The Secret of Mary, Part II: The Holy Slavery of Love

IV. The Tree of Life – Its Culture and Growth

Predestinate soul, have you understood, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, what I have tried to explain to you in the preceding pages? If so, be thankful to God, for it is a secret known and understood by only a few. If you have found the treasure hidden in the field of Mary, the precious pearl of the Gospel, sell all that you have in order to buy it. You must make the sacrifice of yourself to the Blessed Mother, you must disappear in her, so that you may find God alone.

If the Holy Spirit has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion that I have just explained to you, you must do all you can to cultivate it, in order that it may yield its fruit in due season. This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel, "which is the least indeed of all seeds, but when it is grown up, is greater than all herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air (i.e., the predestinate) come and dwell in the branches thereof," and rest in its shade from the heat of the sun and hide there in safety from the beasts of prey.

This is the way, predestinate soul, to cultivate it:

Predestinate soul, if you thus cultivate the Tree of Life, freshly planted in your soul by the Holy Spirit, I assure you that in a short time it will grow so tall that the birds of Heaven will come to dwell in it. It will be a good tree, yielding fruit of honor and grace in due season, namely, the sweet and adorable Jesus, who always has been, and always will be, the only fruit of Mary.

Happy the soul in which Mary, the Tree of Life, is planted; happier the soul in which she has acquired growth and bloom; still happier the soul in which she yields her fruit; but most happy of all the soul which relishes and preserves Mary’s fruit until death, and for ever and ever. Amen.

"He who holds (this), let him hold (it)."

This article was excerpted from The Secret of Mary, Tan, 1998.

Notes

(14) All such devotions, remarks St. Louis de Montfort elsewhere, include but a limited number of devout practices and take up but a part of our daily life, while the one he proposes embraces our whole life and divests us of all things.

(15) We must, therefore, note two things in this devotion: first, an act of total consecration to Jesus through Mary; and secondly, a state of being consecrated. That state consists in the permanent disposition of living and acting habitually in dependence on Mary; and that is called the spirit or the interior part of this consecration. This practice, although it embraces our entire life, appears so small and trifling at first glance, that St. Louis de Montfort has justly compared it to the mustard seed. But one comes to realize its vital energy and its wonderful effects when it has grown strong by persistent exercise.

(16) These words show us the far-reaching effect of this consecration, which St. Louis de Montfort calls a perfect renewal of the baptismal vows; and, indeed, in making it we give ourselves anew to Jesus Christ, Our Lord, through the hands of Mary.

(17) It may not be amiss to give here a short explanation of the Heroic Act of Charity, and to point out in what it differs from this act of consecration.

According to a definition of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences (December, 1885), the Heroic Act of Charity consists in this: that a member of the Church Militant offers to God, for the souls in purgatory, all the satisfactory works which he will perform during his lifetime and also all the suffrages which may accrue to him after his death.

By the Act of Consecration to Jesus through Mary as taught by St. Louis de Montfort, we give to Our Lady not only the satisfactory works of our life, but all else, nothing excepted (see de Montfort’s Act of Consecration, The Secret of Mary, Tan, p. 83). The use to be made of our good works and satisfactions is not determined by us, as it is in the Heroic Act, but it is left to Mary’s intention and will. In his Act of Consecration, St. Louis de Montfort does not seem to comprise directly the suffrages which may accrue to us in purgatory, but indirectly they are implied: "I leave to thee … all that belongs to me … in time and in eternity."

Neither the Heroic Act nor our Act of Consecration implies a vow, yet both may be made with a vow, if discretion and sound judgment are not lacking in making such a solemn promise to God.

(18) These words show us the true nature of this consecration. By making it we place ourselves in a state in which we are owned by Jesus and Mary and are totally dependent on their will. Now that is the nature and the condition of a slave. But to remove the idea of there being any degradation or tyrannical violence in this noble servitude, St. Louis de Montfort explains that it is a voluntary slavery, full of honor and of love, giving us the liberty of the true children of God.

There is then no reason for being scared or repelled by the words "slave" and "slavery." Consider the state, not the word which expresses the state of total, of lasting and disinterested subjection and dependence on the Master through the Mother. One may ask why not use other words? It is because there are none to express adequately this special state of consecration.

(19) This charming comment on the words of St. Bernard will console and encourage certain souls who grow weary and sad when they become conscious of their unworthiness and their insufficiency. As St. Louis de Montfort loves to say, and his saying is very true, Mary will be "their supplement" with God.

(20) These words ought to be considered by all who are concerned about their perseverance in grace and their interior perfection. Many there are who hesitate even to begin and many who draw back soon after starting, because they apprehend a possible failure or lack of perseverance.

(21) St. Bernard, Interflores, cap. 135, de Maria Virgine.

(22) A Dominican nun who died in the odor of sanctity in the year 1634 at the convent of Langeac in Auvergne, France.

(23) From these indications, however abstract, we may learn that the act of union with Mary, as understood by St. Louis de Montfort, requires two things in the work of our sanctiflcation: 1) the removal of all obstacles (sin and its occasions) by renouncing ourselves; 2) the union of our will with the will of God and of our actions with the impulse of divine grace. Without that self-renunciation in all things, our union with Mary would be very imperfect, our dependence on her would be an illusion (see 3, 4 and 5, The Tree of Life). Note also, that by telling us to renounce our own views and intentions, however good they be, in order to adopt those of Mary, de Montfort counsels the practice of that which is most perfect.

(24) In indicates an indwelling, an intimate union which produces unity. As St. Louis de Montfort expresses it, we must "enter into Mary’s interior and stay there, adopting her views and feelings." Mary must become, as it were, the place and the atmosphere in which we live; her influence must penetrate us. As soon as this disposition of our soul has become habitual, we can say that we dwell in Mary, and having thus become as one moral person with her, we abide in her and she dwells in us …

(25) St. Teresa gives similar advice to beginners for keeping recollected and united with our Lord when at prayer. She recommends the use of images, and in this she is of the same mind as St. Louis de Montfort, who had recourse to images and banners, to the erection of calvaries and of other exterior displays that appeal to the senses and elevate the soul to God.

(26) This does not mean that we may not approach our Lord directly to speak to him in prayer or contemplation; nor does it mean that in every action of ours we must think of Mary actually and distinctly; a virtual intention is sufficient. St. Louis de Montfort, indeed, says that our offering or act of consecration, if renewed but once a month or once a week (we might add, once a day), does not establish us in the spirit of this devotion, which is a state or a habit; yet he remarks that our interior look toward Mary, though it be but a general and hasty look, is sufficient to renew our offering.

(27) Useful advice to those who are but beginning and who might think that they do nothing good because they do not see or feel. St. Louis de Montfort reminds them of the truth that our union with God consists in an act of the will. In his True Devotion he says that that act may be either mental or expressed in words; it can be made in the twinkling of an eye. In his prayer to Mary, he makes us ask for detachment of the senses in our devotion.

(28) This interior presence of Mary is a favor St. Louis de Montfort enjoyed in an exceptional degree, as we may see by reading his life. He says: "It is a grace not given to all." Yet he exhorts us all to practice his true devotion and promises to all without exception "that Mary’s soul will be in them." It is true, he always insists upon the condition of perseverance in practicing this devotion. As there are, however, but few souls who remain faithful to its spirit, even in a lower degree, we must say that this presence of Mary is not given to all.