Week two: Getting to know Mary - Day 7

The apostles of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Prayer to the Holy Spirit 

O Holy Spirit, inspire me. God’s love, engulf me. Holy Mary, my Mother, guide me in the right ways, look at me, and together with Jesus, bless me. Keep me from all evil, from all delusions and all threats. Mary, The Spouse of the Holy Spirit, obtain for me the grace of getting to know you and participating in the triumph of your Immaculate Heart. Amen!

The Word of God 

“And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. Rejoice Day 7 155 then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!’ (…)

Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus” (Rev 12:7‒12; 12:17).

Meditation 

While contemplating the flame of God’s love burning in Mary’s Heart, St. Amadeus (d. 1159) uses in awe a wonderful comparison: “You burned like the bush that was shown to Moses, yet did not burn out.”34 Then, he compares the love flowing from Our Lady’s Heart to the rushing stream of fire that arouses the terror of hell. The power of the opposites, fire and water, is united in the power of love in Mary’s Heart. In his prophetic vision, St. Amadeus continues his homily: “For her uncomparable love towards God, she will be granted a special role in the fight with Satan and even a part in the Last Judgement.” (Also, Pope Pius XII cites St. Amadeus in his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, defining the dogma of the Assumption.) God gave Mary, His and our Mother, the new Eve, the Immaculate Virgin, clothed in the rays of heaven brightness a task of leading in the spiritual warfare when lawlessness will increase, and the love of many will grow cold (cf. Matt 24:12). We want to entrust our life to Christ like Mary did and with her help so that we are at His sole disposal. We want to become the servants of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, according to God’s will.

One of the great apostles of Our Lady of Victory is St. Louis de Montfort. In his Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, he writes: “In a word, God wishes that His holy Mother should be present more known, more loved, more honoured, than she has ever been. This no doubt will take place, if the predestinate enter, with the grace and light of the Holy Ghost, into the interior and perfect practice which I will disclose to the shortly. Then they will see clearly, as far as faith allows, that beautiful Star of the Sea. They will arrive happily in harbour, following its guidance, in spite of the tempests and the pirates. They will know the grandeurs of that Queen, and will consecrate themselves entirely to her service, as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience her sweetnesses and her maternal goodnesses, and they will love her tenderly like well-beloved children.”35 Why did St. Louis write that there will be “predestinate,” not many or all people? Because it isn’t easy to become a “subject and slave of love.”

“The act speaks of ‘servitude.’ It contains a paradox similar to the words of the Gospel according to which one must lose one’s life to find it (cf. Mt 10:39). For love constitutes the fulfilment of freedom, yet at the same time ‘belonging,’ and so not being free is part of its essence. However, this ‘not being free’ in love is not felt as slavery but rather as an affirmation and fulfilment of freedom. The act of consecration in slavery indicates therefore a unique dependence and a limitless trust. In this sense slavery (non-freedom) expresses the fullness of freedom, in the same way as the Gospel speaks of the need to lose one’s life in order to find it in its fullness.”36

St. Louis points at the attributes of those who consecrate to Her totally and will not compromise with the world: “The crucifix in their right hand and the rosary in their left, the sacred names of Jesus and Mary on their hearts, and the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ in their own behaviour. These are the great men who shall come. But Mary shall be there by the order of the Most High.”37 The crucifix and the rosary, prayer in their hearts and righteousness. These are the attributes of the Marian generation.

The crucifix must be put back in the central place. In a world ruled by the “prince of this world,” who is the “father of lies,” egoism and delusions always win. That is why we need intervention from Heaven because we won’t make it alone. We need a transforming and cleansing Fire of the Holy Spirit who burned in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and then, as St. Louis promises, “They will know the mercies of which she is full, and the need they have of her succour; and they will have recourse to her in all things, as to their dear advocate and mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will know what is the most sure, the most easy, the most short, and the most perfect means by which to go to Jesus Christ; and they will deliver themselves to Mary, body and soul, without reserve, that they may thus be all for Jesus Christ.”38

Offering at the disposal of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

O most pure of all the people, Virgin Mary and Mother! As a community of one heart and soul with all who entrust to you at your sole disposal in the Cenacle of your Immaculate Heart, I ask you to grant me the grace of cleansing and sanctifying in the Truth. The Ark of the New Covenant, while keeping unanimously in prayer with all the choirs of angels and saints in heaven, I offer myself in obedience to the Holy Spirit at the total disposal of your Immaculate Heart.

