The best way to receive Holy Communion
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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.