|
St. Louis de
Montfort
INDEX:
INTRODUCTION
PART I - TRUE DEVOTION TO OUR
LADY IN GENERAL
CH.
1 - NECESSITY OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY
CH. 2 - IN
WHAT DEVOTION TO MARY CONSISTS
PART II - THE PERFECT DEVOTION
TO OUR LADY
CH.
3 - THE PERFECT CONSECRATION TO JESUS CHRIST
CH. 4 -
MOTIVES WHICH RECOMMEND THIS DEVOTION
CH. 5 -
BIBLICAL FIGURE OF THIS PERFECT DEVOTION
CH. 6 -
WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF THIS DEVOTION
CH. 7 -
PARTICULAR PRACTICES
SUPPLEMENT: THIS DEVOTION AT HOLY
COMMUNION
INTRODUCTION OF SAINT LOUIS MARIE
1. It was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came
into the world, and it is also through her that he must reign in the
world.
2. Because Mary remained hidden during her life she is
called by the Holy Spirit and the Church "Alma Mater", Mother hidden and
unknown. So great was her humility that she desired nothing more upon
earth than to remain unknown to herself and to others, and to be known
only to God.
3. In answer to her prayers to remain hidden, poor and
lowly, God was pleased to conceal her from nearly every other human
creature in her conception, her birth, her life, her mysteries, her
resurrection and assumption. Her own parents did not really know her; and
the angels would often ask one another, "Who can she possibly be?", for
God had hidden her from them, or if he did reveal anything to them, it was
nothing compared with what he withheld.
4. God the Father willed that she should perform no
miracle during her life, at least no public one, although he had given her
the power to do so. God the Son willed that she should speak very little
although he had imparted his wisdom to her.
Even though Mary was his faithful spouse, God the Holy
Spirit willed that his apostles and evangelists should say very little
about her and then only as much as was necessary to make Jesus known.
5. Mary is the supreme masterpiece of Almighty God and he
has reserved the knowledge and possession of her for himself. She is the
glorious Mother of God the Son who chose to humble and conceal her during
her lifetime in order to foster her humility. He called her "Woman" as if
she were a stranger, although in his heart he esteemed and loved her above
all men and angels. Mary is the sealed fountain and the faithful spouse of
the Holy Spirit where only he may enter. She is the sanctuary and
resting-place of the Blessed Trinity where God dwells in greater and more
divine splendour than anywhere else in the universe, not excluding his
dwelling above the cherubim and seraphim. No creature, however pure, may
enter there without being specially privileged.
6. I declare with the saints: Mary is the earthly paradise
of Jesus Christ the new Adam, where he became man by the power of the Holy
Spirit, in order to accomplish in her wonders beyond our understanding.
She is the vast and divine world of God where unutterable marvels and
beauties are to be found. She is the magnificence of the Almighty where he
hid his only Son, as in his own bosom, and with him everything that is
most excellent and precious. What great and hidden things the all-powerful
God has done for this wonderful creature, as she herself had to confess in
spite of her great humility, "The Almighty has done great things for me."
The world does not know these things because it is incapable and unworthy
of knowing them.
7. The saints have said wonderful things of Mary, the holy
City of God, and, as they themselves admit, they were never more eloquent
and more pleased than when they spoke of her. And yet they maintain that
the height of her merits rising up to the throne of the Godhead cannot be
perceived; the breadth of her love which is wider than the earth cannot be
measured; the greatness of the power which she wields over one who is God
cannot be conceived; and the depths of her profound humility and all her
virtues and graces cannot be sounded. What incomprehensible height! What
indescribable breadth! What immeasurable greatness! What an impenetrable
abyss!
8. Every day, from one end of the earth to the other, in
the highest heaven and in the lowest abyss, all things preach, all things
proclaim the wondrous Virgin Mary. The nine choirs of angels, men and
women of every age, rank and religion, both good and evil, even the very
devils themselves are compelled by the force of truth, willingly or
unwillingly, to call her blessed.
According to St. Bonaventure, all the angels in heaven
unceasingly call out to her: "Holy, holy, holy Mary, Virgin Mother of
God." They greet her countless times each day with the angelic greeting,
"Hail, Mary", while prostrating themselves before her, begging her as a
favour to honour them with one of her requests. According to St.
Augustine, even St. Michael, though prince of all the heavenly court, is
the most eager of all the angels to honour her and lead others to honour
her. At all times he awaits the privilege of going at her word to the aid
of one of her servants.
9. The whole world is filled with her glory, and this is
especially true of Christian peoples, who have chosen her as guardian and
protectress of kingdoms, provinces, dioceses, and towns. Many cathedrals
are consecrated to God in her name. There is no church without an altar
dedicated to her, no country or region without at least one of her
miraculous images where all kinds of afflictions are cured and all sorts
of benefits received. Many are the confraternities and associations
honouring her as patron; many are the orders under her name and
protection; many are the members of sodalities and religious of all
congregations who voice her praises and make known her compassion. There
is not a child who does not praise her by lisping a Hail Mary. There is
scarcely a sinner, however hardened, who does not possess some spark of
confidence in her. The very devils in hell, while fearing her, show her
respect.
10. And yet in truth we must still say with the saints: De
Maria numquam satis : We have still not praised, exalted, honoured, loved
and served Mary adequately. She is worthy of even more praise, respect,
love and service.
11. Moreover, we should repeat after the Holy Spirit, "All
the glory of the king's daughter is within", meaning that all the external
glory which heaven and earth vie with each other to give her is nothing
compared to what she has received interiorly from her Creator, namely, a
glory unknown to insignificant creatures like us, who cannot penetrate
into the secrets of the king.
12. Finally, we must say in the words of the apostle Paul,
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has the heart of man understood" the
beauty, the grandeur, the excellence of Mary, who is indeed a miracle of
miracles of grace, nature and glory. "If you wish to understand the
Mother," says a saint, "then understand the Son. She is a worthy Mother of
God." Hic taceat omnis lingua : Here let every tongue be silent.
13. My heart has dictated with special joy all that I have
written to show that Mary has been unknown up till now, and that that is
one of the reasons why Jesus Christ is not known as he should be.
If then, as is certain, the knowledge and the kingdom of
Jesus Christ must come into the world, it can only be as a necessary
consequence of the knowledge and reign of Mary. She who first gave him to
the world will establish his kingdom in the world.
PART I: TRUE DEVOTION TO OUR LADY IN
GENERAL
CHAPTER ONE - NECESSITY OF DEVOTION TO OUR
LADY
1. Mary's part in the Incarnation
14. With the whole Church I acknowledge that Mary, being a
mere creature fashioned by the hands of God is, compared to his infinite
majesty, less than an atom, or rather is simply nothing, since he alone
can say, "I am he who is". Consequently, this great Lord, who is ever
independent and self-sufficient, never had and does not now have any
absolute need of the Blessed Virgin for the accomplishment of his will and
the manifestation of his glory. To do all things he has only to will them.
15. However, I declare that, considering things as they
are, because God has decided to begin and accomplish his greatest works
through the Blessed Virgin ever since he created her, we can safely
believe that he will not change his plan in the time to come, for he is
God and therefore does not change in his thoughts or his way of acting.
16. God the Father gave his only Son to the world only
through Mary. Whatever desires the patriarchs may have cherished, whatever
entreaties the prophets and saints of the Old Law may have had for 4,000
years to obtain that treasure, it was Mary alone who merited it and found
grace before God by the power of her prayers and the perfection of her
virtues. "The world being unworthy," said Saint Augustine, "to receive the
Son of God directly from the hands of the Father, he gave his Son to Mary
for the world to receive him from her."
The Son of God became man for our salvation but only in
Mary and through Mary.
God the Holy Spirit formed Jesus Christ in Mary but only
after having asked her consent through one of the chief ministers of his
court.
17. God the Father imparted to Mary his fruitfulness as
far as a mere creature was capable of receiving it, to enable her to bring
forth his Son and all the members of his mystical body.
18. God the Son came into her virginal womb as a new Adam
into his earthly paradise, to take his delight there and produce hidden
wonders of grace.
God-made-man found freedom in imprisoning himself in her
womb. He displayed power in allowing himself to be borne by this young
maiden. He found his glory and that of his Father in hiding his splendours
from all creatures here below and revealing them only to Mary. He
glorified his independence and his majesty in depending upon this lovable
virgin in his conception, his birth, his presentation in the temple, and
in the thirty years of his hidden life. Even at his death she had to be
present so that he might be united with her in one sacrifice and be
immolated with her consent to the eternal Father, just as formerly Isaac
was offered in sacrifice by Abraham when he accepted the will of God. It
was Mary who nursed him, fed him, cared for him, reared him, and
sacrificed him for us.
The Holy Spirit could not leave such wonderful and
inconceivable dependence of God unmentioned in the Gospel, though he
concealed almost all the wonderful things that Wisdom Incarnate did during
his hidden life in order to bring home to us its infinite value and glory.
Jesus gave more glory to God his Father by submitting to his Mother for
thirty years than he would have given him had he converted the whole world
by working the greatest miracles. How highly then do we glorify God when
to please him we submit ourselves to Mary, taking Jesus as our sole model.
19. If we examine closely the remainder of the life of
Jesus Christ, we see that he chose to begin his miracles through Mary. It
was by her word that he sanctified Saint John the Baptist in the womb of
his mother, Saint Elizabeth; no sooner had Mary spoken than John was
sanctified. This was his first and greatest miracle of grace. At the
wedding in Cana he changed water into wine at her humble prayer, and this
was his first miracle in the order of nature. He began and continued his
miracles through Mary and he will continue them through her until the end
of time.
20. God the Holy Spirit, who does not produce any divine
person, became fruitful through Mary whom he espoused. It was with her, in
her and of her that he produced his masterpiece, God-made-man, and that he
produces every day until the end of the world the members of the body of
this adorable Head. For this reason the more he finds Mary his dear and
inseparable spouse in a soul the more powerful and effective he becomes in
producing Jesus Christ in that soul and that soul in Jesus Christ.
21. This does not mean that the Blessed Virgin confers on
the Holy Spirit a fruitfulness which he does not already possess. Being
God, he has the ability to produce just like the Father and the Son,
although he does not use this power and so does not produce another divine
person. But it does mean that the Holy Spirit chose to make use of our
Blessed Lady, although he had no absolute need of her, in order to become
actively fruitful in producing Jesus Christ and his members in her and by
her. This is a mystery of grace unknown even to many of the most learned
and spiritual of Christians.
2. Mary's part in the sanctification of souls
22. The plan adopted by the three persons of the Blessed
Trinity in the Incarnation, the first coming of Jesus Christ, is adhered
to each day in an invisible manner throughout the Church and they will
pursue it to the end of time until the last coming of Jesus Christ.
23. God the Father gathered all the waters together and
called them the seas (maria). He gathered all his graces together and
called them Mary (Maria). The great God has a treasury or storehouse full
of riches in which he has enclosed all that is beautiful, resplendent,
rare, and precious, even his own Son. This immense treasury is none other
than Mary whom the saints call the "treasury of the Lord". From her
fullness all men are made rich.
24. God the Son imparted to his mother all that he gained
by his life and death, namely, his infinite merits and his eminent
virtues. He made her the treasurer of all his Father had given him as
heritage. Through her he applies his merits to his members and through her
he transmits his virtues and distributes his graces. She is his mystical
channel, his aqueduct, through which he causes his mercies to flow gently
and abundantly.
25. God the Holy Spirit entrusted his wondrous gifts to
Mary, his faithful spouse, and chose her as the dispenser of all he
possesses, so that she distributes all his gifts and graces to whom she
wills, as much as she wills, how she wills and when she wills. No heavenly
gift is given to men which does not pass through her virginal hands. Such
indeed is the will of God, who has decreed that we should have all things
through Mary, so that, making herself poor and lowly,, and hiding herself
in the depths of nothingness during her whole life, she might be enriched,
exalted and honoured by almighty God. Such are the views of the Church and
the early Fathers.
26. Were I speaking to the so-called intellectuals of
today, I would prove at great length by quoting Latin texts taken from
Scripture and the Fathers of the Church all that I am now stating so
simply. I could also instance solid proofs which can be read in full in
Fr. Poir‚'s book "The Triple Crown of the Blessed Virgin". But I am
speaking mainly for the poor and simple who have more good will and faith
than the common run of scholars. As they believe more simply and more
meritoriously, let me merely state the truth to them quite plainly without
bothering to quote Latin passages which they would not understand.
Nevertheless, I shall quote some texts as they occur to my mind as I go
along.
27. Since grace enhances our human nature and glory adds a
still greater perfection to grace, it is certain that our Lord remains in
heaven just as much the Son of Mary as he was on earth. Consequently he
has retained the submissiveness and obedience of the most perfect of all
children towards the best of all mothers.
We must take care, however, not to consider this
dependence as an abasement or imperfection in Jesus Christ. For Mary,
infinitely inferior to her Son, who is God, does not command him in the
same way as an earthly mother would command her child who is beneath her.
Since she is completely transformed in God by that grace and glory which
transforms all the saints in him, she does not ask or wish or do anything
which is contrary to the eternal and changeless will of God. When
therefore we read in the writings of Saint Bernard, Saint Bernardine,
Saint Bonaventure, and others that all in heaven and on earth, even God
himself, is subject to the Blessed Virgin, they mean that the authority
which God was pleased to give her is so great that she seems to have the
same power as God. Her prayers and requests are so powerful with him that
he accepts them as commands in the sense that he never resists his dear
mother's prayer because it is always humble and conformed to his
will.
Moses by the power of his prayer curbed God's anger
against the Israelites so effectively that the infinitely great and
merciful Lord was unable to withstand him and asked Moses to let him be
angry and punish that rebellious people. How much greater, then, will be
the prayer of the humble Virgin Mary, worthy Mother of God, which is more
powerful with the King of heaven than the prayers and intercession of all
the angels and saints in heaven and on earth.
28. Mary has authority over the angels and the blessed in
heaven. As a reward for her great humility, God gave her the power and the
mission of assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by the apostate
angels who fell away through pride.
Such is the will of almighty God who exalts the humble,
that the powers of heaven, earth and hell, willingly or unwillingly, must
obey the commands of the humble Virgin Mary. For God has made her queen of
heaven and earth, leader of his armies, keeper of his treasures, dispenser
of his graces, worker of his wonders, restorer of the human race,
mediatrix on behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies, and faithful
associate in his great works and triumphs.
29. God the Father wishes Mary to be the mother of his
children until the end of time and so he says to her, "Dwell in Jacob",
that is to say, take up your abode permanently in my children, in my holy
ones represented by Jacob, and not in the children of the devil and
sinners represented by Esau.
30. Just as in natural and bodily generation there is a
father and a mother, so in the supernatural and spiritual generation there
is a father who is God and a mother who is Mary. All true children of God
have God for their father and Mary for their mother; anyone who does not
have Mary for his mother, does not have God for his father. This is why
the reprobate, such as heretics and schismatics, who hate, despise or
ignore the Blessed Virgin, do not have God for their father though they
arrogantly claim they have, because they do not have Mary for their
mother. Indeed if they had her for their mother they would love and honour
her as good and true children naturally love and honour the mother who
gave them life.
An infallible and unmistakable sign by which we can
distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of God, from one
of God's true friends is that the heretic and the hardened sinner show
nothing but contempt and indifference for our Lady. He endeavours by word
and example, openly or insidiously - sometimes under specious pretexts -
to belittle the love and veneration shown to her. God the Father has not
told Mary to dwell in them because they are, alas, other Esaus.
31. God the Son wishes to form himself, and, in a manner
of speaking, become incarnate every day in his members through his dear
Mother. To her he said: "Take Israel for your inheritance." It is as if he
said, God the Father has given me as heritage all the nations of the
earth, all men good and evil, predestinate and reprobate. To the good I
shall be father and advocate, to the bad a just avenger, but to all I
shall be a judge. But you, my dear Mother, will have for your heritage and
possession only the predestinate represented by Israel. As their loving
mother, you will give them birth, feed them and rear them. As their queen,
you will lead, govern and defend them.
32. "This one and that one were born in her." According to
the explanation of some of the Fathers, the first man born of Mary is the
God-man, Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ, the head of mankind, is born of
her, the predestinate, who are members of this head, must also as a
necessary consequence be born of her. One and the same mother does not
give birth to the head without the members nor to the members without the
head, for these would be monsters in the order of nature. In the order of
grace likewise the head and the members are born of the same mother. If a
member of the mystical body of Christ, that is, one of the predestinate,
were born of a mother other than Mary who gave birth to the head, he would
not be one of the predestinate, nor a member of Jesus Christ, but a
monster in the order of grace.
33. Moreover, Jesus is still as much as ever the fruit of
Mary, as heaven and earth repeat thousands of times a day: "Blessed is the
fruit of thy womb, Jesus." It is therefore certain that Jesus is the fruit
and gift of Mary for every single man who possesses him, just as truly as
he is for all mankind. Consequently, if any of the faithful have Jesus
formed in their heart they can boldly say, "It is thanks to Mary that what
I possess is Jesus her fruit, and without her I would not have him." We
can attribute more truly to her what Saint Paul said of himself, "I am in
labour again with all the children of God until Jesus Christ, my Son, is
formed in them to the fullness of his age." Saint Augustine, surpassing
himself as well as all that I have said so far, affirms that in order to
be conformed to the image of the Son of God all the predestinate, while in
the world, are hidden in the womb of the Blessed Virgin where they are
protected, nourished, cared for and developed by this good Mother, until
the day she brings them forth to a life of glory after death, which the
Church calls the birthday of the just. This is indeed a mystery of grace
unknown to the reprobate and little known even to the predestinate!
34. God the Holy Spirit wishes to fashion his chosen ones
in and through Mary. He tells her, "My well-beloved, my spouse, let all
your virtues take root in my chosen ones that they may grow from strength
to strength and from grace to grace. When you were living on earth,
practising the most sublime virtues, I was so pleased with you that I
still desire to find you on earth without your ceasing to be in heaven.
Reproduce yourself then in my chosen ones, so that I may have the joy of
seeing in them the roots of your invincible faith, profound humility,
total mortification, sublime prayer, ardent charity, your firm hope and
all your virtues. You are always my spouse, as faithful, pure, and
fruitful as ever. May your faith give me believers; your purity, virgins;
your fruitfulness, elect and living temples."
35. When Mary has taken root in a soul she produces in it
wonders of grace which only she can produce; for she alone is the fruitful
virgin who never had and never will have her equal in purity and
fruitfulness. Together with the Holy Spirit Mary produced the greatest
thing that ever was or ever will be: a God-man. She will consequently
produce the marvels which will be seen in the latter times. The formation
and the education of the great saints who will come at the end of the
world are reserved to her, for only this singular and wondrous virgin can
produce in union with the Holy Spirit singular and wondrous things.
36. When the Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds Mary in a
soul, he hastens there and enters fully into it. He gives himself
generously to that soul according to the place it has given to his spouse.
One of the main reasons why the Holy Spirit does not work striking wonders
in souls is that he fails to find in them a sufficiently close union with
his faithful and inseparable spouse. I say "inseparable spouse", for from
the moment the substantial love of the Father and the Son espoused Mary to
form Jesus, the head of the elect, and Jesus in the elect, he has never
disowned her, for she has always been faithful and fruitful.
3. Consequences
37. We must obviously conclude from what I have just
said:
First, that Mary received from God a far-reaching dominion
over the souls of the elect. Otherwise she could not make her
dwelling-place in them as God the Father has ordered her to do, and she
could not conceive them, nourish them, and bring them forth to eternal
life as their mother. She could not have them for her inheritance and her
possession and form them in Jesus and Jesus in them. She could not implant
in their heart the roots of her virtues, nor be the inseparable associate
of the Holy Spirit in all these works of grace. None of these things, I
repeat, could she do unless she had received from the Almighty rights and
authority over their souls. For God, having given her power over his
only-begotten and natural Son, also gave her power over his adopted
children - not only in what concerns their body - which would be of little
account - but also in what concerns their soul.
38. Mary is the Queen of heaven and earth by grace as
Jesus is king by nature and by conquest. But as the kingdom of Jesus
Christ exists primarily in the heart or interior of man, according to the
words of the Gospel, "The kingdom of God is within you", so the kingdom of
the Blessed Virgin is principally in the interior of man, that is, in his
soul. It is principally in souls that she is glorified with her Son more
than in any visible creature. So we may call her, as the saints do, Queen
of our hearts.
39. Secondly, we must conclude that, being necessary to
God by a necessity which is called "hypothetical", (that is, because God
so willed it), the Blessed Virgin is all the more necessary for men to
attain their final end. Consequently we must not place devotion to her on
the same level as devotion to the other saints as if it were merely
something optional.
40. The pious and learned Jesuit, Suarez, Justus Lipsius,
a devout and erudite theologian of Louvain, and many others have proved
incontestably that devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to attain
salvation. This they show from the teaching of the Fathers, notably St.
Augustine, St. Ephrem, deacon of Edessa, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St.
Germanus of Constantinople, St. John Demascene, St. Anselm, St. Bernard,
St. Bernardine, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure. Even according to
Oecolampadius and other heretics, lack of esteem and love for the Virgin
Mary is an infallible sign of God's disapproval. On the other hand, to be
entirely and genuinely devoted to her is a sure sign of God's approval.
41. The types and texts of the Old and New Testaments
prove the truth of this, the opinions and examples of the saints confirm
it, and reason and experience teach and demonstrate it. Even the devil and
his followers, forced by the evidence of the truth, were frequently
obliged against their will to admit it. For brevity's sake, I shall quote
one only of the many passages which I have collected from the Fathers and
Doctors of the Church to support this truth. "Devotion to you, O Blessed
Virgin, is a means of salvation which God gives to those whom he wishes to
save" (St. John Damascene).
42. I could tell many stories in evidence of what I have
just said.
(1) One is recorded in the chronicles of St.
Francis. The saint saw in ecstasy an immense ladder reaching to heaven, at
the top of which stood the Blessed Virgin. This is the ladder, he was
told, by which we must all go to heaven.
(2) There is another related in the Chronicles of
St. Dominic. Near Carcassonne, where St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary,
there was an unfortunate heretic who was possessed by a multitude of
devils. These evil spirits to their confusion were compelled at the
command of our Lady to confess many great and consoling truths concerning
devotion to her. They did this so clearly and forcibly that, however weak
our devotion to our Lady may be, we cannot read this authentic story
containing such an unwilling tribute paid by the devils to devotion to our
Lady without shedding tears of joy.
43. If devotion to the Blessed Virgin is necessary for all
men simply to work out their salvation, it is even more necessary for
those who are called to a special perfection. I do not believe that anyone
can acquire intimate union with our Lord and perfect fidelity to the Holy
Spirit without a very close union with the most Blessed Virgin and an
absolute dependence on her support.
44. Mary alone found grace before God without the help of
any other creature. All those who have since found grace before God have
found it only through her. She was full of grace when she was greeted by
the Archangel Gabriel and was filled with grace to overflowing by the Holy
Spirit when he so mysteriously overshadowed her. From day to day, from
moment to moment, she increased so much this twofold plenitude that she
attained an immense and inconceivable degree of grace. So much so, that
the Almighty made her the sole custodian of his treasures and the sole
dispenser of his graces. She can now ennoble, exalt and enrich all she
chooses. She can lead them along the narrow path to heaven and guide them
through the narrow gate to life. She can give a royal throne, sceptre and
crown to whom she wishes. Jesus is always and everywhere the fruit and Son
of Mary and Mary is everywhere the genuine tree that bears that Fruit of
life, the true Mother who bears that Son.
