TOTUS TUUS, MARIA !
MARY’S TEMPLE
Total Consecration to Mary as a holy bond
between your soul and the Most Blessed Virgin
OFFERING YOURSELF TO MARY, THE MISTRESS OF ALL SOULS
The present manifesto is offered to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary,
the powerful Mistress of all souls,
with a view to calling many servants for the establishment of
God’s Kingdom on earth
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Survey of the holy bond of consecration to MARY
CHAPTER 1 – TEACHINGS ON TOTAL CONSECRATION TO MARY
1. Mary’s role in the History of Salvation
2. What is consecration to Mary?
3. What is Mary’s power based on?
4. Why consecrate oneself to Mary?
5. How does one consecrate oneself to Mary?
6. Consecration to Mary as a lifestyle and a lifelong mission
7. What does your mission as a soul consecrated to Mary consist of?
8. Basic requirements for a fruitful consecration to Mary
9. What is the value of consecration to Mary?
10. What does the full experience of the total consecration to Mary
in daily life consist of?
11. Conditions for a genuine consecration to Mary
12. Pitfalls for the soul consecrated to Mary
13. What is the ideal consecrated soul like?
14. What does Mary give you in return?
CHAPTER 2 - LIVING AS A SOUL CONSECRATED TO MARY, EXPRESSED IN IMAGES
1. Life in a temple
2. The temple and the orchard
3. The reconstruction of the temple
4. The fire
5. Invitation to Mary’s party
6. The school of Mary
7. The uninterrupted journey
8. The re-enactment of the Passion of Christ
9. The field
CHAPTER 3 - THE GLORIES OF MARY, THE MIRROR OF GOD’S POWER
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Survey of the holy bond of consecration to MARY
* Consecration to Mary = the most complete offering of yourself to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, who, by Divine proxy, will introduce the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth, and who prepares this establishment using all offerings human souls put in Her hands through their total consecration. Through Mary, God wants to expel Satan from the world, and establish on earth the Kingdom of which Jesus Christ cast the first seeds. Mary wants to achieve this through the common fruit of Her invincible power added to the contributions made by human souls. This is why She desires the total consecration of souls who are prepared to lead their lives as Her servants.
* Quite consciously leading a life as Mary’s servant, means giving Her:
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Your entire life, past, present and future, all experiences in your daily life (even the seemingly most insignificant ones)
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All your actions, words, thoughts, feelings, wishes, aspirations, pains, sorrows, burdens, trials, illnesses, moments of fatigue, fears, hurting experiences, uncertainties, doubts, and your free will (Mary’s will becomes yours)
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Your entire being: soul, spirit, heart and body
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All your relations and dealings with your fellow creatures, and the entire surroundings you live your life in (including your possessions, properties and objects of daily use)
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All your prayers, offerings, sacrifices, expiations, mortifications
* Mary can use all the aforementioned elements for the accomplishment of Her mission geared to the salvation of souls. God has given Her the sovereign power to re-create, to transform: the power to change everything which is negative or is experienced as negative, into graces and wholesome, healing forces. This is how She achieves the sanctification, purification, catharsis and conversion of souls, and how She works on the foundations of a new world: God’s Kingdom of Love, peace and happiness on earth, to be achieved through the transformation of darkness into Light, hatred into Love, illness and death of souls into the latter’s rebirth. To use an image: With your initial act of consecration to Mary She receives you in Her womb, She bears and nourishes you, and subsequently She gives birth to you as the fruit of Her works for you to lead a life at Her service. In the spiritual sense you are then Her property, She 'owns' you, and you have to be willing to enable Her to 'use' your life as She pleases.
* Absolute condition for the accomplishment of Mary’s works is the lasting consecration of yourself, all your experiences and all your inner physical, mental and emotional dispositions to Her, every moment of every single day. If you fail to do so, you are diminishing the fruits your life would potentially be able to yield.
* In these Last Times Mary reveals Herself through Myriam van Nazareth as the 'Mistress of all souls', who wants to accomplish God’s Plan of Salvation for the souls, and who, to this end, wants you to aspire for three things:
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ardent Love for God, for Her, and for your fellow creatures
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accepting and consecrating every trial crossing the path of your life
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complete obedience and subservience towards Her
The higher the number of souls who consecrate themselves totally to Mary, truly live this consecration in the practice of daily life, and meet Mary’s three aforementioned wishes, the sooner and the more thoroughly Mary is going to be enabled to use the fullness of Her power to finally render all evil ineffective with a view to actually accomplishing the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth.
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Consecration to Mary is a holy bond between Mary and your soul. As a soul consecrated to Mary you therefore take upon yourself great responsibilities:
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* The soul consecrated to Mary exclusively lives through, for, with and in Mary:
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THROUGH Mary: through her consecration she is born again of Mary
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FOR Mary: her entire life is led completely at Mary’s service
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WITH Mary: she is supposed to involve Mary in every element of her daily life
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IN Mary: by aiming at perfecting herself in all virtues she enables Mary to shape, process and transform her to such an extent as to 'increasingly lose herself in Mary'.
* God has predestined Mary to be the Mistress of all souls, and He gave Her unlimited power over mankind. This is already the first reason why He desires the souls to consecrate themselves totally to Her, so that She may be able to display the fullness of Her power. Total consecration as a complete sacrifice of yourself to Mary, is the greatest homage you could possibly pay to the Mistress of all souls. In these Last Times God desires a complete surrender to Mary. This is why I call upon you to consecrate yourself totally to Mary, and to inform your fellow persons so that they as well may get to know about the necessity and the wholesome effect of their own total consecration to Mary.
* The ultimate goal of total consecration to Mary is this: salvation and the blessings of liberation for all mankind, and the sanctification of your own soul.
Laudate Mariam !
(praise be to You, Mary)
TOTUS TUUS, MARIA !
(I am all Yours, Mary)
CHAPTER 1
TEACHINGS ON TOTAL CONSECRATION TO MARY
1. Mary’s role in the History of Salvation
God created man with the intention that he should live a holy life. However, the first human couple gave in to Satan’s inspiration to disobey God. This first sin committed by mankind is called the original sin: Satan’s venom was poured into the first human soul, and would remain an obstacle for all further generations to live after the image of God. One may look at it this way: The purity God had intended for the human soul was removed from the souls by the original sin, and this impurity was 'inherited' from generation to generation. Henceforth man would only be sanctified insofar as he would receive the Sacrament of Baptism and would succeed in removing the traces from the bite of the infernal serpent from his soul through leading a life in accordance with God’s Will: in true Love, purity and all virtues. The original sin and the endless series of sins mankind has been committing incessantly afterwards, have mortgaged mankind with an ever increasing debt towards Divine Justice. This burden of debt brought in its wake a serious disequilibrium in creation. This disequilibrium is the cause of all misery you can see and experience all around you: wars, struggle, fights, lack of love, hunger, poverty, natural catastrophes, and an ever increasing proliferation of all sins and vices. Evil is incessantly tightening its grip on mankind, because mankind grants ever more power to Satan through the sins it keeps committing. Every sin a soul commits, enables Satan to tighten his grip on mankind as a whole. That is why we are experiencing dark times. Darkness in the souls has never been deeper. The final battle between the powers of Heaven and the powers of evil is being waged all around us.
God foresaw the Most Blessed Virgin as the Defeater of Satan. She was given all power to chain the devil up. She is the Chosen One who was to give Jesus, the Light of the world, to mankind, in order to let the Kingdom of Christ on earth take root. Mary was chosen by God to subject Satan (as it says in the Bible: She is the Woman who will crush the serpent’s head underneath Her foot). Mary was the only human to be conceived immaculately, meaning that Her soul is not marked by the original sin. Of Her was to be born Jesus Christ, Son of God, with a view to redeeming mankind from the eternal condemnation which was otherwise bound to come down upon all souls because of the original sin. Jesus was to do so through His Sufferings and Death on the Cross. In order to make Jesus’ Works of Redemption useful for your own soul, it is necessary for you to follow Jesus in your own life: You have to believe in His Word as the only Truth of God, and to follow as much as possible the example of His earthly life, by making continuous efforts to reach perfection in all virtues (love, purity, honesty, sincerity, tolerance, willingness to make sacrifices, willingness to forgive, patience, trust, brightfulness, softness, etcetera) and by lovingly accepting your daily crosses (the daily burdens, trials, setbacks, pains, illnesses, sorrows, moments of fatigue and weariness). This is the way to pay for your own eternal bliss in Heaven, and to contribute to the redemption of the burden of debt gathered by all mankind, to the breaking of the power of evil, and consequently to the purification of the world from all misery.
The Holy Virgin Mary has received the power to complete Christ’s Works of Salvation in the world, and to ban Satan from the world once and for all. However, She is allowed to use this power only to the extent to which man implores Her to use it, through his ardent prayers and through the sacrifices of her entire life to Her. Why? Because God always respects the souls’ free will. A soul who does not show God and Mary her desire to be set free from evil, sin and vice, can not expect God or Mary to intercede in her life, unless through a great miracle of Divine Mercy. Such miracles, too, are chiefly wrought owing to the unlimited power of Mary’s intercession.
Therefore, Mary possesses extensive powers to influence your own happiness and the happiness of the world as a whole. For the benefit of the soul who longs for eternal bliss after this life, and on this earth for a world filled with peace and love, and without misery, God has foreseen the golden way in the form of the total consecration of this soul’s entire life, of her entire being, and of everything she owns, to Mary, for She is the God-chosen Way to all-encompassing freedom.
2. What is Consecration to Mary?
For reasons that are rooted in Mary’s role within the history of salvation up to our days, it is obvious that all souls should put themselves at Mary’s service to enable the Kingdom of Christ to take shape, and to be given to God through Mary’s hands. They can only do this by consecrating themselves and their lives to Mary.
Total consecration to Mary means giving yourself to Her so that She may be able to guide you to eternal bliss and to obtain graces for the souls on the basis of the sacrifices you make in your own life. She can do this because She has received from God a sovereign power to turn sacrifices and trials, which are consecrated onto Her, into sources of salvation and liberation for mankind: Mary is invested with the re-creating power of God Himself. In order to put your entire life with all its sacrifices at Mary’s service, it is necessary for you to express your willingness to do so, for, as I have pointed out: God has given man a free will, and will not interfere with it, unless He is explicitly requested to do so, and man prays for Him to intervene.
As soon as you consecrate yourself to Mary, you are all Hers. From that moment onwards you explicitly accept Her to be your Mistress. Everything you are, you have, you do, you think, you feel, you desire and aspire for, is then owned and possessed by Mary (meaning She has got the power to use all of this freely towards accomplishing the goals set by God Himself). Only then will She be able to fully wield Her unlimited power and to do onto you everything that is necessary for your own salvation and the salvation of other souls. The fruitfulness of this self-sacrifice to Mary will be determined by the extent to which you actually live your consecration in every detail of your daily life.
Total consecration is somewhat comparable to a marriage. To Heaven the Bond between Mary and the soul consecrated to Her, is sacred. Consecration is a contract, a holy Bond between the consecrated soul and Mary. he consecrated soul owes to Mary complete obedience, submission, docility and perfect willingness to serve. This is tantamount to taking a vow to offering all her prayers, works, actions, words, thoughts, feelings, desires, etcetera, to Mary without any exceptions, so that they may be used by Her for the purification of the world, for Mary holds an unlimited power to turn trials, sufferings and everything which is offered to Her, into flows of grace for the transformation of this world.
3. What is Mary’s power based on?
The Most Blessed Virgin Mary has received from God the unlimited power over the implementation of His Plan of Salvation for the souls. Since God has given man a free will, every human soul is to contribute of her own free will to the collection of merits from which the graces of conversion, of liberation of the world from the forces of evil, and of the individual’s peace of heart are made. God creates these graces on the basis of the infinite and everlasting merits yielded by the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, complemented by the infinite merits of Mary, by the Holy Masses celebrated all over the world, and by the merits of all saints and all souls that are filled with genuine good intentions.
Mary has been granted the unrestricted power to distribute these graces, i.e. to determine who will receive which graces, to what extent, when, for how long, and in what form. She makes these decisions sovereignly on the basis of the infallible knowledge God has granted Her as to the goals set within the framework of His Plan of Salvation, and as to the faculties, properties and dispositions of mind and heart of every single soul. Thus we may safely say Mary is in control of the design of God’s Plan of Salvation for the souls. On account of the fact God has given Her full powers over the human souls, Mary has revealed Herself to Myriam as "the powerful Mistress of all souls". Mary has got at Her disposal all the angels of God to serve Her in this all-embracing work, and She is also seeking for souls on earth that surrender to Her completely in order to replenish the treasuries of graces day after day, through the offering of every detail of their lives and all their sufferings, burdens and trials.
Total consecration to Mary means: giving yourself and every detail of your life to Mary totally and without any restrictions, as in a continuous, uninterrupted sacrifice. She possesses the power to use your entire being and every event of your life at the service of God’s Plan of Salvation. Ever suffering, every setback which is explicitly offered to Her is, through a Divine Mystery, transformed by Her into a heavenly force which is able to bring salvation and blessing upon creation. This is why the number of blessings for the world (and for your own life) increases in proportion as greater numbers of souls consecrate themselves totally to Mary and truly and conscientiously live their consecration in daily life. She is the key on the gate to the new world: the world of God’s Kingdom on earth.
All power over God’s graces and the ways they are bestowed lies in Mary’s hands, i.e. She can freely dispose of them. The more souls consecrate themselves to Mary, and the more intensively these souls truly live this consecration to Mary in all details of their daily lives, the more She will be able to display the signs and expressions of Her power to mankind. This is why the great responsibility for the salvation of mankind, for true happiness for the souls and for the world, ultimately lies in every human soul’s own hands. Actually living in a state of total consecration to Mary is the path chosen by God Himself, on which man can be set free from all misery, for wherever Mary truly rules, no evil can survive.
4. Why consecrate oneself to Mary?
Since Mary has got divine powers at Her disposal, and since through Her capacity as the Chosen One and through Her complete victory over sin and evil, She is going to humiliate Satan underneath Her feet, for God has predestined Her to be the Woman who is to crush the serpent’s head. It is the souls who surrender to Mary completely, not through words but through day-to-day actions, especially through the offering of their burdens, who, in their capacity as Mary’s servants, are to lay Satan underneath Her feet in order for Her to crush his works of darkness. Mary is the Bearer of divine powers, the Bridge between Heaven and earth. This means that God presents Her to mankind as the perfect image of His power and Love, that She distributes all graces from God’s Source of Life among the human souls, that the souls are to travel towards God through Her, and that the souls owe Her the deepest reverence and their unlimited and unconditional trust.
The soul who surrenders to Mary with her entire being and her entire life, thereby puts herself under the protection of the most powerful shield against evil, and 'comes home' in the true sense of the word: Total consecration to Mary is the only gate to the discovery and fulfilment of one’s actual goal in life, viz. making oneself available for the battle towards the accomplishment of God’s Plan of Salvation. In these Last Times deeply lived consecration to Mary is the only way that can really make your life truly meaningful, because it completely fulfills the mission you were sent into this world for in the first place.
5. How does one consecrate oneself to Mary?
Consecrating yourself to Mary is done by saying to Her every day that you want to be Her property, by offering to Her all your actions, words, thoughts, feelings, longings, desires and aspirations, as well as your will, and by asking Her every day that She may guide you in everything. You then also accept all your burdens, trials and sufferings, so that Mary may use all this for the benefit of the Plan of Salvation for a new world: the Kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth. This is indeed how consecration works: In Mary’s hands our sufferings turn into POWER and LIGHT. How are you to consecrate yourself to Mary concretely? Real consecration always consists of three elements, which have got to get your full attention each and every day:
- First of all you say to Mary that you long to be Her property.
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The most basic formula is this: "Totus Tuus ego sum, Maria" (I am all Yours, Mary). In the course of the day you regularly repeat this formula (in Latin or in English), from the bottom of your heart, in true love and sincere desire, so as to actually make it your basic attitude in life.
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It is beneficial to add, each morning and each night: "Mary, I give You myself, all my actions, words, thoughts, feelings, aspirations and desires, all my joys and all my burdens, out of love for You".
- Secondly you involve Mary in every detail of your daily life.
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With every trial, burden, suffering, moment of feeling tired or every sorrow you say: "Mary, I will bear this out of love for You".
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With everything which gives you joy (even simply the pleasant scent of a flower) you say: "Mary, I give You this joy, out of love for You".
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Each time you travel you say: "Mary, please go this way with me, and guide my footsteps".
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Do speak internally to Mary, for She actually longs to be part of your daily life. Mary longs for you to long for Her, every moment of every day. It is the sincere longing for Mary that will open your heart to receive graces. The more you speak to Her internally, the greater will become the part She is going to play in your life. As soon as Her part dominates everything She will turn you into a new person.
- Thirdly you are supposed to accept every trial very actively, consciously and of your own free will, without any protest, in deep love, and to make to Mary a solemn sacrifice of the burden this trial imposes upon you. To that end you say: "Mary, I give You this suffering and my feelings associated with it, out of love for You". This is very important, because it is exactly your trials and burdens that constitute the building bricks for the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth, provided you accept them without any protest and consecrate them to Mary.
Very often, in daily life many negative influences will come your way: the hustle and bustle of traffic, the expressions of dissatisfaction or negative words of people, all kinds of disagreement, any lack of understanding, competition, all kinds of defiling influences from television, newspapers, advertisements, images and statements that are contrary to the Christian Doctrine and Gods Truth, etcetera. It is important that you keep begging Mary to purify your emotions, your thoughts, your mind, your desires and your senses. Beg Her for the favour to warn you about any temptation and any impurity. You can simply do so by frequently saying to Her: "Mary, do live within me, keep me clean and pure". Implore Her to rule over your senses, so that you may look only at the things She wants you to see, listen only to the things She wants you to hear, etcetera.
Thus you will understand that consecration to Mary does not merely consist of speaking a prayer of consecration, which may, for example, be renewed once a year: Total consecration is not a prayer, it is a way of living, like a spontaneous ongoing disposition. Many souls believe they are consecrated to Mary, yet in reality they lead a life in which, at the most, Mary plays a (usually very superficial) part during prayer, and does not at all get any part in all remaining actions, words, feelings and thoughts of everyday life. These souls are deceiving themselves. True, total consecration to Mary is only possible insofar as you lead a life in deep faith, in which everything, including the smallest details, is shared with Mary.
6. Consecration to Mary as a lifestyle and a lifelong mission
You will have noticed that, as to its form, consecration to Mary is actually quite simple: You promise Mary every day that you are willing to work for Her, with the employment of your entire being and everything you have. However, genuine consecration to Mary is anything but limited to mere words: A soul is only consecrated to Mary insofar as she actually lives the words of her consecration up to the deepest fibre of her being. Total consecration to Mary does begin with a prayer of consecration, to be sure, but it is a great deal more than that: You can only call yourself consecrated to Mary as soon as you live like a soul consecrated to Mary: Genuine, total consecration to Mary is a lifestyle based on a vocation by Mary. This also means there is little point in saying a prayer of consecration if deep down in your heart you do not really feel an unequivocal longing to really belong to Mary, to serve Her with everything you do or do not do, and to live for Her.
True consecration to Mary also means leaving Her all fruits and graces yielded by actions, sufferings, sacrifices and prayers, and not having the tendency to consider the merits associated with them to be your own. True consecration thus implies a lifestyle of unselfishness. The soul consecrated to Mary will not ask "Mary, give me...", she will rather say "Mary, I give You...". The only requests the soul makes are those by which she begs Mary for graces in favour of a fellow creature, of mankind as a whole, and for reparation to God and to Mary Herself. The fruits of these requests are paid for right away by offering oneself to Mary as a pledge for the graces one may obtain: The consecrated soul pays Mary by offering herself and the burdens of her life to Her. She will hardly ever pray for herself, unless (and this is even her holy duty) for the development of her own soul (prayer for the reinforcement of her resistance against temptations, for the victory over her own weaknesses, etcetera). She does not even wonder about what Mary is going to do with this present, for she implicitly trusts in Her Love, Her goodness, Her wisdom and Her power. You may say that the soul consecrated to Mary puts her hands, her mind, her heart and her mouth, even her entire body, at Mary’s disposal, and allows Her to use them at Her own discretion, without the slightest protest.
