Devotion after Marian Consecration
A Good Devotion After Marian Consecration
When I completed my first consecration (I consecrated myself initially in 2019 and renewed it in 2021), the Rosary was my devotion as I again started praying it daily. The Rosary should be prayed daily by anyone devoted to Mary, whether we are a saint or not, and most of us are not.
I went to Medjugorje in October of 2019 and returned with what is known as the five stones. The five stones include prayer, fasting, mass, confession, and reading the scriptures, which are conducive to living a healthy spiritual life.
The five stones provide an exemplary, well-rounded devotion from the Virgin Mary herself. The five stones are complete and cover a lot of spiritual ground.
What Our Lady Asks of Us
The 5 Stones of Medjugorje
Prayer Daily (The Rosary)
Fasting Wednesday and Friday
Mass Weekly
Confession Monthly
Scripture Reading Daily
Prayer
We all know prayer is necessary, for Jesus told us so many, many times. There can be no spiritual life without it. So, our day should consist of some form of it. The Rosary is a great place to start. The Virgin Mary requests more often than anything else that we pray, pray, pray. The Rosary is her prayer of preference. Just as she let me know in 2012 that she wanted me to pray and the Rosary was her preference, it has been allowed for all of us to know this over the centuries. Below are three examples
At Lourdes in the 1800s
Soubirous tried to make the sign of the cross but could not, as her hands were trembling. The Lady smiled, and invited Soubirous to pray the Rosary with her. Soubirous tried to keep this a secret, but Toinette told her mother. After parental cross-examination, she and her sister received corporal punishment for their story.
At Fatima in 1917
On May 13, 1917, the shepherd children reported seeing a woman “brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun.” The woman wore a white mantle edged with gold and held a rosary in her hand. She asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray “the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.” While the children had never told anyone about seeing the angel, Jacinta told her family about seeing the brightly lit woman. Lúcia had earlier said that the three should keep this experience private. Jacinta’s disbelieving mother told neighbors about it as a joke, and within a day, the whole village knew of the children’s vision.
At Medjugorje
Friday, January 27, 1984
“Pray and fast. I wish that you deepen and continue your life in prayer. Every morning say the prayer of consecration to the Heart of Mary. Do it in the family. Recite each morning the Angelus, 5 Our Father’s, Hail Mary’s, and Glory Be’s in honor of the Holy Passion and a sixth one for our Holy Father, the Pope. Then say the Creed and the prayer to the Holy Spirit. And, if it is possible, it would be well to pray a Rosary.”
Fasting
Our Lady asks us to fast, exclusively on Wednesday and Fridays (the same days fasted on in the early church per the Didache). She also says that the “best” fast is on bread and water only. Quantity and timing do not matter. You can eat as much as you want and drink as much as you want, but it must be bread and water only.
On my journey to Medjugorje in 2019, we had Marijana Soldo, one of the original visionaries, tell the entire story that she experienced from the beginning. The question of fasting arose and some one asked if coffee was permissable. Marijana answered, “Our Lady says bread and water.” Someone else asked if butter was allowed on the bread. Marijana answered, “Our Lady says bread and water.“
What matters most is that we make this sacrifice and give it to God. One fascinating quote involving humility (a subject that seems to be gaining popularity today) in her messages that Our Lady gave to us from Medjugorje referencing fasting is this one:
It occurred on Friday, February 10, 1984
“Pray and fast! I desire humility from you. But you can become humble only through prayer and fasting.”
Our Lady references the word “fast” 189 times and “fasting” 76 times between 1981 and 2021. So, it is evident that from Jesus fasting before being tempted and Our Lady requesting us to fast, we must fast to be healthy in our spiritual life.
Attending Mass
Our Lady asks us to attend the Mass at least weekly and participate in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is where our main spiritual nourishment comes from if we are Catholics, and if we are never there to receive it then we are not as healthy spiritually as the Blessed Virgin Mary desires for us to be.
Confession
Per Our Lady’s request, we are to go to confession at least once every thirty days. Medjugorje is the confession capital of the world and if you ever get to go there, you will see why. There would be hundreds, if not thousands, lined up for confession. There are also priests to hear every confession
from just about every language on the planet.
It is critical to remember that every deed, good or bad, is important to heaven. And Jesus has stated, in private revelation, that what is not confessed in this life will continue to exist in the next. Our Lady requests confession from us because she knows what the results are from those who do not practice it.
I recently went through a confession that was as complete as I could make it to be. From the response of the priest, I knew that I finally experienced a confession that was done as exactly as it was intended to be done. For me, this was very difficult. Who likes to hang out their own dirty laundry for someone else to have to listen to? But this is what confession is about, is it not?
I spent some time (a few weeks) preparing a list of these deeds I had done that I did not want anyone to hear. Why? Because I felt very strongly that this is what Our Lady wanted me to do. She wanted me to give a confession complete with my worst sins and I believe her motive was so that those sins would be taken care of and gone forever.
I believe that she loves every one of her children more than we can imagine. Her desire for us to go to confession and give a complete confessional to the best of our abilities is an indication of her love for us. Some things she desires of us are hard. But when the thoughts dissipated and I was free, it sure was a relief.
Scripture
Reading scripture daily is also included in devotion after the consecration is over. We should be in the scriptures every day. A good place to start would be the book of Luke, the longest gospel. It references the scriptures used in the some of the rosary mysteries as well.
