True Devotion to Mary, By St. Louis De Montfort, Part Two

True Devotion to Mary
By Saint Louis De Montfort

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Index
1. Nature of perfect devotion to the Blessed Virgin or perfect consecration to Jesus Christ. 2. A Perfect and entire consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin. 3. A Perfect renewal of the vows of Holy Baptism. 4. Objections and answers. 5. Motives of this perfect consecration. 6. It makes us imitate the example of Jesus Christ and that of the Holy Trinity and practice humility. 7. It obtains for us the good offices of the Blessed Virgin. 8. It is an exellent means of procuring God's greater glory. 9. It leads us to union with Our Lord. 10. It gives us great interior liberty. 11. It procures great blessings for our neighbour. 12. It is an admirable means of perseverance. 13. Rebecca and Jacob. 14. The Blessed Virgin and Her slaves of love.

Nature of perfect devotion to the Blessed Virgin or perfect consecration to Jesus Christ
Chapter One

Nature, Motives, Wonderful Effects, Practices

120. All our perfection consists in being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus Christ; and therefore the most perfect of all devotions is, without any doubt, that which the most perfectly conforms, unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ. Now, Mary being the most conformed of all creatures to Jesus Christ, it follows that, of all devotions, that which most consecrates and conforms the soul to Our Lord is devotion to His holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to Mary, the more it is consecrated to Jesus. Hence it comes to pass that the most perfect consecration to Jesus Christ is nothing else but a perfect and entire consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin, and this is the devotion which I teach; or, in other words, a perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy Baptism.

A Perfect and entire consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin
Article One

121. This devotion consists, then, in giving ourselves entirely to Our Lady, in order to belong entirely to Jesus through her. W e must give her (1) our body, with all its senses and its members; (2) our soul, with all its powers; (3) our exterior goods of fortune, whether present or to come; (4) our interior and spiritual goods, which are our merits and our virtues, and our good works, past present and future.

In a word, we must give her all we have in the order of nature and in the order of grace, and all that may become ours in the future, in the order of nature, grace and glory; and this we must do without the reserve of so much s one farthing, one hair, or one least good action; and we must do it also for all eternity; and we must do it, further, without pretending to, or hoping for, any other recompense for our offering and service except the honour of belonging to Jesus Christ through Mary and in Mary - as though that sweet Mistress were not (as she always is) the most generous and the most grateful of creatures.

122. Here we must note that there are two things in the good works we perform, their satisfactory or impetratory value, an their meritorious value. The satisfactory or impetratory value of a good action is that action inasmuch satisfies for the pain due to sin, or obtains some new grace; the meritorious value, or the merit, is the good action inasmuch as it merits grace now and eternal glory hereafter.

Now, in this consecration of ourselves to Our Lady, we give her all the satisfactory, impetratory and meritorious value of our actions; in other words, the satisfactions and the merits of all our good works. We giver her all our merits, graces and virtues - not to communicate them to others, for our merits, graces and virtues are, properly speaking, incommunicable, and it is only Jesus Christ who, in making Himself our surety with His Father, is able to communicate His merits - but we give her them to keep them, augment them and embellish them for us, as we shall explain by and by. Our satisfactions, however, we give her to communicate to whom she likes, and for the greatest glory of God.

123. It follows from this that: 1. By this devotion we give to Jesus Christ in the most perfect manner, inasmuch as it is by Mary's hands, all we can give Him, and far more than by any other devotions in which we give Him either a part of our time, or a part of our good works, or a part of our satisfactions and mortifications; because here everything is given and consecrated to Him, even the right of disposing of our interior goods and of the satisfactions which we gain by our good works day after day. This is more than we do even in a religious order.

In religious orders we give God the goods of fortune by the vow of poverty, the goods of the body by the vow of chastity, our own will by the vow of obedience , and sometimes the liberty of the body by the vow of cloister. But we do not by these vows give Him the liberty or the right to dispose of the value of our good works; and we do not strip ourselves, as far as a Christian man can do so, of that which is dearest and most precious, namely, our merits and our satisfactions.

124. 2. A person who is thus voluntarily consecrated and sacrificed to Jesus Christ through Mary can no longer dispose of the value of any of his good actions. All he suffers, all he thinks, all the good he says or does, belongs to Mary, in order that she may dispose of it according to the will of her Son and His greatest glory - without, however, that dependence interfering in any way with the obligations of the state we may be in at present or may be placed in for the future; for example, without interfering with the obligations of a priest who, by his office or otherwise, ought to supply the satisfactory and impetratory value of the Holy Mass to some private person. For we make the offering of this devotion only according to the order of God and the duties of our state.

125. 3. We consecrate ourselves at one and the same time to the most holy Virgin and to Jesus Christ; to the most holy Virgin as to the perfect means which Jesus Christ has chosen whereby to unite Himself to us, and us to Him; and to Our Lord as to our Last End, to whom, as our Redeemer and our God, we owe all we are.

A Perfect renewal of the vows of Holy Baptism
Chapter Two

126. I have said that this devotion may rightly be called a perfect renewal of the vows of holy Baptism. For every Christian, before his Baptism, was the slave of the devil, seeing that he belonged to him. He has in his Baptism, by his own mouth or by his sponsors, solemnly renounced Satan, his pomps and his works; and he has taken Jesus Christ for his Master and Sovereign Lord, to depend upon Him in the quality of a slave of love.

That is what we do by the present devotion. We renounce, as is expressed in the formula of consecration, the devil, the world, sin and self; and we give ourselves entirely to Jesus Christ by the hands of Mary. Nay, we even do something more; for in Baptism, we ordinarily speak by the mouth of another, our godfather or godmother, and so we give ourselves to Jesus Christ not by ourselves but through another. But in this devotion we do it by ourselves, voluntarily, knowing what we are doing.

Moreover, in holy Baptism we do not give ourselves to Jesus by the hands of Mary, at least not in an explicit manner; and we do not give Him the value of our Good actions. We remain entirely free after Baptism, either to apply them to whom we please or to keep them for ourselves. But by this devotion we give ourselves to Our Lord explicitly by the hands of Mary, and we consecrate to Him the value of all our actions.

127. Men, says St. Thomas, make a vow at their Baptism to renounce the devil and all his pomps. This vow, says St. Augustine, is the greatest and most indispensable of all vows. It is thus also that canonists speak: "The principle vow is the one we make at Baptism." Yet who has kept this great vow? Who is it that faithful performs the promises of holy Baptism? Have not almost all Christians swerved the loyalty which they promised Jesus in their Baptism? Whence can come this universal disobedience, except from our forgetfulness of the promises and obligations of holy Baptism, and from the fact that hardly anyone ratifies, of himself, the contract he made with God by those who stood sponsors for him?

128. This is so true that the Council of Sens, convoked by order of Louis the Debonair to remedy the disorders of Christians, which were then so great, judged that the principal cause of that corruption of morals arose from the oblivion and the ignorance in which men lived of the obligations of holy Baptism; and it could think of no better means for remedying so great evil than to persuade Christians to renew the vows and promises of Baptism.

129. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, the faithful interpreter of that holy Council, exhorts the parish priests to do the same thing, and to induce the people to remind themselves, and to believe, that they are bound and consecrated as slaves to Our Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer and their Lord. These are its words: "The parish priest shall exhort the faithful people so that they may know that it is most just... that we should devote and consecrate ourselves forever to our Redeemer and Lord as His very slaves."

130. Now, if the Councils, the Fathers and even experience show us that the best means of remedying the irregularities of Christians is by making them call to mind the obligations of their Baptism, and persuading them to renew the vows they made then, is it not only right that we should do it in a perfect manner, by this devotion and consecration of ourselves to Our Lord through His holy mother? I say "in a perfect manner," because in thus consecrating ourselves to Him, we make use of the most perfect of all means, namely, the Blessed Virgin.

Objections and answers

131. No one can object to this devotion as being a new or an indifferent one. It is not new, because the Councils, the Fathers and many authors both ancient and modern speak of this consecration to Our Lord, or renewal of the vows and promises of Baptism, as o a thing anciently practice, and which they counsel to all Christians. Neither is it a matter of indifference, because the principal source of all disorders, and consequently of the eternal perdition of Christians, comes from their forgetfulness and indifference about this practice.

132. But some may object that this devotion, in making us give to Our Lord, by Our Lady's hands, the value of all our good works, prayers, mortifications and alms, puts us in a state of incapacity for assisting the souls of our parents, friends and benefactors. I answer them as follows:

1. That it is not credible that our parents, friends and benefactors should suffer from the fact of our being devoted and consecrated without exception to the service of Our Lord and His holy Mother. To think this would be to think unworthily of the goodness and power of Jesus and Mary, who know well how to assist our parents, friends and benefactors, out of our own little spiritual revenue or by other ways.

2. This practice does not hinder us from praying for others, whether dead or living, although the application of our good works depends on the will of our Blessed Lady. On the contrary, it is this very thing which will lead us to pray with more confidence; just as a rich person who has given all his wealth to his prince in order to honour him more, would beg the prince all the more confidently to give him alms to one of his friends who should ask for it.