Jesus says in the Gospel: "Not you have chosen Me, it is I who have chosen you". The same goes for consecration to Mary: If one day you notice a heart-felt inclination to consecrate yourself to Mary, the reason for this urge is the fact She has chosen you to walk that path. Total, unconditional and everlasting consecration to Mary is a great sign of being chosen: it is a calling to a life at the service of God’s Plan of Salvation for the souls, hence a life which will inevitably bring you many trials, but also all the more merits, provided you put your entire life at the service of your being consecrated. Do not ever disappoint Mary. As a soul consecrated to Her you live for God’s needs. Do keep this in mind with everything you do, think, say and aspire. Keep in mind that the needs of your earthly life must never become goals in themselves. The needs of your soul are the only ones that really count. If you keep well aware of this, you will live your consecration to Mary for what it actually is: a lifelong mission adding sense and direction to your life, a goal you will constantly seek to achieve.
Do not forget, even not for one single moment, how important this mission is, and to what extent it leads you into Jesus’ footsteps: God has chosen Mary to give birth to His Son on earth as a Human, to raise Him and, eventually, to give Him back to the Eternal Father through the Suffering which was to bring Salvation to the souls. By consecrating yourself to Mary totally, unconditionally and for all eternity, you become just as much Her child as Jesus Himself was Her Child on earth. Then She will be able to raise you as well, to educate you, to shape and mould you into a holy soul, in order to give you to God through Her own hands in the hour of your death, along with all the sacrifices and trials constituting your life, in order to turn all of this into hail and blessings to be sent upon the souls and to enable the latter, too, to enter into eternal heavenly bliss. Request your Heavenly Mother for the favour She wants to give you, yet will not be able to give you before you have actually started to really long for it: Her truly being able to be your Mother. Ask Her every day: "Mary, do carry me in Your womb today, and give birth to me as Your child". Your Heavenly Mother is waiting for you. Open up your heart to Her.
7. What does your mission as a soul consecrated to Mary consist of?
Total consecration to Mary is a lifelong mission. It consists therein, that one puts one’s entire being (soul, emotional life, dispositions of mind and thoughts, and body) completely at Mary’s disposal for the accomplishment of Her Plans and Works, on account of the fact Mary has been granted the rule and power over the implementation of God’s Plan of Salvation for the souls. One also puts all one’s actions, words, desires, aspirations, and one’s will, completely at Mary’s disposal. Everything you are, everything you have and everything radiating from you, including that which is seemingly of minor importance, can be used by Mary to achieve great things with.
This is a Divine Mystery: Mary has received the power to transform small, seemingly trivial things into great things. For instance: A friendly smile at a fellow creature is in Mary’s hands turned into a force of Love which can bring redemption to a soul, somewhere in the world. Do not decide yourself on the value of an action or a word, only God and Mary are able to judge it, on the basis of a number of factors: The value of any action or any word is, among other things, determined by the state of your heart while performing the action, the purity of your soul while the action is performed, the moment in which (and the circumstances under which) the action is performed, the intention with which you perform it or the goal you pursue by performing it, and the ardour and Love with which this action is consecrated to Mary.
All of this helps determine the extent to which Mary reinforces the action within Her Heart: She can double the value of your action, She can increase it tenfold, etcetera. Subsequently, this action is entrusted to the Treasury of Divine Graces as a 'means of payment' for the release of graces for souls. Thus a seemingly trivial action performed by a holy soul, with ardent love, with an intention which is completely and exclusively geared to the accomplishment of God’s Plans, and ardently consecrated to Mary, can be reinforced by Mary to such an extent as to make it possible for this action to 'buy' a great grace for a soul. This may enable you to understand that your mission as a soul consecrated to Mary solely consists of the offering of everything you are, have, do, say, feel, think and aspire for, to Mary. This is a mission which can not end before your life is completely over.
True consecration to Mary is a life of giving, nothing but unselfish giving. You hardly ask for anything for your own benefit. This 'giving' is done in various forms: prayers, sacrifices, penance, suffering accepted and borne with love, active fighting against all evil, apostolic works for the relief of the physical and spiritual needs of your fellow beings, the spreading of God’s Word, the promotion of consecration to Mary, deeds and acts of reparation, etcetera. The major as well as often the most hidden part of your mission, however, is this: the incessant work at yourself, at your own sanctification. This part of your task is the most important one, because it determines how pure your soul will be with a view to Mary’s living within her, how fruitful your works as a soul consecrated to Mary will be (for the fruit of works is largely dependent on the degree of sanctity of the soul performing these works; 'the fruit' being not so much the visible result, but the force of grace set released by an action, and the extent to which you will possess the ability to light the true fire in other souls.
If you regard your soul as a temple, you will be able to understand that Mary, the Most Pure Queen, will not readily permanently establish Her throne within you as long as your temple is soiled and inhospitable. Your temple is soiled as long as many or major vices rule in it, and inhospitable as long as life within your temple is hardly in accordance with Mary’s (and therefore, also God’s) wishes and views, for this makes the temple of your soul a chilly and darkened place. Do keep this in mind, for your mission as a soul totally consecrated to Mary is largely situated in the field of self-perfection.
| This is what your are fighting AGAINST: |
This is what you are fighting FOR: |
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THE KINGDOM OF SATAN = |
THE KINGDOM OF MARY |
| 1. hatred | 1. Love |
| 2. dissatisfaction | 2. peace of heart |
| 3. anxiety | 3. peace of mind |
| 4. confusion | 4. well-ordered thinking and feeling |
| 5. fear | 5. trust, confidence, feeling of security |
| 6. slavery to needs, material things as the centre of life |
6. true freedom of heart and mind by being focused on the spiritual needs |
| 7. impurity (in body, mind, heart, mouth) |
7. purity of thinking, feeling, actions and words |
| 8. pride | 8. humility |
| 9. protest, rebellion against trials, non-acceptance of sufferings |
9. obedience, surrender, acceptance of trials and sufferings |
| 10. lies and deceit | 10. sincerety and honesty |
| 11. breeding distrust, insecurity and discouragement |
11. inspiring hope and courage, giving reassurance |
| 12. hedonism, pursuit and promotion of pleasure |
12. love of sacrifices and mortification |
8. Basic requirements for a fruitful consecration to Mary
For your total consecration to Mary to be really fruitful, several conditions must be fulfilled, the main ones certainly being:
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A very great potential as to the exercising of charity. If you are not ready to forget yourself altogether, your consecration to Mary is bound to remain a stillborn fruit. As a soul consecrated to Mary you can only gain souls for God’s (Mary’s) Plan by filling all souls on the path of your life with the greatest love you can possibly find within yourself.
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A great sense of self-sacrifice, ardent penance, and a deep longing to make reparation. If you loathe the trials on the path of your life, you will not persist in a life of total consecration, for the inevitable cross will be an offence and a burden to you. Yet it is precisely through the daily crosses that you have got to pay for all graces and merits.
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A great determination and persistance in aspiring for the accomplishment of God’s Plan of Salvation. In order to be fruitful as a soul consecrated to Mary it is necessary for you to be 'possessed' by this one desire: to contribute – through your entire being and all your works and words – to the accomplishment of the Plan to which every servant of Mary is supposed to contribute: the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth. This motivation must never leave your mind.
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A rock-solid confidence and faith in Mary. If your faith and confidence in Mary is not complete, you will not be able to keep finding within yourself the motivation necessary to serve Her in everything. If you lack unwavering faith in Mary’s invincible power and perfect Love you may soon get discouraged. You have got to have an unshakable faith in the fact Mary defeats the spirit of the world, and that She is going to do so first and foremost in your own heart and soul. Do not be too hasty in assuming that prayers will remain unheard: Many prayers are heard on a hidden level. Often prayers during trials do not result in the trial itself being ended, but rather in your way of looking at the trial being transformed. This yields you a far greater merit. You may also look at it this way: A trial is often like a thorn in your heart, which is hardened by resentments or bitterness on account of the crosses of life, so that your heart itself embraces the thorn so tightly that the latter is never released. Often Mary will then not remove the thorn itself, but will rather soften your heart, so that the thorn comes loose more easily, and is eventually shed off. Thus the trials themselves remain untouched, but your heart has let go of all negative feelings associated with them. This is the way Mary prefers to operate. This grace extends a lot further than being freed of this one trial: A softened heart is better able to stay on top of many other trials.
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The firm will to follow Mary as an Example. In everything Mary must be your Mistress as well as your Guide and your Teacher. Her model must remain the true focus of all your efforts. Only then will the traits of Her being actually merge with your own being, for then you will change into that which, in your heart, you ardently desire to be. Try incessantly to imagine how Mary would deal with the situations you are dealing with in life, and how She would solve your problems if She were to find the very same problems on Her path while living as a human being on earth. To follow Mary as an Example, means concretely: To make efforts so as to enable Her to bring Her own qualities (unconditional and pure Love, humility, softness, surrender, blind faith …) to bloom within you.
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A very great ability to obey. Mary can not at all use you as Her servant as long as you are inclined to satisfy your own wishes rather than Hers. She must be able to count on you totally and perfectly. As a soul that is totally consecrated to Mary you participate directly in the struggle between the Light and the darkness. No war can be won with a soldier who, at the front, does not execute combat instruction without any hesitation. Do not take your responsibility lightly, for your actions and words have got repercussions on mankind as a whole.
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The firm will to go at any length in working on yourself. Your fruitfulness and punch as a servant and 'warrior' of Mary is first of all determined by your spiritual strength. It is your holy duty to incessantly grow in all virtues. Your commitment will not develop the force necessary to obtain conversions for God’s Kingdom as long as you are not at peace with yourself and are insufficiently strong-minded as an apostle of Mary.
9. What is the value of consecration to Mary?
Total consecration to Mary marks the beginning of a new life. It is a holy bond, a contract you conclude with Heaven. It is expected from you that you should not only observe it in words, but mainly in daily practice, and unconditionally. To all people Mary is the Heavenly Mother. To the souls consecrated to Her She is the sovereign Mistress. This means you give Her exclusive and absolute control over your life and your entire being. If you fail to do so, She will be unable to help accomplish within you the works over which God has given Her control, for the salvation of the souls.
If you do not give Mary the green light, unreservedly and without any hesitation, to do with you and within you EVERYTHING She wants, She will not be able to do very much for you. Not because She would lack the power to break your resistance, but because it says in God’s Law that man’s free will must be respected. Indeed, man cannot have merits in life if God (or Mary) should intervene in his life without his asking for it. Therefore every initiative must always start with man himself, and man himself must at all times remain actively involved in all his actions.
The soul consecrated to Mary must make the explicit vow that Mary is in a position to possess her, that she accepts Mary as her Mistress, and that she wishes Her to rule, to guide and to direct her life. Only after such a vow, which, as a matter of fact, it is a good thing to repeat daily in a prayer of consecration spoken in the morning or at night, and which you are to live by through the concrete actions of everyday life, will your consecration to Mary actually get the value it was predestined to have.
Since Mary is the Leader in the battle against evil, your being a soul consecrated to Mary will automatically get you involved in this battle. It is of the utmost importance that all souls consecrated to Mary should join hands and should build a chain of Light capable of restraining all evil, through their fervent prayers, offerings, sacrifices and consecrated trials. Total consecration to Mary is the most perfect following of Jesus Christ, who Himself, while on earth, led a life of prayer, trials and sufferings, with Mary as His Mother and His constant Refuge and Support in His Works of Salvation.
The value of total consecration to Mary is unparalleled. No other content of your life could ever be put on an equal level. The reason lies in the fact that total consecration to Mary is a life of trials that are actively offered to God. This kind of life enables you to actively, consciously and whole-heartedly participate in the accomplishment of the Mystery of Salvation within souls, as the follow-up of Jesus’ Sancrifice on the Cross.
Contributing to the redemption of souls and to the redemption of the debts of all mankind towards Divine Justice, through all your doings and all your experiences, is to God’s mind the most fruitful life you could possibly live. This full value can only be achieved insofar as you actually live your consecration, accept all your crosses with love, and constantly work on the transformation of your weaknesses into merits. Weaknesses can turn into sources of strength if they are offered to Mary and if you display the fervent desire to actively contribute to being cured from them.
Your sanctification is first and foremost determined by the way in which you deal with your weakest sides. In everyday practice this means you keep educating yourself persistently in leading a virtuous life, paying attention especially to the temptations you most easily give in to (those you are the least able to resist). As, usually, suffering and trials constitute the major sources of pressure to which human nature is subjected, you will get to know your weaknesses mainly during the moments of suffering and trials, and hence will during those very moments be able to make the greatest progress as to improving yourself.
Total consecration to Mary is a life which presupposes a great and constant growth in the field of practising true love and charity. It is exactly there that lies the essence of the unparalleled value of it for God and for the souls, for Love is the driving force of all creation, of all redemption and of all sanctification. Love constitutes the essence of God’s own Strength. Therefore total consecration to Mary is the most fruitful way of shaping a human soul’s life: You can only be really consecrated to Mary as soon as you have actually surrendered to Her completely. This complete and fully lived self-offering is the highest act of love man could ever commit.
10. What does the full experience of the total consecration to Mary in daily life consist of?
As soon as you have consecrated yourself to Mary, the question arises: How am I to actually shape my life as a soul consecrated to Mary? A great and constant effort is expected from you, so as to enable the seven following dispositions to fully blossom within you:
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ardent Love. Total consecration to Mary is impossible without ardent Love for Her, and true charity. She Herself will bring this Love to fruition within you, provided you really and genuinely long for Her to do so. Total consecration opens the channels for a full outpouring of the highest degrees of Love. This, among other things, explains why total self-humiliation at Mary’s feet is able to arouse feelings of true exaltation. True and pure Love is the key to true Divine Life, for Love is the driving force of all creation, of all redemption and of all sanctification of souls. Ardent Love is the proviso for a true following of Mary and Jesus in your own life. If you love somebody ardently, the core of your entire being will long for you to become more and more exactly like the one you love. In proportion as you love Mary more ardently She will increasingly enhance within you the desire to be exactly like Her, and moreover She will increasingly pour Herself out into you, so much so that you will actually find no more rest until you find yourself truly following in Her footsteps.
Love is a fire burning inside your heart. This fire must be kept alive by the oil of desire: You must truly long for an ever increasing ability to love, and beg Mary for Her assistance and intercession in making this ability bloom, especially in every trial. If this desire runs dry, the fire of your Love is at risk of extinguishing. Deep Love is always carried by the desire for the one that is loved. The greater this desire, the more ardent the Love will be, and the more ardent the Love for Mary, the more She will enable you to also truly love your fellow creatures, for She will then deposit Her own Love into your heart, to the extent to which you are receptive to this Love.
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purity of heart, mind and body. Purity is the extent to which your behaviour, your words, your thoughts, feelings and desires reflect the holiness that God lays in every soul when she begins her earthly life in a physical body. A pure soul radiates God’s Light all around her, and does so all the more faithfully in proportion as she is purer. Mary Herself was the purest of all created souls. Her perfection in sanctity and in all virtues made Her the most perfect Mirror ever to come out of God’s hands. Mary is the Lily of Heaven’s Court, the symbol of absolute purity. Be aware of the fact a lily will not grow in contaminated soil. Likewise you can not expect Mary to actually live within you as long as you fail to strictly observe purity in all of your actions, words, thoughts, feelings and desires.
If you consider your being to be a temple, then realize how insulting it would be to the Queen of purity if you expected Her to soil Her feet by walking on your temple floor if the latter is filthy with dust and mud. In fact the purity of your entire being is the first prerequisite for a fruitful life as a soul totally consecrated to Mary. That is why Mary will first purify your inner life in order to be able to fill it as much as possible with Herself.
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total self-sacrifice. The deep essence of consecration to Mary consists therein, that you give yourself totally and undividedly to Mary. Your entire being (soul, feelings, desires, thoughts and body) and everything you experience day by day, is given to Mary of your own free will, as a daily present of which She makes an offering to obtain graces of conversion and liberation of souls from the grip of evil and from the devastating influences from their worldly surroundings.
Consecration to Mary is absolutely impossible without the total offering of oneself and all moments of one’s life to Mary. It is only on the basis of offered moments, events and actions that She is able to accomplish God’s Plan. Everything which is not offered to Her, is lost and remains useless. To use an example from the field of agriculture: Only the wheat which is actually processed after mowing, can serve as a basis for making bread; if all farmers were to leave the mowed wheat on the fields, it would simply decay, and no bread could ever be made again. Therefore: Do not leave anything lying unused on the field of your life, pick it all up and lay it in Mary’s hands, so that it may be processed into the bread of life (graces).
Mary is a farmer, a miller, a baker and a housewife all in one. Do not only give Her all wheat (all ingredients of your life), give Her also the field itself (your entire being), so that She may become the Mistress of the fruits as well as of the soil. Thus She will be able to continue stepping up the quality of the fruits, by tilling the soil incessantly according to Her views and understanding. Total consecration to Mary is the most efficient way to make the talents and graces bestowed upon you by God truly blossom.
You can consider total consecration to Mary to be tantamount to the investment of your being and your life with the bank (=Mary) offering the highest interest rate, so that your investment with Her yields the highest profit. Be aware also that the total self-sacrifice of souls constitutes the only lasting way to ban all misery from the world. One example: The large-scale famines in Africa can not be permanently remedied by merely extending material support; lasting solutions can only be expected from large-scale efforts by souls to offer compensation for the vast common debts of mankind towards the Law of Divine Justice, for it is on account of this tremendous debt that the balance within creation has been upset.
The greatest value for the redemption of this debt lies in the complete self-sacrifice of souls to Mary in total, unconditional consecration to offer reparation for Divine Love, which has been severely offended. Would you like to see all misery and injustice banned from this world? Then start contributing to the expiation of the heavy burden of the sins of all the ages by putting your entire life and all of your trials at Mary’s disposal. If your Heavenly Mother calls upon you to do so, then rejoice, and obey Her in gratitude, and God’s Grace and Peace will never abandon you.
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total self-denial. You will only really succeed in giving yourself and every detail of your daily life to Mary as soon as you are able to deny your own interests as much as possible. Actually serving Mary means performing all your actions with the one and only intention of accomplishing Her (=God’s) Plan with mankind. The first prerequisite is for you to aim at exercising unconditional charity. Under no circumstances you must give priority to your own needs or desires over Mary’s, which also aim at satisfying the true needs of mankind as a whole, as Mary is called to be the Implementer of God’s Plans in these Last Times.
Self-denial requires a great self-conquest, for it is not self-evident that you should feel needs in your own body or mind and should nevertheless first of all pay attention to Mary and to your fellow creature. In order to be able to deny yourself it is necessary for you to dare to be dependent. If you satisfy your own needs first, you know you are being provided for. If, on the contrary, you are hungry, for example, and yet try first to establish whether your fellow creature is hungry, too, and if it is, you see to it that its hunger is appeased before you have a bite to eat yourself, you never know if, when your fellow creature is satisfied, you will still have the strength to remain active. If you take this risk with love and surrender, you dare to be dependent, for it is then possible that you will yourself only be able to remain on your feet through God’s help, who can work either directly or through a fellow man (or, in the broadest sense, a fellow creature).
This is self-denial: Not to find peace until you know that Mary and your fellow creature are satisfied, in spite of your own needs and desires. This is how Jesus and Mary lived. Jesus only lived to redeem mankind through His final self-sacrifice. As to Mary I remind you of one example: the Wedding at Cana, where She said to Jesus: "They have no wine". She only had eyes for the needs of Her fellow man. Do never forget that Mary only lived on earth to serve God’s Plan of Redemption.
