Mary, Earthly Paradise of the New Adam
Introduction
The Calvary of Pontchâteau, built three hundred years ago (1709-1710) by St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort and a whole population, whose support he had gained for this extraordinary work, can be read with a Marian key in the symbolic tally of the images and figures it gives rise to.
For the construction of this gigantic Calvary, St Louis Marie used the natural features of the Magdalene Heath which was raised up rather like a "mushroom", as the sources say. The name of the place presents a certain cross-over: what was natural (the heath) was already marked by the supernatural (St Mary Magdalene). Magdalene Heath is an elevation at once geographical and spiritual… A mysterious heath where the "supernatural" blossoms in various places and at various times: the prehistoric menhir, or "spindle of Magdalene" which turns about during the night of the feast of St Mary Magdalene, the appearance of crosses in the midday sky to shepherds at the beginning of the 1670s (about the year of birth of St Louis Marie in 1673), the doves indicating themselves the site of the future calvary by carrying soil in their beaks from the spot originally chosen in Sainte Reine de Bretagne, and the innumerable miracles and extraordinary happenings which accompanied its construction… So many signs which invite us to read beyond simple facts and appearances…
The artificial hill of the Calvary and the "landscaping" project which surrounds it (gardens and a "rosary" of trees and chapels) give it a "poetic" character, a creation, so many images and figures to read, weigh up, meditate, "subjects for reflection (…) to keep in the mind" (cf. Hymn 2, 41-44).
The plan of St Louis Marie centres around the axis of the cross of Christ made from a very beautiful chestnut tree fifty feet high, surmounted by a representation of the Holy Spirit, and planted at the top of an artificial hill built up with the earth taken from the moat which formed the exterior enclosure of the Calvary. Between the hill and the moat, one hundred and fifty pine trees and fifteen cypresses formed a great circle: a Rosary encircling the calvary. St Louis Marie had foreseen the construction of chapels where there would be represented the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary by life-size figures. A single entry was created facing the Crucifix, flanked by two gardens, one called "the earthly paradise" and the other "the garden of olives".
The Calvary of Pontchâteau, markedly christocentric in character, offers for our gaze four images which bring to our minds the Blessed Virgin: the mountain, the garden, the tree, and the rosary.
A. The Holy Mountain
The Calvary of Pontchâteau reminds us clearly of the Calvary in Jerusalem (cf. Hymns 134 and 164), the holy Mountain of Jerusalem, the centre of the world. In his meditation on Psalm 68 (Vulgate), Fr. de Montfort gives a Marian interpretation to this "Mountain of God" (Ps 68:16-17):
"Lord, God of truth, who is symbolised by this mysterious mountain of which so many marvels are told, if not Mary, your beloved spouse, whose beginnings are established on the heights where all other mountains end?" (Prayer for Missionaries, 25).
Onto this mountain there are superimposed other biblical mountains, from Mount Sinai to the Mount of Olives:
"From the summit of this mountain, they will, like Moses of old, address their ardent prayers to heaven, turning them into the weapons which will overcome or convert their enemies.
This is the mountain on which Jesus Christ, who dwells there forever, will teach them in his own words the meaning of the eight beatitudes.
It is on this mountain that they will be transfigured as he was on Mount Tabor; that they will die with him as he died on Calvary, and from it, they will ascend to heaven as he did from the Mount of Olives" (Prayer for Missionaries 25).
The Blessed Virgin Mary is this holy Mountain where we can be with Jesus Christ, in his company, "the Shrine of the Divinity" (TD 262), the "Oratory of the heart" and the "Tower of David" (SM 47; cf. H 4,4). She is the Place of his Presence and of his Epiphany; the "divine Place" (TD 261) where we become like to Christ, transformed into Jesus Christ (cf. TD 119); image of the true and perfect devotion:
"As all perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotions is that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completely to Jesus. Now of all God's creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for the most effective consecration and conformity to him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus.
