|
Psalm 44:10-18
"The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood
on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety. Hearken,
O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father's
house. And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy
God, and him they shall adore. And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea,
all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance. All the glory
of the king's daughter is within in golden borders, Clothed round about with
varieties. After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours
shall be brought to thee. They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing:
they shall be brought into the temple of the king. Instead of thy fathers,
sons are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth. They
shall remember thy name throughout all generations. Therefore shall people
praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever."
St. Louis de Montfort: "If Jesus Christ, the Head of men, is born in her
. . . the members of this Head must also be born in her by a necessary
consequence . . . The Head and members are born of the same
Mother."
Jesus Christ is the one Mediator of man and God the Father, the only Person
whose Blood saves us; but the most effective and beautiful way to Jesus
is through the imitation of Mary and beseeching her to pray for us. Mary
is not only the Christ's mother; she is our mother, and the Queen
Mother of Christ's Kingdom. In the Old Testament, the Queen Mother held the
title of gevirah and was the most powerful woman in the Davidic Kingdom,
the one who acted as a mediatrix between the King and his people. Just as
Queen Mother Bathsheba interceded with her son, King Solomon, on the part
of those who took their pleas to her (3 Kings 2:19-20), Our Lady --
our Queen Mother -- intercedes for us with the King of Kings.
At the wedding at Cana, Mary looked at the wedding guests, saw what they
needed, and made her request to Jesus, on their behalf , for more wine. He
knew well that she was asking for a miracle, but replied that His "hour is
not yet come." Knowing her place, she doesn't insist, but she
trusts that Her Son would comply. She is the Queen Mother, she'd made
her request, she trusted in Him and in His trust of her, and, just after
He said that His hour had not yet come, she told the waiters there with all
confidence, "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye." And then Jesus did comply,
asking those waiters to fill six jugs with water -- water that He then changed
into the wine Mary sought for the thirsty guests. It was at Our Lady's request
that Jesus performed His first public miracle and that He first revealed
His divinity to the masses. What we must remember is that He performs miracles
and reveals Himself at her request even today. By asking for Mary's intercession,
by honoring her, and by perfectly imitating her, we can get closer to
Jesus.
We Catholics honor our Queen and Mother in many ways, most especially by
"doing what He tells us" per her advice to the waiters at the wedding at
Cana. This is her fondest wish, her deep desire: that we come to know, love,
and serve her Son! To better serve God is the ultimate objective of any honor
given to Our Lady and the very purpose Marian devotion. "Per Matrem ad Filium"
-- "Through the Mother to the Son" is the motto of the Catholic who especially
loves Our Lady.
We revere Mary, too, by such practices as praying to her (especially in the
Rosary), piously wearing the Brown
Scapular of Carmel, piously wearing the
Miraculous Medal, remembering her Feasts,
keeping the Five First Saturdays per her request to
the seers at Fatima, crowning statues of her in May, defending her honor
against Protestant misunderstandings or out-and-out evil attacks, etc. Most
of all, we give our offerings, sufferings, and pleas to her to give to Jesus
so that they will be purified and presented to Him by immaculate hands. An
analogy: a small child makes a cake for her Father on Father's Day. She's
not the best cook, and the cake is a little lopsided and inelegant by restaurant
standards. The child's mother, upon seeing the child's offering of love,
"oohs and ahs" over it, kisses her child on the forehead, and says, "How
about our adding a little icing to this side?" to make it even better. By
offering up our works and desires and sufferings to Mary to give to
Jesus, she makes our offerings that much more beautiful by mingling them
with her prayers.
There are, though, more formal ways of honoring God through her -- spiritual
practices most often known as "Consecration to Mary," or "Consecration to
Jesus through Mary," which is the less common but more accurate phrasing.
"Consecration to Mary" is the means by which one formally makes an act of
trust in Mary as Queen Mother, in her power as intercessor for us with King
Jesus, and in the perfection of her will to bring all souls to her Son. One
consciously and formally, with outward signs, places oneself under the mantle
of her motherly protection.
There are two formal methods for doing this. The first method is the more
apostolic, corporate method encouraged by St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, a Polish
priest-martyr who founded the confraternity "Militia Immaculata." The second,
more complex and individualistic method was first described by St. Louis-Marie
Grignion de Montfort, a French priest who founded the Missionaries of the
Company of Mary (Montfort Fathers) and the Daughters of Divine Wisdom. A
Catholic may consecrate himself to Jesus through Mary using either method,
both methods, or no formal method at all.
Skip to:
St. Maximilian Kolbe's Way: Unlimited
Consecration
St. Louis de Montfort's Way: Total
Consecration
|
|
