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Q&A: How important are the interior practices of True Devotion? I have read about them in the book but I’m not sure I really understand what they mean.
Fr. Gaffney, SMM
Submitted by JB., Dallas, TX.
Interior Practices
Your question is best answered by referring you to the articles on Consecration and True Devotion in the recently published Jesus Living in Mary, The Handbook of the Spirituality of Saint Louis de Montfort.
To summarize: The interior practices, Montfort teaches, “may be expressed in four words: to do all our actions by Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary so that we may do them all the more perfectly by Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus and for Jesus”. (TD 257). These practices constitute a “state of soul” (TD 119) and are the very heart of the consecration life which flows from the Act of Consecration. To ignore these interior practices is to omit an essential element of Saint Louis de Montfort’s spirituality.
What do they mean? Briefly, the practices can be resumed as follows:
By Mary:
Before and during our actions, “in an instant, by one glance of the mind, by one little movement of the will or even verbally” (TD 259) empty yourself of your own weak dispositions and take on the spirit of Mary so that whatever you are doing – teaching, preaching, house-cleaning, shopping, counseling, celebrating the sacraments – will be done in the Spirit of Jesus.
With Mary:
“We must take Our Lady as the perfect model of all that we do” (SM 45) so that all will be more perfectly for Jesus. This demands a solid knowledge of Mary based upon scripture as it is taught and prayed by the Church.
For Mary:
We do everything for Mary our Mother so that it may be done fully for Jesus.
In Mary:
This is the culmination of the interior practices, the fruit of fidelity of living by and with and for Mary. It is the highest expression of consecration life. Father de Montfort expresses it in mystical terms (cf. TD 261-263). It is an habitual state of presence in Mary and of Mary in us which makes our life in Christ Jesus so intense, so vivid. Therefore, it is in Mary’s spirit that we truly dwell, becoming one moral person with her. It is in her that we live every moment of our life. It is impossible to put into words the full meaning of this practice. Suffice it to say that the more intense the presence of Mary, the deeper the union with Christ Jesus. This “presence” is not an emotional high; rather, it is experienced as the “holy place,” the “divine milieu” in which our life unfolds.
Although we use four terms to summarize these interior practices – for, with, in and by – ultimately the consecration life takes on a radical unity, expressed by Montfort’s explanation of “in Mary.” And the more we live the consecration, the deeper the unity of Jesus-Mary. It is not as if we have to first advert to Mary and then to Jesus, etc. On the contrary, the more we are conscious of Mary, the more – in her and through her – we are conscious of Jesus’ presence. There is a profound and peaceful unity in Montfort Spirituality.
It is an habitual state of presence in Mary and of Mary in us which makes our life in Christ Jesus so intense, so vivid. Therefore, it is in Mary’s spirit that we truly dwell, becoming one moral person with her. It is in her that we live every moment of our life.
In this brief Q&A, it is impossible to put into words the full meaning of this practice. Suffice it to say that the more intense the presence of Mary, the deeper the union with Christ Jesus. This “presence” is not an emotional high; rather, it is experienced as the “holy place,. . . in which our life unfolds.
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