That is why perfect consecration to Jesus is but a perfect and complete consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin, which is the devotion I teach; or in other words, it is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism" (TD 120).
B. The Garden
The Calvary of Fr. de Montfort is a huge garden. A garden enclosed by the deep moat that allows for a single entry opposite Christ. St Louis Marie de Montfort often uses the metaphor of the "biblical garden" (most often in the form of "paradise") to speak of Mary. What is the connection (cf. TD 262) that unites the Blessed Virgin to the garden? Both are a "place", a divine place.
Mary is the enclosed garden, hortus conclusus, and the sealed fountain, fons signatus, of the Song of Songs (H 4,22; cf. TD 263 and TD 5). She is a holy place to which access is limited as the holy Mountain (cf. Ex 19:12,21-24), "Paradise of the Trinity" (H 90,58):
"Mary is the sanctuary and resting-place of the Blessed Trinity where God dwells in greater and more divine splendour than anywhere else in the universe, not excluding his dwelling above the cherubim and seraphim. No creature, however pure, may enter there without being specially privileged" (TD 5).
Sanctuary of the Blessed Trinity, Mary is the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Covenant where God sits upon the Cherubim, the Throne-Room where God sits surrounded by Seraphim (cf. Is 6), the Sacred Place where the High Priest alone may enter enveloped in the incense of mystery, if the Glory allows him (cf. Ex 40, 34-35 ; Lev 16, 1-2, 12-13 ; 1 Kgs 8, 10-13 ; Sir 50, 5-11 ; Heb 9, 7-8). The Great Hall of divine Mysteries, the knowledge of Mary is reserved to those to whom this mystery is revealed (cf. Mt 13, 11 ; Rom 16, 16, 25 ; 1 Cor 2, 7 ; Eph 1, 9 ; 3, 3, 9-11 ; Col 1, 26 ; 2, 2). The knowledge of Mary, hidden and closed since the beginning (cf. TD 2-5), "the secret of secrets of the King" (TD 11) is now revealed so that the Mystery of Jesus Christ may be known:
"My heart has dictated with special joy all that I have written to show that Mary has been unknown up till now, and that that is one of the reasons why Jesus Christ is not known as he should be. If then, as is certain, the knowledge and the kingdom of Jesus Christ must come into the world, it can only be as a necessary consequence of the knowledge and reign of Mary. She who first gave him to the world will establish his kingdom in the world" (TD 13).
Unfortunately, the secret of Mary remains "a mystery of grace unknown even to many of the most learned and spiritual of Christians" (TD 21; cf. TD 33):
"But how difficult it is for us to have the freedom, the ability and the light to enter such an exalted and holy place. This place is guarded not by a cherub, like the first earthly paradise, but by the Holy Spirit himself who has become its absolute Master. Referring to her, he says: 'You are an enclosed garden, my sister, my bride, an enclosed garden and a sealed fountain' [H4,12]. Mary is enclosed. Mary is sealed. The unfortunate children of Adam and Eve driven from the earthly paradise, can enter this new paradise only by a special grace of the Holy Spirit which they have to merit" (TD 263).
"Happy, indeed sublimely happy, is the person to whom the Holy Spirit reveals the secret of Mary, thus imparting to him true knowledge of her. Happy the person to whom the Holy Spirit opens this enclosed garden for him to enter, and to whom the Holy Spirit gives access to this sealed fountain where he can draw water and drink deep draughts of the living waters of grace. That person will find only grace and no creature in the most lovable Virgin Mary" (SM 20).
This garden is doubly paradoxical: one enters in both by grace and by merit (cf. SM 1-6) , it is closed and open, secret and revealed… For it is the holy Place of Mystery… What happens in this garden? The greatest of secrets:
"When we have obtained this remarkable grace by our fidelity, we should be delighted to remain in Mary. We should rest there peacefully, rely on her confidently, hide ourselves there with safety, and abandon ourselves unconditionally to her, so that within her virginal bosom: We may be formed in our Lord and our Lord formed in us, because her womb is, as the early Fathers call it, the house of the divine secrets where Jesus and all the elect have been conceived. 'This one and that one were born in her' [Ps 86,5]" (TD 264).
