It
was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world,
and it is also through her that he must reign in the world.
Contents
(Use your browser's "Back" button to return to the Contents)
| Please note: These texts are copyright © The Montfort Missionaries 1987. They may be used for private study only, and may not be reproduced or published in any way whatever, without permission. For permission for other uses, write to: Montfort Publications, 26 South Saxon Avenue, Bay Shore, NY 11706, USA |
|---|
1. It
was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world,
and it is also through her that he must reign in the world.
2. Because
Mary remained hidden during her life she is called by the Holy
Spirit and the Church "Alma Mater", Mother hidden and
unknown. So great was her humility that she desired nothing more
upon earth than to remain unknown to herself and to others, and
to be known only to God.
3. In
answer to her prayers to remain hidden, poor and lowly, God was
pleased to conceal her from nearly every other human creature
in her conception, her birth, her life, her mysteries, her resurrection
and assumption. Her own parents did not really know her; and the
angels would often ask one another, "Who can she possibly
be?", for God had hidden her from them, or if he did reveal
anything to them, it was nothing compared with what he withheld.
4. God
the Father willed that she should perform no miracle during her
life, at least no public one, although he had given her the power
to do so. God the Son willed that she should speak very little
although he had imparted his wisdom to her.
Even though Mary was his
faithful spouse, God the Holy Spirit willed that his apostles
and evangelists should say very little about her and then only
as much as was necessary to make Jesus known.
5. Mary is the supreme
masterpiece of Almighty God and he has reserved the knowledge
and possession of her for himself. She is the glorious Mother
of God the Son who chose to humble and conceal her during her
lifetime in order to foster her humility. He called her "Woman"
as if she were a stranger, although in his heart he esteemed and
loved her above all men and angels. Mary is the sealed fountain
and the faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit where only he may enter.
She is the sanctuary and resting-place of the Blessed Trinity
where God dwells in greater and more divine splendour than anywhere
else in the universe, not excluding his dwelling above the cherubim
and seraphim. No creature, however pure, may enter there without
being specially privileged.
6. I
declare with the saints: Mary is the earthly paradise of Jesus
Christ the new Adam, where he became man by the power of the Holy
Spirit, in order to accomplish in her wonders beyond our understanding.
She is the vast and divine world of God where unutterable marvels
and beauties are to be found. She is the magnificence of the Almighty
where he hid his only Son, as in his own bosom, and with him everything
that is most excellent and precious. What great and hidden things
the all- powerful God has done for this wonderful creature, as
she herself had to confess in spite of her great humility, "The
Almighty has done great things for me." The world does not
know these things because it is incapable and unworthy of knowing
them.
7. The
saints have said wonderful things of Mary, the holy City of God,
and, as they themselves admit, they were never more eloquent and
more pleased than when they spoke of her. And yet they maintain
that the height of her merits rising up to the throne of the Godhead
cannot be perceived; the breadth of her love which is wider than
the earth cannot be measured; the greatness of the power which
she wields over one who is God cannot be conceived; and the depths
of her profound humility and all her virtues and graces cannot
be sounded. What incomprehensible height! What indescribable breadth!
What immeasurable greatness! What an impenetrable abyss!
8. Every
day, from one end of the earth to the other, in the highest heaven
and in the lowest abyss, all things preach, all things proclaim
the wondrous Virgin Mary. The nine choirs of angels, men and women
of every age, rank and religion, both good and evil, even the
very devils themselves are compelled by the force of truth, willingly
or unwillingly, to call her blessed.
According to St. Bonaventure,
all the angels in heaven unceasingly call out to her: "Holy,
holy, holy Mary, Virgin Mother of God." They greet her countless
times each day with the angelic greeting, "Hail, Mary",
while prostrating themselves before her, begging her as a favour
to honour them with one of her requests. According to St. Augustine,
even St. Michael, though prince of all the heavenly court, is
the most eager of all the angels to honour her and lead others
to honour her. At all times he awaits the privilege of going at
her word to the aid of one of her servants.
9. The whole world is
filled with her glory, and this is especially true of Christian
peoples, who have chosen her as guardian and protectress of kingdoms,
provinces, dioceses, and towns. Many cathedrals are consecrated
to God in her name. There is no church without an altar dedicated
to her, no country or region without at least one of her miraculous
images where all kinds of afflictions are cured and all sorts
of benefits received. Many are the confraternities and associations
honouring her as patron; many are the orders under her name and
protection; many are the members of sodalities and religious of
all congregations who voice her praises and make known her compassion.
There is not a child who does not praise her by lisping a Hail
Mary. There is scarcely a sinner, however hardened, who does not
possess some spark of confidence in her. The very devils in hell,
while fearing her, show her respect.
10. And
yet in truth we must still say with the saints: De Maria numquam
satis : We have still not praised, exalted, honoured, loved
and served Mary adequately. She is worthy of even more praise,
respect, love and service.
11. Moreover,
we should repeat after the Holy Spirit, "All the glory of
the king's daughter is within", meaning that all the external
glory which heaven and earth vie with each other to give her is
nothing compared to what she has received interiorly from her
Creator, namely, a glory unknown to insignificant creatures like
us, who cannot penetrate into the secrets of the king.
12. Finally,
we must say in the words of the apostle Paul, "Eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, nor has the heart of man understood"
the beauty, the grandeur, the excellence of Mary, who is indeed
a miracle of miracles of grace, nature and glory. "If you
wish to understand the Mother," says a saint, "then
understand the Son. She is a worthy Mother of God." Hic taceat
omnis lingua : Here let every tongue be silent.
13. My
heart has dictated with special joy all that I have written to
show that Mary has been unknown up till now, and that that is
one of the reasons why Jesus Christ is not known as he should
be.
If then, as is certain,
the knowledge and the kingdom of Jesus Christ must come into the
world, it can only be as a necessary consequence of the knowledge
and reign of Mary. She who first gave him to the world will establish
his kingdom in the world.
14. With the whole Church
I acknowledge that Mary, being a mere creature fashioned by the
hands of God is, compared to his infinite majesty, less than an
atom, or rather is simply nothing, since he alone can say, "I
am he who is". Consequently, 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.
15. However,
I declare that, considering things as they are, because God has
decided to begin and accomplish his greatest works through the
Blessed Virgin ever since he created her, we can safely believe
that he will not change his plan in the time to come, for he is
God and therefore does not change in his thoughts or his way of
acting.
16. God
the Father gave his only Son to the world only through Mary. Whatever
desires the patriarchs may have cherished, whatever entreaties
the prophets and saints of the Old Law may have had for 4,000
years to obtain that treasure, it was Mary alone who merited it
and found grace before God by the power of her prayers and the
perfection of her virtues. "The world being unworthy,"
said Saint Augustine, "to receive the Son of God directly
from the hands of the Father, he gave his Son to Mary for the
world to receive him from her."
The Son of God became man
for our salvation but only in Mary and through Mary.
God the Holy Spirit formed
Jesus Christ in Mary but only after having asked her consent through
one of the chief ministers of his court.
17. God the Father imparted
to Mary his fruitfulness as far as a mere creature was capable
of receiving it, to enable her to bring forth his Son and all
the members of his mystical body.
18. God
the Son came into her virginal womb as a new Adam into his earthly
paradise, to take his delight there and produce hidden wonders
of grace.
God-made-man found freedom
in imprisoning himself in her womb. He displayed power in allowing
himself to be borne by this young maiden. He found his glory and
that of his Father in hiding his splendours from all creatures
here below and revealing them only to Mary. He glorified his independence
and his majesty in depending upon this loveable virgin in his
conception, his birth, his presentation in the temple, and in
the thirty years of his hidden life. Even at his death she had
to be present so that he might be united with her in one sacrifice
and be immolated with her consent to the eternal Father, just
as formerly Isaac was offered in sacrifice by Abraham when he
accepted the will of God. It was Mary who nursed him, fed him,
cared for him, reared him, and sacrificed him for us.
The Holy Spirit could not
leave such wonderful and inconceivable dependence of God unmentioned
in the Gospel, though he concealed almost all the wonderful things
that Wisdom Incarnate did during his hidden life in order to bring
home to us its infinite value and glory. Jesus gave more glory
to God his Father by submitting to his Mother for thirty years
than he would have given him had he converted the whole world
by working the greatest miracles. How highly then do we glorify
God when to please him we submit ourselves to Mary, taking Jesus
as our sole model.
19. If we examine closely
the remainder of the life of Jesus Christ, we see that he chose
to begin his miracles through Mary. It was by her word that he
sanctified Saint John the Baptist in the womb of his mother, Saint
Elizabeth; no sooner had Mary spoken than John was sanctified.
This was his first and greatest miracle of grace. At the wedding
in Cana he changed water into wine at her humble prayer, and this
was his first miracle in the order of nature. He began and continued
his miracles through Mary and he will continue them through her
until the end of time.
20. 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.
21. This does not mean
that the Blessed Virgin confers on the Holy Spirit a fruitfulness
which he does not already possess. Being God, he has the ability
to produce just like the Father and the Son, although he does
not use this power and so does not produce another divine person.
But it does mean that the Holy Spirit chose to make use of our
Blessed Lady, although he had no absolute need of her, in order
to become actively fruitful in producing Jesus Christ and his
members in her and by her. This is a mystery of grace unknown
even to many of the most learned and spiritual of Christians.
22. The plan adopted
by the three persons of the Blessed Trinity in the Incarnation,
the first coming of Jesus Christ, is adhered to each day in an
invisible manner throughout the Church and they will pursue it
to the end of time until the last coming of Jesus Christ.
23. God
the Father gathered all the waters together and called them the
seas (maria). He gathered all his graces together and called them
Mary (Maria). The great God has a treasury or storehouse full
of riches in which he has enclosed all that is beautiful, resplendent,
rare, and precious, even his own Son. This immense treasury is
none other than Mary whom the saints call the "treasury of
the Lord". From her fullness all men are made rich.
24. God
the Son imparted to his mother all that he gained by his life
and death, namely, his infinite merits and his eminent virtues.
He made her the treasurer of all his Father had given him as heritage.
Through her he applies his merits to his members and through her
he transmits his virtues and distributes his graces. She is his
mystical channel, his aqueduct, through which he causes his mercies
to flow gently and abundantly.
25. God
the Holy Spirit entrusted his wondrous gifts to Mary, his faithful
spouse, and chose her as the dispenser of all he possesses, so
that she distributes all his gifts and graces to whom she wills,
as much as she wills, how she wills and when she wills. No heavenly
gift is given to men which does not pass through her virginal
hands. Such indeed is the will of God, who has decreed that we
should have all things through Mary, so that, making herself poor
and lowly,, and hiding herself in the depths of nothingness during
her whole life, she might be enriched, exalted and honoured by
almighty God. Such are the views of the Church and the early Fathers.
