Our Only Master

All the doctors and all the masters of spiritual life are unanimous on this point, namely, that true devotion to Mary leads to devotion to Christ. The Sovereign Pontiffs, particularly Leo XIII and [Saint Pope] Pius X, have pointed it out on occasion. “For who does not know,” writes the latter, “that there is no surer or easier way than Mary for uniting all persons with Christ . . .” (Ad Diem Illum. )

A true devotion to Mary must respect the order established by God. Now one cannot honor the Mother of God otherwise than in the order of her mission in the world and of her predestination. And these may be summed up in these words: to give Jesus to the world and the world to Jesus. It is not, by mere chance, or by exception, but by its very nature that devotion to Mary leads to the perfect knowledge and imitation of Christ. In the words of Pius X: “. . . no one ever knew Christ so profoundly as she knew Him, and no one can ever be a more competent guide and teacher for knowing Christ.” (Ad Diem Illum. )

That is why St. Louis de Montfort could write: “If, then, we establish solid devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only to establish more perfectly devotion to Jesus Christ, and to provide an easy and secure means for finding Jesus Christ.” (T.D. No. 62. )

This indisputable aspect of Marian devotion, namely, that it is a means to go to Jesus is presented to us by Fr. de Montfort as the first fundamental truth underlying perfect devotion to Mary. In a few pages which are at once a tribute to solid theological reasoning and a hymn of triumph to Christ, our saint furnishes us with one of the most brilliant demonstrations ever written on the absolute preeminence of Christ, Our Only Master.

These few lines, written in view of helping our readers to understand more easily the various links in Fr. de Montfort’s doctrine on True Devotion to Mary, have no other aim but to encourage you to read those intense, glowing pages and to summarize very simply the reasons for our convictions. It is not without some hesitation, indeed, that one undertakes to treat a subject that has already been incomparably dealt with by such saints as St. Paul, St. Augustine and St. Louis Mary de Montfort. It will be easy for us to show, however, that one must not be overly concerned about a so-called excess in devotion to Mary; quite the contrary, one must rather be concerned about one’s lack of devotion to Mary which would lead to lack of devotion to Christ. This, as we shall presently see, is a lesson that we can glean from history as well as from sound theological reasoning.

The Lesson of History

Is it not in this Church, which takes pride in honoring Mary and proclaiming her its Queen, that we find the most inviolable fidelity in the divinity of her Son? Is it not also in this same Church that is to be found an unwavering perseverance in the maintenance and defense of the Gospel’s doctrinal integrity, in all walks of social and private life? Over a century ago Cardinal Newman had voiced a similar observation, though he spoke of a more restricted area. But what he says of nineteenth century Europe may well be applied to our day and with no less truth. ”There is this broad fact the other way,” he wrote, ”… that if we look through Europe, we shall find, on the whole, that just those nations and countries have lost their faith in the divinity of Christ, who have given up devotion to His Mother, and that those, on the other hand, who have been in her honor, have retained the doxy.

”The Church and Satan agreed in this, that Son and Mother went together; and the experience of three centuries has confirmed their testimony, for Catholics who have honored the Mother still worship the Son, while Protestants who now have ceased to confess the Son, began then by scoffing at the Mother.”

We may add to this testimony that of Father Frederick William Faber, in his preface to the True Devotion to Mary: ”Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background.”

Another fact which amply proves that true devotion to Mary leads to a greater love for Jesus is that all the great servants of Christ were devoted to Mary and all the great servants of Mary were always faithful servants of Christ. Among countless others, we may point to St. Louis Mary de Montfort. One generally thinks of him as the great apostle and promoter of True Devotion to Mary; this is quite true, but St. Louis was above all and always the apostle of devotion to Jesus, the Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom. His whole life was one passionate quest for divine Wisdom and his entire spirituality is focused on Christ. That explains why his consecration of Holy Slavery is first and foremost a consecration to Jesus, the Incarnate Wisdom, through the hands of Mary.

Although Cardinal Newman, at one period of his life, had evinced a certain amount of surprise at a few passages in Fr. de Montfort’s works, nevertheless, this did not prevent him from expressing his convictions in terms which our saint would have approved of whole-heartedly. ”The Church and Satan agreed in this, that Son and Mother went together.”

Theological Reasons

It is true that devotion to Mary would not achieve its essential purpose – which is to lead us to love and imitate Christ if, for example, this devotion were a false devotion. Such would be the case of a devotion which is presumptuous or hypocritical or inconstant, etc. But in this case it would no longer be a devotion to Mary; it would be mere sham and mockery. And this, of course, has nothing to do with true devotion to Mary of which we speak.

Devotion to Mary, moreover, would not achieve its purpose if it were contradictory in any way to the will and designs of divine Providence. But it is precisely in the order of divine Providence that God’s gifts to humanity should be communicated to us through the intermediaries and ministers whom He Himself has chosen, as St. Thomas Aquinas echoing the doctrine of the Pseudo-Denys, has pointed out in numerous passages of his writings. This is also what the Church makes us repeat with St. Bernard, in the Office of Mary Mediatrix, ”Christum Redemptorem qui bona omnia nos babere voluit per Mariam, Venite adoremas.” ”Come, let us adore Christ the Redeemer Who has willed that we should have everything through Mary.”

Finally, devotion to the Mother of God would not lead to devotion to Christ if there were any possibility of the least contradiction or rivalry between Jesus and Mary; if the Blessed Virgin Mary could attribute to herself any honor which would not rebound to the glorification of her Son. But even to think of such a thing is to know very little concerning Our Lady and to ignore her absolute dedication to the procuring of her Son’s glory. On this point we are fortunate to know her inmost thought; and she expressed it in the only order she ever gave while on earth: ”Do whatever He tells you!” (John 2: 5. )