In the course of recent centuries there have been any number of saints, founders and foundresses of religious communities, and apostolic laymen like Frank Duff (1889-1980), founder of the Legion of Mary who have been advocates of Marian consecration. Without hesitation, I would point to St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), the author of the famous treatise, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and St. Maximilian-Maria Kolbe (1894-1941), the Polish Conventual Franciscan martyr of Auschwitz, as two of the most important and influential proponents of Marian consecration among the canonized saints of modern times.
Without a doubt, however, the greatest proponent of Marian consecration in the final quarter of the twentieth century and up to the moment of his death was our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. His coat of arms as Bishop and Pope was a blue shield featuring an off-centered cross with the initial M under it, symbolically representing Mary standing at the foot of the Cross of her Son (cf. Jn. 19:25-27), thus underscoring her unique role in the redemption. In iconographic language the statement couldn’t be missed – even if it was a constant source of chagrin to experts in ecclesiastical heraldry. Beneath the shield were the words Totus Tuus (all yours), an abbreviated form of one of Saint Louis de Montfort’s formulas, Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt [I am all yours (O Mary) and everything I have is yours, cf. True Devotion, #233].
In his books Crossing the Threshold of Hope and Gift and Mystery the Pope readily acknowledged the profound debt of gratitude which he owed to de Montfort. We find the words Totus Tuus on his lips from the beginning to the end of his long pontificate of over 26 years. More than any other teacher of Marian consecration before him, the Pope rooted his teaching and practice in the entrusting of John to Mary on Calvary. Here is a key text from his Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Mater of 25 March 1987 in which he expounds this doctrine:
At the foot of the Cross there begins that special entrusting of humanity to the Mother of Christ, which in the history of the Church has been practiced and expressed in different ways. The same Apostle and evangelist, after reporting the words addressed by Jesus on the Cross to his Mother and to himself, adds: "And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home" (Jn. 19:27). This statement certainly means that the role of son was attributed to the disciple and that he assumed responsibility for the Mother of his beloved Master. And since Mary was given as a mother to him personally, the statement indicates, even though indirectly, everything expressed by the intimate relationship of a child with its mother. And all of this can be included in the word "entrusting." Such entrusting is the response to a person’s love, and in particular to the love of a mother.
The Marian dimension of the life of a disciple of Christ is expressed in a special way precisely through this filial entrusting to the Mother of Christ, which began with the testament of the Redeemer on Golgotha. Entrusting himself to Mary in a filial manner, the Christian, like the Apostle John, "welcomes" the Mother of Christ "into his own home" and brings her into everything that makes up his inner life, that is to say into his human and Christian "I": he "took her to his own home" [Redemptoris Mater #45].
Explaining the intimate relationship which Jesus wishes us to have with his Mother, the Pope points out that, while it is truly a personal relationship with Mary, it is ultimately oriented to Jesus himself:
This filial relationship, this self-entrusting of a child to its mother, not only has its beginning in Christ but can also be said to be definitively directed towards him. Mary can be said to continue to say to each individual the words which she spoke at Cana in Galilee: "Do whatever he tells you." ... Precisely with her faith as Spouse and Mother she wishes to act upon all those who entrust themselves to her as her children. And it is well known that the more her children persevere and progress in this attitude, the nearer Mary leads them to the "unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3:8) [Redemptoris Mater #46].
There is a certain "supernatural logic" at work here which may seem hard to grasp for those outside of the household of faith – and even to some of those within it: the more we manage to put ourselves entirely into the hands of Mary, the more fully we will belong to Jesus. St. Louis de Montfort put it quite concisely:
We consecrate ourselves at one and the same time to the most holy Virgin and to Jesus Christ: to the most holy Virgin as to the perfect means which Jesus Christ chose by which to unite himself to us, and us to him; and to our Lord as to our last end, to whom as our Redeemer and our God, we owe all we are [True Devotion, #125].
In fact the Church knows from experience that Mary’s mediation draws all of its power from the mediation of Christ and "does not hinder in any way the immediate union of the faithful with Christ but on the contrary fosters it" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium #60). It was the genius of Pope John Paul II to draw out this truth and its implications in hundreds of different ways. Here is how he presented it in Fatima on the 13th of May 1982, a year after the near-fatal attempt on his life:
Consecrating ourselves to Mary means accepting her help to offer ourselves and the whole of mankind to Him who is holy, infinitely holy; it means accepting her help – by having recourse to her motherly heart, which beneath the cross was opened to love for every human being, for the whole world – in order to offer the world, the individual human being, mankind as a whole, and all the nations to Him who is infinitely holy.
