REDEMPTORIS MATER: St. John Paul II's Ode to the Mother of God. "At Baptism you received Heaven in your soul": Fr. Elias explains the Role of Our Lady, Mother of the Church.
Link to the Digital Toolkit for today's Rosary (the Joyful Mysteries); Fr. Peter, RHP Spiritual Director sermon. Let's consecrate all the days of 2024 to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin.
2nd Edition | NOTE, Our team apologizes for the typo in the transcription of the podcast in the first edition with Fr. Elias and Amelia. He did not say the word “co-mediatrix” and it was meant to say “Mediatrix” as no Catholic theologian ever said co-mediatrix and this gives us an opportunity to write a post on this term, “Mediatrix”. For now, here is: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/teachings/mediatrix-of-all-graces-143
We’ll do a post on this topic shortly.
IT IS MONDAY, JANUARY 1st and a SOLEMNITY. WE INVITE YOU TO PRAY THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES with ONE other person (if possible) before you retire today; offer this Rosary for Peace in our Hearts and Peace in the World.
THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST 2024 | MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD
REVIEWED BY IZZY for the RHP TEAM | PACIFIC STANDARD TIME; 2nd Edition Reviewed by Fr. Elias Mary Mills, FI
PODCAST MEMORIES: AN EXCERPT FROM DEC. 8, 2023 RHP INTERVIEW
(CONVERSATION CAPTURED BY THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST)
This Digital Café session was Produced / Directed by Dr. Blythe Kaufman with the Spiritual Direction of Fr. Charles Nahm and Fr. Elias Mills.
In this episode segment, Amelia continues her interview with Fr. Elias Mary Mills, former rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Amelia asked Fr. Mills to teach her about the importance of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8. Here is the exchange.
AMELIA (RHP HOST on Dec. 8):
“Today is a feast of the Immaculate Conception. We are here with our special guest, Fr. Elias Mills. Fr. Elias, why is this Marian Feast so important?”
(Hoje é festa da Imaculada Conceição. Estamos aqui com o nosso convidado especial, P. Elias Mills. P. Elias, por que esta festa mariana é tão importante?)
FR. ELIAS:
“Well, the Immaculate Conception especially is so important because 169 years ago, Pius IX declared it a dogma of our faith. But that doesn't mean that the church began to believe in that only 169 years ago. It just means that it finally declared it to be “de fide”, that you must believe this truth, that it is so important in, you might say, remaining Catholic to believe in the Immaculate Conception, because it really is, as St. Maximilian Kolbe came to understand at birth, at Lourdes when Our Lady was asked by Bernadette, “what is your name?”
Our Lady said:
“I am the Immaculate Conception.”1
And she said it in such a humble way: she first looked up to heaven, and then she looked down and she let her hands fall down at her side as she is seen in the Miraculous Medal or as Our Lady of Grace.
And she said:
“I am the Immaculate Conception.”
And Saint Maximilian Kolbe said the reason why she said that is because she loves that title.
She loves that name because that represents the first grace that she ever received from God was the fact that when she was conceived in her mother's womb, she was conceived without the stain of original sin and full of grace from the first moment of her conception.
So that was Our Lady: [she] was so humble and so grateful and thankful to God that from that grace flows all the other graces that Our Lady received.
You know that
- she's immaculate, so that she can be the Mother of God;
- she's immaculate so that she can be the most pure virgin;
- she's immaculate so that she can be assumed into Heaven;
- she's immaculate so that she can be also our mediatrix and our advocate so that was like your baptismal grace that made you a child of God.
That was so important for you because at Baptism you received Heaven in your soul.
Well, Immaculate Conception is even more so because Our Lady never had any moment when she was not a friend with God.
From the first moment of her conception, she was only moved by God and the Holy Spirit. It is really a beautiful thing when we think about it.
And all that was because he chose Our Lady to be his mother.
And so Christ prepared for himself a mother that would be worthy of him.
Amelia, did you know that the Fathers and Doctors of the church said that when the Trinity finished making Our Lady, they were exhausted?
God put everything He could into his Mother that He couldn't say anything more.
When you think about God made a Mother worthy of Himself, well, God wouldn't make her anything less than worthy of Him.
And so we can't even imagine the beauty, the greatness of what God has done in His mother.
