Q&A: What exactly is Montort driving at when he states in True Devotion that all devotion to Our Lady must be disinterested?
Father J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
Disinterested Marian devotion means: “It inspires us to seek God alone in his Blessed Mother and not ourselves.”
Saint Louis de Montfort reminds us that the ultimate goal of all devotions is our Triune God. Through Jesus, in the Spirit, we live in the bosom of the Father, our true home. Authentic devotion to Mary, as this vagabond missionary tells us over and over again, is never centered on Mary, but on Jesus who alone is the Pontifex (pontem facere=to build a bridge). He is the Bridge between God and man. The chasm between the infinite (God) and finite (creation) cannot be bridged by man. But Jesus spans it because he is the Eternal Word incarnate, fully God and fully man. Jesus victorious through The Cross, covers the chasm, enabling us in the power of the Spirit to cross over into the very Glory of God.
Devotion to Mary therefore, is not centered on her but ultimately on God Alone (this expression “God Alone” is Saint Louis de Montfort’s battle-cry, his favorite motto). And it cannot be otherwise. She is so filled with the Spirit of the Lord that the ONLY thing she can do is to unite us more intimately, more perfectly, more directly with her Son, the Bridge. After all, it is through her loving consent that the Trinity built the Bridge! For it is in her and through her response to the annunciation “Let it be done to me according to your word” that the Eternal Wisdom took on our finite, rebellious human nature thereby being the span uniting God and man. Devotion to Mary is glory to God who has so wondrously redeemed us in Jesus, her Son.
And it goes without saying, doesn’t it, that devotion to Mary cannot be centered on ourselves! In other words, are we devoted to the Mother of God only when we “feel” like it, or when we think we’re “getting something out of it” or when she finally gives us what we want? Absolutely not. Whether we like it or not, God has chosen her to be the YES of all creation to His yearning to redeem us in Jesus Christ her Son. We are devoted to her because of WHO she is: the faith-filled Mother of Jesus our God, the Immaculate, loving Mother of Jesus our Redemption. Any other reason cannot be the motivating one. This is “disinterested” devotion to Mary.
Madonna and Child: Hodegetria: Italian Painter: Berlinghiero of Lucca: 1230
This painting is amazing, more so than being almost 800 years old. It is also known as Hodegetria, or “She Who Points the Way” in Russian. There are a number of paintings with a similar style. On this website is a 1400’s version as well. The original Hodegetria, according to tradition, was painted by St. Luke. This version is a tempera on wood and resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
