"...to remain nothing, as far as self is concerned, and to be everything in her, without any fear of illusion..."

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Continuing to ponder words from “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”:

1. (c) This devotion is a perfect way to reach our Lord and be united to Him, for Mary is the most perfect and the most holy of all creatures, and Jesus, who came to us in a perfect manner, chose no other road for His great and wonderful journey. The Most High, the Incomprehensible One, the Inaccessible One, He who is, deigned to come down to us poor earthly creatures who are nothing at all. How was this done?

The Most High God came down to us in a perfect way through the humble Virgin Mary, without losing anything of His divinity or holiness. It is likewise through Mary that we poor creatures must ascend to almighty God in a perfect manner without having anything to fear.

God the Incomprehensible, allowed Himself to be perfectly comprehended and contained by the humble Virgin Mary without losing anything of His immensity. So we must let ourselves be perfectly contained and led by the humble Virgin without any reserve on our part.

God, the Inaccessible, drew near to us and united Himself closely, perfectly and even personally to our humanity through Mary without losing anything of his majesty. So it is also through Mary that we must draw near to God and unite ourselves to Him perfectly, intimately, and without fear of being rejected.

Lastly, He who is deigned to come down to us who are not and turned our nothingness into God, or He who is. He did this perfectly by giving and submitting Himself entirely to the young Virgin Mary, without ceasing to be in time He who is from all eternity. Likewise it is through Mary that we, who are nothing, may become like God by grace and glory. We accomplish this by giving ourselves to her so perfectly and so completely as to remain nothing, as far as self is concerned, and to be everything in her, without any fear of illusion.

1. Show me a new road to our Lord, pave it with all the merits of the saints, adorn it with their heroic virtues, illuminate and enhance it with the splendour and beauty of the angels, have all the angels and saints there to guide and protect those who wish to follow it. Give me such a road and truly, truly, I boldly say - and I am telling the truth - that instead of this road, perfect though it be, I would still choose the immaculate way of Mary. It is a way, a road without stain or spot, without original sin or actual sin, without shadow or darkness,. When our loving Jesus comes in glory once again to reign upon earth - as He certainly will - He will choose no other way than the Blessed Virgin, by whom He came so surely and so perfectly the first time. The difference between His first and His second coming is that the first was secret and hidden, but the second will be glorious and resplendent. Both are perfect because both are through Mary. Alas, this is a mystery which we cannot understand, "Here let every tongue be silent."

Yes, by God’s Grace, let us ponder in silence!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Camehome4john6,

Thanks for your “heart”, letting us know you appreciated the words of St. Louis de Montfort in his treatise on “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” today. Having pondered his book before, it still amazes me to hear something – if not entirely new, – certainly by God’s Grace, to hear with a deeper sense of God’s Truth coming through the words of St. Louis, and the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would bring us into ALL Truth, and I believe the Holy Spirit contiues to speak to the Church through: Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium. Saints like St. Louis de Montfort loved and pondered, preached and wrote what he learned from those three sources, and primarily from Scripture. Today, the final words in paragraph 158 echo within:

The difference between His first and His second coming is that the first was secret and hidden, but the second will be glorious and resplendent. Both are perfect because both are through Mary . Alas, this is a mystery which we cannot understand, "Here let every tongue be silent."

The words I did not remember hearing all the other times I’ve read this book are in this sentence from paragraph 158 quoted above: “…Both are perfect because both are through Mary….” YES!

 

[NormalBeliever]

Am I the only one who finds all this talk about us being “nothing” a bit… uncalled for and negative? I mean, isn’t each and every one of us God’s precious and beloved child - far from nothing? What exactly do these statements that we are nothing mean then? God is our creator, not our destroyer, so this is something I don’t understand.

 

[Dorothy]

Yes, we are God’s precious and beloved child. He created us, brought us into being, and desires that we be with Him in eternity.

When it is said “we are nothing” it means that we are nothing without all our loving Lord has done for us.

Any good in me comes from His Grace.

 

[NormalBeliever]

If that’s what it means - namely, the simple recognition that God created us and we didn’t create ourselves, and that all we have is ultimately from God, and being joyfuly grateful for this - then yeah, I agree completely.

In fact, it’s probably better this way - if we created ourselves, while we may be able to be proud of that, we would not have anyone to love us and value us so much that He decided it would be wonderful to create us, and then also enjoys us when we exist!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear “NormalBeliever”,

Thanks for your question. I received a message that it’s been awhile since you’ve you’ve posted on CAF – some 2 yrs ago – so unless you’ve been reading all the paragraphs I’ve posted from St. Louis de Montfort’s treatise on "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin", you are hearing some quotes out of the context of the whole book.