45. To Mary alone God gave the keys of the cellars of
divine love and the ability to enter the most sublime and secret ways of
perfection, and lead others along them. Mary alone gives to the
unfortunate children of unfaithful Eve entry into that earthly paradise
where they may walk pleasantly with God and be safely hidden from their
enemies. There they can feed without fear of death on the delicious fruit
of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They
can drink copiously the heavenly waters of that beauteous fountain which
gushes forth in such abundance. As she is herself the earthly paradise,
that virgin and blessed land from which sinful Adam and Eve were expelled
she lets only those whom she chooses enter her domain in order to make
them saints.
46. All the rich among the people, to use an expression of
the Holy Spirit as explained by St. Bernard, all the rich among the people
will look pleadingly upon her countenance throughout all ages and
particularly as the world draws to its end. This means that the greatest
saints, those richest in grace and virtue will be the most assiduous in
praying to the most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfect model
to imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them.
47. I said that this will happen especially towards the
end of the world, and indeed soon, because Almighty God and his holy
Mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most
other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs.
This has been revealed to a holy soul whose life has been written by M. de
Renty.
48. These great souls filled with grace and zeal will be
chosen to oppose the enemies of God who are raging on all sides. They will
be exceptionally devoted to the Blessed Virgin. Illumined by her light,
strengthened by her food, guided by her spirit, supported by her arm,
sheltered under her protection, they will fight with one hand and build
with the other. With one hand they will give battle, overthrowing and
crushing heretics and their heresies, schismatics and their schisms,
idolaters and their idolatries, sinners and their wickedness. With the
other hand they will build the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical
city of God, namely, the Blessed Virgin, who is called by the Fathers of
the Church the Temple of Solomon and the City of God . By word and
example they will draw all men to a true devotion to her and though this
will make many enemies, it will also bring about many victories and much
glory to God alone. This is what God revealed to St. Vincent Ferrer, that
outstanding apostle of his day, as he has amply shown in one of his
works.
This seems to have been foretold by the Holy Spirit in
Psalm 58: "The Lord will reign in Jacob and all the ends of the earth.
They will be converted towards evening and they will be as hungry as dogs
and they will go around the city to find something to eat." This city
around which men will roam at the end of the world seeking conversion and
the appeasement of the hunger they have for justice is the most Blessed
Virgin, who is called by the Holy Spirit the City of God .
4. Mary's part in the latter times
49. The salvation of the world began through Mary and
through her it must be accomplished. Mary scarcely appeared in the first
coming of Jesus Christ so that men, as yet insufficiently instructed and
enlightened concerning the person of her Son, might not wander from the
truth by becoming too strongly attached to her. This would apparently have
happened if she had been known, on account of the wondrous charms with
which Almighty God had endowed even her outward appearance. So true is
this that St. Denis the Areopagite tells us in his writings that when he
saw her he would have taken her for a goddess, because of her incomparable
beauty, had not his well-grounded faith taught him otherwise. But in the
second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealed by
the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and served through her.
The reasons which moved the Holy Spirit to hide his spouse during her life
and to reveal but very little of her since the first preaching of the
gospel exist no longer.
1) God wishes to make Mary better known in the
latter times.
50. God wishes therefore to reveal Mary, his masterpiece,
and make her more known in these latter times:
(1) Because she kept herself
hidden in this world and in her great humility considered herself lower
than dust, having obtained from God, his apostles and evangelists the
favour of being made known.
(2) Because, as Mary is not only
God's masterpiece of glory in heaven, but also his masterpiece of grace on
earth, he wishes to be glorified and praised because of her by those
living upon earth.
(3) Since she is the dawn which
precedes and discloses the Sun of Justice Jesus Christ, she must be known
and acknowledged so that Jesus may be known and acknowledged.
(4) As she was the way by which
Jesus first came to us, she will again be the way by which he will come to
us the second time though not in the same manner.
(5) Since she is the sure means,
the direct and immaculate way to Jesus and the perfect guide to him, it is
through her that souls who are to shine forth in sanctity must find him.
He who finds Mary finds life, that is, Jesus Christ who is the way, the
truth and the life. But no one can find Mary who does not look for her. No
one can look for her who does not know her, for no one seeks or desires
something unknown. Mary then must be better known than ever for the deeper
understanding and the greater glory of the Blessed Trinity.
(6) In these latter times Mary
must shine forth more than ever in mercy, power and grace; in mercy, to
bring back and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanderers who are to
be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, to combat the
enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to seduce and crush by promises
and threats all those who oppose them; finally, she must shine forth in
grace to inspire and support the valiant soldiers and loyal servants of
Jesus Christ who are fighting for his cause.
(7) Lastly, Mary must become as
terrible as an army in battle array to the devil and his followers,
especially in these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little
time - even less now than ever - to destroy souls, intensifies his efforts
and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to stir up savage
persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary's faithful servants and
children whom he finds more difficult to overcome than others.
51. It is chiefly in reference to these last wicked
persecutions of the devil, daily increasing until the advent of the reign
of anti- Christ, that we should understand that first and well-known
prophecy and curse of God uttered against the serpent in the garden of
paradise. It is opportune to explain it here for the glory of the Blessed
Virgin, the salvation of her children and the confusion of the devil. "I
will place enmities between you and the woman, between your race and her
race; she will crush your head and you will lie in wait for her heel"
(Gen. 3:15).
52. God has established only one enmity - but it is an
irreconcilable one - which will last and even go on increasing to the end
of time. That enmity is between Mary, his worthy Mother, and the devil,
between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin and the
children and followers of Lucifer.
Thus the most fearful enemy that God has set up against
the devil is Mary, his holy Mother. From the time of the earthly paradise,
although she existed then only in his mind, he gave her such a hatred for
his accursed enemy, such ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the
ancient serpent and such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud
rebel, that Satan fears her not only more than angels and men but in a
certain sense more than God himself. This does not mean that the anger,
hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than the Blessed
Virgin's, since her attributes are limited. It simply means that Satan,
being so proud, suffers infinitely more in being vanquished and punished
by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her humility humiliates him more
than the power of God. Moreover, God has given Mary such great power over
the evil spirits that, as they have often been forced unwillingly to admit
through the lips of possessed persons, they fear one of her pleadings for
a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats
more than all their other torments.
53. What Lucifer lost by pride Mary won by humility. What
Eve ruined and lost by disobedience Mary saved by obedience. By obeying
the serpent, Eve ruined her children as well as herself and delivered them
up to him. Mary by her perfect fidelity to God saved her children with
herself and consecrated them to his divine majesty.
54. God has established not just one enmity but
"enmities", and not only between Mary and Satan but between her race and
his race. That is, God has put enmities, antipathies and hatreds between
the true children and servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and
slaves of the devil. They have no love and no sympathy for each other. The
children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world, - for
they are all one and the same - have always persecuted and will persecute
more than ever in the future those who belong to the Blessed Virgin, just
as Cain of old persecuted his brother Abel, and Esau his brother Jacob.
These are the types of the wicked and of the just. But the humble Mary
will always triumph over Satan, the proud one, and so great will be her
victory that she will crush his head, the very seat of his pride. She will
unmask his serpent's cunning and expose his wicked plots. She will scatter
to the winds his devilish plans and to the end of time will keep her
faithful servants safe from his cruel claws.
But Mary's power over the evil spirits will especially
shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait for her heel,
that is, for her humble servants and her poor children whom she will rouse
to fight against him. In the eyes of the world they will be little and
poor and, like the heel, lowly in the eyes of all, down-trodden and
crushed as is the heel by the other parts of the body. But in compensation
for this they will be rich in God's graces, which will be abundantly
bestowed on them by Mary. They will be great and exalted before God in
holiness. They will be superior to all creatures by their great zeal and
so strongly will they be supported by divine assistance that, in union
with Mary, they will crush the head of Satan with their heel, that is,
their humility, and bring victory to Jesus Christ.
2) Devotion to Mary is especially necessary in the
latter times.
55. Finally, God in these times wishes his Blessed Mother
to be more known, loved and honoured than she has ever been. This will
certainly come about if the elect, by the grace and light of the Holy
Spirit, adopt the interior and perfect practice of the devotion which I
shall later unfold. Then they will clearly see that beautiful Star of the
Sea, as much as faith allows. Under her guidance they will perceive the
splendours of this Queen and will consecrate themselves entirely to her
service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience her motherly
kindness and affection for her children. They will love her tenderly and
will appreciate how full of compassion she is and how much they stand in
need of her help. In all circumstances they will have recourse to her as
their advocate and mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will see clearly that
she is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching
Jesus and will surrender themselves to her, body and soul, without reserve
in order to belong entirely to Jesus.
56. But what will they be like, these servants, these
slaves, these children of Mary?
They will be ministers of the Lord who, like a flaming
fire, will enkindle everywhere the fires of divine love. They will become,
in Mary's powerful hands, like sharp arrows, with which she will transfix
her enemies.
They will be as the children of Levi, thoroughly purified
by the fire of great tribulations and closely joined to God. They will
carry the gold of love in their heart, the frankincense of prayer in their
mind and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They will bring to the
poor and lowly everywhere the sweet fragrance of Jesus, but they will
bring the odour of death to the great, the rich and the proud of this
world.
57. They will be like thunder-clouds flying through the
air at the slightest breath of the Holy Spirit. Attached to nothing,
surprised at nothing, troubled at nothing, they will shower down the rain
of God's word and of eternal life. They will thunder against sin, they
will storm against the world, they will strike down the devil and his
followers and for life and for death, they will pierce through and through
with the two-edged sword of God's word all those against whom they are
sent by Almighty God.
58. They will be true apostles of the latter times to whom
the Lord of Hosts will give eloquence and strength to work wonders and
carry off glorious spoils from his enemies. They will sleep without gold
or silver and, more important still, without concern in the midst of other
priests, ecclesiastics and clerics. Yet they will have the silver wings of
the dove enabling them to go wherever the Holy Spirit calls them, filled
as they are with the resolve to seek the glory of God and the salvation of
souls. Wherever they preach, they will leave behind them nothing but the
gold of love, which is the fulfillment of the whole law.
59. Lastly, we know they will be true disciples of Jesus
Christ, imitating his poverty, his humility, his contempt of the world and
his love. They will point out the narrow way to God in pure truth
according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the
world. Their hearts will not be troubled, nor will they show favour to
anyone; they will not spare or heed or fear any man, however powerful he
may be. They will have the two-edged sword of the word of God in their
mouths and the blood-stained standard of the Cross on their shoulders.
They will carry the crucifix in their right hand and the rosary in their
left, and the holy names of Jesus and Mary on their heart. The simplicity
and self-sacrifice of Jesus will be reflected in their whole
behaviour.
Such are the great men who are to come. By the will of God
Mary is to prepare them to extend his rule over the impious and
unbelievers. But when and how will this come about? Only God knows. For
our part we must yearn and wait for it in silence and in prayer: "I have
waited and waited."
CHAPTER TWO - IN
WHAT DEVOTION TO MARY CONSISTS
1. Basic principles of devotion to Mary
60. Having spoken briefly of the necessity of devotion to
the Blessed Virgin, I must now explain what this devotion consists in.
This I will do with God's help after I have laid down certain basic truths
which throw light on the remarkable and sound devotion which I propose to
unfold.
First principle: Christ must be the ultimate end
of all devotions
61. Jesus, our Saviour, true God and true man must be the
ultimate end of all our other devotions; otherwise they would be false and
misleading. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of
everything. "We labour," says St. Paul, "only to make all men perfect in
Jesus Christ."
For in him alone dwells the entire fullness of the
divinity and the complete fullness of grace, virtue and perfection. In him
alone we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing; he is the only
teacher from whom we must learn; the only Lord on whom we should depend;
the only Head to whom we should be united and the only model that we
should imitate. He is the only Physician that can heal us; the only
Shepherd that can feed us; the only Way that can lead us; the only Truth
that we can believe; the only Life that can animate us. He alone is
everything to us and he alone can satisfy all our desires.
We are given no other name under heaven by which we can be
saved. God has laid no other foundation for our salvation, perfection and
glory than Jesus. Every edifice which is not built on that firm rock, is
founded upon shifting sands and will certainly fall sooner or later. Every
one of the faithful who is not united to him is like a branch broken from
the stem of the vine. It falls and withers and is fit only to be burnt. If
we live in Jesus and Jesus lives in us, we need not fear damnation.
Neither angels in heaven nor men on earth, nor devils in hell, no creature
whatever can harm us, for no creature can separate us from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus. Through him, with him and in him, we can do all
things and render all honour and glory to the Father in the unity of the
Holy Spirit; we can make ourselves perfect and be for our neighbour a
fragrance of eternal life.
62. If then we are establishing sound devotion to our
Blessed Lady, it is only in order to establish devotion to our Lord more
perfectly, by providing a smooth but certain way of reaching Jesus Christ.
If devotion to our Lady distracted us from our Lord, we would have to
reject it as an illusion of the devil. But this is far from being the
case. As I have already shown and will show again later on, this devotion
is necessary, simply and solely because it is a way of reaching Jesus
perfectly, loving him tenderly, and serving him faithfully.
63. Here I turn to you for a moment, dear Jesus, to
complain lovingly to your divine Majesty that the majority of Christians,
and even some of the most learned among them, do not recognise the
necessary bond that unites you and your Blessed Mother. Lord, you are
always with Mary and Mary is always with you. She can never be without you
because then she would cease to be what she is. She is so completely
transformed into you by grace that she no longer lives, she no longer
exists, because you alone, dear Jesus, live and reign in her more
perfectly than in all the angels and saints. If we only knew the glory and
the love given to you by this wonderful creature, our feelings for you and
for her would be far different from those we have now. So intimately is
she united to you that it would be easier to separate light from the sun,
and heat from the fire. I go further, it would even be easier to separate
all the angels and saints from you than Mary; for she loves you ardently,
and glorifies you more perfectly than all your other creatures put
together.
64. In view of this, my dear Master, is it not astonishing
and pitiful to see the ignorance and short-sightedness of men with regard
to your holy Mother? I am not speaking so much of idolaters and pagans who
do not know you and consequently have no knowledge of her. I am not even
speaking of heretics and schismatics who have left you and your holy
Church and therefore are not interested in your holy Mother. I am speaking
of Catholics, and even of educated Catholics, who profess to teach the
faith to others but do not know you or your Mother except speculatively,
in a dry, cold and sterile way.
These people seldom speak of your Mother or devotion to
her. They say they are afraid that devotion to her will be abused and that
you will be offended by excessive honour paid to her. They protest loudly
when they see or hear a devout servant of Mary speak frequently with
feeling, conviction and vigour of devotion to her. When he speaks of
devotion to her as a sure means of finding and loving you without fear or
illusion, or when he says this devotion is a short road free from danger,
or an immaculate way free from imperfection, or a wondrous secret of
finding you, they put before him a thousand specious reasons to show him
how wrong he is to speak so much of Mary. There are, they say, great
abuses in this devotion which we should try to stamp out and we should
refer people to you rather than exhort them to have devotion to your
Mother, whom they already love adequately.
If they are sometimes heard speaking of devotion to your
Mother, it is not for the purpose of promoting it or convincing people of
it but only to destroy the abuses made of it. Yet all the while these
persons are devoid of piety or genuine devotion to you, for they have no
devotion to Mary. They consider the Rosary and the Scapular as devotions
suitable only for simple women or ignorant people. After all, they say, we
do not need them to be saved. If they come across one who loves our Lady,
who says the rosary or shows any devotion towards her, they soon move him
to a change of mind and heart. They advise him to say the seven
penitential psalms instead of the Rosary, and to show devotion to Jesus
instead of to Mary.
Dear Jesus, do these people possess your spirit? Do they
please you by acting in this way? Would it please you if we were to make
no effort to give pleasure to your Mother because we are afraid of
offending you? Does devotion to your holy Mother hinder devotion to you?
Does Mary keep for herself any honour we pay her? Is she a rival of yours?
Is she a stranger having no kinship with you? Does pleasing her imply
displeasing you? Does the gift of oneself to her constitute a deprivation
for you? Is love for her a lessening of our love for you?
65. Nevertheless, my dear Master, the majority of learned
scholars could not be further from devotion to your Mother, or show more
indifference to it even if all I have just said were true. Keep me from
their way of thinking and acting and let me share your feelings of
gratitude, esteem, respect and love for your holy Mother. I can then love
and glorify you all the more, because I will be imitating and following
you more closely.
66. As though I had said nothing so far to further her
honour, grant me now the grace to praise her more worthily, in spite of
all her enemies who are also yours. I can then say to them boldly with the
saints, "Let no one presume to expect mercy from God, who offends his holy
Mother."
67. So that I may obtain from your mercy a genuine
devotion to your blessed Mother and spread it throughout the whole world,
help me to love you wholeheartedly, and for this intention accept the
earnest prayer I offer with St. Augustine and all who truly love you.
Prayer of Saint Augustine
O Jesus Christ, you are my Father, my merciful God, my
great King, my good Shepherd, my only Master, my best helper, my beloved
friend of overwhelming beauty, my living Bread, my eternal priest. You are
my guide to my heavenly home, my one true light, my holy joy, my true way,
my shining wisdom, my unfeigned simplicity, the peace and harmony of my
soul, my perfect safeguard, my bounteous inheritance, my everlasting
salvation.
My loving Lord, Jesus Christ, why have I ever loved or
desired anything else in my life but you, my God? Where was I when I was
not in communion with you? From now on, I direct all my desires to be
inspired by you and centred on you. I direct them to press forward for
they have tarried long enough, to hasten towards their goal, to seek the
one they yearn for.
O Jesus, let him who does not love you be accursed, and
filled with bitterness. O gentle Jesus, let every worthy feeling of mine
show you love, take delight in you and admire you. O God of my heart and
my inheritance, Christ Jesus, may my heart mellow before the influence of
your spirit and may you live in me. May the flame of your love burn in my
soul. May it burn incessantly on the altar of my heart. May it glow in my
innermost being. May it spread its heat into the hidden recesses of my
soul and on the day of my consummation may I appear before you consumed in
your love. Amen.
Second principle: We belong to Jesus and Mary as
their slaves
68. From what Jesus Christ is in regard to us we must
conclude, as St. Paul says, that we belong not to ourselves but entirely
to him as his members and his slaves, for he bought us at an infinite
price - the shedding of his Precious Blood. Before baptism, we belonged to
the devil as slaves, but baptism made us in very truth slaves of
Jesus.
We must therefore live, work and die for the sole purpose
of bringing forth fruit for him, glorifying him in our body and letting
him reign in our soul. We are his conquest, the people he has won, his
heritage.
It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit compares us:
1) to trees that are planted along the waters of grace in the field
of the Church and which must bear their fruit when the time comes; 2) to
branches of the vine of which Jesus is the stem, which must yield good
grapes; 3) to a flock of sheep of which Jesus is the Shepherd, which must
increase and give milk; 4) to good soil cultivated by God, where the seed
will spread and produce crops up to thirty-fold, sixty- fold, or a
hundred-fold. Our Lord cursed the barren fig-tree and condemned the
slothful servant who wasted his talent.
All this proves that he wishes to receive some fruit from
our wretched selves, namely, our good works, which by right belong to him
alone, "created in Jesus Christ for good works". These words of the Holy
Spirit show that Jesus is the sole source and must be the sole end of all
our good works, and that we must serve him not just as paid servants but
as slaves of love. Let me explain what I mean.
69. There are two ways of belonging to another person and
being subject to his authority. One is by ordinary service and the other
is by slavery. And so we must use the terms "servant" and "slave".
Ordinary service in Christian countries is when a man is employed to serve
another for a certain length of time at a wage which is fixed or agreed
upon. When a man is totally dependent on another for life, and must serve
his master without expecting any wages or recompense, when he is treated
just like a beast of the field over which the owner has the right of life
and death, then it is slavery.
70. Now there are three kinds of slavery; natural slavery,
enforced slavery, and voluntary slavery. All creatures are slaves of God
in the first sense, for "the earth and its fullness belong to the Lord".
The devils and the damned are slaves in the second sense. The saints in
heaven and the just on earth are slaves in the third sense. Voluntary
slavery is the most perfect of all three states, for by it we give the
greatest glory to God, who looks into the heart and wants it to be given
to him. Is he not indeed called the God of the heart or of the loving
will? For by this slavery we freely choose God and his service before all
things, even if we were not by our very nature obliged to do so.
71. There is a world of difference between a servant and a
slave. 1) A servant does not give his employer all he is, all he
has, and all he can acquire by himself or through others. A slave,
however, gives himself to his master completely and exclusively with all
he has and all he can acquire. 2) A servant demands wages for the services
rendered to his employer. A slave, on the other hand, can expect nothing,
no matter what skill, attention or energy he may have put into his work.
3) A servant can leave his employer whenever he pleases, or at least when
the term of his service expires, whereas the slave has no such right. 4)
An employer has no right of life and death over a servant. Were he to kill
him as he would a beast of burden, he would commit murder. But the master
of a slave has by law the right of life and death over him, so that he can
sell him to anyone he chooses or - if you will pardon the comparison -
kill him as he would kill his horse. 5) Finally, a servant is in his
employer's service only for a time; a slave for always.
72. No other human state involves belonging more
completely to another than slavery. Among Christian peoples, nothing makes
a person belong more completely to Jesus and his holy Mother than
voluntary slavery. Our Lord himself gave us the example of this when out
of love for us he "took the form of a slave". Our Lady gave us the same
example when she called herself the handmaid or slave of the Lord. The
Apostle considered it an honour to be called "slave of Christ". Several
times in Holy Scripture, Christians are referred to as "slaves of
Christ".
The Latin word "servus" at one time signified only a slave
because servants as we know them did not exist. Masters were served either
by slaves or by freedmen. The Catechism of the Council of Trent leaves no
doubt about our being slaves of Jesus Christ, using the unequivocal term
"Mancipia Christi", which plainly means: slaves of Christ.
73. Granting this, I say that we must belong to Jesus and
serve him not just as hired servants but as willing slaves who, moved by
generous love, commit themselves to his service after the manner of slaves
for the honour of belonging to him. Before we were baptised we were the
slaves of the devil, but baptism made us the slaves of Jesus.
Christians can only be slaves of the devil or slaves of Christ.
74. What I say in an absolute sense of our Lord, I say in
a relative sense of our Blessed Lady. Jesus, in choosing her as his
inseparable associate in his life, glory and power in heaven and on earth,
has given her by grace in his kingdom all the same rights and privileges
that he possesses by nature. "All that belongs to God by nature
belongs to Mary by grace", say the saints, and, according to them, just as
Jesus and Mary have the same will and the same power, they have also the
same subjects, servants and slaves.
