To Jesus Through Mary--St. Louis Demontfort's Total Consecration

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I’ve had a lot of pain in my life. I’ve sinned greatly and have struggle much with shame and guilt.

I have found much solace in True Devotion to Mary (by St. Louis De Montfort) and the Glories of Mary (St. Alphonsus Liguori).

I did the 33-day full consecration to Jesus through Mary (using True Devotion to Mary and the Preparation booklet from the Montfort fathers) and am a member of the Association of Mary.

I have serious health problems in my life and marital problems, but I am always helped by leaning on Christ through Mary, on whom I depend all the time. whereas I used to try too hard with my will, and kept running into walls)

Has anyone else here been greatly helped by the full consecration to Jesus through Mary. Or simply by depending on Mary a lot, or all the time?

Or, instead, do you follow the teachings of St. Maximilian Kolbe, or are you enrolled in the Militia of the Immaculata?

(I’ve found quotations from St. Maximillian in the book “The Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit” to be very moving.

Or perhaps some other saint, or the Holy Spirit directly, has taught you the way to Jesus through Mary?
 
I would find it hard to survive if I didn’t feel the Blessed Mother wrap me in her mantle…daily…
 
If it wasn’t for Our Lady, I’d be a goner for sure. At this point in time, She is my only friend and my only consolation and my only confidant. I cling to Her with all my might.
 
petra22 said:
I would find it hard to survive if I didn’t feel the Blessed Mother wrap me in her mantle…daily…
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That’s how I feel. And I feel like I would be falling into so many more sins if it weren’t for her.
 
Lormar said:
If it wasn’t for Our Lady, I’d be a goner for sure. At this point in time, She is my only friend and my only consolation and my only confidant. I cling to Her with all my might.
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Wow. That’s really helpful, Lormar. May I ask a little about how your relationship with Mary developed?
 
I am a Legion of Mary member, which takes a lot from this approach to spirituality, leaning on Mary completely. My job is to visit the elderly.

I feel as if I achieve so much in my volunteer work when I depend on her by leaving everything in her hands. On the days I leave everything to her, things work out, I visit many people, I don’t lose heart, I see joy in some faces, I also feel like my physical ailments aren’t such an obstacle (I get bad migraines, and often I am extremely lacking in sleep due to having small children - not the kind of person one really wants to be visited by). On the days I forget to depend on her, I run late, people seem annoyed by my presence, I achieve very little, I suffer very much with migraines and tend to leave early, etc…

Don’t get me wrong, I find it hard to wrap my head around this stuff. :cool:
 
Gliggle said:
I am a Legion of Mary member, which takes a lot from this approach to spirituality, leaning on Mary completely. My job is to visit the elderly.

I feel as if I achieve so much in my volunteer work when I depend on her by leaving everything in her hands. On the days I leave everything to her, things work out, I visit many people, I don’t lose heart, I see joy in some faces, I also feel like my physical ailments aren’t such an obstacle (I get bad migraines, and often I am extremely lacking in sleep due to having small children - not the kind of person one really wants to be visited by). On the days I forget to depend on her, I run late, people seem annoyed by my presence, I achieve very little, I suffer very much with migraines and tend to leave early, etc…

Don’t get me wrong, I find it hard to wrap my head around this stuff. :cool:
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I see that you are from Sydney. Makes me think of the the movie Finding Nemo. Anyway, I think there is a connection between the Legion of Mary and the Association of Mary, but I don’t know what it is.
 
I’m not sure either! We don’t have to be consecrated to Mary, but just practice the Principles of total dedication to Mary in our work. It’s recommended though to all Legionaries, (I think our handbook recommends it). I have read the book by Louis de Montfort and it unnerves me to tell the truth. I am not yet willing/ready to undergo consecration. I asked my brother about it who is a priest and he says it’s the lazy way to heaven and he thinks its better if we still think up our own prayer intentions… (instead of leaving it all to Mary) maybe he/I misunderstand it though. Also could be wrong… he’s my little brother, he’s been wrong many times!! 😃

hehe Finding Nemo, I’m not far from Sydney Harbour! Sadly I’ve never noticed any clown fish 😃 but I see lots of other fish in there!
 
