Writings of St Louis Marie de Montfort (2024)

True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

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TRUE DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

INTRODUCTION OF SAINT LOUIS MARIE

1. Itwas 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. BecauseMary remained hidden during her life she is called by the HolySpirit and the Church "Alma Mater", Mother hidden andunknown. So great was her humility that she desired nothing moreupon earth than to remain unknown to herself and to others, andto be known only to God.

3. Inanswer to her prayers to remain hidden, poor and lowly, God waspleased to conceal her from nearly every other human creaturein her conception, her birth, her life, her mysteries, her resurrectionand assumption. Her own parents did not really know her; and theangels would often ask one another, "Who can she possiblybe?", for God had hidden her from them, or if he did revealanything to them, it was nothing compared with what he withheld.

4. Godthe Father willed that she should perform no miracle during herlife, at least no public one, although he had given her the powerto do so. God the Son willed that she should speak very littlealthough he had imparted his wisdom to her.

Even though Mary was hisfaithful spouse, God the Holy Spirit willed that his apostlesand evangelists should say very little about her and then onlyas much as was necessary to make Jesus known.

5. Mary is the suprememasterpiece of Almighty God and he has reserved the knowledgeand possession of her for himself. She is the glorious Motherof God the Son who chose to humble and conceal her during herlifetime in order to foster her humility. He called her "Woman"as if she were a stranger, although in his heart he esteemed andloved her above all men and angels. Mary is the sealed fountainand the faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit where only he may enter.She is the sanctuary and resting-place of the Blessed Trinitywhere God dwells in greater and more divine splendour than anywhereelse in the universe, not excluding his dwelling above the cherubimand seraphim. No creature, however pure, may enter there withoutbeing specially privileged.

6. Ideclare with the saints: Mary is the earthly paradise of JesusChrist the new Adam, where he became man by the power of the HolySpirit, in order to accomplish in her wonders beyond our understanding.She is the vast and divine world of God where unutterable marvelsand beauties are to be found. She is the magnificence of the Almightywhere he hid his only Son, as in his own bosom, and with him everythingthat is most excellent and precious. What great and hidden thingsthe all- powerful God has done for this wonderful creature, asshe herself had to confess in spite of her great humility, "TheAlmighty has done great things for me." The world does notknow these things because it is incapable and unworthy of knowingthem.

7. Thesaints have said wonderful things of Mary, the holy City of God,and, as they themselves admit, they were never more eloquent andmore pleased than when they spoke of her. And yet they maintainthat the height of her merits rising up to the throne of the Godheadcannot be perceived; the breadth of her love which is wider thanthe earth cannot be measured; the greatness of the power whichshe wields over one who is God cannot be conceived; and the depthsof her profound humility and all her virtues and graces cannotbe sounded. What incomprehensible height! What indescribable breadth!What immeasurable greatness! What an impenetrable abyss!

8. Everyday, from one end of the earth to the other, in the highest heavenand in the lowest abyss, all things preach, all things proclaimthe wondrous Virgin Mary. The nine choirs of angels, men and womenof every age, rank and religion, both good and evil, even thevery devils themselves are compelled by the force of truth, willinglyor 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 countlesstimes each day with the angelic greeting, "Hail, Mary",while prostrating themselves before her, begging her as a favourto honour them with one of her requests. According to St. Augustine,even St. Michael, though prince of all the heavenly court, isthe most eager of all the angels to honour her and lead othersto honour her. At all times he awaits the privilege of going ather word to the aid of one of her servants.

9. The whole world isfilled with her glory, and this is especially true of Christianpeoples, who have chosen her as guardian and protectress of kingdoms,provinces, dioceses, and towns. Many cathedrals are consecratedto God in her name. There is no church without an altar dedicatedto her, no country or region without at least one of her miraculousimages where all kinds of afflictions are cured and all sortsof benefits received. Many are the confraternities and associationshonouring her as patron; many are the orders under her name andprotection; many are the members of sodalities and religious ofall congregations who voice her praises and make known her compassion.There is not a child who does not praise her by lisping a HailMary. There is scarcely a sinner, however hardened, who does notpossess some spark of confidence in her. The very devils in hell,while fearing her, show her respect.

10. Andyet in truth we must still say with the saints: De Maria numquamsatis : We have still not praised, exalted, honoured, lovedand 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 ofthe king's daughter is within", meaning that all the externalglory which heaven and earth vie with each other to give her isnothing compared to what she has received interiorly from herCreator, namely, a glory unknown to insignificant creatures likeus, who cannot penetrate into the secrets of the king.

12. Finally,we must say in the words of the apostle Paul, "Eye has notseen, nor ear heard, nor has the heart of man understood"the beauty, the grandeur, the excellence of Mary, who is indeeda miracle of miracles of grace, nature and glory. "If youwish to understand the Mother," says a saint, "thenunderstand the Son. She is a worthy Mother of God." Hic taceatomnis lingua : Here let every tongue be silent.

13. Myheart has dictated with special joy all that I have written toshow that Mary has been unknown up till now, and that that isone of the reasons why Jesus Christ is not known as he shouldbe.

If then, as is certain,the knowledge and the kingdom of Jesus Christ must come into theworld, it can only be as a necessary consequence of the knowledgeand reign of Mary. She who first gave him to the world will establishhis kingdom in the world.

PART I: TRUE DEVOTION TO OUR LADY IN GENERAL

CHAPTER ONE
NECESSITY OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY

1. Mary's part in the Incarnation

14. With the whole ChurchI acknowledge that Mary, being a mere creature fashioned by thehands of God is, compared to his infinite majesty, less than anatom, or rather is simply nothing, since he alone can say, "Iam he who is". Consequently, this great Lord, who is everindependent and self-sufficient, never had and does not now haveany absolute need of the Blessed Virgin for the accomplishmentof his will and the manifestation of his glory. To do all thingshe has only to will them.

15. However,I declare that, considering things as they are, because God hasdecided to begin and accomplish his greatest works through theBlessed Virgin ever since he created her, we can safely believethat he will not change his plan in the time to come, for he isGod and therefore does not change in his thoughts or his way ofacting.

16. Godthe Father gave his only Son to the world only through Mary. Whateverdesires the patriarchs may have cherished, whatever entreatiesthe prophets and saints of the Old Law may have had for 4,000years to obtain that treasure, it was Mary alone who merited itand found grace before God by the power of her prayers and theperfection of her virtues. "The world being unworthy,"said Saint Augustine, "to receive the Son of God directlyfrom the hands of the Father, he gave his Son to Mary for theworld to receive him from her."

The Son of God became manfor our salvation but only in Mary and through Mary.

God the Holy Spirit formedJesus Christ in Mary but only after having asked her consent throughone of the chief ministers of his court.

17. God the Father impartedto Mary his fruitfulness as far as a mere creature was capableof receiving it, to enable her to bring forth his Son and allthe members of his mystical body.

18. Godthe Son came into her virginal womb as a new Adam into his earthlyparadise, to take his delight there and produce hidden wondersof grace.

God-made-man found freedomin imprisoning himself in her womb. He displayed power in allowinghimself to be borne by this young maiden. He found his glory andthat of his Father in hiding his splendours from all creatureshere below and revealing them only to Mary. He glorified his independenceand his majesty in depending upon this loveable virgin in hisconception, his birth, his presentation in the temple, and inthe thirty years of his hidden life. Even at his death she hadto be present so that he might be united with her in one sacrificeand be immolated with her consent to the eternal Father, justas formerly Isaac was offered in sacrifice by Abraham when heaccepted 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 notleave such wonderful and inconceivable dependence of God unmentionedin the Gospel, though he concealed almost all the wonderful thingsthat Wisdom Incarnate did during his hidden life in order to bringhome to us its infinite value and glory. Jesus gave more gloryto God his Father by submitting to his Mother for thirty yearsthan he would have given him had he converted the whole worldby working the greatest miracles. How highly then do we glorifyGod when to please him we submit ourselves to Mary, taking Jesusas our sole model.

19. If we examine closelythe remainder of the life of Jesus Christ, we see that he choseto begin his miracles through Mary. It was by her word that hesanctified Saint John the Baptist in the womb of his mother, SaintElizabeth; no sooner had Mary spoken than John was sanctified.This was his first and greatest miracle of grace. At the weddingin Cana he changed water into wine at her humble prayer, and thiswas his first miracle in the order of nature. He began and continuedhis miracles through Mary and he will continue them through heruntil the end of time.

20. Godthe Holy Spirit, who does not produce any divine person, becamefruitful through Mary whom he espoused. It was with her, in herand of her that he produced his masterpiece, God-made-man, andthat he produces every day until the end of the world the membersof the body of this adorable Head. For this reason the more hefinds Mary his dear and inseparable spouse in a soul the morepowerful and effective he becomes in producing Jesus Christ inthat soul and that soul in Jesus Christ.

21. This does not meanthat the Blessed Virgin confers on the Holy Spirit a fruitfulnesswhich he does not already possess. Being God, he has the abilityto produce just like the Father and the Son, although he doesnot use this power and so does not produce another divine person.But it does mean that the Holy Spirit chose to make use of ourBlessed Lady, although he had no absolute need of her, in orderto become actively fruitful in producing Jesus Christ and hismembers in her and by her. This is a mystery of grace unknowneven to many of the most learned and spiritual of Christians.

2. Mary's part in the sanctification of souls

22. The plan adoptedby the three persons of the Blessed Trinity in the Incarnation,the first coming of Jesus Christ, is adhered to each day in aninvisible manner throughout the Church and they will pursue itto the end of time until the last coming of Jesus Christ.

23. Godthe Father gathered all the waters together and called them theseas (maria). He gathered all his graces together and called themMary (Maria). The great God has a treasury or storehouse fullof riches in which he has enclosed all that is beautiful, resplendent,rare, and precious, even his own Son. This immense treasury isnone other than Mary whom the saints call the "treasury ofthe Lord". From her fullness all men are made rich.

24. Godthe Son imparted to his mother all that he gained by his lifeand 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 herhe transmits his virtues and distributes his graces. She is hismystical channel, his aqueduct, through which he causes his merciesto flow gently and abundantly.

25. Godthe Holy Spirit entrusted his wondrous gifts to Mary, his faithfulspouse, and chose her as the dispenser of all he possesses, sothat she distributes all his gifts and graces to whom she wills,as much as she wills, how she wills and when she wills. No heavenlygift is given to men which does not pass through her virginalhands. Such indeed is the will of God, who has decreed that weshould have all things through Mary, so that, making herself poorand lowly,, and hiding herself in the depths of nothingness duringher whole life, she might be enriched, exalted and honoured byalmighty God. Such are the views of the Church and the early Fathers.

26. WereI speaking to the so-called intellectuals of today, I would proveat great length by quoting Latin texts taken from Scripture andthe Fathers of the Church all that I am now stating so simply.I could also instance solid proofs which can be read in full inFr. Poiré's book "The Triple Crown of the BlessedVirgin". But I am speaking mainly for the poor and simplewho have more good will and faith than the common run of scholars.As they believe more simply and more meritoriously, let me merelystate the truth to them quite plainly without bothering to quoteLatin passages which they would not understand. Nevertheless,I shall quote some texts as they occur to my mind as I go along.

27. Sincegrace enhances our human nature and glory adds a still greaterperfection to grace, it is certain that our Lord remains in heavenjust as much the Son of Mary as he was on earth. Consequentlyhe has retained the submissiveness and obedience of the most perfectof all children towards the best of all mothers.

We must take care, however,not to consider this dependence as an abasem*nt or imperfectionin Jesus Christ. For Mary, infinitely inferior to her Son, whois God, does not command him in the same way as an earthly motherwould command her child who is beneath her. Since she is completelytransformed in God by that grace and glory which transforms allthe saints in him, she does not ask or wish or do anything whichis contrary to the eternal and changeless will of God. When thereforewe read in the writings of Saint Bernard, Saint Bernardine, SaintBonaventure, and others that all in heaven and on earth, evenGod himself, is subject to the Blessed Virgin, they mean thatthe authority which God was pleased to give her is so great thatshe seems to have the same power as God. Her prayers and requestsare so powerful with him that he accepts them as commands in thesense that he never resists his dear mother's prayer because itis always humble and conformed to his will.

Moses by the power of hisprayer curbed God's anger against the Israelites so effectivelythat the infinitely great and merciful Lord was unable to withstandhim and asked Moses to let him be angry and punish that rebelliouspeople. How much greater, then, will be the prayer of the humbleVirgin Mary, worthy Mother of God, which is more powerful withthe King of heaven than the prayers and intercession of all theangels and saints in heaven and on earth.

28. Maryhas authority over the angels and the blessed in heaven. As areward for her great humility, God gave her the power and themission of assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by theapostate angels who fell away through pride.

Such is the will of almightyGod who exalts the humble, that the powers of heaven, earth andhell, willingly or unwillingly, must obey the commands of thehumble Virgin Mary. For God has made her queen of heaven and earth,leader of his armies, keeper of his treasures, dispenser of hisgraces, worker of his wonders, restorer of the human race, mediatrixon behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies, and faithful associatein his great works and triumphs.

29. Godthe Father wishes Mary to be the mother of his children untilthe 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 childrenof the devil and sinners represented by Esau.

30. Justas in natural and bodily generation there is a father and a mother,so in the supernatural and spiritual generation there is a fatherwho is God and a mother who is Mary. All true children of Godhave God for their father and Mary for their mother; anyone whodoes not have Mary for his mother, does not have God for his father.This is why the reprobate, such as heretics and schismatics, whohate, despise or ignore the Blessed Virgin, do not have God fortheir father though they arrogantly claim they have, because theydo not have Mary for their mother. Indeed if they had her fortheir mother they would love and honour her as good and true childrennaturally love and honour the mother who gave them life.

An infallible and unmistakablesign 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 hereticand the hardened sinner show nothing but contempt and indifferencefor our Lady. He endeavours by word and example, openly or insidiously- sometimes under specious pretexts - to belittle the love andveneration shown to her. God the Father has not told Mary to dwellin them because they are, alas, other Esaus.

31. Godthe 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 allthe nations of the earth, all men good and evil, predestinateand reprobate. To the good I shall be father and advocate, tothe bad a just avenger, but to all I shall be a judge. But you,my dear Mother, will have for your heritage and possession onlythe 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. "Thisone and that one were born in her." According to the explanationof 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 ofher, the predestinate, who are members of this head, must alsoas a necessary consequence be born of her. One and the same motherdoes not give birth to the head without the members nor to themembers without the head, for these would be monsters in the orderof nature. In the order of grace likewise the head and the membersare born of the same mother. If a member of the mystical bodyof Christ, that is, one of the predestinate, were born of a motherother than Mary who gave birth to the head, he would not be oneof the predestinate, nor a member of Jesus Christ, but a monsterin the order of grace.

33. Moreover,Jesus is still as much as ever the fruit of Mary, as heaven andearth repeat thousands of times a day: "Blessed is the fruitof thy womb, Jesus." It is therefore certain that Jesus isthe fruit and gift of Mary for every single man who possesseshim, just as truly as he is for all mankind. Consequently, ifany of the faithful have Jesus formed in their heart they canboldly say, "It is thanks to Mary that what I possess isJesus her fruit, and without her I would not have him." Wecan attribute more truly to her what Saint Paul said of himself,"I am in labour again with all the children of God untilJesus Christ, my Son, is formed in them to the fullness of hisage." Saint Augustine, surpassing himself as well as allthat I have said so far, affirms that in order to be conformedto the image of the Son of God all the predestinate, while inthe world, are hidden in the womb of the Blessed Virgin wherethey are protected, nourished, cared for and developed by thisgood Mother, until the day she brings them forth to a life ofglory after death, which the Church calls the birthday of thejust. This is indeed a mystery of grace unknown to the reprobateand little known even to the predestinate!

34. Godthe Holy Spirit wishes to fashion his chosen ones in and throughMary. He tells her, "My well-beloved, my spouse, let allyour virtues take root in my chosen ones that they may grow fromstrength to strength and from grace to grace. When you were livingon earth, practising the most sublime virtues, I was so pleasedwith you that I still desire to find you on earth without yourceasing to be in heaven. Reproduce yourself then in my chosenones, so that I may have the joy of seeing in them the roots ofyour 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. WhenMary has taken root in a soul she produces in it wonders of gracewhich only she can produce; for she alone is the fruitful virginwho never had and never will have her equal in purity and fruitfulness.Together with the Holy Spirit Mary produced the greatest thingthat ever was or ever will be: a God-man. She will consequentlyproduce the marvels which will be seen in the latter times. Theformation and the education of the great saints who will comeat the end of the world are reserved to her, for only this singularand wondrous virgin can produce in union with the Holy Spiritsingular and wondrous things.

36. Whenthe Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds Mary in a soul, he hastensthere and enters fully into it. He gives himself generously tothat soul according to the place it has given to his spouse. Oneof the main reasons why the Holy Spirit does not work strikingwonders in souls is that he fails to find in them a sufficientlyclose union with his faithful and inseparable spouse. I say "inseparablespouse", for from the moment the substantial love of theFather and the Son espoused Mary to form Jesus, the head of theelect, and Jesus in the elect, he has never disowned her, forshe has always been faithful and fruitful.

3. Consequences

37. Wemust obviously conclude from what I have just said:

First, that Mary receivedfrom God a far-reaching dominion over the souls of the elect.Otherwise she could not make her dwelling-place in them as Godthe 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 possessionand form them in Jesus and Jesus in them. She could not implantin their heart the roots of her virtues, nor be the inseparableassociate of the Holy Spirit in all these works of grace. Noneof these things, I repeat, could she do unless she had receivedfrom 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 whatconcerns their body - which would be of little account - but alsoin what concerns their soul.

38. Maryis the Queen of heaven and earth by grace as Jesus is king bynature and by conquest. But as the kingdom of Jesus Christ existsprimarily in the heart or interior of man, according to the wordsof the Gospel, "The kingdom of God is within you", sothe kingdom of the Blessed Virgin is principally in the interiorof man, that is, in his soul. It is principally in souls thatshe 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 whichis called "hypothetical", (that is, because God so willedit), the Blessed Virgin is all the more necessary for men to attaintheir final end. Consequently we must not place devotion to heron the same level as devotion to the other saints as if it weremerely something optional.

40. Thepious and learned Jesuit, Suarez, Justus Lipsius, a devout anderudite theologian of Louvain, and many others have proved incontestablythat 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. Germanusof Constantinople, St. John Demascene, St. Anselm, St. Bernard,St. Bernardine, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure. Even accordingto Oecolampadius and other heretics, lack of esteem and love forthe Virgin Mary is an infallible sign of God's disapproval. Onthe other hand, to be entirely and genuinely devoted to her isa sure sign of God's approval.

41. Thetypes and texts of the Old and New Testaments prove the truthof this, the opinions and examples of the saints confirm it, andreason and experience teach and demonstrate it. Even the deviland his followers, forced by the evidence of the truth, were frequentlyobliged against their will to admit it. For brevity's sake, Ishall quote one only of the many passages which I have collectedfrom the Fathers and Doctors of the Church to support this truth."Devotion to you, O Blessed Virgin, is a means of salvationwhich God gives to those whom he wishes to save" (St. JohnDamascene).

42. Icould tell many stories in evidence of what I have just said.

(1) One is recorded in thechronicles of St. Francis. The saint saw in ecstasy an immenseladder reaching to heaven, at the top of which stood the BlessedVirgin. This is the ladder, he was told, by which we must allgo to heaven.

(2) There is another relatedin the Chronicles of St. Dominic. Near Carcassonne, where St.Dominic was preaching the Rosary, there was an unfortunate hereticwho was possessed by a multitude of devils. These evil spiritsto their confusion were compelled at the command of our Lady toconfess many great and consoling truths concerning devotion toher. They did this so clearly and forcibly that, however weakour devotion to our Lady may be, we cannot read this authenticstory containing such an unwilling tribute paid by the devilsto devotion to our Lady without shedding tears of joy.

43. Ifdevotion to the Blessed Virgin is necessary for all men simplyto work out their salvation, it is even more necessary for thosewho are called to a special perfection. I do not believe thatanyone can acquire intimate union with our Lord and perfect fidelityto the Holy Spirit without a very close union with the most BlessedVirgin and an absolute dependence on her support.

44. Maryalone found grace before God without the help of any other creature.All those who have since found grace before God have found itonly through her. She was full of grace when she was greeted bythe Archangel Gabriel and was filled with grace to overflowingby the Holy Spirit when he so mysteriously overshadowed her. Fromday to day, from moment to moment, she increased so much thistwofold plenitude that she attained an immense and inconceivabledegree of grace. So much so, that the Almighty made her the solecustodian of his treasures and the sole dispenser of his graces.She can now ennoble, exalt and enrich all she chooses. She canlead them along the narrow path to heaven and guide them throughthe narrow gate to life. She can give a royal throne, sceptreand crown to whom she wishes. Jesus is always and everywhere thefruit and Son of Mary and Mary is everywhere the genuine treethat bears that Fruit of life, the true Mother who bears thatSon.

45. ToMary alone God gave the keys of the cellars of divine love andthe ability to enter the most sublime and secret ways of perfection,and lead others along them. Mary alone gives to the unfortunatechildren of unfaithful Eve entry into that earthly paradise wherethey may walk pleasantly with God and be safely hidden from theirenemies. There they can feed without fear of death on the deliciousfruit of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of goodand evil. They can drink copiously the heavenly waters of thatbeauteous fountain which gushes forth in such abundance. As sheis herself the earthly paradise, that virgin and blessed landfrom which sinful Adam and Eve were expelled she lets only thosewhom she chooses enter her domain in order to make them saints.

46. Allthe rich among the people, to use an expression of the Holy Spiritas explained by St. Bernard, all the rich among the people willlook pleadingly upon her countenance throughout all ages and particularlyas the world draws to its end. This means that the greatest saints,those richest in grace and virtue will be the most assiduous inpraying to the most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfectmodel to imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them.

47. Isaid that this will happen especially towards the end of the world,and indeed soon, because Almighty God and his holy Mother areto raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most othersaints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs.This has been revealed to a holy soul whose life has been writtenby M. de Renty.