75. Following therefore the teaching of the saints and of
many great men we can call ourselves, and become, the loving slaves of our
Blessed Lady in order to become more perfect slaves of Jesus. Mary is the
means our Lord chose to come to us and she is also the means we should
choose to go to him, for she is not like other creatures who tend rather
to lead us away from God than towards him, if we are over-attached to
them. Mary's strongest inclination is to unite us to Jesus, her Son, and
her Son's strongest wish is that we come to him through his Blessed
Mother. He is pleased and honoured just as a king would be pleased and
honoured if a citizen, wanting to become a better subject and slave of the
king, made himself the slave of the queen. That is why the Fathers of the
Church, and St. Bonaventure after them, assert that the Blessed Virgin is
the way which leads to our Lord.
76. Moreover, if, as I have said, the Blessed Virgin is
the Queen and Sovereign of heaven and earth, does she not then have as
many subjects and slaves as there are creatures? "All things, including
Mary herself, are subject to the power of God. All things, God included,
are subject to the Virgin's power", so we are told by St. Anselm, St.
Bernard, St. Bernardine and St. Bonaventure. Is it not reasonable to find
that among so many slaves there should be some slaves of love, who freely
choose Mary as their Queen? Should men and demons have willing slaves, and
Mary have none? A king makes it a point of honour that the queen, his
consort, should have her own slaves, over whom she has right of life and
death, for honour and power given to the queen is honour and power given
to the king. Could we possibly believe that Jesus, the best of all sons,
who shared his power with his Blessed Mother, would resent her having her
own slaves? Has he less esteem and love for his Mother than Ahasuerus had
for Esther, or Solomon for Bathsheba? Who could say or even think such a
thing?
77. But where is my pen leading me? Why am I wasting my
time proving something so obvious? If people are unwilling to call
themselves slaves of Mary, what does it matter? Let them become and call
themselves slaves of Jesus Christ, for this is the same as being slaves of
Mary, since Jesus is the fruit and glory of Mary. This is what we do
perfectly in the devotion we shall discuss later.
Third principle: We must rid ourselves of what is
evil in us
78. Our best actions are usually tainted and spoiled by
the evil that is rooted in us. When pure, clear water is poured into a
foul-smelling jug, or wine into an unwashed cask that previously contained
another wine, the clear water and the good wine are tainted and readily
acquire an unpleasant odour. In the same way when God pours into our soul,
infected by original and actual sin, the heavenly waters of his grace or
the delicious wines of his love, his gifts are usually spoiled and tainted
by the evil sediment left in us by sin. Our actions, even those of the
highest virtue, show the effects of it. It is therefore of the utmost
importance that, in seeking the perfection that can be attained only by
union with Jesus, we rid ourselves of all that is evil in us. Otherwise
our infinitely pure Lord, who has an infinite hatred for the slightest
stain in our soul, will refuse to unite us to himself and will drive us
from his presence.
79. To rid ourselves of selfishness, we must first become
thoroughly aware, by the light of the Holy Spirit, of our tainted nature.
Of ourselves we are unable to do anything conducive to our salvation. Our
human weakness is evident in everything we do and we are habitually
unreliable. We do not deserve any grace from God. Our tendency to sin is
always present. The sin of Adam has almost entirely spoiled and soured us,
filling us with pride and corrupting every one of us, just as leaven
sours, swells and corrupts the dough in which it is placed. The actual
sins we have committed, whether mortal or venial, even though forgiven,
have intensified our base desires, our weakness, our inconstancy and our
evil tendencies, and have left a sediment of evil in our soul.
Our bodies are so corrupt that they are referred to by the
Holy Spirit as bodies of sin, as conceived and nourished in sin, and
capable of any kind of sin. They are subject to a thousand ills,
deteriorating from day to day and harbouring only disease, vermin and
corruption.
Our soul, being united to our body, has become so carnal
that it has been called flesh. "All flesh had corrupted its way". Pride
and blindness of spirit, hardness of heart, weakness and inconstancy of
soul, evil inclinations, rebellious passions, ailments of the body, -
these are all we can call our own. By nature we are prouder than peacocks,
we cling to the earth more than toads, we are more base than goats, more
envious than serpents, greedier than pigs, fiercer than tigers, lazier
than tortoises, weaker than reeds, and more changeable than weather-cocks.
We have in us nothing but sin, and deserve only the wrath of God and the
eternity of hell.
80. Is it any wonder then that our Lord laid down that
anyone who aspires to be his follower must deny himself and hate his very
life? He makes it clear that anyone who loves his life shall lose it and
anyone who hates his life shall save it. Now, our Lord, who is infinite
Wisdom, and does not give commandments without a reason, bids us hate
ourselves only because we richly deserve to be hated. Nothing is more
worthy of love than God and nothing is more deserving of hatred than self.
81. Secondly, in order to empty ourselves of self, we must
die daily to ourselves. This involves our renouncing what the powers of
the soul and the senses of the body incline us to do. We must see as if we
did not see, hear as if we did not hear and use the things of this world
as if we did not use them. This is what St. Paul calls "dying daily".
Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a
single grain and does not bear any good fruit. If we do not die to self
and if our holiest devotions do not lead us to this necessary and fruitful
death, we shall not bear fruit of any worth and our devotions will cease
to be profitable. All our good works will be tainted by self-love and
self-will so that our greatest sacrifices and our best actions will be
unacceptable to God. Consequently when we come to die we shall find
ourselves devoid of virtue and merit and discover that we do not possess
even one spark of that pure love which God shares only with those who have
died to themselves and whose life is hidden with Jesus Christ in him.
82. Thirdly, we must choose among all the devotions to the
Blessed Virgin the one which will lead us more surely to this dying to
self. This devotion will be the best and the most sanctifying for us. For
we must not believe that all that glitters is gold, all that is sweet is
honey, or all that is easy to do and is done by the majority of people is
the most sanctifying. Just as in nature there are secrets enabling us to
do certain natural things quickly, easily and at little cost, so in the
spiritual life there are secrets which enable us to perform works rapidly,
smoothly and with facility. Such works are, for example, emptying
ourselves of self-love, filling ourselves with God, and attaining
perfection.
The devotion that I propose to explain is one of these
secrets of grace, for it is unknown to most Christians. Only a few devout
people know of it and it is practised and appreciated by fewer still. To
begin the explanation of this devotion here is a fourth truth which is a
consequence of the third.
Fourth principle: It is more humble to have an
intermediary with Christ
83. It is more perfect because it supposes greater
humility to approach God through a mediator rather than directly by
ourselves. Our human nature, as I have just shown, is so spoilt that if we
rely on our own work, effort and preparedness to reach God and please him,
it is certain that our good works will be tainted and carry little weight
with him. They will not induce him to unite himself to us or answer our
prayers. God had his reasons for giving us mediators with him. He saw our
unworthiness and helplessness and had pity on us. To give us access to his
mercies he provided us with powerful advocates, so that to neglect these
mediators and to approach his infinite holiness directly and without help
from any one of them, is to be lacking in humility and respect towards God
who is so great and holy. It would mean that we have less esteem for the
King of kings than for an earthly king or ruler, for we would not dare
approach an earthly king without a friend to speak for us.
84. Our Lord is our Advocate and our Mediator of
redemption with God the Father. It is through him that we must pray with
the whole Church, triumphant and militant. It is through him that we have
access to God the Father. We should never appear before God, our Father,
unless we are supported by the merits of his Son, and, so to speak,
clothed in them, as young Jacob was clothed in the skin of the young goats
when he appeared before his father Isaac to receive his blessing.
85. But have we no need at all of a mediator with the
Mediator himself? Are we pure enough to be united directly to Christ
without any help? Is Jesus not God, equal in every way to the Father?
Therefore is he not the Holy of Holies, having a right to the same respect
as his Father? If in his infinite love he became our security and our
Mediator with his Father, whom he wished to appease in order to redeem us
from our debts, should we on that account show him less respect and have
less regard for the majesty and holiness of his person?
Let us not be afraid to say with St. Bernard that we need
a mediator with the Mediator himself and the divinely-honoured Mary is the
one most able to fulfil this office of love. Through her, Jesus came
to us; through her we should go to him. If we are afraid of going directly
to Jesus, who is God, because of his infinite greatness, or our lowliness,
or our sins, let us implore without fear the help and intercession of
Mary, our Mother. She is kind, she is tender, and there is nothing harsh
or forbidding about her, nothing too sublime or too brilliant. When we see
her, we see our own human nature at its purest. She is not the sun,
dazzling our weak sight by the brightness of its rays. Rather, she is fair
and gentle as the moon, which receives its light from the sun and softens
it and adapts it to our limited perception.
She is so full of love that no one who asks for her
intercession is rejected, no matter how sinful he may be. The saints say
that it has never been known since the world began that anyone had
recourse to our Blessed Lady, with trust and perseverance, and was
rejected. Her power is so great that her prayers are never refused. She
has but to appear in prayer before her Son and he at once welcomes her and
grants her requests. He is always lovingly conquered by the prayers of the
dear Mother who bore him and nourished him.
86. All this is taken from St. Bernard and St.
Bonaventure. According to them, we have three steps to take in order to
reach God. The first, nearest to us and most suited to our capacity, is
Mary; the second is Jesus Christ; the third is God the Father. To go to
Jesus, we should go to Mary, our mediatrix of intercession. To go to God
the Father, we must go to Jesus, our Mediator of redemption. This order is
perfectly observed in the devotion I shall speak about further on.
Fifth principle: It is difficult to keep the
graces received from God
87. It is very difficult, considering our weakness and
frailty, to keep the graces and treasures we have received from
God.
1. We carry this treasure, which
is worth more than heaven and earth, in fragile vessels, that is, in a
corruptible body and in a weak and wavering soul which requires very
little to depress and disturb it.
88. 2. The evil spirits, cunning thieves
that they are, can take us by surprise and rob us of all we possess. They
are watching day and night for the right moment. They roam incessantly
seeking to devour us and to snatch from us in one brief moment of sin all
the grace and merit we have taken years to acquire. Their malice and their
experience, their cunning and their numbers ought to make us ever fearful
of such a misfortune happening to us. People, richer in grace and virtue,
more experienced and advanced in holiness than we are, have been caught
off their guard and robbed and stripped of everything. How many cedars of
Lebanon, how many stars of the firmament have we sadly watched fall and
lose in a short time their loftiness and their brightness!
What has brought about this unexpected reverse? Not the
lack of grace, for this is denied no one. It was a lack of humility; they
considered themselves stronger and more self-sufficient than they really
were. They thought themselves well able to hold on to their treasures.
They believed their house secure enough and their coffers strong enough to
safeguard their precious treasure of grace. It was because of their
unconscious reliance on self - although it seemed to them that they were
relying solely on the grace of God - that the most just Lord left them to
themselves and allowed them to be despoiled. If they had only known of the
wonderful devotion that I shall later explain, they would have entrusted
their treasure to Mary, the powerful and faithful Virgin. She would have
kept it for them as if it were her own possession and even have considered
that trust an obligation of justice.
89. 3. It is difficult to persevere in
holiness because of the excessively corrupting influence of the world. The
world is so corrupt that it seems almost inevitable that religious hearts
be soiled, if not by its mud, at least by its dust. It is something of a
miracle for anyone to stand firm in the midst of this raging torrent and
not be swept away; to weather this stormy sea and not be drowned, or
robbed by pirates; to breathe this pestilential air and not be
contaminated by it. It is Mary, the singularly faithful Virgin over whom
Satan had never any power, who works this miracle for those who truly love
her.
2. Marks of false and authentic devotion to Mary
90. Now that we have established these five basic truths,
it is all the more necessary to make the right choice of the true devotion
to our Blessed Lady, for now more than ever there are false devotions to
her which can easily be mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a
counterfeiter and crafty, experienced deceiver, has already misled and
ruined many Christians by means of fraudulent devotions to our Lady. Day
by day he uses his diabolical experience to lead many more to their doom,
fooling them, lulling them to sleep in sin and assuring them that a few
prayers, even badly said, and a few exterior practices, inspired by
himself, are authentic devotions. A counterfeiter usually makes coins only
of gold and silver, rarely of other metals, because these latter would not
be worth the trouble. Similarly, the devil leaves other devotions alone
and counterfeits mostly those directed to Jesus and Mary, for example,
devotion to the Holy Eucharist and to the Blessed Virgin, because these
are to other devotions what gold and silver are to other metals.
91. It is therefore very important, first, to recognise
false devotions to our Blessed Lady so as to avoid them, and to recognise
true devotion in order to practise it. Second, among so many different
forms of true devotion to our Blessed Lady we should choose the one most
perfect and the most pleasing to her, the one that gives greater glory to
God and is most sanctifying for us.
1. False devotion to our Lady
92. There are, I find, seven kinds of false devotion to
Mary, namely, the devotion of (1) the critical, (2) the scrupulous, (3)
the superficial, (4) the presumptuous, (5) the inconstant, (6) the
hypocritical, (7) the self-interested.
Critical devotees
93. Critical devotees are for the most part proud
scholars, people of independent and self-satisfied minds, who deep down in
their hearts have a vague sort of devotion to Mary. However, they
criticise nearly all those forms of devotion to her which simple and pious
people use to honour their good Mother just because such practices do not
appeal to them. They question all miracles and stories which testify to
the mercy and power of the Blessed Virgin, even those recorded by
trustworthy authors or taken from the chronicles of religious orders. They
cannot bear to see simple and humble people on their knees before an altar
or statue of our Lady, or at prayer before some outdoor shrine. They even
accuse them of idolatry as if they were adoring the wood or the stone.
They say that as far as they are concerned they do not care for such
outward display of devotion and that they are not so gullible as to
believe all the fairy tales and stories told of our Blessed Lady. When you
tell them how admirably the Fathers of the Church praised our Lady, they
reply that the Fathers were exaggerating as orators do, or that their
words are misrepresented. These false devotees, these proud worldly people
are greatly to be feared. They do untold harm to devotion to our Lady.
While pretending to correct abuses, they succeed only too well in turning
people away from this devotion.
Scrupulous devotees
94. Scrupulous devotees are those who imagine they
are slighting the Son by honouring the Mother. They fear that by exalting
Mary they are belittling Jesus. They cannot bear to see people giving to
our Lady the praises due to her and which the Fathers of the Church have
lavished upon her. It annoys them to see more people kneeling before
Mary's altar than before the Blessed Sacrament, as if these acts were at
variance with each other, or as if those who were praying to our Lady were
not praying through her to Jesus. They do not want us to speak too often
of her or to pray so often to her.
Here are some of the things they say: "What is the good of
all these rosaries, confraternities and exterior devotions to our Lady?
There is a great deal of ignorance in all this. It is making a mockery of
religion. Tell us about those who are devoted to Jesus (and they often
pronounce his name without uncovering their heads). We should go directly
to Jesus, since he is our sole Mediator. We must preach Jesus; that is
sound devotion." There is some truth in what they say, but the inference
they draw to prevent devotion to our Lady is very insidious. It is a
subtle snare of the evil one under the pretext of promoting a greater
good. For we never give more honour to Jesus than when we honour his
Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honour him all the more
perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek - Jesus,
her Son.
95. The Church, with the Holy Spirit, blesses our Lady
first, then Jesus, "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus." Not that Mary is greater than Jesus, or even equal to
him - that would be an intolerable heresy. But in order to bless Jesus
more perfectly we should first bless Mary. Let us say with all those truly
devoted to her, despite these false and scrupulous devotees: "O Mary,
blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."
Superficial devotees
96. Superficial devotees are people whose entire
devotion to our Lady consists in exterior practices. Only the externals of
devotion appeal to them because they have no interior spirit. They say
many rosaries with great haste and assist at many Masses distractedly.
They take part in processions of our Lady without inner fervour. They join
her confraternities without reforming their lives or restraining their
passions or imitating Mary's virtues. All that appeals to them is the
emotional aspect of this devotion, but the substance of it has no appeal
at all. If they do not feel a warmth in their devotions, they think they
are doing nothing; they become upset, and give up everything, or else do
things only when they feel like it. The world is full of these shallow
devotees, and there are none more critical of men of prayer who regard the
interior devotion as the essential aspect and strive to acquire it
without, however, neglecting a reasonable external expression which always
accompanies true devotion.
Presumptuous devotees
97. Presumptuous devotees are sinners who give full
rein to their passions or their love of the world, and who, under the fair
name of Christian and servant of our Lady, conceal pride, avarice, lust,
drunkenness, anger, swearing, slandering, injustice and other vices. They
sleep peacefully in their wicked habits, without making any great effort
to correct them, believing that their devotion to our Lady gives them this
sort of liberty. They convince themselves that God will forgive them, that
they will not die without confession, that they will not be lost for all
eternity. They take all this for granted because they say the Rosary, fast
on Saturdays, are enrolled in the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary or the
Scapular, or a sodality of our Lady, wear the medal or the little chain of
our Lady.
When you tell them that such a devotion is only an
illusion of the devil and a dangerous presumption which may well ruin
them, they refuse to believe you. God is good and merciful, they reply,
and he has not made us to damn us. No man is without sin. We will not die
without confession, and a good act of contrition at death is all that is
needed. Moreover, they say they have devotion to our Lady; that they
wear the scapular; that they recite faithfully and humbly every day the
seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Marys in her honour; that sometimes they
even say the Rosary and the Office of our Lady, as well as fasting and
performing other good works.
Blinding themselves still more, they quote stories they
have heard or read - whether true or false does not bother them - which
relate how people who had died in mortal sin were brought back to life
again to go to confession, or how their soul was miraculously retained in
their bodies until confession, because in their lifetime they said a few
prayers or performed a few pious acts, in honour of our Lady. Others are
supposed to have obtained from God at the moment of death, through the
merciful intercession of the Blessed Virgin, sorrow and pardon for their
sins, and so were saved. Accordingly, these people expect the same thing
to happen to them.
98. Nothing in our Christian religion is so deserving of
condemnation as this diabolical presumption. How can we truthfully claim
to love and honour the Blessed Virgin when by our sins we pitilessly
wound, pierce, crucify and outrage her Son? If Mary made it a rule to save
by her mercy this sort of person, she would be condoning wickedness and
helping to outrage and crucify her Son. Who would even dare to think of
such a thing?
99. I declare that such an abuse of devotion to her is a
horrible sacrilege and, next to an unworthy Communion, is the greatest and
the least pardonable sin, because devotion to our Lady is the holiest and
best after devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
I admit that to be truly devoted to our Lady, it is not
absolutely necessary to be so holy as to avoid all sin, although this is
desirable. But at least it is necessary (note what I am going to say), (1)
to be genuinely determined to avoid at least all mortal sin, which
outrages the Mother as well as the Son; (2) to practise self-restraint in
order to avoid sin; (3) to join her confraternities, say the Rosary and
other prayers, fast on Saturdays, and so on.
100. Such means are surprisingly effective in
converting even the hardened sinner. Should you be such a sinner, with one
foot in the abyss, I advise you to do as I have said. But there is an
essential condition. You must perform these good works solely to obtain
from God, through the intercession of our Lady, the grace to regret your
sins, obtain pardon for them and overcome your evil habits, and not to
live complacently in the state of sin, disregarding the warning voice of
conscience, the example of our Lord and the saints, and the teaching of
the holy gospel.
Inconstant devotees
101. Inconstant devotees are those whose
devotion to our Lady is practised in fits and starts. Sometimes they are
fervent and sometimes they are lukewarm. Sometimes they appear ready to do
anything to please our Lady, and then shortly afterwards they have
completely changed. They start by embracing every devotion to our Lady.
They join her confraternities, but they do not faithfully observe the
rules. They are as changeable as the moon, and like the moon Mary puts
them under her feet. Because of their fickleness they are unworthy to be
included among the servants of the Virgin most faithful, because
faithfulness and constancy are the hallmarks of Mary's servants. It is
better not to burden ourselves with a multitude of prayers and pious
practices but rather adopt only a few and perform them with love and
perseverance in spite of opposition from the devil the world and the
flesh.
Hypocritical devotees
102. There is another category of false devotees of
our Lady, - hypocritical ones. These hide their sins and evil habits under
the mantle of the Blessed Virgin so as to appear to their fellow-men
different from what they are.
Self-interested devotees
103. Then there are the self-interested devotees who
turn to her only to win a court-case, to escape some danger, to be cured
of some ailment, or have some similar need satisfied. Except when in need
they never think of her. Such people are acceptable neither to God not to
his Mother.
104. We must, then, carefully avoid joining the
critical devotees, who believe nothing and find fault with everything; the
scrupulous ones who, out of respect for our Lord, are afraid of having too
much devotion to his Mother; the exterior devotees whose devotion consists
entirely in outward practices; the presumptuous devotees who under cover
of a fictitious devotion to our Lady wallow in their sins; the inconstant
devotees who, being unstable, change their devotional practices or abandon
them altogether at the slightest temptation; the hypocritical ones who
join confraternities and wear emblems of our Lady only to be thought of as
good people; finally, the self-interested devotees who pray to our Lady
only to be rid of bodily ills or to obtain material benefits.
2. Marks of authentic devotion to our Lady
105. After having explained and condemned false
devotions to the Blessed Virgin we shall now briefly describe what true
devotion is. It is interior, trustful, holy, constant and disinterested.
106. First, true devotion to our Lady is interior,
that is, it comes from within the mind and the heart and follows from the
esteem in which we hold her, the high regard we have for her greatness,
and the love we bear her.
107. Second, it is trustful, that is to say, it
fills us with confidence in the Blessed Virgin, the confidence that a
child has for its loving Mother. It prompts us to go to her in every need
of body and soul with great simplicity, trust and affection. We implore
our Mother's help always, everywhere, and for everything. We pray to her
to be enlightened in our doubts, to be put back on the right path when we
go astray, to be protected when we are tempted, to be strengthened when we
are weakening, to be lifted up when we fall into sin, to be encouraged
when we are losing heart, to be rid of our scruples, to be consoled in the
trials, crosses and disappointments of life. Finally, in all our
afflictions of body and soul, we naturally turn to Mary for help, with
never a fear of importuning her or displeasing our Lord.
108. Third, true devotion to our Lady is holy, that
is, it leads us to avoid sin and to imitate the virtues of Mary. Her ten
principal virtues are: deep humility, lively faith, blind obedience,
unceasing prayer, constant self-denial, surpassing purity, ardent love,
heroic patience, angelic kindness, and heavenly wisdom.
109. Fourth, true devotion to our Lady is constant.
It strengthens us in our desire to do good and prevents us from giving up
our devotional practices too easily. It gives us the courage to oppose the
fashions and maxims of the world, the vexations and unruly inclinations of
the flesh and the temptations of the devil. Thus a person truly devoted to
our Blessed Lady is not changeable, fretful, scrupulous or timid. We do
not say however that such a person never sins or that his sensible
feelings of devotion never change. When he has fallen, he stretches out
his hand to his Blessed Mother and rises again. If he loses all taste and
feeling for devotion, he is not at all upset because a good and faithful
servant of Mary is guided in his life by faith in Jesus and Mary, and not
by feelings.
110. Fifth, true devotion to Mary is
disinterested. It inspires us to seek God alone in his Blessed
Mother and not ourselves. The true subject of Mary does not serve his
illustrious Queen for selfish gain. He does not serve her for temporal or
eternal well-being but simply and solely because she has the right to be
served and God alone in her. He loves her not so much because she is good
to him or because he expects something from her, but simply because she is
lovable. That is why he loves and serves her just as faithfully in
weariness and dryness of soul as in sweet and sensible fervour. He loves
her as much on Calvary as at Cana. How pleasing and precious in the sight
of God and his holy Mother must these servants of Mary be, who serve her
without any self-seeking. How rare they are nowadays! It is to increase
their number that I have taken up my pen to write down what I have been
teaching with success both publicly and in private in my missions for many
years.