Gliggle said:
I’m not sure either! We don’t have to be consecrated to Mary, but just practice the Principles of total dedication to Mary in our work. It’s recommended though to all Legionaries, (I think our handbook recommends it). I have read the book by Louis de Montfort and it unnerves me to tell the truth. I am not yet willing/ready to undergo consecration. I asked my brother about it who is a priest and he says it’s the lazy way to heaven and he thinks its better if we still think up our own prayer intentions… (instead of leaving it all to Mary) maybe he/I misunderstand it though. Also could be wrong… he’s my little brother, he’s been wrong many times!! 😃

hehe Finding Nemo, I’m not far from Sydney Harbour! Sadly I’ve never noticed any clown fish 😃 but I see lots of other fish in there!
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Hi Gliggle, Yeah it’s a good movie, but probably doesn’t teach me much about Sydney 😉
I’ve also seen Cry in the Dark, which is a very sad movie set in Australia. But I don’t think that helps much either.

Anyway, I think the Popes would disagree with your brother, since they–JPII–practiced and encouraged people to read True Devotion to Mary and make the consecration. It’s interesting that it unnerves you (which I get) but sounds lazy to your brother. That’s too very different reactions.

Of course, one can always make their own prayer intentions. The idea with DeMontfort is that one’s intentions always belong to our Mother, to whom we lovingly defer because she knows how best to use our prayers. I think that with the consecration, it is a covenant between her and us, so that she belongs completely to each of us in a unique way, and we belong completely to her.

There were parts of True Devotion that scared me a bit for a while too. St. Louis is intense, though he is clear that the way to Jesus through Mary is so much easier and shorter and more perfect and safe—because we allow her to totally take care of us, just like a little child depends on his/her mother-- than the way without full consecration, which I had found to be unbearable. So I read Glories of Mary instead for a while till I processed my concerns (such as his statement that having a lukewarmness or aversion toward the Hail Mary is probable sign of damnation!—and that our salvation is tied to the Hail Mary–where are we hearing about this in our homilies?)

But there was so much beauty and tenderness in the book that it won me over. It was exactly what i was looking for during years of pain and deep sadness/darkness. I loved the idea of Mary being all mine as my Mother, and of consoling her, and being completely dependent on her–Lord knows I needed someone to depend on! Once I realized how loving Mary is, and how much she can help us in our relationship with Christ, it was something I couldn’t wait to do. I actually asked my priest if I could make the consecration before the end of the 33 sayd but he said to wait. --Pat
 
Here is a quotation from a passage which really helped me in True Devotion. After explaining how much easier is the path to Jesus through Mary than any other paths–which involve terrible agonies, etc, St. Louis says:

154. I reply that it is quite true that the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being her greatest favourites, receive from her the best graces and favours from heaven, which are crosses. But I maintain too that these servants of Mary bear their crosses with greater ease and gain more merit and glory. What could check another’s progress a thousand times over, or possibly bring about his downfall, does not balk them at all, but even helps them on their way. For this good Mother, filled with the grace and unction of the Holy Spirit, dips all the crosses she prepares for them in the honey of her maternal sweetness and the unction of pure love. They then readily swallow them as they would sugared almonds, though the crosses may be very bitter. I believe that anyone who wishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer persecution and will have a daily cross to carry. But he will never manage to carry a heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and perseveringly, without a trusting devotion to our Lady, who is the very sweetness of the cross. It is obvious that a person could not keep on eating without great effort unripe fruit which has not been sweetened.
ewtn.com/library/Montfort/TRUEDEVO.HTM
 
That is so wonderful that it has helped you in this way.

I must admit, you are making me question myself. I think it unnerves me because I used to practice a devotion recommended by Medjugorie. It was about 9 months before I realised the devotion was grounded in selfishness (It was specifically along the lines of, “pray the rosary every day and you will feel no pain during childbirth.”) Thankfully Jesus delivered me from this foolishness with the birth of my daughter, when I realised how much my pain unified myself to him, and that it was an intrinsically banal prayer intention. Anyway… since then, I have not been able to think of Mary without a sense of unease, and thoughts of Medjugorie literally sicken me to my stomach. I guess I have a fear of silly devotions now, but the words of St Louis De Montfort are sweet, I agree, I’ll read them again. I get worried about his opening statements about those who are better NOT to read his book and I worry I am one of those 😃 I don’t remember that line about the Hail Mary. I think that is wonderful because my Grandmother who was a staunch Protestant and Catholic-hater, still loved the Hail Mary very much, it was her secret shame! Isn’t that funny! 😃
 
Gliggle said:
That is so wonderful that it has helped you in this way.