48. Thesegreat souls filled with grace and zeal will be chosen to opposethe enemies of God who are raging on all sides. They will be exceptionallydevoted to the Blessed Virgin. Illumined by her light, strengthenedby her food, guided by her spirit, supported by her arm, shelteredunder her protection, they will fight with one hand and buildwith the other. With one hand they will give battle, overthrowingand crushing heretics and their heresies, schismatics and theirschisms, idolaters and their idolatries, sinners and their wickedness.With the other hand they will build the temple of the true Solomonand the mystical city of God, namely, the Blessed Virgin, whois called by the Fathers of the Church the Temple of Solomon andthe City of God . By word and example they will draw all men toa true devotion to her and though this will make many enemies,it will also bring about many victories and much glory to Godalone. This is what God revealed to St. Vincent Ferrer, that outstandingapostle of his day, as he has amply shown in one of his works.

This seems to have beenforetold by the Holy Spirit in Psalm 58: "The Lord will reignin Jacob and all the ends of the earth. They will be convertedtowards evening and they will be as hungry as dogs and they willgo around the city to find something to eat." This city aroundwhich men will roam at the end of the world seeking conversionand the appeasem*nt of the hunger they have for justice is themost Blessed Virgin, who is called by the Holy Spirit the Cityof God .

4. Mary's part in the latter times

49. Thesalvation of the world began through Mary and through her it mustbe accomplished. Mary scarcely appeared in the first coming ofJesus Christ so that men, as yet insufficiently instructed andenlightened concerning the person of her Son, might not wanderfrom the truth by becoming too strongly attached to her. Thiswould apparently have happened if she had been known, on accountof the wondrous charms with which Almighty God had endowed evenher outward appearance. So true is this that St. Denis the Areopagitetells us in his writings that when he saw her he would have takenher for a goddess, because of her incomparable beauty, had nothis well-grounded faith taught him otherwise. But in the secondcoming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealedby the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and servedthrough her. The reasons which moved the Holy Spirit to hide hisspouse during her life and to reveal but very little of her sincethe first preaching of the gospel exist no longer.

1) God wishes to make Mary better known in the latter times.

50. God wishes therefore to revealMary, his masterpiece, and make her more known in these lattertimes:

(1) Because she kept herself hidden inthis world and in her great humility considered herself lowerthan dust, having obtained from God, his apostles and evangeliststhe favour of being made known.

(2) Because, as Mary is not only God'smasterpiece of glory in heaven, but also his masterpiece of graceon earth, he wishes to be glorified and praised because of herby those living upon earth.

(3) Since she is the dawn which precedesand discloses the Sun of Justice Jesus Christ, she must be knownand acknowledged so that Jesus may be known and acknowledged.

(4) As she was the way by which Jesusfirst came to us, she will again be the way by which he will cometo us the second time though not in the same manner.

(5) Since she is the sure means, thedirect and immaculate way to Jesus and the perfect guide to him,it is through her that souls who are to shine forth in sanctitymust find him. He who finds Mary finds life, that is, Jesus Christwho is the way, the truth and the life. But no one can find Marywho does not look for her. No one can look for her who does notknow her, for no one seeks or desires something unknown. Marythen must be better known than ever for the deeper understandingand the greater glory of the Blessed Trinity.

(6) In these latter times Mary must shineforth more than ever in mercy, power and grace; in mercy, to bringback and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanderers who areto be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, tocombat the enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to seduceand crush by promises and threats all those who oppose them; finally,she must shine forth in grace to inspire and support the valiantsoldiers and loyal servants of Jesus Christ who are fighting forhis cause.

(7) Lastly, Mary must become as terribleas an army in battle array to the devil and his followers, especiallyin these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time- even less now than ever - to destroy souls, intensifies hisefforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate tostir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary'sfaithful servants and children whom he finds more difficult toovercome than others.

51. It is chiefly in referenceto these last wicked persecutions of the devil, daily increasinguntil the advent of the reign of anti-Christ, that we should understandthat first and well-known prophecy and curse of God uttered againstthe serpent in the garden of paradise. It is opportune to explainit here for the glory of the Blessed Virgin, the salvation ofher children and the confusion of the devil. "I will placeenmities between you and the woman, between your race and herrace; she will crush your head and you will lie in wait for herheel" (Gen. 3:15).

52. God has established only oneenmity - but it is an irreconcilable one - which will last andeven go on increasing to the end of time. That enmity is betweenMary, his worthy Mother, and the devil, between the children andthe servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and followersof Lucifer.

Thus the most fearful enemy that Godhas set up against the devil is Mary, his holy Mother. From thetime of the earthly paradise, although she existed then only inhis mind, he gave her such a hatred for his accursed enemy, suchingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent andsuch power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud rebel, thatSatan fears her not only more than angels and men but in a certainsense more than God himself. This does not mean that the anger,hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than the BlessedVirgin's, since her attributes are limited. It simply means thatSatan, being so proud, suffers infinitely more in being vanquishedand punished by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her humilityhumiliates him more than the power of God. Moreover, God has givenMary such great power over the evil spirits that, as they haveoften been forced unwillingly to admit through the lips of possessedpersons, they fear one of her pleadings for a soul more than theprayers of all the saints, and one of her threats more than alltheir other torments.

53. What Lucifer lost by prideMary won by humility. What Eve ruined and lost by disobedienceMary saved by obedience. By obeying the serpent, Eve ruined herchildren as well as herself and delivered them up to him. Maryby her perfect fidelity to God saved her children with herselfand consecrated them to his divine majesty.

54. God has established not justone enmity but "enmities", and not only between Maryand Satan but between her race and his race. That is, God hasput enmities, antipathies and hatreds between the true childrenand servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and slavesof the devil. They have no love and no sympathy for each other.The children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of theworld, - for they are all one and the same - have always persecutedand will persecute more than ever in the future those who belongto the Blessed Virgin, just as Cain of old persecuted his brotherAbel, and Esau his brother Jacob. These are the types of the wickedand of the just. But the humble Mary will always triumph overSatan, the proud one, and so great will be her victory that shewill crush his head, the very seat of his pride. She will unmaskhis serpent's cunning and expose his wicked plots. She will scatterto the winds his devilish plans and to the end of time will keepher faithful servants safe from his cruel claws.

But Mary's power over the evil spiritswill especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan willlie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants andher poor children whom she will rouse to fight against him. Inthe eyes of the world they will be little and poor and, like theheel, lowly in the eyes of all, down-trodden and crushed as isthe heel by the other parts of the body. But in compensation forthis they will be rich in God's graces, which will be abundantlybestowed on them by Mary. They will be great and exalted beforeGod in holiness. They will be superior to all creatures by theirgreat zeal and so strongly will they be supported by divine assistancethat, in union with Mary, they will crush the head of Satan withtheir heel, that is, their humility, and bring victory to JesusChrist.

2) Devotion to Mary is especially necessary in the lattertimes.

55. Finally, God in these timeswishes his Blessed Mother to be more known, loved and honouredthan she has ever been. This will certainly come about if theelect, by the grace and light of the Holy Spirit, adopt the interiorand perfect practice of the devotion which I shall later unfold.Then they will clearly see that beautiful Star of the Sea, asmuch as faith allows. Under her guidance they will perceive thesplendours of this Queen and will consecrate themselves entirelyto her service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experienceher motherly kindness and affection for her children. They willlove her tenderly and will appreciate how full of compassion sheis and how much they stand in need of her help. In all circ*mstancesthey will have recourse to her as their advocate and mediatrixwith Jesus Christ. They will see clearly that she is the safest,easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus andwill surrender themselves to her, body and soul, without reservein 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 divinelove. 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 closelyjoined to God. They will carry the gold of love in their heart,the frankincense of prayer in their mind and the myrrh of mortificationin their body. They will bring to the poor and lowly everywherethe sweet fragrance of Jesus, but they will bring the odour ofdeath to the great, the rich and the proud of this world.

57. They will be like thunder-cloudsflying 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 lifeand for death, they will pierce through and through with the two-edgedsword of God's word all those against whom they are sent by AlmightyGod.

58. They will be true apostlesof the latter times to whom the Lord of Hosts will give eloquenceand strength to work wonders and carry off glorious spoils fromhis enemies. They will sleep without gold or silver and, moreimportant still, without concern in the midst of other priests,ecclesiastics and clerics. Yet they will have the silver wingsof the dove enabling them to go wherever the Holy Spirit callsthem, filled as they are with the resolve to seek the glory ofGod and the salvation of souls. Wherever they preach, they willleave behind them nothing but the gold of love, which is the fulfilmentof the whole law.

59. Lastly, we know they willbe true disciples of Jesus Christ, imitating his poverty, hishumility, his contempt of the world and his love. They will pointout the narrow way to God in pure truth according to the holyGospel, and not according to the maxims of the world. Their heartswill not be troubled, nor will they show favour to anyone; theywill not spare or heed or fear any man, however powerful he maybe. They will have the two-edged sword of the word of God in theirmouths and the blood-stained standard of the Cross on their shoulders.They will carry the crucifix in their right hand and the rosaryin their left, and the holy names of Jesus and Mary on their heart.The simplicity and self-sacrifice of Jesus will be reflected intheir whole behaviour.

Such are the great men who are to come.By the will of God Mary is to prepare them to extend his ruleover the impious and unbelievers. But when and how will this comeabout? Only God knows. For our part we must yearn and wait forit in silence and in prayer: "I have waited and waited."

CHAPTER TWO
IN WHAT DEVOTION TO MARY CONSISTS

1. Basic principles of devotion to Mary

60. Havingspoken briefly of the necessity of devotion to the Blessed Virgin,I must now explain what this devotion consists in. This I willdo with God's help after I have laid down certain basic truthswhich throw light on the remarkable and sound devotion which Ipropose to unfold.

First principle: Christ must be the ultimate end of all devotions

61. Jesus, our Saviour, true Godand true man must be the ultimate end of all our other devotions;otherwise they would be false and misleading. He is the Alphaand 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 fullnessof the divinity and the complete fullness of grace, virtue andperfection. In him alone we have been blessed with every spiritualblessing; he is the only teacher from whom we must learn; theonly Lord on whom we should depend; the only Head to whom we shouldbe united and the only model that we should imitate. He is theonly Physician that can heal us; the only Shepherd that can feedus; the only Way that can lead us; the only Truth that we canbelieve; the only Life that can animate us. He alone is everythingto us and he alone can satisfy all our desires.

We are given no other name under heavenby which we can be saved. God has laid no other foundation forour salvation, perfection and glory than Jesus. Every edificewhich is not built on that firm rock, is founded upon shiftingsands and will certainly fall sooner or later. Every one of thefaithful who is not united to him is like a branch broken fromthe stem of the vine. It falls and withers and is fit only tobe burnt. If we live in Jesus and Jesus lives in us, we need notfear damnation. Neither angels in heaven nor men on earth, nordevils in hell, no creature whatever can harm us, for no creaturecan 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 renderall honour and glory to the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit;we can make ourselves perfect and be for our neighbour a fragranceof eternal life.

62. If then we are establishingsound devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only in order to establishdevotion to our Lord more perfectly, by providing a smooth butcertain way of reaching Jesus Christ. If devotion to our Ladydistracted us from our Lord, we would have to reject it as anillusion of the devil. But this is far from being the case. AsI have already shown and will show again later on, this devotionis necessary, simply and solely because it is a way of reachingJesus 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 themajority of Christians, and even some of the most learned amongthem, do not recognise the necessary bond that unites you andyour Blessed Mother. Lord, you are always with Mary and Mary isalways with you. She can never be without you because then shewould cease to be what she is. She is so completely transformedinto you by grace that she no longer lives, she no longer exists,because you alone, dear Jesus, live and reign in her more perfectlythan in all the angels and saints. If we only knew the glory andthe love given to you by this wonderful creature, our feelingsfor you and for her would be far different from those we havenow. So intimately is she united to you that it would be easierto separate light from the sun, and heat from the fire. I go further,it would even be easier to separate all the angels and saintsfrom you than Mary; for she loves you ardently, and glorifiesyou 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-sightednessof men with regard to your holy Mother? I am not speaking so muchof idolaters and pagans who do not know you and consequently haveno knowledge of her. I am not even speaking of heretics and schismaticswho have left you and your holy Church and therefore are not interestedin your holy Mother. I am speaking of Catholics, and even of educatedCatholics, who profess to teach the faith to others but do notknow you or your Mother except speculatively, in a dry, cold andsterile way.

These people seldom speak of your Motheror devotion to her. They say they are afraid that devotion toher will be abused and that you will be offended by excessivehonour paid to her. They protest loudly when they see or heara devout servant of Mary speak frequently with feeling, convictionand vigour of devotion to her. When he speaks of devotion to heras 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 secretof finding you, they put before him a thousand specious reasonsto 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 tostamp out and we should refer people to you rather than exhortthem to have devotion to your Mother, whom they already love adequately.

If they are sometimes heard speakingof devotion to your Mother, it is not for the purpose of promotingit or convincing people of it but only to destroy the abuses madeof it. Yet all the while these persons are devoid of piety orgenuine devotion to you, for they have no devotion to Mary. Theyconsider the Rosary and the Scapular as devotions suitable onlyfor simple women or ignorant people. After all, they say, we donot need them to be saved. If they come across one who loves ourLady, who says the rosary or shows any devotion towards her, theysoon move him to a change of mind and heart. They advise him tosay the seven penitential psalms instead of the Rosary, and toshow devotion to Jesus instead of to Mary.

Dear Jesus, do these people possess yourspirit? Do they please you by acting in this way? Would it pleaseyou if we were to make no effort to give pleasure to your Motherbecause we are afraid of offending you? Does devotion to yourholy Mother hinder devotion to you? Does Mary keep for herselfany honour we pay her? Is she a rival of yours? Is she a strangerhaving no kinship with you? Does pleasing her imply displeasingyou? Does the gift of oneself to her constitute a deprivationfor 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 devotionto your Mother, or show more indifference to it even if all Ihave just said were true. Keep me from their way of thinking andacting and let me share your feelings of gratitude, esteem, respectand love for your holy Mother. I can then love and glorify youall the more, because I will be imitating and following you moreclosely.

66. As though I had said nothingso far to further her honour, grant me now the grace to praiseher more worthily, in spite of all her enemies who are also yours.I can then say to them boldly with the saints, "Let no onepresume to expect mercy from God, who offends his holy Mother."

67. So that I may obtain fromyour mercy a genuine devotion to your blessed Mother and spreadit throughout the whole world, help me to love you wholeheartedly,and for this intention accept the earnest prayer I offer withSt. Augustine and all who truly love you.

Prayer of Saint Augustine

O Jesus Christ, you are my Father, mymerciful God, my great King, my good Shepherd, my only Master,my best helper, my beloved friend of overwhelming beauty, my livingBread, 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, myperfect safeguard, my bounteous inheritance, my everlasting salvation.

My loving Lord, Jesus Christ, why haveI 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 yoube accursed, and filled with bitterness. O gentle Jesus, let everyworthy feeling of mine show you love, take delight in you andadmire you. O God of my heart and my inheritance, Christ Jesus,may my heart mellow before the influence of your spirit and mayyou live in me. May the flame of your love burn in my soul. Mayit burn incessantly on the altar of my heart. May it glow in myinnermost being. May it spread its heat into the hidden recessesof my soul and on the day of my consummation may I appear beforeyou consumed in your love. Amen.

Second principle: We belong to Jesus and Mary as their slaves

68. From what Jesus Christ isin regard to us we must conclude, as St. Paul says, that we belongnot to ourselves but entirely to him as his members and his slaves,for he bought us at an infinite price - the shedding of his PreciousBlood. Before baptism, we belonged to the devil as slaves, butbaptism made us in very truth slaves of Jesus.

We must therefore live, work and diefor the sole purpose of bringing forth fruit for him, glorifyinghim in our body and letting him reign in our soul. We are hisconquest, the people he has won, his heritage.

It is for this reason that the Holy Spiritcompares us: 1) to trees that are planted along the waters ofgrace in the field of the Church and which must bear their fruitwhen the time comes; 2) to branches of the vine of which Jesusis the stem, which must yield good grapes; 3) to a flock of sheepof which Jesus is the Shepherd, which must increase and give milk;4) to good soil cultivated by God, where the seed will spreadand produce crops up to thirty-fold, sixty-fold, or a hundred-fold.Our Lord cursed the barren fig-tree and condemned the slothfulservant who wasted his talent.

All this proves that he wishes to receivesome fruit from our wretched selves, namely, our good works, whichby right belong to him alone, "created in Jesus Christ forgood works". These words of the Holy Spirit show that Jesusis 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 slavesof love. Let me explain what I mean.

69. There are two ways of belongingto another person and being subject to his authority. One is byordinary service and the other is by slavery. And so we must usethe terms "servant" and "slave". Ordinaryservice in Christian countries is when a man is employed to serveanother for a certain length of time at a wage which is fixedor agreed upon. When a man is totally dependent on another forlife, and must serve his master without expecting any wages orrecompense, when he is treated just like a beast of the fieldover which the owner has the right of life and death, then itis slavery.

70. Now there are three kindsof slavery; natural slavery, enforced slavery, and voluntary slavery.All creatures are slaves of God in the first sense, for "theearth and its fullness belong to the Lord". The devils andthe damned are slaves in the second sense. The saints in heavenand the just on earth are slaves in the third sense. Voluntaryslavery is the most perfect of all three states, for by it wegive the greatest glory to God, who looks into the heart and wantsit to be given to him. Is he not indeed called the God of theheart or of the loving will? For by this slavery we freely chooseGod and his service before all things, even if we were not byour very nature obliged to do so.

71. There is a world of differencebetween a servant and a slave. 1) A servant does not give hisemployer all he is, all he has, and all he can acquire by himselfor through others. A slave, however, gives himself to his mastercompletely 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 whatskill, attention or energy he may have put into his work. 3) Aservant can leave his employer whenever he pleases, or at leastwhen the term of his service expires, whereas the slave has nosuch right. 4) An employer has no right of life and death overa 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 theright of life and death over him, so that he can sell him to anyonehe chooses or - if you will pardon the comparison - kill him ashe would kill his horse. 5) Finally, a servant is in his employer'sservice only for a time; a slave for always.

72. No other human state involvesbelonging more completely to another than slavery. Among Christianpeoples, nothing makes a person belong more completely to Jesusand his holy Mother than voluntary slavery. Our Lord himself gaveus the example of this when out of love for us he "took theform of a slave". Our Lady gave us the same example whenshe called herself the handmaid or slave of the Lord. The Apostleconsidered 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" atone time signified only a slave because servants as we know themdid not exist. Masters were served either by slaves or by freedmen.The Catechism of the Council of Trent leaves no doubt about ourbeing slaves of Jesus Christ, using the unequivocal term "MancipiaChristi", which plainly means: slaves of Christ.

73. Granting this, I say thatwe must belong to Jesus and serve him not just as hired servantsbut as willing slaves who, moved by generous love, commit themselvesto his service after the manner of slaves for the honour of belongingto him. Before we were baptised we were the slaves of the devil,but baptism made us the slaves of Jesus. Christians can only beslaves of the devil or slaves of Christ.

74. What I say in an absolutesense 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 gracein his kingdom all the same rights and privileges that he possessesby nature. "All that belongs to God by nature belongs toMary by grace", say the saints, and, according to them, justas Jesus and Mary have the same will and the same power, theyhave also the same subjects, servants and slaves.

75. Following therefore the teachingof the saints and of many great men we can call ourselves, andbecome, the loving slaves of our Blessed Lady in order to becomemore perfect slaves of Jesus. Mary is the means our Lord choseto come to us and she is also the means we should choose to goto him, for she is not like other creatures who tend rather tolead us away from God than towards him, if we are over-attachedto 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 throughhis Blessed Mother. He is pleased and honoured just as a kingwould be pleased and honoured if a citizen, wanting to becomea better subject and slave of the king, made himself the slaveof the queen. That is why the Fathers of the Church, and St. Bonaventureafter them, assert that the Blessed Virgin is the way which leadsto 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 arecreatures? "All things, including Mary herself, are subjectto the power of God. All things, God included, are subject tothe Virgin's power", so we are told by St. Anselm, St. Bernard,St. Bernardine and St. Bonaventure. Is it not reasonable to findthat among so many slaves there should be some slaves of love,who freely choose Mary as their Queen? Should men and demons havewilling slaves, and Mary have none? A king makes it a point ofhonour that the queen, his consort, should have her own slaves,over whom she has right of life and death, for honour and powergiven to the queen is honour and power given to the king. Couldwe possibly believe that Jesus, the best of all sons, who sharedhis power with his Blessed Mother, would resent her having herown slaves? Has he less esteem and love for his Mother than Ahasuerushad for Esther, or Solomon for Bathsheba? Who could say or eventhink such a thing?

77. But where is my pen leadingme? Why am I wasting my time proving something so obvious? Ifpeople are unwilling to call themselves slaves of Mary, what doesit matter? Let them become and call themselves slaves of JesusChrist, for this is the same as being slaves of Mary, since Jesusis the fruit and glory of Mary. This is what we do perfectly inthe devotion we shall discuss later.

Third principle: We must rid ourselves of what is evil inus

78. Our best actions are usuallytainted and spoiled by the evil that is rooted in us. When pure,clear water is poured into a foul-smelling jug, or wine into anunwashed cask that previously contained another wine, the clearwater and the good wine are tainted and readily acquire an unpleasantodour. In the same way when God pours into our soul, infectedby original and actual sin, the heavenly waters of his grace orthe delicious wines of his love, his gifts are usually spoiledand tainted by the evil sediment left in us by sin. Our actions,even those of the highest virtue, show the effects of it. It istherefore of the utmost importance that, in seeking the perfectionthat can be attained only by union with Jesus, we rid ourselvesof 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 hispresence.

