Praying "with" Mary

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This morning's Gospel on Jesus' teaching us how to pray led me to consider how Mary heard, pondered and prayed the words f Jesus:

7 “And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread; 12 And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; 13 And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Mt. 6: 7-15)

Prayer is like oxygen for anyone who is striving to live a holy life. We have all been called to holiness, and Jesus is our Way our Truth and our Life, given to us; we can do nothing without Him. Why then do we need Mary? How does Mary help us in our prayer? Mary and John heard Jesus say, from His cross: "Behold your son"; "Behold your mother" and they began the relationship which we in the Church continue. All the saints have had a tender devotion to Mary but perhaps the one who has expressed it best is St. Louis de Montfort. In his classic little treatise, [True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary](http://www.ewtn.com/library/montfort/truedevo.htm), he wrote:

..."With Mary

260. We must do everything with Mary, that is to say, in all our actions we must look upon Mary, although a simple human being, as the perfect model of every virtue and perfection, fashioned by the Holy Spirit for us to imitate, as far as our limited capacity allows. In every action then we should consider how Mary performed it or how she would perform it if she were in our place. For this reason, we must examine and meditate on the great virtues she practised during her life, especially:

1) Her lively faith, by which she believed the angel's word without the least hesitation, and believed faithfully and constantly even to the foot of the Cross on Calvary.

2) Her deep humility, which made her prefer seclusion, maintain silence, submit to every eventuality and put herself in the last place.

3) Her truly divine purity, which never had and never will have its equal on this side of heaven...

If we would take Mary into our lives, as the beloved disciple John obediently did at the cross, then we would pray with "her lively faith", "her deep humility" and "her truly divine purity" -- what a difference that would make each time we prayed the words Jesus taught us. How pleased God is to see His children "with Mary" the Mother He gave us!

 

[WaitingForJesus]

Thank you for sharing this with us Maria Christi! I just finished reading St. Louis de Montfort’s books and so have been pondering his words a lot lately. Often images come to mind of things that I do with my daughter. And I suddenly realize that if I will allow myself to be a child again, I can ask Mother Mary to be with me…just as I am with my daughter. She will hold my hand and teach me the right way. As I read your post, I realized that prayer is a perfect example of this. Usually it is mothers that teach children to pray. Right now, I am in the midst of teaching my daughter to pray the rosary. Unfortunately, I feel somewhat inadquate for this task. Other prayer forms have always been more natural for me (I am a convert). Wouldn’t it be beautiful if each time we prayed we said “Dear Mother, please be with me. Show me the way to do this in the way that is most pleasing to your son.”

 

[MariaChristi]

Thank you for sharing this with us Maria Christi! I just finished reading St. Louis de Montfort’s books and so have been pondering his words a lot lately. Often images come to mind of things that I do with my daughter. And I suddenly realize that if I will allow myself to be a child again, I can ask Mother Mary to be with me…just as I am with my daughter. She will hold my hand and teach me the right way. As I read your post, I realized that prayer is a perfect example of this. Usually it is mothers that teach children to pray. Right now, I am in the midst of teaching my daughter to pray the rosary. Unfortunately, I feel somewhat inadquate for this task. Other prayer forms have always been more natural for me (I am a convert). Wouldn’t it be beautiful if each time we prayed we said “Dear Mother, please be with me. Show me the way to do this in the way that is most pleasing to your son.”

Dear WaitingForJesus,

St. Louis De Montfort has been a great help to me in learning “True Devotion” to Mary and through Mary to Jesus. I was introduced to his writings by a Dominican sister who taught religion in our high school, and I will be eternally grateful for her invitation to us to consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary, according to the method St. Louis de Montfort taught. Have you made the Act of Total Consecration? If not, I hope you will.

How old is your daughter, if I may ask? As a teacher of many different elementary grades as well as teaching high school and college students, and older adults, I know the joy of sharing devotion to Mary. Your own growing love for Mary will influence your daughter, as well as your words to her. Please do not feel inadequate, because God’s Grace is always sufficient. Trust in His Holy Spirit to guide you to the fullness of Truth, and enable you to share Jesus as Mary did, with your family and with all you meet.

I have found that children are very willing to pray and even very young children can ponder the mysteries of the Rosary, following with pictures and some simple explanations. Some years ago, I had the happy experience of praying one decade of the Rosary at the end of each school day with my third grade class before they boarded the school bus for home. To my surprise a mother shared with me her delight to find her daughter on her knees one Saturday morning, in her room, and when asked what she was doing, she answered she was praying her Rosary. I hope those children continued to love praying the Rosary for the rest of their lives.

Holy Scripture encourages us:

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Of course that applies to daughters too!

Thanks for your reply. Your daughter is blessed to have a prayerful mother, just as we are blessed in having our Mother Mary.

 

[WaitingForJesus]

I have not made the Total Act of Consecration, but am going through the process right now. I started it a little over a week ago, in time for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. However, I want to do the consecration on Our Lady of Angels (Aug 2nd) and so will do some extra readings from 33 Days to Morning Glory after finishing St. Louis de Montfort’s process.

