THE ACT OF TOTAL CONSECRATION / by Joe Castorino

O Wisdom, eternal and incarnate!

O most lovable and adorable Jesus,

True God and true man,

Only Son of the eternal Father

And of Mary ever virgin!

I adore you profoundly

In the bosom and splendors of your Father

During eternity

And in the virginal womb of Mary

Your most worthy Mother,

at the time of your incarnation.

I give you thanks

That you have emptied yourself

In taking the form of a slave,

In order to rescue me

From the cruel slavery of the devil.

I praise you and glorify you

That you have been pleased to submit yourself,

In all things,

To Mary, your most holy Mother,

In order to make me,

Through her,

Your faithful slave.

But alas!

Ungrateful and faithless that I am,

I have not kept the vows and promises

That I made so solemnly to you

In my baptism.

I have not fulfilled my obligations;

I do not deserve to be called your child

Or even your slave;

And, as there is nothing in me

That does not merit your rejection and your anger,

I no longer dare

To approach your holy and august Majesty

By myself.

This is why I have recourse

To the intercession and mercy

Of your most holy Mother,

Whom you have given to me

As Mediatrix before you;

And it is through her

That I hope to obtain from you contrition

And the pardon of my sins,

And the acquisition and preservation

Of wisdom.

I call to you, O Mary Immaculate,

Living tabernacle of the Divinity,

Where eternal Wisdom is hidden

And wishes to be adored

By angels and by men.

I call to you, O Queen of heaven and earth,

To whose rule everything is subject

That is under God.

I call to you, O sure Refuge of sinners,

Whose mercy fails no one;

Fulfill the desires that I have

For divine Wisdom,

And for that end,

Receive the vows and offerings

Which my lowliness presents to you.

I, ___________, unfaithful sinner,

Renew and ratify today

In your hands,

The vows of my baptism.

I renounce forever Satan,

His pomps and his works,

And I give myself entirely

To Jesus Christ, incarnate Wisdom,

To carry my cross after him

All the days of my life,

And to be more faithful to him

Than I have been until now.

I choose you today,

In the presence of the entire heavenly court,

To be my Mother and my Mistress.

I hand over to you and consecrate,

As your slave,

My body and my soul,

My goods, both interior and exterior,

And even the value of my good actions,

Past, present and future,

Leaving to you

An entire and full right

To dispose of me

And of everything that belongs to me,

Without exception,

According to your good pleasure,

For the greater glory of God,

In time and in eternity.

Receive, O benign Virgin,

This little offering of my slavery,

In honor of, and in union with,

The submission that eternal Wisdom

Deigned to have to your maternity;

In homage to the power that the two of you

Have over this little worm and wretched sinner,

And in thanksgiving for the privileges

Which the Blessed Trinity has favored upon you.

I declare that I wish henceforth,

As your true slave,

To seek your Honor

And to obey you in all things.

O admirable Mother!

Present me to your dear Son,

As his eternal slave,

So that, having redeemed me through you,

He may receive me through you.

O Mother of mercy!

Grant me the grace

Of obtaining the true Wisdom of God

And so to include me

In the number of those

Whom you love,

Whom you instruct,

Whom you lead,

Whom you nourish and protect

As your children and your slaves.

O Virgin most faithful!

Make me in all things

So perfect a disciple, imitator and slave

Of incarnate Wisdom,

Jesus Christ, your Son,

That I may come,

Through your intercession and your example,

To the fullness of his age on earth

And of his glory in heaven.

Amen.

Qui potest capere capiat (He who is able to receive this, let him receive it)

Quis sapiens et intelliget haec? (Who is wise that he shall understand these things?)

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