Book 4, Chapter 4
The Mystical City of God, The Divine History and Life of The
Virgin Mother of God
CHRIST OUR SAVIOR IS BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN BETHLEHEM.
The palace which the supreme King of kings and the Lord of
lords had chosen for entertaining his eternal and incarnate Son in this world
was a most poor and insignificant hut or cave, to which most holy Mary and
Joseph betook themselves after they had been denied all hospitality and the most
ordinary kindness by their fellow-men, as I have described in the foregoing
chapter. This place was held in such contempt that though the town of Bethlehem
was full of strangers in want of night-shelter, none would demean or degrade
himself so as to make use of it for a lodging; for there was none who deemed it
suitable or desirable for such a purpose, except the Teachers of humility and
poverty, Christ our Savior and his purest Mother. On this account the wisdom of
the eternal Father had reserved it for Them consecrating it in all its bareness,
loneliness and poverty as the first temple of light (Malachy 4, 2, Ps. 111, 4)
and as the house of the true Sun of justice, which was to arise for the upright
of heart from the resplendent Aurora Mary, turning the night of sin into the
daylight of grace.
Most holy Mary and saint Joseph entered the lodging thus
provided for them and by the effulgence of the ten thousand angels of their
guard they could easily ascertain its poverty and loneliness, which they
esteemed as favors and welcomed with tears of consolation and joy. Without delay
the two holy travelers fell on their knees and praised the Lord, giving Him
thanks for his benefit, which they knew had been provided by his wisdom for his
own hidden designs. Of this mystery the heavenly Princess Mary had a better
insight; for as soon as She sanctified the interior of the cave by her sacred
footsteps She felt a fullness of joy which entirely elevated and vivified Her.
She besought the Lord to bless with a liberal hand all the inhabitants of the
neighboring city, because by rejecting Her they had given occasion to the vast
favors, which She awaited in this neglected cavern. It was formed entirely of
the bare and coarse rocks, without any natural beauty or artificial adornment; a
place intended merely for the shelter of animals; yet the eternal Father had
selected it for the shelter and dwelling-place of his own Son.
The angelic spirits, who like a celestial militia guarded
their Queen and Mistress, formed themselves into cohorts in the manner of court
guards in a royal palace. They showed themselves in their visible forms also to
saint Joseph; for on this occasion it was befitting that he should enjoy such a
favor, on the one hand in order to assuage his sorrow by allowing him to behold
this poor lodging thus beautified and adorned by their celestial presence, and
on the other, in order to enliven and encourage him for the events which the
Lord intended to bring about during that night, and in this forsaken place. The
great Queen and Empress, who was already informed of the mystery to be
transacted here, set about cleaning with her own hands the cave, which was so
soon to serve as a royal throne and sacred mercy-seat; for neither did She want
to miss this occasion for exercising her humility, nor would She deprive her Onlybegotten Son of the worship and reverence implied by this preparation and
cleansing of his temple.
Saint Joseph, mindful of the majesty of his heavenly Spouse
(which, it seemed to him, She was forgetting in her ardent longing for
humiliation), besought Her not to deprive Him of this work, which he considered
as his alone; and he hastened to set about cleaning the floor and the corners of
the cave, although the humble Queen continued to assist him therein. As the
angels were then present in visible forms, they were (according to our mode of
speaking) abashed at such eagerness for humiliation, and they speedily emulated
with each other to join in this work; or rather, in order to say it more
succinctly, in the shortest time possible they had cleansed and set in order
that cave, filling it with holy fragrance. Saint Joseph started a fire with the
material which he had brought for that purpose. As it was very cold, they sat at
the fire in order to get warm. They partook of the food which they had brought,
and they ate this, their frugal supper, with incomparable joy of their
souls. The Queen of heaven was so absorbed and taken up with the thought of the
impending mystery of her divine delivery, that She would not have partaken of
food if She had not been urged thereto by obedience to her spouse.
After their supper they gave thanks to the Lord as was their
custom. Having spent a short time in this prayer and conferring about the
mysteries of the incarnate Word, the most prudent Virgin felt the approach of
the most blessed Birth. She requested her spouse saint Joseph to betake himself
to rest and sleep as the night was already far advanced. The man of God yielded
to the request of his Spouse and urged Her to do the same; and for this purpose
he arranged and prepared a sort of couch with the articles of wear in their
possession, making use of a crib or manger, that had been left by the shepherds
for their animals. Leaving most holy Mary in the portion of the cave thus
furnished, saint Joseph retired to a corner of the entrance, where he began to
pray. He was immediately visited by the divine Spirit and felt a most sweet and
extraordinary influence, by which he was wrapt and elevated into an ecstasy. In
it was shown him all that passed during that night in this blessed cave; for he
did not return to consciousness until his heavenly Spouse called him. Such was
the sleep which saint Joseph enjoyed in that night, more exalted and blessed
than that of Adam in paradise (Gen. 21, 2).