26. Were
I speaking to the so-called intellectuals of today, I would prove
at great length by quoting Latin texts taken from Scripture and
the Fathers of the Church all that I am now stating so simply.
I could also instance solid proofs which can be read in full in
Fr. Poiré's book "The Triple Crown of the Blessed
Virgin". But I am speaking mainly for the poor and simple
who have more good will and faith than the common run of scholars.
As they believe more simply and more meritoriously, let me merely
state the truth to them quite plainly without bothering to quote
Latin passages which they would not understand. Nevertheless,
I shall quote some texts as they occur to my mind as I go along.
27. Since
grace enhances our human nature and glory adds a still greater
perfection to grace, it is certain that our Lord remains in heaven
just as much the Son of Mary as he was on earth. Consequently
he has retained the submissiveness and obedience of the most perfect
of all children towards the best of all mothers.
We must take care, however,
not to consider this dependence as an abasement or imperfection
in Jesus Christ. For Mary, infinitely inferior to her Son, who
is God, does not command him in the same way as an earthly mother
would command her child who is beneath her. Since she is completely
transformed in God by that grace and glory which transforms all
the saints in him, she does not ask or wish or do anything which
is contrary to the eternal and changeless will of God. When therefore
we read in the writings of Saint Bernard, Saint Bernardine, Saint
Bonaventure, and others that all in heaven and on earth, even
God himself, is subject to the Blessed Virgin, they mean that
the authority which God was pleased to give her is so great that
she seems to have the same power as God. Her prayers and requests
are so powerful with him that he accepts them as commands in the
sense that he never resists his dear mother's prayer because it
is always humble and conformed to his will.
Moses by the power of his
prayer curbed God's anger against the Israelites so effectively
that the infinitely great and merciful Lord was unable to withstand
him and asked Moses to let him be angry and punish that rebellious
people. How much greater, then, will be the prayer of the humble
Virgin Mary, worthy Mother of God, which is more powerful with
the King of heaven than the prayers and intercession of all the
angels and saints in heaven and on earth.
28. Mary
has authority over the angels and the blessed in heaven. As a
reward for her great humility, God gave her the power and the
mission of assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by the
apostate angels who fell away through pride.
Such is the will of almighty
God who exalts the humble, that the powers of heaven, earth and
hell, willingly or unwillingly, must obey the commands of the
humble Virgin Mary. For God has made her queen of heaven and earth,
leader of his armies, keeper of his treasures, dispenser of his
graces, worker of his wonders, restorer of the human race, mediatrix
on behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies, and faithful associate
in his great works and triumphs.
29. God
the Father wishes Mary to be the mother of his children until
the end of time and so he says to her, "Dwell in Jacob",
that is to say, take up your abode permanently in my children,
in my holy ones represented by Jacob, and not in the children
of the devil and sinners represented by Esau.
30. Just
as in natural and bodily generation there is a father and a mother,
so in the supernatural and spiritual generation there is a father
who is God and a mother who is Mary. All true children of God
have God for their father and Mary for their mother; anyone who
does not have Mary for his mother, does not have God for his father.
This is why the reprobate, such as heretics and schismatics, who
hate, despise or ignore the Blessed Virgin, do not have God for
their father though they arrogantly claim they have, because they
do not have Mary for their mother. Indeed if they had her for
their mother they would love and honour her as good and true children
naturally love and honour the mother who gave them life.
An infallible and unmistakable
sign by which we can distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine,
an enemy of God, from one of God's true friends is that the heretic
and the hardened sinner show nothing but contempt and indifference
for our Lady. He endeavours by word and example, openly or insidiously
- sometimes under specious pretexts - to belittle the love and
veneration shown to her. God the Father has not told Mary to dwell
in them because they are, alas, other Esaus.
31. God
the Son wishes to form himself, and, in a manner of speaking,
become incarnate every day in his members through his dear Mother.
To her he said: "Take Israel for your inheritance."
It is as if he said, God the Father has given me as heritage all
the nations of the earth, all men good and evil, predestinate
and reprobate. To the good I shall be father and advocate, to
the bad a just avenger, but to all I shall be a judge. But you,
my dear Mother, will have for your heritage and possession only
the predestinate represented by Israel. As their loving mother,
you will give them birth, feed them and rear them. As their queen,
you will lead, govern and defend them.
32. "This
one and that one were born in her." According to the explanation
of some of the Fathers, the first man born of Mary is the God-man,
Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ, the head of mankind, is born of
her, the predestinate, who are members of this head, must also
as a necessary consequence be born of her. One and the same mother
does not give birth to the head without the members nor to the
members without the head, for these would be monsters in the order
of nature. In the order of grace likewise the head and the members
are born of the same mother. If a member of the mystical body
of Christ, that is, one of the predestinate, were born of a mother
other than Mary who gave birth to the head, he would not be one
of the predestinate, nor a member of Jesus Christ, but a monster
in the order of grace.
33. Moreover,
Jesus is still as much as ever the fruit of Mary, as heaven and
earth repeat thousands of times a day: "Blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus." It is therefore certain that Jesus is
the fruit and gift of Mary for every single man who possesses
him, just as truly as he is for all mankind. Consequently, if
any of the faithful have Jesus formed in their heart they can
boldly say, "It is thanks to Mary that what I possess is
Jesus her fruit, and without her I would not have him." We
can attribute more truly to her what Saint Paul said of himself,
"I am in labour again with all the children of God until
Jesus Christ, my Son, is formed in them to the fullness of his
age." Saint Augustine, surpassing himself as well as all
that I have said so far, affirms that in order to be conformed
to the image of the Son of God all the predestinate, while in
the world, are hidden in the womb of the Blessed Virgin where
they are protected, nourished, cared for and developed by this
good Mother, until the day she brings them forth to a life of
glory after death, which the Church calls the birthday of the
just. This is indeed a mystery of grace unknown to the reprobate
and little known even to the predestinate!
34. God
the Holy Spirit wishes to fashion his chosen ones in and through
Mary. He tells her, "My well-beloved, my spouse, let all
your virtues take root in my chosen ones that they may grow from
strength to strength and from grace to grace. When you were living
on earth, practising the most sublime virtues, I was so pleased
with you that I still desire to find you on earth without your
ceasing to be in heaven. Reproduce yourself then in my chosen
ones, so that I may have the joy of seeing in them the roots of
your invincible faith, profound humility, total mortification,
sublime prayer, ardent charity, your firm hope and all your virtues.
You are always my spouse, as faithful, pure, and fruitful as ever.
May your faith give me believers; your purity, virgins; your fruitfulness,
elect and living temples."
35. When
Mary has taken root in a soul she produces in it wonders of grace
which only she can produce; for she alone is the fruitful virgin
who never had and never will have her equal in purity and fruitfulness.
Together with the Holy Spirit Mary produced the greatest thing
that ever was or ever will be: a God-man. She will consequently
produce the marvels which will be seen in the latter times. The
formation and the education of the great saints who will come
at the end of the world are reserved to her, for only this singular
and wondrous virgin can produce in union with the Holy Spirit
singular and wondrous things.
36. When
the Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds Mary in a soul, he hastens
there and enters fully into it. He gives himself generously to
that soul according to the place it has given to his spouse. One
of the main reasons why the Holy Spirit does not work striking
wonders in souls is that he fails to find in them a sufficiently
close union with his faithful and inseparable spouse. I say "inseparable
spouse", for from the moment the substantial love of the
Father and the Son espoused Mary to form Jesus, the head of the
elect, and Jesus in the elect, he has never disowned her, for
she has always been faithful and fruitful.
37. We
must obviously conclude from what I have just said:
First, that Mary received
from God a far-reaching dominion over the souls of the elect.
Otherwise she could not make her dwelling-place in them as God
the Father has ordered her to do, and she could not conceive them,
nourish them, and bring them forth to eternal life as their mother.
She could not have them for her inheritance and her possession
and form them in Jesus and Jesus in them. She could not implant
in their heart the roots of her virtues, nor be the inseparable
associate of the Holy Spirit in all these works of grace. None
of these things, I repeat, could she do unless she had received
from the Almighty rights and authority over their souls. For God,
having given her power over his only-begotten and natural Son,
also gave her power over his adopted children - not only in what
concerns their body - which would be of little account - but also
in what concerns their soul.
38. Mary
is the Queen of heaven and earth by grace as Jesus is king by
nature and by conquest. But as the kingdom of Jesus Christ exists
primarily in the heart or interior of man, according to the words
of the Gospel, "The kingdom of God is within you", so
the kingdom of the Blessed Virgin is principally in the interior
of man, that is, in his soul. It is principally in souls that
she is glorified with her Son more than in any visible creature.
So we may call her, as the saints do, Queen of our hearts.
39. Secondly,
we must conclude that, being necessary to God by a necessity which
is called "hypothetical", (that is, because God so willed
it), the Blessed Virgin is all the more necessary for men to attain
their final end. Consequently we must not place devotion to her
on the same level as devotion to the other saints as if it were
merely something optional.
40. The
pious and learned Jesuit, Suarez, Justus Lipsius, a devout and
erudite theologian of Louvain, and many others have proved incontestably
that devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to attain salvation.
This they show from the teaching of the Fathers, notably St. Augustine,
St. Ephrem, deacon of Edessa, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Germanus
of Constantinople, St. John Demascene, St. Anselm, St. Bernard,
St. Bernardine, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure. Even according
to Oecolampadius and other heretics, lack of esteem and love for
the Virgin Mary is an infallible sign of God's disapproval. On
the other hand, to be entirely and genuinely devoted to her is
a sure sign of God's approval.
41. The
types and texts of the Old and New Testaments prove the truth
of this, the opinions and examples of the saints confirm it, and
reason and experience teach and demonstrate it. Even the devil
and his followers, forced by the evidence of the truth, were frequently
obliged against their will to admit it. For brevity's sake, I
shall quote one only of the many passages which I have collected
from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church to support this truth.
"Devotion to you, O Blessed Virgin, is a means of salvation
which God gives to those whom he wishes to save" (St. John
Damascene).
42. I
could tell many stories in evidence of what I have just said.
(1) One is recorded in the
chronicles of St. Francis. The saint saw in ecstasy an immense
ladder reaching to heaven, at the top of which stood the Blessed
Virgin. This is the ladder, he was told, by which we must all
go to heaven.
(2) There is another related
in the Chronicles of St. Dominic. Near Carcassonne, where St.
Dominic was preaching the Rosary, there was an unfortunate heretic
who was possessed by a multitude of devils. These evil spirits
to their confusion were compelled at the command of our Lady to
confess many great and consoling truths concerning devotion to
her. They did this so clearly and forcibly that, however weak
our devotion to our Lady may be, we cannot read this authentic
story containing such an unwilling tribute paid by the devils
to devotion to our Lady without shedding tears of joy.