My daughter is 9 years old. She just finished 3rd grade, and she has an excellent imagination. We pray together every night, and I had already been encouraging her to visualize Jesus as we prayed. She immediately grasped the idea of visualizing the mysteries as we did the prayers. I realized we should do this after taking her to a Holy Hour with Vespers that started with the rosary and she completed the whole thing without any problems. Right now we are just doing one or two decades.

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words. God bless you!

 

[MariaChristi]

I have not made the Total Act of Consecration, but am going through the process right now. I started it a little over a week ago, in time for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. However, I want to do the consecration on Our Lady of Angels (Aug 2nd) and so will do some extra readings from 33 Days to Morning Glory after finishing St. Louis de Montfort’s process.

My daughter is 9 years old. She just finished 3rd grade, and she has an excellent imagination. We pray together every night, and I had already been encouraging her to visualize Jesus as we prayed. She immediately grasped the idea of visualizing the mysteries as we did the prayers. I realized we should do this after taking her to a Holy Hour with Vespers that started with the rosary and she completed the whole thing without any problems. Right now we are just doing one or two decades.

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words. God bless you!

Dear WaitingForJesus,

And thank you for all you are doing to help not only your own daughter to grow in holiness but all of us; as one member of the Body grows, we all grow! May the Lord complete the good work He has begun in you and in all His children, through Mary.

 

[Dorothy]

I have not made the Total Act of Consecration, but am going through the process right now. I started it a little over a week ago, in time for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. However, I want to do the consecration on Our Lady of Angels (Aug 2nd) and so will do some extra readings from 33 Days to Morning Glory after finishing St. Louis de Montfort’s process.

My daughter is 9 years old. She just finished 3rd grade, and she has an excellent imagination. We pray together every night, and I had already been encouraging her to visualize Jesus as we prayed. She immediately grasped the idea of visualizing the mysteries as we did the prayers. I realized we should do this after taking her to a Holy Hour with Vespers that started with the rosary and she completed the whole thing without any problems. Right now we are just doing one or two decades.

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words. God bless you!

I, too, am going through the Act of Consecration to our Blessed Mother once again, to complete it on July 16.

I had heard so much about 33 Days to Morning Glory that I finally decided to buy it. It is beautiful, and very much enhances the wonderful things about our Blessed Mother that goes deeper into the mysteries of our faith. Being a senior citizen, I have time to pray more and am using the 33 Days book to enhance the prayers I am using for the consecration.

In the past eight years I have attended a four-day silent retreat for ladies at a monastery in Mobile. At two of those retreats the Total Consecration to Our Lady was highly recommended and expounded upon. The retreat masters gave beautiful explanations for the blessings that come from it.

I am hearing more and more from priests in this area recommending it as well. We need our Mother, who perfectly leads us to her Son!

 

[MariaChristi]

I, too, am going through the Act of Consecration to our Blessed Mother once again, to complete it on July 16.

I had heard so much about 33 Days to Morning Glory that I finally decided to buy it. It is beautiful, and very much enhances the wonderful things about our Blessed Mother that goes deeper into the mysteries of our faith. Being a senior citizen, I have time to pray more and am using the 33 Days book to enhance the prayers I am using for the consecration.

In the past eight years I have attended a four-day silent retreat for ladies at a monastery in Mobile. At two of those retreats the Total Consecration to Our Lady was highly recommended and expounded upon. The retreat masters gave beautiful explanations for the blessings that come from it.

I am hearing more and more from priests in this area recommending it as well. We need our Mother, who perfectly leads us to her Son!

Dear Dorothy,

Thanks so much for your reply, and the good news that you’ll be consecrating yourself to Jesus through Mary on July 16. That is such a lovely Feast-Day on which to make such a special act of love as the Total Consecration.

It was wonderful to read in your post about all the priests who are encouraging this Consecration! May they continue to do so and help more persons to appreciate the gift God has given to us in giving Mary as Mother from His Cross. Yes, she always leads us to Jesus, her Son.

 

[WaitingForJesus]

I, too, am going through the Act of Consecration to our Blessed Mother once again, to complete it on July 16.

I had heard so much about 33 Days to Morning Glory that I finally decided to buy it. It is beautiful, and very much enhances the wonderful things about our Blessed Mother that goes deeper into the mysteries of our faith. Being a senior citizen, I have time to pray more and am using the 33 Days book to enhance the prayers I am using for the consecration.

In the past eight years I have attended a four-day silent retreat for ladies at a monastery in Mobile. At two of those retreats the Total Consecration to Our Lady was highly recommended and expounded upon. The retreat masters gave beautiful explanations for the blessings that come from it.

I am hearing more and more from priests in this area recommending it as well. We need our Mother, who perfectly leads us to her Son!

Glad to hear you are doing this too Dorothy! May our Mother wrap her in your loving arms and draw you even closer to our Lord in the coming weeks.

 

[Dorothy]

Glad to hear you are doing this too Dorothy! May our Mother wrap her in your loving arms and draw you even closer to our Lord in the coming weeks.

Thank you! And may she bless you also!