Short Steps to Sanctity

Take the example of our Blessed Lady. Mary was never known as a great wonder-worker performing breathtaking miracles in the name of God. She was not acclaimed as an outstanding prophetess predicting future events of great moment. She was not esteemed as a learned doctor instructing the people in the things of heaven. Nor was she considered an apostle bearing witness to the Lord Jesus and evangelizing the length and breadth of Palestine.

Sanctity Does Not Consist in Doing Much, but in Loving Much

Rather, Mary’s peerless sanctity unraveled in the silence and retreat of a hidden life of everyday actions. It was by these familiar, homely actions that she accumulated a treasure of merit. Mary became the holiest human person to grace this earth with her encouraging presence. Mary’s secret was love – total, selfless, consecrated love. She poured forth her entire heart and soul into every action she performed. Her will operated in perfect unison with the Divine Will in the accomplishment of the least duty of her household work. Her great love sanctified those little actions, and gave them an unspeakable value. By such apparently trivial works, perfectly performed and consecrated to God, she increased with each instant in grace and merit and rendered silent worship and great glory to Almighty God.

We should profit by Mary’s example for it is in these little actions that Our Lady is the most imitable. Even the most heroic of the faithful cannot imitate Mary’s courageous vigil at the foot of the Cross, but we can all mirror the little actions of the Virgin of Nazareth. To become a saint we need only to learn Mary’s secret of making spiritual capital of the most ordinary actions. The application of this practice to our daily lives requires two steps.

Mary’s Secret of Making Spiritual Capital of the Most Ordinary Actions

First of all, we must perform each action as if it were the only one we had to accomplish. We should suppose that God has created us for no other action than this particular one which we are about to begin. We should act as if by accomplishing this little action. we would fulfill God’s entire plan in our regard, and merit our eternal reward.

If, by such considerations we can convince ourselves of the importance of the action we are about to begin, we will be better disposed to perform it with a greater purity of intention, with a more efficacious love and with an outlook affected by the thought of eternity. It is true, of course, that we will most likely have other actions to perform. But at this particular moment, God asks for no other action than this one, and it may indeed be the last one of our earthly life. For what man on earth can predict which action of his shall be his last?

Acting and Giving Glory to God

Our second step in sanctifying our little actions is to give to each one the greatest possible perfection. This is done by performing each action out of sheer love of God alone but always through Mary and with Mary. In other words we must renounce our own intentions and dispositions and adopt those of the Mother of God.

This simple act is not as difficult as it sounds. Such a renunciation need not be accompanied by great emotion. We need only to make a perfect act of will in this regard, and the selfless, most pure, most efficacious dispositions of Mary completely encompass our actions which are truly no longer ours, but hers. And this is nothing else but the practice of Total Consecration as taught by St. Louis de Montfort. Its perfect practice can become habitual only by repeated effort, by loving perseverance, and by a singular grace of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is more than ready to grant it to every soul generous enough to ask for it.

The Results of Acting This Way

The results of such a perfect way of acting are limitless. In the first place, by consecrating our smallest actions to Jesus through Mary we are continually sanctifying ourselves – we are becoming saints. The actions we perform may be of varied importance. They may be commanded by the Law of God or of the Church.  Such as going to Mass, abstaining from meat on Friday. They may be only counsels asked of more generous souls, as the taking of the vows of religion, or the exercise of an extra-ordinary charity. These actions may be merely indifferent, such as going to work, cooking, reading, eating, going to bed. The type of action does not matter here. It is the love behind the act, the God for Whom the act is done, the Sweet Lady through whom it is accomplished that make the act so fruitful.

Secondly, the benefits of our consecrated life of trivial good works will not affect only us. For if we give these actions and their merit to Mary, she will see to it that they are used for the greater glory of God in a manner which we are incapable of copying. Mary knows best where the glory of God is to be found. She knows best when to apply our little spiritual revenue to some poor soul in Purgatory. She knows when to use our meager treasury of merit to prevent a mortal sin, to convert a sinner.

Extend Our Spiritual Treasures to All Men

To illustrate the far-flung effects of ordinary actions well done and lovingly consecrated, let us take the life of Our Lady as an example. Mary’s simplest actions, because they were performed so purely, so lovingly, so conformably to the will of God, had endless repercussions in their efficacy. It was in no small measure due to the little hidden prayers and good works of Our Lady that the Apostles received their intrepidity in the work of evangelization. By Mary’s sacrifices, virgins received their constancy, doctors their learning, martyrs their fortitude.

We too, by the perfect performance and generous consecration of our smallest actions will not only become saints ourselves, but will also extend our spiritual treasures to all men. All of us will broaden the horizon of our supernatural influence by winning untold numbers of souls for God. We will reap great profit for the Church. We will contribute in union with Mary to the greater glory of Almighty God.