Diocesan Marian Consecration Mass

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Excerpts from the English translation of Lectionary for Mass ©1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation, (ICEL); Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, ICEL; All rights reserved. Music streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE, License #A-704305. All rights reserved. Music reprinted with permission under One license #A-704305. CCLI #11318098

Consecration Mass Booklet includes PRAYER OF CONSECRATION — PDF

Hear Father Dan’s Homily

Catholic Diocese of Rapid City · Diocesan Consecration to Mary

Father Dan Juelfs
Homily from the Diocesan Consecration Mary
May 31, 2024

We celebrate this evening the feast of Mary’s visitation to Zachariah and Elizabeth, at the time following the Annunciation, immediately after the Angel Gabriel proclaimed to her that she would become the mother of the Messiah. That she would be the one who would bring forth the presence of Jesus, the presence of the one who is to bring about salvation, who is going to bring redemption into the world. Mary’s first response was to go and help her elderly cousin Elizabeth who was also with child. Who was also going to bring a child into the world that was going to change the history of mankind’s relationship to God.

John the Baptist had obviously a quite different role than Jesus had, and yet both of these women were very much involved in the message of salvation and the process of salvation. Both of their sons would give their lives in order that salvation be brought into the world. Jesus by his death on the cross and ultimate resurrection, but John the Baptist in his faithfulness to the word of God. His faithfulness to what God had called him to. Not only in proclaiming the presence of the Messiah but also being faithful to the law, being faithful to what God had called people to do or how God had called people to live.

So, this evening as we come together to celebrate the Feast of the Visitation, we’re reminded in one sense of Mary’s generosity. Her willingness to go beyond herself to say, “yes” on the one hand to be the mother of the Messiah, but also to take the very real, shall we say human response, of going to help someone who was beyond the age of childbearing and yet was preparing herself to bear a child. So, Mary goes to help her. She shows forth that generosity, that sense of care, that sense of being present to help someone through difficult times. A place that we still see as Mary’s role in our time is who we seek to intercede for us with her son in difficult times. Who we depend upon to be present to us, to encourage us, to strengthen us.

Mary’s role, that began with the visitation, continues to be present for all of us, continues to be part of our experience if we allow it to be. Again, like everything else God does, it’s up to us to say “yes.” It’s up to us to let God do those things, or in this case, let Mary do those things by interceding to the person of Jesus, by being a spokesman for us, and inviting us to share our sorrows, to share our struggles, to share the difficulties, and allow Mary to bring them to Christ to show us his strength and his ways. That we celebrate a feast that proclaims the beginning of that kind of relationship between ourselves and God.

God had always had a relationship with us as mankind, but we didn’t necessarily know it. We didn’t see it in terms of a personal kind of relationship. The Old Testament God was a God who, yes, brought them out of slavery, brought them out of Egypt, gave them a land, gave them all kinds of things throughout history, but it wasn’t a one-on-one kind of relationship or at least mankind didn’t understand it that way until the person of Jesus. And Mary continues to proclaim that one-on-one relationship. To be the one who brings that about for all of us.

So, as we celebrate this evening, celebrate this feast, we take the opportunity to consecrate ourselves individually and as a diocese to the care of Mary. To allow her to continue that work. To allow her to continue that action in our lives. To let ourselves experience the care of God through the person of a loving mother, someone who is willing to offer her life, offer herself for the redemption of the world in bringing the child of Jesus into the world.

We celebrate history, remind ourselves of what God has already done, and in a very real sense, through the person of Mary to ask God to continue doing that. To continue to be a part of our lives individually and as a diocese. Asking God through the intercession of Mary to continue to carry on his work. To continue to make His presence known.