She's not just pure.
She's most pure.
And she's not just beautiful.
She's most beautiful.
And even though we think sometimes, well, she's so humble, but now God really wants us to know the great and wonderful and beautiful things that he's done in his mother.
So when you pray your Rosary every day, our lady begins to reveal not only herself, but the great things that God has done in her for not just for her, but for all of us.
Yeah. Keep praying that rosary and you'll see the beautiful things about Our Lady.
St. Maximilian Kolbe said, if you want to know Our Lady and to know her well, you have to do it through prayer.
And I think the Rosary is a way you're going to find out these beautiful mysteries of Our Lady today.
AMELIA (RHP HOST): Thank you for that.
MAKE FRIENDS WITH A NEW SAINT USING THIS SITE ON NEW YEAR’S DAY
In today’s Llvestream, Fr. Peter notes the following site to make friends with a new Saint in 2024. Say a prayer, then click on https://saintsnamegenerator.com.
See the full sermon transcription on OTerco.substack.com:
EXCERPT FROM SERMON of FR. PETER on CONSECRATING OUR LIVES TO OUR LADY AND EXPERIENCING HER INTERCESSION:
“Another way to receive experience of peace that the Lord offers us through Mary is to consecrate this year to God through her.”
It's a tradition in the Church that has been around for centuries. And it was very popularized by St. Louis de Montfort and the great saints, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St.John Paul II, Teresa of Lisieux. So many saints would consecrate their lives.
So they would say, “you are my mother. You love me. You continue to operate in the world. In heaven, you're praying for all believers and non-believers that we may come to know that our peace is in your son. I do not trust myself, because I walk in the valley of darkness, but with you, with your mantle wrapped around me, I trust that you will lead me along the path, that narrow path with many different problems along the way, and the same way that you had to journey through many difficulties, I know that so long as you're with me, that I will get to my destination one day.”
So I would recommend doing that.
“Consecrate the beginning of the year to Mary, and she will help you along the way. Many people that have done that have experienced her intercession, and they've been able to grow spiritually. It's a very simple thing to do, and we continue it every day, every morning when you get up. There's a little act of consecration that you can find, right, on the internet, and say that prayer. Again, it's always directed towards God, but it's under the mantle of Mary. We do that and we experience her peace.
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY FROM FR. ELIAS MILLS:2
Fr. Mills suggests the “Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate by St. Maximilian Kolbe and he likes this translation., it being the most accurate:
O Immaculate Queen of Heaven and earth, Refuge of sinners and Our most loving Mother, to whom God willed to entrust the entire order of Mercy, I, an unworthy sinner, cast myself at Your feet, humbly begging You to be so good as to accept me wholly and completely as Your possession and property, and to do with me and with all my powers of soul and body, with my whole life, death, and eternity, whatever pleases You.
If it pleases You, use my whole self without reserve to accomplish what has been said of You: "She will crush your head" (Genesis 3:15), and also: "You alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world" (Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary), so that I may become a useful instrument in Your immaculate and most merciful hands for promoting and increasing Your glory to the maximum in so many strayed and indifferent souls, and thus extend as much as possible the blessed Kingdom of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
For, wherever You enter, You obtain the grace of conversion and sanctification, since it is through Your hands that all grace comes to us from the Most Sweet Heart of Jesus.
COMING IN 2024: FR. NUNO ROCHA on “THE SECRET OF JOY”
FROM TODAY’S SERMON:
“A paz é um dom de Deus.” (Peace is a gift from God).
Pray the Children’s Led Rosary with Fr. Nuno’s community every Sunday at 10:50 AM on the Camino to Santiago. Community Rosary is led by Children and Youth before the 11:30 Mass every Sunday, 52 weeks a year with a crusade of innocent prayer offered to Jesus before the tabernacle. Pray with them every Sunday the Glorious Mysteries with meditations of St. Louis Marie de Montfort every 2nd Sunday and on Solemnities. See the translation of this Rosary here using the TRIPLE CROWN ROSARY PROGRAMME:
For those who tried the triple crown Rosary, you can pray three Rosaries every day for 2024, 3 times a day using the following toolkits:
#1: CROWN OF GRACE ROSARY #1: Offer a Morning Rosary to Our Lady and imagine giving her a crown of White Roses
Link to the Joyful Mysteries toolkit in ENGLISH here. (MORNING)
#2: CROWN OF PEACE ROSARY #2: Offer an Afternoon Rosary and imagine giving Jesus a crown of Red Roses
Link to the Sorrowful Mysteries toolkit in ENGLISH here. (AFTERNOON)
#3: CROWN OF GLORY ROSARY #3: Offer an Evening Rosary - and imagine receiving a crown of Roses from Jesus / Mary
Link to the *NEW* Glorious Mysteries toolkit in ENGLISH here. (EVENING)
OPTIONAL: Add the Luminous Mysteries if there is time.
