I’ve just been reading St. Louis de Montfort, and I am profoundly uncomfortable with the style and level of devotion he suggests. I don’t like the idea of “slavery” to Mary – that the only way to Jesus is through her. How can we have a personal relationship with Jesus if he is constantly angry with us, and we have no access to him except through his Mother?
It’s important to remember that St. Louis De Montfort was writing in the style of an 18th-century Frenchman and not in that of a 21st-century American. That means that his writing contains a lot of overblown hyperbole and purple prose. However, his devotion to the Blessed Virgin was based on a true insight: Jesus Christ chose to enter the world through the Blessed Virgin and, in his sovereign freedom, chooses to bestow grace on the world through her. This doesn’t mean that he’s an angry God whom his Mother must placate, but that he is a devoted Son who chooses to allow his Mother to cooperate in his work of salvation.
If you don’t care for the Marian devotional style of centuries ago, you may wish to look into more modern Marian devotional literature.
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