How Montfortian Spirituality Influences Our Living the Gospel

Introduction

My wife Vittoria and I have been members of The Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts since 2015, and we have been asked to briefly discuss how Montfortian Spirituality has influenced our Living the Gospel.

The definition of a Christian is one who shares in the life of Jesus. My wife and I thought we were doing just that for many years. We had been blessed with loving Catholic parents that taught us our faith and we attended Mass weekly and on Holy Days; we raised our children the same way.  We loved God and honored Mary; we prayed, but not regularly. I had attended a Catholic college; we sent our children to Catholic school and Catholic colleges. My wife taught religious education for many years. While all of this was good, we both wanted to learn more about our faith, and yearned for a deeper relationship with Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother Mary.

Sometime later, my wife took a religious course offered at our parish, which opened up a new world for us. My wife would share all that she learned and discussed. We both yearned for more, and in light of that we were directed to the Montfortian Shrine on Long Island.

Montfort Spirituality Influences

In studying Fr. de Montfort’s writings and becoming Queen of All Hearts members, we discovered a newfound joy and abundant blessings as we came to understand the significance of being devoted to Jesus through Mary. Years of studying theology in college did not make as great an impact on my life as did studying Montfort Spirituality.

Living the Gospel is a broad topic. For us, now, Living the Gospel means to be generous and charitable to all, and perform all our daily life activities out of our love for Our Lord.

Montfortian Spirituality Enables A Deeper Relationship With Our Lord and Our Lady

For my wife and I, we had not known the true meaning of Living the Gospel until we began to achieve a deeper relationship with Our Lord and Our Lady. This relationship began when we became members of Queen of All Hearts. For us, now, we believe it is nearly impossible to Live the Gospel without this deeper relationship. It was out of our love for Our Lord and Our Lady … a yearning to be a Holy Slave of Jesus Through Mary … that has blessed us with the great gift of sharing in the life of Jesus in a more meaningful way.

For us, Living Our Consecration to Jesus Through Mary is a daily joy. We cannot envision a life without saying our daily prayers together, or without continually growing in our faith through attending regular Mass, formative meetings, retreats and religious study. All our actions, all our decisions in life, are made with Devotion to Our Lord Through Mary.

Now when we Live the Gospel – when we live our life – we do so with the joy and gratitude of a confident and stronger love for Our Lord and Our Lady. We volunteer as often as possible. My wife has sung in the Queen of All Hearts’ Music Ministry. I tend to the Queen of All Hearts’ website and other technology needs. I have been collaborating on an ongoing project to bring the Queen of All Hearts Magazine (The Queen) to various digital platforms in order to republish these spiritual treasures. At times, we meet with other Queen of All Hearts members to pray together, socialize and volunteer; these members have also become our dearest friends!

Promoting His Reign Through Mary

We are so proud and grateful to say Queen of All Hearts has become a major part of our lives. Our involvement as a couple in the Association has had far reaching effects and extends far beyond our group members to our families, friends, co-workers and all those we meet. They see in us the great impact Mary, Queen of All Hearts has had on our lives.

The immense joy we share, and the lives we lead, comes from growing ever closer to Our Lord through His most Holy Mother Mary. It is a gift beyond compare. Thank you for allowing us to share our joy with you today.

Promoting the Reign of Jesus Through Mary,
Richard and Vittoria
Long Island, NY: Queen of All Hearts Members Since 2015

Originally written for an Italian Montfort Publication in 2021

Reprinted for The Queen, 2024