Yes, of course you are correct in noting that God created us NOT for Nothing, but rather He created us in love for love. Let me go back to an early statement in this little book by St. Louis de Montfort in which he wrote even Mary His Mother is “nothing” in comparison with Him:

1. With the whole Church I acknowledge that Mary, being a mere creature fashioned by the hands of God is, compared to His infinite majesty, less than an atom, or rather is simply nothing, since He alone can say, “I am He who is”. Consequently, this great Lord, who is ever independent and self-sufficient, never had and does not now have any absolute need of the Blessed Virgin for the accomplishment of His will and the manifestation of His glory. To do all things He has only to will them.
2. However, I declare that, considering things as they are, because God has decided to begin and accomplish His greatest works through the Blessed Virgin ever since He created her, we can safely believe that He will not change His plan in the time to come, for He is God and therefore does not change in His thoughts or His way of acting.

In a similar way, St. Louis constantly reminds us of what Jesus Himself tells us in the Gospel of John:

I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without Me you can do nothing. (Jn 15:5)

I hope these quotes help a bit, there is much more I might add but I’d encourage you to read the online version of this little treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin slowly and prayerfully to get the full context.

Just click on the title and the link will take you to the online version.

Likewise, I hope you are devoted to listening to the Scriptures to which St. Louis de Montfort refers often. Truth is Truth and though he lived in the 1700’s he addresses the same issues man has faced since the Garden of Eden. We choose God or self – we cannot serve 2 Masters. St. Louis de Montfort shows us how Mary is the perfect, sinless, one human person we have. Jesus is both God and man but Mary is only human. Jesus is a Divine Person and just as Mary learned from Him to be humble, so do we.

“O my Jesus, pardon us and save us from the fires of hell, draw all souls to heaven, especially those in must need of Your Mercy”.

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks CajunJoy, (Normal Believer – sorry I intended this only for CajunJoy)I tried to edit it and change the respond arrow but I must have hit wrong reply button – my apologies to both of you.

Thanks for your “heart”, CajunJoy, to let us know you apprecaiated the words of St. Louis de Montfort. Hopefully more and more persons will read his wprds slowly and prayerfully to hear the Truth God gave him to share with the Church. Today we can see how many people, even Catholics seem to be “forgetting” or never really listened to God’s Word, which the Saints and Mary heard and lived so beautifully and continually give us their help in words and examples.

Please let us pray for one another, for the Church and all those in most need of God’s Mercy.

 

[NormalBeliever]

in which he wrote even Mary His Mother is “nothing” in comparison with Him:

Mary, being a mere creature fashioned by the hands of God is, compared to His infinite majesty, less than an atom, or rather is simply nothing , since He alone can say, “I am He who is”.

Agreed. God is the existential cause of reality at every moment, and only He is existence in His very nature, whilst created beings only have existence accidentally. Thus, compared to Him, we are as nothing, since He created and sustains us, while He is the unsustained one.

I would also only add the qualification that the comparison to God is only made to reveal the truth that everything depends on God, while God depends on nothing. God and creation aren’t in conflict, and so God’s infinity compared to creation doesn’t entail created beings are of no importance - Everything God created is infinitely beautiful, enjoyable and delightful to Him as well, and to see God doesn’t mean to cease seeing creation, or to see it as unreal. God and creation are like a light and a book - it’s both weird and false to say that because a book’s content can’t be read without the light shining on it, that this means the light and the book are in conflict, or that the light makes the content look insignificant. To say that the book is nothing without the light is to simply say it needs the light to be truly seen and to have meaning. So there’s that too.

(I’ve seen some people unfortunately make these mistakes, so that’s why I’ve mentioned them)

 

[Dorothy]

Yes, it means all the good we have comes from the Lord!

 

[MariaChristi]

God and creation are like a light and a book - it’s both weird and false to say that because a book’s content can’t be read without the light shining on it, that this means the light and the book are in conflict, or that the light makes the content look insignificant. To say that the book is nothing without the light is to simply say it needs the light to be truly seen and to have meaning. So there’s that too.

(I’ve seen some people unfortunately make these mistakes, so that’s why I’ve mentioned them)

Dear 'NormalBeliever"

I’m not sure I understand the analogy you are using or how it applies to God’s gifts to His saints, allowing them to share in His Wisdom in writing books to help His Church on earth. God gives us Sacred Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church to help us understand what He has revealed in Jesus.

St. John of the Cross wrote that God spoke one Word and His Name is Jesus. God is Light and He willed Light and there was Light. He created and it was Good. However, He created humankind with free will and when Adam and Eve sinned – all of creation suffered the consequences.

You have veered off from your original objection, so I’d ask you to start a thread of your own, if you think it would not help you to read more of what St. Louis de Montfort has to share in his treatise. His writing is approved by the Church – and he is a canonized saint, so he does have credibility. I hope you do read the Scriptures, for that is always the Church’s firs and primary source.

May the Lord bless all of us who continue to ask to receive Him, and seek to find Him and knock on the door that He may open to us. (Cf Mt. 7:7-11)

 

[NormalBeliever]

You have veered off from your original objection so I’d ask you to start a thread of your own, if you think it would not help you to read more of What St. Louis de Montfort has to share in his treatise.

Yeah, sorry if I steered the topic away a bit. My thoughts were focused more on what the term “nothingness” meant and how it is to be understood in a general way, rather than in a specific way relating to God’s extraordinary gifts.

Anyways, thanks for your replies!