True Devotion To The Blessed Virgin

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wcknight said:
It may have been around for awhile but it is certainly NOT an article of faith and following it, is completely optional. To say the least it may be a somewhat obscure practice. I was brought up in Catholic schools and not once was this practice mentioned. I don’t question its legitimacy, but it is not widely taught.

I have nothing against these practices, and may do so myself down the road. However the OP appears to have some legitimate hesitantcy about joining this practice, so I think it would be wise for him not to get into something that he may not be ready for.

He should certainly not jump into something that makes him feel so uncomfortable. It may be great for you and some others but it may not be right for him at this time.
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Of the many people who have done this consecration, Pope John Paul II did and took his “Totus Tuus” derived from such. 😉
 
E.E.N.S said:
By the way, if you decide to do the consecration, the next one starts on Nov. 5th and ends on Dec. 8th (Feast day of the Immaculate Conception)
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Thanks for that information. It was perfect timing. I have made the consecration several times in the past, and have been reading the book again with the intention of making the consecration once more. I actually got a little busy at work and have forgotten about it for the past week or so.

Thanks to your post I am going to begin the consecration on the 5th. Ora pro nobis.
 
By the way, is there any special translation that is considered to be superior?:confused:
 
TOP said:
The fall from that experience feels tremendous and I now see the need for a mediator. When this first happened, pride had me convinced I didn’t need anything as a mediator. This is how the enemy took something that was great and destroyed it before I ever knew what happened…
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Hi Tim,

Others have already given you very good advices. I’d like to quote part of your post above. How great you have realized it! I believe God has saved my life for being obedient to my mom saying only “10 Hail Mary” prayers per day for the last few year. It was hard for me back then to try to do only 10 per day, it is easier now to pray with the whole rosary per day. I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you and your wife on your journey to His Kingdom.
 
wcknight said:
It may have been around for awhile but it is certainly NOT an article of faith and following it, is completely optional. To say the least it may be a somewhat obscure practice. I was brought up in Catholic schools and not once was this practice mentioned. I don’t question its legitimacy, but it is not widely taught.
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You and I are of the same generation, the one that saw the ushering in of the Spirit of Vatican II. Why are you surprised that you never heard of this devotion? The folks pushing the Spirit of Vatican II tried to purge as many of the old devotional practices as possible.
 
Here’s a thread I started on Montfortian True Devotion to Mary:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=112285

Perfect Practice of True Devotion is just what it sounds like, practicing Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary perfectly. (True Devotion to Mary and True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin are different translations of the same book, the latter being a more modern translation).

Perfect practice involves “slavery of the will” and practing a singular devotion to the Blessed Virgin, meaning, that you invoke no other Saints to intercede for you but her. You go to Jesus through Mary and Mary alone. No other soul is allowed between you and Mary.

It involves exterior devotion to Mary. You are to wear some sort of devotion to Mary on your person: a medal, a scapular, or the Little Chains of Mary (indicating you’re her slave). It also involves a change in lifestyle where you imitate Mary in terms of her virtues. An example is dressing modestly, behaving with reverence in Church and not using profanity at any time. You’re basically to set a good example, meaning, you’re to act like a Lady and a Gentlemen, respective of your sex.

You’re are to practice Interior Devotion to Mary as well, by saying 5 decades of the Rosary per day OR the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin. In Montfort’s day, Daily Mass wasn’t widely available, so I wonder if attending Daily Mass and having devotion to the Three Hail Mary’s could substitute for the Rosary or the Crown?? After all, Mary leads us to Jesus. You’d have to ask an expert Montfortian about that one. (See, sometimes Golden Arrow neglects her rosary, but she goes to Daily Mass a lot). You’re also to renew your 40 Day Consecration to Jesus through Mary annually.

Basically, perfect practice involves imitating Mary to attract her spouse, the Holy Spirit. And, as Montfort says, “The more the Holy Ghost finds Mary, His dear and inseparable spouse, in any soul, the more active and mighty He becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul and that soul in Jesus Christ.”

This means that in a CREATED way, Mary can, through the power and action of the Holy Spirit, form you in Jesus and Jesus in you. My interpretation of this is the Spiritual Marriage. I think this stage is equivalent to St. Terese of Avila’s Seventh Mansion, the Spiritual Marriage.

Don’t get the idea that you literally become Jesus. That’s dangerous thinking. You don’t become God. The difference between this spirituality and others is this: you become an imitation of Jesus through the work and intercession of Mary and her Spouse, the Holy Spirit. Rather than relying upon your own efforts to achieve perfection, you place your trust in the Virgin Mary. You trust your soul to her holy hands. You allow her to mold you into an image of her Son.

Believe me, she won’t let you down!

