When they begin a program like this, many people set the bar way too high. When they fail to achieve that level of perfection, they simply give up. The tips below will provide some advice on how to avoid this trap. The goal is to bring your family closer to God and to each other than they were before the consecration began.
How do I measure our success in this Family Consecration?
- Your family prayed together more than you did before. Ideally, you would be coming together in prayer as a family each day for 33 days in a row. But if you miss a day, or have to pray your consecration prayers apart from your family, that is OK. Just do your best, ask Mary to intercede on your behalf, and make the family prayer days outnumber the days when you are apart during the daily consecration times.
- You engaged in a conversation about your faith with your children. Each day is an opportunity to discuss matters of faith with your children and your spouse. Don’t expect that each day you will discover something new and exciting about your faith and have a lively in depth discussion about it, but rejoice in those times when your 7 or 8 year old asks you to explain something that you read together. You may even have a few days that really inspire your teenagers to go deeper in their faith, even if they won’t openly admit it.
- On day 34, you attended Mass together as a family, stayed after Mass was over, and prayed the Consecration. The goal of these 33 days is to prepare to consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary. You as a family are doing this individual consecration together. Even if you miss a day or two, or more, if you come together at the end and consecrate yourselves to Jesus through Mary, you have achieved something wonderful. The next time you do a family consecration you will grow more in holiness and enter more fully into your consecration.