Preparing for Consecration

Knowledge of Jesus Christ

During this period we shall apply ourselves to the study of Jesus Christ. The Man-God, His grace and glory.

Reflection

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14:6); there is no other way.  How can we then take a path of devotion to Mary and be secure in her as a means to Jesus?  We must remember that devotions are intended as a means to that end, to Jesus, for intercession and assistance from those who have gone before us.  They are not the end in itself.  Thus, when we remain oriented toward Jesus as we take on this devotion to Mary, the ark of the covenant (CCC 2676), we can be confident that as her orientation is always towards the Son, so will she continue to orient us towards him as we walk with her. – Bernadette Harmon

True Devotion to Mary, Nos. 61-62, St. Louis de Montfort

61. Jesus, our Saviour, true God and true man must be the ultimate end of all our other devotions; otherwise they would be false and misleading. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of everything. "We labour," says St. Paul, "only to make all men perfect in Jesus Christ." For in him alone dwells the entire fullness of the divinity and the complete fullness of grace, virtue and perfection. In him alone we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing; he is the only teacher from whom we must learn; the only Lord on whom we should depend; the only Head to whom we should be united and the only model that we should imitate. He is the only Physician that can heal us; the only Shepherd that can feed us; the only Way that can lead us; the only Truth that we can believe; the only Life that can animate us. He alone is everything to us and he alone can satisfy all our desires. We are given no other name under heaven by which we can be saved. God has laid no other foundation for our salvation, perfection and glory than Jesus. Every edifice which is not built on that firm rock, is founded upon shifting sands and will certainly fall sooner or later. Through him, with him and in him, we can do all things and render all honour and glory to the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit; we can make ourselves perfect and be for our neighbour a fragrance of eternal life.

62. If then we are establishing sound devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only in order to establish devotion to our Lord more perfectly, by providing a smooth but certain way of reaching Jesus Christ. If devotion to our Lady distracted us from our Lord, we would have to reject it as an illusion of the devil. But this is far from being the case. As I have already shown and will show again later on, this devotion is necessary, simply and solely because it is a way of reaching Jesus perfectly, loving him tenderly, and serving him faithfully.