Oct. 5 - Continuing "True Devotion to the Virgin Mary"

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Yesterday, I left out part of paragraph 48 by mistake. I want to add it today as we continue in Chapter 1 of St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion” on the “Necessity of Devotion to Our Lady”:
  1. …(concluding words)This seems to have been foretold by the Holy Spirit in Psalm 58: “The Lord will reign in Jacob and all the ends of the earth. They will be converted towards evening and they will be as hungry as dogs and they will go around the city to find something to eat.” This city around which men will roam at the end of the world seeking conversion and the appeasement of the hunger they have for justice is the most Blessed Virgin, who is called by the Holy Spirit the City of God .
4. Mary’s part in the latter times
  1. The salvation of the world began through Mary and through her it must be accomplished. Mary scarcely appeared in the first coming of Jesus Christ so that men, as yet insufficiently instructed and enlightened concerning the person of her Son, might not wander from the truth by becoming too strongly attached to her. This would apparently have happened if she had been known, on account of the wondrous charms with which Almighty God had endowed even her outward appearance. So true is this that St. Denis the Areopagite tells us in his writings that when he saw her he would have taken her for a goddess, because of her incomparable beauty, had not his well-grounded faith taught him otherwise. But in the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealed by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and served through her. The reasons which moved the Holy Spirit to hide his spouse during her life and to reveal but very little of her since the first preaching of the gospel exist no longer.
1) God wishes to make Mary better known in the latter times.
  1. God wishes therefore to reveal Mary, his masterpiece, and make her more known in these latter times:
(1) Because she kept herself hidden in this world and in her great humility considered herself lower than dust, having obtained from God, his apostles and evangelists the favour of being made known.

(2 ) Because, as Mary is not only God’s masterpiece of glory in heaven, but also his masterpiece of grace on earth, he wishes to be glorified and praised because of her by those living upon earth.

(3) Since she is the dawn which precedes and discloses the Sun of Justice Jesus Christ, she must be known and acknowledged so that Jesus may be known and acknowledged.

(4) As she was the way by which Jesus first came to us, she will again be the way by which he will come to us the second time though not in the same manner.
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Due to CAF policy on number of words per post, I will need to continue paragraph 50, God willing, tomorrow. Come Holy Spirit!
 
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Great !!! I am forever into Marian devotion and this is such a feast to the mind. Please continue it. I think CAF shouldn’t restrict the number of words in a post.
 
Dear sorrowful1,

Thanks so much for your “heart” and for your love of Jesus through Mary. If you have never read the whole of St. Louis de Montfort’s small book "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, I encourage you to read the online version by clicking on this link : True Devotion. Even if you have read it, I would encourage you to read it again! I have lost count of the number of times I have read this little book but each time I read it, I learn more. I think it is the “Gold Standard” on learning to love and honor God through Mary.

It seems to me God gave St. Louis de Montfort the Wisdom needed in this book for His Church to know the “Necessity of Devotion to Mary” and how we can grow closer to Him through Mary by our total consecration to Jesus through Mary. This little book has inspired Saints since it was written centuries ago in the 1700’s. Pope St. John Paul II and St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta both read and practiced True Devotion to Mary.

As to the limiting of words in posts, I sometimes wonder if that is because today’s readers lose patience with anything too long. The modern world is in a constant rush and needs to slow down, but I think the unwillingness of many to take time to listen to God’s Word in Scripture and listen to the wisdom God gives His saints, is a sad testimony to the lack of zeal for God’s call to Holiness. Let us please pray for one another and for all those in most need of His Mercy – especially on this Memorial of St. Faustina to whom Jesus revealed His Mercy and who loved Jesus and Mary so much!
 
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Dear GioG,

Thanks for your “heart” which is evidence of your love for Jesus through Mary, and is an encouragement to me and to others to continue seeking to love and honor those Two Hearts more and more, for they have loved us more than we can ever repay.

Please let us pray for one another and for the Church and the world so in need of His Mercy on this Memorial of St. Faustina, to whom Jesus revealed His Mercy and who wrote her Diary detailing His words to her. St. Faustina includes Mary in her Diary as well.
 
My pleasure!

And thank you for the suggestion, I shall go through it . I’m always looking up for anything related to the Virgin Mary. A few weeks ago I found some very deeply religious and “scholastic” articles on/about Infant Mary. It was quite a new addition to my daily devotion to Her.