With specific reference to his Act of Consecration and Entrustment of the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary which he made on the 25th of March 1984, he would say two years later on the 22nd of September 1986:
Our act of consecration refers ultimately to the heart of her Son, for as the Mother of Christ she is wholly united to his redemptive mission. As at the marriage feast of Cana, when she said "Do whatever he tells you", Mary directs all things to her Son, who answers our prayers and forgives our sins. Thus by I dedicating ourselves to the heart of Mary we discover a sure way to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, symbol of the merciful love of our Saviour.
Seemingly benefiting from some of the best recent scriptural scholarship, he frequently developed the idea of "welcoming" or "receiving" Mary into one’s intimate life as did the beloved disciple. Here is a portion of a homily which he gave on the 30th of April 1982:
"And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home" (Jn. 19:27). Can the same be said of us? Do we also welcome Mary into our homes? Indeed, we should grant her full rights in the home of our lives, of our faith, of our affections, of our commitments, and acknowledge the maternal role that is hers, that is to say, her function as guide, as adviser, as encourager, or even merely as a silent presence which at times may of itself be enough to infuse us with strength and courage.
Indeed granting Mary "full rights in the home of our lives" gives her the freedom, as the Holy Father put it in Redemptoris Mater #46, "to act upon all those who entrust themselves to her as her children". Reflecting on Jn. 19:27 in Suyapa, Honduras on 7 March 1983, he said:
In the hour of Jesus, of his Mother and of the Church, the words of the Redeemer are solemn and they make real what they proclaim: Mary is made the mother of Christ’s disciples, of whoever welcomes in faith the doctrine of the Teacher has the privilege, the fortune, of welcoming the Virgin as mother, of receiving her with faith and love among his most beloved goods, with the security that she who has faithfully carried out the word of the Lord has lovingly accepted the task of always being the mother of whoever follows Christ. Thus, from the dawn of faith and at every stage in the preaching of the Gospel, in the birth of every particular Church, the Virgin occupies the place which belongs to her as mother of the imitators of Jesus who make up the Church. …
"Behold your mother"; the pilgrim Pope repeats Jesus’ words to you. Welcome her into your home: accept her as mother and model. She will teach you the ways of the Gospel. She will make you know Christ and love the Church; she will show you the path of life; she will encourage you during difficulties. In her the Church and the Christian find reason for consolation and hope, because she "shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come, as a sign of sure hope and solace for the pilgrim People of God" (Lumen Gentium., 68).
In his last Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia of the 17th of April 2003, he linked this belonging to Mary to the Mass, the central act of worship of the Catholic Church:
"Do this in remembrance of me" (Lk. 22:19). In the "memorial" of Calvary all that Christ accomplished by his passion and his death is present. Consequently all that Christ did with regard to his Mother for our sake is also present. To her he gave the beloved disciple and, in him, each of us: "Behold, your Son!". To each of us he also says: "Behold your mother!" (cf. Jn. 19: 26-27).
Experiencing the memorial of Christ’s death in the Eucharist also means continually receiving this gift. It means accepting – like John – the one who is given to us anew as our Mother. It also means taking on a commitment to be conformed to Christ, putting ourselves at the school of his Mother and allowing her to accompany us. Mary is present, with the Church and as the Mother of the Church, at each of our celebrations of the Eucharist.
With regard to the text of Jn. 19:25-27 it may be said without any exaggeration that no Pope ever commented more frequently or with greater profundity on the text of John 19:25-27 than the Totus Tuus Pope. He found in it the basis for Mary’s self-emptying, for her active collaboration in the work of our redemption, for her spiritual maternity and for consecration and entrustment to her. He clearly and consistently taught that every member of the Church was entrusted by Christ from the cross to Mary. Near the end of his long pontificate he further insisted that living the total experience of the Eucharistic memorial of Christ’s death effectively requires that we also accept Mary as Mother and welcome her into our lives.
Of course, the acceptance, the welcoming is up to each one of us. We are all called upon to say our Totus Tuus to Mary. Her role is to lead us to her Son. As the Pope put it so beautifully, "She wishes to act upon all those who entrust themselves to her as her children. And it is well known that the more her children persevere and progress in this attitude, the nearer Mary leads them to the ‘unsearchable riches of Christ’ (Eph. 3:8)" (Redemptoris Mater #46).