Montfort’s direction for this phase
229. During the second week, they shall apply themselves, in all their prayers and works of each day, to knowing the Most Blessed Virgin. They shall ask this knowledge of the Holy Spirit. They may read and meditate on what we have said about her. They shall recite, as in the first week, the Litany of the Holy Spirit and the Ave maris Stella, and, in addition, a rosary every day, or at least a chaplet, for this intention.
St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary §229. Our complete English edition.
True Devotion to Mary, paragraphs 30–33
This optional reading accompanies the phase; Montfort’s preparation instructions above remain the guide.
30. As in natural and bodily generation there is a father and a mother, so in supernatural and spiritual generation there is a father, who is God, and a mother, who is Mary. All the true children of God and predestined have God for father and Mary for mother; and whoever does not have Mary for Mother does not have God for Father. That is why the reprobate, such as heretics, schismatics, etc., who hate the Most Blessed Virgin or regard her with contempt or indifference, do not have God for father, although they glory in it, because they do not have Mary for mother: for, if they had her for mother, they would love her and honor her as a true and good child naturally loves and honors his mother who gave him life. The most infallible and most indubitable sign for distinguishing a heretic, a man of bad doctrine, a reprobate, from one of the predestined, is that the heretic and the reprobate have nothing but contempt or indifference for the Most Blessed Virgin, striving, by their words and examples, to diminish the veneration and love of her, openly or in secret, sometimes under fine pretexts. Alas! God the Father has not told Mary to make her dwelling in them, because they are Esaus.
31. God the Son wills to form himself and, so to speak, to become incarnate every day, through his dear Mother, in his members, and he says to her: In Israel hereditare: Have Israel for your inheritance. It is as if he said: God my Father has given me for an inheritance all the nations of the earth, all men good and bad, predestined and reprobate; I will lead the former with the rod of gold and the latter with the rod of iron; I will be the father and the advocate of the former, the just avenger of the latter, and the judge of all; but as for you, my dear Mother, you shall have for your inheritance and possession only the predestined, prefigured by Israel; and, as their good mother, you shall bring them forth, nourish them, and raise them; and, as their sovereign, you shall lead them, govern them, and defend them.
32. “A man and a man is born in her,” says the Holy Spirit: Homo et homo natus est in ea. According to the explanation of some Fathers, the first man who is born in Mary is the God-Man, Jesus Christ; the second is a mere man, a child of God and of Mary by adoption. If Jesus Christ, the head of men, is born in her, the predestined, who are the members of this head, must also be born in her by a necessary consequence. One and the same mother does not bring into the world the head or chief without the members, nor the members without the head; otherwise, it would be a monster of nature; likewise, in the order of grace, the head and the members are born of one and the same mother; and if a member of the mystical body of Jesus Christ, that is to say, one of the predestined, were born of a mother other than Mary, who has produced the head, he would not be one of the predestined, nor a member of Jesus Christ, but a monster in the order of grace.
33. Moreover, Jesus being at present as much as ever the fruit of Mary, as Heaven and earth repeat to her a thousand and a thousand times every day: And blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus, it is certain that Jesus Christ is, for each man in particular who possesses him, as truly the fruit and the work of Mary as for the whole world in general; so that, if any of the faithful has Jesus Christ formed in his heart, he can boldly say: Great thanks to Mary; what I possess is her effect and her fruit, and without her I would not have it; and one can apply to her, more truly than Saint Paul applies them to himself, these words: Quos iterum parturio, donec in vobis formetur Christus: I bring forth every day the children of God, until Jesus Christ my Son is formed in them in the fullness of his age. Saint Augustine, surpassing himself and all that I have just said, says that all the predestined, in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, are in this world hidden in the womb of the Most Blessed Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished, maintained, and made to grow by this good Mother, until she brings them forth to glory after death, which is properly the day of their birth, as the Church calls the death of the just. O mystery of grace unknown to the reprobate, and little known to the predestined!
St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary §§30–33. Our complete English edition.
The prayers for this phase
Days 20–26: ask the Holy Spirit for knowledge of the Blessed Virgin. Continue the Litany of the Holy Spirit and Ave Maris Stella, and pray the Rosary daily for this intention—at least five decades, as Montfort permits a chaplet when the full traditional fifteen-decade Rosary is not prayed. Meditate on the mysteries with attention and ask to know, love, and imitate your Mother.
The Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional Catholic prayer.
Litany of the Holy Spirit
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Spirit, Thou Spirit of wisdom and understanding, have mercy on us.
Spirit of counsel and fortitude, have mercy on us.
Spirit of knowledge and piety, have mercy on us.
Spirit of faith and hope, have mercy on us.
Spirit of holy fear and love, have mercy on us.
Spirit of peace and joy, have mercy on us.
Spirit of patience, longanimity, and goodness, have mercy on us.
Spirit of continency and chastity, have mercy on us.
Spirit of humility and mortification, have mercy on us.
Spirit of life and salvation, have mercy on us.
Spirit of all virtues and graces, have mercy on us.
Spirit of the children of God, have mercy on us.
