The Secret to Consecration to Mary

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St Louis de Montfort wrote True Devotion to Mary to motivate all people to Consecrate themselves to Mary. He wrote The Secret of Mary to teach us how to live the Consecration. It is a secret because so few make the effort to live it.

In True Devotion (258) he writes,

We must do everything through Mary, that is, we must obey her always and be led in all things by her spirit, which is the Holy Spirit of God…I have said that the spirit of Mary is the Spirit of God because she was never led by her own spirit, but always by the Spirit of God, who made himself master of her to such an extent that he became her very spirit. That is why St. Ambrose says, ‘May the soul of Mary be in each one of us to glorify the Lord. Mary the spirit of Mary be in each one of us to rejoice in God.’

Montfort explains that Mary is the true and eternal Tree of Life that God wants planted in our soul by the Holy Spirit to bear her fruit which is Jesus. As we pray in the Hail Mary “Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”

The secret of Mary is to invite her constantly to come and live in our soul and to live her virtues in us so that she may form Jesus in us because Jesus is always the fruit of her womb. 

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By consecration to Mary we give ourselves unconditionally to the Holy Spirit and to Mary to form Jesus in us.

·       Since the Holy Spirit and Mary act as one,

·       and since Jesus has given Mary to us as our Mother

·       we ask Mary to come live her life and her virtues in us

·       so that she may form Jesus in us.

St. Louis de Montfort, in The Secret of Mary (55-59) writes:

55 This devotion faithfully practiced produces countless happy effects in the soul. The most important of them is that it establishes, even here on earth, Mary’s life in the soul, so that it is no longer the soul that lives, but Mary who lives in it. In a manner of speaking, Mary’s soul becomes identified with the soul of her servant. Indeed, when by an unspeakable but real grace Mary most holy becomes Queen of a soul, she works untold wonders in it. She is a great wonder-worker especially in the interior of souls…

56 As Mary is everywhere the fruitful Virgin, she produces in the depths of the soul where she dwells a purity of heart and body, a singleness of intention and purpose, and a fruitfulness in good works. Do not think, dear soul, that Mary, the most fruitful of all God’s creatures, who went as far as to give birth to a God-man, remains idle in a docile soul. She causes Jesus to live continuously in that soul and that soul to live in continuous union with Jesus…

57 To sum up, Mary becomes all things for the soul that wishes to serve Jesus Christ. She enlightens his mind with her pure faith. She deepens his heart with her humility. She enlarges and inflames his heart with her charity, makes it pure with her purity, makes it noble and great through her motherly care…

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Mary was the Mold into which the Son of God poured himself so that she could form Him.

Now, you are free to do what you like.

·       You can hammer away at yourself all you want

·       trying to make yourself into a copy of Jesus.

·       Have at it.

·       But I tried that for a long time and made little progress.

·       From now on I pour myself into the mold of God.

In the Secret of Mary Montfort writes:  

Mary is…the living mold of God. In her alone the God-man was formed in his human nature…In her alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, we are made god-like as far as human nature is capable. A sculptor can make a statue in one of two ways: By using his skill, strength, experience and good tools to produce a statue out of hard, shapeless matter; The second way is by making cast of it in a mold. The first way is long and involved and open to all sorts of accidents. It only needs a faulty stroke of the chisel or hammer to ruin the whole work. The second is quick, easy, straightforward, almost effortless and inexpensive, but the mold must be perfect and true to life and the material must… offer no resistance.  Mary is the great Mold of God, fashioned by the Holy Spirit…to fashion through grace men who are like God…Everyone who casts himself into it and allows himself to be molded will acquire every feature of Jesus Christ, with little pain or effort, as befits our weak human condition.

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Practically speaking, what should we do?

Consecrate or renew your consecration to Mary - Pour yourself into the Mold of God. Then Live the consecration. Continuously ask Mary to live her virtues in you

See - I do not know what to think or what to do and I am weak…

·       Romans 8:26 The Holy Spirit comes to help us in our weakness.

·       The Holy Spirit and Mary act as one

·       Montfort said – “the spirit of Mary is the Spirit of God because she was never led by her own spirit, but always by the Spirit of God, who made himself master of her to such an extent that he became her very spirit.”

Since I am weak and confused…

·       I ask Mary to replace my doubt with her faith

·       I ask Mary to replace my hope, my love, my prudence, justice, courage, temperance…all the virtues with hers

o   So that I may love Jesus and others with the aid of Her perfect love

All is directed to the love of Jesus and to Jesus living through me

·       But this is aided, strengthened and carried out by the Spirit of Mary which is the Holy Spirit.

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Each day and moment to moment

Ask Mary to come and live in you and through you.

Ask Mary to come to you and put her thoughts, her emotions, her choices and her virtues into you.

·       When you are tempted, ask her to bring her resistance;

·       When you are tempted to lust, say, “Mary, come with your chastity;”

·       When you start to gossip pray, “Mary, come with your silence and your good-will;”

·       When anxious, ask Mary to bring her peace and her trust;

·       When suffering, beg her to live in you her patience.

·       When you don’t feel like praying or are distracted ask Mary to pray for you.

·       When you are confused and don’t know which way to go, what decision to make – ask for her prudence, her wisdom, her courage.

If you make this a habit,

·       then by her virtues she will form Jesus in you.

Try it and be aware of what she does. You will be amazed.

Or just keep banging away on your own…oops…knocked off an arm…dang!