Consecration to the Immaculata - Preparation Day 2
Day two
Queen of Heaven and earth
In a family, the parents who love their children strive, to the
best of their ability, to fulfil the wishes of their children, as long as
such desires are not to their detriment. All the more so God, the
Creator and Prototype of earthly parents, wants to fulfil the will
of His creatures, as long as that does not cause them harm; that
is, provided that this will is in accordance with His Will.
Never and in anything did the Immaculate move away
from God’s will. In everything she loved God’s Will, she loved
God, so she is aptly named “Suppliant Omnipotence”; she
exerts her influence on God Himself, on the whole universe:
she is the Queen of Heaven and earth. In Heaven, all recognize
the sovereignty of her love. Instead, that part of the first
angels who would not recognize her queenship, lost their place
in Heaven.
She is also the Queen of the earth, for the fact that she is the
Mother of God. Yet she desires — and is entitled to such desire
— to be recognized spontaneously by every heart, to be loved as
Queen of all hearts, so that such heart may be purified ever more
through her, become immaculate, like her Heart and ever more
worthy of union with God, with the love of God, with the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus.
26
Explanation:
Our act of devotion begins with a profound gaze up-
-wards to her who stands invisibly before us in all her beauty,
might and motherly love. St. Maximilian wants that
we peer deep into her inner-most being so as to realise
that a speck of dust stands before a huge mountain. SHE
has turned her eyes of mercy towards us in order to “draw
us out of darkness into her wonderful light” long before
we turn to her with child-like love. Once SHE becomes so
important for us that our own ego melts away and we do
not waste any more time on our own trifles, but live only
towards her, in her and for her, only then do we experience
true devotion.
The title of ‘Immaculata’ allows us to take a profound
look at her innermost being, who she really is in the eyes of
God, in her eternal being so to speak.
“Queen of heaven and earth” lets us recognise her
power over the whole of creation, her ineffable greatness,
before which the entire universe shrinks as before the
boundless ocean that SHE is. We can never overestimate
Mary's greatness. If we gather together all glory, might
and magnitude that can be mustered in the order of
creation and apply these to Mary, then we must think:
you are so much greater! How often do we lack in trust
because we forget how ineffably great SHE is! God has
27
laid everything at her feet, everything and everyone! It is
also important to consider Mary’s eternal beauty and her
royal dignity side by side because power on its own would
frighten us and beauty on its own can easily lead to
sentimentality. But beauty combined with royal might
fills the soul with wonder and awe; and vice versa: power
combined with attractive beauty robs the soul of fear and
trembling.
Spiritual reading:
Chapter: The Queenship of the Immaculata, p. 133
**********
The Queenship
of the Immaculata
THE WORKING OF THE IMMACULATA in us attains its fullness
and perfection only through her queenly dominion.
Mary has received from God a far-reaching dominion
over the souls of the elect. Otherwise she could not make
her dwelling place in them as God the Father has ordered her
to do, and she could not conceive them, nourish them, and
bring them forth to eternal life as their mother…. None of
these things could she do unless she had received from the
Almighty rights and authority over their souls…. Mary is the
Queen of heaven and earth by grace as Jesus is king by nature
and by conquest.1
Fr. Kolbe explicitly points out that the Queenship of Mary is not in
“competition” with the Kingship of Christ:
1 St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, True Devotion…, paragraphs 37–38.
134
God is our Most-High Lawgiver, and our salvation
depends upon fulfilling His will. The Immaculata is the
Mother of God, but in comparison with God’s perfection, she
is infinitesimal, merely the work of His will.2
That is true. But at the same time she is His most perfect and most
holy work, as St. Bonaventure says: “God can create a greater and
more perfect world, but He cannot raise any creature to a higher
dignity than Mary.” The Immaculata is the uppermost limit between
creatures and God. She is a true image of God’s perfection and sanctity.
The degree of perfection is dependent upon the union of
our will with the will of God. The more perfection, the more
union. However, since the Blessed Mother has surpassed all
angels and saints in her perfection, her will is most closely
united and conformed to God’s will. She lives and works only
in God and through God. Therefore, when we do the will of
the Immaculata, we always fulfill thereby the will of God.
By saying that we want to do only the will of the
Immaculata, not only are we not detracting from God’s honor,
but we are even increasing it, for we are thereby acknowledging
God’s omnipotence and adoring it, since He has
created such an exalted and perfect being. So it is when we
enthusiastically praise a beautiful carving, for then we are
honoring and admiring the genius of the artist.
Thus we can fearlessly say that our highest and sole
intention is to fulfill the will of the Immaculata as faithfully
2 “Informator Rycerstwa Niepokalanej” 4 (1938), in: BMK p. 586–587.
135
as possible, to belong more fully to her each day, and to allow
the Immaculata to rule over all of our actions. For then we
will be her loyal Knights.3
In this way the Immaculata transforms even the highest faculties of
the soul, namely the understanding and the will. The understanding
ought to perceive everything as she perceives it, and therefore ought
to grasp and judge everything in light of the Immaculata. On the other
hand, it should see and know nothing that would be offensive to her.
