4th mark of "true" devotion: it is "constant"!

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MariaChristi

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Hopefully, by God’s Grace, many of us are beginning to appreciate more and more God’s Truth shining through the words of St. Louis de Montfort’s treatise on "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin".

Jesus dying on the Cross told John, His beloved disciple and through John all of us: “Behold your Mother”. John obeyed, taking Mary into his life, but how often do we behold our Mother Mary? How constant are we in imitating her virtues? Today we need to examine ourselves on how “constant” we are in our devotion to her.
  1. 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.
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Come Holy Spirit, kindle in us the Fire of Your Love and Your Truth. Enable us to obey Jesus Who is our Way, our Truth and our Life. He gave Mary to us as Mother and Model for the Church, help us to know and love her more, that we may know and love Jeus more through her. Jesus, we trust in You! Mary, our Mother, pray for us. Dear St. Joseph as you loved Jesus and Mary, pray for us. St. Louis de Montfort and all you Holy Saints and Angels, pray for all of us! Amen,
 
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So very true. Two items to note, as evidenced in my own life…
  1. The closer I get to Our Lady, the closer I become to Our Lord. I do not think that is coincidence.
  2. The closer devotion to I get to Our Lady, the less attractive sin becomes. I don’t think that is coincidence either.
One thing that has also helped, I’ll pass along for those who don’t know… Relevant Radio a couple years ago started doing the Memorare at least once per hour. It’s a good practice, and helps ground and focus us on this devotion. It’s a lovely practice. (They have a campaign to pray 200 million (!) Memorare’s this year to end abortion).

God bless, and again thanks for publishing these!
 
Dear Stephie,

Thanks for your “heart” and for your reply.
  1. Yes, it was my experience also, Stephie, that after I joined the Legion of Mary, and Consecrated myself totally to Jesus through Mary I found myself growing closer to Jesus as well. There is no coincidence, as you said. God knew our need and sent Jesus through Mary to this earth by the power of His Holy Spirit, and He continues to send Jesus through her to all who open their hearts to receive His Grace.
  2. You are right on the second item as well: the “truer” our devotion to Mary becomes the less “attractive” sin becomes. I would add – we implore God’s Grace more, for we realize our need for Grace to avoid sin, remembering Jesus’ words: "Without Me you can do nothing!
Let us be mindful of the last petition in the “Our Father”: “Deliver us from evil”, and the final words of the Hail Mary: “Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners NOW AND at the hour of our death. Amen.”
 
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Dear Mary888,

Thanks for your question; it is a good one. 🙂 “Timidity” by definition is a lack of courage or a lack of confidence. It is not necessarily a “bad” thing. Many children are often timid among strangers - and it can be a very “good” thing because parents these days especially need to warn children about strangers who may do them harm.

Parents also need to tell their children, however: Do not be afraid to tell the Truth for fear of anyone’s “annoyance” or “dislike” (or even the consequence if they know they have done something wrong). Children need to learn not to be timid when it comes to the spiritual life. They need to learn “Courage and Confidence in God’s Truth” so that they will not lie or disobey God’s commandments. They need to learn in age appropriate ways, how to tell the difference between good and evil.

When St. Louis de Montfort wrote : "… a person truly devoted to our Blessed Lady is not changeable, fretful, scrupulous or timid… he is speaking of a “timid person” as one who may be lacking courage or who is lacking in confidence to depend on God. We cannot depend totally on self. It takes courage to oppose the maxims of the world, and it takes confidence in God and Mary when we fall and need their help to rise again and go forward on the path to holiness.

Hope that helps. Thanks again for asking the question.
 
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MariaChristi said:
When St. Louis de Montfort wrote : "… a person truly devoted to our Blessed Lady is not changeable, fretful, scrupulous or timid … he is speaking of a “timid person” as one who may be lacking courage or who is lacking in confidence to depend on God. We cannot depend totally on self. It takes courage to oppose the maxims of the world , and it takes confidence in God and Mary when we fall and need their help to rise again and go forward on the path to holiness .
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That is exactly what kind of timid I am. I am sorry. I can’t change. I just feel very bad when the priests at church insist on courage as a gift of the Holy Spirit and I feel so bad, because I feel inadequate and unwanted in the church.
 