43. If
devotion to the Blessed Virgin is necessary for all men simply
to work out their salvation, it is even more necessary for those
who are called to a special perfection. I do not believe that
anyone can acquire intimate union with our Lord and perfect fidelity
to the Holy Spirit without a very close union with the most Blessed
Virgin and an absolute dependence on her support.
44. Mary
alone found grace before God without the help of any other creature.
All those who have since found grace before God have found it
only through her. She was full of grace when she was greeted by
the Archangel Gabriel and was filled with grace to overflowing
by the Holy Spirit when he so mysteriously overshadowed her. From
day to day, from moment to moment, she increased so much this
twofold plenitude that she attained an immense and inconceivable
degree of grace. So much so, that the Almighty made her the sole
custodian of his treasures and the sole dispenser of his graces.
She can now ennoble, exalt and enrich all she chooses. She can
lead them along the narrow path to heaven and guide them through
the narrow gate to life. She can give a royal throne, sceptre
and crown to whom she wishes. Jesus is always and everywhere the
fruit and Son of Mary and Mary is everywhere the genuine tree
that bears that Fruit of life, the true Mother who bears that
Son.
45. To
Mary alone God gave the keys of the cellars of divine love and
the ability to enter the most sublime and secret ways of perfection,
and lead others along them. Mary alone gives to the unfortunate
children of unfaithful Eve entry into that earthly paradise where
they may walk pleasantly with God and be safely hidden from their
enemies. There they can feed without fear of death on the delicious
fruit of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. They can drink copiously the heavenly waters of that
beauteous fountain which gushes forth in such abundance. As she
is herself the earthly paradise, that virgin and blessed land
from which sinful Adam and Eve were expelled she lets only those
whom she chooses enter her domain in order to make them saints.
46. All
the rich among the people, to use an expression of the Holy Spirit
as explained by St. Bernard, all the rich among the people will
look pleadingly upon her countenance throughout all ages and particularly
as the world draws to its end. This means that the greatest saints,
those richest in grace and virtue will be the most assiduous in
praying to the most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfect
model to imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them.
47. I
said that this will happen especially towards the end of the world,
and indeed soon, because Almighty God and his holy Mother are
to raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most other
saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs.
This has been revealed to a holy soul whose life has been written
by M. de Renty.
48. These
great souls filled with grace and zeal will be chosen to oppose
the enemies of God who are raging on all sides. They will be exceptionally
devoted to the Blessed Virgin. Illumined by her light, strengthened
by her food, guided by her spirit, supported by her arm, sheltered
under her protection, they will fight with one hand and build
with the other. With one hand they will give battle, overthrowing
and crushing heretics and their heresies, schismatics and their
schisms, idolaters and their idolatries, sinners and their wickedness.
With the other hand they will build the temple of the true Solomon
and the mystical city of God, namely, the Blessed Virgin, who
is called by the Fathers of the Church the Temple of Solomon and
the City of God . By word and example they will draw all men to
a true devotion to her and though this will make many enemies,
it will also bring about many victories and much glory to God
alone. This is what God revealed to St. Vincent Ferrer, that outstanding
apostle of his day, as he has amply shown in one of his works.
This seems to have been
foretold by the Holy Spirit in Psalm 58: "The Lord will reign
in Jacob and all the ends of the earth. They will be converted
towards evening and they will be as hungry as dogs and they will
go around the city to find something to eat." This city around
which men will roam at the end of the world seeking conversion
and the appeasement of the hunger they have for justice is the
most Blessed Virgin, who is called by the Holy Spirit the City
of God .
49. The
salvation of the world began through Mary and through her it must
be accomplished. Mary scarcely appeared in the first coming of
Jesus Christ so that men, as yet insufficiently instructed and
enlightened concerning the person of her Son, might not wander
from the truth by becoming too strongly attached to her. This
would apparently have happened if she had been known, on account
of the wondrous charms with which Almighty God had endowed even
her outward appearance. So true is this that St. Denis the Areopagite
tells us in his writings that when he saw her he would have taken
her for a goddess, because of her incomparable beauty, had not
his well-grounded faith taught him otherwise. But in the second
coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealed
by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and served
through her. The reasons which moved the Holy Spirit to hide his
spouse during her life and to reveal but very little of her since
the first preaching of the gospel exist no longer.
50. God wishes therefore to reveal
Mary, his masterpiece, and make her more known in these latter
times:
(1) Because she kept herself hidden in
this world and in her great humility considered herself lower
than dust, having obtained from God, his apostles and evangelists
the favour of being made known.
(2) Because, as Mary is not only God's
masterpiece of glory in heaven, but also his masterpiece of grace
on earth, he wishes to be glorified and praised because of her
by those living upon earth.
(3) Since she is the dawn which precedes
and discloses the Sun of Justice Jesus Christ, she must be known
and acknowledged so that Jesus may be known and acknowledged.
(4) As she was the way by which Jesus
first came to us, she will again be the way by which he will come
to us the second time though not in the same manner.
(5) Since she is the sure means, the
direct and immaculate way to Jesus and the perfect guide to him,
it is through her that souls who are to shine forth in sanctity
must find him. He who finds Mary finds life, that is, Jesus Christ
who is the way, the truth and the life. But no one can find Mary
who does not look for her. No one can look for her who does not
know her, for no one seeks or desires something unknown. Mary
then must be better known than ever for the deeper understanding
and the greater glory of the Blessed Trinity.
(6) In these latter times Mary must shine
forth more than ever in mercy, power and grace; in mercy, to bring
back and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanderers who are
to be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, to
combat the enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to seduce
and crush by promises and threats all those who oppose them; finally,
she must shine forth in grace to inspire and support the valiant
soldiers and loyal servants of Jesus Christ who are fighting for
his cause.
(7) Lastly, Mary must become as terrible
as an army in battle array to the devil and his followers, especially
in these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time
- even less now than ever - to destroy souls, intensifies his
efforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to
stir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary's
faithful servants and children whom he finds more difficult to
overcome than others.
51. It is chiefly in reference
to these last wicked persecutions of the devil, daily increasing
until the advent of the reign of anti-Christ, that we should understand
that first and well-known prophecy and curse of God uttered against
the serpent in the garden of paradise. It is opportune to explain
it here for the glory of the Blessed Virgin, the salvation of
her children and the confusion of the devil. "I will place
enmities between you and the woman, between your race and her
race; she will crush your head and you will lie in wait for her
heel" (Gen. 3:15).
52. God has established only one
enmity - but it is an irreconcilable one - which will last and
even go on increasing to the end of time. That enmity is between
Mary, his worthy Mother, and the devil, between the children and
the servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and followers
of Lucifer.
Thus the most fearful enemy that God
has set up against the devil is Mary, his holy Mother. From the
time of the earthly paradise, although she existed then only in
his mind, he gave her such a hatred for his accursed enemy, such
ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent and
such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud rebel, that
Satan fears her not only more than angels and men but in a certain
sense more than God himself. This does not mean that the anger,
hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than the Blessed
Virgin's, since her attributes are limited. It simply means that
Satan, being so proud, suffers infinitely more in being vanquished
and punished by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her humility
humiliates him more than the power of God. Moreover, God has given
Mary such great power over the evil spirits that, as they have
often been forced unwillingly to admit through the lips of possessed
persons, they fear one of her pleadings for a soul more than the
prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats more than all
their other torments.
53. What Lucifer lost by pride
Mary won by humility. What Eve ruined and lost by disobedience
Mary saved by obedience. By obeying the serpent, Eve ruined her
children as well as herself and delivered them up to him. Mary
by her perfect fidelity to God saved her children with herself
and consecrated them to his divine majesty.
54. God has established not just
one enmity but "enmities", and not only between Mary
and Satan but between her race and his race. That is, God has
put enmities, antipathies and hatreds between the true children
and servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and slaves
of the devil. They have no love and no sympathy for each other.
The children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the
world, - for they are all one and the same - have always persecuted
and will persecute more than ever in the future those who belong
to the Blessed Virgin, just as Cain of old persecuted his brother
Abel, and Esau his brother Jacob. These are the types of the wicked
and of the just. But the humble Mary will always triumph over
Satan, the proud one, and so great will be her victory that she
will crush his head, the very seat of his pride. She will unmask
his serpent's cunning and expose his wicked plots. She will scatter
to the winds his devilish plans and to the end of time will keep
her faithful servants safe from his cruel claws.
But Mary's power over the evil spirits
will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will
lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and
her poor children whom she will rouse to fight against him. In
the eyes of the world they will be little and poor and, like the
heel, lowly in the eyes of all, down-trodden and crushed as is
the heel by the other parts of the body. But in compensation for
this they will be rich in God's graces, which will be abundantly
bestowed on them by Mary. They will be great and exalted before
God in holiness. They will be superior to all creatures by their
great zeal and so strongly will they be supported by divine assistance
that, in union with Mary, they will crush the head of Satan with
their heel, that is, their humility, and bring victory to Jesus
Christ.
55. Finally, God in these times
wishes his Blessed Mother to be more known, loved and honoured
than she has ever been. This will certainly come about if the
elect, by the grace and light of the Holy Spirit, adopt the interior
and perfect practice of the devotion which I shall later unfold.
Then they will clearly see that beautiful Star of the Sea, as
much as faith allows. Under her guidance they will perceive the
splendours of this Queen and will consecrate themselves entirely
to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience
her motherly kindness and affection for her children. They will
love her tenderly and will appreciate how full of compassion she
is and how much they stand in need of her help. In all circumstances
they will have recourse to her as their advocate and mediatrix
with Jesus Christ. They will see clearly that she is the safest,
easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus and
will surrender themselves to her, body and soul, without reserve
in order to belong entirely to Jesus.
56. But what will they be like,
these servants, these slaves, these children of Mary?
They will be ministers of the Lord who,
like a flaming fire, will enkindle everywhere the fires of divine
love. They will become, in Mary's powerful hands, like sharp arrows,
with which she will transfix her enemies.
They will be as the children of Levi,
thoroughly purified by the fire of great tribulations and closely
joined to God. They will carry the gold of love in their heart,
the frankincense of prayer in their mind and the myrrh of mortification
in their body. They will bring to the poor and lowly everywhere
the sweet fragrance of Jesus, but they will bring the odour of
death to the great, the rich and the proud of this world.
57. They will be like thunder-clouds
flying through the air at the slightest breath of the Holy Spirit.
Attached to nothing, surprised at nothing, troubled at nothing,
they will shower down the rain of God's word and of eternal life.
They will thunder against sin, they will storm against the world,
they will strike down the devil and his followers and for life
and for death, they will pierce through and through with the two-edged
sword of God's word all those against whom they are sent by Almighty
God.