It would even be a source of pleasure to the prince to be given an occasion of proving his gratitude toward a person who had stripped himself to clothe him, and impoverished himself to honour him. We must say the same of our Blessed Lord and of Our Lady. They will never let themselves be outdone in gratitude. 133. Someone may perhaps say, "If I give to our Blessed Lady all the value of my actions to apply to whom she wills, I may have to suffer a long time in Purgatory."

This objection, which comes from self-love and ignorance of the generosity of God and His holy Mother, refutes itself. A fervent and generous soul who gives God all he has, without reserve, so that he can do nothing more; who lives only for the glory and reign of Jesus Christ, through His holy Mother, and who makes an entire sacrifice of himself to bring it about - will this generous and liberal soul, I say, be more punished in the other world because it has been more liberal and disinterested than others? Far, indeed, will that be from the truth! Rather, it is toward that soul, as we shall see by what follows, that Our Lord and His holy Mother are the most liberal in this world and in other, in the orders of nature, grace and glory.

134. But we must now, as briefly as we can, run over the motives which ought to recommend this devotion to us, the marvelous effects it produces in the souls of the faithful, and its practices.

Motives of this perfect consecration
Chapter Two

It devotes us entirely to the service of God

135. The first motive, which shows us the excellence of this consecration of ourselves to Jesus Christ by the hands of Mary. If we can conceive on earth no employment more lofty than the service of God - if the least servant of God is richer, more powerful and more noble than all the kings and emperors on this earth, unless they also are the servants of God - what must be the riches, the power and the dignity of the faithful and perfect servant of God, who is devoted to His service entirely and without reserve, to the utmost extent possible? Such is the faithful and loving slave of Jesus in Mary who has given himself up entirely to the service of that King of Kings, by the hands of His holy Mother, and has reserved nothing for himself. Not all the gold of earth nor all the beauties of the heavens can repay him.

136. The other congregations, associations and confraternities erected in honour of Our Lord and His holy Mother, which do such immense good in Christendom, do not make us give everything without reserve. They prescribe to their members only certain practices and actions to satisfy their obligations.

They leave them free for all other actions and moments and occupations. But this devotion makes us give to Jesus and Mary, without reserve, all our thoughts, words, actions and sufferings, every moment of our life, in such wise that whether we wake or sleep, whether we eat or drink, whether we do great actions or very little ones, it is always true to say that whatever we do, even without thinking of it, is, by virtue of our offering - at least if it has not been intentionally retracted done for Jesus and Mary. What consolation this is!

137. Moreover, as I have already said, there is no other practice equal to this for enabling us to rid ourselves easily of a certain proprietorship which imperceptibly creeps into our best actions. Our good Jesus gives us this great grace in recompense for the heroic and disinterested action of giving over to Him, by the hands of His holy Mother, all the value of our good works. If he gives a hundredfold even in this world to those who, for His love, quit outward and temporal and perishable goods (Matt. 19:29), what will that hundredfold be which He will give to the man who sacrifices for Him even his inward and spiritual goods!

138. Jesus, our great Friend, has given Himself to us without reserve, body and soul, virtues, graces and merits. "He has bought the whole of me with the whole of Himself," says St. Bernard. Is it not then a simple matter of justice and of gratitude that we should give Him all that we can give Him? He has been the first to be liberal toward us; let us, at least, be the second; and then, in life and death and throughput all eternity, we shall find Him still more liberal. "With the liberal He will be liberal."

It makes us imitate the example of Jesus Christ and that of the Holy Trinity and practice humility
Second Motive

139. The second motive, which shows us how just it is in itself, and how advantageous to Christians, to consecrate themselves entirely to the Blessed Virgin by this practice, in order to belong more perfectly to Jesus Christ. This good Master did not disdain to shut Himself up in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, as a captive and as a loving slave, and later to be subject and obedient to her for thirty years. It is here, I repeat, that the human mind loses itself, when it seriously reflects on the conduct of the Incarnate Wisdom who willed to give Himself to men - not directly, though He might have done so, but through the Blessed Virgin.

He did not will to come into the world at the age of a perfect man, , independent of others, but like a poor little babe, dependent on the care and support of this holy Mother. He is that Infinite Wisdom who had a boundless desire to glorify God His Father and to save men; and yet He found no more perfect means, no shorter way to do it, than to submit Himself in all things to the Blessed Virgin, not only during the first eight, ten or fifteen years of His life, like other children, but for thirty years!

He gave more glory to God His Father during all that time of submission to and dependence on our Blessed Lady that He would have given Him if He had employed those thirty years in working miracles, in preaching to the whole world and in converting all men all of which He would have done, could He have thereby contributed more to God's glory. Oh, how highly we glorify God when, after the example of Jesus, we submit ourselves to Mary! Having, then, before our eyes an example so plain and so well known to the whole world, are we so senseless as to imagine that we can find a more perfect or a shorter means of glorifying God than that of submitting ourselves to Mary, after the example of her Son?

140. Let us recall here, as a proof of the dependence we ought to have on our Blessed Lady, what I have said above in bringing forward the example which the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost give of this dependence. The Father has not given, and does not give, His Son, except by her; He has no children but by here, and communicates no graces but through her. The Son has not been formed for the whole world in general, except by her; and He merits and His virtues except through her.

The Holy Ghost has not formed Jesus Christ except by her; neither does He form the members of Our Lord's Mystical Body, except by her; and through her alone does He dispense His favours and His gifts. After so many and such pressing examples of the most Holy Trinity, can we without extreme blindness dispense with Mary, can we fail to consecrate ourselves to her and depend on her for the purpose of going to God and sacrificing ourselves to God?

141. Here are some passages of the Fathers I have which I have chosen to prove what has just been said:
"Mary has two sons, a God-Man and a pure man; she is Mother of the first corporally, of the second spiritually." "This is the will of God, who wished us to have all things through Mary; if, therefore, there is in us any hope, any grace, any salutary gift, we know it comes to us through her."
"All the gifts, virtues and graces of the Holy Ghost are distributed by Mary, to whom she wishes, when she wishes, the way wishes and as much as she wishes." "Since you were unworthy to receive the divine graces, they were given to Mary, so that whatever you would have, you would receive through her."

142. God, says St. Bernard, seeing that we are unworthy to receive His graces immediately from His own hand, gives them to Mary, in order that we may have through her whatever He wills to give us; and He also finds His glory in receiving, through the hands of Mary, the gratitude, respect and love which we owe Him for His benefits. It is most just, then, that we imitate this conduct of God, in order, as the same St. Bernard says, that grace return to its Author by the same channel through which it came."

This is precisely what our devotion does. We offer and consecrate all we are and all we have to the Blessed Virgin in order that Our Lord may receive through her mediation the glory and the gratitude which we owe Him. We acknowledge ourselves unworthy and unfit to approach His Infinite Majesty by ourselves; and it is on this account that we avail ourselves of the intercession of the most holy Virgin.

143. Moreover, this devotion is a practice of great humility, which God loves above all the other virtues. A soul which exalts itself abases God; a soul which abases itself exalts God. God resists the proud and gives His grace to the humble. If you abase yourself, thinking yourself unworthy to appear before Him and to draw nigh to Him, He descends and lowers Himself to come to you, to take pleasure in you and to exalt you in spite of yourself.

On the contrary, when you are bold enough to approach God without a mediator, God flies from you and you cannot reach Him. Oh, how He loves humility of heart! It is to this humility that this devotion induces us, because it teaches us never to draw nigh, of ourselves, to Our Lord, however sweet and merciful He may be, but always to avail ourselves of the intercession of our Blessed Lady, whether it be to appear before God, or to speak to Him, or draw near to Him, or to offer Him anything, or to unite and consecrate ourselves to Him.

It obtains for us the good offices of the Blessed Virgin
Third Motive

1. Mary Gives Herself To Her Slave of love
144. The most holy Virgin, who is a Mother of sweetness and mercy, and who never lets herself be outdone in love and liberality, seeing that we give ourselves entirely to her, to honour and to serve her, and for that end strip ourselves of all that is dearest to us, in order to adorn her, meets us in the same spirit. She also gives her whole self, and gives it in an unspeakable manner, to him who gives all to her.

She causes him to be engulfed in the abyss of her graces. She adorns him with her merits; she supports him with her power; she illuminates him with her light; she inflames him with her love; she communicates to him her virtues: her humility, her faith, her purity and the rest. She makes herself his bail, his supplement, and his dear all toward Jesus. In a word, as that consecrated person is all Mary's, so Mary is all his, after such a fashion that we can say of that perfect servant and child of Mary what St. John the Evangelist said of Himself, that he took the holy Virgin for his own: "The disciple took her for his own." (Jn. 19:27).

145. It is this which produces in the soul, if it is faithful, a great distrust, contempt and hatred of self, and a great confidence in and self-abandonment to the Blessed Virgin, its good Mistress. A man no longer, as before, relies on his own dispositions, intentions, merits, virtues and good works; because, having made an entire sacrifice of them to Jesus Christ by that good Mother, he has but one treasure now, where all his goods are laid up, and that is no longer in himself, for his treasure is Mary.

