Not Even Your Prayers & Good Works are Yours

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Quaere_Verum

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What does St. Louis de Montfort mean when he says that in making yourself of slave of Jesus through Mary that not even your good works or prayers belong to you? Does that mean you only lift people and situations up in prayer and not specifically ask for requests? Does that mean you have to just pray with no special intention, no special person or situation in mind and let Mary do what God wills with your prayers? Just pray for the sake of praying?

I’m confused!
 
this is entirely my own guess, internalizing what I remember from preparation for consecration, is that this refers to changing our own attitude toward prayer and about prayer. Maybe we tend to think “I am praying for you, I will pray for you, I have prayed for you” as actions that belong to me, initiated by me, and are efficacious because of what I did, my intentions, sincerity, fervor etc. If we can achieve the sate he is refering to, we would no longer refer to “my prayer”, “my sacrifice”, “my good intentions”, “my best wishes for your good health,” “my efforts to help the poor,” “my donation to the work of the missions.” and so forth. we would speak of anything we happened to do as work undertaken with, in and for Christ through Mary, not as anything we have initiated and accomplished, but as participation in Christ’s prayer to the Father, Christ’s mercy, Christ’s healing.

We would no longer a pray in a manner that gives orders to God, but in a manner that has as its only goal conformity with God’s will. We would never again pray in a way that seems to dictate to God what the best outcome would be. And we would never again do acts of charity in a way that is reprimanding God (for letting the evil exist in the first place, and thinking we can do better than He can in putting things right). that’s just my best guess.
 
What does St. Louis de Montfort mean when he says that in making yourself of slave of Jesus through Mary that not even your good works or prayers belong to you? Does that mean you only lift people and situations up in prayer and not specifically ask for requests? Does that mean you have to just pray with no special intention, no special person or situation in mind and let Mary do what God wills with your prayers? Just pray for the sake of praying?

I’m confused!
Hi QV…All good no matter how minute belongs to God alone because it flows from Him and His Grace. When we have some good inspiration and perform some good work, the inspiration came from God and His Grace as did the strength etc. to perform that work. God is the Sole Origin of All Goodness.

Nor is God’s Grace confined to those with some sort of personal qualities. First, if these are good qualities they came from God and are sustained by Him as does any other good that may flow from those qualities. God is not bound by any rules whatsoever.
God is never ever ‘obliged’…it is an impossibility and a contradiction.

Hence in justice we owe always and constantly to God much Praise and Thanksgiving for all and any good in our own selves, which is gift underserved…and for all the good around us - nor do we in any way deserve to have such good around us. Life itself with too sunset and sunrise and the stars and trees immediately come to mind as a few goods.

The very fact you are drawn to read a good such as the works of Louis de Montfort and striving to read with comprehension which is good, and perhaps thinking of making yourself a slave of Jesus through Mary and another good…all reveal matters that are good and reveal that God and The Holy Spirit are with you and working with you. Deo Gratius! Let us praise and thank The Lord. For all His Gifts to members of His Church are gifts for the good of the whole Church. I thank The Lord for you and praise Him.

Peace with Joy…Barb:)
 
A few years ago in a confession I said ‘I can do nothing good.’ The Priest smiled at me and said ‘of course’.

All good proceeds from God.

God made me and said ‘It is good’, I could not make myself nor could I make myself good.

Everything is grace. Everything is gift. We are to simply return back to God all that has been gifted to us after we have worked with Him in grace to bear fruit (as we cannot bear fruit unless we are in God and God is in us) each day of our life.

Nothing belongs to me, it is on loan for the will of God, not even my life is my own.

In my signature I write ‘In the Living Prayer of my life’ I do not write ‘In my Living Prayer…’

How ungratefgul then, for those who know this and do not offer everything back to God for His will giving Him thanks for everything, especially the cross.

In the Living Prayer of my life
 
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