58. They will be true apostles
of the latter times to whom the Lord of Hosts will give eloquence
and strength to work wonders and carry off glorious spoils from
his enemies. They will sleep without gold or silver and, more
important still, without concern in the midst of other priests,
ecclesiastics and clerics. Yet they will have the silver wings
of the dove enabling them to go wherever the Holy Spirit calls
them, filled as they are with the resolve to seek the glory of
God and the salvation of souls. Wherever they preach, they will
leave behind them nothing but the gold of love, which is the fulfilment
of the whole law.
59. Lastly, we know they will
be true disciples of Jesus Christ, imitating his poverty, his
humility, his contempt of the world and his love. They will point
out the narrow way to God in pure truth according to the holy
Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world. Their hearts
will not be troubled, nor will they show favour to anyone; they
will not spare or heed or fear any man, however powerful he may
be. They will have the two-edged sword of the word of God in their
mouths and the blood-stained standard of the Cross on their shoulders.
They will carry the crucifix in their right hand and the rosary
in their left, and the holy names of Jesus and Mary on their heart.
The simplicity and self-sacrifice of Jesus will be reflected in
their whole behaviour.
Such are the great men who are to come.
By the will of God Mary is to prepare them to extend his rule
over the impious and unbelievers. But when and how will this come
about? Only God knows. For our part we must yearn and wait for
it in silence and in prayer: "I have waited and waited."
60. Having
spoken briefly of the necessity of devotion to the Blessed Virgin,
I must now explain what this devotion consists in. This I will
do with God's help after I have laid down certain basic truths
which throw light on the remarkable and sound devotion which I
propose to unfold.
61. Jesus, our Saviour, true God
and true man must be the ultimate end of all our other devotions;
otherwise they would be false and misleading. He is the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and end of everything. "We labour,"
says St. Paul, "only to make all men perfect in Jesus Christ."
For in him alone dwells the entire fullness
of the divinity and the complete fullness of grace, virtue and
perfection. In him alone we have been blessed with every spiritual
blessing; he is the only teacher from whom we must learn; the
only Lord on whom we should depend; the only Head to whom we should
be united and the only model that we should imitate. He is the
only Physician that can heal us; the only Shepherd that can feed
us; the only Way that can lead us; the only Truth that we can
believe; the only Life that can animate us. He alone is everything
to us and he alone can satisfy all our desires.
We are given no other name under heaven
by which we can be saved. God has laid no other foundation for
our salvation, perfection and glory than Jesus. Every edifice
which is not built on that firm rock, is founded upon shifting
sands and will certainly fall sooner or later. Every one of the
faithful who is not united to him is like a branch broken from
the stem of the vine. It falls and withers and is fit only to
be burnt. If we live in Jesus and Jesus lives in us, we need not
fear damnation. Neither angels in heaven nor men on earth, nor
devils in hell, no creature whatever can harm us, for no creature
can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Through him, with him and in him, we can do all things and render
all honour and glory to the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit;
we can make ourselves perfect and be for our neighbour a fragrance
of eternal life.
62. If then we are establishing
sound devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only in order to establish
devotion to our Lord more perfectly, by providing a smooth but
certain way of reaching Jesus Christ. If devotion to our Lady
distracted us from our Lord, we would have to reject it as an
illusion of the devil. But this is far from being the case. As
I have already shown and will show again later on, this devotion
is necessary, simply and solely because it is a way of reaching
Jesus perfectly, loving him tenderly, and serving him faithfully.
63. Here I turn to you for a moment,
dear Jesus, to complain lovingly to your divine Majesty that the
majority of Christians, and even some of the most learned among
them, do not recognise the necessary bond that unites you and
your Blessed Mother. Lord, you are always with Mary and Mary is
always with you. She can never be without you because then she
would cease to be what she is. She is so completely transformed
into you by grace that she no longer lives, she no longer exists,
because you alone, dear Jesus, live and reign in her more perfectly
than in all the angels and saints. If we only knew the glory and
the love given to you by this wonderful creature, our feelings
for you and for her would be far different from those we have
now. So intimately is she united to you that it would be easier
to separate light from the sun, and heat from the fire. I go further,
it would even be easier to separate all the angels and saints
from you than Mary; for she loves you ardently, and glorifies
you more perfectly than all your other creatures put together.
64. In view of this, my dear Master,
is it not astonishing and pitiful to see the ignorance and short-sightedness
of men with regard to your holy Mother? I am not speaking so much
of idolaters and pagans who do not know you and consequently have
no knowledge of her. I am not even speaking of heretics and schismatics
who have left you and your holy Church and therefore are not interested
in your holy Mother. I am speaking of Catholics, and even of educated
Catholics, who profess to teach the faith to others but do not
know you or your Mother except speculatively, in a dry, cold and
sterile way.
These people seldom speak of your Mother
or devotion to her. They say they are afraid that devotion to
her will be abused and that you will be offended by excessive
honour paid to her. They protest loudly when they see or hear
a devout servant of Mary speak frequently with feeling, conviction
and vigour of devotion to her. When he speaks of devotion to her
as a sure means of finding and loving you without fear or illusion,
or when he says this devotion is a short road free from danger,
or an immaculate way free from imperfection, or a wondrous secret
of finding you, they put before him a thousand specious reasons
to show him how wrong he is to speak so much of Mary. There are,
they say, great abuses in this devotion which we should try to
stamp out and we should refer people to you rather than exhort
them to have devotion to your Mother, whom they already love adequately.
If they are sometimes heard speaking
of devotion to your Mother, it is not for the purpose of promoting
it or convincing people of it but only to destroy the abuses made
of it. Yet all the while these persons are devoid of piety or
genuine devotion to you, for they have no devotion to Mary. They
consider the Rosary and the Scapular as devotions suitable only
for simple women or ignorant people. After all, they say, we do
not need them to be saved. If they come across one who loves our
Lady, who says the rosary or shows any devotion towards her, they
soon move him to a change of mind and heart. They advise him to
say the seven penitential psalms instead of the Rosary, and to
show devotion to Jesus instead of to Mary.
Dear Jesus, do these people possess your
spirit? Do they please you by acting in this way? Would it please
you if we were to make no effort to give pleasure to your Mother
because we are afraid of offending you? Does devotion to your
holy Mother hinder devotion to you? Does Mary keep for herself
any honour we pay her? Is she a rival of yours? Is she a stranger
having no kinship with you? Does pleasing her imply displeasing
you? Does the gift of oneself to her constitute a deprivation
for you? Is love for her a lessening of our love for you?
65. Nevertheless, my dear Master,
the majority of learned scholars could not be further from devotion
to your Mother, or show more indifference to it even if all I
have just said were true. Keep me from their way of thinking and
acting and let me share your feelings of gratitude, esteem, respect
and love for your holy Mother. I can then love and glorify you
all the more, because I will be imitating and following you more
closely.
66. As though I had said nothing
so far to further her honour, grant me now the grace to praise
her more worthily, in spite of all her enemies who are also yours.
I can then say to them boldly with the saints, "Let no one
presume to expect mercy from God, who offends his holy Mother."
67. So that I may obtain from
your mercy a genuine devotion to your blessed Mother and spread
it throughout the whole world, help me to love you wholeheartedly,
and for this intention accept the earnest prayer I offer with
St. Augustine and all who truly love you.
O Jesus Christ, you are my Father, my
merciful God, my great King, my good Shepherd, my only Master,
my best helper, my beloved friend of overwhelming beauty, my living
Bread, my eternal priest. You are my guide to my heavenly home,
my one true light, my holy joy, my true way, my shining wisdom,
my unfeigned simplicity, the peace and harmony of my soul, my
perfect safeguard, my bounteous inheritance, my everlasting salvation.
My loving Lord, Jesus Christ, why have
I ever loved or desired anything else in my life but you, my God?
Where was I when I was not in communion with you? From now on,
I direct all my desires to be inspired by you and centred on you.
I direct them to press forward for they have tarried long enough,
to hasten towards their goal, to seek the one they yearn for.
O Jesus, let him who does not love you
be accursed, and filled with bitterness. O gentle Jesus, let every
worthy feeling of mine show you love, take delight in you and
admire you. O God of my heart and my inheritance, Christ Jesus,
may my heart mellow before the influence of your spirit and may
you live in me. May the flame of your love burn in my soul. May
it burn incessantly on the altar of my heart. May it glow in my
innermost being. May it spread its heat into the hidden recesses
of my soul and on the day of my consummation may I appear before
you consumed in your love. Amen.
68. From what Jesus Christ is
in regard to us we must conclude, as St. Paul says, that we belong
not to ourselves but entirely to him as his members and his slaves,
for he bought us at an infinite price - the shedding of his Precious
Blood. Before baptism, we belonged to the devil as slaves, but
baptism made us in very truth slaves of Jesus.
We must therefore live, work and die
for the sole purpose of bringing forth fruit for him, glorifying
him in our body and letting him reign in our soul. We are his
conquest, the people he has won, his heritage.
It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit
compares us: 1) to trees that are planted along the waters of
grace in the field of the Church and which must bear their fruit
when the time comes; 2) to branches of the vine of which Jesus
is the stem, which must yield good grapes; 3) to a flock of sheep
of which Jesus is the Shepherd, which must increase and give milk;
4) to good soil cultivated by God, where the seed will spread
and produce crops up to thirty-fold, sixty-fold, or a hundred-fold.
Our Lord cursed the barren fig-tree and condemned the slothful
servant who wasted his talent.
All this proves that he wishes to receive
some fruit from our wretched selves, namely, our good works, which
by right belong to him alone, "created in Jesus Christ for
good works". These words of the Holy Spirit show that Jesus
is the sole source and must be the sole end of all our good works,
and that we must serve him not just as paid servants but as slaves
of love. Let me explain what I mean.
69. There are two ways of belonging
to another person and being subject to his authority. One is by
ordinary service and the other is by slavery. And so we must use
the terms "servant" and "slave". Ordinary
service in Christian countries is when a man is employed to serve
another for a certain length of time at a wage which is fixed
or agreed upon. When a man is totally dependent on another for
life, and must serve his master without expecting any wages or
recompense, when he is treated just like a beast of the field
over which the owner has the right of life and death, then it
is slavery.
70. Now there are three kinds
of slavery; natural slavery, enforced slavery, and voluntary slavery.
All creatures are slaves of God in the first sense, for "the
earth and its fullness belong to the Lord". The devils and
the damned are slaves in the second sense. The saints in heaven
and the just on earth are slaves in the third sense. Voluntary
slavery is the most perfect of all three states, for by it we
give the greatest glory to God, who looks into the heart and wants
it to be given to him. Is he not indeed called the God of the
heart or of the loving will? For by this slavery we freely choose
God and his service before all things, even if we were not by
our very nature obliged to do so.
71. There is a world of difference
between a servant and a slave. 1) A servant does not give his
employer all he is, all he has, and all he can acquire by himself
or through others. A slave, however, gives himself to his master
completely and exclusively with all he has and all he can acquire.
2) A servant demands wages for the services rendered to his employer.
