About Mary's Way

WHAT IS THE MARY'S WAY?

"Oh, what a wonderful work this is! Dust is transformed into light, dirt into purity, sin into holiness, creation into the Creator and man into God! (...) Your most certain vocation is to gain the holiness of God (...) So what will you do, Soul? What means will you choose to rise to where God is calling you?" St. Louis

The path we want to follow is the path of perfect devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary according to St. Louis, also known as the path of perfect entrustment. It consists in total surrender to Mary in the Slavery of Love about which St. John Paul II wrote: "Devotion to slavery indicates therefore a 'special dependency,' a holy dependency and an 'absolute trust.' Without this holy dependency, without this heroic trust, human life is insignificant!".

It was prepared by Saint Louis, described in the "Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary", and the saint himself wrote about it as follows: "Chosen soul, this is the mystery that the most high God has revealed to me, and which I have not found in any book, old or new".

"If a new path were shown to me by which one could reach Jesus Christ, and if this path were paved with all the merits of the blessed, adorned with all their heroic virtues, illuminated and beautified with all the light and beauty of the angels, and if all the angels and saints stood on it to lead, defend and support those who wish to follow it, truly, I will say boldly and tell the truth: rather than this path, so perfect, I would rather choose the immaculate path of Mary: through which he came for the first time in such a certain and perfect way". St. Louis

WHAT DOES DEVOTION LEADE TO?

Total devotion leads to complete union with Mary. To be with Her one heart, one soul, one thought. Not to stand aside, but to belong completely to Her and to be in Her. Like a child in the womb and under the heart of the Mother, who does not have to worry or strive for anything, because he simply belongs to the Mother. He is safe and is one with the Mother, therefore he does not worry and does not do anything on his own. It is better to do God's will without publicity than to build great buildings in self-will. A child living in the Mother is completely safe and receives everything he needs from the Mother.

Total dedication to Mary is an act of spiritual slavery out of love and full freedom, in which a person gives the Mother of God everything he has - body, soul, material and spiritual goods. This entrustment allows one to enter into a deep relationship with God, because Mary, as Mother and Mediatrix, introduces us to the mysteries of Christ's life. Saint Louis adds that through Mary the Holy Spirit shapes in the soul in a special way the "image of Christ" (Treatise, fragment 36). It can be said that Mary precedes the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit finds her in the soul, he willingly gives himself.

The perfect devotion to Mary proposed by Saint Louis is the path leading to perfect union with Jesus Christ. It consists in total consecration to Mary, so that through her one may belong fully to Christ. Montfort wrote: "Mary is the surest, shortest and most perfect means to reach Jesus Christ" (Treatise, fragment 55).

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LIVE IN MARY?

Father Hubert Gebhard, a Montfortan, wrote: "anyone who wants to go through the school of Mary, in order to reach Jesus faster and better, must be guided by her spirit. Our spirit (...) is tainted by original and personal sin. Therefore, in order to do supernatural things, it is necessary to renounce oneself and human corruption".

This devotion is the "school of Mary" in which I learn and change. It is a spiritual process, a kind of path that leads me to perfect union with Jesus. A path that requires humility and complete trust from me. Let yourself be led!

Father Gebhard also wrote about the consequences of living in the presence of Mary, to behave as "if I were in the presence of the Pope". That is, the awareness that I live and belong entirely to Mary, who is constantly present with me.

"This devotion makes the soul truly free, the freedom of the children of God. If, out of love for Mary, the soul surrenders itself voluntarily to her in slavery, then this Most Dear Lady, out of gratitude, enlarges our heart and makes the soul walk with giant's steps on the path of God's commandments. She drives away weariness, frees from sadness and scruples". St. Ludwik

With Mary it is easier to walk because a person does not drag behind him the cross, suffering, illnesses, etc., but carries them with Mary, who makes them almost "sweet", as the saints write in their memoirs, e.g. Padre Pio, Ludwik or Maksymilian.

DO I LOSE SOMETHING BY GIVING MYSELF TO MARY?

Saint Louis indicates that through this devotion Mary enlarges the human heart, making it more capable of accepting God's grace and of generous love. Giving oneself to Mary in the "Bond of Love" is not a limitation, but a liberation from burdens such as sadness, weariness, scruples or anxieties that can burden the soul. It is a kind of "holy exchange": : I give Mary my heart, soul, body and everything I have, and she gives me her goods such as love, care, concern, tenderness and guidance until death.

Free will is a gift from God. Using it, we can give ourselves to Mary in a conscious and voluntary way, which we call the Slavery of Love. However, it is not "slavery" in the historical sense understood as taking away or limiting someone else's freedom.

