St. Louis De Montfort

  Episode Transcript  

One

His Life 

At the age of 19, Montfort went to Paris to study theology. He said goodbye to his family and friends at the bridge on the outskirts of Rennes. Having left all, he crossed the bridge to a new life relying on God Alone. So, convinced that God was His loving Father, he gave his money and luggage to the first beggars he met and even exchanged clothes with one of them. Then, turning he walked joyfully to Paris, begging for food and shelter along the way. The rest of his life he lived for God alone and relied on God alone. Providence. In fact, “God Alone” became the motto of his life.  

In 1706, Montfort set out for Rome, walking more than seven hundred miles one way to ask the Pope what he should do. There he met with Pope Clement XI, pouring out his heart to the Pope with the hope the Holy Father would send him to Canada or Japan as a missionary. The Holy Father turned him down and instead, commissioned Montfort to return home and renew the Church there. He spent the rest of his life conducting more than two hundred missions and retreats in Northwestern France in village squares, churches, monasteries, military barracks, poor houses, and even houses of prostitution. 

Pope Pius XII said of Montfort, “The mainspring (the energy source) of all his apostolic ministry, his great secret for drawing souls and giving them to Jesus is devotion to Mary. This devotion is the source of all his activity, the reason for his confidence, and the best weapon for his time.” 

The same is true for ours!

Two

His Mission 

The mission of St. Louis de Montfort was to lead all people to Jesus through Mary. “It was through the blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus Christ came into the world, and it is through her that he must reign in the world.”

Montfort insisted on three practices:

1. Consecration to Mary – True Devotion to Mary 

2. Live a personal relationship with Mary – Secret of Mary 

3. Sit at the School of Mary each day in the Rosary – Secret of the Rosary 

Montfort taught that Consecration to Mary is the most effective way to reach transforming union with Jesus. Why is this? Jesus wants to give his divine life to us. But we have a hard time receiving. We resist. God sends the Holy Spirit who acts as a mother to us by receiving and forming Jesus within us. And the Holy Spirit carries out this maternal mission through Mary. In fact, Mary makes the maternal mission of the Spirit visible to us. 

Montfort 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.” 

According to Montfort, Mary is the Tree of Life planted in our soul by the Holy Spirit to bear her fruit which is Jesus. The secret of Mary is to invite her into your soul by consecration so that she may form Jesus there. And that is why we are preparing to consecrate ourselves once again to Mary this May 13th. 

Three

Live a personal relationship with Mary 

In The Secret of Mary, St. Louis de Montfort teaches us that once we have invited Mary into the home of our soul through Consecration, we need to live a personal relationship with her. This is what Jesus did in Nazareth and it’s what John the Apostle did when Jesus said to him, “Behold your Mother” and John took Mary into his home. By living a personal relationship with Mary She forms Jesus in your soul. 

Montfort says, “We must gradually acquire the habit of recollecting ourselves interiorly and so form within us an idea or spiritual image of Mary” so that we “Become permanently aware of the presence of Mary in our soul through the habit of recollection.” 

Try to become more aware of the presence of Mary. Every time you see a statue, an image, icon, or medal of Mary, let it remind you She is with you. Then talk with her. Ask her what to do. Wait for her inspirations and follow them the best you can.

By living in complete dependence on Mary, we live in complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit who forms Jesus within us.

Are you forming a deep friendship with your Mother? 

Four

The Rosary 

No one knows Jesus better than Mary therefore no one could be a better teacher for us than Mary. And when we pray the Rosary we are attending the School of Mary which is the School of the Holy Spirit. 

But for the Rosary to be the School of Mary, it must be a meditation on the Word of God and not just a rote saying of words while our mind wanders. St. Louis de Montfort, in The Secret of the Rosary wrote, “The Rosary without meditating on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul.”

The Rosary must be a meditation on the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God and all he did and taught is handed down in Scripture, Tradition, the writings of the saints, and the Magisterium – the teaching of the Catholic Church. Every time we pray the Rosary we should read or call to mind and think about something from the Word of God. Then we should ask, “Am I living this?” This should lead us to form a simple concrete resolution to put what we are meditating on into practice. 

In this way, the Holy Spirit and Mary form us to be more like Jesus by meditating on the Word of God in the Rosary – the School of Mary.

Five

St. Louis De Montfort was the Apostle of the Reign of Mary 

When Montfort wrote True Devotion to Mary in 1714, he prophetically stated this little book would be attacked by the devil and buried because it gave the key to the reign of Jesus in the world – devotion to Mary. That came true when it was literally buried in a chest in a field during the French Revolution, not found until 1842 and not translated into English until 1862. 

In 1714, Montfort said that in the latter times, God will use Mary in a special way to bring all hearts back to Jesus. However, this will only happen if her children put into practice what we have meditated on today. Then, says Montfort, “we will see clearly that she is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of reaching Jesus…” 

And what will those who do this be like? Montfort says, “They will be like thunder-clouds flying through the air at the slightest breath of the Holy Spirit. Attached to noting, surprised by nothing, troubled by nothing…They will be true apostles of the latter times…they will carry the crucifix in their right hand and the Rosary in their left and the holy names of Jesus and Mary in their heart…By the will of God Mary is to prepare them to extend the kingdom of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in all souls.” 

We live in the time predicted by Montfort. Now is the time to belong entirely to Mary.

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