THE SECRET OF MARY: A COMMENTARY

THE SECRET OF MARY

St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort’s humble book which is humble in its content and how literally little it is, is a cornerstone of all souls who pray for a way of life that is entirely for God alone. This book is a must for all who desire to serve God in a most majestic way but do not have the humility yet as one’s foundation. This book, The Secret of Mary, will always be a secret even if its contents were read and re-read for humility is a secret virtue that this book contains. I have read a good number of books that deals with spiritual matters but I just only found out now that The Secret of Mary is a book that must always be read again and again amidst the great spiritual books that other saints had written. The book can be likened to a golden ring and necklace that must always be worn by a person. Yet, it is humble even if it is gold when the book’s contents were put into action. How happy a thousand times is the man who has this humble book as his cornerstone even if he had met so many great books in his life. The secret for a life of gold is to read it once again when the person is aware of the fact that the gold is getting covered with dust, the fact that he is covered by everything he read, learned, and acquired from any other books. The Secret of Mary is a book that is practical and simple. All who prays to become a simple follower of Christ must have a foundation for his pillars that can be seen by others, and that foundation is The Secret of Mary. Once you found this book, you will realize that the spirituality the book shows for you to live by is a perfect spirituality that is so humble and easy, which is the secret of its greatness.

Humility is the cornerstone or foundation of all the virtues and so is this book that I now exhort you to acquire. And I say that in acquiring all the virtues so as to live a virtuous life, a person must have humility in everything that he does that will make him virtuous. Just so, always return to read this humble book again and again even if you have a thousand books at hand other than this. For it is a grave danger to acquire so many learning from a thousand books without foundation which is a great spirituality that The Secret of Mary contains. So, practically speaking, to avoid any danger, just be humble to read the book again and again whenever possible and, if it is inevitable for you not to read books that are more or less important to be read, then the more reason you must recourse to this little book in order for you not to be lost and be led into darkness that the many books you are about to read might bring you. The Secret of Mary is not only a book. It is life, and its pages are alive, and it is a life for eternal life.

God is a humble God. In Jesus Christ we see that His Divinity and humanity were subjected to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the law of spiritual grace and natural grace, Jesus Christ’s being as God and His humanity was made possible and united by God through Mary and only in her. So, we humans are the most supposed to subject ourselves to Mary if we wish to be more like Jesus who, although He is God, preferred to subject Himself to the law of natural grace to become human, and now He is God-man in order for the humanity to be saved and be brought back to the law of spiritual grace. If God made it possible through Mary, how much more we humans are supposed to subject our body and soul to Mary in order to be more like Jesus? This reality does not require much common sense. At the moment we found Mary; let us thank God that He made St. Louis de Montfort as His great Marian teacher that taught that it is lawful to go to Mary in order to be more like Jesus and there is no spirituality that is greater than Montfort had already taught, which can be found in his masterpiece, The Secret of Mary. As for me, this is what I can say: “Let the reader understand. Let him accept this teaching who can.”

Mary H. Distributist

The Blessed Virgin Mary is Full of Grace

"When faith in the Mother of God declines, faith in the Son of God and God the Father declines also." - Ludwig Feuerbach, atheistic philosopher, in The Essence of Christianity.

If God really intended not to give Mary the honor which is due to her becoming the Mother of God and if she is really nothing and an unimportant woman to him, then, God shouldn't be sending an angel to her and will just instantly approached by the Holy Spirit and overshadowed by the Most High, without telling her, without her consent on using her womb for the Word to be incarnated.

The Annunciation; Francesco ALBANI; circa 1645; oil on copper; the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

How pitiable it is to imagine that God was such a user as if He was a playboy - using Mary's womb and then forgetting about Mary, as if Jesus Christ is saying, "She is just the mother of my flesh and of my bones, and my hair as well. Forget about that woman!"

If such were the case, how painful it is to see how the Lord violates the word of God, "honor your father and your mother."

If Mary is not a special woman and a woman dear to God, why is it that Mary received that mysterious salutation from the Archangel Gabriel?

"Chaire, kecharitomene, ho kurios meta sou."

"Rejoice, you who have been perfected in grace! The Lord is with you."

"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."

"Hail, highly favored one. The Lord is with you."

Charis is a Greek word which means grace or favor and kecharitomene is the past-perfect participle of it.

Now, how really amazed I am seeing this sacred text from St. John's Gospel, "And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

If Jesus Christ is full of grace, what is Mary then?

Mary will always be the Immaculate Mother of God for in her God the Son was born and had flesh. "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Mary's whole being is full of grace, not just the womb of hers which will carry the Son of God.

Blessed Virgin Mary, oh how blessed you really are!

Full of grace is Mary's another name.

Full of grace!

Ite inflammate omnia!

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!


Mary H. Distributist

Effective, Powerful Praying With Blessed Virgin Mary

Let us not fool ourselves. The praying of the holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary is really the hardest prayer to pray for not only the words of it were one and the same, it is also far more different to other prayers who have "variety of words and expressions which keeps us alert, prevents our imagination from wandering, and so makes it easier for us to say them well." - The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort.

Now, let me share you a subjective, biased discovery and experience of mine while praying the holy Rosary (yes, subjective and biased for it's my personal experience and I do not want to impose this method to anyone. But you can do it also, if it is effective and fitting for you. But if not, pray that God, with the help of Mama Mary, show the most effective way of praying it).

