I have been planning and implementing successful events that are authentically Catholic - faithful to the true teachings of the Catholic Church - for the past 25 years. One very important thing that I have learned over and over again is that, if we are doing our best to live in fidelity to the Church, Our Blessed Mother is always ready to offer her assistance. This is not just my discovery and this is not just any kind of help.

Through the centuries Christians seeking to more fully know, love and serve God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - have done so by consecrating their lives to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin Mary. But this isn’t just for individuals. This is also for groups of people - families, parishes, ministries, and businesses - that would like to follow Mary in doing the will of God within and through their activities - to “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5)3. Mary excelled at this far beyond any other creature and she will help each group to do the same.

I BELIEVE OUR BLESSED MOTHER IS THE PATRON SAINT OF CATHOLIC EVENT PLANNERS

On the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for many years, I consecrated myself and the entire Adult Faith Ministry at Holy Trinity Catholic Church to her. I believe that it is because of her that Adult Faith at Holy Trinity grew to be a vibrant ministry that offers many wonderful classes and large annual events involving 100’s, if not 1000’s of people. The preparation for each annual event was important so as each one would come up, I would form an event team to plan and implement it (e.g. Advent by Candlelight, Blossom Women’s Retreat, etc.) and that team and I would consecrate that particular event to her. We learned that Our Lady’s is always interceding for us with her Son so that each person involved - whether on the event team or attending the event as a participant - would have the opportunity to encounter and respond to his personal love for them. The fruit was always abundant.

No matter how busy we were, we would begin each meeting in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel with a time of intercessory prayer for the event concluding with one decade of the rosary as a sign of our consecration. This was never a waste of time! Quite the contrary. This union with Jesus and Our Lady helped us in so many ways; one of which was obtaining for us, from Jesus, the grace to “offer up” as a sacrifice everything we did to prepare for the event. This opened the floodgates of grace for us. As a result, there was an unending supply of energy and beautiful ideas to make each event extra special. There was so much love poured into every detail of each event; each person giving 100% of their effort to make the event a wonderful experience for each attendee. Our Lady taught us that Charity (Love of God above all things, and love of neighbor for the love of God) was the number one priority. She knew the struggles that we would encounter in trying to live this out with so many different people involved with different personalities, gifts and temperaments. Humanly speaking, it seemed that many times our best efforts would not be enough. No worry! Our Lady was there to help us in our weakness. All we had to do was call on her for help and she would provide what we needed.

Another thing we came to appreciate was her attention to detail. “What a joy is the thought that Mary prays for the needs that we overlook.” She would always bring to our minds, at the right time, what needed to be done. She quietly works in the background so that everything is set up for her Son to be glorified and his power is manifested. Think of the Wedding Feast of Cana (John 2:1-12). She alone noticed that the wine was running out and interceded with her Son for help. He responded to her request and provided the best wine. She will do the same for us if we consecrate the each event to her.

Personal Testimony

The first time we held the “Treasures of the Church - Sacred Relics Exhibit” at our parish is a great example of how Our Lady helps. Fr. Carlos Martins had never been to our parish before this event and so he was not familiar with the way the parish gathering spaces were set up. In a phone conversation, I briefly described each of the two possible rooms that he could use. He decided on the Saint Faustina Room. He requested that 20 rectangle tables be setup with no chairs. However, when he arrived a few hours before the event he felt that our other space, Loreto Hall, was a better place to hold this event. The only problem was that Loreto Hall was full of round tables and chairs and I was the only person there to set the room up as he requested. I felt very overwhelmed at the prospect of how much work needed to be done but I had previously consecrated this event to Our Lady so at this point I prayed a quick prayer asking her for help. Within a couple minutes, the door to Loreto Hall opened and a parishioner came in and asked me if I needed help with anything because he had the Our Lady of Mercy High School Basketball Team with him and they had some time to kill. They took all of the round tables and chairs down and set up the 20 rectangle tables. I was so grateful and amazed at our Lady’s gracious help.

Below is a possible prayer to pray as a sign of your consecration. It is a prayer that begins with a consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and ends with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I have prayed this consecration prayer for Catholic Event Planning.

CONSECRATION OF CATHOLIC EVENT PLANNING TO THE PIERCED HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY

Jesus, you have loved humanity to the extreme and have not spared anything to bring about our salvation and to give to us your love, your life, your grace and your truth. You have loved man to the point of allowing your Heart to be pierced so as to become the source of living waters from which all graces are poured forth in abundance. Your Pierced Heart is the open fountain from which flow, with power and strength, the Blood and Water that purify, transform, vivify and liberate our hearts, bringing us to conversion. Your Pierced Heart is the narrow door through which we enter and participate in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is in your Divine Heart that we learn the virtues of humility and meekness, of obedience and self-renunciation. It is in your Most Sacred Heart there that we find the fullness of love and peace.

To your Heart, O Lord, we desire to consecrate today Catholic Event Planning. Through this consecration we ask you to pour over this office and all those who participate in this work, graces of wisdom, of justice, of honesty and of fidelity to the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church. May they acquire and live the virtues that are found in your Heart; may they have the fortitude to be faithful to the merciful designs that You have over all those who are to come in contact with them. May Catholic Event Planning be an instrument of Your Heart for the sincere well-being of all, especially for those who most reflect your Meek and Humble Heart, the poor, the defenseless and the needy. May all those here become a channel of grace to one another and to a world so in need of Your love, truth, light, justice and mercy. Consecrated to Your Sacred Heart, may they build, with their lives and their work, the civilization of life and love.

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, you are the most perfect model of total consecration and dedication to the Heart of Jesus. O Mother, it is our desire to live in your Heart so as to learn to love unconditionally, the Heart of Jesus, your Son. Through your Heart, may we truly obey Him and serve Him with all generosity, responding diligently to the desires of His Heart.

We wish to consecrate ourselves to your Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart, the perfect and sure path to reach the Heart of Jesus. Your Heart, filled abundantly with grace and holiness, is the refuge where we are healed and liberated from all our miseries, frailties and self-centeredness. Oh Most Holy Virgin, we want to belong unreservedly to your Heart, bearing within us a complete and loving readiness to do the will of God, manifested through your maternal mediation. In virtue of this consecration, we implore you, O Immaculate Heart, to guard and protect us from all physical and spiritual harm. May our hearts be inflamed by the fire and love of the Holy Spirit as is your Heart. In union with you, most pure channel through which Christ comes into the world, and anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit, may we be instruments in this cold and barren world, bringing to all, the love, joy and peace of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

O Hearts of Jesus and Mary, only hope of humanity! You are our hope since in your perfect union of love for God and for humanity, you have given yourselves for the salvation of the world. Through this consecration, we humbly seek to participate in the designs of mercy which the Pierced Hearts are manifesting in the world. We desire to offer our lives in love and in reparation to Your Hearts. With all our lives, we desire to promote and to establish in the hearts of all men, the Reign of Love found in the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Amen.