Giving yourself entirely to the ones who love you most.
A consecration is the act of placing your entire self, your body, your soul, your past, your present, your future, your joys and your sufferings, into the hands of someone who will carry them to God for you.
It is not a transaction. It is a relationship. It is the moment when you stop trying to do everything on your own and say, I trust you with all of me. Take everything I have and everything I am, and use it for God's glory.
The saints who have made this act describe it as the turning point of their spiritual lives. St. Louis de Montfort called consecration to Mary "the surest, easiest, shortest, and the most perfect means to becoming a saint." St. Maximilian Kolbe, who gave his life at Auschwitz, built his entire apostolate around total consecration to the Immaculate. Pope John Paul II took "Totus Tuus," I am all yours, as his papal motto and credited his consecration to Mary with shaping every moment of his pontificate.
It is not complicated. It is not reserved for the spiritually advanced. It is for anyone who is ready to say, I give you everything, and I trust you to take care of it better than I ever could.
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Marian Consecration
The act of entrusting your entire life to the Blessed Virgin Mary so that she can form you, protect you, and lead you to her Son. The most well-known form follows the method of St. Louis de Montfort's Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, a thirty-three-day preparation period of prayer, reflection, and self-examination that concludes with the consecration prayer on a Marian feast day.
She has been asking for this at apparitions for centuries.
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St. Joseph Consecration
The act of entrusting your life to St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, the husband of Mary, the protector and provider who said nothing in Scripture but did everything God asked of him. The most widely used form follows Fr. Donald Calloway's Consecration to St. Joseph, a thirty-three-day preparation that has spread across the world since its publication in 2020.
Consecrating yourself to him means placing yourself under the care of the man God trusted with his own Son.
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Sacred Heart Consecration
The act of entrusting your life, your family, or your home to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This devotion flows from the apparitions of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in Paray-le-Monial, France, when Jesus revealed his heart burning with love for humanity and asked for acts of reparation, First Friday devotions, and the enthronement of his Sacred Heart in homes and families.
Consecration to the Sacred Heart is the act of saying to Jesus, Your heart is on fire for me, and I give you mine in return.