Chapter XVII — Fourth Means: A Tender and True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

203. Here at last is the greatest of means and the most marvelous of all secrets for acquiring and preserving divine Wisdom, namely: a tender and true devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

1. The Necessity of True Devotion to Mary

There has never been anyone but Mary who found grace before God for herself and for the whole human race, and who had the power to incarnate and bring into the world Eternal Wisdom; and there is still no one but she who, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, has the power to incarnate him, so to speak, in the predestined.

The patriarchs, the prophets, and the holy persons of the Old Law had cried out, sighed, and begged for the incarnation of Eternal Wisdom; but none of them could merit it. Only Mary was found who, by the sublimity of her virtue, reached up to the throne of the Divinity and merited this infinite gift.

She became the mother, the mistress, and the throne of divine Wisdom.

204. She is his most worthy Mother, because she incarnated him and brought him into the world as the fruit of her womb: And blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Thus wherever Jesus is, in heaven or on earth, in our tabernacles or in our hearts, it is true to say that he is the fruit and the product of Mary, that Mary alone is the tree of life, and that Jesus alone is its fruit.

Whoever therefore wishes to have this admirable fruit in his heart must have the tree that produces it: whoever wishes to have Jesus must have Mary.

205. Mary is the mistress of divine Wisdom, not that she is above divine Wisdom, who is true God, or that she equals him: it would be blasphemy to think or say so; but because God the Son, Eternal Wisdom, being perfectly subject to Mary as to his Mother, has given her over himself a maternal and natural power that is incomprehensible, not only during his life on earth, but still in heaven, since glory, far from destroying nature, perfects it. This means that in heaven Jesus is, as much as ever, the child of Mary, and Mary the mother of Jesus.

In this capacity she has power over him, and he is subject to her in some manner because he so wills it; that is to say, Mary, by her powerful prayers and her divine maternity, obtains from Jesus everything she wishes; she gives him to whomever she wishes; she brings him forth every day in the souls she wishes.

206. Oh, how happy is a soul that has won the good graces of Mary! She may hold herself as assured of soon possessing Wisdom; for, since Mary loves those who love her, she shares her goods with them with open hands, and the infinite good in which all others are contained: Jesus, the fruit of her womb.

207. If it is therefore true to say that Mary is, in a sense, the mistress of Incarnate Wisdom, what must we think of the power she has over all the graces and gifts of God, and the freedom she has to give them to whomever she pleases?

She is, say the holy Fathers, the immense ocean of all the grandeurs of God, the great storehouse of all his goods, the inexhaustible treasury of the Lord, and the treasurer and dispenser of all his gifts.

It is the will of God that, since he gave her his Son, we should receive everything through her hand, and no heavenly gift descends upon the earth that does not pass through her as through a channel.

It is from her fullness that we have all received, and if there is in us any grace, any hope of salvation, it is a good that comes to us from God through her. She is so much the mistress of the goods of God that she gives to whomever she wishes, as much as she wishes, when she wishes, and in the manner she wishes, all the graces of Jesus Christ and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all the goods of nature, of grace, and of glory. These are the thoughts and expressions of the holy Fathers, whose Latin passages I do not cite, for the sake of brevity.

But whatever gifts this sovereign and lovable Princess may give us, she is not satisfied unless she gives us Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus her Son; and she is occupied every day in seeking souls worthy of him, in order to give him to them.

208. Mary, moreover, is the royal throne of Eternal Wisdom. It is in her that he displays his grandeurs, spreads out his treasures, and takes his delights; and there is no place in heaven or on earth in which Eternal Wisdom displays so much magnificence or takes so much delight as in the incomparable Mary.

That is why the holy Fathers call her the sanctuary of the Divinity, the rest and contentment of the Holy Trinity, the throne of God, the city of God, the altar of God, the temple of God, the world of God, and the paradise of God. All these titles and praises are perfectly true, with respect to the different wonders that the Most High has worked in Mary.

209. It is therefore only through Mary that one can obtain Wisdom.

But if so great a gift as Wisdom is given to us, where shall we place her? What house, what seat, what throne shall we give to this princess so pure and so brilliant that the rays of the sun are but mud and darkness in her presence? Perhaps you will answer that it is only our heart that she asks for, that it is our heart we must give her, that it is in our heart we must place her.

210. But do we not know that our heart is defiled, impure, carnal, and filled with a thousand passions, and consequently unworthy to possess so noble and holy a guest; and that if we had a hundred thousand hearts like ours to offer her as a throne, she would still justly scorn our pursuit, turn a deaf ear to our requests, and even accuse us of rashness and insolence for wishing to lodge her in a place so foul and so unworthy of her majesty?

211. What then must we do to make our heart worthy of her? Here is the great counsel, here is the admirable secret: Let us bring Mary, so to speak, into our house, by consecrating ourselves to her unreservedly as her servants and slaves. Let us surrender into her hands, in her honor, all that we hold most dear, keeping nothing for ourselves; and this good Mistress, who has never let herself be outdone in generosity, will give herself to us in a manner incomprehensible but real; and it is in her that Eternal Wisdom will come to dwell as on his glorious throne.