The will, however, which makes decisions in life — which makes
man like God in his spontaneous ability to say yes freely to a given
end and freely to select the means to that end — subjects itself voluntarily
to the will of the Immaculata through close contact with her and
through perfect obedience to her (see Part Four, Chapters 1 and 2).
We imitate good, virtuous, holy men and women, but none
of them is without imperfections. Only she, immaculate from
the first moment of her existence, has experienced not even
the slightest fall. Therefore to imitate her, to draw near to her,
to belong to her, to be transformed into her — all this is the
height of perfection. All who have loved the Immaculata have
wanted to belong to her and have expressed this in various
ways. To be a servant, a child, a slave of Mary: these ideals
sanctified their lives. All of them, however, wanted to belong
to her in a perfect manner, and no doubt they all would have
used all other titles that could be imagined or that a loving
heart might still devise in the future. In a word, to be entirely
3 Ibid.
136
hers: that is the sunshine in the life of many, many hearts.
Once the fire is kindled, it cannot be contained within the
confines of the heart, but breaks out externally, stirs up,
consumes and engulfs other hearts. It wins more and more
souls for its ideal, for the Immaculata.4
May St. Maximilian Kolbe’s Rule of Life become that of every
Knight of the Immaculata also:
Consider that you are the concern and the unreserved,
unconditional, unlimited and irrevocable property of the
Immaculata. Whoever you are, whatever you have or can do,
all of your actions (thoughts, words and deeds) and passions
(pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feelings) are entirely her
property. She may do with all of this whatever pleases her (and
not you). In the same way all your intentions belong to her:
She may change them, add to them or take away from them
as she pleases (indeed, since she can never violate justice).
You are an instrument in her hand, and so do only what she
wants: accept everything from her hand. Have recourse to her
in everything like a child to its mother. Entrust everything
to her. Be concerned about her, about her honor, about her
affairs, and leave the care of you and yours to her. Take no
credit, but rather acknowledge that you receive all from her.
The entire fruit of your labors depends upon your union with
her, just as she, too, is the instrument of the Divine Mercy.
4 On the Militia Immaculatæ, manuscript, 1939, BMK pp. 601–602.
137
My life (every moment), my death (where, when and
how), and my eternity, everything is yours, O Immaculata.
Do with me whatever Thou willst. I can do all things in Him
who strengthens me through the Immaculata.5
5 Rule of Life, written during a retreat in February 1920, BMK pp. 369–370.
Queen of Heaven and earth
In a family, the parents who love their children strive, to the
best of their ability, to fulfil the wishes of their children, as long as
such desires are not to their detriment. All the more so God, the
Creator and Prototype of earthly parents, wants to fulfil the will
of His creatures, as long as that does not cause them harm; that
is, provided that this will is in accordance with His Will.
Never and in anything did the Immaculate move away
from God’s will. In everything she loved God’s Will, she loved
God, so she is aptly named “Suppliant Omnipotence”; she
exerts her influence on God Himself, on the whole universe:
she is the Queen of Heaven and earth. In Heaven, all recognize
the sovereignty of her love. Instead, that part of the first
angels who would not recognize her queenship, lost their place
in Heaven.
She is also the Queen of the earth, for the fact that she is the
Mother of God. Yet she desires — and is entitled to such desire
— to be recognized spontaneously by every heart, to be loved as
Queen of all hearts, so that such heart may be purified ever more
through her, become immaculate, like her Heart and ever more
worthy of union with God, with the love of God, with the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus.
26
Explanation:
Our act of devotion begins with a profound gaze up-
-wards to her who stands invisibly before us in all her beauty,
might and motherly love. St. Maximilian wants that
we peer deep into her inner-most being so as to realise
that a speck of dust stands before a huge mountain. SHE
has turned her eyes of mercy towards us in order to “draw
us out of darkness into her wonderful light” long before
we turn to her with child-like love. Once SHE becomes so
important for us that our own ego melts away and we do
not waste any more time on our own trifles, but live only
towards her, in her and for her, only then do we experience
true devotion.
The title of ‘Immaculata’ allows us to take a profound
look at her innermost being, who she really is in the eyes of
God, in her eternal being so to speak.
“Queen of heaven and earth” lets us recognise her
power over the whole of creation, her ineffable greatness,
before which the entire universe shrinks as before the
boundless ocean that SHE is. We can never overestimate
Mary's greatness. If we gather together all glory, might
and magnitude that can be mustered in the order of
creation and apply these to Mary, then we must think:
you are so much greater! How often do we lack in trust
because we forget how ineffably great SHE is! God has
27
laid everything at her feet, everything and everyone! It is
also important to consider Mary’s eternal beauty and her
royal dignity side by side because power on its own would
frighten us and beauty on its own can easily lead to
sentimentality. But beauty combined with royal might
fills the soul with wonder and awe; and vice versa: power
combined with attractive beauty robs the soul of fear and
trembling.