This is what makes approach Our Lord without servile or scrupulous fear, and pray to Him with great confidence. This is what makes him share the sentiments of the devout and learned Abbot Rupert, who, alluring to the victory that Jacob gained over the angel (Gen. 32:24), said to our Blessed Lady these beautiful words: "O Mary, my Princess, Immaculate Mother of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, I desire to wrestle that Man, namely, the Divine Word, not armed with my own merits but with yours." Oh, how strong and mighty we are with Jesus Christ when we are armed with the merits and intercession of the worthy Mother of God, who, as St. Augustine says, has lovingly vanquished the Most High.

II. Mary Purifies Our Good Works, Embellishes Them and Makes Them Acceptable to Her Son
146. As by this practice we give to Our Lord, by His Mother's hands, all our good works, that good Mother purifies them, embellishes them and makes them acceptable to her Son.

1. She purifies them of all the stain of self-love, and of that imperceptible attachment to created things which slips unnoticed into our best actions. As soon as they are in her most pure and fruitful hands, those same hands, which have never been sullied or idle and which purify whatever they touch, take away from the present which we give her all that was spoiled or imperfect about it.

147. 2. She embellishes our works, adorning them with her own merits and virtues. It is as if a peasant, wishing to gain the friendship and benevolence of the king, went to the queen and presented her with a fruit which was his whole revenue, in order that she might present it to the king. The queen, having accepted the poor little offering from the peasant, would place the fruit on a large and beautiful dish of gold, and so, on the peasant's behalf, would present it to the king. Then the fruit, however unworthy in itself to be a king's present, would become worthy of his majesty because of the dish of gold on which it rested and the person who presented it.

148. 3. She presents these good works to Jesus Christ; for she keeps nothing of what is given her for herself, as if she were our last end. She faithfully passes it all on to Jesus. If we give to her, we give necessarily to Jesus. If we praise her or glorify her, she immediately praises and glorifies Jesus. As of old when St. Elizabeth praised her, so now when we praise her and bless her, she sings: "My soul doth magnify the Lord." (Lk. 1:46).

149. She persuades Jesus to accept these good works, however little and poor the present may be for that Saint of Saints and that King of Kings. When we present anything to Jesus by ourselves, and relying on our own efforts and dispositions, Jesus examines the offering, and often rejects it because of the stains it has contracted through self-love, just as of old He rejected the sacrifices of the Jews when they were full of their own will. But when we present Him anything by the pure virginal hands of His well-beloved, we take Him by His weak side, it it is allowable to use such a term.

He does not consider so much the thing that it given Him as the Mother who presents it. He does not consider so much whence the offering comes, as by whom it comes. Thus Mary, who is never repelled but always well received by her Son, makes everything she presents to Him, great or small, acceptable to His Majesty. Mary has but to present it for Jesus to accept it and be pleased with it. St. Bernard used to give to those whom he conducted to perfection this great counsel: "When you want to offer anything to God, take care to offer it by the most agreeable and worthy hands of Mary, unless you wish to have it rejected."

150. Is not this what nature itself suggests to the little with regard to the great, as we have already seen? Why should not grace lead us to do the same thing with regard to God, who is infinitely exalted above us and before whom we are less than atoms - especially since we have an advocate so powerful that she is never refused; so ingenious that she knows all the secret ways of winning the heart of God; and so good and charitable that she repels no one, however little and wretched he may be. I shall speak further on of the true figure of these truths in the story of Jacob and Rebecca.

It is an exellent means of procuring God's greater glory
Fourth Motive

151. This devotion, faithfully practice, is an excellent means of making sure that the value of all our good works shall be employed for the greater glory of God. Scarcely anyone acts for that noble end, although we are all under an obligation to do so. Either we do not know where the greater glory of God is to be found, or we do not wish to find it.

But our Blessed Lady, to whom we cede the value and merit of our good works, knows most perfectly where the greater glory of God is to be found; and inasmuch as she never does anything except for the greater glory of God, a perfect servant of that good Mistress, who is wholly consecrated to her, may say with the hardiest assurance that the value of all his actions, thoughts and words is employed for the greater glory of God, unless he purposely revokes his offering. Is there any consolation equal to this for a soul who loves God, with a pure and disinterested love, and who prizes the glory and interest of God far and beyond his own?

It leads us to union with Our Lord
Fifth Motive

152. This devotion is an easy, short, perfect and secure way of attaining union with Our Lord, in which union the perfection of a Christian consists.

I. It Is an Easy Way
It is an easy way. It is the way which Jesus Christ Himself trod in coming to us, and in which there is no obstacle in reaching Him. It is true that we can attain divine union by other roads; but it is by many more crosses and strange deaths, and with many more difficulties, which we shall find it hard to overcome. We must pass through obscure nights, through combats, through strange agonies, over craggy mountains, through cruel thorns and over frightful deserts. But by the path of Mary we pass more gently and more tranquilly.

We do find, it is true, great battles to fight, and great hardships to master; but that good Mother makes herself so present and so near to her faithful servants, to enlighten them in their darkness and their doubts, to strengthen them in their fears, and to sustain them in their struggles and their difficulties, that in truth this virginal path to Jesus Christ is a path of roses and honey compared with the other paths.

There have been some saints, but they have been in small numbers, who have walked upon this sweet path to go to Jesus, because the Holy Ghost, faithful Spouse of Mary, by a singular grace disclosed it to them. Such were St. Ephrem, St. John Damascene, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Bonaventure, St. Francis de Sales, and others. But the rest of the saints, who are the greater number, although hall all had devotion to our Blessed Lady, nevertheless have either not at all, or at least very little, entered upon this way. That is why they have had to pass through ruder and more dangerous trials.

153. How is it then, some of the faithful servants of Mary will say to me, that the faithful servants of this good Mother have so many occasions of suffering, nay, even more than others who are not so devout to her? They are contradicted, they are persecuted, they are calumniated, the world cannot endure them; or again, they walk in interior darkness and in deserts where there is not the least drop of the dew of Heaven. If this devotion to our Blessed Lady makes the road to Jesus easier, how is it that they who follow it are the most despised of men?

154. I reply that it it quite true that the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being also her greatest favourites, receive from her the greatest graces and favours of Heaven, which are crosses. But I maintain that it is also he servants of Mary who carry these crosses with more ease, more merit and more glory.

That which would stay the progress of another a thousand times over, or perhaps would make him fall, does not once stop their steps, but rather enables them to advance; because that good Mother, all full of grace and of the unction of the Holy Ghost, prepares her servants' crosses with so much maternal sweetness and pure love as to make them gladly acceptable, no matter how bitter they may be in themselves; and I believe that a person who wishes to be devout, and to live piously in Jesus Christ, and consequently to suffer persecutions and carry his daily, either will never carry great crosses, or will not carry them joyously or perseveringly, without a tender devotion to Our Lady, which is the sweetmeat and confection of crosses; just as a person would not be able to eat unripe fruits without a great effort which he could hardly keep up, unless they had been preserved in sugar.

II. It Is a Short Way
155. This devotion to our Blessed Lady is a short road to find Jesus Christ, both because it is a road from which we do not stray, and because, as I have just said, it is a road we tread with joy and facility, and consequently with promptitude. We make more progress in a brief period of submission to and dependence on Mary than in whole years of following our own will and of relying upon ourselves. A man obedient and submissive to Mary shall sing the signal victories which he shall gain over his enemies. (Prov. 21:28).

They will try to hinder his advancing, or to make him retrace his steps or fall; this is true. But she shall advance with giant strides towards Jesus, without falling, without drawing back one step, without even slackening his pace, along the same path by which he knows (Ps. 18:6) that Jesus also came to us with giant strides and in the briefest space of time.

156. Why do you think that Jesus lived so few years on earth, and of those few years, spent nearly all of them in subjection and obedience to His Mother? The truth is that, being perfected in a short time (Wis. 4:13), He lived a long time - longer than Adam, whose fall He had come to repair, although the patriarch lived above nine hundred years. Jesus Christ lived a long time because He lived in complete subjection to His holy Mother, and closely united with her, in order that He might thus obey His Father.

For
(1) the Holy Ghost says that a man who honours his mother is like a man who layeth up a treasure; that it to say, he who honours Mary, his Mother, to the extent of subjecting himself to her and obeying her in all things, will soon become exceedingly rich, because he is every day amassing treasures by the secret of that touchstone: "He who honours his mother is as one who lays up treasure" (Ecclus. 3:5);
(2) because, according to a mystical interpretation of the inspired text, "My old age is to be found in the mercy of the bosom" (Ps. 91:11), it is in the bosom of Mary, which has surrounded and engendered a perfect man (Jer. 31:22), and has had the capacity of containing Him whom the whole universe could neither contain nor comprehend - it is, I say, in the bosom of Mary that they who are youthful becomes elders in the light, in holiness, in experience and in wisdom, that we arrive in a few years at the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ.

III. It Is a Perfect War
157. This practice of devotion to our Blessed Lady is also a perfect path by which to go and unite ourselves to Jesus; because the divine Mary is the most perfect and the most holy of creatures, and because Jesus, who has come to us most perfectly, took no other road for His great and admirable journey. The Most High, the Incomprehensible, the Inaccessible, He Who is, has willed to come to us, little worms of earth who are nothing. How has He done this?

