The Gift Of Consecration

Nothing on earth could persuade a healthy young woman to give up all plans for marriage, career and individual freedom.  Yet Jesus, with a unique intimate invitation into ultimate eternal love, has persuaded many to make a life commitment to be given for God so that many others may come to know God’s love and experience life to the full.  This is always a miracle of grace.

We are all meant to live dependent on grace. The women in the MGL Sisters are no more extraordinary than any other baptised Christian seeking to find the best life possible under God’s grace. Living closely together we are often aware of each others frailty and faults. We are just as annoying and ordinary as every other average person. Yet God has called us to live a life that depends on the power of God in every aspect.

We actually live a very joyful life together because we have our focus on Jesus and the needs of others. We have the same temptations as anyone to be self-absorbed and become lost in our own sense of need. Yet, in a life soaked in prayer, we are called out of ourselves to be given in love to God and others.

Every baptised person has this same call to live the abundant life of being given to others, no matter what our state in life. Being consecrated to God, without husband and family and normal everyday freedoms perhaps just makes that call seem more dramatic and obvious. Consecrated people are given grace to live a joyful life together and to share that joy with others in ministry. We invest our love-lives in the intimate love that animates all creation and experience a glimpse of eternal love. We invest our potential finances in God’s kingdom and all that God has is ours too. We find ultimate freedom in seeking God’s will and experiencing his personal provident care wherever God leads us in life. The joy of this life may be just God’s way of showing to the world that Jesus is indeed the answer to the happiness we are all seeking.

You do not have to be consecrated to discover the personal love of God for you that brings meaning, purpose and hope into every aspect of life. You do need to seek God above all else, to then discover that what God wants for you is that you know you are loved beyond all understanding and live in and through love forever. If this sounds out of the range of possibilities for an average human being return to the second paragraph above about all of us being needy human beings, dependent on grace. We are all in this together.

Thank God for the miraculous gift of consecration, that highlights the love that he wants for us all. And a special thank you to you, reading this, who love us, pray for us and help us to live God’s call.                                                                           

 Judy Bowe