The Queen of all creatures was called from her resting-place
by a loud voice of the Most High, which strongly and sweetly raised Her above
all created things and caused Her to feel new effects of divine power; for this
was one of the most singular and admirable ecstasies of her most holy life.
Immediately also She was filled with new enlightenment and divine influences,
such as I have described in other places, until She reached the clear vision of
the Divinity. The veil fell and She saw intuitively the Godhead itself in such
glory and plenitude of insight, as all the capacity of men and angels could not
describe or fully understand. All the knowledge of the Divinity and humanity of
her most holy Son, which She had ever received in former visions was renewed
and, moreover, other secrets of the inexhaustible archives of the bosom of God
were revealed to Her. I have not ideas or words sufficient and adequate for
expressing what I have been allowed to see of these sacraments by the divine
light; and their abundance and multiplicity convince me of the poverty and want
of proper expression in created language.
The Most High announced to his Virgin Mother, that the time
of his coming into the world had arrived and what would be the manner in which
this was now to be fulfilled and executed. The most prudent Lady perceived in
this vision the purpose and exalted scope of these wonderful mysteries and
sacraments, as well in so far as related to the Lord himself as also in so far
as they concerned creatures, for whose benefit they had been primarily decreed.
She prostrated Herself before the throne of his Divinity and gave Him glory,
magnificence, thanks and praise for Herself and for all creatures, such as was
befitting the ineffable mercy and condescension of his divine love. At the same
time She asked of the divine Majesty new light and grace in order to be able
worthily to undertake the service and worship and the rearing up of the Word
made flesh, whom She was to bear in Her arms and nourish with her virginal milk.
This petition the heavenly Mother brought forward with the profoundest humility,
as one who understood the greatness of this new sacrament. She held Herself
unworthy of the office of rearing up and conversing as a Mother with a God
incarnate of which even the highest seraphim are incapable. Prudently and humbly
did the Mother of wisdom ponder and weigh this matter. And because She humbled
Herself to the dust and acknowledged her nothingness in the presence of the
Almighty, therefore his Majesty raised Her up and confirmed anew upon Her the
title of Mother of God. He commanded Her to exercise this office and
ministry of a legitimate and true Mother of Himself; that She should treat Him
as the Son of the eternal Father and at the same time the Son of her womb. All
this could be easily entrusted to such a Mother, in whom was contained an
excellence that words cannot express.
The most holy Mary remained in this ecstasy and beatific
vision for over an hour immediately preceding her divine delivery. At the moment
when She issued from it and regained the use of her senses She felt and saw that
the body of the infant God began to move in her virginal womb; how, releasing
and freeing Himself from the place which in the course of nature He had occupied
for nine months, He now prepared to issue forth from that sacred bridal chamber.
This movement not only did not cause any pain or hardship, as happens with the
other daughters of Adam and Eve in their childbirths; but filled Her with
incomparable joy and delight, causing in her soul and in her virginal body such
exalted and divine effects that they exceed all thoughts of men. Her body became
so spiritualized with the beauty of heaven that She seemed no more a human and
earthly creature. Her countenance emitted rays of light, like a sun
incarnadined, and shone in indescribable earnestness and majesty, all inflamed
with fervent love. She was kneeling in the manger, her eyes raised to heaven,
her hands joined and folded at her breast, her soul wrapped in the Divinity and
She herself was entirely deified. In this position, and at the end of the
heavenly rapture, the most exalted Lady gave to the world the Onlybegotten of
the Father and her own, our Savior Jesus, true God and man, at the hour of
midnight, on a Sunday, in the year of the creation of the world five thousand
one hundred and ninety-nine (5199), which is the date given in the Roman Church,
and which date has been manifested to me as the true and certain one.
At the end of the beatific rapture and vision of the Mother
ever Virgin, which I have described above, was born the Sun of Justice, the
Onlybegotten of the eternal Father and of Mary most pure, beautiful, refulgent
and immaculate, leaving Her untouched in her virginal integrity and purity and
making Her more godlike and forever sacred; for He did not divide, but
penetrated the virginal chamber as the rays of the sun penetrate the crystal
shrine, lighting it up in prismatic beauty.