79. To rid ourselves of selfishness,we must first become thoroughly aware, by the light of the HolySpirit, of our tainted nature. Of ourselves we are unable to doanything conducive to our salvation. Our human weakness is evidentin everything we do and we are habitually unreliable. We do notdeserve any grace from God. Our tendency to sin is always present.The sin of Adam has almost entirely spoiled and soured us, fillingus with pride and corrupting every one of us, just as leaven sours,swells and corrupts the dough in which it is placed. The actualsins we have committed, whether mortal or venial, even thoughforgiven, have intensified our base desires, our weakness, ourinconstancy and our evil tendencies, and have left a sedimentof evil in our soul.

Our bodies are so corrupt that they arereferred to by the Holy Spirit as bodies of sin, as conceivedand nourished in sin, and capable of any kind of sin. They aresubject to a thousand ills, deteriorating from day to day andharbouring only disease, vermin and corruption.

Our soul, being united to our body, hasbecome so carnal that it has been called flesh. "All fleshhad corrupted its way". Pride and blindness of spirit, hardnessof heart, weakness and inconstancy of soul, evil inclinations,rebellious passions, ailments of the body, - these are all wecan call our own. By nature we are prouder than peaco*cks, we clingto the earth more than toads, we are more base than goats, moreenvious than serpents, greedier than pigs, fiercer than tigers,lazier than tortoises, weaker than reeds, and more changeablethan weather-co*cks. We have in us nothing but sin, and deserveonly the wrath of God and the eternity of hell.

Fourth principle: It is more humble to have an intermediarywith Christ

83. It is more perfect becauseit supposes greater humility to approach God through a mediatorrather than directly by ourselves. Our human nature, as I havejust shown, is so spoilt that if we rely on our own work, effortand preparedness to reach God and please him, it is certain thatour good works will be tainted and carry little weight with him.They will not induce him to unite himself to us or answer ourprayers. God had his reasons for giving us mediators with him.He saw our unworthiness and helplessness and had pity on us. Togive us access to his mercies he provided us with powerful advocates,so that to neglect these mediators and to approach his infiniteholiness directly and without help from any one of them, is tobe lacking in humility and respect towards God who is so greatand holy. It would mean that we have less esteem for the Kingof kings than for an earthly king or ruler, for we would not dareapproach an earthly king without a friend to speak for us.

84. Our Lord is our Advocate andour Mediator of redemption with God the Father. It is throughhim that we must pray with the whole Church, triumphant and militant.It is through him that we have access to God the Father. We shouldnever appear before God, our Father, unless we are supported bythe merits of his Son, and, so to speak, clothed in them, as youngJacob was clothed in the skin of the young goats when he appearedbefore his father Isaac to receive his blessing.

85. But have we no need at allof a mediator with the Mediator himself? Are we pure enough tobe united directly to Christ without any help? Is Jesus not God,equal in every way to the Father? Therefore is he not the Holyof Holies, having a right to the same respect as his Father? Ifin his infinite love he became our security and our Mediator withhis Father, whom he wished to appease in order to redeem us fromour debts, should we on that account show him less respect andhave 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 andthe divinely-honoured Mary is the one most able to fulfil thisoffice of love. Through her, Jesus came to us; through her weshould 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 intercessionof Mary, our Mother. She is kind, she is tender, and there isnothing harsh or forbidding about her, nothing too sublime ortoo brilliant. When we see her, we see our own human nature atit* purest. She is not the sun, dazzling our weak sight by thebrightness of its rays. Rather, she is fair and gentle as themoon, which receives its light from the sun and softens it andadapts it to our limited perception.

She is so full of love that no one whoasks for her intercession is rejected, no matter how sinful hemay be. The saints say that it has never been known since theworld began that anyone had recourse to our Blessed Lady, withtrust and perseverance, and was rejected. Her power is so greatthat her prayers are never refused. She has but to appear in prayerbefore her Son and he at once welcomes her and grants her requests.He is always lovingly conquered by the prayers of the dear Motherwho bore him and nourished him.

86. All this is taken from St.Bernard and St. Bonaventure. According to them, we have threesteps to take in order to reach God. The first, nearest to usand most suited to our capacity, is Mary; the second is JesusChrist; the third is God the Father. To go to Jesus, we shouldgo to Mary, our mediatrix of intercession. To go to God the Father,we must go to Jesus, our Mediator of redemption. This order isperfectly observed in the devotion I shall speak about furtheron.

Fifth principle: It is difficult to keep the graces received from God

87. It is very difficult, consideringour weakness and frailty, to keep the graces and treasures wehave received from God.

1. We carry this treasure, which is worthmore than heaven and earth, in fragile vessels, that is, in acorruptible body and in a weak and wavering soul which requiresvery little to depress and disturb it.

88. 2. The evil spirits, cunningthieves that they are, can take us by surprise and rob us of allwe possess. They are watching day and night for the right moment.They roam incessantly seeking to devour us and to snatch fromus in one brief moment of sin all the grace and merit we havetaken years to acquire. Their malice and their experience, theircunning and their numbers ought to make us ever fearful of sucha misfortune happening to us. People, richer in grace and virtue,more experienced and advanced in holiness than we are, have beencaught off their guard and robbed and stripped of everything.How many cedars of Lebanon, how many stars of the firmament havewe sadly watched fall and lose in a short time their loftinessand their brightness!

What has brought about this unexpectedreverse? Not the lack of grace, for this is denied no one. Itwas a lack of humility; they considered themselves stronger andmore self- sufficient than they really were. They thought themselveswell able to hold on to their treasures. They believed their housesecure enough and their coffers strong enough to safeguard theirprecious treasure of grace. It was because of their unconsciousreliance on self - although it seemed to them that they were relyingsolely on the grace of God - that the most just Lord left themto themselves and allowed them to be despoiled. If they had onlyknown of the wonderful devotion that I shall later explain, theywould have entrusted their treasure to Mary, the powerful andfaithful Virgin. She would have kept it for them as if it wereher own possession and even have considered that trust an obligationof justice.

89. 3. It is difficult to perseverein holiness because of the excessively corrupting influence ofthe world. The world is so corrupt that it seems almost inevitablethat religious hearts be soiled, if not by its mud, at least byits dust. It is something of a miracle for anyone to stand firmin the midst of this raging torrent and not be swept away; toweather 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 hadnever any power, who works this miracle for those who truly loveher.

2. Marks of false and authentic devotion to Mary

90. Now that we have establishedthese five basic truths, it is all the more necessary to makethe right choice of the true devotion to our Blessed Lady, fornow more than ever there are false devotions to her which caneasily be mistaken for true ones. The devil, like a counterfeiterand crafty, experienced deceiver, has already misled and ruinedmany Christians by means of fraudulent devotions to our Lady.Day by day he uses his diabolical experience to lead many moreto their doom, fooling them, lulling them to sleep in sin andassuring them that a few prayers, even badly said, and a few exteriorpractices, inspired by himself, are authentic devotions. A counterfeiterusually 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 mostlythose directed to Jesus and Mary, for example, devotion to theHoly Eucharist and to the Blessed Virgin, because these are toother 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 asto avoid them, and to recognise true devotion in order to practiseit. Second, among so many different forms of true devotion toour Blessed Lady we should choose the one most perfect and themost pleasing to her, the one that gives greater glory to Godand is most sanctifying for us.

1. False devotion to our Lady

92. There are, I find, seven kindsof 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.

Critical devotees

93. Critical devotees are forthe most part proud scholars, people of independent and self-satisfiedminds, who deep down in their hearts have a vague sort of devotionto Mary. However, they criticise nearly all those forms of devotionto her which simple and pious people use to honour their goodMother just because such practices do not appeal to them. Theyquestion all miracles and stories which testify to the mercy andpower of the Blessed Virgin, even those recorded by trustworthyauthors or taken from the chronicles of religious orders. Theycannot bear to see simple and humble people on their knees beforean altar or statue of our Lady, or at prayer before some outdoorshrine. They even accuse them of idolatry as if they were adoringthe wood or the stone. They say that as far as they are concernedthey do not care for such outward display of devotion and thatthey are not so gullible as to believe all the fairy tales andstories told of our Blessed Lady. When you tell them how admirablythe Fathers of the Church praised our Lady, they reply that theFathers were exaggerating as orators do, or that their words aremisrepresented. These false devotees, these proud worldly peopleare greatly to be feared. They do untold harm to devotion to ourLady. While pretending to correct abuses, they succeed only toowell in turning people away from this devotion.

Scrupulous devotees

94. Scrupulous devotees are thosewho imagine they are slighting the Son by honouring the Mother.They fear that by exalting Mary they are belittling Jesus. Theycannot bear to see people giving to our Lady the praises due toher and which the Fathers of the Church have lavished upon her.It annoys them to see more people kneeling before Mary's altarthan before the Blessed Sacrament, as if these acts were at variancewith each other, or as if those who were praying to our Lady werenot praying through her to Jesus. They do not want us to speaktoo 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, confraternitiesand exterior devotions to our Lady? There is a great deal of ignorancein all this. It is making a mockery of religion. Tell us aboutthose who are devoted to Jesus (and they often pronounce his namewithout uncovering their heads). We should go directly to Jesus,since he is our sole Mediator. We must preach Jesus; that is sounddevotion." There is some truth in what they say, but theinference they draw to prevent devotion to our Lady is very insidious.It is a subtle snare of the evil one under the pretext of promotinga greater good. For we never give more honour to Jesus than whenwe honour his Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honourhim all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leadingto the goal we seek - Jesus, her Son.

95. The Church, with the HolySpirit, blesses our Lady first, then Jesus, "Blessed artthou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."Not that Mary is greater than Jesus, or even equal to him - thatwould be an intolerable heresy. But in order to bless Jesus moreperfectly we should first bless Mary. Let us say with all thosetruly devoted to her, despite these false and scrupulous devotees:"O Mary, blessed art thou among women and blessed is thefruit of thy womb, Jesus."

Superficial devotees

96. Superficial devotees are peoplewhose entire devotion to our Lady consists in exterior practices.Only the externals of devotion appeal to them because they haveno interior spirit. They say many rosaries with great haste andassist at many Masses distractedly. They take part in processionsof our Lady without inner fervour. They join her confraternitieswithout reforming their lives or restraining their passions orimitating Mary's virtues. All that appeals to them is the emotionalaspect of this devotion, but the substance of it has no appealat all. If they do not feel a warmth in their devotions, theythink they are doing nothing; they become upset, and give up everything,or else do things only when they feel like it. The world is fullof these shallow devotees, and there are none more critical ofmen of prayer who regard the interior devotion as the essentialaspect and strive to acquire it without, however, neglecting areasonable external expression which always accompanies true devotion.

Presumptuous devotees

97. Presumptuous devotees aresinners who give full rein to their passions or their love ofthe world, and who, under the fair name of Christian and servantof our Lady, conceal pride, avarice, lust, drunkenness, anger,swearing, slandering, injustice and other vices. They sleep peacefullyin their wicked habits, without making any great effort to correctthem, believing that their devotion to our Lady gives them thissort of liberty. They convince themselves that God will forgivethem, that they will not die without confession, that they willnot be lost for all eternity. They take all this for granted becausethey say the Rosary, fast on Saturdays, are enrolled in the Confraternityof 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 devotionis only an illusion of the devil and a dangerous presumption whichmay well ruin them, they refuse to believe you. God is good andmerciful, they reply, and he has not made us to damn us. No manis without sin. We will not die without confession, and a goodact of contrition at death is all that is needed. Moreover, theysay they have devotion to our Lady; that they wear the scapular;that they recite faithfully and humbly every day the seven OurFathers and seven Hail Marys in her honour; that sometimes theyeven say the Rosary and the Office of our Lady, as well as fastingand performing other good works.

Blinding themselves still more, theyquote stories they have heard or read - whether true or falsedoes not bother them - which relate how people who had died inmortal sin were brought back to life again to go to confession,or how their soul was miraculously retained in their bodies untilconfession, because in their lifetime they said a few prayersor performed a few pious acts, in honour of our Lady. Others aresupposed to have obtained from God at the moment of death, throughthe merciful intercession of the Blessed Virgin, sorrow and pardonfor their sins, and so were saved. Accordingly, these people expectthe same thing to happen to them.

98. Nothing in our Christian religionis so deserving of condemnation as this diabolical presumption.How can we truthfully claim to love and honour the Blessed Virginwhen by our sins we pitilessly wound, pierce, crucify and outrageher Son? If Mary made it a rule to save by her mercy this sortof person, she would be condoning wickedness and helping to outrageand crucify her Son. Who would even dare to think of such a thing?

99. I declare that such an abuseof devotion to her is a horrible sacrilege and, next to an unworthyCommunion, is the greatest and the least pardonable sin, becausedevotion to our Lady is the holiest and best after devotion tothe Blessed Sacrament.

I admit that to be truly devoted to ourLady, it is not absolutely necessary to be so holy as to avoidall sin, although this is desirable. But at least it is necessary(note what I am going to say), (1) to be genuinely determinedto avoid at least all mortal sin, which outrages the Mother aswell as the Son; (2) to practise self-restraint in order to avoidsin; (3) to join her confraternities, say the Rosary and otherprayers, fast on Saturdays, and so on.

100. Such means are surprisinglyeffective in converting even the hardened sinner. Should you besuch a sinner, with one foot in the abyss, I advise you to doas I have said. But there is an essential condition. You mustperform these good works solely to obtain from God, through theintercession of our Lady, the grace to regret your sins, obtainpardon for them and overcome your evil habits, and not to livecomplacently in the state of sin, disregarding the warning voiceof conscience, the example of our Lord and the saints, and theteaching of the holy gospel.

Inconstant devotees

101. Inconstant devotees are thosewhose devotion to our Lady is practised in fits and starts. Sometimesthey are fervent and sometimes they are lukewarm. Sometimes theyappear ready to do anything to please our Lady, and then shortlyafterwards they have completely changed. They start by embracingevery devotion to our Lady. They join her confraternities, butthey do not faithfully observe the rules. They are as changeableas the moon, and like the moon Mary puts them under her feet.Because of their fickleness they are unworthy to be included amongthe servants of the Virgin most faithful, because faithfulnessand constancy are the hallmarks of Mary's servants. It is betternot to burden ourselves with a multitude of prayers and piouspractices but rather adopt only a few and perform them with loveand perseverance in spite of opposition from the devil the worldand the flesh.

Hypocritical devotees

102. There is another categoryof false devotees of our Lady, - hypocritical ones. These hidetheir sins and evil habits under the mantle of the Blessed Virginso as to appear to their fellow-men different from what they are.

Self-interested devotees

103. Then there are the self-interesteddevotees who turn to her only to win a court-case, to escape somedanger, to be cured of some ailment, or have some similar needsatisfied. Except when in need they never think of her. Such peopleare acceptable neither to God not to his Mother.

104. We must, then, carefullyavoid joining the critical devotees, who believe nothing and findfault with everything; the scrupulous ones who, out of respectfor our Lord, are afraid of having too much devotion to his Mother;the exterior devotees whose devotion consists entirely in outwardpractices; the presumptuous devotees who under cover of a fictitiousdevotion to our Lady wallow in their sins; the inconstant devoteeswho, being unstable, change their devotional practices or abandonthem altogether at the slightest temptation; the hypocriticalones who join confraternities and wear emblems of our Lady onlyto be thought of as good people; finally, the self-interesteddevotees who pray to our Lady only to be rid of bodily ills orto obtain material benefits.

2. Marks of authentic devotion to our Lady

105. After having explained andcondemned false devotions to the Blessed Virgin we shall now brieflydescribe what true devotion is. It is interior, trustful, holy,constant and disinterested.

106. First, true devotion toour Lady is interior, that is, it comes from within the mindand the heart and follows from the esteem in which we hold her,the high regard we have for her greatness, and the love we bearher.

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 promptsus 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 protectedwhen we are tempted, to be strengthened when we are weakening,to be lifted up when we fall into sin, to be encouraged when weare losing heart, to be rid of our scruples, to be consoled inthe trials, crosses and disappointments of life. Finally, in allour afflictions of body and soul, we naturally turn to Mary forhelp, with never a fear of importuning her or displeasing ourLord.

108. Third, true devotion toour Lady is holy, that is, it leads us to avoid sin and toimitate the virtues of Mary. Her ten principal virtues are: deephumility, lively faith, blind obedience, unceasing prayer, constantself-denial, surpassing purity, ardent love, heroic patience,angelic kindness, and heavenly wisdom.

109. Fourth, true devotionto our Lady is constant. It strengthens us in our desire todo good and prevents us from giving up our devotional practicestoo easily. It gives us the courage to oppose the fashions andmaxims of the world, the vexations and unruly inclinations ofthe flesh and the temptations of the devil. Thus a person trulydevoted to our Blessed Lady is not changeable, fretful, scrupulousor timid. We do not say however that such a person never sinsor that his sensible feelings of devotion never change. When hehas fallen, he stretches out his hand to his Blessed Mother andrises again. If he loses all taste and feeling for devotion, heis not at all upset because a good and faithful servant of Maryis guided in his life by faith in Jesus and Mary, and not by feelings.

110. Fifth, true devotion toMary is disinterested. It inspires us to seek God alone inhis Blessed Mother and not ourselves. The true subject of Marydoes not serve his illustrious Queen for selfish gain. He doesnot serve her for temporal or eternal well-being but simply andsolely because she has the right to be served and God alone inher. He loves her not so much because she is good to him or becausehe expects something from her, but simply because she is loveable.That is why he loves and serves her just as faithfully in wearinessand dryness of soul as in sweet and sensible fervour. He lovesher as much on Calvary as at Cana. How pleasing and precious inthe sight of God and his holy Mother must these servants of Marybe, who serve her without any self-seeking. How rare they arenowadays! It is to increase their number that I have taken upmy pen to write down what I have been teaching with success bothpublicly and in private in my missions for many years.

111. I have already said manythings about the Blessed Virgin and, as I am trying to fashiona true servant of Mary and a true disciple of Jesus, I have stilla great deal to say, although through ignorance, inability, andlack of time, I shall leave infinitely more unsaid.

112. But my labour will be wellrewarded 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 ofthe 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 heis convinced of the supreme value of the solid devotion to MaryI am about to describe. If I thought that my guilty blood couldhelp the reader to accept in his heart the truths that I set downin honour of my dear Mother and Queen, I, her most unworthy childand slave, would use it instead of ink to write these words. Iwould hope to find faithful souls who, by their perseverance inthe devotion I teach, will repay her for the loss she has sufferedthrough my ingratitude and infidelity.

113. I feel more than ever inspiredto believe and expect the complete fulfilment of the desire thatis deeply engraved on my heart and what I have prayed to God forover many years, namely, that in the near or distant future theBlessed Virgin will have more children, servants and slaves oflove 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 ragingbeasts will come in fury to tear to pieces with their diabolicalteeth this little book and the one the Holy Spirit made use ofto write it, or they will cause it at least to lie hidden in thedarkness and silence of a chest and so prevent it from seeingthe light of day. They will even attack and persecute those whor*ad it and put into practice what it contains. But no matter!So much the better! It even gives me encouragement to hope forgreat success at the prospect of a mighty legion of brave andvaliant soldiers of Jesus and Mary, both men and women, who willfight the devil, the world, and corrupt nature in the periloustimes that are sure to come.

"Let the reader understand. Lethim accept this teaching who can."

3. Principal practices of devotion to Mary

115. There are several interiorpractices of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Here brieflyare the main ones:

(1) Honouring her, as the worthy Motherof God, by the cult of hyperdulia, that is, esteeming and honouringher more than all the other saints as the masterpiece of graceand the foremost in holiness after Jesus Christ, true God andtrue man.

(2) Meditating on her virtues, her privilegesand her actions.

(3) Contemplating her sublime dignity.

(4) Offering to her acts of love, praiseand gratitude.

(5) Invoking her with a joyful heart.

(6) Offering ourselves to her and unitingourselves to her.

(7) Doing everything to please her.

(8) Beginning, carrying out and completingour actions through her, in her, with her, and for her in orderto 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 Ladyhas also several exterior practices. Here are the principal ones:

(1) Enrolling in her confraternitiesand joining her sodalities.

(2) Joining religious orders dedicatedto her.

(3) Making her privileges known and appreciated.

(4) Giving alms, fasting, performinginterior and exterior acts of self-denial in her honour.

(5) Carrying such signs of devotion toher as the rosary, the scapular, or a little chain.

(6) Reciting with attention, devotionand reverence the fifteen decades of the Rosary in honour of thefifteen principal mysteries of our Lord, or at least five decadesin honour of the Joyful mysteries - the Annunciation, the Visitation,the Birth of our Lord, the Purification, the Finding of the ChildJesus in the temple; or the Sorrowful mysteries: the Agony inthe Garden, the Scourging, the Crowning with thorns, the Carryingof the Cross, and the Crucifixion; or the Glorious mysteries:The Resurrection of our Lord, the Ascension, the Descent of theHoly 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 followingprayers: the Rosary of six or seven decades in honour of the yearsour Lady is believed to have spent on earth; the Little Crownof the Blessed Virgin in honour of her crown of twelve stars orprivileges; the Little Office of our Lady so widely accepted andrecited 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 movedby it; the fourteen Our Fathers and Hail Marys in honour of herfourteen joys. There are various other prayers and hymns of theChurch, such as, the hymns of the liturgical seasons, the AveMaris Stella, the O Gloriosa Domina ; the Magnificat and otherprayers which are found in all prayer-books.

(7) Singing hymns to her or teachingothers to sing them.

(8) Genuflecting or bowing to her eachmorning while saying for example sixty or a hundred times, "HailMary, Virgin most faithful", so that through her intercessionwith God we may faithfully correspond with his graces throughoutthe day; and in the evening saying "Hail Mary, Mother ofMercy", asking her to obtain God's pardon for the sins wehave committed during the day.

(9) Taking charge of her confraternities,decorating her altars, crowning and adorning her statues.

(10) Carrying her statues or having otherscarry them in procession, or keeping a small one on one's personas an effective protection against the evil one.

(11) Having statues made of her, or hername engraved and placed on the walls of churches or houses andon the gates and entrances of towns, churches and houses.

(12) Solemnly giving oneself to her bya special consecration.

