Consecration to Mary

by Theologian Father William G. Most

God, in His Infinite Wisdom and
Goodness, has Planned that there be Many and Varied Approaches to the
Spiritual Life, so that thereby He might
Mercifully adapt His Ways to the Manifold Differences found in the
Sons of Men. Some descriptions of the Way of Perfection make it appear to be a very Complex
Process. To Saint John of the Cross, however, it is utterly Simple, so Simple that it could be summed up in
Two (2) Words: ALL - NOTHING.
God is All - to have
Him, one needs to Void himself of everything that does not Help to attain the
All. If one has any Disordered Desire whatsoever, "
... the more the Desire for that Thing fills the Soul, the less Capacity has the Soul for God". On the other hand,
"When ... the Soul voids itself of all things ... it is impossible ... that God should fail to perform His Own
Part by Communicating Himself to the Soul, at least Secretly and in Silence. It is more impossible than that the Sun should Fail to Shine in a
Serene and Unclouded Sky .... God, like the Sun, is above our Souls and ready to Communicate Himself to them". In the
Thought of Saint John, God not only sincerely
Wills the Salvation of all Men; such is His
Incomprehensible Goodness, such His Desire to give
Himself to all, that if the Soul does not become Filled with
God, the Reason is not that God for
any Reason has held-back, but Solely because the Soul
Failed to do its Part by Emptying itself to make Room for God.
The Goal, then, that Saint John proposes is, "... Union and Transformation of the Soul
with God", which "comes to pass when the Two Wills - namely that of the Soul and that of
God - are Conformed Together in One, and there is naught in the One that is repugnant to the other".
It is Remarkable how Admirably a Total Consecration to Our Lady, Accords-with Saint
John's Principles, and how Powerfully it Aids the Soul in putting these Principles
into Practice. It is True, Saint John himself, in his Major Works, does not point this out, but the Reason is not
that he did not Appreciate the Place of Mary in the Spiritual
Life - it is rather the fact that he was intent on a rather Speculative Presentation of Principles. For there is no doubt
that Saint John in his Personal Life was greatly Devoted to Mary, who seems
to have Saved his Life Miraculously on more
than one occasion. And was he not a Member of a thoroughly Marian Order, enriched with the
Special Favor of her Scapular, of which our present Holy Father wrote:
"... May it be to them a Sign of their Consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of the Immaculate
Virgin".
The picture to the right depicts Jesus with
the Carmel Scapular. (Click to enlarge)
The Consecration we have in Mind is a Total Consecration, which one not only Makes, but Lives-out most Fully, so that it affects
his Whole Life. Such a Total Consecration is found in Different Forms. Probably the Best Known is that presented by
Saint Louis de Montfort. The Consecration which the Saintly Father
Chaminade gave to his Society of Mary is substantially the same, differing only,
as the Eminent Marianist Theologian, E. Neubert, says,
"in certain Nuances". To live out a Total Consecration to
Mary means to give oneself Completely into her Hands by an entire Gift of
Oneself, so that, under the Inspiration of her Example, and with
her All Powerful Help, he may, as our present Holy Father says, "Conform
[his/her] Whole Life to her Direction and Desires". It is obvious, then, that if one really gives all to
Mary, he must thereby also Strive to Void himself of everything that would Impede him from attaining the
All. And if he tries to Fulfill not only her Commands,
but even her Desires, he must by that very fact Tend Powerfully toward that
"Union and Transformation of the Soul with God", which "Comes
to Pass when the Two Wills - namely that of the Soul and that of God - are Conformed Together in One ....". For if a
Soul, Abandoning its own Desires, tries to Conform its Whole Life to
her Desires, then, since her Will
is entirely One (1) with the Will of God,
there will be "naught in the One", the Human Will,
"that is repugnant to the other", the Will of God.
It is easy to see, therefore, what a Great Help to Spiritual Growth comes from such a
Consecration by the very fact that it so Strongly Promotes Detachment and Conformity to the Will of
God. But we must not forget also, that while our Blessed Mother,
the Mediatrix of all Graces, cares Lovingly
for all her Children, when she sees that some
are giving themselves Totally into her Hands, she
will not be outdone in Generosity, but will obtain for them the
Choicest Graces, to bring them as close as possible to her
Divine Son.
