Finis St. Louis de Montfort

I finally finished True Devotion Consecration to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort.  Actually the book is a compilation of de Montfort's writings: The Love of Eternal Wisdom, The Secret of the Rosary, The Secret of Mary, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, and the True Devotion Consecration.  These were all arranged by Fr. Helmuts Libietis.

It took me five weeks to finish.  I committed myself to make this consecration and I did, and will.  I finished the book, but I'm not officially putting myself in front of the Tabernacle and making the consecration, until January 28th -- the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas.  Aquinas is a Dominican, as am I, and we Dominicans have Our Lady as our special patron.  So I thought the feast of the Angelic Doctor would be a good day to consecrate myself to her.

That being said, I hated this book.  It is so outdated as to be useless.  One would be committed to a mental institution nowadays if their thought process was aligned with the theme of this book.  Good grief, how many times did I have to tell myself that I was less than excrement and should wear chains as a sign of being a slave to Jesus and Mary?

Another thing that surprised me and led me to dislike Fr. Libietis' compilation.  Nowhere in the book, does Libietis mention that St. Louis de Montfort was a Third Order Dominican. That's a gross and grievous error.  In fact, if you didn't know that St. Louis de Montfort is listed in the Dominican Litany of Saints, you would have thought he was a Third Order Carmelite!  I kept checking to see if Libietis was a Carmelite, because he kept mentioning that Order. How could he ever omit that Louis de Montfort is a famous Dominican saint!

There is also a huge emphasis on the Brown Scapular.  A Dominican would point out the fact that wearing

the Brown Scapular, worthy devotion as it is, is no rabbit's foot!  It is not your ticket through heaven's gate.
Besides, St. Louis de Montfort would have also worn the Dominican scapular that Our Lady gave to St. Dominic.  In fact, the Dominican scapular is the only part of the habit, that is blessed, because it comes from Our Lady, herself.  Why would Fr. Libietis omit this?

I am thankful that in spite of  my criticism of the book, it did bring me closer to Mary.  For that I am grateful.  Also, it has inspired me to write my own consecration to Mary.  I'm in the process, with St. Louis de Montfort's guidance, to write a consecration for us who live in the 21st century. Watch for it.  It will be posted during the 40 days of Lent.

To Jesus through Mary.

Don't Waste Your Prayers.

Contemplate this picture by MEK, Pencil in the Hole.

I question the usefulness of the Litany of Humility.  The litany has you praying for something that will happen anyway?  It's life.  There's always somebody smarter, more handsome, richer, pleasanter, more personality, etc.  Capece?

Here are some of the petitions:

That others may be loved more than I.

That others may be esteemed more than I.

That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease.

That others may be chosen and I set aside.

That others may be praised and I go unnoticed.

That others may become holier than I.

Do you see what I'm saying?  What a waste of time!  This will happen whether you pray for it or not.  Sigh (Resigned sigh.)  I don't think St. Louis de Montfort and Thomas a Kempis are on my wavelength.

I'm thinking of writing my own book, Commuting Consecration to Mary.  It will be short, but to make up in brevity, it will last 365 days.  I'll pray about this.  I'll even put some editorial cartoons in, to contemplate.  Catchy songs you'll be singing all day. What about riddles?  Jokes?  A scavenger hunt!!!!!!

Confirmation

Here's confirmation regarding this morning's meditation from today's Morning Prayer, Psalm 144: 3-4.

Lord, what is man that you care for him, 
mortal man, that you keep him in mind;
man, who is merely a breath,
whose life fades like a passing shadow?

In fact, today, St. Louis de Montfort tells the story of Our Lord telling one of His saints--"If you saw yourself as I saw you, then you would die of fright!"   And that's to one of His saints!

We're that ugly and loathsome.  :-(

From Temple to Rubble

Less than twenty-four hours ago, I was chafing under St. Louis de Montfort's exaltation to hate ourselves.  I summed up the first week of St. Louis de Montfort's True Devotion Consecration to Mary as outdated and, well, ...ridiculous.  I wrote:

"The meditations are mostly from the Imitation of Christ.  That was written in Medieval times, and the language isn't updated.  The theme this week is to hate one's self.  I expect flagellation, on the next page.  It's too much. 

I was made in the image and likeness of God.  My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  I think it's disrespecting God when I disrespect myself.  I understand what de Montfort is saying.  We are nothing compared to God.  We owe Him everything.  But the medieval concept of denial and the language is so self-deprecating, that it's a turn off.  It's just too much!"

 Today is a new day.  Everything I read for this morning is pointing me towards being like de Montfort's ideal.  What really blows my mind, is that this morning, I'm receptive to it.  I don't rail against it.  I'm listening/reading.  I'm open to the saint's suggestions.

They (meaning me) can look upon themselves during...this week as snails, crawling things, toads, swine, serpents and unclean animals...(True Devotion, Section 228).

See, I told you this consecration is self-deprecating.  It's probably meant to be.  He's got to break you, bring you down, before he can mold you into what he wants you to be (what God wants us to be).

For some reason, I'm drawn to this book.  I yearn to read what's next.  And I'm finding more and more interesting concepts, upon which to meditate.  I may let you in on some.  Stay tuned.

