True Devotion: Knowing Mary to Know Christ

True Devotion: Knowing Mary to Know Christ

By Elizabeth Hamonko, Contributing Writer

However, in the case of Mary, who brings all our prayers to God and is a stronger intercessor than all the other saints and angels combined, there is actually a Latin phrase to keep in mind: De Maria numquam satis. Literally translated, it means “Of Mary, [there is] never enough.”

St. Louis de Montfort mentions this phrase early on in his famous book, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin (available for free here!). Although it was written around 1712, it wasn’t published until 1843, long after his death. It’s a beautiful reflection on the fact that, after Christ, the individual we pay the most attention to in our Catholic faith is His Blessed Mother Mary. However, some people may not realize the magnitude of how this connection can give us one of the greatest gifts of all: a deeper love and appreciation for Jesus Christ and His life.

For anyone wondering, St. Louis de Montfort also takes special care in his writings to address whether devotion to Mary takes away from the focus on God in a Christian’s life:

Consequently, this great Lord, who is ever independent and self-sufficient, never had and does not now have any absolute need of the Blessed Virgin for the accomplishment of his will and the manifestation of his glory. To do all things he has only to will them.

However, I declare that, considering things as they are, because God has decided to begin and accomplish his greatest works through the Blessed Virgin ever since he created her, we can safely believe that he will not change his plan in the time to come, for he is God and therefore does not change in his thoughts or his way of acting. (15)

Source of Perpetual Help

From the first time we see a description of Mary in the Bible, we are aware that she has a significant role in God’s great plan to save everyone who exists from sin. In the Book of Luke, we see she has “found favor with God,” as the Angel Gabriel said.

According to St. Louis in his first principle of devotion to Mary, due to the Blessed Mother being full of grace, she “can never be without [Jesus] because then she would cease to be what she is.” Not only does this speak incredibly highly of her, but it also illustrates how the love people show her actively brings us closer to Christ. Since the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful, as James 5:16 says, asking her to pray for us can make a huge impact on our lives.

If anything, the saint argues, Christians should make sure they are not saying prayers to Mary in a dry and sterile way or fearing that the honor people show her is something she keeps for herself. Instead, she gives everything she has and all the love she can to our Lord and Savior. If we look at her, she points us to God. 

Think about it: If a person here on Earth trusts another imperfect and sinful human being to pray for them to God and achieve a great goal, then someone free from the stain of original sin should be trusted even more. It’s fantastic to think about, and this fact should inspire us to turn to her more often.

St. Louis also mentions that it may be even humbler still to seek an intercessor with Christ, as He Himself is the single Mediator between God the Father and humanity. When we approach the Son, shouldn’t we also think about seeking someone to gather together with as “two or three” in God’s name, as Matthew 18:20 says? For Christians, Mary is the natural first choice to turn to gather with when we talk to Christ.

Mary’s Inner Contemplation

With all of this in mind, we can start to see Mary not only as a prayer warrior who constantly draws us back to Christ’s side when we begin to become weak but also as a model for how to live in times of confusion and pain in our own lives.

As St. Louis states in his fourth principle of devotion to Mary, when we look at Mary, we see “our own human nature at its purest.” After all, she is only a human, unlike Christ, who was both man and God simultaneously. Although she trusted fully in God, she could not see exactly what was up ahead in the future. However, she still didn’t choose to sin.

This is the same path we have to follow. We are also in the position of needing to learn, day by day, how to have true faith and dependence on God for everything we need without giving in to temptation, even when our own human weakness tells us it’s easier to try to grasp for control. Who better understood this need to follow God in all things than Mary when the Angel Gabriel came down and she accepted the mystery of the Incarnation, something that had never been experienced before in history?

To Know Her is to Love Her

One of my favorite Prefaces, the prayer said right before the Eucharistic prayers, in the Masses during Advent is, “For all the oracles of the prophets foretold Him; the Virgin Mother longed for Him with love beyond all telling; John the Baptist sang of His coming and proclaimed His presence when He came.”

The contrast of the grandness of the oracles describing Christ’s life on Earth as the long-awaited prophecy coming true to the personal and quiet longing of a pregnant mother for the birth of her Child struck me so deeply that I had to look up the exact wording of this prayer the first time I heard it. It’s beautiful to think about. Being devoted to Mary includes recognizing the immense impact of Christ’s birth on an eternal level, while also taking this mystery into our own hearts and longing for Christmas with a very personal kind of love for Him.

It’s right to say that having a devotion to Mary is a key part of knowing, loving, and serving Christ. No matter where you are in your faith journey, there is a part of her life that we can imitate and think more deeply about. We also need, more than any other human, her prayers for us to live in a state of grace and do good out in the world.

In this season of Advent, this means it’s more appropriate than ever to ask Mary to pray for us to increase our love and faith in Jesus Christ. Being open to growing in our devotion to the Blessed Mother gives us an even greater understanding of the beauty of Christmas.

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Due to a lifelong love for books and stories, Elizabeth Hamonko enjoys combining her passion for her faith with her enjoyment of writing. Together with a BS in Marketing and a BS in Management, her experience in freelance copywriting allows her to craft articles about anything from e-commerce to her Catholic faith. When she isn’t writing, she loves to run, attempt to bake, pray the Divine Mercy chaplet, and try all different kinds of coffee.