Nov. 1 - Marks of authentic devotion to our Lady

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On this beautiful Feast of All Saints, how good it is to be pondering authentic devotion to the Queen of all Saints, our Mother Mary! St. Louis de Montfort in his treatise on “True Devotion” wrote:

1. We must, then, carefully avoid joining the critical devotees, who believe nothing and find fault with everything; the scrupulous ones who, out of respect for our Lord, are afraid of having too much devotion to his Mother; the exterior devotees whose devotion consists entirely in outward practices; the presumptuous devotees who under cover of a fictitious devotion to our Lady wallow in their sins; the inconstant devotees who, being unstable, change their devotional practices or abandon them altogether at the slightest temptation; the hypocritical ones who join confraternities and wear emblems of our Lady only to be thought of as good people; finally, the self-interested devotees who pray to our Lady only to be rid of bodily ills or to obtain material benefits.

2. Marks of authentic devotion to our Lady

1. After having explained and condemned false devotions to the Blessed Virgin we shall now briefly describe what true devotion is. It is interior, trustful, holy, constant and disinterested.
2. 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.

The first mark of authentic devotion is truly the most important –
it is interior - it comes from within. Let us ask the Holy Spirit today, to give us an increase in His Grace that we may grow in greater esteem in which we hold our Mother, and the love we bear her, as all the saints throughout the ages have done!

Let us ask Jesus her Son and our Lord the Incarnate Word of God, made flesh in her womb to teach us to love her as He loved her and loves her now that we might be united with His Mind and Heart within our souls.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit look with Mercy on your children, that we may grow in holiness as you have called us to be holy as You are Holy, through Mary given to us as our Mother by Jesus from His Cross. Beholding our Mother, may we become the saints you have called us to be! Amen.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear “observing”,

Thanks for your “heart”! How very appropriate the symbol of a heart is – especially given the emphasis this morning, on having the “Heart and Mind” of Christ, as we ponder the words of St. Louis de Montfort on the first, and most important mark of “True Devotion” – “it is interior”!

St. Luke’s Gospel tells us, in Chapter 2, Shepherds came to adore the newborn Baby Jesus, relating to Mary and Joseph the Angels’ message:

And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. (Lk 2:19)

Also in Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 2, when Mary and Joseph found the boy Jesus in the Temple, after searching for Him 3 days:

When His parents saw Him, they were astonished, and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for You with great anxiety.” And He said to them, “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what He said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and His mother kept all these things in her heart. (Lk: 48 -51)

So we too, must learn as Mary did to LISTEN to all God says and does in our lives, and ponder all these things in our hearts as well. We need to “Behold” our Mother and learn from her how to live and continually grow in our interior life by God’s Grace, begun in Baptism.

Please let us pray for one another, for the Church and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy.

 

[hazcompat]

The Virgin Mary is in Heaven, body and soul​

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

After we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory .

Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.

Pope Pius XII

St Peter’s Square, Rome, 1950

Read more on mariedenazareth.com:​

Mary’s Assumption

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear GioG12,

Thanks for your “heart” also (and again for this is not the first time) – you seem to be liking several of the posts from St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”. Good for you!

I firmly believe the more we listen to God’s Word and the more we listen to Him – as He inspires His sons and daughters, who are now with Him in heaven, the Saints, and seated at his right, the Queen of All Saints, our Mother Mary – the more we learn how to grow in our interior lives by His Supernatural graces given at Baptism.

Hopefully you are continuing to Listen to God’s Word as St. Louis de Montfort did and are becoming more like Mary our Mother in her perfect following of Jesus, her Son, to be received into heaven where she awaits her children. Happy, Holy Feast of ALL Saints today. Thanks again!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear hazcompat,

Thanks again to you also, another faithful son of Mary who responds often to the words of St. Louis de Montfort in his treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

Your quotes frequently reflect another beautiful facet of our Catholic Faith, and today reflecting on Mary’s Assumption is so lovely and appropriate for the Feast of ALL Saints, and the words of St. Louis de Montfort on “Authentic” devotion to Mary being first “interior”. So much depends of our purity of heart!

The Beatitudes given by Jesus, in Mt 5 reveal His Truth to us:

Blessed are the clean (pure) of heart, for they will see God. (Mt 5:8)

Mary was Immaculately conceived and remains Clean, Pure and Immaculate of Heart. She is the Patroness of the unborn and the United States has been under her special protection from the beginning of this Nation under God, and by His design. Mary promised: “In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph!”

Mary’s Heart will triumph because she has always been totally His! No other purely human person is closer to God than is Mary. By God’s grace, we shall overcome evil, the more we learn to “Behold” our Mother as Jesus told us to do from His Cross, and learn as she did to Listen to God, to ponder all in her heart, and to do the Truth He speaks.