Nine Day Consecration
"To live, work, suffer, be consumed and die for you, just for you." St. Maximillian Kolbe
A Note on How to Prepare oneself for the Solemn Act of Consecration
As one prepares for unlimited Marian Consecration the number of days, per se, are not important but rather the disposition of one's heart, seeking to reach into the very depths of oneself, as it were, to knowingly and willingly offer mind, heart and will to the Immaculate. Our disposition is directly, in most cases, made more or less generous depending on our understanding, which allows us to consent to offering a sacrifice of ourselves for the love of someone else, and just as one cannot love what one does not know, so to one does not normally give totally of oneself without some understanding of what and to whom they are giving.
St. Maximilian teaches rightly that the words, or the formula of consecration, are of small significance What is important is the desire to offer oneself as a limitless oblation to the Immaculate as Her "property and possession." The words and formula are meant to assist us in this.
The Marian Consecration of St. Maximilian Kolbe is distinguished from the teaching of Saint Louis Grignion [de Montfort] especially on account of what lies behind it:
-
Not just the “Franciscan thesis,” but also the dogma of the Immaculate, with all its practical and theoretical consequences.
-
The universal end of “sanctificationem omnium” [sanctification of all],
-
The universal Mediation of the Immaculate, The need to win the whole world over to the Immaculate.” (n. 796)