117. The Holy Spirit has inspiredsaintly souls with other practices of true devotion to the BlessedVirgin, all of which are conducive to holiness. You can read ofthem in detail in "Paradise opened to Philagia", a collectionof many devotions practised by holy people to honour the BlessedVirgin, compiled by Fr. Paul Barry of the Society of Jesus. Thesedevotions are a wonderful help for souls seeking holiness providedthey are performed in a worthy manner, that is:

(1) With the right intention of pleasingGod alone, seeking union with Jesus, our last end, and givingedification to our neighbour.

(2) With attention, avoiding wilful distractions.

(3) With devotion, avoiding haste andnegligence.

(4) With decorum and respectful bodilyposture.

4. The Perfect Practice

118. Having read nearly everybook on devotion to the Blessed Virgin and talked to the mostsaintly and learned people of the day, I can now state with convictionthat I have never known or heard of any devotion to our Lady whichis comparable to the one I am going to speak of. No other devotioncalls for more sacrifices for God, none empties us more completelyof self and self-love, none keeps us more firmly in the graceof God and the grace of God in us. No other devotion unites usmore perfectly and more easily to Jesus. Finally no devotion givesmore glory to God, is more sanctifying for ourselves or more helpfulto our neighbour.

119. As this devotion essentiallyconsists in a state of soul, it will not be understood in thesame way by everyone. Some - the great majority - will stop shortat the threshold and go no further. Others - not many - will takebut one step into its interior. Who will take a second step? Whowill take a third? Finally who will remain in it permanently?Only the one to whom the Spirit of Jesus reveals the secret. TheHoly Spirit himself will lead this faithful soul from strengthto strength, from grace to grace, from light to light, until atlength he attains transformation into Jesus in the fullness ofhis age on earth and of his glory in heaven.

PART II: THE PERFECT DEVOTION TO OUR LADY

CHAPTER THREE
THE PERFECT CONSECRATION TO JESUS CHRIST

1. A complete consecration to Mary

120. Asall perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecratedto Jesus it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotionsis that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completelyto Jesus. Now of all God's creatures Mary is the most conformedto Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotionto her makes for the most effective consecration and conformityto him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecratedto Jesus.

That is why perfect consecrationto Jesus is but a perfect and complete consecration of oneselfto the Blessed Virgin, which is the devotion I teach; or in otherwords, it is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holybaptism.

121. Thisdevotion consists in giving oneself entirely to Mary in orderto belong entirely to Jesus through her. It requires us to give:

(1) Our body with its sensesand members;

(2) Our soul with its faculties;

(3) Our present materialpossessions and all we shall acquire in the future;

(4) Our interior and spiritualpossessions, that is, our merits, virtues and good actions ofthe past, the present and the future.

In other words, we giveher all that we possess both in our natural life and in our spirituallife as well as everything we shall acquire in the future in theorder of nature, of grace, and of glory in heaven. This we dowithout any reservation, not even of a penny, a hair, or the smallestgood deed. And we give for all eternity without claiming or expecting,in return for our offering and our service, any other reward thanthe honour of belonging to our Lord through Mary and in Mary,even though our Mother were not - as in fact she always is - themost generous and appreciative of all God's creatures.

122. Notehere that two things must be considered regarding our good works,namely, satisfaction and merit or, in other words, their satisfactoryor prayer value and their meritorious value. The satisfactoryor prayer value of a good work is the good action in so far asit makes condign atonement for the punishment due to sin or obtainssome new grace. The meritorious value or merit is the good actionin so far as it merits grace and eternal glory. Now by this consecrationof ourselves to the Blessed Virgin we give her all satisfactoryand prayer value as well as the meritorious value of our goodworks, in other words, all the satisfactions and the merits. Wegive her our merits, graces and virtues, not that she might givethem 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 toher that she may keep, increase and embellish them for us, aswe shall explain later, and we give her our acts of atonementthat she may apply them where she pleases for God's greater glory.

123. Itfollows then:

(1) that by this devotionwe give to Jesus all we can possibly give him, and in the mostperfect manner, that is, through Mary's hands. Indeed we givehim far more than we do by other devotions which require us togive only part of our time, some of our good works or acts ofatonement and penances. In this devotion everything is given andconsecrated, even the right to dispose freely of one's spiritualgoods and the satisfactions earned by daily good works. This isnot done even in religious orders. Members of religious ordersgive God their earthly goods by the vow of poverty, the goodsof the body by the vow of chastity, their free will by the vowof obedience, and sometimes their freedom of movement by the vowof enclosure. But they do not give him by these vows the libertyand right to dispose of the value of their good works. They donot despoil themselves of what a Christian considers most preciousand most dear - his merits and satisfactions.

124. (2)It follows then that anyone who in this way consecrates and sacrificeshimself voluntarily to Jesus through Mary may no longer disposeof the value of any of his good actions. All his sufferings, allhis thoughts, words, and deeds belong to Mary. She can then disposeof them in accordance with the will of her Son and for his greaterglory. This dependence, however, is without detriment to the dutiesof 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 officeor otherwise, must apply the satisfactory or prayer value of theHoly Mass to a particular person. For this consecration can onlybe made in accordance with the order established by God and inkeeping with the duties of one's state of life.

125. (3)It follows that we consecrate ourselves at one and the same timeto Mary and to Jesus. We give ourselves to Mary because Jesuschose her as the perfect means to unite himself to us and uniteus 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 forall that we are.

2. A perfect renewal of baptismal promises

126. Ihave said that this devotion could rightly be called a perfectrenewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism. Before baptismevery Christian was a slave of the devil because he belonged tohim. At baptism he has either personally or through his sponsorssolemnly renounced Satan, his seductions and his works. He haschosen Jesus as his Master and sovereign Lord and undertaken todepend upon him as a slave of love. This is what is done in thedevotion I am presenting to you. We renounce the devil, the world,sin and self, as expressed in the act of consecration, and wegive ourselves entirely to Jesus through Mary. We even do somethingmore than at baptism, when ordinarily our god-parents speak forus and we are given to Jesus only by proxy. In this devotion wegive ourselves personally and freely and we are fully aware ofwhat we are doing.

In holy baptism we do notgive ourselves to Jesus explicitly through Mary, nor do we givehim the value of our good actions. After baptism we remain entirelyfree either to apply that value to anyone we wish or keep it forourselves. But by this consecration we give ourselves explicitlyto Jesus through Mary's hands and we include in our consecrationthe value of all our actions.

127. "Men"says St. Thomas, "vow in baptism to renounce the devil andall 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 atbaptism is the most important of all vows." But does anyonekeep this great vow? Does anyone fulfil the promises of baptismfaithfully? Is it not true that nearly all Christians prove unfaithfulto the promises made to Jesus in baptism? Where does this universalfailure come from, if not from man's habitual forgetfulness ofthe promises and responsibilities of baptism and from the factthat scarcely anyone makes a personal ratification of the contractmade with God through his sponsors?

128. Thisis so true that the Council of Sens, convened by order of theEmperor Louis the Debonair to remedy the grave disorders of Christendom,came to the conclusion that the main cause of this moral breakdownwas man's forgetfulness of his baptismal obligations and his disregardfor them. It could suggest no better way of remedying this greatevil than to encourage all Christians to renew the promises andvows of baptism.

129. TheCatechism of the Council of Trent, faithful interpreter of thatholy Council, exhorts priests to do the same and to encouragethe faithful to remember and hold fast to the belief that theyare bound and consecrated as slaves to Jesus, their Redeemer andLord. "The parish priest shall exhort the faithful neverto lose sight of the fact that they are bound in conscience todedicate and consecrate themselves for ever to their Lord andRedeemer as his slaves."

130. Nowthe Councils, the Fathers of the Church and experience itself,all indicate that the best remedy for the frequent lapses of Christiansis to remind them of the responsibilities of their baptism andhave them renew the vows they made at that time. Is it not reasonabletherefore to do this in our day and in a perfect manner by adoptingthis devotion with its consecration to our Lord through his BlessedMother? I say "in a perfect manner", for in making thisconsecration to Jesus they are adopting the perfect means of givingthemselves to him, which is the most Blessed Virgin Mary.

131. Noone can object that this devotion is novel or of no value. Itis not new, since the Councils, the Fathers of the Church, andmany authors both past and present, speak of consecration to ourLord or renewal of baptismal vows as something going back to ancienttimes and recommended to all the faithful. Nor is it valueless,since the chief source of moral disorders and the consequent eternalloss of Christians spring from the forgetfulness of this practiceand indifference to it.

132. Somemay object that this devotion makes us powerless to help the soulsof our relatives, friends and benefactors, since it requires usto give our Lord, through Mary, the value of our good works, prayers,penances, and alms-giving.

To them I reply:

(1) It is inconceivablethat our friends, relatives and benefactors should suffer anyloss because we have dedicated and consecrated ourselves unconditionallyto the service of Jesus and Mary; it would be an affront to thepower and goodness of Jesus and Mary who will surely come to theaid of our relatives, friends and benefactors whether from ourmeagre spiritual assets or from other sources.

(2) This devotion does notprevent us from praying for others, both the living and the dead,even though the application of our good works depends on the willof our Blessed Lady. On the contrary, it will make us pray witheven greater confidence. Imagine a rich man, who, wanting to showhis esteem for a great prince, gives his entire fortune to him.Would not that man have greater confidence in asking the princeto help one of his friends who needed assistance? Indeed the princewould only be too happy to have such an opportunity of provinghis gratitude to one who had sacrificed all that he possessedto enrich him, thereby impoverishing himself to do him honour.The same must be said of our Lord and our Lady. They will neverallow themselves to be outdone in gratitude.

133. Somemay say, perhaps, if I give our Lady the full value of my actionsto apply it to whom she wills, I may have to suffer a long timein purgatory. This objection, which arises from self-love andfrom an unawareness of the generosity of God and his holy Mother,refutes itself.

Take a fervent and generoussoul who values God's interests more than his own. He gives Godall he has without reserve till he can give no more. He desiresonly that the glory and the kingdom of Jesus may come throughhis Mother, and he does all he can to bring this about. Will thisgenerous and unselfish soul, I ask, be punished more in the nextworld for having been more generous and unselfish than other people?Far from it! For we shall see later that our Lord and his Motherwill prove most generous to such a soul with gifts of nature,grace and glory in this life and in the next.

134. Wemust now consider as briefly as possible: (1) The motives whichcommend this devotion to us, (2) the wonderful effects it producesin faithful souls, and (3) the practices of this devotion.

CHAPTER FOUR
MOTIVES WHICH RECOMMEND THIS DEVOTION

1. By it we give ourselves completely to God

135. Thisfirst motive shows us the excellence of the consecration of ourselvesto Jesus through Mary.

We can conceive of no highercalling than that of being in the service of God and we believethat the least of God's servants is richer, stronger, and noblerthan any earthly monarch who does not serve God. How rich andstrong and noble then must the good and faithful servant be, whoserves God as unreservedly and as completely as he possibly can!Just such a person is the faithful and loving slave of Jesus inMary. He has indeed surrendered himself entirely to the serviceof the King of kings through Mary, his Mother, keeping nothingfor himself. All the gold of the world and the beauties of theheavens could not recompense him for what he has done.

136. Othercongregations, associations, and confraternities set up in honourof our Lord and our Blessed Lady, which do so much good in theChurch, do not require their members to give up absolutely everything.They simply prescribe for them the performance of certain actsand practices in fulfilment of their obligations. They leave themfree to dispose of the rest of their actions as well as theirtime. But this devotion makes us give Jesus and Mary all our thoughts,words, actions, and sufferings and every moment of our lives withoutexception. Thus, whatever we do, whether we are awake or asleep,whether we eat or drink, whether we do important or unimportantwork, it will always be true to say that everything is done forJesus and Mary. Our offering always holds good, whether we thinkof it or not, unless we explicitly retract it. How consoling thisis!

137. Moreover,as I have said before, no other act of devotion enables us torid ourselves so easily of the possessiveness which slips unnoticedeven into our best actions. This is a remarkable grace which ourdear Lord grants us in return for the heroic and selfless surrenderto him through Mary of the entire value of our good works. Ifeven in this life he gives a hundredfold reward to those who renounceall material, temporal and perishable things out of love for him,how generously will he reward those who give up even interiorand spiritual goods for his sake!

138. Jesus,our dearest friend, gave himself to us without reserve, body andsoul, grace and merits. As St. Bernard says, "He won me overentirely by giving himself entirely to me." Does not simplejustice as well as gratitude require that we give him all we possiblycan? He was generous with us first, so let us be generous to himin return and he will prove still more generous during life, atthe hour of death, and throughout eternity. "He will be generoustowards the generous."

2. It helps us to imitate Christ

139. Ourgood Master stooped to enclose himself in the womb of the BlessedVirgin, a captive but loving slave, and to make himself subjectto her for thirty years. As I said earlier, the human mind isbewildered when it reflects seriously upon this conduct of IncarnateWisdom. He did not choose to give himself in a direct manner tothe human race though he could easily have done so. He chose tocome through the Virgin Mary. Thus he did not come into the worldindependently of others in the flower of his manhood, but he cameas a frail little child dependent on the care and attention ofhis Mother. Consumed with the desire to give glory to God, hisFather, and save the human race, he saw no better or shorter wayto do so than by submitting completely to Mary.

He did this not just forthe first eight, ten or fifteen years of his life like other children,but for thirty years. He gave more glory to God, his Father, duringall those years of submission and dependence than he would havegiven by spending them working miracles, preaching far and wide,and converting all mankind. Otherwise he would have done all thesethings.

What immeasurable glorythen do we give to God when, following the example of Jesus, wesubmit to Mary! With such a convincing and well-known examplebefore us, can we be so foolish as to believe that there is abetter and shorter way of giving God glory than by submittingourselves to Mary, as Jesus did?

140. Letme remind you again of the dependence shown by the three divinePersons on our Blessed Lady. Theirs is the example which fullyjustifies our dependence on her. The Father gave and still giveshis Son only through her. He raises children for himself onlythrough her. He dispenses his graces to us only through her. Godthe Son was prepared for mankind in general by her alone. Mary,in union with the Holy Spirit, still conceives him and bringshim forth daily. It is through her alone that the Son distributeshis merits and virtues. The Holy Spirit formed Jesus only throughher, and he forms the members of the Mystical Body and dispenseshis gifts and his favours through her.

With such a compelling exampleof the three divine Persons before us, we would be extremely perverseto ignore her and not consecrate ourselves to her. Indeed we wouldbe blind if we did not see the need for Mary in approaching Godand making our total offering to him.

141. Hereare a few passages from the Fathers of the Church which I havechosen to prove what I have just said: "Mary has two sons,the one a God-man, the other, mere man. She is Mother of the firstcorporally and of the second spiritually" (St. Bonaventureand Origen).

"This is the will ofGod who willed that we should have all things through Mary. Ifthen, we possess any hope or grace or gift of salvation, let usacknowledge that it comes to us through her" (St. Bernard).

"All the gifts, graces,virtues of the Holy Spirit are distributed by the hands of Mary,to whom she wills, when she wills, as she wills, and in the measureshe wills" (St. Bernardine).

"As you were not worthythat anything divine should be given to you, all graces were givento Mary so that you might receive through her all graces you wouldnot otherwise receive" (St. Bernard).

142. St.Bernard tells us that God, seeing that we are unworthy to receivehis graces directly from him, gives them to Mary so that we mightreceive from her all that he decides to give us. His glory isachieved when he receives through Mary the gratitude, respectand love we owe him in return for his gifts to us. It is onlyright then that we should imitate his conduct, "in order",as St. Bernard again says, "that grace might return to itsauthor by the same channel through which it came to us".

This is what we do by thisdevotion. We offer and consecrate all we are and all we possessto the Blessed Virgin in order that our Lord may receive throughher as intermediary the glory and gratitude that we owe to him.We deem ourselves unworthy and unfit to approach his infinitemajesty on our own, and so we avail ourselves of Mary's intercession.

143. Moreover,this devotion is an expression of great humility, a virtue whichGod loves above all others. A person who exalts himself debasesGod, and a person who humbles himself exalts God. "God opposesthe proud, but gives his graces to the humble." If you humbleyourself, convinced that you are unworthy to appear before him,or even to approach him, he condescends to come down to you. Heis pleased to be with you and exalts you in spite of yourself.But, on the other hand, if you venture to go towards God blindlywithout a mediator, he vanishes and is nowhere to be found. Howdearly he loves the humble of heart! It is to such humility thatthis devotion leads us, for it teaches us never to go alone directlyto our Lord, however gentle and merciful though he may be, butalways to use Mary's power of intercession, whether we want toenter his presence, speak to him, be near him, offer him something,seek union with him or consecrate ourselves to him.

3. It obtains many blessings from our Lady

144. TheBlessed Virgin, mother of gentleness and mercy, never allows herselfto be surpassed in love and generosity. When she sees someonegiving himself entirely to her in order to honour and serve her,and depriving himself of what he prizes most in order to adornher, she gives herself completely in a wondrous manner to him.She engulfs him in the ocean of her graces, adorns him with hermerits, supports him with her power, enlightens him with her light,and fills him with her love. She shares her virtues with him -her humility, faith, purity, etc. She makes up for his failingsand becomes his representative with Jesus. Just as one who isconsecrated belongs entirely to Mary, so Mary belongs entirelyto him. We can truthfully say of this perfect servant and childof Mary what St. John in his gospel says of himself, "Hetook her for his own."

145. Thisproduces in his soul, if he is persevering, a great distrust,contempt, and hatred of self, and a great confidence in Mary withcomplete self-abandonment to her. He no longer relies on his owndispositions, intentions, merits, virtues and good works, sincehe has sacrificed them completely to Jesus through his lovingMother. He has now only one treasury, where all his wealth isstored. That treasury is not within himself: it is Mary. Thatis why he can now go to our Lord without any servile or scrupulousfear and pray to him with great confidence. He can also sharethe sentiments of the devout and learned Abbot Rupert, who, referringto the victory which Jacob won over an angel, addressed our Ladyin these words, "O Mary, my Queen, Immaculate Mother of theGod-man, Jesus Christ, I desire to wrestle with this man, theDivine Word, armed with your merits and not my own."

How much stronger and morepowerful are we in approaching our Lord when we are armed withthe merits and prayers of the worthy Mother of God, who, as St.Augustine says, has conquered the Almighty by her love!

146. Sinceby this devotion we give to our Lord, through the hands of hisholy Mother, all our good works, she purifies them, making thembeautiful and acceptable to her Son.

(1) She purifies them ofevery taint of self-love and of that unconscious attachment tocreatures which slips unnoticed into our best actions. Her handshave never been known to be idle or uncreative. They purify everythingthey touch. As soon as the Blessed Virgin receives our good works,she removes any blemish or imperfection she may find in them.

147. (2)She enriches our good works by adorning them with her own meritsand virtues. It is as if a poor peasant, wishing to win the friendshipand favour of the king, were to go the queen and give her an apple- his only possession - for her to offer it to the king. The queen,accepting the peasant's humble gift, puts it on a beautiful goldendish and presents it to the king on behalf of the peasant. Theapple in itself would not be a gift worthy of a king, but presentedby the queen in person on a dish of gold, it becomes fit for anyking.

148. (3)Mary presents our good works to Jesus. She does not keep anythingwe offer for herself, as if she were our last end, but unfailinglygives everything to Jesus. So by the very fact we give anythingto her, we are giving it to Jesus. Whenever we praise and glorifyher, she sings today as she did on the day Elizabeth praised her,"My soul glorifies the Lord."

149. AtMary's request, Jesus accepts the gift of our good works, no matterhow poor and insignificant they may be for one who is the Kingof kings, the Holiest of the holy. When we present anything toJesus by ourselves, relying on our own dispositions and efforts,he examines our gift and often rejects it because it is stainedwith self-love, just as he once rejected the sacrifices of theJews because they were imbued with selfish motives.

But when we present somethingto him by the pure, virginal hands of his beloved Mother, we takehim by his weak side, in a manner of speaking. He does not considerso much the present itself as the person who offers it. Thus Mary,who is never slighted by her Son but is always well received,prevails upon him to accept with pleasure everything she offershim, regardless of its value. Mary has only to present the giftfor Jesus graciously to accept it. This is what St. Bernard stronglyrecommended to all those he was guiding along the pathway to perfection."When you want to offer something to God, to be welcomedby him be sure to offer it through the worthy Mother of God, ifyou do not wish to see it rejected."

150. Doesnot human nature itself, as we have seen, suggest this mode ofprocedure to the less important people of this world with regardto the great? Why should grace not inspire us to do likewise withregard to God? He is infinitely exalted above us. We are lessthan atoms in his sight. But we have an advocate so powerful thatshe is never refused anything. She is so resourceful that sheknows every secret way to win the heart of God. She is so goodand kind that she never passes over anyone no matter how lonelyand sinful.

Further on, I shall relatethe story of Jacob and Rebecca which exemplifies the truths Ihave been setting before you.

4. It is an excellent means of giving glory to God

151. Thisdevotion, when faithfully undertaken, is a perfect means of ensuringthat the value of all our good works is being used for the greaterglory of God. Scarcely anyone works for that noble end, in spiteof the obligation to do so, either because men do not know whereGod's greatest glory is to be found or because they do not desireit. Now Mary, to whom we surrender the value and merit of ourgood actions, knows perfectly well where God's greatest glorylies and she works only to promote that glory. The devout servantof our Lady, having entirely consecrated himself to her as I havedescribed above, can boldly claim that the value of all his actions,words and thoughts is used for the greatest glory of God, unlesshe has explicitly retracted his offering. For one who loves Godwith a pure and unselfish love and prizes God's glory and interestsfar above his own, could anything be more consoling?

5. It leads to union with our Lord

152. Thisdevotion is a smooth, short, perfect and sure way of attainingunion with our Lord, in which Christian perfection consists.

(a) This devotion isa smooth way. It is the path which Jesus Christ opened upin coming to us and in which there is no obstruction to preventus reaching him. It is quite true that we can attain to divineunion by other roads, but these involve many more crosses andexceptional setbacks and many difficulties that we cannot easilyovercome. We would have to pass through spiritual darkness, engagein struggles for which we are not prepared, endure bitter agonies,scale precipitous mountains, tread upon painful thorns, and crossfrightful deserts. But when we take the path of Mary, we walksmoothly and calmly.

