Consecration to Mary

In my post "My Tribute to Our Lady of the Rosary" I mentioned how I offered the balance of my life to the Virgin Mary in September or October 1995 at the Greenshields farm in Marmora.

A year or so later ... probably 1997 ... I would find a book that helped me to understand what I had done ... "True Devotion to Mary" by St Louis de Montfort(18th century). How did I find this book?

My friend Michelle ... the lady from Bracebridge who accompanied me on my first trip to Medugorje called me one day and told me that Maria Bianchini from Venezuala was in Toronto and Michelle suggested that I go see her.

From a web site ...

"If there is someone to whom the miraculous seems ordinary, it is Maria Esperanza Bianchini. Since she was a young girl, Maria has reported numerous mystical and extraordinary experiences. Today, she is 67 years of age, married with seven children. She is also a stigmatist whose wounds display themselves on Good Friday; she has been seen levitating during Mass, and she has reported frequent conversations with the Blessed Virgin. Her stigmata have been witnessed by dozens of physicians, a number of her acquaintances have seen her bilocate - appear to be in two places at the same time - and her children have seen her deep in prayer at night with a glow surrunding her as she prayed.

My life was pretty boring at the time so I went to the place in Toronto where this lady was speaking ... bought a ticket and I don't believe I ever went in to listen to her. I had found a card on the ground somewhere near the place where Maria was speaking ... post card size with an image of the Virgin Mary on the front ... turned out to be one of the images of Our Lady of Fatima ... one where Mary is crying. On the back of this card was a Scarborough address for some group or organization involved with supporting Mary and Fatima.

Spontaneously, I decided I would go and visit the people at this Scarborough address. Never learned much but the gentleman who I chatted with for a few minutes brought out this book ... "True Devotion to Mary". After much gentle persuasion he agreed to sell it to me. I have read this book several times since and I plan to read it many more times. St Louis presents his formula for those who wish to consecrate their lives to the Virgin Mary. While I have not been able to change my character and subscribe to St Louis's structured program ... still too self reliant and too 'free spirited' ... I have found his writing so so inspirational and helpful.

I particularly enjoyed his interpretation of the story of Rebecca and Jacob. I include it here for those readers who may be interested.

REBECCA AND JACOB The Biblical Narrative

Esau having sold Jacob his birthright, Rebec­ca, the mother of the two brothers, who loved Jacob tenderly, secured this advantage of the birthright for him many years afterward by a stroke of skill most holy but most full of mystery. Isaac, feeling very old, and wishing to bless his children before he died, called his son Esau, who was his favorite, and com­manded him to go out hunting and get him something to eat, in order that he might afterward bless him. Rebecca promptly informed Jacob of what had passed, and ordered him to go and take two kids from the flock. When he had given them to his mother, she prepared for Isaac what she knew he liked. She clothed Jacob in the garments of Esau, which she kept, and covered his hands and his neck with the skin of the kids, so that his father, who was blind, even though he heard Jacob’s voice, might think by touch­ing the skin of his hands that it was Esau.

Isaac, having been surprised by the voice, which he thought was Jacob’s voice, made him come near. Hav­ing touched the skins with which his hands were covered, he said that the voice truly was the voice of Jacob, but that the hands were the hands of Esau.
After he had eaten, and, in kissing Jacob, had smelt the odor of his perfumed garments, he blessed him and wished for him the dew of Heaven and the fruitfulness of earth. He made him lord over all his brethren, and finished his blessing with these words:“Cursed be he that curseth thee, and let him that blesseth thee be filled with blessings.”

