I am the Good Shepherd.
Venerable Bruno Lanteri, founder of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, consecrated himself to Mary on the feast ofthe Assumption, 1781. He was 23 years old, and approaching ordination to the priesthood. This was an important moment in his spiritual life, a development of his love for the Virgin Mary which began in his earliest years, after the death of his own mother.
Most high Lady of the Universe, Queen of angels and of men, above whom there is only God, and below whom is all that is not God, prostrate before the throne of your mercy, in my name and in the name of all creation, I humbly ask your forgiveness for all the sorrow we have caused you by our faults, and our slowness in honoring you. May heartfelt thanks be given to you for all the blessings your loving Heart has obtained and shared with us as our Mother. In reparation for so many faults and in gratitude for so many favors, I offer myself to you as your perpetual slave, with a pure, free and perfect gift of all my goods, my body, and all my being.
I desire to use forever all that I have and possess, all that I am, entirely inyour service and that ofyour divine Son. I ask you therefore to dispose of me according to your desire as my true and absolute Lady. I rejoice to see you raised up to the infinite dignity of Mother of God, and made beautiful in virtue, merit and privileges beyond all the angels and saints together, as our Mother of mercy. I place in you all that trust which a child places in his mother, from whom he begs all that he needs with great confidence, and without fear of being refused. I choose you as my loving Mother, and choose to depend on you in all my actions. I wish to discern at every moment what is most pleasing to you that I may fulfill with all my strength what you choose for me.
I desire to be totally available to your desire, and that my only desire be what you desire. I declare above all, that my firm purpose is to adore, love and praise Jesus Christ, the fruit of your most pure womb, with that spirit, that heart, and in that perfect way that you, most blessed Virgin, adore, love and praise him in heaven, with the intention of giving him the same glory that you constantly give him in heaven.
Be pleased, my sovereign Lady and most loving Mother, to accept me as your unworthy servant and son, and grant me the grace to imitate the angels in my readiness to follow your desires, and to love Jesus with your own most ardent Heart. Since I know myself unworthy of so great a grace, I ask the intercession of my Guardian Angel, of St. Joseph, of St. John and St. Aloysius, that I may obtain this blessing, and the grace of a persevering fidelity to what I have promised.