The Most High has come down to us perfectly and divinely, by the humble Mary, without losing anything of His divinity and sanctity. So it is by Mary that the very little ones are to ascend perfectly and divinely, without any fear, to the Most High. The Incomprehensible has allowed Himself to be comprehended and perfectly contained by the little Mary, without losing anything of His immensity.

So also it is by the little Mary that we must let ourselves be contained and guided perfectly without reserve. The Inaccessible has drawn near to us and has united Himself closely, perfectly and even personally to our humanity, by Mary, without losing anything of His majesty.

So also it is by Mary that we must draw near to God and unite ourselves perfectly and closely to His Majesty without fear of being repulsed. In a word, He Who is has willed to come to that which is not, and make which is not, become He Who is; and He has done this perfectly in giving Himself and subjecting Himself entirely to the young Virgin Mary, without ceasing to be in time He who is from all eternity. In like manner, it is by Mary that we, who are nothing, can become like to God by grace and glory, by giving ourselves to her so perfectly and entirely as to be nothing in ourselves, but everything in her, without fear of delusion.

158. Make for me, if you will, a new road to go to Jesus, and pave it with all the merits of the blessed, adorn it with all their heroic virtues, illuminate and embellish it with all the lights and beauties of the angels, and let all the angels and saints be there themselves, to escort, defend and sustain those who are ready to walk there; and yet in truth, in simple truth, I say boldly, and I repeat that I say truly, I would prefer to this new, perfect path the immaculate way of Mary. "He made my way blameless." (Ps. 17:33). It is the way without stain or spot, without original or actual sin, without a shadow or darkness.

When my sweet Jesus comes a second time on earth in His glory, as it is most certain He will do, to reign there, He will choose no other way for His journey than the divine Mary, by whom He came the first time so surely and so perfectly. But there will be a difference between His first and His last coming. The first time He came secretly and hiddenly; the second time He will come gloriously and resplendently. But both times He will have come perfectly, because both times He will have come By Mary. Alas! Here is a mystery which is not understood: "Here let all tongues be mute."

IV. It Is a Secure Way
159. This devotion to Our Blessed Lady is also a secure way to go to Jesus and to acquire perfection by uniting ourselves to Him.

1. It is a secure way, because the practice which I am teaching is not are. Father Boudon, who died a short time ago in the odour of sanctity, says in a book which he composed on this devotion that it is so ancient that we cannot fix precisely the date of its beginning. It is, however, certain that for more than seven hundred years we find traces of it in the Church.

St. Odilon, the Abbot of Cluny, who lived about the year 1040, was one of the first who publicly practice it in France, as is told in his life. Peter Cardinal Damian relates that in the year 1016 Blessed Marion, his brother, made himself slave of the Blessed Virgin in the presence of his director in a most edifying manner. He put a rope around his neck, took the discipline, and laid on the altar a sum of money, as a token of his devotedness and consecration to Our Lady; and he continued this devotion so faithfully during his whole life that he deserved to be visited and consoled at his death by his good Mistress, and to receive from her mouth the promise of paradise in recompense for his services.

Caesarius Bollandus mentions an illustrious knight, Vautier de Birbac, a near relative of the Duke of Louvain, who about the year 1300 consecrated himself to the Blessed Virgin. This devotion was also practice by several private individuals up to the seventeenth century, when it became public.

160. Father Simon de Roias, of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, known as the Order of Redemption of Captives, and preacher of Philip III, made this devotion popular in Spain and Germany, and at the request of Philip III, obtained of Gregory XV ample indulgences for those who practice it. Father de Los Rios, the Augustinian, devoted himself, with his intimate friend, Father de Roias, to spreading this devotion throughout Spain and Germany both by preaching and by writing. He composed a thick volume called Hierachia Marianna, in which he treats with as much piety as learning of the antiquity, excellence and solidity of this devotion.

161. In the seventeenth century the Theatine Fathers established this devotion in Italy, Sicily and Savoy. Father Stanislaus Phalacius, the Jesuit, furthered this devotion wonderfully in Poland. Father de Los Rios, in his work just cited, quotes the names of princes, princesses, bishops and cardinals of different kingdoms, who embraced this devotion.

Cornelius a Lapide, as praiseworthy for his piety as for his profound erudition, having been commissioned by several bishops and theologians to examine this devotion, did so with great thoroughness and deliberation, and praised it in a manner which we might have expected from his well-known piety; and many other distinguished persons have followed his example.

The Jesuit Fathers, always zealous in the service of our Blessed Lady, in the name of the Sodalists of Cologne presented a little treatise on this devotion to Duke Ferdinand of Bavaria, who was then Archbishop of Cologne. He approved it, granted permission for its printing, and exhorted all the parish priests and religious of his diocese to promote this solid devotion as much as they could.

162. Cardinal de Berulle, whose memory is held in veneration throughout all France, was one of the most zealous in spreading this devotion in that country, in spite of all the calumnies and persecutions which he suffered from cities and freethinkers. They accused him of novelty and superstition. They wrote and published a libel against him, in order to defame him; and they, or rather the devil by their ministry, made use of a thousand artifices to hinder his spreading the devotion in France.

But that great and holy man only answered their calumnies by his patience; and he met the objections contained in their libel by a short treatise in which he most convincingly refuted them. He showed them that the devotion was founded on the example of Jesus Christ, on the obligations which we have toward Him, and on the vows which we have made in holy Baptism. It was chiefly by means of this last reason that he shut his adversaries' mouths, making them see that this consecration to the holy Virgin, and to Jesus Christ by her hands, is nothing else than a perfect renewal of the vows and promises of Baptism. He has said many beautiful things about this practice, which can be read in his works.

163. We may also see in Father Boudon's book the different Popes who have approved this devotion, the theologians who have examined it, the persecutions it has undergone and has overcome, and the thousands who have embraced it, without any Pope ever having condemned it. Indeed, we cannot see how it could be condemned without overturning the foundations of Christianity. It is clear, then, that this devotion is not new; and that if it is not common, that is because it is too precious to be relished and practice by everyone.

164. 2. This devotion is a secure means of going to Jesus Christ, because it is the very characteristic of our Blessed Lady to conduct us surely to Jesus, just as it is the very characteristic of Jesus to conduct us surely to the Eternal Father. Spiritual persons, therefore, must not fall into the false belief that Mary can be a hindrance to them in attaining divine union; for is it possible that she who has found grace before God for the whole world in general and for each one in particular, should be a hindrance to a soul in finding the great grace of union with Him? Can it be possible that she who has been full and superabounding with graces, so united and transformed into God that it has been a kind of necessity that H eased be incarnate in her, should be a stumbling-block in the way of a soul's perfect union with God?

It is quite true the view of other creatures, however holy, may perhaps at certain times retard divine union. But this cannot be said of Mary, as I have remarked before and shall never weary of repeating. One reason why so few souls come to the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ is that Mary, who is as much as ever the Mother of the Son, and as much as ever the fruitful spouse of the Holy Ghost, is not sufficiently formed in their hearts.

He who wishes to have the fruit well ripened and well formed must have the tree that produces it; he who wishes to gave the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary; he who wishes to have in himself the operation of the Holy Ghost must have His faithful and inseparable spouse, the divine Mary, who makes Him fertile and fruit-bearing, as we have said elsewhere.

165. Be persuaded, then, that the more you look at Mary in your prayers, contemplations, actions and sufferings, if not with a distinct and definite view, at least with a general and imperceptible one, the more perfectly will you find Jesus Christ, whim is always, with Mary, great, powerful, active, and incomprehensible - more than in Heaven or in any other creature.

Thus, so far from the divine Mary, all absorbed in God, being an obstacle to the perfect in attaining union with God, there has never been up to this time, and there never will be, any creature who will aid us more efficaciously in this great work; either by the graces she will communicate to us for this purpose - for, as a saint has said, "No one can be filled with the thought of God except by her - or by the protection she will afford us against the illusion and trickeries of thee evil spirit.

166. Where Mary is, there the evil spirit is not. One of the most infallible marks we can have of our being conducted by the good spirit is our being very devout to Mary, thinking often of her and speaking often of her. This is the last thought of a saint, who adds that as respiration id a certain sign the body is not dead, the frequent thought and loving invocation of Mary, is a certain sign the soul is not dead by sin.

167. As it is Mary alone, says the Church (and the Holy Ghost who guides the Church), who makes all heresies come to naught - "Thou alone hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world" - we may be sure that, however critics may grumble, no faithful client of Mary will ever fall into heresy or illusions, at least formal ones. He may very well err materially, take falsehood for truth, and the evil spirit for the good; and yet he will do even this less readily than others. But sooner or later he ill acknowledge his material fault and error; and when he knows it, he will not be in any way self-opinionated by continuing to believe and maintain what he had once thought true.

