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What if you knew what God’s will was for your life right now? What if you had the ability to destroy vice, decrease sin, and cause good works and virtue to flourish? What if you could have the light of God and the plentitude of his graces every single day of your life, leading to true peace in your soul?

That’s exactly what you’ll get at through this book. 

St. Paul told us that we can “attain full knowledge of God’s will through perfect wisdom and spiritual insight. Then you will lead a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way” (Colossians 1:9b-10). 

How do we do gain this spiritual insight? Who can we ask to teach us how to submit to God’s will in the most perfect way?  The answer, of course, is Jesus, the God-man in Whom we have our beginning and end. In-between the Alpha and Omega, our souls drift in the sea of life submitting to the currents of the times and pulling us adrift into spiritual confusion. There is, however, a lifeline that connects us with our Creator. She is at the same time the compass by which we sail toward perfection and the perfect creation formed by Perfection Himself — she is Our Lady, and through her we are adopted into the Holy Family in which we call Jesus our true brother. 

This book prepares you for total consecration to Jesus through Mary. It is the most practical, insightful, and accessible way toward becoming a closer disciple of Christ and attaining “full knowledge of God’s will through perfect wisdom and spiritual insight.” After all, it was Jesus who first submitted His being to Mary and her maternal care for his first thirty years on this earth, should we no do the same?

To make it so, we combined  the timeless Marian prayer of the Rosary and intertwined its mysteries with St. Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, and the four Marian Dogmas of her Immaculate Conception, Divine Motherhood, Perpetual Virginity, and her Assumption into Heaven.

While it may sound like a lot of information to take in, we’ve placed all of the content for each day into a short, 5 minute reflection that will not only prepare you for total consecration, but it will also invigorate your spirit and advance your intellect. In short, this book is the most comprehensive and the least time consuming way to prepare yourself for total consecration to Jesus through Mary.

Join thousands of others as we grow closer to Christ through Our Lady’s Rosary and the meditation of our Total Consecration to her most perfect graces, none more greater than the transformation of our souls to a more perfect union with Christ “in whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

To consecrate oneself completely to Jesus through Mary is to attain the highest degree of dedication to them. When we make our consecration, we give all that we are — our joys our pains, our triumphs and our defeats, our virtue and our vice. While our Lord is the only one who can rightfully separate the wheat from the chafe of our souls, it is our Lady who nourishes the seed of faith within us. It is only when we will to achieve the highest form of our perfection that we are capable of dying completely to ourselves so that Christ can live within us (Gal. 2:20). Only Mary can take our broken souls and repair them, polish them, and present them to the King who will look on us and say, “This is my son, with whom I am well pleased.” It is in total consecration that we submit to God’s will entirely and thus put on Christ in every aspect of our lives. 

Countless Saints have found their source of holiness in making themselves the servant of Mary in this way. St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. Maxamilian Kolbe, and many others found their spiritual connection to Our Lady as the pivotal catalyst to their earthly missions. St. Louis de Montfort was the first to propose a formalized method for total consecration, but that is not to say that great Saints such as St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and others did not carry within them the promise of doing Our Lady’s bidding. 

Another one of Our Lady’s most beloved sons, Pope St. John Paul II, would consecrate not only his life to her, but also his papacy. Taking the motto Totus Tuus (Totally Yours), he became Mary’s humble servant and throughout his life, he was able to stop wars, heal souls, and even survive an assassination attempt, a nazi invasion of his native Poland, and more spiritual torment than you an I could ever imagine. 

In his Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, St. Pope John Paul II spoke about the importance of the Rosary and how it relates to total consecration to Our Lord through Our Lady:

“Following in the path of Christ, in whom man’s path is ‘recapitulated’, revealed and redeemed, believers come face to face with the image of the true man. Contemplating Christ’s birth, they learn of the sanctity of life; seeing the household of Nazareth, they learn the original truth of the family according to God’s plan; listening to the Master in the mysteries of his public ministry, they find the light which leads them to enter the Kingdom of God; and following him on the way to Calvary, they learn the meaning of salvific suffering. Finally, contemplating Christ and his Blessed Mother in glory, they see the goal towards which each of us is called, if we allow ourselves to be healed and transformed by the Holy Spirit. It could be said that each mystery of the Rosary, carefully meditated, sheds light on the mystery of man…To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and his Mother. (RVM 25)

The Rosary, then, is our safety rope in times of trouble. On it, we place our burdens, our difficulties, and our needs so that our lives can be unknotted and straightened. Total consecration through the Rosary can thus create a singular spiritual connection to save us in our times of most desperate need, and manifest God’s love in our daily lives. 

