The Essential Practice of the Devotion to Mary

	The Essential Practice of the Devotion to Mary It is not enough to give ourselves just once as a slave to Jesus through Mary; nor is it enough to renew that consecration once a month or once a week. That alone would make this just a passing devotion. It would not raise the soul to the level of holiness which it is capable of reaching. It is easy to enroll in a confraternity; it is easy to make an act of consecration, or to say every day the few vocal prayers prescribed. The chief difficulty is to enter into the spirit of this devotion, which requires adopting an interior trustful dependence on Mary, total confidence in her, and the ardent desire to act, and to behave in such a way that we really do honor her as a slave of love. To this end, we strive to honor and obey Christ as King. Thus, we actually do keep his commandments as slaves of love through Mary. I have met many people who, with admirable zeal, have set about exteriorly practicing this holy devotion to Jesus through Mary, but I have met only a few who have actu ally understood the secret of its interior spirit of total dependence, and fewer still who have persevered in it.  The essential practice of this devotion is to perform all our actions with Mary. We adopt her as the model for all we do. Before undertaking anything, we must forget self and abandon our own views. We must consider ourselves as a mere nothing before God, as being personally incapable of doing anything supernaturally worthwhile or anything conducive to our salvation.  We then have recourse to our Lady, intentionally adopting her intentions as our own to the best of our ability. Certainly we do not always know exactly what her specific intention is, but that does not matter for we are serving her unconditionally as slaves of love. By adopting Mary's spirit, we supernaturally adopt the intentions of Jesus in a far more perfect manner than if we acted without her. We have consecrated ourselves to be an instrument in Mary's hands, for her to act in us and do with us what she pleases, for the greater glory of her Son; and through Jesus for the greater glory of the Father. This is the way we pursue our interior life. We make our spiritual progress precisely by cultivating total confidence in her, and d ependence on her... Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort The Secret of Mary 44-46