168. Whoever, then, wishes to put aside the fear of illusion, which is the besetting timidity of men of prayer, and to advance in the way of perfection and surely and perfectly find Jesus Christ, let him embrace with great-heartedness "with a great heart and willing mind" (2 Mach. 1:3) - this devotion to our Blessed Lady which perhaps he has not known before; let him enter into this excellent way which was unknown to him and which I now point out: "I show you a more excellent way." (1 Cor. 12:31). It is a path trodden by Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, our sole Head. One of His members cannot make a mistake in passing by the same road.

It is an easy road, because of the fullness of the grace and unction of the Holy Ghost which fills it to overflowing. No one wearies there; no one walking there has to retrace his steps. It is a short road which leads us to Jesus in a little time. It is a perfect road, where there is no mud, no dust, not the least spot of sin. Lastly, it is a secure road, which conducts us to Jesus Christ and life eternal in a straight and secure manner, without turning to the right hand or to the left. Let us, then, set forth upon that road and walk there day and night, until we come to the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ. (Eph. 4:13).

It gives us great interior liberty
Sixth Motive

169. This practice of devotion gives to those who make use of it faithfully a great interior liberty, which is the liberty of the children of God. (Rom. 8:21). Since, by this devotion, we make ourselves slaves of Jesus Christ and consecrate ourselves entirely to Him in this capacity, our good Master, in recompense for the loving captivity in which we put ourselves,
(1) takes from the soul all scruple and servile fear, which are capable only of cramping, imprisoning or confusing it;
(2) He enlarges the heart with firm confidence in God, making it look upon Him as a Father; and
(3) He inspires us with a tender and filial love.

170. Without stopping to prove these truths with arguments, I shall be content to relate here what I have read in the life of Mother Agnes of Jesus, a Dominican nun of the convent of Langeac, in Auvergne, who died there in the odour of sanctity in the year 1634. When she was only seven years old, she was suffering from great spiritual anguish, she heard a voice which told her that is she wished to be delivered from her anguish, and to be protected against all her enemies, she was as quickly as possible to make herself the slave of Jesus and His most holy Mother.

She had no sooner returned to the house than she gave herself up entirely to Jesus and His Mother in this capacity, although up to that time she did not so much know what the devotion meant. Taking an iron chain, she put it around her body and wore it until her death. After this, all her anguish and scruples ceased, and she experienced great peace and dilation of heart.

This is what brought her to teach the lotion to many persons who made great progress in it - among others, Father Olier, the founder of St. Sulpice, as well as many priests and ecclesiastics of the same seminary. One day Our Lady appeared to her and put around her neck a chain of gold, to show her the joy she had at Mother Agnes' having made herself her Son's slave and her own; and St. Cecilia, who accompanied Our Lady in that apparition, said to the religious: "Happy are the faithful slaves of the Queen of Heaven: for they shall enjoy true liberty."
"To serve thee is liberty."

It procures great blessings for our neighbour
Seventh Motive

171. Another consideration which may bring us to embrace this practice is the great good which our neighbour receives from it. For by this practice we exercise charity toward him in an eminent manner, seeing that we give him by Mary's hands all that is most precious to ourselves - namely, the satisfactory and impetratory value of all our good works, without excepting the least good thought of the least little suffering.

We agree that all the satisfactions we may have acquired, or may acquire up to the moment of our death, should be employed at Our Lady's will either for the conversion of sinners or for he deliverance of souls from Purgatory.

Is this not loving our neighbour perfectly? Is it not being a true disciple of Jesus Christ, who is always to be recognized by his charity? (Jn. 13:25). Is this not the way to convert sinners, without any fear of vanity; and to deliver souls from Purgatory, with scarcely doing anything but what we are obliged to do by our state of life?

172. To understand the excellence of this motive, we must understand also how great a good it is to convert a sinner or to deliver a soul from Purgatory. It is an infinite good, greater than creating Heaven and earth; because we give to a soul the possession of God. If by this practice we deliver but one soul in our life from Purgatory, or convert but one sinner, would not that be enough to induce a really charitable man to embrace it?

But we must remark that, inasmuch as our good works ass through the hands of Mary, they receive an augmentation of purity, and consequently of merit, and of satisfactory and impetratory value. On this account they become more capable of solacing the souls in Purgatory and of converting sinners than if they did not pass through the virginal and liberal hands of Mary. It may be a little that we give by Our Lady; but, in truth, if it is given without self-will and with a disinterested charity, that little becomes very mighty to turn away the wrath of God and to draw down His mercy.

It would be no wonder if, at the hour of death, it should be found that a person faithful to this practice should by means of it have delivered many souls from Purgatory and converted many sinners, though he should have done noting more that the ordinary actions of his state of life. What joy at his judgment! What glory in his eternity!

It is an admirable means of perseverance
Eighth Motive

173. Lastly, that which in some sense most persuasively draws us to this devotion to Our Lady is that it is an admirable means of persevering and being faithful in virtue. Whence comes it that the majority of the conversions of sinners are not durable?

Whence comes it that we relapse so easily into sin? Whence comes it that the greater part of the just, instead of advancing from virtue to virtue and acquiring new graces, often lose the little virtue and the little grace they have? This misfortune comes, as I have shown before, from the fact that man is so corrupt, so feeble and so inconstant, and yet trusts in himself, relies on his own strength and believes himself capable of safeguarding the treasure of his graces, virtues and merits.

By this devotion, we entrust all that we possess to the Blessed Virgin, who is faithful; we take her for the universal depositary of all our goods of nature and of graces. It is in her fidelity that we trust; it is on her power that we lean; it is on her mercy and charity that we build, in order that she may preserve and augment of virtues and merits, in spite of the devil, the world and the flesh, who put forth all their efforts to take them from us.

We say to her as a good child to his mother, and a faithful servant to her mistress: "Keep that which is committed to your trust." (1 Tim. 6:20). My good Mother and Mistress, I acknowledge that up to this time I have, through your intercession, received more graces from God than I deserve; and my sad experiences teaches me that I carry this treasure in a very frail vessel, and that I am too weak and too miserable to keep it safely of myself: 'I am very young and despised' (Ps/ 118:141); I beseech you, therefore, to receive in trust all that I possess, and keep it for me by your fidelity and power. I foe keep it for me, I shall lose nothing; if you hold me up, I shall not fall; if you protect me, I shall be sheltered from my enemies."

174. Listen to what St. Bernard says in order to encourage us to adopt this practice: "When Mary holds you up, you do not fall; when she protects you, you need not fear; when she leads you, you do not tire; when she is favourable to you, you arrive at the hairier of safety." St. Bonaventure seems to say the same thing still more clearly.

"The Blessed Virgin," he says, "is not only retained in the plenitude of the saints, but she also retains and keeps the saints in their plenitude, so that it may not diminish. She prevents their virtues from being dissipated, their merits from perishing, their graces from being lost, the devil from harming them, and even Our Lord from punishing them when they sin."

175. Our Blessed Lady is the faithful Virgin who by her fidelity to God repairs the losses which the faithless Eve has caused by her infidelity. It is she who obtains for those who attach themselves to her the graces of fidelity to God and perseverance.

It is for his reason that a saint compares her to a firm anchor which holds her servants fast and hinders them from being shipwrecked in the agitated sea of this world, where so many persons perish simply through not being fastened to that anchor. "We fasten our souls," says he, "to thy hope, as to an abiding anchor." It is to her that the saints who have saved themselves have been the most attached and have done their best to attach others, in order to persevere in virtue.

Happy, then, a thousand times happy, are the Christians who are now fastened faithfully and entirely to her, as to a firm anchor! The violence of the storms of this world will not make them founder, nor sink their heavenly treasures! Happy those who enter into Mary, as into the ark of Noe! The waters of the deluge of sin, which drown so great a portion of the world, shall do no harm to them; for "They who work in me shall not sin,2 says Mary, together with the Divine Wisdom. (Ecclus. 24:30).

Blessed are the faithless children of the unhappy Eve, if only they attach themselves to the faithful bother and Virgin who "remains always faithful and never belies herself." "She always loves those who love her" (Prov. 8:17) - not only with an affective love, but with an effectual and efficacious one, by hindering them, through a great abundance of graces, from drawing back in the pursuit of virtue, from falling in the road, and from losing the grace of her Son.

176. This good Mother, out of pure charity, always receives whatever we deposit with her - and what she has once received as depositary, she is obliged in justice, by virtue of the contract of trusteeship, to keep safe for us; just as a person with whom I had left a thousand dollars in trust would be under the obligation of keeping them safe for me, so that if, by his negligence, they were lost, he would in justice be responsible to me for them. But the faithful Mary cannot let anything which has been entrusted to her be lost through her negligence. Heaven and Earth could pass away sooner than that she could be negligent and faithless to those who trust in her.

177. Poor children of Mary, your weakness is extreme, your inconstancy is great, your inward nature is very much corrupted. You are drawn (I grant it) from the same corrupt mass as all the children of Adam and Eve. Yet do not be discouraged because of that. Console yourselves and exult in having the secret which I teach you - a secret unknown to almost all Christians, even the most devout. Leave not your gold and silver in your coffers, which have already been broken open by evil spirits who have robbed you.

