“God gave Mary such great power over demons that many times and
unwillingly they were forced to confess, through the mouths of
the possessed, that they feared even one of her sighs in favour
of a soul, more than all the prayers of the saints; feared only
one of her threats against them more than all other torments.
What Lucifer lost through pride, Mary gained through humility;
what Eve destroyed and lost through disobedience, Mary saved
through obedience” (TVD, nn. 52-53). With these and other
inspired words the great theologian Saint Louis Grignion de
Montfort, in his “Treaty on True Devotion to Mary” describes the
power of the grace the Lord gives to Mary against the Prince of
this world.
Our spiritual journey does not exempt us from painful moments
in the spiritual battle which consists in continually opting for
God, overcoming the many temptations sown along life’s path.
Saint Paul who was familiar with the battle against the evil
one, says clearly: “Put on the full armour of God so as to be
able to resist the devil's tactics. For it is not against human
enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities
and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this
world, the spirits of evil in the heavens” (Eph 6, 11-12).
These are the “rulers” of darkness which Most Holy Mary comes to
unmask and defeat with the power of the grace entrusted to her
by God to help all mankind! The numerous temptations, attempts
by the enemy of the human race, the ancient serpent, to cause
the fall of man, created in the image and likeness of God his
eternal enemy, could be compared to a spider’s web woven with
extreme precision and perseverance. The Evil One, defeated by
God is bent on destroying that which is most dear to the
Creator: man!
The Blessed Virgin Mary “ab immemorabilis”, has been invoked as
deliverer from evil and help of sinners. The saints understood
this and their intense Marian devotion has always expressed this
impelling necessity of the human soul illuminated by grace:
deliver us from evil! How can we forget for example the act of
consecration made by John Paul II on 25 March 1984 in front of
the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, he obeyed Our Lady’s request
and knelt as a son to supplicate the mother, repeating several
times “free us”!
“O immaculate Heart! Help us to defeat the threat of evil which
so easily take root in the human heart today and which already
has its immeasurable effects on the present day and appears to
shut the path to the future! Deliver us from hunger and war!
Deliver us from nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction,
from all sorts of war! Deliver us from sins against human life
since the beginning! Deliver us from hatred and abuse against
the dignity of the children of God! Deliver us from all
injustice in social life, national and international! Deliver us
from easily trampling on God’s commandments! Deliver us from
attempts to blur the truth of God lying deep in human hearts!
Deliver us from loss of awareness of good and evil! Deliver us
from sins against the Holy Spirit, Deliver us! Deliver us!”
(John Paul II, act of entrustment to Mary, Rome 25 March 1984).
In every day life, in the daily effort for conversion we are
called to make similar invocations for help and not rest in a
sort of passivity of spirit, as if we were out of danger, immune
from evil. For our body we adopt various measures of defense:
from the influenza virus, the simple cold, or other more serious
illnesses. For our soul what do we do? Are we aware of that
“spider’s web”, which we cannot see but which works against us
incessantly? “Keep sober and alert, because your enemy the devil
is on the prowl like a roaring lion, looking for someone to
devour. Stand up to him, strong in faith”(1Pt 5, 8-9). Saint
Peter experienced how easy it is to fall into the trap and so he
urges us to have courage, to put ourselves in the hands of God.
To pray the Rosary is to consecrate ourselves to Mary, invoke
her with trust, means to hold out our hand to the Queen of
Victories, the New Eve who opposes and always defeats Evil One.
If we let ourselves be led by Mary we will never be
disappointed!
