Q&A: Since there is so much emphasis on Mary, where does the Holy Spirit come into the life of someone pledged to Montfort’s Spirituality? Christ left us the Holy Spirit, the helper. Does the Spirituality ignore the Holy Spirit?
Fr. James McMillan, SMM
Submitted by: JK., No. Olmsted, OH
Does Montfort Ignore The Holy Spirit?
There is one thing that the Montfort Spirituality does not do, and that is to ignore the Holy Spirit. Montfort’s entire spirituality is based on the union of the Holy Spirit and our Blessed Lady in bringing Christ to the world. They were associated with each other, he explains, in bringing Christ into the world the first time and they will be associated with each other until the very end of time in producing Christ in the souls of human beings.
St. Paul pointed out: “It is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me.” This is the whole point of Christian spirituality: Christ living within us. (Montfort characterized this presence of Christ within us in his own particular way. He called it “the possession of Christ, the Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom.”).
We can obtain this possession of Christ, or this living of Christ within us, only in the way established by God. Christ’s physical presence among us was brought about through the cooperation of our Blessed Lady with the Holy Spirit: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.” His spiritual presence among us, His living within us, comes about in the same way: through the cooperation of Our Blessed Lady with the Holy Spirit.
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The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities, Spanish Painter: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo:: 1681-82
This wonderful painting depicting the Heavenly and Earthly Trinities resides in the National Gallery, in London. This artist’s work exists in over a dozen locations within this website. Three may be found here, here and here.