The infant God therefore was brought forth from the virginal
chamber unencumbered by any corporeal material substance foreign to Himself. But
He came forth glorious and transfigured for the divine infinite wisdom decreed
and ordained that the glory of his most holy soul should in his Birth overflow
and communicate itself to his body, participating in the gifts of glory in the
same way as happened afterwards in his Transfiguration on mount Tabor in the
presence of the Apostles (Matth. 17, 2).
This miracle was not necessary in order
to penetrate the virginal enclosure and to leave unimpaired the virginal
integrity; for without this Transfiguration God could have brought this about by
other miracles. Thus say the holy doctors, who see no other miracle in this
Birth than that the Child was born without impairing the virginity of the
Mother. It was the will of God that the most b1essed Virgin should look upon the
body of her Son, the God-man, for this first time in a glorified state for two
reasons. The one was in order that by this divine vision the most prudent Mother
should conceive the highest reverence for the Majesty of Him whom She was to
treat as her Son, the true God-man. Although She was already informed of his
two-fold nature, the Lord nevertheless ordained that by ocular demonstration She
be filled with new graces, corresponding to the greatness of her most holy Son,
which was thus manifested to Her in a visible manner. The second reason was to
reward by this wonder the fidelity and holiness of the divine Mother; for her
most pure and chaste eyes, that had turned away from all earthly things for love
of her most holy Son, were to see Him at his very Birth in this glory and thus
be rejoiced and rewarded for her loyalty and beautiful love.
The sacred evangelist Luke tells us that the Mother Virgin,
having brought forth her firstbegotten Son, wrapped Him in swathing clothes and
placed Him in a manger. He does not say that She received Him in her arms from
her virginal womb; for this did not pertain to the purpose of his narrative. But
the two sovereign princes, saint Michael and saint Gabriel, were the assistants
of the Virgin on this occasion. They stood by at proper distance in human
corporeal forms at the moment when the incarnate Word, penetrating the virginal
chamber by divine power, issued forth to the light, and they received Him in
their hands with ineffable reverence. In the same manner as a priest exhibits
the sacred host to the people for adoration, so these two celestial ministers
presented to the divine Mother her glorious and refulgent Son.
All this happened
in a short space of time. In the same moment in which the holy angels thus
presented the divine Child to his Mother, both Son and Mother looked upon each
other, and in this look, She wounded with love the sweet Infant and was at the
same time exalted and transformed in Him. From the arms of the holy princes the
Prince of all the heavens spoke to his holy Mother: "Mother, become like
unto Me, since on this day, for the human existence, which thou hast
today given Me, I will give thee another more exalted existence in grace,
assimilating thy existence as a mere creature to the likeness of Me, who am God
and Man." The most prudent Mother answered : "Trahe me post Te,
curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum" (Cant. 1, 3). Raise me, elevate me,
Lord, and I will run after Thee in the odor of thy ointments. In the same way
many of the hidden mysteries of the Canticles were fulfilled; and other sayings
which passed between the infant God and the Virgin Mother had been recorded in
that book of songs, as for instance: "My Beloved to me, and I to Him, and
his desire is toward me" (Cant. 2, 16). "Behold thou art
beautiful, my friend, and thy eyes are dove's eyes. Behold, my beloved, for thou
art beautiful"; and many other sacramental words which to mention would
unduly prolong this chapter.
The words, which most holy Mary heard from the mouth of her
most holy Son, served to make Her understand at the same time the interior acts
of his holiest soul united with the Divinity; in order that by imitating them
She might become like unto Him. This was one of the greatest blessings, which
the most faithful and fortunate Mother received at the hands of her Son, the
true God and man, not only because it was continued from that day on through all
her life, but because it furnished Her the means of copying his own divine life
as faithfully as was possible to a mere creature. At the same time the heavenly
Lady perceived and felt the presence of the most holy Trinity, and She heard the
voice of the eternal Father saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
greatly pleased and delighted" (Matth. 17, 5). The most prudent Mother made
entirely god-like in the overflow of so many sacraments, answered: "Eternal
Father and exalted God, Lord and Creator of the universe, give me anew thy
permission and benediction to receive in my arms the Desired of nations (Agg. 2,
8); and teach me to fulfill as thy unworthy Mother and lowly slave, thy holy
will." Immediately She heard a voice, which said: "Receive thy
Only begotten Son, imitate Him and rear Him; and remember, that thou must
sacrifice Him when I shall demand it of thee." The divine Mother answered:
"Behold the creature of thy hands, adorn me with thy grace so that thy Son
and my God receive me for his slave; and if Thou wilt come to my aid with thy
Omnipotence, I shall be faithful in his service; and do Thou count it no
presumption in thy insignificant creature, that she bear in her arms and nourish
at her breast her own Lord and Creator."
