CLEARING THE AIR

CLEARING THE AIR

In his Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, . . .

. . . St. Louis de Montfort considered it necessary to give a rather elaborate discussion; to explain the nature and meaning of true devotion to Our Lady as opposed to counterfeit or false devotion. As an experienced missionary and popular preacher, he was well aware that the average man and woman of his time sometimes faced difficulty in distinguishing one from the other.

He was writing, as he well knew, for people whose religious education had been pretty badly neglected; he wrote for those who often could not see the difference between superstitious practices and real religion.

THIS DEVOTION GIVES MORE GLORY TO GOD

But his main purpose in composing his Treatise was not so much to explain the various practices of devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Rather, to persuade his readers to accept, and to put in practice, the particular form of Marian devotion that he had advocated throughout his priestly and missionary career.

“I maintain,” he points out, “that having read nearly all the books that treat of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and having conversed with the holiest and most knowledgeable people of today, I have never known or heard of any form of devotion to the Blessed Virgin equal to the one I wish to explain. More than any other, this devotion demands sacrifice for God; it empties us of self-love, preserves us faithfully in grace and grace in us; and unites us perfectly and easily with Jesus Christ. Finally, it gives more glory to God, is more sanctifying and does more for the welfare of our neighbor.”

It is obvious that such a form of devotion is one that Montfort held in high regard.

But he makes it perfectly clear that the devotion he is about to explain is not to be considered as something automatic. Like every devotion, it must have all the characteristics of a devotion that is true and good. This is why he took so much time to explain the meaning and nature of genuine, as opposed to false, devotion.

THIS DEVOTION WILL NOT BE EQUALLY UNDERSTOOD BY ALL

“Since the essential thing,” he writes, “is the interior that this devotion ought to form, it will not be equally understood by all”.  Some people will stop only at what is exterior in it; others may fail to develop and nurture it as they should. But, if properly practiced, it will have all the advantages that he describes. Like any other form of devotion, the Montfort consecration will bear fruit depending on how much effort we put in to living up to it.

Montfort calls his form of consecration “a perfect renewal of the vows and promises of Baptism”. As he explains: “Before Baptism, every Christian was a slave of the devil … In Baptism, the Christian, either by himself or through his godparents, solemnly renounces Satan, his works and his pomps, and takes Jesus Christ for his Master and sovereign Savior, in order to depend upon Him in loving slavery”. It is through Baptism, and the promises that we make to God to live up to the consequences of this sacrament, that we become members of Christ’s Mystical Body, members of His Church, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

GIVING ALL TO JESUS THROUGH MARY

What the Montfort form of consecration does is make this renewal explicit; and add to it the further obligation of giving to Jesus through Mary all the value of our prayers and good works. And we do this so that Christ and our Blessed Lady may dispose of this value as they see fit. Clearly, they will do so for the greater glory of God and the welfare of mankind.

In itself, this consecration is, as Montfort explains, a beautifully simple and effective way for us to belong totally to Christ and Our Lady, to honor them both and to be certain that the value of our prayers and good actions will be used for the welfare of souls, including our own.

But before delving into a deeper and more elaborate explanation of this form of devotion, it might be good to consider some of the more popular objections to the Montfort consecration. In this way, we can offset some of the main difficulties right from the start.

OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS TO THIS DEVOTION

First of all, there is the expression “slavery of Jesus and Mary”, a manner of speaking that causes unnecessary trouble for many people.

It is, to begin with, only an expression. Montfort used it because, to his mind, it conveyed the idea of total belonging to Christ and Our Lady. He had little practical experience (if any) with the horrors and degradation of the practice of slavery as we know it from our history books. So, if the expression bothers you, simply forget about it; and speak of total belonging or total consecration to Christ and His Mother. There is really no good purpose served in allowing ourselves to get upset over a word. The English language is rich enough to enable us to find a substitute for “slavery.”

And then there is the continually recurring question. “If I give the value of all my prayers and good works to Christ and Our Lady, will I be able to pray for relatives, friends, benefactors, the souls in Purgatory? And what is left for me if I give away everything?”

This is, of course, a rather natural and human way of looking at things. Nobody wants to be left destitute in the spiritual order, or made incapable of praying for himself and for others. But a little reflection will show that the objection is really groundless.

DEEPENING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF PRAYER

It springs, as Montfort points out, from an unconscious and unintended lack of trust in the goodness and generosity of Christ and Our Lady. “We cannot believe,” writes Montfort, “that our friends, relatives and benefactors will suffer any loss because we are devoted and consecrated to Our Lord and His holy Mother. This would be unjust to the power and goodness of Jesus and Mary; they who know perfectly well how to help our friends, relatives and benefactors, whether it is out of our small revenue or by some other way.”

A third difficulty: that of prayer to the saints. People sometimes get the impression that the Montfort consecration demands that we pray only to Christ and Our Lady. But the total consecration implies nothing of the sort. There is no reason why we cannot pray to a favorite saint if we wish to do so. In fact, with this devotion there will come a gradual deepening of our understanding of the value of prayer to the saints; and our prayer to them will be far better than otherwise.

(We shall continue this development of the Montfort form of consecration in subsequent issues of The Queen.)