Teacher and Governor of the Catholic Church, have mercy on us.
Searcher of human hearts, have mercy on us.
Consoler of the afflicted, have mercy on us.
Strength of pious souls, have mercy on us.
Crown of all saints, have mercy on us.
Joy of the angels, have mercy on us.
Light of the patriarchs, have mercy on us.
Inspirer of the prophets, have mercy on us.
Wisdom of the apostles, have mercy on us.
Victory of martyrs and confessors, have mercy on us.
Purity of virgins, have mercy on us.
Be merciful: spare us, O Holy Spirit.
Be merciful: graciously hear us, O Holy Spirit.
From the spirit of heresy, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From the spirit of blasphemy, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From all sin and temptation, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From impugning the known truth, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From presumption of God’s mercy, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From despair, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From envy, malice, and ill-will, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From obstinacy in sin, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From all sloth and indifference in the service of God, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From all bad and impure thoughts and desires, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From a sudden and unprovided death, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From everlasting death, deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
We sinners, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst exalt the Catholic Church, enlighten her pastors, and sanctify her members, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst grant us the grace never to offend Thee, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst increase in us devotion and resignation to the will of God, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst infuse in us zeal, meekness, and love, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst sanctify all our thoughts, words, and actions, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst cleanse our hearts and make them Thy dwelling, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst preserve our body and soul, as Thy temple, from all stain, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst confirm us in Thy grace, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst enlighten the erring and bring them back to the true fold, we beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou wouldst take us all into the company of the elect, we beseech Thee to hear us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Lord.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Manual of Adoration (1897); English text with limited wording updates.
Prayer after the Litany of the Holy Spirit
Let us pray.
We beseech Thee, O Holy Spirit, descend with Thy light and consolation lovingly into our souls, enlighten our understanding, and consecrate the hearts which Thou hast sanctified as Thy temples. O Holy Spirit, come and bring us God’s blessing and peace; console us and all the afflicted, encourage and strengthen the weak; instruct and support the wavering; rouse the sinners to penance, and enkindle in their cold hearts the fire of divine love and a filial confidence in Thee, that all men, in peace and joy, may thankfully praise and adore Thee, together with the Father and the Son, one God, world without end. Amen.
Manual of Adoration (1897); prayer following the litany.
Ave Maris Stella · Hail, Star of the Sea
Hail, Star of the Sea, loving Mother of God, and ever Virgin, blessed gate of heaven.
Receiving that Ave from Gabriel’s mouth, establish us in peace, reversing the name of Eve.
Loosen the bonds of the guilty; bring light to the blind; drive away our evils; ask for us every good.
Show thyself a mother: through thee may He receive our prayers who, born for us, willed to be thy Son.
Virgin without equal, meek above all others, make us, freed from sin, meek and chaste.
Grant us a pure life; prepare a safe journey, that, seeing Jesus, we may rejoice together for ever.
Praise be to God the Father, glory to Christ Most High, and to the Holy Spirit: one honor to the Three. Amen.
Traditional Latin hymn; English rendering for The Marian Way.
Pray at least five decades of the Rosary.
Ask Mary for knowledge of her and the grace to share her faith and charity. Our complete companion provides the mysteries, meditations, and every prayer. Return to this day afterward to finish your prayer.
Pray the Rosary with MaryClose in prayer.
Permit me, then, to say to you: my mother, my most amiable mother. So I call you, and so I will always call you. You, after God, are to be always my hope, my refuge, and my love in this valley of tears.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori · The Glories of Mary · Mary Our Mother, prayer (excerpt)Prayer sources and translation notes
Days 20–26: ask the Holy Spirit for knowledge of the Blessed Virgin. Continue the Litany of the Holy Spirit and Ave Maris Stella, and pray the Rosary daily for this intention—at least five decades, as Montfort permits a chaplet when the full traditional fifteen-decade Rosary is not prayed. Meditate on the mysteries with attention and ask to know, love, and imitate your Mother. Read Montfort’s direction.
The Sign of the Cross
Traditional formula; Holy Spirit matches the site’s prayer register.
Ave Maris Stella · Hail, Star of the Sea
Traditional Latin hymn; fresh English rendering for The Marian Way. All seven stanzas are included; Ave and Eva retain the hymn’s contrast between Mary’s welcome and Eve’s disobedience.
Litany of the Holy Spirit
Complete historical English text from Manual of Adoration (1897), pages 235–238. “Holy Ghost” is rendered “Holy Spirit”; capitalization, punctuation, and the spelling of counsel are regularized, and printed response abbreviations are expanded.
Prayer after the Litany of the Holy Spirit
Complete prayer printed immediately after this litany in Manual of Adoration (1897), pages 238–239, with the same limited spelling and register changes.
An optional memory aid saved on this device. You may read any day at any time.
The preparation follows St. Louis de Montfort’s directions in True Devotion to Mary §§227–233. The readings are his words in our English translation. Their day-by-day selection and the first twelve days’ prayer selection are this companion’s arrangement; Montfort does not assign a separate reading for each day.