Marian Consecration – May 5, 2020 – Day 8

5 May, 2020

Eighth Day: May 4, 2020

Treatise of True Devotion to the Virgin Mary [49-54]

Mary’s Part in the Latter Times

“The salvation of the world began through Mary and through her must be accomplished.” (TD 49)

God wishes to reveal Mary, his masterpiece, and make her better known in these times, the latter or final days [that is, the time that follows after the fulfillment of salvation history in Christ’s Redemption].

St. Louis de Montfort provides seven reasons (TD 50):

1. Because she kept herself hidden in this world and in her great humility considered herself lower than dust, having obtained from God, his Apostles and Evangelists the favor of not being made known.

2. Because, she is the masterpiece of the hands of God, both in the order of grace and in that of glory.

3. Because she is the dawn which precedes and announces the Sun of Justice, Jesus Christ, she must be known and acknowledged so that Jesus may be known and acknowledged.

4. Since she was the way by which Jesus Christ first came to us, she will again be the way by which he will come to us the second time though not in the same manner.

5. Since she is the sure means, the direct and immaculate way to Jesus and the perfect guide to him. He who finds Mary finds life, that is, Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. But no one can find Mary who does not look for her. No one can look for her who does not know her, for no one seeks or desires something unknown.

6. In these latter times Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, power and grace. In mercy, to bring back and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanders who are to be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, to combat the enemies of God, who will rise up menacingly to seduce and crush by promises and threats to those who oppose them; in grace, finally, to inspire and support the valiant soldiers and loyal servants of Jesus Christ who are fighting for his cause.

7. Lastly, Mary must become as terrible “as an army in battle array” especially in these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time left—even less now than ever—to destroy souls, intensifies his efforts and his onslaughts every day. In fact, he will provoke cruel persecutions and set treacherous snares for the faithful servants and true children of Mary whom he finds more difficult to overcome than others.

Mary and the Final Battle

It is chiefly in reference to these last wicked persecutions of the devil, daily increasing until the advent of the reign of anti-Christ, that we should understand that first and well-known prophesy and curse of God uttered against the serpent in the garden of paradiseI will put enmity between you and the woman, between your lineage and her lineage; it will tread on your head and you will stalk its heel (Gn 3:15). God has established only one irreconcilable enmity that will grow until the end of time: the enmity between Mary and the devil, between the children and servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and followers of Lucifer.

“So that the most fearful enemy that God has set up against the devil is Mary, his holy Mother.” The devil fears her not only more than all the angels and men, but in a certain way more than God himself. Not because the wrath, hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than those of the Blessed Virgin, but because Satan, who is so proud, suffers infinitely more to be defeated and punished by a simple and humble slave of God, and the humility of the Virgin humiliates him more than divine power; and also because God has granted Mary such great power against the demons, that they are more afraid of a single sigh of Mary in favor of a person, than of the prayers of all the saints, and fear one more threat against them, than to all the other torments.

“Eve, by obeying the serpent, became the cause of perdition for herself and for all her children. Mary, by remaining perfectly faithful to God, became a cause of salvation for herself and for all her children and servants, consecrating them to the Lord.”

“God did not put only an enmity, but several enmities; one between Mary and the devil, the other between the lineage of the Holy Virgin and the lineage of the devil. They do not love each other, there is no relationship between them.”

The children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world—for they are all one and the same—have always persecuted and will persecute more than ever in the future the faithful of who belong to the Blessed Virgin.  But the power of Mary over all the demons will shine forth in a particular way in the last times, when Satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and poor children. These will be the little and poor according to the world, but they will be rich in the grace of God, which Mary will communicate to them in abundance, so they can crush the head of the devil bring victory to Jesus Christ. (TD 54)

Meditation

1)   Place yourself in the presence of God.

2)   Ask for the grace of having a great desire to be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, and to have eternal life as the only goal of my most important choices, without letting myself be seduced by the spirit of the world.

3) Read the text below and then spend a brief period of time reflecting on it.

 What is the “worldly environment”? (From Antonio Royo Marín, Theology of Christian Perfection).We examine the fourth (and final) way that the spirit of the world works.

Scandals and bad examples are almost continuous. Even to the point that one can hardly go out in the street, open a newspaper, contemplate a shop window, or listen to a conversation without the spirit of the world appearing in all its harshness, leading to occasions of sin in many forms. Saint John rightly said that the world is submerged in evil: The whole world is under the evil one (1 Jn 5:19). The Divine Master warned us of the seductions of the world: Woe to the world for the causes of sin! (Mt 18:7).

Put on the weapons of God to be able to resist the snares of the devil. Because our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of this dark world, against the evil spirits that are in the highest. (Ephesians 6:11-12).

Litany of Humility

(By Servant of God Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val)

Lord have mercy—Lord have mercy

Christ have mercy—Christ have mercy

Lord have mercy—Lord have mercy

Jesus, meek and humble of heart—Hear me.

O Jesus, meek and humble of Heart, Make my heart like unto Thine.

From the desire of being esteemed—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being loved—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being extolled—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being honored—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being praised—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being preferred to others—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being consulted—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being approved—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being despised—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of suffering rebukes—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being calumniated—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being forgotten—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being ridiculed—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being wronged—Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being suspected—Deliver me, O Jesus.

Jesus, grant me—The knowledge and love of my nothingness

Jesus, grant me—The perpetual remembrance of my sins

Jesus, grant me—The awareness of the persuasion of my stinginess

Jesus, grant me—The aversion for all vanity

Jesus, grant me—The pure intention to serve God

Jesus, grant me—The perfect submission to the will of the Father

Jesus, grant me—The true spirit of compunction

Jesus, grant me—The decided obedience to my superiors

Jesus, grant me—The holy hatred of all envy and jealousy

Jesus, grant me—The promptness in the forgiveness of offenses

Jesus, grant me—The prudence in being quiet before the business of others

Jesus, grant me—Peace and charity with and for all

Jesus, grant me—The ardent desire for being disdained and for humiliations

Jesus, grant me—The want to be treated like You and the grace to know how to accept it in a saintly manner.

That others may be loved more than I—Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I—Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease—Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be chosen and I set aside—Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be praised and I go unnoticed—Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be preferred to me in everything—Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should—Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

O Mary, Queen and Mother of the humble—plead for me.

Saint Joseph, protector and model of the humble—plead for me.

Saint Michael Archangel, who was the first to take down the proud—plead for me.

All the Saints, sanctified by the spirit of humility—plead for me.

Let us pray—Lord Jesus, who being God humbled yourself unto death and death by the cross, as to be a perennial example that confounds our pride and self-love, grant us the grace to imitate Your example so that, humbling ourselves as we should to our misery on earth, we may be exalted to enjoy You eternally in Heaven. Amen

May Jesus Christ reign through the Virgin Mary!

Religious Family of the Incarnate Word
Province of the Immaculate Conception, USA

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