A slave, on the other hand, can expect nothing, no matter what
skill, attention or energy he may have put into his work. 3) A
servant can leave his employer whenever he pleases, or at least
when the term of his service expires, whereas the slave has no
such right. 4) An employer has no right of life and death over
a servant. Were he to kill him as he would a beast of burden,
he would commit murder. But the master of a slave has by law the
right of life and death over him, so that he can sell him to anyone
he chooses or - if you will pardon the comparison - kill him as
he would kill his horse. 5) Finally, a servant is in his employer's
service only for a time; a slave for always.
72. No other human state involves
belonging more completely to another than slavery. Among Christian
peoples, nothing makes a person belong more completely to Jesus
and his holy Mother than voluntary slavery. Our Lord himself gave
us the example of this when out of love for us he "took the
form of a slave". Our Lady gave us the same example when
she called herself the handmaid or slave of the Lord. The Apostle
considered it an honour to be called "slave of Christ".
Several times in Holy Scripture, Christians are referred to as
"slaves of Christ".
The Latin word "servus" at
one time signified only a slave because servants as we know them
did not exist. Masters were served either by slaves or by freedmen.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent leaves no doubt about our
being slaves of Jesus Christ, using the unequivocal term "Mancipia
Christi", which plainly means: slaves of Christ.
73. Granting this, I say that
we must belong to Jesus and serve him not just as hired servants
but as willing slaves who, moved by generous love, commit themselves
to his service after the manner of slaves for the honour of belonging
to him. Before we were baptised we were the slaves of the devil,
but baptism made us the slaves of Jesus. Christians can only be
slaves of the devil or slaves of Christ.
74. What I say in an absolute
sense of our Lord, I say in a relative sense of our Blessed Lady.
Jesus, in choosing her as his inseparable associate in his life,
glory and power in heaven and on earth, has given her by grace
in his kingdom all the same rights and privileges that he possesses
by nature. "All that belongs to God by nature belongs to
Mary by grace", say the saints, and, according to them, just
as Jesus and Mary have the same will and the same power, they
have also the same subjects, servants and slaves.
75. Following therefore the teaching
of the saints and of many great men we can call ourselves, and
become, the loving slaves of our Blessed Lady in order to become
more perfect slaves of Jesus. Mary is the means our Lord chose
to come to us and she is also the means we should choose to go
to him, for she is not like other creatures who tend rather to
lead us away from God than towards him, if we are over-attached
to them. Mary's strongest inclination is to unite us to Jesus,
her Son, and her Son's strongest wish is that we come to him through
his Blessed Mother. He is pleased and honoured just as a king
would be pleased and honoured if a citizen, wanting to become
a better subject and slave of the king, made himself the slave
of the queen. That is why the Fathers of the Church, and St. Bonaventure
after them, assert that the Blessed Virgin is the way which leads
to our Lord.
76. Moreover, if, as I have said,
the Blessed Virgin is the Queen and Sovereign of heaven and earth,
does she not then have as many subjects and slaves as there are
creatures? "All things, including Mary herself, are subject
to the power of God. All things, God included, are subject to
the Virgin's power", so we are told by St. Anselm, St. Bernard,
St. Bernardine and St. Bonaventure. Is it not reasonable to find
that among so many slaves there should be some slaves of love,
who freely choose Mary as their Queen? Should men and demons have
willing slaves, and Mary have none? A king makes it a point of
honour that the queen, his consort, should have her own slaves,
over whom she has right of life and death, for honour and power
given to the queen is honour and power given to the king. Could
we possibly believe that Jesus, the best of all sons, who shared
his power with his Blessed Mother, would resent her having her
own slaves? Has he less esteem and love for his Mother than Ahasuerus
had for Esther, or Solomon for Bathsheba? Who could say or even
think such a thing?
77. But where is my pen leading
me? Why am I wasting my time proving something so obvious? If
people are unwilling to call themselves slaves of Mary, what does
it matter? Let them become and call themselves slaves of Jesus
Christ, for this is the same as being slaves of Mary, since Jesus
is the fruit and glory of Mary. This is what we do perfectly in
the devotion we shall discuss later.
78. Our best actions are usually
tainted and spoiled by the evil that is rooted in us. When pure,
clear water is poured into a foul-smelling jug, or wine into an
unwashed cask that previously contained another wine, the clear
water and the good wine are tainted and readily acquire an unpleasant
odour. In the same way when God pours into our soul, infected
by original and actual sin, the heavenly waters of his grace or
the delicious wines of his love, his gifts are usually spoiled
and tainted by the evil sediment left in us by sin. Our actions,
even those of the highest virtue, show the effects of it. It is
therefore of the utmost importance that, in seeking the perfection
that can be attained only by union with Jesus, we rid ourselves
of all that is evil in us. Otherwise our infinitely pure Lord,
who has an infinite hatred for the slightest stain in our soul,
will refuse to unite us to himself and will drive us from his
presence.
79. To rid ourselves of selfishness,
we must first become thoroughly aware, by the light of the Holy
Spirit, of our tainted nature. Of ourselves we are unable to do
anything conducive to our salvation. Our human weakness is evident
in everything we do and we are habitually unreliable. We do not
deserve any grace from God. Our tendency to sin is always present.
The sin of Adam has almost entirely spoiled and soured us, filling
us with pride and corrupting every one of us, just as leaven sours,
swells and corrupts the dough in which it is placed. The actual
sins we have committed, whether mortal or venial, even though
forgiven, have intensified our base desires, our weakness, our
inconstancy and our evil tendencies, and have left a sediment
of evil in our soul.
Our bodies are so corrupt that they are
referred to by the Holy Spirit as bodies of sin, as conceived
and nourished in sin, and capable of any kind of sin. They are
subject to a thousand ills, deteriorating from day to day and
harbouring only disease, vermin and corruption.
Our soul, being united to our body, has
become so carnal that it has been called flesh. "All flesh
had corrupted its way". Pride and blindness of spirit, hardness
of heart, weakness and inconstancy of soul, evil inclinations,
rebellious passions, ailments of the body, - these are all we
can call our own. By nature we are prouder than peacocks, we cling
to the earth more than toads, we are more base than goats, more
envious than serpents, greedier than pigs, fiercer than tigers,
lazier than tortoises, weaker than reeds, and more changeable
than weather-cocks. We have in us nothing but sin, and deserve
only the wrath of God and the eternity of hell.
80. Is it any wonder then that
our Lord laid down that anyone who aspires to be his follower
must deny himself and hate his very life? He makes it clear that
anyone who loves his life shall lose it and anyone who hates his
life shall save it. Now, our Lord, who is infinite Wisdom, and
does not give commandments without a reason, bids us hate ourselves
only because we richly deserve to be hated. Nothing is more worthy
of love than God and nothing is more deserving of hatred than
self.
81. Secondly, in order to empty
ourselves of self, we must die daily to ourselves. This involves
our renouncing what the powers of the soul and the senses of the
body incline us to do. We must see as if we did not see, hear
as if we did not hear and use the things of this world as if we
did not use them. This is what St. Paul calls "dying daily".
Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains
only a single grain and does not bear any good fruit. If we do
not die to self and if our holiest devotions do not lead us to
this necessary and fruitful death, we shall not bear fruit of
any worth and our devotions will cease to be profitable. All our
good works will be tainted by self-love and self-will so that
our greatest sacrifices and our best actions will be unacceptable
to God. Consequently when we come to die we shall find ourselves
devoid of virtue and merit and discover that we do not possess
even one spark of that pure love which God shares only with those
who have died to themselves and whose life is hidden with Jesus
Christ in him.
82. Thirdly, we must choose among
all the devotions to the Blessed Virgin the one which will lead
us more surely to this dying to self. This devotion will be the
best and the most sanctifying for us. For we must not believe
that all that glitters is gold, all that is sweet is honey, or
all that is easy to do and is done by the majority of people is
the most sanctifying. Just as in nature there are secrets enabling
us to do certain natural things quickly, easily and at little
cost, so in the spiritual life there are secrets which enable
us to perform works rapidly, smoothly and with facility. Such
works are, for example, emptying ourselves of self-love, filling
ourselves with God, and attaining perfection.
The devotion that I propose to explain
is one of these secrets of grace, for it is unknown to most Christians.
Only a few devout people know of it and it is practised and appreciated
by fewer still. To begin the explanation of this devotion here
is a fourth truth which is a consequence of the third.
83. It is more perfect because
it supposes greater humility to approach God through a mediator
rather than directly by ourselves. Our human nature, as I have
just shown, is so spoilt that if we rely on our own work, effort
and preparedness to reach God and please him, it is certain that
our good works will be tainted and carry little weight with him.
They will not induce him to unite himself to us or answer our
prayers. God had his reasons for giving us mediators with him.
He saw our unworthiness and helplessness and had pity on us. To
give us access to his mercies he provided us with powerful advocates,
so that to neglect these mediators and to approach his infinite
holiness directly and without help from any one of them, is to
be lacking in humility and respect towards God who is so great
and holy. It would mean that we have less esteem for the King
of kings than for an earthly king or ruler, for we would not dare
approach an earthly king without a friend to speak for us.
84. Our Lord is our Advocate and
our Mediator of redemption with God the Father. It is through
him that we must pray with the whole Church, triumphant and militant.
It is through him that we have access to God the Father. We should
never appear before God, our Father, unless we are supported by
the merits of his Son, and, so to speak, clothed in them, as young
Jacob was clothed in the skin of the young goats when he appeared
before his father Isaac to receive his blessing.
85. But have we no need at all
of a mediator with the Mediator himself? Are we pure enough to
be united directly to Christ without any help? Is Jesus not God,
equal in every way to the Father? Therefore is he not the Holy
of Holies, having a right to the same respect as his Father? If
in his infinite love he became our security and our Mediator with
his Father, whom he wished to appease in order to redeem us from
our debts, should we on that account show him less respect and
have less regard for the majesty and holiness of his person?
Let us not be afraid to say with St.
Bernard that we need a mediator with the Mediator himself and
the divinely-honoured Mary is the one most able to fulfil this
office of love. Through her, Jesus came to us; through her we
should go to him. If we are afraid of going directly to Jesus,
who is God, because of his infinite greatness, or our lowliness,
or our sins, let us implore without fear the help and intercession
of Mary, our Mother. She is kind, she is tender, and there is
nothing harsh or forbidding about her, nothing too sublime or
too brilliant. When we see her, we see our own human nature at
its purest. She is not the sun, dazzling our weak sight by the
brightness of its rays. Rather, she is fair and gentle as the
moon, which receives its light from the sun and softens it and
adapts it to our limited perception.
She is so full of love that no one who
asks for her intercession is rejected, no matter how sinful he
may be. The saints say that it has never been known since the
world began that anyone had recourse to our Blessed Lady, with
trust and perseverance, and was rejected. Her power is so great
that her prayers are never refused. She has but to appear in prayer
before her Son and he at once welcomes her and grants her requests.