It is true that on our waywe have hard battles to fight and serious obstacles to overcome,but Mary, our Mother and Queen, stays close to her faithful servants.She is always at hand to brighten their darkness, clear away theirdoubts, strengthen them in their fears, sustain them in theircombats and trials. Truly, in comparison with other ways, thisvirgin road to Jesus is a path of roses and sweet delights. Therehave been some saints, not very many, such as St. Ephrem, St.John Damascene, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Bonaventure,and St. Francis de Sales, who have taken this smooth path to JesusChrist, because the Holy Spirit, the faithful Spouse of Mary,made it known to them by a special grace. The other saints, whoare the greater number, while having a devotion to Mary, eitherdid not enter or did not go very far along this path. That iswhy they had to undergo harder and more dangerous trials.

153. Whyis it then, a servant of Mary might ask, that devoted servantsof this good Mother are called upon to suffer much more than thosewho serve her less generously? They are opposed, persecuted, slandered,and treated with intolerance. They may also have to walk in interiordarkness and through spiritual deserts without being given fromheaven a single drop of the dew of consolation. If this devotionto the Blessed Virgin makes the path to Jesus smoother, how canwe explain why Mary's loyal servants are so ill-treated?

154. Ireply that it is quite true that the most faithful servants ofthe Blessed Virgin, being her greatest favourites, receive fromher the best graces and favours from heaven, which are crosses.But I maintain too that these servants of Mary bear their crosseswith greater ease and gain more merit and glory. What could checkanother's progress a thousand times over, or possibly bring abouthis downfall, does not balk them at all, but even helps them ontheir way. For this good Mother, filled with the grace and unctionof the Holy Spirit, dips all the crosses she prepares for themin the honey of her maternal sweetness and the unction of purelove. They then readily swallow them as they would sugared almonds,though the crosses may be very bitter. I believe that anyone whowishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer persecutionand will have a daily cross to carry. But he will never manageto carry a heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and perseveringly,without a trusting devotion to our Lady, who is the very sweetnessof the cross. It is obvious that a person could not keep on eatingwithout great effort unripe fruit which has not been sweetened.

155. (b)This devotion is a short way to discover Jesus, eitherbecause it is a road we do not wander from, or because, as wehave just said, we walk along this road with greater ease andjoy, and consequently with greater speed. We advance more in abrief period of submission to Mary and dependence on her thanin whole years of self-will and self-reliance. A man who is obedientand submissive to Mary will sing of glorious victories over hisenemies It is true, his enemies will try to impede his progress,force him to retreat or try to make him fall. But with Mary'shelp, support and guidance, he will go forward towards our Lord.Without falling, retreating and even without being delayed, hewill advance with giant strides towards Jesus along the same roadwhich, as it is written, Jesus took to come to us with giant stridesand in a short time.

156. Whydo you think our Lord spent only a few years here on earth andnearly all of them in submission and obedience to his Mother?The reason is that "attaining perfection in a short time,he lived a long time", even longer than Adam, whose losseshe had come to make good. Yet Adam lived more than nine hundredyears!

Jesus lived a long time,because he lived in complete submission to his Mother and in unionwith her, which obedience to his Father required. The Holy Spirittells us that the man who honours his mother is like a man whostores up a treasure. In other words, the man who honours Mary,his Mother, to the extent of subjecting himself to her and obeyingher in all things will soon become very rich, because he is amassingriches every day through Mary who has become his secret philosopher'sstone.

There is another quotationfrom Holy Scripture, "My old age will be found in the mercyof the bosom". According to the mystical interpretation ofthese words it is in the bosom of Mary that people who are younggrow mature in enlightenment, in holiness, in experience and inwisdom, and in a short time reach the fullness of the age of Christ.For it was Mary's womb which encompassed and produced a perfectman. That same womb held the one whom the whole universe can neitherencompass nor contain.

157. (c)This devotion is a perfect way to reach our Lord and beunited to him, for Mary is the most perfect and the most holyof all creatures, and Jesus, who came to us in a perfect manner,chose no other road for his great and wonderful journey. The MostHigh, the Incomprehensible One, the Inaccessible One, He who is,deigned to come down to us poor earthly creatures who are nothingat all. How was this done?

The Most High God came downto us in a perfect way through the humble Virgin Mary, withoutlosing anything of his divinity or holiness. It is likewise throughMary that we poor creatures must ascend to almighty God in a perfectmanner without having anything to fear.

God the Incomprehensible,allowed himself to be perfectly comprehended and contained bythe humble Virgin Mary without losing anything of his immensity.So we must let ourselves be perfectly contained and led by thehumble Virgin without any reserve on our part.

God, the Inaccessible, drewnear to us and united himself closely, perfectly and even personallyto our humanity through Mary without losing anything of his majesty.So it is also through Mary that we must draw near to God and uniteourselves to him perfectly, intimately, and without fear of beingrejected.

Lastly, He who is deignedto come down to us who are not and turned our nothingness intoGod, or He who is. He did this perfectly by giving and submittinghimself entirely to the young Virgin Mary, without ceasing tobe in time He who is from all eternity. Likewise it is throughMary that we, who are nothing, may become like God by grace andglory. We accomplish this by giving ourselves to her so perfectlyand so completely as to remain nothing, as far as self is concerned,and to be everything in her, without any fear of illusion.

158. Showme a new road to our Lord, pave it with all the merits of thesaints, adorn it with their heroic virtues, illuminate and enhanceit with the splendour and beauty of the angels, have all the angelsand saints there to guide and protect those who wish to followit. Give me such a road and truly, truly, I boldly say - and Iam telling the truth - that instead of this road, perfect thoughit be, I would still choose the immaculate way of Mary. It isa way, a road without stain or spot, without original sin or actualsin, without shadow or darkness,. When our loving Jesus comesin glory once again to reign upon earth - as he certainly will- he will choose no other way than the Blessed Virgin, by whomhe came so surely and so perfectly the first time. The differencebetween his first and his second coming is that the first wassecret and hidden, but the second will be glorious and resplendent.Both are perfect because both are through Mary. Alas, this isa mystery which we cannot understand, "Here let every tonguebe silent."

159. (d)This devotion to our Lady is a sure way to go to Jesusand to acquire holiness through union with him.

(1) The devotion which Iteach is not new. Its history goes back so far that the time ofits origin cannot be ascertained with any precision, as Fr. Boudon,who died a holy death a short time ago, states in a book whichhe wrote on this devotion. It is however certain that for morethan seven hundred years we find traces of it in the Church.

St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny,who lived about the year 1040, was one of the first to practiseit publicly in France as is told in his life.

Cardinal Peter Damian relatesthat in the year 1076 his brother, Blessed Marino, made himselfthe slave of the Blessed Virgin in the presence of his spiritualdirector in a most edifying manner. He placed a rope around hisneck, scourged himself and placed on the altar a sum of moneyas a token of his devotion and consecration to our Lady. He remainedso faithful to this consecration all his life that me meritedto be visited and consoled on his death-bed by his dear Queenand hear from her lips the promise of paradise in reward for hisservice.

Caesarius Bollandus mentionsa famous knight, Vautier de Birback, a close relative of the Dukesof Louvain, who about the year 1300 consecrated himself to theBlessed Virgin.

This devotion was also practisedprivately by many people up to the seventeenth century, when itbecame publicly known.

160. FatherSimon de Rojas of the Order of the Holy Trinity for the Redemptionof Captives, court preacher to Philip III, made this devotionpopular throughout Spain and Germany. Through the interventionof Philip III, he obtained from Gregory XV valuable indulgencesfor those who practised it.

Father de los Rios, of theOrder of St. Augustine, together with his intimate friend, Fatherde Roias, worked hard, propagating it throughout Spain and Germanyby preaching and writing. He composed a large volume entitled"Hierarchia Mariana", where he treats of the antiquity,the excellence and the soundness of this devotion, with as muchdevotion as learning.

The Theatine Fathers inthe seventeenth century established this devotion in Italy andSavoy.

161. FatherStanislaus Phalacius of the Society of Jesus spread this devotionwidely in Poland.

Father de los Rios in thebook quoted above mentions the names of princes and princesses,bishops and cardinals of different countries who embraced thisdevotion.

Father Cornelius a Lapide,noted both for holiness and profound learning, was commissionedby several bishops and theologians to examine it. The praise hegave it after mature examination, is a worthy tribute to his ownholiness. Many other eminent men followed his example.

The Jesuit Fathers, everzealous in the service of our Blessed Lady, presented on behalfof the sodalities of Cologne to Duke Ferdinand of Bavaria, thethen archbishop of Cologne, a little treatise on the devotion,and he gave it his approval and granted permission to have itprinted. He exhorted all priests and religious of his dioceseto do their utmost to spread this solid devotion.

162. Cardinalde Bérulle, whose memory is venerated throughout France,was outstandingly zealous in furthering the devotion in France,despite the calumnies and persecutions he suffered at the handsof critics and evil men. They accused him of introducing noveltyand superstition. They composed and published a libellous tractagainst him and they - rather the devil in them - used a thousandstratagems to prevent him from spreading the devotion in France.But this eminent and saintly man responded to their calumnieswith calm patience. He wrote a little book in reply and forcefullyrefuted the objections contained in it. He pointed out that thisdevotion is founded on the example given by Jesus Christ, on theobligations we have towards him and on the promises we made inholy baptism. It was mainly this last reason which silenced hisenemies. He made clear to them that this consecration to the BlessedVirgin, and through her to Jesus, is nothing less than a perfectrenewal of the promises and vows of baptism. He said many beautifulthings concerning this devotion which can be read in his works.

163. InFr. Boudon's book we read of different popes who gave their approvalto this devotion, the theologians who examined it, the hostilityit encountered and overcame, the thousands who made it their ownwithout censure from any pope. Indeed it could not be condemnedwithout overthrowing the foundations of Christianity. It is obviousthen that this devotion is not new. If it is not commonly practised,the reason is that it is too sublime to be appreciated and undertakenby everyone.

164. (2)This devotion is a safe means of going to Jesus Christ, becauseit is Mary's role to lead us safely to her Son; just as it isthe role of our Lord to lead us to the eternal Father. Those whoare spiritually-minded should not fall into the error of thinkingthat Mary hinders our union with God. How could this possiblyhappen? How could Mary, who found grace with God for everyonein general and each one in particular, prevent a soul from obtainingthe supreme grace of union with him? Is it possible that she whowas so completely filled with grace to overflowing, so unitedto Christ and transformed in God that it became necessary forhim to be made flesh in her, should prevent a soul from beingperfectly united to him?

It is quite true that theexample of other people, no matter how holy, can sometimes impairunion with God, but not so our Blessed Lady, as I have said andshall never weary of repeating. One reason why so few souls cometo the fullness of the age of Jesus is that Mary who is stillas much as ever his Mother and the fruitful spouse of the HolySpirit is not formed well enough in their hearts. If we desirea ripe and perfectly formed fruit, we must possess the tree thatbears it. If we desire the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, we mustpossess the tree of life which is Mary. If we desire to have theHoly Spirit working within us, we must possess his faithful andinseparable spouse, Mary the divinely-favoured one whom, as Ihave said elsewhere, he can make fruitful.

165. Restassured that the more you turn to Mary in your prayers, meditations,actions and sufferings, seeing her if not perhaps clearly anddistinctly, at least in a general and indistinct way, the moresurely you will discover Jesus. For he is always greater, morepowerful, more active, and more mysterious when acting throughMary than he is in any other creature in the universe, or evenin heaven. Thus Mary, so divinely-favoured and so lost in God,is far from being an obstacle to good people who are strivingfor union with him. There has never been and there never willbe a creature so ready to help us in achieving that union moreeffectively, for she will dispense to us all the graces to attainthat end. As a saint once remarked, "Only Mary knows howto fill our minds with the thought of God." Moreover, Marywill safeguard us against the deception and cunning of the evilone.

166. WhereMary is present, the evil one is absent. One of the unmistakablesigns that a person is led by the Spirit of God is the devotionhe has to Mary, and his habit of thinking and speaking of her.This is the opinion of a saint, who goes on to say that just asbreathing is a proof that the body is not dead, so the habitualthought of Mary and loving converse with her is a proof that thesoul is not spiritually dead in sin.

167. SinceMary alone has crushed all heresies, as we are told by the Churchunder the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of B.V.M.), a devotedservant of hers will never fall into formal heresy or error, thoughcritics may contest this. He may very well err materially, mistakinglies for truth or an evil spirit for a good one, but he will beless likely to do this than others. Sooner or later he will discoverhis error and will not go on stubbornly believing and maintainingwhat he mistakenly thought was the truth.

168. Whoeverthen wishes to advance along the road to holiness and be sureof encountering the true Christ, without fear of the illusionswhich afflict many devout people, should take up with valiantheart and willing spirit this devotion to Mary which perhaps hehad not previously heard about. Even if it is new to him, lethim enter upon this excellent way which I am now revealing tohim. "I will show you a more excellent way."

It was opened up by JesusChrist, the Incarnate Wisdom. He is our one and only Head, andwe, his members, cannot go wrong in following him. It is a smoothway made easy by the fullness of grace, the unction of the HolySpirit. In our progress along this road, we do not weaken or turnback. It is a quick way and leads us to Jesus in a short time.It is a perfect way without mud or dust or any vileness of sin.Finally, it is a reliable way, for it is direct and sure, havingno turnings to right or left but leading us straight to Jesusand to life eternal.

Let us then take this roadand travel along it night and day until we arrive at the fullnessof the age of Jesus Christ.

6. It gives great liberty of spirit

169. Itgives great liberty of spirit - the freedom of the children ofGod - to those who faithfully practise it. Through this devotionwe make ourselves slaves of Jesus by consecrating ourselves entirelyto him. To reward us for this enslavement of love, our Lord freesus from every scruple and servile fear which might restrict, imprisonor confuse us; he opens our hearts and fills them with holy confidencein God, helping us to regard God as our Father; he inspires uswith a generous and filial love.

170. Withoutstopping to prove this truth, I shall simply relate an incidentwhich I read in the life of Mother Agnes of Jesus, a Dominicannun of the convent of Langeac in Auvergne, who died a holy deaththere in 1634.

When she was only sevenyears old and was suffering great spiritual anguish, she hearda voice telling her that if she wished to be delivered from heranguish and protected against all her enemies, she should makeherself the slave of our Lord and his Blessed Mother as soon aspossible. No sooner had she returned home than she gave herselfcompletely to Jesus and Mary as their slave, although she hadnever known anything about this devotion before. She found aniron chain, put it round her waist and wore it till the day shedied. After this, all her sufferings and scruples disappearedand she found great peace of soul.

This led her to teach thisdevotion to many others who made rapid progress in it - amongthem, Father Olier, the founder of the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice,and several other priests and students from the same seminary.One day the Blessed Virgin appeared to Mother Agnes and put agold chain around her neck to show her how happy she was thatMother Agnes had become the slave of both her and her Son. AndSt. Cecilia, who accompanied our Lady, said to her, "Happyare the faithful slaves of the Queen of heaven, for they willenjoy true freedom." Tibi servire libertas.

7. It is of great benefit to our neighbour

171. Itis of great benefit to our neighbour, for by it we show love forour neighbour in an outstanding way since we give him throughMary's hands all that we prize most highly - that is, the satisfactoryand prayer value of all our good works, down to the least goodthought and the least little suffering. We give our consent thatall we have already acquired or will acquire until death shouldbe used in accordance with our Lady's will for the conversionof sinners or the deliverance of souls from Purgatory.

Is this not perfect loveof our neighbour? Is this not being a true disciple of our Lord,one who should always be recognised by his love? Is this not theway to convert sinners without any danger of vainglory, and deliversouls from Purgatory by doing hardly anything more than what weare obliged to do by our state of life?

172. Toappreciate the excellence of this motive we must understand whata wonderful thing it is to convert a sinner or to deliver a soulfrom Purgatory. It is an infinite good, greater than the creationof heaven and earth, since it gives a soul the possession of God.If by this devotion we secured the release of only soul from Purgatoryor converted only one sinner in our whole lifetime, would thatnot be enough to induce any person who really loves his neighbourto practise this devotion?

It must be noted that ourgood works, passing through Mary's hands, are progressively purified.Consequently, their merit and their satisfactory and prayer valueare also increased. That is why they become much more effectivein relieving the souls in Purgatory and in converting sinnersthan if they did not pass through the virginal and liberal handsof Mary. Stripped of self-will and clothed with disinterestedlove, the little that we give to the Blessed Virgin is truly powerfulenough to appease the anger of God and draw down his mercy. Itmay well be that at the hour of death a person who has been faithfulto this devotion will find that he has freed many souls from Purgatoryand converted many sinners, even though he performed only theordinary actions of his state of life. Great will be his joy atthe judgement. Great will be his glory throughout eternity.

8. It is a wonderful means of perseverance

173. Finally,what draws us in a sense more compellingly to take up this devotionto the most Blessed Virgin is the fact that it is a wonderfulmeans of persevering in the practice of virtue and of remainingsteadfast.

Why is it that most conversionsof sinners are not lasting? Why do they relapse so easily intosin? Why is it that most of the faithful, instead of making progressin one virtue after another and so acquiring new graces, oftenlose the little grace and virtue they have? This misfortune arises,as I have already shown, from the fact that man, so prone to evil,so weak and changeable, trusts himself too much, relies on hisown strength, and wrongly presumes he is able to safeguard hisprecious graces, virtues and merits.

By this devotion we entrustall we possess to Mary, the faithful Virgin. We choose her asthe guardian of all our possessions in the natural and supernaturalsphere. We trust her because she is faithful, we rely on her strength,we count on her mercy and charity to preserve and increase ourvirtues and merits in spite of the efforts of the devil, the world,and the flesh to rob us of them. We say to her as a good childwould say to its mother or a faithful servant to the mistressof the house, "My dear Mother and Mistress, I realise thatup to now I have received from God through your intercession moregraces than I deserve. But bitter experience has taught me thatI carry these riches in a very fragile vessel and that I am tooweak and sinful to guard them by myself. Please accept in trusteverything I possess, and in your faithfulness and power keepit for me. If you watch over me, I shall lose nothing. If yousupport me, I shall not fail. If you protect me, I shall be safefrom my enemies."

174. Thisis exactly what St. Bernard clearly pointed out to encourage usto take up this devotion, "When Mary supports you, you willnot fail. With her as your protector, you will have nothing tofear. With her as your guide, you will not grow weary. When youwin her favour, you will reach the port of heaven." St. Bonaventureseems to say the same thing in even more explicit terms, "TheBlessed Virgin," he says, "not only preserves the fullnessenjoyed by the saints, but she maintains the saints in their fullnessso that it does not diminish. She prevents their virtues fromfading away, their merits from being wasted and their graces frombeing lost. She prevents the devils from doing them harm and sheso influences them that her divine Son has no need to punish themwhen they sin."

175. Maryis the Virgin most faithful who by her fidelity to God makes goodthe losses caused by Eve's unfaithfulness. She obtains fidelityto God and final perseverance for those who commit themselvesto her. For this reason St. John Damascene compared her to a firmanchor which holds them fast and saves them from shipwreck inthe raging seas of the world where so many people perish throughlack of such a firm anchor. "We fasten souls," he said,"to Mary, our hope, as to a firm anchor." It was toMary that the saints who attained salvation most firmly anchoredthemselves as did others who wanted to ensure their perseverancein holiness.

Blessed, indeed, are thoseChristians who bind themselves faithfully and completely to heras to a secure anchor! The violent storms of the world will notmake them founder or carry away their heavenly riches. Blessedare those who enter into her as into another Noah's ark! The floodwaters of sin which engulf so many will not harm them because,as the Church makes Mary say in the words of divine Wisdom, "Thosewho work with my help - for their salvation - shall not sin."Blessed are the unfaithful children of unhappy Eve who committhemselves to Mary, the ever-faithful Virgin and Mother who neverwavers in her fidelity and never goes back on her trust. She alwaysloves those who love her, not only with deep affection, but witha love that is active and generous. By an abundant outpouringof grace she keeps them from relaxing their effort in the practiceof virtue or falling by the wayside through loss of divine grace.

176. Movedby pure love, this good Mother always accepts whatever is givenher in trust, and, once she accepts something, she binds herselfin justice by a contract of trusteeship to keep it safe. Is notsomeone to whom I entrust the sum of a thousand francs obligedto keep it safe for me so that if it were lost through his negligencehe would be responsible for it in strict justice? But nothingwe entrust to the faithful Virgin will ever be lost through hernegligence. Heaven and earth would pass away sooner than Marywould neglect or betray those who trusted in her.

177. Poorchildren of Mary, you are extremely weak and changeable. Yourhuman nature is deeply impaired. It is sadly true that you havebeen fashioned from the same corrupted nature as the other childrenof Adam and Eve. But do not let that discourage you. Rejoice andbe glad! Here is a secret which I am revealing to you, a secretunknown to most Christians, even the most devout.

Do not leave your gold andsilver in your own safes which have already been broken into andrifled many times by the evil one. They are too small, too flimsyand too old to contain such great and priceless possessions. Donot put pure and clear water from the spring into vessels fouledand infected by sin. Even if sin is no longer there, its odourpersists and the water would be contaminated. You do not put choicewine into old casks that have contained sour wine. You would spoilthe good wine and run the risk of losing it.

178. Chosensouls, although you may already understand me, I shall expressmyself still more clearly. Do not commit the gold of your charity,the silver of your purity to a threadbare sack or a battered oldchest, or the waters of heavenly grace or the wines of your meritsand virtues to a tainted and fetid cask, such as you are. Otherwiseyou will be robbed by thieving devils who are on the look-outday and night waiting for a favourable opportunity to plunder.If you do so all those pure gifts from God will be spoiled bythe unwholesome presence of self-love, inordinate self-reliance,and self-will.

