Friends of Our Lady

We are called by God to conversion, to holiness, and to be "perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect". We are called to become great saints. To do this, we are called to unite our hearts with Jesus. How can we, who are imperfect, ever hope to achieve these lofty goals in our life?

God, in his infinite goodness and mercy knew that we, with our weaknesses and our fallen natures, needed help to unite us most perfectly with Jesus. He gave us His mother, Mary, from the cross to be our spiritual mother and to guide us, protect us, nurture us, and help us to unite most perfectly with the Heart of her Son. It was God's plan that just as Jesus came to us through His Mother, Mary, we would return to Jesus through Mary. Saint Louis de Montfort taught that True Devotion to Mary was the easiest, safest, fastest, and surest way of uniting ourselves most perfectly with Jesus. In de Montfort's treatise, True Devotion to Mary, he gave us Total Consecration to unite ourselves to Jesus, through Mary.

Our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul ll, studied Saint Louis de Montfort's treatise, True Devotion to Mary, and completed his Total Consecration when he was a seminarian. He wrote that reading de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary was a decisive turning point in his life. Of all of the various consecrations available, it was the de Montfort Total Consecration that Pope John Paul II adopted for his own Marian spirituality. He adopted Saint Louis de Montfort's "Totus Tuus" ( Totally yours, Mary ) for his papal motto. Mary guided and protected John Paul ll during his priesthood and his papacy. At the time of his death, people were calling for his immediate canonization. Mary will help each of us, as she did John Paul ll, to unite our hearts most perfectly to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through her Immaculate Heart.

Others who have embraced this devotion for themselves and their communities are Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Angelica, Foundress of the EWTN Global Television Network, Mother Nadine, Foundress of the Intercessors of the Lamb, Frank Duff, Founder of the Legion of Mary, and Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Foundress of Madonna House.

This quote from St. Louis de Montfort shows us the way: "Mary is the sure way to go to Jesus and to find Him perfectly. It is through her that holy souls, who are to radiate holiness, must find Jesus !"