These coffers are too little, too weak, too old, to hold a treasure so precious and so great. Put not the pure and clear water of the fountain into your vessels, all spoilt and infected by sin. If the sin is there no longer, at least the odour of it is, and so the water will be spoilt. Put not your exquisite wines into your old casks, which have had bad wine in them; else even these wines will be spoilt and perhaps break the casks, and be spilled on the ground.

178. Though you, predestinate souls, understand me well enough, I speak yet more openly. Trust not the gold of your charity, the silver of your purity, the waters of your heavenly graces, nor the wines of your merits and virtues, to a torn sack, an old and broken coffer, a spoilt and corrupt vessel, like yourselves, else you will be stripped by the robbers - that is to say, the demons - who are seeking and watching night and day for the right time to do it; and you will infect by your own bad odour of self-love, self-confidence and self-will, every most pure thing which God has given you.

Pour, Pour into the bosom and the heart of Mary all your treasures, all your graces, all your virtues. She is a spiritual vessel, she is a vessel of honour, she is a singular vessel of devotion. Since God Himself has been shut up in person, with all His perfections, in that vessel, it has become altogether spiritual, and the spiritual abode of the most spiritual souls.

It has become honourable and the throne of honour for the grandest princes of eternity. It has become wonderful in devotion, and a dwelling the most illustrious for sweetness, for graces and for virtues. It has become rich as a house of gold, strong as a tower of David, and pure as a tower of ivory.

179. Oh, how happy is the man who has given everything to Mary, and has entrusted himself to Mary, and lost himself in her, in everything and for everything! H belongs all to Mary, and Mary belongs all to him. He can say boldly with David: "Mary is made for me" (Cf. Ps. 118:56); or with the beloved disciple: "I have taken her for my own" (Jn. 19:27); or with Jesus Christ: "All that I have is hide, and all thou hast is Mine." (Jn. 17:10).

180. If any critic who reads this shall take it into his head that I speak here exaggeratedly, and with an extravagance of devotion, alas! He does not understand me - either because he is a carnal man who has no relish for spiritual things; or because he is a worldling who cannot receive the Holy Ghost; or because he is proud and critical, condemning and despising whatever he does not understand himself. But the souls which are not born of blood, nor of flesh, nor of the will of man (Jn. 1:13), but of God and Mary, understand me and relish me - and it is for these that I also write.

181. Nevertheless, I say now, both for the former and for the latter, in returning from this digression, that the divine Mary, being the most gracious and liberal of all pure creature, never lets herself be outdone in love and liberality. As a holy man said of her, for an egg she gives an ox; that is to say, for a little that is given to her, she gives much of what she has received from God. Hence, if a soul gives itself to her without reserve, she gives herself to that soul without reserve, if only we out our confidence in her without presumption, and on our side labour to acquire virtues and to brindle our passions.

182. Then let the faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin say boldly with St. John Damascene, "Having confidence in you, O Mother of God, I shall be saved; being under your protection, I shall fear nothing; with your help I shall give battle to my enemies and put them to flight; for devotion to you is an arm of salvation which God gives to those whom it is His will to save."

183. Of all the truths which I have been explaining with regard to our Blessed Lady and her children and servants, the Holy Ghost gives us an admirable figure in the Scriptures. (Gen. 27). It is in the story of Jacob, who received the blessing of his father Isaac through the skill and pains of his mother Rebecca. This is the story a the Holy Ghost relates it. I will afterward add the explanation of it.

Rebecca and Jacob
Article One

I. The Biblical Narrative
184. Esau having sold Jacob his birthright, Rebecca, the mother of the two brothers, who loved Jacob tenderly, secured this advantage of the birthright for him many years afterward by a stroke of skill most holy but most full of mystery. Isaac, feeling very old, and wishing to bless his children before he died, called his son Esau, who was his favourite, and commanded him to go out hunting and get him something to eat, in order that he might afterward bless him. Rebecca promptly informed Jacob of what had passed, and ordered him to go and take two kids from the flock.

When he had given them to his mother, she prepared for Isaac what she knew he liked. She clothed Jacob in the garments of Esau, which she kept, and covered his hands and neck with the skin of the kids, so that his father, who was blind, even though he heard Jacob's voice, might think by touching the skin of his hands that it was Esau.

Isaac, having been surprised by the voice, which he thought was Jacob's voice, made him come near. Having touched the skins with which his hands were covered, he said that the voice truly was the voice of Jacob, but the hands were the hands of Esau.

After he had eaten, and, in kissing Jacob, had smelt the odour of his perfumed garments, he blessed him and wished for him the dew of Heaven and the fruitfulness of earth. He made him lord over all his brethren, and finished his blessing with these words: "Cursed be he that that curseth thee, and let him that blesseth thee be filed with blessings."

Isaac had hardly finished these words when Esau entered, bringing him what he had captured while out hunting in order that his father might eat it, and then bless him. The holy patriarch was surprised with an incredible astonishment when he understood what had happened. But, far from retracting what he had done, on the contrary he confirmed it, for he saw plainly that the finger of God was in the matter. Esau then uttered great cries, as the Holy Scriptures says, and loudly accusing the deceitfulness of his brother, he asked his father if he had but one blessing.

In this conduct of his, as the holy Fathers remark, Esau was the image of those who are only too glad to ally God with the world and would fain enjoy both consolations of Heaven and the consolations of the earth, subjecting him to his brother. This made him conceive such an envenomed hatred for Jacob that he waited only for his father's death in order to attempt to kill him. Nor would Jacob have escaped death if his dear mother Rebecca had not saved him from it by her efforts and by the good counsels which she gave him, and which he followed.

II. Interpretation
185. Before explaining this beautiful story, we must observe that, according to the holy Fathers and the interpretators of Scripture, Jacob is the figure of Jesus Christ and the predestinate, and Esau that of the reprobate. We have but to examine the actions and conduct of each to be convinced of this.

1. Esau, figure of the reprobate.
(1) Esau, the elder, was strong and robust of body, adroit and skilful in drawing the bow and in taking much game in the chase.
(2) He hardly ever stayed in the Ouse; and putting no confidence in nothing but his own strength and address, he worked only out of doors.
(3) He took very few pains to please his mother Rebecca, and indeed did nothing for that end.
(4) He was such a glutton and loved eating so much that he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
(5) He was, like Cain, full of envy against his brother, and persecuted him beyond measure.

186. Now this is the daily conduct of the reprobate. They trust in their own strength and aptitude for temporal affairs. They are very strong, very able and very enlightened in earthly business; but very weak and very ignorant in heavenly things.

187. It is on this account that they are never at all, or at least very seldom, at their homes - that is to say, in their own interior, which is the inward and essential house which God has given to every man, to live there, after His example; for God always dwells in Himself. The reprobate do not love retirement, nor spirituality, nor inward devotion; and they treat as little, or as bigots, or as savages, those who are interior or retired from the world, and who work more within than without.

188. The reprobate care next to nothing for devotion to our Blessed Lady, the Mother of the predestinate. It is true that they do not hate her formally. Indeed they sometimes praise her and say they love her, and even practice some devotion in her honour. Nevertheless, they cannot bear that we should love her tenderly, because they have not the tenderness of Jacob for her.

They find much to say against the practices of devotion her good children and servants faithfully perform in order to gain her affection, because they do not think that devotion is necessary to salvation; and they consider that, provided they do not hate Our Lady formally or openly despise her devotion, they do enough. Moreover, they imagine that they are her servants, inasmuch as they recite and mumble certain prayers in her honour, without tenderness for her or amendment in themselves.

189. The reprobate sell their birthright, that is to say, the pleasures of paradise. They sell it for a pottage of lentils, that is to say, for the pleasures of the earth. They laugh, they eat, they drink, they amuse themselves, they gamble, they dance, and take no more pains than Esau did to render themselves worthy of the blessing of their Father.

In a word, they think only of earth and for its pleasures, selling for one act only of earth and they love earth only; they speak and act only for earth and for its pleasures, selling for one moment of enjoyment, for one vain puff of honour, for a morsel of hard metal, yellow or white, their Baptismal grace, their robe of innocence and their heavenly inheritance.

190. Finally, the reprobate daily hate and persecute the predestinate, openly and secretly. They feel the predestinate are a burden to them, they despise them, they criticize them, they ridicule them, they abuse them, they rob them, they cheat them, they impoverish them, they drive them away, they bring them low into the dust; while they themselves are making fortunes, are taking their pleasures, getting themselves into good positions, enriching themselves, becoming greater and living at their ease.

2. Jacob, the figure of the predestinate.
(a) Conduct of Jacob
191. As to Jacob, the younger son, he was of a feeble constitution, meek and peaceful. He lived for the most part at home, in order to gain the good graces of his mother Rebecca, whom he loved tenderly. If he went abroad, it was not of his own will, nor through any confidence in his own skill, but to obey his mother.

192. He loved and honoured his mother. It was on this account that he kept at home. He was never so happy as when watching her. He avoided everything which could displease her, and did everything which he thought would please her; and this increased the love which Rebecca already had for him.