He is always lovingly conquered by the prayers of the dear Mother
who bore him and nourished him.
86. All this is taken from St.
Bernard and St. Bonaventure. According to them, we have three
steps to take in order to reach God. The first, nearest to us
and most suited to our capacity, is Mary; the second is Jesus
Christ; the third is God the Father. To go to Jesus, we should
go to Mary, our mediatrix of intercession. To go to God the Father,
we must go to Jesus, our Mediator of redemption. This order is
perfectly observed in the devotion I shall speak about further
on.
87. It is very difficult, considering
our weakness and frailty, to keep the graces and treasures we
have received from God.
1. We carry this treasure, which is worth
more than heaven and earth, in fragile vessels, that is, in a
corruptible body and in a weak and wavering soul which requires
very little to depress and disturb it.
88. 2. The evil spirits, cunning
thieves that they are, can take us by surprise and rob us of all
we possess. They are watching day and night for the right moment.
They roam incessantly seeking to devour us and to snatch from
us in one brief moment of sin all the grace and merit we have
taken years to acquire. Their malice and their experience, their
cunning and their numbers ought to make us ever fearful of such
a misfortune happening to us. People, richer in grace and virtue,
more experienced and advanced in holiness than we are, have been
caught off their guard and robbed and stripped of everything.
How many cedars of Lebanon, how many stars of the firmament have
we sadly watched fall and lose in a short time their loftiness
and their brightness!
What has brought about this unexpected
reverse? Not the lack of grace, for this is denied no one. It
was a lack of humility; they considered themselves stronger and
more self- sufficient than they really were. They thought themselves
well able to hold on to their treasures. They believed their house
secure enough and their coffers strong enough to safeguard their
precious treasure of grace. It was because of their unconscious
reliance on self - although it seemed to them that they were relying
solely on the grace of God - that the most just Lord left them
to themselves and allowed them to be despoiled. If they had only
known of the wonderful devotion that I shall later explain, they
would have entrusted their treasure to Mary, the powerful and
faithful Virgin. She would have kept it for them as if it were
her own possession and even have considered that trust an obligation
of justice.
89. 3. It is difficult to persevere
in holiness because of the excessively corrupting influence of
the world. The world is so corrupt that it seems almost inevitable
that religious hearts be soiled, if not by its mud, at least by
its dust. It is something of a miracle for anyone to stand firm
in the midst of this raging torrent and not be swept away; to
weather this stormy sea and not be drowned, or robbed by pirates;
to breathe this pestilential air and not be contaminated by it.
It is Mary, the singularly faithful Virgin over whom Satan had
never any power, who works this miracle for those who truly love
her.
90. Now that we have established
these five basic truths, it is all the more necessary to make
the right choice of the true devotion to our Blessed Lady, for
now more than ever there are false devotions to her which can
easily be mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a counterfeiter
and crafty, experienced deceiver, has already misled and ruined
many Christians by means of fraudulent devotions to our Lady.
Day by day he uses his diabolical experience to lead many more
to their doom, fooling them, lulling them to sleep in sin and
assuring them that a few prayers, even badly said, and a few exterior
practices, inspired by himself, are authentic devotions. A counterfeiter
usually makes coins only of gold and silver, rarely of other metals,
because these latter would not be worth the trouble. Similarly,
the devil leaves other devotions alone and counterfeits mostly
those directed to Jesus and Mary, for example, devotion to the
Holy Eucharist and to the Blessed Virgin, because these are to
other devotions what gold and silver are to other metals.
91. It is therefore very important,
first, to recognise false devotions to our Blessed Lady so as
to avoid them, and to recognise true devotion in order to practise
it. Second, among so many different forms of true devotion to
our Blessed Lady we should choose the one most perfect and the
most pleasing to her, the one that gives greater glory to God
and is most sanctifying for us.
92. There are, I find, seven kinds
of false devotion to Mary, namely, the devotion of (1) the critical,
(2) the scrupulous, (3) the superficial, (4) the presumptuous,
(5) the inconstant, (6) the hypocritical, (7) the self-interested.
93. Critical devotees are for
the most part proud scholars, people of independent and self-satisfied
minds, who deep down in their hearts have a vague sort of devotion
to Mary. However, they criticise nearly all those forms of devotion
to her which simple and pious people use to honour their good
Mother just because such practices do not appeal to them. They
question all miracles and stories which testify to the mercy and
power of the Blessed Virgin, even those recorded by trustworthy
authors or taken from the chronicles of religious orders. They
cannot bear to see simple and humble people on their knees before
an altar or statue of our Lady, or at prayer before some outdoor
shrine. They even accuse them of idolatry as if they were adoring
the wood or the stone. They say that as far as they are concerned
they do not care for such outward display of devotion and that
they are not so gullible as to believe all the fairy tales and
stories told of our Blessed Lady. When you tell them how admirably
the Fathers of the Church praised our Lady, they reply that the
Fathers were exaggerating as orators do, or that their words are
misrepresented. These false devotees, these proud worldly people
are greatly to be feared. They do untold harm to devotion to our
Lady. While pretending to correct abuses, they succeed only too
well in turning people away from this devotion.
94. Scrupulous devotees are those
who imagine they are slighting the Son by honouring the Mother.
They fear that by exalting Mary they are belittling Jesus. They
cannot bear to see people giving to our Lady the praises due to
her and which the Fathers of the Church have lavished upon her.
It annoys them to see more people kneeling before Mary's altar
than before the Blessed Sacrament, as if these acts were at variance
with each other, or as if those who were praying to our Lady were
not praying through her to Jesus. They do not want us to speak
too often of her or to pray so often to her.
Here are some of the things they say:
"What is the good of all these rosaries, confraternities
and exterior devotions to our Lady? There is a great deal of ignorance
in all this. It is making a mockery of religion. Tell us about
those who are devoted to Jesus (and they often pronounce his name
without uncovering their heads). We should go directly to Jesus,
since he is our sole Mediator. We must preach Jesus; that is sound
devotion." There is some truth in what they say, but the
inference they draw to prevent devotion to our Lady is very insidious.
It is a subtle snare of the evil one under the pretext of promoting
a greater good. For we never give more honour to Jesus than when
we honour his Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honour
him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading
to the goal we seek - Jesus, her Son.
95. The Church, with the Holy
Spirit, blesses our Lady first, then Jesus, "Blessed art
thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."
Not that Mary is greater than Jesus, or even equal to him - that
would be an intolerable heresy. But in order to bless Jesus more
perfectly we should first bless Mary. Let us say with all those
truly devoted to her, despite these false and scrupulous devotees:
"O Mary, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb, Jesus."
96. Superficial devotees are people
whose entire devotion to our Lady consists in exterior practices.
Only the externals of devotion appeal to them because they have
no interior spirit. They say many rosaries with great haste and
assist at many Masses distractedly. They take part in processions
of our Lady without inner fervour. They join her confraternities
without reforming their lives or restraining their passions or
imitating Mary's virtues. All that appeals to them is the emotional
aspect of this devotion, but the substance of it has no appeal
at all. If they do not feel a warmth in their devotions, they
think they are doing nothing; they become upset, and give up everything,
or else do things only when they feel like it. The world is full
of these shallow devotees, and there are none more critical of
men of prayer who regard the interior devotion as the essential
aspect and strive to acquire it without, however, neglecting a
reasonable external expression which always accompanies true devotion.
97. Presumptuous devotees are
sinners who give full rein to their passions or their love of
the world, and who, under the fair name of Christian and servant
of our Lady, conceal pride, avarice, lust, drunkenness, anger,
swearing, slandering, injustice and other vices. They sleep peacefully
in their wicked habits, without making any great effort to correct
them, believing that their devotion to our Lady gives them this
sort of liberty. They convince themselves that God will forgive
them, that they will not die without confession, that they will
not be lost for all eternity. They take all this for granted because
they say the Rosary, fast on Saturdays, are enrolled in the Confraternity
of the Holy Rosary or the Scapular, or a sodality of our Lady,
wear the medal or the little chain of our Lady.
When you tell them that such a devotion
is only an illusion of the devil and a dangerous presumption which
may well ruin them, they refuse to believe you. God is good and
merciful, they reply, and he has not made us to damn us. No man
is without sin. We will not die without confession, and a good
act of contrition at death is all that is needed. Moreover, they
say they have devotion to our Lady; that they wear the scapular;
that they recite faithfully and humbly every day the seven Our
Fathers and seven Hail Marys in her honour; that sometimes they
even say the Rosary and the Office of our Lady, as well as fasting
and performing other good works.
Blinding themselves still more, they
quote stories they have heard or read - whether true or false
does not bother them - which relate how people who had died in
mortal sin were brought back to life again to go to confession,
or how their soul was miraculously retained in their bodies until
confession, because in their lifetime they said a few prayers
or performed a few pious acts, in honour of our Lady. Others are
supposed to have obtained from God at the moment of death, through
the merciful intercession of the Blessed Virgin, sorrow and pardon
for their sins, and so were saved. Accordingly, these people expect
the same thing to happen to them.
98. Nothing in our Christian religion
is so deserving of condemnation as this diabolical presumption.
How can we truthfully claim to love and honour the Blessed Virgin
when by our sins we pitilessly wound, pierce, crucify and outrage
her Son? If Mary made it a rule to save by her mercy this sort
of person, she would be condoning wickedness and helping to outrage
and crucify her Son. Who would even dare to think of such a thing?
99. I declare that such an abuse
of devotion to her is a horrible sacrilege and, next to an unworthy
Communion, is the greatest and the least pardonable sin, because
devotion to our Lady is the holiest and best after devotion to
the Blessed Sacrament.
I admit that to be truly devoted to our
Lady, it is not absolutely necessary to be so holy as to avoid
all sin, although this is desirable. But at least it is necessary
(note what I am going to say), (1) to be genuinely determined
to avoid at least all mortal sin, which outrages the Mother as
well as the Son; (2) to practise self-restraint in order to avoid
sin; (3) to join her confraternities, say the Rosary and other
prayers, fast on Saturdays, and so on.
100. Such means are surprisingly
effective in converting even the hardened sinner. Should you be
such a sinner, with one foot in the abyss, I advise you to do
as I have said. But there is an essential condition. You must
perform these good works solely to obtain from God, through the
intercession of our Lady, the grace to regret your sins, obtain
pardon for them and overcome your evil habits, and not to live
complacently in the state of sin, disregarding the warning voice
of conscience, the example of our Lord and the saints, and the
teaching of the holy gospel.
101. Inconstant devotees are those
whose devotion to our Lady is practised in fits and starts. Sometimes
they are fervent and sometimes they are lukewarm. Sometimes they
appear ready to do anything to please our Lady, and then shortly
afterwards they have completely changed. They start by embracing
every devotion to our Lady. They join her confraternities, but
they do not faithfully observe the rules. They are as changeable
as the moon, and like the moon Mary puts them under her feet.
