J.M.J.
Before Holy Communion
"266. 1) Place yourself humbly in the presence of God.
2) Renounce your corrupt nature and
dispositions, no matter how good self-love makes them appear to you.
3) Renew your consecration saying, 'I
belong entirely to you, dear Mother, and all that I have is yours.'
4) Implore Mary to lend you her heart so that
you may receive her Son with her dispositions. Remind her that her Son's glory requires
that he should not come into a heart so sullied and fickle as your own, which could not
fail to diminish his glory and might cause him to leave. Tell her that if she will take up
her abode in you to receive her Son--which she can do because of the sovereignty she has
over all hearts--he will be received by her in a perfect manner without danger of being
affronted or being forced to depart. 'God is in the midst of her. She shall not
be moved.'
Tell her with confidence that all you have given her of your possessions
is little enough to honor her, but that in Holy Communion you wish to give her the same
gifts as the eternal Father gave her. Thus she will feel more honored than if you gave
her all the wealth in the world. Tell her, finally, that Jesus, whose love for her is
unique, still wishes to take his delight and his repose in her even in your soul, even
though it is poorer and less clean than the stable which he readily entered because she
was there. Beg her to lend you her heart, saying, 'O Mary, I take you for my all;
give me your heart.'"
During Holy Communion
"267. After the Our Father, when you are about to receive our Lord, say
to Him three times the prayer, 'Lord, I am not worthy.' Say it the first time as
if you were telling the eternal Father that because of your evil thoughts and your
ingratitude to such a good Father, you are unworthy to receive His only-begotten Son, but
that here is Mary, His handmaid, who acts for you and whose presence gives you a special
confidence and hope in Him.
"268. Say to God the Son, 'Lord, I am not worthy', meaning that
you are not worthy to receive Him because of your useless and evil words and your
carelessness in His service, but nevertheless you ask Him to have pity on you because you
are going to usher Him into the house of His Mother and yours, and you will not let Him go
until He has made it His home. Implore Him to rise and come to the place of His repose and
the ark of His sanctification. Tell Him that you have no faith in your own merits,
strength and preparedness, like Esau, but only in Mary, your Mother, just as Jacob had
trust in Rebecca his mother. Tell Him that although you are a great sinner you still
presume to approach Him, supported by His holy Mother and adorned with her merits and
virtues.
"269. Say to the Holy Spirit, 'Lord, I am not worthy'. Tell Him
that you are not worthy to receive the masterpiece of His love because of your
luke-warmness, wickedness and resistance to his inspirations. But, nonetheless, you put
all your confidence in Mary, His faithful Spouse, and say with St. Bernard, 'She is
my greatest safeguard, the whole foundation of my hope.' Beg him to overshadow Mary, His inseparable Spouse, once again. Her womb is as pure and her heart as ardent as ever.
Tell Him that if He does not enter your soul neither Jesus nor Mary will be formed there
nor will it be a worthy dwelling for Them.
After Holy Communion
"270. After Holy Communion, close your eyes and recollect yourself. Then
usher Jesus into the Heart of Mary: you are giving Him to His Mother who will receive Him
with great love and give Him the place of honor, adore Him profoundly, show Him perfect
love, embrace Him intimately in spirit and in truth, and perform many offices for Him of
which we, in our ignorance, would know nothing.
"271. Or, maintain a profoundly humble heart in the presence of Jesus
dwelling in Mary. Or be in attendance like a slave at the gate of the royal palace, where
the King is speaking with the Queen. While They are talking to each other, with no need of
you, go in spirit to Heaven and to the whole world, and call upon all creatures to thank,
adore and love Jesus and Mary for you. "Come, let us adore."
"272. Or, ask Jesus living in Mary that His kingdom may come upon earth
through His holy Mother. Ask for divine Wisdom, divine love, the forgiveness of your sins,
or any other grace, but always through Mary and in Mary. Cast a look of reproach upon
yourself and say, 'Lord, do not look at my sins, let your eyes see nothing in me but
the virtues and merits of Mary.' Remembering your sins, you may add, 'I am
my own worst enemy and I am guilty of all these sins.' Or, 'Deliver me from the
unjust and deceitful man.' Or again, 'Dear Jesus, You must increase in my soul
and I must decrease.' 'Mary, you must increase in me and I must always go on
decreasing.' 'O Jesus and Mary, increase in me and increase in others
around me.'
"273. There are innumerable other thoughts with which the Holy Spirit
will inspire you, which He will make yours if you are thoroughly recollected and
mortified, and constantly faithful to the great and sublime devotion which I have been
teaching you. But remember, the more you let Mary act in your Communion the more Jesus
will be glorified. The more you humble yourself and listen to Jesus and Mary in peace and
silence--with no desire to see, taste or feel--then the more freedom you will give to
Mary to act in Jesus' Name and the more Jesus will act in Mary. For the just man lives
everywhere by faith, but especially in Holy Communion, which is an action of faith."
--Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 266-273.
--Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 266-273.
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