"...it is Mary's role to lead us safely to her Son..."

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We continue in St. Louis de Montfort’s treatise on “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” to ponder the motives for embracing and living this devotion:

1. (2) This devotion is a safe means of going to Jesus Christ, because it is Mary’s role to lead us safely to her Son; just as it is the role of our Lord to lead us to the eternal Father. Those who are spiritually-minded should not fall into the error of thinking that Mary hinders our union with God. How could this possibly happen? How could Mary, who found grace with God for everyone in general and each one in particular, prevent a soul from obtaining the supreme grace of union with Him? Is it possible that she who was so completely filled with grace to overflowing, so united to Christ and transformed in God that it became necessary for Him to be made flesh in her, should prevent a soul from being perfectly united to Him?

It is quite true that the example of other people, no matter how holy, can sometimes impair union with God, but not so our Blessed Lady, as I have said and shall never weary of repeating. One reason why so few souls come to the fullness of the age of Jesus is that Mary who is still as much as ever His Mother and the fruitful spouse of the Holy Spirit is not formed well enough in their hearts. If we desire a ripe and perfectly formed fruit, we must possess the tree that bears it. If we desire the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, we must possess the tree of life which is Mary. If we desire to have the Holy Spirit working within us, we must possess His faithful and inseparable spouse, Mary the divinely- favored one whom, as I have said elsewhere, He can make fruitful.

1. Rest assured that the more you turn to Mary in your prayers, meditations, actions and sufferings, seeing her if not perhaps clearly and distinctly, at least in a general and indistinct way, the more surely you will discover Jesus. For he is always greater, more powerful, more active, and more mysterious when acting through Mary than He is in any other creature in the universe, or even in heaven. Thus Mary, so divinely-favoured and so lost in God, is far from being an obstacle to good people who are striving for union with Him. There has never been and there never will be a creature so ready to help us in achieving that union more effectively, for she will dispense to us all the graces to attain that end. As a saint once remarked, “Only Mary knows how to fill our minds with the thought of God.” Moreover, Mary will safeguard us against the deception and cunning of the evil one.

Come, Holy Spirit make us fruitful as you made Mary fruitful - fill us with the Fire of Your Love Who is Jesus!

 

[DMKG]

Dear MariaChristi,
I am in the process of reading “Total Devotion.” (I had contacted you before and shared that I was starting this devotion.) Reading this and praying the Rosary faithfully every day is life sustaining to me. I pray daily for the grace of perseverance and of trusting in the intercession of Our Blessed Mother. God’s Grace, through Mary, sustains me each day. Being honest, the spiritual battle that began about two years ago is still a day to day cross to bear, but each day it drives me closer to The Lord and to Our Blessed Mother. I pray throughout each and every day to accept this trial as a means of developing hope, perseverance and faith in God’s love and mercy. There is great comfort in imploring the intercession of The Blessed Virgin each day, knowing that in Her mercy She will never reject a sinner who appeals to Her. I daily place my life in Her hands, asking Her for the graces necessary in my life.
If I might ask, would you mind continuing to remember me in your prayers…that through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, I may receive the graces to always seek and do God’s will, and to accept each and every cross as a means to leading me closer to God and eternal life praising Him.
Thank you…AVE MARIA!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear DMKG,

Thank you so very much for your reply today! Yes, I do remember your message to me that you were starting this devotion. You have been, and will continue to be, in my “poor” prayers. It is not easy to pray well – as I have discovered in my old age. My older sister told me recently, “Growing old is a humbling experience”.

Being easily distracted is one of the many ways I’m trying to grow in perseverance, however, and so like yourself, I too trust in Mary’s intercession and the Great Mercy of Jesus. I can hardly begin the “Our Father” without suddenly finding myself thinking of so many other things rather than the words I’m trying to pray. But I’m grateful to realize my need to keep asking for grace to pray well — with attention and devotion, as St. Teresa of Avila wrote to encourage us.