212. Mary is the sacred magnet which, wherever she is, draws Eternal Wisdom so powerfully that he cannot resist. This magnet drew him to earth for all men, and it draws him still every day into each person where it is found. Once we have Mary in our home, we shall easily and in a short time obtain divine Wisdom through her intercession.

Mary is, of all the means of obtaining Jesus Christ, the surest, the easiest, the shortest, and the holiest. Even if we were to perform the most terrifying penances, undertake the most painful journeys and the greatest labors, even if we were to shed all our blood to acquire divine Wisdom, and the intercession and devotion of the Blessed Virgin were not found in all these efforts, they would be useless and incapable of obtaining her for us. But if Mary says a word for us, if her love is found in us, if we are marked with the mark of her faithful servants who keep her ways, we shall soon and at little cost obtain divine Wisdom.

213. Note that Mary is not only the Mother of Jesus, the head of all the elect, but also the Mother of all his members; so that it is she who brings them forth, carries them in her womb, and gives them birth to the life of glory, through the graces of God that she communicates to them. This is the teaching of the holy Fathers, among others St. Augustine, who says that the elect are in the womb of Mary, and that she does not bring them into the world until they enter into glory. Moreover, it is to Mary that God commanded to dwell in Jacob, to take her inheritance in Israel, and to take root in his elect and predestined.

214. From these truths we must conclude:

1. That it is in vain to flatter oneself that one is a child of God and a disciple of Wisdom, if one is not a child of Mary;

2. That to be among the number of the elect, Mary must dwell and take root in us, through a tender and sincere devotion to her;

3. That it is for her to bring us forth in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ in us, until he reaches his perfection and the fullness of his age; so that she can say of herself, with more truth than St. Paul said of himself: "Quos iterum parturio, donec formetur in vobis Christus: I bring you all forth every day, my dear children, until Jesus Christ, my Son, is perfectly formed in you."

2. In What True Devotion to Mary Consists

215. Someone desiring to be devout to the Blessed Virgin may ask me in what true devotion to the Blessed Virgin consists.

I answer, in a few words, that it consists in a great esteem of her grandeurs, a great gratitude for her blessings, a great zeal for her glory, a continual invocation of her help, a total dependence on her authority, and a firm reliance and tender confidence in her maternal goodness.

216. One must be on guard against false devotions to the Blessed Virgin, which the devil uses to deceive and damn many souls.

I shall not stop to describe them; it is enough for me to say that true devotion to the Blessed Virgin: 1. is always interior, without hypocrisy or superstition; 2. tender, without indifference or scruple; 3. constant, without fickleness or infidelity; 4. holy, without presumption or irregularity.

217. One must not be among the number of those false hypocritical devotees whose devotion is only on their lips and in their outward actions.

Nor must one be among the number of those critical and scrupulous devotees who fear giving too much honor to the Blessed Virgin and dishonoring the Son by honoring the Mother.

Nor must one be among those indifferent and self-interested devotees who have no tender love or filial confidence in the Blessed Virgin and turn to her only for the acquisition or preservation of temporal goods.

Nor must one be among those inconstant and fickle devotees who are devoted to the Blessed Virgin only by whim and for a time, and who withdraw from her service in time of temptation.

Finally, one must be very careful not to be among the number of those presumptuous devotees who, under the veil of a few outward devotions they practice, hide a heart corrupted by sin; who imagine that, through their devotions to the Blessed Virgin, they will not die without confession and will be saved, no matter what sins they may otherwise commit.

218. One should not neglect to enroll in the confraternities of the Blessed Virgin, especially that of the holy Rosary, to fulfill its duties, which are very sanctifying.

219. But the most perfect and the most useful of all devotions to the Blessed Virgin is to consecrate oneself entirely to her and entirely to Jesus through her, as her slave, making a complete and everlasting consecration of one's body and soul, one's goods both interior and exterior, the satisfactions and merits of one's good actions, and the right to dispose of them — in a word, of all the goods one has received in the past, possesses at present, and will possess in the future.

Since there are several books that treat of this devotion, it is enough for me to declare that I have never found any practice of devotion to the Blessed Virgin more solid, since it is based on the example of Jesus Christ; more glorious to God; more salutary to the soul; more terrible to the enemies of salvation; and, finally, sweeter and easier.

220. This devotion, well practiced, not only draws Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, into a soul, but also maintains and preserves him there until death. For, I ask you, what good will it do us to seek a thousand secrets and make a thousand efforts to possess the treasure of Wisdom, if, after having received her, we have the misfortune of losing her, as Solomon did, through our infidelity? He was wiser than we shall perhaps ever be, and therefore stronger and more enlightened; yet he was deceived, he was conquered, and he fell into sin and folly, and he left all who followed him in a double astonishment at his light and his darkness, his wisdom and the folly of his sins. It can be said that, while his example and his books were bound to inspire all his descendants to desire and seek Wisdom, his actual fall, or at least the well-founded doubt that has been raised about it, has prevented an infinity of souls from applying themselves to the pursuit of something that is indeed very beautiful, but very easy to lose.

