The best way to receive Holy Communion
Summary
The Secret of True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort and the Consecration of St. John Henry Weston. In this episode, I give a brief introduction to the book and the secret of devotion contained within it.
Transcript
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Hello, and welcome to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show, in which I'm going
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to give you what I like to call the secret, inside the secret, of True Devotion to Mary
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It is something that I can tell you, I've been around the world, I've met many, many
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people who practice True Devotion to Mary, who love the book, who've read it, but you
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Very few people, in fact, I would say less than 1% of those who I've talked to about
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So, you're going to want to stay tuned and learn about it.
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For those of you who already know all about True Devotion to Mary, and just want the part
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of it that's secret, I'm going to tell you that you might want to skip to about halfway
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I want to start with a little intro for those who may not know much about St. Louis de Montfort's
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greatest work called True Devotion to Mary, and I'll tell you a little bit about what
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it's done for my life, and about its origins and greatness.
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First of all, it has been recommended and practiced by eight popes.
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True Devotion to Mary is St. Louis de Montfort's greatest work on Our Lady, and it's actually
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the greatest work on Our Lady in the entire Church, and even though it's only about 100
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pages long, it surpasses all of the works on Our Lady in the Church by all of the saints,
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and those works are massive, huge volumes on Our Lady.
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But St. Pope John Paul II said of this work, he called it a perfect devotion, which is indispensable
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to anyone who means to give himself without reserve.
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It is that kind of faith, that kind of trust in the Lord, that kind of love that led me
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Behold the slave of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.
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I, of course, went to confession, and my life of faith began with an earnestness that I had
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True Devotion was, for me, not just a book or devotion, it was kind of a way of life.
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For one thing, it had the immediate effect in what seemed miraculous to me of enabling
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me to overcome some of my sinful habits that I struggled with.
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It also seemed to give me an immense hunger for the knowledge of the faith.
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I devoured the scriptures, the catechism, the lives of the saints, and many of the most
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It drove me with an ardent desire to daily Mass and take up the daily Rosary after the
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example of my dad, a practice which I have never left since.
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The good news of salvation changed my life radically.
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Jesus became the focus and desired end of my whole life.
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I abandoned my former lifestyle and, along the way, probably lost some friends, but gained
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others who are not only friends of mine, but brothers and sisters in the Lord.
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Now, here's something of a secret within the secret of True Devotion, and it's this part
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that I think is going to be of interest for very many people who already know about True
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You see, for me, especially because of my life of sin, the reality of Holy Communion and
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my unworthiness to receive Jesus in Holy Communion was really staggering.
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I realized that here I was, this grave sinner, daring to approach the King of Kings, God
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himself, and receive him into my heart, which was, until so recently, filled with sin, with
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really a selfish disregard for others, and filth, real filth.
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Yet, True Devotion contains this secret which very few know and practice, and it's this.
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So, it goes this way, and if you read the most popular book on True Devotion is the one from
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Tan Books, it's a blue-covered, if you have that version, it's on page 167, but it's in
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most complete works of True Devotion to Mary, not the little orange books, which are basically
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It's in the full book, True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort, and by the way, the
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best English translation of it is by Father William Faber.
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So, before Mass, St. Louis teaches us to place ourselves humbly in the presence of God,
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I renounce myself and all my inner dispositions, no matter how good my self-love may make them
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I'm all thine, my dear mistress, with all that I have, and I take thee for my all.
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Please give me thy heart, O Mary, that I might receive thy Son here with the same dispositions
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For it touches thy Son's glory to be put into a heart so sullied and inconstant as mine,
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which would not fail either to lessen his glory or to destroy it.
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But if thou wilt come and dwell with me in order to receive thy Son, he will be well
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received by thee without danger of being outraged or unnoticed.
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For God is in the midst of, and he shall not be moved.
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So, my heart, so filthy and poor, is given to this good mother, and she in turn gives
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me her holy and immaculate heart where Jesus wants to dwell.