Isaac had hardly finished these words when Esau entered, bringing with him what he had captured while out hunting in order that his father might eat it, and then bless him. The holy patriarch was surprised with an incredible astonishment when he understood what had happened. But, far from retracting what he had done, on the contrary he confirmed it, for he saw plainly that the finger of God was in the matter. Esau then uttered great cries, as the Holy Scripture says, and loudly accusing the deceitfulness of his brother, he asked his father if he had but one blessing. In this conduct of his, as the holy Fathers remark, Esau was the image of those who are only too glad to ally God with the world and would fain enjoy both the consola­tions of Heaven and the consolations of earth. At last Isaac, touched with the cries of Esau, blessed him, but with a blessing of the earth, subjecting him to his brother. This made him conceive such an envenomed hatred for Jacob that he waited only for his father’s death in order to attempt to kill him. Nor would Jacob have escaped death if his dear mother Rebecca had not saved him from it by her efforts and by the good counsels which she gave him, and which he followed.

II. Interpretation

Before explaining this beautiful story, we must observe that, according to the holy Fathers and the interpreters of Scripture, Jacob is the figure of Jesus Christ and the predestinate, and Esau that of the reprobate. We have but to examine the actions and conduct of each to be convinced of this.

1. Esau, figure of the reprobate.

(1) Esau, the elder, was strong and robust of body, adroit and skillful in drawing the bow and in taking much game in the chase.(2) He hardly ever stayed in the house; and putting no confidence in anything but his own strength and address, he worked only out of doors. (3) He took very few pains to please his mother Rebecca, and indeed did nothing for that end. (4) He was such a glutton and loved eating so much that he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. (5) He was, like Cain, full of envy against his brother, and per­secuted him beyond measure.

Now this is the daily conduct of the reprobate. They trust in their own strength and aptitude for tem­poral affairs. They are very strong, very able and very enlightened in earthly business; but very weak and very ignorant in heavenly things.

It is on this account that they are never at all, or at least very seldom, at their own homes—that is to say, in their own interior, which is the inward and es­sential house which God has given to every man, to live there, after His example; for God always dwells in Himself. The reprobate do not love retirement, nor spirituality, nor inward devotion; and they treat as lit­tle, or as bigots, or as savages, those who are interior or retired from the world, and who work more within than without.

The reprobate care next to nothing for devotion to our Blessed Lady, the Mother of the predestinate. It is true that they do not hate her formally. Indeed they sometimes praise her and say they love her, and even practice some devotion in her honor. Nevertheless, they cannot bear that we should love her tenderly, because they have not the tenderness of Jacob for her. They find much to say against the prac­tices of devotion her good children and servants faithfully perform in order to gain her affection, because they do not think that devotion necessary to salvation; and they consider that, provided that they do not hate Our Lady formally or openly despise her devotion, they do enough. Moreover, they imagine that they are already in her good graces, and that, in fine, they are her servants, inasmuch as they recite and mumble certain prayers in her honor, without ten­derness for her or amendment in themselves.

The reprobate sell their birthright, that is to say, the pleasures of paradise. They sell it for a pot­tage of lentils, that is to say, for the pleasures of the earth. They laugh, they eat, they drink, they amuse themselves, they gamble, they dance, and take no more pains than Esau did to render themselves worthy of the blessing of their Father. In a word, they think only of earth and they love earth only; they speak and act only for earth and for its pleasures, selling for one moment of enjoyment, for one vain puff of honor, for a morsel of hard metal, yellow or white, their Bap­tismal grace, their robe of innocence and their heavenly inheritance.

Finally, the reprobate daily hate and per­secute the predestinate, openly and secretly. They feel the predestinate are a burden to them, they despise them, they criticize them, they ridicule them, they abuse them, they rob them, they cheat them, they drive them away, they bring them low into the dust; while they themselves are making fortunes, are taking their pleasures, getting themselves into good positions, enriching themselves, becoming greater and living at their ease.

Jacob, figure of the predestinate. (a) Conduct of Jacob

As to Jacob, the younger son, he was of a fee­ble constitution, meek and peaceful. He lived for the most part at home, in order to gain the good graces of his mother Rebecca, whom he loved tenderly. If he went abroad, it was not of his own will, nor through any confidence in his own skill, but to obey his mother.

He loved and honored his mother. It was on this account that he kept at home. He was never so happy as when watching her. He avoided everything which could displease her, and did everything which he thought would please her; and this increased the love which Rebecca already had for him.

