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Helen
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De Ann recently made her consecration to Our Lady using St. Louis de Montfort's book. She has this great question to ask:
DeAnn M wrote:
Since then I have felt completely lost and undisciplined, from school, to housework, to eating well...you name it. Until now I had never really thought of it as an attack. Also, We are converts so I had just assumed I had done something wrong. What do I do now? True devotion is an awesome book, but I feel a little lost in what to do with the whole consecration/devotion on a daily basis. Any suggestions or advice? |
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(This quote is taken from another thread )
I would love, love, love to hear what other people do to keep their devotion to Our Lady alive and well each day.
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chicken lady
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DeAnn, first I will say I know the feeling. Sometimes I get so sidetracked and undisiplined. Please don;t feel alone or you are the only one. We can offer our failings to Our Mother as well as our virtues. Actually it is constantly on my mind all the ways I fail, most days that is all I have to give to Our Dear Lady.
That said, we do say the Rosary, attend daily Mass and weekly confession. You would think with all these opportunities for graces I would be in a better place. Instead I realize, where would I be with out the Sacraments if I am this undisiplined now!
Keep persevering, this is most likely not that helpful to you, Helen and others are much more eloquent, but I wanted you to know you are not alone.
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DeAnn M
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Thank you so much, dear ladies,
Yes, everything said is incredibly helpful. Sometimes all you need is for someone to honestly say, "Hey, I'm there too." As a convert I sometimes feel that I am never going to "catch up" with everyone else. That said, it is very refreshing to hear others say that they struggle as well.
It took me so long to understand Mary's role in my life and faith during our conversion journey. I feel like I'm just now reaching a place of understanding her very active role in my prayer life and life as a mother. I'm so grateful that I have a powerful intercessor and advocate who will lead me to my Savior.
Keep the advice coming! I greatly appreciate it!
DeAnn
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chicken lady
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DeAnn M wrote:
As a convert I sometimes feel that I am never going to "catch up" with everyone else.
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I am not a convert and I feel the same way. I think it is a grace to realize how much we truly need grace to even function. We can do nothing outside of God's grace and will. I think as a culture we often have "John Wayneism", we can pull our selves up by our boot straps! I for one cannot! I am helpless without Mary supporting and holding my hands. I cannot walk, I am like a baby stumbling along, I keep falling and hitting my head. Thankfully, Our Mother comes along and scoops me up out of my mess, cleans me up, and hopefully grabs me a bit tighter.
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Helen
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Since the boards were closed yesterday, I began to compose this answer in a Word Document and then I realized it would be better to include links. As soon as I began accumulating links, I decided it would be a good blog post. Since I had the time and energy last night and who knows when that would happen again!?
I did make a blog post.
But now I'm a little embarrassed by the post and I've had more thoughts about living out Marian devotion/consecration on a daily basis.
I think perseverence sums up True Devotion. We're all going to fall short but the most important thing is to keep trying. Our Lady values small contributions, small efforts and a willingness to continue. (Who doesn't value these things? Especially as mothers, I think we can understand how important those small efforts are.)
The Rosary is a wonderful way to begin, especially now during the month of October, the Month of the Holy Rosary.
I'm eager to read what others have to say.
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Ave Maria!
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aussieannie
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De Ann, you have asked SUCH a relevant question because we all struggle from time to time with marrying the 'reading' with the 'living' of such a perfect way to Our Lord.
I too, need to examine myself and ask these very same things, many times, so I will share some of the things that help me.
Firstly I will say that the basic catechism passage, "We must know, love and serve God to be happy with Him in Heaven" comes to mind for me. I feel it is the same with our Blessed Mother. We must continue to really get to KNOW her, then it makes it easier for our frail hearts to really LOVE her and from that we wish to SERVE - in other words, live out the true devotion in our daily lives.
I have just come from reading Helen's posting over at the Immaculate Castle and like always, I see such wisdom and grace in her suggestions. In fact I have found Helen's many grace-filled postings over there, some of the best things that stick in my heart and soul to help me to be consistent in love (even though I am still not always that from time to time, I have to say the necessary pin-pricks to right myself quicker, are there due to her many thoughts and ideas.) So I thought I'd elaborate on some of the things Helen mentioned that help re-enforce the 'three catechism truths’ I mentioned above.