After this interchange of Words, so full of mysteries, the
divine Child suspended the miracle of his transfiguration, or rather He
inaugurated the other miracle, that of suspending the effects of glory in his
most holy body, confining them solely to his soul; and He now assumed the
appearance of one capable of suffering. In this form the most pure Mother now
saw Him and, still remaining in a kneeling position and adoring Him with
profound humility and reverence, She received him in her arms from the hands of
the holy angels. And when She saw Him in her arms, She spoke to Him and said:
"My sweetest Love and light of my eyes and being of my soul, Thou hast
arrived in good hour into this world as the Sun of justice (Malach. 4, 2), in
order to disperse the darkness of sin and death! True God of the true God, save
thy servants and let all flesh see him, who shall draw upon it salvation (Is. 9,
2). Receive me thy servant as thy slave and supply my deficiency, in order that
I may properly serve Thee. Make me, my Son, such as Thou desirest me to be in
thy service."
Then the most prudent Mother turned toward the eternal Father
to offer up to Him his Onlybegotten, saying: "Exalted Creator of all the
Universe, here is the altar and the sacrifice acceptable in thy eyes (Malachy 3,
4). From this hour on, O Lord, look upon the human race with mercy and inasmuch
as we have deserved thy anger, it is now time that Thou be appeased in thy Son
and mine. Let thy justice now come to rest, and let thy mercy be exalted; for on
this account the Word has clothed itself in the semblance of sinful flesh (Rom.
8, 3), and became a Brother of mortals and sinners (Philip 2, 7). In this title
I recognize them as brothers and I intercede for them from my inmost soul. Thou,
Lord, hast made me the Mother of thy Onlybegotten without my merit, since this
dignity is above all merit of a creature; but I partly owe to men the occasion
of this incomparable good fortune since it is on their account that I am the
Mother of the Word made man and Redeemer of them all. I will not deny them my
love, or remit my care and watchfulness for their salvation. Receive, eternal
God, my wishes and petitions for that which is according to thy pleasure and
good will."
The Mother of mercy turned also toward all mortals and
addressed them, saying: "Be consoled ye afflicted and rejoice ye
disconsolate, be raised up ye fallen, come to rest ye uneasy. Let the just be
gladdened and the saints be rejoiced; let the heavenly spirits break out in new
jubilee, let the Prophets and Patriarchs of limbo draw new hope, and let all the
generations praise and magnify the Lord, who renews his wonders. Come, come ye
poor; approach ye little ones, without fear, for in my arms I bear the Lion made
a lamb, the Almighty, become weak, the Invincible subdued. Come to draw life, hasten to obtain salvation, approach to gain eternal
rest, since I have all this for all, and it will be given to you freely and
communicated to you without envy. Do not be slow and heavy of heart, ye sons of
men; and Thou, O sweetest joy of my soul, give me permission to receive from
Thee that kiss desired by all creatures. Therewith the most blessed Mother
applied her most chaste and heavenly lips in order to receive the loving
caresses of the divine Child, who on his part, as her true Son, had desired them
from Her.
Holding Him in Her arms She thus served as the altar and the
sanctuary, where the ten thousand angels adored in visible human forms their
Creator incarnate. And as the most blessed Trinity assisted in an especial
manner at the birth of the Word, heaven was as it were emptied of its
inhabitants, for the whole heavenly court had betaken itself to that blessed
cave of Bethlehem and was adoring the Creator in his garb and habit of a pilgrim
(Phil. 2, 7). And in their concert of praise the holy angels intoned the new
canticle: "Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae
voluntatis" (Luke 2, 14). In sweetest and sonorous harmony they repeated
it, transfixed in wonder at the new miracles then being fulfilled and at the
unspeakable prudence, grace, humility and beauty of that tender Maiden of
fifteen years, who had become the worthy Trustee and Minister of such vast and
magnificent sacraments.