111. I have already said many things about the
Blessed Virgin and, as I am trying to fashion a true servant of Mary and a
true disciple of Jesus, I have still a great deal to say, although through
ignorance, inability, and lack of time, I shall leave infinitely more
unsaid.
112. But my labour will be well rewarded if this
little book falls into the hands of a noble soul, a child of God and of
Mary, born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man.
My time will be well spent if, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, after
having read this book he is convinced of the supreme value of the solid
devotion to Mary I am about to describe. If I thought that my guilty blood
could help the reader to accept in his heart the truths that I set down in
honour of my dear Mother and Queen, I, her most unworthy child and slave,
would use it instead of ink to write these words. I would hope to find
faithful souls who, by their perseverance in the devotion I teach, will
repay her for the loss she has suffered through my ingratitude and
infidelity.
113. I feel more than ever inspired to believe and
expect the complete fulfilment of the desire that is deeply engraved on my
heart and what I have prayed to God for over many years, namely, that in
the near or distant future the Blessed Virgin will have more children,
servants and slaves of love than ever before, and that through them Jesus,
my dear Lord, will reign more than ever in the hearts of men.
114. I clearly foresee that raging beasts will come
in fury to tear to pieces with their diabolical teeth this little book and
the one the Holy Spirit made use of to write it, or they will cause it at
least to lie hidden in the darkness and silence of a chest and so prevent
it from seeing the light of day. They will even attack and persecute those
who read it and put into practice what it contains. But no matter! So much
the better! It even gives me encouragement to hope for great success at
the prospect of a mighty legion of brave and valiant soldiers of Jesus and
Mary, both men and women, who will fight the devil, the world, and corrupt
nature in the perilous times that are sure to come.
"Let the reader understand. Let him accept this teaching
who can."
3. Principal practices of devotion to Mary
115. There are several interior practices of true
devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Here briefly are the main ones:
(1) Honouring her, as the worthy
Mother of God, by the cult of hyperdulia, that is, esteeming and honouring
her more than all the other saints as the masterpiece of grace and the
foremost in holiness after Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
(2) Meditating on her virtues, her
privileges and her actions.
(3) Contemplating her sublime
dignity.
(4) Offering to her acts of love,
praise and gratitude.
(5) Invoking her with a joyful
heart.
(6) Offering ourselves to her and
uniting ourselves to her.
(7) Doing everything to please
her.
(8) Beginning, carrying out and
completing our actions through her, in her, with her, and for her in order
to do them through Jesus, in Jesus, with Jesus, and for Jesus, our last
end. We shall explain this last practice later.
116. True devotion to our Lady has also several
exterior practices. Here are the principal ones:
(1) Enrolling in her
confraternities and joining her sodalities.
(2) Joining religious orders
dedicated to her.
(3) Making her privileges known
and appreciated.
(4) Giving alms, fasting,
performing interior and exterior acts of self-denial in her
honour.
(5) Carrying such signs of
devotion to her as the rosary, the scapular, or a little chain.
(6) Reciting with attention,
devotion and reverence the fifteen decades of the Rosary in honour of the
fifteen principal mysteries of our Lord, or at least five decades in
honour of the Joyful mysteries - the Annunciation, the Visitation, the
Birth of our Lord, the Purification, the Finding of the Child Jesus in the
temple; or the Sorrowful mysteries: the Agony in the Garden, the
Scourging, the Crowning with thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, and the
Crucifixion; or the Glorious mysteries: The Resurrection of our Lord, the
Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption of our Lady,
body and soul, into heaven, the Crowning of Mary by the Blessed
Trinity.
One may also choose any of the following prayers:
the Rosary of six or seven decades in honour of the years our Lady is
believed to have spent on earth; the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin in
honour of her crown of twelve stars or privileges; the Little Office of
our Lady so widely accepted and recited in the Church; the Little Psalter
of the Blessed Virgin, composed in her honour by St. Bonaventure, which is
so heart-warming, and so devotional that you cannot recite it without
being moved by it; the fourteen Our Fathers and Hail Marys in honour of
her fourteen joys. There are various other prayers and hymns of the
Church, such as, the hymns of the liturgical seasons, the Ave Maris
Stella, the O Gloriosa Domina ; the Magnificat and other prayers which are
found in all prayer-books.
(7) Singing hymns to her or
teaching others to sing them.
(8) Genuflecting or bowing to her
each morning while saying for example sixty or a hundred times, "Hail
Mary, Virgin most faithful", so that through her intercession with God we
may faithfully correspond with his graces throughout the day; and in the
evening saying "Hail Mary, Mother of Mercy", asking her to obtain God's
pardon for the sins we have committed during the day.
(9) Taking charge of her
confraternities, decorating her altars, crowning and adorning her
statues.
(10) Carrying her statues or
having others carry them in procession, or keeping a small one on one's
person as an effective protection against the evil one.
(11) Having statues made of her,
or her name engraved and placed on the walls of churches or houses and on
the gates and entrances of towns, churches and houses.
(12) Solemnly giving oneself to
her by a special consecration.
117. The Holy Spirit has inspired saintly souls with
other practices of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, all of which are
conducive to holiness. You can read of them in detail in "Paradise opened
to Philagia", a collection of many devotions practised by holy people to
honour the Blessed Virgin, compiled by Fr. Paul Barry of the Society of
Jesus. These devotions are a wonderful help for souls seeking holiness
provided they are performed in a worthy manner, that is:
(1) With the right intention of
pleasing God alone, seeking union with Jesus, our last end, and giving
edification to our neighbour.
(2) With attention, avoiding
willful distractions.
(3) With devotion, avoiding haste
and negligence.
(4) With decorum and respectful
bodily posture.
. The Perfect Practice
118. Having read nearly every book on devotion to
the Blessed Virgin and talked to the most saintly and learned people of
the day, I can now state with conviction that I have never known or heard
of any devotion to our Lady which is comparable to the one I am going to
speak of. No other devotion calls for more sacrifices for God, none
empties us more completely of self and self-love, none keeps us more
firmly in the grace of God and the grace of God in us. No other devotion
unites us more perfectly and more easily to Jesus. Finally no devotion
gives more glory to God, is more sanctifying for ourselves or more helpful
to our neighbour.
119. As this devotion essentially consists in a
state of soul, it will not be understood in the same way by everyone. Some
- the great majority - will stop short at the threshold and go no further.
Others - not many - will take but one step into its interior. Who will
take a second step? Who will take a third? Finally who will remain in it
permanently? Only the one to whom the Spirit of Jesus reveals the secret.
The Holy Spirit himself will lead this faithful soul from strength to
strength, from grace to grace, from light to light, until at length he
attains transformation into Jesus in the fullness of his age on earth and
of his glory in heaven.
PART II: THE PERFECT DEVOTION TO OUR
LADY
CHAPTER THREE - THE PERFECT CONSECRATION TO JESUS
CHRIST
1. A complete consecration to Mary
120. As all perfection consists in our being
conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus it naturally follows that the
most perfect of all devotions is that which conforms, unites, and
consecrates us most completely to Jesus. Now of all God's creatures Mary
is the most conformed to Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all
devotions, devotion to her makes for the most effective consecration and
conformity to him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is
consecrated to Jesus.
That is why perfect consecration to Jesus is but a perfect
and complete consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin, which is the
devotion I teach; or in other words, it is the perfect renewal of the vows
and promises of holy baptism.
121. This devotion consists in giving oneself
entirely to Mary in order to belong entirely to Jesus through her. It
requires us to give:
(1) Our body with its senses and
members;
(2) Our soul with its
faculties;
(3) Our present material
possessions and all we shall acquire in the future;
(4) Our interior and spiritual
possessions, that is, our merits, virtues and good actions of the past,
the present and the future.
In other words, we give her all that we possess both in
our natural life and in our spiritual life as well as everything we shall
acquire in the future in the order of nature, of grace, and of glory in
heaven. This we do without any reservation, not even of a penny, a hair,
or the smallest good deed. And we give for all eternity without claiming
or expecting, in return for our offering and our service, any other reward
than the honour of belonging to our Lord through Mary and in Mary, even
though our Mother were not - as in fact she always is - the most generous
and appreciative of all God's creatures.
122. Note here that two things must be considered
regarding our good works, namely, satisfaction and merit or, in other
words, their satisfactory or prayer value and their meritorious value. The
satisfactory or prayer value of a good work is the good action in so far
as it makes condign atonement for the punishment due to sin or obtains
some new grace. The meritorious value or merit is the good action in so
far as it merits grace and eternal glory. Now by this consecration of
ourselves to the Blessed Virgin we give her all satisfactory and prayer
value as well as the meritorious value of our good works, in other words,
all the satisfactions and the merits. We give her our merits, graces and
virtues, not that she might give them to others, for they are, strictly
speaking, not transferable, because Jesus alone, in making himself our
surety with his Father, had the power to impart his merits to us. But we
give them to her that she may keep, increase and embellish them for us, as
we shall explain later, and we give her our acts of atonement that she may
apply them where she pleases for God's greater glory.
123. (1) It follows then: that by
this devotion we give to Jesus all we can possibly give him,and in the
most perfect manner, that is, through Mary's hands. Indeed we give him far
more than we do by other devotions which require us to give only part of
our time, some of our good works or acts of atonement and penances. In
this devotion everything is given and consecrated, even the right to
dispose freely of one's spiritual goods and the satisfactions earned by
daily good works. This is not done even in religious orders. Members of
religious orders give God their earthly goods by the vow of poverty, the
goods of the body by the vow of chastity, their free will by the vow of
obedience, and sometimes their freedom of movement by the vow of
enclosure. But they do not give him by these vows the liberty and right to
dispose of the value of their good works. They do not despoil themselves
of what a Christian considers most precious and most dear - his merits and
satisfactions.
124. (2) It follows then that
anyone who in this way consecrates and sacrifices himself voluntarily to
Jesus through Mary may no longer dispose of the value of any of his good
actions. All his sufferings, all his thoughts, words, and deeds belong to
Mary. She can then dispose of them in accordance with the will of her Son
and for his greater glory. This dependence, however, is without detriment
to the duties of a person's present and future state of life. One such
duty, for example, would be that of a priest who, by virtue of his office
or otherwise, must apply the satisfactory or prayer value of the Holy Mass
to a particular person. For this consecration can only be made in
accordance with the order established by God and in keeping with the
duties of one's state of life.
125. (3) It follows that we
consecrate ourselves at one and the same time to Mary and to Jesus. We
give ourselves to Mary because Jesus chose her as the perfect means to
unite himself to us and unite us to him. We give ourselves to Jesus
because he is our last end. Since he is our Redeemer and our God we are
indebted to him for all that we are.
2. A perfect renewal of baptismal promises
126. I have said that this devotion could rightly be
called a perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism.
Before baptism every Christian was a slave of the devil because he
belonged to him. At baptism he has either personally or through his
sponsors solemnly renounced Satan, his seductions and his works. He has
chosen Jesus as his Master and sovereign Lord and undertaken to depend
upon him as a slave of love. This is what is done in the devotion I am
presenting to you. We renounce the devil, the world, sin and self, as
expressed in the act of consecration, and we give ourselves entirely to
Jesus through Mary. We even do something more than at baptism, when
ordinarily our god-parents speak for us and we are given to Jesus only by
proxy. In this devotion we give ourselves personally and freely and we are
fully aware of what we are doing.
In holy baptism we do not give ourselves to Jesus
explicitly through Mary, nor do we give him the value of our good actions.
After baptism we remain entirely free either to apply that value to anyone
we wish or keep it for ourselves. But by this consecration we give
ourselves explicitly to Jesus through Mary's hands and we include in our
consecration the value of all our actions.
127. "Men" says St. Thomas, "vow in baptism to
renounce the devil and all his seductions." "This vow," says St.
Augustine, "is the greatest and the most indispensable of all vows." Canon
Law experts say the same thing: "The vow we make at baptism is the most
important of all vows." But does anyone keep this great vow? Does anyone
fulfil the promises of baptism faithfully? Is it not true that nearly all
Christians prove unfaithful to the promises made to Jesus in
baptism? Where does this universal failure come from, if not from
man's habitual forgetfulness of the promises and responsibilities of
baptism and from the fact that scarcely anyone makes a personal
ratification of the contract made with God through his sponsors?
128. This is so true that the Council of Sens,
convened by order of the Emperor Louis the Debonair to remedy the grave
disorders of Christendom, came to the conclusion that the main cause of
this moral breakdown was man's forgetfulness of his baptismal obligations
and his disregard for them. It could suggest no better way of remedying
this great evil than to encourage all Christians to renew the promises and
vows of baptism.
129. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, faithful
interpreter of that holy Council, exhorts priests to do the same and to
encourage the faithful to remember and hold fast to the belief that they
are bound and consecrated as slaves to Jesus, their Redeemer and Lord.
"The parish priest shall exhort the faithful never to lose sight of the
fact that they are bound in conscience to dedicate and consecrate
themselves for ever to their Lord and Redeemer as his slaves."
130. Now the Councils, the Fathers of the Church and
experience itself, all indicate that the best remedy for the frequent
lapses of Christians is to remind them of the responsibilities of their
baptism and have them renew the vows they made at that time. Is it not
reasonable therefore to do this in our day and in a perfect manner by
adopting this devotion with its consecration to our Lord through his
Blessed Mother? I say "in a perfect manner", for in making this
consecration to Jesus they are adopting the perfect means of giving
themselves to him, which is the most Blessed Virgin Mary.
131. No one can object that this devotion is novel
or of no value. It is not new, since the Councils, the Fathers of the
Church, and many authors both past and present, speak of consecration to
our Lord or renewal of baptismal vows as something going back to ancient
times and recommended to all the faithful. Nor is it valueless, since the
chief source of moral disorders and the consequent eternal loss of
Christians spring from the forgetfulness of this practice and indifference
to it.
132. Some may object that this devotion makes us
powerless to help the souls of our relatives, friends and benefactors,
since it requires us to give our Lord, through Mary, the value of our good
works, prayers, penances, and alms-giving.
To them I reply:
(1) It is inconceivable that our
friends, relatives and benefactors should suffer any loss because we have
dedicated and consecrated ourselves unconditionally to the service of
Jesus and Mary; it would be an affront to the power and goodness of Jesus
and Mary who will surely come to the aid of our relatives, friends and
benefactors whether from our meagre spiritual assets or from other
sources.
(2) This devotion does not prevent
us from praying for others, both the living and the dead, even though the
application of our good works depends on the will of our Blessed Lady. On
the contrary, it will make us pray with even greater confidence. Imagine a
rich man, who, wanting to show his esteem for a great prince, gives his
entire fortune to him. Would not that man have greater confidence in
asking the prince to help one of his friends who needed assistance? Indeed
the prince would only be too happy to have such an opportunity of proving
his gratitude to one who had sacrificed all that he possessed to enrich
him, thereby impoverishing himself to do him honour. The same must be said
of our Lord and our Lady. They will never allow themselves to be outdone
in gratitude.
133. Some may say, perhaps, if I give our Lady the
full value of my actions to apply it to whom she wills, I may have to
suffer a long time in purgatory. This objection, which arises from
self-love and from an unawareness of the generosity of God and his holy
Mother, refutes itself.
Take a fervent and generous soul who values God's
interests more than his own. He gives God all he has without reserve till
he can give no more. He desires only that the glory and the kingdom of
Jesus may come through his Mother, and he does all he can to bring this
about. Will this generous and unselfish soul, I ask, be punished more in
the next world for having been more generous and unselfish than other
people? Far from it! For we shall see later that our Lord and his Mother
will prove most generous to such a soul with gifts of nature, grace and
glory in this life and in the next.
134. We must now consider as briefly as possible: (1) The
motives which commend this devotion to us, (2) the wonderful effects it
produces in faithful souls, and (3) the practices of this devotion.
CHAPTER FOUR -
MOTIVES WHICH RECOMMEND THIS DEVOTION
1. By it we give ourselves completely to God
135. This first motive shows us the excellence of the
consecration of ourselves to Jesus through Mary.
We can conceive of no higher calling than that of being in
the service of God and we believe that the least of God's servants is
richer, stronger, and nobler than any earthly monarch who does not serve
God. How rich and strong and noble then must the good and faithful servant
be, who serves God as unreservedly and as completely as he possibly can!
Just such a person is the faithful and loving slave of Jesus in Mary. He
has indeed surrendered himself entirely to the service of the King of
kings through Mary, his Mother, keeping nothing for himself. All the gold
of the world and the beauties of the heavens could not recompense him for
what he has done.
136. Other congregations, associations, and
confraternities set up in honour of our Lord and our Blessed Lady, which
do so much good in the Church, do not require their members to give up
absolutely everything. They simply prescribe for them the performance of
certain acts and practices in fulfilment of their obligations. They leave
them free to dispose of the rest of their actions as well as their time.
But this devotion makes us give Jesus and Mary all our thoughts, words,
actions, and sufferings and every moment of our lives without exception.
Thus, whatever we do, whether we are awake or asleep, whether we eat or
drink, whether we do important or unimportant work, it will always be true
to say that everything is done for Jesus and Mary. Our offering always
holds good, whether we think of it or not, unless we explicitly retract
it. How consoling this is!
137. Moreover, as I have said before, no other act of
devotion enables us to rid ourselves so easily of the possessiveness which
slips unnoticed even into our best actions. This is a remarkable grace
which our dear Lord grants us in return for the heroic and selfless
surrender to him through Mary of the entire value of our good works. If
even in this life he gives a hundredfold reward to those who renounce all
material, temporal and perishable things out of love for him, how
generously will he reward those who give up even interior and spiritual
goods for his sake!
138. Jesus, our dearest friend, gave himself to us without
reserve, body and soul, grace and merits. As St. Bernard says, "He won me
over entirely by giving himself entirely to me." Does not simple justice
as well as gratitude require that we give him all we possibly can? He was
generous with us first, so let us be generous to him in return and he will
prove still more generous during life, at the hour of death, and
throughout eternity. "He will be generous towards the generous."
2. It helps us to imitate Christ
139. Our good Master stooped to enclose himself in the
womb of the Blessed Virgin, a captive but loving slave, and to make
himself subject to her for thirty years. As I said earlier, the human mind
is bewildered when it reflects seriously upon this conduct of Incarnate
Wisdom. He did not choose to give himself in a direct manner to the human
race though he could easily have done so. He chose to come through the
Virgin Mary. Thus he did not come into the world independently of others
in the flower of his manhood, but he came as a frail little child
dependent on the care and attention of his Mother. Consumed with the
desire to give glory to God, his Father, and save the human race, he saw
no better or shorter way to do so than by submitting completely to
Mary.
He did this not just for the first eight, ten or fifteen
years of his life like other children, but for thirty years. He gave more
glory to God, his Father, during all those years of submission and
dependence than he would have given by spending them working miracles,
preaching far and wide, and converting all mankind. Otherwise he would
have done all these things.
What immeasurable glory then do we give to God when,
following the example of Jesus, we submit to Mary! With such a convincing
and well- known example before us, can we be so foolish as to believe that
there is a better and shorter way of giving God glory than by submitting
ourselves to Mary, as Jesus did?
140. Let me remind you again of the dependence shown by
the three divine Persons on our Blessed Lady. Theirs is the example which
fully justifies our dependence on her. The Father gave and still gives his
Son only through her. He raises children for himself only through her. He
dispenses his graces to us only through her. God the Son was prepared for
mankind in general by her alone. Mary, in union with the Holy Spirit,
still conceives him and brings him forth daily. It is through her alone
that the Son distributes his merits and virtues. The Holy Spirit formed
Jesus only through her, and he forms the members of the Mystical Body and
dispenses his gifts and his favours through her.
With such a compelling example of the three divine Persons
before us, we would be extremely perverse to ignore her and not consecrate
ourselves to her. Indeed we would be blind if we did not see the need for
Mary in approaching God and making our total offering to him.
141. Here are a few passages from the Fathers of the
Church which I have chosen to prove what I have just said: "Mary has two
sons, the one a God-man, the other, mere man. She is Mother of the first
corporally and of the second spiritually" (St. Bonaventure and
Origen).
"This is the will of God who willed that we should have
all things through Mary. If then, we possess any hope or grace or gift of
salvation, let us acknowledge that it comes to us through her" (St.
Bernard).
"All the gifts, graces, virtues of the Holy Spirit are
distributed by the hands of Mary, to whom she wills, when she wills, as
she wills, and in the measure she wills" (St. Bernardine).
"As you were not worthy that anything divine should be
given to you, all graces were given to Mary so that you might receive
through her all graces you would not otherwise receive" (St. Bernard).
142. St. Bernard tells us that God, seeing that we are
unworthy to receive his graces directly from him, gives them to Mary so
that we might receive from her all that he decides to give us. His glory
is achieved when he receives through Mary the gratitude, respect and love
we owe him in return for his gifts to us. It is only right then that we
should imitate his conduct, "in order", as St. Bernard again says, "that
grace might return to its author by the same channel through which it came
to us".
This is what we do by this devotion. We offer and
consecrate all we are and all we possess to the Blessed Virgin in order
that our Lord may receive through her as intermediary the glory and
gratitude that we owe to him. We deem ourselves unworthy and unfit to
approach his infinite majesty on our own, and so we avail ourselves of
Mary's intercession.
143. Moreover, this devotion is an expression of great
humility, a virtue which God loves above all others. A person who exalts
himself debases God, and a person who humbles himself exalts God. "God
opposes the proud, but gives his graces to the humble." If you humble
yourself, convinced that you are unworthy to appear before him, or even to
approach him, he condescends to come down to you. He is pleased to be with
you and exalts you in spite of yourself. But, on the other hand, if you
venture to go towards God blindly without a mediator, he vanishes and is
nowhere to be found. How dearly he loves the humble of heart! It is to
such humility that this devotion leads us, for it teaches us never to go
alone directly to our Lord, however gentle and merciful though he may be,
but always to use Mary's power of intercession, whether we want to enter
his presence, speak to him, be near him, offer him something, seek union
with him or consecrate ourselves to him.
3. It obtains many blessings from our Lady
144. The Blessed Virgin, mother of gentleness and mercy,
never allows herself to be surpassed in love and generosity. When she sees
someone giving himself entirely to her in order to honour and serve her,
and depriving himself of what he prizes most in order to adorn her, she
gives herself completely in a wondrous manner to him. She engulfs him in
the ocean of her graces, adorns him with her merits, supports him with her
power, enlightens him with her light, and fills him with her love. She
shares her virtues with him - her humility, faith, purity, etc. She
makes up for his failings and becomes his representative with Jesus. Just
as one who is consecrated belongs entirely to Mary, so Mary belongs
entirely to him. We can truthfully say of this perfect servant and child
of Mary what St. John in his gospel says of himself, "He took her for his
own."
