I am in the process of uploading the entire series of five videos filmed during my time in Mexico last June. Once they’re uploaded to the site, I’ll begin work on a tat will be added to our Video Section.
For those who would like an additional preview of the new content, here is another the Conocimiento de María (Knowledge of Mary) video.
Montfort father Fr. Harry Flores, SMM, from our mission in Nicaragua is spending a couple weeks in the United States. While here he shared with us a couple photos of the beautiful restoration work that has been done one of the older statues found in Iglesia Santiago (St. James Church) in Santo Tomás, Nicaragua. The statue of Nuestra Señora de la Merced is one of the original patronal images of the parish and dates back to the early days of the parish’s history. The passage of many years in the tropics is not kind even to well maintained pieces of religious art and so even the most striking images can easily lose much of their original beauty over time. Recognizing that, the Montfortian community in Nicaragua has undertaken the work that has led to this beautiful image being fully restored to a state that is very close to its original condition.
¡Nuestra Señora de la Merced, ruega por nosotros! (Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us!)
During my trip to Mexico in June, 2011, I had the opportunity to work with members of the Apostolate for Family Consecration in filming a number of Spanish language reflections. The rough-cut edits of the videos has been completed.
The video below is one of that series and features a reflection on Our Lady’s active involvement in the lives of her children that is based upon a reading of the account of the Wedding at Cana.
I am presently in South Texas in the Rio Grande Valley doing a bit of follow up to last year’s Consecration Mission that was undertaken in collaboration with Real Men Pray the Rosary. Tuesday night I met with a group at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in McAllen, TX, and presented an overview of the new edition of Preparation for Total Consecration as well as a preview of the instructional video which will support the book. During the presentation I shared publicly for the first time some of the fruits of my recent study of the structure and content of the Act of Total Consecration as written by St. Louis de Montfort.
Below is a quickly formatted audio extract of that reflection:
Fr. Hugh Reflects Upon the Act of Total Consecration
Originally posted on our Facebook Page. This is a preview of the instructional video we have been working on to supplement the new wedition of Preparation for Total Consecration. In this excerpt Fr. Hugh speaks about the pastoral and spiritual points that have motivated and guided the production of the new edition.
David Lopez of the Montfort Publications staff, who is responsible for the graphic design and layout of the new edition of Preparation for Total Consecration has just passed along the electronic files of the book to our local printer. Draft copies of the book should be ready by the end of the week.
Attached are preview pictures of the front and back covers of the draft edition.
One of the last things we’re working on with the new edition of Preparation for Total Consecration is the design of the back cover. Below is the latest draft of the text:
O Virgin most faithful!
Make me in all things so perfect
a disciple, imitator and slave of
incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, your Son,
that I may come, through your intercession and your example,
to the fullness of his age on earth
and of his glory in heaven.
Amen.
These words from St. Louis de Montfort’s Act of Total Consecration give beautiful expression to the fundamental thrust of his spirituality: Christianity that is fully alive is nothing less than a radical act of total self-surrender and self-gift to the Lord Jesus Christ who, in his redemptive Incarnation, has first given himself totally over to us, and for us. Recognizing that the Lord has first consecrated, completely given, himself to us, Fr. de Montfort rightly recognizes that one truly receives this gift in its fullness only by fully giving, that is consecrating, himself to its saving power. The one who would be fully alive must make a personal surrender to the Lord who has so fully and so personally surrendered himself in freedom for us and for our salvation. Such a gift of one’s very self is not a thing to be made lightly, nor a thing to be done without an adequate preparation. Likewise, it is much more than the gesture of a moment, or the event of a single day. It is, rather, a way of life, a life of continual self-surrender and self-gift to the Lord of all glory.
Devoting all of the energies of his life to the full living of the Gospel, St. Louis de Montfort discovered the marvelous truth that there is no more effective, no more certain, no more reliable, no more direct way of fully belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ than by belonging fully to the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother and our Mother. To this end, Fr. de Montfort asserts that those who would grow to full maturity in Christ Jesus should turn to Mary that they might consecrate themselves to the Lord through the hands of Our Lady and, in so doing, belong more fully to him than by any other means. The great Apostle of Our Lady proposed in his masterwork, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, an outline of a process by means of which one might prepare himself to make just such a total self-gift to Jesus through Mary. This book which has been prepared by the Company of Mary, the religious community founded by Fr. de Montfort himself, is both an introduction to his spirituality of total consecration and a guide for those who would prepare themselves to make his Act of Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary. It is also the fruit of this same Act of Total Consecration lived out in years of missionary service of Our Lord and Our Lady in the Roman Catholic Church which we joyfully make available to the people of God.
I will be driving out to our Montfort Publications offices tomorrow where I hope to give approval to the final text of the new edition of Preparation for Total Consecration. Layout of the book is essentially done and, God willing, we’ll be able to make the initial run of pre-publication draft copies shortly. One of these copies will be submitted to Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Center for his imprimatur.
Fr. Pete D’Abele, SMM, has been working on a series of videos that feature the history and the spirituality of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island in Manorville, NY. The shrine was built and is directed by the Company of Mary (Montfort Missionaries). This recently completed piece is a sample of his work.
The Company of Mary in the United States has been working toward producing a thoroughly revised edition of the Preparation for Total Consecration According to St. Louis de Montfort. Producing this new edition has been much more than a matter of sitting down and beginning to write. A number of approaches have been taken in composing manuals of Preparation for Total Consecration over the last 150 years, each with its own peculiar genius, and it has been important to become familiar with them. A synthetic study of the writings of Fr. de Montfort was undertaken. The fruits of many years of preaching on the True Devotion and responding to the questions, insights and frustrations of the devoted men and women who have embraced St. Louis de Montfort’s spirituality of consecration were then brought to bear on the question of how best to present and arrange a preparation manual which provided as full an introduction as possible to the richness of Fr. de Montfort’s spirituality. After the initial draft was put together, the process was prayed through and tested in a number of settings in the United States and Nicaragua, in English and in Spanish. Only after all of this was it possible to determine the final structure of the work.
I am happy to announce that the new edition of the Preparation for Total Consecration According to St. Louis de Montfort has been written. Final layout and editorial work still needs to be done and we will need to submit the work to the local bishop for his imprimatur. However, God willing, the new book will be available shortly.
Here is a quick look at the draft cover design of the new edition.
It is fitting that we can make this announcement today on the feast of the Queenship of Mary as St. Louis de Montfort himself desired that all of those who would make the Act of Total Consecration be united under the patronage of Mary, Queen of All Hearts.
Our Lady, Queen of All Hearts, pray for us!