Because of their fickleness they are unworthy to be included among
the servants of the Virgin most faithful, because faithfulness
and constancy are the hallmarks of Mary's servants. It is better
not to burden ourselves with a multitude of prayers and pious
practices but rather adopt only a few and perform them with love
and perseverance in spite of opposition from the devil the world
and the flesh.
102. There is another category
of false devotees of our Lady, - hypocritical ones. These hide
their sins and evil habits under the mantle of the Blessed Virgin
so as to appear to their fellow-men different from what they are.
103. Then there are the self-interested
devotees who turn to her only to win a court-case, to escape some
danger, to be cured of some ailment, or have some similar need
satisfied. Except when in need they never think of her. Such people
are acceptable neither to God not to his Mother.
104. We must, then, carefully
avoid joining the critical devotees, who believe nothing and find
fault with everything; the scrupulous ones who, out of respect
for our Lord, are afraid of having too much devotion to his Mother;
the exterior devotees whose devotion consists entirely in outward
practices; the presumptuous devotees who under cover of a fictitious
devotion to our Lady wallow in their sins; the inconstant devotees
who, being unstable, change their devotional practices or abandon
them altogether at the slightest temptation; the hypocritical
ones who join confraternities and wear emblems of our Lady only
to be thought of as good people; finally, the self-interested
devotees who pray to our Lady only to be rid of bodily ills or
to obtain material benefits.
105. After having explained and
condemned false devotions to the Blessed Virgin we shall now briefly
describe what true devotion is. It is interior, trustful, holy,
constant and disinterested.
106. First, true devotion to
our Lady is interior, that is, it comes from within the mind
and the heart and follows from the esteem in which we hold her,
the high regard we have for her greatness, and the love we bear
her.
107. Second, it is trustful,
that is to say, it fills us with confidence in the Blessed Virgin,
the confidence that a child has for its loving Mother. It prompts
us to go to her in every need of body and soul with great simplicity,
trust and affection. We implore our Mother's help always, everywhere,
and for everything. We pray to her to be enlightened in our doubts,
to be put back on the right path when we go astray, to be protected
when we are tempted, to be strengthened when we are weakening,
to be lifted up when we fall into sin, to be encouraged when we
are losing heart, to be rid of our scruples, to be consoled in
the trials, crosses and disappointments of life. Finally, in all
our afflictions of body and soul, we naturally turn to Mary for
help, with never a fear of importuning her or displeasing our
Lord.
108. Third, true devotion to
our Lady is holy, that is, it leads us to avoid sin and to
imitate the virtues of Mary. Her ten principal virtues are: deep
humility, lively faith, blind obedience, unceasing prayer, constant
self-denial, surpassing purity, ardent love, heroic patience,
angelic kindness, and heavenly wisdom.
109. Fourth, true devotion
to our Lady is constant. It strengthens us in our desire to
do good and prevents us from giving up our devotional practices
too easily. It gives us the courage to oppose the fashions and
maxims of the world, the vexations and unruly inclinations of
the flesh and the temptations of the devil. Thus a person truly
devoted to our Blessed Lady is not changeable, fretful, scrupulous
or timid. We do not say however that such a person never sins
or that his sensible feelings of devotion never change. When he
has fallen, he stretches out his hand to his Blessed Mother and
rises again. If he loses all taste and feeling for devotion, he
is not at all upset because a good and faithful servant of Mary
is guided in his life by faith in Jesus and Mary, and not by feelings.
110. Fifth, true devotion to
Mary is disinterested. It inspires us to seek God alone in
his Blessed Mother and not ourselves. The true subject of Mary
does not serve his illustrious Queen for selfish gain. He does
not serve her for temporal or eternal well-being but simply and
solely because she has the right to be served and God alone in
her. He loves her not so much because she is good to him or because
he expects something from her, but simply because she is loveable.
That is why he loves and serves her just as faithfully in weariness
and dryness of soul as in sweet and sensible fervour. He loves
her as much on Calvary as at Cana. How pleasing and precious in
the sight of God and his holy Mother must these servants of Mary
be, who serve her without any self-seeking. How rare they are
nowadays! It is to increase their number that I have taken up
my pen to write down what I have been teaching with success both
publicly and in private in my missions for many years.
111. I have already said many
things about the Blessed Virgin and, as I am trying to fashion
a true servant of Mary and a true disciple of Jesus, I have still
a great deal to say, although through ignorance, inability, and
lack of time, I shall leave infinitely more unsaid.
112. But my labour will be well
rewarded if this little book falls into the hands of a noble soul,
a child of God and of Mary, born not of blood nor the will of
the flesh nor of the will of man. My time will be well spent if,
by the grace of the Holy Spirit, after having read this book he
is convinced of the supreme value of the solid devotion to Mary
I am about to describe. If I thought that my guilty blood could
help the reader to accept in his heart the truths that I set down
in honour of my dear Mother and Queen, I, her most unworthy child
and slave, would use it instead of ink to write these words. I
would hope to find faithful souls who, by their perseverance in
the devotion I teach, will repay her for the loss she has suffered
through my ingratitude and infidelity.
113. I feel more than ever inspired
to believe and expect the complete fulfilment of the desire that
is deeply engraved on my heart and what I have prayed to God for
over many years, namely, that in the near or distant future the
Blessed Virgin will have more children, servants and slaves of
love than ever before, and that through them Jesus, my dear Lord,
will reign more than ever in the hearts of men.
114. I clearly foresee that raging
beasts will come in fury to tear to pieces with their diabolical
teeth this little book and the one the Holy Spirit made use of
to write it, or they will cause it at least to lie hidden in the
darkness and silence of a chest and so prevent it from seeing
the light of day. They will even attack and persecute those who
read it and put into practice what it contains. But no matter!
So much the better! It even gives me encouragement to hope for
great success at the prospect of a mighty legion of brave and
valiant soldiers of Jesus and Mary, both men and women, who will
fight the devil, the world, and corrupt nature in the perilous
times that are sure to come.
"Let the reader understand. Let
him accept this teaching who can."
115. There are several interior
practices of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Here briefly
are the main ones:
(1) Honouring her, as the worthy Mother
of God, by the cult of hyperdulia, that is, esteeming and honouring
her more than all the other saints as the masterpiece of grace
and the foremost in holiness after Jesus Christ, true God and
true man.
(2) Meditating on her virtues, her privileges
and her actions.
(3) Contemplating her sublime dignity.
(4) Offering to her acts of love, praise
and gratitude.
(5) Invoking her with a joyful heart.
(6) Offering ourselves to her and uniting
ourselves to her.
(7) Doing everything to please her.
(8) Beginning, carrying out and completing
our actions through her, in her, with her, and for her in order
to do them through Jesus, in Jesus, with Jesus, and for Jesus,
our last end. We shall explain this last practice later.
116. True devotion to our Lady
has also several exterior practices. Here are the principal ones:
(1) Enrolling in her confraternities
and joining her sodalities.
(2) Joining religious orders dedicated
to her.
(3) Making her privileges known and appreciated.
(4) Giving alms, fasting, performing
interior and exterior acts of self-denial in her honour.
(5) Carrying such signs of devotion to
her as the rosary, the scapular, or a little chain.
(6) Reciting with attention, devotion
and reverence the fifteen decades of the Rosary in honour of the
fifteen principal mysteries of our Lord, or at least five decades
in honour of the Joyful mysteries - the Annunciation, the Visitation,
the Birth of our Lord, the Purification, the Finding of the Child
Jesus in the temple; or the Sorrowful mysteries: the Agony in
the Garden, the Scourging, the Crowning with thorns, the Carrying
of the Cross, and the Crucifixion; or the Glorious mysteries:
The Resurrection of our Lord, the Ascension, the Descent of the
Holy Spirit, the Assumption of our Lady, body and soul, into heaven,
the Crowning of Mary by the Blessed Trinity.
One may also choose any of the following
prayers: the Rosary of six or seven decades in honour of the years
our Lady is believed to have spent on earth; the Little Crown
of the Blessed Virgin in honour of her crown of twelve stars or
privileges; the Little Office of our Lady so widely accepted and
recited in the Church; the Little Psalter of the Blessed Virgin,
composed in her honour by St. Bonaventure, which is so heart-warming,
and so devotional that you cannot recite it without being moved
by it; the fourteen Our Fathers and Hail Marys in honour of her
fourteen joys. There are various other prayers and hymns of the
Church, such as, the hymns of the liturgical seasons, the Ave
Maris Stella, the O Gloriosa Domina ; the Magnificat and other
prayers which are found in all prayer-books.
(7) Singing hymns to her or teaching
others to sing them.
(8) Genuflecting or bowing to her each
morning while saying for example sixty or a hundred times, "Hail
Mary, Virgin most faithful", so that through her intercession
with God we may faithfully correspond with his graces throughout
the day; and in the evening saying "Hail Mary, Mother of
Mercy", asking her to obtain God's pardon for the sins we
have committed during the day.
(9) Taking charge of her confraternities,
decorating her altars, crowning and adorning her statues.
(10) Carrying her statues or having others
carry them in procession, or keeping a small one on one's person
as an effective protection against the evil one.
(11) Having statues made of her, or her
name engraved and placed on the walls of churches or houses and
on the gates and entrances of towns, churches and houses.
(12) Solemnly giving oneself to her by
a special consecration.
117. The Holy Spirit has inspired
saintly souls with other practices of true devotion to the Blessed
Virgin, all of which are conducive to holiness. You can read of
them in detail in "Paradise opened to Philagia", a collection
of many devotions practised by holy people to honour the Blessed
Virgin, compiled by Fr. Paul Barry of the Society of Jesus. These
devotions are a wonderful help for souls seeking holiness provided
they are performed in a worthy manner, that is:
(1) With the right intention of pleasing
God alone, seeking union with Jesus, our last end, and giving
edification to our neighbour.
(2) With attention, avoiding wilful distractions.
(3) With devotion, avoiding haste and
negligence.
(4) With decorum and respectful bodily
posture.
118. Having read nearly every
book on devotion to the Blessed Virgin and talked to the most
saintly and learned people of the day, I can now state with conviction
that I have never known or heard of any devotion to our Lady which
is comparable to the one I am going to speak of. No other devotion
calls for more sacrifices for God, none empties us more completely
of self and self-love, none keeps us more firmly in the grace
of God and the grace of God in us. No other devotion unites us
more perfectly and more easily to Jesus. Finally no devotion gives
more glory to God, is more sanctifying for ourselves or more helpful
to our neighbour.
119. As this devotion essentially
consists in a state of soul, it will not be understood in the
same way by everyone. Some - the great majority - will stop short
at the threshold and go no further. Others - not many - will take
but one step into its interior. Who will take a second step? Who
will take a third? Finally who will remain in it permanently?