145. This produces in his soul, if he is persevering, a
great distrust, contempt, and hatred of self, and a great confidence in
Mary with complete self-abandonment to her. He no longer relies on his own
dispositions, intentions, merits, virtues and good works, since he has
sacrificed them completely to Jesus through his loving Mother. He has now
only one treasury, where all his wealth is stored. That treasury is not
within himself: it is Mary. That is why he can now go to our Lord without
any servile or scrupulous fear and pray to him with great confidence. He
can also share the sentiments of the devout and learned Abbot Rupert, who,
referring to the victory which Jacob won over an angel, addressed our Lady
in these words, "O Mary, my Queen, Immaculate Mother of the God-man, Jesus
Christ, I desire to wrestle with this man, the Divine Word, armed with
your merits and not my own."
How much stronger and more powerful are we in approaching
our Lord when we are armed with the merits and prayers of the worthy
Mother of God, who, as St. Augustine says, has conquered the Almighty by
her love!
146. Since by this devotion we give to our Lord,
through the hands of his holy Mother, all our good works, she purifies
them, making them beautiful and acceptable to her Son.
(1) She purifies them of every
taint of self-love and of that unconscious attachment to creatures which
slips unnoticed into our best actions. Her hands have never been known to
be idle or uncreative. They purify everything they touch. As soon as the
Blessed Virgin receives our good works, she removes any blemish or
imperfection she may find in them.
147. (2) She enriches our good works by
adorning them with her own merits and virtues. It is as if a poor peasant,
wishing to win the friendship and favour of the king, were to go the queen
and give her an apple - his only possession - for her to offer it to the
king. The queen, accepting the peasant's humble gift, puts it on a
beautiful golden dish and presents it to the king on behalf of the
peasant. The apple in itself would not be a gift worthy of a king, but
presented by the queen in person on a dish of gold, it becomes fit for any
king.
148. (3) Mary presents our good works to
Jesus. She does not keep anything we offer for herself, as if she were our
last end, but unfailingly gives everything to Jesus. So by the very fact
we give anything to her, we are giving it to Jesus. Whenever we praise and
glorify her, she sings today as she did on the day Elizabeth praised her,
"My soul glorifies the Lord."
149. At Mary's request, Jesus accepts the gift of our good
works, no matter how poor and insignificant they may be for one who is the
King of kings, the Holiest of the holy. When we present anything to Jesus
by ourselves, relying on our own dispositions and efforts, he examines our
gift and often rejects it because it is stained with self-love, just as he
once rejected the sacrifices of the Jews because they were imbued with
selfish motives.
But when we present something to him by the pure, virginal
hands of his beloved Mother, we take him by his weak side, in a manner of
speaking. He does not consider so much the present itself as the person
who offers it. Thus Mary, who is never slighted by her Son but is always
well received, prevails upon him to accept with pleasure everything she
offers him, regardless of its value. Mary has only to present the gift for
Jesus graciously to accept it. This is what St. Bernard strongly
recommended to all those he was guiding along the pathway to perfection.
"When you want to offer something to God, to be welcomed by him be sure to
offer it through the worthy Mother of God, if you do not wish to see it
rejected."
150. Does not human nature itself, as we have seen,
suggest this mode of procedure to the less important people of this world
with regard to the great? Why should grace not inspire us to do likewise
with regard to God? He is infinitely exalted above us. We are less than
atoms in his sight. But we have an advocate so powerful that she is never
refused anything. She is so resourceful that she knows every secret way to
win the heart of God. She is so good and kind that she never passes
over anyone no matter how lonely and sinful.
Further on, I shall relate the story of Jacob and Rebecca
which exemplifies the truths I have been setting before you.
4. It is an excellent means of giving glory to God
151. This devotion, when faithfully undertaken, is a
perfect means of ensuring that the value of all our good works is being
used for the greater glory of God. Scarcely anyone works for that noble
end, in spite of the obligation to do so, either because men do not know
where God's greatest glory is to be found or because they do not desire
it. Now Mary, to whom we surrender the value and merit of our good
actions, knows perfectly well where God's greatest glory lies and she
works only to promote that glory. The devout servant of our Lady, having
entirely consecrated himself to her as I have described above, can boldly
claim that the value of all his actions, words and thoughts is used for
the greatest glory of God, unless he has explicitly retracted his
offering. For one who loves God with a pure and unselfish love and prizes
God's glory and interests far above his own, could anything be more
consoling?
5. It leads to union with our Lord
152. This devotion is a smooth, short, perfect and sure
way of attaining union with our Lord, in which Christian perfection
consists.
(a) This devotion is a smooth way.
It is the path which Jesus Christ opened up in coming to us and in which
there is no obstruction to prevent us reaching him. It is quite true that
we can attain to divine union by other roads, but these involve many more
crosses and exceptional setbacks and many difficulties that we cannot
easily overcome. We would have to pass through spiritual darkness, engage
in struggles for which we are not prepared, endure bitter agonies, scale
precipitous mountains, tread upon painful thorns, and cross frightful
deserts. But when we take the path of Mary, we walk smoothly and
calmly.
It is true that on our way we have hard battles to fight
and serious obstacles to overcome, but Mary, our Mother and Queen, stays
close to her faithful servants. She is always at hand to brighten their
darkness, clear away their doubts, strengthen them in their fears, sustain
them in their combats and trials. Truly, in comparison with other ways,
this virgin road to Jesus is a path of roses and sweet delights. There
have been some saints, not very many, such as St. Ephrem, St. John
Damascene, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Bonaventure, and St. Francis
de Sales, who have taken this smooth path to Jesus Christ, because the
Holy Spirit, the faithful Spouse of Mary, made it known to them by a
special grace. The other saints, who are the greater number, while having
a devotion to Mary, either did not enter or did not go very far along this
path. That is why they had to undergo harder and more dangerous trials.
153. Why is it then, a servant of Mary might ask, that
devoted servants of this good Mother are called upon to suffer much more
than those who serve her less generously? They are opposed, persecuted,
slandered, and treated with intolerance. They may also have to walk in
interior darkness and through spiritual deserts without being given from
heaven a single drop of the dew of consolation. If this devotion to the
Blessed Virgin makes the path to Jesus smoother, how can we explain why
Mary's loyal servants are so ill-treated?
154. I reply that it is quite true that the most faithful
servants of the Blessed Virgin, being her greatest favourites, receive
from her the best graces and favours from heaven, which are crosses. But I
maintain too that these servants of Mary bear their crosses with greater
ease and gain more merit and glory. What could check another's progress a
thousand times over, or possibly bring about his downfall, does not balk
them at all, but even helps them on their way. For this good Mother,
filled with the grace and unction of the Holy Spirit, dips all the crosses
she prepares for them in the honey of her maternal sweetness and the
unction of pure love. They then readily swallow them as they would sugared
almonds, though the crosses may be very bitter. I believe that anyone who
wishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer persecution and
will have a daily cross to carry. But he will never manage to carry a
heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and perseveringly, without a trusting
devotion to our Lady, who is the very sweetness of the cross. It is
obvious that a person could not keep on eating without great effort unripe
fruit which has not been sweetened.
155. (b) This devotion is a short way to
discover Jesus, either because it is a road we do not wander from, or
because, as we have just said, we walk along this road with greater ease
and joy, and consequently with greater speed. We advance more in a brief
period of submission to Mary and dependence on her than in whole years of
self-will and self- reliance. A man who is obedient and submissive to Mary
will sing of glorious victories over his enemies It is true, his enemies
will try to impede his progress, force him to retreat or try to make him
fall. But with Mary's help, support and guidance, he will go forward
towards our Lord. Without falling, retreating and even without being
delayed, he will advance with giant strides towards Jesus along the same
road which, as it is written, Jesus took to come to us with giant strides
and in a short time.
156. Why do you think our Lord spent only a few years here
on earth and nearly all of them in submission and obedience to his Mother?
The reason is that "attaining perfection in a short time, he lived a long
time", even longer than Adam, whose losses he had come to make good. Yet
Adam lived more than nine hundred years!
Jesus lived a long time, because he lived in complete
submission to his Mother and in union with her, which obedience to his
Father required. The Holy Spirit tells us that the man who honours his
mother is like a man who stores up a treasure. In other words, the man who
honours Mary, his Mother, to the extent of subjecting himself to her and
obeying her in all things will soon become very rich, because he is
amassing riches every day through Mary who has become his secret
philosopher's stone.
There is another quotation from Holy Scripture, "My old
age will be found in the mercy of the bosom". According to the mystical
interpretation of these words it is in the bosom of Mary that people who
are young grow mature in enlightenment, in holiness, in experience and in
wisdom, and in a short time reach the fullness of the age of Christ. For
it was Mary's womb which encompassed and produced a perfect man. That same
womb held the one whom the whole universe can neither encompass nor
contain.
157. (c) This devotion is a perfect
way to reach our Lord and be united to him, for Mary is the most
perfect and the most holy of all creatures, and Jesus, who came to us in a
perfect manner, chose no other road for his great and wonderful journey.
The Most High, the Incomprehensible One, the Inaccessible One, He who is,
deigned to come down to us poor earthly creatures who are nothing at all.
How was this done?
The Most High God came down to us in a perfect way through
the humble Virgin Mary, without losing anything of his divinity or
holiness. It is likewise through Mary that we poor creatures must ascend
to almighty God in a perfect manner without having anything to
fear.
God the Incomprehensible, allowed himself to be perfectly
comprehended and contained by the humble Virgin Mary without losing
anything of his immensity. So we must let ourselves be perfectly contained
and led by the humble Virgin without any reserve on our part.
God, the Inaccessible, drew near to us and united himself
closely, perfectly and even personally to our humanity through Mary
without losing anything of his majesty. So it is also through Mary that we
must draw near to God and unite ourselves to him perfectly, intimately,
and without fear of being rejected.
Lastly, He who is deigned to come down to us who are not
and turned our nothingness into God, or He who is. He did this perfectly
by giving and submitting himself entirely to the young Virgin Mary,
without ceasing to be in time He who is from all eternity. Likewise it is
through Mary that we, who are nothing, may become like God by grace and
glory. We accomplish this by giving ourselves to her so perfectly and so
completely as to remain nothing, as far as self is concerned, and to be
everything in her, without any fear of illusion.
158. Show me a new road to our Lord, pave it with all the
merits of the saints, adorn it with their heroic virtues, illuminate and
enhance it with the splendour and beauty of the angels, have all the
angels and saints there to guide and protect those who wish to follow it.
Give me such a road and truly, truly, I boldly say - and I am telling the
truth - that instead of this road, perfect though it be, I would still
choose the immaculate way of Mary. It is a way, a road without stain or
spot, without original sin or actual sin, without shadow or darkness,.
When our loving Jesus comes in glory once again to reign upon earth - as
he certainly will - he will choose no other way than the Blessed Virgin,
by whom he came so surely and so perfectly the first time. The difference
between his first and his second coming is that the first was secret and
hidden, but the second will be glorious and resplendent. Both are perfect
because both are through Mary. Alas, this is a mystery which we cannot
understand, "Here let every tongue be silent."
159. (d) This devotion to our Lady is a
sure way to go to Jesus and to acquire holiness through union with
him.
(1) The devotion which I teach is
not new. Its history goes back so far that the time of its origin cannot
be ascertained with any precision, as Fr. Boudon, who died a holy death a
short time ago, states in a book which he wrote on this devotion. It is
however certain that for more than seven hundred years we find traces of
it in the Church.
St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny, who lived about the year 1040,
was one of the first to practise it publicly in France as is told in his
life.
Cardinal Peter Damian relates that in the year 1076 his
brother, Blessed Marino, made himself the slave of the Blessed Virgin in
the presence of his spiritual director in a most edifying manner. He
placed a rope around his neck, scourged himself and placed on the altar a
sum of money as a token of his devotion and consecration to our Lady. He
remained so faithful to this consecration all his life that me merited to
be visited and consoled on his death-bed by his dear Queen and hear from
her lips the promise of paradise in reward for his service.
Caesarius Bollandus mentions a famous knight, Vautier de
Birback, a close relative of the Dukes of Louvain, who about the year 1300
consecrated himself to the Blessed Virgin.
This devotion was also practised privately by many people
up to the seventeenth century, when it became publicly known.
160. Father Simon de Rojas of the Order of the Holy
Trinity for the Redemption of Captives, court preacher to Philip III, made
this devotion popular throughout Spain and Germany. Through the
intervention of Philip III, he obtained from Gregory XV valuable
indulgences for those who practised it.
Father de los Rios, of the Order of St. Augustine,
together with his intimate friend, Father de Roias, worked hard,
propagating it throughout Spain and Germany by preaching and writing. He
composed a large volume entitled "Hierarchia Mariana", where he treats of
the antiquity, the excellence and the soundness of this devotion, with as
much devotion as learning.
The Theatine Fathers in the seventeenth century
established this devotion in Italy and Savoy.
161. Father Stanislaus Phalacius of the Society of Jesus
spread this devotion widely in Poland.
Father de los Rios in the book quoted above mentions the
names of princes and princesses, bishops and cardinals of different
countries who embraced this devotion.
Father Cornelius a Lapide, noted both for holiness and
profound learning, was commissioned by several bishops and theologians to
examine it. The praise he gave it after mature examination, is a worthy
tribute to his own holiness. Many other eminent men followed his
example.
The Jesuit Fathers, ever zealous in the service of our
Blessed Lady, presented on behalf of the sodalities of Cologne to Duke
Ferdinand of Bavaria, the then archbishop of Cologne, a little treatise on
the devotion, and he gave it his approval and granted permission to have
it printed. He exhorted all priests and religious of his diocese to do
their utmost to spread this solid devotion.
162. Cardinal de B‚rulle, whose memory is venerated
throughout France, was outstandingly zealous in furthering the devotion in
France, despite the calumnies and persecutions he suffered at the hands of
critics and evil men. They accused him of introducing novelty and
superstition. They composed and published a libellous tract against him
and they - rather the devil in them - used a thousand stratagems to
prevent him from spreading the devotion in France. But this eminent and
saintly man responded to their calumnies with calm patience. He wrote a
little book in reply and forcefully refuted the objections contained in
it. He pointed out that this devotion is founded on the example given by
Jesus Christ, on the obligations we have towards him and on the promises
we made in holy baptism. It was mainly this last reason which silenced his
enemies. He made clear to them that this consecration to the Blessed
Virgin, and through her to Jesus, is nothing less than a perfect renewal
of the promises and vows of baptism. He said many beautiful things
concerning this devotion which can be read in his works.
163. In Fr. Boudon's book we read of different popes who
gave their approval to this devotion, the theologians who examined it, the
hostility it encountered and overcame, the thousands who made it their own
without censure from any pope. Indeed it could not be condemned without
overthrowing the foundations of Christianity. It is obvious then that this
devotion is not new. If it is not commonly practised, the reason is that
it is too sublime to be appreciated and undertaken by everyone.
164. (2) This devotion is a safe means of
going to Jesus Christ, because it is Mary's role to lead us safely to her
Son; just as it is the role of our Lord to lead us to the eternal Father.
Those who are spiritually-minded should not fall into the error of
thinking that Mary hinders our union with God. How could this possibly
happen? How could Mary, who found grace with God for everyone in general
and each one in particular, prevent a soul from obtaining the supreme
grace of union with him? Is it possible that she who was so completely
filled with grace to overflowing, so united to Christ and transformed in
God that it became necessary for him to be made flesh in her, should
prevent a soul from being perfectly united to him?
It is quite true that the example of other people, no
matter how holy, can sometimes impair union with God, but not so our
Blessed Lady, as I have said and shall never weary of repeating. One
reason why so few souls come to the fullness of the age of Jesus is that
Mary who is still as much as ever his Mother and the fruitful spouse of
the Holy Spirit is not formed well enough in their hearts. If we desire a
ripe and perfectly formed fruit, we must possess the tree that bears it.
If we desire the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, we must possess the tree of
life which is Mary. If we desire to have the Holy Spirit working within
us, we must possess his faithful and inseparable spouse, Mary the
divinely- favoured one whom, as I have said elsewhere, he can make
fruitful.
165. Rest assured that the more you turn to Mary in your
prayers, meditations, actions and sufferings, seeing her if not perhaps
clearly and distinctly, at least in a general and indistinct way, the more
surely you will discover Jesus. For he is always greater, more powerful,
more active, and more mysterious when acting through Mary than he is in
any other creature in the universe, or even in heaven. Thus Mary, so
divinely-favoured and so lost in God, is far from being an obstacle to
good people who are striving for union with him. There has never been and
there never will be a creature so ready to help us in achieving that union
more effectively, for she will dispense to us all the graces to attain
that end. As a saint once remarked, "Only Mary knows how to fill our minds
with the thought of God." Moreover, Mary will safeguard us against the
deception and cunning of the evil one.
166. Where Mary is present, the evil one is absent. One of
the unmistakable signs that a person is led by the Spirit of God is the
devotion he has to Mary, and his habit of thinking and speaking of her.
This is the opinion of a saint, who goes on to say that just as breathing
is a proof that the body is not dead, so the habitual thought of Mary and
loving converse with her is a proof that the soul is not spiritually dead
in sin.
167. Since Mary alone has crushed all heresies, as we are
told by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of
B.V.M.), a devoted servant of hers will never fall into formal heresy or
error, though critics may contest this. He may very well err materially,
mistaking lies for truth or an evil spirit for a good one, but he will be
less likely to do this than others. Sooner or later he will discover his
error and will not go on stubbornly believing and maintaining what he
mistakenly thought was the truth.
168. Whoever then wishes to advance along the road to
holiness and be sure of encountering the true Christ, without fear of the
illusions which afflict many devout people, should take up with valiant
heart and willing spirit this devotion to Mary which perhaps he had not
previously heard about. Even if it is new to him, let him enter upon this
excellent way which I am now revealing to him. "I will show you a more
excellent way."
It was opened up by Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom. He
is our one and only Head, and we, his members, cannot go wrong in
following him. It is a smooth way made easy by the fullness of grace, the
unction of the Holy Spirit. In our progress along this road, we do not
weaken or turn back. It is a quick way and leads us to Jesus in a
short time. It is a perfect way without mud or dust or any vileness
of sin. Finally, it is a reliable way, for it is direct and sure, having
no turnings to right or left but leading us straight to Jesus and to life
eternal.
Let us then take this road and travel along it night and
day until we arrive at the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ.
6. It gives great liberty of spirit
169. It gives great liberty of spirit - the freedom of the
children of God - to those who faithfully practise it. Through this
devotion we make ourselves slaves of Jesus by consecrating ourselves
entirely to him. To reward us for this enslavement of love, our Lord frees
us from every scruple and servile fear which might restrict, imprison or
confuse us; he opens our hearts and fills them with holy confidence in
God, helping us to regard God as our Father; he inspires us with a
generous and filial love.
170. Without stopping to prove this truth, I shall simply
relate an incident which I read in the life of Mother Agnes of Jesus, a
Dominican nun of the convent of Langeac in Auvergne, who died a holy death
there in 1634.
When she was only seven years old and was suffering great
spiritual anguish, she heard a voice telling her that if she wished to be
delivered from her anguish and protected against all her enemies, she
should make herself the slave of our Lord and his Blessed Mother as soon
as possible. No sooner had she returned home than she gave herself
completely to Jesus and Mary as their slave, although she had never known
anything about this devotion before. She found an iron chain, put it round
her waist and wore it till the day she died. After this, all her
sufferings and scruples disappeared and she found great peace of
soul.
This led her to teach this devotion to many others who
made rapid progress in it - among them, Father Olier, the founder of the
Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, and several other priests and students from the
same seminary. One day the Blessed Virgin appeared to Mother Agnes and put
a gold chain around her neck to show her how happy she was that Mother
Agnes had become the slave of both her and her Son. And St. Cecilia, who
accompanied our Lady, said to her, "Happy are the faithful slaves of the
Queen of heaven, for they will enjoy true freedom." Tibi servire
libertas.
7. It is of great benefit to our neighbour
171. It is of great benefit to our neighbour, for by it we
show love for our neighbour in an outstanding way since we give him
through Mary's hands all that we prize most highly - that is, the
satisfactory and prayer value of all our good works, down to the least
good thought and the least little suffering. We give our consent that all
we have already acquired or will acquire until death should be used in
accordance with our Lady's will for the conversion of sinners or the
deliverance of souls from Purgatory.
Is this not perfect love of our neighbour? Is this not
being a true disciple of our Lord, one who should always be recognised by
his love? Is this not the way to convert sinners without any danger of
vainglory, and deliver souls from Purgatory by doing hardly anything more
than what we are obliged to do by our state of life?
172. To appreciate the excellence of this motive we must
understand what a wonderful thing it is to convert a sinner or to deliver
a soul from Purgatory. It is an infinite good, greater than the creation
of heaven and earth, since it gives a soul the possession of God. If by
this devotion we secured the release of only soul from Purgatory or
converted only one sinner in our whole lifetime, would that not be enough
to induce any person who really loves his neighbour to practise this
devotion?
It must be noted that our good works, passing through
Mary's hands, are progressively purified. Consequently, their merit and
their satisfactory and prayer value are also increased. That is why they
become much more effective in relieving the souls in Purgatory and in
converting sinners than if they did not pass through the virginal and
liberal hands of Mary. Stripped of self-will and clothed with
disinterested love, the little that we give to the Blessed Virgin is truly
powerful enough to appease the anger of God and draw down his mercy. It
may well be that at the hour of death a person who has been faithful to
this devotion will find that he has freed many souls from Purgatory and
converted many sinners, even though he performed only the ordinary actions
of his state of life. Great will be his joy at the judgement. Great will
be his glory throughout eternity.
8. It is a wonderful means of perseverance
173. Finally, what draws us in a sense more compellingly
to take up this devotion to the most Blessed Virgin is the fact that it is
a wonderful means of persevering in the practice of virtue and of
remaining steadfast.
Why is it that most conversions of sinners are not
lasting? Why do they relapse so easily into sin? Why is it that most of
the faithful, instead of making progress in one virtue after another and
so acquiring new graces, often lose the little grace and virtue they have?
This misfortune arises, as I have already shown, from the fact that man,
so prone to evil, so weak and changeable, trusts himself too much, relies
on his own strength, and wrongly presumes he is able to safeguard his
precious graces, virtues and merits.
By this devotion we entrust all we possess to Mary, the
faithful Virgin. We choose her as the guardian of all our possessions in
the natural and supernatural sphere. We trust her because she is faithful,
we rely on her strength, we count on her mercy and charity to preserve and
increase our virtues and merits in spite of the efforts of the devil, the
world, and the flesh to rob us of them. We say to her as a good child
would say to its mother or a faithful servant to the mistress of the
house, "My dear Mother and Mistress, I realise that up to now I have
received from God through your intercession more graces than I deserve.
But bitter experience has taught me that I carry these riches in a very
fragile vessel and that I am too weak and sinful to guard them by myself.
Please accept in trust everything I possess, and in your faithfulness and
power keep it for me. If you watch over me, I shall lose nothing. If you
support me, I shall not fail. If you protect me, I shall be safe from my
enemies."
174. This is exactly what St. Bernard clearly pointed out
to encourage us to take up this devotion, "When Mary supports you, you
will not fail. With her as your protector, you will have nothing to fear.
With her as your guide, you will not grow weary. When you win her favour,
you will reach the port of heaven." St. Bonaventure seems to say the same
thing in even more explicit terms, "The Blessed Virgin," he says, "not
only preserves the fullness enjoyed by the saints, but she maintains the
saints in their fullness so that it does not diminish. She prevents their
virtues from fading away, their merits from being wasted and their graces
from being lost. She prevents the devils from doing them harm and she so
influences them that her divine Son has no need to punish them when they
sin."
