Woman of Faith: Pentecost
Fr. J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
The Third Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, is at the very heart of St. Louis
de Montfort’s Marian Spirituality.
Woman of Faith: Pentecost
The outpouring of the Spirit—a new Pentecost— this can be called the fundamental goal of the preaching of Saint Louis de Montfort, L1ke Mary, we are to surrender to the overshadowing Spirit so that Christ may be formed within us for the glory of the Father. Saint Louis’ purpose is clear; to form an army of men and women permeated with the Infinite Spirit, which will “renew the face of the earth and reform the Church”. (cf. Prayer for Missionaries, #17; True Devotion, #56-59, #214).
Saint Louis de Montfort’s devotion to Our Lady has as its target the integration of Mary’s total abandonment to the Spirit, for it is the Spirit alone who forms “all divine persons outside of the Trinity,” as Montfort so powerfully proclaims in his Payer for Missionaries, #15.
Holy Spirit, be ever mindful that it is you who, with Mary as your faithful Spouse, are to bring Earth and fashion the children of God. In her and with her, you brought forth the Head of the Church and, in the same may, you will bring all his members into being. Within the Trinity, none of the divine Persons is begotten by you. Outside the Trinity, you are the begetter of all the children of Gad. All the saints who have ever existed or will exist to the end of time, will be the outcome of your love working through Mary.
We All Must Be . . .
Divine Wisdom takes root within us through the power of Mary’s “Dwelling Place”, the Omnipotent Spirit. “For this reason, the more the Spirit finds Mary, his dear and inseparable spouse in a soul, the more powerful and effective he becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul and that soul in Jesus Christ”. (TD, #20).
If we lack the boldness of the early Church, if our faith is so weak, then for Saint Louis de Montfort, the reason is evident; we are not men and women permeated with the Spirit of the Risen Lord for we are ignoring Mary, the woman of our race through whom the Spirit forms the Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom. “One of the main reasons why the Holy Spirit does not now work striking wonders in souls is that he fails to find in them a sufficiently close union with his faithful and inseparable spouse, Mary”. (TD, #36).
This pattern of the Holy Spirit is clearly outlined in Luke’s Annunciation narrative. The Word becomes flesh through the power of the Spirit overshadowing Mary. The more we resemble Mary, the more we share in her total surrender; then the more intensely will the Holy Spirit create us a new person in Christ Jesus.
. . . Permeated with the Spirit
The third glorious mystery of the Rosary—the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles – is then, at the heart of Montfortian Spirituality. It is nothing less than a fiery deluge of pure love. (Prayer for Missionaries, #17). We ardently beg, as the missionary does, that the “grace of the mystery of Pentecost may come down into our hearts.”
Madonna and Child: painter Elisabetta Sirani: 1663
Elisabetta took over the studio of her father Giovanni Sirani in 1654-1655. This painting resides in the National Museum of Woman Arts in Washington, DC.
“God IS Love”. Now if God is Supreme, Infinite Lover, there must be a Beloved. Who is the Beloved of God?
As Saint Louis de Montfort details in his Love of the Eternal Wisdom, the definite Beloved can only be found within the Godhead; the Eternal Wisdom, the Second Person of the Trinity. Uniting the Lover (Father) and the Beloved (Son) is the Infinite Loving (the Holy Spirit). Our One God is therefore dynamic Love, three personal, intrinsic modes of Infinite Lover, Beloved, Loving; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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But Who is this Spirit?
For the followers of Saint Louis de Montfort, the Spirt cannot be “the forgotten Person of the Trinity”. His writings abound with references to the Spirit and he himself was considered by all who knew him as a truly charismatic preacher, a powerful voice of the Holy Spirit. But again—who is this Spirit?
Who Is This Spirit? He Cannot be “The Forgotten Person of the Trinity”
We begin with the foundational statement of our Catholic faith, “God IS Love”. (1 Jn 4.8,16). Now if God is Supreme, Infinite Lover, there must be a Beloved. Who is the Beloved of God? As Saint Louis de Montfort details in his Love of the Eternal Wisdom (cf. #16), the definite Beloved can only be found within the Godhead; the Eternal Wisdom, the Second Person of the Trinity. Uniting the Lover (Father) and the Beloved (Son) is the Infinite Loving (the Holy Spirit). Our One God is therefore dynamic Love, three personal, intrinsic modes of Infinite Lover, Beloved, Loving; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is, then, the Infinite Loving of the Father and the Son, binding them together as the Loving is bound to Father and Son. It is this Infinite Loving who is poured out upon us at Pentecost. The Spirit of Loving, gifted to us by the Father and the Son – this is Pentecost. The Spirit is then, as Scripture teaches, the One who unites us all in one Body, who consoles, who supports, who teaches, who strengthens, who brings us into the very life of God. How much we need a Pentecost today!
The Spirit: Gifted to Us by the Father and Son
Montfort must have prayed this third glorious mystery with an incomparable zeal and yearning. He awaits the “Age of the Spirit”, when the fire of the Infinite Loving of God will inflame the earth. When will this come about? When we are so intimately one with Mary, the special dwelling place of the Spirit. Praying the third glorious mystery is, then, to unite ourselves to Mary’s total “surrender to the Holy Spirit; so that through the recitation of the Rosary, a new Pentecost – a daily Pentecost – may take place within us.
For Montfort, it is erroneous to think of Pentecost as a past event; it is a present-moment happening to all who surrender – like Mary – to the Infinite Loving of God.
When we meditate on Pentecost, there can be no if’s, no but’s, no maybe’s. It must be a total, loving release of every aspect of our being to the overshadowing Spirit. In other words, we must be like Mary. And it is in reciting the Rosary that we experience Mary’s deep influence; enabling us to share in her total surrender. No wonder that Montfort believed that the daily recitation of the Rosary could change the face of the earth!
The Spirit Must Find a Devotion to Our Lady
Meditating on the third glorious mystery enables us to share in the Omnipotence of God, Loving. Empowered with this dynamic, Infinite Loving – the Holy Spirit – we are deeply united to the Lover and the Beloved and to all who are the beloved of God in Jesus Christ, especially the poor, the neglected, the oppressed.
Montfort renewed the Church through his truly charismatic preaching, bringing about new Pentecosts wherever he went. The results he saw were so startling that he prayed for a new congregation at missionary priests who would be “new preachers of Love,” (cf Cantiques, 47:26), proclaimers of the Holy Spirit who comes to us through the faith of Mary. Then, renewed in our Baptism in Christ Jesus, through us the face of the earth will be renewed and the Church reformed.
The third glorious mystery encapsulates Montfort’s spirit. With him, we meditate on the mystery of Pentecost, praying:
“Come, O Holy Spirit, Father of Lights, Come, O God of Charity! Form in us a true spirit of prayer, show us the Truth. Pour into our hearts a burning coal of your Infinite Fire which will penetrate and fill us with the infinite Flame of God“! (cf Cantiques, 141:1).
(To Be Continued)
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