GOING DEEPER
THE 10 PRINCIPAL
VIRTUES OF MARY The example of Our Lady shows us how to be disciples of her son, responding to our call to holiness. my religious community, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, we make and renew together each year our consecration to Jesus through Mary, as St. Louis de Montfort recommended. Louis de Montfort was a 16th century missionary priest and Third Order Dominican who preached about the value of giving oneself over to Our Lady in order to belong more completely to Jesus, who himself chose to depend completely on Mary. About a year before I entered religious life, I made the total consecration to Jesus through Mary with a group of friends. It is impossible for me to explain how life-changing this was, not only for me but for several of my friends as well. One friend, who is now happily married, stated about her own discernment after the consecration, “When you go to Mary, everything goes faster.” And indeed, I personally credit this consecration with helping me discover God’s will for my own life within that next year. Everything in our lives falls into place when we go to Jesus through Mary, because that is the way God has always chosen to come to us from the moment of the incarnation. In his book True Devotion to Mary, in which he explains this consecration of oneself to Jesus through Mary, St. Louis de Montfort highlights 10 Marian virtues. Because Mary is the premier example of Christian discipleship, let us contemplate these virtues and how we can imitate them in our daily lives. How is God calling you to respond in holiness like Mary?
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SISTER MARY MARTHA BECNEL made her final vows as a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor last summer. Currently, she teaches fifth-grade at Spiritus Sanctus Academy in Plymouth and is a regular contributor to detroitcatholic.com.
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A R C HDIOCE SE OF DET ROI T
SISTER MARY MARTHA BECNEL, OP, WRITER • DIEGO DIAZ, ILLUSTRATOR