Q&A: After reading True Devotion I closed it in despair. It is impossible to live. Sometimes I wonder if Saint Louis de Montfort really understood human nature. There is no way that a person, at least today, could live up to the standards he sets for us. Perhaps monks or nuns, but not the ordinary person in the pew who has to live in the real world.
Father J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
Montfort’s way of perfection is a path, a pilgrimage, a road into the Trinity Itself. Very few of us are able to run down the path. It is step by step, fall by fall, mistake by mistake, inch by inch.
What is required is patience and perseverance. Now that you realize how sublime is the path and magnificent the goal, set out in great humility without worrying how fast you will travel or whether or not you will ever make it. God is asking you to cooperate, actively and responsibly. He gifts you with the grace needed. Discouragement is quite normal; however, you lose everything if you give in to it. Calmly turn to Our Lady when you fall, and ask her to bring you back on the right path. And do this without worrying, without exaggerated guilt feelings. Tum to her and you will experience the loving hand of the Lord lifting you up in great joy.
Saint Louis de Montfort preached and wrote primarily for his beloved lay-folk. He describes the Marian path of perfection for you. He is convinced that God is calling the “ordinary person in the pew” to the heights of holiness.