Evaluation of Week One

I've completed the first week of St. Louis de Montfort's True Devotion, Consecration to Mary.  My thoughts tend to be critical.  I'll still persist to the end.  I'm faithful to the point of stupidity.  In this case, I have nothing to lose.  Time?  Hey, I'm retired!

And that's my first criticism.  No way could I be doing this consecration in any other time of my life, except in my retirement.  Today's lifestyles are just too busy, regrettably so, but necessarily so, if one has to compete in the workplace.

The other criticism is it's outdated and confusing.  My first day was just scripture.  I skimmed over it because I know these verses, so well.  There was no commentary, whatsoever, accompanying them.  The language is not modern, so it may confuse the reader.  Before one starts, you are supposed to sing or read Veni Creator--all seven stanzas!  Each time!  There are five meditations each day, hence I'm supposed to sing Veni Creator's seven stanzas, five times, a day.

I used to like that song, Veni Creator.

The meditations are mostly from the Imitation of Christ.  That was written in Medieval times, and the language isn't updated.  The theme this week is to hate one's self.  I expect flagellation, on the next page.  It's too much.

I was made in the image and likeness of God.  My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  I think it's disrespecting God when I disrespect myself.  I understand what de Montfort is saying.  We are nothing compared to God.  We owe Him everything.  But the medieval concept of denial and the language is so self-deprecating, that it's a turn off.  It's just too much!

Virtues of the World

St. Louis de Montfort, in his Consecration to Mary talks about avoiding the  lures of our culture.  He refers to the lure as virtues.  But those that are tempted are only using their eyes and feelings.  People appear to act as Christians, but they never think of God, or trouble themselves with discernment of His Will.  These are some of these worldly virtues:

• what people say
• convention
• good cheer
• witty deprecating jokes

These people can be unaware that without God, they'll never be satisfied.  

Rush, Rush

Day One of my consecration to Mary isn't going so good.  Tomorrow will be worse because I'm babysitting all day.

Time is the culprit.  I didn't sleep well, so I woke up late and rushed.  I was in a hurry so I threw a smoothie together so I could drink it while I was running around.  I had no time to shower, maybe later.  I did sit down with my cup of coffee and looked at the first meditation for Day One.  It was Chapter Five in Matthew.  That's the beatitudes.  I thought I could skip that because I stare at the framed beatitudes every day; they're on my wall.

I had to pick up my granddaughter and bring her to nursery school.  Then I had to go to physical therapy.  I've been given exercises to do 10 times a day!  When do I have time to do that?

Afterwards, it was time to pick up my granddaughter and bring her to daycare.  Finally, I could go back home.  I prayed Morning Prayer.  I looked at the second meditation for the consecration.  It was a continuation of chapter five in Matthew.  That's all.  I know these verses.  There's no commentary.  Oh, I found my breakfast smoothie.  I figured that would be my lunch too because I don't have time to prepare anything.

I'm in a cribbage tournament, this afternoon.  No way I can let my partner down and not show up.  Besides, if I stayed home, do you think I'd be in a mood to pray?

Cribbage is now over.  I'm making supper and getting ready for a Christmas party, tonight.  I'll also look at the third meditation for Day One.  And now I have physical exercises to do.

One nice thing encouraged me today.  Anna Elissa, from Bent Bow Blog wrote a comment on yesterday's post encouraging me.  She said she was nudged into the Monfort's Consecration to Mary, too, and it changed her life because it changed her attitude.  Read her post here.

After reading Anna Elissa's comment, I felt guilty.  I can't just glance at the meditations and say "yeah, yeah, I know these verses."  I should meditate on them.

I tried.  I looked at the Tips on Prayer and Meditation and read a good method.  The word ALTAR helps.  A is for adoration of God. L is for love and that's reciprocal love for God.  T is for thanksgiving.  A is for ask. Lastly is R, for reparation.

I'd say "Well, tomorrow is another day, except tomorrow I will have even less time than today.  Lord help me.

I Can Take A Hint

I give up.  As my four-year-old granddaughter would say, for a couple of whiles, I have been hearing "Mary, Our Lady, the Blessed Mother."  Now I honor Mary as the Mother of Jesus.  But I don't love her as a mother, or sister--maybe a friend.  Well, I'm tired of being pushed into the same room as her; people mentioning her to me, and picking up something to read and it's about Mary.

First it was Father Gordon MacRae and his consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I've been following his blog, These Stone Walls, for years.  I really didn't pay much attention to his posts about his consecration.

Then it was Donna in prayer group who spoke about visiting Medjugorje.

Then Father Francis asked me if I knew a lady by the name of Janine who lives in my town and has visions of Mary.  "What?"    "No I don't."  But still.  Mary, Mary, ...again and again.

The other day I got a Christmas letter from Father MacRae.  Again with his consecration to Mary! OK.  I think I'm being nudged in that direction.  And I'm pretty sure I have a book on the total Consecration to Mary, somewhere.

So I dig out my book, St. Louis de Montfort's True Devotion Consecration to Mary.  It's no pamphlet!  It's bigger than some bibles!  It's a whopping 420 pages.  And I'm supposed to follow it for 5 weeks! 

OK.  I'm being led to do the consecration. I'll try it.  I promise I'll try it and I'll blog about my progress here on my blog.  I'm praying it will make a difference in my life because Mary brings you to Jesus.

Prepare the way.  Look out Jesus, I'm looking to hook up with You.