Knowledge of Mary: Day Four

The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner, downloaded from Wikipedia

Day twenty three at Fish Eaters.

Day twenty three at The Catholic Company. *note: no mention is made here of praying the Rosary at the completion of prayers as is done in the older book by Montfort Publications*

Again, today's reading is from True Devotion. The heart and soul of this perfect devotion is found here:

All our perfection consists in being conformed, united, and consecrated to Jesus Christ; and therefore the most perfect of all devotions is, without any doubt, that which the most perfectly conforms, unites, and consecrates us to Jesus Christ. Now, Mary being the most conformed of all creatures to Jesus Christ, it follows that, of all devotions, that which most consecrates and conforms the soul to our Lord is devotion to His holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to Mary, the more is it consecrated to Jesus.

And this devotion is not novel:

Hence it comes to pass, that the most perfect consecration to Jesus Christ is nothing else but a perfect and entire consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin, and this is the devotion which I teach; or in other words, a perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy Baptism.

And it repeats the promise and concerns I expressed yesterday:

In a word, we must give her all we have in the order of nature and in the order of grace, and all that may become ours in future in the orders of nature, grace, and glory; and this we must do without any reserve of so much as one farthing, one hair, or one least good action; and we must do it also for all eternity, and we must do it further without pretending to, or hoping for, any other recompense for our offering and service, except the honour of belonging to Jesus Christ by Mary and in Mary, even though that sweet Mistress were not, as she always is, the most generous and the most grateful of creatures.

We're to give her all, as if we did not know that she is "the most generous and the most grateful of creatures." I hope to give her all by trusting in her, and yet at the same time, forgetting she has united her will to the divine Will of God, who is merciful and generous to us.

It is a mystery that God has so chosen to give himself completely through the participation of his creatures. His grace comes to us, not only directly from him, but very often through his creatures. And his choice to allow us to participate in the dispensing of his grace is also his gift (grace) to us. God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.