Q&A: Why go to Our Lord through Mary?
I am not at ease with some of Saint Louis de Montfort’s expressions. The phrase which bothers me the most is found in the Secret of Mary, 48: “We must never go to Our Lord except through Mary.” I question the correctness of such a statement. Most of the times I pray directly to Jesus.
Question submitted by Brother F.C., Los Angeles, CA
Father J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
Through Mary
The phrase that befuddles you is a snag for many readers of The Secret of Mary. A strictly literal translation of #48 of the Secret would read: “One must never go to Our Lord except by her intercession”. There are three points to be kept in mind in explaining this phrase.
First. Never take a phrase out of context. This one sentence of one of Montfort’s works must always be seen not only within the framework of the entire Secret of Mary, but also within the pattern of all his writings. His texts themselves are always to be studied in the context of his life.
Second. If we do “contextualize” this phrase, it is apparent that its meaning flows from a fundamental principle of Saint Louis de Montfort; Mary is, by God’s free choice, our mediatrix of intercession with Jesus. It is through her faith-filled response to God at the annunciation that the Eternal Wisdom becomes our brother, redeemed. She summarizes creation in its longing for the savior. She speaks in the name of the entire universe when uttering her Yes to Gabriel. This Fiat opened up humanity’s broken home to redeeming, Infinite Love. It is then, through her that Jesus Christ, our Redemption, came to be. As the spokesperson for this universe in accepting God’s offer to redeem us, she becomes the spokes-person for each one of us in our surrender to God’s love.
Humankind’s Crying Out a Loving Yes to Jesus
It is, then, always “through Mary” that our prayers go to Jesus, our one mediator of redemption. Whether we advert to this truth or not, it is a fact of salvation history. Her voice is the eternal voice of all humankind crying out a loving Yes to Jesus. When we praise Jesus, we are uniting our voice, our Yes, to Mary’s eternal Fiat.
It is, then, always “through Mary” that our prayers go to Jesus, our one mediator of redemption. Whether we advert to this truth or not, it is a fact of salvation history. Her voice is the eternal voice of all humankind crying out a loving Yes to Jesus. When we praise Jesus, we are uniting our voice, our Yes, to Mary’s eternal Fiat.
Finally, although this is so, the question remains: are we to advert to this at every moment? The same question can be raised concerning Jesus. It is only through Him that we go to the Father. Must we be explicitly aware of this at all times? Are there not moments of prayer where we directly address the Father? This does not mean that we are excluding Jesus. Rather, there are occasions when we do not advert explicitly to the established way to the Father. We could surely say that the more that we are aware, at least in a general way, that through Jesus we go to the Father, the more intimately we are united to the Father.
Now concerning our union with Mary, Montfort writes “Rest assured that the more you turn to Mary in your prayers, meditations, actions and sufferings, seeing her, if not perhaps clearly and distinctly, at least in a general and indistinct way, the more surely you will discover Jesus” (True Devotion, 165). And that is what the saint means in number 48 of the Secret. Our prayers to Jesus are always a joining of our voice to the voice of Mary, the representative of the human race in faith-filled surrender to Jesus.
However, we do not always advert explicitly and clearly to this way which God established. Saint Louis de Montfort is not saying that we must explicitly turn to Mary in all of our prayers to Jesus. He is saying that the more that we live – at least in a general and indistinct way – in the faith of this spokesperson of surrender to Jesus, the more we will find ourselves one with Him.
