TOTUS TUUS, MARIA !
THE SOUL AS 'SLAVE OF MARY’S LOVE'
Some food for reflection on the sublime concept of the so-called 'Marian slavery'
(from letters of reply inspired by, and Revelations dictated by, the Queen of Heaven)
As an introduction to the original text of the present teaching, right after inspiring the powerful prayer flower nr. 1550 in May 2020 the Mistress of all souls gave the following inspiration (in the blue text field below):
| When a human soul enters into the sacred covenant of total, unconditional and lifelong consecration towards Mary, she becomes a servant to Mary on account of the fact that, to the extent to which the soul truly experiences and practices this sacred covenant and, in all situations, under any circumstances and in all contacts of her life, voluntarily turns into a tool in the hands of the One who received from God the command over the battle waged by the Light against the darkness. Therefore, in the eyes of God total consecration to Mary is like an agreement by virtue of which the soul swears the solemn oath to concretely be a tool working towards the accomplishment of the Works and Plans of Love God keeps trying to complete preferably through human souls.
Marian slavery, or slavery of Love towards the Queen of Heaven, is the highest degree of practicing consecration to Her: The soul who truly surrenders herself totally, unrestrainedly, unconditionally, irrevocably and for the entire duration of her life to Mary with a view to being ruled, guided and accompanied by the Queen of Heaven in every single detail of her journey through life, is, owing to – and to the extent of – her openness to a merger between her heart and Marys Heart, transformed so thoroughly by the latter in all her inner dispositions, feelings, her ways of thinking, her desires, aspirations and her expectations and views of life, that she will experience a gradually growing conformity with her Heavenly Mistress. The soul is then pervaded so thoroughly with Mary’s dispositions of true self-denying Love that, with an ever growing determination, she starts turning away from all vice, sin and inclinations to harbour dark dispositions, and that, in a manner of speaking, she will most deeply fall in love with true Love itself. From that point onward the soul will spontaneously turn into a slave to her Heavenly Mistress, who in turn is a perfect reflection of the Heart of Eternal Love. This disposition of slavery to Mary on account of a voluntary merger with Her dispositions is therefore referred to by the Heavenly Mistress as slavery to Her Love. This process of transformation is not a process the soul is subjected to while remaining passive herself. The disposition of slavery to Mary’s Love is the golden path to the highest possible fruitfulness as a tool working on the accomplishment of God’s Works and Plans, BUT the soul must unlock this fruitfulness herself by keeping the dispositions of her heart free from all selfishness and from any inclination to focus her thoughts, desires and aspirations on herself instead of on her Heavenly Mistress and on God in her fellow creatures. Every lack of self-denial and every trace of interest in the image she might have in the eyes of her fellow people precludes true Marian slavery, for a soul who to some extent stays in love with herself, with her self-image and with the degree to which her fellow people might consider her to be special, is not focused completely on her Heavenly Mistress and is therefore setting limits and conditions to true Love. The disposition of true slavery to the Heavenly Mistress’ Love can also never be actually practiced and experienced if, in the very depths of her conscience, the soul is not at peace with God nor with herself, due to past faults, violations against true Love or an all too shallow way of experiencing faith, among other things by harbouring expectations of receiving eternal Bliss as a gift instead of desiring ardently to make active contributions to the completion of God’s Works. On account of all of this the soul’s conscience can create a state of inner strife or anxiety, the origin or cause of which seems to remain veiled to the soul herself. Such inner strife often constitutes a major obstacle to a total surrender of the soul to Mary. This is why it is of paramount importance that a soul should find a sufficiently steady inner balance before entering into the sacred covenant of total consecration to Mary, for any inner strife will prevent her from becoming a 'slave' to Mary in the actual sense of the word, which makes her less fruitful and less reliable as a tool for the accomplishment of God’s Works. In May 2020 the Mistress of all souls inspired prayer flower nr. 1550 as an extraordinarily powerful act of total consecration for the soul who has merged with the true intensely practiced disposition of Marian slavery, who also considers and feels herself unrestrainedly a slave to Mary, or a slave to Mary’s