Living Consecration to Jesus Through Mary- Part II

Read Part I

Gifts of the Holy Spirit:

One way to know if one is living consecration to Jesus through Mary is to see what we do in the light of truth. Do my actions show that I seek to imitate Mary and her Son? Am I living a life rooted in healthy spiritual principles and reflecting Christian values, or do I excuse myself? Do I live as if Mary is my mother and I am her child? Do I seek to serve and please God or, myself?

It is logical to believe that Mary had all the gifts of the Holy Spirit as His spouse and   Mother of our Lord. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume she was not only gifted in intelligence but blessed with the gift of wisdom. Wisdom gave her both the knowledge of the divine and the ability to judge and direct human affairs according to the truth of God. As disciples of Christ, we typically do not receive specific direction about which decision to make in the minutia of our lives. We do have God’s word and the spiritual principles of Love, Truth, Goodness, Purity, Dignity, and Unity to name a few.

When caught in what seems to be a difficult decision one can simply ask, “What is the most loving thing I could do? What is the truth and how do I abide by what is honest and true? How can I respect my dignity and that of others?” It is important to be informed about what is true and good since that is how we direct our lives. There is nothing more important than this since how we live today determines how we will spend eternity.

The gift of understanding is the insight into the nature of reality and particularly higher truths that lead one to salvation. This is the ability to see what is right, true, and good as the pathway to God and glimpses of God Himself in creation. Counsel is related to understanding since one must perceive the nature of what is true to give counsel and one must be open-minded to what is good to accept counsel from others. The gift of knowledge allows one to see and navigate the right path in life and take actions that keep one from wandering from the straight and narrow path.  There is no guarantee that one will get what they think they want and be burdened with fame, fortune, and popularity. Nothing is wrong with these things provided we are not slaves to them.

The lives of saints reveal how the gift of fortitude was reflected in their fidelity to God and the truth despite being hated, shunned, tortured, and killed. My least favorite saying is “Don’t be a martyr!” Dying for the faith is the highest honor among the faithful. Christ told us, “No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master (Mt. 10:24). One should expect negativity from the world for following the Lord. He came as Truth, Good, and Love incarnate, and the world sought to obliterate Him. Tertullian lived from approximately 150 AD to 220 AD said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Because of the willingness of the first-century martyrs to die for the truth, their being tortured and killed had the opposite effect intended. The courage and witness of these brave men and women led to more conversions to Christ instead of making Christianity extinct.

We are told by St. Paul,

If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good (Rm. 12:21-22, Prv. 25:21-22).

We are constantly admonished to “love one another” and respond with kindness no matter what our situation may be. There are, in fact, many people in the world today who have lost freedom and life because of their witness. Most of us do not seem to be forced into the choice between life and faith. St. Therese noted in The Story of a Soul how she would take on internal mortifications by purposefully spending time with sisters that annoyed her greatly. She would not voice her instinctive dislike for others but treat them with love and kindness. This is a “martyrdom” of one’s ego since typically one seeks to avoid and shun those we find unpleasant.

When St. Louis De Montfort announced his determination to build a monumental calvary on a hill near a church where he was giving a mission, the faithful accepted the idea enthusiastically. For fifteen months between two and four hundred church members worked daily without pay to complete the task. The king then commanded that the entire project be destroyed since Jansenists had convinced the Governor of Brittany that a fortress to aid a revolt was being built. Consequently, the same people were forced at gunpoint to level the project they worked to erect. Fr. De Montfort merely exclaimed, “Blessed be God!”[1] upon hearing this humiliating news. We also, of course, have the example of the Blessed Mother who at the foot of the cross, amidst all the jeering and sight of her Son wracked in pain and torn apart, remained a silent steady witness in support of her Son. She neither fled in fear nor sought to insulate herself from her own anguish.

Piety and fear of God are also gifts of the Holy Spirit that seem to overlap. Piety is being rooted in the Father and child relationship with the Lord and relating to others as brothers and sisters. It is pious to give God honor and proper to worship Him as Creator and Loving Father. The Latin root is pietas which denotes the reverence one gives their father and their country. Since God is the progenitor and Father of all, worship of Him is pious and proper. Fear of God is not the servile fear that one has concerning another that is more powerful and cruel. As a loving Father, the Lord and all that he does is good, the entirety of His essence is Good and there is no evil in Him. Being all-powerful and entirely good, the type of fear that is indicated here is akin to the fear of letting a loved one down and not wanting to do anything that would displease them. Not because they will harm us, but because in our mutual love, we realize we would hurt the other and, in so doing, hurt ourselves. This is essentially how sin places a wedge between the sinner and God.