"Time does not permit me to linger here and elaborate on the perfections and wonders of the mystery of Jesus living and reigning in Mary, or the Incarnation of the Word. I shall confine myself to the following brief remarks. The Incarnation is the first mystery of Jesus Christ; it is the most hidden; and it is the most exalted and the least known. It was in this mystery that Jesus, in the womb of Mary and with her co-operation, chose all the elect. For this reason the saints called her womb, the throne-room of God's mysteries. It was in this mystery that Jesus anticipated all subsequent mysteries of his life by his willing acceptance of them. Consequently, this mystery is a summary of all his mysteries since it contains the intention and the grace of them all. Lastly, this mystery is the seat of the mercy, the liberality, and the glory of God. […] It is the seat of liberality for Mary, because while the new Adam dwelt in this truly earthly paradise God performed there so many hidden marvels beyond the understanding of men and angels" (TD 248).
"I declare with the saints: Mary is the earthly paradise of Jesus Christ the new Adam, where he became man by the power of the Holy Spirit, in order to accomplish in her wonders beyond our understanding. She is the vast and divine world of God where unutterable marvels and beauties are to be found. She is the magnificence of the Almighty where he hid his only Son, as in his own bosom" (TD 6).
Mary, the new creation, recreated in original justice, excellence and beauty (cf. LEW 36, 105-106), is this "garden of lilies" of the Song of Songs (cf. H 6,2-3), the place of the Incarnation of the Word:
"Wondrous to relate, this divine Wisdom chose to leave the bosom of his Father and enter the womb of a virgin and there repose amid the lilies of her purity. Desiring to give himself to her by becoming man in her, he sent the archangel Gabriel to greet her on his behalf and to declare to her that she had won his heart and he would become man within her if she gave her consent" (LEW 107).
This image of the garden or of paradise in speaking of the Blessed Virgin brings us to the Mystery of the Incarnation (and of our "divinisation", the ascending movement of the Incarnation: cf. LEW 203; 214 ; SM 13 ; TD 32-33 ; PM 15), to the "place" of this mystery: the "enclosed garden" of the Spouse's song in the Song of Songs, the garden of Genesis, the maternal womb, the matrix place of the origin, of birth and rebirth, of regeneration .
Place of the Origin, the Marian paradise is also the place of delights where the Lord even takes his pleasure, the place where all things are renewed:
"The Blessed Virgin is the true earthly paradise of the new Adam and […] the ancient paradise was only a symbol of her. There are in this earthly paradise untold riches, beauties, rarities and delights, which the new Adam, Jesus Christ, has left there. It is in this paradise that he "took his delights" for nine months, worked his wonders and displayed his riches with the magnificence of God himself. This most holy place consists of only virgin and immaculate soil from which the new Adam was formed with neither spot nor stain by the operation of the Holy Spirit who dwells there. In this earthly paradise grows the real Tree of Life which bore our Lord, the fruit of Life, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which bore the Light of the world. In this divine place there are trees planted by the hand of God and watered by his divine unction which have borne and continue to bear fruit that is pleasing to him. There are flower-beds studded with a variety of beautiful flowers of virtue, diffusing a fragrance which delights even the angels. Here there are meadows verdant with hope, impregnable towers of fortitude, enchanting mansions of confidence and many other delights. Only the Holy Spirit can teach us the truths that these material objects symbolise. In this place the air is perfectly pure. There is no night but only the brilliant day of the sacred humanity, the resplendent, spotless sun of the Divinity, the blazing furnace of love, melting all the base metal thrown into it and changing it into gold. There the river of humility gushes forth from the soil, divides into four branches and irrigates the whole of this enchanted place. These branches are the four cardinal virtues" (TD 261).