Love, and who lives on the all-pervasive desire to lay her entire being and every detail of her life spontaneously, purposely, unrestrainedly and unconditionally in Mary’s hands for Her to dispose of all of this freely in Her capacity as a sovereign Mistress by Divine proxy. The soul in the disposition of slavery to Mary’s Love is therefore in the deepest sense of the word merged with the Heart of her Heavenly Mistress and a slave to the Queen of Love, and in any possible respect a determined warrior against all darkness and sin in the world as well as in her own – often hidden – dispositions, attachments and habits. True Love is the absolute opposite pole of all sin, for sin in all its expressions is always a violation against God’s Law of true Love. The soul as a slave to the Heavenly Mistress’ Love therefore experiences, in the true sense of the word, the disposition of the soul as God originally intended her to be: She comes ever closer to the state of living in the image of her Creator and thus basically attains the true freedom of the soul who is no longer a slave to sin and to her own dark inclinations, but a slave to Love, the only force which truly sets the soul free. This is why a soul who has consecrated herself to Mary is basically only able to sincerely say Totus Tuus, Maria (I am totally Yours, Mary) as soon as she has allowed herself with all her inner dispositions and all details of her life to merge spontaneously, voluntarily, totally and unconditionally with the dispositions harboured by her Heavenly Mistress, with all Her virtues and Her total aversion to all darkness and to everything which is able to make the soul drift away from God's interests. To God Totus Tuus, Maria serves as a holy profession, as the signing and continuous renewing of the most sacred covenant of service and self-sacrifice, and a sacred oath towards the extermination of every seed of darkness inside the soul. The soul who truly calls herself a slave to Mary and yet simultaneously keeps considering herself to be important, is in reality serving the eternal opponent of the Christ and of the One to whom the Christ, while hanging on the cross, entrusted the custody and care over all souls from God. The soul must never overlook the fact that, in the eyes of God, slavery to the Heavenly Mistress’ Love is similar to the sacred covenant of marriage. Once the Mistress of all souls said that marriage is like a sacred temple whose strength equals the strength of the four pillars on which it is built:
The Queen of Heaven points to the fact that slavery to Her Love is supported by the same pillars, which means that the soul who has surrendered to Her totally must love Her above all – bearing in mind that Mary, as the perfect reflection and proxy of God towards the slave of Her Love is the full representative of God, so much so that whatever is given to Her is also given to God and that whatever is denied Her is also denied God –, must serve Her without any restraint or boundary, must remain stainlessly faithful to Her, and must be perfectly open, sincere and honest towards Her. However, Marian slavery is supported by yet another pillar: the pillar of subservience, submission, humility, obedience, indeed of 'slavery' to the celestial Partner to the covenant, who is indeed fully and totally the Mistress of the relationship. Exactly this latter pillar is so fiercely and so relentlessly undermined by the evil one that in a great many souls it hardly keeps standing, if it does not collapse altogether. Marian slavery is able to make a soul more free than she ever was before, yet there is one condition to be fulfilled first, which must never again be disregarded: the condition of the soul’s thorough awareness of her voluntary state of nothingness in comparison with the Queen of Heaven. As soon as the soul who has entered into the covenant of total consecration to Mary is in all sincerity able to feel like a mere grain of sand at the feet of her Heavenly Mistress she will turn into a massive boulder on the paths on which Satan travels. Myriam at the service of the Mistress of all souls, May 2020 |
In the wake of a letter of reply, Myriam was given a comment pertaining to the concept of 'slavery towards Mary'. It turned out there are souls who take offense at this concept, because its true meaning is still widely misunderstood, i.e. it is generally regarded from a much too worldly point of view. Therefore I should once again take the souls with me on a journey through the floral paradise the Mistress of all souls has been making accessible through Her Maria Domina Animarum Work.
The concept of 'slavery towards Mary’s Love' is of paramount importance. Whoever does not understand it as inspired by Heaven Himself, can never feel the true disposition of total consecration to Mary in their hearts and will therefore not be able to put this unparalleled gift from God on the path of sanctification to full use within themselves.