In Catholic theology, slavery does not limit love, but paradoxically liberates. The Slavery of Love is based on the maternal heart of Mary and leads to the multiplication of love, joy and peace, and ultimately to holiness in Heaven. It is possible through the conscious and voluntary decision of the free will of the child of God.

My insurance, security and life insurance are a perfect devotion. If everything that is mine belongs to Mary, then I don't have to worry about "anything". Living in dependence on Her means that She alone directs my life. By renouncing myself, I surrender myself to Her, and She accepts this act of will to become the Queen of my thoughts, feelings, desires, decisions, relationships, plans, undertakings, joys, sorrows, crosses and sweets. Basically everything from A to Z. Everything is in Her spiritual bank, the treasury, which is the safest place in the world. The Immaculate Heart is the best refuge.

WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF DEVOTION?

The devotion proposed by Saint Louis and practiced by many saints can be divided into basic stages.

Preparation to enter this path.
A 33-day retreat according to the saint's recommendations.
An act of total dedication to the Lord Jesus through Mary.
Living this devotion at every moment of your life.

Through materials and specific tips for each of these stages, it will help you enter this path and live this devotion daily in your life.

Let us use the examples of Great Polish Saints, for whom the perfect devotion according to St. Louis was the source and center of spiritual life.

WHAT DID JOHN PAUL II SAY ABOUT ENTRUSTMENT?

Saint John Paul II made the spirituality of perfect entrustment the foundation of his spiritual life, which found expression in his episcopal and papal motto "Totus Tuus" ("All Yours"). It is taken from Saint Louis. In a homily delivered at the sanctuary in Montfort-sur-Meu (September 19, 1996), the then Pope said: "I owe a great deal to this saint and his Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. (...) in the spirit of Saint Louis, the entire interior life flows directly from the sacrament of holy baptism, as indicated by the significant fragment of the act of offering oneself to Jesus Christ through the hands of Mary."

So that we also understand well the total surrender to the Slavery of Love, Saint John Paul II addressed these words to us: "The meaning of the word 'slavery', so painful for Poles, conceals a similar paradox to the words of the Gospel about one's own life, which must be lost in order to gain it (cf. Mt 10:39). Freedom is a great gift of God. It must be used well. Love is the fulfillment of freedom, and at the same time it is necessary to belong to its essence, that is - not to be free, but rather - to be free in a mature way! However, this 'not being free' in love is never felt as slavery. A mother does not feel as slavery that she is tied to a sick child, but as an affirmation of her freedom, as its fulfillment. Then she is most free! Surrendering to slavery indicates therefore a 'special dependency', a holy dependency and an 'absolute trust'. Without this holy dependency, without this heroic trust, human life is insignificant!" St. John Paul II during his first pilgrimage to Poland

WHY DID CARDINAL WYSZYŃSKI DEVOTE HIMSELF TO MARY?

For Cardinal Wyszyński, devotion to Mary had a special national and personal dimension. In the Act of Entrustment of Poland to the Mother of God from 1966, recalling the "captivity of Mary" according to St. Louis, the Primate expressed his belief that Mary was the "Queen of Poland" and the nation's advocate in difficult moments. In his teaching he said: "I have staked everything on Mary" (Primate Wyszyński, Jasna Góra, 1956). In "Prison Notes" we read: "I am not afraid. I have given everything to the Most Holy Mother. My worries, the Church, the nation, my own future". He wrote: "I am a slave to Mary not for beautiful words. I am always ready for everything that God will ask of me” (S. Wyszyński, Millennium Notes. Selections from the “Pro memoria” journal from 1965–1967).

The Cardinal described: “For three weeks I have been preparing my soul for this day. Following the instructions of Blessed Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, contained in the book: On the Perfect Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary – I have today surrendered myself through the hands of my Best Mother into complete slavery to Christ the Lord. In this I see the grace of the day, that God Himself has created time for me to accomplish this joyful work. I have decided that the first parish that I will be able to erect, I will honor with the title of “Divine Motherhood of Mary”. (Prison notes)

The Cardinal did not hide his devotion to the Mother of God. He wrote: "On December 8, 25 years passed since I understood the significance of the Most Holy Mother in the Polish Church in Stoczek in Warmia, as a unifying force, a force in whose name it is possible to move Poles and mobilize them for every great and just cause. It was then that I gave myself to the Most Holy Mother in her maternal servitude. When later I began to preach the idea of Mary's slavery in Poland, the courageous, though faint-hearted, Brothers said: On this point the Primate will stumble. And yet, it happened differently... At the beginning of a so-called defeat, one must always rely on Mary” (Stefan Wyszyński, Who is a Man).