Knowing Our Lady. I want to know Our Lady, not just as a perfect, heavenly creature somewhere in the heavens above, although she is that. I want to feel her tangible motherly presence and see her motherly hand in the life around me and the lives of others, to whom she is also mother to.
I want to know about all the tender times in history she has shown such love to her children that I want to have a good cry afterwards – these things put permanent marks on my heart, I can’t ignore them indefinitely, once they are there. This can be done in many ways. Good spiritual reading is always so important.
I recommend some of the following books that have imprinted her motherly hand into my heart: Miraculous Images of Our Lady., A Handbook on Guadalupe., Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness. (De Ann what blows me away with this book is Mexico was steeped in the greatest depravities in history and Our Lady as their mother claimed and raised them higher as a nation than any of her other children in history...doesn’t that thought alone, reduce you to tears? - POWERFUL reading and I think, good reading, especially for those who are converts, not referring to the depraved part but please don’t think for a second, cradle Catholics have a more special or closer relationship with her! – Alphonse Ratisbonne is another famous example that would prove that point so very decisively!!) So on the mention of Alphonse Ratisbonne, I would recommend the book about the Miraculous Medal to which he is forever associated to (seen as probably the greatest public, spiritual miracle attributed to the Miraculous Medal) The Miraculous Medal., Mother of Good Consel of Gennezzano. (another incredible read!) Melanie and the story of LaSalette. In this book it is the first chapter that touches me deeply, Melanie was a most unusual girl with a sad childhood, Maxim was also an unsual boy, so the book makes for very unusual reading but this book reminds us, no one is excluded from the motherly embrace of Our Lady, no one.
In fact it is often the unlikeliest people who are visited by Our Lady in a special way – St Bernadette had troubles remembering her catechism, that she had to have her sacraments delayed. The Fatima children were saying a ‘short-cut rosary’ and had to be chided by the Angel of Portugal for lack of prayers offered – so Our Lady doesn’t come to the perfect, she PERFECTS them along the way.
So these are a few books I can think of right now that affect me greatly and if anyone else has suggestions on books that have touched them deeply, I’d love to hear of them, because I never get tired of reading them. I also love to continually re-read, there are times when I am needing it, craving it, just like sometimes I just need a good cuddle from dh or the children. To re-visit some of these stories on the feast day itself, is good.
I also read exerpts from all these books to my children, placing the hand imprint early - Helen can tell you how children need a mother's love from the earliest moments of their lives (with her adoption experiences) and we must do the same with our children, let them know the reality of their heavenly mother's love for them, as young as possible.
These books do not just share the beautiful stories, they mention the public miracles attached to the devotion or vision and God has always ratified His presence or His hand with miracles - first class miracles that have been thoroughly investigated by the proper experts of their day or in the case of Our Lady of Guadalupe's tilma, with new scientific expertise they can continue to examine and discover things with the technology they didn't have 500 years ago, only show up the more hidden but incredible miracles attached to it (the images of people in her eye for example.)
I talk too much. And so I think I will make this my first posting on this question and continue with ‘loving and serving’ in another post soon, as children a getting rowdy here.
But I’d like finish by saying, GETTING TO REALLY KNOW OUR LADY IS CRUCIAL, just as crucial as that simple catechism line is to our salvation. This what stops us from falling INDEFINATELY into becoming lukewarm. It is one thing to struggle – we all do it from time to time, but we don’t ever want to walk away completely from what has convicted our heart so strongly in the first place.
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Helen
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aussieannie wrote:
| Melanie and the story of LaSalette. In this book it is the first chapter that touches me deeply, Melanie was a most unusual girl with a sad childhood, Maxim was also an unsual boy, so the book makes for very unusual reading but this book reminds us, no one is excluded from the motherly embrace of Our Lady, no one. |
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What a beautiful interpretation of this book.
I came away somewhat befuddled by this book and I'm so happy to have a new way of thinking about it.
Your posts are always so helpful Anne. I can't wait for the next two here!
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aussieannie
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These are my thoughts on then trying to develop a stronger love relationship with Mary.
Loving Our Lady. When we know just how beautiful and perfect the love of Our Mother is for each and everyone of us – a love that surpasses any love we can think of in this world. A love that perfectly reflects the source of Love which is the Blessed Trinity, then we want to return it in a very special way. It is mother and child relationship and don’t we as mothers ourselves, understand to the best of our frail abilities, what that really means?
