"All the glory of the king's daughter is within...."-- Psalm 44:14
At Fatima, Portugal on June 13, 1917, Our Lady said to the three little children: "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God." Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was manifested by Heaven as being the path to peace for individuals and for the world. Two hundred years before the Fatima apparitions, St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort instructed his followers on how to live out one's consecration to the Blessed Virgin in the treatise True Devotion to Mary. "Mary is the sanctuary and repose of the Holy Trinity, where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe, not excepting his dwelling between the Cherubim and the Seraphim."
To take our refuge in Mary's heart is a shortcut to holiness, to union with God. "This practice of devotion to our Blessed Lady is also a perfect path by which to go and unite ourselves to Jesus, who...took no other road for His great and admirable journey....The Most High has come down to us perfectly and divinely, by the humble Mary....So it is by Mary that the very little ones are to ascend...without any fear, to the Most High." (True Devotion to Mary)
The key to Marian consecration is the renewal of our baptismal vows, when we "give ourselves entirely to Jesus Christ by the hands of Mary," as St. Louis de Montfort recommends. In doing so, we give to Our Mother "our body with all its senses and its members; our soul with all its powers, our exterior goods of fortune, whether present, or to come; our interior and spiritual goods, which are our merits and our virtues, and our good works, past, present, and future."By giving everything to Our Lady, she will purify our good works and offer them to God on our behalf, bringing about the greater glory of God. Uniting our hearts with hers (the brown scapular being the outward sign of this mystic union), we "do all our actions by Mary, with Mary, in Mary, and for Mary; so that we may do them all the more perfectly by Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus, and for Jesus."
The Holy Eucharist seals our covenant with God. St. Louis de Montfort urges that before receiving Holy Communion, "you must implore that good Mother to lend you her heart, that you may receive her Son there with the same dispositions as her own. You will explain to her that it touches her Son's glory to be put into a heart so sullied and inconstant as yours....But if she will come and dwell with you, in order to receive her Son, she can do so by the dominion which she has over hearts....You will ask her for her heart by these tender words: "I take thee for my all. Give me thy heart, O Mary." Share
5 comments:
Even in my helpless poverty, with all of my faults and sins, my confidence is in the Blessed Virgin; for many years ago, I totally consecrated myself to her according to the formula of St. Louis Marie, and never will cease from imploring her mercy, despite the fact that I am deeply flawed and undeserving of her mercy. This confidence permits a certain freedom of spirit, freeing me from self interest as regards merit, as well as proccupation with the stages of prayer, since my soul is entirely in her keeping, my intentions are entirely enveloped in her intentions - for me and for whomever she wishes. Every grace, every exchange with Jesus is mediated through my Mother. It is Jesus who taught me this:
"I would lead you, bring you to the home of my mother..." Songs 8
This is a beautiful post you have offered. Thank you.
Thank you, Terry, and your comment is even more beautiful. The Montfort consecration I made many years ago to the Immaculate is the only reason I am still alive.
Catholic Convert Question #1496:
What is this first Friday and First Saturday?
Oh, I should have explained all of that, Coffee! Our Lord asked St Margaret Mary in the 1600's in France to tell people they would have many blessings if they went to Mass for nine consecutive First Fridays of the month in reparation to His Sacred Heart. He also asked that King Louis XIV of France consecrate France to the Sacred Heart, but it was not done until the Revolution, in 1791, by Louis XVI.
Our Lady encouraged people at Fatima to go to Mass on five consecutive first Saturdays in reparation to her Immaculate Heart. Many sophisticated people now, especially in the Catholic blogosphere, ignore or even scorn apparitions. True, no one is required to believe in even an approved apparition. But many people do and it is part of our Catholic heritage. We are not to be overly credulous about everything but I think that those apparitions approved by the Church should not be the subject of disdain.
I deffinately believe in apparitions! But I'm careful to follow the ones approved by the Church so I don't get carried away by any fancy.
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