PathToHoliness

It doesn’t get much more beautiful than this:

Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!
Lo, you were within,
but I outside, seeking there for you,
and upon the shapely things you have made
I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you,
those things which would have no being,
were they not in you.
You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.

Also check out: Augustine, Pelosi and Abortion

Today we celebrated the feast of the mother of one of the Church’s most celebrated saints. St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine (whose feast day is tomorrow), prayed unceasingly for the conversion of her famous son, and, as we all know, was happily obliged by Our Lord. Not only that, but her husband, Patricius, a pagan with a terrible temper, converted to Christianity and was baptized a year before his death thanks to her prayers as well. She is a wonderful example for married couples and parents who are called to care above all for the spiritual well being of their spouse and children. I believe that it was not only her prayers, but also her example as a pious Christian woman that also won over her husband and son. This passage from 1 Peter makes me think of St. Monica and the example that all married women should give:

Likewise, you wives should be subordinate to your husbands so that, even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by their wives’ conduct when they observe your reverent and chaste behavior. Your adornment should not be an external one: braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or dressing in fine clothes, but rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and calm disposition, which is precious in the sight of God.
1 Peter 3:1-5

She is also an example to all of us of our call to persevere in prayer. The conversion of St. Augustine did not happen overnight. It was a long, turbulent journey (20 years or more) during which the reluctant saint fell in and out of serious sin and his mother deeper and deeper into a conversation with Christ on behalf of her son, storming the gates of heaven with her constant tears and prayer. In the end this great mother witnessed the baptism of one of our greatest saints and spent the last days of her life reflecting with him and longing for the joys of heaven:

“Son, as far as I am concerned, nothing in this life now gives me any pleasure. I do not know why I am still here, since I have no further hopes in this world. I did have one reason for wanting to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic Christian before I died. God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect, for I know that you have renounced earthly happiness to be his servant. So what am I doing here?”
from St. Augustine’s Confessions

Her final request was that her son, who became a priest and bishop, remember her “at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be.”

Last Friday’s feast of the Assumption of Mary body and soul into Heaven is always an extra special feast day for me. On this day, roughly every year for the last 10 years I renew my Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary. St. Louis De Montfort calls True Devotion to Mary an “easy, short, perfect and secure way of attaining union with our Lord.”

This is the devotion consists in making oneself a slave of Mary, doing all our actions by Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary. We offer to the Blessed Mother every thought, word, deed and desire so that she might purify them and present them to our Lord to be distributed where they are most needed. It is a total abandonment to the Blessed Virgin Mary who will in turn lead us into a perfect union with Christ, her Son.

By Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ we can do all things; we can render all honor and glory to the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost; we can make ourselves perfect and be for our neighbor a fragrance of eternal life.

If, then, we are establishing sound devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only in order to establish devotion to our Lord more perfectly, by providing a smooth but certain way of reaching Jesus Christ. (True Devotion, n. 60-61)

What I love about this devotion is that it is nothing short of a perfect imitation of Christ who spent almost His entire life on earth completely subject to His Blessed Mother. I think of the finding in the temple, when Jesus, ready begin his public ministry at age 12, left His parents in Jerusalem to go preach to the elders in the temple. Seeing how this upset his Mother, Jesus returned home and was “obedient” to her, living hidden in Nazzareth with his mother for another 18 years. This devotion echoes not only Christ’s love for His Mother, but also His sublime humility.

If you have not yet read St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion, I highly recommend it! But don’t just take my word for it. JP II said:

“St. Louis de Montfort! I have long studied his doctrine and I like it. Besides, it’s from Montfort that I have taken my motto, “Totus Tuus” (I am all thine). Some day I’ll have to tell you Monfortians how I discovered de Montfort’s treatise on TRUE DEVOTION to Mary and how often I had to reread it to understand it.”

Indeed, rereading it has helped me to gain greater insight into the richness of this devotion and how to live it out in my daily life. The next (suggested) Total Consecration preparation begins on Nov. 5 and ends on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Order the Total Consecration book, or use this website which offers a very thorough explanation of how to proceed and includes links to all readings and prayers so that ordering books is not necessary.

In today’s Gospel reading our Lord encourages us to have childlike confidence in and dependence on God:

Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven (Mt. 18:3-4)

Not only did Christ tell us to enter the Kingdom of heaven as little children, he showed us the way by litterally becoming a little child himself – even an infant in the womb, completely dependent on His mother for everything.

This is how St. Therese articules what she called her “Little Way” of spiritual childhood (from Story of a Soul):

I look upon myself as a weak little bird, with only a light down as covering. I am not an eagle, but I have only an eagle’s EYES AND HEART. In spite of my extreme littleness I still dare to gaze upon the Diving Sun, the Sun of Love, and my heart feels within it all the aspirations of an Eagle.

The little bird wills to fly toward the bright Sun that attracts its eye, imitating its brothers, the eagles, whom it sees climbing up toward the Divine Furnace of the Holy Trinity. But alas! the only thing it can do is raise its little wings; to fly is not within its little power!

What then will become of it? Will it die of sorrow at seeing itself so weak? Oh no! the little bird will not even be troubled. With bold surrender, it wishes to remain gazing upon its Diving Sun. Nothing will frighten it, neither wind nor rain, and if dark clouds come and hide the Star of Love, the little bird will not change its place because it knows that beyond the clouds its bright Sun still shines on and that its brightness is not eclipsed for a single instant…

Jesus, I am too little to perform great actions, and my own folly is this: to trust that Your Love will accept me as a victim. My folly consists in begging the eagles, my brothers, to obtain for me the favor of flying toward the Sun of Love with the Divine Eagle’s own wings!

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I am in the middle of renewing my Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary this year so I was pleased to find this passage in The Way recently:

The love of our Mother will be the breath that kindles into a living flame the embers of virtue that are hidden under the ashes of your indifference. ~St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way n. 492

When we give ourselves completely to Mary she gives herself completely to us in return, sharing with us her own glorious virtues. She purifies all of our good works and intentions offered to her in confidence, offering them in turn to Christ who never refuses what is given to him from the hands of His Holy and Immaculate Mother (True Devotion – book, online – nos. 144, 146, 149).