He was subject in all things to his dear mother. He obeyed her entirely in all matters— promptly, without delaying, and lovingly, without complaining. At the least indication of her will, the little Jacob ran and worked; and he believed, without questioning, everything she said to him. For example, when she told him to fetch two kids in order that she might prepare something for his father Isaac to eat, Jacob did not reply that one was enough to make a dish for a single man, but did without argument what she told him to do.

He had great confidence in his dear mother. As he did not rely in the least on his own ability, he depended exclusively on her care and protection. He appealed to her in all his necessities, and consulted her in all his doubts. For example, when he asked if, instead of a blessing, he should not receive a curse from his father, he believed her and trusted her when she said that she would take the curse upon herself.

Lastly, he imitated as far as he could the vir­tues he saw in his mother. It seems as if one of his
reasons for leading such a sedentary life at home was to imitate his dear mother, who was virtuous, and kept away from bad companions who corrupt the morals. By this means he made himself worthy of receiving the double blessing of his beloved father.

(b) Conduct of the Predestinate

Such also is the conduct which the predesti­nate daily observe.

They are sedentary and homekeepers with their Mother. In other words, they love retirement and are interior. They give themselves to prayer; but it is after the example and in the company of their Mother, the holy Virgin, the whole of whose glory is within, and who during her entire life loved retirement and prayer so much. It is true that they sometimes appear with­out, in the world; but it is in obedience to the will of God and that of their dear Mother, to fulfill the duties of their state. However apparently important their outward works may be, they esteem still more highly those which they do within themselves, in their interior, in the company of the Blessed Virgin. For it is within that they accomplish the great work of their perfection, compared with which all their other works are but child’s play. It is on this account that, while sometimes their brothers and sisters are working out­wardly with much energy, success and skill, in the praise and with the approbation of the world, they on the contrary know by the light of the Holy Ghost that there is far more glory, more good and more joy in re­maining hidden in retreat with Jesus Christ, their Model, in an entire and perfect subjection to their Mother, than to do of themselves wonders of nature and grace in the world, as so many Esaus and repro­bates do. “Glory for God and riches for men are to be found in the house of Mary.” (Cf. ‘Ps. 111:3).

Lord Jesus, how sweet are Thy tabernacles! The sparrow has found a house to lodge in, and the turtledove a nest for her little ones. Oh, happy is the man who dwells in the house of Mary, where Thou wast the first to make Thy dwelling! It is in this house of the predestinate that he receives assistadce from Thee alone, and that he has arranged in his heart the steps and ascents of all the virtues by which to raise himself to perfection in this vale of tears. “How lovely are Thy tabernacles.” (Ps. 83:2).

The predestinate tenderly love and truly honor our Blessed Lady as their good Mother and Mistress. They love her not only in word but in truth. They honor her not only outwardly but in the depths of their hearts. They avoid, like Jacob, everything which can displease her; and they practice with fervor whatever they think will make them find favor with her. They bring to her and give her, not two kids, as did Jacob to Rebecca, but their body and their soul, with all that depends on them, symbolized by the two kids of Jacob. They bring them to her: (1) that she may receive them as things which belong to her: (2) that she may kill them, that is, make them die to sin and self, by stripping them of their own skin and their own self-love, so as by this means to please Jesus, her Son, who wills not to have any for His dis­ciples and friends but those who are dead to them­selves; (3) that she may prepare them for the taste of our heavenly Father, and for His greatest glory, which she knows better than any other creature; and (4) that by her care and intercession this body and soul, thoroughly purified from every stain, thoroughly dead, thoroughly stripped and prepared, may be a delicate meat, worthy of the mouth and the blessing of our heavenly Father. Is this not what the predestinate do, who by way of testifying to Jesus and Mary an effective and courageous love, relish and practice the perfect consecration to Jesus Christ by the hands of Mary which we are now teaching them?

