Total Consecration

Let me start by saying that I have never done St. Louis Marie de Montfort's Total Consecration to Jesus.

Last Wednesday, while we were in the middle of homeschooling, Isabel turns to look at me with her big blue eyes filled with a child's innocence and says, "I feel just like St. Therese.  I want to become a saint, but....(*dramatic pause*)..... I'm helpless!"  That came out of nowhere, but led into a discussion about how we are all called to be saints, and that all of us are helpless to achieve anything on our own, but with God's grace, we can definitely become saints.

Either that evening or the next, I just happened to turn on EWTN Live, and a man was on who talked for an entire hour about making St. Louis Marie De Montfort's consecration.  He said that we are all called to be saints, but (get this) sometimes we are helpless, but when we consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary, we can become saints....or something like that.  I started to pay more attention.  I gave up TV for Lent except for March Madness (we have a Duke vs. UNC rivalry in this household) and also for spiritually edifying shows....ie., if the show is gonna draw me closer to God, or aid me in my spiritual journey, I'm all in.  So, I had started St. Louis Marie's True Devotion several years ago and never made it through the book.  And then at some point I had ordered the consecration steps booklet, but wasn't sure where that was now.  The man on tv was now talking about how you could even do a consecration for somebody else....like a non-believer..  Woah....now that was really something.  I could make a consecration for a non-believer and perhaps those prayers would help benefit the (spiritual) life of another person???  Well, why not?  We pray for all the lost souls/unbelievers at Mass and during our bedtime prayers....this would be another way to pray for someone in a specific way, and yet more than that....to consecrate them to Jesus....sort of, in secret.

This got me really excited.  I like to do secret stuff....If I could pick someone I love and consecrate them to Jesus, and continue to pray for them, surely God will answer my prayer that they would come to know Him!  I'm in!  The guy on tv says that the next consecration begins March 26th.

So the next day, all of that was in the back of my mind, but I had other things to do.  Until Ian pulls True Devotion off my bookshelf and I find it literally staring me down.  I pick it up and thumb through it.   Set it on my bedside table.  Hmmm....I think.

Later that day, Isabel has pulled open my bedside table drawers (which she never does, but I know she did because everything is rearranged) and she has put my thermometer-  my NFP thermometer which is always supposed to be in the same place every morning so I can just slam my alarm and reach over and stick it in my mouth- that thermometer.... in another spot.  But what is lying on top when I pull open my drawer??  None other than Preparation for Total Consecration according to St. Louis Marie de Montfort!  Ahhhhhh!  Now I'm getting really freaked out, because I had no clue this booklet was in there....I hadn't seen it for two years! 

I open it up and I've left an email inside the booklet.  It says this:


Hi! 


Would you please send me a Saint Louis Marie de Montfort Total Consecration package?


My address is:


Thank you so much and God bless you!


Angela Holmes

dated.....Wed, April 28, 2010.

Guess when the consecration date is if I started on March 26th???  April 28th.
Guess who's feast day that is?  St. Louis Marie de Montfort.

So here we are... I think God was leading me here, and I am starting today, on the 26th!  Nearly two years after that email request!  God's timing, not ours, right?

Need a Rainbow to Brighten Your Day?

This was in my backyard Tuesday morning.

Gorgeous!  And I needed it because my day was just one battle after another.  Poor Ian has had insane constipation from his high calorie formula, and we have been dealing with lots of issues with that, like:  screaming baby while trying to pass a BM,
shoveling all kinds of prunes, plums, pears and other make-you-go foods down him,
killer diaper rash from going a tiny squirt at a time- all the time,
finally a 15 inch poop.  Yes, since your wondering, I measured it. 
(Since you're now questioning my sanity, I thought it might be necessary for the pediatrician to know exactly how much poop).  
The cat decided to throw up twice that morning.
Did I mention we are trying to sell our house?  Yeah, cat throw up and selling your house don't go well together. 
Luckily, God has already erased from my memory the other trials of that day, but He left me with one lasting photo of that glorious rainbow!

I certainly needed it to brighten my day.

And if you need a good laugh, search "yosemitebear mountain giant double rainbow" on you.tube.  Another gorgeous rainbow and double rainbow guy makes me laugh every. time.