The Union of Our Will with Mary (An Allocution to the Legion of Mary)

Today is a wonderful day to be talking about True Devotion to the Most Holy Mother of God, since today in the calendar of the Byzantine Church is the feast of the Dormition of Saint Anna, her mother. In the discussion in the handbook regarding True Devotion to Mary, we find that we have a wonderful opportunity to note the development of doctrine. Naturally, the handbook speaks on the authority of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, the great teacher and proponent of the devotion. Nevertheless, the doctrine of True Devotion to Mary has been further expounded and deepened since the late 20th century, because of the Church's reception of the teachings of St. Maximilian Kolbe. In St. Maximilian's thought, slavery to Mary has become living in Mary.

The world's living expert on the spirituality of St. Maximilian, Father Emile Neubert writes that the devotion consists in loving Jesus with the Heart of Mary and loving Mary with the Heart of Jesus. In other words, what is important is for Mary's devotee to have a union of will with her. Neubert very carefully lays out the way in which we can reasonably ascertain the will of the Mother of God, so that we can join ourselves to it– so that we can live in it.

The first element in the union of our will with the Mother of God is a very strong preference and love for the duties of state. In our lives, we all have things that we must do because they are incumbent on us due to our state. These things should be preferred above everything else. They are not to be accepted grudgingly, but preferred and loved.

Second, there is the consideration of what the devotee of the Mother of God would do with his or her free time. Neubert reminds us that we must be equally united to Mary's will in our leisure time as we are when we are attending to our duties. Each moment has to be assessed with the question, "how can I love Jesus through Mary in this time and place?"

This second consideration, in fact, has two parts or aspects: one active and one passive. The active element of it is assaying one's actions, asking oneself how to love Jesus in the present moment. The passive element lies in lovingly accepting everything that God permits, since for those who love God, He makes everything work together unto good. In other words, His Will is not like ours, which has to permit things that we cannot prevent. God can prevent anything, but He chooses to permit certain things for our good, working for our salvation in an often ineffable way. Knowing that his Providence is active for us, we have to lovingly accept everything that comes to us from the hand of God, according to the example given to us by the Mother of God. Neubert gives a long list of all the seemingly disastrous circumstances that occurred in the life of the Mother of God and then highlights the way that she accepted them with meekness and trust.

In other words, to be truly devoted to the Mother of God certainly means everything that St. Louis-Marie de Monfort told us in the 17th century, but it also includes the great riches that developed from his teaching in the 20th century through the spirituality of St. Maximilian Kolbe. We do not content ourselves with being the slaves of Mary, but we strive to be "in Mary," united completely to her will, lovingly fulfilling the duties of our state and accepting everything that comes to us from the hand of God.