To the honor and glory of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Most beloved mother, Mother, of God and our mother! Here, at your feet, humbly lays your favored daughter, our beloved Order of the Recollect Hermits of St. Augustine, which today consecrates itself to your service and to your holy love, and through your mediation, to your Most Holy Son, Jesus.
You know, O Most Beloved Mother that from the first days of our existence, form the very cradle of the Recollection, we have always been yours and yours we wish to be forever. Moved by the Spirit of our holy founders, today we wish to renew in your presence those sentiments of love and thanksgiving, of ardent devotion that they professed, making a total surrender of all that we are and all that we have, so that from now forward you may make use of us as you wish; all we desire is to do your holy will. You, Our Lady, have always directed the fate of our Order and you have directed our steps. You have illumined our minds to follow always the teachings of the Holy Church and have inflamed our hearts in your love and in that of your divine Jesus that we might do great things for your honor. Wishing to walk this road of light and love that our predecessors have marked out for us, we come today, beloved Mother, to consecrate not only ourselves and our actions, but also this Augustinian Recollect Institute of which we are sons.
Therefore, we consecrate and solemnly dedicate and lay in your divine hands our beloved Order with each and every one of the religious that are a part of it and all the Provinces, Monasteries, Seminaries and Houses of which it is composed. We consecrate the knowledge of our scholars, the virtue of our saints, the zeal of our missionaries and the heroism of our apostles and our martyrs; we perpetually surrender to you the superiors and subjects, the young religious and the old religious and all the children of the Augustinian Recollection. In your virginal hands, O Beloved Mother, we lay our souls with all that we long for, our heart with all that we love, our capacities and senses, our projects and needs, all our being, all our life, all that we have and are, so that all will always work to honor and glorify and love you, and in you, your divine Son Jesus.
Our dear Lady and Mother, reign in our Order as your own dominion and possession; reign in all your Blessed Son this consecration which we have just made, so that fulfilling it as you desire we might always live surrendered to your holy love and at our death, sheltered beneath the maternal protection of your mantle, receive a kiss from the Lord. AMEN.
Fr. Vicent Soler of St. Louise Gonzága, OAR
|
Enlarge picture
Enlarge picture
|
)
)