The Queen: Articles:
Consecration Aids: 3 : Think About What is Your Idea of Mary!
Originally Published: September 1950
Author: Fr. Lucien Ledoux, SMM
This is the third of a series of articles covering Consecration Aids.
AS A CLIENT OF Our Lady, the de Montfort way, you have staked everything on the power of this devotion to make you more Christ like. You have unlimited faith in this quick, easy and sure way to Our Lord. Your hopes of closer intimacy with Jesus are being partially realized from day to day. And, strange to say, perhaps at first you thought you were taking on a little too much. After all, this apparently meaningless formula ”What would Mary do or say were she in my place?” can be astonishingly exacting at times! None the less you have come to like this way of life. You are sure now that you are living as close to Mary as is humanly possible. You know that she loves you for it, that Jesus is pleased with you. And this assurance makes for a quiet, satisfying, energetic interior life.
But who is Mary that you should be so devoted to her? Who is Mary that you should wish to imitate her in everything, entrust everything to her, love and serve her not simply because she obtains favors for you, but solely because she is worthy of love? Briefly why are you, in particular, devoted to Our Lady?
Devotion vs. Esteem…
The relation between real devotion and esteem is one which can bear closer inspection. Experience teaches you that you cannot be truly devoted to a person you do not esteem, that your devotion to a person varies in intensity as your esteem for that person fluctuates up or
down. Devotion to Mary is no different, unless it be a sentimental affair, in which case it rises or falls as your feelings run high or low. However, devotion to Mary is not meant to be an emotional outlet. True Devotion to Mary, says de Montfort, “flows from the esteem we have for her, the high idea we have formed of her greatness and the love we have for her.” (True Devotion, no, 106)
What is your idea concerning Mary? That is the all-important question! Your devotion will be in direct proportion to the esteem you have for her.
The merely human picture
There is no woman whose influence upon mankind has been more persistently underrated than Our Lady’s. To her companions in the Temple, she was just another girl in the group. True, she was not giddy as some of the others, but she was a cheerful and most charming companion. They all agreed on that. She was also more deeply religious, more thoughtful of others, more understanding and forever trying to make others happy. As a housewife at Nazareth, she seemed no different from the rest of the good people in the vicinity. She was indeed, in the full sense of the word, ’Alma Mater’, a hidden mother.
Many non-Catholics still endorse this short – sighted, purely natural judgment on Mary.
The imperfect picture…
Of course, as a Catholic, you are convinced that there is much more to Our Lady than the superficial judgment of her contemporaries would grant her. You come closer to the truth when, enlightened by faith, you honor her as a great saint; yet you are still worlds away from the reality. In fact, you are so far away from a true appreciation of Mary’s glorious role in the drama of redemption that your mental picture of Our Lady as merely ”another great saint” closely resembles a caricature.
Others will go a step higher in their esteem for Mary. They will honor her not merely as a great saint, but truly as the greatest saint that ever lived. But when it comes to their own personal sanctity they will not even think of uniting themselves to her for fear that she might be an obstacle in the way of divine intimacy. They believe that as long as they honor Mary as the greatest of all saints they have fulfilled their obligations in her respect.
The true picture . , . True Devotion
But they fail to realize that it is only when you see Our Lady, not only as Mother of God but also as your Mother, your Mediatrix and your Queen that your devotion has a chance of being perfect or complete. God wanted His Son to have a human mother. This mother was to be a key-figure in His redemptive plan. The blue-prints of man’s redemption called for a new tree, The Cross; a new Eve, Our Lady; and a new Adam, Our Lord. Mary’s role, according to the Divine Playwright, was not to end with the first act, with Bethlehem. By no means! She was to play an active part in the drama of your redemption and mine.
It is true that Our Lord’s merits were more than sufficient for our ransom. They were over abundant! Obviously, there was no absolute need of Our Lady’s sufferings to wash away the guilt of sin. However, God in His infinite wisdom planned to ruin the Serpent at his own game. Just as a man and a woman had brought damnation upon us all, likewise another man, the God-Man and another woman, she who was “full of grace”, would work out our redemption. Although not needed, and in strict justice quite insufficient to restore God’s love to mankind, the sufferings “of Our Lady on Calvary”, her offering of Jesus for our sins were gratuitously accepted by God as payment for sin.
But Mary’s role was not to end on Calvary. Having redeemed us with, Christ, she was to be made sole dispenser. of God’s redeeming graces. As St. Bernard points out: ”God, seeing that we are unworthy to receive His graces immediately from His own hands, gives them to Mary, in order that we may have through her whatever He wills to give us; and He also finds His glory in receiving, through the hands of Mary, the gratitude, respect and love which we owe Him for His benefits.”
The Consecration . . .
Such is the divinely appointed role of Our Lady in your spiritual life. She has redeemed you with Christ and she is keeping you spiritually alive, nurturing your grace-life. Nothing but a TOTAL CONSECRATION with its subsequent life of dependence on her can fully express the esteem you should entertain for her. That is the why of your True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