REDISCOVER IOANNES PAULUS PP. II: REDEMPTORIS MATER
On the Blessed Virgin Mary
in the life of the Pilgrim Church
45. Of the essence of motherhood is the fact that it concerns the person. Motherhood always establishes a unique and unrepeatable relationship between two people: between mother and child and between child and mother. Even when the same woman is the mother of many children, her personal relationship with each one of them is of the very essence of motherhood. For each child is generated in a unique and unrepeatable way, and this is true both for the mother and for the child. Each child is surrounded in the same way by that maternal love on which are based the child's development and coming to maturity as a human being.
It can be said that motherhood "in the order of grace" preserves the analogy with what "in the order of nature" characterizes the union between mother and child. In the light of this fact it becomes easier to understand why in Christ's testament on Golgotha his Mother's new motherhood is expressed in the singular, in reference to one man: "Behold your son."
lt can also be said that these same words fully show the reason for the Marian dimension of the life of Christ's disciples. This is true not only of John, who at that hour stood at the foot of the Cross together with his Master's Mother, but it is also true of every disciple of Christ, of every Christian. The Redeemer entrusts his mother to the disciple, and at the same time he gives her to him as his mother. Mary's motherhood, which becomes man's inheritance, is a gift: a gift which Christ himself makes personally to every individual. The Redeemer entrusts Mary to John because he entrusts John to Mary. At the foot of the Cross there begins that special entrusting of humanity to the Mother of Christ, which in the history of the Church has been practiced and expressed in different ways. The same Apostle and Evangelist, after reporting the words addressed by Jesus on the Cross to his Mother and to himself, adds: "And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home" (Jn. 19:27). This statement certainly means that the role of son was attributed to the disciple and that he assumed responsibility for the Mother of his beloved Master. And since Mary was given as a mother to him personally, the statement indicates, even though indirectly, everything expressed by the intimate relationship of a child with its mother. And all of this can be included in the word "entrusting." Such entrusting is the response to a person's love, and in particular to the love of a mother.
The Marian dimension of the life of a disciple of Christ is expressed in a special way precisely through this filial entrusting to the Mother of Christ, which began with the testament of the Redeemer on Golgotha. Entrusting himself to Mary in a filial manner, the Christian, like the Apostle John, "welcomes" the Mother of Christ "into his own home"130 and brings her into everything that makes up his inner life, that is to say into his human and Christian "I": he "took her to his own home." Thus the Christian seeks to be taken into that "maternal charity" with which the Redeemer's Mother "cares for the brethren of her Son,"131 "in whose birth and development she cooperates"132 in the measure of the gift proper to each one through the power of Christ's Spirit. Thus also is exercised that motherhood in the Spirit which became Mary's role at the foot of the Cross and in the Upper Room.
46. This filial relationship, this self-entrusting of a child to its mother, not only has its beginning in Christ but can also be said to be definitively directed towards him. Mary can be said to continue to say to each individual the words which she spoke at Cana in Galilee: "Do whatever he tells you." For he, Christ, is the one Mediator between God and mankind; he is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn. 14:6); it is he whom the Father has given to the world, so that man "should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn. 3:16). The Virgin of Nazareth became the first "witness" of this saving love of the Father, and she also wishes to remain its humble handmaid always and everywhere. For every Christian, for every human being, Mary is the one who first "believed," and precisely with her faith as Spouse and Mother she wishes to act upon all those who entrust themselves to her as her children. And it is well known that the more her children persevere and progress in this attitude, the nearer Mary leads them to the "unsearchable riches of Christ"(Eph. 3:8). And to the same degree they recognize more and more clearly the dignity of man in all its fullness and the definitive meaning of his vocation, for "Christ...fully reveals man to man himself."133
This Marian dimension of Christian life takes on special importance in relation to women and their status. In fact, femininity has a unique relationship with the Mother of the Redeemer, a subject which can be studied in greater depth elsewhere. Here I simply wish to note that the figure of Mary of Nazareth sheds light on womanhood as such by the very fact that God, in the sublime event of the Incarnation of his Son, entrusted himself to the ministry, the free and active ministry of a woman. It can thus be said that women, by looking to Mary, find in her the secret of living their femininity with dignity and of achieving their own true advancement. In the light of Mary, the Church sees in the face of women the reflection of a beauty which mirrors the loftiest sentiments of which the human heart is capable: the self-offering totality of love; the strength that is capable of bearing the greatest sorrows; limitless fidelity and tireless devotion to work; the ability to combine penetrating intuition with words of support and encouragement.