Dearest Mary,

None of us can “change ourselves” i.e. we cannot make ourselves “perfect”-- we can only ask God for His Grace to change us from whatever is lacking in our being holy as He is holy – for without Him we can do nothing. He knows us better than we can know ourselves.

When priests or anyone else “insists” on our being “Courageous” we need to listen carefully because they may not be clear enough in what they are saying. Your being timid in some circumstances may be better than a person being “bold” and “arrogant” and thinking that is what courageous means and thus does more harm than good to himself and others.

Look at Our Mother Mary, she was quiet and serene and also wise in when and how she spoke to others. We need to speak the Truth lovingly, and seek the humility of Jesus as Mary did. We have received the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Baptism but we need to ask God to increase those gifts in us: Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, Fortitude, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.

Many saints prayed long and hard to know God’s Truth for their lives, and in time God’s Great Mercy gave them the graces they needed because of their perseverance. St. Monica, for instance, prayed for 20 years before God changed her son Augustine into a holy man and a great convert who has inspired millions and continues by his writings to help us all. Your willingness to do God’s Will is obvious in your sorrow.

You only need to keep asking for Jesus promised : “Ask and you will receive… seek and you will find, knock and the door will open” ( Mt 7:7-11) God is a Father Who knows how to give good gifts to His children. Please let us pray for one another and for all those in most need of His Mercy.
 
Dearest Mary,

Hopefully you’ve read my reply (above) to your words:
“That is exactly what kind of timid I am. I am sorry. I can’t change. I just feel very bad when the priests at church insist on courage as a gift of the Holy Spirit and I feel so bad, because I feel inadequate and unwanted in the church.”
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None of us can “change ourselves” – only God can enable us to become all He created us to be. He gives us His grace through Mary to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in the next. Our part is to open our hearts to Him as Mary did and to keep praying to Him, asking Him with faith, and trusting Him as a Father Who knows how to give good gifts to His Children.

God does not want you to feel inadequate or unwanted in His Church. Every soul He created is precious in His Sight and He seeks us as the father in the parable of the Prodigal son, sought his child. We all need the embrace of our Father Who has come to dwell within us. Please let us pray for one another, for the Church and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy.
 
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Dear Dorothy and Convert13,

Thank you both for your “hearts”, and for your appreciation of St. Louis de Montfort’s words from his treatise on “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”. Each time I read his little treatise I learn more, and am more aware of how his words are so needed in the world today. There is so much more confusion today, it seems that Catholics are uncertain of what the Church actually teaches. We need the Wisdom God gives us in His Holy Scripture and also through His Saints’ example of Holy lives, and by their sharing what they learned from the Holy Spirit, as they prayed and listened to God as Mary did, in ALL Jesus said and did, pondering all in her heart.

We cannot let ourselves be discouraged. We need to remain in Jesus and in His Words in Jn 14:1 to His disciples (and us) , the night before he died:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
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– the literal Greek translation continues with the words:
“Be believing in God; be believing in Me”
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– which to me are stronger than other translations, such as: “You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” We need to cooperate with God’s Grace and persevere in our Faith. Having been given Faith is one thing; but do we actively use our Faith to pray and be strengthened by the Faith God gave us in Baptism? Have we truly grown in Faith by listening to what He has told us in His Word, as Mary listened and pondered and lived her Faith.

Holy Spirit, enlighten our minds and strength our wills to grow in “true devotion” to Jesus through Mary. Enable us to be “interior, trustful, holy, constant and disinterested.”
 
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Mary888 said:
That is exactly what kind of timid I am. I am sorry. I can’t change. I just feel very bad when the priests at church insist on courage as a gift of the Holy Spirit and I feel so bad, because I feel inadequate and unwanted in the church.
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I’m with you on that. It’s one of the things I wake up agonising over…😥
 
The Biblical reference I can recall, by means of the
Spirit of God, is 2 Tim. 1:7 where it says that God
has NOT given us a spirit of “Timidity”, but other
translations render it “Self-Control” or “Self-Disc-
ipline” which is more in line w/ other Scripture
like Gal. 5:22-23 and 2 Peter 1:6
 
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