Is this mere poetry? Let us listen to St Louis Marie:
"All these titles and expressions of praise are very real when related to the different wonders the Almighty worked in her and the graces which he bestowed on her. What wealth and what glory! What a joy and a privilege for us to enter and dwell in Mary, in whom almighty God has set up the throne of his supreme glory!" (TD 262 and LEW 208).
These poetic images both hide and reveal "truths" that the Holy Spirit alone can make known, says St Louis Marie (TD 261). It is a special knowledge for it is a matter of entering into the Mystery which is announced figuratively (cf. TD 261.262, LEW 208), an experimental knowledge (cf. LFC 45). What are these truths? First, Mary as the "world of God and Paradise of God" (LEW 208 ; cf. SM 19) is the "mysterious Milieu" (TD 265) of the Mystery of the Incarnation: "Mary is the earthly paradise of Jesus Christ the new Adam, where he became man by the power of the Holy Spirit" (TD 6), "God the Son came into her virginal womb as a new Adam into his earthly paradise, to take his delight there and produce hidden wonders of grace" (TD 18, 264); and among these "wonders of grace" there is another mystery, that of our divinisation: "[to] be formed in our Lord and our Lord formed in us", "to be changed into Jesus Christ" (cf. TD 260, 264, 248) . Beside these "truths" which I would willingly call "dogmatic" (concerning the level of "nature" and hypostases, of "substance", ontological truths) there are other "truths" linked to spiritual or mystical experience (at an existential level), the sapiential experience (cf. LEW 13 ; LFC 45) of "delight": first of all for Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom: "It is in this paradise that he [Jesus Christ, the new Adam] 'took his delights'" (TD 261, 18), then for the "predestinate": "we should be delighted to remain in Mary", the place of our growth and our life in the Spirit (TD 264' 261-265) .
Mary is the place of the mystery of mysteries (cf. TD 248), the "reserved" place of "hidden" things (cf. TD 6, 45); to enter there is a privilege (cf. TD 5, 263) in view of a real mystagogy, initiation into the divine mysteries:
"To Mary alone God gave the keys of the cellars [H 1,6] of divine love and the ability to enter the most sublime and secret ways of perfection, and lead others along them. Mary alone gives to the unfortunate children of unfaithful Eve entry into that earthly paradise where they may walk pleasantly with God and be safely hidden from their enemies. There they can feed without fear of death on the delicious fruit of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They can drink copiously the heavenly waters of that beauteous fountain which gushes forth in such abundance. As she is herself the earthly paradise, that virgin and blessed land from which sinful Adam and Eve were expelled she lets only those whom she chooses enter her domain in order to make them saints" (TD 45).
The image of the earthly paradise applied to the Blessed Virgin by Fr de Montfort is a dynamic metaphor tracing a veritable initiative path which leads to Jesus Christ. This christocentrism, so emphasised, leads us, as it were quite naturally, to the Tree of Life, the centre of the Garden of our origins.
C. The Tree of Life
The cross, tree of life
In the great tradition of the Church, Fr de Montfort opposes Eve and the Blessed Virgin:
"What Eve ruined and lost by disobedience Mary saved by obedience. By obeying the serpent, Eve ruined her children as well as herself and delivered them up to him. Mary by her perfect fidelity to God saved her children with herself" (TD 53)
Thus Mary is the new Eve, the true Mother of the Living (cf. Gen 3,20). Fr de Montfort associates her with the mystery of the cross:
"Mary, as Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the tree of life, which is the Cross of Jesus. But while meting out crosses to them she gives the grace to bear them with patience, and even with joy. In this way, the crosses she sends to those who trust themselves to her are rather like sweetmeats, i.e. 'sweetened' crosses rather than 'bitter' ones" (SM 22; cf. H 123,13).