47. At the Council Paul VI solemnly proclaimed that Mary is the Mother of the Church, "that is, Mother of the entire Christian people, both faithful and pastors."134 Later, in 1968, in the Profession of faith known as the "Credo of the People of God." he restated this truth in an even more forceful way in these words: "We believe that the Most Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, the Mother of the Church, carries on in heaven her maternal role with regard to the members of Christ, cooperating in the birth and development of divine life in the souls of the redeemed."135
The Council's teaching emphasized that the truth concerning the Blessed Virgin, Mother of Christ, is an effective aid in exploring more deeply the truth concerning the Church. When speaking of the Constitution Lumen Gentium, which had just been approved by the Council, Paul VI said: "Knowledge of the true Catholic doctrine regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary will always be a key to the exact understanding of the mystery of Christ and of the Church."136 Mary is present in the Church as the Mother of Christ, and at the same time as that Mother whom Christ, in the mystery of the Redemption, gave to humanity in the person of the Apostle John. Thus, in her new motherhood in the Spirit, Mary embraces each and every one in the Church, and embraces each and every one through the Church. In this sense Mary, Mother of the Church, is also the Church's model. Indeed, as Paul VI hopes and asks, the Church must draw "from the Virgin Mother of God the most authentic form of perfect imitation of Christ."137
Thanks to this special bond linking the Mother of Christ with the Church, there is further clarified the mystery of that "woman" who, from the first chapters of the Book of Genesis until the Book of Revelation, accompanies the revelation of God's salvific plan for humanity. For Mary, present in the Church as the Mother of the Redeemer, takes part, as a mother, in that monumental struggle; against the powers of darkness"138 which continues throughout human history. And by her ecclesial identification as the "woman clothed with the sun" (Rev. 12:1),139 it can be said that "in the Most Holy Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle." Hence, as Christians raise their eyes with faith to Mary in the course of their earthly pilgrimage, they "strive to increase in holiness."140 Mary, the exalted Daughter of Sion, helps all her children, wherever they may be and whatever their condition, to find in Christ the path to the Father's house.
Thus, throughout her life, the Church maintains with the Mother of God a link which embraces, in the saving mystery, the past, the present and the future, and venerates her as the spiritual mother of humanity and the advocate of grace.
45. É algo essencial à maternidade o facto de ela envolver a pessoa. Ela determina sempre uma relação única e irrepetível entre duas pessoas: da mãe com o filho e do filho com a mãe. Mesmo quando uma só «mulher» é mãe de muitos filhos, a sua relação pessoal com cada um deles caracteriza a maternidade na sua própria essência. Cada um dos filhos, de facto, é gerado de modo único e irrepetível; e isto é válido tanto para a mãe como para o filho. Cada um dos filhos é circundado, de modo único e irrepetível, daquele amor materno em que se baseia a sua formação e maturação em humanidade.
Pode dizer-se que «a maternidade na ordem da graça» tem analogia com o que «na ordem da natureza» caracteriza a união da mãe com o filho. A luz disto, torna-se mais compreensível o motivo pelo qual, no testamento de Cristo no Gólgota, esta maternidade de sua Mãe é por Ele expressa no singular, em relação a um só homem: «Eis o teu filho».