This notion was brought forward by St. Grignion de Montfort over three hundred years ago, and was graciously elaborated on by the Holy Virgin in her capacity as Mistress of all souls in the course of the last years, and integrated into this wonderful system She has so emphatically been trying to sow into the hearts by the name of Science of Divine Life. Let me start by quoting from the letter of reply nr. 402:
'Slavery' towards Mary, and Mary’s 'rule', should not generate thoughts in the soul that remind her of a totalitarian regime. In the eyes of the world such concepts are very often causes for offense. However, on the contrary, they express exactly the absolute glorification of the pinnacle of Love. Let us take a closer look at it:
God respects the free will of man without any restriction. He does not impose anything upon any soul. Mary’s Will is one hundred per cent identical with the Will of God, consequently She does not impose anything upon any soul either. Any soul can at all times withdraw voluntarily from the special relationship of Love towards the Mistress of all souls. Mary calls, requests, invites and argues on the basis of Eternal Divine Truth. Her only motive is this: She wants to draw each soul towards Herself, because everything which is 'processed' in Mary’s Heart and is transferred directly from Her Heart to God is perfectly sanctified and therefore a perfect gift of Love to God, and has consequently in the eyes of the Supreme reached the summit of fruitfulness within the accomplishment of His Great Plan of Salvation.
Thus Mary asks the soul – in the latter’s interest, thereby being given the opportunity to attain the highest degree of Bliss – that she would follow Her for a lifetime so that She may be enabled to help sanctify the soul’s path through life and that She may get the opportunity to transform the soul from the inside out to such extent that the latter may once again achieve the state of sanctity she was originally intended to possess. Mary does not impose anything at all on this soul, the latter decides of her own free will. If she answers the call from the Queen of Heaven, she opens for herself the door to a life in the Presence and under the direction, guidance and teaching by the most beautiful of all souls ever created, the One who was chosen by God Himself to embrace the absolute summit of perfection.
The desire therefore proceeds from God and Mary, because of her own accord, on account of the original sin the soul is barely able to desire only the ways of holiness. Mary therefore sows this desire into the soul like Heavenly seeds. It is the soul’s own choice to make: She can let this seed suffocate in the smoke of her worldly ways of thinking, feeling and aspiring. In this case nothing else happens. If, on the other hand, she allows this seed to bloom, the miracle of miracles will happen: The soul, of her own accord, begins to long more and more intensely for God’s Presence and the permanent guidance by Mary, and the covenant of the most wonderful exchange begins to take effect: Consecration reaps a harvest of graces of sanctification; sufferings and trial offered with Love yield the rebirth of a soul that gradually begins to think, feel, desire, speak and consider in completely different ways. The soul sees her world in an entirely new light, she sees it more and more through the eyes of Mary, filled with Love and in accordance with the Divine Laws.
At that moment the soul accepts the inheritance of Divine Life, 'dollar after dollar'. This is Mary’s 'reign': She allows the soul to partake more and more in Her own perfect qualities and attitudes, so that this soul may come closer and closer to the state of life the human soul possessed before the original sin. Mary rules the soul, She is the Mistress of this soul, because the latter has voluntarily fallen in love with true Heavenly Love, and therefore this reason she no longer FEELS LIKE offering any resistance to the reign of Mary in her spiritual life.
The concept of 'reign', or 'dominance' for that matter, has a bit of negative ring to it in the worldly context because it has nothing to do with Love. In the celestial context, however, reign or dominance fully relates to the successful wedding between the human will and the Divine Will, which is nothing other than the realization of the ultimate sense and purpose of every human life".
In letter of reply nr. 37 the Mistress had me write:
"You write you can not consecrate yourself to Mary because you 'want to be free'. However, all of Myriam’s writings explain exactly to what unlimited extent total consecration to Mary is the greatest form of liberation. The soul only becomes free to the extent to which she is sanctified. Sanctification is exactly the purpose and goal of total consecration to Mary, since Mary is the Bridge from the soul to God, from the scar inflicted by the original sin to healing through a virtuous life in the Heart of the Queen of Love, the Bridge from slavery to the worldly ways of thinking, feeling and living to the perfect freedom of the soul in union with Mary, the Golden Gate to God’s Heart.
