Dec. 22 - Wk 2 - Day 6 - to acquire understanding of Mary

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

How appropriate that on these last days of Wk, 2 we are seeking to understanding Mary and the week will end on the day before Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve we will begin Wk 3 and seek to understand Jesus better. How appropriate to find Christ through Mary! Their union is unique and is according to God’s Plan Who choose to send Jesus through Mary to us.

Today and tomorrow, I hope it will help us to ponder the “Prayer of Total Consecration” which St. Louis de Montfort wrote. By God’s Grace may we understand more deeply, why our Consecration begins by addressing Jesus, and ends in helping us see how important Mary is to us as members of His Body.

The full text of the Prayer is longer than one post, so I will begin it today, and God willing, complete it tomorrow:

The words of Total Consecration, which St Louis wrote:

"O Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom! O sweetest and most adorable Jesus! True God and true man, only Son of the Eternal Father, and of Mary, always virgin! I adore Thee profoundly in the bosom and splendors of Thy Father during eternity; and I adore Thee also in the virginal bosom of Mary, Thy most worthy Mother, in the time of Thine Incarnation.

I give Thee thanks for that Thou hast annihilated Thyself, taking the form of a slave in order to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee for that Thou hast been pleased to submit Thyself to Mary, Thy holy Mother, in all things, in order to make me Thy faithful slave through her. But, alas! Ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises which I made so solemnly to Thee in my Baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Thy child, nor yet Thy slave; and as there is nothing in me which does not merit Thine anger and Thy repulse, I dare not come by myself before Thy most holy and august Majesty. It is on this account that I have recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy Mother, whom Thou hast given me for a mediatrix with Thee. It is through her that I hope to obtain of Thee contrition, the pardon of my sins, and the acquisition and preservation of wisdom.

Hail, then, O immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the Eternal Wisdom willed to be hidden and to be adored by angels and by men! Hail, O Queen of Heaven and earth, to whose empire everything is subject which is under God. Hail, O sure refuge of sinners, whose mercy fails no one. Hear the desires which I have of the Divine Wisdom; and for that end receive the vows and offerings which in my lowliness I present to thee…

Come Holy Spirit, bring us into Your Love and Your Truth as we ponder the union of Jesus with Mary.