Matt Fradd - Marian Consecration With Aquinas: A Nine Day Path for Growing Closer to the Mother of God

M arian consecrations are all the rage in some quarters. Hip Catholics tote their True Devotion books around campus, organize Morning Glory prayer groups, and sport consecration chains without apology.

Yet in other circles, there is decidedly less Marian verve. Folks in secular settings or with Protestant friends sometimes find it hard to justify such a visible provocation. To take one of the more controversial elements of the faith and to make it the be-all and end-all seems to some a bit imprudent. Is this supposed to further the conversation or end it?

I (Matt) first learned about Marian consecration when I was serving as a missionary with NET Ministries of Canada. When it was introduced to me, I remember the thought freaking me out a bit. Leading up to that time, I was becoming more and more comfortable with invoking the saints in my own personal prayer and asking for their intercession. I had also enjoyed some success in warding off objections from my Protestant friends. Then all of the sudden, heres this talk about total consecration and slaves of Mary. I found it to be too much.

But at the prompting of my friends, I gave it a go. I made an honest attempt at reading St. Louis de Montfort, buttruth be toldI couldnt really get into it. Id come across individual quotations that I found interesting or beautiful, but the overall approach never really appealed to me. His flowery language didnt resonate; it left me cold. Now, this isnt to say that the problem is his. Many find his writings inspiring, butfor whatever reasonI didnt. If patron saints are like heavenly friends, then you could say that we never hit it off.

For a while, I remained on the periphery of the consecration scene, but over the course of an ongoing conversion and coming to know the saints of the tradition, I discovered an approach that spoke to me. Later on, I heard consecration described as entrustment, and I found that more palatable. Again, I dont mean to suggest that the truth of a doctrine is a matter of taste, butin my own casepresentation was a big part of whether or not to get on board. The language of entrustmentlanguage that Aquinas uses in his prayer to Mary and that St. John Paul II uses in the modern magisteriumconveyed a sense that was more maternal and less cultic. I thought, Yeah, thats a lot cooler.

The point of this book is to offer another approach to Marian consecration. As we know from St. Maximilian Kolbe and Fr. Michael Gaitley, there isnt just one path to Marian consecration. Rather, there is a whole variety, and these can work well to captivate the different spiritual temperaments of a wide range of Christians.

So, as students and devotees of St. Thomas Aquinas, we wanted to put together this book for people who hear the Gospel best when it is preached and explained in St. Thomass idiomfor those who want to be formed by what he says about Marian consecration. As a result, this consecration will be a bit more theological than most. St. Thomas believed that it matters what you think and that when you know well, you are freer to love better. So, part of the aim of this preparation for consecration will be to instruct and enlighten, with the confidence that an illumined mind prompts a devoted heart.