THE PATH TO MYSTICAL UNION WITH CHRIST-WISDOM ACCORDING TO ST. LOUIS MARIE DE ...

170 Pages·2006·0.57 MB·English

PONTIFICIA UNIVERSITÀ GREGORIANA
ISTITUTO DI SPIRITUALITÀ

THE PATH TO MYSTICAL UNION WITH CHRIST-WISDOM
ACCORDING TO ST. LOUIS MARIE DE MONTFORT

Tesi di Licenza in Spiritualità

Moderatore : Prof. STEFANO DE FIORES
Studente : P. PAUL ARNEL L. LUCERO
Mat. 152546

Roma
Dicembre 2002
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Related Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Object of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Originality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Scope and Limitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
I CHRISTIAN MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.1 Christian Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.2 Christian Mysticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.1 Etymology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.2 Affective-Phenomenology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.2.3 Ontology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.3 Christian Mystical Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.3.1 Christ as Founder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.3.2 Christ as Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
a) Divine Inhabitation: The Nucleus . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.3.3 The Holy Spirit as the Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.3.4 The Cross as the Dialectic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
1.3.5 Mary as the Milieu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.3.6 Spiritual Marriage as the Summit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.3.7 The Blessed Trinity as the Ultimate End . . . . . . . . . 34
1.4 The Difference Between Christian Spiritual Life and
Christian Mystical Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
II ST. LOUIS MARIE DE MONTFORT’S MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE . 37
2.1 His Cultural and Spiritual Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.1.1 The Seventeenth Century France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.1.2 Spiritual Influences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
a) The Jesuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
b) The Sulpicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
c) The Bérullians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
i) Mysticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
ii) Centrality of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
iii) Christ Living in Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
iv) Devotion to Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
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2.2 The Principal Elements of His Mystical Experience . . . . . . . . 48
2.2.1 Concept of Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.2.2 Divine Inhabitation and Transformation: In Mary . . . . . 49
a) Holy Spirit and Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
b) Baptism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.2.3 Incarnation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.2.4 The Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.2.5 The Trinity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.3 His Christocentric Mystical Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.3.1 Montfort’s Mystical Journey to Christ-Wisdom . . . . . 64
2.3.2 Christ in the Mystical Experience of Montfort . . . . . . 68
a) Christ, Incarnate and Crucified Wisdom of God . . . 69
b) Christ, Wisdom in the Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
c) Christ, Wisdom in Mary and in Us . . . . . . . . . . 74
d) Christ, Wisdom in the Poor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
III THE PATH TO MYSTICAL UNION WITH CHRIST-WISDOM
ACCORDING TO ST. LOUIS MARIE DE MONTFORT . . . . . . . . 77
3.1 Dynamic Movements of his Mystical Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.1.1 Descending Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.1.2 Ascending Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.1.3 Horizontal Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.2 The Ultimate Goal of His Mystical Path: Christ-Wisdom . . . . . 82
3.3 The Means to Union with Eternal Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
3.3.1 Ardent Desire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.3.2 Continuous Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
3.3.3 Universal Mortification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.3.4 True Devotion to Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.4 The Most Crucial Point: Perfect Consecration . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
3.4.1 Its Immediate Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
a) Pierre de Bérulle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
b) Henri Boudon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
3.4.2 Its Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
a) Trinitarian and Christocentric . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
b) Absolute and Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
c) Marian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
d) Apostolic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
3.4.3 Its Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
a) Slavery of Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
b) Renewal of Baptismal Promises . . . . . . . . . . . 107
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IV STAGES OF THE MYSTICAL UNION WITH CHRIST-WISDOM
ACCORDING TO MONTFORT: A PASTORAL PRESENTATION . . 110
4.1 First Stage: Falling in Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
4.1.1 “The Love at First Sight” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
a) Charming Excellence of Eternal Wisdom . . . . . . 113
b) The Marvelous Power of Divine Wisdom . . . . . . 114
c) Wisdom’s Exceptional Goodness and Mercy . . . . 115
d) Divine Wisdom’s Self-Sacrifice for Humanity . . . 115
e) Wisdom’s Captivating Gentleness . . . . . . . . . . 117
f) Wisdom’s Indescribable Sorrows Out of Love for Us 117
g) Wisdom’s Utmost Expression of Love in the Cross . 118
4.1.2 Captivated by Divine Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4.2 Second Stage: Courtship and Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.2.1 “Dating with and Courting Wisdom in Mary” . . . . . . 123
a) The Practice of the True Devotion . . . . . . . . . . 127
4.2.2 Engagement: “Mutual Exchange of the Final Yes” . . . . 129
a) Living Out of Perfect Consecration . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4.3 Third Stage: Spiritual Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
4.3.1 “Spousal Union with Christ-Wisdom” . . . . . . . . . . . 141
4.3.2 Fidelity to Christ-Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
4.3.3 Lover Transformed into the Beloved . . . . . . . . . . . 147
4.4 Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
4.4.1 Figure 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
4.4.2 Figure 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
4.4.3 Explanation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
PASTORAL RELEVANCE AND CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
“The True Apostles of the Latter Times” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
“Christians of the Future will be Mystics” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
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ABBREVIATIONS