Mary, only your untainted Blood and your virginal Heart were worthy of receiving the Son of God! Your Blood, o Mother of God, shaped Christ Blood! Your Heart shaped his Heart! May His Most Precious Blood cleanse us and deliver us from all evil.

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, pray for us to Jesus.

Here I am, a poor sinner, giving my weak, tainted by sin heart into your most pure Heart. Accept me in the eternity, hold me tight and never let me out of your merciful hands so that I may protect myself against me and hide in the shadow of your mercy. 

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, pray for us to Jesus.

Offering today to your Immaculate Heart my life and death, all I do and all I experience, my thoughts, words, and actions, through Your Heart and by Your hands, I entrust all of that to God the Father Almighty!

I want to love like you do. 
I want to sacrifice like you do. 
I want to keep inner silence like you do. 
I want to forgive like you do. 
I want to be faithful like you are.
Guide me to the Heart of our Lord and God, the Most Holy Heart which is all we aspire to and all our eternal happiness. 

Virgin Mary, Mother of god, pray for us to Jesus.

I also ask you, o saint and mighty Angels, so that while remembering about my personal consecration to Mary, Mother of God, you remind me of it, admonish me and warn me, guide me and never let me fall, so that my entire life and actions become more the reflection of Her pureness, grandeur, and love.

Blessed Lady, grant us this grace so that we always remember about you, Virgin and Mother, Mother and Virgin. Amen. 

Come, Holy Spirit, come through the mighty intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your beloved Spouse! Amen.

Spiritual reading 

God, then, wishes to reveal and discover Mary, the masterpiece of His hands, in these latter times:

1) Because she hid herself in this world, and put herself lower than the dust by her profound humility, having obtained of God and of His Apostles and Evangelists that she should not be made manifest.

2) Because, being the masterpiece of the hands of God, as well here below by grace as in heaven by glory, He wishes to be glorified and praised in her by those who are living upon the earth.

3) As she is the aurora which precedes and discovers the Sun of Justice, who is Jesus Christ, she ought to be recognised and perceived, in order that Jesus Christ may be so.

4) Being the way by which Jesus Christ came to us the first time, she will also be the way by which He will come the second time, though not in the same manner.

5) Being the sure means and the straight and immaculate way to go to Jesus Christ, and to find Him perfectly, it is by her that the holy souls, who are to shine forth especially in sanctity, have to find our Lord. He who shall find Mary shall find life; that is, Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But no one can find Mary who does not seek her; and no one can seek her, who does not know her: for we cannot seek or desire an unknown object. It is necessary, then, for the greater knowledge and glory of the Most Holy Trinity, that Mary should be more known than ever.

6) Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, in might, and in grace, in these latter times: in mercy, to bring back and lovingly receive the poor strayed sinners who shall be converted and shall return to the Catholic Church; in might, against the enemies of God (…), who shall rise in terrible revolt against God to seduce all those who shall be contrary to them, and to make them fall by promises and threats; and, finally, she must shine forth in grace, in order to animate and sustain the valiant soldiers and faithful servants of Jesus Christ, who shall do battle for His interests.

7) And, lastly, Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times, because the devil, knowing that he has but little time, and now less than ever, to destroy souls, will every day redouble his efforts and his combats. He will presently raise up new persecutions, and will put terrible snares before the faithful servants and true children of Mary, whom it gives him more trouble to surmount than it does to conquer others.” 

St. Louis de Montfort, A Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 50

Homework 

Fulfilling the wish of the Mother of God, I will pray the rosary every day. 

Prayer of consecration 

I am all Yours, and all that I have is Yours, O most loving Christ, through Mary, Your most holy Mother. Amen!