​St. Louis de Montfort teaches that having a devotion to Mary will lead us to Christ in the most perfect way. There are also many examples in books such as St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s. Glories of Mary, and St. Louis de Montfort’s, Secret of the Rosary that show that even having a remote devotion to Mary can be of help to the salvation of our souls. This knowledge is not to make us sloppy or careless in our love for God and His Mother, but to help us see the immense love and care Mary has for all of Her children. She is so attentive to the needs of all of us that She will ask the Father for almost the impossible if someone has showed Her the least little act of love toward Her. Here is such an example – may we foster true devotion to Her and explain to others Her great intercessory power before the throne of God.
                   
We read in the revelations of St. Bridget, that there was once a lord as noble by birth as he was low and sinful in his habits. He had given himself by an express compact, as a slave to the devil, and had served him for sixty years, leading such a life as may easily be imagined, and never approaching the sacraments. Now, this prince was about to die and Jesus Christ, in His compassion, commanded St. Bridget to tell his confessor to visit him, and exhort him, to make his confession. The confessor went, and the sick man told him that he had no need of a confessor, for that he had often made his confession. The confessor visited him a second time and that poor slave of hell persevered in his obstinate determination not to make his confession. Jesus again directed the saint to tell the confessor to go to him again. He obeyed, and this third time related to him the revelation made to the saint, and that he had returned so many times because the Lord, who desired to show him mercy, had directed him to do so.
 
On hearing this, the dying man was moved, and began to weep. "But how," he exclaimed, "can I be pardoned, when for sixty years I have served the devil, made myself his slave, and have laden my soul with innumerable sins?"
 
"Son," answered the father, encouraging him, "Do not doubt: if you repent of them, in the name of God I promise you pardon." Then, beginning to gain confidence, he said to the confessor: "Father, I believed myself lost, and despaired of salvation; but now I feel a sorrow for my sins, which encourages me to trust; and as God has not yet abandoned me, I wish to make my confession." And in fact on that day he made his confession with great sorrow; the next day he received communion, and on the sixth he died contrite and entirely resigned.
 
After his death, Jesus Christ further revealed to St. Bridget, that this sinner was saved, and was in Purgatory, and that he had been saved by the intercession of the Virgin, His Mother; for the deceased, although he had led so sinful a life, yet had always preserved devotion to her Dolors (Seven Sorrows); whenever he remembered them he pitied Her.
 
PRAYER
Oh my afflicted Mother! Queen of martyrs and of sorrows, You have shed so many tears for Your Son, who died for my salvation, and yet what will Your tears avail me, if I am lost? By the merits, then, of Your Dolors, obtain for me a true sorrow for my sins, and a true amendment of life, with a perpetual and tender compassion for the passion of Jesus and Your own sufferings.
 
Oh my Mother, by the grief You did experience on seeing Your Son before Your eyes bow His head and expire upon the cross, I entreat You to obtain for me a holy death. Ah, do not cease, oh Advocate of sinners, to assist my afflicted and struggling soul in that great passage that it has to make into eternity I now invoke Your Son and You to help me at that last moment, and I say: Jesus and Mary, to you I commend my soul. Amen.
 

CONFIDENCE IN GOD THROUGH MARY
 
St. Pius X was particularly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the specific title of Our Lady of Confidence; his papal encyclical Ad diem illum expresses his desire through Mary to renew all things in Christ, which he had defined as his motto in his first encyclical. St. Pius X believed that there was no surer or more direct road than by the Virgin Mary to achieve this goal.

We find an example of Mary’s teachings in the “City of God” by Mother Mary Agreda of what keeps souls from this confidence.  Our Lady tells her that the Marys and the Apostles, although they were followers of Christ, they lacked certain confidence because they were not perfect in virtue and were weak in faith and that they were less constant and fervent than was due to their vocation and to the graces they had received. It is because of this that Jesus appeared at one time as a gardener, at another as a stranger and why He did not always make Himself known at first sight. They were not prepared for the immediate effects of the full knowledge and presence of their Master. In this paternal love, He therefore created in them the proper dispositions by enlightening them and enkindling them with words of eternal life before He manifested Himself to them. When their hearts had been prepared by faith and love, He made known and communicated to them the abundance of His Divinity together with other admirable gifts and graces by which they were renewed and raised above themselves. Our Lady teaches us that we must moderate our constant fears and ask for more confidence in God because these fears pass from doubt to obstinancy and to slowness of heart in giving thanks and acknowledging God’s presence. It is also important to always know that Our Lord responds tenderly and quickly with immense charity to those who are confident of His goodness and are contrite and humble of heart. He is ready to assist those who seek Him in love.
An example to contemplate these lessons is St. Peter’s contrition and humility as well as how immediately the Lord commissioned the women to tell - especially Peter - of His Resurrection and shortly after, He visited him, confirmed him in faith and filled him with joy and the gifts of grace.
As in the case of Peter, Jesus always offers us graces of repentance and conversion. We can accept or refuse them. It is for us to decide between good and evil. Jesus does not only offer us His grace, He does more: He says “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Now then, if Christ and all the infinite merits of His works and sufferings and death belong to us, then how can we lose our courage or confidence in His love? By giving us His Son, the Father of Heaven gave us the plenitude of all goods.
Let us confidently, with Mary, ask for all that we need to overcome our faults and failings. Mary’s motherly Heart is closest to the Heart of Jesus. She shared in His sufferings at the foot of the cross and She understands His eagerness to forgive us. Can He refuse Her anything?
This confidence that we should have is explicitly demanded of us by our Lord. He makes it the essential condition for His benefits. May we abandon ourselves into the hands of His Providence. May we confide our concerns into the hands of Mary that She may place them in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And, like the beloved Apostle John, who rested his head upon the breast of Jesus, may we too rest upon the Sacred Heart; and according to the words of the Psalmist, there shall we sleep in delicious peace, because, O Jesus, we shall be rooted by You in unshakable confidence.
Jesus – I Trust In You!!

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It is recommended that we place ourselves in Mary’s care in a very special way by an Act of Consecration suggested first by St. Louis DeMontfort.  This consecration puts ourselves in her hands in a very special way.  Mary is pleased when we consecrate ourselves to her. She is then free to help us through that consecration and also free to use us as her instruments of tears and tender love to draw more souls to Jesus.  She lives on earth in her own children.  She renews in them HER tender compassion, her burning love, and her forgetfulness of self.  Our Holy Mother longs that ALL her children long for this perfection of Christ’s love which she as the Dispenser of all Graces can give to her children.  This can be obtained by every soul that consecrates himself or herself to Jesus through Mary.
 
For those who are consecrated, Our Mother comes in pity to help us.  She will show us how we have strayed from the path to Her Son and she will always lead us back to the road of Jesus.  Even if in your lifetime you stray from her and her Son, she will make every effort to beg on your behalf for mercy from her Son.  She is such a tender mother that she will use EVERY means to win mercy for your soul once you have given yourself to her.  For those who come to understand this, it should bring great confidence to do great things for God – knowing we are under her help and protection.  If we only knew how the enemy is conquered when she is in our midst, we would live as confident children.  Think of what a world we would have if more consecrated themselves to her! Come and learn of this secret of Mary.
 
The books needed are “True Devotion to Mary” and “Preparation for Total Consecration” both by St. Louis DeMontfort
PROPOSED STUDY 
Spirit of the World    12 days
Knowledge of Self       7 days
Knowledge of Mary    7 days
Knowledge of Jesus     7 days
Act of Consecration