Written by AnnaMaria Rodrigues

Building holy friendships is a huge challenge for college students who desire to grow in their faith on a secular campus. The Catholic Newman Center at the University of Houston exists as a space to provide students with a comfortable and welcoming environment to meet others of the same faith and engage in prayer and play with each other. To allow more intentional time to get to know one another and deepen our faith, our community has a number of small groups including men’s and women’s groups, Bible studies, theology groups, and prayer groups. As a student at UH and a practicing catholic, I am so incredibly blessed to be a part of the beautiful community we have here.  
During a period of dryness in my faith life, a dear friend recommended Fr. Boniface’s book, “The Fruit of Her Womb: 33-Day Preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus.” Mama Mary’s fiat and humility at the Annunciation and throughout her life on Earth inspired me to love God’s will and persevere in my faith. After I completed my consecration, the Lord called me to work His vineyard and lead other students desiring to grow closer to Mama Mary and her Son, Jesus. Despite my anxieties and insecurities about not being capable of taking on this responsibility, I chose to imitate Mama Mary’s humble response: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Thy Word.” (Luke 1:38)
 
I reached out to my friend, Chelsey, and asked her if she would like to co-facilitate this small group alongside me. With the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we quickly gathered a group of students interested in Marian Consecration and started off our small group at the beginning of the Fall semester. 
 
Our small group met every Wednesday after Mass in our living-room-style small group space on campus. We quickly got to know one another through fun icebreakers where we shared silly facts like our ideal breakfast and favorite social media trends. At our first meeting, the Holy Spirit guided us to set up accountability partners to accompany each other with the daily readings, reflections, and prayers. The frequent and personal conversations between partners birthed beautiful holy friendships. Beyond discussions about the daily reflections, the partners also shared their joys, struggles, and prayer intentions with each other.  
 
We used our small group time to reflect on the week’s readings and discuss what the Lord revealed to our hearts throughout the week and how it applied to our daily lives. We had conversations about how to live more like Mary, when we drive, when in class, while doing laundry, and everything in between. Chelsey shared that reading about Mary every single day helped her look at the world through Mary’s eyes and find more opportunities to be humble and live out the faith. 
 
In the book, Fr. Boniface challenged us to pray the rosary every day during the week of knowledge of Mary. A lot of us had not said the rosary in a very long time but we were able to cultivate this habit together. We prayed the rosary with the rest of our Catholic community on campus every morning which bore much fruit in our daily life as we reflected on Jesus’ life on Earth through His mother’s eyes. 
 
During one of my favorite small group meetings, we prayed the Litany of the Powerlessness of Jesus together. Being one of the longest and most daunting daily prayers during the final week of the consecration preparation, we took intentional time to read and reflect on this litany. We pondered Jesus’ radical humility as a baby in His Mother’s womb, giving up His ability to even breathe on His own. I shared with the group that this inspired me to wholeheartedly trust in Mama Mary’s protection and the sanctuary of her womb. Just as she provided her Son with everything He needed, she does the same for us. 
 
One of the many Holy friendships that blossomed was the relationship between Ayo and Luke. Being good friends in middle school but going different ways as they entered high school, they lost touch. However, after 8 years, Mama Mary rekindled their friendship as they sat across from each other for small group! Luke shared that this connection drew him closer to our catholic community and invited him to pursue a deeper relationship with the Lord.
 
33 days of preparation later, we consecrated ourselves to Jesus through Mary on the feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. We joined Holy Rosary Catholic Church as they celebrated their patron’s feast with a beautiful High Mass followed by a procession down the streets of midtown Houston. We prayed the rosary and sang Marian hymns under the sunny sky. Back at the church, we prayed the Total Act of Consecration to Jesus through Mary in front of the Blessed Sacrament. We celebrated our new commitment to Mama Mary and the reinvigoration of our faith.
 
Our small group continues to meet weekly so we can continue on our faith journey. We pray the rosary with each other to remind ourselves of our littleness as infants in the womb of Mary and our need to fully entrust ourselves to her care. We pray for Fr. Boniface and all those who have been touched by the words that flowed from his heart.