193. He was subject in all things to his dear mother. He obeyed her entirely in all matters - promptly, without delaying, and lovingly, without complaining. At the least indication of her will, the little Jacob ran worked; he believed, without questioning, everything she said to him. For example, when she told him two fetch two kids in order that she might prepare something for his father to eat, Jacob did not reply that one was enough to make a dish for a single man, but did without argument what she told him to do.

194. He had great confidence in his dear mother. As he did not rely in the least on his own ability, he depended exclusively on her care and protection. He appealed to her in all his necessities, and consulted her in all his doubts. For example, when he asked if, instead of a blessing, he should not receive a curse from his father, he believed and trusted her when she said that she would take the curse upon herself.

195. Lastly, he imitated as far as he could the virtues he saw in his mother. It seems as if one of his reasons for leading such a sedentary life at home was to imitate his dear mother, who was virtuous, and kept away from bad companions who corrupt the morals. By this means he made himself worthy of receiving the double blessing of his beloved father.

(b) Conduct of the Predestinate
196. Such also is the conduct which the predestinate daily observe. They are sedentary and home keeper with their Mother. In other words, they love retirement and are interior. They give themselves to prayer; but it is after the example and in the company of their Mother, the holy Virgin, the whole of whose glory is within, and who during her entire life loved retirement and prayer so much.

It is true that they sometimes appear without, in the world; but it is in obedience to the will of God and that of their ear Mother, to fulfill the duties of their state. However apparently important their outward works may be, they esteem still more highly those which they do within themselves, in their interior, in the company of the Blessed Virgin. For it is within that they accomplish the great work of their perfection, compared with which all their other works are but child's play.

It is on this account that, while sometimes their brothers and sisters are working outwardly with much energy, success and skill, in the praise and the approbation of the world, they on the contrary know by the light of the Holy Ghost that there is far more glory, more good and more joy in remaining hidden in retreat with Jesus Christ, their Model, in an entire and perfect subjection to their Mother, than to do of themselves wonders of nature and grace in the world, as so many Esaus and reprobates do. "Glory for God and the riches for men are to be found in the house of Mary." (Cf. Ps. 111:�).

Lord Jesus, how sweet are Thy tabernacles! The sparrow has found a house to lodge in, and the turtledove a nest for her little ones. Oh, happy is the man who dwells in the house of Mary, where Thou wast the first to make Thy dwelling! It is in this house of the predestinate that he receives assistance from Thee alone, and that he has arranged in his heart the steps and ascents of all the virtues by which to raise himself to perfection in this vale of tears. "How lovely are Thy tabernacles." (Ps. 83:2).

197. The predestinate tenderly love and truly honour our Blessed Lady as their good Mother and Mistress. They love her not only in word but in truth. They honour her not only outwardly but in the depths of their hearts. They avoid, like Jacob, everything which can displease her; and they practice with fervour whatever they think will make them find favour with her. They bring to her and give her, not two kids, as did Jacob to Rebecca, but their body and their soul, with all that depends on them, symbolized by the two kids of Jacob.

They bring them to her:
(1) that she may receive them as things which belong to her;
(2) that she may them, that is, make them die to sin and self, by stripping them of their skin and their own self-love, so as by this means to please Jesus, her Son, who wills not to have any for His disciples and friends but those who are dead to themselves;
(3) that she may prepare them for the taste of heavenly Father, and for His greatest glory, which she knows better than any other creature; and
(4) that by her care and intercession this body and soul, thoroughly purified from every stain, thoroughly dead, thoroughly stripped and prepared, may be a delicate meat, worthy of the mouth and the blessing of our heavenly Father.

Is this not what the predestinate do, who by the way of testifying to Jesus and Mary an effective and courageous love, relish and practice the perfect consecration to Jesus Christ by the hands of Mary which we are now teaching them?

The reprobate tell us loudly enough that they love Jesus, and that they love and honour Mary; but it is not with their substance (Prov. 3:9), it is not the extent of sacrificing their body with its senses, their soul with its passions, as the predestinate do.

198. The predestinate are subject and obedient to our Blessed Lady as to their good Mother, after the example of Jesus Christ, who, of the three and thirty years He lived on earth, employed thirty to glorify God His Father by a perfect and entire subjection to His holy Mother.

They obey Mary in following her counsels exactly as the little Jacob did those of Rebecca, who said to him: "My son, follow my counsels" (Gen. 27:8); not like the people at the marriage of Cana, to whom Our Lady said: "Whatever my Son shall say to you, that do." (Jn. 2:5). Jacob, for having obeyed his mother, received the blessing as it were miraculously, although naturally he would not have had it.

The people at the marriage of Cana, for having followed Our lady's counsel, were honoured with the first miracle of Our Lord, who these changed the water into wine at the prayer of His holy Mother. In like manner, all those who, to the end of time, shall receive the blessing of our heavenly Father, and shall be honoured with the wonders of God, shall only receive their graces as a result of their perfect obedience to Mary. The Esaus, on the contrary, lose their blessing through their want of subjection to the Blessed Virgin.

199. The predestinate have also great confidence in the goodness and power of our Blessed Lady, their good Mother. They call incessantly for her help. They look upon her as their polar star, to lead them to a good port. They lay bare to her their troubles and their necessities with much openness of heart. They depend on her mercy and her gentleness, in order to obtain pardon of their sins through her intercession, or to taste her maternal sweetness in their troubles and weariness.

They even throw themselves, hide themselves and lose themselves in an admirable manner in her loving and virginal bosom, that they may be enkindled there with the fire of pure love, that they may be cleansed there from their least stain, and fully find Jesus, who dwells there as on His most glorious throne. Oh, what happiness! "Think not," says Abbot Gueric, "that it is happier to dwell in Abraham's bosom than in Mary's; for it is in this last that Our Lord has placed His throne."

The reprobate, on the contrary, put all their trust in themselves. They only eat, with the prodigal, what the swine eat. They eat earth like the toads, and, like the children of the world, they love only visible and external things. They have no relish for the sweetness of Mary's bosom. They have not that feeling of a certain resting-place and a sure confidence, which the predestinate feel in the holy Virgin, their good Mother. They are miserably attached to their outward hunger, as St. Gregory says, because they do not wish to taste the sweetness which is prepared within themselves, and within Jesus and Mary.

200. Lastly, the predestinate keep the ways of our Blessed Lady, their good Mother; that is to say, they imitate her. It is on this point that they are truly happy and truly devout, and bear the infallible mark of their predestination, according to the words this good Mother speaks to them: Blessed are they who practice my virtues (Prov. 8:32), and with the help of divine grace walk in the footsteps of my life.

During life they are happy in this world through the abundance of grace and sweetness which I impart to them from my fullness, and more abundantly to them than to others who do not imitate me so closely. They are happy in their death, which is mild and tranquil, and at which I am ordinarily present myself, that I may conduct them to the joys of eternity; for never has one of my good servants been lost who imitated my virtues during life.

The reprobate, on the contrary, are unhappy during their life, at their death and for eternity, because they do not imitate Our Lady in her virtues, but content themselves with sometimes being enrolled in her confraternies, reciting some prayers in her honour, or going through some other exterior devotion. O holy Virgin, my good Mother, how happy are those (I repeat it with the transports of my heart), how happy are those who, not letting themselves be seduced by a false devotion toward you, faithfully keep your ways, your counsels and your orders! But how unhappy and accursed are those who abuse your devotion, and keep not the commandments of your Son: "Cursed are all who fall from Thy commandments!" (Ps. 118:21).

The Blessed Virgin and Her slaves of love
Article Two

201. Let us now turn to look at the charitable duties which our Blessed Lady, as the best of all mothers, fulfills for the faithful servants who have given themselves to her after the manner I have described, and according to the figure of Jacob.

I. She Loves Them
She loves them: "I love those who love me." (Prov. 8:17). She loves them:
(1) because she is their true Mother, and a mother always loves her child, the fruit of her womb;
(2) out of gratitude, because they effectively love her as their good Mother;
(3) because, as they are predestinate, God loves them: "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated" (Rom. 9:13);
(4) because they are entirely consecrated to her, and are her portion and her inheritance: "Let thy inheritance be in Israel." (Ecclus. 24:13).

202. She loves them tenderly, and more tenderly than all other mothers put together. Throw, if you can, all the natural love which all the mothers of the world have for their children into the heart of one mother for only one child. Surely that mother will love that child immensely. Nevertheless, it is true that Mary loves her children still more tenderly than that mother would love that child of hers.

She loves them not only with affection but with efficacy. Her love for them is active and effective, like that of Rebecca for Jacob, an far beyond it. See what this good Mother, of whom Rebecca was but the type, does to obtain for her children the blessing of our heavenly Father.

203. 1. She is on the lookout, as Rebecca was, for favourable occasions to do them good, to advance and enrich them. She sees clearly all good and evil, all prosperous and adverse fortunes, the blessings and the cursing of God; and then she so disposes things from afar that she may exempt her servants from all sorts of evils, and obtain for them all sorts of blessings; so that if there is a good fortune to make by the fidelity of a creature to any high employment, it is certain that Mary will procure that good fortune for some of her true children and servants, and will give them the grace to go through with it faithfully: "She herself takes care of our interests," says a certain saint.

