5th mark of "true devotion": it is "disinterested"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we look at the 5th and last mark of “true devotion” which St. Louis describes in his treatise on “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”:

1. 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.

It is significat to me that St. Louis chose to put this mark at the end of his list – it seems to me it helps to bind all the marks together and stresses the importance of the first mark i.e. “interior”. If we are seeking God we need to seek Him within our own hearts where He has come to us in Baptism to dwell on the Throne of our Hearts. He desires us to seek Him there always, in order to pray always. God, Three in One: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, by His Grace, coming to us through Mary, teaches us to be “interior”, to be “trustful”, to be “holy” as He is holy, to be “constant” and finally to be “disinterested”.

Come Holy Spirit, kindle in us, the Fire of Your Love. Enable us to love God above all things, especially give us “true self-knowledge” that we may learn from the example of Jesus – as Mary learned – to be meek and humble of heart. Enable us “to seek God alone in our Blessed Mother, and not ourselves”. Jesus we trust in You! Mary our Mother, pray for us.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

I love the concept of “disinterested”.

It means “I will love you no matter what happens.”

How many of us have been tempted to give up on God when things don’t go our way?
*raises hand
But that’s when we really need to DECIDE on radical trust and keep on deciding. Sometimes every day. Sometimes every hour.

 

[MariaChristi]

Yes, dear OScarltt,

…and how about every minute and every second of every hour, asking God for His grace to decide and keep deciding – to believe Him, and trust Him, and above all to love Him and all others because of our love for Him…truly we need to know deeply within our minds and hearts that without Him we can do nothing that is good.

Thanks so much for your reply!

 

[adgloriam]

I love the concept of “disinterested”.

It means “I will love you no matter what happens.”

How many of us have been tempted to give up on God when things don’t go our way?
*raises hand
But that’s when we really need to DECIDE on radical trust and keep on deciding. Sometimes every day. Sometimes every hour.

I really appreciate this insight, which you’ve shared with us several times here on CAF. But it’s though to an extreme, and perhaps one of the aspects is the difficulty in loving God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ.

I’ll say my usual reflection which falls short of yours: prophet Elias asked God to end his life, prophet Jeremiah cursed the day he was born, and Jesus on the Cross said:“Eli, Eli, lemma sabachthani.” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”.

So, the decision, of the will, to unconditionally love God isn’t easy, and even if we aren’t smashed by hardship, it isn’t intuitive how to love God in life’s circumstances. Something I have yet to learn, so thank you for pointing that way.

God bless.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear OScarlett,

Thanks again for your reply and your honesty. Yes, of course it is hard to take up the Cross but it is our willingness that is so pleasing to God. It our “Yes” even as Elias and Jeremiah and all the saints in the old Testament and the new finally gave to God their “Yes” in going forward to endure the sufferings God permitted in their lives.

Jesus and Mary were sinless yet they too accepted the Crosses God gave them to suffer for us. Sinless, they were suffering for our sins. How can we refuse the effort to do whatever we are able to do in love for Jesus through Mary? Little St. Therese of Lisieux is such an encouragement to us who feel so little most of the time, she spoke the truth in her words: “Love is the willingness to suffer”.

She also said that a soul who is childlike knows how infinitely Good and Loving God is and how He picks up the little one who is trying hard and falls. With her sweet sense of humor she says that when we’re little we are close to the ground so it may be easier for us to get up.

St. Paul also encourages us by writing : "The Love of Christ impels us… (cf 2 Cor 5-14) The definition of “disciple” is “learner”. By God’s grace we are called and continue learning by God’s Grace, from Baptism until we meet Him at the end of our lives. St, John of the Cross reminds us that in the eveining of our lives we will be “examined” on love (some translations use the word “judged”) in either case we know that “without love we are nothing”( cf 1 Cor 13 : 2 ff)

Please let us pray for one another for the Church and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

I really appreciate this insight, which you’ve shared with us several times here on CAF. But it’s though to an extreme, and perhaps one of the aspects is the difficulty in loving God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ.

I’ll say my usual reflection which falls short of yours: prophet Elias asked God to end his life, prophet Jeremiah cursed the day he was born, and Jesus on the Cross said:“Eli, Eli, lemma sabachthani.” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”.

So, the decision, of the will, to unconditionally love God isn’t easy, and even if we aren’t smashed by hardship, it isn’t intuitive how to love God in life’s circumstances. Something I have yet to learn, so thank you for pointing that way.

God bless.

The older I get, the more I realize how the spiritual life is the work of a lifetime.
I used to look for that “road to Damascus” experience, where I would find the book or the sermon or the verse where the scales would fall from my eyes and everything would be made plain. Like an “a-ha!” moment. Where I would know what to do, even if it was hard.
But the fact it, I still find myself climbing, hand over hand, towards the goal, while in the meantime pulling up the spiritual weeds and vices from my life and the missteps, etc. and figuring it all out.

I mean, we all know the broad-strokes of what to do (pray, Bible, sacraments, avoid sin), but figuring out what that looks like on a moment by moment basis is a very different thing.