When Mary speaks of Her 'reign' or 'rule', and about the souls as 'servants' or even 'slaves to Her Love', She means exactly this: The soul must give Mary the opportunity to help control all temptation and weakness in her, and thus must be willing to enter into Mary’s service so completely that she can personally contribute to her own being set free. I would like to sketch the following image Mary once unfolded before my eyes:
The soul is held captive in a dungeon of worldly corruptibility, weakness and vice. Mary is waiting outside before the door with all the graces the soul needs to obtain new Light, food, Peace and happiness and to become completely free of its worldly attachments. Yet the door of the dungeon can only be opened from the inside. The soul herself must slide away the bolt by her will to be freed by Mary. If she does this (by signing the covenant of service to Mary), Mary will enter and step by step take control of everything which is holding the soul prisoner. In point of fact I must point out that God Himself has ordained it to be so: He has appointed Mary as the Leader, the Commander, of the Celestial hosts, in order that Satan be humiliated by a created soul. The completion of the Plan of Salvation is accomplished by the fact souls serve Mary of their own free will with a view to individually completing within themselves the Works of Redemption wrought by Jesus, for Mary has been given the power to guide this process of salvation in every soul who will give herself entirely to Her, and to guide and constantly correct the soul until the latter will reach the Heart of God. A wonderful gift ..."
She had me write similar words in letter of reply nr. 283:
"Being a slave to Mary means to surrender so completely to the Love and the guidance from the Bride of the Holy Spirit, that the soul herself turns into Love and Light, and what is this other than ... the completion of the sanctification and the greatest possible contribution to the accomplishment of God’s Plan of Salvation?"
In letter of reply 274 Mary inspired the following words:
"Slavery towards the Heavenly Mistress is an attitude towards life in which the soul is so utterly captivated by Her perfect Love that she gradually changes into Love herself and is thus enabled to feel the state of heart of the Beloved (Mary) so accurately that she spontaneously, as by nature, starts living for that which the Beloved (Mary) requests of her. Therefore there is an unbridled surrender from a pure self-denying Love. Without this last element, this relationship would remain completely barren. This situation could actually be compared to a log of wood floating on a mountain stream. This log does not think, it does not fear, it simply floats in any direction in which the water will send it. The water is so to speak the master of the stream, not the log. In a similar way the Mistress (in the image: the water) controls the path of life (the stream) of the soul (the log)".
As a matter of fact a somewhat more profound analysis of the concept of 'slavery to Mary’s Love' was the main theme of letter of reply nr. 275:
"Through this Work Mary makes herself known in her highest capacity as Mistress of all souls, and when She speaks of 'slavery' to Her, by no means does She mean that the soul should give up her free will. Mary fully respects every soul’s free will as the most valuable thing that God has given her, for this free will is the key to her sanctification. When the soul who gives herself totally and unconditionally to Mary, calls herself 'slave to Mary’s Love' she merely refers to the role which she is expected to fulfil within the framework of her unconditional and total consecration by virtue of this vocation (for that is exactly what total consecration is: a vocation): the role as a servant to Mary in every possible respect. The soul who concludes with Mary the covenant of total consecration thereby expressly accepts that Mary, who, as a matter of fact, was called upon by God Himself to be the Leader, the Commander, in the 'war' against the darkness with a view to unlocking in each individual soul the effects of Christ’s Redemptive Works, possesses the power to help guide the soul to her salvation and to help transform all the soul’s trials, sufferings in body, heart and soul and her entire journey through as well as all her efforts on the road to sanctification, into salvation for creation as a whole. Mary is the Transformer, who converts all this into raw material for the preparation of graces.
Through total and unconditional consecration to Mary the soul fully becomes a servant to Her, to the One who is the Leader, the Commander, in this war against the works of darkness. As a result, everything the soul offers to the Mistress of the Heavenly Hosts is forged into weapons to undermine the works of darkness. The soul is therefore Mary’s servant, but becomes Her 'slave' through the Heavenly, perfect Love: Mary seeks the transformation of the soul consecrated to Her, She makes this soul a tool of True Love, for only to the extent to which the soul allows to be gradually transformed into Love, all her works, trials, pains, diseases, burdens, heartaches etc. will become Works of Light that gradually reduce the effects of the works of darkness.
