The public is invited to join the collegiate community for the consecration in Our Lady Queen of Apostles Chapel at 1:00 PM on Sunday, Oct. 31st. The consecration also will be livestreamed on this page and on Magdalen’s YouTube channel for those who desire to consecrate themselves and their families but cannot participate in person. The consecration is the culminating event of Welcome Weekend. Earlier in the day, a solemn Sung Mass will be offered at 10:30 AM and brunch will follow. All liturgies are open to the public, and the chapel is open for prayer throughout the day. All are welcome.
To prepare for this special occasion, the entire collegiate community will pray a novena to the Blessed Trinity on the nine days leading up to Consecration Day. The novena begins on Friday, Oct. 22, the Feast of Pope Saint John Paul II, co-patron of Magdalen College. Consider uniting yourself in prayer with us from the comfort of your home by watching our daily reflection videos. They will be posted here on this page, on our website homepage, and on our Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channels each day.
O Blessed Trinity, your love is the most powerful force in all reality. Your love created the universe. Your love raised Jesus from the dead. Your love triumphs over sin, addiction, principalities and powers. Open the eyes of our hearts to know your surpassing power (Eph. 1:19). Breathe into the core of our being the love that is at the core of all existence—the love that moves the sun and the other stars.
Jesus, you are one with the Father, and you know and are known by the Father perfectly. Thank you for coming to make Him known to us (John 17:12). Grant we pray, by the indwelling of your Spirit, that we may grow in wisdom and come to know more fully all three persons of the Blessed Trinity.
Your communion, O Blessed Trinity, is a communion of self-giving love. Father, you gave your very son for us. Jesus, you emptied yourself and took the very nature of a servant, even unto death on a cross. Holy Spirit, you pour yourself out for the life of the Son and for the world. As we grow deeper in your triune love, help us to give ourselves to you and the good of our neighbor.
Holy Spirit, you are the beauty and delight of the triune love. In you Jesus Christ rejoiced and took comfort. We desire to increase our delight in you and to share in the joy of the Blessed Trinity. Shape our longings and loves in your direction and lift us to the joy divine.
Jesus the Son, you always honor, adore, and praise your heavenly Father. Thank you for allowing us to share in this relationship. It is inspiring and comforting to know that our worship takes part in the eternal worship that you offer to the Father. By the power of your Spirit, keep us from idolatry, deepen our trust in you, and help us to place our highest loyalty and identity in the Blessed Trinity.
Living together amidst deep differences is difficult. Unity is not something we can achieve by our own power. It is a gift from you, O Blessed Trinity, who maintains perfect unity in diversity. Holy Spirit, be our peace and our fellowship. Unite us as members of the Body of Christ by incorporating us into the Son’s relationship to the Father.
By your mercy, Father, we do not approach you by our own merit and power. Rather, you enable us to unite with your Son, who prays to you without ceasing. Thank you for the gift of participating in the prayer of Jesus your Son—for the possibility of referring intimately to the God of the universe as “Our Father.” Help us, Holy Spirit, to be faithful in prayer, and when we do not know how to pray, continue to intercede for us with sighs too deep for words. (Rom. 8:26)
By opening the circle of your love to us, we are no longer aliens or strangers to you or to each other. You have called us to become members of your family. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for making us adopted children of God by uniting us to Christ. Father, as we prepare to consecrate ourselves to the Blessed Trinity, send forth the Spirit of your Son into our hearts in a fresh way, so that we might know you as “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15)
On the sixth day of creation you declared, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” You have made us in the image of your personal divine communion of love. We are made for community. Thank you for the community you have placed us in for this season of life. Help us to be grateful for it and to work for its upbuilding. Indwell us with your Holy Spirit, so that we become “members of one another” (Rom. 12:5) and fellow citizens of your Kingdom.