Dear Friends and Benefactors,

We are speaking about the manner and living of the Total Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary according to the spirit of St. Louis de Montfort and according to the message of Our Lady of Fatima. Now we are called to understand the CONSEQUENCES FOR MONTFORT SPIRITUALITY
The whole of Montfort’s doctrine on time is precious for Montfort spirituality. Montfort compels us to recall the past, to value the present in view of eternity, and above all to prepare for the future of the world. Montfort’s coherent outline on the end times has consequences both for a correct understanding of Saint Louis Marie and for the Marian devotion that he taught.
A key to the life of Montfort
Saint Louis Marie de Montfort’s determination to become an itinerant missionary has often been explained as an expression of his desire to live the life of the early apostles. This explanation remains true, but it should be complemented with Montfort’s projection toward the future. The prodigious activity that the missionary accomplished in his brief life was also due to the urgency he experienced in proclaiming the reign of Jesus Christ. This purpose is intrinsic to both his preaching and his writing. Although undoubtedly guided by the example of “Christ Wisdom” and the Apostles living in poverty, Montfort’s existence is energized by the urgent need of transforming the reign of sin into the reign of Jesus Christ. The saint opens himself, therefore, to the breath of the Spirit and the maternal action of Mary, becoming a priest full of fire to reform the Church and renew the face of the earth.
This is the formation and education of the Seminarians and Religious candidates in the little enclave of the SSPX MC of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Boston, Kentucky.
Devotion to Mary
To read True Devotion without the perspective of the end times—which for Montfort means the present time (“these end times,” TD 50)—gives the impression that Montfort is simply attempting to introduce his readers to “the interior and perfect practice” of Marian devotion. But there is one dimension of Montfort’s Marian teaching that is often forgotten: his thought is eschatological and therefore Spirit-related and apostolic.
By indissolubly uniting Mary and the Holy Spirit as the begetters of Christ and Christians (TD 34-36), and by locating this action in the special reign of the Spirit, of the Father, and of the Son (PM 15-17), Montfort avoids the danger of Christo monism.
Moreover, this Marian spirituality cannot fall back on itself, because in Montfort’s view it is projected toward the future and the kingdom of Jesus Christ. It is finalized and dynamically outstretched toward the fulfillment in history. Those who are consecrated to Christ through the hands of Mary will be bound to destroy the kingdom of evil, to establish the reign of God, and to spread His kingdom throughout the entire world. When they breathe Mary as the body breathes air, becoming living copies of her, then Jesus will be loved and glorified (TD 217). In other words, only when the Church becomes Mary, will Jesus be “born” a second time and return to establish in the Spirit the fullness of the reign of the Father.
If devotion to the Blessed Virgin is necessary for all men simply to work out their salvation, it is even more necessary for us who are called to acquire special perfection in this little conclave of SSPX MC – Our lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Seminary and Convent.

These candidates cannot acquire intimate union with our Lord and perfect fidelity to the Holy Ghost without a very close union with the Most Blessed Virgin Mary through the practice of “Total Consecration.”

St. Joseph – a model saint who practiced total consecration – most perfectly

St. Joseph’s role, focusing on his spousal union with Mary – is the ultimate model of total consecration. Let us explore the dynamic nature of St. Joseph’s sanctity, specifically as it pertains to his wholly unique relationship with the “Two Hearts” of Jesus and Mary. In St. Joseph’s spousal relationship to Mary, he gave his heart unreservedly to Mary, and took her heart as his own. The hearts of Joseph and Mary became one; through the marital union, they became as “two in one flesh.” Thus, St. Joseph was necessarily united to the Heart of Jesus Christ, since the Immaculate heart of Mary, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, are inseparably united.

Reverend Stanley Smolensk, a contemporary Josephologist, explains this point: “Joseph’s interior life was based on his singular union with Jesus through Mary. He was consecrated to Jesus through Mary by his espousal to her … Thus, Joseph’s consecration is the essence of all consecrations to Jesus through Mary.”
We understand Joseph’s sanctity as the fruit of his union with the two hearts, based on his espousal union with the heart of Mary. And we, too, can model our total consecration to Jesus through Mary on St. Joseph’s “spousal union” with Mary. We, like Joseph, are called to “espouse” the Immaculate Heart of Mary; to give Mary our hearts undividedly and take her heart as our own.

St. Louis de Montfort was fond of the term “slave;” this, he believed, sufficiently expressed the unreserved nature of the consecration. St. Maximillian Kolbe felt that even this term didn’t go far enough. Instead, he advocated the terms “possession and property.” But both these great Marian saints fully agreed that to live this consecration was to live “with Mary, in Mary, through Mary, and for Mary.” Yet, does not the model of “espousal” seem to most completely symbolize and exemplify the charism of living with, through, in, and for Mary?

St. Joseph’s spousal union with Mary, then, exemplifies total consecration to Mary, and serves as the perfect model for our union with the two hearts.
In imitation of St. Joseph, we, too, can … espouse Mary’s heart, becoming “two in one flesh” (Gen 2:24), in living with Jesus. Thus, St. Joseph, in his spousal relationship with Jesus, through Mary, becomes … a model for acquiring intimate union with our Lord and perfect fidelity to the Holy Ghost with a very close union with the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

Let us become slaves of Mary, that we may become great saints!

Fr. Pancras Raja
Spiritual Director
July 1, 2020

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