Pour into the bosom andheart of Mary all your precious possessions, all your graces andvirtues. She is a spiritual vessel, a vessel of honour, a singularvessel of devotion. Ever since God personally hid himself withall his perfections in this vessel, it has become completely spiritual,and the spiritual abode of all spiritual souls. It has becomehonourable and has been the throne of honour for the greatestsaints in heaven. It has become outstanding in devotion and thehome of those renowned for gentleness, grace and virtue. Moreover,it has become as rich as a house of gold, as strong as a towerof David and as pure as a tower of ivory.

179. Blessedis the man who has given everything to Mary, who at all timesand in all things trusts in her, and loses himself in her. Hebelongs to Mary and Mary belongs to him. With David he can boldlysay, "She was created for me", or with the beloved disciple,"I have taken her for my own", or with our Lord himself,"All that is mine is yours and all that is yours is mine."

180. Ifany critic reading this should imagine that I am exaggeratingor speaking from an excess of devotion, he has not, alas, understoodwhat I have said. Either he is a carnal man who has no taste forthe spiritual; or he is a worldly man who has cut himself offfrom the Holy Spirit; or he is a proud and critical man who ridiculesand condemns anything he does not understand. But those who areborn not of blood, nor of flesh, nor of the will of man, but ofGod and Mary, understand and appreciate what I have to say. Itis for them that I am writing.

181. Nevertheless,after this digression, I say to both the critics and the devoutthat the Blessed Virgin, the most reliable and generous of allGod's creatures, never lets herself be surpassed by anyone inlove and generosity. For the little that is given to her, shegives generously of what she has received from God. Consequently,if a person gives himself to her without reserve, she gives herselfalso without reserve to that person provided his confidence inher is not presumptuous and he does his best to practise virtueand curb his passions.

182. Sothe faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin may confidently saywith St. John Damascene, "If I confide in you, Mother ofGod, I shall be saved. Under your protection I shall fear nothing.With your help I shall rout all my enemies. For devotion to youis a weapon of salvation which God gives to those he wishes tosave."

CHAPTER FIVE
BIBLICAL FIGURE OF THIS PERFECT DEVOTION: REBECCA AND JACOB

183. TheHoly Spirit gives us in Sacred Scripture, a striking allegoricalfigure of all the truths I have been explaining concerning theBlessed Virgin and her children and servants. It is the storyof Jacob who received the blessing of his father Isaac throughthe care and ingenuity of his mother Rebecca.

Here is the story as theHoly Spirit tells it. I shall expound it further later on.

The Story of Jacob

184. Severalyears after Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob, Rebecca, theirmother, who loved Jacob tenderly, secured this blessing for himby a holy stratagem full of mystery for us.

Isaac, realising that hewas getting old, wished to bless his children before he died.He summoned Esau, who was his favourite son, and told him to gohunting and bring him something to eat, in order that he mightthen give him his blessing. Rebecca immediately told Jacob whatwas happening and sent him to fetch two small goats from the flock.When Jacob gave them to his mother, she cooked them in the wayIsaac liked them. Then she dressed Jacob in Esau's clothes whichshe had in her keeping, and covered his hands and neck with thegoat-skin. The father, who was blind, although hearing the voiceof Jacob, would think that it was Esau when he touched the skinon his hands.

Isaac was of course surprisedat the voice which he thought was Jacob's and told him to comecloser. Isaac felt the hair on the skin covering Jacob's handsand said that the voice was really like Jacob's but the handswere Esau's. After he had eaten, Isaac kissed Jacob and smeltthe fragrance of his scented clothes. He blessed him and calleddown on him the dew of heaven and the fruitfulness of earth. Hemade him master of all his brothers and concluded his blessingwith these words, "Cursed be those who curse you and blessedbe those who bless you."

Isaac had scarcely finishedspeaking when Esau came in, bringing what he had caught whileout hunting. He wanted his father to bless him after he had eaten.The holy patriarch was shocked when he realised what had happened.But far from retracting what he had done, he confirmed it becausehe clearly saw the finger of God in it all. Then, as Holy Scripturerelates, Esau began to protest loudly against the treachery ofhis brother. He then asked his father if he had only one blessingto give. In so doing, as the early Fathers point out, Esau wasthe symbol of those who are too ready to imagine that there isan alliance between God and the world, because they themselvesare eager to enjoy, at one and the same time, the blessings ofheaven and the blessings of the earth. Isaac was touched by Esau'scries and finally blessed him only with a blessing of the earth,and he subjected him to his brother. Because of this, Esau conceivedsuch a venomous hatred for Jacob that he could hardly wait forhis father's death to kill him. And Jacob would not have escapeddeath if his dear mother Rebecca had not saved him by her ingenuityand her good advice.

Interpretation of the story

185. Beforeexplaining this beautiful story, let me remind you that, accordingto the early Fathers and the interpreters of Holy Scripture, Jacobis the type of our Lord and of souls who are saved, and Esau isthe type of souls who are condemned. We have only to examine theactions and conduct of both in order to judge each one.

(1) Esau, the elder brother,was strong and robust, clever, and skilful with the bow and verysuccessful at hunting.

(2) He seldom stayed athome and, relying only on his own strength and skill, worked outof doors.

(3) He never went out ofhis way to please his mother Rebecca, and did little or nothingfor her.

(4) He was such a gluttonand so fond of eating that he sold his birthright for a dish oflentils.

(5) Like Cain, he was extremelyjealous of his brother and persecuted him relentlessly.

186. Thisis the usual conduct of sinners:

(1) They rely upon theirown strength and skill in temporal affairs. They are very energetic,clever and well- informed about things of this world but verydull and ignorant about things of heaven.

187. (2)And they are never or very seldom at home, in their own house,that is, in their own interior, the inner, essential abode thatGod has given to every man to dwell in, after his own example,for God always abides within himself. Sinners have no liking forsolitude or the spiritual life or interior devotion. They considerthose who live an interior life, secluded from the world, andwho work more interiorly than exteriorly, as narrow-minded, bigotedand uncivilised.

188. (3)Sinners care little or nothing about devotion to Mary, the Motherof the elect. It is true that they do not really hate her. Indeedthey even speak well of her sometimes. They say they love herand they practise some devotion in her honour. Nevertheless, theycannot bear to see anyone love her tenderly, for they do not havefor her any of the affection of Jacob; they find fault with thehonour which her good children and servants faithfully pay herto win her affection. They think this kind of devotion is notnecessary for salvation, and as long as they do not go as faras hating her or openly ridiculing devotion to her they believethey have done all they need to win her good graces. Because theyrecite or mumble a few prayers to her without any affection andwithout even thinking of amending their lives, they consider theyare our Lady's servants.

189. (4)Sinners sell their birthright, that is, the joys of paradise,for a dish of lentils, that is, the pleasures of this world. Theylaugh, they drink, they eat, they have a good time, they gamble,they dance and so forth, without taking any more trouble thanEsau to make themselves worthy of their heavenly Father's blessing.Briefly, they think only of this world, love only the world, speakand act only for the world and its pleasures. For a passing momentof pleasure, for a fleeting wisp of honour, for a piece of hardearth, yellow or white, they barter away their baptismal grace,their robe of innocence and their heavenly inheritance.

190. (5)Finally, sinners continually hate and persecute the elect, openlyand secretly. The elect are a burden to them. They despise them,criticise them, ridicule them, insult them, rob them, deceivethem, impoverish them, hunt them down and trample them into thedust; while they themselves are making fortunes, enjoying themselves,getting good positions for themselves, enriching themselves, risingto power and living in comfort.

191. Jacob,the younger son, was of a frail constitution, gentle and peaceableand usually stayed at home to please his mother, whom he lovedso much. If he did go out it was not through any personal desireof his, nor from any confidence in his own ability, but simplyout of obedience to his mother.

192. Heloved and honoured his mother. That is why he remained at homeclose to her. He was never happier than when he was in her presence.He avoided everything that might displease her, and did everythinghe thought would please her. This made Rebecca love him all themore.

193. Hewas submissive to his mother in all things. He obeyed her entirelyin everything, promptly without delay and lovingly without complaint.At the least indication of her will, young Jacob hastened to complywith it. He accepted whatever she told him without questioning.For instance, when she told him to get two small goats and bringthem to her so that she might prepare something for his fatherIsaac to eat, Jacob did not reply that one would be enough forone man, but without arguing he did exactly what she told himto do.

194. Hehad the utmost confidence in his mother. He did not rely on hisown ability; he relied solely on his mother's care and protection.He went to her in all his needs and consulted her in all his doubts.For instance, when he asked her if his father, instead of blessinghim, would curse him, he believed her and trusted her when shesaid she would take the curse upon herself.

195. Finally,he adopted, as much as he could, the virtues he saw in his mother.It seems that one of the reasons why he spent so much time athome was to imitate his dear mother, who was so virtuous, andto keep away from evil companions - who might lead him into sin.In this way, he made himself worthy to receive the double blessingof his beloved father.

196. Itis in a similar manner that God's chosen ones usually act. Theystay at home with their mother - that is, they have an esteemfor quietness, love the interior life, and are assiduous in prayer.They always remain in the company of the Blessed Virgin, theirMother and Model, whose glory is wholly interior and who duringher whole life dearly loved seclusion and prayer. It is true,at times they do venture out into the world, but only to fulfilthe duties of their state of life, in obedience to the will ofGod and the will of their Mother.

No matter how great theiraccomplishments may appear to others, they attach far more importanceto what they do within themselves in their interior life, in thecompany of the Blessed Virgin. For there they work at the greattask of perfection, compared to which all other work is mere child'splay. At times their brothers and sisters are working outsidewith great energy, skill and success, and win the praise and approbationof the world. But they know by the light of the Holy Spirit thatthere is far more good, more glory and more joy in remaining hiddenand recollected with our Lord, in complete and perfect submissionto Mary than there is in performing by themselves marvellous worksof nature and grace in the world, like so many Esaus and sinners.Glory for God and riches for men are in her house.

Lord Jesus, how lovely isyour dwelling-place! The sparrow has found a house to dwell in,and the turtle-dove a nest for her little ones! How happy is theman who dwells in the house of Mary, where you were the firstto dwell! Here in this home of the elect, he draws from you alonethe help he needs to climb the stairway of virtue he has builtin his heart to the highest possible points of perfection whilein this vale of tears. "How lovely is your dwelling-place,Lord, God of hosts!"

197. Theelect have a great love for our Lady and honour her truly as theirMother and Queen. They love her mot merely in word but in deed.They honour her not just outwardly, but from the depths of theirheart. Like Jacob, they avoid the least thing that might displeaseher, and eagerly do whatever they think might win her favour.Jacob brought Rebecca two young goats. They bring Mary their bodyand their soul, with all their faculties, symbolised by Jacob'stwo young goats, 1) so that she may accept them as her own; 2)that she may make them die to sin and self by divesting them ofself-love, in order to please Jesus her Son, who wishes to haveas friends and disciples only those who are dead to sin and self;3) that she may clothe them according to their heavenly Father'staste and for his greater glory, which she knows better than anyother creature; 4) that through her care and intercession, thisbody and soul of theirs, thoroughly cleansed from every stain,thoroughly dead to self, thoroughly stripped and well- prepared,may be pleasing to the heavenly Father and deserving of his blessing.

Is this not what those chosensouls do who, to prove to Jesus and Mary how effective and courageousis their love, live and esteem the perfect consecration to Jesusthrough Mary which we are now teaching them?

Sinners may say that theylove Jesus, that they love and honour Mary, but they do not doso with their whole heart and soul. Unlike the elect, they donot love Jesus and Mary enough to consecrate them their body withits senses and their soul with its passions.

198. Theyare subject and obedient to our Lady, their good Mother, and herethey are simply following the example set by our Lord himself,who spent thirty of the thirty-three years he lived on earth glorifyingGod his Father in perfect and entire submission to his holy Mother.They obey her, following her advice to the letter, just as Jacobfollowed that of Rebecca, when she said to him, "My son,follow my advice"; or like the stewards at the wedding inCana, to whom our Lady said, "Do whatever he tells you."

Through obedience to hismother, Jacob received the blessing almost by a miracle, becausein the natural course of events he should not have received it.As a reward for following the advice of our Lady, the stewardsat the wedding in Cana were honoured with the first of our Lord'smiracles when, at her request he changed water into wine. In thesame way, until the end of time, all who are to receive the blessingof our heavenly Father and who are to be honoured with his wondrousgraces will receive them only as a result of their perfect obedienceto Mary. On the other hand, the "Esaus" will lose theirblessing because of their lack of submission to the Blessed Virgin.

199. Theyhave great confidence in the goodness and power of the BlessedVirgin, their dear Mother, and incessantly implore her help. Theytake her for their pole-star to lead them safely into harbour.They open their hearts to her and tell her their troubles andtheir needs. They rely on her mercy and kindness to obtain forgivenessfor their sins through her intercession and to experience hermotherly comfort in their troubles and anxieties. They even castthemselves into her virginal bosom, hide and lose themselves therein a wonderful manner. There they are filled with pure love, theyare purified from the least stain of sin, and they find Jesusin all his fullness. For he reigns in Mary as if on the most gloriousof thrones. What incomparable happiness! Abbot Guerric says, "Donot imagine there is more joy in dwelling in Abraham's bosom thanin Mary's, for it is in her that our Lord placed his throne."

Sinners, on the other hand,put all their confidence in themselves. Like the prodigal son,they eat with the swine. Like toads they feed on earth. Like allworldlings, they love only visible and external things. They donot know the sweetness of Mary's bosom. They do not have thatreliance and confidence which the elect have for the Blessed Virgin,their Mother. Deplorably they choose to satisfy their hunger elsewhere,as St. Gregory says, because they do not want to taste the sweetnessalready prepared within themselves and within Jesus and Mary.

200. Finally,chosen souls keep to the ways of the Blessed Virgin, their lovingMother - that is, they imitate her and so are sincerely happyand devout and bear the infallible sign of God's chosen ones.This loving Mother says to them "Happy are those who keepmy ways", which means, happy are those who practise my virtuesand who, with the help of God's grace, follow the path of my life.They are happy in this world because of the abundance of graceand sweetness I impart to them out of my fullness, and which theyreceive more abundantly than others who do not imitate me so closely.They are happy at the hour of death, which is sweet and peacefulfor I am usually there myself to lead them home to everlastingjoy. Finally, they will be happy for all eternity, because noservant of mine who imitated my virtues during life has ever beenlost.

On the other hand, sinnersare unhappy during their life, at their death, and throughouteternity, because they do not imitate the virtues of our Lady.They are satisfied with going no further than joining her confraternities,reciting a few prayers in her honour, or performing other exteriordevotional exercises.

O Blessed Virgin, my dearMother, how happy are those who faithfully keep your ways, yourcounsels and your commands; who never allow themselves to be ledastray by a false devotion to you! But how unhappy and accursedare those who abuse devotion to you by not keeping the commandmentsof your Son! "They are accursed who stray from your commandments."

Services of our Lady to her faithful servants

201. Herenow are the services which the Virgin Mary, as the best of allmothers, lovingly renders to those loyal servants who have giventhemselves entirely to her in the manner I have described andfollowing the figurative meaning of the story of Jacob and Rebecca.

1. She loves them.

"I love those who love me."She loves them:

a) Because she is truly their Mother.What mother does not love her child, the fruit of her womb?

b) She loves them in gratitude for theactive love they show to her, their beloved Mother.

c) She loves them because they are lovedby God and destined for heaven. "Jacob I loved, but EsauI hated."

d) She loves them because they have consecratedthemselves entirely to her and belong to her portion, her inheritance."In Israel receive your inheritance."

202. She loves them tenderly,more tenderly than all the mothers in the world together. Takethe maternal love of all the mothers of the world for their children.Pour all that love into the heart of one mother for an only child.That mother's love would certainly be immense. Yet Mary's lovefor each of her children has more tenderness than the love ofthat mother for her child.

She loves them not only affectively buteffectively, that is, her love is active and productive of goodlike Rebecca's love for Jacob -and even more so, for Rebecca was,after all, only a symbolic figure of Mary. Here is what this lovingMother does for her children to obtain for them the blessingsof their heavenly Father:

203. 1) Like Rebecca she looksout for favourable opportunities to promote their interests, toennoble and enrich them. She sees clearly in God all that is goodand all that is evil; fortunate and unfortunate events; the blessingsand condemnations of God. She arranges things in advance so asto divert evils from her servants and put them in the way of abundantblessings. If there is any special benefit to be gained in God'ssight by the faithful discharge of an important work, Mary willcertainly obtain this opportunity for a beloved child and servantand at the same time, give him the grace to persevere in it tothe end. "She personally manages our affairs," saysa saintly man.

204. 2) She gives them excellentadvice, as Rebecca did to Jacob. "My son, follow my counsels."Among other things, she persuades them to bring her the two younggoats, that is, their body and soul, and to confide them to herso that she can prepare them as a dish pleasing to God. She inspiresthem to observe whatever Jesus Christ, her Son, has taught byword and example. When she does not give these counsels herselfin person, she gives them through the ministry of angels who arealways pleased and honoured to go at her request to assist oneof her faithful servants on earth.

205. 3) What does this good Motherdo when we have presented and consecrated to her our soul andbody and all that pertains to them without excepting anything?Just what Rebecca of old did to the little goats Jacob broughther. (a) She kills them, that is, makes them die to the life ofthe old Adam. (b) She strips them of their skin, that is, of theirnatural inclinations, their self-love and self-will and theirevery attachment to creatures. (c) She cleanses them from allstain, impurity and sin. (d) She prepares them to God's tasteand to his greater glory. As she alone knows perfectly what thedivine taste is and where the greatest glory of God is to be found,she alone without any fear of mistake can prepare and garnishour body and soul to satisfy that infinitely refined taste andpromote that infinitely hidden glory.

206. 4) Once this good Motherhas received our complete offering with our merits and satisfactionsthrough the devotion I have been speaking about, and has strippedus of our own garments, she cleanses us and makes us worthy toappear without shame before our heavenly Father.

She clothes us in the clean, new, preciousand fragrant garments of Esau, the first born, namely, her SonJesus Christ. She keeps these garments in her house, that is tosay, she has them at her disposal. For she is the treasurer anduniversal dispenser of the merits and virtues of Jesus her Son.She gives and distributes them to whom she pleases, when she pleases,as she pleases, and as much as she pleases, as we have said above.

She covers the neck and hands of herservants with the skins of the goats that have been killed andflayed, that is, she adorns them with the merits and worth oftheir own good actions. In truth, she destroys and nullifies allthat is impure and imperfect in them. She preserves and enhancesthis good so that it adorns and strengthens their neck and hands,that is, she gives them the strength to carry the yoke of theLord and the skill to do great things for the glory of God andthe salvation of their poor brothers.

She imparts new perfume and fresh graceto those garments and adornments by adding to them the garmentsof her own wardrobe of merits and virtues. She bequeathed theseto them before her departure for heaven, as was revealed by aholy nun of the last century, who died a holy death. Thus allher domestics, that is, all her servants and slaves, are clothedwith double garments, her own and those of her Son. Now they havenothing to fear from that cold which sinners, naked and strippedas they are of the merits of Jesus and Mary, will be unable toendure.

207. 5) Finally, Mary obtainsfor them the heavenly Father's blessing. As they are the youngestborn and adopted, they are not really entitled to it. Clad innew, precious, and sweet- smelling garments, with body and soulwell-prepared and dressed, they confidently approach their heavenlyFather. He hears their voice and recognises it as the voice ofa sinner. He feels their hands covered with skins, inhales thearoma of their garments. He partakes with joy of what Mary, theirMother, has prepared for him, recognising in it the merits andgood odour of his Son and his Blessed Mother.

a) He gives them a twofold blessing,the blessing of the dew of heaven, namely, divine grace, whichis the seed of glory. "God has blessed us in Christ withevery spiritual blessing," and also the blessing of the fertilityof the earth, for as a provident Father, he gives them their dailybread and an ample supply of the goods of the earth.

b) He makes them masters of their otherbrothers, the reprobate sinners. This domination does not alwaysshow in this fleeting world, where sinners often have the upperhand. "How long shall the wicked glory, mouthing insolentreproaches?" "I have seen the wicked triumphant andlifted up like the cedars of Lebanon." But the supremacyof the just is real and will be seen clearly for all eternityin the next world, where the just, as the Holy Spirit tells us,will dominate and command all peoples.

c) The God of all majesty is not satisfiedwith blessing them in their persons and their possessions, heblesses all who bless them and curses all who curse and persecutethem.

2. She provides for all their needs

208. Our Lady's charity towardsher faithful servants goes further. She provides them with everythingthey need for body and soul. We have just seen that she givesthem double garments. She also nourishes them with the most deliciousfood from the banquet table of God. She gives them the Son shehas borne, the Bread of Life, to be their food. "Dear children,"she says in the words of divine Wisdom, "take your fill ofmy fruits," that is to say, of the Fruit of Life, Jesus,"whom I brought into the world for you." "Come,"she repeats in another passage, "eat the bread which is Jesus.Drink the wine of his love which I have mixed" for you withthe milk of my breasts.

As Mary is the treasurer and dispenserof the gifts and graces of the Most High God, she reserves a choiceportion, indeed the choicest portion, to nourish and sustain herchildren and servants. They grow strong on the Bread of Life;they are made joyful with the wine that brings forth virgins.They are carried at her breast. They bear with ease the yoke ofChrist scarcely feeling its weight because of the oil of devotionwith which she has softened its wood.

3. She leads and guides them

209. A third service which ourLady renders her faithful servants is to lead and direct themaccording to the will of her Son. Rebecca guided her little sonJacob and gave him good advice from time to time, which helpedhim obtain the blessing of his father and saved him from the hatredand persecution of his brother Esau. Mary, Star of the sea, guidesall her faithful servants into safe harbour. She shows them thepath to eternal life and helps them avoid dangerous pitfalls.She leads them by the hand along the path of holiness, steadiesthem when they are liable to fall and helps them rise when theyhave fallen. She chides them like a loving mother when they areremiss and sometimes she even lovingly chastises them. How coulda child that follows such a mother and such an enlightened guideas Mary take the wrong path to heaven? Follow her and you cannotgo wrong, says St. Bernard. There is no danger of a true childof Mary being led astray by the devil and falling into heresy.Where Mary leads, Satan with his deceptions and heretics withtheir subtleties are not encountered. "When she upholds you,you will not fall."

