On Saturday, April 28, 2012, the Church celebrated an optional memorial for St. Louis Grignion De Montfort. St. Louis was born in a poor family in Montfort-la-Cane Brittany. He was ordained when he was twenty-seven, and was deeply devoted to the Blessed VIrgin Mary. His book titled the Secret of the Rosary has become to this day probably the best explanation on how and why the Rosary should be prayed daily. In his lifetime, he founded a missionary group of men called the Company of Mary and a religious institute of women dedicated to helping the poor known as the Daughters of Divine Wisdom. His great devotion to Mary helped him keep Christ at the heart of his life.
The following reading is a quote taken from Chapter 13, of the Love of Eternal Wisdom. It clearly overflows with his deep love of Christ:
"But what makes us realize more clearly
the infinite love of eternal Wisdom for us is the circumstances surrounding his
sufferings.
"The first of these is the perfection of
his person. Being infinite he gave infinite value to all the sufferings of his
passion. Had God sent a seraph or an angel of the lowest order to become man
and die for us, it would have been a stupendous thing and worthy of our eternal
gratitude. But that the Creator of heaven and earth, the only Son of God,
eternal Wisdom himself should come and offer up his life! This is inconceivable
charity, for, compared with his life, the lives of all angels and all men and
all creatures together are of infinitely less value than say, the life of a
gnat when compared with the lives of the kings of this earth. Such an excess of
love is shown to us in this mystery that our admiration and our gratitude
should be great indeed.
"A second circumstance is the condition of
the people for whom he suffered. They were human beings – unworthy creatures
and his enemies, from whom he has nothing to fear nor anything to hope for. We
sometimes hear of people dying for their friends; but are we ever likely to
hear of anyone but the Son of God dying for his enemies? But Jesus Christ
proved how well he loved us because though we were sinners- and consequently
his enemies he died for us.
"The third circumstance is the amount, the
grievousness and the duration of his sufferings. Their extent was so great that
he is called 'Man of sorrows'. A man of every sorrow in whom
there is no soundness from the sole of the foot to the top of the head. This dear friend of our souls suffered in every way exteriorly and
inwardly, in body and soul. He suffered even in material things, apart
from the poverty of his birth, of his flight into Egypt and his stay there, and
the poverty of his entire life; during his passion he was stripped of his
garments by soldiers who shared them among themselves, and then fastened him
naked to a cross without as much as a rag to cover his body.
"He suffered in honor and reputation, for
he was overwhelmed with insults and called a blasphemer, a revolutionary, a
drunkard, a glutton and a possessed person. He suffered in his wisdom when
they classed him as an ignorant man and an imposter, and treated him as a fool
and a madman. He suffered in his power, for his enemies considered him a
sorcerer and a magician who worked false miracles through a compact with the
devil."
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