Why is Mary Important?

[Cjbhoward]

In his treatise on “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary” among the motives for practicing this devotion, he wrote:

Concerning the Third Motive, St. Louis de Montfort says

She causes him to be engulfed in the abyss of her graces. She adorns him with her merits; she supports him with her power; she illuminates him with her light; she inflames him with her love; she communicates to him her virtues: her humility, her faith, her purity and the rest.

So if a person consecrated him/herself to Jesus according to de Montfort’s formula, should (s)he expect to realize these graces right away? Over time?

Would it be presumptuous to act as if one possessed the BVM’s virtues?

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

I think that we have to show a constant devotion to her for some time to receive the effects. It also takes some effort on our part to imitate them. The Glories of Mary does a good job presenting them and giving examples and ways that Mary practiced the virtues.

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks for your reply! Yes, I’ve read a little of St. Alphonsus’ work but not the complete book, “The Glories of Mary”. Reading the writings by the Saints and Doctors of the Church is always a help to me too!

When we realize by God’s Grace how much Love God has given Mary for us, how can we not want to know her and love her more!

 

[MariaChristi]

So if a person consecrated him/herself to Jesus according to de Montfort’s formula, should (s)he expect to realize these graces right away? Over time?

Would it be presumptuous to act as if one possessed the BVM’s virtues?

It seems to me that St. Louis de Montfort, by God’s Grace, is truly writing from his own experience. He knows that he (and all of us) can do nothing without God, just as Mary knew by God’s Grace in her own humility that she was merely His Handmaid.

Only by God’s Grace, could St. Louis write those truths and live the truths He wrote. We do not “act” virtue, we do not “pretend” as if we had Mary’s graces, merits, power, light, and most of all her love. God truly has such a union with Mary that He grants us her virtues of humility, faith, purity, and all the rest as we cooperate with His Grace.

If you have never read the treatise on True Devotion prayerfully and made the 33 days preparation as outlined by St. Louis de Montfort, you may not understand the depth of De Montfort’s "Act of Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary. " God is the One who gives His Grace – that is: our growing in His supernatural Life after our baptism – through Mary. This Prayer by Father Olier summarizes it well for me:

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.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear MonteRCMS,

Thanks for your reply. Some may hear this – as some may hear others who praise Mary in the role she has been given by God to be Mother of God and Queen of Heaven – as giving Mary too much honor when you add that Jesus “obeys”. However, I agree with you because the Gospel tells us that Jesus was “subject to them” – subject to Mary and Joseph (cf Luke 2) Jesus, God Incarnate, willed to obey Mary and Joseph on earth.

What about now in heaven? Jesus remains the same; God never changes. He hears the prayers of Mary and Joseph because they never would ask for anything contrary to God’s Will. They intercede according to His Will which is always one with the Father. Jesus continues to do as He did on earth.

Our finite minds cannot plumb the depths of God’s Love for us, but continuing to pray to the Holy Spirit as all the saints have done, helps us to receive the Truth the Holy Spirit was sent to bring to the Church. St. Louis de Montfort wrote:

1. God the Holy Spirit, who does not produce any divine person, became fruitful through Mary whom he espoused. It was with her, in her and of her that He produced His masterpiece, God-made-man, and that He produces every day until the end of the world the members of the body of this adorable Head. For this reason the more He finds Mary His dear and inseparable spouse in a soul the more powerful and effective He becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul and that soul in Jesus Christ.

Thanks again for your reply. I hope many more Catholics and non Catholic Christians will begin to pray to Mary, and learn how truly she helps us to know love and serve God in this world and be happy with Him in this world and the next!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear godisgood77,

In your heart you may not see any diminishing of Mary’s role “in the slightest”, but in your reply to Herculees your words tell him and us, you think he has it backward in saying, “Without Mary, we would NOT have Jesus”.

Tis_Bearself tried to point out St. Louis de Montfort’s use of the words “absolute need”. Hopefully you can ponder those words prayerfully. They are important. God in Himself has no “absolute need” of Mary as St Louis explains in the paragrah you quoted:

…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.

God had “no absolute need” to send Jesus through Mary" – BUT God so loved the world He sent Jesus born of a woman. Mary became necessary to His Will and His Plan to save us in the most Perfect Way for His Glory and the Good of ALL mankind after Adam and Eve sinned. In Genesis 3:15, we hear God say to the serpent:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel

God willed to create Mary before He sent His Son to be incarnate in her womb. Though He had no “absolute need” of her He willed her to be not only the Mother of Jesus but to be Mother and Model for the Church.

God had no “absolute need” to sacrifice Jesus on the Cross either but it was His Will to reveal His Perfect Love, in the Life, Death , Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus in the most perfect way. Mary is necessary now, because God willed her to be the perfect human model for us - in her perfect fulfilling of His Will – She is the perfect disciple of Jesus - never His equal but always the Faithful and loving Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son and Spouse of the Holy Spirit.

Hercules, I believe, was not backwards, because God chose her to be the dawn of the Perfect Day, Jesus. In a certain sense, we need to see God giving us Mary first and then Jesus.

 

[godisgood77]

MariaChristi,

Thank-you for your reply… your devotion to Mary is always quite evident!

Also, thank-you for confirming my point that God has no needs or dependencies… no limitations whatsoever…

Pax,
Dan

 

[margaret42]

Mary was Chosen by God, and therefore was “full of Grace”; that would definitely make her the “first saint”.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Margaret,

Thanks for your reply. Mary is “first” in the sense of the Highest and most perfect of all God’s human saints, because of her unique call and gifts; but there were some in the Old Testament who were also saints when we consider the great men and women who were so faithful. Remember the Transifiguration recounted in the Gospel, Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah.

My mother’s name was Deborah and when I looked her up in the Book of Judges – she is really a “type” of Mary – as is Hannah, and Judith and Esther all in the New Testament. Great women but none can surpass Mary Queen of All Saints.