4. She defends and protects them

210. The fourth good office ourLady performs for her children and faithful servants is to defendand protect them against their enemies. By her care and ingenuityRebecca delivered Jacob from all dangers that beset him and particularlyfrom dying at the hands of his brother, as he apparently wouldhave done, since Esau hated and envied him just as Cain hatedhis brother Abel.

Mary, the beloved Mother of chosen souls,shelters them under her protecting wings as a hen does her chicks.She speaks to them, coming down to their level and accommodatingherself to all their weaknesses. To ensure their safety from thehawk and vulture, she becomes their escort, surrounding them asan army in battle array. Could anyone surrounded by a well-orderedarmy of say a hundred thousand men fear his enemies? No, and stillless would a faithful servant of Mary, protected on all sidesby her imperial forces, fear his enemy. This powerful Queen ofheaven would sooner despatch millions of angels to help one ofher servants than have it said that a single faithful and trustingservant of hers had fallen victim to the malice, number and powerof his enemies.

5. She intercedes for them

211. Finally, the fifth and greatestservice which this loving Mother renders her faithful followersis to intercede for them with her Son. She appeases him with herprayers, brings her servants into closer union with him and maintainsthat union.

Rebecca made Jacob approach the bed ofhis father. His father touched him, embraced him and even joyfullykissed him after having satisfied his hunger with the well-prepareddishes which Jacob had brought him. Then inhaling most joyfullythe exquisite perfume of his garments, he cried: "Beholdthe fragrance of my son is as the fragrance of a field of plentywhich the Lord has blessed." The fragrance of this rich fieldwhich so captivated the heart of the father, is none other thanthe fragrance of the merits and virtues of Mary who is the plentifulfield of grace in which God the Father has sown the grain of wheatof the elect, his only Son.

How welcome to Jesus Christ, the Fatherof the world to come, is a child perfumed with the fragrance ofMary! How readily and how intimately does he unite himself tothat child! But this we have already shown at length.

212. Furthermore, once Mary hasheaped her favours upon her children and her faithful servantsand has secured for them the blessing of the heavenly Father andunion with Jesus Christ, she keeps them in Jesus and keeps Jesusin them. She guards them, watching over them unceasingly, lestthey lose the grace of God and fall into the snares of their enemies."She keeps the saints in their fullness" (St. Bonaventure),and inspires them to persevere to the end, as we have alreadysaid.

Such is the explanation given to thisancient allegory which typifies the mystery of predestinationand reprobation.

CHAPTER SIX
WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF THIS DEVOTION

213. Mydear friend, be sure that if you remain faithful to the interiorand exterior practices of this devotion which I will point out,the following effects will be produced in your soul:

1. Knowledge of our unworthiness

By the light which the HolySpirit will give you through Mary, his faithful spouse, you willperceive the evil inclinations of your fallen nature and how incapableyou are of any good apart from that which God produces in youas Author of nature and of grace. As a consequence of this knowledgeyou will despise yourself and think of yourself only as an objectof repugnance. You will consider yourself as a snail that soilseverything with its slime, as a toad that poisons everything withits venom, as a malevolent serpent seeking only to deceive. Finally,the humble Virgin Mary will share her humility with you so that,although you regard yourself with distaste and desire to be disregardedby others, you will not look down slightingly upon anyone.

2. A share in Mary's faith

214. Marywill share her faith with you. Her faith on earth was strongerthan that of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and saints.Now that she is reigning in heaven she no longer has this faith,since she sees everything clearly in God by the light of glory.However, with the consent of almighty God she did not lose itwhen entering heaven. She has preserved it for her faithful servantsin the Church militant. Therefore the more you gain the friendshipof this noble Queen and faithful Virgin the more you will be inspiredby faith in your daily life. It will cause you to depend lessupon sensible and extraordinary feelings. For it is a lively faithanimated by love enabling you to do everything from no other motivethan that of pure love. It is a firm faith, unshakeable as a rock,prompting you to remain firm and steadfast in the midst of stormsand tempests. It is an active and probing faith which like somemysterious pass-key admits you into the mysteries of Jesus Christand of man's final destiny and into the very heart of God himself.It is a courageous faith which inspires you to undertake and carryout without hesitation great things for God and the salvationof souls. Lastly, this faith will be your flaming torch, yourvery life with God, your secret fund of divine Wisdom, and anall-powerful weapon for you to enlighten those who sit in darknessand the shadow of death. It inflames those who are lukewarm andneed the gold of fervent love. It restores life to those who aredead through sin. It moves and transforms hearts of marble andcedars of Lebanon by gentle and convincing argument. Finally,this faith will strengthen you to resist the devil and the otherenemies of salvation.

3. The gift of pure love

215. TheMother of fair love will rid your heart of all scruples and inordinateservile fear. She will open and enlarge it to obey the commandmentsof her Son with alacrity and with the holy freedom of the childrenof God. She will fill your heart with pure love of which she isthe treasury. You will then cease to act as you did before, outof fear of the God who is love, but rather out of pure love. Youwill look upon him as a loving Father and endeavour to pleasehim at all times. You will speak trustfully to him as a childdoes to its father. If you should have the misfortune to offendhim you will abase yourself before him and humbly beg his pardon.You will offer your hand to him with simplicity and lovingly risefrom your sin. Then, peaceful and relaxed and buoyed up with hopeyou will continue on your way to him.

4. Great confidence in God and in Mary

216. OurBlessed Lady will fill you with unbounded confidence in God andin herself:

1) Because you will no longerapproach Jesus by yourself but always through Mary, your lovingMother.

2) Since you have givenher all your merits, graces and satisfactions to dispose of asshe pleases, she imparts to you her own virtues and clothes youin her own merits. So you will be able to say confidently to God:"Behold Mary, your handmaid, be it done unto me accordingto your word."

3) Since you have now givenyourself completely to Mary, body and soul, she, who is generousto the generous, and more generous than even the kindest benefactor,will in return give herself to you in a marvellous but real manner.Indeed you may without hesitation say to her, "I am yours,O Blessed Virgin, obtain salvation for me," or with the beloveddisciple, St. John, "I have taken you, Blessed Mother, formy all." Or again you may say with St. Bonaventure, "DearMother of saving grace, I will do everything with confidence andwithout fear because you are my strength and my boast in the Lord,"or in another place, "I am all yours and all that I haveis yours, O glorious Virgin, blessed above all created things.Let me place you as a seal upon my heart, for your love is asstrong as death." Or adopting the sentiments of the prophet,"Lord, my heart has no reason to be exalted nor should mylooks be proud; I have not sought things of great moment nor wondersbeyond my reach; nevertheless, I am still not humble. But I haveroused my soul and taken courage. I am as a child, weaned fromearthly pleasures and resting on its mother's breast. It is uponthis breast that all good things come to me."

4) What will still furtherincrease your confidence in her is that, after having given herin trust all that you possess to use or keep as she pleases, youwill place less trust in yourself and much more in her whom youhave made your treasury. How comforting and how consoling whena person can say, "The treasury of God, where he has placedall that he holds most precious, is also my treasury." "Sheis," says a saintly man, "the treasury of the Lord."

5. Communication of the spirit of Mary

217. Thesoul of Mary will be communicated to you to glorify the Lord.Her spirit will take the place of yours to rejoice in God, herSaviour, but only if you are faithful to the practices of thisdevotion. As St. Ambrose says, "May the soul of Mary be ineach one of us to glorify the Lord! May the spirit of Mary bein each one of us to rejoice in God!" "When will thathappy day come," asks a saintly man of our own day whoselife was completely wrapped up in Mary, "when God's Motheris enthroned in men's hearts as Queen, subjecting them to thedominion of her great and princely Son? When will souls breatheMary as the body breathes air?" When that time comes wonderfulthings will happen on earth. The Holy Spirit, finding his dearSpouse present again in souls, will come down into them with greatpower. He will fill them with his gifts, especially wisdom, bywhich they will produce wonders of grace. My dear friend, whenwill that happy time come, that age of Mary, when many souls,chosen by Mary and given her by the most High God, will hide themselvescompletely in the depths of her soul, becoming living copies ofher, loving and glorifying Jesus? That day will dawn only whenthe devotion I teach is understood and put into practice. Ut adveniatregnum tuum, adveniat regnum Mariae: "Lord, that your kingdommay come, may the reign of Mary come!"

6. Transformation into the likeness of Jesus

218. IfMary, the Tree of Life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelityto this devotion, she will in due time bring forth her fruit whichis none other than Jesus. I have seen many devout souls searchingfor Jesus in one way or another, and so often when they have workedhard throughout the night, all they can say is, "Despiteour having worked all night, we have caught nothing." Tothem we can say, "You have worked hard and gained little;Jesus can only be recognised faintly in you." But if we followthe immaculate path of Mary, living the devotion that I teach,we will always work in daylight, we will work in a holy place,and we will work but little. There is no darkness in Mary, noteven the slightest shadow since there was never any sin in her.She is a holy place, a holy of holies, in which saints are formedand moulded.

219. Pleasenote that I say that saints are moulded in Mary. There is a vastdifference between carving a statue by blows of hammer and chiseland making a statue by using a mould. Sculptors and statue-makerswork hard and need plenty of time to make statues by the firstmethod. But the second method does not involve much work and takesvery little time. St. Augustine speaking to our Blessed Lady says,"You are worthy to be called the mould of God." Maryis a mould capable of forming people into the image of the God-man.Anyone who is cast into this divine mould is quickly shaped andmoulded into Jesus and Jesus into him. At little cost and in ashort time he will become Christ-like since he is cast into thevery same mould that fashioned a God-man.

220. Ithink I can very well compare some spiritual directors and devoutpersons to sculptors who wish to produce Jesus in themselves andin others by methods other than this. Many of them rely on theirown skill, ingenuity and art and chip away endlessly with malletand chisel at hard stone or badly- prepared wood, in an effortto produce a likeness of our Lord. At times, they do not manageto produce a recognisable likeness either because they lack knowledgeand experience of the person of Jesus or because a clumsy strokehas spoiled the whole work. But those who accept this little-knownsecret of grace which I offer them can rightly be compared tosmelters and moulders who have discovered the beautiful mouldof Mary where Jesus was so divinely and so naturally formed. Theydo not rely on their own skill but on the perfection of the mould.They cast and lose themselves in Mary where they become true modelsof her Son.

221. Youmay think this a beautiful and convincing comparison. But howmany understand it? I would like you, my dear friend, to understandit. But remember that only molten and liquefied substances maybe poured into a mould. That means that you must crush and meltdown the old Adam in you if you wish to acquire the likeness ofthe new Adam in Mary.

7. The greater glory of Christ

222. Ifyou live this devotion sincerely, you will give more glory toJesus in a month than in many years of a more demanding devotion.Here are my reasons for saying this:

1) Since you do everythingthrough the Blessed Virgin as required by this devotion, you naturallylay aside your own intentions no matter how good they appear toyou. You abandon yourself to our Lady's intentions even thoughyou do not know what they are. Thus you share in the high qualityof her intentions, which are so pure that she gave more gloryto God by the smallest of her actions, say, twirling her distaff,or making a stitch, than did St. Laurence suffering his cruelmartyrdom on the grid-iron, and even more than all the saintstogether in all their most heroic deeds! Mary amassed such a multitudeof merits and graces during her sojourn on earth that it wouldbe easier to count the stars in heaven, the drops of water inthe ocean or the sands of the sea-shore than count her meritsand graces. She thus gave more glory to God than all the angelsand saints have given or will ever give him. Mary, wonder of God,when souls abandon themselves to you, you cannot but work wondersin them!

223. 2)In this devotion we set no store on our own thoughts and actionsbut are content to rely on Mary's dispositions when approachingand even speaking to Jesus. We then act with far greater humilitythan others who imperceptibly rely on their own dispositions andare self-satisfied about them; and consequently we give greaterglory to God, for perfect glory is given to him only by the lowlyand humble of heart.

224. 3)Our Blessed Lady, in her immense love for us, is eager to receiveinto her virginal hands the gift of our actions, imparting tothem a marvellous beauty and splendour, and presenting them herselfto Jesus most willingly. More glory is given to our Lord in thisway than when we make our offering with our own guilty hands.

225. 4)Lastly, you never think of Mary without Mary thinking of God foryou. You never praise or honour Mary without Mary joining youin praising and honouring God. Mary is entirely relative to God.Indeed I would say that she was relative only to God, becauseshe exists uniquely in reference to him.

She is an echo of God, speakingand repeating only God. If you say "Mary" she says "God".When St. Elizabeth praised Mary calling her blessed because shehad believed, Mary, the faithful echo of God, responded with hercanticle, "My soul glorifies the Lord." What Mary didon that day, she does every day. When we praise her, when we loveand honour her, when we present anything to her, then God is praised,honoured and loved and receives our gift through Mary and in Mary.

CHAPTER SEVEN
PARTICULAR PRACTICES OF THIS DEVOTION

1. Exterior Practices

226. Althoughthis devotion is essentially an interior one, this does not preventit from having exterior practices which should not be neglected."These must be done but those not omitted." If properlyperformed, exterior acts help to foster interior ones. Man isalways guided by his senses and such practices remind him of whathe has done or should do. Let no worldling or critic interveneto assert that true devotion is essentially in the heart and thereforeexternals should be avoided as inspiring vanity, or that realdevotion should be hidden and private. I answer in the words ofour Lord, "Let men see your good works that they may glorifyyour Father who is in heaven." As St. Gregory says, thisdoes not mean that they should perform external actions to pleasem*n or seek praise; that certainly would be vanity. It simplymeans that we do these things before men only to please and glorifyGod without worrying about either the contempt or the approvalof men.

I shall briefly mentionsome practices which I call exterior, not because they are performedwithout inner attention but because they have an exterior elementas distinct from those which are purely interior.

1. Preparation and Consecration

227. Those who desire to takeup this special devotion, (which has not been erected into a confraternity,although this would be desirable), should spend at least twelvedays in emptying themselves of the spirit of the world, whichis opposed to the spirit of Jesus, as I have recommended in thefirst part of this preparation for the reign of Jesus Christ.They should then spend three weeks imbuing themselves with thespirit of Jesus through the most Blessed Virgin. Here is a programmethey might follow:

228. During the first week theyshould offer up all their prayers and acts of devotion to acquireknowledge of themselves and sorrow for their sins.

Let them perform all their actions ina spirit of humility. With this end in view they may, if theywish, meditate on what I have said concerning our corrupted nature,and consider themselves during six days of the week as nothingbut sails, slugs, toads, swine, snakes and goats. Or else theymay meditate on the following three considerations of St. Bernard:"Remember what you were - corrupted seed; what you are -a body destined for decay; what you will be -food for worms."

They will ask our Lord and the Holy Spiritto enlighten them saying, "Lord, that I may see," or"Lord, let me know myself," or the "Come, HolySpirit". Every day they should say the Litany of the HolySpirit, with the prayer that follows, as indicated in the firstpart of this work. They will turn to our Blessed Lady and begher to obtain for them that great grace which is the foundationof all others, the grace of self-knowledge. For this intentionthey will say each day the Ave Maris Stella and the Litany ofthe Blessed Virgin.

229. Each day of the second weekthey should endeavour in all their prayers and works to acquirean understanding of the Blessed Virgin and ask the Holy Spiritfor this grace. They may read and meditate upon what we have alreadysaid about her. They should recite daily the Litany of the HolySpirit and the Ave Maris Stella as during the first week. In additionthey will say at least five decades of the Rosary for greaterunderstanding of Mary.

230. During the third week theyshould seek to understand Jesus Christ better. They may read andmeditate on what we have already said about him. They may saythe prayer of St. Augustine which they will find at the beginningof the second part of this book. Again with St. Augustine, theymay pray repeatedly, "Lord, that I may know you," or"Lord, that I may see." As during the previous week,they should recite the Litany of the Holy Spirit and the Ave MarisStella, adding every day the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus.

231. At the end of these threeweeks they should go to confession and Holy Communion with theintention of consecrating themselves to Jesus through Mary asslaves of love. When receiving Holy Communion they could followthe method given later on. They then recite the act of consecrationwhich is given at the end of this book. If they do not have aprinted copy of the act, they should write it out or have it copiedand then sign it on the very day they make it.

232. It would be very becomingif on that day they offered some tribute to Jesus and his Mother,either as a penance for past unfaithfulness to the promises madein baptism or as a sign of their submission to the sovereigntyof Jesus and Mary. Such a tribute would be in accordance witheach one's ability and fervour and may take the form of fasting,an act of self- denial, the gift of an alms or the offering ofa votive candle. If they gave only a pin as a token of their homage,provided it were given with a good heart, it would satisfy Jesuswho considers only the good intention.

233. Every year at least, on thesame date, they should renew the consecration following the sameexercises for three weeks. They might also renew it every monthor even every day by saying this short prayer: "I am allyours and all I have is yours, O dear Jesus, through Mary, yourholy Mother."

2. The Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin

234. If it is not too inconvenient,they should recite every day of their lives the Little Crown ofthe Blessed Virgin, which is composed of three Our Fathers andtwelve Hail Marys in honour of the twelve glorious privilegesof Mary. This prayer is very old and is based on Holy Scripture.St. John saw in a vision a woman crowned with twelve stars, clothedwith the sun and standing upon the moon. According to biblicalcommentators, this woman is the Blessed Virgin.

235. There are several ways ofsaying the Little Crown but it would take too long to explainthem here. The Holy Spirit will teach them to those who live thisdevotion conscientiously. However, here is a simple way to reciteit. As an introduction say:" Virgin most holy, accept mypraise; give me strength to fight your foes", then say theCreed. Next, say the following sequence of prayers three times:one Our Father, four Hail Marys and one Glory be to the Father.In conclusion say the prayer Sub tuum - "We fly to thy patronage".

3. The Wearing of Little Chains

236. It is very praiseworthy andhelpful for those who have become slaves of Jesus in Mary to wear,in token of their slavery of love, a little chain blessed witha special blessing.

It is perfectly true, these externaltokens are not essential and may very well be dispensed with bythose who have made this consecration. Nevertheless, I cannothelp but give the warmest approval to those who wear them. Theyshow they have shaken off the shameful chains of the slavery ofthe devil, in which original sin and perhaps actual sin had boundthem, and have willingly taken upon themselves the glorious slaveryof Jesus Christ. Like St. Paul, they glory in the chains theywear for Christ. For though these chains are made only of ironthey are far more glorious and precious than all the gold ornamentsworn by monarchs.

237. At one time, nothing wasconsidered more contemptible than the Cross. Now this sacred woodhas become the most glorious symbol of the Christian faith. Similarly,nothing was more ignoble in the sight of the ancients, and eventoday nothing is more degrading among unbelievers than the chainsof Jesus Christ. But among Christians nothing is more gloriousthan these chains, because by them Christians are liberated andkept free from the ignoble shackles of sin and the devil. Thusset free, we are bound to Jesus and Mary not by compulsion andforce like galley-slaves, but by charity and love as childrenare to their parents. "I shall draw them to me by chainsof love" said God Most High speaking through the prophet.Consequently, these chains are as strong as death, and in a waystronger than death, for those who wear them faithfully till theend of their life. For though death destroys and corrupts theirbody, it will not destroy the chains of their slavery, since these,being of metal, will not easily corrupt. It may be that on theday of their resurrection, that momentous day of final judgement,these chains, still clinging to their bones, will contribute totheir glorification and be transformed into chains of light andsplendour. Happy then, a thousand times happy, are the illustriousslaves of Jesus in Mary who bear their chains even to the grave.

238. Here are the reasons forwearing these chains:

a) They remind a Christian of the promisesof his baptism and the perfect renewal of these commitments madein his consecration. They remind him of his strict obligationto adhere faithfully to them. A man's actions are prompted morefrequently by his senses than by pure faith and so he can easilyforget his duties towards God if he has no external reminder ofthem. These little chains are a wonderful aid in recalling thebonds of sin and the slavery of the devil from which baptism hasfreed him. At the same time, they remind him of the dependenceon Jesus promised at baptism and ratified when by consecrationhe renewed these promises. Why is it that so many Christians donot think of their baptismal vows and behave with as much licenceas unbelievers who have promised nothing to God? One explanationis that they do not wear external sign to remind them of thesevows.

239. b) These chains prove theyare not ashamed of being the servants and slaves of Jesus andthat they reject the deadly bondage of the world, of sin and ofthe devil.

c) They are a guarantee and protectionagainst enslavement by sin and the devil. For we must of necessitychoose to wear either the chains of sin and damnation or the chainsof love and salvation.

240. Dear friend, break the chainsof sin and of sinners, of the world and the worldly, of the deviland his satellites. "Cast their yoke of death far from us."To use the words of the Holy Spirit, let us put our feet intohis glorious shackles and our neck into his chains. Let us bowdown our shoulders in submission to the yoke of Wisdom incarnate,Jesus Christ, and let us not be upset by the burden of his chains.Notice how before saying these words the Holy Spirit preparesus to accept his serious advice, "Hearken, my son,"he says, "receive a counsel of understanding and do not spurnthis counsel of mine."

241. Allow me here, my dear friend,to join the Holy Spirit in giving you the same counsel, "Thesechains are the chains of salvation". As our Lord on the crossdraws all men to himself, whether they will it or not, he willdraw sinners by the fetters of their sins and submit them likegalley-slaves and devils to his eternal anger and avenging justice.But he will draw the just, especially in these latter days, bythe chains of love.

242. These loving slaves of Christmay wear their chains around the neck, on their arms, round thewaist or round the ankles. Fr. Vincent Caraffa, seventh Generalof the Society of Jesus, who died a holy death in 1643, carriedan iron band round his ankles as a symbol of his holy servitudeand he used to say that his greatest regret was that he couldnot drag a chain around in public. Mother Agnes of Jesus, of whomwe have already spoken, wore a chain around her waist. Othershave worn it round the neck, in atonement for the pearl necklacesthey wore in the world. Others have worn chains round their armsto remind them, as they worked with their hands, that they arethe slaves of Jesus.

