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THIRD MOTIVE – IT OBTAINS FOR US THE GOOD OFFICES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
I. Mary Gives Herself to Her Slave of Love. The most holy Virgin,
who is a Mother of sweetness and mercy, and who never let’s herself be outdone in love and liberality, seeing that we
give ourselves entirely to her, to honor and to serve her, and for that end strip ourselves of all that is dearest to us,
in order to adorn her, meets us in the same spirit. She also gives her whole self, and gives it in an unspeakable manner,
to him who gives all to her. She causes him to be engulfed in the abyss of her graces. She adorns him with her
merits; she supports him with her power, she illuminates him with her light; she inflames him with her love; she communicates
to him her virtues: her humility, her faith, her purity and the rest. She makes herself his bail, his supplement, and
his dear all toward Jesus. In a word, as that consecrated person is all Mary’s, so Mary is all his; after such
a fashion that we can say of that perfect servant and child of Mary what St. John the Evangelist said of himself, that he
took the holy Virgin for this own: “The disciple took her for his own” John 19:27.
145. It is this which produces in the soul, if it is faithful,
a great distrust, contempt and hatred of self, and a great confidence in and self-abandonment to the Blessed Virgin, its good
Mistress. A man no longer, as before, relies on his own dispositions, intentions, merits, virtues and good works; because;
having made an entire sacrifice of them to Jesus Christ by that good Mother, he has but one treasure now, where all his goods
are laid up, and that is no longer in himself, for his treasure is Mary. This is what makes him approach our Lord without
servile or scrupulous fear, and pray to Him with great confidence. This is what makes him share the sentiments of the
devout and learned Abbot Rupert, who alluding to the victory that Jacob gained over the angel, said to our Blessed Lady these
beautiful words: “O Mary, my Princess, Immaculate Mother of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, I desire to wrestle with that
man, namely, the Divine Word, not armed with my own merits but with yours.” Oh, how strong and mighty we are with Jesus
Christ, when we are armed with the merits and intercession of the worthy Mother of God, who, as St. Augustine says, that lovingly
vanquished the Most High.II. Mary Purifies Our Good Works, Embellishes Them and Makes Them Acceptable to Her Son
146. As by this practice we give to our Lord, by His
Mother’s hands, all our good works, that good Mother purifies them, embellishes them and makes them acceptable to her
Son.
1. She purifies them of all
the stain of self-love, and of that imperceptible attachment to created things which slips unnoticed into our best actions.
as soon as they are in her most pure and fruitful hands, those same hands, which have never been sullied or idle, and which
purify whatever they touch, take away from the present which we make her all that was spoiled or imperfect about it.
147. 2. She embellishes
our works, adorning them with her own merits and virtues. It is as if a peasant, wishing to gain the friendship and
benevolence of the king, went to the queen and presented her with a fruit which was his whole revenue, in order that she might
present it to the king. The queen, having accepted the poor little offering from the peasant, would place the fruit
on a large and beautiful dish of gold, and so, on the peasant’s behalf, would present it to the king. Then the
fruit, however unworthy in itself to be a king’s present, would become worthy of his majesty, because of the dish of
gold on which it rested and the person who presented it.
148. 3. She presents these good works to Jesus
Christ; for she keeps nothing of what is given her for herself, as if she were our last end. She faithfully passes it
all on to Jesus. If we give to her, we give necessarily to Jesus. If we praise her or glorify her, she immediately
praises and glorifies Jesus. As of old when Elizabeth praised her, so now when we praise her and bless her she sings:
“My soul doth magnify the Lord.”
149. She persuades Jesus to accept these good works,
however little and poor the present may be for that Saint of Saints and that King of Kings. When we present anything
to Jesus by ourselves and relying on our own efforts and dispositions, Jesus examines the offering, and often rejects it because
of the stains it has contracted through self-love; just as of old He rejected the sacrifices of the Jews when they were full
of their own will. But when we present Him anything by the pure and virginal hands of Him Well-beloved, we take Him
by His weak side, if it is allowable to use such a term. He does not consider so much the thing that is given Him as
the Mother who presents it. He does not consider so much whence the offering comes, as by whom it comes. Thus
Mary, who is never repelled but always well received by her Son, makes everything she presents to Him, great or small, acceptable
to His Majesty. Mary has but to present it for Jesus to accept it and be pleased with it. St. Bernard use to give
to those whom he conducted to perfection this great counsel: “When you want to offer anything to God, take care to offer
it by the most agreeable and worthy hands of Mary, unless you wish to have it rejected.”
150. Is not this what nature itself suggests to the
little with regard to the great, as we have already seen? Why should not grace lead us to do the same thing with regard
to God, Who is infinitely exalted above us and before Whom we are less that atoms?-especially since we have an advocate so
powerful that she is never refused; so ingenious that she knows all the secret ways of winning the heart of God; and so good
and charitable that she repels no one, however little and wretched he may be. …
Copyright 1941, by the Fathers of the Company of Mary
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This is an excerpt from the book for the consecration to the TRUE DEVOTION
TO MARY, by St. Louis De Monfort that I chose to add here to show you why I chose to consecrate my life to JESUS. I made that consecration on August 29, 1979 after reading that book during the month of July that
year, I could not wait for a "Feast of Mary" to consecrate myself, my whole life to JESUS through Mary, HIS Mother.
You will see that St. Louis while writing the book he used the masculine name "he, him" for his readers, but I know women
were invited to do the consecration also, I'm sure.
When I was finished reading the book I immediately started the "preparation weeks"
and I ended on the day of Aug. 29th. And on that day I had gone to Mass, which I did daily, to fulfill consecrating
myself to Jesus through Mary, and I found out that this day is the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist.
I was doubly thankful for St. John the Baptist was the very first who "saw" Jesus, in Spirit, so to say, when
Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth and when Elizabeth saw Mary, "the baby leaped in her womb" for the baby knew that
Jesus was in the Womb of Mary (Luke 1:41- 44) And so this day is not just another day of the year, so to say!
I hope you will purchase, read and consecrate yourself and others to Jesus through
his Mother Mary also. A promise I can make you is that; you will never regret that act.
I celebrated my 25th year of consecration last year, in a couple of days will
be my 26th year. I am thankful to St. Louis de Monfort for publishing this book, and the friend who introduced
me to it. And finally, I thank Mother Mary for helping me all those 26 years, I know I am who I am today because of
Her help!
Below are three book for consecration, the Preparation one in a surplus
I have for ease of yearly preparation.
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