Pode dizer-se, ainda, que nestas mesmas palavras está plenamente indicado o motivo da dimensão mariana da vida dos discípulos de Cristo: não só de São João, que naquela hora estava aos pés da Cruz, juntamente com a Mãe do seu Mestre, mas também de todos os demais discípulos de Cristo e de todos os cristãos. O Redentor confia sua Mãe ao discípulo e, ao mesmo tempo, dá-lha como mãe. A maternidade de Maria que se torna herança do homem é um dom: um dom que o próprio Cristo faz a cada homem pessoalmente. O Redentor confia Maria a João, na medida em que confia João a Maria. Aos pés da Cruz teve o seu início aquela especial entrega do homem à Mãe de Cristo, que ao longo da história da Igreja foi posta em prática e expressa de diversas maneiras. Quando o mesmo Apóstolo e Evangelista, depois de ter referido as palavras dirigidas por Jesus do alto da Cruz à Mãe e a si próprio, acrescenta: «E, a partir daquele momento, o discípulo levou-a para sua casa» (Jo 19, 27), esta afirmação quer dizer, certamente, que ao discípulo foi atribuído um papel de filho e que ele tomou ao seu cuidado a Mãe do Mestre que amava. E uma vez que Maria lhe foi dada pessoalmente a ele como mãe, a afirmação indica, embora indirectamente, tudo o que exprime a relação íntima de um filho com a mãe. E tudo isto pode encerrar-se na palavra «entrega». A entrega é a resposta ao amor duma pessoa e, em particular, ao amor da mãe.
A dimensão mariana da vida de um discípulo de Cristo exprime-se, de modo especial, precisamente mediante essa entrega filial em relação à Mãe de Cristo, iniciada com o testamento do Redentor no alto do Gólgota. Confiando-se filialmente a Maria, o cristão, como o Apóstolo São João, acolhe «entre as suas coisas próprias» [130] a Mãe de Cristo e introdu-la em todo o espaço da própria vida interior, isto é, no seu «eu» humano e cristão: «levou-a para sua casa». Assim procura entrar no âmbito de irradiação em que se actua aquela «caridade materna», com que a Mãe do Redentor «cuida dos irmãos do seu Filho», [131] para cuja regeneração e formação ela coopera», [132] segundo a medida do dom própria de cada um, pelo poder do Espírito de Cristo. Assim se vai actuando também aquela maternidade segundo o Espírito, que se tornou função de Maria aos pés da Cruz e no Cenáculo.
46. Esta relação filial, este entregar-se de um filho à Mãe, não só tem o seu início em Cristo, mas pode dizer-se que está definitivamente orientado para ele. Pode dizer-se, ainda, que Maria continua a repetir a todos as mesmas palavras, que disse outrora em Caná da Galileia: «Fazei o que ele vos disser». Com efeito, é ele, Cristo, o único Mediador entre Deus e os homens; é ele «o caminho, a verdade e a vida» (Jo 14, 6); e é aquele que o Pai doou ao mundo, para que o homem «não pereça mas tenha a vida eterna» (Jo 3, 16). A Virgem de Nazaré tornou-se a primeira «testemunha» deste amor salvífico do Pai e deseja também permanecer a sua humilde serva sempre e em toda a parte. Em relação a todos e cada um dos cristãos e a cada um dos homens, Maria é a primeira na fé: é «aquela que acreditou»; e, precisamente com esta sua fé de esposa e de mãe, ela quer actuar em favor de todos os que a ela se entregam como filhos. E é sabido que quanto mais estes filhos perseveram na atitude de entrega e mais progridem nela, tanto mais Maria os aproxima das «insondáveis riquezas de Cristo» (Ef 3, 8). E, de modo análogo, também eles reconhecem cada vez mais em toda a sua plenitude a dignidade do homem e o sentido definitivo da sua vocação, porque «Cristo ... revela também plenamente o homem ao homem». [133]
Esta dimensão mariana da vida cristã assume um relevo particular no que respeita à mulher e à condição feminina. Com efeito, a feminilidade encontra-se numa relação singular com a Mãe do Redentor, assunto que poderá ser aprofundado num outro contexto. Aqui desejaria somente salientar que a figura de Maria de Nazaré projecta luz sobre a mulher enquanto tal, pelo facto exactamente de Deus, no sublime acontecimento da Incarnação do Filho, se ter confiado aos bons préstimos, livres e activos da mulher. Pode, portanto, afirmar-se que a mulher, olhando para Maria, nela encontrará o segredo para viver dignamente a sua feminilidade e levar a efeito a sua verdadeira promoção. A luz de Maria, a Igreja lê no rosto da mulher os reflexos de uma beleza, que é espelho dos mais elevados sentimentos que o coração humano pode albergar: a totalidade do dom de si por amor; a força que é capaz de resistir aos grandes sofrimentos; a fidelidade sem limites, a perosidade incansável e a capacidade de conjugar a intuição penetrante com a palavra de apoio e encorajamento.
