Feb. 28 - Day 8 - continuing the journey

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MariaChristi

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Continuing our journey toward “Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary”, we begin today our 8th day in the preliminary period of the 33 Days of Preparation outlined by St. Louis de Montfort, in his little treatise on “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.”

These 33 Days begin with 12 days of seeking to “empty ourselves of the spirit of the world which is opposed to Jesus Christ.” Jesus is our Way, our Truth and our Life, and St. Louis wrote in Chapter 2 of his treatise:
  1. Jesus, our Saviour, true God and true man must be the ultimate end of all our other devotions; otherwise they would be false and misleading. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of everything. “We labour,” says St. Paul, “only to make all men perfect in Jesus Christ.”
For in Him alone dwells the entire fullness of the divinity and the complete fullness of grace, virtue and perfection. In Him alone we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing; He is the only teacher from whom we must learn; the only Lord on whom we should depend; the only Head to whom we should be united and the only model that we should imitate. He is the only Physician that can heal us; the only Shepherd that can feed us; the only Way that can lead us; the only Truth that we can believe; the only Life that can animate us. He alone is everything to us and he alone can satisfy all our desires.

We are given no other name under heaven by which we can be saved. God has laid no other foundation for our salvation, perfection and glory than Jesus. Every edifice which is not built on that firm rock, is founded upon shifting sands and will certainly fall sooner or later. Every one of the faithful who is not united to Him is like a branch broken from the stem of the vine. It falls and withers and is fit only to be burnt. If we live in Jesus and Jesus lives in us, we need not fear damnation. Neither angels in heaven nor men on earth, nor devils in hell, no creature whatever can harm us, for no creature can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Through Him, with Him and in Him, we can do all things and render all honour and glory to the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit; we can make ourselves perfect and be for our neighbour a fragrance of eternal life.
  1. If then we are establishing sound devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only in order to establish devotion to our Lord more perfectly, by providing a smooth but certain way of reaching Jesus Christ. If devotion to our Lady distracted us from our Lord, we would have to reject it as an illusion of the devil. But this is far from being the case. As I have already shown and will show again later on, this devotion is necessary, simply and solely because it is a way of reaching Jesus perfectly, loving him tenderly, and serving him faithfully.
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If you have yet to begin this journey, hopefully you will begin today! The Lenten season is such an opportune time!
 
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Dear patricius and KBS,

Thanks so much for your “hearts”, which are an indication of your love for Jesus through Mary, and your desire to continue on this journey of learning to love them more and more, by God’s Grace. Hopefully, others all over the world are on this same 33 Day journey of Preparation to pray the Act of Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, on March 25.

Some of us have probably lost count of the number of times we have renewed this Beautiful Act of Total Consecration either by making this 33 Day Journey or by praying the short form of Consecration every day: “I am all Yours (Totus Tuus) and all that I have is yours.”

I hope if anyone who is reading these threads has any inclination toward knowing more, that person will continue to read them each day, and learn more by God’s Grace. Without Him we can do nothing, but God is always near to help us return to Him with our whole heart.
 
Here is something from “The Love of Eternal Wisdom” by St. Louis, about the spirit of the world:
  1. The worldly man bases his conduct on personal honour, on “What will people say?”, on convention, on high living, on self-interest, on ceremonious manners, and on witty conversation. These seven principles are the irreproachable supports on which, he believes, he can safely depend to enjoy a peaceful life. The world will canonise him for such virtues as courage, finesse, tactfulness, shrewdness, gallantry, politeness and good humour. It stigmatises as serious offences, insensitiveness, stupidity, poverty, boorishness and bigotry. 78. He obeys as faithfully as he can the commandments which the world gives him: You shall be well acquainted with the world. You shall be respectable. You shall be successful in business. You shall hold on to whatever is yours. You shall rise above your background. You shall make friends for yourself. You shall frequent fashionable society. You shall seek the good life. You shall not be a kill-joy. You shall not be singular, uncouth or over-pious.
    http://www.montfort.org/content/uploads/pdf/PDF_EN_25_1.pdf
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Wow–this really applies to our times:
  1. Never has the world been so corrupt as it is now, for never has it been so cunning, so wise in its own way, and so crafty. It cleverly makes use of the truth to foster untruth, virtue to justify vice, and the very maxims of Jesus Christ to endorse its own so that even those who are wisest in the sight of God are often deceived.
    http://www.montfort.org/content/uploads/pdf/PDF_EN_25_1.pdf
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Dear patricius,

Thanks for the Quotes from St. Louis de Montfort’s book, “The Love of Eternal Wisdom”. Yes, God gave to St. Louis the eyes of Supernatural Faith that he might “see” how the spirit of the world opposes the Spirit of Jesus".
 
