By Tanya Connor
They can’t – or won’t – contain it. It’s bubbling over – to fellow parishioners, neighbors, even strangers.
It’s the deepened commitment and joy of people who consecrated themselves to Jesus through Mary, and pastors who consecrated their whole parishes.
“Tonight is a night unlike any other night,” Father Michael N. Lavallee, pastor of St. Ann Parish in North Oxford, said at Mass at his church Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He told the congregation they were about to give their parish into the Blessed Mother’s hands.
To do that, he said a prayer written for the occasion, then signed a copy of the Act of Consecration, which Bishop McManus had also signed.
“When I was kneeling at the shrine of Mary (to consecrate the parish), I felt like I was doing something of incredible significance that I didn’t fully understand,” he told The Catholic Free Press afterwards. … It was one of the most meaningful moments in my priesthood.”
Parishioners and others who’d been preparing to make an individual consecration prayed a different prayer aloud toether.
“Mary has worked in all of our lives so powerfully during these 33 days of preparation,” Father Lavallee reminded them.
To prepare, they’d read “Totus Tuus: A Consecration to Jesus through Mary with Saint John Paul II” by Father Brian McMaster. It’s modeled on St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion to Mary,” and leads up to praying a consecration prayer – and living it out.
Kimberly Harmon, a member of Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish in Worcester and a Scripture study participant at St. Ann’s, gave retreats at both parishes as part of the preparation. She said about 300 people prepared for and made the consecration and about 200 more who attended the Masses made a “Simple Act of Consecration.”
People at Our Lady of Czestochowa made their consecration, and the pastor, Father Richard W. Polek, consecrated the parish, on Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Although it was a holy day, and Bishop McManus celebrated the Mass, the pastor still marveled at the full church.
“Everybody was so excited,” he said. “People were thanking me for what we had done.” He rejoiced that they came together as one community with two languages, making the consecration in English and Polish.
Father Tomasz Góra, associate pastor, and some parishioners, made their consecration on Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, at her shrine in Mexico, where they were on pilgrimage.
“The six pilgrims who were preparing to entrust themselves to Mary connected spiritually with our other parishioners,” he said. Looking at the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe “we knew that Mary brought something new to us” and rejoiced in accepting Jesus as the best gift.
Beata Skowronska, who made her consecration at Our Lady of Czestochowa, said the preparation was very fulfilling.
“I could get closer to Mary,” she said. “I was always close to Mary. … But I didn’t understand her role. Now I understand this more. …
“At the consecration I got a lot of peace. … I’m trying to think about what Mary would do” in my place. “We should learn from her how to dedicate our entire lives to Jesus. … We are made to give ourselves to the Lord and to others.”
Cheryl Ducharme, of St. Ann’s, didn’t wait to share herself and her faith. Before the consecration Mass, she told strangers in the grocery store about it, and they asked her to pray for them and expressed interest in visiting St. Ann’s, she said.
“We were waiting at the bakery, and we just started talking, and I said, ‘I’m excited,’” she said of one encounter. When the other woman asked why, she told her about the consecration.
She also told another woman.
“We were talking about iced tea,” Ms. Ducharme said. “She said, ‘Why are you so happy?’ I told her, ‘I can’t wait to go and get consecrated tonight.’”
After the consecration she said, “It was like the first day of the rest of my life, the first day consecrated to Jesus for the rest of my life. The Blessed Mother has opened my heart to him.”
She said she thinks the consecration will bring “a lot more people back that belong here.”
Robert Prytko, who made his consecration at his parish, Our Lady of Czestochowa, is attempting something similar.
He said he used to think “you had to be a special person to be a saint.” Now he’s discovered “normal people like me can be saints” and is trying to discern God’s call for him.
“I think he wants me to evangelize more,” he said. “I come home from church and I’m so happy.” People ask him about his happiness, he said, and he keeps inviting neighbors and others not attending church to go to confession and return to church.
He said people who attended the preparation want to “keep coming and talking about the faith.”
“We all have a closeness going through this,” Patricia Jones, a volunteer with St. Ann’s consecration process, said of the preparation. “Some of these people have been in the parish for years and we’ve seen each other just to say ‘Hi.’ … We were all sad because it was ending. But now we’re going to be getting together for ‘The Upper Room.’”
Is she glad?
“Oh yes!”
Father Lavallee said “The Upper Room” is formation that he and Ms. Harmon are preparing, which will include praying the rosary, learning more about the faith, and talking about how to live the consecration.
“When we prayed about it, we thought, ‘What did Mary do between Easter and Pentecost?’” Father Lavallee asked, explaining that she prayed with the disciples in the Upper Room. “After our resurrection (the consecration) we’re going where Mary went.”