Day 5: Enter Through the Narrow Gate
Opening Prayer
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Scripture Reading
Matthew 7:13-14
The Narrow Gate
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
St. Louis de Montfort
Are you walking along the true way of life, which is the narrow and stony way of Calvary? Or are you, without perhaps realizing it, on the wide road of the world which leads to perdition? Are you aware that there is a highway which is to all appearances a straight and safe road, but which really leads to eternal death?
~Letter to the Friends of the Cross - St. Louis de Montfort
Question
Take some time with these questions of St. Louis de Montfort. Are you truly faithful to the Gospel even when doing what is right is unpopular, or do you tend to take the easier path of compromising its fullness to remain at peace with the world?
Prayer
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in your servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of your power, in the perfection of your ways, in the truth of your virtues, in the communion of your mysteries. Subdue within me the power of flesh and demon by your Holy Spirit, for the glory of God the Father. Amen
Night Prayer
(to be said before bed)
We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
note: this prayer is an ancient 3rd century Marian prayer that points to the central Marian dogma of Mary as the Theotokos (God-bearer).
Source:
Preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus Christ Through Mary According to St. Louis de Montfort - Fr. Hugh Gillespie, SMM.