The new year is off to a wonderful start. I’m 18 days into my second Bible in a Year reading goal and 10 days into reading 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley and I’m absolutely loving this new journey. It’s a journey I only wish I had started long ago.
Since committing to praying the rosary daily back on 28 October of 2019, I’ve personally felt the impact in my life. Each and every day I devote the time necessary to recite this extremely important prayer and despite sickness, travel or other things that life can sometimes throw at you, I’ve not missed a single day. Google tells me this is 1,543 consecutive days. In these last 4 years, 2 months and 20 days I’ve witnessed the impact of this prayer not only in my life, but the life of my family. I realized soon after the new year that it was time for me to take this to the next level.
I first heard about the book, 33 Days to Morning Glory last August when I was being prepped for my hernia surgery. After changing into my gown, she noticed I was wearing my brown scapula which I really didn’t want to take off for the surgery. She informed me that it was perfectly OK for me to keep it on and she also told me she was also a Catholic. As I was waiting to be wheeled back to the OR, we got to talking and the subject of favorite Catholic books came up in conversation. She had explained that she was in the process of reading 33 Days to Morning Glory as she herself was preparing for her own Marian Consecration. I asked my wife to take a picture of the book so I would remember to order it.
Unfortunately, in the days after my surgery and recovery at home I had forgotten about this little book. It remained deeply imbedded in my brain until just a day or so before the new year. I grabbed my phone and scrolled through the images from around the time of my surgery and found it. I ordered it from Amazon that same day with the intention on starting my journey on 9 January to coincide with the Our Lady of Lourdes Feast Day on 11 February.
The book, 33 Days to Morning Glory is very excellently written in an easy-to-understand method with references back to the classic book on Marian consecration written by St. Louis de Montfort titled True Devotion to Mary but in a much easier to follow format. During the 4 week do-it-yourself retreat, you’ll read testimony from what Fr. Michael refers to as the four giants of Marian consecration including St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Mother Teresa and Pope St. John Paul II.
As I’m only on my 10th day, I would like to finish the book/retreat and will return at a later date to provide more details on my personal experience which I’ll write about here on my blog. In the mean time, if you are interested in your own “Do-it-yourself” retreat for preparation for Marian Consecration, I recommend in purchasing 33 Days to Morning Glory. The next starting point for the 33 days to consecration would be 20 February ending on the Feast Day of the The Annunciation 25 March.
Until next time…
Fratus tuus in Christo,
Jerry
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[…] As mentioned in an earlier blog posting from a few weeks ago, I completed my 33 Days to Morning Glory “Do it Myself” retreat to prepare myself for my first Marian Consecration. I completed the book right on schedule and after receiving Holy Communion on Sunday, 11 February, which also happened to be the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes, I recited the consecration prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe. Once I arrived back home, I joined the Militia of the Immaculata. […]