M
MariaChristi
Guest
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Recently, I posted a thread titled: “August - Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”. A poster on that thread wrote: “Too many still say, stubbornly — ‘Why this Marian consecration when I can go directly to Jesus?’ …” He continued by quoting from St. Maximilian Kolbe and asked me for some words from St. Louis de Montfort, which I gave, from True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I concluded saying: “I want to start another thread specifically on “Consecration”, God willing, maybe tomorrow.”
So here I am, today. Actually, I had been wanting to write another thread about devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary because I believe the Church’s devotion to Mary has been on the decline. Here are words from St John Paul II speaking in 1982:
Please may I ask that we not debate on “Why or Why not?” . If you are firmly convinced in your own mind that you do not wish to consecrate yourself, that is your decision. My purpose here is not to convince anyone, with words. Only God can give a person Grace to see what may be a stubborn heart within themselves or not. St. Therese of Lisieux wisely wrote: “Everything is Grace!” By God’s Grace may we all learn from Jesus, His Truth, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as our Mother Mary herself learned.
My purpose is to share the experience of the Saints as they have written about Consecration, particularly Saints Maximilian Kolbe and St. Louis de Montfort. Other saints may be mentioned like St. John Paul II so blessed by his own Consecration that he chose “Totus Tuus” as his Papal Motto, which he learned from St. Louis de Montfort. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta also encouraged her sisters to consecrate themselves using De Montfort’s method and chose the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as the titular feast for her Missionaries of Charity. We can learn much from the wisdom of the Saints and Blesseds.
Let us all pray that we may love our Mother as Jesus loves her, and as all the saints have learned to love her.
If there are any readers who have sincere questions because they want to grow in their relationship with Jesus and Mary, I encourage all to pray, especially to the Holy Spirit and read for yourself from these two champions of Mary, who both wrote beautiful Acts of Consecration. The best book I have read on Kolbe’s writings thus far is: Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit: The Marian Teaching of St. Maximilian Kolbe – by H. M. Manteau-Bonamy . I’ve given a link to the online Version of De Montfort’s treatise above.
Finally, a good way to learn anything is by doing. So, I would like to start the 33 Preparation for Total Consecration given by St. Louis de Montfort in his treatise this month. I’m not really good at math but I counted back from the Feast of the Sorrowful Mother (Sept 15) and 33 days has me beginning on Aug. 14! That date is providential since it is the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe. I prayed his Act of Consecration on his Feast Day a few years ago and it seemed to me to be in some way a “completion” to my Act of Consecration written by St. Louis de Montfort when I was a sophomore in High School. If you’d be interested in following the thread and joining me on this journey, I’d be grateful.
Recently, I posted a thread titled: “August - Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”. A poster on that thread wrote: “Too many still say, stubbornly — ‘Why this Marian consecration when I can go directly to Jesus?’ …” He continued by quoting from St. Maximilian Kolbe and asked me for some words from St. Louis de Montfort, which I gave, from True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I concluded saying: “I want to start another thread specifically on “Consecration”, God willing, maybe tomorrow.”
So here I am, today. Actually, I had been wanting to write another thread about devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary because I believe the Church’s devotion to Mary has been on the decline. Here are words from St John Paul II speaking in 1982:
He saw this in 1982. I believe it is worse today.
Please may I ask that we not debate on “Why or Why not?” . If you are firmly convinced in your own mind that you do not wish to consecrate yourself, that is your decision. My purpose here is not to convince anyone, with words. Only God can give a person Grace to see what may be a stubborn heart within themselves or not. St. Therese of Lisieux wisely wrote: “Everything is Grace!” By God’s Grace may we all learn from Jesus, His Truth, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as our Mother Mary herself learned.
My purpose is to share the experience of the Saints as they have written about Consecration, particularly Saints Maximilian Kolbe and St. Louis de Montfort. Other saints may be mentioned like St. John Paul II so blessed by his own Consecration that he chose “Totus Tuus” as his Papal Motto, which he learned from St. Louis de Montfort. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta also encouraged her sisters to consecrate themselves using De Montfort’s method and chose the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as the titular feast for her Missionaries of Charity. We can learn much from the wisdom of the Saints and Blesseds.
Let us all pray that we may love our Mother as Jesus loves her, and as all the saints have learned to love her.If there are any readers who have sincere questions because they want to grow in their relationship with Jesus and Mary, I encourage all to pray, especially to the Holy Spirit and read for yourself from these two champions of Mary, who both wrote beautiful Acts of Consecration. The best book I have read on Kolbe’s writings thus far is: Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit: The Marian Teaching of St. Maximilian Kolbe – by H. M. Manteau-Bonamy . I’ve given a link to the online Version of De Montfort’s treatise above.
Finally, a good way to learn anything is by doing. So, I would like to start the 33 Preparation for Total Consecration given by St. Louis de Montfort in his treatise this month. I’m not really good at math but I counted back from the Feast of the Sorrowful Mother (Sept 15) and 33 days has me beginning on Aug. 14! That date is providential since it is the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe. I prayed his Act of Consecration on his Feast Day a few years ago and it seemed to me to be in some way a “completion” to my Act of Consecration written by St. Louis de Montfort when I was a sophomore in High School. If you’d be interested in following the thread and joining me on this journey, I’d be grateful.