Wednesday, August 15, 2012
virtue, Ps 45:10-12,16,Luke 1:39-56, The Feast of the Assumption, Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition of Mary, Mystical City of God Book 8, Chapterss 5-8.
Good Day Bloggers!
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Something Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7..
We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift knowledge and free will as well,
make the most of it. Life on earth is a stepping to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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Today's Word: virtue vir·tue [vur-choo]
Origin: 1175–1225; alteration (with i < Latin ) of Middle English vertu < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin virtūt- (stem of virtūs ) maleness, worth, virtue, equivalent to vir man ( see virile) + -tūt- abstract noun suffix
noun
1. moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.
2. conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.
3. chastity; virginity: to lose one's virtue.
4. a particular moral excellence. Compare cardinal virtues, natural virtue, theological virtue.
5. a good or admirable quality or property: the virtue of knowing one's weaknesses.
6. effective force; power or potency: a charm with the virtue of removing warts.
7. virtues, an order of angels. Compare angel ( def. 1 ) .
8. manly excellence; valor.
Idioms
9. by / in virtue of, by reason of; because of: to act by virtue of one's legitimate authority.
10. make a virtue of necessity, to make the best of a difficult or unsatisfactory situation.
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Today's Old Testament Reading -Ps 45:10-12,16
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Today's Gospel - Assumption of Our Lady, Luke 1:39-56
Opening Prayer:
Holy Spirit, Spirit of Wisdom, of
Science, of Intelligence, of Counsel, fill us, we pray, with the
knowledge of the Word of God, fill us with every kind of spiritual
wisdom and intelligence, so as to be able to understand it at depth. May
we, under your guidance be able to understand the Gospel of this Marian
solemnity. Holy Spirit, we need you, you, the only one who continually
moulds in us the figure and the form of Jesus. And we turn to you, Mary,
Mother of Jesus and of the Church, you who have lived the inebriating
and totalising Presence of the Holy Spirit, you who have experienced the
power of his force in you, who has seen it operating in your Son Jesus
from the time when he was in the maternal womb, open our heart and our
mind, so that they may be docile to listen to the Word of God.
The Gospel: Luke 1:39-56
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| The Visitation |
Moments of prayerful silence:
Silence is a quality of the one who
knows how to listen to God. Try to create in yourself an atmosphere of
peace and of silent adoration. If you are capable to be in silence
before God, you will be able to listen to his breath which is Life.
Key to the Reading:
Blessed are you among women
In the first part of today’s Gospel,
the words of Elizabeth resound: “Blessed are you among women”, preceded
by a spatial movement. Mary leaves Nazareth, situated in the North of
Palestine, to go to the South, approximately fifty kilometres, to a
place which tradition has identified as the present day Ain Karem, not
too far from Jerusalem. The physical movement shows the interior
sensibility of Mary, who is not closed on herself, to contemplate, in a
private and intimate way, the mystery of the Divine Maternity which is
being accomplished in her, but she is projected to the path of charity.
She moves in order to go and help her elderly cousin. Mary’s going to
Elizabeth has the added connotation ‘in haste’ which Saint Ambrose
interprets as follows: “Mary set out in haste to the hill country, not
because she did not believe the prophecy or because she was uncertain of
the announcement or doubted of the proof, but because she was pleased
with the promise and desirous to devotedly fulfil a service, with the
impulse that she received from her intimate joy… The grace of the Holy
Spirit does not entail slowness”. The reader, though, knows that the
true reason of the trip is not indicated, but can get it through
information deduced from the context. The angel had communicated to Mary
the pregnancy of Elizabeth, already in the sixth month (cfr. v. 37).
Besides the fact that she remained there three months (cfr. v. 56), just
the time so that the child could be born, allows us to understand that
Mary intended to help her cousin. Mary runs, and goes where there is an
urgent need, the need for help, showing, in this way, a clear
sensibility and concrete availability.
Together with Mary, Jesus, in his
mother’s womb, moves with her. From here it is easy to deduce the
Christological value of the episode of the visit of Mary to her cousin:
above all, the attention is for Jesus. At first sight, it could seem to
be a scene concentrated on the two women, in reality, what is important
for the Evangelist is the prodigious fact present in their conceiving.
Mary moving tends, in last instance, to have the encounter between the
two women.