204. 2. She also gives them good counsels, as Rebecca did to Jacob:
"My son, follow my counsels." (Gen. 27:8). Among other counsels, she inspires them to bring her the two kids, that is to say, their body and soul, and to consecrate them to her, so that she may make of them a dish agreeable to God; and she inspires them to do everything which Jesus Christ her Son has taught by His words and His examples. If it is not by herself that she gives these counsels, it is by the ministry of the angels, who have no greater honour or pleasure than to descend to earth to obey any of her commands, and to help any of her servants.

205. 3. When they have brought to her and consecrated to her their body and soul, and all that depends on them, without excepting anything, what does that good Mother do? Just what Rebecca did of old with the two kids Jacob brought her:
(1) she kills them, makes the die to the life of the old Adam.
(2) She flays and strips them of their natural skin, their natural inclinations, their self-love, their own will and all attachment to creatures.
(3) She cleanses them of their spots, their vilenesses and their sins.
(4) She dresses them to the taste of God, and for His greatest glory; and as it is Mary alone who knows perfectly what the divine taste is, and what the greatest glory of the Most High is, it is Mary alone who, without making any mistake, can adapt and dress our body and soul for that taste infinitely exalted, and for that glory infinitely hidden.

206. 4. This good Mother, having received the perfect offering which we make to her of ourselves and our merits and satisfactions, by the devotion I am describing, strips us of our old garments; she cleanses us and so makes us worthy to appear before our heavenly Father.
(1) She clothes us in the clean, new, precious and perfumed garments of Esau the elder - that is, of Jesus Christ her Son - which she keeps in her house, that is, which she has in her own power, inasmuch as she is the treasurer and universal dispenser of the merits and virtues of her Son, which she gives and communicates o whom she wills, when she wills, as she wills, and in such quantity as she wills; as we have seen before.

(2) She covers the neck and the hands of her servants with the skins of the kids she has killed; that is to say, she adorns them with the merits and value of their own actions.

She kills and mortifies, it is true, all that is impure and imperfect in them, but she neither loses nor dissipates one atom of the good which grace has done there. On the contrary, she preserves and augments it, to make it the ornament and the strength of their neck and their hands; that is to say, to fortify them and help them carry the yoke of the Lord, which is wet upon the neck, and to work great things for the glory of God and the salvation of their poor brethren.

(3) She bestows a new perfume and a new grace upon their garments and adornments in communicating to them her own garments, that is, her merits and virtues, which she bequeathed to them by her testament when she died; as said a holy religious of the last century, who died in the odour of sanctity, and learnt this by revelation. Thus all her domestics, faithful servants and slaves, are double clad in the garments of her Son and in her own: "All her domestics are clothed in double clothing." (Prov. 31:21). It is on this account they they have nothing to fear from the cold of Jesus Christ, who is white as snow - a cold which the reprobate, a;; naked and stripped of the merits of Jesus and Mary, cannot for one moment bear.

207. 5. Finally, she enables them to obtain the blessing of our heavenly Father, though being but the youngest born and indeed only adopted children, they have no natural right to have it. With these garments all new, most precious and of most fragrant odour, and with their body and soul well prepared and dressed, they draw near with confidence to the Father's bed of repose.

He understands and distinguishes their voice, which is the voice of the sinner; He touches their hands, covered with skins; He smells the good odour of their clothes; He eats with joy of that which Mary their Mother has dressed for Him. He recognizes in them the merits and the good odour of His Son and of His holy Mother, and so: First, He gives them His double blessing, the blessing of the "dew of Heaven" (Gen. 27:28), that is to say, of divine grace, which is the seed of glory: "He has blessed us with spiritual blessings in Christ" (Eph. 1:3); and then the blessing "of the fat of the earth" (Gen. 27:28); that is to say, the good Father gives them their daily bread, and a sufficient abundance of the goods of this world.

Secondly, He makes them masters of their other brethren, the reprobate. But this primacy is not always apparent in this world, which passes in an instant (1 Cor. 7:31), and where the reprobate are often masters. "How long shall sinners glory? Shall they utter nab speak iniquity?" Ps. 93:3-4). "I have seen the wicked highly exalted and lifted up." (Ps. 36:35". But it is nevertheless a true primacy; and it will appear manifestly in the other world for all eternity, where the just, as the Holy Ghost says, "shall reign over the nations and command them." (Wis. 3:8). Thirdly, His Majesty, not content with blessing them in their person and their goods, blesses also those who shall bless them and curses those who shall curse and persecute them.

II. She Fosters and Nurtures Them
208. The second charitable duty which our Blessed Lady fulfills toward her faithful servants is that she furnishes them with everything, both for their body and for their soul. She gives them double clothing, as we have just seen. She gives them to eat of the most exquisite meats of the table of God; for she gives them to eat of the bread of life, which she herself has formed. (Ecclus. 24:26).

My dear children, she says, under the name of Divine Wisdom, be filled with my generations; that is to say, with Jesus, the fruit of life, whom I have brought into the world for you. Come, she repeats to them in another place, eat my bread, which is Jesus, and drink the wine of His love, which I have mixed for you. (Cant. 5:1). As it is Mary who is the treasurer and dispenser of the gifts and graces of the Most High, she gives a good portion, and indeed the best portion, to nourish and maintain her children and her servants.

They are fattened on the Living Bread, they are inebriated with the wine which brings fourth virgins. (Zach. 9:17). They are borne t the bosom of Mary. (Is. 66:12). They have such facility in carrying the yoke of Jesus Christ that they feel almost nothing of its weight; the oil of devotion has made it soften and decay: "And the yoke shall putrefy in the presence of the oil." (Is. 10:27).

III. She Conducts and Directs Them
209. The third good which Our Lady does for her servants is that she conducts and directs them according to the will of her Divine Son. Rebecca guided her little Jacob, and gave him good advice from time to time; either to draw upon him the blessing of his father, or to avert from him the hatred and persecutions of his brother Esau. Mary, who is the Star of the Sea, leads all her faithful servants into a safe harbour. She shows them the paths of eternal life. She makes them avoid the dangerous places.

She conducts them by her hand along the paths of justice. she steadies them when they are about to fall; she lifts them up when they have fallen. She reproves them like a charitable mother when they fail; and sometimes she even lovingly chastises them. Can a child obedient to Mary, his foster-Mother and his enlightened guide, go astray in the paths of eternity?

"If you follow her," says St. Bernard, "you cannot wander on the road." Fear not, therefore, that a true child of Mary can be deceived by the evil one, or fall into any formal heresy. There where the guidance of Mary is, neither the evil spirit with his illusions, nor the heretics with their subtitles, can ever come.

IV. She Defends and Protects Them
210. The fourth good office which Our Lady renders to her children and faithful servants is to protect and defend them against their enemies. Rebecca, by her cares and artifices, delivered Jacob from all the dangers in which he found himself, and particularly from the death which his brother Esau would have inflicted on him because of the envy and hatred which he bore him; as Cain did of old to his bother Abel. Mary, the good Mother of the predestinate, hides them under the wings of her protection, as a hen hides her chickens. She speaks, she stoops down to them, she condescends to all their weaknesses.

To secure them from the hawk and vulture, she puts herself round about them, and accompanies them "like an army in battle array." (Cant. 6:3). Shall a man who has an army of a hundred thousand soldiers around him fear his enemies? A faithful servant of Mary, surrounded by her protection and her imperial power, has still less to fear.

This good Mother and powerful Princess of the Heavens would rather dispatch battalions of millions of angels to assist one of her servants than that it should ever be said that a faithful servant of Mary, who trusted in her, had had to succumb to the malice, the number and the vehemence of his enemies.

V. She Intercedes for Them
211. Lastly, the fifth and greatest good which Mary procures for her faithful clients is to intercede for them with her Son, to appease Him by her prayers, to unite them to Him in a most intimate union, and to keep them unshaken in that union.

Rebecca made Jacob draw near to his father's bed. The good man touched him, embraced him, and even kissed him with joy, being content and satisfied with the well-dressed viands which the boy had brought him; and having smelt with much contentment the exquisite perfume of his garments, he cried out: "Behold the odour of my son, which is like the odour of a full field that the Lord hath blessed." (Gen. 27:27).

This odour of the full field which charms the heart of the Father, is nothing else than the odour of the virtues and merits of Mary, who is a field full of grace where God the Father has sown His only Son, as a grain of the wheat of the elect.

Oh, how welcome to Jesus Christ, the Father of the world to come, is a child perfumed with the good odour of Mary! (Is. 9:6). Oh, how promptly and how perfectly is such a child united to his Lord! But we have shown this at length already.

212. Furthermore, after Mary has heaped her favours upon her children and faithful servants, and has obtained for them the blessing of the heavenly Father and union with Jesus Christ, she preserves them in Jesus and Jesus in them. She takes care of them, watches over them always, for fear they should lose the grace of God and fall into the snares of their enemies. "She retains the saints in their fullness," and makes them persevere to the end, as we have seen. This is the interpretation of the story of Jacob and Esau, that great and ancient figure of predestination and reprobation, so unknown and so full of mysteries.

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