A Word of Encouragement: Montfort’s 40th Anniversary of Canonization
Fr. Gerard Lemire, SMM and Saint Pope John Paul II
On July 20, 1987, the 40th anniversary of Father de Montfort’s canonization, Pope John Paul II received the members of the General Chapter at his residence in Castel Gandolfo. The Eucharist was concelebrated with the Holy Father, after which the Superior General, Father Gerard Lemire, delivered the following address, in French, to the Holy Father who, in turn, responded (also in French) with an impromptu, from-the-heart exhortation to the world-wide Montfort Community.
A Word of Encouragement
Most Holy Father,
In order to respond more fully to the call of the Lord, at a particular moment of decision in his life, LOUIS-MARIE GRIG- NION DE MONTFORT, in June 1706, sought direction and advice from the Sovereign Pontiff, Clement XI-th, thus seeking the grace which he needed to continue his work of evangelization.
Some three hundred years later, we, the heirs and successors of this humble missionary, assembled in General Chapter, are repeating the same gesture. In this year, the fortieth anniversary of his canonization, we too have come to the Vicar of Christ to seek encouragement, support and advice in order to carry out more effectively our work of evangelization. We are doing this at the time we draw near to the third millennium of Christianity for which you have given us the great grace and joy to prepare by declaring a MARIAN YEAR.
The Marian Dimension
As in the case of Saint Louis Marie, we come to you in faith, faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the prayer and teaching of the ETERNAL WISDOM who entrusts you, in the person of Peter, with the task of confirming all your brothers (cf, Lk. 22, 32).
We feel drawn to you, as well, by the astonishing communion of thought that we find in the teachings of Your Holiness and the great principles of the spirituality of our Founder.
Please be assured, Most Holy father, that Your apostolic journeys, in which You spread a message of joy and hope, are for us a stimulus and an inspiration in our apostolate to the people entrusted to us by the Lord through the charism of our Institute.
The Marian dimension which animates Your entire apostolate urges us to deepen and to propagate the spirituality which Saint Louis Marie meditated upon and which he taught and bequeathed to us as a precious heritage.
Finally, Your Encyclical Letter REDEMPTORIS MATER, by restating in forceful terms, in this MARIAN YEAR, the role of Mary in the mystery of Christ and the Church, is reawakening our Montfortian fervor. You remind us, in fact, that Mary is a part of the “doctrine of the faith” and of the “Life of the faith,” by stressing that Saint Louis Marie de Montfort was a witness to and a master of this “Marian spirituality”.
All this greatly encourages us to teach the Christians of today that “CONSECRATION TO CHRIST THROUGH MARY IS AN EFFICIENT WAY OF FULFILLING FAITHFULLY IN OUR LIVES OUR BAPTISMAL VOWS” (Enc. REDEMPTORIS MATER, 48).
Most Holy Father, we are most grateful to You for having allowed us to celebrate Holy Mass with You this morning. In the name of all the “Montfort Missionaries” whom we represent, we assure You of our prayers and filial devotion.
And, to conclude this period of reflection on our Montfortian Mission, we would be happy to receive, together with Your apostolic blessing, a Word of encouragement which would send us forth with renewed zeal and enthusiasm throughout the world.
On the occasion of the 75-th anniversary of St. Louis Marie’s canonization, The Queen and the Montfort Fathers look back at the 40-th anniversary celebration.
Mary is present in these mysteries as the one who goes before us, who goes before us in faith, who goes before the entire People of God. Thus, we speak of this “precedence” not only in the sense of her dignity; we speak of “precedence” most of all because of her activity, her missionary activity. Mary is always on mission. She is on mission since the Incarnation; but especially since the Redemption, since the moment on Calvary when she was sent in a special way, without a formal mandate. She was sent forth with the strength of these words: “Here is your Son . . . here is your Mother . . .”.
And so from this moment she is, she becomes an expression of the Church; of the Church which by its very nature is missionary. Thus she precedes, that is to say she is always to be found at the very heart of the Church’s mission, a mission that is salvific and redemptive with a missionary thrust for evangelization. Mary is also in the midst, at the center, at the heart of this Church on mission.
Return to The Queen: Articles
The Holy Father’s Response:
Thank you for your visit, on this memorable day on which the Church, and especially the Holy See and the Church of Rome, celebrates with you the anniversary the fortieth anniversary of the sanctification . . . of the canonization of your illustrious founder, St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, whose liturgy we have just celebrated this morning . . . he was an outstanding personality in the history of the Church and especially in the history of Marian spirituality in the Church . . . that spirituality which is profoundly linked to the central mysteries of our faith; particularly the Most Holy Trinity, the Incarnation and the Redemption.
It is through these mysteries that St. Louis-Marie taught us to come to know our Lady. We could even say that Montfort has reversed the ways, or rather that he has given them a new complementarity. Traditionally one thought that it was THROUGH MARY that one went TO JESUS: he has shown us how to go THROUGH JESUS IN THESE MYSTERIES the mystery of the Trinity, of the Incarnation, of the Redemption —TO HER.
I Accept You For My All
But, obviously, these two paths of our spiritual journey complement one another. It is very important to understand this Marian spirituality of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort. It is very important to be able to say with him, as you have also said and sung this morning: “TOtus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt; accipio te in mea omnia … et ego sum servus Mariae”. This is a genuine Summary of Marian spirituality, just as we find it in the Gospel. “Accipio te in mea omnia¿!(I accept you for my all.). That is how John the Apostle accepted our Lady, beneath the Cross of Jesus on Calvary.
You have pointed out that the two elements go together: Missionary and Marian. This is characteristic of your Congregation; it is specific to your Congregation, a Congregation which owes its origin to St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort. This has been stressed in the encyclical REDEMPTORIS MATER and like-wise in the teaching of Vatican II, in LUMEN GENTIUM chapter 8: the Marian chapter entitled: “Mary in the Mystery of Christ and the Church.”
Mary Goes Before Us In Faith
Mary is present in these mysteries as the one who goes before us, who goes before us in faith, who goes before the entire People of God. Thus, we speak of this “precedence” not only in the sense of her dignity; we speak of “precedence” most of all because of her activity, her missionary activity. Mary is always on mission. She is on mission since the Incarnation; but especially since the Redemption, since the moment on Calvary when she was sent in a special way, without a formal mandate. She was sent forth with the strength of these words: “Here is your Son . . . here is your Mother . . .”.
And so from this moment she is, she becomes an expression of the Church; of the Church which by its very nature is missionary. Thus she precedes, that is to say she is always to be found at the very heart of the Church’s mission, a mission that is salvific and redemptive with a missionary thrust for evangelization. Mary is also in the midst, at the center, at the heart of this Church on mission.
Thus your missionary Congregation, which is also profoundly Marian in its inspiration; your Congregation gives a very specific expression to the spirituality of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort and, at the same time, to the spirituality which emanates from Vatican II, on which my last encyclical REDEMPTORIS MATER was merely a brief commentary.
So, on the occasion of this day, I wish you spiritual success, the success which belongs to those who have left all things to serve the Lord and who do so in a spirit of absolute and total confidence; total confidence in Mary, the Mother of the Lord, in that spirit which your Founder preached and, above all, lived so well.
Thank you very much for this encounter. May God bless you in your General Chapter, and in all your apostolic and missionary activities.