47. Durante o Concílio, o Papa Paulo VI afirmou solenemente que Maria é Mãe da Igreja, «isto é, Mãe de todo o povo cristão, tanto dos fiéis como dos Pastores». [134] Mais tarde, em 1968, na Profissão de Fé conhecida com o nome de «Credo do Povo de Deus», repetiu essa afirmação de forma ainda mais compromissiva, usando as palavras: «Nós acreditamos que a Santíssima Mãe de Deus, nova Eva, Mãe da Igreja, continua no Céu a sua função maternal em relação aos membros de Cristo, cooperando no nascimento e desenvolvimento da vida divina nas almas dos remidos». [135]
O magistério do Concílio acentuou que a verdade sobre a Virgem Santíssima, Mãe de Cristo, constitui um subsídio eficaz para o aprofundamento da verdade sobre a Igreja. O mesmo Papa Paulo VI, ao tomar a palavra a propósito da Constituição Lumen gentium, que acabava de ser aprovada pelo Concílio, disse: «O conhecimento da verdadeira doutrina católica sobre a Bem -aventurada Virgem Maria constituirá sempre uma chave para a compreensão exacta do mistério de Cristo e da Igreja», [136] Maria está presente na Igreja como Mãe de Cristo e, ao mesmo tempo, como a Mãe que o próprio Cristo, no mistério da Redenção, deu ao homem na pessoa do Apóstolo São João. Por isso, Maria abraça, com a sua nova maternidade no Espírito, todos e cada um na Igreja; e abraça também todos e cada um mediante a Igreja. Neste sentido, Maria, Mãe da Igreja, é também modelo da Igreja. Esta, efectivamente ― como preconiza e solicita o Papa Paulo VI ― deve ir «buscar na Virgem Mãe de Deus a forma mais autêntica da perfeita imitação de Cristo». [137]
Graças a este vínculo especial, que une a Mãe de Cristo à Igreja, esclarece-se melhor o mistério daquela «mulher» que, desde os primeiros capítulos do Livro do Génesis até ao Apocalipse, acompanha a revelação do desígnio salvífico de Deus em relação à humanidade. Maria, de facto, presente na Igreja como Mãe do Redentor, participa maternalmente naquele «duro combate contra os poderes das trevas ..., que se trava ao longo de toda a história humana», [138] E em virtude desta sua identificação eclesial com a «mulher vestida de sol» (Apoc 12, 1), [139] pode dizer-se que «a Igreja alcançou já na Virgem Santíssima aquela perfeição, que faz que ela se apresente sem mancha nem ruga»; todavia, os cristãos, levantando os olhos com fé para Maria, ao longo da sua peregrinação na terra «continuam ainda a esforçar-se por crescer na santidade». [140] Maria, a excelsa filha de Sião, ajuda a todos os seus filhos ― onde quer que vivam e como quer que vivam ― a encontrar em Cristo o caminho para a casa do Pai.
Por conseguinte, a Igreja mantém, em toda a sua vida, uma ligação com a Mãe de Deus que abraça, no mistério salvífico, o passado, o presente e o futuro; e venera-a como Mãe espiritual da humanidade e Advogada na ordem da graça.
FOOTNOTES
A term meaning "of Faith," used to identify those doctrines of the Church which are infallibly true. Their infallible certitude derives ultimately from divine revelation, but proximately from the fact that they have either been solemnly defined by the Church's magisterium or have been taught by her ordinary universal teaching authority as binding on the consciences of all the faithful.
ALSO: SHORT CONSECRATION VIA ST. LOUIS MARIE DE MONTFORT
St. Louis de Montfort's Consecration to Mary
I, ________________ , a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before. In the presence of all the heavenly court I choose thee this day for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God in time and in eternity.