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total surrender. Surrendering completely to Mary, means no longer to resist the way in which She arranges every detail of your life. This attitude brings about a total peace of heart, because all your inner resistance against Mary’s will (which is the Will of God Himself) is taken down. Total surrender to somebody implies total confidence in that other one’s love and power. The extent to which you blindly give your life and your entire being up to Mary, is determined by your confidence in the fact that She possesses an infinite power over you and your life, and that Her Love for you is so complete and so pure that She will use this power only to your benefit.
Go to Her with confidence and patience, for She arranges everything in God’s time, i.e. when it is the most fruitful to do so, having regard to God’s Plan. If you truly love somebody with your entire being, it will not be difficult for you to surrender, for you will then expect everything from him or her. This is how your relationship with Mary ought to be. If you think of the person you have loved more than anyone else on earth, you will probably again feel the bliss, the fire, the perfect trust and the lack of any traces of resistance within you while you were (or are) with him or her. How much stronger then, must be these feelings if you imagine yourself being held by Mary’s arms.
You are in those arms every moment of your life, but usually you are not able to feel or see this. Rest assured that She is holding you in Her arms, and allow yourself to slip away completely into the bliss of this Love to end all loves. You will be delighted at the thought She is guiding, ruling, arranging and controlling your life. That is what total surrender is all about. The only way of surrendering totally to Mary is the one in which you give each second of your life to Mary, and thereby learn to add full meaning and sense to each moment of your life. This will teach you to live with far more patience, tolerance and acceptance regarding everything that happens, including any unexpected things.
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blind obedience and submission. Blindly obeying Mary’s actions within you, means subjecting yourself to Her completely. Essentially this is tantamount to subjecting all and any evil within you to Mary’s power. This attitude is the bearer of the most powerful weapon to break Satan’s influence in your life. How are you to obey Mary’s orders concretely in everyday life if (as is the case for nearly all people) you are not able to hear Her words? You can do this by acknowledging Her on the path of your life as being the Mistress of Divine Providence. This means you regard everything which crosses your path as coming out of Mary’s hands: She procures all the good things, and the less agreeable things She permits as opportunities for the soul to grow.
Strictly obeying Mary then means: to accept everything, bear it with love, and to thank and praise Mary for the opportunities She gives you in all these events and situations for the sanctification of your soul. Total obedience to Mary is un unparalleled source of inner peace, because in this obedience your soul is confirmed in the feeling she is experiencing a great unity with the One who is controlling her.
In order to achieve blind obedience and submission to Mary you should implore Her to keep working within you. Only upon your request She will actually enter your soul and accomplish there everything She deems necessary for you. Her Presence will leave within the hidden fields of your heart traces of Her own being, so that you will gradually notice Mary’s quiet orders and guidelines, and will increasingly be able to accept these, for you will get the feeling that your own desires are in perfect accordance with Hers.
Blind obedience and submission are golden paths to true peace of heart, and thereby to true sanctity. Do never forget this is the ultimate goal of your life on earth: sanctification, and through perfect peace of heart aiming at true fruitfulness for God’s Kingdom. If you fervently desire to be dominated by Mary in order to do nothing but the right things, She will truly control your entire being by having your heart ruled according to all Her desires and orders. To the extent to which you submissively and lovingly accept Her controlling you, She will obtain you true peace.
This is the secret of those privileged souls that possess the ability to bring rest, peace, warmth, bliss and joy in your heart when you watch them or simply hear their voice: Their souls, hearts, minds, mouths and bodies are controlled by a force from the Divine Source. They can only receive this force in a lasting manner from Mary or from the Triune God. You will recognize the origin of this force by the extent to which it arouses true Love within you, or to which it releases something within you, which incites you to purify your deepest emotions.
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total self-humiliation. Humiliating yourself at Mary’s feet (and thus before God, as Mary is His Representative, clothed with God-given power), is the highest degree of humility. It means being aware of your being little, and of your need to be guided by Mary in everything. It means admitting to Mary that you are not able to accomplish anything without Her, for that She is the real force and engine of your life, of your actions and words. Self-denial is the exquisite way to perfection, because it pours God’s Light into the soul and thereby brings to life, within the soul, the real image of God.
The basic instructions for this similarity to God are hidden in the germ of sanctity which was laid into your soul. Every act of self-humiliation (for example kneeling deeply before Mary) fills the soul with a Divine strength which is able to chain up Satan’s power over the soul. This is why self-humiliation becomes a source of inner peace and joy. If you humiliate yourself completely before Mary, She can fill your heart with Her own Heart, and you kindle Her desire to humiliate Satan underneath Her feet. Through every self-humiliation before Mary you humiliate Satan, who considers this to be a testimony of your voluntary submissiveness towards His Opponent.
If you testify to your willingness to be controlled by Mary, you automatically testify to your wish to break loose from the chains of evil and sin. Your self-humiliation before Mary is a praise of Her total power in Her capacity as the Mistress of your entire being and your entire life, and through this praise you enhance Her desire to have graces pour down upon souls, for all power over Divine Graces lies in Her hands.
Self-humiliation is also a great source of reparation. Making reparation (compensation for any lack of respect and for sacrileges) is part of the tasks to be performed by the consecrated soul. Mary’s unparalleled dignity is often violated by souls who approach Her in a disrespectful or indifferent way. It was repeatedly revealed to me that God wants all human souls to kneel down at Mary’s feet in Her capacity as the Mistress of all souls, and to hold Her in deepest veneration, because, next to God, She is the only Bearer of Divine powers. Try and comply with this Divine direction.
11. Conditions for a genuine consecration to Mary
A first prerequisite for you to be able to actually serve Mary the proper way is to aspire for the utmost purity and sanctity. Be pure at heart (harbouring pure, Christian feelings), pure in your mind (harbouring virtuous thoughts devoid of any unclean imagination) and in your body (pursuing chastity, moderation as to eating and drinking, refraining as much as possible from so-called stimulants such as tobacco, drugs and alcohol). Your being consecrated to Mary makes you a temple of Mary, the purest and Most Holy Virgin. Prepare your mind, heart and body every hour of every day so as to make them ready for a holy marriage with Her. Mary is perfect, the weakness of your covenant with Her is therefore based on your own weakness. Consequently the fruitfulness of your consecration is going to depend on you alone. Mary will be able to accomplish the things She wants to bring to fruition in and through you only to the extent to which your soul is receptive to Her doings. First of all this calls for a great purity and a great ability to love unconditionally.
As soon as you have consecrated yourself to Mary your practical day-to-day living will have to meet the following conditions for you to actually live as a soul consecrated to Mary:
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Letting go of your past. Your being consecrated to Mary can become a reality only as soon as you will have given Her your past. If you regard your soul as a temple, your past would be a closed room of which the door is provided with a sign reading 'my past'. This room is filled with dust, dirt, old and useless objects etcetera. Through the cracks around the door all kinds of musty odours will penetrate into the rest of your temple: negative or painful memories causing turmoil or restlessness in your soul. The past no longer exists, but it goes on living inside of you through the traces it has left in your mind and heart (your memories, feelings about past experiences...).
As your past is merely part of your transient earthly life, it is of no significance whatsoever for your Eternal Life. The journey through your life is nothing but an uninterrupted sequence of experiences you are supposed to make the best possible use of in view of your spiritual development. Every individual experience is in itself unimportant: They all contain lessons to be learned. The only thing that counts is your present day life (the way you deal with your present and past experiences) and your solid hope for the future. For you to be able to function well in the present it is imperative you give your past to Mary the moment you consecrate yourself to Her. To that end you can use words to the effect of: "Mary, my past and all that is left of it in my mind and in my heart, is Yours alone. Do purify myself of it". She is then going to turn the key in the lock to this room and open it. She is going to clean the room of all junk, all dust and dirt and all useless objects, and because this room is now entered and cleaned by Mary, it will be pervaded with Her Heavenly perfume, so that nothing will ever again come out of this room but a clean, fresh smell that no longer bothers you: You are purified of the effects of your past. Anybody who will keep living in the past can never really be a servant of Mary.
This may remind you of the image Jesus uses in the Gospel: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God". Total consecration to Mary means entrusting oneself to Her womb in order to be born again of Her for a whole new life. It means detaching oneself from old habits and opening oneself all up to a life without any deep-rooted behaviour patterns, in all flexibility, ever ready to meet everything Mary expects from you. Do not ever forget you are now living for and with Her alone, and that She is your Mistress. Henceforth Her interests are the only ones that count. Surrender to Her totally and confidently, and She will take care of all your needs. Mary longs for the opportunity to live in your heart like a filter, so as to enable you to look at everything (including your past with all of its traumas and negative memories) through Her Heart. This way you will learn to see Her doings also in the less pleasant things, so as to give you less of a hard time leaving old injuries and the bitterness and grudges associated with them behind once and for all. This is one of the ways Mary uses to transform your heart and to obtain you an entirely new peace of mind.
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Letting go of the world. The world (all of the influences from your surroundings in the broadest sense of the word, including those from the press, the media, advertising etcetera) is Satan’s laboratory and is therefore filled with impurities in the most diverse forms. Satan is Mary’s absolute opponent. He was allowed by God to put man to the test, and that is what he keeps doing in the most relentless way with the souls who have whole-heartedly consecrated themselves to Mary, because they are the souls who enable Mary to display the summit of Her devastating power over Satan. He prefers to do it through the influences from your surroundings and by manipulating the dispositions of your heart and mind. He leaves no stone unturned to make you fall by leading you towards situations that are likely to make your weakest points surface. These are the situations in which you are the most receptive to temptation. Be on your guard all the time, for life in this modern world is full of temptation. Satan is constantly trying to make you turn away from Jesus and Mary, and avails himself of the most devious tricks to achieve this goal. Therefore be very careful how you deal with television, reading, everything you can see in the street, the defiling influences from your fellow man (all kinds of discouragement, negative dispositions, physical temptation etcetera).
The world is the laboratory of physical needs, of materialism. The needs that should get the focus of attention, however, are those of the soul. As long as you are tied up in the temptations from your surroundings and you allow your behaviour to be guided by everything that happens in the world, all you hear and see, everything other people say or do, and everything your body, your feelings and thoughts arouse within you in the way of needs which, very often, appear to be nothing but pseudo needs, you are not ready for true service to Mary. The needs of your worldly life keep you caught up in chains. Hence food, sexuality, clothing and such make powerful needs which not seldom create regular addictions. If you do surrender to Mary totally so as to really be Her possession you are actually offering Her the opportunity to free you from these chains. Allow Mary to be the only Mistress of your body and its needs, and She will make the world the prisoner of Her feet.
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Letting go of yourself. As long as you keep holding on to yourself, your own needs and desires, and you keep making yourself the centre of your environment and using the latter for the satisfaction of your needs, you are in no way totally consecrated to Mary. It is necessary for you to live for Mary undividedly, i.e. for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, for the latter is the goal of Mary’s great mission in the present Last Times. In concrete terms this means that, as a soul consecrated to Mary, you live for no purpose other than to bring your fellow man closer to God, to sow God’s Eternal Truth in the souls, and to work with all your might towards Mary’s Triumph in all hearts. All of this is possible only if your heart is well and truly tuned in to Mary and you are ready to relegate yourself and your personal needs to secondary status and to no longer make them the centre of your attention and your efforts. Total consecration to Mary means giving your entire being and your entire life up for and to Her. Did not Jesus say "Greater Love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends"?
This is essentially what total consecration to Mary is about: The soul consecrated to Mary gives up her life to Mary, in that she consecrates her entire life and all of her efforts to Mary. Regular consecration which is truly lived under all and any circumstances of life means increasingly disregarding oneself. Truly letting go of oneself is possible only if one’s heart has discovered true Love. Therefore one of the most necessary supplications is that to accomplish full bloom in one’s ability to love. If love is not sufficiently strong you will not achieve the self-denial that is needed for your consecration to bear fruit. This is why praying for your own needs is not compatible with total consecration. You are supposed to have faith that the surrender of your entire being to Mary is going to bring Her to automatically provide for your needs. Total consecration to Mary makes you Her possession. Well then, Mary never neglects Her possessions.
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Accepting your daily crosses. The path through your life can be compared to a way of the cross. Every trial, sorrow, pain, illness, moment of fatigue, setback, burden, injury, disappointment, moment of hardship or deprivation, hunger, thirst, feeling cold, anxiety, fear etcetera, is similar to a cross. If you consecrate to Mary all these crosses on your path through life in loving acceptance they turn into sources of grace and salvation for your fellow man. This loving acceptance and consecration is a prerequisite for living a fruitful life as a soul consecrated to Mary. It is the way for you to help accomplish in souls the Redemption which began with, and was enabled by, Jesus' sufferings and death on the cross.
What does this mean? Creation is in a state of balance, which must be maintained: God wishes His creation to be pure. Each time this purity is compromised by all kinds of defiling influences, vices and sins (and those are countless, day after day, all over the world), some form of reparation is needed to counteract this situation. This is done in the form of prayer and (consecrated) sufferings. Countless people never pray, never make sacrifices to God (on the contrary, they sometimes curse God because they believe He is at the basis of their sufferings). The result is an ongoing deterioration of the ’spiritual quality' of creation. That is why the total and persevering dedication of souls consecrated to Mary is so important. Do keep this in mind. The Christian Mystery of Redemption is a Mystery of Redemption through suffering. The sacrificed (consecrated) sufferings of the consecrated soul make the purest form of love. God has created every soul and wishes to have her with Him in Heaven after her earthly life is over.
To God a soul is of infinite value. You can measure this value by the unimaginable sufferings Jesus went through between the Garden Gethsemane and Mount Calvary. Through the sufferings of the soul consecrated to Mary, souls who would otherwise be lost can be brought back to God. This is pure love for God and for one’s fellow man, provided the soul consecrated to Mary explicitly offers her sufferings up to Mary with this intention, with love and without protest. This is how, in effect, the consecrated soul actually becomes a Co-Redemptrix. Each time you experience sickness, pain, sorrow or any inconvenience, remember you can turn it into a means of expiation of sins (both your own and those committed by others), provided you offer it up to Mary, or through Her to God. Regard anything coming your way after you have consecrated yourself to Mary as coming out of Mary’s hands or as something controlled by Her. That way you will get out of the habit of brooding, worrying, protesting, being tense on account of your experiences, etcetera.
Mary is the Mistress of Divine Providence: As soon as She gets the opportunity She will guide every detail of your life. The more sacrifices and trials you give Mary in a spirit of love, acceptance and surrender (without the slightest protest) the more She will be able to deploy Her infinite power over Satan. Every protest or lack of peace at heart will slow down Mary’s victory and postpone the establishment of God’s Kingdom of happiness and peace on earth. If you protest against, and complain about, every trial crossing your daily path through life you are not making a contribution to the salvation of the world. One thing is expected of you: that every moment of your life be geared to the accomplishment of Mary’s intentions, not your own, for Mary wants nothing less than your eternal bliss and the liberation of the world as a whole. If you protest against the trials on the path through your life you are actually not serving Mary or God but Satan: The latter feeds of all acts and dispositions of protest he finds in man, for he regards these as acts and dispositions of resistance against God’s Plans and as resistance against Mary as the Mistress of Divine Providence. Therefore, do not allow your daily sufferings to be lost: Consecrate yourself totally to Mary, do live this consecration with all your being, and accept everything She allows to come your way, for She is the Mistress of your life. Thus your crosses will yield you Eternal Life after this earthly life, save the world from al misery, and glorify God.
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Interacting with your fellow creatures in a disposition of true love. As a soul who is totally consecrated to Mary your mission in life will find its chief expression in the way you deal with your fellow creatures. Your mission consists of providing the 'raw materials' Mary can use as means to distribute God’s graces among the souls. These raw materials can take different shapes: prayer, penance, sacrifices, sufferings, trials, acts of submission and obedience towards Mary, acts of reparation, but also direct acts of charity.
It is expected of you that you represent Mary towards your surroundings. You can do this through your words, your actions, but also through the way you are: The deeper the marks Mary will have had the opportunity to leave in you, the more your fellow man is going to be 'touched' by a radiation which will actually come from Mary inside your heart. This radiation can make itself noticed by the softness of your voice, the heart-warming effect of your words, the glow in your eyes or on your face, the unpretentious way you act etcetera.
Representing Mary towards your environment is what you are also doing if your whole attitude towards, and all of your interaction with, your fellow creatures reminds the latter of a ’superhuman' force which must obviously be operative inside of you: a brightful mood under all and any circumstances, the tendency to avoid troubling your fellow man with your own problems, a soft way of being and acting which is able to 'break the ice' or ease up any tension in your fellow creature, a way of serving in perfect self-denial, and not least a great ability to reconcile and to forgive. A soul who harbours grudges, resentment and bitterness is not in a proper disposition to do Mary’s works.
If fellow persons have ever hurt you, do forgive them whole-heartedly, open your arms and take them up into your heart. That way you will also take away a lot of tension in their hearts and take the wind out of Satan’s sails: The latter is then deprived of the possibility to use any of both parties for the accomplishment of his works of devastation. If a fellow person has hurt you, keep in mind this person is like a knife that has inflicted a wound. Do understand you should neither keep looking at the knife nor blame the knife, but that you ought to look at the hand that has used the knife: ultimately this is Satan, who is always the initial culprit. He is the one using the knife. The knife itself is the weak human soul who gives in to the temptation to hurt you. Learn how to forgive him, just like Mary forgave the murderers of Her Son on Mount Calvary.
Besides you must bear in mind there is no way you can serve two masters. If you have given yourself to Mary She is your only Mistress, and you need to see to it very carefully that your behaviour, your words, thoughts, feelings and desires can no longer serve the darkness. Let your behaviour and your entire way of being be sheer torture for Satan by your endeavour to be a mirror of Mary. That way you will be able to spread the balm of Her Love over the hearts. This is the only way you can actually be a soul consecrated to Mary.
12. Pitfalls for the soul consecrated to Mary
Total and truly lived consecration to Mary is an unparalleled grace. You will therefore meet with quite a bit of resistance. Never forget that Mary and Satan are opposite poles. If you have chosen for a life of exclusive service to Mary, you will therefore be exposed to all possible attacks from the world, because the worldly aspects of life constitute Satan’s favourite laboratory. Total consecration to Mary is a lifestyle through which you can lead not only your own soul, but also many other souls, away from the sphere of Satan’s influence. Hence the numerous elements of resistance you can expect.
Mary has got absolute power over all of this, as well as over Satan himself, but you can earn yourself a far greater merit if you fight these influences through your own efforts, in perfect collaboration with Mary. In the Book of Life that will be opened in front of you before God’s throne in the hour of your judgement, on the page of your life, it is registered what merits you have collected for yourself during your earthly life. With the ones you have collected in closest consecration to Mary the name of Mary is added in golden letters, which, in God’s eyes, gives these merits a multitude of their usual attraction. Everything, all the details of your life in which you have enabled Mary to fully partake, is like seed of Eternal Life for your soul.
Extreme vigilance is imperative on account of the many forms of resistance you can expect during your life as a soul consecrated to Mary. Vigilance is, in fact, the soul’s traffic light: it warns the soul for the danger of 'traffic' from a different direction, and thus teaches her how to recognize certain dangers on her path. If your vigilance is functioning quite all right, the light will turn red in due time, and you will be warned it is imperative to watch out for possible damage from outside. As a soul totally consecrated to Mary you are Her servant. Do not let yourself be led astray, for Satan is so devious he is able to let you work in favour of his cause without your suspecting it. What is it you must be alert for?