A. Most of the quotations of Montfort’s Works are taken from God Alone,
The Collected Writings of St. Louis Marie de Montfort, New York, 1995
(= GA).
L Letters
LEW Love of Eternal Wisdom
FC Friends of the Cross
SM The Secret of Mary
TD True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
SR Secret of the Holy Rosary
MR Methods of Saying the Rosary
H Hymns
PM Prayer for Missionaries

B. Church Documents
CCC Cathechism of the Catholic Church
DV Dei Verbum
DeV Dominum et Vivificantem
FR Fides et Ratio
GS Gaudium et spes
LG Lumen Gentium
MC Mystici Corporis
NMI Novo Millennio Ineunte
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C. Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Handbooks, and Other Sources

DCS M. DOWNEY (ed.), Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality,
Minnesota 1993

DM L. BORRIELLO-E. CARUANA-M.R. DEL GENIO-N. SUFFI
(ed.), Dizionario di mistica, Città del Vaticano 1998

DSAM Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique, 17 tomi,
Paris 1932-1995

JLM Jesus Living in Mary, Handbook of the Spirituality of St.
Louis Marie de Montfort, S. DE FIORES-P. GAFFNEY (ed.),
New York 1994

NCE EA. WALSH, The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 19 vols.,
New York 1967

NDM S. DE FIORES-S. MEO (ed.), Nuovo dizionario di
mariologia, Cinisello Balsamo 19964

NDS S. DE FIORES-T. GOFFI (ed.), Nuovo dizionario di
spiritualità, Cinisello Balsamo 19997

NRT Nouvelle revue théologique

RVS Rivista di vita spirituale

TMPM G. GHARIB, E. TONIOLO, GAMBERO, G. DI NOLA (ed.),
Testi mariani del primo millennio, 4 voll., Roma 1988-
1991.
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INTRODUCTION
Some years ago, I was assigned in a mission team in the Philippines,
working in a mountainous area of the island of Cebu, called Tuburan (Spring),
situated approximately 30 kilometers away from the main highway. I used to
walk the distance, climbing the mountains for hours in order to reach my
destination. Every Tuesday I would go there and stay with the people up to
Saturday, while on Sundays I would return to our Mission House located in a
nearby town. By working there for a couple of months, I started to know rather
well the roads and paths leading to my place, while I became familiar with the
many other barrios I had to pass before reaching Tuburan. One day however, a
wise old man from the place kindly invited me to journey with him so that he
could show me a shorter way. He added saying that it was not only the shortest
but also the safest way because there were no snakes or wild animals on that
route. It was for me a great discovery indeed! Since then, I decided to take, week
after week, the shortest and safest road the wise man taught me.
Reflecting on this simple experience, I believe the same is true with my
spiritual journey. Day after day, week after week and year after year I walk the
roads, I run the highways, I climb up mountains of Christian life with the hope to
reach my goal: the goal of every baptized Christian, namely fullness of Christian
life and union with God. Lumen Gentium teaches that this is the vocation of
every believer: “In the Church, everyone […] is called to holiness… Thus it is
evident to everyone, that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are
called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (LG 39-
40).
Many holy and Spirit-filled people in the history of Christianity, while
following in the footsteps of Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, have
reached this state of union with God. They have reached Christian fullness and
perfection. They have journeyed well by conforming their lives to that of their
Teacher and Master. Drawing from their own life experience during their
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journey, they gifted the Church with certain new spiritual ways and models for
our imitation. In some respect, they are like the “old wise man” I came to know
in the mission area who showed me the ‘secret road’ to easily reach my
destination.
We can trace in the history of the Catholic Church saints whom we
believe to have reached the union with God while still living in this world. They
have journeyed and were able to reach the peak of Christian maturity. Some of
them have described in diaries and spiritual writings the path they themselves
had followed. In many different ways, they have depicted this spiritual process,
based on their very own experience of reaching the culmination point.
A few of the saints have even delineated certain stages or phases in their
pilgrimage towards God. St. Benedict for instance in chapter seven of his Rule
describes the stages of monastic perfection consisting in twelve steps of
humility. The journey culminates in what he called the perfect love of God. In
the seventh century, John Climacus wrote the The Ladder of Divine Ascent,
where he traces thirty steps towards perfection. Bernard Clairvaux in his On the
Love of God, mentions four stages to move beyond the love of self to the love of
God. Origen of Alexandria saw spiritual life as passing through three stages of
purification, namely from sin to the illumination by the grace of God, and finally
to a unitive resting in God. St. Teresa of Avila on the other hand in the Interior
Castle shows a progressive entering into the seven castles of the human soul
until it is espoused by its Creator. More uniquely, St. John of the Cross in his
Ascent of Mount Carmel even created a spiritual diagram for the ascent. These
and many other saints, mystics and spiritual writers have enriched the Church
with their spiritual masterpieces. They are able to teach and impart on us
something important about our own journey towards Christian spiritual maturity
and union with God.
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In this paper we will consider a great spiritual writer of the seventeenth
century by the name of St. Louis Marie de Montfort1. He, like the above-
mentioned spiritual geniuses, has written some rich spiritual masterpieces that
need to be studied, prayed upon and practiced in our day-to-day life in order to
make us discover their great value. Montfort has presented to the Church, though
not in a schematic way, a unique spiritual journey that he himself has made. He
reached a mystical loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ, who is for
him the Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom. It was a bond of love that culminated in
spiritual marriage. This humble French saint calls his path “the surest, the
easiest, the shortest, the holiest way” (TD 212) to union. It is the road that
culminates in a mystical marriage whose stages he described in terms of
possession, fidelity and fullness of age of Divine Wisdom in us.