Many of us carry within us a soul that craves God beyond our otherwise stable lives. Others seek his presence in the depths of profound darkness. Regardless of our state in life, we make our way through our day-to-day responsibilities and, while we are satisfied with much of what we have become, we remain thirsty for something more, something outside of our individual abilities. In short, we long for holiness. 

St. Pope John Paul II wrote, “The Rosary does indeed ‘mark the rhythm of human life’, bringing it into harmony with the ‘rhythm’ of God’s own life, in the joyful communion of the Holy Trinity, our life’s destiny and deepest longing….The Rosary helps us to be conformed ever more closely to Christ until we attain true holiness” (RVM, 26).

And there, in the most intimate companion that ever was, the bond that, through Mary acting as the bridge between heaven and earth, brought us Jesus, true God and true Man, in whom we find the peace that our souls desire. St. Louis De Montfort once wrote, “Mary is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus (True Devotion). And it is this book’s premise that the Rosary is the safest, easiest, shortest, and most perfect way of approaching Mary. 

St. Pope John Paul II emphasizes this point: 

“Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ – and this is clearly the goal of the Rosary – learns the secret of peace and makes it his life’s project. Moreover, by virtue of its meditative character, with the tranquil succession of Hail Marys, the Rosary has a peaceful effect on those who pray it, disposing them to receive and experience in their innermost depths, and to spread around them, that true peace which is the special gift of the Risen Lord” (cf. Jn 14:27; 20.21) (RVM 40).

There are several different methods by which one can consecrate him or herself to Jesus through Mary. Most take place over the course of a 33 day period, require a certain degree of penance, a daily examination of conscience, and a litany of prayers to be recited each day. 

The method laid out in this book does all of those things, but it focuses primarily on the mysteries of the rosary. If you are not sure how to pray the rosary correctly, please turn to the appendix at the end of this book to learn how. 

The mysteries of the rosary are said on the following days:

Monday and Saturday – The Joyful Mysteries

Tuesday and Friday – The Sorrowful Mysteries

Thursday – The Luminous Mysteries

Sunday and Wednesday – The Glorious Mysteries

For a more detailed breakdown on why the mysteries are divided into these days, see the section titled Distribution Over Time in the appendix. 

For the 33 days in which you will be completing your Rosary Consecration, you will pray one set of the aforementioned mysteries for an entire week. Your schedule will look like this:

Week 1 – The Joyful Mysteries

Week 2 – The Luminous Mysteries

Week 3 – The Sorrowful Mysteries

Week 4 – The Glorious Mysteries

Week 5 – Pray the mysteries indicated at the end of each reflection

This section comes from the papal document Rosarium Virgins Marie and has provided for you verbatim for the purpose of introducing you to the Rosary as prescribed by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. 

Announcing each mystery

Announcing each mystery, and perhaps even using a suitable icon to portray it, is as it were to open up a scenario on which to focus our attention. The words direct the imagination and the mind towards a particular episode or moment in the life of Christ. In the Church’s traditional spirituality, the veneration of icons and the many devotions appealing to the senses, as well as the method of prayer proposed by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises, make use of visual and imaginative elements (the compositio loci), judged to be of great help in concentrating the mind on the particular mystery. This is a methodology, moreover, which corresponds to the inner logic of the Incarnation: in Jesus, God wanted to take on human features. It is through his bodily reality that we are led into contact with the mystery of his divinity.

This need for concreteness finds further expression in the announcement of the various mysteries of the Rosary. Obviously these mysteries neither replace the Gospel nor exhaust its content. The Rosary, therefore, is no substitute for lectio divina; on the contrary, it presupposes and promotes it. Yet, even though the mysteries contemplated in the Rosary, even with the addition of the mysteria lucis, do no more than outline the fundamental elements of the life of Christ, they easily draw the mind to a more expansive reflection on the rest of the Gospel, especially when the Rosary is prayed in a setting of prolonged recollection.

Listening to the word of God

In order to supply a Biblical foundation and greater depth to our meditation, it is helpful to follow the announcement of the mystery with the proclamation of a related Biblical passage, long or short, depending on the circumstances. No other words can ever match the efficacy of the inspired word. As we listen, we are certain that this is the word of God, spoken for today and spoken “for me”.

If received in this way, the word of God can become part of the Rosary’s methodology of repetition without giving rise to the ennui derived from the simple recollection of something already well known. It is not a matter of recalling information but of allowing God to speak. In certain solemn communal celebrations, this word can be appropriately illustrated by a brief commentary.