In a striking shortcut, Fr de Montfort joins the tree of life with the cross of Jesus, the wood of the cross with the wood of the tree whose fruit was forbidden; the first was transfigured by the second, transformed in the Paschal mystery of Christ. The Eve of the Book of Genesis becomes the Virgin Mary standing at the foot of the cross of her Son (cf. Jn 19,25). If crosses are always "bitter", the maternal presence of Mary, Mother of the living, transforms them into "sweetmeats":
"This good Mother, filled with the grace and unction of the Holy Spirit, dips all the crosses she prepares for them in the honey of her maternal sweetness and the unction of pure love. They then readily swallow them as they would sugared almonds, though the crosses may be very bitter. I believe that anyone who wishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer persecution and will have a daily cross to carry. But he will never manage to carry a heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and perseveringly, without a trusting devotion to our Lady, who is the very sweetness of the cross. It is obvious that a person could not keep on eating without great effort unripe fruit which has not been sweetened" (TD 154).
Mary, tree of life
However, leaving behind the traditional image of the cross as the new tree of life, Fr de Montfort applies it more often to the Virgin Mary (cf. LEW 204 ; SM 67.70.72.75.78 ; TD 44.45.164.218.261 ; H 81,7). But this image of the tree of life attributed to the Virgin Mary is never alone, it is always associated with its fruit, which is Jesus . It is the couplet tree-fruit that Fr de Montfort considers, for example:
"If we desire a ripe and perfectly formed fruit, we must possess the tree that bears it. If we desire the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, we must possess the tree of life which is Mary" (TD 164) .
To do this, St Louis Marie de Montfort condenses a whole series of biblical texts going back from the Gospel to Genesis: the blessing by Elizabeth of the Virgin Mary ("blessed is the fruit of your womb" Lk 1,42) taking up the divine promise ("The LORD swore to David […] it is the fruit of your loins that I will place on the throne prepared for you" Ps 132,11), associated with the prophecy of the tree of Jesse ("A shoot will spring from the stock of Jesse, a new shoot will grow from his roots" Is 11,1), to arrive at the tree of life in the middle of the garden of paradise and its fruit (cf. Gen 2,9; 3,22-24). And it is very much in the light of this divine Fruit that Fr de Montfort judges the tree:
"Mary is his [Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom] most worthy Mother because she conceived him and brought him forth as the fruit of her womb. 'Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.'
Hence it is true to say that Jesus is the fruit and product of Mary wherever he is present, be it in heaven, on earth, in our tabernacles or in our hearts. She alone is the tree of life and Jesus alone is the fruit of that tree.
Therefore anyone who wishes to possess this wonderful fruit in his heart must first possess the tree that produces it; whoever wishes to possess Jesus must possess Mary" (LEW 204).
If the hermeneutic path goes from the fruit to the tree, the spiritual path goes from the tree to the fruit… Here again, the image of the tree is dynamic: the tree produces the fruit and whoever wants to find the fruit must look for the tree that produces it…
The tree can also efface itself before the fruit, emphasising its fecundity :
"As Mary is everywhere the fruitful Virgin, she produces in the depths of the soul where she dwells […] a fruitfulness […] Do not think, dear soul, that Mary, the most faithful of all God's creatures, who went as far as to give birth to a God-man, remains idle in a docile soul. She causes Jesus to live continuously in that soul and that soul to live in continuous union with Jesus. Filioli mei, quos iterum parturio donec formetur Christus in vobis (Gal. 4,19). If Jesus is equally the fruit of Mary for each individual soul as for all souls in general, he is even more especially her fruit and her masterpiece in the soul where she is present" (SM 56).
Or:
" Moreover, Jesus is still as much as ever the fruit of Mary, as heaven and earth repeat thousands of times a day: "Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." It is therefore certain that Jesus is the fruit and gift of Mary for every single man who possesses him, just as truly as he is for all mankind. Consequently, if any of the faithful have Jesus formed in their heart they can boldly say, "It is thanks to Mary that what I possess is Jesus her fruit, and without her I would not have him." We can attribute more truly to her what Saint Paul said of himself, "I am in labour again with all the children of God until Jesus Christ, my Son, is formed in them to the fullness of his age." Saint Augustine, surpassing himself as well as all that I have said so far, affirms that in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God all the predestinate, while in the world, are hidden in the womb of the Blessed Virgin where they are protected, nourished, cared for and developed by this good Mother, until the day she brings them forth to a life of glory after death, which the Church calls the birthday of the just. This is indeed a mystery of grace unknown to the reprobate and little known even to the predestinate!" (TD 33; cf. TD 164).