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Consecration for the wrong reasons. In the first place many souls consecrate themselves to Mary for the wrong reasons. Quite often they do so expecting that the soul consecrated to Mary will be 'better off' in the worldly sense, because she is henceforth under Mary’s protection. Mary indeed defends and protects the souls that are consecrated to Her on a serious basis, however this protection does not exempt them from trials, often on the contrary. As a soul that is totally consecrated to Mary you are called upon to live a life of self-sacrifice with a view to restoring the disequilibrium creation is suffering from on account of the incessant and countless sins of all mankind. This restoration can only be accomplished through efforts: prayer, penance, sacrifices, acceptance and consecration of all kinds of burdens and sufferings.
If you consecrate yourself to Mary in order to enjoy a greater wealth in your worldly life and to be saved from trials, you have not understood the principle of total consecration. Your behaviour and your aspirations must no longer have any worldly motivation, for consecration to Mary is a life which can only yield fruits to the extent to which you aim at spiritualization, in other words: to the extent to which you detach from aspiring for worldly satisfactions and from concentrating all your efforts on the material needs of your body.
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Thinking according to worldly standards. As a soul consecrated totally to Mary you must 'learn how to think and feel in a supernatural way'. Thinking and feeling according to worldly standards, means thinking and feeling in such a way as to consider in the first place that which is important for the world, for a life in the world, and for the world within yourself, while letting yourself be guided by materialism, pride, hedonism, lust of power, and the tendency to take your fellow man down or to depict him so as to make him appear less important than yourself. Meanwhile you will tend to pay much attention to appearances (e.g. physical features, seeming wealth or richness, etcetera). You will in that case also attach great importance to your fellow man’s opinion on you based on superficial elements.
Events and situations are, when considered in depth, very often different from what they appear to be on the surface. Appearances may tempt you into judging, either openly or within the confines of your heart. If you learn to think and to sense 'in a supernatural way', you will learn how to look through the superficial reality of things and to see their true core, their true essence. This core is God’s reality, which is the only Truth, and which often surpasses the faculties of our perception. Therefore you should regularly ask yourself: Do I not too easily base my judgements or my perception on that which I believe I see, or do I realize this event or situation has got a deeper meaning or sense?
Thinking and sensing 'in a supernatural way' can be imagined as follows: With everything you do or say, think or feel, wish or aspire for at a given moment, you try to imagine you are already living in the eternal bliss of Heaven and are looking back at that specific moment in your earthly life, and you try to feel what is going to go through your heart in that moment of looking back (from Heaven): If the action, thought, feeling, word, longing or aspiration was really favourable for your soul, you will praise yourself happy for it in Heaven; if it was unfavourable for your soul, you will (in the Everafter) regret your imperfection on that score, or you will regret that, at that specific point of your life, you have neglected to do or say something in particular.
The more intensively you live your consecration to Mary, the deeper She will be able to 'draw you into Her own reality': She will teach you how to look through Her own eyes, feel through Her own Heart, think through Her own mind, act through Her own hands, speak through Her own mouth, and want and wish through Her own will. All this is 'thinking, acting and sensing in a supernatural way'.
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The influences from the world. This is Satan’s major laboratory. The world is an inexhaustible source of distraction, deception, temptation, deceit and false appearances. The worldly influences react to the needs man feels in his body and mind. In the first place these needs express themselves in materialism (all material objects you can buy for money and which are meant to satisfy the physical and mental needs), sexuality (all forms of erotic experience, sensuous behaviour, sexually arousing images, texts, even vanity, eagerness to please, pomposity and paying excessive attention to beauty care), and pride (the frequent need to feel greater, better, prettier, stronger, more intelligent or more valuable than one’s fellow man).
As to pride you should consider this: Consecration to Mary is a matter of being chosen, provided it is truly experienced and lived in everyday practice. Do not let yourself be tempted into feeling more important than your fellow person who has not (yet) received this calling. On the contrary, pray and make sacrifices for this fellow person to obtain the grace of enlightenment and understanding.
Many influences from the world present themselves as a combination of several of these expressions. Especially the needs in the fields of materialism and sexuality are often exploited together and simultaneously. This is certainly the case in the world of advertising, in shop decorations, motion pictures and television programmes. This is why you had better avoid these influences as much as possible, or build up a strong resistance to them by cultivating the proper disposition of mind.
As to motion pictures and television, it should be considered furthermore that these media are also dangerous because of their tendency to satisfy man’s need for relaxation in a devastating or soiling way, in that they fill the mind with hollow, empty, deceiving, untruthful and/or indecent, immoral images, words and stories. All influences from the world have got this in common: They create a sort of world of thinking, experiences and emotions which no longer has anything in common with God’s only Truth and Reality such as the latter is contained in the Doctrine of Christ. Do avoid these influences as whole-heartedly as possible. Mary does not want you to grant these influences access to your soul, for (often unnoticeably) they lead you away from God. Consider them to be a subtle poison.
In reality the influences from the world create a pseudo world: a world which has not got anything to do with reality such as God intended it for the souls. Exactly for this reason these influences make your soul sick. Do realize, however, that you are not powerless against all this: The influences from the world can only cause a soul to really sway if the latter is deeply rooted in worldly thinking and feeling. A soul who has greatly detached herself from the world, attaches too little importance to everything which comes her way from the world, to be really paralyzed or damaged by all this. Lay all traces the world has left behind in your mind and heart, underneath Mary’s feet in ardent consecration, and She will crush them joyfully and with display of power.
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Discontentment in your heart when things happen, which you consider to be unchristian or in violation of virtues. Every discontentment in your heart, which originates with the fact you do not agree to anything a fellow person does or says, even if your emotion is caused by this fellow person’s obviously violating God’s Law, is regarded by God as a protest against His Providence, which has allowed this event to take place for some specific reason you are not necessarily to know. So, in this case you are wrong in assuming you are doing the right thing as you stand up for what is right. Moreover the general rule is that discontentment must no longer get a place in your heart, because discontentment expresses a non-acceptance of the things God and Mary are doing in your life. This disposition of mind will sooner invite Mary to withdraw than to feel really welcome in your life.
True peace of heart expresses genuine docility and obedience towards God’s decrees and Mary’s instructions and inspirations. Therefore your value as a consecrated soul will in part be determined by the extent to which you no longer allow any rebellious thoughts or feelings to emerge if you are hit by trials, for accepted and consecrated trials set your soul and many other souls free.
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Fear of what your fellow man thinks of you.Many souls consecrated to Mary deny their consecration by paying more attention and attaching more importance to their fellow people’s opinions than to Mary’s sublime position. Never forget that Mary is your Mistress, and that you owe Her the deepest reverence, obedience and sincere service. Very often people refrain from receiving Holy Communion on their tongue while kneeling down (the only way of receiving Holy Communion which is really in accordance with God’s desires) out of fear of their fellow person’s judgement, or from kneeling down in front of an image or statue of Mary. This fear is a pitfall set up by Satan, for if you omit the signs of your submission to Mary out of fear of the judgement passed by ignorant people, you are no longer serving Mary, but Her opponent. As soon as you deem a fellow man’s judgement more important than Mary’s opinion, something is going wrong in the experience of your being consecrated to Her.
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Superficial veneration of Mary. Many souls believe they are totally consecrated to Mary, whereas, in reality, they hardly practise anything more than a very superficial veneration of Mary. They consider themselves to be consecrated to Mary because they have spoken an act of consecration and renew the latter, for example, once yearly, yet they are not at all consecrated in the actual sense of the word. Real consecration is not a prayer, it is a lifestyle and a mission which fills every aspect of your life. If this is not the case, you are not a servant of Mary. Serving Mary is done through the commitment and the conscious and ready sacrifice of one’s entire being and every moment of one’s life. Lighting a candle in honour of Mary, visiting Her in places of pilgrimage, or participating in a procession, is yet far from being a soul consecrated to Her.
Total consecration to Mary means: giving Her everything you are and everything you have, living only to serve Her, regarding and acknowledging Her as the Mistress of your entire being and of your entire life, and literally living for and with Mary, and dying for Her. This is only possible to the extent to which you will actually practice unconditional, self-denying Love in all details of everyday life in a firm desire to do, say, think and feel everything in unity with Mary, truly purposely, actively and whole-heartedly and at every single moment of your life. -
The tendency to let yourself be discouraged by your fellow man on the wonderful path to which your Heavenly Mother has invited you. You must persevere on the way you have chosen. Pay ever less attention to the things people say. Satan is very cunning, and prefers to turn against the souls consecrated to Mary. He loves to use people’s mouths to discourage you. Live with your eyes, your heart and mind focused on Mary, and do not give people the opportunity to influence you in a different direction. This is the only way to keep up the purity and love that are expected from you. Do not expect your consecration to mean that nothing negative is going to happen to you anymore. Do not blame Mary for it either, on the contrary: Be grateful to Her for the trials, for through them She offers you the opportunity to obtain yourself many additional merits.
In proportion as you make progress as to the loving sacrifice of yourself to Mary, those who entirely belong to the world, who contest or mock your behaviour and your points of view will try to discourage you or to make you believe the things you are doing are perfect nonsense, for 'life has got quite a bit more to offer than that'. Such adversities are merely attempts by Satan to push you off this golden path of salvation. Indeed, total consecration to Mary no longer 'fits in' with this modern world of our days, in which hedonism, the quest for the easiest way out, and human ’solutions' for all and any ailments are rampant. Never let yourself be thrown off balance. Do never insult Mary by paying even the least attention to such words.
Feelings of discouragement often take root in a soul who has too little confidence in Mary’s power and Love. The only medicine against this consists therein, that in the very depth of your heart you again try to connect to Mary and implore Her that you might again feel Her Love. Discouragement is a form of pollution in your heart and mind. Mary can clean this up, to the extent to which you enable Her to fill you with Herself. You can do so through self-denial, by practising humility, and by begging Mary to fully live and work in you.
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False argumentations as excuses for your failure to grow. It happens regularly that souls who are allegedly consecrated to Mary, try to rationalize their tepidity or their lack of effort to grow, through argumentations such as "I cannot do this. Mary and Jesus did, surely, but then again, They were Saints". This is a false and worthless excuse. It is your duty as a soul called by Mary, to rise above your weaknesses. As long as you have a hard time doing so, it is your duty to pray ardently for the grace to make progress in this field. If you fail to do so, you will remain unfruitful as a soul consecrated to Mary. A soul’s being holy does not mean she is exempted from efforts and trials, nor that she has got her force of resistance against the trials and crosses poured out in her lap without the slightest effort. For Mary and Jesus, too, life on earth was an uninterrupted journey full of efforts, pains and sorrows. Do not let yourself be talked into the conviction that They have not had to gain any merits defeating temptation.
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False views on consecration to Mary. Very often people harbour the misconception that total consecration to Mary means that Jesus is forgotten, ignored or shoved aside. Far from it: God Himself presents us Mary as the great key to liberation and sanctification. Mary leads God’s Light into the souls in a way that is better adjusted to any soul’s specific ability to assimilate this Light. Imagine the following: On a sunny day you are standing inside a building, near a window on the sunny side. The sunlight is shining inside so brightly that it blinds you. The result is this: You are going to avoid the light.
Now consider the same image, but the window now consisting of stained glass. The light no longer shines inside as beams which blind you and hurt your eyes, but as soft light in the most fascinating colours. Your reaction now will not consist of avoiding the vicinity of the window, but of your being fascinated, attracted and enchanted by it. You will hardly be able, nor want, to turn your eyes away from the colourful beauty on the walls and on the floor. In watching this, you may well be filled with feelings of silent amazement, happiness, a dreamful exhilaration of peace at heart and of being deeply touched. Consequently you are going to open up your heart, and will therefore be able to experience the full effect of God’s Work in your soul and to have your soul completely opened up to God.
What do these images mean concretely? The window is like the gate to the soul. The bright light is the direct effect from God towards man. It is possible you experience this effect as too harsh. If, however, you consecrate the gate to your soul to Mary, it is as though She Herself takes possession of this window (She turns into a window Herself, so to speak), and as though She has God’s Light is dispersed through Her own being into all colours of the rainbow (in this you can also see a symbol of all virtues and holy features She is clothed with to perfection). Thereby She sees to it that God’s Light shines into you in a soft and enchanting way, so that you will no longer avoid it but will rather look for it.
This is how She opens up your soul both to yourself and to God. People who regard consecration to Mary as ignoring Jesus, have not understood the correct order of God’s Works. Mary is united with the Heart of Jesus. However, She brings Christ to your soul in a way fully adjusted to your human abilities. She can do this because She is the Bridge between Heaven and earth, the Mediatrix of all graces and the Mistress of all souls (see Chapter 3). You could not render Jesus a greater service nor give Him greater joy than by surrendering completely to His Mother. No way towards God is more efficient than the one running through Mary. After all it is Jesus Himself who placed mankind under Mary’s custody, by speaking the word on the Cross "Woman, behold, Your son; son, behold, your Mother". Where Mary is, also Jesus will always be, for He lives on in His Mother, as well as in all children that are Hers through deepest consecration.
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Loss of merits. It happens so frequently that a soul consecrated to Mary falls prey to the temptation to pray for a fellow person or make sacrifices in favour of the latter, and still gossip about the latter at the same time. It occurs just as frequently that the consecrated soul complains about her trials, or that she shouts all her efforts from the rooftops in an attempt to be praised for them. All this makes you unfruitful as a servant of Mary: All merits your efforts can obtain, are thereby rendered void. Surrender completely to Mary, serve Her, humble yourself in front of Her, without fearing the judgement people might pass, but work for Her and (if, and insofar as, She wishes you to do so) sacrifice yourself for Her secretly. Total self-sacrifice in deepest humility, in simplicity, calmly and inconspicuously, as if Mary and yourself were alone in the world: This is true following of Mary, for this is exactly how She Herself lived (humbly, inconspicuously, in perfect self-sacrifice, and as if She lived with God alone). The more you try to be just like Her, the more you will really serve Her.
13. What is the ideal consecrated soul like?
Total consecration to Mary is a contract, a holy bond, between Mary and your soul. Because, apart from God, only Mary is perfect (in the order of grace), you will always be the weak link in this bond. Nevertheless it can be said that you are either duly consecrated, or not at all. This means that, as of the conclusion of this holy bond by virtue of your first act of consecration, you have got the obligation to abide as strictly as possible by the rules of consecration to Mary. What is the ideal consecrated soul like?
If Mary looks at the soul consecrated to Her, She should, as it were, see Herself, like in a mirror. Mary shapes and moulds the soul consecrated to Her, after Her own model, as long as, and to the extent, the soul enables Her to do so. Mary imposes nothing on anybody against their will. The more completely you lay yourself in Her hands, the more She will rule you, for the benefit and salvation of your soul. Laying yourself in Mary’s hands entirely, means you deny yourself completely, that you make your needs subordinate to those of God’s Plans, and that you accept your daily trials with love.
What do God’s Plans consist of? In the first place they aim at conversions, evangelization, and shaping real models of consecration and surrender. All this must lead to the achievement of God’s only great goal: making Jesus’ Work of Redemption fruitful in all individual souls, so that God’s Kingdom on earth may be established.
Allow Mary to clean the mirror of your soul. She will purify your entire being to such an extent that you will radiate ever more brightly. You then become a 'light' for your environment. It is said a person grows ever more like the one they love ardently, because the beloved one is looked at as a model or a mirror. Likewise, if you lose yourself in Mary completely, this will not go unnoticed by the creatures around you. You cannot do anything by yourself, but the greater the graces you obtain through Mary and you allow to ripen within you in the right way, the greater will be your ability to actually look like Her.
Mary possesses the power to mould you after Her own model. This will require from you a persistent effort and a perfect surrender to Her will. You are to lay yourself down at Her feet like moulding clay, and to implore Her that She may mould and shape you according to Her views. The more completely you enable Mary to break your own will and to replace it by Her will, the more quickly you are going to make progress on the way to Her ideal. The life of the really and thoroughly consecrated soul is never easy. If you are going to reach the highest summits on this path showered with graces, quite a lot will be asked of you.
14. What does Mary give you in return?
It is part of human nature that, when making an intense effort, man will usually ask himself the question, what he is going to get in return. As regards total consecration to Mary the answer to this question is quite simple: untold treasures in Heaven, and before that, invaluable graces during your life on earth, although the latter will not all be visible to your eyes. Mary has received all power over God’s graces. She will in the first place pour them out into your soul. However, to the extent to which you serve Her, She will show Herself repeatedly as the true Mistress of Providence, in your material needs as well.
A seriously consecrated soul’s life on earth can be hard, because generally, she will be expected to help carry the burden of the numerous souls that do not pray, do not accept nor consecrate their daily crosses, and do not offer their burdens to Heaven good-humouredly and lovingly. Yet this is what it is all about: The Christian Mystery of Salvation is a Mystery of Redemption through suffering. Through your suffering, your pains, burdens, illnesses, sorrow, sacrifices, penance, fasting, etcetera, souls are saved to the extent to which all this is consecrated (offered up) to Mary, for in Mary’s hands all suffering turns into flowers of graces for the redemption of souls from the darkness of evil and sin.
From a human point of view this might put you off. This is indeed what happens with many souls. Exactly for this reason many souls give up shortly after they have spoken their first act of consecration to Mary. These souls have never seriously asked themselves the following two questions: Do the burdens of a brief life outweigh the treasures I can receive in return in the Everafter? And can my heart find peace in the thought that Jesus and Mary, the great Innocent and perfectly Holy Ones, have got to bear all the sufferings for the world without me?
If you expect anything from Mary in return, your love is not sincere. If you deeply love Her, you will burn with desire to give Her everything you possibly can. If you doubt She will give you infinitely more that you are able to give Her, your faith and your trust in Mary’s Love and power are deploringly low. No matter how heavy and how numerous the burdens of a life as a soul consecrated to Mary often may appear to be, if you enable Mary to actually accomplish within you everything She wants to accomplish within you, you will one day notice that life as a soul consecrated to Her gives an unparalleled satisfaction, because your soul is going to recognize this vocation as the path on which she has really been called.
Enabling Mary to accomplish within you everything She wants, means: living so thoroughly in accordance with Her will, in the strictest following of Her virtues and observing the true goals of Her Plan (the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth, and the sanctification of souls), that She is able to pour Herself out into you without any resistance on your part. You will obtain anything from Mary, provided you are prepared to satisfy one condition: to be like a nail between Her fingers, willing and ready to suffer the blows of life perfectly submissively because Mary can use them for the accomplishment of the great Plan. Exactly on that account you will be fit to bring souls together, just like a nail can put pieces of wood together. What will you get in return? The bliss of lying in Mary’s hand, of being put to use under Her control, and the eternal merit of being made part and parcel of the imperishable edifice of God.
CHAPTER 2
LIVING AS A SOUL CONSECRATED TO MARY,
EXPRESSED IN IMAGES
In order to help you see clearly what living as a soul consecrated to Mary means concretely and how you can give such a life the proper form so as to make it fruitful I would like to present you a few images through which the Holy Virgin Herself taught me how She would like Her servants to be. There are many different ways to express how you can live as a soul consecrated to Mary. Here are a few of them:
1. Living in a temple
Mary likes comparing the soul with a temple. A temple is a holy place of prayer, a place where God dwells and where sacred actions like offerings and holy Masses are performed. Your soul, too, was created holy. A large temple consists of many rooms and spaces (like the temple at Jerusalem in the days of Jesus and Mary). Your soul, too, can be regarded as a complex consisting of many small rooms. Many of those rooms you hardly know or do not know at all. One of those rooms is the one in which the memories of your past are stored (I referred to such a room in paragraph 10 of chapter 1). Your temple is prey to all kinds of threats, decay, dirt, dust, darkness, cold etcetera. These influences can be restrained only by inviting Mary to your temple, not for a brief visit but to be its Queen, so as to allow Her to set up Her throne and rule in it. You do so by consecrating yourself totally to Mary.