Silence

Listening and meditation are nourished by silence. After the announcement of the mystery and the proclamation of the word, it is fitting to pause and focus one’s attention for a suitable period of time on the mystery concerned, before moving into vocal prayer. A discovery of the importance of silence is one of the secrets of practicing contemplation and meditation. One drawback of a society dominated by technology and the mass media is the fact that silence becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Just as moments of silence are recommended in the Liturgy, so too in the recitation of the Rosary it is fitting to pause briefly after listening to the word of God, while the mind focuses on the content of a particular mystery.

The “Our Father”

After listening to the word and focusing on the mystery, it is natural for the mind to be lifted up towards the Father. In each of his mysteries, Jesus always leads us to the Father, for as he rests in the Father’s bosom (cf. Jn 1:18) he is continually turned towards him. He wants us to share in his intimacy with the Father, so that we can say with him: “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). By virtue of his relationship to the Father he makes us brothers and sisters of himself and of one another, communicating to us the Spirit which is both his and the Father’s. Acting as a kind of foundation for the Christological and Marian meditation which unfolds in the repetition of the Hail Mary, the Our Father makes meditation upon the mystery, even when carried out in solitude, an ecclesial experience.

The ten “Hail Marys”

This is the most substantial element in the Rosary and also the one which makes it a Marian prayer par excellence. Yet when theHail Mary is properly understood, we come to see clearly that its Marian character is not opposed to its Christological character, but that it actually emphasizes and increases it. The first part of the Hail Mary, drawn from the words spoken to Mary by the Angel Gabriel and by Saint Elizabeth, is a contemplation in adoration of the mystery accomplished in the Virgin of Nazareth. These words express, so to speak, the wonder of heaven and earth; they could be said to give us a glimpse of God’s own wonderment as he contemplates his “masterpiece” – the Incarnation of the Son in the womb of the Virgin Mary. If we recall how, in the Book of Genesis, God “saw all that he had made” (Gen 1:31), we can find here an echo of that “pathos with which God, at the dawn of creation, looked upon the work of his hands”.⁽36) The repetition of the Hail Mary in the Rosary gives us a share in God’s own wonder and pleasure: in jubilant amazement we acknowledge the greatest miracle of history. Mary’s prophecy here finds its fulfillment: “Henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48).

The centre of gravity in the Hail Mary, the hinge as it were which joins its two parts, is the name of Jesus. Sometimes, in hurried recitation, this centre of gravity can be overlooked, and with it the connection to the mystery of Christ being contemplated. Yet it is precisely the emphasis given to the name of Jesus and to his mystery that is the sign of a meaningful and fruitful recitation of the Rosary. Pope Paul VI drew attention, in his Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus, to the custom in certain regions of highlighting the name of Christ by the addition of a clause referring to the mystery being contemplated.⁽37) This is a praiseworthy custom, especially during public recitation. It gives forceful expression to our faith in Christ, directed to the different moments of the Redeemer’s life. It is at once a profession of faith and an aid in concentrating our meditation, since it facilitates the process of assimilation to the mystery of Christ inherent in the repetition of the Hail Mary. When we repeat the name of Jesus – the only name given to us by which we may hope for salvation (cf. Acts 4:12) – in close association with the name of his Blessed Mother, almost as if it were done at her suggestion, we set out on a path of assimilation meant to help us enter more deeply into the life of Christ.

From Mary’s uniquely privileged relationship with Christ, which makes her the Mother of God, Theotókos, derives the forcefulness of the appeal we make to her in the second half of the prayer, as we entrust to her maternal intercession our lives and the hour of our death.

The “Gloria”

Trinitarian doxology is the goal of all Christian contemplation. For Christ is the way that leads us to the Father in the Spirit. If we travel this way to the end, we repeatedly encounter the mystery of the three divine Persons, to whom all praise, worship and thanksgiving are due. It is important that the Gloria, the high-point of contemplation, be given due prominence in the Rosary. In public recitation it could be sung, as a way of giving proper emphasis to the essentially Trinitarian structure of all Christian prayer.

To the extent that meditation on the mystery is attentive and profound, and to the extent that it is enlivened – from one Hail Mary to another – by love for Christ and for Mary, the glorification of the Trinity at the end of each decade, far from being a perfunctory conclusion, takes on its proper contemplative tone, raising the mind as it were to the heights of heaven and enabling us in some way to relive the experience of Tabor, a foretaste of the contemplation yet to come: “It is good for us to be here!” (Lk 9:33).