Mary's
Will =
God's Will |
Let us Examine each of these Points
more Fully
The 'Power-of-Example' is Tremendous. The great Saint Augustine, before his Conversion, though he had Reached a Point
at which he no longer felt any Intellectual Obstacle
to entering the Church, yet was Held-back by his Evil
Life. Speculative Considerations on the Goodness
of Virtue were familiar to him, but these did not Suffice. The External Means
through which Grace actually led him to Change from a Great
Sinner into a Great Saint was the 'Example' of
Saintly Men of his time, of which he Read and Heard. What then must be the Force of the Matchless 'Example' of
Mary, if one Places it before his Mind by-means-of Frequent Meditation! As Pope
Pius XII said:
Anyone who has been Consecrated to Mary belongs to her in a
Special Way .... The Love of Mary gives him the Courage to Undertake Great Things, to
Conquer Human Respect, to Shake off Egoism, to Serve and to Obey Patiently. With his
Interior Gaze fixed Steadily on her, he Falls in Love with the Purity, the Humility, the
Charity, with which the Soul of the Virgin was Resplendent.
Saint John of the Cross insists that Faith,
Hope, and Love are the True Means
of Union with God in this Life. Whoever had Faith
that could compare to Mary's Faith? Although
her own People, even the Divinely Approved
Teachers of Israel, failed to understand the Prophecies which told of the Divinity of the
Coming Messiah; although she encountered Apparent
Contradictions to what the Archangel had told her,
her Faith never Wavered. For
Gabriel had said that her Son
would Sit on the Throne of David; yet He came into His
Own, and His Own received Him not.
He was to be a Mighty King Forever, yet had
to Flee from the Wrath of the Petty Herod.
For the Thirty (30) Years of His
Hidden Life, He seemed to all Eyes, except the
Eyes of Faith, to be just an Ordinary Child - a Good Child - but still not basically different from the others. Yet
Mary never ceased to Believe and to Adore. Finally,
Dying in Public Disgrace, He Himself
cried out "My God, My God, why have You Forsaken Me?". Yet
Mary's Faith and Hope did not
Waver, and during those Dark Three (3) Days
before the First Easter, when the very Pillars of
the Church had Fallen from Belief, she remained
almost the Sole Vessel of Faith upon the Earth. In fact, since our
Lord Himself, because He always Possessed the
Beatific Vision, was Incapable of having the
Virtues of Faith and Hope, it is
plain that Mary's Faith and
Hope were greater than those of any other Soul.
Theological Virtues of Christ in Light of His Beatific Vision
Did Christ have the Virtue of Hope? After
discussing the question of Faith
(III Q.7 Art 3), Saint Thomas in the Next Article goes on
to make a Distinction in Hope. Christ did
not have Hope as it is a Theological Virtue
whose Object is God, but He did have
Hope about other things (Art 4).
Hope is about a Good unpossessed, yet
Christ possessed God in the Fullness of the
Beatific Vision. Following the Beatific Vision,
in the Intellect are Beatific Love and
Joy in the Will.
Christ had the Joy of seeing God
Face-to-Face in His Human
Intellect. He did not need to
Hope for it. But as regards lesser-things, which were the Reward of His
Triumph, such as the Glorification of
His Body,
He awaited these in Hope until His
Resurrection.
There is no question that Our Lord had the Virtue of
Charity and in the Highest Degree. Unlike
Faith and Hope, Charity is
not of itself Imperfect and is not Incompatible-with the
Beatific Vision. Indeed as Saint Paul says (1Corinthians 13:13)
Charity is greater than Faith and Hope which will pass away in the Attainment of the Vision, but Charity remains.
|
Again, it is Good for us to try - though the Attempt can never Fully Succeed - to Picture to ourselves
Mary's Love of God.
