Totus Tuus!
Today is the feast day of
St. Louis de Montfort who developed this devotion and total consecration that Pope John Paul II cited as the foundation of his spirituality. It is the motto of this blog and family as well.
"O Mary, I take you for my all; give me your heart."
Pope John Paul II made and lived total consecration to Jesus through Mary according to the formula of St. Louis de Montfort. He referred specifically to this Marian devotion in section 48 of his encyclical Mother of the Redeemer (“Redemptoris Mater”). He also referred to it in his book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, in the chapter entitled, “The Mother of God,” and in Gift and Mystery, in the chapter entitled “The Marian Thread.”
Pope John Paul II’s Latin motto, ‘Totus Tuus,’ is emblazoned on his papal coat of arms. This Latin motto is literally translated as: “All Yours.” In Gift and Mystery, he reveals the origin and meaning of this motto: The phrase comes from St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort. It is an abbreviation of a more complete form of entrustment to the Mother of God which runs like this: Totus Tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. Accipio Te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor Tuum, Maria. (I am all yours, and all I have is yours. I welcome you into all my affairs and concerns. Show me your heart, O Mary.)
The commitment of this consecration requires one to surrender everything without any reservation in order to put it all in Mary’s hands. She utilizes this sacrifice to lead and help those who make it to “do whatever he tells you.”(cf. John 2:5). Doing whatever Jesus tells us means simply fulfilling our responsibilities at each present moment. St. Louis calls this consecration a “secret” because so few discover and take full advantage of it. In section 172 of his treatise on True Devotion he writes:
“It must be noted that our good works, passing through Mary’s hands, are progressively purified. Consequently, their merit and their satisfactory and prayer value are also increased. That is why they become much more effective in relieving the souls in Purgatory and in converting sinners than if they did not pass through the virginal and liberal hands of Mary…the little that we give to the Blessed Virgin is truly powerful enough to appease the anger of God and draw down his mercy.” (Cardinal Luigi Ciappi, the former papal theologian, calls this the “Marian Multiplier”.)
- All this taken from Catholic Familyland, as we have used and enjoyed their Family Consecration materials that add the writings of Pope JPII and include union with St. Joseph to the Montfort Consecration.
And so today, on the homeschool docket, we have the following....
I will recap the read-aloud book on St. Louis de Montfort that I read the children recently and we will also watch his VHS biography.