The concluding short prayer

In current practice, the Trinitarian doxology is followed by a brief concluding prayer 

which varies according to local custom. Without in any way diminishing the value of such invocations, it is worthwhile to note that the contemplation of the mysteries could better express their full spiritual fruitfulness if an effort were made to conclude each mystery with a prayer for the fruits specific to that particular mystery. In this way the Rosary would better express its connection with the Christian life. One fine liturgical prayer suggests as much, inviting us to pray that, by meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary, we may come to “imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise”.⁽38)

Such a final prayer could take on a legitimate variety of forms, as indeed it already does. In this way the Rosary can be better adapted to different spiritual traditions and different Christian communities. It is to be hoped, then, that appropriate formulas will be widely circulated, after due pastoral discernment and possibly after experimental use in centres and shrines particularly devoted to the Rosary, so that the People of God may benefit from an abundance of authentic spiritual riches and find nourishment for their personal contemplation.

The Rosary beads

The traditional aid used for the recitation of the Rosary is the set of beads. At the most superficial level, the beads often become a simple counting mechanism to mark the succession of Hail Marys. Yet they can also take on a symbolism which can give added depth to contemplation.

Here the first thing to note is the way the beads converge upon the Crucifix, which both opens and closes the unfolding sequence of prayer. The life and prayer of believers is centred upon Christ. Everything begins from him, everything leads towards him, everything, through him, in the Holy Spirit, attains to the Father.

As a counting mechanism, marking the progress of the prayer, the beads evoke the unending path of contemplation and of Christian perfection. Blessed Bartolo Longo saw them also as a “chain” which links us to God. A chain, yes, but a sweet chain; for sweet indeed is the bond to God who is also our Father. A “filial” chain which puts us in tune with Mary, the “handmaid of the Lord” (Lk1:38) and, most of all, with Christ himself, who, though he was in the form of God, made himself a “servant” out of love for us (Phil 2:7).

A fine way to expand the symbolism of the beads is to let them remind us of our many relationships, of the bond of communion and fraternity which unites us all in Christ.

The opening and closing

At present, in different parts of the Church, there are many ways to introduce the Rosary. In some places, it is customary to begin with the opening words of Psalm 70: “O God, come to my aid; O Lord, make haste to help me”, as if to nourish in those who are praying a humble awareness of their own insufficiency. In other places, the Rosary begins with the recitation of the Creed, as if to make the profession of faith the basis of the contemplative journey about to be undertaken. These and similar customs, to the extent that they prepare the mind for contemplation, are all equally legitimate. The Rosary is then ended with a prayer for the intentions of the Pope, as if to expand the vision of the one praying to embrace all the needs of the Church. It is precisely in order to encourage this ecclesial dimension of the Rosary that the Church has seen fit to grant indulgences to those who recite it with the required dispositions.

If prayed in this way, the Rosary truly becomes a spiritual itinerary in which Mary acts as Mother, Teacher and Guide, sustaining the faithful by her powerful intercession. Is it any wonder, then, that the soul feels the need, after saying this prayer and experiencing so profoundly the motherhood of Mary, to burst forth in praise of the Blessed Virgin, either in that splendid prayer the Salve Regina or in the Litany of Loreto? This is the crowning moment of an inner journey which has brought the faithful into living contact with the mystery of Christ and his Blessed Mother.

Distribution over time

The Rosary can be recited in full every day, and there are those who most laudably do so. In this way it fills with prayer the days of many a contemplative, or keeps company with the sick and the elderly who have abundant time at their disposal. Yet it is clear – and this applies all the more if the new series of mysteria lucis is included – that many people will not be able to recite more than a part of the Rosary, according to a certain weekly pattern. This weekly distribution has the effect of giving the different days of the week a certain spiritual “colour”, by analogy with the way in which the Liturgy colours the different seasons of the liturgical year.

According to current practice, Monday and Thursday are dedicated to the “joyful mysteries”, Tuesday and Friday to the “sorrowful mysteries”, and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday to the “glorious mysteries”. Where might the “mysteries of light” be inserted? If we consider that the “glorious mysteries” are said on both Saturday and Sunday, and that Saturday has always had a special Marian flavour, the second weekly meditation on the “joyful mysteries”, mysteries in which Mary’s presence is especially pronounced, could be moved to Saturday. Thursday would then be free for meditating on the “mysteries of light”.

This indication is not intended to limit a rightful freedom in personal and community prayer, where account needs to be taken of spiritual and pastoral needs and of the occurrence of particular liturgical celebrations which might call for suitable adaptations. What is really important is that the Rosary should always be seen and experienced as a path of contemplation. In the Rosary, in a way similar to what takes place in the Liturgy, the Christian week, centred on Sunday, the day of Resurrection, becomes a journey through the mysteries of the life of Christ, and he is revealed in the lives of his disciples as the Lord of time and of history.

(RVM 29-38)