Only the one to whom the Spirit of Jesus reveals the secret. The
Holy Spirit himself will lead this faithful soul from strength
to strength, from grace to grace, from light to light, until at
length he attains transformation into Jesus in the fullness of
his age on earth and of his glory in heaven.
120. As
all perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecrated
to Jesus it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotions
is that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completely
to Jesus. Now of all God's creatures Mary is the most conformed
to Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion
to her makes for the most effective consecration and conformity
to him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated
to Jesus.
That is why perfect consecration
to Jesus is but a perfect and complete consecration of oneself
to the Blessed Virgin, which is the devotion I teach; or in other
words, it is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy
baptism.
121. This
devotion consists in giving oneself entirely to Mary in order
to belong entirely to Jesus through her. It requires us to give:
(1) Our body with its senses
and members;
(2) Our soul with its faculties;
(3) Our present material
possessions and all we shall acquire in the future;
(4) Our interior and spiritual
possessions, that is, our merits, virtues and good actions of
the past, the present and the future.
In other words, we give
her all that we possess both in our natural life and in our spiritual
life as well as everything we shall acquire in the future in the
order of nature, of grace, and of glory in heaven. This we do
without any reservation, not even of a penny, a hair, or the smallest
good deed. And we give for all eternity without claiming or expecting,
in return for our offering and our service, any other reward than
the honour of belonging to our Lord through Mary and in Mary,
even though our Mother were not - as in fact she always is - the
most generous and appreciative of all God's creatures.
122. Note
here that two things must be considered regarding our good works,
namely, satisfaction and merit or, in other words, their satisfactory
or prayer value and their meritorious value. The satisfactory
or prayer value of a good work is the good action in so far as
it makes condign atonement for the punishment due to sin or obtains
some new grace. The meritorious value or merit is the good action
in so far as it merits grace and eternal glory. Now by this consecration
of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin we give her all satisfactory
and prayer value as well as the meritorious value of our good
works, in other words, all the satisfactions and the merits. We
give her our merits, graces and virtues, not that she might give
them to others, for they are, strictly speaking, not transferable,
because Jesus alone, in making himself our surety with his Father,
had the power to impart his merits to us. But we give them to
her that she may keep, increase and embellish them for us, as
we shall explain later, and we give her our acts of atonement
that she may apply them where she pleases for God's greater glory.
123. It
follows then:
(1) that by this devotion
we give to Jesus all we can possibly give him, and in the most
perfect manner, that is, through Mary's hands. Indeed we give
him far more than we do by other devotions which require us to
give only part of our time, some of our good works or acts of
atonement and penances. In this devotion everything is given and
consecrated, even the right to dispose freely of one's spiritual
goods and the satisfactions earned by daily good works. This is
not done even in religious orders. Members of religious orders
give God their earthly goods by the vow of poverty, the goods
of the body by the vow of chastity, their free will by the vow
of obedience, and sometimes their freedom of movement by the vow
of enclosure. But they do not give him by these vows the liberty
and right to dispose of the value of their good works. They do
not despoil themselves of what a Christian considers most precious
and most dear - his merits and satisfactions.
124. (2)
It follows then that anyone who in this way consecrates and sacrifices
himself voluntarily to Jesus through Mary may no longer dispose
of the value of any of his good actions. All his sufferings, all
his thoughts, words, and deeds belong to Mary. She can then dispose
of them in accordance with the will of her Son and for his greater
glory. This dependence, however, is without detriment to the duties
of a person's present and future state of life. One such duty,
for example, would be that of a priest who, by virtue of his office
or otherwise, must apply the satisfactory or prayer value of the
Holy Mass to a particular person. For this consecration can only
be made in accordance with the order established by God and in
keeping with the duties of one's state of life.
125. (3)
It follows that we consecrate ourselves at one and the same time
to Mary and to Jesus. We give ourselves to Mary because Jesus
chose her as the perfect means to unite himself to us and unite
us to him. We give ourselves to Jesus because he is our last end.
Since he is our Redeemer and our God we are indebted to him for
all that we are.
126. I
have said that this devotion could rightly be called a perfect
renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism. Before baptism
every Christian was a slave of the devil because he belonged to
him. At baptism he has either personally or through his sponsors
solemnly renounced Satan, his seductions and his works. He has
chosen Jesus as his Master and sovereign Lord and undertaken to
depend upon him as a slave of love. This is what is done in the
devotion I am presenting to you. We renounce the devil, the world,
sin and self, as expressed in the act of consecration, and we
give ourselves entirely to Jesus through Mary. We even do something
more than at baptism, when ordinarily our god-parents speak for
us and we are given to Jesus only by proxy. In this devotion we
give ourselves personally and freely and we are fully aware of
what we are doing.
In holy baptism we do not
give ourselves to Jesus explicitly through Mary, nor do we give
him the value of our good actions. After baptism we remain entirely
free either to apply that value to anyone we wish or keep it for
ourselves. But by this consecration we give ourselves explicitly
to Jesus through Mary's hands and we include in our consecration
the value of all our actions.
127. "Men"
says St. Thomas, "vow in baptism to renounce the devil and
all his seductions." "This vow," says St. Augustine,
"is the greatest and the most indispensable of all vows."
Canon Law experts say the same thing: "The vow we make at
baptism is the most important of all vows." But does anyone
keep this great vow? Does anyone fulfil the promises of baptism
faithfully? Is it not true that nearly all Christians prove unfaithful
to the promises made to Jesus in baptism? Where does this universal
failure come from, if not from man's habitual forgetfulness of
the promises and responsibilities of baptism and from the fact
that scarcely anyone makes a personal ratification of the contract
made with God through his sponsors?
128. This
is so true that the Council of Sens, convened by order of the
Emperor Louis the Debonair to remedy the grave disorders of Christendom,
came to the conclusion that the main cause of this moral breakdown
was man's forgetfulness of his baptismal obligations and his disregard
for them. It could suggest no better way of remedying this great
evil than to encourage all Christians to renew the promises and
vows of baptism.
129. The
Catechism of the Council of Trent, faithful interpreter of that
holy Council, exhorts priests to do the same and to encourage
the faithful to remember and hold fast to the belief that they
are bound and consecrated as slaves to Jesus, their Redeemer and
Lord. "The parish priest shall exhort the faithful never
to lose sight of the fact that they are bound in conscience to
dedicate and consecrate themselves for ever to their Lord and
Redeemer as his slaves."
130. Now
the Councils, the Fathers of the Church and experience itself,
all indicate that the best remedy for the frequent lapses of Christians
is to remind them of the responsibilities of their baptism and
have them renew the vows they made at that time. Is it not reasonable
therefore to do this in our day and in a perfect manner by adopting
this devotion with its consecration to our Lord through his Blessed
Mother? I say "in a perfect manner", for in making this
consecration to Jesus they are adopting the perfect means of giving
themselves to him, which is the most Blessed Virgin Mary.
131. No
one can object that this devotion is novel or of no value. It
is not new, since the Councils, the Fathers of the Church, and
many authors both past and present, speak of consecration to our
Lord or renewal of baptismal vows as something going back to ancient
times and recommended to all the faithful. Nor is it valueless,
since the chief source of moral disorders and the consequent eternal
loss of Christians spring from the forgetfulness of this practice
and indifference to it.
132. 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
meagre 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 honour.
The same must be said of our Lord and our Lady. They will never
allow themselves to be outdone in gratitude.
133. 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.
Take a fervent and generous
soul who values God's interests more than his own. He gives God
all he has without reserve till he can give no more. He desires
only that the glory and the kingdom of Jesus may come through
his Mother, and he does all he can to bring this about. 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.
134. We
must now consider as briefly as possible: (1) The motives which
commend this devotion to us, (2) the wonderful effects it produces
in faithful souls, and (3) the practices of this devotion.
135. This
first motive shows us the excellence of the consecration of ourselves
to Jesus through Mary.
We can conceive of no higher
calling than that of being in the service of God and we believe
that the least of God's servants is richer, stronger, and nobler
than any earthly monarch who does not serve God. How rich and
strong and noble then must the good and faithful servant be, who
serves God as unreservedly and as completely as he possibly can!
Just such a person is the faithful and loving slave of Jesus in
Mary. He has indeed surrendered himself entirely to the service
of the King of kings through Mary, his Mother, keeping nothing
for himself. All the gold of the world and the beauties of the
heavens could not recompense him for what he has done.
136. Other
congregations, associations, and confraternities set up in honour
of our Lord and our Blessed Lady, which do so much good in the
Church, do not require their members to give up absolutely everything.
They simply prescribe for them the performance of certain acts
and practices in fulfilment of their obligations. They leave them
free to dispose of the rest of their actions as well as their
time. But this devotion makes us give Jesus and Mary all our thoughts,
words, actions, and sufferings and every moment of our lives without
exception. Thus, whatever we do, whether we are awake or asleep,
whether we eat or drink, whether we do important or unimportant
work, it will always be true to say that everything is done for
Jesus and Mary. Our offering always holds good, whether we think
of it or not, unless we explicitly retract it. How consoling this
is!
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!
138. Jesus,
our dearest friend, gave himself to us without reserve, body and
soul, grace and merits. As St. Bernard says, "He won me over
entirely by giving himself entirely to me." Does not simple
justice as well as gratitude require that we give him all we possibly
can? He was generous with us first, so let us be generous to him
in return and he will prove still more generous during life, at
the hour of death, and throughout eternity. "He will be generous
towards the generous."
139. Our
good Master stooped to enclose himself in the womb of the Blessed
Virgin, a captive but loving slave, and to make himself subject
to her for thirty years. As I said earlier, the human mind is
bewildered when it reflects seriously upon this conduct of Incarnate
Wisdom. He did not choose to give himself in a direct manner to
the human race though he could easily have done so. He chose to
come through the Virgin Mary. Thus he did not come into the world
independently of others in the flower of his manhood, but he came
as a frail little child dependent on the care and attention of
his Mother. Consumed with the desire to give glory to God, his
Father, and save the human race, he saw no better or shorter way
to do so than by submitting completely to Mary.
He did this not just for
the first eight, ten or fifteen years of his life like other children,
but for thirty years. He gave more glory to God, his Father, during
all those years of submission and dependence than he would have
given by spending them working miracles, preaching far and wide,
and converting all mankind. Otherwise he would have done all these
things.
What immeasurable glory
then do we give to God when, following the example of Jesus, we
submit to Mary! With such a convincing and well-known example
before us, can we be so foolish as to believe that there is a
better and shorter way of giving God glory than by submitting
ourselves to Mary, as Jesus did?
140. Let
me remind you again of the dependence shown by the three divine
Persons on our Blessed Lady. Theirs is the example which fully
justifies our dependence on her. The Father gave and still gives
his Son only through her. He