All seven of these gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural graces from God. Mary would have been imbued with them all by her special relationship to God the Father, her espousal to the Holy Spirit, and her relationship to her Son. They are otherwise available to all Christians who are in God’s grace and willing to ask for them. The letter of James also encourages us to ask for wisdom. Our Lord promised us His that whatever we ask in His name will be given to us if it is within God’s will—”And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, (Jn. 14-16).”

In honoring the Mother, we honor the Son and glorify the Spirit in the full light of the Father. St. Louis tells us, “If devotion to our Lady distracted us from our Lord, we would have to reject it as an illusion of the devil…this devotion is necessary, simply and solely because it is a way of reaching Jesus perfectly, loving him tenderly, and serving him faithfully (True Devotion to Mary-TD #62).” Our Lady is the highest of all creatures and most closely resembles one conformed to His will. Therefore being conformed, or consecrated, the imitation of Mary acknowledges her greatness. To say that she was simply a mother, a better-than-average woman denigrates how great a gift she really is. She is singularly unique of all creatures and all humanity.

Most of us can hope to image God. Mary reflects God and is the humanity to which God joined Himself to be one with us and walk among us. As Jesus was unique in being God-man, his mother was unique in that her soul truly does “proclaim the greatness of the Lord, (Lk. 1:46).” She became one with the Holy Spirit at the Conception and her being reflects the Holy Spirit. Her openness to God, His will, and her total abandonment in “be it done to me according to your will (Lk. 1:38)” mirror and prefigure the surrender of Our Lord when he says “thy will, not mine be done (Lk. 22:46).”

St. Louis tells us that what he teaches is the perfect renewal of baptismal vows (TD #120). In doing this we give to God through Mary all present and future natural gifts,  material gifts, spiritual gifts and all that comes our way good, bad and indifferent. This includes all things we do and do not want, do and do not choose, can and cannot change, enjoy and do not enjoy. We freely submit ourselves entirely to her and are under her care and patronage and all is given to her to use as she chooses. In realizing all that we “have” is really given to us by God including the fact of our very being, We are really offering back to God what is His in the first place through his mother. In this light, our “ownership” of anything is a type of illusion.

All that is ours is what God wants us to have.  but all is under the auspices of the Lord who gives and takes away. Job said it best, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD (Jb. 1:21)!” We have the care of people and things in our lives but all belongs to God who dispenses as He will. Jesus taught us to “not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil (Mt. 6:34).”

Therefore concern about gaining or losing a future good should not be a concern since all future events are outside the present moment. As projected phantasms of what may, or may not, ever materialize in reality. The anticipation of a boon of loss is not an actual reason to hold back from total surrender to Jesus through Mary.

St. Louis’ prayer by which one renews their baptism is a rejection of the world and the prince of this world. It expresses the conscious choice of faith in God and the great reality beyond this mortal coil. St. Therese of Lisieux expressed this;

O Jesus, my Divine Spouse, grant that my baptismal robe may never be sullied. Take me from this world rather than let me stain my soul by committing the least willful fault. May I never seek or find aught but Thee alone! May all creatures be nothing to me and I nothing to them! May no earthly thing disturb my peace![2]

St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe wrote: Rule of Life for Those Consecrated to the Immaculate Virgin 

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 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. Peparation—Action—Conclusion.
10. Remember that you belong exclusively, unconditionally, absolutely, irrevocably to the Immaculate: Whoever you are, whatever you have, or whatever you do (thoughts, words, action) and endure (pleasant, unpleasant, and indifferent things) belong to the Immaculate. Consequently, she may 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. She does not offend justice.
11. 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 divine mercy.

          O’ Immaculate, every moment of my life, my death, and my eternity belongs totally to you. Of  everything you do whatever you like leads one to be the most closely conformed to Jesus.

When one invites Mary into their soul to be conformed in the image of her son, one has truly consecrated themselves to Jesus through Mary. “ So by their fruits you shall know them” (Mt 7:20).

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

[1] Poulain, A. (1910). St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort. In the Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved October 13, 2020 from New Advent: <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09384a.htm>.

[2] Foley, M. and trans. Clarke, J. (1996). Appendices: A Letter Therese Carried on Her Heart. In Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lieieux. Page 418. Location 6323 of 7502. Institute of Carmelite Studies. Retrieved from amazon.com.