Dec. 18 - Wk 2 - Day 2 - to acquire an understanding of Mary

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, we continue listening to the words God gave to St. Louis de Montfort in writing his treatise on “True Devotion”. Just as the Gift of Faith is sorely needed , so is the Gift of Divine and Holy Charity - Love for God and love for others because of God needed in difficult times. Faith, Hope and Love - are needed, but the greatest need is Love!

3. The gift of pure love

1. 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…
2. 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!”

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your Faithful. Kindle in us, the Fire of Your Love as you filled Mary.

Prayers to be offered daily during Wk 2: Litany of the Holy Spirit, Ave Maris Stella and Litany of the Blessed Virgin.

 

[hazcompat]

he Secret of Mary : Nos. 23–24​

True Devotion to Our Blessed Lady

If we would go up to God, and be united with Him, we must use the same means He used to come down to us to be made Man and to impart His graces to us. This means is a true devotion to our Blessed Lady. There are several true devotions to our Lady: here I do not speak of those which are false. The first consists in fulfilling our Christian duties, avoiding mortal sin, acting more out of love than with fear, praying to our Lady now and then, honoring her as the Mother of God, yet without having any special devotion to her. The second consists in entertaining for our Lady more perfect feelings of esteem and love, of confidence and veneration. It leads us to join the Confraternities of the Holy Rosary and of the Scapular, to recite the five or the fifteen decades of the Holy Rosary, to honor Mary’s images and altars, to publish her praises and to enroll ourselves in her modalities. This devotion is good, holy and praiseworthy if we keep ourselves free from sin. But it is not so perfect as the next, nor so efficient in severing our soul from creatures, in detaching ourselves in order to be united with Jesus Christ. The third devotion to our Lady, known and practiced by very few persons, is this I am about to disclose to you, predestinate soul. It consists in giving one’s self entirely and as a slave to Mary, and to Jesus through Mary, and after that, to do all that we do, through Mary, with Mary in Mary and for Mary We should choose a special feast day on which we give, consecrate and sacrifice to Mary voluntarily lovingly and without constraint, entirely and without reserve: our body and soul, our exterior property such as house, family and income, and also our interior and spiritual possessions: namely, our merits, graces, virtues, and satisfactions.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear hazcompat,

Thanks so much for your reply which quotes paragraphs 23 - 24 of St. Louis de Montfort’s small classic: “The Secret of Mary” which helps us to understand more of his “True Devotion” to the Blessed Virgin.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your Faithful, kindle in us the Fire of Your Love. Jesus, we trust in You! Mary, Mother of the Church pray for us.