True Devotion to Mary

[Marsha_Adams]

In a way, though, de Montfort seems to strip away the humanity and personal touch of Jesus, hiding him in a monstrance and sealing him forever beyond reach in the Holy of Holies. I don’t entirely disagree with his theology, but it’s definitely a theology centralzed upon the lack of involvement of the laity during Mass (specifically the Liturgy of the Eucharist) prior to the Novus Ordo. I’m not saying Christ shouldn’t be afforded the highest respect and adoration, but we must never forget that he remains one of us and yet so much more.

Before coming to these conclusions, you need to remember that de Monfort was battling the Jansenist Heresy. The Jansenists threatened his life because of the ferver with which he opposed them. Now the Jansenists (for those who may not know) emphasized the unworthiness of humanity. It was their belief, that if you made a perfect confession and went straight to the kneeling rail, that you had probably fallen into sin and were unworth to receive communion before you got there. Jansenism was widespread throughout the Church permeating all walks and states of life. In fact prior to Vatican 2 the Church was still struggling against the impact of the Jansenist Heresy.

So while de Monfort might appear to be placing Jesus beyond our reach, when you consider the atmosphere in which he wrote, he was actually verging on “i’m okay, God’s okay, and we’re best buddies.”

 

[Edward_Henry]

Hi

I believe that the essential calling of this devotion is not to “address all our prayers” to Our Lady, but to offer Her and to filially entrust Her with all the merits earned by all our prayers, our sacrifices and our good actions:

Permit me to let Saint Louis De Montfor reply:

True Devotion
137. Moreover, as I have said before, no other act of devotion enables us to rid ourselves so easily of the possessiveness which slips unnoticed even into our best actions. This is a remarkable grace which our dear Lord grants us in return for the heroic and selfless surrender to him through Mary of the entire value of our good works. If even in this life he gives a hundredfold reward to those who renounce all material, temporal and perishable things out of love for him, how generously will he reward those who give up even interior and spiritual goods for his sake!

He explains that this devotion does not hinder our prayers:

1. Some may object that this devotion makes us powerless to help the souls of our relatives, friends and benefactors, since it requires us to give our Lord, through Mary, the value of our good works, prayers, penances, and alms-giving.
   To them I reply:
   (1) It is inconceivable that our friends, relatives and benefactors should suffer any loss because we have dedicated and consecrated ourselves unconditionally to the service of Jesus and Mary; it would be an affront to the power and goodness of Jesus and Mary who will surely come to the aid of our relatives, friends and benefactors whether from our meager spiritual assets or from other sources.
   (2) This devotion does not prevent us from praying for others, both the living and the dead, even though the application of our good works depends on the will of our Blessed Lady. On the contrary, it will make us pray with even greater confidence. Imagine a rich man, who, wanting to show his esteem for a great prince, gives his entire fortune to him. Would not that man have greater confidence in asking the prince to help one of his friends who needed assistance? Indeed the prince would only be too happy to have such an opportunity of proving his gratitude to one who had sacrificed all that he possessed to enrich him, thereby impoverishing himself to do him honor. The same must be said of our Lord and our Lady. They will never allow themselves to be outdone in gratitude.

It is about learning to trust. It is about willfully entrusting Her with the value and merit of all our prayers, the same way the Our Lord entrusted Himself to Her care when he entered Her womb.

1. Some may say, perhaps, if I give our Lady the full value of my actions to apply it to whom she wills, I may have to suffer a long time in purgatory. This objection, which arises from self-love and from an unawareness of the generosity of God and his holy Mother, refutes itself… Will this generous and unselfish soul, I ask, be punished more in the next world for having been more generous and unselfish than other people? Far from it! For we shall see later that our Lord and his Mother will prove most generous to such a soul with gifts of nature, grace and glory in this life and in the next.

I pray this helps,

To Jesus Through Mary

Edward Henry

 

[peary1]

The reason that De Montfort has someone who has consecrated themselves to True Devotion to Mary to pray to Mary and not God is because in consecrating ourselves to Mary we declare ourselves to be her slaves. Our prayers, our works, our everything would be placed in Mary’s hands to do with as she will. So instead of praying to God, we would leave our needs to Mary and she will pass them on.

Now we know that the very fastest way to go to Jesus is through Mary, and that everything she does and asks is pleasing to our Lord, so we have no qualms about joyfully submitting ourselves to be Mary’s slaves.

I find all this really on the edge. I have devotion to Mary but the above really goes against my own understanding of Mary as our Mother, and I think it goes way beyond what the Church teaches on Marian devotion.

 

[Chaldean_Rite]

I like this prayer, sounds for St. Louis De Montfort-ishO, my Queen, my Mother, I offer myself entirely to Thee, and in proof of my filial affection, I consecrate this day to thee, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, and my whole being without reserve. Since I am thine, O bountiful Mother, keep me and defend me as thy property and possession. Amen

I would’t be surprised it if was actually from him!