175. Mary is the Virgin most faithful who by her fidelity
to God makes good the losses caused by Eve's unfaithfulness. She obtains
fidelity to God and final perseverance for those who commit themselves to
her. For this reason St. John Damascene compared her to a firm anchor
which holds them fast and saves them from shipwreck in the raging seas of
the world where so many people perish through lack of such a firm anchor.
"We fasten souls," he said, "to Mary, our hope, as to a firm anchor." It
was to Mary that the saints who attained salvation most firmly anchored
themselves as did others who wanted to ensure their perseverance in
holiness.
Blessed, indeed, are those Christians who bind themselves
faithfully and completely to her as to a secure anchor! The violent storms
of the world will not make them founder or carry away their heavenly
riches. Blessed are those who enter into her as into another Noah's ark!
The flood waters of sin which engulf so many will not harm them because,
as the Church makes Mary say in the words of divine Wisdom, "Those who
work with my help - for their salvation - shall not sin." Blessed are the
unfaithful children of unhappy Eve who commit themselves to Mary, the
ever-faithful Virgin and Mother who never wavers in her fidelity and never
goes back on her trust. She always loves those who love her, not only with
deep affection, but with a love that is active and generous. By an
abundant outpouring of grace she keeps them from relaxing their effort in
the practice of virtue or falling by the wayside through loss of divine
grace.
176. Moved by pure love, this good Mother always accepts
whatever is given her in trust, and, once she accepts something, she binds
herself in justice by a contract of trusteeship to keep it safe. Is not
someone to whom I entrust the sum of a thousand francs obliged to keep it
safe for me so that if it were lost through his negligence he would be
responsible for it in strict justice? But nothing we entrust to the
faithful Virgin will ever be lost through her negligence. Heaven and earth
would pass away sooner than Mary would neglect or betray those who trusted
in her.
177. Poor children of Mary, you are extremely weak and
changeable. Your human nature is deeply impaired. It is sadly true that
you have been fashioned from the same corrupted nature as the other
children of Adam and Eve. But do not let that discourage you. Rejoice and
be glad! Here is a secret which I am revealing to you, a secret unknown to
most Christians, even the most devout.
Do not leave your gold and silver in your own safes which
have already been broken into and rifled many times by the evil one. They
are too small, too flimsy and too old to contain such great and priceless
possessions. Do not put pure and clear water from the spring into vessels
fouled and infected by sin. Even if sin is no longer there, its odour
persists and the water would be contaminated. You do not put choice wine
into old casks that have contained sour wine. You would spoil the good
wine and run the risk of losing it.
178. Chosen souls, although you may already understand me,
I shall express myself still more clearly. Do not commit the gold of your
charity, the silver of your purity to a threadbare sack or a battered old
chest, or the waters of heavenly grace or the wines of your merits and
virtues to a tainted and fetid cask, such as you are. Otherwise you will
be robbed by thieving devils who are on the look-out day and night waiting
for a favourable opportunity to plunder. If you do so all those pure gifts
from God will be spoiled by the unwholesome presence of self- love,
inordinate self-reliance, and self-will.
Pour into the bosom and heart of Mary all your precious
possessions, all your graces and virtues. She is a spiritual vessel, a
vessel of honour, a singular vessel of devotion. Ever since God personally
hid himself with all his perfections in this vessel, it has become
completely spiritual, and the spiritual abode of all spiritual souls. It
has become honourable and has been the throne of honour for the greatest
saints in heaven. It has become outstanding in devotion and the home of
those renowned for gentleness, grace and virtue. Moreover, it has become
as rich as a house of gold, as strong as a tower of David and as pure as a
tower of ivory.
179. Blessed is the man who has given everything to Mary,
who at all times and in all things trusts in her, and loses himself in
her. He belongs to Mary and Mary belongs to him. With David he can boldly
say, "She was created for me", or with the beloved disciple, "I have taken
her for my own", or with our Lord himself, "All that is mine is yours and
all that is yours is mine."
180. If any critic reading this should imagine that I am
exaggerating or speaking from an excess of devotion, he has not, alas,
understood what I have said. Either he is a carnal man who has no taste
for the spiritual; or he is a worldly man who has cut himself off from the
Holy Spirit; or he is a proud and critical man who ridicules and condemns
anything he does not understand. But those who are born not of blood, nor
of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God and Mary, understand and
appreciate what I have to say. It is for them that I am writing.
181. Nevertheless, after this digression, I say to both
the critics and the devout that the Blessed Virgin, the most reliable and
generous of all God's creatures, never lets herself be surpassed by anyone
in love and generosity. For the little that is given to her, she gives
generously of what she has received from God. Consequently, if a person
gives himself to her without reserve, she gives herself also without
reserve to that person provided his confidence in her is not presumptuous
and he does his best to practise virtue and curb his passions.
182. So the faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin may
confidently say with St. John Damascene, "If I confide in you, Mother of
God, I shall be saved. Under your protection I shall fear nothing. With
your help I shall rout all my enemies. For devotion to you is a weapon of
salvation which God gives to those he wishes to save."
CHAPTER FIVE -
BIBLICAL FIGURE OF THIS PERFECT DEVOTION:
REBECCA AND JACOB
183. The Holy Spirit gives us in Sacred Scripture, a
striking allegorical figure of all the truths I have been explaining
concerning the Blessed Virgin and her children and servants. It is the
story of Jacob who received the blessing of his father Isaac through the
care and ingenuity of his mother Rebecca.
Here is the story as the Holy Spirit tells it. I shall
expound it further later on.
The Story of Jacob
184. Several years after Esau had sold his birthright to
Jacob, Rebecca, their mother, who loved Jacob tenderly, secured this
blessing for him by a holy stratagem full of mystery for us.
Isaac, realising that he was getting old, wished to bless
his children before he died. He summoned Esau, who was his favourite son,
and told him to go hunting and bring him something to eat, in order that
he might then give him his blessing. Rebecca immediately told Jacob what
was happening and sent him to fetch two small goats from the flock. When
Jacob gave them to his mother, she cooked them in the way Isaac liked
them. Then she dressed Jacob in Esau's clothes which she had in her
keeping, and covered his hands and neck with the goat-skin. The father,
who was blind, although hearing the voice of Jacob, would think that it
was Esau when he touched the skin on his hands.
Isaac was of course surprised at the voice which he
thought was Jacob's and told him to come closer. Isaac felt the hair on
the skin covering Jacob's hands and said that the voice was really
like Jacob's but the hands were Esau's. After he had eaten, Isaac kissed
Jacob and smelt the fragrance of his scented clothes. He blessed him and
called down on him the dew of heaven and the fruitfulness of earth. He
made him master of all his brothers and concluded his blessing with these
words, "Cursed be those who curse you and blessed be those who bless
you."
Isaac had scarcely finished speaking when Esau came in,
bringing what he had caught while out hunting. He wanted his father to
bless him after he had eaten. The holy patriarch was shocked when he
realised what had happened. But far from retracting what he had done, he
confirmed it because he clearly saw the finger of God in it all. Then, as
Holy Scripture relates, Esau began to protest loudly against the treachery
of his brother. He then asked his father if he had only one blessing to
give. In so doing, as the early Fathers point out, Esau was the symbol of
those who are too ready to imagine that there is an alliance between God
and the world, because they themselves are eager to enjoy, at one and the
same time, the blessings of heaven and the blessings of the earth. Isaac
was touched by Esau's cries and finally blessed him only with a blessing
of the earth, and he subjected him to his brother. Because of this, Esau
conceived such a venomous hatred for Jacob that he could hardly wait for
his father's death to kill him. And Jacob would not have escaped death if
his dear mother Rebecca had not saved him by her ingenuity and her good
advice.
Interpretation of the story
185. Before explaining this beautiful story, let me remind
you that, according to the early Fathers and the interpreters of Holy
Scripture, Jacob is the type of our Lord and of souls who are saved, and
Esau is the type of souls who are condemned. We have only to examine the
actions and conduct of both in order to judge each one.
(1) Esau, the elder brother, was
strong and robust, clever, and skillful with the bow and very successful
at hunting.
(2) He seldom stayed at home and,
relying only on his own strength and skill, worked out of
doors.
(3) He never went out of his way to
please his mother Rebecca, and did little or nothing for her.
(4) He was such a glutton and so fond of eating
that he sold his birthright for a dish of lentils.
(5) Like Cain, he was extremely
jealous of his brother and persecuted him relentlessly.
186. This is the usual conduct of sinners:
(1) They rely upon their own
strength and skill in temporal affairs. They are very energetic, clever
and well-informed about things of this world but very dull and ignorant
about things of heaven.
187. (2) And they are never or very
seldom at home, in their own house, that is, in their own interior, the
inner, essential abode that God has given to every man to dwell in, after
his own example, for God always abides within himself. Sinners have no
liking for solitude or the spiritual life or interior devotion. They
consider those who live an interior life, secluded from the world, and who
work more interiorly than exteriorly, as narrow-minded, bigoted and
uncivilized.
188. (3) Sinners care little or nothing
about devotion to Mary, the Mother of the elect. It is true that they do
not
really hate her. Indeed they even speak well of her
sometimes. They say they love her and they practise some devotion in her
honour. Nevertheless, they cannot bear to see anyone love her tenderly,
for they do not have for her any of the affection of Jacob; they find
fault with the honour which her good children and servants faithfully pay
her to win her affection. They think this kind of devotion is not
necessary for salvation, and as long as they do not go as far as hating
her or openly ridiculing devotion to her they believe they have done
all they need to win her good graces. Because they recite or mumble a few
prayers to her without any affection and without even thinking of amending
their lives, they consider they are our Lady's servants.
189. (4) Sinners sell their birthright,
that is, the joys of paradise, for a dish of lentils, that is, the
pleasures of this world. They laugh, they drink, they eat, they have a
good time, they gamble, they dance and so forth, without taking any more
trouble than Esau to make themselves worthy of their heavenly Father's
blessing. Briefly, they think only of this world, love only the world,
speak and act only for the world and its pleasures. For a passing moment
of pleasure, for a fleeting wisp of honour, for a piece of hard earth,
yellow or white, they barter away their baptismal grace, their robe of
innocence and their heavenly inheritance.
190. (5) Finally, sinners continually
hate and persecute the elect, openly and secretly. The elect are a burden
to them. They despise them, criticise them, ridicule them, insult them,
rob them, deceive them, impoverish them, hunt them down and
trample them into the dust; while they themselves are
making fortunes, enjoying themselves, getting good positions for
themselves, enriching themselves, rising to power and living in comfort.
191. Jacob, the younger son, was of a frail constitution,
gentle and peaceable and usually stayed at home to please his mother, whom
he loved so much. If he did go out it was not through any personal desire
of his, nor from any confidence in his own ability, but simply out of
obedience to his mother.
192. He loved and honoured his mother. That is why he
remained at home close to her. He was never happier than when he was in
her presence. He avoided everything that might displease her, and did
everything he thought would please her. This made Rebecca love him all the
more.
193. He was submissive to his mother in all things. He
obeyed her entirely in everything, promptly without delay and lovingly
without complaint. At the least indication of her will, young Jacob
hastened to comply with it. He accepted whatever she told him without
questioning. For instance, when she told him to get two small goats and
bring them to her so that she might prepare something for his father Isaac
to eat, Jacob did not reply that one would be enough for one man, but
without arguing he did exactly what she told him to do.
194. He had the utmost confidence in his mother. He did
not rely on his own ability; he relied solely on his mother's care and
protection. He went to her in all his needs and consulted her in all his
doubts. For instance, when he asked her if his father, instead of blessing
him, would curse him, he believed her and trusted her when she said she
would take the curse upon herself.
195. Finally, he adopted, as much as he could, the virtues
he saw in his mother. It seems that one of the reasons why he spent so
much time at home was to imitate his dear mother, who was so virtuous, and
to keep away from evil companions - who might lead him into sin. In this
way, he made himself worthy to receive the double blessing of his beloved
father.
196. It is in a similar manner that God's chosen ones
usually act. They stay at home with their mother - that is, they have an
esteem for quietness, love the interior life, and are assiduous in prayer.
They always remain in the company of the Blessed Virgin, their Mother and
Model, whose glory is wholly interior and who during her whole life dearly
loved seclusion and prayer. It is true, at times they do venture out into
the world, but only to fulfil the duties of their state of life, in
obedience to the will of God and the will of their Mother.
No matter how great their accomplishments may appear to
others, they attach far more importance to what they do within themselves
in their interior life, in the company of the Blessed Virgin. For there
they work at the great task of perfection, compared to which all other
work is mere child's play. At times their brothers and sisters are working
outside with great energy, skill and success, and win the praise and
approbation of the world. But they know by the light of the Holy
Spirit that there is far more good, more glory and more joy in remaining
hidden and recollected with our Lord, in complete and perfect submission
to Mary than there is in performing by themselves marvellous works of
nature and grace in the world, like so many Esaus and sinners. Glory for
God and riches for men are in her house.
Lord Jesus, how lovely is your dwelling-place! The sparrow
has found a house to dwell in, and the turtle-dove a nest for her little
ones! How happy is the man who dwells in the house of Mary, where you were
the first to dwell! Here in this home of the elect, he draws from you
alone the help he needs to climb the stairway of virtue he has built in
his heart to the highest possible points of perfection while in this vale
of tears. "How lovely is your dwelling-place, Lord, God of hosts!"
197. The elect have a great love for our Lady and honour
her truly as their Mother and Queen. They love her mot merely in word but
in deed. They honour her not just outwardly, but from the depths of their
heart. Like Jacob, they avoid the least thing that might displease her,
and eagerly do whatever they think might win her favour. Jacob brought
Rebecca two young goats. They bring Mary their body and their soul, with
all their faculties, symbolised by Jacob's two young goats, 1) so that she
may accept them as her own; 2) that she may make them die to sin and self
by divesting them of self-love, in order to please Jesus her Son, who
wishes to have as friends and disciples only those who are dead to sin and
self; 3) that she may clothe them according to their heavenly Father's
taste and for his greater glory, which she knows better than any other
creature; 4) that through her care and intercession, this body and soul of
theirs, thoroughly cleansed from every stain, thoroughly dead to self,
thoroughly stripped and well-prepared, may be pleasing to the heavenly
Father and deserving of his blessing.
Is this not what those chosen souls do who, to prove to
Jesus and Mary how effective and courageous is their love, live and esteem
the perfect consecration to Jesus through Mary which we are now teaching
them?
Sinners may say that they love Jesus, that they love and
honour Mary, but they do not do so with their whole heart and soul. Unlike
the elect, they do not love Jesus and Mary enough to consecrate them their
body with its senses and their soul with its passions.
198. They are subject and obedient to our Lady, their good
Mother, and here they are simply following the example set by our Lord
himself, who spent thirty of the thirty-three years he lived on earth
glorifying God his Father in perfect and entire submission to his holy
Mother. They obey her, following her advice to the letter, just as Jacob
followed that of Rebecca, when she said to him, "My son, follow my
advice"; or like the stewards at the wedding in Cana, to whom our Lady
said, "Do whatever he tells you."
Through obedience to his mother, Jacob received the
blessing almost by a miracle, because in the natural course of events he
should not have received it. As a reward for following the advice of our
Lady, the stewards at the wedding in Cana were honoured with the first of
our Lord's miracles when, at her request he changed water into wine. In
the same way, until the end of time, all who are to receive the blessing
of our heavenly Father and who are to be honoured with his wondrous graces
will receive them only as a result of their perfect obedience to Mary. On
the other hand, the "Esaus" will lose their blessing because of their lack
of submission to the Blessed Virgin.
199. They have great confidence in the goodness and power
of the Blessed Virgin, their dear Mother, and incessantly implore her
help. They take her for their pole-star to lead them safely into harbour.
They open their hearts to her and tell her their troubles and their needs.
They rely on her mercy and kindness to obtain forgiveness for their sins
through her intercession and to experience her motherly comfort in their
troubles and anxieties. They even cast themselves into her virginal bosom,
hide and lose themselves there in a wonderful manner. There they are
filled with pure love, they are purified from the least stain of sin, and
they find Jesus in all his fullness. For he reigns in Mary as if on the
most glorious of thrones. What incomparable happiness! Abbot Guerric says,
"Do not imagine there is more joy in dwelling in Abraham's bosom than in
Mary's, for it is in her that our Lord placed his throne."
Sinners, on the other hand, put all their confidence in
themselves. Like the prodigal son, they eat with the swine. Like toads
they feed on earth. Like all worldlings, they love only visible and
external things. They do not know the sweetness of Mary's bosom. They do
not have that reliance and confidence which the elect have for the Blessed
Virgin, their Mother. Deplorably they choose to satisfy their hunger
elsewhere, as St. Gregory says, because they do not want to taste the
sweetness already prepared within themselves and within Jesus and Mary.
200. Finally, chosen souls keep to the ways of the Blessed
Virgin, their loving Mother - that is, they imitate her and so are
sincerely happy and devout and bear the infallible sign of God's chosen
ones. This loving Mother says to them "Happy are those who keep my ways",
which means, happy are those who practise my virtues and who, with the
help of God's grace, follow the path of my life. They are happy in this
world because of the abundance of grace and sweetness I impart to them out
of my fullness, and which they receive more abundantly than others who do
not imitate me so closely. They are happy at the hour of death, which is
sweet and peaceful for I am usually there myself to lead them home to
everlasting joy. Finally, they will be happy for all eternity, because no
servant of mine who imitated my virtues during life has ever been
lost.
On the other hand, sinners are unhappy during their life,
at their death, and throughout eternity, because they do not imitate the
virtues of our Lady. They are satisfied with going no further than joining
her confraternities, reciting a few prayers in her honour, or performing
other exterior devotional exercises.
O Blessed Virgin, my dear Mother, how happy are those who
faithfully keep your ways, your counsels and your commands; who never
allow themselves to be led astray by a false devotion to you! But how
unhappy and accursed are those who abuse devotion to you by not keeping
the commandments of your Son! "They are accursed who stray from your
commandments."
Services of our Lady to her faithful servants
201. Here now are the services which the Virgin Mary, as
the best of all mothers, lovingly renders to those loyal servants who have
given themselves entirely to her in the manner I have described and
following the figurative meaning of the story of Jacob and Rebecca.
1. She loves them.
"I love those who love me." She loves them:
a) Because she is truly their
Mother. What mother does not love her child, the fruit of her
womb?
b) She loves them in gratitude for
the active love they show to her, their beloved Mother.
c) She loves them because they are loved
by God and destined for heaven. "Jacob I loved, but Esau I
hated."
d) She loves them because they
have consecrated themselves entirely to her and belong to her portion, her
inheritance. "In Israel receive your inheritance."
202. She loves them tenderly, more tenderly than all the
mothers in the world together. Take the maternal love of all the mothers
of the world for their children. Pour all that love into the heart of one
mother for an only child. That mother's love would certainly be immense.
Yet Mary's love for each of her children has more tenderness than the love
of that mother for her child.
She loves them not only affectively but effectively, that
is, her love is active and productive of good like Rebecca's love for
Jacob -and even more so, for Rebecca was, after all, only a symbolic
figure of Mary. Here is what this loving Mother does for her children to
obtain for them the blessings of their heavenly Father:
203. 1) Like Rebecca she looks out for
favourable opportunities to promote their interests, to ennoble and enrich
them. She sees clearly in God all that is good and all that is evil;
fortunate and unfortunate events; the blessings and condemnations of God.
She arranges things in advance so as to divert evils from her servants and
put them in the way of abundant blessings. If there is any special benefit
to be gained in God's sight by the faithful discharge of an important
work, Mary will certainly obtain this opportunity for a beloved child and
servant and at the same time, give him the grace to persevere in it to the
end. "She personally manages our affairs," says a saintly man.
204. 2) She gives them excellent advice,
as Rebecca did to Jacob. "My son, follow my counsels." Among other things,
she persuades them to bring her the two young goats, that is, their body
and soul, and to confide them to her so that she can prepare them as a
dish pleasing to God. She inspires them to observe whatever Jesus Christ,
her Son, has taught by word and example. When she does not give these
counsels herself in person, she gives them through the ministry of angels
who are always pleased and honoured to go at her request to assist one of
her faithful servants on earth.
205. 3) What does this good Mother do
when we have presented and consecrated to her our soul and body and all
that pertains to them without excepting anything? Just what Rebecca of old
did to the little goats Jacob brought her. (a) She kills them, that is,
makes them die to the life of the old Adam. (b) She strips them of their
skin, that is, of their natural inclinations, their self-love and
self-will and their every attachment to creatures. (c) She cleanses them
from all stain, impurity and sin. (d) She prepares them to God's taste and
to his greater glory. As she alone knows perfectly what the divine taste
is and where the greatest glory of God is to be found, she alone without
any fear of mistake can prepare and garnish our body and soul to satisfy
that infinitely refined taste and promote that infinitely hidden glory.
206. 4) Once this good Mother has
received our complete offering with our merits and satisfactions through
the devotion I have been speaking about, and has stripped us of our own
garments, she cleanses us and makes us worthy to appear without shame
before our heavenly Father.
She clothes us in the clean, new, precious and fragrant
garments of Esau, the first born, namely, her Son Jesus Christ. She keeps
these garments in her house, that is to say, she has them at her disposal.
For she is the treasurer and universal dispenser of the merits and virtues
of Jesus her Son. She gives and distributes them to whom she pleases, when
she pleases, as she pleases, and as much as she pleases, as we have said
above.
She covers the neck and hands of her servants with the
skins of the goats that have been killed and flayed, that is, she adorns
them with the merits and worth of their own good actions. In truth, she
destroys and nullifies all that is impure and imperfect in them. She
preserves and enhances this good so that it adorns and strengthens their
neck and hands, that is, she gives them the strength to carry the yoke of
the Lord and the skill to do great things for the glory of God and the
salvation of their poor brothers.
She imparts new perfume and fresh grace to those
garments
and adornments by adding to them the garments of her own
wardrobe of merits and virtues. She bequeathed these to them before her
departure for heaven, as was revealed by a holy nun of the last century,
who died a holy death. Thus all her domestics, that is, all her servants
and slaves, are clothed with double garments, her own and those of her
Son. Now they have nothing to fear from that cold which sinners, naked and
stripped as they are of the merits of Jesus and Mary, will be unable to
endure.
207. 5) Finally, Mary obtains for them
the heavenly Father's blessing. As they are the youngest born and adopted,
they are not really entitled to it. Clad in new, precious, and
sweet-smelling garments, with body and soul well-prepared and dressed,
they confidently approach their heavenly Father. He hears their voice and
recognises it as the voice of a sinner. He feels their hands covered with
skins, inhales the aroma of their garments. He partakes with joy of what
Mary, their Mother, has prepared for him, recognising in it the merits and
good odour of his Son and his Blessed Mother.
a) He gives them a twofold
blessing, the blessing of the dew of heaven, namely, divine grace, which
is the seed of glory. "God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual
blessing," and also the blessing of the fertility of the earth, for as a
provident Father, he gives them their daily bread and an ample supply of
the goods of the earth.
b) He makes them masters of their
other brothers, the reprobate sinners. This domination does not always
show in this fleeting world, where sinners often have the upper hand. "How
long shall the wicked glory, mouthing insolent reproaches?" "I have seen
the wicked triumphant and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon." But the
supremacy of the just is real and will be seen clearly for all eternity in
the next world, where the just, as the Holy Spirit tells us, will dominate
and command all peoples.
c) The God of all majesty is not
satisfied with blessing them in their persons and their possessions, he
blesses all who bless them and curses all who curse and persecute them.