221. To be therefore, in some manner, wiser than Solomon, we must place in the hands of Mary all that we possess, and the treasure of treasures, Jesus Christ, so that she may keep him for us. We are vessels too fragile; let us not put this precious treasure and this heavenly manna in them. We have too many enemies to contend with, enemies too cunning and too experienced; let us not trust our own prudence and our own strength. We have too many fatal experiences of our inconstancy and our natural fickleness; let us distrust our own wisdom and our own fervor.

222. Mary is wise: let us place everything in her hands; she will know how to dispose of us and of all that belongs to us for the greater glory of God.

Mary is charitable: she loves us as her children and servants; let us offer her everything, and we shall lose nothing; she will make everything turn to our profit.

Mary is generous: she returns more than is given to her; let us give her all that we possess, without any reserve; we shall receive a hundredfold in return, and, as the saying goes, for a hundred eggs, an ox.

Mary is powerful: nothing can take from her what has been placed in her hands; let us place ourselves in her hands; she will defend us and make us victorious over all our enemies.

Mary is faithful: she lets nothing that is given to her go astray or be lost. She is the Virgin faithful to God and faithful to men, par excellence. She has faithfully guarded and preserved all that God has entrusted to her, without losing the least part; and she still guards every day, with special care, those who have placed themselves entirely under her protection and patronage.

Let us then entrust all things to her faithfulness; let us cling to her as to a pillar that cannot be overthrown, as to an anchor that cannot be detached, or rather as to Mount Sion that cannot be shaken.

However blind, however weak, however inconstant we may be by nature, and however numerous and malicious our enemies may be, we shall never go astray, we shall never be deceived, and we shall never have the misfortune of losing the grace of God and the infinite treasure of Eternal Wisdom.

Consecration of Oneself to Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, Through the Hands of Mary

223. O Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom! O most lovable and adorable Jesus, true God and true man, only Son of the Eternal Father and of Mary ever Virgin!

I adore you profoundly in the bosom and the splendors of your Father, during eternity, and in the virginal womb of Mary, your most worthy Mother, in the time of your incarnation.

I give you thanks for having annihilated yourself by taking the form of a slave, to deliver me from the cruel slavery of the devil.

I praise and glorify you for having been willing to submit yourself to Mary, your holy Mother, in all things, so as to make me, through her, your faithful slave.

But, alas! ungrateful and unfaithful as I am, I have not kept the vows and promises that I so solemnly made to you in my baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called your child or your slave; and, since there is nothing in me that does not merit your rejection and your anger, I no longer dare to approach by myself your holy and august Majesty.

That is why I have recourse to the intercession and the mercy of your most holy Mother, whom you have given me as my mediatrix with you; and it is through her that I hope to obtain from you the contrition and pardon of my sins, and the acquisition and preservation of Wisdom.

224. I greet you therefore, O Immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of the Divinity, in whom Eternal Wisdom, hidden, wills to be adored by angels and men.

I greet you, O Queen of heaven and earth, to whose dominion all is subject, all that is beneath God.

I greet you, O sure Refuge of sinners, whose mercy has never failed anyone; hear the desires I have for divine Wisdom, and receive for that purpose the vows and offerings that my lowliness presents to you.

225. I, N..., an unfaithful sinner, renew and ratify today in your hands the vows of my baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and his works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to him than I have been until now.

I choose you today, in the presence of all the heavenly court, as my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to you, as your slave, my body and my soul, my interior and exterior goods, and the value of all my good actions, past, present, and future, leaving to you the full and entire right to dispose of me and of all that belongs to me, without exception, according to your good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity.

226. Receive, O gracious Virgin, this small offering of my slavery, in honor of and in union with the submission that Eternal Wisdom was pleased to show to your maternity; in homage of the power that you both have over this poor worm and miserable sinner; and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity has favored you.

I declare that henceforth, as your true slave, I wish to seek your honor and to obey you in all things.

O admirable Mother! present me to your dear Son as his eternal slave, so that, having redeemed me through you, he may receive me through you.

227. O Mother of mercy! grant me the grace of obtaining the true Wisdom of God, and of placing me for that purpose among the number of those whom you love, whom you teach, whom you guide, whom you nourish, and whom you protect as your children and your slaves.

O faithful Virgin! make me in all things so perfect a disciple, imitator, and slave of Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, your Son, that I may attain, through your intercession and after your example, the fullness of his age on earth and of his glory in heaven. Amen.

Qui potest capere capiat. Quis sapiens et intelliget haec? [Mt 19:12; Hos 14:10]