I say it as part of my consecration as taught by St. Louis.

 

[water]

I find all this really on the edge. I have devotion to Mary but the above really goes against my own understanding of Mary as our Mother, and I think it goes way beyond what the Church teaches on Marian devotion.

Since you have devotion to Mary, you can always ask God to give you peace and trust in His Mother … and in my opinion, the need of Her. If you have that, going to Her for everything become part of your spiritual life and it will be no longer on the edge. I once had problem understanding it, but I knew I needed Her a lot…therefore, I prayed. It took me 6 months praying and until one day…something occurred to me that I know this was the time that I would ask and have more devotion to Her through the Consecration. Once I was opened up to the desire of needing Her more, helps came to me in all kinds of forms to let me know I made the right decision of the total consecration.

It doesn’t conflict with any Church teachings and our faith. Our understanding and knowledge sometimes are the obstacles to our faith.

 

[peary1]

Since you have devotion to Mary, you can always ask God to give you peace and trust in His Mother … and in my opinion, the need of Her. If you have that, going to Her for everything become part of your spiritual life and it will be no longer on the edge.

It doesn’t conflict with any Church teachings and our faith. Our understanding and knowledge sometimes are the obstacles to our faith.

I understand that, yet my own personal spirituality goes through Christ. I pray the Rosary too, but whatever I ask, I ask in Christ’s name.

 

[water]

I understand that, yet my own personal spirituality goes through Christ. I pray the Rosary too, but whatever I ask, I ask in Christ’s name.

The same thing with those who consecrated totally to Mary - the end is Christ.

 

[Edward_Henry]

Hi,

I find all this really on the edge. I have devotion to Mary but the above really goes against my own understanding of Mary as our Mother, and I think it goes way beyond what the Church teaches on Marian devotion.

Permit me submit this segment of a thread that I read in another Marian forum:

** "When the Creator announced to Satan, *’ will put enmity between you and the woman,’ ***He could have said *‘I will put enmity between you and my Son,’ *He clearly did not, why? Saint Louis de Montfort had a clear logical understanding of why the Triune God had chosen Mary, His humblest creature, to be the one to fight the final battle against the enemy of His Creation .‘Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by the little and humble handmaid of God (Mary), and her humility humbles him more than the Divine power’…

” In His Almighty Wisdom, God knows that Satan’s greatest weakness is his pride, and that although he anticipates his final defeat, he would have preferred to be defeated by the Son of God Himself. In his sick pride, that would turn his final defeat into a victory. If the Son of God had destroyed and chained Satan during his saving mission on earth, he could have boasted eternally that ‘it took the intervention of God himself to defeat him.’ But God is wiser than a proud evil angel. The All-seeing Wisdom of God anticipated that it doesn’t require the intervention of the Son of God, in order to personally defeat a proud and disobedient angel. Although only the loving sacrifice of the Son of God could break the power our death and restore our friendship to the Father, His Divine hands needed not be soiled in a personal battle to defeat the evil creature.

So the Creator chose that this tremendous battle, should be “a battle of creatures.” The spiritual Battle between the proudest creature and his evil followers against the most humble of all creatures, the Blessed Virgin and her consecrated souls. Again: “Satan, being proud, suffers infinitely more from being beaten and punished by the little and humble handmaid of God (Mary), and her humility humbles him more than the Divine power.” Could any true Bible Christian disagree with such Divine Logic?

As the Risen Lord ascended up to heaven he knew that He was leaving his disciples in a world which was still under the evil power of the adversary. This is why He prayed for them to His Father: *“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” Our Lord even refers to him by the title “the ruler of this world.” *

Despite Jesus’ victory of the Resurrection, the fallen angel retains his evil power, which he exercises against the disciples and the Church. After restoring us to the Father’s friendship and breaking the power of death, Our Lord ascended to the Father leaving His Church in the midst of spiritual warfare. The “prince of this world” is still a large, but Son of God knows that this ‘angelic’ battle is not His to undertake. His mission of salvation is over, and His triumph over Death has been ”accomplished.” The personal battle against the evil creature must be fought by the *“Woman and her seed.” * This battle is the mission assigned to His Mother!

But this battle is also a call to humility for us pride-stricken creatures. It is a lot easier for us proud creatures to “rally behind the Son of God” than it is to pray the Rosary and rally behind another creature. It is easier for us to “go straight to Jesus” than it is to go and plead for the intercession of his humble and Divine Mother. The divine test is perfect! Are we ready to take it?"

The rest of the article: .here

The way I undesrtand it, is that God is giving us a second chance. It is a test of humility: Our pride led us to become *“slaves” *of sin of the serpent. Can our humility move us to willingly consecrate us as “slaves” of the Woman?
http://bp1.blogger.com/dxMwleDsNcY/SA9GafufoyI/AAAAAAAABpU/4eLxqb_TyXI/s320/y1puNg-7imvIU.jpg
I hope this helps

To Jesus throug Mary

Edward Henry

 

[AveSantaMaria]

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Maybe it is amazing and powerful and inspirational and wonderous and glorious that the saints in our Holy Apostolic Catholic Church who have done so much to spread devotion to Jesus have had a great devotion to Mary.