There are different ways we can offer back our love to our Blessed Mother and we only have to know what touches our own mother hearts to know what is endearing and true. Keeping things simple, if need be, is important We all need to start with baby steps and it easier to be faithful to smaller things when we are struggling and it is better than shooting for the moon and crashing more spectacularly! I would say that to be consistant with something small and simple is better than enormous see-sawing. When I read Helen’s last blog post, I see many suggestions of the baby steps in love.
Maybe commit to a couple of small things and it helps then to set the habit. It can be for one month, like the month of October or May (Our Lady's months) or Lent or Advent and often you find that once the routine and habit is there, you can continue on. Maybe you just need to feel your way ahead with such commitments carefully, choosing things that you feel you will not find too hard. During those initial periods ask that the graces gained through these new steps, will come graces for greater devotion and love to her, graces for fortitude and faithfulness.
Helen talks about committing to some daily prayer to our Mother and if you feel frail and afraid of backsliding, choose something very simple which you can build on in time. “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen” is such a simple prayer, but it is powerful as anyone devoted to the Miraculous Medal will tell you! I have many a miraculous story to tell just from these simple words of love. Say it when you are full of happiness and joy, say it when you are struggling to be faithful in any small way, say it when you which to give love to others in prayer.
What has been a beautiful gem Helen has shared in the past, that has stuck with me and come to me on the days I feel prayer has gone out the window and feel an utter failure in all ways – the tapping of my heart as a sign of my dedication to my Heavenly Mother – sometimes I feel it is the only thing I can demonstrate when prayer seems far away. I think that we need to understand that from the smallest of small efforts in this way, Mary smiles on us and sends us extra graces to do better next time – to pull out of that rut a bit quicker etc.
If you are like me and you are having a ‘horrid day’ where you think, “If only those who think I am a devotee to Our Lady could see me now!” it can be so easy to say, “Well I’m a hopeless, old case, why bother?” I now see the value of persistence, from reading Helen’s blog often and so if it means the tapping of my heart on those days (which almost has a double effect of, “Woe is me!” or “meaculpa”) or some small offering of a simple Marian prayer, just asking for help, because I’m in such a state, then I know they will not go unnoticed and unanswered in some way.
I think that being devoted to outward signs is also important. When we hear, "Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi" this is precisely what I mean, when I say outward demonstrations have great meaning! Having a treasured statue or image of our Mother, many memories, both beautiful and sad will build and then linger here as the years pass.
I have a beautiful image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that I cried tears and tears in front of before the birth of my first child, the prayers miraculously answered along with my pleadings are a part of that image whenever I look at it. I have a dear friend (Chemai) who has the same treasured image given to her when just a new convert and when she was given a new picture of the same image when her baby died, the old image went to her bedroom to be even closer to her because she too has treasured memories of love associated with it.
I have my Our Lady of Good Counsel image I laboured and gave birth in front of and I pleaded, looking deep into her eyes, asking for blessed relief and a precious baby soon, the list could go on.. These are important, they tangibly remind me of the love shared between each other.
A special Marian sacramental is my Loreto Oil and I only have to look at the bottle, to remember beautiful little miracles from Our Lady’s hands, with this oil I then bless my children each night, consecrating them to Our Lady, I place little dabs on photo’s of those who need prayer and powerful intercession, I place on that fevered brow or broken arm.
It could be a treasured pair of rosary beads, or a miraculous medal or some other token which represents love exchanged – these are all important and I would encourage anyone coming to know and love their Mother deeper to realize the value and purpose in all of that.
Any flowers that enter our home whether from our garden or given as a gift, we offer them to Our Lady, even if they were given for me, I will say to the children, “Let’s share them with the mother of all of us.”
I have read how a Catholic lady who was distressing over the soul of her deceased husband who was lukewarm in many ways (not greatly religious) but he faithfully of his own accord, kept flowers by his wife’s statue of Mary without fail and it was made know to her (I think when visiting the Cure of Ars and lamenting to him) that he was saved. “How can you forget the flowers he offered his Mother so faithfully?” The Cure reminded her.)