Holy Scripture assures us:

…Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it. But he should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,8since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:2-7)

It believe Our Mother has already won for us: God’s Grace to desire union with Him and His Grace to persevere in “asking, seeking and knocking” as Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount (cf Mt 7: 7-11). Prayer is our covenant relationship with God – and Mary’s role as St. Louis wrote is truly is to lead us to her Son as He leads us to our Father. I thank the Lord and our dear Mother, for her prayers for us, and for all her children, especially for all who keep listening with the ears of our hearts to all the Holy Spirit says:

“…Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches…”
(Rev. 22:7)

Please let us continue to pray for one another, for the Church and for all those in most need of His Mercy, through Mary,

 

[DMKG]

Dear MariaChristi…
I was reading a thread of yours regarding being humble before the Lord. It was very inspiring, particularly this quote:

God’s ways are so far above our ways, we often do not understand but we can believe in His Love and trust Him even when we do not understand.

In my particularly case, I have struggled to understand some very difficult circumstances, but these very circumstances move me closer and closer to the Lord and Our Blessed Mother each day. I pray, through Our Blessed Mother’s intercession, for the grace to accept this trial as a means of bringing me back to my faith and to be freed from the life of sin I lived for many years. I’m finding that more and more, I don’t need to understand, but trust in God’s plan, His perfect timing, and Our Blessed Mother’s intercession.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear DMKG,

Thanks again, for another reply and for sharing the beauty of God’s Grace at work in your soul. Only God can give us that increase in the graces we need – as Jesus reminds us in the Gospel:

…without Me, you can do nothing…(Jn 15:5)

His Grace is allowing you to hear His Truth, with the ears of your heart, , and I thank Him with you for His great Mercy on all of us who continue to ask that we may receive, and seek that we may find and knock that He may open the door (cf Mt 7:7-11). We thank Him for the gift of Mary through whom He continues to come to us with every grace.

Yes it is Jesus, through Whom we learn, by the power of the Holy Spirit – even as Mary and the first disciples continued to learn more after Pentecost and the Church in every age continues to come into all Truth from the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised.

The scene in Luke’s Gospel when Jesus was only 12 and Mary and Joseph found him after 3 days – can be very helpful to us. When Mary asked Jesus why He had done this, as she and Joseph had been searching anxiously for Him – He answered : "Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s House? " The next sentence is especially important for us to hear:

…But they did not understand what He said to them… (Luke 2:50)

Mary and Joseph in their great love for Jesus, did not understand. Mary Immaculate, full of Grace did not understand, and her husband Joseph, a truly righteous man, did not understand – so we ought not to be surprised when we hear but do not yet understand what God is saying to us. Mary pondered all in her heart and thus is the Mother and Model for the Church. In time Mary understood and possibly Joseph understood more as God chose to reveal more to each of those two saintly souls. So by God’s Grace, we also can learn grace upon grace.

We need to persevere in the Supernatural Faith, Hope and above all Charity given to us in Baptism and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. We need to keep asking God to increase those gifts and the gifts of the Holy Spirit within us .

Please let us continue to pray for one another, for the Church and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy. Thanks again for sharing your experience of God’s work in your life, through Mary.

 

[GLam1761]

Hi Maria Christi,
I, being a convert to Roman Catholicism, hesitate to
give myself entirely to Mary, it is one of the obstacles
I find hard to fathom. But, that being said, I venerate
Mary Immaculate and pray the Rosary daily, it has
greatly strengthened my faith.
And THANK YOU for your great insights on the con-
secration to Mary, the Queen Mother in Heaven!!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear GLAM,

Thanks so much for your reply and for sharing your hesitation about giving yourself to Mary. Actually, Mary keeps nothing for herself for she has given herself to God totally. Her “yes” to Him at the Annunciation continued her whole life on earth – like her Son she always sought to do the Father’s Will. She awaits us now in heaven for Jesus gave her to us on Calvary, to be our Mother and Model. St. Louis wrote that we can easily say we give our selves to Jesus through Mary and it means the same thing. Jesus and Mary are so closely united in Love!

May the Lord grant you many graces in praying the Rosary and enable you to continue growing in the Supernatural Faith given to us in Baptism. Perhaps you may begin to read St. Louis de Montfort’s little book one day and find that you are growing more and more in faith and hearing Jesus’ Words ever more deeply:

Behold your Mother

By God’s grace may she enfold you in her arms and draw you ever closer to Jesus.