With Mother’s Day coming, I have a special love in my heart for the Blessed Virgin.
This would be a great thread to post a prayer of consecration to Mary for us. How healing that would be!
ping to #33
It took 19 years to completely wash their erroneous beliefs out of my mind, and during that almost 2 decade struggle, their errors which I had internalized kept me from picking up St. Louis de Montfort.
I finally started reading him last month, and started the 30 day consecration on his feast day, April 28.
I'm finally at peace. The last vestiges of these protestant heresies have finally been exorcised from my intellect, and there are no facets of the True Faith about which I hold any reserves whatsoever.
St. Louis de Montfort's writings are integral to surviving the Last Days with the True Faith intact; True Devotion to Mary is a sign of the elect.
On the other hand...
"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."
TREATISE ON TRUE DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN
St. Louis de Montfort
Blessed Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Holy Mother of God, make my heart one with yours, which was ever one with the Heart of God!
1. The divine maternity is the source of all Mary's privileges. Mary, the Immaculate One, the beloved Daughter of the Father, is also the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, whose power overshadowed her because she had been chosen to be the Mother of the Incarnate Word. All Mary's greatness and glory are explained in the light of her divine maternity; furthermore, her very existence is explained by her predestination to this high office. If God had not decreed that the Incarnation of His Son should take place in the womb of a virgin, we should never have had that masterpiece of grace and loveliness, the Most Blessed Virgin; we should never have had her smile or her maternal caresses. Therefore, we love and honour Mary because she is the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus; and loving her in her relation to God, our devotion to her only makes our love for God, for Jesus, deeper and more tender. "Mater Dei, Mater Creatoris", Mother of God, Mother of our Creator, we invoke her in the litany. These two titles which seem to be contradictory, actually express a unique synthesis because Mary, although a creature, is really the Mother of her Creator, the Mother of God's Son to whom she has given a human body: the fruit of her flesh and blood is the Son of God in whom and by whom all things were created. Here we understand more than ever how Mary's dignity reaches the threshold of the infinite. "God could make a bigger world or a wider sky, but He could not raise a pure creature higher than Mary, for the dignity of Mother of God is the highest dignity that can be conferred on a creature" (St Bonaventure).
To anyone who wonders why so little is said about Mary in the Gospel, St Thomas of Villanova replies: "What more do you want? Is it not enough for you to know that she is the Mother of God? It would have been sufficient to say, 'De qua natus est Jesus,' Jesus was born of her." In fact, O Mary, all I need to know, in order to love you, is that you are the Mother of my God.
2. Although God, from all eternity, had predestined Mary to be the mother of His Son, He would not have her unaware of this, and so, when the time came for carrying out His plan, he asked the humble Virgin's consent. The Angel's message revealed to Mary the sublime vocation which God had reserved for her: "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus" (Luke 1,31). Mary asked and the Angel explained the mystery of the divine maternity which would take place in her, without prejudice to her virginity. What could God have asked that Mary would have refused? It was not the first time that she gave up her own will for God's: from the beginning of her existence, she had lived in the state of perfect union with God, and her chief characteristic was simply this full conformity of her human will with the divine will. That is why Mary gave her consent with all the love of her soul, said her fiat, accepted voluntarily, and voluntarily abandoned herself to God's action. From this moment the mystery was accomplished, and the Virgin Mary bore God present within her, not only spiritually -- like all souls who are in the state of grace -- but also physically. St Peter Damien says that the Word of God was present in her "by identity", since He was one with her, as the child is one with its mother: identity of flesh and blood, and by the life of the body which Mary communicated to her Son; identity of grace by the abundance of supernatural life which the Son communicated to His Mother; identity of affections, desires and sentiments which the Heart of Christ implanted in the Heart of Mary. No one could ever say more truly than Mary: "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2,20).
Immense, marvellous mystery! And in the depths of this mystery we find the yes of a humble, human creature. God has created man free, and that is why, although He wants to work great things in him, He will not do so without his consent. God wants to transform us by His grace and to sanctify us, but before He does so, He waits for our assent. When this yes is complete and total, as Mary's was, God will accomplish His work in us.
"I give You thanks, O Lord God, from the depths of my heart, because You condescended, for love of us unworthy creatures, to take upon Yourself our human nature. Born of a Virgin, You were nourished by her milk, cradled in her bosom; You were submissive to her, You who preserve and direct everything that exists. And You have deigned to enlighten me, a miserable creature, so that I might know that You have a Mother; You permit me, unworthy as I am, to be able and to dare to address her…. Oh! with what devotion should I not give my heart to you, O Virgin Mary! My mouth should be filled with wonderful sweetness when I speak to you, sweet and gentle Lady, and when I bless the fruit of your womb. Oh! when I address you, how is it hat I am not so filled with delight that I forget everything but you and the fruit of your womb? What greeting is more welcome than the one which recognizes you as the Mother of God? You wish men to rejoice in you, so that their love will always reach your divine Son; therefore, you wish to be called and recognized as the Mother of God. Hail, then, O Mary, and truly hail! O wonderful Ave, that drives the demons away, frees sinners, and makes your children rejoice…. The Angel congratulates you, O Virgin; the Word took flesh in your womb, and you became the Mother of God. Every creature sings an endless Ave to you! With how great reverence, honour and devotion should we salute you, O Blessed Virgin, because you seek them, you nourish them, and adopt them as your children. Oh! blessed is he who has the joy of having you for Mother, who embraces you lovingly and imitates you in his works! Oh! blessed is he who does all he can to conform himself to you, O Mother of God! Certainly he is one who, despising every creature, attaches himself to God alone, his only love, and, crucified with Christ, sighs for the salvation of souls" (cf. St Bonaventure).