8. In Section 40, Saint Louis de Montfort says, “devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to salvation…”⁷ To support this statement, Note 10 is offered about Saint Bernardine’s prayer, along with a comment from Saint Alphonsus about her prayer, when he said, “The intercession of Mary is even necessary to salvation; we say necessary—not absolutely, but morally.” After Saint Alphonsus made this statement, Saint Louis de Montfort took his words, twisted them of out of context, and then created an entirely new statement that conflicts with the truth found in Sacred Scripture.

In the event that a person’s salvation is dependent upon a devotion to our Blessed Lady, then the Gospel message as recorded in Sacred Scripture (along with the Church’s teachings) are inaccurate. In the event that a devotion to the Blessed Mother is not required for salvation, then the author, publisher and promoters of this book are guilty of proclaiming a false gospel message. Regardless of a publishers’ good intentions, it is a very serious offense to disseminate a false gospel message to the general public. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the consequences of these actions in sections 2284–2287.

Sacred Scripture also contains a very serious warning to anyone who would intentionally (or unintentionally) proclaim a false gospel message in Galatians 1:6–9, when Saint Paul said, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!”

In the event that Saint Louis de Montfort’s statement is true, and that a devotion to the Blessed Mother is necessary for salvation, then God would need to change Sacred Scripture. If God were able to change Sacred Scripture, the Catholic Church would need to change thousands of ecclesiastical documents, including the Catechism of the Catholic Church in section 432, which says, “It is the divine name that alone brings salvation, and henceforth all can invoke his name, for Jesus united himself to all men through his Incarnation, so that ‘there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’”⁸

9. Instead of encouraging his readers to enter into an authentic relationship with Jesus directly, Saint Louis de Montfort directs his readers to an alternative method of salvation by trusting Mary with the salvation of their souls. Throughout his book, Saint Louis de Montfort continually speaks to his readers as if they were still trying to “find Jesus,” almost as if his followers were devoid of an authentic relationship with Jesus. For example, in Section 50, Saint Louis de Montfort states that his devotion to Mary is a sure means to “go to Jesus Christ and to find Him…” In Section 62, Saint Louis de Montfort describes his devotion as an “easy and secure means for finding Jesus Christ.” Other examples come from Section 155, where Saint Louis de Montfort says, “This devotion to our Blessed Lady is a short road to find Jesus Christ...”

The consequences for failing to enter into an authentic relationship with Jesus is described in Matthew 7:21–23, when Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’”

In this Scripture passage, we see a group of people who were not allowed to enter heaven for several reasons. First of all, we know that these people are very religious because they called Jesus “Lord, Lord,” and they had performed many deeds of power, including prophesy in the Lord’s name, casting out demons in the Lord’s name, and accomplishing many deeds of power in the Lord’s name, yet in verse 7:23, Jesus says to them, “I never knew you.” Because Jesus knows every detail of our lives, the kind of knowing that Jesus is referring to is the intimate knowing between a servant and his Master, or the intimate knowing between the Good Shepherd and his obedient sheep, who know and heed his voice.

Another reason why these people were not allowed to enter heaven is described in verse 7:21 when Jesus says they never accomplished the Father’s will in their lives. In order for a person to enter heaven, a man or woman needs to accomplish God’s purpose and plan for his or her life. The only way a person is going to know God’s specific purpose and plan for his of her life, is to enter into an authentic relationship with Jesus.⁹ Once a person enters into an authentic relationship with Jesus, that person can be filled with the Holy Spirit, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, that person can accomplish the Father’s will in his or her life. After living a life of knowing Jesus (and accomplishing the Father’s will through surrender, listening and obedience), these people will be able to hear their Master say, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”¹⁰

10. In a section entitled “Third Motive,” Saint Louis de Montfort describes a parable about a peasant who wants to present a king with a piece of fruit. The king in this parable represents God, and the poor peasant, represents a person who has never entered into an authentic relationship with Jesus. Because the peasant in this parable has never entered into an authentic relationship with Jesus, he attempts to make an offering through Mary. After Mary receives the piece of fruit, she places it on a golden platter and presents it to the king on the peasant’s behalf.

According to Saint Louis de Montfort’s explanation in Section 145, “Mary purifies our good works, embellishes them and makes them acceptable to her Son.” In Section 147, Saint Louis de Montfort says, “The fruit, however unworthy in itself to be a king’s present, would become worthy of his majesty because of the dish of gold on which it rested and the person who presented it.”

This example conflicts with Sacred Scripture for several reasons. First of all, in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gives his followers an example of a poor widow who placed two, small, copper coins in the temple treasury. In Luke 21:3–4, Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.” According to this Scripture passage, we know that God is aware of the poor widow’s offering, and that God is more impressed with her sacrifice than all the other gifts offered that day.

In addition to this teaching, Jesus offers his followers a warning about what’s going to happen to anyone who fails to produce everlasting fruit for the kingdom of God. In John 15:1–2, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”

“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”¹¹

In this Scripture passage, there are only two options for the peasant in Saint Louis de Montfort’s parable. One option is for a person to enter into an authentic relationship with Jesus directly, and through that relationship, a person will have the opportunity to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Once a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, that person can work in partnership with the Blessed Trinity to produce everlasting fruit for the kingdom of God. The other option is for a person to live a life devoid of Jesus. These people cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit, because they don’t maintain an authentic relationship with Jesus. They do not want to serve Jesus, and they cannot bear everlasting fruit with their lives, because without Jesus, they can do nothing. It does not matter how many Rosaries these people say, or how many times they consecrate themselves to the Blessed Mother, or how many times they ask Mary to present the Great King with a piece of fruit on a golden platter, according to the words of Christ, “Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”¹²

Continue to Part IV