Her Divine Son said:
"He who has My Commandments and keeps them, he it is who Loves Me". The very First Picture
the Gospels give us of her provides a glimpse of her
Utter Self-Effacement before the Will of God. The
Archangel had just brought the Divine Message to
her. She who at that very Moment was Raised to the
Highest Dignity of all Creatures, to a "Dignity second only to God", as
Pope Pius XI said, replied by saying: "Behold the Slave Girl of the Lord. Be it done to
me according to thy word". Saint John of the Cross tells us that when a
Soul reaches the most Perfect Love and Conformity with the
Will of God, "God alone moves the Faculties of these Souls to do those Works which are
meet, according to the Will and Ordinance of God, and they cannot be moved to do others .... Such were those of the most Glorious Virgin, Our
Lady, who, being raised to this High Estate from the beginning, had never the Form of any Creature imprinted in her Soul, neither was
moved by such, but was invariably Guided by the Holy Spirit". Even when Saint Joseph,
the Just Man, was
Tempted to Doubt her Chastity,
and was Minded to put her away Privately, Mary would
not speak one word in her own defense, for such was the
Will of God. The Holy Spirit, Whose
ever Faithful Spouse she was, had not Moved her
to Defend herself, preferring instead to accept her
Loving Surrender to the Divine Will, and to
Inform Joseph through an Angel.
|
Mary is the "Aqueduct" or "Channel" by which God's Grace flows from Heaven's
Treasury to Mankind. To block that Channel is Deadly to the Soul.
|
Pope Pius IX, in speaking of Mary's
Holiness (and, therefore, her Love,
for these are always equal) wrote that it is so great that "None greater under God can be thought of,
and no one, except God, can comprehend it". We can comprehend to some extent the
Sanctity of even so great a Saint as Saint John of the Cross, with his Tremendous
Austerities and Burning Love. But were we to multiply his
Sanctity to the Greatest Degree of which our Minds could Conceive, we still would not
have Formed anything like an Adequate Idea of Mary's
Love and Holiness, for as Pope Pius IX said,
"No one except God can comprehend it"! Here indeed is the 'Perfect Example' of a
Soul Completely Filled with Love, Completely
Voided of Self - so Empty of Self that God has made
her the Channel through which all Graces pass to all Mankind.
Saint John of the Cross, with Keen Clarity, has Stressed that all Perfection
depends on the Union of our Wills with the Will of
God. We can do nothing more Perfect than to Conform our Will and our
Actions, as Exactly as Possible, to those of God. Let us see, then, what we can Discern of
the Will of God in regard to Mary.
Many Good Catholics, though they have a Tender Devotion to the Mother of God, may yet
Fail to Realize Fully, the Position which God has
Willed to give to her in His
Dealings with us. For although they do have a Good Knowledge of most of the Marian
Teachings of the Church, they may not have Heard of certain Less Familiar Points, and,
what is of Particular Importance, they never may have Added-together the Various Elements of the
Truth to Form a Unified Picture, and, as a result, Fail to Learn a most Important Spiritual
Lesson.
Let us, therefore, briefly attempt to Sketch such a Synthesis
From all Eternity, God had Planned for the
Mother of Christ. As Pope Pius IX
said: In the Eternal Designs of God, our Divine
Redeemer and His Blessed Mother
were provided for in One (1) and the Same
Eternal Decree. Hardly had our First Parents started Mankind on its Long Course of
Rejecting the Generous Advances of God, when
the Father, His Thoughts bent not on
Vengeance, but on Pardon, at once Promised
the Redeemer, and, in the very same sentence, spoke of a
Mysterious Woman who would be associated with
Him in Crushing the Head of the Infernal Serpent.
Many Thousands of Years later, when the Fullness of Time had come, the same
Kind Father began to put His Eternal Plan
into Execution by sending the Archangel Gabriel to ask
Mary to Consent, "in the name of the whole human race", as Pope
Leo XIII said, to become the Mother of the
Savior. Then there began what Saint Pius X described as a "never
dissociated manner of Life and Labors of the Son and the Mother". Even before His
Birth, the Savior brought Cleansing Grace to
the Unborn Precursor, Saint John the Baptist - and He did it through the
Instrumentality of His Mother
(i.e. Visitation). After the brief Glory of the Angel's
Song at Bethlehem, our Redeemer withdrew with
Mary into Obscurity, and, though
He had come to Save the World, deemed it best,
according to the Will of the Father, that He
should go down to Nazareth and be Subject-to Mary and
Joseph, Spending Thirty (30) of
His Thirty-Three (33) Years in that Marvelous Communion in
Obscure Faith, showing no Signs and Wonders. During
His Public Life, Mary appears Briefly at the
very start, Revealing her Intimate Union with Him
and her Power over His Heart, when
He, at her Request, Performed
His First Sign (at Cana), Advancing the Divinely Set Hour.