So this is where the deep meaning of the concept 'slave to Mary' lies: The soul is a 'servant', because she puts herself and all her actions, experiences and sensations at Mary’s service (and through Mary, at the service of God), but she becomes a slave through the inner transformation into a disposition of heart which prepares her for true holiness: the disposition allowing her to experience ever higher levels of True Love that enable her to completely and unselfishly surrender to the desires of God and the needs of His Plan of Salvation. In so doing the soul gradually gives herself up to Mary so spontaneously that there is actually a slavery of Love towards Mary. The surrender of oneself, the unselfish offering of all details of daily life, occurs because the soul has come to the inner understanding that, because of this, she has found the golden path to Salvation and is driven by True Love to follow this path from a pure conviction. The soul becomes a 'slave to Mary' in the sense that in the light of this understanding and in the experience of this Love she is automatically surrendered to Mary without any restrictions, in other words: she is 'completely Mary’s'.
The 'slave to Mary' is truly God’s property because she he voluntarily allows all of her/his own works, inner states and all details of life to be transformed into raw material for the generation of Works of Light. As long as the soul loves sin and the whole behavioral atmosphere that gives rise to sin, more than the Works and Plans of God, she essentially surrenders to the devil. Since in this whole process of implementing God’s Works and of preparing them in the human souls Mary is, in a manner of speaking, the authorized Representative of God, She has got the unlimited disposal of every soul who is consecrated to Her, and thereby guides and leads this soul on the road to sanctification, and, provided the soul herself collaborates with Her voluntarily, She accomplishes the transformation of this soul into a tool of the Light. The soul consecrated to Mary is completely God’s property through Mary. Mary is a created soul, yet She is destined by God to be a Mirror of His Works and Bridge to His Heart.
The main reason why God prefers the soul to go to Him through Mary and to focus on Mary as a Model, lies in the fact that God only considers His Works to be fully accomplished when they are complemented by the voluntary contributions and the voluntary imitation by the human soul. In so doing, in a manner speaking, a covenant is made between God and the soul’s free will. In Mary, the Works of God have been complemented to an absolutely perfect extent, and have flourished to the degree of absolute perfection. Therefore, if the soul gives herself completely, unrestrictedly and unconditionally to Mary, she is actually surrendering to God’s Masterpiece, she is following this Masterpiece of God and is venerating it as the Mirror of perfection, in whom God wants to show the souls absolute sanctity. God is the Light, Mary is the Mirror of this Light, made in such a way as to be able to radiate the Divine Light into every soul in a form exactly adjusted to the personal dispositions of each individual soul. This Mirror is so infinitely versatile and has got the ability to so infallibly change its effects that, in a manner of speaking, it conveys precisely the color and brightness the soul needs at any time in view of her spiritual development. Of the countless reasons why Mary should be called the Masterpiece of God, this quality as a Mirror of God is probably the most important.
In Mary, God’s Works are praised in their absolutely supreme form. Hence, total consecration to Mary does not contain even the remotest trace of idolatry, but on the contrary in total consecration the soul accomplishes the highest possible glorification of God and His Works of Light. Thus the Eternal Father has prepared it in the Immaculate Conception of Mary and confirmed it in Her Coronation in Heaven, and thus the Son Jesus wanted it when He entrusted the souls to His Mother while hanging on the Cross, because She thoroughly knew the way of sanctification and had the power to instil this sanctity into each soul in fine tuned doses.
Dear sister, You can rest easy, Your cautiousness is commendable, but only the full surrender from the heart, not any efforts of the mind, is able to bring you the Light of understanding the truthfulness of this phenomenon, for God’s Spirit whispers His Wisdom in the waves of Love. As soon as the soul can get to actually love God’s Works of Salvation and the goals and ways of His Plan of Salvation above anything the world or human mind have to offer her, the right understanding of the Truth and of the unsurpassed value of total consecration to Mary will be automatically granted her by the Holy Spirit, as well as the right understanding of the Truth and the value of the Science of Divine Life. To the extent the logic of the mind is no longer given supremacy, the celestial logic will flourish in the soul from the germ of sanctity God has given to the soul upon her creation.
