De Montfortian spirituality

[Epistemes]

It appears that nobody has been too interested in responding to my earlier thread…for which I’m grateful! I, unfortunately, was having a very stressful day yesterday, and was equally confused about a lot of things.

This question is serious, though, and I honestly hope that someone out there - preferably somebody who has read de Montfort’s books or has actually consecrated him/herself to Mary - will be able to answer my question. You see, as I mentioned in another thread, I’ve been slowly reading *True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin *very slowly, and while I understand most of what I read - and thoroughly agree with it - one issue still remains unanswered:

Within the scope of de Montfort’s theology, he really drives home the notion of how sinful and unworthy we truly are and how incapable we are of approaching Jesus, much less God the Father, since Jesus is himself God the Son. It’s based on this very principle that de Montfort motions for a complete dependence upon Mary, the Mother of God, who lacks any divinity and yet is full of graces unimaginable, is our spiritual mother as well as the biological mother of Christ, thereby allowing herself to be the perfect mediatrix. My question(s) is/are this:

How perfect, entire, and complete is this self-giving of one’s self to Mary?

• Does this unapproachableness of God and Christ also exclude common prayers asking for forgiveness? Must we approach God through Mary in asking for forgiveness? [Considering de Montfort’s theology of Mary beautifying our good deeds before handing them to Christ, I can only imagine that requests for forgiveness through her would also be beautified and placed on a silver platter, so to speak.]
• While our relationship with God and Christ can never be severed (since the creature’s relationship with Creator/Redeemer is an entirely dependent one), if we are to live our consecration for Mary, with Mary, and through Mary…then where does this leave our communicative relationship with God and Christ (considering they are as unapproachable as de Montfort maintains)? Must even our table blessings be through Mary?

You can, perhaps, see the gist of my question(s): this consecration to Jesus through Mary does not seem quite complete, perfect, or entire if there are exceptions to the rule, such as table blessings, personal prayers, or even saying, “Thank you, God, for this beautiful day” given our sinful nature and Christ’s sinless majesty (echoing the prophet Habacuc: “Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity.” (1:13))

Anyone who might be able to answer these concerns of mine, it would be appreciated.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Hi there! As one who consecrated herself to Mary over 2 years ago, perhaps I might help.

First as you no doubt are aware, the whole purpose of consecrating oneself to Mary is because she is, was, and always will be the perfect way to lead us to Jesus. Remember how St. Louis said that one could say one was a ‘slave of Mary’, a ‘slave of Jesus’, or a ‘slave of Jesus in Mary’ and all would be interchangeable? Our prayers thus, whether they start with “Our Father”, or “Hail Mary” etc. are always to God ultimately. Once one is consecrated (we are encouraged to start every day with the prayer, "I am thine, dear Jesus, and all I have is thine through Mary, thy Holy Mother’) we do not have to preface every single prayer with ‘through Mary’–it is understood, all our thoughts, all our possessions, all our actions are to God through the Blessed Mother as her slaves. Therefore, saying grace “Bless us O Lord” is still (as always) to God and (because of the consecration) is perfected as being “through Mary”, whether we physically say “through Mary” every time, or not.

So there really aren’t exceptions. Hope that helps.

God bless you on your journey!

 

[Epistemes]

Our prayers thus, whether they start with “Our Father”, or “Hail Mary” etc. are always to God ultimately. Once one is consecrated (we are encouraged to start every day with the prayer, "I am thine, dear Jesus, and all I have is thine through Mary, thy Holy Mother’) we do not have to preface every single prayer with ‘through Mary’–it is understood, all our thoughts, all our possessions, all our actions are to God through the Blessed Mother as her slaves. Therefore, saying grace “Bless us O Lord” is still (as always) to God and (because of the consecration) is perfected as being “through Mary”, whether we physically say “through Mary” every time, or not.

Ah, I see!

So, what you’re saying is that after consecration it doesn’t matter whether one says, “O Mary, I am heartily sorry for my sins,” or, “O God, I am heartily sorry for my sins,” because that prayer would *always *first be received by Mary, even if addressed to God specifically, where Mary would nurture and beautify that petition even more before ultimately sending it on to God, never keeping it for herself. Is this an adequate summation?

If so, then de Montfort’s spirituality is even more beautiful than I thought!

 

[PhilotheaZ]

I made the de Montfort consecration almost six years ago, and I highly recommend it.

We can (and should) still pray directly to God even though we do everything through Mary. You will notice that many of the prayers in the de Montfort preparation (Veni Creator, Litany of the Holy Ghost, Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Litany of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis de Montfort’s Prayer to Jesus, O Jesus Living in Mary) are addressed to God, as is the first part of the Act of Consecration itself (O Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom! O sweetest and most adorable Jesus!).

It’s kind of like saying, “This is my prayer to God. Mary, please deliver it to Him for me, and if there are any imperfections in it, please fix it up so it looks nicer.”

And you don’t have to preface every prayer with this thought. It becomes part of you. You wake up in the morning and renew your consecration daily by saying, “I am all Thine, and all that I have is Thine, most loving Jesus, through Mary, Thy most holy Mother.” And she accompanies you throughout the day.

I do like to invoke her at certain times, for example, when I am about to receive Communion (I ask her to loan me her heart so that I may receive Him with all the love she has for Him), when I am distracted in prayer (asking her to teach me to pray and contemplate her Son as she did).

 

[LikeDismas]

I am still reading “True Devotion.” Is this all in the book? I am very drawn to Marian consecration but still don’t feel like I understand it.

 

[Epistemes]

I am still reading “True Devotion.” Is this all in the book? I am very drawn to Marian consecration but still don’t feel like I understand it.

Yes, most of the stuff covered above is actually in the book - it’s just that you have to read between the lines and reflect on what de Montfort is saying. These answers to my original question make complete sense because it’s all right there in de Montfort!

If you read the book and don’t feel you quite understand, I’d suggest talking to your parish priest…or even some folks here who have completed the consecration! May 13 will, God willing, be my day!