Thereafter, during the days when the crowds Acclaimed Him,
she withdrew into the Shadows, but remained ever United to
Him in the Obscurity of Faith,
Hope, and Love, and in
Meriting for us, for we know that even this time did not Interrupt that "never
Dissociated Manner of Life and Labors of the Son and the Mother". But finally, when the
Dread Hour of the Great Sacrifice had come,
Mary emerged from the Shadows into the far-more
Obscure Dark Night that Hung-over Calvary.
There, as Pope Benedict XV said, "With her Suffering and Dying Son, Mary endured Suffering and
almost Death". For her Sufferings
were Proportioned-to His Indescribable Torment,
and to her Love for
Him, which was so great that "no one except God can Comprehend it".
"She gave up her Mother's Rights over her Son to Procure the Salvation of Mankind, and, to Appease the Divine
Justice, she, as much as was hers to do, Immolated her Son". Therefore, as Saint Pius X wrote:
"She Merited for us Congruously ... what Christ Merited Condignly", or, to continue with
the words of Pope Benedict XV, "one can rightly say that together with Christ she has
Redeemed the Human Race". Hence, as most Theologians understand these Words of the Popes, we arrive at the Tremendous
Conclusion that what the Eternal Father accepted as the
Price of our Salvation was a Joint
Offering, made by the New Adam, with the Co-operation of the
New Eve: He, alone Sufficient and
Necessary, alone Paying a Superabundant Ransom;
she, in her Inferior Way, Joining-in the
Offering, so that, to paraphrase Saint Pius X:
she Paid Congruously (Harmoniously) the
Price that Christ Paid
Condignly (Worthily). For the Goodness and
Generosity of the Eternal Father was so Great that
He Willed to Accept even her Lesser, and in itself,
Insufficient Offering, as 'Fused', so to speak, with His
Great Offering, into One (1) Great Price of the
Ransom of all.
But the Dark Night of Calvary soon passed,
and the Bridegroom Himself Rose in Glory. Just
as His Resurrection was, in the Words of Pope Pius XII,
"an Essential Part and Final Sign of this Victory" over
Sin and Death, so also that
Struggle which was common to the Blessed Virgin
and her Son had to be closed by the
Glorification of her
Virginal Body. In other words, since Mary's Cooperation had been so
much an Integral Part of the obtaining of
Redemption that the "struggle ... was common" to
both, a Common Cause had-to-have a Common Effect. In Christ, this Effect was the
Resurrection: in Mary, it would be the
Assumption.
Then, in Everlasting Splendor, "He, the Son of God, Reflects on
His Heavenly Mother the Glory, the Majesty, and the Dominion of His Kingship. For, having been Associated with the King of Martyrs in the
unspeakable Work of Human Redemption as Mother and Co-operatrix, she remains forever associated to Him, with an almost Unlimited Power,
in the Distribution of the Graces that flow from the Redemption .... And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is
excluded from her Dominion". Hence by this "Royal Power ... she is able to Dispense the
Treasures of the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer". Or, as Pope Leo XIII expressed it:
"... Absolutely Nothing of that Great Treasury of Grace which the Lord brought us ... is given to us except
Through Mary, for such is the Will of God: so that just as no one can go to the Most High Father except Through the Son, in much the same way,
no one can come to Christ except Through His Mother". There are no Exceptions - even the
Graces of the Sacraments, even Infused
Contemplation and the Choicest Fruits of the
Holy Spirit come Through Mary. For was it not even
True that on the First
Pentecost, as our present Holy Father said: "She it was who, by her most Mighty Prayers,
obtained that the Spirit of the Divine Redeemer, already given on the Cross, should be Bestowed on the new-born Church ... in the Company
of Miraculous Gifts".
We see, then, that Mary is Inseparable from her
Divine Son. As Pope Pius XII said, she
is "Always Sharing His lot" and "always most Intimately
United with her Son ....". There is and always has been a "Never Dissociated Manner of
Life and Labors of the Son and the Mother". We might sum it all up in a Brief Word: Mary's
Role, according to the Will of God, is best described as all-pervading.
She is Everywhere in His Dealings with us.
