"True Devotion to Jesus through Mary, this Advent"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and an appropriate day to begin preparing for Advent. Who better than Mary can help us to welcome Jesus? Mary was first to receive the Incarnate Son of God, by the Power of the Holy Spirit? On this day she appeared to St. Catherine Laboure and gave her the Miraculous Medal which continues to bring blessings to many. For more on this see HERE

Since CAF will end on Dec. 31 I would like to end my posts which have been quoting St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion” from paragraph #1 hoping to complete his book, but only got as far as paragraph #156 yesterday. No way can I complete the book by Dec. 31.

So it seems good to begin today an introduction to the 33 Day Preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, especially for those who may want to end their work here by honoring Jesus through Mary in this way. Some may have not heard of this Total Consecration, but for all who desire to reconsecrate themselves as well as those who seek to consecrate themselves for the first time, God willing, it can be a blessed way to begin 2021!

St. Louis de Montfort explains this 33 Day Preparation for
Total Consecration in paragraphs 227 through 231, and I shall begin those paragraphs, God willing tomorrow . The final day 33 falls on Dec. 31 so our Act of Consecration can be prayed that day, the vigil of the Feast of Solemnity of Mary or on Jan 1, 2021 - the Feast itself. By God’s Grace, may this be our holiest Advent to date!

 

[hazcompat]

“The danger will be great… but I will be with you.”​

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At that moment, I felt the sweetest emotion of my life, and it would be impossible for me to express it. The Blessed Virgin explained to me how I should act in the midst of my sorrow, and, pointing to the foot of the altar with her left hand, she told me to come and throw myself there and pour out my heart, adding that there I would receive all the consolation I needed. Then she said to me:

“My child, I want to entrust you with a mission; you will suffer many sorrows in doing it, but you will overcome them at the thought that it is for the glory of the Good Lord. You will be contradicted, but you will have grace, have no fear; tell everything that is happening in you, with simplicity and confidence.”

I then asked the Blessed Virgin for an explanation of the things that had been shown to me. She replied: “My child, times are very bad; misfortunes will fall on France. The throne will be overthrown, the whole world will be upset by misfortunes of all kinds.” (The Blessed Virgin looked very sad when she said this.) "But come to the foot of this altar. There, graces will be poured out on all those who ask for them, on the great and the small. A moment will come when the danger will be great. It will seem as if everything is lost, but I will be with you, have confidence. You will recognize my visit, the protection of God and that of Saint Vincent on both communities. Have confidence, do not be discouraged, I will be with you! There will be victims in other communities . " (The Blessed Virgin had tears in her eyes when she said this.) “In the clergy of Paris, there will be victims, Monsignor the Archbishop will die,” with these words, her tears flowed again. “My child, the Cross will be despised, it will be thrown down, the side of Our Lord will be opened again; the streets will be full of blood; the whole world will mourn.”

Saint Catherine Labouré (1)

This is the saint’s personal account of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary she received in Paris in 1830.

(1) Saint Catherine Labouré (1806-1876) was a French nun of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, in the Rue du Bac convent in Paris, France. In 1830, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her several times and asked her, among other things, to have the famous Miraculous Medal struck.

Read more on mariedenazareth.com : The apparitions at the Rue du Bac

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear hazcompat,

Thanks again for your contribuitons to Mary’s threads. This excerpt today from St. Catherine Laboure is one I have never read and I am so grateful to read it. Our times right now are bad and we are tempted to be afraid as people were in 1830 and in so many other times of history, but Mary remains our Mother whom Jesus gave to us, from His Cross.

Let us remain in Jesus as Mary did on earth and as she remains in Him now in an even more Glorious way in heaven.

O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in your servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of your power, in the perfection of your ways, in the truth of your virtues, in the communion of your mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in your Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
– prayer of Fr.Jean Jacques Olier, S.S. (1608-1657)

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear aroosi,

Thanks for your “heart” on this thread which encourages those of us who are seeking to love Jesus through Mary. Before I begin Day 1 today of our 33 Day journey, let me post this paragraph from True Devotion:

1. 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.

Today, by God’s Grace we begin our 33 Day journey towards renewal of or the first Total Consecration of ourselves to Jesus through Mary! Totus Tuus!