The initial act of consecration is the one by which you open up the gate to your temple. Your longing for Mary is the disposition which unbolts the gate, and the gate is pushed open by the initial act of consecration. Mary will enter your temple and begin to fill it with everything which keeps flowing from Her sublime and most holy being. As you begin to live more intensively in accordance with the prerequisites of total consecration, She is going to come strolling into your temple, penetrating deeper and deeper into it. She will radiate Her Light all around Her, spreading the perfume of Her holiness through every room and space. In the most gracious way She is going to stroll right to the very core of your temple: the altar. You can regard your heart as the altar: From your heart all your prayers, praises, thanksgivings and any expressions of love rise up to heaven.
As your consecration to Mary grows deeper and you live it more intensively Mary is going to make more progress on Her ’stroll' through your temple. In proportion as you let go of yourself, of the world, of your past etcetera (total detachment, hence spiritualization) and accept and offer up your crosses with more love, Mary is going to get closer to your altar. Eventually She will mount the stairs, set up Her throne, and rule your entire temple right from its altar. Her enthronement will take place in the hour in which you actually start living, in the very core of your heart, the words "Totus Tuus, Maria" (I am all Yours, Mary) (merely pronouncing these words is not enough).
At the moment of Her enthronement the radiation of Mary’s power, love, light and perfume get so intense and overwhelming that your whole temple is going to be pervaded with all of this. Henceforth no single element of your being will escape Her rule. As it is human nature to revolt against any setback or impure influence from the world it is your duty to consecrate to Mary as soon as possible anything which is likely to influence you in a negative way. In revelations I was shown the image of any defiling influence being like a serpent (the symbol of Satan) penetrating into your temple. If, when noticing the serpent (i.e. when discovering or feeling the temptation or the defilement) you consecrate this to Mary ardently, the Queen of your temple will command this serpent to come crawling towards Her feet. The serpent has not got any other option but to obey (for Mary wields a sovereign power over evil), and will therefore indeed crawl towards the throne, where Mary will catch it underneath Her foot. This is the golden rule: Mary’s power in your temple is essentially unlimited, yet She will wait for the expressions of your genuine desire for Her to actually deploy this power. This is the way you are to live as a soul consecrated to Mary: in total and unconditional submission, total confidence and all-consuming love, which makes you crave for Mary’s working inside of you day and night.
What is going to happen next in your temple? All remnants of dirt and dust get cleaned up all the more thoroughly as you actually and genuinely long to get purer. All dark corners are bathed in light (your weaknesses and sins which have never been confessed), so that you get to know all of your hidden and unconscious faults and will now be able to entrust them to Mary’s holy light (by an ever more intensive and ever more thorough consecration and by your willingness to make sacrifices). All rooms of your temple which have managed to escape your attention and control (the influences which have been producing their effects in your memory etc.), are gradually opened up by Mary: As the Mistress of your temple She holds the keys and therefore the power to open them up and to clean them through the mere deployment of Her Will, and She will get rid of any old junk, dust, cobwebs and dirt (the useless leftovers from the past, unresolved trials...).
This is the process of your sanctification through your accepting Mary’s total rule over your entire being. The result of this cleaning: All unclean, musty odours which used to penetrate into your temple through the cracks around the little doors to these rooms are now replaced by the enchanting scent radiating from Mary. In concrete terms this means that all memories, feelings, thoughts, old influences etcetera which used to yield a negative impact upon your heart and mind are now cleaned up by Mary and the traces thereof healed. Total consecration is always a matter of working oneself through a process of complete purification, for there is no way for the Queen of purity to feel perfectly at home in a temple that is defiled. Your own longing to be purified is the greatest veneration you can possibly give Her.
Mary goes even further. She will finger the outer walls of your temple. These walls have got more or less cracks and holes in certain places. The cement crumbles, certain bricks are decaying. The cause lies in the storms of the world raging outside your temple walls: the gales and showers from all external influences (all aspects of the ’stress' of life, all temptations, all attacks the world launches against your senses). Mary will make your temple walls more solid as you surrender to Her more thoroughly. This means She makes you stronger against all attacks from Satan. Mary will also shield the windows with Her robe, for through them, too, the cold of the world will flow into your temple. The window frames are decaying from the times they have been opened and shut the wrong way, i.e. without proper care (your wrong patterns of behaviour and of reacting to things and situations). She will wipe the windows so as to enable the beams of the sun (the Holy Spirit) to enter, so that they may bring light and warmth to your temple. As Mary makes your temple – which has now become Her property – more solid and more clean it gets ever more suitable as a means to glorify Her power through the sacrifice of your entire being by Her on the altar of your temple. This is where She is going to offer your entire being and your entire life up to God as the trophy of Her victory over you (i.e. over the traces and attachments the world has left behind in you).
Mary’s enthronement in your temple marks the beginning of the era in which She will be able to exercise Her power over you to the fullest. There, in the heart of your temple, lies the spot where every intruder is delivered up to Her: In the very heart of your soul your temptations are subjected to Mary to the extent to which you implore Her to wield Her power over them.
| The general picture is clear: Your soul is a temple in which Mary enters and over which She will extend Her power to the extent to which you yourself long for this to happen and to which you are going to abide by Her rules. The rules of total consecration are the laws by which the Queen governs Her Kingdom. She rearranges your temple according to Her vision of things, in order for it to be really useful for the accomplishment of Her goals. The more complete you subject yourself to Her the sooner She is going to transform your temple into Her palace, a stronghold in which everything reminds one of Her and which is even pervaded with Her own perfume. Everything which is laid down at Her feet when She is sitting on the throne is immediately offered up to God on the altar. When Mary enters your temple in the hour of your initial consecration She sets for Herself this one goal: to make the temple Her exclusive property and to rearrange it such as to make it resemble God’s ideal of every temple: to be a mirror of the temple of Mary Herself, for She is a perfect reflection of the image of God. |
Mary’s rule is not going to be limited to your temple. Through the windows of your temple Her light will start to shine and Her perfume will start to flow out, so that your surroundings are able to share in the effects of Mary’s power in and over you. By transforming your temple She turns it into a building which, when looked at from other temples, is (often unwittingly) regarded as something extraordinary. This is going to make other souls feel drawn towards you, which will enable Mary to begin Her work of converting and transforming souls. So it is your inner beauty (which, essentially, is Mary’s beauty) that starts the transforming love flowing. Therefore, surrender your temple to Mary completely and undividedly, and allow Her to furnish it with the tapestry, carpets and flower beds of Her celestial virtues.
2. The temple and the orchard
This image could be regarded as an extension to the first one above. Regard your soul as a temple. When looking through the windows from inside this temple you can see a bit of the world outside: You can see other temples (the fellow people in your surroundings), the sunshine, but also rain and clouds. The sunbeams symbolize God’s Light, the rain and the dark clouds are the negative experiences and influences from the world outside. However, the bottom of the windows of your temple is fairly high, so that apart from the weather conditions and the clouds you can hardly see a thing besides the upper parts of other temples. One day you get curious as to life out there (the soul starts looking for the deeper things in life), due to the fact you have got fascinated by the marvelous and colourful sunlight breaking through a specific window (these colourful sunbeams also symbolizing hope).
The stained glass window can be considered to be the first manifestation of Mary in your soul: It is She who calls you first, not the other way around. You step up a small ladder so as to be able to look through a window, and all of a sudden you see a magnificent orchard. You never knew a paradise of lovely fruit trees and ornamental shrubs was spread out right next to your temple. With a heart filled with excitement (love has woken up) you go to the gate of your temple to open it up, but you lack the strength to open the gate. Burning with desire you pull the bolt until the gate opens up, but that is the best you can do. However, this is when the miracle happens: The gate opens and Mary is standing right in front of you. She has been standing there all along, waiting for you to invite Her to enter your temple. As a matter of fact She has been expressing Her desire to meet you by making the colourful beams shine through the window.
So the invitation extended to Mary by your heart consists of a combination of hope, love and desire. In concrete terms this is your initial act of consecration: You will pronounce it when you have started hoping for the accomplishment of the beautiful things you have been expecting in life, when your love has been aroused by the beauty which makes you believe that God is there, and when your desire to discover the paradise filled with the lovely trees, fruits and shrubs has been kindled. The orchard is, indeed, Mary’s Being: In Her all of God’s beauties are united. Mary has been waiting for you all along, until one day you pronounced your first act of consecration. You can unbolt the gate to your soul, but only Mary has got the power to actually open the gate (this opening of the gate is also a liberation: Your soul encounters the supernatural flow of true Love).
As soon as your temple opens up you see Mary standing in front of you. She is then waiting for you to invite Her to actually enter your temple. This is what She will do the moment you show an actual desire and willingness to give Mary pride of place in your life. Just like in the first image, Mary is going to proceed to all actions through which She will rearrange your temple in accordance with Her Will and Her vision. However, some day She is going to take your hand and She is going to invite you to go out into the orchard, guided by Her hand: You are allowed to penetrate into Mary’s Being (She is gradually revealing Herself to you, so as to enable you to learn how to follow Her ever better). In the orchard you will discover a world that is completely new to you.
Enchanted by all the beauties in the orchard your heart will open up completely, enabling Mary to purify it most thoroughly. She will rid it of all and any stones weighing on your emotional life. Some of these stones have been bothering you for years and keep hurting and injuring you internally. Consequently there have been days on which you felt emotionally and even physically weak and ill. She will take these stones in Her hands. Some of them She will drop. You can see how some of the stones She has dropped turn to gold when they touching this holy soil (the orchard being Mary’s Being), and after they have assumed their new form and constitution She lays them back in your heart (they are the remnants of trials which, owing to Mary’s intervention, have now become sources of sanctification for your soul). The remainder of the stones are buried in a hole She digs in the ground, She fills up the hole and puts Her foot on it (all this symbolizes the remnants of the trials She wants you to forget about altogether: She buries them in Her Heart so as to prevent them from hurting you any further). Then she invites you to pick fruits from her trees and to eat them. This is the healing food She holds in store for you: Mary provides your soul with food from the fruits that are stored inside Her own Being, in other words: She nourishes the soul with Herself. She lets you smell the fragrances which float from the ornamental shrubs and the tree blossoms through the orchard (Mary sanctifies and purifies you and 'intoxicates' you with desire for Her, in order that you may long ardently, never again to do anything without Her). After all this She will lead you back to your temple with the promise you will be allowed to enter the orchard again each time She will let you.
3. The reconstruction of the temple
God has built your being as a unique edifice: one single temple. You have got but one life on earth, and you have got to lead it in one and the same temple. He is the Builder, and He has granted you the right to dwell in your temple. You are not the owner (God remains the sole Owner of your temple, which is the work of His hands, whereas you, in a manner of speaking, were given it on loan). What happens when you consecrate yourself to Mary? You transfer the contract concluded between you and God, to Mary’s name: She now obtains the right of use and at the same time becomes the Owner of your temple in representation of God. In image nr. 1 I showed you how Mary enters your temple and starts to refurnish it according to Her own vision and model. This is how Mary becomes your Architect. In this capacity She gets acquainted with every corner, every single room, all hidden vices of your temple. Therefore She is the only One able to repair your temple. This constitutes one of the soundest motivations for a soul to consecrate herself totally to Mary. The many small rooms of your temple are the many (often hidden) faculties of your soul. That is why you may not ever know your own temple in every detail.
As your temple consists of many spaces that are not (or no longer) illuminated and of which the content is not (entirely) known to you, it is quite possible that the entire edifice gets filled with odours of which you do not know where they originate. This is why it is possible you are in a negative mood without knowing what causes it. You cannot run the risk of performing the necessary repairs yourself without the Architect’s assistance. In concrete terms this means there is no way you are going to actually manage living without involving Mary with every detail of your life. This also means you are no longer to make any plans of yourself, as Mary is the sole Architect. As soon as you transfer your temple into Mary’s hands She will set up a series of signs reading "keep off the construction site": She needs to carry out any renovations in peace and quiet, without you interfering. Besides, trespassing is not free of risk, for as long as cleaning and repairs are ongoing in your soul you may get hurt by any waste materials She sees fit to break down and throw out. This means you have got to consecrate everything to Mary and that you had better not start digging on your premises yourself whenever you feel a bit odd: Mary knows the cause and will be working on it as soon as She feels your confidence in Her is complete. The only attitude expected of you is this: That you stay calm, try to preserve your inner peace, pray and implore Mary that She may grant you the strength to wait patiently and keep living fruitfully while She is accomplishing Her works of purifying you.
4. The fire
You can regard consecration to Mary as a burning fire: Total consecration is the mission in life through which, in a manner of speaking, you allow your entire being to be ignited in a fire which must never be extinguished. Your weaknesses, trials and all sufferings are the firewood with which this fire must be kept burning. This fire must be fed constantly for it to keep burning and for the flames to blaze up so as to reach the fire of Mary’s Being. Mary is the greatest and most beautiful Fire that was ever lit by God Himself. Her entire Being keeps burning eternally with the all-consuming fire of perfect celestial Love and all virtues.
The final goal of your life as a soul who is consecrated to Mary totally is achieving such unity with Mary that Her flames and yours can hardly be separated, for the merger with this unique and most sublime fire is your only guarantee that your own fire is going to keep burning and that it is going to remain sufficiently strong to defy all and any influences from your environment. Your fire is threatened incessantly by the storms from the world (all influences coming your way from material life), which keep attempting to extinguish it. This is why you are going to have to set up a shield between your fire and the rest of the world. This shield, the screen protecting you against all worldly threats, is called vigilance: staying alert for all vices, temptations, seductions, deceptions and aberrations. The major element in this image is the firewood.
All your sufferings and trials should be consecrated to Mary right away, for if you fail to do so they are lost, useless, and the fire of your consecration is no longer fed. In so doing, keep in mind that, basically, it is your mission as a soul consecrated to Mary to be a light shining brightly (purity, brighthfulness) and a burning fire (Love, meekness) towards your surroundings, so as to ignite yet other fires and to lay a chain of Light and fire all around the world. Your own fire can be kept burning only to the extent to which you accept your own sufferings and trials with genuine Love and offer them up in a disposition of profound consecration to Mary. This is how consecrated sufferings release a power of redemption for souls.
5. Invitation to Mary’s party
Whenever Mary calls you to lead a life at Her service, She is basically inviting you to a party. Total consecration to Mary is an unparalleled grace and therefore a party for your soul. You are expected to go to this party with yourself as a present: You give yourself, your entire being, your entire life and everything associated with your being and your with your life to the Hostess as a present for Her to keep forever. You are also expected not to spoil Mary’s joy by any improper disposition, any indifference, any worldly thoughts and feelings. She is pure Love, brightfulness, meekness, serenity, kindness, purity, tenderness, charm, gracefulness, elegance, peace, generosity, obligingness...: In Her all virtues are present and have achieved full perfection. So you can spoil Her party if you approach Her with a heart filled with turmoil and all kinds of dispositions that are incompatible with Hers.
Apart from Her innumerable perfect qualities this Hostess is also infinitely powerful: She is the sovereign Mistress of the house to which you have been invited. Mind you: This house is your own soul, for Mary has entered your house and now owns it by virtue of your being consecrated to Her. Therefore She is, as it were, Landlady and Hostess in your own house. Hence She is in a position to make you feel just as comfortable as She pleases: She alone decides what food and what beverage you are going to get, when you are going to get them and how much you are going to get (the graces Mary is in control of), what She is going to tell you (the lessons and teachings Mary is going to pour out into your heart), when and in how far She is going to wash you (the purification or cleansing Mary is going to subject you to at certain moments). The fact Mary gets to own your house is a party to Her, because it enables Her to fill you with Her own joy and to win you all over through Her actions (food, teachings, cleaning...), in order that other souls, too, may long to transfer their houses to Mary for the Latter to own them. In proportion as Mary becomes the Owner of ever more houses and, through Her housewarming parties, makes the inhabitants of those houses want to bond to Her, She becomes the Mistress of the entire Kingdom and gets the opportunity to extend Her marvels further and further. You are expected to help Her do this.
6. The school of Mary
Your life as a soul consecrated to Mary can be compared with visiting a school of which Mary is the Headmistress and Teacher at the same time. She keeps teaching you untiringly, day and night. At frequent intervals She will subject you to examinations (trials of the most diverse nature) so as to determine in how far you are making progress in learning and processing the lessons She has been giving you. Your first visit to the school of Mary is your initial act of consecration. Actually the latter is nothing more than enrolling for the classes this perfect Teacher is going to be giving. All study material is the object of examinations (the trials), of which you do not know when Mary is going to subject you to them. This is for Her to decide sovereignly, and consequently it is quite possible that more than one examination will be held in one day, and even that She is going to hold some of them during night time. Whenever you go through a trial in a fruitful way you have passed a specific examination and Mary is going to keep teaching you. If you fail, Mary is going to repeat the lesson until you prove Her that you have actually understood it and are able to apply it properly. Defeating a trial successfully (passing an exam) is only possible if you study the material together with Mary (in other words: The soul consecrated to Mary must never again do anything without involving Mary or requesting Her permission), and then go about the trial in the way Mary has taught you: with acceptance, love, trustfully, patiently, and driven by the will to offer it up to Mary for the salvation of souls. If you keep doing things the wrong way She has got the power to punish you (for instance, by subjecting you to similar trials of a longer duration which will then be meant to teach you how to deal with everything the way She wants you to and the way She has been teaching you).
7. The uninterrupted journey
Living as a soul consecrated to Mary is a matter of constantly offering and consecrating Her your entire path through life, in every single detail. The course of your life is like a path running through a landscape. The path eventually ends before God’s throne, from which He is going to pass judgment on your past life. You are to follow the path until its end, with all of its curves, its ups and downs, its holes, stones, ill weeds, and the waysides which may present themselves as thorn bushes, ditches, abysses etcetera. The landscape along the path is the world you live in, the world as you see it from your perspective. In many places small paths touch your path (some of them for just a few moments, others for a longer period of time). These small paths are your relationships with other people. Offering everything up to Mary means seeing to it that Mary can rule over all of these paths and landscapes as a Queen, for these paths and landscapes then become Her Kingdom. Wherever you look (whether behind you, ahead of you, next to you, or even underneath your feet), all you see is part of Mary’s Kingdom.
Following your path through life in a disposition of consecration to Mary means aiming for a growing capacity to approach everything on that path in a specific way. For instance, the soul who is truly consecrated to Mary must not merely follow the path, she should also try to find the right speed, the proper rhythm, at all times: If you have found the right way of your vocation as a soul consecrated to Mary you should take care not to 'run ahead of yourself' by being overzealous. Everything you want to accomplish should be accomplished in Mary’s time, which is also God’s time.
Look out not to lose your bearings during your journey. Losing your bearings is like following the signposts on your way without noticing that certain signposts may have been turned or 'moved' by the storms of the world and may thus point to some alternative path. An alternative path may appeal to you on account of the fact it cuts some corner in the road. Do bear in mind, however, that such an alternative path was not indicated to you by Mary and that, consequently, this means it does not fit in with the Plan of your life. It may contain pitfalls and quicksand, which make you lose more time (which you need for growing) than any gain you hoped to acquire by following it. If Mary wants you to take a longer way, obey Her without asking questions, as She knows why She advises you against taking specific paths. To name a few examples of alternative paths: absolutely wanting to try out quicker solutions to certain problems in life if these solutions appear to yield more or other problems, or wanting to solve a misunderstanding at any cost at a moment when your counterparty is not yet ready to listen to reason, etcetera.
You can think of your path through life as a small sandy road through a deserted land. You can meet with all kinds of obstacles, such as rocks you may stumble over. They come in all kinds of shapes:
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some are tiny, and can therefore be avoided fairly easily, but nevertheless you may hurt your feet on them: These are the trials which may cause some delay in your spiritual growth and may leave behind wounds in your heart;
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others are bigger, so as to make you trip over them more easily. They may make you go down quite hard. These are the trials which may make you fall and then require some new decision: You must shake off the influences from the world (the dust of the ground on which you have fallen down) as soon as possible in order to get clean, and it matters to overcome any discouragement as soon as possible and to get back up on your feet (so as not to end up in the paralyzing grip of any dark feelings and, in the longer run, depression);
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yet other rocks are so big they are regular boulders, which in some cases even block your view: These are the situations which prevent you from looking at the landscape in front of you, to your right or to your left. They may, for example, prevent you from looking at other people’s paths through life if these paths cross yours (for example: the paths followed by members of your family, etcetera). These boulders make you live too self-absorbed and take too little interest in your fellow creatures. Behind these same boulders also Satan can easily hide, meaning that these rocks expose your soul to dangerous ambushes.