Dear patricius,

I agree with St. Louis de Montfort:
Never has the world been so corrupt as it is now, for never has it been so cunning, so wise in its own way, and so crafty. It cleverly makes use of the truth to foster untruth, virtue to justify vice, and the very maxims of Jesus Christ to endorse its own so that even those who are wisest in the sight of God are often deceived.
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Each generation suffers from the increase of evil activity among satan and his followers and the increase of mediocrity in those who should be living holy lives and opposing the spirit of the the world. It seems to me there is an unusual lack of Marian Devotion in the Catholic Church at this time. There are other factors which foster “lukewarmness” but the lack of reverence for the Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus’ Presence in the Eucharist and for Mary seem to be most evident to me.

Jesus we trust in you: Mary Mother and Model for the Church pray for us. St. Joseph, Protector of the Child Jesus and Mary His Mother, protect us.
 
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Thanks Stephie for your “heart” which is always an encouragement to the rest of us on the journey, that here is another soul yearning to love Jesus through Mary with us on our Journey. 🙂
 
MariaChristi said:
It seems to me there is an unusual lack of Marian Devotion in the Catholic Church at this time. There are other factors which foster “lukewarmness” but the lack of reverence for the Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus’ Presence in the Eucharist and for Mary seem to be most evident to me
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That is true. Marian devotion leads to much deeper Eucharistic adoration.
 
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Lumen Gentium
Chapter VIII
  1. The Father of mercies willed that the incarnation should be preceded by the acceptance of her who was predestined to be the mother of His Son, so that just as a woman contributed to death, so also a woman should contribute to life. That is true in outstanding fashion of the mother of Jesus, who gave to the world Him who is Life itself and who renews all things, and who was enriched by God with the gifts which befit such a role. It is no wonder therefore that the usage prevailed among the Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature.(5*) Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the radiance of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is greeted, on God’s command, by an angel messenger as “full of grace”,(286) and to the heavenly messenger she replies: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word”.(287) Thus Mary, a daughter of Adam, consenting to the divine Word, became the mother of Jesus, the one and only Mediator. Embracing God’s salvific will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son, under Him and with Him, by the grace of almighty God, serving the mystery of redemption. Rightly therefore the holy Fathers see her as used by God not merely in a passive way, but as freely cooperating in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience. For, as St. Irenaeus says, she “being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.”(6*) Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert in their preaching, “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith.”(7*) Comparing Mary with Eve, they call her “the Mother of the living,”(8*) and still more often they say: “death through Eve, life through Mary.”(9*)
 
Thanks again for your reply, patricius. It reminds me of the words in Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 971:
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

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.
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MariaChristi said:
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…
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What a blessing it is to run to Mary when I am in trouble!
 
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Yes, dear patricius, and what a blessing to run to Mary in all the circumstances of Lives – all our joys and all our sorrows! Mary is given to us by God because He knows how much we need her! Mary is only a human person and yet because she gave herself so willingly and completely to Him, we “see” the wonderful things God has done for her and we can believe that He will do wonderful things in us, if we believe in His Love as she did on this earth.
 
Thanks, hazcompat for posting again from Chapter 8 of “Lumen Gentium”. How beautifully Mary has been honored for centuries! How can so many “seemingly forget” the wisdom passed on to us in the Catholic Church. It seems to be a matter of wanting the things of the world rather than the choice of God in our world today.

Mary, Mother and Model for the Church pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
 
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MariaChristi said:
Yes, dear patricius, and what a blessing to run to Mary in all the circumstances of Lives – all our joys and all our sorrows! Mary is given to us by God because He knows how much we need her!
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Yes, and only through being like children–and thus running to our mother for help-- can our sorrows be joys for us.

Like St. Louis says in “The Love of Eternal Wisdom”:
“Father,” said this incarnate Wisdom, when beholding in joyful rapture the beauty of the Cross, “I thank you for having hidden these things - the treasures and graces of my cross - from the wise and prudent of this world and revealed them to the little ones.” (Lk 10.21)
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