The phenomenon of the soul’s slavery towards Mary was already presented by Saint Grignion de Montfort, whose theses have received ecclesiastical recognition. In our times the Queen of Heaven is deepening these insights, expanding them and relating them to profound teachings about Divine Life, in order that many things in connection with God’s Plan of Salvation may become more intelligible to the souls. This 'understanding', however, is not about mere knowledge and reasoning with the mind, but about a continually progressing development of the heart’s ability to 'get into the spirit of God’s intentions and desires'. With these teachings about the Being of Mary, the soul’s nature and true needs and the essence of the Divine Plan of Salvation, God is only seeking one thing: to prepare the souls for the completion of their sanctification and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth. It is well worthwhile to crave these insights and understandings and follow this path, which leads directly to the Heart of God".
Also in the spoken word the Heavenly Queen mentioned the concept of 'slavery to Her Love' several times. Thus in the Revelation of April 21, 2006 She said:
"My enthronement in a soul means the end of her slavery: to be a slave to Mary means to inherit the total freedom of the Kingdom of Heaven".
On October 20, 2006 the Mistress of all souls spoke the following words:
"Tell the souls they will be asked to make a choice: will they keep putting up with the predator which is incessantly eating away at their inner life and dispositions and makes them its slaves, and keep serving it as their master, or will they opt for a slavery that sets them free and is going to lead them to the force of true sanctity: the sweet slavery to the Mistress God Himself has predestined for them, Mary, the Queen of all creation?".
Some time later the Mistress had me write the following reflection with respect to the above words:
"It is remarkable how easily the notion of 'slavery' to Mary is misunderstood. This concept should not be understood according to the worldly meaning of the word, but according to its purely spiritual meaning. In a spiritual sense, slavery is the highest degree of bonding towards true, perfect Love. Perfect Love is in reality the 'pinnacle of freedom'. The soul who aims at perfecting True Love within herself, will become less and less the prisoner of her own weaknesses, of her own susceptibility to temptation. Ever since the original sin the human soul has been a slave to temptation, to sinfulness. The more the soul grows in the ability to love, the less will she be inclined to fall prey to sin, since sin is the absolute opposite of True Love. Every sin, however small it may be, indicates a lack of Love towards God. This is why it can be said the soul will continue to sin as long as her Love is not perfect.
Perfect surrender to Mary is the basis for the complete liberation of the soul from the power of temptations. Mary is the Bridge between the soul and Heaven. Whoever opts to be a slave to the Heavenly Mistress, will be set free by Her step by step from her own sinful tendencies, to the extent the own free will is given up to the Heavenly Queen. To become a slave to the Queen of perfect Love is the beginning of true freedom for the soul. The perfect freedom as a soul is sanctity. The Mission Mary has set for Herself as Mistress of all souls is precisely that of sanctifying every soul who surrenders unrestrictedly to Her (total consecration), and who practices this surrender in all details of daily life".
Slavery, in the worldly sense, evokes images of chains and groaning, of the dungeon of captivity towards another person’s will. In the celestial sense, however, slavery towards the Heavenly Queen is the golden path to true freedom: It frees the soul from the chains of captivity to her weaknesses and vices. To be a 'slave' to Mary means, in the true sense of the word, to be able to do nothing else in one’s heart of hearts but to obey the voice of perfect Love. In reality then True Love becomes the soul’s sovereign Mistress. Let us remember that perfect Love is the absolute opposite of sin. In proportion as the soul becomes more of a slave to Love she becomes more free from sin and achieves to a greater extent the two objectives of every soul’s life: her own sanctification, and making the greatest possible contribution to the full accomplishment of God’s Plan of Salvation.
All this expresses the way the Mistress of all souls has come to teach through Her Maria Domina Animarum Work.
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Ut adveniat Regnum Dei, adveniat Regnum Mariae (so that the Kingdom of God may come, |
Lovingly at the service of the Mistress of all souls,
Myriam