Gaitley’s fine book, 33 Days to Merciful Love. I render full credit for these thoughts, respecting copyright laws, to Fr. Gaitley. Each reading ends with a prayer, which I ask you to pray with me for this intention: the conversion of our parish.
Day Thirty-Three
For the last 32 days our readings in Fr. Gaitley’s book have been 2-3 pages, but today, Mercy Sunday, there is a ten-page sprint to the finish line (pages 125-137). Today is Consecration Day, and in addition to the longer reading, you will want to write out the consecration prayer, make a good confession if you can, attend the Sunday Mass of Divine Mercy, pray the Chaplet of Mercy and finally make your consecration before the altar. All of that will require about two hours of your time, but God has given us another twenty-four hours today!
To prepare for my first “consecration” (to Our Lady, when I was 17 years old), I spent 30 days in retreat and study with twelve other young men. In the 49 years since then, I’ve made four other consecrations, the last one after a five-day retreat in Ohio in 2020. All of these retreat experiences still radiate though my life; I remember them with great pleasure. There’s nothing like a good retreat! Thank you for making these 33 days of preparation, and I encourage you to consider making a retreat, at a monastery or retreat house, for at least three days (e.g., Friday through Sunday). And I suggest you take just one book with you: The Story of a Soul by St. Thérèse. Pouring through this short narrative will deepen your consecration to Merciful Love and give you great joy.
So we kneel before God and make our Consecration to Merciful Love today, but one last point before you do. Thérèse did not consecrate herself to Merciful Love to “gain” or accomplish anything (e.g., to win graces or gain merit or to reserve a spot in heaven or to help others). All of these are good but secondary. Thérèse just wanted to make Jesus happy, and she knew the one thing that He really wanted. Jesus wants our hearts. That’s what this consecration is really for: to make Jesus happy by offering Him our poverty, our brokenness, our little hearts.
I leave you with these words of Thérèse from The Story of a Soul. After she made her consecration, she still felt little, broken, and arid, and so she wrote: “Jesus was sleeping as usual in my little boat; ah! I see how rarely souls allow Him to sleep peacefully within them. Jesus is so fatigued with always having to take the initiative and to attend to others that He hastens to take advantage of the repose I offer Him. He will undoubtedly awaken before my great eternal retreat, but instead of being troubled about it this only gives me extreme pleasure.”
What a pleasure to have Jesus repose within me! Let Him take His rest, as long as He wishes. Jesus, I trust in You!
Prayer of Consecration
Merciful Father, relying on the prayers and example of Abraham and Mary, my father and mother in faith, and of St. Thérèse, my sister in the way of humble confidence I, _________________________, choose, this day, with the help of your grace, to strive with all my heart to follow the Little Way. And so:
I firmly intend to fight discouragement, to do little things with great love, and to be merciful to my neighbor in deed, word, and prayer.
I aim to keep before my eyes my poverty, weakness, brokenness, and sin, trusting that my littleness and contrite heart will attract your Merciful Love.
I choose to remain always little, not relying on my own merits but solely on yours, dear Lord, and those of the Blessed Mother.
Finally, I believe, my God, that you can and will make me into a saint, even if I won’t see it, even if I have to struggle all my life against vice and sin, even if I have to wait until the very end. This blind hope in your mercy, O Lord, is my only treasure.
And now, to confirm my resolve and to console you for so much rejection of your mercy, I OFFER MYSELF, THROUGH THE HANDS OF MARY IMMACULATE, AS A VICTIM OF HOLOCAUST TO YOUR MERCIFUL LOVE, asking you to consume me incessantly, allowing the waves of infinite tenderness shut up within you to overflow into my soul, and that I may thus become a martyr of your love, O my God, and a gift of mercy to so many others.
I ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Day Thirty-Three
For the last 32 days our readings in Fr. Gaitley’s book have been 2-3 pages, but today, Mercy Sunday, there is a ten-page sprint to the finish line (pages 125-137). Today is Consecration Day, and in addition to the longer reading, you will want to write out the consecration prayer, make a good confession if you can, attend the Sunday Mass of Divine Mercy, pray the Chaplet of Mercy and finally make your consecration before the altar. All of that will require about two hours of your time, but God has given us another twenty-four hours today!
To prepare for my first “consecration” (to Our Lady, when I was 17 years old), I spent 30 days in retreat and study with twelve other young men. In the 49 years since then, I’ve made four other consecrations, the last one after a five-day retreat in Ohio in 2020. All of these retreat experiences still radiate though my life; I remember them with great pleasure. There’s nothing like a good retreat! Thank you for making these 33 days of preparation, and I encourage you to consider making a retreat, at a monastery or retreat house, for at least three days (e.g., Friday through Sunday). And I suggest you take just one book with you: The Story of a Soul by St. Thérèse. Pouring through this short narrative will deepen your consecration to Merciful Love and give you great joy.
So we kneel before God and make our Consecration to Merciful Love today, but one last point before you do. Thérèse did not consecrate herself to Merciful Love to “gain” or accomplish anything (e.g., to win graces or gain merit or to reserve a spot in heaven or to help others). All of these are good but secondary. Thérèse just wanted to make Jesus happy, and she knew the one thing that He really wanted. Jesus wants our hearts. That’s what this consecration is really for: to make Jesus happy by offering Him our poverty, our brokenness, our little hearts.
I leave you with these words of Thérèse from The Story of a Soul. After she made her consecration, she still felt little, broken, and arid, and so she wrote: “Jesus was sleeping as usual in my little boat; ah! I see how rarely souls allow Him to sleep peacefully within them. Jesus is so fatigued with always having to take the initiative and to attend to others that He hastens to take advantage of the repose I offer Him. He will undoubtedly awaken before my great eternal retreat, but instead of being troubled about it this only gives me extreme pleasure.”
What a pleasure to have Jesus repose within me! Let Him take His rest, as long as He wishes. Jesus, I trust in You!
Prayer of Consecration
Merciful Father, relying on the prayers and example of Abraham and Mary, my father and mother in faith, and of St. Thérèse, my sister in the way of humble confidence I, _________________________, choose, this day, with the help of your grace, to strive with all my heart to follow the Little Way. And so:
I firmly intend to fight discouragement, to do little things with great love, and to be merciful to my neighbor in deed, word, and prayer.
I aim to keep before my eyes my poverty, weakness, brokenness, and sin, trusting that my littleness and contrite heart will attract your Merciful Love.
I choose to remain always little, not relying on my own merits but solely on yours, dear Lord, and those of the Blessed Mother.
Finally, I believe, my God, that you can and will make me into a saint, even if I won’t see it, even if I have to struggle all my life against vice and sin, even if I have to wait until the very end. This blind hope in your mercy, O Lord, is my only treasure.
And now, to confirm my resolve and to console you for so much rejection of your mercy, I OFFER MYSELF, THROUGH THE HANDS OF MARY IMMACULATE, AS A VICTIM OF HOLOCAUST TO YOUR MERCIFUL LOVE, asking you to consume me incessantly, allowing the waves of infinite tenderness shut up within you to overflow into my soul, and that I may thus become a martyr of your love, O my God, and a gift of mercy to so many others.
I ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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