The Church seeks a Second Pentecost. Only Mary can bring it to us. Why? Because by imitating the Virgin Mary you attract her spouse, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Pentecost.

Also on the link are a TON of my favorite Montfortian Links!

WARNING* Oh, by the way, stay away from Luisa Piccarreta’s Divine Will. I’ve promoted this in the past. I had a recent wake-up call. The Piccarretans are using Montfort’s spirituality as a platform for Luisa’s Divine Will. They’re luring Montfortians into something that’s really, truly evil, but you don’t find out how evil it is until you read the mid to higher Volumes of the Book of Heaven. I can testify with all truth that Luisa Piccarreta’s Divine Will is a CULT!. Stay far, far, far away from it. Trust me on this! The writings were dictated by Satan. I have no doubt. Luisa’s Divine Will is a demonic counterfeit of Perfect Practice of True Devotion to Mary. The Piccarretans are teaching that we’re to now go to Jesus Mary through Luisa and Luisa alone! This is not allowed in true Montfortian Spirituality. We only go to Jesus through Mary and Mary alone! BUT the danger of Luisa’s Divine Will goes even deeper. I think it’s a new Religion that is a combination of Catholicism, Buddhism and Sufism. It’s just REALLY bad news! -----Just a warning for all you kiddies.

God Bless!
 
wcknight said:
It may have been around for awhile but it is certainly NOT an article of faith and following it, is completely optional. To say the least it may be a somewhat obscure practice. I was brought up in Catholic schools and not once was this practice mentioned. I don’t question its legitimacy, but it is not widely taught.

I have nothing against these practices, and may do so myself down the road. However the OP appears to have some legitimate hesitantcy about joining this practice, so I think it would be wise for him not to get into something that he may not be ready for.

He should certainly not jump into something that makes him feel so uncomfortable. It may be great for you and some others but it may not be right for him at this time.
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Isn’t it the same way with the Liturgy of the Hours? It is not promoted from the pulpit, but it is available for all lay people. Those who are attracted to it look into it and decide if it is something they should be doing.

It depends on where the person is spiritually, and what particular devotions will be beneficial to them on their spiritual journey. They can find out by looking into it and deciding for themselves.
 
I first came across the book, True Devotion to Mary, in an adoration chapel about 4 or 5 years ago. I had scruples the first time I read it, too. I read it once. Set it down. Read it again a few months later, did the Consecration. Read it a third time just recently and have stepped up my devotion, aiming for the “slavery of the will.”

If you have scruples, I’ll recommend this approach: read True Devotion to Mary once. Set it down for a few months. Don’t do the Consecration. Pray for guidance. Then read it a second time. The words really come alive in the second reading. Then, if your’re comfortable, do the Consecration. Then, read the book a third time a year later. Everytime I read it, I come away with a deeper understanding of Mary and her role in leading us to Christ.

Trusting someone takes time. It took time for me to trust Mary. And when I realized just how much she loves me, and how much she loves Jesus, it all just “clicked” for me one day. Your scruples are probably derived from a lack of trust in Mary. This is not meant as criticism. It’s simply meant to help you know yourself. I went through the exact same thing. So did Pope John Paul II. I’ll discuss his relation to this spirituality in the next reply.

Also, to reassure the OP, there is legitimate discussion amongst the Montfortians that the next Doctor of The Church will be St. Louis De Montfort for his True Devotion to Mary spirituality.

God bless!
 
In Jesus and Mary: the Handbook of the Spirituality of St. Louis De Montfort, there is discussion of the writing of Lumen Gentium, and also Pope John Paul II’s throughts on the book True Devotion to Mary on page 1224-1226:
"1. Chapter 8 of Lumen Gentium and True Devotion to Mary: “…Knowing that Monsignor Phillips had drafted the outline for 52-52 [of Lumen Gentium] and seeing that he liked to invoke Mary’s role as a new Eve, I asked him, ‘Did you consult Father de Montfort’s True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin?’ and he answered, ‘I did not have it physically in front of me, but it was in my memory and in my heart while I was drafting this outline.’ …”
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** “2. True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin and Pope John Paul II ** John Paul II has made no secret of his ties to Montfort. We will discuss what bearing the saint has had on his personal piety and his teaching as vicar of Christ.”
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***"a. The Marian piety of Karol Wojtyla and True Devotion *** Pope John Paul II has himself spoken of his encounter with Montfort in True Devotion to Mary and its consequences for his life: “My life reached a decisive turning point when I read this book. I say ‘turning point’ although in fact it was part of an interior journey that coincided with my secret preparation for the priesthood. It was then that this singular book fell into my hands, one of those books of which one can say that simply ‘having read’ it is not enough. I remember carrying it with me for a long time, even to the soda works, to the point that there were lime stains all over its beautiful cover. I realized right away that there was something fundamental contained within that baroque style. From that point on, the devotion of my childhood and even of my adolescence to the Mother of God gave way to a new attitude, a devotion rising from the depths of my faith, as if from the very heart of the trinitarian and Christological reality.”
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“Whereas previously I had held back for fear that devotion to Mary would obscure Christ rather than give Him precedence, I understood with the light of Grignon’s [Grignon is St. Louis’s middle name] book that in truth it was entirely different.”
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continued …
 