If you live your being consecrated to Mary the strict way you will go your path through life hand in hand with Her. She is going to warn you about all and any difficulties, by sharpening your inner perception of anything which is not compatible with Her guidance. As soon as you let go of Her hand you are no longer warned about the stumbling blocks on your path. Whenever you stumble Mary will grab your hand more tightly. Sometimes you are not even going to touch the ground, because She will catch you the very instant you are going down. You may feel as though you have fallen anyway, due to the fact your soul is processing the effects of a temptation or is busy coming to grips with herself after having been overwhelmed with worldly influences. These are the moments in which you feel as if you had committed a sin and thereby get in a state of inner conflict, whereas, in fact, your behaviour may even not have been sinful at all.
When tripping over rocks you may get hurt to the point of bleeding. Do keep in mind, however, that Mary will write the merits gained by these trials in your soul with the pointy edges of the very rocks that hurt you.
At times you may walk along hand in hand with Mary, but look the other way instead of keeping your eyes focused on Mary. In such cases Mary may allow you to stumble, so as to make you realize your eyes have been wandering off and you have not been focusing on Her, and She may go and stand in front of you so as to make you fall right into Her arms. This is how She makes you see She wants you to get back closer to Her. This is the case if, soon after having stumbled, you get the feeling that peace and serenity have entered you heart.
One of the frequent causes of stumbling on your path is when you feel compelled to look back time and time again (going back to your past, living in the past, living on memories!). In this disposition you may be inclined to forget to go on living in the present. Mary will then allow you to trip over a rock, so as to teach you that living while looking back is counter-productive: It does not yield any fruits, on the contrary, it will paralyze you by diverting your attention from the present. Only in the present you can accomplish your mission in life.
Along the edges of your path you can find thorn bushes, ditches, abysses, etcetera. Therefore you will have to look out if your eyes are drawn towards flowers showing themselves by the wayside (the temptations from the world!), for if you head towards them with the intention of picking them (pursuing the worldly joys), you may end up in the thorn bushes by the edge (hurt your soul), in a ditch (defile your soul) or even fall into an abyss (kill your soul). Do always bear in mind that there is a reason why your wayside is the way it is: it is always the work of Divine Providence, for God always has your best interests at heart. Your entire path through life is sown with little flowers (all events, situations, actions and trials of each day, no matter if you experience them as being pleasant or not). You can do three different things with these little flowers:
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you can disregard them: In this case your soul will not benefit from the action, event, situation or trial. The benefit that God has hidden in this situation as a possibility for spiritual growth will then not be gained, or the action you perform undoes the potential gain. This is the case, for instance, if you fail to accept a trial, protest against a situation or event, or think of a solution which is all wrong (or even harmful to your soul);
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you can pick them and either keep them with you or throw them away: In this case you will derive some benefit from them, yet in the course of your life the flowers are going to wither for lack of nourishment and water. This is what happens if you go about these events, situations, actions or trials applying human solutions which may as such be virtuous and well meant, but which are not bearers of God’s blessings because you have failed to implore His intervention (i.e. because you have not included them in your prayers). More often than not you may have picked the flowers too early or have failed to dwell on the consequences of your actions for your soul;
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you can pick them and consecrate them to Mary: In this case you offer the event, situation, action or trial to Mary through heart-felt consecration, in order that She may be able to cover them with the dew of Eternal Life. These little flowers will be kept fresh until the hour in which judgment will be past on your life before the throne of God.
Only the last category (the little flowers which are consecrated to Mary) is truly beneficial for your soul, and moreover their seeds are cast upon other souls by Mary. In other words: Actions, trials, events and situations consecrated to Mary yield salvation, blessings and graces for the souls.
This can help you understand how much salvation, how many blessings and graces you can help bring upon the world by consecrating every detail of your life to Mary. You can do this afterwards (as regards your past in which you were not yet consecrated to Mary) or every time you come across a little flower on your path through life (they may be quite numerous in the course of a day). This way, all over the world and on all paths through human lives viewed together, many billions of opportunities for consecration present themselves each and every day, making it possible to redeem the overall debt towards Divine Justice incurred by the sins of all mankind. However, such consecrations are rather rare. This image may help you see why total consecration to Mary:
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has got the potential to counterbalance the sins of all mankind of all times;
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may to a great extent help restore the imbalance which has been brought about by the tremendous burden of sins of all the world;
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is able to save mankind from all its misery through advancing the establishment of God’s Kingdom of Love and Peace on earth.
Bear in mind that the value of every event, situation, action or trial which is consecrated to Mary is multiplied by laying it in Mary’s Heart. The flower itself then remains fresh until the hour in which judgment is passed on your life, and fragrant (it now contains the perfume from Mary’s hands), so that in the hour of your judgment it actually calls forth Divine Mercy. Moreover each flower may yield, say, one hundred little seeds, which can be cast by Mary upon many souls as potential sources of new graces. This is how frequent consecration of everything to Mary is able to actually turn the world into a carpet of flowers of holy souls. Consecrating everything does not necessarily mean you should consecrate every single situation or event to Mary on the spot (there will definitely be situations in which this is not feasible): The best thing to do, day by day, is to live intensively and ardently as a soul consecrated to Mary, which makes all situations part and parcel of your being consecrated. This makes Mary the Mistress of your heart every single moment of the day and the night.
At the end of your path through life the evening sun is on the horizon. You can regard this sun as the light shining towards you from Paradise, the light which is beckoning you through the Gate of Heaven (which, as a matter of fact, is also one of Mary’s titles), which is opened to receive the soul and lead it into Eternal Light. Very often this evening sun is darkened by the heavy clouds covering the end of a person’s life (due to illness, burdens...), but if the end of your way (the hour of your death) is also consecrated to Mary, the sight of this ball of fire will lay a blissful joy and peace in your heart, which is going to prepare you for your transition to Eternal Life.
The only way for you to make your journey through life safe and educational is to make it with, in and for Mary. Let your heart stay focused on Her all the time, as if you were constantly wondering how She would go about this and that detail in your everyday life. That is what I mean when I say you should lead your life with Mary every single moment of the day and the night. She knows you path, She knows the whereabouts of every single rock on it, and She knows your destination. Do not let go of Her. The greatest glories are waiting for you if you hold on to this perfect hand until the very last inch of your way, where it reaches the gate of Heaven.
8. The re-enactment of the Passion of Christ
To man, God’s creation is hardly transparent, because it is filled with Mysteries. Man was not meant to know or fathom these Mysteries in every detail, because a perfect knowledge of them would decrease the merits of his life: He who knows everything, needs less faith, and faith is just one of the great sources of the merits you can gain in earthly life. True faith is trusting blindly (i.e. without ever completely seeing it) that God exists, that He is actually working, and that He is always organizing things aiming for an outcome which may guarantee optimum benefits for the whole of mankind.
One of the major Mysteries is this, that life of man can in more than one way be regarded as a 're-enactment' of Jesus' Way of the Cross and His Passion. Your life as a soul who is totally consecrated to Mary can become a golden path to glorification. It will depend only on your own inner disposition and perseverance whether this is actually going to be the case. To the extent to which you accomplish everything together with Mary you are going to find within Her the strength to carry all your crosses, for She will pour Herself out into you so intensively and fill you so thoroughly with Her Love and virtues that your way of looking at the things around you will undergo quite a few in-depth changes. You will begin to experience every cross as if it were a gift out of Mary’s hand: as yet another opportunity to become one heart and mind with the One who lived an absolutely perfect life.
9. The field
You can regard your soul as a field, a soil which must yield fruits to nourish other souls and to make God’s Kingdom (the whole of all fields) fruitful. The soil of your field contains constituents of life (the vital principle God Himself has provided it with, along with your talents). It is sprinkled with the soft rain of graces and lit by the sun of God’s Love. If you consecrate the field of your soul to Mary, it is also 'fertilized' by Her (i.e. nourished with Her teachings and inspirations). Moreover She will plough your field with you, so that your talents may surface and the vital principle of your soul that God has given you, may truly be resuscitated. Through Her total and sovereign power She possesses over Your soul in Her capacity as the Mistress of all souls Mary also possesses the ability to see to it that your soul receives a proper balance between sunshine and rain, and duly absorbs it. Only Mary (apart from God) knows what you need and when you need it, and in what quantities. It is possible that, underneath the surface, your field remains dry in spite of the soft rain of grace, because the grace is not really absorbed. Mary will then again plough your field so as to 'loosen up' the soil (make it more receptive), so that the graces you receive may truly touch your talents and ignite the latter with new fruitfulness.
It is possible that the field of your soul keeps holding on to the rainwater (the graces received) and thereby begins to acidify the soil. This is the case if the soul keeps the grace to herself. She does nourish her own talents, to be sure, yet she is not fruitful for God’s Plan and is therefore considered by God to be unproductive. If the soil is saturated with the water of grace, the water the soul does not need for herself will evaporate, and this vapour will precipitate on the adjacent fields and help make them become fruitful. The opposite will also occur: The field of the soul can also become dry. This will be the case if the soul hardens (lack of Love, meekness, brightfulness, tenderness, too much resentment or bitterness): The rainwater (the graces) is no longer absorbed by the soil, it is as if the soul resists everything that is able to soften her up. These souls build a tough crust around them because they no longer dare show themselves the way they really are. This often occurs with souls who have been hurt frequently or deeply, as well as with souls who are plagued by a burden of sins they have never confessed, and whose self-esteem has suffered a blow because of all this.
Mary can determine how much your soul actually needs and how the latter can benefit from all this. Deeply living your consecration to Mary is the only thing which is able to 'keep the fluids of your soil in balance'.
Every now and then your field will be plagued with heavy gales, pelting rain and hail (the unfavourable influences from the world). By consecrating your entire being to Mary you will not particularly prevent these storms from affecting you, for sometimes they are necessary for you to grow: They can help you get organized in your thoughts, feelings, and in the way you experience the world you live in. However, they will most certainly make your seed stronger. In other words: Consecration will not take all your crosses away from you, but will increase your strength to carry them. This is very important, for the merits derived from your life are determined by the way you deal with your trials. If you should no longer meet with any trials you would not be able to boast any merits in the hour when judgment is passed on your life, and thus you would not gain access to Heaven. That is why Mary would not do you a favour if She took your crosses away from you. The hail on your field symbolizes the way fate makes itself felt. The damage which may be inflicted by it need not be irreversible. If you consecrate this hail to Mary the pellets of hail will melt by the heat of Her Love, and the melt water will get the soil humid in a gentle way, so that it can again be fruitful.
Mary will cast the seed in your ploughed field: These are the occasions on which you are enabled to yield fruits after a proper ripening process. It is imperative that the proper sowing season be respected. If you want to rush things when dealing with your day-to-day burdens you may well get in the way of yourself and prevent your soul from yielding the fruits she can definitely yield if sowing is done in God’s time. Waiting for the proper, most fruitful sowing season is expressed through the virtue of patience. Only Mary knows if your soil is ready to receive the seed at any given moment. It is possible that, at any given moment, you have not achieved the maturity necessary to make the next move in your life. This is why it is so important, as a soul consecrated to Mary, that you live by the rhythm Mary tries to set in your heart. You will notice that rushing things often boils down to casting seed on the rocks: It would seem to take root, but the young plants get bruised at the slightest burst of wind or the slightest shower of rain (trials or oppositions).
If the seed germinates it might nevertheless not emerge above the soil. It then gets eaten away by soil dwelling animals, and may also rot away due to lack of oxygen. This is the case with a soul who lives too introverted, who is all absorbed in herself and shows too little dedication. It is as though this soul does not dare show herself to God (often for fear she is sinful or might do everything wrong). The soul is then consumed by wandering thoughts and tormented feelings and hardly lets herself be breathed on by the breeze of liberation and sanctification God (and Mary) will keep blowing around her incessantly. This soul is in desperate need of total surrender, in order that Mary be enabled to plough her soil freely for the land to breathe and the seed to be able to sprout without further impediments. The soul is totally unproductive if she fails to ’show herself' (emerge above the soil, which also symbolizes outgrowing all worldly influences), in other words: if she fails to completely serve God’s Plans by quitting her being absorbed in herself (this is why egocentrism and selfishness throttle the soul).
In conclusion you should grant Mary the full-fledged and everlasting rule over your land so as to enable Her to remove all ill weeds (the works Satan has wrought in your life). The ill weeds are the hostile, poisonous influences. Upon your prayer Mary can 'transform' them (conversion) or exterminate them. This is going to happen in God’s time, for sometimes it will be favourable to you if they are preserved for a while, so as to prompt you to exercise the virtues and learn how to pray from the heart. You must have confidence that the yield of your crops only be stepped up to their highest possible levels as soon as your field is owned by Mary completely: She must truly be the Mistress of the soil itself, the seed, the tilling processes, the sowing season and all supervision.
CHAPTER 3
THE GLORIES OF MARY, THE MIRROR OF GOD’S POWER
Consecrating yourself and your entire life totally to Mary is a major step to take. For many souls it is not an easy thing to cast off a familiar pattern of living and to surrender themselves completely. The first threshold to cross lies hidden in the question: To whom am I giving all of this anyway? Two parties that conclude a covenant or a contract will only find the confidence to take this step as soon as they get to know each other well enough. Mary knows your whole life and your entire being inside and out, but do you, in your turn, know Mary sufficiently well to entrust Her with an unlimited and sovereign power over you?
So as to make it easier on you to take the most important step of your life, the step of total, unconditional and everlasting consecration of yourself and your life to Mary (in other words: so as to help you overcome your fear of embarking upon this surrendering of yourself to Her), I will present to you in a nutshell the twenty greatest glories of Mary. Your and my Mistress Herself guided me in selecting them. This brief discussion serves but one purpose: to give you a somewhat more profound knowledge of Mary’s Being, and to provide you with a small incentive to praise the inexhaustible, perfect Love and the unparalleled power of Mary and to help you believe in Her completely. A Being clothed with the Love and elements of the power of God Himself is able to work the greatest wonders. The greatest of all wonders is the total conversion and sanctification of your own soul. Mary can do this (power) and wants to do it (Love). Allow Her to break any resistance Herself, and be Hers. This is why She is worthy of making you Her possession:
1. Immaculate Conception
Mary was the only soul in the history of mankind to be conceived immaculately. This means Her soul was created by God in a state of being totally free from any trace of the original sin. This exempted Mary from the necessity of being redeemed the way every other human soul had to be. This was owing to the fact She was the only human being to have enjoyed, as early as the hour of Her Conception (the hour in which Her soul was received while in Her mother’s womb) the fruit of the Act of Redemption even prior to this Act’s being performed by Jesus Christ. As the original sin makes the soul receptive to all possible sins this also means Mary was from the very beginning the Bearer of the fully matured germ of the most sublime sanctity. Even this single characteristic makes Mary the holiest soul ever, and Her holiness could not ever be surpassed by any other soul.
On account of this unique capacity Mary is sometimes referred to as a 'divinized' soul: She is a perfect mirror of God’s glory, because Her soul has no stain or impurity whatsoever. The unique privilege of the Immaculate Conception granted Mary’s soul the disposition necessary to bear the Son of God in Her womb. No other soul would ever have been suited for this, for all other souls are marked with the original sin. The holy Sacrament of Baptism outweighs the original sin, to be sure, yet even after Baptism every soul still bears the mark from the original sin. This mark could be compared with the scar left after being wounded: The wound itself disappears, but scar tissue is left behind, and this tissue prevents the healthy tissues surrounding it from functioning fully normally.
In a similar way one might say the mark left by the original sin can still get in the way of the soul functioning perfectly: The soul remains more susceptible to later, daily sins. Owing to Her being immaculately conceived Mary was never thwarted by this obstacle and was able to preserve in Her soul the ability to function completely the way God had originally intended the human soul to function: in perfect accordance with the way He Himself would think, feel, plan and work. Therefore, who would be suited more than Mary to guide you as an undisputable Mistress? The Immaculate Conception is the basis of Mary’s power, for God will not refuse Her anything, on account of the fact She is the only human soul to be in perfect accordance with God’s Being, His Plans and Works.
2. Spouse of the Holy Spirit
After the original sin had been committed mankind derailed very quickly and very profoundly from the path God had foreseen the souls to follow. Man no longer lived according to God’s Plan, and God wanted to grant mankind, which had fallen into decay, the opportunity to find back the right way to God and to undo the fatal effects of the original sin. Indeed: The original sin made it impossible for all souls to ever gain access to Heaven. After God had decreed for His Son to come into the world to deliver the souls from this impossibility to ever see Paradise, and to teach God’s only Truth, He elected Mary to receive the Divine Saviour in Her womb. She agreed to His request – "May be done to Me according to Your word" – and allowed Her womb to be opened to receive the Divine Germ. The latter was entrusted to Her by the Holy Spirit. This is why She is called the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. This capacity gave Mary a power beyond all imagination: Upon Her word She can have the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Spirit poured out into the souls She Herself elects for this purpose. This is how Mary possesses a sovereign power to help you turn into a saint, to the extent to which you collaborate with Her on this actively and without any restraint: It is possible for you to decrease your own receptiveness to being sanctified by repeated imperfections in the field of living the virtues and surrendering to Mary.
3. Mother of the Messiah
So God would send His own Son into the world in order to save mankind, fallen prey to decay, from eternal death (eternal perdition through the impossibility to gain access to Heaven). The Messiah (the Anointed One sent by God) had to come into the world in a human body. This is how God had decreed it to be, for the Redemption of human souls had to be all-embracing and perfect, and this could only be the case if the Messiah made His appearance as a newborn child with all weaknesses associated with this nature, and in a body subject to all usual human needs. This was the only way Christ would be able to sanctify all aspects of human life by attaching the merits of His own sacrificed Sufferings with them. Mary was to be the Mother. To that end She had received the unique prerogative of the Immaculate Conception, She had spoken Her word of consent (the assurance She did want to embrace this motherhood, for She understood it was going to yield Her unparalleled Sorrows and trials), and She had preserved Her soul, Her Heart, Her mind and body stainlessly pure and perfectly exempt from sin. Thus She became the sublime and elected Mother of the Messiah.
This capacity made Her even more powerful: The Eternal Father had granted Her immeasurable graces, the Holy Spirit had poured the Divine seed out into Her, and the Son Himself had accepted Her womb for His dwelling for the duration of nine months and had subsequently deigned to be raised, nourished and guided by Her as a Child. Behold the power enjoyed by the Woman upon whom God has bestowed so many graces that She is exempt from the original sin and is subsequently allowed to nourish the Son of God with Her mother’s milk, to raise Him as a Child and to give Him orders, and especially: who is obeyed by Him completely until the beginning of His public Mission for the benefit of God’s Kingdom. How could God ever approve of your being distrustful of surrendering yourself to Mary completely, whereas He Himself entrusted His Divine Son to Her guard?
