The Fourth Glorious Mystery // The Assumption of Mary
Fruit of the Mystery // Devotion to Mary
Reflect
I can still recall the first time I made my Saint Louis de Montfort Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary. In the summer of 2008, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and the ministry I worked for invited me to travel to Lourdes, France in the hopes I would be miraculously healed in the bathes of Lourdes.
In preparation for this gifted pilgrimage, I, along with our staff, consecrated ourselves and the ministry to Jesus through Our Lady. The Litanies seemed repetitive yet consoling, the daily rosaries for 33 days were often completed by Our Lady when my eyes rested for the night. But the relationship with my Mother Mary blossomed like a winter Amaryllis as I opened to the light of Christ and the comfort of Mary’s mantel wrapped around me.
My soul had become cold and dark from the diagnosis by the time winter came, and that pilgrimage brought me hope, trust, and a maternal embrace that has carried me to today. Our Lady desires to draw us to her as only a mother would. My devotion to her has cultivated through the nurturing grace she pours over me.
I think of my own mother who does everything and anything to make her children feel loved when we visit from cleaning the house, cooking familiar and beloved meals, and rushing out her front door when we arrive. Mary’s assumption into Heaven was no different. She entered Heaven in preparation of our arrival into our eternal home. She’s waiting to rush to the gate of Heaven to wrap us in her arms.
Devotion to our Mother Mary does not diminish our worship of God. Saint Louis de Montfort said it best when he wrote:
We never give more honor to Jesus than when we honor his Mother, and we honor her simply and solely to honor him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek—Jesus, her Son.
I pray your devotion to Mary will increase your resolve to follow in Our Mother’s footsteps and labor for the salvation of souls.
Let Us Pray
“Most amiable Queen, I, a miserable sinner, also love thee, but I love thee too little. I desire to obtain a greater and more tender love for thee. Obtain this for me; because to love thee is a great sign of predestination and a grace which God does not grant except to those whom He will save ... If thou dost not assist me, I shall be lost. No. No one can be lost who recommends himself to thee. In thy hands, therefore, do I place my eternal salvation and to thee do I consign my soul, which was lost, but which thou wilt save by thy holy intercession.” // Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori
For Discussion
What does devotion to Mary look like in your personal prayer life? In your family? In your daily journey toward Heaven?
Have you ever consecrated yourself to Jesus through Mary through the Saint Louis de Montfort Consecration or another Marian consecration? If yes, what was your experience in prayer like and how did it increase your devotion to Our Lady?
Praying the Rosary
Throughout the Prayer Pledge and beyond, we really encourage you to pray the Rosary! Since we will be looking at the fruits of the Mysteries of the Rosary, it only makes sense to actually pray it!
Here is a guide on how to pray the Rosary.
I like this podcast and this podcast for praying the Rosary.
Hallow also has a marvelous Rosary meditation.
And if you want to go even deeper in to the Rosary, check out Mystery!
By Their Fruits: The 2021 Prayer Pledge // Day 28 #BISblog #prayerpledge //Click to tweet