Question

Dear Father Angelo,

I follow with great pleasure and enthusiasm the section of your website on responses to the faithful, which I find very helpful and sincere. Some time ago, I began reading “True Devotion to the Virgin Mary” by Saint Louis Marie de Montfort. The text is at times fascinating, at times prophetic, and even quite rigorous in some of its Marian teachings: this strongly encourages one to be deeply devoted to Our Lady and to erase any traces of heresy and pride that may reside within one’s heart toward her.

For some time now, I have decided to guard my chastity, being a young engaged but unmarried person, adding to this exercise of chastity the daily rosary (I prefer the Latin one) and perhaps some other moments of evening meditation or Eucharistic adoration on Thursdays in church.

Thus, I developed the desire to try to draw closer to Jesus and Mary in a deeper and more radical way…

So, several days ago, I began the month of preparation, to then recite, at the end, the prayer of consecration to Jesus through Mary. Here, I would like to ask you a few questions to better understand this type of consecration and its effects:

1. From the text, I understood that this prayer of entrustment and servitude to Jesus through Mary is intended to renew the effects of baptism, to begin again despite the infidelity to the promises a believer has made over the years. It is therefore a type of prayer intended for lay people as well, not just religious (or those who necessarily intend to become religious). Have I understood correctly?

2. Furthermore, Montfort makes it clear that with this consecration, a person renounces their entire self, not only soul and body, but also their actions and the merits derived from them. So, a person is no longer the master of their actions? What happens to their merits? Must one place one’s hope solely in Mary, who will protect and bear fruit in them?

3. Furthermore, as human beings who, though good and perfect, are prone to sin, is the gravity of that sin greater for a devout person who sincerely consecrates himself and then falls into some sin by virtue of his consecration? Obviously, the desire of those who decide to place themselves in Mary’s hands is to serve Christ as righteously as possible and not even consider the idea of ​​erring, but it is also true that sometimes we humans can fall, God forbid.

Thank you in advance for your willingness to clarify my questions.

Warm greetings from Sicily, and a prayer from me!

Francesco.

Praise and glory be to Jesus Christ!

Reply from the priest

Dear Francesco,

1. We must thank the Lord for having inspired you to live your engagement chastely and for having granted you a special strength precisely for this purpose.

The way that communicates this strength to you is the prayer of the Holy Rosary, which unites you to Christ and Mary and makes them present with their saving omnipotence in your life.

2. I also take this opportunity to say a few words about consecration to Mary as described by Montfort.

3. I begin by clarifying the meaning of a word used by this saint: servitude to Jesus through Mary.

Some people are shocked when they hear the word slavery.

It’s true that this word can be a symbol of tyranny.

But evidently this is not the meaning of this word when it is used in reference to the Madonna.

4. To illustrate its meaning, I can start with an example: in this world, there are many people who are slaves to sin and boast about it.

Why should we be surprised if someone wants to call themselves a slave to a person they love?

I think it is part of the logic of love, and more specifically of falling in love, to make oneself a slave in a good sense to the loved one.

We say to her: I am completely at your disposal. I am happy to live with you and for you. It is not a humiliation for me to call myself your slave, but a boast.

5. Having clarified this, it is immediately clear that entrusting oneself to Mary is not something outside of logic or the Gospel.

Indeed, the Gospel itself says so.

From the cross, Jesus said to Mary: “Woman, behold, your son” (John 19:26) and to John: “Son, behold, your mother” (John 19:27).

And John, moved by the Spirit of Jesus, immediately “took her into his home” (Jn 19:27).

6. This same John, the author of the fourth Gospel, describes this mutual trust in a context in which it is said: “This was how the Scripture was fulfilled” (Jn 19:24), “so that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (Jn 19:28).

This is why the Jerusalem Bible comments: “The scriptural context and the unique nature of the title “Woman” seem to indicate that the evangelist sees here an act that goes beyond simple filial piety: the proclamation of the spiritual motherhood of Mary, the new Eve, towards believers, represented by the beloved disciple” (Note on Jn 19:26).

Therefore, this mutual trust with Mary is grafted onto our very being Christians, into our Baptism.

It is therefore not something extraneous to or extraneous to the Gospel.

It is not something that is not written into our very baptismal DNA.

7. What does this entrustment or consecration to Mary consist of?

Montfort discusses it in the third chapter of his treatise.

First of all, he distinguishes true devotion or entrustment to Mary from false devotion, which is entirely external, presumptuous, inconstant, hypocritical, or self-interested.

Montfort dedicates himself to considering only the true devotion.

And he seems to consider it as a virtue or disposition of the soul that, like all virtues, has its stages or degrees of growth.

This distinction is important because true consecration is not achieved all at once, at least not in the ordinary way.

8. The first stage consists of praying to Mary at certain times of the day, such as at the sound of the countryside announcing the Angelus (morning, noon, and evening).

Then it is expressed in certain sentiments that lead to greater veneration, esteem, trust, and love for Our Lady, such as praying the Rosary every day.

Thirdly, this entrustment leads to giving oneself entirely to Mary, to be totally consecrated through her to Our Lord.

9. Father Garrigou Lagrange says that “consecration consists in promising Mary to have filial and constant recourse to her and to live in habitual dependence on her gaze, in order to arrive at a more intimate union with Our Lord and, through Him, with the Most Holy Trinity that lives within us” (The Mother of the Savior and Our Interior Life, p. 315).

The great Dominican continues: “The reason is that God wishes to use Mary in the sanctification of souls, after having used her in the Incarnation” (ibid.).

