According to Father Adolphe Tanquerey, author of The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology, the word devotion means devotedness and that means gift of self. Father Tanquerey teaches us to give to Our Lady and, through her to God, our intellect, will, heart, and whole being.

We honour Our Lady with our intellect by profoundly revering her. The dignity of the Mother of God is the foundation of veneration for Mary. When we pray the Hail Mary, we address her, “Holy Mary, Mother of God.” In these words, we express our firm faith in the doctrine of the Catholic Church that she is truly the Mother of God. Mary brought forth Jesus Christ, who, in virtue of the hypostatic union, is true God and true man. St. Alphonsus urged, “May the two names so sweet and so powerful, of Jesus and Mary, be always in our hearts and on our lips.”

We give our will to Mary by an absolute confidence in her. This confidence is founded on two facts: the power and the goodness of Mary. As Mother of God, she is powerful over the heart of her divine son. As our mother, she has deep affection for us, and she is devoted to our well-being. In fact, the foundations of our devotion to Mary are her titles of Mother of God and Mother of Men. 

St. Gertrude heard from the lips of the Most Blessed Virgin: “They ought not to call my sweetest Jesus my only Son, but rather my first-born Son. I conceived Him first in my womb, but after Him, or rather, through Him, I conceived every one of you to be His brothers and to be my children, adopting you in the womb of my maternal charity.” 

Our confidence in Our Lady should be firm and universal. It must be firm in spite of our sins and miseries. We call Our Lady “Refuge of Sinners” and “Comforter of the Afflicted.” According to Father Tanquerey, confidence in Mary “must extend to all the graces we need for conversion, for spiritual growth, for final perseverance, for preservation amidst dangers, trials and difficulties.”

The faithful invoke Our Lady with the titles “Mother of Perpetual Help,” “Mother of Divine Grace,” and “Help of Christians.” St. Alphonsus said, “Such is the compassion, such is the love which Mary bears us, that she is never tired of praying for us.”

St. Bernard said, “In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, invoke Mary. Let Mary never be far from your lips, never far from your heart; and to obtain the support of her prayers, do not forget the example of her life.” 

We use our heart to honour Mary by the gift of a tender and childlike love. St. Alphonsus exhorted, “After the love which we owe Jesus Christ, we must give the chief place in our heart to the love of His Mother Mary.”

We honour Mary with our whole being by copying, as much as humanly possible, all her virtues. St. Louis de Montfort teaches us to perform all our actions “through Mary, with Mary, and in Mary.” Through her intercession, we ask the grace to imitate her. We consider her as a model and a helper. The saint said, “With Mary, we make more progress in the love of Jesus in one month than we could in years of living less united to this good Mother.”

We should ask ourselves, ‘what would Mary do in this situation?’ We should ask her to help us to do the right thing. In her, we do things with dependence on Our Lady. We take her point of view and enter her plans, doing things as she did them for God’s glory and honor. St. Alphonsus exclaimed, “Blessed are the actions enclosed between two Hail Mary’s.” The saint promised, “If you persevere until death in true devotion to Mary, your salvation is certain.” 

Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard wrote, “The thing that Mary most of all expects of our devotion is the imitation of all the virtues that we admire in her and the unreserved abandonment of ourselves into her hands that she may clothe us with her Divine Son.”


奉獻自己於聖母

據靈修書籍的作者亞道.鄧奎利神父解釋，「敬禮」一詞，含有「奉獻」——等於把自己奉獻——之意。我們把自己奉獻給聖母，通過她，奉獻給天主。鄧奎利神父教我們，把個人的理智、意志、心靈，甚至整個人，都奉獻給聖母。

我們以理智深深地尊敬聖母。 「天主之母」是聖母品位尊榮的基礎，我們明白應予她致以崇高的敬重。當我們誦唸「聖母經」中的「天主聖母瑪利亞」，就是宣認聖教會奉聖母為「天主的母親」的當信道理：聖母把兩性（天主性和人性）結合的耶穌帶到世上來。聖亞豐索極力主張：「願耶穌、瑪利亞甘飴和大能的聖名，常在我們心內和口頌之中。」

我們把意志完全交付與聖母，皆因信賴她的大能及善良——作為天主的母親，在她聖子心中，具有一定的能力；作為我們的母親，她深愛我們、願意盡其所能，裨益我們。事實上，我們對聖母的敬禮，建基於她是「天主之母」及「眾人之母」。

聖女日多達從至聖童貞女口中聽到：『他們不應該稱我最甘飴的耶穌為我的獨生子，但應稱為我的首生子。在我腹中我首先懷孕祂，但在祂之後，也許籍著祂，我懷孕了你們每一位，作為祂的兄弟，我在母親的關愛胎中收養了你們。』

我們對聖母的信賴應該是堅定和全然的。不管我們的罪咎或憂傷有多大，對聖母的信賴應常是堅定的，因為她是「罪人之托」、「憂苦之慰」。我們對聖母的信賴，也應是全然的。正如鄧奎利神父說，委於聖母的信賴：「應包括我們皈依或靈性上的聖寵，也在我們陷危難、受試探、面困境，和處於臨終的時刻，完全交托給聖母。」

聖母亦被譽為「永援聖母」、「天主寵愛之母」和「進教之祐」。聖亞豐索說：「因聖母瑪利亞對我們的愛，她會不厭其煩地為我們祈禱。」

聖伯爾納鐸說：『在危難中，在極度痛苦中，在疑惑中，要記得瑪利亞，請求瑪利亞。讓瑪利亞永不遠離的的唇舌，永不遠離的心尋求她祈禱的支持，不要忘記她生命的的榜樣。』

我們以我們的心去光榮瑪利亞，以兒童溫柔的愛作禮品。聖亞豐索規勸說：『在我們應給予耶穌基督的愛之後，我們應該把心中最重要的位置給予對祂的母親瑪利亞的愛。』

當我們竭能效法聖母和她的德行, 就是以整個人來敬禮聖母。聖類斯.蒙福指出：我們的操守要「藉着聖母、偕同聖母、在聖母內」。「藉着聖母」：藉聖母的轉禱，得賞效法她所需的聖寵；「偕同聖母」：以聖母為我們的楷模與扶祐者。這位聖人說：『與瑪利亞一起我們在一個月的時間內，於熱愛耶穌方面，比較少與好母親結合生活一年的進步更多。』

我們要撫心自問『聖母在這情况下會如何處理？』祈求她幫助我們的行為，是無可指責；「在聖母內」：在任何事情上依賴聖母，尋求她的觀點和意願，全以光榮天主、敬愛天主為目的。聖亞豐索推崇說：「在兩遍「聖母經」之間所做的事是福的！」聖亞豐索承諾「若是你至死堅持對聖母真正的敬禮，你的救恩是肯定的。」

若翰肖塔爾院牧寫道：『瑪利亞在我們的敬禮中最期望的是效法我們欽佩她的一切德行，並不保留地交託自己於她手中，好讓她給我們穿上她的聖子。』