Prayer
We all know prayer is necessary, for Jesus told us so many, many times. There can be no spiritual life without it. So, our day should consist of some form of it. The Rosary is a great place to start. The Virgin Mary requests more often than anything else that we pray, pray, pray. The Rosary is her prayer of preference. Just as she let me know in 2012 that she wanted me to pray and the Rosary was her preference, it has been allowed for all of us to know this over the centuries. Below are three examples
At Lourdes in the 1800s
Soubirous tried to make the sign of the cross but could not, as her hands were trembling. The Lady smiled, and invited Soubirous to pray the Rosary with her. Soubirous tried to keep this a secret, but Toinette told her mother. After parental cross-examination, she and her sister received corporal punishment for their story.
At Fatima in 1917
On May 13, 1917, the shepherd children reported seeing a woman “brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun.” The woman wore a white mantle edged with gold and held a rosary in her hand. She asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray “the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.” While the children had never told anyone about seeing the angel, Jacinta told her family about seeing the brightly lit woman. Lúcia had earlier said that the three should keep this experience private. Jacinta’s disbelieving mother told neighbors about it as a joke, and within a day, the whole village knew of the children’s vision.
At Medjugorje
Friday, January 27, 1984
“Pray and fast. I wish that you deepen and continue your life in prayer. Every morning say the prayer of consecration to the Heart of Mary. Do it in the family. Recite each morning the Angelus, 5 Our Father’s, Hail Mary’s, and Glory Be’s in honor of the Holy Passion and a sixth one for our Holy Father, the Pope. Then say the Creed and the prayer to the Holy Spirit. And, if it is possible, it would be well to pray a Rosary.”
Fasting
Our Lady asks us to fast, exclusively on Wednesday and Fridays (the same days fasted on in the early church per the Didache). She also says that the “best” fast is on bread and water only. Quantity and timing do not matter. You can eat as much as you want and drink as much as you want, but it must be bread and water only.
On my journey to Medjugorje in 2019, we had Marijana Soldo, one of the original visionaries, tell the entire story that she experienced from the beginning. The question of fasting arose and some one asked if coffee was permissable. Marijana answered, “Our Lady says bread and water.” Someone else asked if butter was allowed on the bread. Marijana answered, “Our Lady says bread and water.“
What matters most is that we make this sacrifice and give it to God. One fascinating quote involving humility (a subject that seems to be gaining popularity today) in her messages that Our Lady gave to us from Medjugorje referencing fasting is this one:
It occurred on Friday, February 10, 1984
“Pray and fast! I desire humility from you. But you can become humble only through prayer and fasting.”
Our Lady references the word “fast” 189 times and “fasting” 76 times between 1981 and 2021. So, it is evident that from Jesus fasting before being tempted and Our Lady requesting us to fast, we must fast to be healthy in our spiritual life.
Attending Mass
Our Lady asks us to attend the Mass at least weekly and participate in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is where our main spiritual nourishment comes from if we are Catholics, and if we are never there to receive it then we are not as healthy spiritually as the Blessed Virgin Mary desires for us to be.
Confession
Per Our Lady’s request, we are to go to confession at least once every thirty days. Medjugorje is the confession capital of the world and if you ever get to go there, you will see why. There would be hundreds, if not thousands, lined up for confession. There are also priests to hear every confession
from just about every language on the planet.
It is critical to remember that every deed, good or bad, is important to heaven. And Jesus has stated, in private revelation, that what is not confessed in this life will continue to exist in the next. Our Lady requests confession from us because she knows what the results are from those who do not practice it.
I recently went through a confession that was as complete as I could make it to be. From the response of the priest, I knew that I finally experienced a confession that was done as exactly as it was intended to be done. For me, this was very difficult. Who likes to hang out their own dirty laundry for someone else to have to listen to? But this is what confession is about, is it not?
I spent some time (a few weeks) preparing a list of these deeds I had done that I did not want anyone to hear. Why? Because I felt very strongly that this is what Our Lady wanted me to do. She wanted me to give a confession complete with my worst sins and I believe her motive was so that those sins would be taken care of and gone forever.
I believe that she loves every one of her children more than we can imagine. Her desire for us to go to confession and give a complete confessional to the best of our abilities is an indication of her love for us. Some things she desires of us are hard. But when the thoughts dissipated and I was free, it sure was a relief.
Scripture
Reading scripture daily is also included in devotion after the consecration is over. We should be in the scriptures every day. A good place to start would be the book of Luke, the longest gospel. It references the scriptures used in the some of the rosary mysteries as well.
Looking at that list from a spiritual standpoint, to me it seems to be very complete.
The 5 stones really provide a good well rounded devotion approved of by Our Lady. She is the one that gave it out. The five stones are very complete and cover a lot of the bases .
Do we know that we should pray the rosary everyday? Yes. Do we know that we should fast every week? Yes. But on Wednesday and Friday? That came from the didache and the early church. Do we know to go the Mass weekly? Of course. Confession on a monthly basis? Yes. Read our scriptures? Absolutely.
We can say what we want to say but these things Our Lady desires of us. They keep us spiritually healthy.
Above is a video of Fr. Leon Pereira from Medjugorje explaining the 5 stones. Father Leon is very good. I saw him while I was there.
You Cannot Love someone you do not know.
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