Oct. 19 - "...Jesus is the fruit and glory of Mary

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We continue today, in Chapter 2 of “True Devotion”, by St. Louis de Montfort:

1. Moreover, if, as I have said, the Blessed Virgin is the Queen and Sovereign of heaven and earth, does she not then have as many subjects and slaves as there are creatures? "All things, including Mary herself, are subject to the power of God. All things, God included, are subject to the Virgin’s power", so we are told by St. Anselm, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine and St. Bonaventure. Is it not reasonable to find that among so many slaves there should be some slaves of love, who freely choose Mary as their Queen? Should men and demons have willing slaves, and Mary have none? A king makes it a point of honour that the queen, his consort, should have her own slaves, over whom she has right of life and death, for honour and power given to the queen is honour and power given to the king. Could we possibly believe that Jesus, the best of all sons, who shared His power with his Blessed Mother, would resent her having her own slaves? Has He less esteem and love for His Mother than Ahasuerus had for Esther, or Solomon for Bathsheba? Who could say or even think such a thing?
2. But where is my pen leading me? Why am I wasting my time proving something so obvious? If people are unwilling to call themselves slaves of Mary, what does it matter? Let them become and call themselves slaves of Jesus Christ, for this is the same as being slaves of Mary, since Jesus is the fruit and glory of Mary. This is what we do perfectly in the devotion we shall discuss later.

Third principle: We must rid ourselves of what is evil in us

1. Our best actions are usually tainted and spoiled by the evil that is rooted in us. When pure, clear water is poured into a foul-smelling jug, or wine into an unwashed cask that previously contained another wine, the clear water and the good wine are tainted and readily acquire an unpleasant odour. In the same way when God pours into our soul, infected by original and actual sin, the heavenly waters of His grace or the delicious wines of His love, His gifts are usually spoiled and tainted by the evil sediment left in us by sin. Our actions, even those of the highest virtue, show the effects of it. It is therefore of the utmost importance that, in seeking the perfection that can be attained only by union with Jesus, we rid ourselves of all that is evil in us. Otherwise our infinitely pure Lord, who has an infinite hatred for the slightest stain in our soul, will refuse to unite us to Himself and will drive us from His presence.

Please let us pray over and ponder these words, asking always the Holy Spirit to bring us into ALL truth as Jesus promised in Jn 16:13.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Erundi,

Thanks again for your “heart”. Sorry I needed to keep editing this post until I got it right. Hope you weren’t confused by changes I needed to make in the format; it is ok now.

Beginning the “Third principle: We must rid ourselves of what is evil in us” is really important and I think it is the work of a lifetime. I hope you will continue to ponder what St. Louis De Montfort is sharing with us what Jesus tells us in scripture we cannot serve two Masters. We must love God above all things. St. Augustine wrote about the City of God and the city of man: in the city of man there are those who love themselves to the contempt of God but in the City of God, we love God to the contempt of self.

St. Louis will write more as we continue to read and ponder his writing and understand how close he is to The Word of God which he listened to so carefully and prayerfully, as Mary did on this earth. Let us continue to “Behold” our Mother as Jesus told us.

I had a hard time getting today’s post into the right format, sorry,

 

[Erundil]

Dear @MariaChristi, everything is perfect, no worries!
I wanted to thank you for reminding us so often of the love of Our Lady and encouraging us to pray.
You motivated me to find and start reading Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin on my own. Keeping you in my prayers!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Erundi,

I cannot begin to tell you how much it means to me to read that you are keeping me in your prayers! Thank you so very much. Please let us continue to pray for one another, for the Church and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy.

Thank you also for letting me know that you started reading St. Louis de Montfort’s Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. How our world needs to return to Jesus through Mary in these days when so many have “moved away from the Mother” as Pope Saint John Paul saw as he addressed the Legion of Mary Apostolate in October 1982 and added that when one moves away from the Mother it is not long before he moves away from the Son.

Jesus, we trust in You! Mary Mother of the Church, pray for us.