I must admit, you are making me question myself. I think it unnerves me because I used to practice a devotion recommended by Medjugorie. It was about 9 months before I realised the devotion was grounded in selfishness (It was specifically along the lines of, “pray the rosary every day and you will feel no pain during childbirth.”) Thankfully Jesus delivered me from this foolishness with the birth of my daughter, when I realised how much my pain unified myself to him, and that it was an intrinsically banal prayer intention. Anyway… since then, I have not been able to think of Mary without a sense of unease, and thoughts of Medjugorie literally sicken me to my stomach. I guess I have a fear of silly devotions now, but the words of St Louis De Montfort are sweet, I agree, I’ll read them again. I get worried about his opening statements about those who are better NOT to read his book and I worry I am one of those 😃 I don’t remember that line about the Hail Mary. I think that is wonderful because my Grandmother who was a staunch Protestant and Catholic-hater, still loved the Hail Mary very much, it was her secret shame! Isn’t that funny! 😃
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Hi Gliggle, thanks for your words of affirmation. About your G-ma, It’s certainly unusual, and is a great grace.

I looked at the the beginning of True Devotion and don’t see any warnings away about people who shouldn’t read it. The Papacy warmly encourages St. Louis’s spirituality. In Mother of Redeemer, JPII singles out St. Louis DeMontfort’s importance in Marian spirituality. As far as your feelings of unease, I don’t know exactly what is going on with that. I think that psychology is very tricky. I have a friend who has done the consecration–although she used 33 Days to Morning Glory, which I think it is much better to use the Preparation booklet from the Montfort Fathers–but, because she had a bad birth mother, she finds it hard to trust Our Lady. She knows her picture of her is wrong, but it is still there emotionally. St. Alphonsus says that it is good to choose whatever devotion to Mary is most pleasing to you–no matter how small–and then practice it very regularly. The thing that they both teach–as I understand it-- is just to depend on Mary in everything. So anything moving us in that direction is very good. Glad you had a daughter and grew closer to Christ through your labor. --Pat
 
Here’s another part of True Devotion to Mary which I love:

217. The soul of Mary will be communicated to you to glorify the Lord. Her spirit will take the place of yours to rejoice in God, her Saviour, but only if you are faithful to the practices of this devotion. As St. Ambrose says, “May the soul of Mary be in each one of us to glorify the Lord! May the spirit of Mary be in each one of us to rejoice in God!” “When will that happy day come,” asks a saintly man of our own day whose life was completely wrapped up in Mary, “when God’s Mother is enthroned in men’s hearts as Queen, subjecting them to the dominion of her great and princely Son? When will souls breathe Mary as the body breathes air?” When that time comes wonderful things will happen on earth. The Holy Spirit, finding his dear Spouse present again in souls, will come down into them with great power. He will fill them with his gifts, especially wisdom, by which they will produce wonders of grace. My dear friend, when will that happy time come, that age of Mary, when many souls, chosen by Mary and given her by the most High God, will hide themselves completely in the depths of her soul, becoming living copies of her, loving and glorifying Jesus? That day will dawn only when the devotion I teach is understood and put into practice. Ut adveniat regnum tuum, adveniat regnum Mariae: “Lord, that your kingdom may come, may the reign of Mary come!”
ewtn.com/library/Montfort/TRUEDEVO.HTM
 
Pythagoras said:
during the First 12 Days of the Consecration, I noticed some websites like totalconsecration.ageofmary.com/preparation-01.html included some Gospel/Bible readings. Is this really required or just an option, aside from the daily prayers which must be said daily
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I use “the Preparation for Total Consecration According to St. Louis DeMontfort” booklet from Montfort Publications (run by the Company of Mary-Montfort fathers and missionaries).

It has everything that is needed in it, plus some recommended–but not required–suggested readings from True Devotion to Mary. (If one so desires, I highly recommend getting into the practice of reading a little of True Devotion to Mary as much as one can.)

It does include the Scripture readings you mention.

But the rule in my mind is to bring everything to Mary and let her guide you to do the consecration as she wills. If you are unable to do something for some reason–for example, I was physically unable to pray the Rosary–then that does NOT mean you shouldn’t do the consecration. Know what I’m saying?

When I did the consecration, I also couldn’t say out loud the long prayers I was supposed to say, because of extreme weakness, and I struggled even to read them at times.

I talked to the Association of Mary about this, and they said what I had also read: we just do our best.

So I just did my best. Again, what is crucial is not following the letter of the law here, but going to the heart of the devotion by staying close to Mary and continually renewing one’s total devotion to Jesus through her in the way one is led to do…

That’s what I think. Hope it is helpful
 
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