Day 22 or 23 of the 33 Day Consecration to Mary - Thank You For Your Thankless Work

Today is day 22 or 23 of the 33-day consecration to Mary, depending on whether you were ending on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I was working on breakfast for my girls at 6 am and remembered to offer up that work to the Lord. As I offered it, I remembered the line from Proverbs 31:15, “She rises while it is still night, and distributes food to her household.” About half of Proverbs 31 is a discourse on the “Woman of Worth.” As a woman, a wife and a mother, I have pondered it many times. But I thought of that line this morning and connected it to place that applies as a woman or man, a spouse or not married, and in any kind of work. Day in and day out, many jobs are not applauded or appreciated. This is true as a mom, but also for a dad or the person slogging away at work. How many times have people felt burned out and not recognized? How many times have I said, “I’m doing this all alone and no one notices or thanks me”? I have even been tempted to feel this way in my "work" of intercession for others. Mary is front and center sometimes, but usually, she’s in the background. Often, I’ve found only later she was helping me get to Jesus or that I was under her protection. She doesn’t need to be thanked or recognized and, in her humility, she doesn’t want it. Mary also remembers that what is done in secret, the Father will repay (Matthew 6:4). She is never slogging away alone. The Father is always with her. He says to His daughter, “Well done!” And the Father who sees your work will say the same to you. I offer you my thanks for all the unnoticed things you do. Thank you for slogging away at big things and little things that help others. The Father will repay you in secret, one-on-one, with a “Well done, my child!” Or, He will have your “deeds praise you at the city gates” the way the Woman of Worth was repaid (Proverbs 31:31). Either way, you were never working alone. Today, we consecrate all our work, ourselves, our families, our nation and our church. A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our country and all the world. Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully. We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with your rule, triumph in every heart and home. Amen. --Venerable Pope Pius XII