2. She provides for all their needs
208. Our Lady's charity towards her faithful servants goes
further. She provides them with everything they need for body and soul. We
have just seen that she gives them double garments. She also nourishes
them with the most delicious food from the banquet table of God. She gives
them the Son she has borne, the Bread of Life, to be their food. "Dear
children," she says in the words of divine Wisdom, "take your fill of my
fruits," that is to say, of the Fruit of Life, Jesus, "whom I brought into
the world for you." "Come," she repeats in another passage, "eat the bread
which is Jesus. Drink the wine of his love which I have mixed" for you
with the milk of my breasts.
As Mary is the treasurer and dispenser of the gifts and
graces of the Most High God, she reserves a choice portion, indeed the
choicest portion, to nourish and sustain her children and servants. They
grow strong on the Bread of Life; they are made joyful with the wine that
brings forth virgins. They are carried at her breast. They bear with ease
the yoke of Christ scarcely feeling its weight because of the oil of
devotion with which she has softened its wood.
3. She leads and guides them
209. A third service which our Lady renders her faithful
servants is to lead and direct them according to the will of her Son.
Rebecca guided her little son Jacob and gave him good
advice from time to time, which helped him obtain the
blessing of his father and saved him from the hatred and persecution of
his brother Esau. Mary, Star of the sea, guides all her faithful servants
into safe harbour. She shows them the path to eternal life and helps them
avoid dangerous pitfalls. She leads them by the hand along the path of
holiness, steadies them when they are liable to fall and helps them rise
when they have fallen. She chides them like a loving mother when they are
remiss and sometimes she even lovingly chastises them. How could a child
that follows such a mother and such an enlightened guide as Mary take the
wrong path to heaven? Follow her and you cannot go wrong, says St.
Bernard. There is no danger of a true child of Mary being led astray by
the devil and falling into heresy. Where Mary leads, Satan with his
deceptions and heretics with their subtleties are not encountered. "When
she upholds you, you will not fall."
4. She defends and protects them
210. The fourth good office our Lady performs for her
children and faithful servants is to defend and protect them against their
enemies. By her care and ingenuity Rebecca delivered Jacob from all
dangers that beset him and particularly from dying at the hands of his
brother, as he apparently would have done, since Esau hated and envied him
just as Cain hated his brother Abel.
Mary, the beloved Mother of chosen souls, shelters them
under her protecting wings as a hen does her chicks. She speaks to them,
coming down to their level and accommodating herself to all their
weaknesses. To ensure their safety from the hawk and vulture, she becomes
their escort, surrounding them as an army in battle array. Could anyone
surrounded by a well-ordered army of say a hundred thousand men fear his
enemies? No, and still less would a faithful servant of Mary, protected on
all sides by her imperial forces, fear his enemy. This powerful Queen of
heaven would sooner dispatch millions of angels to help one of her
servants than have it said that a single faithful and trusting servant of
hers had fallen victim to the malice, number and power of his enemies.
5. She intercedes for them
211. Finally, the fifth and greatest service which this
loving Mother renders her faithful followers is to intercede for them with
her Son. She appeases him with her prayers, brings her servants into
closer union with him and maintains that union.
Rebecca made Jacob approach the bed of his father. His
father touched him, embraced him and even joyfully kissed him after having
satisfied his hunger with the well-prepared dishes which Jacob had brought
him. Then inhaling most
joyfully the exquisite perfume of his garments, he cried:
"Behold the fragrance of my son is as the fragrance of a field of plenty
which the Lord has blessed." The fragrance of this rich field which so
captivated the heart of the father, is none other than the fragrance of
the merits and virtues of Mary who is the plentiful field of grace in
which God the Father has sown the grain of wheat of the elect, his only
Son.
How welcome to Jesus Christ, the Father of the world to
come, is a child perfumed with the fragrance of Mary! How readily and how
intimately does he unite himself to that child! But this we have already
shown at length.
212. Furthermore, once Mary has heaped her favours upon
her children and her faithful servants and has secured for themthe
blessing of the heavenly Father and union with Jesus
Christ, she keeps them in Jesus and keeps Jesus in them.
She guards them, watching over them unceasingly, lest they lose the grace
of God and fall into the snares of their enemies. "She keeps the saints in
their fullness" (St. Bonaventure), and inspires them to persevere to the
end, as we have already said.
Such is the explanation given to this ancient allegory
which typifies the mystery of predestination and reprobation.
CHAPTER SIX -
WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF THIS DEVOTION
213. My dear friend, be sure that if you remain faithful
to the interior and exterior practices of this devotion which I will point
out, the following effects will be produced in your soul:
1. Knowledge of our unworthiness
By the light which the Holy Spirit will give you through
Mary, his faithful spouse, you will perceive the evil inclinations of your
fallen nature and how incapable you are of any good apart from that which
God produces in you as Author of nature and of grace. As a consequence of
this knowledge you will despise yourself and think of yourself only as an
object of repugnance. You will consider yourself as a snail that soils
everything with its slime, as a toad that poisons everything with its
venom, as a malevolent serpent seeking only to deceive. Finally, the
humble Virgin Mary will share her humility with you so that, although you
regard yourself with distaste and desire to be disregarded by others, you
will not look down slightingly upon anyone.
2. A share in Mary's faith
214. Mary will share her faith with you. Her faith on
earth was stronger than that of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and
saints. Now that she is reigning in heaven she no
longer has this faith, since she sees everything clearly
in God by the light of glory. However, with the consent of almighty God
she did not lose it when entering heaven. She has preserved it for her
faithful servants in the Church militant. Therefore the more you gain the
friendship of this noble Queen and faithful Virgin the more you will be
inspired by faith in your daily life. It will cause you to depend less
upon sensible and extraordinary feelings. For it is a lively faith
animated by love enabling you to do everything from no other motive than
that of pure love. It is a firm faith, unshakable as a rock, prompting you
to remain firm and steadfast in the midst of storms and tempests. It is an
active and probing faith which like some mysterious pass-key admits you
into the mysteries of Jesus Christ and of man's final destiny and into the
very heart of God himself. It is a courageous faith which inspires you to
undertake and carry out without hesitation great things for God and the
salvation of souls. Lastly, this faith will be your flaming torch, your
very life with God, your secret fund of divine Wisdom, and an all-powerful
weapon for you to enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of
death. It inflames those who are lukewarm and need the gold of fervent
love. It restores life to those who are dead through sin. It moves and
transforms hearts of marble and cedars of Lebanon by gentle and convincing
argument. Finally, this faith will strengthen you to resist the devil and
the other enemies of salvation.
3. The gift of pure love
215. The Mother of fair love will rid your heart of all
scruples and inordinate servile fear. She will open and enlarge it to obey
the commandments of her Son with alacrity and with the holy freedom of the
children of God. She will fill your heart with pure love of which she is
the treasury. You will then cease to act as you did before, out of fear of
the God who is love, but rather out of pure love. You will look upon him
as a loving Father and endeavour to please him at all times. You will
speak trustfully to him as a child does to its father. If you should have
the misfortune to offend him you will abase yourself before him and humbly
beg his pardon. You will offer your hand to him with simplicity and
lovingly rise from your sin. Then, peaceful and relaxed and buoyed up with
hope you will continue on your way to him.
4. Great confidence in God and in Mary
216. Our Blessed Lady will fill you with unbounded
confidence in God and in herself:
1) Because you will no longer
approach Jesus by yourself but always through Mary, your loving
Mother.
2) Since you have given her all
your merits, graces and satisfactions to dispose of as she pleases, she
imparts to you her own virtues and clothes you in her own merits. So you
will be able to say confidently to God: "Behold Mary, your handmaid, be it
done unto me according to your word."
3) Since you have now given
yourself completely to Mary, body and soul, she, who is generous to the
generous, and more generous than even the kindest benefactor, will in
return give herself to you in a marvellous but real manner. Indeed you may
without hesitation say to her, "I am yours, O Blessed Virgin, obtain
salvation for me," or with the beloved disciple, St. John, "I have taken
you, Blessed Mother, for my all." Or again you may say with St.
Bonaventure, "Dear Mother of saving grace, I will do everything with
confidence and without fear because you are my strength and my boast in
the Lord," or in another place, "I am all yours and all that I have is
yours, O glorious Virgin, blessed above all created things. Let me place
you as a seal upon my heart, for your love is as strong as death." Or
adopting the sentiments of the prophet, "Lord, my heart has no reason to
be exalted nor should my looks be proud; I have not sought things of great
moment nor wonders beyond my reach; nevertheless, I am still not humble.
But I have roused my soul and taken courage. I am as a child, weaned from
earthly pleasures and resting on its mother's breast. It is upon this
breast that all good things come to me."
4) What will still further
increase your confidence in her is that, after having given her in trust
all that you possess to use or keep as she pleases, you will place less
trust in yourself and much more in her whom you have made your treasury.
How comforting and how consoling when a person can say, "The treasury of
God, where he has placed all that he holds most precious, is also my
treasury." "She is," says a saintly man, "the treasury of the Lord."
5. Communication of the spirit of Mary
217. The soul of Mary will be communicated to you to
glorify the Lord. Her spirit will take the place of yours to rejoice in
God, her Saviour, but only if you are faithful to the practices of this
devotion. As St. Ambrose says, "May the soul of Mary be in each one of us
to glorify the Lord! May the spirit of Mary be in each one of us to
rejoice in God!" "When will that happy day come," asks a saintly man of
our own day whose life was completely wrapped up in Mary, "when God's
Mother is enthroned in men's hearts as Queen, subjecting them to the
dominion of her great and princely Son? When will souls breathe Mary as
the body breathes air?" When that time comes wonderful things will happen
on earth. The Holy Spirit, finding his dear Spouse present again in souls,
will come down into them with great power. He will fill them with his
gifts, especially wisdom, by which they will produce wonders of grace. My
dear friend, when will that happy time come, that age of Mary, when many
souls, chosen by Mary and given her by the most High God, will hide
themselves completely in the depths of her soul, becoming living copies of
her, loving and glorifying Jesus? That day will dawn only when the
devotion I teach is understood and put into practice. Ut adveniat regnum
tuum, adveniat regnum Mariae: "Lord, that your kingdom may come, may the
reign of Mary come!"
6. Transformation into the likeness of Jesus
218. If Mary, the Tree of Life, is well cultivated in our
soul by fidelity to this devotion, she will in due time bring forth her
fruit which is none other than Jesus. I have seen many devout souls
searching for Jesus in one way or another, and so often when they have
worked hard throughout the night, all they can say is, "Despite our having
worked all night, we have caught nothing." To them we can say, "You have
worked hard and gained little; Jesus can only be recognised faintly in
you." But if we follow the immaculate path of Mary, living the devotion
that I teach, we will always work in daylight, we will work in a holy
place, and we will work but little. There is no darkness in Mary, not even
the slightest shadow since there was never any sin in her. She is a holy
place, a holy of holies, in which saints are formed and moulded.
219. Please note that I say that saints are moulded in
Mary. There is a vast difference between carving a statue by blows of
hammer and chisel and making a statue by using a mould. Sculptors and
statue-makers work hard and need plenty of time
to make statues by the first method. But the second method
does not involve much work and takes very little time. St. Augustine
speaking to our Blessed Lady says, "You are worthy to be called the mould
of God." Mary is a mould capable of forming people into the image of the
God-man. Anyone who is cast into this divine mould is quickly shaped and
moulded into Jesus and Jesus into him. At little cost and in a short time
he will become Christ-like since he is cast into the very same mould that
fashioned a God-man.
220. I think I can very well compare some spiritual
directors and devout persons to sculptors who wish to produce Jesus in
themselves and in others by methods other than this. Many of them rely on
their own skill, ingenuity and art and chip away endlessly with mallet and
chisel at hard stone or badly-prepared wood, in an effort to produce a
likeness of our Lord. At times, they do not manage to produce a
recognisable likeness either because they lack knowledge and experience of
the person of Jesus or because a clumsy stroke has spoiled the whole work.
But those who accept this little-known secret of grace which I offer them
can rightly be compared to smelters and moulders who have discovered the
beautiful mould of Mary where Jesus was so divinely and so naturally
formed. They do not rely on their own skill but on the perfection of the
mould. They cast and lose themselves in Mary where they become true models
of her Son.
221. You may think this a beautiful and convincing
comparison. But how many understand it? I would like you, my dear friend,
to understand it. But remember that only molten and liquefied substances
may be poured into a mould. That means that you must crush and melt down
the old Adam in you if you wish to acquire the likeness of the new Adam in
Mary.
7. The greater glory of Christ
222. If you live this devotion sincerely, you will give
more glory to Jesus in a month than in many years of a more demanding
devotion. Here are my reasons for saying this:
(1) Since you do everything
through the Blessed Virgin as required by this devotion, you naturally lay
aside your own intentions no matter how good they appear to you. You
abandon yourself to our Lady's intentions even though you do not know what
they are. Thus you share in the high quality of her intentions, which are
so pure that she gave more glory to God by the smallest of her actions,
say, twirling her distaff, or making a stitch, than did St. Laurence
suffering his cruel martyrdom on the grid-iron, and even more than all the
saints together in all their most heroic deeds! Mary amassed such a
multitude of merits and graces during her sojourn on earth that it would
be easier to count the stars in heaven, the drops of water in the ocean or
the sands of the sea-shore than count her merits and graces. She thus gave
more glory to God than all the angels and saints have given or will ever
give him. Mary, wonder of God, when souls abandon themselves to you, you
cannot but work wonders in them!
223. (2) In this devotion we set no store
on our own thoughts and actions but are content to rely on Mary's
dispositions when approaching and even speaking to Jesus. We then act with
far greater humility than others who imperceptibly rely on their own
dispositions and are self- satisfied about them; and consequently we give
greater glory to God, for perfect glory is given to him only by the lowly
and humble of heart.
224. (3) Our Blessed Lady, in her immense
love for us, is eager to receive into her virginal hands the gift of our
actions, imparting to them a marvelous beauty and splendour, and
presenting them herself to Jesus most willingly. More glory is given to
our Lord in this way than when we make our offering with our own guilty
hands.
225. (4) Lastly, you never think of Mary
without Mary thinking of God for you. You never praise or honour Mary
without Mary joining you in praising and honouring God. Mary is entirely
relative to God. Indeed I would say that she was relative only to God,
because she exists uniquely in reference to him.
She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God. If
you say "Mary" she says "God". When St. Elizabeth praised Mary calling her
blessed because she had believed, Mary, the faithful echo of God,
responded with her canticle, "My soul glorifies the Lord." What Mary did
on that day, she does every day. When we praise her, when we love and
honour her, when we present anything to her, then God is praised, honoured
and loved and receives our gift through Mary and in Mary.
CHAPTER SEVEN -
PARTICULAR PRACTICES OF THIS DEVOTION
1. Exterior Practices
226. Although this devotion is essentially an interior
one, this does not prevent it from having exterior practices which should
not be neglected. "These must be done but those not omitted." If properly
performed, exterior acts help to foster interior ones. Man is always
guided by his senses and such practices remind him of what he has done or
should do. Let no worldling or critic intervene to assert that true
devotion is essentially in the heart and therefore externals should be
avoided as inspiring vanity, or that real devotion should be hidden and
private. I answer in the words of our Lord, "Let men see your good works
that they may glorify your Father who is in heaven." As St. Gregory says,
this does not mean that they should perform external actions to please men
or seek praise; that certainly would be vanity. It simply means that we do
these things before men only to please and glorify God without worrying
about either the contempt or the approval of men.
I shall briefly mention some practices which I call
exterior, not because they are performed without inner attention but
because they have an exterior element as distinct from those which are
purely interior.
1. Preparation and Consecration
227. Those who desire to take up this special devotion,
(which has not been erected into a confraternity, although this would be
desirable), should spend at least twelve days in emptying themselves of
the spirit of the world, which is opposed to the spirit of Jesus, as I
have recommended in the first part of this preparation for the reign of
Jesus Christ. They should then spend three weeks imbuing themselves with
the spirit of Jesus through the most Blessed Virgin. Here is a programme
they might follow:
228. During the first week they should offer up all their
prayers and acts of devotion to acquire knowledge of themselves and sorrow
for their sins.
Let them perform all their actions in a spirit of
humility. With this end in view they may, if they wish, meditate on what I
have said concerning our corrupted nature, and consider themselves during
six days of the week as nothing but sails, slugs, toads, swine, snakes and
goats. Or else they may meditate on the following three considerations of
St. Bernard: "Remember what you were - corrupted seed; what you are - a
body destined for decay; what you will be -food for worms."
They will ask our Lord and the Holy Spirit to enlighten
them saying, "Lord, that I may see," or "Lord, let me know myself," or the
"Come, Holy Spirit". Every day they should say the Litany of the Holy
Spirit, with the prayer that follows, as indicated in the first part of
this work. They will turn to our Blessed Lady and beg her to obtain for
them that great grace which is the foundation of all others, the grace of
self-knowledge. For this intention they will say each day the Ave Maris
Stella and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.
229. Each day of the second week they should endeavour in
all their prayers and works to acquire an understanding of the Blessed
Virgin and ask the Holy Spirit for this grace. They may read and meditate
upon what we have already said about her. They should recite daily the
Litany of the Holy Spirit and the Ave Maris Stella as during the
first week. In addition they will say at least five decades of the Rosary
for greater understanding of Mary.
230. During the third week they should seek to understand
Jesus Christ better. They may read and meditate on what we have already
said about him. They may say the prayer of St. Augustine which they will
find at the beginning of the second part of this book. Again with St.
Augustine, they may pray repeatedly, "Lord, that I may know you," or
"Lord, that I may see." As during the previous week, they should recite
the Litany of the Holy Spirit and the Ave Maris Stella, adding every day
the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus.
231. At the end of these three weeks they should go to
confession and Holy Communion with the intention of consecrating
themselves to Jesus through Mary as slaves of love. When receiving Holy
Communion they could follow the method given later on. They then recite
the act of consecration which is given at the end of this book. If they do
not have a printed copy of the act, they should write it out or have it
copied and then sign it on the very day they make it.
232. It would be very becoming if on that day they offered
some tribute to Jesus and his Mother, either as a penance for past
unfaithfulness to the promises made in baptism or as a sign of their
submission to the sovereignty of Jesus and Mary. Such a tribute would be
in accordance with each one's ability and fervour and may take the form of
fasting, an act of self-denial, the gift of an alms or the offering of a
votive candle. If they gave only a pin as a token of their homage,
provided it were given with a good heart, it would satisfy Jesus who
considers only the good intention.
233. Every year at least, on the same date, they should
renew the consecration following the same exercises for three weeks. They
might also renew it every month or even every day by saying this short
prayer: "I am all yours and all I have is yours, O dear Jesus, through
Mary, your holy Mother."
2. The Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin
234. If it is not too inconvenient, they should recite
every day of their lives the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin, which is
composed of three Our Fathers and twelve Hail Marys in honour of the
twelve glorious privileges of Mary. This prayer is very old and is based
on Holy Scripture. St. John saw in a vision a woman crowned with twelve
stars, clothed with the sun and standing upon the moon. According to
biblical commentators, this woman is the Blessed Virgin.
235. There are several ways of saying the Little Crown but
it would take too long to explain them here. The Holy Spirit will teach
them to those who live this devotion conscientiously. However, here is a
simple way to recite it. As an introduction say:" Virgin most holy, accept
my praise; give me strength to fight your foes", then say the Creed. Next,
say the following sequence of prayers three times: one Our Father, four
Hail Marys and one Glory be to the Father. In conclusion say the prayer
Sub tuum - "We fly to thy patronage".
3. The Wearing of Little Chains
236. It is very praiseworthy and helpful for those who
have become slaves of Jesus in Mary to wear, in token of their slavery of
love, a little chain blessed with a special blessing.
It is perfectly true, these external tokens are not
essential and may very well be dispensed with by those who have made this
consecration. Nevertheless, I cannot help but give the warmest approval to
those who wear them. They show they have shaken off the shameful chains of
the slavery of the devil, in which original sin and perhaps actual sin had
bound them, and have willingly taken upon themselves the glorious slavery
of Jesus Christ. Like St. Paul, they glory in the chains they wear for
Christ. For though these chains are made only of iron they are far more
glorious and precious than all the gold ornaments worn by monarchs.
237. At one time, nothing was considered more contemptible
than the Cross. Now this sacred wood has become the most glorious symbol
of the
Christian faith. Similarly, nothing was more ignoble in
the sight of the ancients, and even today nothing is more degrading among
unbelievers than the chains of Jesus Christ. But among Christians nothing
is more glorious than these chains, because by them Christians are
liberated and kept free from the ignoble shackles of sin and the devil.
Thus set free, we are bound to Jesus and Mary not by compulsion and force
like galley-slaves, but by charity and love as children are to their
parents. "I shall draw them to me by chains of love" said God Most High
speaking through the prophet. Consequently, these chains are as strong as
death, and in a way stronger than death, for those who wear them
faithfully till the end of their life. For though death destroys and
corrupts their body, it will not destroy the chains of their slavery,
since these, being of metal, will not easily corrupt. It may be that on
the day of their resurrection, that momentous day of final judgment, these
chains, still clinging to their bones, will contribute to their
glorification and be transformed into chains of light and splendour. Happy
then, a thousand times happy, are the illustrious slaves of Jesus in Mary
who bear their chains even to the grave.
238. Here are the reasons for wearing these
chains:
(a) They remind a Christian of the
promises of his baptism and the perfect renewal of these commitments made
in his consecration. They remind him of his strict obligation to adhere
faithfully to them. A man's actions are prompted more frequently by his
senses than by pure faith and so he can easily forget his duties towards
God if he has no external reminder of them. These little chains are a
wonderful aid in recalling the bonds of sin and the slavery of the devil
from which baptism has freed him. At the same time, they remind him of the
dependence on Jesus promised at baptism and ratified when by consecration
he renewed these promises. Why is it that so many Christians do not think
of their baptismal vows and behave with as much licence as unbelievers who
have promised nothing to God? One explanation is that they do not wear
external sign to remind them of these vows.
239. (b) These chains prove they are not
ashamed of being the servants and slaves of Jesus and that they reject the
deadly bondage of the world, of sin and of the devil.
(c) They are a guarantee and
protection against enslavement by sin and the devil. For we must of
necessity choose to wear either the chains of sin and damnation or the
chains of love and salvation.
240. Dear friend, break the chains of sin and of sinners,
of the world and the worldly, of the devil and his satellites. "Cast their
yoke of death far from us." To use the words of the Holy Spirit, let us
put our feet into his glorious shackles and our neck into his chains. Let
us bow down our shoulders in submission to the yoke of Wisdom incarnate,
Jesus Christ, and let us not be upset by the burden of his chains. Notice
how before saying these words the Holy Spirit prepares us to accept his
serious advice, "Hearken, my son," he says, "receive a counsel of
understanding and do not spurn this counsel of mine."