An excerpt from your post :

(1) Because she kept herself hidden in this world and in her great humility considered herself lower than dust, having obtained from God, his apostles and evangelists the favour of being made known.

Ir touched me most!!

🙏🙏
 

The Ten Virtues of Mary​

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

The Order of the Annonciade (1) was founded by a French princess. At age five, in 1469, the daughter of King Louis XI, Saint Joan of France, had a vision of the Virgin Mary inviting her to found a religious order in her honor. However, events took a different turn and Joan was married at the age of twelve. She had to wait until her marriage was annulled in 1502 to found the monastic Order of the Sisters of the Annonciade (Annunciation) in Bourges, France.

Establishing a new religious order wasn’t easy. Joan sought the help of her confessor, the Franciscan Brother Gabriel-Maria, who wrote the rule of the order. It was centered on three simple ideas:
  1. Seek God
  2. Walk in Mary’s footsteps
  3. Imitate Mary’s ten virtues mentioned in the Bible (2)
The Pope officially approved the rule in 1517 and the Order was launched. It spread rapidly in France and Europe, but it also had to deal with the conflicts of the times: the Wars of Religion in the 16th century, the Thirty Years War in the 17th century and, of course, the French Revolution. More than a thousand Annonciade nuns suffered a tragic fate, from exile to prison and the guillotine…

After the Revolution, two of the former sisters recreated the community with a boarding school in France. In 1904, anticlerical laws were voted, and the nuns were forced into exile again. The Annonciades returned to France in 1922 and settled permanently in Thiais (a town in the suburbs of Paris) in 1926.

The monastery of Thiais has grown steadily since, adding new communities in the 1970s:
  • Saint-Doulchard, in Normandy (1988)
  • Menton, in the Alpes (2000)
  • Poland* (2009).
  1. Annonciade
  2. The Ten Virtues of Mary:
I. Mary’s humility; II. Of Mary’s love of God; III. Of Mary’s charity towards her neighbor; IV. Of Mary’s faith; V. Of Mary’s hope; VI. Of Mary’s chastity; VII. Of Mary’s poverty; VIII. Of Mary’s obedience; IX. Of Mary’s patience; X. Of Mary’s spirit of prayer.

*The Annonciade congregation is closely linked to Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, Polish founder of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. See: Marian Fathers

Adapted from: Paris Vox

Read more on mariedenazareth.com:​

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.
 
Dear Sorrowful1,

So happy to read your reply! It is such a blessing when persons begin to seek more of God’s Will in their lives! We are all called to holiness and St. Louis de Montfort and all the Saints show us in their lives, how important Mary is if we are to fulfill our call to holiness. Mary os both Mother and Model for the Church.

St. Bernard who has been quoted as saying: “De Maria, nymquam satis” – “Of Mary, there is never enough” was also quoted as saying that the 3 most important ways to grow in holiness are: “Humility, humility and humility”.

In listing Mary’s 10 principal virtues, St. Louis de Montfort begins his list with " deep humility" (see paragraph #108 in True Devotion).

Mary, Most Humble, Mother of Jesus, pray for us.
 
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Dear hazcompat,

Thanks for the interesting article on the Annonciade nuns, founded in France. It was interesting to see the list of the “Ten Virtues of Mary” - since St. Louis de Montfort also lists Mary’s ten principle Virtues in his “True Devotion to Mary”:
  1. Third, true devotion to our Lady is holy, that is, it leads us to avoid sin and to imitate the virtues of Mary. Her ten principal virtues are: deep humility, lively faith, blind obedience, unceasing prayer, constant self-denial, surpassing purity, ardent love, heroic patience, angelic kindness, and heavenly wisdom.
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St. Louis De Montfort’s list differs somewhat from the one Joan’s Confessor included in the rule of the order she founded. Interestingly - both lists begin with humility. Sorry the article didn’t include the references to the Bible from which The Franciscan Brother Gabriel - Maria chose the ten virtues he listed. Certainly we can find them in several parts of the Gospels, as we can also find St. Louis de Montfort’s list as we ponder Mary in the Gospels also.

The order was approved in 1517 by the Pope centuries before before St. Louis de Montfort’s time of preaching and teaching through his writings in the Church of France. The fact that it continued though so many sufferings is a testimony to their love for Jesus through Mary. I wonder if they are continuing to survive after the last date in the article of a new community added in Poland: (2009). I hope they are!
 
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