The reprobate tell us loudly enough that they love Jesus, and that they love and honor Mary; but it is not
with their substance (Prov. 3:9), it is not to the extent of sacrificing their body with its senses, their soul with its passions, as the predestinate do.

The predestinate are subject and obedient to our Blessed Lady as to their good Mother, after the example of Jesus Christ, who, of the three and thirty years He lived on earth, employed thirty to glorify God His Father by a perfect and entire subjection to His holy. Mother. They obey Mary in following her counsels exactly as the little Jacob did those of Rebec­ca. who said to him: “Mv son. follow my counsels” (Gen. 27:8); or like the people at the marriage of Cana, to whom Our Lady said: “Whatever my Son shall say to you, that do.” (Jn 2:5). Jacob, for having obeyed his mother; received the blessing as it were miraculously, although naturally he would not have had it. The people at the marriage of Cana, for having followed Our Lady’s counsel, were honored with the first miracle of Our Lord, who there changed the water into wine at the prayer of His holy Mother. In like manner, all those who, to the end of time, shall receive the blessing of our heavenly Father, and shall be honored with the wonders of God, shall only receive their graces as a result of their perfect obe­dience to Mary. The Esaus, on the contrary, lose their blessing through their want of subjection to the Blessed Virgin.

The predestinate have also great confidence in the goodness and power of our Blessed Lady, their good Mother. They call incessantly for her help. They look upon her as their polar star, to lead them to a good port. They lay bare to her their troubles and their necessities with much openness of heah. They depend on her mercy and her gentleness, in order to obtain pardon of their sins through her intercession, or to taste her maternal sweetness in their troubles and weariness. They even throw themselves, hide them­selves and lose themselves in an admirable manner in her loving and virginal bosom, that they may be enkindled there with the fire of pure love, that they may be cleansed there from their least stain, and fully find Jesus, who dwells there as on His most glorious throne. Oh, what happiness! “Think not,” says Abbot Gueric, “that it is happier to dwell in Abraham’s bosom than in Marv’s: for it is in this last that Our Lord has placed His throne.”

The reprobate, on the contrary, put all their trust in themselves. They only eat, with the prodigal, what the swine eat. They eat earth like the toads, and, like the children of the world, they love only visible and exter­nal things. They have no relish for the sweetness of Mary’s bosom. They have not that feeling of a certain resting-place and a sure confidence, which the pre­destinate feel in the holy Virgin, their good Mother.

They are miserably attached to their outward hunger, as St. Gregory says,” because they do not wish to taste the sweetness which is prepared within them­selves, and within Jesus and Mary.

Lastly, the predestinate keep the ways of our Blessed Lady, their good Mother; that is to say, they imitate her. It is on this point that they are truly hap­py and truly devout, and bear the infallible mark of their predestination, according to the words this good Mother speaks to them: Blessed are they who practice my virtues (Prov. 8:32), and with the help of divine grace walk in the footsteps of my life. During life they are happy in this world through the abundance of grace and sweetness which I impart to them from my fullness, and more abundantly to them than to others who do not imitate me so closely. They are happy in their death, which is mild and tranquil, and at which I am ordinarily present myself, that I may conduct them to the joys of eternity; for never has any one of my good servants been lost who imitated my virtues during life.

The reprobate, on the contrary, are unhappy during their life, at their death and for eternity, because they do not imitate Our Lady in her virtues, but content themselves with sometimes being enrolled in her confraternities, reciting some prayers in her honor, or going through some other exterior devotion.

O holy Virgin, my good Mother, how happy are those (I repeat it with the transports of my heart), how happy are those who, not letting themselves be seduced by a false devotion toward you, faithfully keep your ways, your counsels and your orders! But how unhappy and accursed are those who abuse your devotion, and keep not the commandments of your Son: “Cursed are all who fall from Thy command­ments!” (Ps. 118:21).

In December 1998, during my visit to Israel ... the same visit where I had my somewhat 'mystical' experience at Mount Carmel ... I found an interesting article in the Jerusalem Post(an english daily newspaper in Jerusalem). The article deals withthe story of Jacob and Esau from a Jewish perspective. At the time ... and still today ... I find it particularly interesting that more words of the Torah are 'spent' dealing with this historical act than the Shabath.

