33 Days to Morning Glory
A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration
Michael E. Gaitley, MIC
INTRODUCTION
Why I wrote this book, and how it works
I wrote this book for one main reason: Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary (Marian Consecration)
truly is “the surest, easiest, shortest, and the most perfect means” to becoming a saint, and there
should be an easy and updated way to dive in to such a blessing.
NO EAST WAY…’TIL NOW. I ran into a problem when I was writing my other do-it-yourself retreat, Consoling
the Heart of Jesus. In that book, I spoke about how awesome, amazing, and life-changing total consecration
to Jesus through Mary is, but I didn’t have time to explain it fully. So, I recommended that people read
St. Louis de Montfort’s classic book on Marian consecration, True Devotion to Mary.
In True Devotion to Mary, de Montfort lays out a course of preparation for
Marian consecration that last 33 days. Problem is, it’s not so easy to follow the format as laid out
in the book itself. (The prayers are on different pages, you have to hunt them down, flip back and
forth, etc.) To solve this problem, the de Montfort Fathers published a smaller book called
Preparation for Total Consecration. That book gathered all the prayers
together and made it easier to follow de Montfort’s 33 days, but there was still a problem for me.
De Montfort’s 33-day preparation is loaded with litanies and prayers but lean on information about
consecration. Years ago, when I first began his preparation format, I clearly remember the impression
it made on me. “What have I gotten myself into?!” It seemed I’d begun a 33-day prayer marathon, and
I wondered if I’d be able to persevere to the end. Eventually, I resigned myself to the idea that
to gain the crown of Marian consecration, I’d just have to “pay my dues” by reciting the long list
of prayers that grew each week. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fitting that we make some kind of sacrifice
in order to receive a gift as great as Marian consecration. Moreover, I don’t mean to disparage
vocal prayer, which has immense value and is an “essential element of the Christian life.” It’s
just that I personally find more spiritual fruit not in reciting long prayers but in
pondering in my heart inspiring teachings on Marian consecration. I’ve
learned there are not a few others who feel the same way, and I don’t want them to miss out on
such a treasure as Marian consecration because of so many lengthy prayers.
So, I wrote this book. I did so with the belief that a preparation for Marian consecration (or
a preparation for renewing one’s consecration) doesn’t have to be a prayer marathon. Rather, it
can be a less daunting experience of spiritual reading and prayerful pondering. Of course, there
are those who may find more spiritual nourishment in the original, 33-day preparation, and that’s
great. But I wanted to provide an alternative for those who, like me, sometimes struggle with
saying so many long prayers. Also, I wanted to provide for everyone - litany lovers included -
an updated version of St. Louis’s original 33-day preparation that would include new riches from
contemporary sources, a Marian consecration for the Third Millennium.
NO UPDATED WAY… ’TIL NOW. In Consoling the Heart of Jesus, I made an
amazingly bold claim. I said one could get all the graces of a 30-day Ignatian retreat not in 30
days but in just one weekend. In being so bold, I took my cue from Venerable Fr. Pio Bruno Lanteri
(1759-1826), who claimed that someone could have everything he needs to become “a great saint”
not in 30 days but in just 8 days. Why did Lanteri believe his retreats could be shorter than
yet just as effective as 30-day retreats? Because he fave then with a special emphasis, what I
call his “secret weapons”: Divine Mercy and Mary. And why did I believe my retreat could be even
shorter than Lanteri’s? Because Lanteri died more than 180 years ago, and since his death there’s
been ever greater insight into his secret weapons, making them even more powerful. With these
more power weapons, I concluded that we could have even more effective retreats, even in a weekend.
So, in Consoling the Heart of Jesus, I spent most of the pages unpacking
the rich, new insights that have to do with one of Lanteri’s secret weapons: Divine Mercy. Thus,
I covered a lot of material from two of the great, contemporary Mercy Saints: Therese of Lisieux
and Maria Faustina Kowalska. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much time then to dwell on the rich,
new insights concerning Marian consecration. I touched on those insights but couldn’t go into
great depth. Fortunately, that’s what we get to do here.
In the pages that follow, we’ll be hearing not only from the first great apostle of Marian
consecration, St. Louis de Montfort, but also from other Marian giants who came after him.
In doing this, we’re simply following de Montfort’s own example. In his day, he gathered and
synthesised the teachings of the best experts in Marian spirituality. Were he live today, there’s
no doubt he would present the teachings of our contemporary “Marian experts.”
Who are the contemporary Marian experts? There are plenty of them, but I’ve chose for our
reflection “the big three.” Specifically, I’ve picked the top three Marian saints who have
most dramatically added to the beauty and richness of consecration spirituality.
They are St. Maximillian Kolbe, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and St. John Paul II.
When we add St. Louis de Montfort to this mix, we’ve got a grand total of four Marian giants
who will help lead us through a power-packed and updated form of Marian consecration.
