Mar.11 - Wk 2 - Day 1 - " to acquire an understanding of the Blessed Virgin and ask the Holy Spirit for this grace."

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” St. Louis continues to guide us on our journey:

1. Each day of the second week they should endeavour in all their prayers and works to acquire an understanding of the Blessed Virgin and ask the Holy Spirit for this grace. They may read and meditate upon what we have already said about her. They should recite daily the Litany of the Holy Spirit and the Ave Maris Stella as during the first week. In addition they will say at least five decades of the Rosary for greater understanding of Mary.

In reading what St. Louis de Montfort has already said about Mary, I’d like to share this week some paragraphs from Chapter 2:

1. First, true devotion to our Lady is interior, that is, it comes from within the mind and the heart and follows from the esteem in which we hold her, the high regard we have for her greatness, and the love we bear her.
2. Second, it is trustful, that is to say, it fills us with confidence in the Blessed Virgin, the confidence that a child has for its loving Mother. It prompts us to go to her in every need of body and soul with great simplicity, trust and affection. We implore our Mother’s help always, everywhere, and for everything. We pray to her to be enlightened in our doubts, to be put back on the right path when we go astray, to be protected when we are tempted, to be strengthened when we are weakening, to be lifted up when we fall into sin, to be encouraged when we are losing heart, to be rid of our scruples, to be consoled in the trials, crosses and disappointments of life. Finally, in all our afflictions of body and soul, we naturally turn to Mary for help, with never a fear of importuning her or displeasing our Lord.

By God’s Grace, may we be like St. John the Evangelist and take Mary into our lives, in obedience to Jesus’ words from the Cross:

Behold your Mother

May God give us true understanding as we pray with attention and true devotion:
Litany of the Holy Spirit: HERE
Ave Maris Stella HERE
Five decades of the Holy Rosary (I pray the Sorrowful Mysteries during Lent)

 

[hazcompat]

Pope Saint Pius X

5…For can anyone fail to see that there is no surer or more direct road than by Mary for uniting all mankind in Christ and obtaining through Him the perfect adoption of sons, that we may be holy and immaculate in the sight of God? For if to Mary it was truly said: "Blessed art thou who hast believed because in thee shall be fulfilled the things that have been told thee by the Lord" (Luke i., 45); or in other words, that she would conceive and bring forth the Son of God and if she did receive in her breast Him who is by nature Truth itself in order that "He, generated in a new order and with a new nativity, though invisible in Himself, might become visible in our flesh" (St. Leo the Great, Ser. 2, De Nativ. Dom.): the Son of God made man, being the "author and consummator of our faith"; it surely follows that His Mother most holy should be recognized as participating in the divine mysteries and as being in a manner the guardian of them, and that upon her as upon a foundation, the noblest after Christ, rises the edifice of the faith of all centuries.

Peace

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks, hazcompat, for these words of Pope St. Pius X. His question has been voiced from my own heart for years – on Catholic Forums, speaking in parishes to adults and teaching children, teens and young adults about devotion to Mary:

…For can anyone fail to see that there is no surer or more direct road than by Mary for uniting all mankind in Christ and obtaining through Him the perfect adoption of sons (and daughters) that we may be holy and immaculate in the sight of God? — I added the word “daughters”, trusting St. PIus X understands.

Some people “do fail to see” this surer and more direct road" however and I’ve often wondered why? Are they simply using "natural faith’ such as putting faith in an ordinary man who is driving the bus they hope will bring them to their destination? Might it be because they have not received Supernatural Faith in Baptism and have never heard the Gospel? Have they refused the actual graces God gives to lead them to the Absolute Truth of God and His Plan to send Jesus through Mary? There is much mystery in God’s working within each heart, and how each heart responds or does not.

Having taught children in pre-K classes and upward through middle school, high school and young men and women on the College level, I can understand Jesus’ answer to His Disciples, when they asked "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? (cf Mt 18: 1-4)

He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.…"

As St. Louis de Montfort reminded us also in True Devotion, paragraph 88:

…Not the lack of grace, for this is denied no one. It was a lack of humility; they considered themselves stronger and more self-sufficient than they really were…

In listing what he considers her 10 principal virtues, St. Louis lists Mary’s humility first! We’ll be looking at her virtues tomorrow on Day 2, but today as we seek to understand Mary, let us ponder her humility and pray for those who have not yet recognized her as God’s great Masterpiece!