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Consecration Aids: 29: The Little Things
Fr. Christopher Lee, SMM
The Little Things
W HEN you come down to it, for most of us, life is made up of little things – most people would say ”insignificant” things.
But, I don’t know. I wouldn’t call them insignificant things, at least not if you are consecrated to Our Lady. Because then you take on her intentions, And what action could be ”insignificant” when performed with Mary’s sublime intentions?
Here’s what St. Louis de Montfort says on this subject: ”Doing your actions by our Blessed Lady, as this practice teaches you, you abandon your own intentions and operations, although good and known, to lose yourself, so to speak, in the intentions of the Blessed Virgin, although they are unknown. Thus you enter by participation into the sublimity of her intentions, which are so pure that she gives more glory to God by the least of her action for example, in twirling her distaff or pointing her needle – than St. Lawrence by his cruel martyrdom on the gridiron, or even all the saints by all their heroic actions put together.” (T.D. #222).
That’s some thought isn’t it! Think of it, your ordinary actions can take on the sublimity of Mary’s intentions!
Thus You Enter by Participation Into the Sublimity of Her Intentions
Take, for example, life here at QUEEN OF ALL HEARTS and The Company of Mary. Of course, you’ll say: ”You priests and Brothers have dedicated your lives to Mary’s service.” And that’s true. But, we also have many voluntary helpers, lay helpers who assist us in carrying the load of the work. (We could never do it alone!)
Today, for instance, we were mailing out some fifteen thousand booklets . . . The volunteers seated around a long work table spent all day inserting a booklet and an order blank in each envelope – fifteen thousand envelopes!
An ”insignificant” thing? Drudgery? A waste of time? Not for these dedicated souls. Why? Because, by virtue of their consecration to Jesus through Mary, they believe what St. Louis de Montfort says: ”Whether you do great actions or very little ones is, by virtue of your consecration, done for Jesus and Mary”. (T.D. # 136).
How does this figure? Here’s an example. If we could have afforded to have this done by a letter-shop, they would have charged us so much for each separate operation (two inserts and folding flap inside envelope). In other words, the jobber would have evaluated each operation and charged us accordingly. And it would have been fair and just. A workman’s time and labor is certainly worth something.
Author: Fr. Christopher Lee, SMM
This is the Twenty-ninth in a series of articles covering Consecration Aids.
See what I mean when I say that not one of them will go without its reward? And the reason is that, in virtue of their consecration, these volunteers have given over to Our Lady the value of all their actions, not only the more important actions of their day.
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Offering Their Actions Up For The Glory of God Through Mary
Now, what about these volunteers? They weren’t getting paid for this. They came freely. In fact, they felt privileged to do this for Our Lady. Do you mean to tell me that their time and work will go unrewarded? Do you mean to tell me that Our Lady will not compute each one of these ”operations” separately and put a supernatural price tag on them? Think of it: fifteen thousand envelopes, each requiring three separate “operations !” And not one of them has escaped Our Lady’s supernatural computer!
You might say: many of these ”operations” have been done mechanically, without any actual thought of offering them up to God through Mary. What of them? – We answer with St. Louis de Montfort: ”Whether we are awake or sleep, whether we eat or drink . . . it is always true to say that, whatever we do, even without thinking of it , is done for Jesus and Mary” ! (T.D. # 136).
See what I mean when I say that not one of them will go without its reward? And the reason is that, in virtue of their consecration, these volunteers have given over to Our Lady the value of all their actions, not only the more important actions of their day.
You might say, ”I’ve never had an occasion to work as a volunteer for such a worthy cause as spreading devotion to Mary, Queen of All Hearts. My actions are just ordinary, commonplace actions. I’m just a housewife, or a factory worker, or a carpenter, or an office worker etc. . . . And there doesn’t seem to be much, there, that I can offer to God through Mary”!
A Person Totally Consecrated, Renders Great Glory to God
Happily, you are mistaken. The three most wonderful people that ever walked this sinful earth of ours did just these things. Mary was just a housewife. Joseph, just a carpenter. And the Child Jesus, the Son of God, worked both in the little house of Nazareth and in His foster-father’s carpenter shop! And no one thinks they did just ”ordinary” and ”commonplace” things! Rather, they transformed the ”ordinary” and ”commonplace” things into the gold of super-natural merit by the sublimity of their intentions.
During those first thirty years of Christ’s life on earth, did Mary perform any outstanding miracle? Did Joseph build or invent any extraordinary item of carpentry? And what great example did Christ give us, during those first thirty years? The answer to these questions is known to all. Mary and Joseph performed the ”ordinary” duties of Mother and Foster-Father of the Christ Child. And Christ left us the example of humble submission to Mary and Joseph, summed up in this little sentence by St. Luke: ”And He went down to Nazareth and was subject to them.”
Is it any wonder, then, that a person totally consecrated to Mary, a person who is subject to Mary, after the example of Christ, should render great glory to God by the least of its actions?
You know, life could be a lot sweeter for many people if only they could be taught this beautiful way of life, which is the Fr. de Montfort’s Consecration to Jesus through Mary . . . if they could be told that by this consecration they not only imitate Christ perfectly, but participate in Mary’s sublime intentions.
Why don’t you go out and tell people about it?
