Consecration to the Immaculate Heart and the Trial of the West by Islam?

In the wake of Mohammedism’s (Islam’s) initial spread over the middle east, an African bishop penned a consecration to the Blessed Mother’s Immaculate heart. The Bishop of Toledo wrote one as well. We know that Spain was run over by Islam for a time, but it got me wondering…

August is traditionally devoted to focusing on devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As I was looking into the history of this devotion, saw a little pattern that might not mean much, but got my mind wondering. Mary, without a doubt, is our loving Mother. She wants her children safe and to do well. So that got me wondering does the Immaculate Heart devotion precede disaster?  She is trying to save us, but with a specific plan! Can we assume that where the people fail to consecrate themselves, the pending danger succeeds as a judgment?

The Fifth and Sixth Century Slave of Mary Devotion

Sermons from African bishops in the 500s and 600s, when Nestorianism and similar infiltrations of the Church had run amok, began urging the faithful to accept refuge by becoming a servus Mariam — a “servant or slave of Mary.”  We know there was some notoriety to this concept, as the Bishop of Toledo Spain, St. Ildephonsus, wrote:

Therefore I am your servant (servus) because your Son is my Lord. Therefore you are my Lady (Domina) because you are the handmaid of my Lord. Therefore I am the servant of the handmaid of my Lord because you have become the mother of my Maker.
Theotokos, p. 107.

Unfortunately, it appears that only a few of the faithful caught on, and we know that Islam overran much of this territory, but not all. Maybe the safe areas were those where this devotion took root — sheer and utter hypothesis on my part.

However, St. John Damascene, over in the Oriental parts of the Church did not ignore the concept. He penned his own prayers, writing:

O Lady, before you today we take our stand. Lady, I call you Virgin Mother of God and to your hope, as to the surest and strongest anchor, we bind ourselves. To you we consecrate our mind, our soul, our body, all that we are. We honor you as much as we can!
Homilia I in Dormitionem, p. 76 (72) as quoted in Theotokos p. 109.

Approaching four hundred years ago St. Louis DeMontfort wrote True Devotion to Mary, wherein he described that consecration primarily “consists in giving oneself entirely to the Blessed Virgin in order to belong entirely to Jesus Christ through her.”

Today? Is this Mary’s Safe Harbor From the Islamic Tide?

St. Louis prophesied that his writings would be hidden for a long time, though. They were. Nobody knew of them for centuries. Eventually, they were discovered at the dawn of the 20th century. Seems that the time ripened for Mary’s plan.

In 1907, Pope Pius X approved the consecration formula with this opening clause:  “We consecrate ourselves to thy Immaculate Heart”

Then, as we know from Fatima, Mary reiterated this plan for peace: consecration to her Immaculate Heart. Even the children speak of accepting suffering as “removing a thorn” from her heart.

You’ve read plenty here and elsewhere on the situation of Mohammedhism today. History is replete with examples of Mary utterly crushing entire armies and navies. In those instances, particularly that last link, show that she asks us to do some specific things:

• pray (particularly a Rosary each day)
• sacrifice (particularly to accept those inconveniences and pains God sends in daily life)
• devote and consecrate ourselves and all we have to her

Have you consecrated yourself and all you have to Mary? I think we can see the pending judgment all around us.

This article, Consecration to the Immaculate Heart and the Trial of the West by Islam? is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/consecration-immaculate-heart-trial-west-islam/
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