Consecration to Our Lady by Blessed Louis Mary Grignon de Montfort

No. 254. The Raccolta (1910).

O ETERNAL and incarnate Wisdom, O most sweet and adorable JESUS, true GOD and true Man, only SON of the Eternal FATHER and of Mary ever Virgin, I adore Thee profoundly, in the bosom and in the splendour of thy FATHER through eternity, and in the virginal womb of Mary thy most perfect Mother during the time of thy Incarnation.

I return Thee thanks for that Thou didst annihilate thyself, taking upon Thee the form of a servant, to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee, for that Thou didst willingly become subject to Mary thy holy Mother in all things, in order to make me through her thy faithful slave. But, alas! ungrateful and faithless that I am in not keeping the promises I solemnly made to Thee in my Baptism, I have not fulfilled any of my obligations. I do not deserve to be called thy child or thy slave, and since there is nothing in me which does not merit thy reprobation and thy wrath, I dare no longer approach alone thy holy and august Majesty. Therefore it is that I have recourse to the intercession of thy most holy Mother, whom Thou hast given me to be my intercessor with Thee, and it is by this means that I hope to obtain from Thee the grace of contrition, the pardon of my sins, and the gift of abiding wisdom.

I salute thee, then, O Mary Immaculate, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the eternal Wisdom lies hidden to be adored by angels and men.

I salute thee, O Queen of heaven and of earth, beneath whose sway are subject all things that are lower than GOD. I salute thee, O secure refuge of sinners, whose mercy fails no one; graciously respond to the desires which I have for divine wisdom, and receive the vows and offerings which my nothingness makes to thee to obtain it.

I, N, a faithless sinner, renew and ratify this day at thy hands my baptismal vows. I renounce for ever Satan, his works and pomps, and I give myself wholly to JESUS CHRIST, the incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and, in order that I may be more faithful to Him than I have hitherto been, I choose thee this day, O Mary, in the presence of the heavenly court, for my Mother and Mistress.

I deliver and consecrate to thee, as a bondslave, my body and my soul, my possessions interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and to come, leaving thee the entire and full right to dispose of me and of all that belongs to me without exception, according to thy good pleasure, to the greater glory of GOD, for time and eternity.

Receive, O loving Virgin, this offering of bondage which I make to thee, in honour of and in union with the subjection which the eternal Wisdom gave to thy Maternity, as an act of homage before the power which thou and thy Son have over me, a worm and miserable sinner, in thanksgiving for the privileges which the Holy Trinity has bestowed on thee. I protest that I desire henceforth, as thy veritable slave, to seek thy honour and obey thee in all things. O Mother most admirable, present me to thy dear Son as his eternal slave, so that, having redeemed me through thee, He may receive me from thee. O Mother of mercy, obtain for me from GODthe gift of true wisdom, and also, to that end, the grace to place myself among the number of those who love thee, and whom thou dost cherish and protect as thy children and slaves. O faithful Virgin, make me a perfect disciple in all things, imitator and slave of the eternal Wisdom JESUS CHRIST, thy Son, so that by thy intercession I may come to the plenitude of his years on earth and of his glory in heaven. Amen.