33- Day Preparation for
TOTAL CONSECRATION
TO JESUS THROUGH MARY
ACCORDING TO ST. LOUIS MARIE DE MONTFORT
Patterned from the book of Fr. Hugh Gillespie, SMM
Day 10
Preparation for Total
Consecration
False blessedness
Purpose: Emptying yourself of
the spirit of the world
(Make the Sign of the Cross) In the name of the
Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.
v. Send forth Your Spirit, O Lord, and they shall be
created.
R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray.
God our Father, pour out the gifts of Your Holy
Spirit on the world. You sent the Spirit on Your
Church to begin the teaching of the gospel: now
Examine your conscience, pray, practice
renouncement of your own will; mortification,
purity of heart. This purity is the indispensable
condition for contemplating God in heaven, to
see Him on earth and to know Him by the light
of faith. The first part of the preparation should
be employed in casting off the spirit of the
world which is contrary to that of Jesus Christ.
The spirit of the world consists essentially in the
denial of the supreme dominion of God; a denial
which is manifested in practice by sin and
disobedience; thus it is principally opposed to
It manifests itself by the concupiscence of
the flesh, by the concupiscence of the eyes
and by the pride of life. By disobedience to
God's laws and the abuse of created
things. Its works are: sin in all forms, then
all else by which the devil leads to sin;
works which bring error and darkness to
the mind, and seduction and corruption to
the will. Its pomps are the splendor and the
charms employed by the devil to render sin
Scripture: Luke
12:16-21
English Standard Version
16
And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a
rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to
himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my
crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down
my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all
my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul,
“Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;
relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to
him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and
the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So
St. Louis Marie de Montfort – True Devotion to Mary #97-98
Presumptuous devotees
97. Presumptuous devotees are sinners who give full rein to their
passions or their love of the world, and who, under the fair name of
Christian and servant of our Lady, conceal pride, avarice, lust,
drunkenness, anger, swearing, slandering, injustice and other vices.
They sleep peacefully in their wicked habits, without making any
great effort to correct them, believing that their devotion to our
Lady gives them this sort of liberty. They convince themselves that
God will forgive them, that they will not die without confession, that
they will not be lost for all eternity. They take all this for granted
because they say the Rosary, fast on Saturdays, are enrolled in the
Confraternity of the Holy Rosary or the Scapular, or a sodality of our
Lady, wear the medal or the little chain of our Lady. When you tell
them that such a
devotion is only an illusion of the devil and a dangerous
presumption which may well ruin them, they refuse to believe you.
God is good and merciful, they reply, and he has not made us to
damn us. No man is without sin. We will not die without confession,
and a good act of contrition at death is all that is needed. Moreover,
they say they have devotion to our Lady; that they wear the
scapular; that they recite faithfully and humbly every day the seven
Our Fathers and seven Hail Marys in her honour; that sometimes
they even say the Rosary and the Office of our Lady, as well as
fasting and performing other good works. Blinding themselves still
more, they quote stories they have heard or read - whether true or
false does not bother them - which relate how people who had died
in mortal sin were brought back to life again to go to confession, or
how their soul was miraculously retained in their bodies until
confession, because in their lifetime they said a few prayers or
few pious acts, in honour of our Lady. Others are supposed to
have obtained from God at the moment of death, through the
merciful intercession of the Blessed Virgin, sorrow and pardon
for their sins, and so were saved. Accordingly, these people
expect the same thing to happen to them.
98. Nothing in our Christian religion is so deserving of
condemnation as this diabolical presumption. How can we
truthfully claim to love and honour the Blessed Virgin when by
our sins we pitilessly wound, True Devotion to the Blessed
Virgin, pierce, crucify and outrage her Son? If Mary made it a
rule to save by her mercy this sort of person, she would be
condoning wickedness and helping to outrage and crucify her
Son. Who would even dare to think of such a thing?
Question
Is there a persistent sin or vice in your life that you
are not fighting against? Why have you made your
peace with this?
Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska
817 When I reflected that I had not been to confession for more than
three weeks, I wept seeing the sinfulness of my soul and certain
difficulties. I had not gone to confession because the circumstances
made it impossible. On the day of confessions, I had been confined to
bed. The following week, confessions were in the afternoon, and I had
left for the hospital that morning. This afternoon, Father Andrasz came
into my room and sat down to hear my confession. Beforehand, we did
not exchange a single word. I was delighted because I was extremely
anxious to go to confession. As usual, I unveiled my whole soul. Father
gave a reply to each little detail. I felt unusually happy to be able (208)
to say everything as I did. For penance, he gave me the Litany of the
Holy Name of Jesus. When I wanted to tell him of the difficulty I have in
saying this litany, he rose and began to give me absolution. Suddenly
his figure became diffused with a great light, and I saw that it was not
Father A., but Jesus. His garments were bright as snow, and He
disappeared immediately. At first, I was a little uneasy, but after a while
a kind of peace entered my soul; and I took note of the fact that Jesus
heard the confession in the same way that confessors do; and yet
something was wondrously transpiring in my heart during this
confession; I couldn’t at first understand what it signified.
O Jesus Living In Mary
O Jesus living in Mary,
come and live in your servants.
In the spirit of your holiness,
in the fullness of your gifts,
in the truth of your virtues,
in the perfection of your ways,
in the communion of your mysteries.
Subdue within me the power of the flesh and demon
by your Holy Spirit,
for the glory of God the Father. Amen
Night Prayer
Sub Tuum
We fly to thy protection,
O holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions in our
necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.
