Week two: Getting to know Mary - Introduction

“During the second week they should apply themselves, during all their prayers and works each day, to know the Blessed Virgin. They should ask this knowledge of the Holy Ghost.” 

St. Louis de Montfort, A Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 228

Introduction 

Every person bears in the heart a longing for God. Even if they don’t believe, this yearning is given away by the seeking of the meaning of life and sometimes even the loneliness and sadness. St. Augustin wrote: “You have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.”4 Original sin deprived people also of the privilege of seeing God. Yet, our Heavenly Father has not left us without help. He Himself became a man and came to us in the land of exile to reclaim us, to redeem us from the bondage of Satan. Already in Paradise, He showed people hope, saying to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers” (Gen 3:15). God came to earth through the Woman heralded in Eden. “The virgin’s name was Mary” (Lk 1:27). In her, God became a man. Therefore, there is no surer way to Him than the way with her, in her and through her. God made Mary the Masterpiece, the new creation, the beginning of a new world, as she gives birth to Christ, not only centuries before but also right now 120 WEEK TWO: GETTING TO KNOW MARY as the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, in every human soul. The following days are to help us get to know the privileges and merits of Our Lady, uncover once again the beauty of her life with God, and finally make your personal decision to come into Mary’s way so that she unites us with her Son by the bonds of irrevocable love. The triumph of Mary’s Heart in the world must begin in our hearts. Consecration to Mary has to guide us to the total compliance of our life attitudes and decisions with God’s will. This is what the true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is about.