The two most powerful devotions that I know of to Jesus are Sacred Heart and the Divine Mercy. But perhaps one makes conclusions by examining St. Margaret MARY Alacoque who received the revelations/apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: Excerpt from Vie par elle-meme by St. Margaret Mary Aloque, to whom was revealed the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “The blessed virgin has always taken great care of me. I had recourse to her in all my necessities and she has preserved me from great dangers. I did not dare address myself to her divine son, but only to her and I often presented her with the little crown of the rosary, which I said on my bare knees, or genuflecting and kissing the ground at every Ave Maria.” episcopalacademy.org/drum/trea/TREA5-06/Wrighttrea06a.pdf

She seemed to know of the basic precepts of True Devotion to Mary without even having read the book
True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin montfort.org.uk/Writings/TrueDev.html

Or St. Faustina of the Divine Mercy. First, she was in a Marian convent: Congregations of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Then the Sacred Heart of Jesus himself told her: pray through Mary. From Notebook #1, #31 During this adoration try to unite yourself in prayer with My Mother. Pray with all your heart in union with Mary and try also during this time to make the Way of the Cross.
**Diary of St. Faustina: Divine Mercy in My Soul ** saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS1.shtml

So maybe it is true!!! Maybe Mary IS the best way to Jesus!!!

Devoting oneself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
Online Adoration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament louisville-catholic.net/WebCameras/AdorationChapel/tabid/825/Default.aspx
True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin montfort.org.uk/Writings/TrueDev.html
**Secret of the Rosary ** montfort.org.uk/Writings/Rosary.html
Preparation for 33 day consecration to the Blessed Virgin saintlouisdemontfort.com/consecration.cfm
Reflections on True Devotion to Mary by His Holiness Pope John Paul II http://www.michaeljournal.org/montfort.htm
**The Glories of Mary, ** by St. Alphonsus de Liguori, one of the 33 Doctors of the Catholic Church, explains Hail Holy Queen http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/glories.htm
On the Dolors of Mary by St. Alphonsus de Liguori, one of the 33 Doctors of the Catholic Church, explains the sufferings of Our Lady http://writer.zoho.com/public/immaculate/Seven-dolors
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus en.wikisource.org/wiki/Devotion_to_the_Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus#FIRST_POINT._.E2.80.94_The_ardent_desire_Jesus_Christ_feels_to_be_with_us.
Divine Mercy Chaplet ewtn.com/Devotionals/mercy/dmmap.htm
Rosary Confraternity Enrollment rosary-center.org/nconform.htm (As Pope Leo XIII said in his encyclical on the Confraternity, *“Whenever a person fulfills his obligation of reciting the Rosary according to the rule of the Confraternity, he includes in his intentions all its members and they render him the same service many times over.” *
Cathechism of the Catholic Church vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm
Litany of Humility ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/humility.htm
Marialis Cultus (Apostolic Exhortation for the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary of His Holiness, February 2, 1974 by His Holiness Pope Paul VI ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P6MARIAL.HTM

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

 

[oksoitworked]

“There is one small favor I would ask of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.”
“Ask it, my mother,” the King said to her, “for I will not refuse you.”
~ 1 Kings 2:20

The problem with this particular passage is that instead of granting the request, King Soloman has Adonijah killed.

“… this day shall Adonijah be put to death.” Then King Soloman sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who struck him dead.

• 1 Kings 2:24-25

 

[Chaldean_Rite]

The problem with this particular passage is that instead of granting the request, King Soloman has Adonijah killed.

“… this day shall Adonijah be put to death.” Then King Soloman sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who struck him dead.

• 1 Kings 2:24-25

David, being a Christ-like figure, was not a perfect one.

The true Christ did not refuse his Mother request at the wedding of Cana.

 

[Monica4316]

This whole devotion is offering yourself to Mary *so that *she can offer you perfectly to God and that’s because she is very close to Him and does only His will.

 

[AveSantaMaria]

Anyone interested in this devotion should surely consider reading The Mystical City of God by Venerable Mary of Jesus of Agreda, a Spanish Franciscan nun. It helps one to have more immense fuller knowledge of the virtues, priveleges, etc. of our Blessed Virgin Mother.

Mystical City of God themostholyrosary.com/mystical-city.htm
In Defense of The City of God Mystica Civitate Dei: dailycatholic.org/issue/05Jun/jun10tim.htm - to summarize the research of three priests on the official decision of the Holy Roman Catholic Church regarding The Mystical City of God by Venerable Mary of Jesus of Agreda and to ascertain thereby whether it is permitted for anyone of any authority whatsoever to forbid the reading of this extraordinary book.