Continuing to learn from St. Louis de Montfort

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. 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.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

St. Louis De Montfort is writing nothing essentially “new” in True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary . He learned through prayerful reading of Scripture, the Saints, from Tradition and the Magisterium. If some misunderstand, it may be for lack of prayerfully pondering Scripture and other sources as St. Louis did. There is a need for the Church to learn what True Devotion to Mary means. Jesus is, as St. Louis wrote, our sole model. Chapter one is: “The Necessity of Devotion to Our Lady”. St. Louis didn’t use words “lightly”! He wrote truth the Church needs to hear again --as the Catechism’s used the word “intrinsic” :

971 “All generations will call me blessed”: “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” The Church rightly honors “the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of ‘Mother of God,’ to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs… This very special devotion … differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.” The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.

The Catechism emphasized “intrinsic” meaning “essential” i.e. as St. Louis wrote - a “necessity”!