241. Allow me here, my dear friend, to join the Holy
Spirit in giving you the same counsel, "These chains are the chains of
salvation". As our Lord on the cross draws all men to himself, whether
they will it or not, he will draw sinners by the fetters of their sins and
submit them like galley-slaves and devils to his eternal anger and
avenging justice. But he will draw the just, especially in these latter
days, by the chains of love.
242. These loving slaves of Christ may wear their chains
around the neck, on their arms, round the waist or round the ankles. Fr.
Vincent Caraffa, seventh General of the Society of Jesus, who died a holy
death in 1643, carried an iron band round his ankles as a symbol of his
holy servitude and he used to say that his greatest regret was that he
could not drag a chain around in public. Mother Agnes of Jesus, of whom we
have already spoken, wore a chain around her waist. Others have worn it
round the neck, in atonement for the pearl necklaces they wore in the
world. Others have worn chains round their arms to remind them, as they
worked with their hands, that they are the slaves of Jesus.
4. Honouring the mystery of the Incarnation
243. Loving slaves of Jesus in Mary should hold in high
esteem devotion to Jesus, the Word of God, in the great mystery of the
Incarnation, March 25th, which is the mystery proper to this devotion,
because it was inspired by the Holy Spirit for the following
reasons:
(a) That we might honour and
imitate the wondrous dependence which God the Son chose to have on Mary,
for the glory of his Father and for the redemption of man. This dependence
is revealed especially in this mystery where Jesus becomes a captive and
slave in the womb of his Blessed Mother, depending on her for
everything.
(b) That we might thank God for
the incomparable graces he has conferred upon Mary and especially that of
choosing her to be his most worthy Mother. This choice was made in the
mystery of the Incarnation. These are the two principal ends of the
slavery of Jesus in Mary.
244. Please note that I usually say "slave of Jesus in
Mary", "slavery of Jesus in Mary". We might indeed say, as some have
already been saying, "slave of Mary", "slavery of Mary". But I think it
preferable to say, "slave of Jesus in Mary". This is the opinion of Fr.
Tronson, Superior General of the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, a man renowned
for his exceptional prudence and remarkable holiness. He gave this advice
when consulted upon this subject by a priest.
Here are the reasons for it:
245. (a) Since we live in an age of pride
when a great number of haughty scholars, with proud and critical minds,
find fault even with long-established and sound devotions, it is better to
speak of "slavery of Jesus in Mary" and to call oneself "slave of Jesus"
rather than "slave of Mary". We then avoid giving any pretext for
criticism. In this way, we name this devotion after its ultimate end which
is Jesus, rather than after the way and the means to arrive there, which
is Mary. However, we can very well use either term without any scruple, as
I myself do. If a man goes from Orleans to Tours, by way of Amboise, he
can quite truthfully say that he is going to Amboise and equally
truthfully say that he is going to Tours. The only difference is that
Amboise is simply a place on the direct road to Tours, and Tours alone is
his final destination.
246. (b) Since the principal mystery
celebrated and honoured in this devotion is the mystery of the Incarnation
where we find Jesus only in Mary, having become incarnate in her womb, it
is appropriate for us to say, "slavery of Jesus in Mary", of Jesus
dwelling enthroned in Mary, according to the beautiful, prayer, recited by
so many great souls, "O Jesus living in Mary".
247. (c) These expressions show more
clearly the intimate union existing between Jesus and Mary. So
closely are they united that one is wholly the other. Jesus is all in Mary
and Mary is all in Jesus. Or rather, it is no longer she who lives, but
Jesus alone who lives in her. It would be easier to separate light from
the sun than Mary from Jesus. So united are they that our Lord may be
called, "Jesus of Mary", and his Mother "Mary of Jesus".
248. Time does not permit me to linger here and elaborate
on the perfections and wonders of the mystery of Jesus living and reigning
in Mary, or the Incarnation of the Word. I shall confine myself to the
following brief remarks. The Incarnation is the first mystery of Jesus
Christ; it is the most hidden; and it is the most exalted and the least
known.
It was in this mystery that Jesus, in the womb of Mary and
with her co- operation, chose all the elect. For this reason the saints
called her womb, the throne-room of God's mysteries.
It was in this mystery that Jesus anticipated all
subsequent mysteries of his life by his willing acceptance of them.
Consequently, this mystery is a summary of all his mysteries since it
contains the intention and the grace of them all.
Lastly, this mystery is the seat of the mercy, the
liberality, and the glory of God. It is the seat of his mercy for us,
since we can approach and speak to Jesus through Mary. We need her
intervention to see or speak to him. Here, ever responsive to the prayer
of his Mother, Jesus unfailingly grants grace and mercy to all poor
sinners. "Let us come boldly before the throne of grace."
It is the seat of liberality for Mary, because while the
new Adam dwelt in this truly earthly paradise God performed there so many
hidden marvels beyond the understanding of men and angels. For this
reason, the saints call Mary "the magnificence of God", as if God showed
his magnificence only in Mary.
It is the seat of glory for his Father, because it was in
Mary that Jesus perfectly atoned to his Father on behalf of mankind. It
was here that he perfectly restored the glory that sin had taken from his
Father. It was here again that our Lord, by the sacrifice of himself and
of his will, gave more glory to God than he would have given had he
offered all the sacrifices of the Old Law. Finally, in Mary he gave his
Father infinite glory, such as his Father had never received from man.
5. Saying the Hail Mary and the Rosary
249. Those who accept this devotion should have a great
love for the Hail Mary, or, as it is called, the Angelic
Salutation.
Few Christians, however enlightened, understand the value,
merit, excellence and necessity of the Hail Mary. Our Blessed Lady herself
had to appear on several occasions to men of great holiness and insight,
such as St. Dominic, St. John Capistran and Blessed Alan de Rupe, to
convince them of the richness of this prayer.
They composed whole books on the wonders it had worked and
its efficacy in converting sinners. They earnestly proclaimed and publicly
preached that just as the salvation of the world began with the Hail Mary,
so the salvation of each individual is bound up with it. This prayer, they
said, brought to a dry and barren world the Fruit of Life, and if well
said, will cause the Word of God to take root in the soul and bring forth
Jesus, the Fruit of Life. They also tell us that the Hail Mary is a
heavenly dew which waters the earth of our soul and makes it bear fruit in
due season. The soul which is not watered by this heavenly dew bears no
fruit but only thorns and briars, and merits only God's condemnation.
250. Here is what our Blessed Lady revealed to Blessed
Alan de Rupe as recorded in his book, The Dignity of the Rosary, and
as told again by Cartagena: "Know, my son, and make it known to all, that
lukewarmness or negligence in saying the Hail Mary, or a distaste for it,
is a probable and proximate sign of eternal damnation, for by this prayer
the whole world was restored."
These are terrible words but at the same time they are
consoling. We should find it hard to believe them, were we not assured of
their truth by Blessed Alan and by St. Dominic before him, and by so many
great men since his time. The experience of many centuries is there to
prove it, for it has always been common knowledge that those who bear the
sign of reprobation, as all formal heretics, evil-doers, the proud and the
worldly, hate and spurn the Hail Mary and the Rosary. True, heretics learn
to say the Our Father but they will not countenance the Hail Mary and the
Rosary and they would rather carry a snake around with them than a rosary.
And there are even Catholics who, sharing the proud tendencies of their
father Lucifer, despise the Hail Mary or look upon it with indifference.
The Rosary, they say, is a devotion suitable only for ignorant and
illiterate people.
On the other hand, we know from experience that those who
show positive signs of being among the elect, appreciate and love the Hail
Mary and are always glad to say it. The closer they are to God, the more
they love this prayer, as our Blessed Lady went on to tell Blessed Alan.
251. I do not know how this should be, but it is perfectly
true; and I know no surer way of discovering whether a person belongs to
God than by finding out if he loves the Hail Mary and the Rosary. I say,
"if he loves", for it can happen that a person for some reason may be
unable to say the Rosary, but this does not prevent him from loving it and
inspiring others to say it.
252. Chosen souls, slaves of Jesus in Mary, understand
that after the Our Father, the Hail Mary is the most beautiful of all
prayers. It is the perfect compliment the most High God paid to Mary
through his archangel in order to win her heart. So powerful was the
effect of this greeting upon her, on account of its hidden delights, that
despite her great humility, she gave her consent to the incarnation of the
Word. If you say the Hail Mary properly, this compliment will infallibly
earn you Mary's good will.
253. When the Hail Mary is well said, that is, with
attention, devotion and humility, it is, according to the saints, the
enemy of Satan, putting him to flight; it is the hammer that crushes him,
a source of holiness for souls, a joy to the angels and a sweet melody for
the devout. It is the Canticle of the New Testament, a delight for Mary
and glory for the most Blessed Trinity. The Hail Mary is dew falling from
heaven to make the soul fruitful. It is a pure kiss of love we give to
Mary. It is a crimson rose, a precious pearl that we offer to her. It is a
cup of ambrosia, a divine nectar that we offer her. These are comparisons
made by the saints.
254. I earnestly beg of you, then, by the love I bear you
in Jesus and Mary, not to be content with saying the Little Crown of the
Blessed Virgin, but say the Rosary too, and if time permits, all its
fifteen decades, every day. Then when death draws near, you will bless the
day and hour when you took to heart what I told you, for having sown the
blessings of Jesus and Mary, you will reap the eternal blessings in
heaven.
6. Praying the Magnificat
255. To thank God for the graces he has given to our Lady,
her consecrated ones will frequently say the Magnificat, following the
example of Blessed Marie d'Oignies and several other saints. The
Magnificat is the only prayer we have which was composed by our
Lady, or rather, composed by Jesus in her, for it was he who spoke through
her lips. It is the greatest offering of praise that God ever received
under the law of grace. On the one hand, it is the most humble hymn of
thanksgiving and, on the other, it is the most sublime and exalted.
Contained in it are mysteries so great and so hidden that even the angels
do not understand them.
Gerson, a pious and learned scholar, spent the greater
part of his life writing tracts full of erudition and love on the most
profound subjects. Even so, it was with apprehension that he undertook
towards the end of his life to write a commentary on the Magnificat
which was the crowning point of all his works. In a large volume on the
subject he says many wonderful things about this beautiful and divine
canticle. Among other things he tells us that Mary herself frequently
recited it, especially at thanksgiving after Holy Communion. The
learned Benzonius, in his commentary on the Magnificat, cites several
miracles worked through the power of this prayer. The devils, he declare,
take to flight when they hear these words, "He puts forth his arm in
strength and scatters the proud-hearted".
7. Contempt of the world
256. Mary's faithful servants despise this corrupted
world. They should hate and shun its allurements, and follow the exercises
of the contempt of the world which we have given in the first part of this
treatise.
8. Special interior practices for those who
wish to be perfect
257. The exterior practices of this devotion which I have
just dealt with should be observed as far as one's circumstances and state
of life permit. They should not be omitted through negligence or
deliberate disregard. In addition to them, here are some very sanctifying
interior practices for those souls who feel called by the Holy Spirit to a
high degree of perfection. They may be expressed in four words, doing
everything through Mary, with Mary, in Mary, and for Mary, in order to do
it more perfectly through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus, and for Jesus.
Through Mary
258. We must do everything through Mary, that is, we must
obey her always and be led in all things by her spirit, which is the Holy
Spirit of God. "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children
of God," says St. Paul. Those who are led by the spirit of Mary are
children of Mary, and, consequently children of God, as we have already
shown. Among the many servants of Mary only those who are truly and
faithfully devoted to her are led by her spirit.
I have said that the spirit of Mary is the spirit of God
because she was never led by her own spirit,, but always by the spirit of
God, who made himself master of her to such an extent that he became her
very spirit. That is why St. Ambrose says, "May the soul of Mary be in
each one of us to glorify the Lord. May the spirit of Mary be in each one
of us to rejoice in God." Happy is the man who follows the example of the
good Jesuit Brother Rodriguez, who died a holy death, because he will be
completely possessed and governed by the spirit of Mary, a spirit which is
gentle yet strong, zealous yet prudent, humble yet courageous, pure yet
fruitful.
259. The person who wishes to be led by this spirit of
Mary:
1) Should renounce his own spirit,
his own views and his own will before doing anything, for example, before
making meditation, celebrating or attending Mass, before Communion. For
the darkness of our own spirit and the evil tendencies of our own will and
actions, good as they may seem to us, would hinder the holy spirit of Mary
were we to follow them.
2) We should give ourselves up to
the spirit of Mary to be moved and directed as she wishes. We should place
and leave ourselves in her virginal hands, like a tool in the hands of a
craftsman or a lute in the hands of a good musician. We should cast
ourselves into her like a stone thrown into the sea. This is done easily
and quickly by a mere thought, a slight movement of the will or just a few
words as, "I renounce myself and give myself to you, my dear Mother." And
even if we do not experience any emotional fervour in this spiritual
encounter it is none the less real. It is just as if a person with equal
sincerity were to say - which God forbid! - "I give myself to the devil."
Even though this were said without feeling any emotion, he would no less
really belong to the devil.
3) From time to time during an
action and after it, we should renew this same act of offering and of
union. The more we do so, the quicker we shall grow in holiness and the
sooner we shall reach union with Christ, which necessarily follows upon
union with Mary, since the spirit of Mary is the spirit of Jesus.
With Mary
260. We must do everything with Mary, that is to say, in
all our actions we must look upon Mary, although a simple human being, as
the perfect model of every virtue and perfection, fashioned by the Holy
Spirit for us to imitate, as far as our limited capacity allows. In every
action then we should consider how Mary performed it or how she would
perform it if she were in our place. For this reason, we must examine and
meditate on the great virtues she practised during her life,
especially:
1) Her lively faith, by which she
believed the angel's word without the least hesitation, and believed
faithfully and constantly even to the foot of the Cross on
Calvary.
2) Her deep humility, which made her
prefer seclusion, maintain silence, submit to every eventuality and put
herself in the last place.
3) Her truly divine purity, which
never had and never will have its equal on this side of heaven.
And so on for her other virtues.
Remember what I told you before, that Mary is the great,
unique mould of God, designed to make living images of God at little
expense and in a short time. Anyone who finds this mould and casts himself
into it, is soon transformed into our Lord because it is the true likeness
of him.
In Mary
261. We must do everything in Mary. To understand this we
must realise that the Blessed Virgin is the true earthly paradise of the
new Adam and that the ancient paradise was only a symbol of her. There are
in this earthly paradise untold riches, beauties, rarities and delights,
which the new Adam, Jesus Christ, has left there. It is in this paradise
that he "took his delights" for nine months, worked his wonders and
displayed his riches with the magnificence of God himself. This most holy
place consists of only virgin and immaculate soil from which the new Adam
was formed with neither spot nor stain by the operation of the Holy Spirit
who dwells there. In this earthly paradise grows the real Tree of Life
which bore our Lord, the fruit of Life, the tree of knowledge of good and
evil, which bore the Light of the world.
In this divine place there are trees planted by the hand
of God and watered by his divine unction which have borne and continue to
bear fruit that is pleasing to him. There are flower-beds studded with a
variety of beautiful flowers of virtue, diffusing a fragrance which
delights even the angels. Here there are meadows verdant with hope,
impregnable towers of fortitude, enchanting mansions of confidence and
many other delights.
Only the Holy Spirit can teach us the truths that these
material objects symbolise. In this place the air is perfectly pure. There
is no night but only the brilliant day of the sacred humanity, the
resplendent, spotless sun of the Divinity, the blazing furnace of love,
melting all the base metal thrown into it and changing it into gold. There
the river of humility gushes forth from the soil, divides into four
branches and irrigates the whole of this enchanted place. These branches
are the four cardinal virtues.
262. The Holy Spirit speaking through the Fathers of the
Church, also calls our Lady the Eastern Gate, through which the High
Priest, Jesus Christ, enters and goes out into the world. Through this
gate he entered the world the first time and through this same gate he
will come the second time.
The Holy Spirit also calls her the Sanctuary of the
Divinity, the Resting-Place of the Holy Spirit, the Throne of God, the
City of God, the Altar of God, the Temple of God, the World of God. All
these titles and expressions of praise are very real when related to the
different wonders the Almighty worked in her and the graces which he
bestowed on her. What wealth and what glory! What a joy and a privilege
for us to enter and dwell in Mary, in whom almighty God has set up the
throne of his supreme glory!
263. But how difficult it is for us to have the freedom,
the ability and the light to enter such an exalted and holy place. This
place is guarded not by a cherub, like the first earthly paradise, but by
the Holy Spirit himself who has become its absolute Master. Referring to
her, he says: "You are an enclosed garden, my sister, my bride, an
enclosed garden and a sealed fountain." Mary is enclosed. Mary is sealed.
The unfortunate children of Adam and Eve driven from the earthly paradise,
can enter this new paradise only by a special grace of the Holy Spirit
which they have to merit.
264. When we have obtained this remarkable grace by our
fidelity, we should be delighted to remain in Mary. We should rest there
peacefully, rely on her confidently, hide ourselves there with safety, and
abandon ourselves unconditionally to her, so that within her virginal
bosom:
1) We may be nourished with the
milk of her grace and her motherly compassion.
2) We may be delivered from all
anxiety, fear and scruples.
3) We may be safeguarded from all
our enemies, the devil, the world and sin which have never gained
admittance there. That is why our Lady says that those who work in her
will not sin, that is, those who dwell spiritually in our Lady will never
commit serious sin.
4) We may be formed in our Lord
and our Lord formed in us, because her womb is, as the early Fathers call
it, the house of the divine secrets where Jesus and all the elect have
been conceived. "This one and that one were born in her."
For Mary
265. Finally, we must do everything for Mary. Since we
have given ourselves completely to her service, it is only right that we
should do everything for her as if we were her personal servant and slave.
This does not mean that we take her for the ultimate end of our service
for Jesus alone is our ultimate end. But we take Mary for our proximate
end, our mysterious intermediary and the easiest way of reaching
him.
Like every good servant and slave we must not remain idle,
but, relying on her protection, we should undertake and carry out great
things for our noble Queen. We must defend her privileges when they are
questioned and uphold her good name when it is under attack. We must
attract everyone, if possible, to her service and to this true and sound
devotion. We must speak up and denounce those who distort devotion to her
by outraging her Son, and at the same time we must apply ourselves to
spreading this true devotion. As a reward for these little services, we
should expect nothing in return save the honour of belonging to such a
lovable Queen and the joy of being united through her to Jesus, her Son,
by a bond that is indissoluble in time and in eternity. Glory to Jesus in
Mary! Glory to Mary in Jesus! Glory to God alone!
SUPPLEMENT -
THIS DEVOTION AT HOLY COMMUNION
Before Holy Communion
266. 1) Place yourself humbly in the
presence of God.
2) Renounce your corrupt nature
and dispositions, no matter how good self-love makes them appear to
you.
3) Renew your consecration saying,
"I belong entirely to you, dear Mother, and all that I have is
yours."
4) Implore Mary to lend you her
heart so that you may receive her Son with her dispositions. Remind her
that her Son's glory requires that he should not come into a heart so
sullied and fickle as your own, which could not fail to diminish his glory
and might cause him to leave. Tell her that if she will take up her abode
in you to receive her Son - which she can do because of the sovereignty
she has over all hearts - he will be received by her in a perfect manner
without danger of being affronted or being forced to depart. "God is
in the midst of her. She shall not be moved."
Tell her with confidence that all you have given her of
your possessions is little enough to honour her, but that in Holy
Communion you wish to give her the same gifts as the eternal Father gave
her. Thus she will feel more honoured than if you gave her all the wealth
in the world. Tell her, finally, that Jesus, whose love for her is unique,
still wishes to take his delight and his repose in her even in your soul,
even though it is poorer and less clean than the stable which he readily
entered because she was there. Beg her to lend you her heart, saying, "O
Mary, I take you for my all; give me your heart."
During Holy Communion
267. After the Our Father, when you are about to receive
our Lord, say to him three times the prayer, "Lord, I am not worthy." Say
it the first time as if you were telling the eternal Father that because
of your evil thoughts and your ingratitude to such a good Father, you are
unworthy to receive his only-begotten Son, but that here is Mary, his
handmaid, who acts for you and whose presence gives you a special
confidence and hope in him.
268. Say to God the Son, "Lord, I am not worthy", meaning
that you are not worthy to receive him because of your useless and evil
words and your carelessness in his service, but nevertheless you ask him
to have pity on you because you are going to usher him into the house of
his Mother and yours, and you will not let him go until he has made it his
home. Implore him to rise and come to the place of his repose and the ark
of his sanctification. Tell him that you have no faith in your own merits,
strength and preparedness, like Esau, but only in Mary, your Mother, just
as Jacob had trust in Rebecca his mother. Tell him that although you are a
great sinner you still presume to approach him, supported by his holy
Mother and adorned with her merits and virtues.
269. Say to the Holy Spirit, "Lord, I am not worthy". Tell
him that you are not worthy to receive the masterpiece of his love because
of your luke-warmness, wickedness and resistance to his inspirations. But,
nonetheless, you put all your confidence in Mary, his faithful Spouse, and
say with St. Bernard, "She is my greatest safeguard, the whole foundation
of my hope." Beg him to overshadow Mary, his inseparable Spouse, once
again. Her womb is as pure and her heart as ardent as ever. Tell him that
if he does not enter your soul neither Jesus nor Mary will be formed there
nor will it be a worthy dwelling for them.
After Holy Communion
270. After Holy Communion, close your eyes and recollect
yourself. Then usher Jesus into the heart of Mary: you are giving him to
his Mother who will receive him with great love and give him the place of
honour, adore him profoundly, show him perfect love, embrace him
intimately in spirit and in truth, and perform many offices for him of
which we, in our ignorance, would know nothing.
271. Or, maintain a profoundly humble heart in the
presence of Jesus dwelling in Mary. Or be in attendance like a slave at
the gate of the royal palace, where the King is speaking with the Queen.
While they are talking to each other, with no need of you, go in spirit to
heaven and to the whole world, and call upon all creatures to thank, adore
and love Jesus and Mary for you. "Come, let us adore."
272. Or, ask Jesus living in Mary that his kingdom may
come upon earth through his holy Mother. Ask for divine Wisdom, divine
love, the forgiveness of your sins, or any other grace, but always through
Mary and in Mary. Cast a look of reproach upon yourself and say, "Lord, do
not look at my sins, let your eyes see nothing in me but the virtues and
merits of Mary. "Remembering your sins, you may add, "I am my own
worst enemy and I am guilty of all these sins." Or, "Deliver me from the
unjust and deceitful man." Or again, "Dear Jesus, you must increase in my
soul and I must decrease." "Mary, you must increase in me and I must
always go on decreasing." "O Jesus and Mary, increase in me and
increase in others around me."
273. There are innumerable other thoughts with which the
Holy Spirit will inspire you, which he will make yours if you are
thoroughly recollected and mortified, and constantly faithful to the great
and sublime devotion which I have been teaching you. But remember, the
more you let Mary act in your Communion the more Jesus will be glorified.
The more you humble yourself and listen to Jesus and Mary in peace and
silence - with no desire to see, taste or feel - then the more freedom you
will give to Mary to act in Jesus' name and the more Jesus will act in
Mary. For the just man lives everywhere by faith, but especially in Holy
Communion, which is an action of faith.
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