Listening! Listening is the key in order to fight distractions and to still our lurking imagination when praying the holy Rosary!

What do I mean by this?

An inspiration (insight while praying) came into my mind that it is listening. And a thought also added in me : "How can you become a good spiritual director if you are not good in listening?"

Whoa! That's it! It is listening! In order for me to enjoy more fully and attentively the holy Rosary I must listen!

This is what I discovered also.

When I started to pray, I started with the sign of the cross, then next is the Rosary Confraternity prayer (which our "opening" prayer as members of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary), then next is what I want or desire to pray for (what we call "petitions"), and then I will begin the holy Rosary proper : kissing the crucifix then making the sign of the cross, then the Creed (Apostle's, sometimes Nicene), then as usual, passing the beads in my thumb and index finger with respect to the bead's corresponding prayer.

Then I listen to the words I pray - by the way, it starts on the beginning of your praying of course. I reiterate! It is listening! Listen to the words you say for those words are the Word of God and it's Jesus Christ Himself! The Word who became flesh!

The Our Father or the Lord's prayer came from Jesus Christ's own mouth. The Hail Mary or the Angelic Salutation came also from God and the messenger is just St. Gabriel. Savor every words of the holy Rosary. Savor it by listening! Just listen! And savor the words!

Now, listening and imagination must go hand in hand here. It is important to meditate (think over) about the sacred mysteries of the holy Rosary. As you listen to the Hail Mary's, imagine the sacred mysteries by, of course, your mind. My imagination has a very important role when praying. Here, I exercise the command of our Lord. "Love God...with all your mind."

The listening and imagining must get along with each other, making a harmonious exaltation of both mind and heart. The words are for listening, while the sacred mysteries are the word's soul and meaning.

While saying the Hail Mary, listen to the words. Then at the background, let the sacred events pass or play in your mind. Pay attention to everything - savor everything. Make an exercise now!

The holy Rosary is the second highest prayer next to the Holy Mass and devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament of our Lord. Please remember that.

So the elements present in praying the holy Rosary are the following :
1.) Listening
2.) Saying
3.) Imagining

May you love the holy Rosary everyday just like me.

Go and set the world on fire!

ADMG

Mary H. Distributist

Blessed Virgin Mary : The "First Woman Exorcist"

"The Blessed Virgin Mary has only two missions. The first is to bring God to humanity. The second is to bring the humanity to God." - Bro. Marwil N. Llasos O.P.

Who and what is an exorcist? According to Fr. Jose Francisco "Jocis" C. Syquia in his book, Exorcism : Encounters with the Paranormal and the Occult, an exorcist is simply a man whom the Lord uses as his instrument in order to liberate victims from the clutches of Satan's extraordinary activities.

Mama Mary is also an exorcist just like she can also become a priest for she has the right claim to say, "This is my Body" and, "This is my Blood" for the Son of god's humanity came from her and she is his mother.

The Blessed Virgin Mary consented to the conception of the Son of God, the Word of God in her womb and thus becoming obedient to God, she destroyed and made new the disobedient Eve who obeyed the serpent and not God, therefore Mama Mary did an exorcism - she summoned out the devil by becoming obedient to God.

The Blessed Virgin Mary also received the Word and the words of the angel of the Lord Gabriel with great humility and reverence thus becoming trustful to the messenger and to God and not relied on her own and destroyed the fear in her for "fear is the lack of trust in the Lord"(as said by Fr. Michell Joe "Jojo" B. Zerrudo), Mama Mary did an exorcism - she summoned out the fear out of her and trust reigned in her thus she destroyed and renew the Eve who trusted the serpent instead of God and relied on her own instead of relying on God, trusted the words of the serpent instead of trusting the words of God. 

Indeed, Mama Mary can also be counted as an exorcist for in her "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" [John 1:14].
Thus Mama Mary has her share in the salvation planned by God no wonder it is truly right and just to call her Co-Redemptrix. Mama Mary has also her share in "speaking" the Word of God to all of humanity by giving  way to him to manifest himself to the whole world. Mama Mary became also the mouth of God for in her Jesus Christ the Word of God was born therefore Mama Mary made an exorcism - in her was born the Word of God thus starting the first summoning out of the devil by the Word of God who liberate victims from the claws of the devil's works. "Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil" - 1 John 3:8

The Blessed Virgin Mary simply the preacher of the "full of grace and truth" [John 1:14] in a greatly inexplicable way. She is preaching Jesus the Word of God from the beginning of her earthly life, and even God preached about her even before she was born. She preached Jesus, giving birth to him, thus Mama Mary is the first human preacher who said in silence but the loudest! "The Kingdom of the Lord is at hand!"

God started it.
The angel Gabriel sent the message from God and the receiver of the message is an unassuming virgin Mary.

The first message is this : 

"Chaire, kecharitomene, ho kurios meta sou."

In Latin, "Ave, gratia plena. Dominus tecum."

In english, "Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with you."

Luke 1:36-38

So the, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." are the words of God spoken by the angel to the Blessed Virgin Mary that started our salvation from sin and from the devil's works. 

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the first woman exorcist.

Hail Mary!

Mary H. Distributist