She is faithful and she invites others to do so. She is never pushy or preachy. She leads by example, always following in the footsteps of Jesus. She is with Him to the end, and beyond, being present even in prayer with the disciples in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church.
Mary’s Leadership Style
Of all these things the best example of the leadership style of Mary, or at least the most blatantly obvious, is the brief encounter between her and her Son at the Wedding at Cana. In her own way she challenges Him to begin His mission. He feels it’s not yet time, that He isn’t quite ready. She doesn’t push it any farther than that. But as she walks away she tells the servants at the party:
“Do whatever He tells you.”
~ John 2:5
These words are at the root of Mary’s discipleship, and her leadership. Her role is always to invite and encourage us to follow Jesus. As a disciple, she is of course a follower herself. But as such, she is also leader in the sense that in living out the mission of discipleship she must in turn “make discples”. (Mt 28)
Disciples making disciples. This is why as disciples we are also leaders. We are leaders who are calling others to follow, not necessarily to follow us, but Jesus.
Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, but He chooses to use us to lead each other, just as His mother, our mother, leads us to Him. This coming Monday is the feast day of St. Louis Marie de Montfort, who wrote about and encourages us to allow Mary to bring us into deeper union with Jesus. This is practically achieved through what is called “Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary”. Through a four week spiritual preparation we enter into deeper relationship with Jesus.
There are multiple times throughout the year when this consecration can be made, but this feast day, Monday, April 28th, happens to be the beginning of the next preparation period. You can order a free booklet online or you can download the free iPhone app which comes with the instructions, prayers, and readings used each day for the 34 day preparation.
I challenge you to at least look into it. You’ve got nothing to lose, but a whole lot to gain. We all can afford to fall deeper in love with Jesus. And this a practical way to do just that.