The 7 Effects of Consecration: Part 2. Wednesday, March 26. Lent 2014.

The final 4 effects of the consecration hold just as much beauty as the first three.

The fourth is great confidence in God and in Mary.

When we remove the roadblocks in life,

we have less to worry about,

we can continue on with life.

We are not so hung up on the little things.

“Stifling fear is transformed into courageous assurance.”

We are no longer afraid,

but rather,

have full confidence.

We are confident that we are nothing on our own,

that our duty is to serve,

to serve Mary,

to serve God.

“This confidence s not a ‘self-affirmation’. Rather, it is the affirmation of our nothingness become our strength.”

The fifth is communication of the spirit of Mary.

This effect Montfort considered the most important of them all.

This one is not simply having a relationship with Mary,

but rather,

Her spirit within us.

Us allowing Her spirit to guide our lives.

“It is no longer the soul that lives but Mary living in it, since Mary’s live becomes its life. To establish Mary’s life in the soul is an absolutely essential element.”

His reason?

“Of all God’s creatures, Mary is the most conformed to Jesus…the more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus. That is why the perfect consecration to Jesus is but a perfect and complete consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin.”

Allowing the spirit of Mary to live within our lives

is vital according to Montfort.

“We must breathe Mary as the body breathes air. Every breath is one with Her spirit: a total ‘yes’ of radical discipleship to the Lord.”

The sixth effect is the transformation by Mary into the likeness of Christ.

The ultimate goal of this consecration is

to be one with Jesus,

a union with Love Himself.

Montfort considered this step almost easy.

He explained that since we have already

surrendered to the spirit of Mary,

we have found the presence of Jesus.

Through this finding of Christ,

we get to truly experience Christ.

St. Augustine coined the idea that

Mary is the mold of God.

Taking this into account then…

“To be poured into Mary we must be melted, we must surrender all. Losing ourselves in the fair interior of Mary, we take on Her active, responsible and courageous discipleship and thereby become faithful portraits of Jesus Christ.”

The final effect is the greater glory of God.

All for the glory of God Alone.

This is a fitting final effect.

Loosing ourselves to Mary,

brings us to Christ,

who brings us to the Father,

to God Alone.

“Through living of the perfect consecration, we are being dynamically drawn into the inaccessible Light of the Trinity Itself.

Here we have for Montfort the ultimate goal, the greatest motive, the supreme effect of consecration: a true mystical union with God Alone.”

This Lenten blog series is based upon St. Louis de Montfort's writings. Unless otherwise noted, all the phrases in quotation marks are taken from the book Jesus Living in Mary.