Why Holiness?

Why indeed? We seek holiness because God has commanded it. Be holy for I am holy. 1Peter 1:16

The only way each of us can get through this time of COVID is to get close to God and stay there.

Holiness has become an old fashioned word in a sin saturated world. It conjures up images of severe and austere holy men and women lashing themselves with whips….a bit off putting huh? However you can relax… holiness means to me to do whatever God asks of you with your whole heart and mind and strength. If you’ve tried it you’ll find that it is easier said than done….our sinful nature keeps getting in the way.

But what if there really was an easy way? Even better, what if there was a quick and easy way? Better still, what if there was a quick and easy and sure way? Would you be willing to try? Well the good news is there is a quick, easy and sure way of growing in holiness. Its called Consecration to Jesus through Mary. It was developed by St Louis De Montfort who lived around the year 1700 and is outlined in his book “True Devotion to Mary”. However its old fashioned style and the translation process, have made it a difficult read. Being a fairly lazy guy, the words that jumped out at me when reading about the Consecration were “quick” and “easy”. My wife and I tried this way and we can tell you it DOES work. I am by no means holy but I am way better than I was and I am getting closer to God each passing day despite the occasional fall.

Fortunately for us two wonderful priests Fr Michael Gaitley and Fr Brian McMaster have produced two highly readable versions of St Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary. I have shown them below.

Both are excellent. I do at least three or four consecrations a year and I alternate the two books just for variety. After each Consecration, I can literally feel the grace being poured down on me by Our Blessed Mother. For the first three Consecrations “33 Days” will probably suffice. Both are available on Amazon and 33 Days is also available as an ebook.

The Consecration Process

The consecration process takes 34 days….33 days of daily devotions and on the 34 th day you make the Consecration to Jesus through Mary. It only takes 10 to 15 minutes per day. The 34th day is a major feast day of Mary. Both books list the starting and finish dates for at least 12 consecrations through the year. I’ve listed them below as well.

Why is it Easy?

Because Mary does the work! It’s that simple. Here is what she said about that….You don’t have to change to love me, loving me will change you. I’ll paraphrase that for you….Loving Mary will cause her to lead you to holiness! Try it and see.

Very recently (28 June 2020) I have discovered an amazing way of loving Mary by meditating on the most realistic and beautiful image of Mary that I haver ever seen. Its called Our Lady of Tihaljina painted by RL George, (www.rlgeorge.studio). His intention was to make it as lifelike as possible. For me its incredible…its like having your own personal apparition of Mary. Praying the rosary, or even just a Hail Mary while gazing at her image is indescribable. Her loving gaze will penetrate into your soul and you will fall in love with her and she will lead you to Jesus.

Mary and the Holy Spirit

Mary and the Holy Spirit are closely connected…in fact they’re married! One of the official titles of Mary is…Spouse of the Holy Spirit, in fact I like to call them Mr And Mrs Holy Spirit. They work together…the more devoted to Mary you are the more the Holy Spirit will be in your life.

From True Devotion to Mary by St Louis De Montfort

“When the Holy Spirit, her spouse,  finds Mary in a soul, he hastens there and enters fully into it. He gives himself generously to that soul according to the place it has given to his spouse. One of the main reasons why the Holy Spirit does not work striking wonders in souls is that he fails to find in them a sufficiently close union with his faithful and inseparable spouse.”

So this has to be the greatest deal of all time…When you consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary not only do you get Mary, you also get the Holy Spirit for no extra charge. 🙂

I can personally attest to the truth of this. When I did an Alpha course several years ago, there is a session where people pray over you to receive the Holy Spirit. Before I did the Alpha course I had already done a couple of consecrations to Jesus through Mary. I already had a strong devotion to Mary and when they prayed over me, the Holy Spirit hit me like a freight train. I felt God’s love wash over me and what felt like hands resting on my head. It was amazing…I get the same feeling every time I pray now. St Louis de Montfort was right. Consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary as soon as you possibly can…you won’t regret it.

Go to St Joseph

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