During the 1970s, when I was in high school and then college, there were three popular family singing groups in America: the Partridge Family, the Osmonds, and the Jackson Five. The Partridge Family had a weekly TV show that aired from 1970 to 1974, and two of the Osmond siblings, Donny and Marie, had a weekly TV show that aired from 1976 to 1979. Both shows provided clean, wholesome family entertainment.

Three years after the Donny and Marie show ended (1982), Marie married her first husband. The two divorced in 1985, and she married her second husband a year later. She divorced her second husband in 2007. During her two marriages, Marie had three biological children and adopted five children. On February 26, 2010, her 18-year-old son, Michael, committed suicide by jumping off the eighth-floor balcony of his apartment in Los Angeles.

During an interview several months after Michael’s death, Marie disclosed that Michael struggled from depression and had previously attempted to take his own life. She said that after his initial failed suicide attempt, he promised her that he would “never do anything like that again.” She also lamented, “People say things like, ‘Well, at least you have seven more children.’ No, I have eight children. My heart will never put anybody else in that place but Michael.”

I previously wrote about the suicide of the 27-year-old son of Rick and Kay Warren, the co-founders of Saddleback Church, an evangelical church in California. Their son had suffered from mental illness for most of his life. On April 5, 2013, he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Kay later told a reporter, “A lot of it’s a blur. I just know I hit the ground and laid on the ground for hours, sobbing… I will never get over losing my son. I will never stop missing him.”

There is nothing more devastating to a mother than the suicide of a son or a daughter.

We know from the Gospel of Mark that during our Lord’s public life, He was approached by a synagogue leader who told Him that the leader’s 12-year-old daughter was “at the point of death.” He then said to our Lord, “Please come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” Mark 5:21-24

Prior to arriving at the synagogue leader’s house, our Lord was told that the girl had already died. He still went to the house with some of His apostles and the girl’s father. When they arrived at the house, our Lord entered the dead girl’s room, held her hand, and told her to rise. The girl immediately woke up and started walking around. Our Lord told the girl’s father to give her something to eat. He then gave strict orders to everyone who was present not to tell anyone what had happened. Mark 5:35-43

Raising the young girl from the dead was not our Lord’s first miracle. His first public miracle was described in the Gospel of John:

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. John 2:1-7

After that, more than 120 gallons of water were miraculously turned into wine.

I have a question for you. What if Jesus had been born on December 25, 1979? His 30th birthday would have been December 25, 2009. What if He had started His public life a month later by performing a miracle at a local wedding? And what if Marie Osmond had approached Him on February 26, 2010, after her son committed suicide and pleaded with Him to bring her son back to life? What if Kay Warren had approached Jesus on April 4, 2013, the day before her son died, and asked Him to cure her son of his mental illness? What if Mary, the mother of Jesus, intervened and asked her Divine Son to bring Marie Osmond’s son back to life and heal Kay Warren’s son? Such a request would be more important than turning water into wine. What do you think our Lord would do?

Unfortunately, Jesus and His mother were not on Earth in 2010 and 2013 to assist Marie Osmond, Kay Warren, and their sons. But what if Jesus and Mary are still available to help us in the same way they helped people while they were still living on Earth? As the King and Queen of Heaven, you would think that they still have the ability and the desire to do the same thing here on Earth that they did during the three years of our Lord’s public life.

Last week, I told you I was going to share a spiritual secret with you. Here’s the secret: If you do three specific things, then during the last 60 minutes of life for you and each member of your immediate family (your spouse, children, parents, and siblings), there will be an army of angels who will rush to your side (and to the sides of each of your immediate family members) to guarantee that your souls will not be lost for all eternity.

Here are the three things you must do: (1) Remain in the state of grace by following the rules of the Catholic Church; (2) Pray a rosary every day while doing your best to meditate on its mysteries; and (3) Consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary by using a consecration process such as the one provided by St. Louis De Montfort in his book True Devotion to Mary, or the one provided by Fr. Michael Gaitley in his book 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat in Preparation for Marian Consecration.

If it were possible, every good mother on Earth would sacrifice dearly to be able to have a window in the spiritual realm become visible to her every time one of her children was in need — a window she could jump through, so she could immediately be at the side of her child to assist him or her.

The mother of God and mankind, Mary most holy, has such a window and is able to immediately pass through it and rush to the side of someone who is in need. And she has at her disposal an army of heavenly angels who are always at her side and available to assist her.

When you consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary and pray a daily rosary, you consent to the Mother of God becoming your spiritual mentor and advisor for the rest of your life. Every time you pray to her, she will purify your prayer by stripping away any pride and selfishness that is attached to it, and then she’ll present the purified prayer to Jesus for consideration. She will also work tirelessly at teaching you how to imitate, appreciate, and worship her Son, and she will provide spiritual and physical protection for you and your family for the rest of your lives.

The consecration to Jesus through Mary is a lifetime commitment that elevates your relationship with Jesus and Mary to a spiritual level that cannot be explained or understood by anyone here on Earth.

Do you have doubts about what I’m saying here? Are you willing to suspend your disbelief and take a leap of faith by learning and then following through with the consecration process?

Next week, I’m going to share specific examples of the experiences of three different mothers that I know personally who didn’t know about the secret, but followed the requirements I’ve outlined above. The first mother was able to save her drug-addicted, unemployed adult son from committing suicide; the second mother was able to save her teenage daughter from committing suicide; and the third mother was able to save her highly educated adult son from committing suicide. The three individuals who were saved weren’t just thinking about suicide. They had already gone through the planning stage.

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