“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
-Luke 1:45
When I think of these words spoken in joy over Our Lady by Elizabeth, my heart desires to know the heart of this woman. This bible verse is a beautiful description of Mary’s profound trust and faith in God’s promises. Elizabeth recognizes, through the Holy Spirit, the role that Our Lady will have in salvation history. Mary walked forth in God’s plan with full knowledge of what her Fiat would bring to our starving and thirsty world. She would bear the new Ark of the Covenant. She would be the first living tabernacle of our Lord.
Mary’s canticle, which follows this proclamation, reminds the scripture reader that Mary’s intent is to “magnify” the Lord in all that she does. She recognizes the powerful role that she is being invited to and is so willing to do all that the Lord asks of her. One is easily overwhelmed by her docility to the Holy Spirit and her humility in submitting to the Lord’s will: “Let it be done unto me according to thy word.” -Luke 1:38
Last December, as I prepared to welcome the Christ Child into my heart during the Christmas season, I also looked ahead to what the New Year may be ushering in. Where is the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church? Where do I see a similar movement in my own faith life and spiritual journey? Where am I being called to make a similar Fiat to that of Our Lady?
After spending time in prayer last year, I believe the Holy Spirit is paving the way to draw hearts to Jesus through the power of the Rosary and the dedication of our hearts to Our Lady.
This was not going to be an easy path for me to walk. From a young age, I have struggled with my relationship with Our Lady. The Rosary was weaponized against me several times by a close family member, and I began to view Mary as someone who looked scornfully upon me as a child. Where others had attached themselves to her as a mother, I kept a close distance between us, often choosing to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet over the Rosary. I found a faithful companion in the Holy Spirit and have spent much of my young life under His guidance. However, while I believed that the Holy Spirit was now leading me to the Rosary, I knew that it was going to be a hurdle for me. I could stay in front of that hurdle, afraid to jump over it, or I could trust that if I gave my heart to the work of the Spirit, He would do a work in me as well.
Could He give me a heart for His spouse?
The best way to clarify any confusion or false beliefs that I had about Our Lady was to ask the Holy Spirit, her spouse, to show me how to honor her and bring her into my home this year. My desire was for an authentic relationship built on discernment and trust. I believe that the Holy Spirit can and will direct me in this endeavor.
I believe the first lesson for me in learning about Mary came when Lisa, our founder and leader, felt a nudge to have our team participate in a Marian Consecration. I respect the work of the Holy Spirit present in her leadership of our Little with Great Love team. My first reaction to participating was not positive. You can watch the video called “Why I Didn’t Want to Do the Marian Consecration” here. When I was in college at Franciscan University, I had felt pressured to participate in a campus-wide Consecration to Mary. However, during those weeks leading up to the consecration, I spent my nights in “The Port,” the small perpetual adoration chapel on campus, praying for guidance. I couldn’t understand St. Louis de Montfort’s idea that I should be a “slave to Mary,” nor did I understand much of the theology of her role in salvation history. Participating in the consecration was merely a formality at the time. I could “check off” that I had consecrated my life to Our Lady, although I didn’t really understand what that meant.
I still held many of those same reservations last year when Lisa proposed the idea of Marian Consecration to me. But I reminded myself that to get over any hurdle, I need to understand what it represents for me. Could the Holy Spirit show me how erroneous my fears and misconceptions were? What I did know was that I had a spiritual maturity now that I had lacked in those early college years. I felt an invitation from the Holy Spirit to allow Him to direct this Marian Consecration and the fruits that would come from it. I felt the Holy Spirit pushing me past just the checking off the box of doing the readings and prayers every day and digging into what the Spirit was offering me that day. It was a daily yes to learning from this incredible woman in my life who could teach me faith and trust on a level I had never known.
When we dig in, the Lord meets us.
The Lord is always waiting for us to join Him and be willing to learn what He desires to show us. Although I believed that my struggle would be with consistency and completing the assigned work for each day, I quickly realized that there was a richness in this consecration for me. The Holy Spirit was asking for me to give up all expectations of what this consecration and the fruits would look like. What else did He have for me?
For starters, the reading was easier. There wasn’t a large amount of reading like I had encountered before in college. This version of the consecration also appealed to my desire to find practical takeaways where I could see real fruits. I loved being given an action plan or resolution at the end of every day. I was pressing in and giving Mary this space in my morning devotions to learn from her.
This consecration was a great pre-game for where the Spirit is leading me in 2025. I believe that this consecration was where the Holy Spirit made the more formal introductions for me to open my heart to Mary going forward. I’m not sure what her role will be in my spiritual journey this year, but I know that the Holy Spirit has been showing me the various places in my heart that need mothering.
I learned that there is a gentleness that comes from time spent praying with Our Lady. During this consecration, the Rosary in particular led me to mornings with great peace and a gentle start to my day. She taught me that docility begins with a gentle spirit.
I also found it beautiful that it was in my own mothering and my desire to support my daughter, who was emotionally struggling as a student at Franciscan, that I found myself in that same “Port” chapel praying this new consecration before the Blessed Sacrament. The Lord, who is always in the business of restoration, was bringing me back to those places of spiritual comfort for me. It was not lost on me that as I made that official Marian Consecration with Little with Great Love, I was sitting in a dormitory parking lot at Franciscan University.
I know that the Holy Spirit is showing me that so many of the virtues I desire for myself can be emulated by opening my heart and home to Our Lady this year.
Maybe the Holy Spirit is doing something similar in your heart. If you are not ready to open the door of your heart, maybe you can just start by opening a window and allowing the breath of the Holy Spirit to fill your home this year. He can teach us how to love His spouse and give us a heart that cherishes her.
I’m ready to dig in. Are you?
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