Related Literature
St. Louis Marie de Montfort founded the Missionaries of the Company of
Mary, together with the Congregations of the Daughters of Wisdom and the
Brothers of Saint Gabriel. Notably in these past decades, there has been a strong
enthusiasm in the Company of Mary to deepen our studies on the understanding
of the person and the life of St. Louis Marie. Many of its members are re-reading
his works. They study his deep insights, his pregnant intuitions and his spiritual
teachings from different angles and perspectives like its Marian, Trinitarian,
Christological characters. This keen interest is especially visible in the 1994
publication of Jesus Living in Mary: A Handbook of the Spirituality of Montfort.
It is an extensive work containing articles on all the basic themes of Montfortian
spirituality. A year later, Pierre Humblet of the Titus Brandsma Institute in the
Netherlands, upon the request of the General Council of the Congregation of the
Daughters of Wisdom, published an enlightening systematic study entitled: The
Mystical Process of Transformation in Grignion de Montfort’s “The Love of

1His complete name is St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort. For practical purposes we refer
him in this paper as “Louis Marie”, “Montfort”, “St. Louis Marie”, “St. Louis Marie de
Montfort”, “the saint”, “our saint", etc.
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Eternal Wisdom”. This work touches the mystical dimension of one of the
saint’s writings. In 2001 the Manuale di Spiritualità Montfortana was published
in which are found, among other topics, Fr. Alphonse Bossard’s re-reading of
and deep reflections on St. Louis’ life and spiritual heritage. Just recently two
works have been published: Louis-Marie de Montfort: Théologie spirituelle and
the Spiritualità trinitaria in communione con Maria secondo Montfort wherein a
number of scholars (mostly Montfortians) have put together their latest
systematic and insightful studies on Montfort’s spirituality.
All these developments simply tell us that at present there exists a strong
desire to continue in-depth studies on the person and spirituality of St. Louis
Marie de Montfort, a desire that the present writer wholeheartedly shares.

Object of the Study
On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the canonization of St. Louis
Marie, his Holiness Pope John Paul II2 wrote a letter to the Montfortian family
exhorting its members for a continuous deepening and in-depth study on the
pregnant Montfortian spiritual heritage so that “the faithful can understand this
exhortation: ‘Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom, is all that you can and you should
desire. Desire for him and seek for him, […] unique and precious pearl’ (LEW
9).”3
In response to the Holy Father’s call, the present writer decided to make
this study not only for his personal deepening of the Montfortian spirituality, but
also in order to be able to share its fruits with the people with whom he will
come into contact during his future ministry as a Montfort missionary. One of
the aims of this present work is to arrive, through a systematic study, at a
theologically sound understanding of the saint’s mystical experience. We want
to show the firm and solid theological foundations of that experience in St. Louis
de Montfort by studying it in the light of the Christian tradition. The study

2 JOHN PAUL II, “Messaggio di Giovanni Paolo II alla famiglia monfortana” in Fragmenta
monfortana 3 (1999), Roma, 9-19.
3 Ibid. 11.