The Tora of Guela By HaRav David Bar Hayim

“And it came to pass that Yishaq was old, and his eyes were too dim to see...” (Bereshith27:1). Thus begins the story we recently read in this weekly portion of the Tora, relating how Yishaq came to bestow his blessings upon Ya’aqov, rather that Esauw. the first-born. The Tora describes these events in no less than 51 verses (Bereshith 27:1 - 28:5). many more than the Tora utilizes when speaking of Shabath!

It is with regard to such lengthy ‘narrative’ sections of the Tora that the Zohar states: “Woe to the man who says that this Tora wishes to relate simple stories .. rather (the fact .is) that everything in the Tora is 1ofty and contains great secrets
and just as His Angels, [who are of spiritual, and not physical essence), when they descend to Earth take on the ‘garments’ of this world (a physical form): and were this not so they [the Angels] could not exist in this world and the world could not bear them ... how much more so the Tora itself – when it descends to this world, were it not to take on the ‘garments’ of the world, the world could not bear it. Thus, the stories of the Tora are the Tora’s ‘garments’ ...“ (Zohar III 152a)

The Zohar repeats this statement with specific references to the tale of Yishaq’s blessing: “All the works of the Holy One Blessed Be He are profoundly true; all things in the Tora are rooted in the mysteries of the Higher Worlds” (Zohar I, 141b). The meaning is clear: the Tora does not spend 51 verses in order to tell us ‘a good story.’ Hashem is trying to tell us something.



“And it came to pass that Yishaq was old, and his eyes were too dim to see, he called Esauw his elder son …” Several questions occur to us upon reading these words, and the story that follows:

· Would it not have been sufficient to simply inform us that Yishaq blessed Ya’aqov, despite not being the first born, due to his superior moral behaviour(as Hazal are so intent on pointing out)? Would any of us have challenged such a decision?

· Why emphasize that Yishaq called Esauw “his elder son”? The fact that Esauw was the first-born is plainly stated at the beginning of the weekly reading.


· Why did Yishaq insist on passing his mantle to Esauw? Could he truly not perceive that Ya’aqov was more worthy?




· On what basis did our matriarch Rivqa decide that she could devise
a plan to grant Ya’aqov the blessings? What did she know that
Yishaq did not?

We must being by defining the attributes of our forefathers. Avraham is known as a man of great kindness and giving: the story of seeing the three travellers in the desert and inviting them into his home is famous (Bereshith 18:1). Our Sages further amplify this picture of Avraham in many Midrashim. Even when the situation required making an unpleasant decision, such as distancing Yishmael from Yishaq and removing him from the family, Avraham faltered: “And this thing was very grievous in Avraham’s eyes(Bereshith 21:11). It ran against the grain of Avraham’s love of compassion.

Yishaq is a more stern and severe figure. When Ya’aqov rebukes Lavan, he refers to his forefathers in an unusual fashion: “Were it not that the G-d of my father, the g-d of Avraham, and the fear of Yishaq, had been with me, you would have surely sent me away empty handed” (Bereshith 31:42)

Ya’aqov is the confluence of these two tendencies — he is the perfectly balanced Jew: ‘The choicest of the Forefathers” (Bereshith Raba 76:1). Or in the words of the prophet Mikha: “You shall show Truth (perfection) to Ya’aqov, Loyal Love (compassion) to Avraham” (Mikha 7:20).

The Zohar sums it up thus:“Ya’aqov completes and perfects everyrthing ... as it says ‘Loyal Love (compassion) to Avraham’ — this is Avraham’s portion because he showed compassion to people … Yishaq is strict justice (I. 96aJ. “Hesed (Compassion), Pahad (Fear), Emeth (Truth) — these are the attributes of the three Forefathers” (III, 217a).