The biblical images of the tree of life and the fruit which comes from it emphasise also the indissoluble link uniting the Virgin Mary with her Son:
"Jesus is always and everywhere the fruit and Son of Mary and Mary is everywhere the genuine tree that bears that Fruit of life, the true Mother who bears that Son" (TD 44).
The very construction of this sentence, the parallelism of the two members emphasised by the "everywhere", demonstrates this necessary relationship: Jesus / Mary, fruit / tree, Son / Mother. Its structure of a concentric (or chiasmic) character, reinforces this link :
Jesus or Jesus
Fruit Son
Mary Mary
Mary Mary
Tree Mother
The fecundity of the tree producing the fruit is the image of the divine and spiritual maternity of the Blessed Virgin, as this prayer to the Holy Spirit testifies:
"Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces. Implant in my soul the tree of true life, which is Mary. Foster it and cultivate it so that it grows and blossoms and brings forth the fruit of life in abundance. Holy Spirit, give me a great love and longing for Mary, your exalted spouse. Give me a great trust in her maternal heart and a continuous access to her compassion, so that with her you may truly form Jesus, great and powerful, in me until I attain the fullness of his perfect age" (SM 67).
Or again:
"If Mary, the Tree of Life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelity to this devotion, she will in due time bring forth her fruit which is none other than Jesus" (TD 218).
True devotion to the Blessed Virgin, tree of life
In these last two texts (cf. SM 67 and TD 218), St Louis Marie broadens the image tree-fruit by the metaphorical use of cultivation, thus introducing between the tree and the fruit a temporal distance of growth, duration, an image of spiritual and mystical progress. The immediacy of the relationship tree-fruit characterises the necessary and indissoluble union between Mary and Jesus Christ (whoever wants the fruit must have the tree), the place of the Mystery of the Incarnation; now the separation between the tree and the fruit brought about by the slow process of cultivation, growth and maturation, permits the transposition of this image to the spiritual life according to the "true devotion to the Blessed Virgin". The appendix to the Secret of Mary (SM 70-78) is the section symbolic of this. The body of the text (SM 71-77) is made up of six counsels of the spiritual life. The introduction (SM 70) and the conclusion (SM 78) which surround this constitute a real inclusion formed around other gospel texts: "This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel [Mt 13, 31-32 ; Mk 4, 31-32 ; Lk 13, 18-19], which is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but nevertheless it grows into a big plant, shooting up so high that the birds of the air, that is, the elect, come and make their nest in its branches. They repose there, shaded from the heat of the sun, and safely hidden from beasts of prey" (SM 70; cf. SM 78). Finally The Secret of Mary, after the image of the time of growth, ends with that of eternity which is also that of Beatitude:
"Chosen soul, provided you thus carefully cultivate the Tree of Life, which has been freshly planted in your soul by the Holy Spirit, I can assure you that […] it will yield in due season the sweet and adorable Fruit of honour and grace, which is Jesus, who has always been and will always be the only fruit of Mary.
Happy is that soul in which Mary, the Tree of Life, is planted. Happier still is the soul in which she has been able to grow and blossom. Happier again is the soul in which she brings forth her fruit. But happiest of all is the soul which savours the sweetness of Mary's fruit and preserves it up till death and then beyond to all eternity. Amen" (SM 78).
D. The Mystic Rose
Fr. de Montfort's Calvary was in fact an immense rosary, a circular walk round the mountain planted with 150 pine trees and 15 cypresses. The rosary is already, by its very name, associated with the rose, with a crown of roses… It is a bouquet, a garden… St Louis Marie is naturally going to use this floral image at will to speak of the rosary (cf. ASR 3-8, 24, 25). His book The Admirable Secret of the Rosary is also divided into 49 "roses" and takes its inspiration largely from "Le Rosier Mystique" (The Mystic Rose) of Antonin Thomas, a Dominican.