It was now time to call saint Joseph, the faithful spouse of
the most discreet and attentive Lady. As I have said above he was wrapped in
ecstasy, in which he was informed by divine revelation of all the mysteries of
this sacred Birth during this night. But it was becoming that he should see,
and, before all other mortals, should in his corporeal faculties and senses be
present and experience, adore and reverence the Word made flesh; for he of all
others had been chosen to act as the faithful warden of this great sacrament. At
the desire of his heavenly Spouse he issued from his ecstasy and, on being
restored to consciousness, the first sight of his eyes was the divine Child in
the arms of the Virgin Mother reclining against her sacred countenance and
breast. There he adored Him in profoundest humility and in tears of joy. He
kissed his feet in great joy and admiration, which no doubt would have taken
away and destroyed life in him, if divine power had not preserved it; and he
certainly would have lost all the use of his senses, if the occasion had
permitted.
When saint Joseph had begun to adore the Child, the most prudent
Mother asked leave of her Son to arise (for until then She had remained on her
knees) and, while saint Joseph handed Her the wrappings and swaddling-clothes,
which She had brought, She clothed Him with incomparable reverence, devotion and
tenderness. Having thus swathed and clothed Him, his Mother, with heavenly
wisdom, laid Him in the crib, as related by saint Luke (Luke 2, 7). For this
purpose She had arranged some straw and hay upon a stone in order to prepare for
the God-Man his first resting-place upon earth next to that which He had found
in her arms. According to divine ordainment an ox from the neighboring fields
ran up in great haste and, entering the cave, joined the beast of burden brought
by the Queen. The blessed Mother commanded them, with what show of reverence was
possible to them to acknowledge and adore their Creator. The humble animals
obeyed their Mistress and prostrated themselves before the Child, warming Him
with their breath and rendering Him the service refused by men. And thus the God
made man was placed between two animals, wrapped in swaddling-clothes and
wonderfully fulfilling the prophecy, that "the ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master's crib; but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not
understood." (Is. 13.)
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of
Agreda, Spain.)
My daughter, if men would keep their heart disengaged and if
they would rightly and worthily consider this great sacrament of the kindness of
the Most high towards men, it would be a powerful means of conducting them in
the pathway of life and subjecting them to the love of their Creator and
Redeemer. For as men are capable of reasoning, if they would only make use of
their freedom to treat this sacrament with the reverence due to its greatness,
who would be so hardened as not to be moved to tenderness at the sight of their
God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in
a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a
poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world? Who
will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned
by the Creator of heaven and earth in his conduct? No one can despise the
humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as
the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to
consider this truth and example: and on account of this vile ingratitude only
the few will reap the fruit of these great sacraments.
But if the condescension of my most holy Son was so great as
to bestow so liberally upon thee his light and knowledge concerning these vast
blessings, ponder well how much thou art bound to co-operate with this light. In
order that thou mayest correspond to this obligation, I remind and exhort thee
to forget all that is of earth and lose it out of thy sight; that thou seek
nothing, or engage thyself with nothing except what can help thee to withdraw
and detach thee from the world and its inhabitants so that, with a heart
freed from all terrestrial affection, thou dispose thyself to celebrate in it
the mysteries of the poverty, humility and divine love of the incarnate God.
Learn from my example the reverence, fear and respect, with which thou must
treat Him, remembering how I acted, when I held Him in my arms; follow my
example, whenever thou receives Him in thy heart in the venerable sacrament of
the holy Eucharist, wherein is contained the same God-Man, who was born of my
womb. In this holy Sacrament thou receives Him and possesses Him just as
really, and He remains in thee just as actually, as I possessed Him and
conversed with Him, although in another manner.
I desire that thou go even to extremes in this holy reverence
and fear; and I wish that thou take notice and be convinced, that in entering
into thy heart in the holy Sacrament, thy God exhorts thee in the same words,
which thou hast recorded as spoken to me: become like unto Me. His coming down
from heaven onto the earth, his being born in humility and poverty, his living
and dying in it, giving such rare example of the contempt of the world and its
deceits; the knowledge, which thou hast received concerning his conduct and
which thou hast penetrated so deeply by divine intelligence: all these things
should be for thee like living voices, which thou must heed and inscribe into
the interior of thy heart. These privileges have all been granted to thee in
order that thou discreetly use the common blessings to their fullest extent, and
in order that thou mayest understand, how thankful thou must be to my
most holy Son and Lord, and how thou shouldst strive to make as great a return
for his goodness, as if He had come from heaven to redeem thee alone and as if
He had instituted all his wonders and doctrines in the holy Church for none else
than thee (Gal. 7, 12).
|