Spiritual reading:
Chapter: The Queenship of the Immaculata, p. 133
**********
The Queenship
of the Immaculata
THE WORKING OF THE IMMACULATA in us attains its fullness
and perfection only through her queenly dominion.
Mary has received from God a far-reaching dominion
over the souls of the elect. Otherwise she could not make
her dwelling place in them as God the Father has ordered her
to do, and she could not conceive them, nourish them, and
bring them forth to eternal life as their mother…. None of
these things could she do unless she had received from the
Almighty rights and authority over their souls…. Mary is the
Queen of heaven and earth by grace as Jesus is king by nature
and by conquest.1
Fr. Kolbe explicitly points out that the Queenship of Mary is not in
“competition” with the Kingship of Christ:
1 St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, True Devotion…, paragraphs 37–38.
134
God is our Most-High Lawgiver, and our salvation
depends upon fulfilling His will. The Immaculata is the
Mother of God, but in comparison with God’s perfection, she
is infinitesimal, merely the work of His will.2
That is true. But at the same time she is His most perfect and most
holy work, as St. Bonaventure says: “God can create a greater and
more perfect world, but He cannot raise any creature to a higher
dignity than Mary.” The Immaculata is the uppermost limit between
creatures and God. She is a true image of God’s perfection and sanctity.
The degree of perfection is dependent upon the union of
our will with the will of God. The more perfection, the more
union. However, since the Blessed Mother has surpassed all
angels and saints in her perfection, her will is most closely
united and conformed to God’s will. She lives and works only
in God and through God. Therefore, when we do the will of
the Immaculata, we always fulfill thereby the will of God.
By saying that we want to do only the will of the
Immaculata, not only are we not detracting from God’s honor,
but we are even increasing it, for we are thereby acknowledging
God’s omnipotence and adoring it, since He has
created such an exalted and perfect being. So it is when we
enthusiastically praise a beautiful carving, for then we are
honoring and admiring the genius of the artist.
Thus we can fearlessly say that our highest and sole
intention is to fulfill the will of the Immaculata as faithfully
2 “Informator Rycerstwa Niepokalanej” 4 (1938), in: BMK p. 586–587.
135
as possible, to belong more fully to her each day, and to allow
the Immaculata to rule over all of our actions. For then we
will be her loyal Knights.3
In this way the Immaculata transforms even the highest faculties of
the soul, namely the understanding and the will. The understanding
ought to perceive everything as she perceives it, and therefore ought
to grasp and judge everything in light of the Immaculata. On the other
hand, it should see and know nothing that would be offensive to her.
The will, however, which makes decisions in life — which makes
man like God in his spontaneous ability to say yes freely to a given
end and freely to select the means to that end — subjects itself voluntarily
to the will of the Immaculata through close contact with her and
through perfect obedience to her (see Part Four, Chapters 1 and 2).
We imitate good, virtuous, holy men and women, but none
of them is without imperfections. Only she, immaculate from
the first moment of her existence, has experienced not even
the slightest fall. Therefore to imitate her, to draw near to her,
to belong to her, to be transformed into her — all this is the
height of perfection. All who have loved the Immaculata have
wanted to belong to her and have expressed this in various
ways. To be a servant, a child, a slave of Mary: these ideals
sanctified their lives. All of them, however, wanted to belong
to her in a perfect manner, and no doubt they all would have
used all other titles that could be imagined or that a loving
heart might still devise in the future. In a word, to be entirely
3 Ibid.
136
hers: that is the sunshine in the life of many, many hearts.
Once the fire is kindled, it cannot be contained within the
confines of the heart, but breaks out externally, stirs up,
consumes and engulfs other hearts. It wins more and more
souls for its ideal, for the Immaculata.4
May St. Maximilian Kolbe’s Rule of Life become that of every
Knight of the Immaculata also:
Consider that you are the concern and the unreserved,
unconditional, unlimited and irrevocable property of the
Immaculata. Whoever you are, whatever you have or can do,
all of your actions (thoughts, words and deeds) and passions
(pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feelings) are entirely her
property. She may do with all of this whatever pleases her (and
not you). In the same way all your intentions belong to her:
She may change them, add to them or take away from them
as she pleases (indeed, since she can never violate justice).
You are an instrument in her hand, and so do only what she
wants: accept everything from her hand. Have recourse to her
in everything like a child to its mother. Entrust everything
to her. Be concerned about her, about her honor, about her
affairs, and leave the care of you and yours to her. Take no
credit, but rather acknowledge that you receive all from her.
The entire fruit of your labors depends upon your union with
her, just as she, too, is the instrument of the Divine Mercy.
4 On the Militia Immaculatæ, manuscript, 1939, BMK pp. 601–602.
137
My life (every moment), my death (where, when and
how), and my eternity, everything is yours, O Immaculata.
Do with me whatever Thou willst. I can do all things in Him
who strengthens me through the Immaculata.5
5 Rule of Life, written during a retreat in February 1920, BMK pp. 369–370.