But St Louis Marie de Montfort is not content with images of "roses" in speaking of the Rosary; he also takes biblical expressions, images and quotations which he uses to speak of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin (cf. above: SM 70, 78 and TD 218):
" Good and devout souls, who walk in the light of the Holy Spirit, I do not think you will mind my giving you this little mystical rose tree which comes straight from heaven and which is to be planted in the garden of your soul. […] this mystical rose tree is Jesus and Mary in life, death and eternity. So please do not scorn this beautiful and heavenly tree, but plant it with your own hands in the garden of your soul, by making the resolution to say your Rosary every day. By saying it daily and by doing good works you will be tending your tree, watering it, hoeing the earth around it. Eventually you will see that this little seed which I have given you, and which seems so small now, will grow into a tree so great that the birds of heaven, that is, predestinate and contemplative souls, will dwell in it and make their nests there. Its shade will shelter them from the scorching heat of the sun and its height will keep them safe from the wild beasts on the ground. And best of all, they will feed upon the tree's fruit, which is none other than our adorable Jesus, to whom be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen" (ASR 5,6).
The image of the fruit brings us back to the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Word of God through the quotation of Elizabeth's blessing (Lk 1, 42) at the heart of the Hail Mary; St Louis Marie is going to join to it, like a watermark, some elements from the parable of the sower (cf. Mt 13, 18-23 ; Mk 4, 13-20 ; Lk 8, 11-15):
"Those who accept this devotion should have a great love for the Hail Mary, or, as it is called, the Angelic Salutation. Few Christians, however enlightened, understand the value, merit, excellence and necessity of the Hail Mary. […] The salvation of the world began with the Hail Mary, so the salvation of each individual is bound up with it. This prayer, […] brought to a dry and barren world the Fruit of Life, and if well said, will cause the Word of God to take root in the soul and bring forth Jesus, the Fruit of Life. […] the Hail Mary is a heavenly dew which waters the earth of our soul and makes it bear fruit in due season" (TD 249).
The efficacy of the Angelic Salutation and of the Rosary is because of this "fruit". The same causes bring the same effects: these words ("and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus") are the words of the Mystery of the Incarnation, those of the Word made flesh, and to these same words, the Word of God bears fruit in those who welcome it (cf. ASR 1, 16, 20, 28):
"One day our Lady said to Blessed Alan: Just as God chose the Angelic Salutation to bring about the incarnation of his Word and the redemption of mankind, so those who want to bring about moral reforms and regenerate them in Jesus Christ must honour me and greet me with the same salutation" (ASR 112).
Or again in the Hymn on The Triumph of the Ave Maria:
"God redeemed the world
By the Hail Mary.
By it, He will renew
The earth and the seas […]
By its grace, it makes fertile
Everything here below […]
The earth was once sterile,
But when the angel said Ave
It brought forth its Fruit,
The earth became fertile" (H 89: 6,8,9).
A missionary and preacher like Fr de Montfort could not but be very sensitive to this efficacy or apostolic fruitfulness of the Rosary , this secret of heaven:
"The Hail Mary is a blessed dew that falls from heaven upon the souls of the predestinate. It gives them a marvellous spiritual fertility so that they can grow in all virtues. The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer, the more enlightened in mind we become, the more zealous in heart, the stronger against all our enemies.
The Hail Mary is a sharp and flaming shaft which, joined to the Word of God, gives the preacher the strength to pierce, move, and convert the most hardened hearts, even if he has little or no natural gift for preaching.
As I have already said , this was the great secret that our Lady taught St. Dominic and Blessed Alan for the conversion of heretics and sinners. Saint Antoninus tells us that that is why many priests acquired the habit of saying a Hail Mary at the beginning of their sermons " (ASR 51).