4. Eternal Virgin
Mary was perfectly free from sin, and consequently perfectly pure. Purity is the capacity through which the soul possesses the ability to reflect God’s Light completely or to pass it on to other souls in an unaffected way. Perfect purity means the soul reflects on other souls a glory which reminds the latter of God Himself. Only Mary possessed this capacity in such a perfect form as to gain Her the title of 'Mirror of God'. Even receiving a Child in Her womb occurred without Her ever losing the similarity to God: She became a Mother without any human intervention. Thereby Mary enjoyed even another unique prerogative: that of eternal virginity. This capacity was a prerequisite so as not to allow any doubt even being raised as to the origin of the Child in Her womb: Only if Mary never had physical intercourse with a man was it possible to accept without any doubt that Her Child did not originate with any human source. Even after the birth of the Messiah She remained a Virgin. So She preserved this exceptional prerogative and did not want Her most sacred body to be violated by any human intimacy. This merit further contributed to the unparalleled power enjoyed by the Most Holy Virgin. How could a human being ever become more perfect than by refraining from all worldly things for an entire life and living completely geared to the Divine? It is a Divine Law that a being that is geared so totally to God is clothed by Him with aspects of His very nature.
5. Sorrowful Mother
By consenting to God’s request to become the Mother of the incarnated Messiah, Mary also consented to leading a life of total self-sacrifice. The Redeemer was to lead a life of redeeming Sufferings. It is self-evident that Mary as His Mother was to partake in this Mission. Her unfathomable Sufferings during the Passion of Jesus were only part of a life of unprecedented and unmatched Sorrows. It is not told in the Gospels, for instance, what burdens and deprivations the travels through the Holy Land cost also Mary on repeated occasions, and what Sorrows and oppressions She suffered continuously because of the hostilities Jesus was subjected to from many angles, and because of Her own Mission in life, a life of expiating sins of other souls in Her own body and Heart and of helping others carry their crosses. Mary’s Mission of suffering the pains of others in Her own body has become manifest during the Passion of Jesus: She suffered with Jesus in Her own body and Heart. The unparalleled merits Mary collected through Her countless Sorrows contributed to increasing Her power to a very great extent: The soul who leads a life in perfect accordance with God’s expectations will gain a major influence upon God’s Heart. Mary met this condition like no other soul on earth ever did, through Her perfect Love and Her acceptance of all sufferings, up to and including Her accepting Her Son’s atrocious Sufferings and Death on the Cross.
6. Co-Redemptrix
This capacity of Mary is closely related to the previous one. Jesus came into the world to lead a life as a Man for 33 years for one purpose only: to redeem the human souls from the chains which prevented them from entering Eternal Bliss (a chained up soul is a soul who is captured by sin). He was to do so through His Sufferings and His Death on the Cross, and by preaching Eternal Truth, for also knowledge of the Truth (God’s Law) sets souls free. Mary, as the Mother of the Redeemer, was therefore automatically called to play a key role in this major Plan of Salvation. Mary was the Cradle of the Cross: Through Her accepting Divine Motherhood She eventually made it possible for Jesus to perform His Sacrifice of Redemption. All the time She has been perfectly one with Jesus at Heart. She was the only human soul to live in perfect accordance with God’s Plans and therefore to share God’s graces to an exceptional extent (this is the meaning of the words by which, in the Hail Mary prayer, Mary is called 'full of grace'), and God had granted Her innumerable prerogatives, among others an unparalleled profound knowledge of Divine Mysteries, and therefore also of the Mystery of Redemption. This is why Mary was perfectly fit to 'co-redeem' mankind, together with Jesus, from one single Heart.
The vast Sacrifice of the Passion was experienced by Mary very intensely: She felt the Sorrows as well as the physical pains suffered by Jesus even in Her own body, due to a mystery of shared suffering (two souls sharing a sacrifice because of a 'merger' of suffering between their hearts and bodies, within the framework of a process guided by God). Mary is therefore justly called the Co-Redemptrix of mankind. God decreed for this Mystery to take this specific form because mankind could not be redeemed by God alone (Jesus Christ): According to Divine Law all redemption must be performed with at least one created human soul taking part in the sacrifice required. Even in those cases in which a major conversion comes about through a miracle (i.e. through a direct intervention from God), normally prayers and sacrifices by other souls will underlie the intervention. In the case of the extraordinary Sacrifice of Redemption of all mankind only Mary was fit to partake in it, as this Sacrifice had to be shared by the Christ’s Divinity and the most perfect of all human souls (Mary).
It is of paramount importance that Mary should be officially recognized and accepted by all souls as the Co-Redemptrix, for Her to be able to exert Her indescribable power as the Queen of the Last Times to the fullest for the accomplishment of a full deliverance of mankind. Bear in mind that Mary is not only the Cradle of the Cross (and therefore, of Redemption), but precisely thereby also the Cradle of Redemption in your own soul, which is first and foremost accomplished through the merits of your own daily crosses. Praise and thank Mary, for She sacrificed Her life for you just like Jesus did.
7. Mother of every human being
On Mount Golgotha, at Jesus' Cross, Mary was made the Mother of every human soul by Jesus Himself as He spoke the words: "Woman, behold Your son; son, behold your Mother". This is one of the greatest presents God ever gave to mankind. All people of all times were placed under Mary’s custody by the Man-God while He was dying, thereby forever making Her the Mother of every human soul. Within a family a mother is the first educator, the one seeing to the children’s daily needs, the one teaching the children things they are going to need to face life. All of this, and much more, is what Mary will do for you if you give Her the chance to really be your Mother.
As a Mother She also holds a privileged power over you, for a mother determines many factors of the way things are going to run during her children’s journey through life, and many aspects of the luggage they are going to be provided with for this journey. The way you approach Mary as a soul who is totally consecrated to Her and in Her capacity as your Mother should be one of a helpless child, who as to nourishment, clothing, getting cleaned and learning the principal words is totally dependent on mother. Mary does all this for your soul: She can nourish you with Her guidance, clothe you with Her own virtues, wash you up after you have been erring and have soiled your soul, and teach you God’s Truth in order that your words may also become words of Eternal Truth for you and your fellow man. As of your initial act of consecration to Her Mary wants to feed you Her mother’s milk: She gives you Herself to drink, metaphorically speaking She presses you to Her breast for you to learn and listen to Her heart beat and to let it be your greatest joy to find out how Her maternal Heart rejoices when you follow Her and how it gets oppressed when you counteract Her teachings. When you drink Her mother’s milk you take in Her sanctity.
8. Queen of heaven and earth
When, after having led a life of incomparable merits, Mary was called by God to join Him, She was assumed into Heaven soul and body. God thereby gave evidence for Mary’s superhuman purity and unparalleled sanctity: The human body is like the bridge linking up the soul with the earth, the world, the latter being the field of all impurity. Through Her Assumption into Heaven body and soul God Himself bestowed an exceptional glorification upon Mary. Upon Her arrival in Heaven all angels and saints threw themselves at Her feet, for God had predestined Her to be crowned as the Queen of Heaven and earth. Mary’s beauty was dazzling and unique, because both Her soul and Her body were so perfectly pure that She radiated God’s Light around Her unabatedly, so much so that She spread a glow which surpassed the sun’s glow beyond all imagination. God crowned Her to be the Queen over everything, He lay everything underneath Her feet and granted Her an everlasting power over everything.
In fact this was the glory Mary was predestined to have for all the ages: Even before man was created God had Mary’s Being in mind and He presented it to the angels saying this Woman was to be their Mistress for all times in that, as a human being, She was to partake in the execution of a major Mystery. Lucifer (who would later be called Satan, and who in that time was the prince of the angels, replied by the statement he was never going to accept a woman in the shape of a human being to become his Mistress, for that he (Lucifer) was the greatest. Never was he going to accept the supremacy of this woman over him. He got a host of followers among the angels. As these angels refused to accept this major Divine Decree, they were repelled from the Heavens by the other angels under the command of the archangel Michael (who had been the second ranking after Lucifer). Henceforth the rebellious angels would be referred to as 'fallen angels' (devils). Mary became the Mistress of the angels for all eternity, and makes use of the services of these innumerable spirits to accomplish Her Works for the benefit of the human souls. The unconditional service rendered by the angels in blind obedience to Mary contributes to the concrete implementation of Her unparalleled power.
9. Gate of Heaven
From the very beginning Mary was predestined by God to be the open door to Paradise. He let His Son come into the world through Mary and foresaw total consecration to Mary as the golden path for the souls to return to Him. No path to Eternal Bliss is safer than the one of total consecration to Mary. Consecrating yourself totally, unconditionally and eternally to Mary is following a path which leads you to the Gate of Heaven, so to speak. This Gate is Mary. Strictly living total consecration to Mary means leading your life with Her and going along the path through your life hand in hand with Her. Accomplishing your journey through life is like crossing the Gate, which basically means that, at that moment, you are allowed, in a manner of speaking, to experience the fullness of Mary. You are then entering Her Heart to actually dwell in it. In that hour you are already seeing the first bits of scenery of the Kingdom of the Heavens. Mary will step by step open up to you the joys and blissful elements which will enable you to penetrate deeper and deeper into true Life. The more closely you live with Her the more the scents of Paradise are going to be part of your life.
Consider what power Mary holds in Her hands in this capacity: In a manner of speaking She holds the key of the gate to your Eternal Bliss. The more ardently you act upon the teachings She entrusts to your heart the more you will light in Her Heart the fire of longing to insert the key into the lock for you. Already during your life on earth She can give you a taste of this grace, by opening the gate of Heaven a crack for you every now and then and giving you feelings of deep Peace and serenity. Every time you are seized suddenly (sometimes only for a few moments) by a sense of true Peace in your heart and a touch of happiness on your journey through life at Mary’s service, is the fruit of a glance of Paradise, which is granted to the very bottom of your soul. Everything on earth is subordinate to Heaven. That is why it should not come as a surprise to you that the One who has got power over the opening of the Gate of Heaven possesses all the more power over all worldly things, provided She is enabled to actually exercise this power.
10. Mediatrix of all Graces
One of the many foundations of the power with which Mary was invested lies in Her capacity as the Mediatrix of all Graces. Graces are gifts God grants with a view to making man’s life on earth possible or fruitful. Mary received from God the key to the treasury of His graces. This means She holds the power of disposal as to using these treasures: She decides on what soul receives what graces, in what form, when, how, to what extent and for how long. This gives Her an unparalleled power over your life. Power is the faculty to influence other persons' behaviour in such a way as to compel them to do things in a different way from the way they themselves would like to and to make them behave in accordance with the will of the one who exercises this power. Power is also the faculty through which people’s destiny, as well as the decisions they take, are in one way or another influenced by the will of the one who exercises power.
Especially these last points apply to Mary. Through Her power to dispose of God’s graces Mary is in a position to determine your behaviour and the course of your life to a great extent. This will certainly be the case with the soul who consecrates herself totally to Mary. Total consecration to Mary means recognizing Her as the only Mistress of your life and of your being. In that case She is able to exercise Her power over you to the fullest.
11. Advocate with God
God made Mary so perfect, and She lived up to this prerogative so totally by leading a life of unparalleled merits, that each word from Her mouth possesses a unique power over God’s Heart. Intercession is the act through which a soul (you can do this as well) pleads with God for the benefit of another soul, in order that this other soul’s sins, mistakes or omissions may be completely or partially outweighed. God can allow Himself to be persuaded to revise His judgment concerning a soul, not because His judgment would have been unjust (for His judgments are infallible and therefore beyond all and any criticism), but because He can be ’softened up' if a soul stands up to defend another soul: This is an expression of charity, and Love in all of its forms is the only force which moves God to all His actions, words and decisions.
Sins can be 'outbalanced', so to speak, by the power of Love. Love can be shown in many different ways (suffering in someone else’s place, offering up one’s own sufferings, consecration, prayer, mortifications, atonement, penance, sacrifices, as well as intercession). No human soul ever possessed a greater faculty of loving unconditionally and ardently than Mary. This is exactly why She is able to attenuate God’s judgments, and why countless souls who, on account of their heavy burden of sins, would deserve to be damned eternally by Divine Justice, owe it to Her if their justified punishment is converted into a period of atonement in purgatory. This is how Mary possesses a tremendous power to influence souls' eternal destiny. This is one of the reasons why mankind is deeply in Her debt. Nevertheless Mary is very rarely thanked for this.
12. Terror of the demons
Mary has been a symbol of terror to Satan and his following since the moment in which God presented Her to all the angels as their Mistress for all times (refer to paragraph 8 hereinabove). When this Divine Decree concerning Mary’s supremacy was revealed to the angels, those who accepted it were filled with joy, and those who did not accept it were filled with hate towards Mary, but also with fear of Her, because they realized She was to wield an invincible power over them. During Her life on earth Mary humiliated them (the fallen angels, i.e. the demons) to the utmost through leading a life in unparalleled sanctity. Since Her glorification in Heaven She has been doing this to an even greater extent. If the human souls should realize how much the demons tremble with fear when hearing the most holy name 'Mary' they would have perfect faith in Her, and they would surrender themselves to Her in total consecration with far less inhibitions.
The things man will notice around him first and foremost are expressions of the power of Satan and his following. What man usually hardly sees (because most souls are not sufficiently opened up to notice it) are the countless expressions of the infinitely greater power of Mary, who is the true Mistress of Divine Providence for those who offer Her the opportunity to really intervene in their lives and to make all arrangements which may guarantee them a life yielding salvation and blessings. The devil’s power is restricted to the limits you yourself set him by your determination to allow your soul to grow in sanctity and by your ardent pleadings with Mary for strength and protection against the influences from the world. Mary’s power, on the other hand, has no limitation whatsoever. She has access to the power of God Himself, and She can exercise it to the extent to which you enable Her to rule you and your entire life. Give Mary the opportunity to actually be your Mistress, and She will lay any traces of Satan’s doings in your soul and in your life underneath Her feet. He can be humiliated forever inside your very being, by the One who has got the power to do so.
13. Tabernacle of the Holy Trinity
A tabernacle is a sacred stay in which Divinity dwells. Mary became a living Tabernacle: From the beginning She was the Bearer of the most varied seeds of the Eternal Father, She was completely filled with the Holy Spirit, and for nine months She carried God’s Son in Her womb. Furthermore for all eternity She will carry Jesus' Heart and Divinity inside Her own Heart, and She will forever be perfectly united with the Holy Spirit. Mary is called the Seat of Wisdom because She carries the Holy Spirit with Her all the time and wherever She goes. Thus Mary is the Tabernacle of the Triune God in Her soul and body, meaning concretely She was sanctified completely down to the very core of Her Being. This is one of the reasons why Mary is said to have been 'divinized', because Her entire Being is pervaded with Divinity. Owing to this prerogative there is essentially no way to separate the Divine and the human in Mary: If you add milk to water, how are you going to separate both substances?
14. Bridge between Heaven and earth
Mary was predestined to be the bridge between Heaven and earth, the link between God and the souls. A bridge is a construction which is intended to join two places, for instance both banks of a river. The river can be regarded as a sort of gully which makes it impossible to move smoothly from one strip of land to another (except in an unusual way, so not on foot or by car or train, but only swimming or in a boat through the water itself). So the bridge is a junction you can not circumvent without letting yourself in for some kind of difficulty, meaning it takes some willingness and determination to make a special effort. Thus God indicates it is hard to circumvent Mary for a soul who wants some insurance on her journey to Heaven. This means Mary can be a very great help for you to bring your prayers before God in the purest possible disposition, to make the transition to Eternal Bliss easier for you, as well as to transfer God’s inspirations to your heart. Mary is second to none when it comes to guiding you safely to God. So Her power is apparent from Her uniquely sublime and privileged position: She is virtually indispensable for any soul who wants to communicate deeply and purely with God or to increase her chances of entering into Eternal Bliss, as well as for each soul who wants to put her acquired merits to use for the souls to reap greater benefits from the distribution of graces.
This does not mean, to be sure, that you are not able to pray without invoking Mary’s intervention or intermediary, but it does mean that the efficacy of your communication with God is very likely to be increased considerably as soon as you allow Mary to partake in it (by going through Her Heart to God, in a way similar to crossing a bridge which spares you the pain of having to wade or to swim through the water). Due to the fact God presents Mary to the souls as a Mirror of His power and as the model of absolutely glorified human nature Her capacity as the Bridge between Heaven and earth is going to be all the more pronounced: It is as if She would bend forward towards the earth with Her arms stretched out to help you cross the chasm separating you from Heaven, as you would not be able to cross it by your own efforts.
15. Mother of Perpetual Help
Mary’s unparalleled power makes Her the most suitable Helper for the satisfaction of all of your needs. She assists all Her children (i.e. all human souls) for the entire duration of their lives, yet Her assistance will only be fruitful to the extent to which the souls actually long for it and accept it whole-heartedly. Assistance is not forced upon a soul, it is given you only if you ask for it. This is why especially the soul who is totally consecrated to Mary is going to reap the full benefits of Her perpetual help: To those who are totally consecrated to Mary and actually live their consecration in all and any aspects of daily life Mary is constantly the great Assistant on their journey through life. There can only be genuine consecration if you involve Mary in every detail of your life. Mary’s power as the Mother of perpetual help is based on Her ability to simultaneously assist all people who call upon Her for help, and to do so in a way no soul could ever match. She is also the only One who has complete and unlimited access to the hidden depths of each soul. This is exactly why She is the only One who is able to guide and help you in all aspects of your life (including your inner life). There is not one single field in your life in which Mary would not be able to offer you perfect assistance, for God has clothed Her with an unlimited power and wisdom. She has got the ability to do everything, She knows everything, and She is ready and willing to do everything, provided it is in accordance with God’s Plan.
16. Queen of Peace
God made Mary Queen over everything. She is also the Queen of Peace, and this She is in many respects. Mary is living Love. Wherever She gets to accomplish Her Works no war, no discord or quarrels can flourish. First and foremost, however, She is the Ruler over any heart that is willing to accept this rule. A heart that is visited by Her is transformed into a stronghold of inner Peace. True Peace of heart is the foundation of a heart that is moulded by Mary into a construction of sanctity. She who possesses the power to invest hearts with true Peace, the Peace of Christ, thereby possesses the power to make these hearts increasingly less sensitive to all kinds of temptations. This is what makes this ability one of the many weapons with which Mary can force Satan to his knees at Her feet. By bringing true inner Peace to fruition in human hearts She defeats the devil in these hearts. This is how She sows the germs of the Kingdom of God’s Peace and Love on earth. In proportion as true Peace of heart gets the opportunity to rule a larger number of souls all discord, quarrels and wars can be banned from this world. This way a lot of wind can be taken out of Satan’s sails, for he is the one who is constantly trying to ruin mankind by sowing the seed of discontent, dissatisfaction, resentment and any kind of hard feelings into the hearts.
17. Bearer of elements of Divine power
Mary was invested by God with elements of His power. She was predestined by the Most High to be His Representative, His Proxy towards human souls. Divine Mysteries were revealed to Her, She has got full knowledge of them. She has received the power to implement Divine Decrees. The Triune God exercises His creative power through the Eternal Father, the power of redemption through the Son Jesus Christ, and the sanctifying power through the Holy Spirit. Mary revealed to me She was the only creature to be invested by God with elements of His power. As the Co-Redemptrix She was granted to partake in the power of redemption, as the Spouse of the Holy Spirit She partakes in the power of sanctification. The creative power lies with the Eternal Father, but especially as to the Last Times (the times in which the final victory of 'the Woman' over the serpent (Satan) is to be accomplished, God invested Mary with the power of re-creation: She possesses the sovereign power to re-shape life, in other words: to transform or heal it.
She has received the everlasting right to exercise this power in a sovereign way, i.e. on Her own authority. Mary enjoys this prerogative by virtue of Her Immaculate Conception and Her eternal sinlessness. Both these capacities have allowed for Mary’s Being to reflect the ideal image of "being and living in the image of God": Mary is a creature, and therefore not divine by nature. However, God 'divinized' Her in the order of grace. This means He granted Her the unique prerogative of being so similar to His nature that, although She did not share His Divine Being, She is nevertheless invested with traits of His Being, as well as the power associated with these traits.