So being diligent to these little demonstrations of love are pleasing and simple – don’t underestimate the graces that will grow from such little things – graces to be more faithful, more persistant in serving our Mother.
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Helen
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| Posted: Oct 16 2007 at 5:27pm | IP Logged
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Thank you Anne for the inspiring words.
I think it would have been helpful if I had divided my blog post consecration - every day into two parts:
prayer and penance.
If everyday (perseverence) we try to make sure we offer a penance for Our Lady and try to pray like Our Lady, that might be a good way to live out our devotion to Our Lady.
Often we hear at the Franciscan meetings that the penance of our daily duty is usually sufficient penance for the day.
We're also taught that Marian prayers are important but it is more important to pray like Mary. So, it is not only that we say prayers about Mary but we try to penetrate her heart and pray like Mary.
How are you doing DeAnn? Are we helping?
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DeAnn M
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Hi Ladies,
I can't tell you how helpful this has been. I'm sorry for my lack of response but I've been sort of pondering all of these inspiring thoughts.
I like the idea of the need to pray like Mary. Does one study her Magnificat in order to understand how she prayed or her virtues or perhaps both?
I often wonder about the hidden life of Mary in her household with Joseph and Jesus. I like to think that maybe, even though she was/is perfect, her house was not always perfectly cleaned and organized because she was busy tending to her Savior. I like to think that even if she maybe burnt the bread that she just responded in holy way as opposed to executing everything perfectly. I suppose that this was one of the ways I was really able to relate to her and feel comfortable with her. (Remember that most Protestants believe that the whole Mary business is crazy) I had to find a way to 1) get over my fear of praying to her and asking for her intercession and 2) make certain that I didn't have such a lofty idea of her that I would not ask for her help. So, am I totally off base? Is that offensive to The Blessed Mother?
I joined the Mary Vitamin group a couple of days ago and I'm so grateful for this wonderful resource. Your words and thoughts are so inspiring. I am anxious to begin my notebook and use it daily.
Also, Anne, thanks for your beautiful posts. I am a very visual person so to have a a constant visual reminder of Our Lady is something that really spoke to my heart. I only have one image of Mary. Ironically it is a cheap, white, ceramic statue that my Methodist mother kept on our bookshelves at home growing up. I remember looking at it many times and feeling such peace. I never quite knew at that time what to say or pray. Mostly, I just looked at it and smiled. She gave it to me after we converted. I love it. I should find some pictures and other images to place in different rooms.
Thanks again ladies. You will never know how helpful this has been for me. I feel very encouraged.
This post is very scattered. Sorry..a lot going on in my little head.
God Bless,
DeAnn
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Helen
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DeAnn M wrote:
| I like the idea of the need to pray like Mary. Does one study her Magnificat in order to understand how she prayed or her virtues or perhaps both? |
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This is a wonderful way to try to pray like Mary.
DeAnn M wrote:
I often wonder about the hidden life of Mary in her household with Joseph and Jesus. |
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This is the way many saints have found their vocation in life. One of my favorites, St. Peter Julian Eymard dedicated his novitiate to studying the Hidden Life and he became "the apostle of the Eucharist."
Another saint I read about last year, St. Joseph Marello, he also studied the Hidden Life and became a promoter of devotion to St. Joseph.
Our Lady is the perfect human creature and at the same time she is personally close to each one of us, having become Our Mother at the foot of the Cross at the request of her Son. Not only Protestants have difficulty in accepting the nearness and accesibility of Our Lady. I think it takes practice. Just patiently persevere in your devotion - you will see fruit.
Thank you DeAnn for the wonderful questions. They are very profound and important concepts to pursue. I hope we can continue going down the road you have suggested.
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Sharon B.
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Helen and Anne, as always, you have such a wealth of information to share. Thank you for your inspiration.
I have made note of the books cited by Anne and agree that adding a picture and statue is worthwhile. I have not had the opportunity to learn much about Our Lady of Guadalupe and will add them to my "list of to do's".
I have a holy card picture of Mary I keep on my visor in my car. I seem to pray often when I am driving alone(the car is quiet) and her loving gaze gives me such reassurance.
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Sharon, Wife and mom to ds, 16; ds, 15; dd, 8; and dd 6
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4Real Forums : Hidden Treasure
Topic: living devotion/consecration every day
