Q&A: My dad, now deceased, had made the Montfort Consecration when he was a young man. The way I understand it, he pledged never to pray for himself or anyone else. I loved my dad very much and he was a good person; however, he did not reflect that inner peace that Christ has promised us. I am a happily married woman and I can’t imagine a life with my mate without shared prayer. It is the heart of our marriage. How can a theory be right that strips us of a gift and tool that Christ has given to us through this life— the prayers of one for another?
Father James McMillan, SMM
Submitted by JK., No. Olmsted, OH
Praying For Others: Is It Not Allowed?
Your father was the victim of an unfortunate misunderstanding. There is nothing at all in the Montfort form of consecration to Jesus through Mary that prevents people from praying for each other. Prayer, including prayer for others, is a Christian duty. That duty cannot be overlooked or suppressed by any vow, promise or form of consecration.
What the Montfort consecration stipulates is this: we leave the value of our prayers and good works in the hands of our Blessed Lady for her to distribute as she sees fit, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. There is no reason in the world why we cannot – or should not – ask her to give the value of our prayers to some particular person. She certainly knows our needs better than we do, and she certainly cares a great deal more for our family and friends than we could ever care for them.
We Should Pray For Others
In the Montfort consecration we not only may pray for others, we definitely should pray for them. All we do is to leave the final decision up to Our Lady, trusting that her knowledge, goodness and generosity far exceed ours.
It looks as though someone gave your father the wrong idea of what the Montfort consecration entails. St. Louis de Montfort made it very clear that it does not do away with our obligation to pray for others. On the contrary, he insisted that his form of consecration would enable us to pray with much more faith and confidence, for we no longer depend solely on our own goodness and merits to help others. We do far better than that: we put our trust in the Mother of God herself to assist the people for whom we pray. It is impossible to put the value of our prayers and good works in better hands.
It is indeed a pity that your father understood the Montfort consecration as something that, as you say, “strips us of a gift and tool that Christ has given us through this life – the prayers of one for another.” However, it is important to remember that the Good Lord and His Blessed Mother are wise enough and generous enough to compensate for human error. No one suffers as a result of an honest mistake, a misunderstanding that results from good intentions. Put your trust in God and our Blessed Lady. There is no way to outdo them in generosity.