She Shared Intimately in Earning all Graces,
she Shares Equally in Distributing every Grace.
Would it not, then, be an excellent means of Conformity-with the Ways of God if we would
give to her an Equally all-Pervading Place in our own Spiritual
Lives, by Making and Living a Total Consecration to her?
It is obvious, then, that if One really Lives-out a Life of Total Consecration to Mary,
our Mother, our Most Glorious Queen, the
Inseparable Associate of Christ in all
His Works, he will find therein a Most Powerful Help toward Carrying-out the Ideals set
before us by Saint John of the Cross. For he is thereby brought more fully under the Powerful Attractiveness of the
Perfect Example of Mary's
Virtues. He is led to Hate, and to Void himself of all that is Disordered,
by his attempt to "Conform [his] whole life to her Direction and her Desires". His
Will is drawn gradually into Complete Conformity with
Mary's Will, which is ever in Perfect Unison with the
Will of God. Even his very manner of seeking to achieve Conformity-with the Will of
God by Conformity-with the Will of Mary is
particularly in Accord-with God's Good Pleasure, for, if one gives to
Mary an all-Pervading Role in his Spiritual Life, he is thereby
Imitating the Ways of God, Who gives to
Mary an all-Pervading Place in all His Dealings
with us. And if, in carrying out his Total Consecration, one goes so far as to give to Mary
the Right to Dispose of all his Spiritual Treasures - and a really Total Consecration
naturally implies this - he is thereby Imitating most closely the Example of Christ the King,
Who makes His
Queen and Mother His
Treasurer, without whom absolutely no
Grace is given to Mankind. It is obvious, further, that in surrendering to
Mary even the Disposition of his Dearest Treasures, he is Greatly Aided in avoiding
Attachments which, as Saint John of the Cross points out so well, can
Lurk in even the Holiest Things. Finally, the
Soul is aided to accomplish these things not only by the Inherent Tendency of the Consecration to Promote Detachment and
Conformity to the Will of God: for Mary, our
Queen and Mother, the all-Powerful
Mediatrix of all Graces, while
she cares Lovingly for all
her Children, has a still greater, most Special Love and Assistance for
those who Joyfully give themselves Totally into her Hands.
It is easy to see, then, how True are the Words of Saint Pius X:
For who does not know that there is no more certain and easy way than Mary to Unite all with Christ, and
to attain through Him the Perfect Adoption of sons that we may be Holy and Immaculate in the Sight of God?
End of 'Consecration to Mary'
by Theologian Father William G. Most


A Rule of Life for Those Consecrated
to the Immaculate Virgin
by Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe
1. I must be a Saint and a Great Saint.
2. For the Glory of God, I must Save myself and all Souls, Present and Future, through the Immaculate.
3. Before anything else, Flee not only from Mortal, but also from deliberate Venial Sin.
4. Do not permit:
a. that Evil remain without Reparation and Destruction; or
b. that Good be without Fruit or Increase.
5. Let your Rule be Obedience to the Will of God through the Immaculate. I am nothing but an Instrument.
6. Think of what you are doing. Do not be Concerned about anything else, whether Bad or Good.
7. Preserve Order, and Order will Preserve you.
8. Peaceful and Benevolent Action.
9. PreparationActionConclusion.
10. Remember that you belong Exclusively, Unconditionally, Absolutely, Irrevocably to the Immaculate: Whoever you are, whatever you
have or can, whatever you do (Thoughts, Words, Action) and endure (Pleasant, Unpleasant, Indifferent things) belong to the Immaculate.
Consequently, may She dispose of them according to Her Will (and not yours). In the same way, it belongs to Her all your Intentions;
therefore, may She Transform them, add others, take them away, as She likes (in fact, She does not Offend Justice).
You are an Instrument in Her Hand, therefore do only what She wants; accept everything like a Child to his
own Mother, Trust Her in everything. Take an Interest about Her, Her Veneration, Her Things and let Her take care of you and your Loved
Ones. Recognize that everything you have comes from Her and nothing from you. All the Fruits of your Activities depend on the Union
with Her, in the same way as She is an Instrument of the Divine Mercy.
O Immaculate, my Life (every moment of it), my Death (where, when and how) and my Eternity belongs totally
to You. Of everything, You do whatever You like.
Amen

|