Editorial: A Way of Life

W hen, on July 4, 1776, the founders of this great nation signed the Declaration of Independence, they were not merely severing the last ties that bound us to England, nor were they simply initiating a new system of government; they were above all inaugurating a new way of life, a way that has long since been labeled : “the American way of life.”

When Father de Montfort gave to the world his Treatise on True Devotion to Mary, when he asked us to sign our individual “declaration of dependence” on Jesus and Mary, he was not simply popularizing a new formula of perfect consecration; he was definitely inaugurating for the world at large a new way of spiritual life, a way that is known today as the de Montfort Way.

MONTFORT: OUR GUIDE

Seventy three years ago this month, on July 20, 1947, by inscribing Father de Montfort in the Calendar of the Saints, Holy Mother the Church was putting, so to speak, her seal of approval on this de Montfort Way. In his discourse to the pilgrims who had come from far and near to assist at the canonization ceremonies of Our Lady’s great apostle, the Holy Father referred to the new saint as, ”the guide who leads you to Mary, and from Mary to Jesus. All the saints”, the Pope went on, “have assuredly been great servants of Mary and all have led souls to her; Montfort , however , is incontestably one of those who have labored most ardently and effectively in making her loved and served.”

It is most interesting to note how the Holy Father describes Montfort’s role as a spiritual guide: “. . . the guide who leads you to Marry, and from Mary to Jesus.” In other words, de Montfort’s doctrine of True Devotion to Mary does not only lead souls to Mary but it also leads them “from Mary to Jesus”.

In order to accomplish this, St. Louis Mary had to do more than merely put us on the right path (by presenting us with his formula of total consecration to Jesus through Mary ) ; he had to trace out for us, step by step, mile after mile, the steep and arduous route that leads to perfect union with God. With the meticulous care of a sure and seasoned guide, Father de Montfort did just that. He sketched for us a detailed map of spiritual life, indicating both the beginning of the trail (which is Baptism ) and the end of it (which is transformation of a soul into Christ ); nor did he neglect to point out the obstacles to be overcome and the means to overcome them easily, quickly, surely and with the least possible hazards to a soul.

WAY OF LIFE

This is but another way of saying that St. Louis de Montfort has left us more than a mere formula of total consecration to Mary (no matter how perfect that consecration may be), he has handed down to us a system of spiritual and Marian life. His consecration was never intended to be an end in itself ; it is but a means to an end, and that end is a perfect Christian life. It would indeed be a sad illusion to consider Montfort’s act of consecration to Jesus through Mary as ”the be-all and the end-all” of his True Devotion to Mary. In reality, it is but the initial step into a new way of life.

On this point, de Montfort is most emphatic. “It is not enough to have given ourselves once as slaves to Jesus through Mary, nor is it enough to renew that act of consecration every month or ever week. That alone would not make it a permanent devotion, nor could it bring the soul to that degree of perfection to which it is capable of raising it.” (Secret of Mary, No. 44)

Now if the simple renewal (no matter how frequent ) of this consecration is not sufficient for one to practice de Montfort’s form
of True Devotion to Mary, what then does it require of a soul ? Again we quote: ”It is not very difficult to enroll ourselves in a confraternity (The Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts), nor to practice this devotion in as far as it prescribes a few vocal prayers every day; but the great difficulty is to enter into its spirit. Now its spirit consists of this, that we are interiorly dependent on Mary; that we be slaves of Mary, and through her, of Jesus” (SM No. 44).

DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE

The aim of the de Montfort Way of life is therefore to render a soul “interiorly dependent on Mary,” and through her, on Jesus. It is a perfect and continual declaration of dependence, of our dependence on Christ and Mary. It is modeled on Mary’s own spirit of dependence on God and a faithful echo of her fiat to all God’s wishes. It is, moreover, as nearly perfect an imitation of Christ’s own submission to Mary as man could approximate here below. “Having before our eyes on example so plain and so well known to the whole world , are we so senseless as to imagine that we can find a more perfect or shorter to Mary, after the example of her Son” (TD #139).

When we remember that Jesus was the Son of Mary, that his submission to her was absolutely voluntary and loving, we are not apt to think of our submission to her in any other light. It is the self-surrender of a loving child to his Mother. It is the declaration of dependence of a faithful bond-servant to his Queen and Mother.

MARVELOUS EFFECTS

The effects of such a declaration? Fr. de Montfort enumerates several. Let us cite one. “This Mother of fair love will take away from your heart all scruple and all disorder of servile fear. She will open and enlarge it to run the way of her Son’s commandments with the holy liberty of the children of God , etc. . . .” (TD #215).

There is nothing more thoroughly American than the word “liberty.” There is nothing more profoundly Christian than the word “liberty of the children of God.” The former was inaugurated by the Declaration of Independence; the latter, acquired at Baptism, can be brought to near perfection only by a formal declaration of dependence on God. Why not make that “declaration” the perfect way? the de Montfort Way?

“Oh, how highly we glorify God when, after the example of Jesus, we submit ourselves to Mary!” (TD #139)