earth”. — Saint Bernardine of Siena (1380 - 1444)

“Those who want to prevent their heart from being pervaded by the evils of earth should entrust it to the Blessed Virgin, our Lady and our Mother. They will then regain it in heaven, freed from all evils”. — Saint Francis de Sales (1567 - 1622)

“Let all hearts give themselves to Mary so that she will fill them with her Heart and the Heart of Jesus!”  — Saint John Eudes (1601 - 1680)

“To go to Jesus through Mary is truly to honour Jesus Christ. It indicates that we do not esteem ourselves worthy of approaching His infinite holiness directly, that we need Mary to be our Mediatrix with Him, our Mediator”. — Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort (1673 - 1716)

“Mary adorns her clients with her merits, assists them with her power, enlightens them with her light, and kindles them with her love. She imparts her virtues to them and becomes their security, their intercessor, and their all with Jesus”. — Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort (1673 - 1716)

“Mary is the sure way to go to Jesus and to find Him perfectly. It is through her that holy souls, who are to radiate holiness, must find Jesus!”  — Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort (1673 - 1716)

“Although we are sinners, let us be of good heart and feel certain that Mary will come to assist us at death. We need only to serve her with love for the remainder of our time in the world”. — Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696 - 1787)

“Whoever bears the mark of devotion to Mary, God recognizes as His own”. — Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696 - 1787)

“Happy is he who lives and dies under the protection of the Blessed Virgin” — Saint Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney, the Cure D’ Ars, (1786 - 1859)

“Those who have great devotion to Mary not only will be saved, but also will, through her intercession, become great Saints. Furthermore, their holiness will grow from day to day. “— Saint Vincent Pallotti (1795 - 1850)

“We find ourselves on earth as in a tempestuous sea, a desert, and a vale of tears. But Mary is the Star of the Sea, the Solace of our desert, and the Light that guides us to heaven”. — Saint John Bosco. (1815 - 1888)

“Love our Lady, make others love her. Always say your Rosary and say it well. Satan always tries to destroy this prayer, but he will never succeed. It is the prayer of her who triumphs over everything and everyone”.  — Saint Padre Pio (1887 - 1968)

“Those who belong to Mary should do all they can to win the hearts of others to her. And Mary will enlighten those hearts, enkindle them with the love of her Maternal Heart, and inflame them with the fire of charity that burns in the Divine Heart of Jesus”. — Saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894 - 1941)

“If you want to grow in perfection, you cannot advance by yourselves - you need a guide. Hence, when you go to God, go through Mary and with Mary!” — Saint Maximilian Kolbe. (1894 - 1941)

“My Immaculate Heart shall be your refuge and the road that shall lead you to God”. — Our Lady of Fatima, 1917 

“Jesus wishes to make use of you (Lucia) to make me known and loved. He wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. I promise salvation to those who embrace it, and those souls will be loved by God, like flowers placed by me to adorn His Throne”. —- Our Lady of Fatima, June 13th, 1917

 

As we consider the wonders which God has worked in and through Mary, let us never tire of invoking her as Mother of God, Mediatrix of all graces, Help of Christians and Queen of Peace.

Let our faith in the power of her intercession on our behalf before the throne of grace grow ever stronger, for as St. Bernard has said:

“Following Her, thou strayest not;

Invoking Her, thou despairest not;

Thinking of Her, thou wanderest not;

Upheld by Her, thou failest not;

Shielded by Her, thou fallest not;

Guided by Her, thou growest not weary;

Favoured by Her, thou reachest the goal”.