10. Now, in the Incarnation, God has filled her with a new and most excellent sanctification, superior to that which she had received in the first instant of her existence.

According to St. Thomas, Mary received this new and most excellent sanctification to spread her grace, or to communicate it, to all those she would encounter.

This was true for Elizabeth, who, upon meeting Mary, was filled with the Holy Spirit. This was also true for John the Baptist, and certainly also for St. Joseph and all the others.

In this way, says Montfort, “the Most High made her the sole treasurer of his treasures and the sole dispenser of his graces to ennoble, elevate, and enrich whomever She wills, to lead whomever she wills into the narrow path of heaven… Jesus is everywhere and always the fruit and the Son of Mary: Mary is everywhere the true tree that bears the fruit of life and the true mother who produces it” (Treatise on True Devotion to Mary, Chapter I, a. 1, no. 44).

Mary’s entire intention for us is that described by Saint Paul with these words: “I am in travail again until Christ be formed in you” (Gal 4:19).

11. There is, therefore, a bond of motherhood by which Our Lady can do everything for us.

And it is for this reason that, according to Montfort, we are invited to abandon ourselves totally to her, indeed to place all that is ours into her hands so that she may dispose of it according to the will of her Son.

Here is the most explicit part of the formula indicated by Montfort: “I choose you today, O Mary, in the presence of the entire heavenly court, as my Mother and Mistress.

I abandon and consecrate myself, as a slave, my body and my soul, my interior and exterior goods, and the very value of my good actions, past, present, and future, leaving you the full and complete right to dispose of me and all that belongs to me, without exception, for the greater glory of God in time and eternity.”

12. This is a heroic act of charity, not a vow, but a promise.

With these words, we are advised to give Mary our external goods, if we have any, so that she may preserve us from all attachment to earthly things and inspire us to make the best use of them.

We likewise give her our body and our senses so that she may preserve them in perfect purity.

Finally, we surrender to her our soul, our faculties, our spiritual goods, our virtues and merits, all our good works, past, present, and future.

13. One might ask what of our works and merits can be communicated or donated.

Now there is a double merit that can be ascribed to us: the merit of justice (theologians call it de condigno), by which those in grace have a right to the supernatural goods of grace and to Heaven; and the merit of friendship (de congruo), by virtue of which we can obtain something from the goodness and benevolence of those who are our friends.

The first type of merit we can donate to Mary so that she may preserve it for us, make it bear fruit, and, if we lose it, allow us to recover it perfectly.

This merit, however, is so personal that it cannot be transferred from one person to another.

The second type of merit, which is not strictly speaking one of merit or justice, but of great convenience due to strong friendship, can be donated. In this way, Saint Monica, through her great love for Our Lord, was able to merit the grace of Augustine’s conversion. In this way, we can pray and do penance for our neighbor. Saint Thomas Aquinas does not hesitate to affirm that “through this merit, by virtue of friendship, one can merit for another the grace of conversion” (Summa Theologica, I-II, 106, 6).

The reason is that “by virtue of charity, two persons become one” (Summa Theologica, III, 14, 1).

Well, we can also give this merit to Our Lady so that she may place it at the disposal of whomever she wishes.

14. Therefore, in an action performed for another, each person acquires this double merit: the first for himself, and the second for another.

Both can be given to Mary: the first so that she may preserve it and make it fruitful, the second so that she may do with it what she wills for the greater glory of God.

In any case, however, this double good is being stripped away.

So some object: if we give everything away, at the end of our days we find ourselves deprived of merit because it no longer belongs to us.

Here, however, we must not forget that Our Lady cannot be outdone in generosity. Indeed, this very heroic act we have performed will obtain for us an even greater merit, which in turn is also given to Mary.

This act will obtain for us a reduction in purgatory and a higher degree of glory in heaven.

15. Some also object: if we give everything to Mary, what benefit can we obtain for our loved ones with our prayers and sacrifices?

Here too, we forget that Our Lady knows our duties of charity toward our loved ones better than we do. Therefore, she herself will remind us of them, and then, knowing their needs better than we do, she herself will distribute them according to the needs of each, even those we may have completely forgotten.

16. Such a dedication to Mary requires us to keep our gaze fixed on her in the various vicissitudes of our life and to always live with her sentiments, which are full of love and self-giving.

17. To live our servitude to Mary well, we must accept both the Lord’s will and his permissions (Calvary) with her own sentiments, full of love and availability.

Our Lady, having become the Lord’s servant, never held back, never complained.

For this reason, the act of consecration to Mary according to Montfort’s formula should be performed by people who are somewhat experienced in the Christian life.

Otherwise, it becomes an act that has no impact on one’s life; it remains a sterile, fruitless formula, perhaps done only to receive some benefit from Mary.

This is why some suggest doing it gradually: first for a week, then for a month, then for a year, and finally forever. Precisely so that it doesn’t remain an empty formula.

18. Finally, you ask me if the sin committed by someone who has consecrated themselves to Mary is more serious because they have failed to fulfill a commitment, a gift.

Well, since it is not a vow, but a promise and a gift, I think I can say that sinning does not worsen one’s situation.

Indeed, precisely because one feels greater sorrow for the sin committed, one also experiences Our Lady’s benevolence in sin, which obtains for us a deeper sorrow and a firmer resolution.

I think I can say that here too, there is everything to gain and nothing to lose, provided it is a true consecration.

Thank you for drawing my attention to this particularly precious and beautiful aspect of the spiritual life.

I remember you to the Lord and bless you.

Father Angelo

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