The Spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort and the Legion of Mary

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Last Saturday I attended the first “Congress” of the Legion of Mary in the State of South Carolina, here in the USA. There have been such “Congresses” (or gatherings of Active Members) of Mary’s Legion in other parts of the USA and worldwide but this was my first experience. I want to post some thoughts from the keynote speaker, Deacon Cody since he spoke of the connection which I have known for a long time and that is the “Spirituality of St. Louis de Monfort” so permeated the founder of the Legion, Servant of God Frank Duff that his life and the lives of the Legion members are rooted in that gift of the Holy Spirit springing up in Church. The Church exists to evangelize: to bring Jesus into the world as Mary did, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yesterday, on CAF, we concluded our 33 Day journey of preparation to consecrate ourselves totally to Jesus through Mary – some for the first time and others for an unknown (except to God) number of renewals – praying De Montort’s “Act of Total Consecration”. The more one reads and re-reads the little treatise "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary" the more one begins to understand what a gift to the Church God has given to St. Louis de Montfort for the world.

Deacon Cody remarked that he is convinced that the Legion of Mary is the living out of De Montfort’s True Devotion. I agree totally. He also said that St. Louis prophesied the Legion in his treatise, I agree with that also, for in the beginning paragraphs, especially #55 through #59 the saint speaks of Devotion to Mary, so necessary in the end times. For instance:

1. Finally, God in these times wishes his Blessed Mother to be more known, loved and honoured than she has ever been. This will certainly come about if the elect, by the grace and light of the Holy Spirit, adopt the interior and perfect practice of the devotion which I shall later unfold. Then they will clearly see that beautiful Star of the Sea, as much as faith allows. Under her guidance they will perceive the splendours of this Queen and will consecrate themselves entirely to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience her motherly kindness and affection for her children. They will love her tenderly and will appreciate how full of compassion she is and how much they stand in need of her help. In all circumstances they will have recourse to her as their advocate and mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will see clearly that she is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus and will surrender themselves to her, body and soul, without reserve in order to belong entirely to Jesus.

I would encourage anyone who has not read this spiritual classic or who took it up once and never finished, read it online or purchase a copy and prayerfully read it asking the Holy Spirit to give all the graces He wants to give that all may know Mary, and come to know Jesus more perfectly.

 

[Dorothy]

I have experienced that becoming closer to our Blessed Mother has brought me closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

About 35 years ago I had never heard of “True Devotion to Mary”. It was my beginnings in the Lay Carmelite Order, and I overheard two ladies, that I much admired for their love of the Lord, talking about that book. After their conversation, which I overheard as they were sitting right behind me, I knew I had to get that book and look into it!

Since then I have made the De Montfort Consecration many times, and it is awesome to one’s spiritual life.
It has made me realize what my fallen nature is like, and how the Lord comes to fill us when we pray and empty ourselves.

Peace,

Dorothy

 

[MariaChristi]

I have experienced that becoming closer to our Blessed Mother has brought me closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

About 35 years ago I had never heard of “True Devotion to Mary”. It was my beginnings in the Lay Carmelite Order, and I overheard two ladies, that I much admired for their love of the Lord, talking about that book. After their conversation, which I overheard as they were sitting right behind me, I knew I had to get that book and look into it!

Since then I have made the De Montfort Consecration many times, and it is awesome to one’s spiritual life.
It has made me realize what my fallen nature is like, and how the Lord comes to fill us when we pray and empty ourselves.

Peace,

Dorothy

Dear Dorothy,

Thanks so much for your reply. I am grateful for your mentioning that you heard about “True Devotion” in your beginnings with the Lay Carmelites. Certainly there are members of that spiritual organization, as well as others in the Church that are also “living” their Consecration to Jesus through Mary.

I didn’t want to make my post too long, so I did not include that the Servant of God Frank Duff in gathering together with other lay persons and their parish priest to pray to the Holy Spirit on how to “live” their Total Consecration was led to form the “Legion of Mary” with that Total Consecration as “the founding Charism”. He did not make the Consecration a “requirement” for it must always be a “free choice” but the Legion Handbook is imbued with words from Scripture and from de Montfort’s “True Devotion”.

