Day 25 or 26 of the 33 Day Consecration to Mary - Unwrapping the Baptismal Presents in Your Soul

Today is day 25 or 26 of the 33-day consecration to Mary, depending on whether you were ending on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We heard in the Sunday Gospel that Saint John the Baptist baptized with water, but another was coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and Fire. Decades after my baptism, I am realizing more and more the amazing gift given to me. I was brought into God’s Kingdom. I am God’s daughter. I have a right to Heaven and don’t ever have to give into the temptation to think I’m beyond Heaven’s reach. These are incredible gifts. The Lord imagined something and made me to fulfill His dream. And then He set it in motion on the day I was baptized in Saint Jerome’s Church. The Lord gave me a special identity and I have been asking the Lord to reveal that more and more. There are things He intended uniquely between Him and me, and there are things He intended uniquely for me to serve His people. I have found the Lord’s hand in funny places, like my ability to take nearly word-for-word notes of meetings and homilies to disseminate to other people. That has become a great blessing in my life, and I never would have guessed the Lord was part of that way back when I was taking notes in college and in news conferences. I am also finding the Lord in singing. I find it very funny that my prayer years ago to ask whether He wanted me to sing has culminated in our joining the 11:30 Sunday Mass choir as of yesterday. And maybe there are even more things the Lord wants to say about the way He made me. That question of “What are you going to do with your life?” doesn’t end when you are leaving high school and entering into a program for college. I’m 42 and it’s still unfolding. What has the Lord told you about yourself? He made you so well. He has more to tell you. Inside your heart is His infinite heart. You are going to unwrap presents at Christmas, but you have more presents waiting to be opened in your soul. I pray for the journey you are on in finding out the amazing things that happened at your baptism. The water flowed over you and the Father said, “This is my Beloved.” The Holy Spirit came over you like a dove. You may not have seen or heard it at the time, but it is never too late to hear and see it again and again if you ask Him. Today, we consecrate 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