The Queen: Articles:
Consecration Aids: Think About What is the Purpose of Your Life?
Author: Fr. Lucien Ledoux, SMM
This is the second of a series of articles covering Consecration Aids.
“To Jesus Through Mary”,
such is the stimulating dedication which St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Our Lady would have you give each one of your actions.
You need an Ideal
To live without an ideal is simply unthinkable! Your days are so precious that you must immunize them at all cost against the virus of monotony or frustration. They are so short that you can ill afford to be going around in circles for want of direction. This time-tested
formula, To Jesus Through Mary, will give unity to your spiritual life and eliminate routine which so often dulls and deadens your best days.
.. in your Work-Life
The inevitable result of a purposeless way of life is a tragedy beyond words. It is odd, that, in spite of this evident truth, people insist on living mediocre, aimless lives. A driving purpose, welling from the bottom of your heart, spells the difference between joy and boredom in your work-life.
The type of work you have to do for a living is of little importance in the eyes of God. Whether you be a stenographer or a textile worker, a banker or a ditch-digger, a career-woman, or a hard-working housewife matters little in the Book of Life. Our Lady never performed anything this world might call spectacular. To her friends and neighbors she was just a common housewife, the mother of that little boy they called Jesus. Millions of other women still do the same old-fashioned household chores. But what a difference in law driving purpose! She never cheated herself by forgetting, even for one moment, that her work was for her Boy, her God!
Work was work, even for Our Lady. But it lost that dulling, deadening impact most of us experience at it. As she did the week’s wash, swept the floor or tidied her little home, her joy was ever brimful. She was keenly happy because her work was done for Jesus.
Your consecration to Our Lady should make you find in your work-life the same joy and excitement that Mary discovered in hers . , . provided you inject your True Devotion into it. Live your dedication: To Jesus through Mary! Tell Our Lady, in your own simple way, that you mean to labor as she did, for Jesus only. Ask her to help you do your piece of work as she would in your place and to have you share in the joy that flooded her soul when she toiled for her little Boy. You will be surprised at the results. This consoling consciousness of working with Mary for Jesus may well become the most exciting adventure of your work-life. Give it a try!
. . in your Play-Life
Moments of diversion and recreation are just as much part of you as your work, or your prayer. They are God-given opportunities to rest and refresh your mind and body. You are entitled to them. God has planned it that way. ”The bow always bent grows slack or breaks.”
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“The world was unworthy, says St. Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father’s hands. He gave Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her.” (TD no. 16)
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In your play-life as in your work-life, your driving purpose must ever remain the same: To Jesus through Mary! To some it would seem that moments of fun and amusement are a desperate struggle to escape the Spiritual. The truth is that these soothing moments of mental, physical or social relaxation may well be the expression of your total dependence on Mary, provided you bring her intimately into your play-life.
Yes, why not have Our Lady share in your good times? It would be so simple, for instance, before you set out to entertain your friends, to say a Hail Mary that you may do or say nothing which may offend or embarrass them; that you may be kind, pleasing, sympathetic, thoughtful of others as she would be in your place.
True, Our Lady never went to the movies or attended plays or operas. But enough is known of Our Lady‘s social life through the Cana incident to say that she enjoyed herself immensely, yet with a certain reserve and dignity. Even during moments of fun and diversion, your
consecration would have you avoid being so taken up with your own pleasure as to forget your neighbor. Mary was out to make others happy. That is why she enjoyed her play-life so abundantly,
Modeling your play—life on Mary’s, striving to become another Mary to your friends and acquaintances will not only send your popularity sky-rocketing but, springing from love of God and neighbor as it does, this Mary-like spirit of profitable amusement will lead you very
quickly To Jesus through Mary.
. . in your Prayer-Life
There is yet a third phase in your life that St. Louis de Montfort would have you give over to Jesus through Mary, your prayer-life. By your consecration you belong entirely to her and, by the same token, she belongs entirely to you. Fr. de Montfort makes this clear when he says that “She gives her whole self, and gives it in an unspeakable manner, to him who gives all to her.” (TD. no. 144) Availing yourself of this priceless gift, let your prayer-life flow freely along these lines: “Sweet Jesus, I love you with my whole heart and soul. I offer you the tender love of Your Mother as she knelt by your manger in Bethlehem’s cave; as she submitted to the holy will of Your Father, on the heights of Calvary; as she received you in Your Sacrament of Love, etc. . .”
True Devotion should by no means be conceived as doing away with the privilege of praying directly to Jesus. By your consecration, you have in no way bound yourself to pray to Mary only. While conversing with Our Lord, however, it would have you keep Mary at your side, at least subconsciously depending on her. In other words, you hope to be heard, not because of your love of God but because you are aware that Mary is by your side, that she is pleading with you and for you.
You appeal to Jesus as often and as intensely as before your consecration. But now you would never think of appearing before Our Lord all alone, or of pleading your case on the strength of your own personal merits. That is the kind of humble dependence which the
True Devotion would have you cultivate in your prayer – life.“