Our holy forefather Yishaq, therefore, is driven by a strict sense of justice and a rigid loyalty to tradition. It is for this reason that he felt that he must bestow his blessings, and the leadership of the nascent Jewish people, to Esauw:
this was the tradition he had received from his father. This was the Law: the blessing belongs to the first-born. Therefore “He called Esauw his elder son …” He was, in fact, aware of Esauw’s short.­comings. This is why he requested that Esauw bring him his favorite dish: ‘that my soul may bless you before I die” (27:4). He needed to be in a positive frame of mind toward Esauw, in order to bless him with a happy and full heart (only in this fashion, he knew, would his blessing be truly effective). As for the future, be felt that Hashem could cause Esauw to repent and return to Him if He so chose. He felt, at any rate, that this was out of his hands (see Mei HaShiloah, Toldoth).

Rivqa, however, knew that radical and rapid action was required to avert disaster (see Rambam 27:7). “Upon me be your curse, my son; but obey my voice .“ (27:13) she said upon seeing Ya’aqov’s reluctance to go along with her plot.

How did she know that this was the right thing to do? We find two explanations in our classic sources. Onqelos, in his Aramaic trans­lation, states: “It was said to me by way of prophecy that no curse shall befall you.” The Rashbam points out: “She relied [in so doing] on that which had been said to her by Hashem ‘and the elder shall serve the younger.”’

In truth, these two explanations are one. The Rashbam and Onqelos are simply reminding us of what we read at the beginning of the parasha when Rivqa, distressed by an unusual pregnancy, “went to inquire of the Lord” (This very fact indicates Rivqa’s holy intuition, the first step to prophecy; many women would simply have put it down to ‘bad luck’). “And the Lord said to her: Two nations are in thy womb and the elder shall serve the younger” (25:22-23).

Note the wording ‘and the; Lord said to her.’ In general, woman have greater powers of intuition and insight than men: “Hashem placed greater insight in women than men” (T.B. Nida 45b) (The expression ‘a woman’s intuition’ has a basis in reality!) That which was revealed to Rivka was unclear to Yishaq: “his eyes were too dim to see …“ She did not share this knowledge with him. “‘And the. Darkness He called Night’ — this refers to Yishaq (Zohar I, 142a). He was in the dark.

Rivqa. armed with this knowledge, knew that Ya’aqov must receive the blessing. The question was ‘How?. Hashem had not revealed the answer to this question. Yet Rivqa does not falter. If Hashem, in His Wisdom, had informed her of what must be, it was surely her responsibility to make it happen. She therefore hatches a plan and speaks to Ya’aqov: “obey my voice …” She is not only sure in the knowledge of what Hashem revealed to her; she is equally certain as to what must be done. The former is prophecy; the latter holy intuition, Ruah Haqodesh.

“Woe to the man who says that this Tora wishes to relate simple stories.” We must internalize the profound truth hidden herein.

Great events in our national existence cannot be understood and decisions that will shape our people’s future cannot be made in the ‘Yishaq mode.’ In order to perceive the direction and orientation that must be assumed, to come to terms with the steps that must be taken, and to possess the self-assuredness simply to know when something is right, and to be therefore willing to lead the way -for all these, something more than rigid loyalty to tradition is required.

Our Geula, which was prophetically mapped out for us long ago, is the. ‘What.’ We must supply the ‘How.’
Rav David Bar Hayim is the head of the Makhon Ben Yishai Institute for Tora Research in Jerusalem

Seems to me David Bar Hayim makes a profound statement applicable to all of mankind in the present day when he writes ...

"Great events in our national existence cannot be understood and decisions that will shape our people’s future cannot be made in the ‘Yishaq mode.’ In order to perceive the direction and orientation that must be assumed, to come to terms with the steps that must be taken, and to possess the self-assuredness simply to know when something is right, and to be therefore willing to lead the way -for all these, something more than rigid loyalty to tradition is required."

Hopefully, more and more people will see today's dominant lifestyle as a "Yishaq mode" ... or simply a mode that needs to change.