4. Honouring the mystery of the Incarnation

243. Loving slaves of Jesus inMary should hold in high esteem devotion to Jesus, the Word ofGod, in the great mystery of the Incarnation, March 25th, whichis the mystery proper to this devotion, because it was inspiredby the Holy Spirit for the following reasons:

a) That we might honour and imitate thewondrous dependence which God the Son chose to have on Mary, forthe glory of his Father and for the redemption of man. This dependenceis revealed especially in this mystery where Jesus becomes a captiveand slave in the womb of his Blessed Mother, depending on herfor everything.

b) That we might thank God for the incomparablegraces he has conferred upon Mary and especially that of choosingher to be his most worthy Mother. This choice was made in themystery of the Incarnation. These are the two principal ends ofthe slavery of Jesus in Mary.

244. Please note that I usuallysay "slave of Jesus in Mary", "slavery of Jesusin Mary". We might indeed say, as some have already beensaying, "slave of Mary", "slavery of Mary".But I think it preferable to say, "slave of Jesus in Mary".This is the opinion of Fr. Tronson, Superior General of the Seminaryof Saint-Sulpice, a man renowned for his exceptional prudenceand remarkable holiness. He gave this advice when consulted uponthis subject by a priest.

Here are the reasons for it:

245. a) Since we live in an ageof pride when a great number of haughty scholars, with proud andcritical minds, find fault even with long-established and sounddevotions, it is better to speak of "slavery of Jesus inMary" and to call oneself "slave of Jesus" ratherthan "slave of Mary". We then avoid giving any pretextfor criticism. In this way, we name this devotion after its ultimateend which is Jesus, rather than after the way and the means toarrive there, which is Mary. However, we can very well use eitherterm without any scruple, as I myself do. If a man goes from Orléansto Tours, by way of Amboise, he can quite truthfully say thathe is going to Amboise and equally truthfully say that he is goingto Tours. The only difference is that Amboise is simply a placeon the direct road to Tours, and Tours alone is his final destination.

246. b) Since the principal mysterycelebrated and honoured in this devotion is the mystery of theIncarnation where we find Jesus only in Mary, having become incarnatein her womb, it is appropriate for us to say, "slavery ofJesus in Mary", of Jesus dwelling enthroned in Mary, accordingto the beautiful prayer, recited by so many great souls, "OJesus living in Mary".

247. c) These expressions showmore clearly the intimate union existing between Jesus and Mary.So closely are they united that one is wholly the other. Jesusis all in Mary and Mary is all in Jesus. Or rather, it is no longershe who lives, but Jesus alone who lives in her. It would be easierto separate light from the sun than Mary from Jesus. So unitedare they that our Lord may be called, "Jesus of Mary",and his Mother "Mary of Jesus".

248. Time does not permit me tolinger here and elaborate on the perfections and wonders of themystery of Jesus living and reigning in Mary, or the Incarnationof the Word. I shall confine myself to the following brief remarks.The Incarnation is the first mystery of Jesus Christ; it is themost hidden; and it is the most exalted and the least known.

It was in this mystery that Jesus, inthe womb of Mary and with her co-operation, chose all the elect.For this reason the saints called her womb, the throne-room ofGod's mysteries.

It was in this mystery that Jesus anticipatedall subsequent mysteries of his life by his willing acceptanceof them. Consequently, this mystery is a summary of all his mysteriessince it contains the intention and the grace of them all.

Lastly, this mystery is the seat of themercy, the liberality, and the glory of God. It is the seat ofhis mercy for us, since we can approach and speak to Jesus throughMary. We need her intervention to see or speak to him. Here, everresponsive to the prayer of his Mother, Jesus unfailingly grantsgrace and mercy to all poor sinners. "Let us come boldlybefore the throne of grace."

It is the seat of liberality for Mary,because while the new Adam dwelt in this truly earthly paradiseGod performed there so many hidden marvels beyond the understandingof men and angels. For this reason, the saints call Mary "themagnificence of God", as if God showed his magnificence onlyin Mary.

It is the seat of glory for his Father,because it was in Mary that Jesus perfectly atoned to his Fatheron behalf of mankind. It was here that he perfectly restored theglory that sin had taken from his Father. It was here again thatour Lord, by the sacrifice of himself and of his will, gave moreglory to God than he would have given had he offered all the sacrificesof the Old Law. Finally, in Mary he gave his Father infinite glory,such as his Father had never received from man.

5. Saying the Hail Mary and the Rosary

249. Those who accept this devotionshould have a great love for the Hail Mary, or, as it is called,the Angelic Salutation.

Few Christians, however enlightened,understand the value, merit, excellence and necessity of the HailMary. Our Blessed Lady herself had to appear on several occasionsto men of great holiness and insight, such as St. Dominic, St.John Capistran and Blessed Alan de Rupe, to convince them of therichness of this prayer.

They composed whole books on the wondersit had worked and its efficacy in converting sinners. They earnestlyproclaimed and publicly preached that just as the salvation ofthe world began with the Hail Mary, so the salvation of each individualis bound up with it. This prayer, they said, brought to a dryand barren world the Fruit of Life, and if well said, will causethe Word of God to take root in the soul and bring forth Jesus,the Fruit of Life. They also tell us that the Hail Mary is a heavenlydew which waters the earth of our soul and makes it bear fruitin due season. The soul which is not watered by this heavenlydew bears no fruit but only thorns and briars, and merits onlyGod's condemnation.

250. Here is what our BlessedLady revealed to Blessed Alan de Rupe as recorded in his book,The Dignity of the Rosary, and as told again by Cartagena: "Know,my son, and make it known to all, that lukewarmness or negligencein saying the Hail Mary, or a distaste for it, is a probable andproximate sign of eternal damnation, for by this prayer the wholeworld was restored."

These are terrible words but at the sametime they are consoling. We should find it hard to believe them,were we not assured of their truth by Blessed Alan and by St.Dominic before him, and by so many great men since his time. Theexperience of many centuries is there to prove it, for it hasalways been common knowledge that those who bear the sign of reprobation,as all formal heretics, evil-doers, the proud and the worldly,hate and spurn the Hail Mary and the Rosary. True, heretics learnto say the Our Father but they will not countenance the Hail Maryand the Rosary and they would rather carry a snake around withthem than a rosary. And there are even Catholics who, sharingthe proud tendencies of their father Lucifer, despise the HailMary or look upon it with indifference. The Rosary, they say,is a devotion suitable only for ignorant and illiterate people.

On the other hand, we know from experiencethat those who show positive signs of being among the elect, appreciateand love the Hail Mary and are always glad to say it. The closerthey are to God, the more they love this prayer, as our BlessedLady went on to tell Blessed Alan.

251. I do not know how this shouldbe, but it is perfectly true; and I know no surer way of discoveringwhether a person belongs to God than by finding out if he lovesthe Hail Mary and the Rosary. I say, "if he loves",for it can happen that a person for some reason may be unableto say the Rosary, but this does not prevent him from loving itand inspiring others to say it.

252. Chosen souls, slaves of Jesusin Mary, understand that after the Our Father, the Hail Mary isthe most beautiful of all prayers. It is the perfect complimentthe most High God paid to Mary through his archangel in orderto win her heart. So powerful was the effect of this greetingupon her, on account of its hidden delights, that despite hergreat humility, she gave her consent to the incarnation of theWord. If you say the Hail Mary properly, this compliment willinfallibly earn you Mary's good will.

253. When the Hail Mary is wellsaid, that is, with attention, devotion and humility, it is, accordingto the saints, the enemy of Satan, putting him to flight; it isthe hammer that crushes him, a source of holiness for souls, ajoy to the angels and a sweet melody for the devout. It is theCanticle of the New Testament, a delight for Mary and glory forthe most Blessed Trinity. The Hail Mary is dew falling from heavento make the soul fruitful. It is a pure kiss of love we give toMary. It is a crimson rose, a precious pearl that we offer toher. It is a cup of ambrosia, a divine nectar that we offer her.These are comparisons made by the saints.

254. I earnestly beg of you, then,by the love I bear you in Jesus and Mary, not to be content withsaying the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin, but say the Rosarytoo, and if time permits, all its fifteen decades, every day.Then when death draws near, you will bless the day and hour whenyou took to heart what I told you, for having sown the blessingsof Jesus and Mary, you will reap the eternal blessings in heaven.

6. Praying the Magnificat

255. To thank God for the graceshe has given to our Lady, her consecrated ones will frequentlysay the Magnificat, following the example of Blessed Marie d'Oigniesand several other saints. The Magnificat is the only prayer wehave which was composed by our Lady, or rather, composed by Jesusin her, for it was he who spoke through her lips. It is the greatestoffering of praise that God ever received under the law of grace.On the one hand, it is the most humble hymn of thanksgiving and,on the other, it is the most sublime and exalted. Contained init are mysteries so great and so hidden that even the angels donot understand them.

Gerson, a pious and learned scholar,spent the greater part of his life writing tracts full of eruditionand love on the most profound subjects. Even so, it was with apprehensionthat he undertook towards the end of his life to write a commentaryon the Magnificat which was the crowning point of all his works.In a large volume on the subject he says many wonderful thingsabout this beautiful and divine canticle. Among other things hetells us that Mary herself frequently recited it, especially atthanksgiving after Holy Communion. The learned Benzonius, in hiscommentary on the Magnificat, cites several miracles worked throughthe power of this prayer. The devils, he declare, take to flightwhen they hear these words, "He puts forth his arm in strengthand scatters the proud-hearted".

7. Contempt of the world

256. Mary's faithful servantsdespise this corrupted world. They should hate and shun its allurements,and follow the exercises of the contempt of the world which wehave given in the first part of this treatise.

2. Special interior practices for those who wish to be perfect

257. The exterior practices ofthis devotion which I have just dealt with should be observedas far as one's circ*mstances and state of life permit. They shouldnot be omitted through negligence or deliberate disregard. Inaddition to them, here are some very sanctifying interior practicesfor those souls who feel called by the Holy Spirit to a high degreeof perfection. They may be expressed in four words, doing everythingthrough Mary, with Mary, in Mary, and for Mary, in order to doit more perfectly through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus, and forJesus.

Through Mary

258. We must do everything throughMary, that is, we must obey her always and be led in all thingsby her spirit, which is the Holy Spirit of God. "Those whoare led by the Spirit of God are children of God," says St.Paul. Those who are led by the spirit of Mary are children ofMary, and, consequently children of God, as we have already shown.Among the many servants of Mary only those who are truly and faithfullydevoted to her are led by her spirit.

I have said that the spirit of Mary isthe spirit of God because she was never led by her own spirit,,but always by the spirit of God, who made himself master of herto such an extent that he became her very spirit. That is whySt. Ambrose says, "May the soul of Mary be in each one ofus to glorify the Lord. May the spirit of Mary be in each oneof us to rejoice in God." Happy is the man who follows theexample of the good Jesuit Brother Rodriguez, who died a holydeath, because he will be completely possessed and governed bythe spirit of Mary, a spirit which is gentle yet strong, zealousyet prudent, humble yet courageous, pure yet fruitful.

259. The person who wishes tobe led by this spirit of Mary:

1) Should renounce his own spirit, hisown views and his own will before doing anything, for example,before making meditation, celebrating or attending Mass, beforeCommunion. For the darkness of our own spirit and the evil tendenciesof our own will and actions, good as they may seem to us, wouldhinder the holy spirit of Mary were we to follow them.

2) We should give ourselves up to thespirit of Mary to be moved and directed as she wishes. We shouldplace and leave ourselves in her virginal hands, like a tool inthe hands of a craftsman or a lute in the hands of a good musician.We should cast ourselves into her like a stone thrown into thesea. This is done easily and quickly by a mere thought, a slightmovement of the will or just a few words as, "I renouncemyself and give myself to you, my dear Mother." And evenif we do not experience any emotional fervour in this spiritualencounter it is none the less real. It is just as if a personwith equal sincerity were to say - which God forbid! - "Igive myself to the devil." Even though this were said withoutfeeling any emotion, he would no less really belong to the devil.

3) From time to time during an actionand after it, we should renew this same act of offering and ofunion. The more we do so, the quicker we shall grow in holinessand the sooner we shall reach union with Christ, which necessarilyfollows upon union with Mary, since the spirit of Mary is thespirit of Jesus.

With Mary

260. We must do everything withMary, that is to say, in all our actions we must look upon Mary,although a simple human being, as the perfect model of every virtueand perfection, fashioned by the Holy Spirit for us to imitate,as far as our limited capacity allows. In every action then weshould consider how Mary performed it or how she would performit if she were in our place. For this reason, we must examineand meditate on the great virtues she practised during her life,especially:

1) Her lively faith, by which she believedthe angel's word without the least hesitation, and believed faithfullyand constantly even to the foot of the Cross on Calvary.

2) Her deep humility, which made herprefer seclusion, maintain silence, submit to every eventualityand put herself in the last place.

3) Her truly divine purity, which neverhad and never will have its equal on this side of heaven.

And so on for her other virtues.

Remember what I told you before, thatMary is the great, unique mould of God, designed to make livingimages of God at little expense and in a short time. Anyone whofinds this mould and casts himself into it, is soon transformedinto our Lord because it is the true likeness of him.

In Mary

261. We must do everything inMary. To understand this we must realise that the Blessed Virginis the true earthly paradise of the new Adam and that the ancientparadise was only a symbol of her. There are in this earthly paradiseuntold riches, beauties, rarities and delights, which the newAdam, Jesus Christ, has left there. It is in this paradise thathe "took his delights" for nine months, worked his wondersand displayed his riches with the magnificence of God himself.This most holy place consists of only virgin and immaculate soilfrom which the new Adam was formed with neither spot nor stainby the operation of the Holy Spirit who dwells there. In thisearthly paradise grows the real Tree of Life which bore our Lord,the fruit of Life, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, whichbore the Light of the world.

In this divine place there are treesplanted by the hand of God and watered by his divine unction whichhave borne and continue to bear fruit that is pleasing to him.There are flower-beds studded with a variety of beautiful flowersof virtue, diffusing a fragrance which delights even the angels.Here there are meadows verdant with hope, impregnable towers offortitude, enchanting mansions of confidence and many other delights.

Only the Holy Spirit can teach us thetruths that these material objects symbolise. In this place theair is perfectly pure. There is no night but only the brilliantday of the sacred humanity, the resplendent, spotless sun of theDivinity, the blazing furnace of love, melting all the base metalthrown into it and changing it into gold. There the river of humilitygushes forth from the soil, divides into four branches and irrigatesthe whole of this enchanted place. These branches are the fourcardinal virtues.

262. The Holy Spirit speakingthrough the Fathers of the Church, also calls our Lady the EasternGate, through which the High Priest, Jesus Christ, enters andgoes out into the world. Through this gate he entered the worldthe first time and through this same gate he will come the secondtime.

The Holy Spirit also calls her the Sanctuaryof the Divinity, the Resting-Place of the Holy Spirit, the Throneof God, the City of God, the Altar of God, the Temple of God,the World of God. All these titles and expressions of praise arevery real when related to the different wonders the Almighty workedin her and the graces which he bestowed on her. What wealth andwhat glory! What a joy and a privilege for us to enter and dwellin Mary, in whom almighty God has set up the throne of his supremeglory!

263. But how difficult it is forus to have the freedom, the ability and the light to enter suchan exalted and holy place. This place is guarded not by a cherub,like the first earthly paradise, but by the Holy Spirit himselfwho has become its absolute Master. Referring to her, he says:"You are an enclosed garden, my sister, my bride, an enclosedgarden and a sealed fountain." Mary is enclosed. Mary issealed. The unfortunate children of Adam and Eve driven from theearthly paradise, can enter this new paradise only by a specialgrace of the Holy Spirit which they have to merit.

264. When we have obtained thisremarkable grace by our fidelity, we should be delighted to remainin Mary. We should rest there peacefully, rely on her confidently,hide ourselves there with safety, and abandon ourselves unconditionallyto her, so that within her virginal bosom:

1) We may be nourished with the milkof her grace and her motherly compassion.

2) We may be delivered from all anxiety,fear and scruples.

3) We may be safeguarded from all ourenemies, the devil, the world and sin which have never gainedadmittance there. That is why our Lady says that those who workin her will not sin, that is, those who dwell spiritually in ourLady will never commit serious sin.

4) We may be formed in our Lord and ourLord formed in us, because her womb is, as the early Fathers callit, the house of the divine secrets where Jesus and all the electhave been conceived. "This one and that one were born inher."

For Mary

265. Finally, we must do everythingfor Mary. Since we have given ourselves completely to her service,it is only right that we should do everything for her as if wewere her personal servant and slave. This does not mean that wetake her for the ultimate end of our service for Jesus alone isour ultimate end. But we take Mary for our proximate end, ourmysterious intermediary and the easiest way of reaching him.

Like every good servant and slave wemust not remain idle, but, relying on her protection, we shouldundertake and carry out great things for our noble Queen. We mustdefend her privileges when they are questioned and uphold hergood name when it is under attack. We must attract everyone, ifpossible, to her service and to this true and sound devotion.We must speak up and denounce those who distort devotion to herby outraging her Son, and at the same time we must apply ourselvesto spreading this true devotion. As a reward for these littleservices, we should expect nothing in return save the honour ofbelonging to such a loveable Queen and the joy of being unitedthrough her to Jesus, her Son, by a bond that is indissolublein time and in eternity. Glory to Jesus in Mary! Glory to Maryin Jesus! Glory to God alone!

SUPPLEMENT
THIS DEVOTION AT HOLY COMMUNION

Before Holy Communion

266. 1)Place yourself humbly in the presence of God.

2) Renounce your corruptnature and dispositions, no matter how good self-love makes themappear to you.

3) Renew your consecrationsaying, "I belong entirely to you, dear Mother, and all thatI have is yours."

4) Implore Mary to lendyou her heart so that you may receive her Son with her dispositions.Remind her that her Son's glory requires that he should not comeinto a heart so sullied and fickle as your own, which could notfail to diminish his glory and might cause him to leave. Tellher that if she will take up her abode in you to receive her Son- which she can do because of the sovereignty she has over allhearts - he will be received by her in a perfect manner withoutdanger of being affronted or being forced to depart. "Godis in the midst of her. She shall not be moved."

Tell her with confidencethat all you have given her of your possessions is little enoughto honour her, but that in Holy Communion you wish to give herthe same gifts as the eternal Father gave her. Thus she will feelmore honoured than if you gave her all the wealth in the world.Tell her, finally, that Jesus, whose love for her is unique, stillwishes to take his delight and his repose in her even in yoursoul, even though it is poorer and less clean than the stablewhich he readily entered because she was there. Beg her to lendyou her heart, saying, "O Mary, I take you for my all; giveme your heart."

During Holy Communion

267. Afterthe Our Father, when you are about to receive our Lord, say tohim three times the prayer, "Lord, I am not worthy."Say it the first time as if you were telling the eternal Fatherthat because of your evil thoughts and your ingratitude to sucha good Father, you are unworthy to receive his only-begotten Son,but that here is Mary, his handmaid, who acts for you and whosepresence gives you a special confidence and hope in him.

268. Sayto God the Son, "Lord, I am not worthy", meaning thatyou are not worthy to receive him because of your useless andevil words and your carelessness in his service, but neverthelessyou ask him to have pity on you because you are going to usherhim into the house of his Mother and yours, and you will not lethim go until he has made it his home. Implore him to rise andcome to the place of his repose and the ark of his sanctification.Tell him that you have no faith in your own merits, strength andpreparedness, like Esau, but only in Mary, your Mother, just asJacob had trust in Rebecca his mother. Tell him that althoughyou are a great sinner you still presume to approach him, supportedby his holy Mother and adorned with her merits and virtues.

269. Sayto the Holy Spirit, "Lord, I am not worthy". Tell himthat you are not worthy to receive the masterpiece of his lovebecause of your lukewarmness, wickedness and resistance to hisinspirations. But, nonetheless, you put all your confidence inMary, his faithful Spouse, and say with St. Bernard, "Sheis my greatest safeguard, the whole foundation of my hope."Beg him to overshadow Mary, his inseparable Spouse, once again.Her womb is as pure and her heart as ardent as ever. Tell himthat if he does not enter your soul neither Jesus nor Mary willbe formed there nor will it be a worthy dwelling for them.

After Holy Communion

270. AfterHoly Communion, close your eyes and recollect yourself. Then usherJesus into the heart of Mary: you are giving him to his Motherwho will receive him with great love and give him the place ofhonour, adore him profoundly, show him perfect love, embrace himintimately in spirit and in truth, and perform many offices forhim of which we, in our ignorance, would know nothing.

271. Or,maintain a profoundly humble heart in the presence of Jesus dwellingin Mary. Or be in attendance like a slave at the gate of the royalpalace, where the King is speaking with the Queen. While theyare talking to each other, with no need of you, go in spirit toheaven and to the whole world, and call upon all creatures tothank, adore and love Jesus and Mary for you. "Come, letus adore."

272. Or,ask Jesus living in Mary that his kingdom may come upon earththrough his holy Mother. Ask for divine Wisdom, divine love, theforgiveness of your sins, or any other grace, but always throughMary and in Mary. Cast a look of reproach upon yourself and say,"Lord, do not look at my sins, let your eyes see nothingin me but the virtues and merits of Mary." Remembering yoursins, you may add, "I am my own worst enemy and I am guiltyof all these sins." Or, "Deliver me from the unjustand deceitful man." Or again, "Dear Jesus, you mustincrease in my soul and I must decrease." "Mary, youmust increase in me and I must always go on decreasing.""O Jesus and Mary, increase in me and increase in othersaround me."

273. Thereare innumerable other thoughts with which the Holy Spirit willinspire you, which he will make yours if you are thoroughly recollectedand mortified, and constantly faithful to the great and sublimedevotion which I have been teaching you. But remember, the moreyou let Mary act in your Communion the more Jesus will be glorified.The more you humble yourself and listen to Jesus and Mary in peaceand silence - with no desire to see, taste or feel - then themore freedom you will give to Mary to act in Jesus' name and themore Jesus will act in Mary. For the just man lives everywhereby faith, but especially in Holy Communion, which is an actionof faith.