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aussieannie
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| Posted: March 18 2007 at 7:41am | IP Logged
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" The elect have a great love of our Lady and honour her truly as their Mother and Queen. They love her not merely in word but in deed. They honour her not just outwardly, but from the depths of their heart."...Chapt 5, paragraph 197 - True Devotion.
Helen wrote:
We’re using St. Louis De Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary as a starting point because it is a classic, readily available, and foundational element of Marian devotion. If you don’t have any established practices, this book is a very good place to begin. See where it leads you.
Feel free to share your insights and ask questions about the book just as if we were together at the oasis discussing ways to find our Hidden Treasure together. |
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What is our practical goal?
We have 7 chapters to read and discuss by April the 25th, where we will then start our 33 day preparation to culminate in our consecration on the 27th of May – the feast of Pentecost.
How to approach the fifth chapter?
If we can all hope to have read this 5th Chapter by 29th of March? You can evenly pace yourself with 2 - occasionally 3 paragraphs per day, allowing time for proper reflection. With an average of 12 days per chapter, this allows prayer time, for our hearts to be touched and enlightened, asking for Mary’s guidance through it all. A novena asking for these particular graces, could be a suggestion also, it does not have to be lengthy prayers each day, three Hail Mary’s is powerful.
Most importantly – where do we bring our thoughts for this 5th Chapter?
This thread will be here for us to keep coming back to, so we may share our many, varied thoughts and to ask questions during this time.
The True Devotion by St Louis de Monfort
PART II: THE PERFECT DEVOTION TO OUR LADY
Ch 5: Biblical Figure of This Perfect Devotion: Rebecca and Jacob
1. Interpretation of the story
2. Services of our Lady to her faithful servants
* She loves them
* She provides for all their needs
* She leads and guides them
* She defends and protects them
* She intercedes for them
~
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Under Her Starry Mantle
Spiritual Motherhood for Priests
Blessed with 3 boys & 3 girls!
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 10:46pm | IP Logged
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I struggle with the story of Jacob. It seems wrong/deceitful to “trick” Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing that was rightfully owed to him since Essau had sold it to him.
In 206. deMontfort says (explaining how Mary is like Rebecca), "She covers the neck and hands of her servants with the skins of the goats that have been killed and flayed, that is, she adorns them with the merits and worth of their own good actions. In truth, she destroys and nullifies all that is impure and imperfect in them."
This is another example of what I just posted on the Chapter 4 thread. How can Mary "tamper with" or "change" what we've done? That doesn't seem "just" to me.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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aussieannie
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 11:26pm | IP Logged
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I'm following you around the board Janette..  and I've just posted in response to your first question and so I wanted to add something extra that might help with this really good question (I have thought all these same questions before when my husband was helping me through the book for the first time.)
It seems like a 'trick' but maybe there can be another word for it as well that presents this sort of thing in a more positive light, also I suppose all analogies can fall down in little places here and there, they can never capture the fullness of beautiful spiritual realities. You quote where deMonfort says, "In truth, she destroys and nullifes all that is impure and imperfect in them." This is a really profound quote of his.
When I talked about the apple (which is an analogy that deMonfort uses about a peasant and queen further back in the book somewhere...) When I 'dress up' the apple offering, by cutting out any evidence of the bruising and arranging it in quarters on a plate, nicely peeled, I suppose it could be seen as a 'trick' as my dh has no idea how that apple had really been treated by my child. We have both altered the original reality of that apple, but not for evil (which is where the word trick might be more appropriate) but for greater good. If dh did find out, he would be pleased to know that my child has asked his mum to help him 'repair' the mistake of his past actions.
HTH a little..
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Under Her Starry Mantle
Spiritual Motherhood for Priests
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aussieannie
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 11:44pm | IP Logged
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Yes, I think the analogy falls short, in the fact Isaac is not all-knowing like God - Isaac would have understood himself, the series of events and why they were done that way, when God would have enlightened him in the next world. Whilst we can trick humans, we can never trick God, and the story has no way of perfectly capturing that point.
Still, deMonfort used this biblical story to point out some very important realilities presented in a very unusual story, there are scenes in the story that really create a picture of what we are trying to understand between the relationship of God, Mary and us.
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Under Her Starry Mantle
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Blessed with 3 boys & 3 girls!
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: April 30 2007 at 10:06pm | IP Logged
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aussieannie wrote:
| I'm following you around the board Janette.. |
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I hoped that you would! 
Yes, your explanations have greatly helped me again. I do think that the analogy falls short, but also agree that the much of St. Louis' comparisons made sense. I think that what troubles me again is my perfectionist tendencies to think that "wrong is wrong" and that the end doesn't justify the means. But in spite of that, I do see now the beautiful comparison between Rebecca and Our Lady (and the other comparisons in the story), and it does help in understanding how Our Lady helps us.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Topic: True Devotion - Chapter 5
