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From True
Devotion To the Blessed Virgin Mary, Nos. 120-121
Nature of perfect devotion to the Blessed Virgin
or perfect consecration to Jesus Christ
120. As all
perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecrated to
Jesus it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotions is
that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completely to
Jesus. Now of all God's creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus.
It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for
the most effective consecration and conformity to him. The more one is
consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus. That is why
perfect consecration to Jesus is but a perfect and complete
consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin, which is the devotion I
teach; or in other words, it is the perfect renewal of the vows and
promises of holy baptism.
121. This devotion consists in giving oneself entirely to Mary in order
to belong entirely to Jesus through her. It requires us to give:
(1) Our body
with its senses and members;
(2) Our soul with its faculties;
(3) Our present material possessions and all we shall acquire in the
future;
(4) Our interior and spiritual possessions, that is, our merits,
virtues and good actions of the past, the present and the future.
In other words,
we give her all that we possess both in our natural life and in our
spiritual life as well as everything we shall acquire in the future in
the order of nature, of grace, and of glory in heaven. This we do
without any reservation, not even of a penny, a hair, or the smallest
good deed. And we give for all eternity without claiming or expecting,
in return for our offering and our service, any other reward than the
honour of belonging to our Lord through Mary and in Mary, even though
our Mother were not - as in fact she always is - the most generous and
appreciative of all God's creatures.
Prayers for the Second Week
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