That is the question Christine Watkins asked me one night five or six years ago. I was taking her home to Sacramento from a Right to Life dinner in San Francisco. I told her I didn’t have one. Thankfully she didn’t order me from my own car and make me walk home.
I have learned not to be so abrupt in my answer to that question.
Several years ago one of my parish’s deacons, who has a very deep devotion to Mary and had made many pilgrimages to Marian sites, was giving the homily at Sunday Mass and talked about his recent pilgrimage. He said he had an opportunity to visit a room where St. Ignatius of Loyola had lived. He declined making the visit as he thought St. Ignatius was not devoted to Mary. He acknowledged he had since learned that was not true.
I think a distinction needs to be made between having a specific Marian devotion and being devoted to Mary. I do not have a specific Marian devotion. I am devoted to Mary.
I am also devoted to Ignatian spirituality. I am not a Jesuit, although Sr. Celeste Arbuckle, Director of the Office of Faith Formation for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, once asked me if I was. She was trying to get a rise out of me in a class she was teaching for those engaged in teaching adult faith formation for the archdiocese. She told another sister, sotto voce making sure I could hear it, that Pope John Paul II said Catholics shouldn’t practice meditation. What he had warned against was the practice of eastern meditation, of opening yourself to any spirits, which could open you to an evil spirit, instead of only Jesus. I corrected her. She smiled. We got along well.
St. Ignatius’s devotion to Mary is obvious to those who have made a retreat using the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I have not made a study of other Catholic spiritualities so I can’t say for certain what I am about to say is unique to St. Ignatius.
St. Ignatius instructs us to have colloquies either alone with Jesus or to make a triple colloquy with Mary, Jesus and God the Father.
The colloquy is a conversation. We all have heard of Hamlet’s soliloquy where he is speaking his thoughts aloud. St. Ignatius makes the colloquy with Jesus a frequent part of the Spiritual Exercises.
54. Note on Colloquies: The colloquy is made by speaking exactly as one friend speaks to another, or as a servant speaks to a master, now asking him for a favor, now blaming himself for some misdeed, now making known his affairs to him, and seeking advice in them. Close with an Our Father. (Speaking to Jesus as a friend is more common now as the idea of servant/master is not the same as it was in the 16th century of St. Ignatius.)
At other times St. Ignatius directs the prayer to make a Triple Colloquy:
FIRST COLLOQUY. The first colloquy will be with our Blessed Lady, speaking to her as I would my own mother. I ask her to go to her son and ask for whatever I am seeking at the time. Then I will say a Hail Mary
SECOND COLLOQUY. I will make the same petitions to her Son that He may obtain these graces from the Father for me. After that I will say the Soul of Christ.
THIRD COLLOQUY. I will make the same requests of God the Father that He Himself, the eternal Lord, may grant them to me. Then I will close with the Our Father.
What I particularly like about the Ignatian manner of prayer is the emphasis on the personal relationship one is to have with Jesus. Similarly, Mary is treated as my own mother. Even God the Father is approached as one would his own loving father.
I find myself frequently speaking to Jesus during my day. It is a very informal conversation. I’m not actually asking Him for a favor. I’m just talking to Him; sharing my thoughts. Many other times, during my retreat or outside of the retreat, I have had actual conversations with Mary, Jesus and God the Father. Sometimes I have heard words said to me, other times I just had a sense of what I was being told.
The Spiritual Exercises are designed to help a person know Jesus. You can’t know Jesus without also knowing His mother. One of Mary’s greatest gifts, I think, is her ability to take us to her son. She never keeps any of the attention she gets from us to herself. All of it is redirected toward her son.
We also know that Jesus gives His mother whatever she asks:
John 2:1–5
1On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;
2Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples.
3When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
4And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
We know what happened next.
Does that mean that Mary will get from her son anything I ask of her? No. I’m not likely to get a million dollars just because I ask Mary to ask Jesus for it. What we are asking for are graces. Some examples: The grace to understand. The grace to accept things as they are. The grace to work to change what needs changing. The grace of courage to face difficulties or to speak up when it is necessary. The grace to feel sorrow. The grace to be consoled. The grace to console others.
There are times when I come into contact at church with older men and women who are alone. They are lonely. I tell them about having a colloquy with Mary. I will suggest they make it a regular event. Daily if they want or weekly. Whatever works for them. If they like a cup of tea in the morning or a cup of coffee or decaf I suggest they prepare a comfortable place with a chair for themselves and a chair for Mary. Maybe they might want to light a candle. If it helps them, put out a cup for Mary, they don’t have to fill it, and drink their tea or coffee with Mary. Have a conversation with Mary in a nice, comfortable way.
Someone looking in the window might think they are seeing a crazy person talking to someone who is not there. They lack the eyes to see, but not us, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7
Praying before Mary brought St. Ignatius to the decision that changed his life forever.
In March of 1522, Ignatius left home with a newfound zeal to serve God. He came to the shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, the Black Madonna, and kept a vigil all night. The next day he left his sword at the altar and gave his fine clothes to a poor man. He cast aside his life as a noble soldier and dressed himself in rough clothes and sandals so as to take up the life of a poor pilgrim.
I think it is safe to say St. Ignatius had a devotion to Mary.
August 29, 2024
© 2024 Greg Gillen
Scripture/Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition
Montserrat vigil story credit/www.jesuits.org/stories/the-life-of-st-ignatius-of-loyola/
Image Credit/Our Lady of Montserrat/www.montserratvisita.com/
Note on Colloquies/The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius/Translation by Louis J. Puhl, S.J.
