It may already be the fourth week of the Easter season, but it’s still a time for rejoicing! We have been baptized, St. Paul tells us, into the death of Christ, but we have emerged from this baptism into the new life of His resurrection. In other words, we have been reborn through the grace of the Cross as new creatures.
This is great news! And while we should rejoice in having been saved, we must keep asking ourselves, how has this mystery of the resurrection changed us, and how is it still changing us? This is the only catch: unless we continually and conscientiously embrace this new life on a daily basis, we will slip back into the all-too-comfortable familiarity of our fallen nature. If we do not make choices every day that reflect and remind us of our new life in Christ, we will revert to the “default” — our old life of sin.
This means, first of all, that living as new creatures and bringing God into everything needs to be on our radar as priority number one. If we get out of bed in the morning and our attention is not immediately centered on God, how are we supposed to keep our gaze on Him as we go about the rest of the day? This is the necessary first step, because essentially, touching base with the Lord before doing anything else is our daily assent to intimate relationship with Him, the concrete evidence that this relationship is the most important thing in our lives.
Once we train ourselves to prioritize in this way, it should begin to affect how we live. By becoming more and more in tune with God, we automatically start thinking more carefully about even small choices that we wouldn’t normally examine, such as the way we think or speak about others, how generous we are with our time, and the amount of patience and charity we show in daily situations.
Everything we do becomes purposeful when we live in the light of the resurrection, when we live in the grace of this new life we’ve been offered. As we grow in relationship with the Lord, allowing the reality of His resurrection to change us daily, we become increasingly aware of the effects of all of our choices. And the purpose behind every thought, word, and action of our lives is exactly this: to enter into deeper union with God, simultaneously drawing those around us closer to Him as well … so that we might all rise one day to be with Him.
This week, let us recommit ourselves, once again, to this new way of living, not with a half-hearted pledge or an over-zealous passion, but with a calm certainty and the peace that comes only from knowing God. A great way to do this is by daily renewing our baptismal vows, and by asking our Lady for help and assistance in living them out. Here’s one prayer that does both:
I, __________, a repentant sinner, renew and ratify today in your hands, O Immaculate Mother, the vows of my Baptism. I renounce Satan and resolve to follow Jesus Christ even more closely than before.
Mary, I give you my heart. Please set it on fire with love for Jesus. Make it always attentive to his burning thirst for love and for souls. Keep my heart in your most pure Heart that I may love Jesus and the members of his Body with your own perfect love.
Mary, I entrust myself totally to you: my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions. Please make of me, of all that I am and have, whatever most please you. Let me be a fit instrument in your immaculate and merciful hands for bringing the greatest possible glory to God. If I fall, please lead me back to Jesus. Wash me in the blood and water that flow from his pierced side, and help me never to lose my trust in this fountain of love and mercy.
With you, O Immaculate Mother — you who always do the will of God — I unite myself to the perfect consecration of Jesus as he offers himself in the Spirit to the Father for the life of the world. Amen.*
(*Morning Glory Consecration Prayer, by Fr. Michael Gaitley, from his book
33 Days to Morning Glory, A Do-It Yourself Preparation for Marian Consecration).