18. Defeatress of temptation and sin
Mary is the only human soul who never ever bowed down before the power of Satan. He never ever succeeded in making Her give in to any temptation. I remind you of paragraphs 8 and 12 of the present chapter and point to the fact Mary had Satan in Her power at any moment of Her life. When Her vital principle was created in God’s Heart She was presented to the angels as their Mistress. Those who wanted to defy Her control were humiliated by Mary during Her entire life on earth, through their unfruitful attempts to cause Her to fall. Now we are living in a time in which the final victory of the Woman over the serpent from hell is being prepared.
The fact this world would seem to be completely under Satan’s control, is due to two developments: First of all human souls are massively and without restraint giving in to the countless temptations from modern society, so much so that Mary is no longer able to intervene because Divine Law decrees for man’s free will to be respected to the fullest. Secondly the serpent is causing a great deal of harm because it is already cringing underneath Mary’s foot: Satan is ever more intensely subjected to Her unlimited power and is attempting in vain to escape from it. He is cringing all the more vigorously as greater numbers of souls consecrate themselves totally to Mary and actually live this consecration in day-to-day practice. A floundering serpent tosses its tail, and in so doing can cause much harm yet.
On account of Mary’s total power over all sin and temptation She can be referred to as the Remedy for all temptation. Whoever gets the feeling a weakness is making them give in to a temptation can be set free from this oppression by supplicating Mary for Her assistance. She then wields Her power over Satan and is able to 'win the tempted soul over' to such an extent as to make the latter refrain from giving in to the seeming need which was aroused by the temptation. This hidden influence Mary exercises on the heart of man may be regarded as one of the major expressions of Her power, for delivering a soul from a temptation and thereby keeping her free from sin is a miracle which keeps repeating itself. This is how you should understand Mary’s title as the Refuge of sinners: Whoever feel soiled by temptation or feels burdened by committed sins can expect salvation and blessings if kneeling down at Mary’s feet and opening their hearts to Her. Often She will also arouse in such souls the suitable inspirations and the necessary courage to proceed to making a thorough confession.
19. Mistress of all virtues
Virtues are all properties a soul should develop in order to achieve ever higher degrees of perfection (sanctity). All these properties, which are actually seeds God has entrusted to your soul, but which will ripen and germinate only to the extent to which your own efforts make full use of the graces received, were present in Mary in absolute perfection. She is the Mistress of all virtues because She mastered all of these elements of perfection already at the most tender age. If She had not possessed absolute perfection God would not have been able to make Her the Mistress of the angels, nor would He have been able to crown Her as the Queen of Heaven and earth. Mary’s capacity as the Mistress of all virtues makes Her the most suitable among the glorified souls to guide you on your path to sanctity, for this is what you are called to aim for as a Christian. Whoever tries to follow Mary in all details of life and strictly obeys Her every beck and call while She is guiding the soul on her journey through life will find in Her the perfect Teacher and the perfect Mistress. She has got everything it takes to rule your entire life and your entire being. The idiom saying you ought to take shelter under Mary’s cloak actually means you ought to pray for Her to clothe you with Her virtues. Under Mary’s cloak is, in a manner of speaking, the place where the fullness of Her perfume of sanctity can be found, a perfume which will be able to pervade you all the more thoroughly as you come closer to Her. As soon as you show Mary your desire that She may establish Her Kingdom inside of you She will be able to work the wonders for which She has received full power. Trust in Her, for She is the perfect Mirror of God.
20. Mistress of all souls
In November 2005 Mary started revealing Herself to Myriam in a new way: She suddenly referred to Herself by the title of 'the powerful Mistress of all souls'. Mary Herself emphasizes the fact She is now revealing this capacity as Her pre-eminent capacity for these Last Times. Let us allow Her to explain this capacity by quoting from the following Revelations:
| "It is God’s Will that in this hour I should be revealed to mankind as the Mistress of all souls (...) As the Mistress of all souls I will be presented to the souls in the unlimited power God has granted Me over the souls and through which I will be the reflection of His image in the hearts. I rule the hearts that are totally consecrated to Me (...) As the Mistress of all souls I want to prepare the hearts for the Kingdom My Son preached during His Life on earth and the standard of which He planted in the earth in the shape of His Cross. This is how I want to introduce real Divine Life into the souls. My power will re-create everything which lies in ruins, for I am the Bridge between Heaven and earth (...)". |
A week later Mary revealed:
| "The miracle to end all miracles, God’s Kingdom on earth, will be established when human souls have managed to bring My Love to perfection within themselves and implore the intervention of God’s Will. God’s word of consent will resound as soon as I, in My capacity as the Queen of Heaven and earth and Mistress of all souls, will clothe this merger between Love and God’s Will with My power. I am the Woman, in Me lies the fruit of the Kingdom, and therefore the power of the victory of the Light". |
A few days later She added:
| "Upon you I confer the mission of preparing the hearts for the reception and open acceptance of this Truth: Mary is the sovereign Mistress of all souls". |
A few days later yet Mary said:
| "When contemplating the crushing power displayed through My capacity as the Mistress of all souls also the ruins of dilapidated temples are going to rise again, longing for Me to come and dwell in them" (by 'temples' Mary understands the souls; the 'ruins of dilapidated temples' are souls who, due to sin, indifference, tepidity etcetera, have drifted away very far from Christian life and therefore no longer bear within themselves the true force of Life). |
Another day later Mary revealed:
| "Among the creatures there was never one at whom the world and Satan took more offense than at Me. From the very beginning Satan hated Me because of the power I had over him. I, a woman with human blood, was presented to him by God as his Mistress. From the very beginning The Most High demanded total submission of every being to Me. He expects this even more in these times, in which His Plan of Salvation is unfolding and is being accomplished in every detail. I am the Implementer of this Plan. This is why God expects the Church militant to recognize and openly accept Me more than ever as the Mistress of all souls. Referring to Me by this title is a mighty slap in Satan’s face. Total submission of a soul to Mary drives him insane with powerlessness. Tell the souls that, wherever they will invoke Me with Love and with the deepest veneration as the "powerful Mistress of all souls", I will command Satan to prostrate himself at My feet". |
Later yet She spoke as follows:
| "In these Last Times the Most High wants the unlimited and sovereign power of Mary, the Immaculate Conception, as the Mistress of all souls to be revealed. He wants to reveal the power I hold over the human souls and over Satan and his following". |
These words were followed by the statement:
| "God’s grace of truly delivering mankind from evil is waiting for mankind to recognize and accept Me as the Mistress of all souls". |
Later:
| "As the Most High is longing for the One who is invested with elements of divine power to be recognized in Her capacity as the Mistress of all souls and as He wishes the human souls to subject themselves to Me, mankind has got the opportunity to redeem many debts toward Divine Justice through accepting the exercise of My unparalleled power. This is going to open up the Well of Divine Love for the latter to be poured down upon mankind in unprecedented streams. Thus mankind will get to know this Well as the Source of all Life, and will have to become aware of the fact that I have obtained all of this for its benefit in My capacity as the Mistress of all souls". |
Mary also revealed:
| "Tell the souls they need to recognize and praise Me as the powerful Mistress of all souls and to recognize that My power is delivering them from Satan. The Most High wishes Me to demonstrate My invincible power over Satan in a sovereign way. I want the souls to first and foremost recognize My power over them before mankind can obtain My exercising this power over Satan to the fullest. Satan is underneath My feet for all the ages, My victory over him has been a well-established fact as of the hour in which God presented Me to him as his Queen and Mistress while he was still an angel, but I want to see the human souls at my feet, too, like the Most High wants it, through their total and heartfelt consecration to Me. Give Me souls as a soil on which I can erect My Kingdom as the Mistress of all souls, so that, in My capacity as the Queen of the Last Times, I may be able to proclaim God’s Kingdom on earth. The totally humiliated devil underneath My powerful foot, and a host of servants at My feet, will be the trophies of My power; then the souls will experience the reason why I am called the Queen of Love". |
Later still Mary said:
| "I am the powerful Mistress of all souls, yet but a tiny number of souls recognize Me as the Mistress. Except for God all beings, all things, all souls in heaven, on earth and under the earth are subjected to Me. In Heaven I am greeted, served and praised with subdued deference. Except for God the entire and vast celestial Court lies prostrated at My feet. In hell I am cursed and hated. On earth I am largely unappreciated, despised and neglected. Many do love Me, yet rare are those who are lying at My feet" (Mary is obviously referring to the souls who are totally consecrated to Her). |
In January 2006 Mary spoke the following words:
| "I am the Mistress of all souls. I have been given power to transform things, to re-create them. This is why I long so ardently for everything to be consecrated to Me. As soon as something is laid underneath My feet, it irrevocably changes. That which is in accordance with God’s Plan is sanctified under My feet. That which is not in accordance with God’s Plan is annihilated or rendered ineffective under My feet. Thus I have got the power to inspire new Life and to restrain that which poses a threat to Life. If the souls should understand the power of consecration to Me, they would lay everything underneath My feet, including themselves". |
Through these excerpts from the Revelations by the Mistress of all souls it may be clear to you what unparalleled power is invested in Mary for these Last Times. You should therefore be aware that your total consecration to Her puts you under the rule of a Being who is able to change everything in you.
OBSERVATION IN CONCLUSION
You have certainly heard people say there is no such thing as happiness in this world. This is definitely true for the soul who has firmly taken root in worldly things. Yet you can get a taste of true happiness even while living on earth. The key to the treasury of happiness lies in total consecration to Mary. Whoever consecrate themselves to Mary totally, unconditionally and for the entire duration of their lives, and actually live this consecration in every single detail of daily life, will experience deep down the feeling that the true vocation in life, the true destination, the real purpose in life have taken root in their very hearts. This discovery is the beginning of an ever growing serenity and peace inside. Countless are the souls who spend endless amounts of time searching for the meaning of life. For the soul who has given herself to Mary completely this search has come to an end: Total and undivided consecration to Mary is the true art of living. She gives you true happiness because in this attitude towards life your soul finds exactly what she has unconsciously been longing for all along, for already in the hour in which the soul was created God provided her with the need for leading a life which makes her ready to be admitted to God’s Heart any time.
The lifestyle which is best in line with this goal is the one of total consecration to Mary. Mary was predestined by the Most High to be Queen of Heaven and earth and Mistress of all souls. On account of Her sublimity and of the fact She is the perfect Bridge between God and mankind there is no more natural way to go to God than the one of total surrender of yourself and your entire journey through life to Mary. She was chosen by God to be the Mistress over the implementation of God’s Plan of Salvation for the benefit of the human souls. This Plan consists of the Redemption and sanctification of all souls and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth. For this purpose Mary was invested with elements of Divine power, so much so that She has got power over all living things as well. This is why She has got an unlimited power over your soul and body. Nevertheless God expects you to surrender to Mary of your own free will, for only then will She be able to deploy the fullness of Her power to the effect of transforming you into a useful building stone in the foundation of God’s Kingdom.
Mary is often depicted with the globe underneath Her feet. This is exactly the great symbol of Her sovereign power over all that lives on earth. She is going to use this power to deliver the world from the effects from the works of Satan, who has been controlling mankind ever since the original sin was committed. Thus She will establish Her Kingdom on earth, which is also the Kingdom of God. The first fruits of Mary’s rule you can experience even during your life on earth, by throwing yourself down at Her feet and making the explicit vow you want to be Hers completely with your entire being, your entire life and all your doings. Then, in a manner of speaking, you become a tool in Mary’s hands, but your reward for this in Eternal Life is downright unimaginable. As a soul who is totally consecrated to Mary you are a direct collaborator in the accomplishment of God’s Works. Only the extent to which your life has been useful to God is going to determine the merits you gain and which grant you access to eternal bliss in Heaven.
A life of the utmost service to Mary, the Mistress of all souls, is the destination God Himself opened up to every soul, as it is the way towards the accomplishment of His Plan of Salvation for the souls. It is your holy duty to help prepare souls to become servants of Mary themselves, and it is the holy duty of all servants of Mary to support one another to the utmost in accomplishing this mission, which is often so difficult, yet is second to none in beauty and merits. The souls who are truly, sincerely and totally consecrated to Mary are called upon to serve as foundations for the return to the state the young Church of Christ was in, right after His Ascension into Heaven: a very tightly knit group of souls, sparkling with enthusiasm, unshakeable faith, ardent Love and a heart-warming sense of coherence, solidarity and mutual assistance. These characteristics will be the sign of Mary, which will be left on the hearts like a mark of fire.
In order to advance the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth it is now high time for the souls to build a chain of Light in total, unconditional and lifelong consecration to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. The number of souls who consecrate themselves totally must increase, and actually living this consecration in day-to-day practice should be deepened. This is the only way to delivering mankind from the devastating grip of Satan. Those who are lamenting about how bad the world is, can make the first contribution by refraining completely from their attitude of discouragement about their fellow people and surrendering completely to Mary in ardent prayer, a sense of making sacrifices and a sense of penance. Souls and journeys through life should be laid down at Mary’s feet, in order that She may get the opportunity to unfold the fullness of the power God has given Her. Mary longs for ardent consecrations in confirmation of Her power in the hearts. Mary’s Work in these Last Times is the climax of the Works of Redemption wrought by Jesus Christ. Throw yourself down before Her in sincere humbleness, and give Her yourself like a full-fledged sacrificial offering. Mary’s feet are to complete the deliverance of mankind, for so it has been decreed by God for all times.
Total consecration to Mary is the major key to the treasury of true happiness for yet another reason: Consecration to Mary is a journey of discovery towards the very core of your soul. No other way of life can yield such profound knowledge of your true nature, your weaknesses, and therefore the points which should be improved if you are to fully develop as a human soul. This is how Mary works: First and foremost She will clean up the temples in which She wants to dwell and rule. This cleaning can be done only through your becoming aware of your faults, weaknesses and your inclination to fall for any temptations. This is why a life of total consecration to Mary is the sublime way to a state of being which is a regular source of deep satisfaction and enables the soul to find a lasting equanimity and peace of heart.
God wants to lead mankind back to the state of sanctity it possessed in Adam and Eve before they committed the original sin. This is exactly the reason why total consecration to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary is the royal path to God. Mary is the Immaculate Conception, She is the only human soul ever since Adam and Eve who was born without the stain of the original sin, and She is the only One who has preserved the perfect state of sanctity for the entire duration of Her life. Through total consecration to Her you show your intention to be moulded in Her model and similar to Her nature, which is actually tantamount to a return to the initial state of sanctity God had intended the human souls to possess.
In this respect the total, unconditional and lifelong consecration to Mary, which is lived strictly in everyday life, should be regarded as the last resort for the souls and for the world as a whole. The total, intensely lived consecration to Mary is the ultimate source of true happiness. This is also the essence of the message Mary is bringing to mankind in our days in the revelations She conveys to Myriam in Her capacity as 'the powerful Mistress of all souls'. Maybe the most encouraging thing is the fact the souls are motivated by their Mistress to collaborate actively in bringing about their liberation.
If consecration to Mary is practised strictly and ardently total consecration means living in perfect accordance with God’s Will and God’s Plans, for Mary is the only created soul in whom God was perfectly and boundlessly well pleased. Mary’s goal is the sanctification of the souls who sincerely consecrate themselves to Her. It is your holy duty to give Her the chance to do so, by sincerely aspiring after a life filled with all virtues and in total self-denial for the benefit of the accomplishment of God’s major Plan: the establishment of His Kingdom on earth.
All that is consecrated to Mary with faith and true Love can no longer be controlled by Satan. This is why nothing is able to bring more Light upon the world than totally consecrating to Mary all souls, every journey through life, each event, situation and trial. The most powerful consecration is the one which is actually lived ardently by the soul concerned. If need be, the initial act of consecration can be phrased by a different soul in the presence of the one for whom it is intended, but the responsibility for living it, and therefore for making it fruitful, lies with the consecrated soul herself. Consecrating yourself to Mary is like giving Her the keys to your car, so that She becomes the Mistress of your car and can sit down behind the wheel in order to help determine the course of your journey. You then give Her complete control of your journey through life. Consecrating a soul who is not present, is like engaging Mary to be a traffic warden or a police officer: She does not conduct your vehicle, She merely helps clear specific roads for the soul to travel on. Do not ever forget total consecration to Mary is a sacred covenant between the consecrated soul and Mary. Do not conclude this covenant lightly, it has got far-reaching consequences for your Eternal Bliss as well as for that of other souls.
One does not give birth to a child just to let it starve afterwards. Well then, total consecration to Mary is a rebirth for your soul, and every day it is expected of you that you allow this big event to be substantiated by longing ardently to be all and undividedly Mary’s. Do not allow your rebirth of Mary to be a stillborn fruit, or do not give birth to this fruit just to let it wither for lack of food (the latter meaning the failure to practise the consecration in everyday life).
Once Myriam was shown total consecration to Mary in an image depicting an isolated Easter daffodil in a dense fog. The flower symbolizes the soul. The heavenly fog is Mary, who embraces the flower completely (She takes it up into Her Heart) because the soul wants to be Hers (the soul opens up in search for the Light). As soon as the soul allows herself to be 'taken over' by Mary (= declares herself to be owned by Mary), Mary will go to any length to encourage the soul to turn her eyes away from the world. It is as if Mary shields Her property from the influences from the world and weaves a 'heavenly curtain' around the soul. The fog brings water of life into the flower and nourishes it with the immaterial force of the morning dew, so that it is prepared completely for the coming of the Light from the Sun (Christ). The remarkable thing is, that the flower is shown to me as an Easter daffodil, a symbol of Resurrection, hence of Eternal Life. The soul who surrenders to Mary completely is withdrawn by Her from the world and prepared for the reception of the full influence of Christ, the Light of the world, and is thus guided towards Eternal Life.
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THE SHIELD FOR MARIAN CONSECRATION Total consecration to Mary is a holy covenant between you and the Mistress of all souls. She is perfection incarnated, you are the weaker link, because being human you are subject to weaknesses. How can you provide security to your consecration?
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BASIC ACT OF CONSECRATION TO MARY
(Myriam van Nazareth)
Heavenly Mother Mary,
I want to be all Yours, in all my actions, words, thoughts, feelings, hopes and desires.
Help me to serve You in love, purity, devotion and joy at every moment of my life.
May this offering of my whole being to You sanctify my soul and deliver the world from the power of evil, so that God’s Kingdom on earth may come.
"Oh Mother, this is the blissful death I long for: to die on the stake of my own heart, consumed in the flames of the holy fire You have lit inside of me, with my mind rooted in the Heavenly Light you have granted my eyes to behold, and with a soul in which all seeds You have cast into it are blossoming with flowers bearing Your name. For the Lamb will have completely satisfied my hunger, the Blood of Christ will have completely quenched my thirst, the Cross will have merged with me completely by my uninterrupted embrace. Then I will join You drinking the wedding chalice from which my heart has been tasting in the kisses with which you kindled my fire in the sacred hours of ecstasy. Oh Holy Spirit, do come, so that the fire of this desire may burn every stain from my soul, for I want to be holy for the One who called me to be Her sole possession". (Myriam, during ardent contemplative evening prayer, November 2, 2003)
"Oh Mother, through Your hands God had entrusted the seed to me. I will not rest until it has turned into a blooming orchard in my heart and I will be able to offer God ripe fruits in abundance. Every suffering human You send my way is a gift from God. The suffering I am allowed to endure for this soul is the greatest privilege from the treasuries of Heaven. It is the ring of the wedding which, in a manner of speaking, You keep consummating with me". (Myriam, immediately preceding an experience of ecstasy in evening prayer, December 10, 2003)
| "If the souls should understand the power of consecrating things and souls to Me, they would lay everything down at My feet, including themselves. Then I would be able to truly rule everything, and My kingdom would expand very soon". (MARY to Myriam, Revelations from the powerful Mistress of all souls, January 5, 2006)
Let us remind ourselves of the fact that 'My kingdom' – the kingdom of Mary – is understood to mean nothing other than the kingdom of Christ, God’s kingdom on earth. |
In Voluntate Dei,
Myriam, at the service of the Mistress of all souls,
January 2006 (date of completion of the original version of this writing in Dutch)