‘THE SECRET OF MARY’ by Saint Louis de Montfort Intro & First Part; pages 2-3
[Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort – XVII-XVIII Century AD; Montfort-sur-Meu, France/Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, France; Total consecration to Jesus through Mary]“Introduction
1. Here is a secret, chosen soul, which the most High God taught me and which I have not found in any book, ancient or modern. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, I am confiding it to you, with these conditions:
a) That you share it only with people who deserve to know it because they are prayerful, give alms to the poor, do penance, suffer persecution, are unworldly, and work seriously for the salvation of souls.
b) That you use this secret to become holy and worthy of heaven, for the more you make use of it the more benefit you will derive from it. Under no circumstances must you let this secret make you idle and inactive. It would then become harmful and lead to your ruin.
c) That you thank God every day of your life for the grace he has given you in letting you into a secret that you do not deserve to know. As you go on using this secret in the ordinary actions of your life, you will come to understand its value and its excellent quality. At the beginning, however, your understanding of it will be clouded because of the seriousness and number of your sins, and your unconscious love of self.
2. Before you read any further, in an understandable impatience to learn this truth, kneel down and say devoutly the Ave Maris Stella (“Hail, thou star of ocean”), and the “Come, Holy Spirit”, to ask God to help you understand and appreciate this secret given by him. As I have not much time for writing and you have little time for reading, I will be brief in what I have to say.
First Part
Necessity of having a true devotion to Mary
The grace of God is absolutely necessary
3. Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy like him in this life, and glorious like him in the next.
It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your vocation. All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you suffer or undertake must lead you towards that end. Otherwise you are resisting God in not doing the work for which he created you and for which he is even now keeping you in being.
What a marvellous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God! A marvellous work, I repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by giving his grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner. The very creation of the universe is not as great an achievement as this.
4. Chosen soul, how will you bring this about? What steps will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling you? The means of holiness and salvation are known to everybody, since they are found in the gospel; the masters of the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have practised them and shown how essential they are for those who wish to be saved and attain perfection. These means are: sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God.
5. The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us to practise all these, but we are sure that grace will be given to all, though not in the same measure. I say “not in the same measure”, because God does not give his graces in equal measure to everyone, although in his infinite goodness he always gives sufficient grace to each. A person who corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works.
The value and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the faithful soul. No one can contest these principles.
Image: Gerard Seghers – ‘Virgin in Prayer at the Foot of the Cross, with Crying Angels’
Music: Gregorian Christmas chant: ‘Ave Maris Stella’ (Lyric video)
‘Ave Maris Stella’ = ‘Hail, Star of the Sea’
>>> youtube.com/watch?v=Kg92-inf-SQ