Our Lady of Candelaria
A Secret of Sanctity

-by St. Louis Marie de Montfort

Predestinate soul, here is a secret the Most High has taught me, which I have not been able to find in any book old or new. I confide it to you, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, on condition:

  1. That you communicate it only to those who deserve it by their prayers, their alms-deeds and mortifications, by the persecutions they suffer, by their detachment from the world, and their zeal for the salvation of souls.
  2. That you make use of it for your personal sanctification and salvation; for this secret works its effects in a soul only in proportion to the use made of it. Beware, then, of remaining inactive while possessing my secret; it would turn into a poison and be your condemnation.
  3. That you thank God all the days of your life, for the grace He has given you to know a secret you do not deserve to know.

As you go on making use of this secret in the ordinary actions of your life, you will comprehend its value and its excellence which at first you will not fully understand because of your many and grievous sins and because of your secret attachment to self.

Before you read any further, lest you should be carried away by a too eager and natural desire to know this truth, kneel down and say devoutly the Ave Maris Stella and the Veni Creator in order to understand and appreciate this divine mystery.

As I have not much time for writing, nor you for reading, I shall say everything as briefly as possible


The Will of God


Faithful soul, living image of God, redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, it is the will of God that you be holy like Him in this life and glorious like Him in the next. Your sure vocation is the acquisition of the holiness of God; and unless all your thoughts and words and actions, all the sufferings and events of your life tend to that end, you are resisting God by not doing that for which He has created you and is now preserving you. Oh, what an admirable work! To change that which is dust into light, to make pure that which is unclean, holy that which is sinful, to make the creature like its Creator, man like God! Admirable work, I repeat, but difficult in itself, and impossible to mere nature; only God by His grace, by His abundant and extraordinary grace, can accomplish it. Even the creation of the whole world is not so great a masterpiece as this.


Means of Sanctification


Predestinate soul, how are you to do it? What means will you choose to reach the height to which God calls you? The means of salvation and sanctification are known to all; they are laid down in the Gospel, explained by the masters of the spiritual life, practiced by the saints, and necessary to all who wish to be saved and to attain perfection. They are; humility of heart, continual prayer, mortification in all things, abandonment to Divine Providence and conformity to the will of God.

To practice all these means of salvation and sanctification the grace of God is absolutely necessary. No one can doubt that God gives His grace to all, in a more or less abundant measure. I say in a more or less abundant measure, for God, although infinitely good, does not give equal grace to all, yet to each soul He gives sufficient grace. The faithful souls will, with great grace, perform a great action, and with less grace a lesser action. It is the value and the excellence of the grace bestowed by God and corresponded to by the soul, that gives to our actions their value and their excellence. These principles are certain.


An Easy Means

It all comes to this, then: that you should find an easy means for obtaining from God the grace necessary to make you holy; and this means I wish to make known to you. Now, I say that to find this grace of God, we must find Mary.Click here to know the secret of MARY

Click here to view TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY

For those who are ready to make a total consecration, click here to view the Schedule of 33-DAY TOTAL CONSECRATION TO MARY


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