Or again:
"This is one of the greatest secrets to have come down from heaven. Its heavenly dew refreshes men's hearts and makes God's word operative within them. Everyday experience brings this fact home to them" (MR 57; cf. ASR 113-117) .
Conclusion
From this "walk" in the gardens of the writings of St Louis Marie de Montfort, I would like to retain three convictions:
The first conviction is the one that jumps out like a piece of evidence from all these texts (but also from the Calvary of Pontchâteau itself, which is its architectural manifestation): their christocentrism. Everything leads us to Jesus Christ as to the centre of everything (cf. TD 61). The Marian images employed by St Louis Marie lead us always to the Mystery of Jesus Christ.
The second conviction concerns the process which guided Fr de Montfort in his use of these images of the garden, the mountain, the trees… It is not by a "natural" symbolism that he applied them to the Blessed Virgin, but by the play of a "biblical symbolism". It is the Bible that guided the writing of Fr de Montfort; his interpretation always starts with the Mystery of the Incarnation and in particular the first chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke. The Incarnation of the Word is the key which opens up all Scripture.
The third concerns his way of understanding Mystery. For St Louis Marie de Montfort, Mystery cannot be understood from outside. It is only in the interior, in entering in, in dwelling within, that the Mystery can be understood (while being oneself understood!). It is to this mysterious journey that Fr de Montfort invites us: an invitation to take a holy and sanctifying walk, a pilgrimage. To take, in order to go to Jesus, the path that he took to come to us, his "great and wonderful journey" (TD 157). Mary is, at one and the same time, this path and the place of the Mystery of Jesus Christ, into which he invites us to enter. The Calvary of Pontchâteau, according to the original plan, presents the prayer of the Rosary (both as recitation and meditation: cf. ASR 9; LEW 193) as this walk into the interior of the Mysteries centred around the axis of the Cross of Jesus. Therefore a journey that is not simply circular and horizontal, but also vertical (the cross), leading to the heights in a movement of aspiration signified by the Holy Spirit painted at the top of the cross. This arrangement is characteristic of the way in which St Louis Marie de Montfort conceived of meditation. For him, to meditate is to "represent, in the imagination, Our Lord and his holy Mother, in the mystery" honoured (ASR 120), to stop for a moment to consider the mystery (cf. ASR 126) and to enter into the scene of the mystery, so to speak, according to this prayer of Fr. de Montfort to Jesus:
"Lord Jesus, blessed are the brothers and sisters of the Daily Rosary Confraternity who, day after day, are present in and around your throne in heaven, so that they may meditate and contemplate your joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries. How happy they are on earth because of the wonderful graces you bestow on them, and how blessed shall they be in heaven where they will praise you in a special way forever and ever" (ASR 141).
Olivier Maire smm
A short Montfortian Marian litany arising from the texts quoted:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us!
Excellent masterpiece of the Most High,
Admirable Mother of the Son,
Garden enclosed,
Sealed fountain,
Faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit,
Lovable creature,
Shrine and place of rest of the Blessed Trinity,
Earthly paradise of the new Adam,
Paradise of God,
Great and divine world of God,
Magnificence of the Most High,
Admirable creature,
Daughter of the King,
Secret of the secrets of the King,
Holy mountain of God,
Full of Grace,
Unique treasurer and dispenser of the gifts and graces of the Most High,
True tree of life that carries Jesus Christ, the fruit of life,
Beautiful fountain of heavenly waters,
Sweetener of crosses,
Hall of secrets of God,
Earth virgin and immaculate,
Eastern gate, through which the High Priest, Jesus Christ, enters and leaves the world,
Throne of God,
City of God,
Altar of God,
Temple of God,
Hall of divine sacraments,
Paradise of the Trinity,
Mother of the living,
Fruitful Virgin,
Royal throne of Eternal Wisdom,
Sanctuary of the divinity,
Contentment of the Blessed Trinity, Pray for us!
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