Q&A: INTERCESSION NOT INTERFERENCE: Please Explain
Father James McMillan, SMM
PM, Ottawa, Ont. Canada
This is the short version of the longer question that appears below.
The following passage is from the book True Devotion to Mary. “On the contrary’, when you are bold enough to approach God without a mediator, God flies from you, and you cannot reach him. Oh, how He loves humility of heart! It is to this humility that this devotion induces us. Why? Because it teaches us never to draw nigh, of ourselves, to Our Lord, however sweet and merciful He may be; but always to avail ourselves of the Intercession of our Blessed Lady, whether it be to appear before God, or to speak to him, or to draw near to Him, or to offer Him anything, or to unite and consecrate ourselves to Him.”
Question:
Does this mean we should never speak to God, even to praise him or to thank him or to adore Him for all His wonderful blessings? Please explain as fully as possible so that I may understand what he means by this passage.
INTERCESSION . . .
St. Louis de Montfort, like any other writer, had the people of his own time in mind when he wrote.
And, again like any other writer, he had his own way of expressing himself. Popular writers of all times have resorted to various figures of speech to make their ideas clear and interesting. St. Louis de Montfort is no exception.
Please remember that his book is not a treatise on theology. He is a devotional writer, not a philosopher or a scientist. His object is to persuade people to deepen their piety.
So, when he tells us that:
“… when you are bold enough to approach God without a mediator, God flies from you and you cannot reach Him”, please bear in mind that he is expressing himself figuratively. He knows, and everyone else knows, that God does not literally fly away from you so that you cannot get near Him. He is simply making the point as graphically as possible that we should not attempt to exclude the mediators that God has given us.
Montfort is reminding us here of the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ; that we are all one with Christ our Head and with Mary our Mother; that when we pray, we pray along with them and with all the members of Christ’s Body. He is telling us that there is really no such thing as a private prayer, that all our prayers and good works are united to the prayers and good works of the entire Church, the Body of Christ.
. . . NOT INTERFERENCE?
Yes, certainly we must and should speak to God our Father; to praise Him and thank Him and adore Him. We do this in our prayers at Mass when we ask His blessings through the intercession of Christ our Lord, our Blessed Lady and the Saints. Montfort reminds us that we are never alone; we have Christ as our Mediator, Our Blessed Lady as our Mediatrix, and the angels and saints as our helpers and companions.
Return to The Queen: Q&A
He knows, and everyone else knows, that God does not literally fly away from you so that you cannot get near Him. He is simply making the point as graphically as possible that we should not attempt to exclude the mediators that God has given us.
The Madonna at Prayer: Italian Artist: Sassoferrato
This artwork has a filter, placed by The Queen, on top of the painting to give it a different look.