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I know that of all the gifts that I have given thee of my own goods, I have given thee nothing
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But with this gift, I make thee the same gift as the Eternal Father gave thee.
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And I know that by giving thee this gift, I give thee more than if I gave thee all the
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Remember when your mother gave you a gift for your dad, when you had nothing to give,
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you were a little kid, and you, of course, couldn't get anything for your dad anyway.
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What are you going to buy him when you're a little kid, and you've got a dad, and what
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Well, mom always buys you a gift for dad, and then you, as a little child, give that
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to your dad, and your dad can go, wow, and appreciate it from you.
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Well, here is the same opportunity from heaven to give your heavenly mother the gift of gifts.
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And sure, this is like child's play, but that's what the life of faith is all about.
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But, truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall
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And de Montfort's prayer before Mass concludes this way.
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And finally, Jesus still desires to take his pleasure and repose in thee, even in my
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soul, though be far filthier and poorer than that stable where he did not hesitate to come,
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That final part is, to me, the very best, since it so perfectly states what I feel is my reality.
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My heart is very much like that stable in Bethlehem, full of animal manure and dirt and cold and
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And yet, there he comes, there Jesus comes, there our Lord comes.
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I have taken to adding another little small prayer to that because Joseph, St. Joseph, was
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And so, that little add-on prayer that I use goes this way.
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Good St. Joseph, please come and by thy intercession cleanse the stables of our hearts like that
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And that completes the preparation before Mass, as recommended by St. Louis de Montfort, but
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In the book as well, he recommends that prayer before Mass begins.
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And then, another prayer at the Domini Non Sumdinius part of the Mass, where it used to be said
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During their Lord I'm not worthy part, which comes just before communion, de Montfort suggests
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Lord, I'm not worthy because of my sins and ingratitude towards so good a Father to receive
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But I beg thee to have mercy on me, and behold not me, but behold the handmaid of the Lord
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who acts for me and gives me a singular confidence and hope with thy majesty.
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Think about how great that is, incorporating Mary's original prayer of her first reception
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of Christ into her body, into our own reception of Christ in the Eucharist.
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So then, his next invocation is to God the Son.
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Lord, I'm not worthy because of my sins and infidelity to thy service to receive thy body,
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blood, soul, and divinity in this great sacrament of thy love.
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But I beg of thee to come to me that I might bring thee into the heart of thy well-beloved
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mother, into the chamber of her that bore thee.
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I take no confidence in my own preparations, strength, and merits.
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I trust only in Mary, thy dear mother, as Jacob did in Rebekah, and sinner in Esau that
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I dare to approach thy sanctity, supported and adorned as I am by the virtues of Mary, thy
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But let's just say we have the privilege of bringing Jesus to the heart of his mother
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Mary, of coming before the King of Kings with her glorious virtues, of pleasing him with the
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only human heart which never was touched with the slightest stain of sin.
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And then finally, to God the Holy Ghost, Saint Louis de Montfort composes this,
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Lord, I'm not worthy because of my sins and resistance, thy holy inspirations, to receive
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But I beg of thee to come to me and marry thy most holy and inseparable spouse.
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Come to me in her whose bosom is as pure and heart as burning as ever.
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For without thy descendant in my soul, neither Jesus nor Mary will be formed nor worthily lodged.
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So, after receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, I welcome him into the heart of Mary, his mother,
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and I renew my consecration prayer, which we all know if we read the book.
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And if you read the consecration prayer, and I mean the full one, I say the short one every day
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as a Thanksgiving, but if you read the full one, it works as a perfect Thanksgiving for Holy Communion.
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And if you've never heard of this book, True Devotion, it's the greatest gift I could ever give you.
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May God bless you, and we'll see you next time.
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I'd like to invite you to subscribe to the John Henry Weston Show YouTube channel if you haven't already done so.
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There you will find all the past episodes and much more.
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Thanks again for watching, and may God bless you.