…Continued quote from Jesus in Mary: the Handbook of the Spirituality of St. Louis Marie Grignon De Montfort:
“Our interior relationship to the Mother of God is the organic outgrowth of our connection to the mystery of Christ. So it is impossible that one should prevent us from seeing the other.”
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In fact, quite the contrary: “‘true devotion’ to the Blessed Virgin reveals itself more and more clearly in those who advance in the mystery of Christ, the Word Incarnate, and in the trinitarian mystery of salvation, which has this mystery at its center. We might even say that Christ Himself appoints His mother to those who strive to know and to love Him, as he did at Calvary for his disciple John.” [end quote of Pope John Paul II]
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This account in itself in itself, independent of the personality of the man who is giving it, is extraordinarily revelatory of how Montfort’s teaching always remains contemporary. John Paul II did not hesitate to follow it to its very conclusion, to the perfect practice of true devotion [slavery of the will]. The papal motto he has chosen, “Totus tuus,” calls this to mind.
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Continued …
 
Today, part of our homily was about the devotion and John Paul 2. We are having weekly studies on this with dvd’s and witness’s from other parish’s. Seem like there is quite an interest in this at our parish. We were told by Father that alot of the area parish’s are praying for us about this. Tim
 
… Continued quote from Jesus in Mary: The Handbook of the Spirituality of St. Louis Marie de Montfort:
The official teaching of Pope John Paul II: It would be a labor of love to look for possible traces of Montfort’s influence in the many pronouncements of the Pope, and to understand the light by which John Paul understood and used Montfort’s writing. We will confine ourselves to the exceptional contribution made by his encyclical on the Mother of the Redeemer to the subject of perfect practice.
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For John Paul II, the Marian Year, “is meant to promote a new and more careful reading of what the Council said about the Blessed Virgin Mary.” (RM 48). He is referring not only to the doctrine of faith but also to “the life of faith, and thus of authentic ‘Marian spirituality,’” which, “like its corresponding devotion, finds a very rich source in the historical experience of individuals and of various Christian communities present among the different peoples and nations of the world.” And here he introduces a passage that speaks directly of Montfort: “In this regard, I would like to recall among many witnesses and teachers of this spirituality, the figure of St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, who proposes the consecration to Christ through the hands of Mary, as an effective means for Christians to live faithfully their baptismal committments.”[bold added by Golden Arrow]. This passage gives an excellent summary definition of perfect practice. And without resorting to triumphalism, we might note that this is the sole reference in the encyclical to a “spiritual teacher” and the specific path that he proposes. We cannot ask for a clearer testimony to the contemporary quality of Montfort’s message as presented in True Devotion to Mary…" —Chapter written by A. Bossard.
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I hope this helps ease any scruples.

God Bless!
 
Today, part of our homily was about the devotion and John Paul 2. We are having weekly studies on this with dvd’s and witness’s from other parish’s. Seem like there is quite an interest in this at our parish. We were told by Father that alot of the area parish’s are praying for us about this. Tim.
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WOW! I think you got a sign from God!

Wonderful news! Go to those weekly studies. You’ll take away SO much good from this. It will be time well spent.

God Bless!
 
Here’s what the other Popes have said about True Devotion to Mary (quoted from the same book):
Pope Pius IX: declared that St. Louis De Montfort’s devotion to Mary was the best and most acceptable form of devotion to Our Lady.
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Pope Leo XIII: ** granted a plenary indulgence to those who make St. Louis De Montfort’s act of consecration to the Blessed Virgin.** On his deathbed he renewed the act himself and invoked the heavenly aid of St. Louis De Montfort, whom he had beatified in 1888.
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Pope St. Pius X:** “I heartily recommend True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, so admirably written by Blessed De Montfort, and to all who read it grant the Apostolic Benediction.”**
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Pope Benedict XV: "A book of high authority and unction."
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Pope Pius XI: "I have practiced this devotion since my youth."
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Pope Pius XII: “The greatest force behind his [St. Louis De Montfort’s] apostolic ministry and his great secret for attracting and winning souls for Jesus was his devotion to Mary.” (From Canonization address, July 20, 1947).
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:)🙂 That picture made my morning. Thank you!

Goldenarrow, thanks for the link. I’ll be sure to read through those essays after I read True Devotion.
 
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