It seems to me Lay Carmelites, on the other hand, have contemplative prayer more as their main objective than the combined objective of prayer and evangelization in the world as the Legion does . I think when Deacon Cody was speaking to the Legion of Mary, he was sharing what he had experienced both in his own calling as a slave of Jesus and Mary, as St. Louis described in True Devotion and as the deacon had learned as a Spiritual Director in the Legion of Mary, studying the Legion Handbook.

St. John Paul II and St. Theresa of Calcutta who also “lived” their total Consecration to Jesus and Mary gave their example to priests and nuns in their vocations. The Spirituality of St. Louis De Montfort can help every person in every state of life to grow in holiness. Frank Duff in his lifetime was greatly admired by the orders St. Louis de Montfort founded. Deacon Cody mentioned his own friendship with the Montfort Fathers.

Long story short, I thank you Dorothy for your reply and again I encourage anyone who has not read “True Devotion” to prayerfully read this classic in these difficult times for the Church and the world.

 

[Dorothy]

Dear Dorothy,

Thanks so much for your reply. I am grateful for your mentioning that you heard about “True Devotion” in your beginnings with the Lay Carmelites. Certainly there are members of that spiritual organization, as well as others in the Church that are also “living” their Consecration to Jesus through Mary.

I didn’t want to make my post too long, so I did not include that the Servant of God Frank Duff in gathering together with other lay persons and their parish priest to pray to the Holy Spirit on how to “live” their Total Consecration was led to form the “Legion of Mary” with that Total Consecration as “the founding Charism”. He did not make the Consecration a “requirement” for it must always be a “free choice” but the Legion Handbook is imbued with words from Scripture and from de Montfort’s “True Devotion”.

It seems to me Lay Carmelites, on the other hand, have contemplative prayer more as their main objective than the combined objective of prayer and evangelization in the world as the Legion does . I think when Deacon Cody was speaking to the Legion of Mary, he was sharing what he had experienced both in his own calling as a slave of Jesus and Mary, as St. Louis described in True Devotion and as the deacon had learned as a Spiritual Director in the Legion of Mary, studying the Legion Handbook.

St. John Paul II and St. Theresa of Calcutta who also “lived” their total Consecration to Jesus and Mary gave their example to priests and nuns in their vocations. The Spirituality of St. Louis De Montfort can help every person in every state of life to grow in holiness. Frank Duff in his lifetime was greatly admired by the orders St. Louis de Montfort founded. Deacon Cody mentioned his own friendship with the Montfort Fathers.

Long story short, I thank you Dorothy for your reply and again I encourage anyone who has not read “True Devotion” to prayerfully read this classic in these difficult times for the Church and the world.

Thank you for your response. When you mentioned the Montfort Fathers it brought back a memory when I lived on Long Island, NY and drove with a friend with her grandchildren to visit their shrine. They had Stations of the Cross outdoor statues and other beautiful things to see. The weather was perfect and it was such a blessed day.

Peace,

Dorothy

 

[MariaChristi]

Thank you for your response. When you mentioned the Montfort Fathers it brought back a memory when I lived on Long Island, NY and drove with a friend with her grandchildren to visit their shrine. They had Stations of the Cross outdoor statues and other beautiful things to see. The weather was perfect and it was such a blessed day.

Peace,

Dorothy

Dear Dorothy,

Your reply brought back a memory that I had long forgotten - from my grade school days on Long Island, NY. My 4th grade teacher was a wonderful lay woman and widow, whose son was a Montfort Father. I never met him, nor did I even know who the Montfort Fathers were, except they were “Catholic priests”.

Remembering that teacher telling us about her son was actually realizing that was the first beautiful entrance of St. Louis de Montfort into my life. He has blessed me, in so many ways since!

I once heard a taped recording of the Founder of the Legion of Mary receiving from the Montfort Fathers on Bayshore their gift to him of a First-class relic of St. Louis de Montfort. The Fathers were well aware of how Servant of God Frank Duff had lived the Total Consecration of De Montfort and how he had encouraged the Legion of Mary members to live in that same spirit as well.

The Deacon who gave the keynote address at the Legion Congress blessed us all with a relic of St. Louis de Montfort and offered to bless any religious articles with the relic also. I was happy to have my Rosary blessed with the relic, along with Mary’s medal which I wear every day.