As soon as Mary enters into the house
and greets Elizabeth, the small John leaped in her womb. According to
some this leaping is not comparable to the changing place of the foetus,
which is experienced by every pregnant woman. Luke uses a particular
Greek verb which precisely means “jumping”. Wishing to interpret the
verb a bit literally, it could be indicated with “dancing”, thus
excluding a physical phenomenon only. Someone has thought that this
‘dance’ could be considered as a form of ‘homage’ which John renders to
Jesus, inaugurating, though not yet born, that attitude of respect and
of subjection which will characterize his life: “After me is coming
someone who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to kneel down and
undo the strap of his sandals” (Mk 1, 7). One day, John himself will
give witness: “it is the bridegroom who has the bride; and yet the
bridegroom’s friend, who stands there and listens to him, is filled with
joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This is the joy that I feel and it is
complete. He must grow greater, I must grow less” (Jn 3, 29-30). Thus
Saint Ambrose comments: “Elizabeth was the first one to hear the voice,
but John is first to perceive the grace”. We find a confirmation of this
interpretation in the words themselves of Elizabeth which, repeating
the same Greek verb in v. 44. which was already employed in v. 41, says:
“The child in my womb leapt for joy”. Luke, with these particular
details, has wished to evoke the prodigies which took place in the
intimacy of Nazareth. It is only now, thanks to the dialogue with an
interlocutor, the mystery of the divine maternity leaves aside its
secrecy and its individual dimension, to become a notable fact, and
object of appreciation and of praise.
Died: 55 AD
Patron Saint of : universal, heavenly mother of all mankind
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The words of Elizabeth, “Blessed are
you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Why should I be
honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?” (vv. 42-43). With a
Semitic expression which is equivalent to a superlative (“among women”),
the Evangelist wishes to attract the attention of the reader on the
function of Mary: to be the “Mother of the Lord”. And, then, a blessing
is reserved for her (“Blessed are you”) and a blessed Beatitude. In what
does this one consist? It expresses Mary’s adherence to the Divine
Will. Mary is not only the receiver of a mysterious design which makes
her blessed, but also a person who knows how to accept and adhere to
God’s will. Mary is a creature who believes, because she trusts in a
plain, simple word and which she has vested with her “yes” of love. And
Elizabeth acknowledges this service of love, identifying her as “blessed
as mother and blessed as believer”.
In the meantime, John perceives the
presence of his Lord and exults, expressing with that interior movement
the joy which springs from that contact of salvation. Mary will be the
interpreter of that event in the hymn of the Magnificat.
In Psalm 86, 6 the one who prays, turning to God says: Give your servant your force”: Here the term ‘servant’ expresses his being subjected, as well as the sentiment of belonging to God, of feeling secure with him. The poor, in the strictly Biblical sense, are those who place their trust unconditionally in God; this is why they are to be considered, qualitatively, the best part, of the People of Israel. The proud, instead, are those who place all their trust in themselves.
Now, according to the Magnificat, the poor have a thousand reasons to rejoice, because God glorifies the anawim (Psalm 149, 4) and humbles the proud. An image taken from the New Testament, which expresses very well the attitude of the poor of the Old Testament, is that of the Publican who with humility beats his breast, while the Pharisee being complacent of his merits is being consumed by his pride (Lk 19, 9-14). Definitively, Mary celebrates all that God has done in her and all that he works in every creature. Joy and gratitude characterize this hymn to salvation which recognizes the greatness of God, but which also makes great the one who sings it.
The Virgin Mary, the temple of the
Holy Spirit, accepted with faith the Word and surrendered herself
completely to the power of Love. Because of this she became the Icon of
interiority, that is all recollected under the look of God and abandoned
to the power of the Most High. Mary keeps silence about herself,
because everything in her can speak about the wonders of the Lord in her
life
A psalm of love:
In this psalm, Mary considers herself
part of the anawim, of the “poor of God”, of those who “fear God”
placing in Him all their trust and hope and who, on the human level, do
not enjoy any right or prestige. The spirituality of the anawim can be
synthesized with the words of Psalm 37, 79: “In silence he is before God
and hopes in him”, because “those who hope in the Lord will possess the earth”.
In Psalm 86, 6 the one who prays, turning to God says: Give your servant your force”: Here the term ‘servant’ expresses his being subjected, as well as the sentiment of belonging to God, of feeling secure with him. The poor, in the strictly Biblical sense, are those who place their trust unconditionally in God; this is why they are to be considered, qualitatively, the best part, of the People of Israel. The proud, instead, are those who place all their trust in themselves.
Now, according to the Magnificat, the poor have a thousand reasons to rejoice, because God glorifies the anawim (Psalm 149, 4) and humbles the proud. An image taken from the New Testament, which expresses very well the attitude of the poor of the Old Testament, is that of the Publican who with humility beats his breast, while the Pharisee being complacent of his merits is being consumed by his pride (Lk 19, 9-14). Definitively, Mary celebrates all that God has done in her and all that he works in every creature. Joy and gratitude characterize this hymn to salvation which recognizes the greatness of God, but which also makes great the one who sings it.
Some questions for meditation:
- Is my prayer, above all, the expression of a sentiment or celebration and acknowledgement of God’s action?
- Mary is presented as the believer in the Word of the Lord. How much time do I dedicate to listening to the Word of God?
- Is your prayer nourished from the Bible, as was that of Mary? Or rather am I dedicated to devotions which produce a continuous tasteless and dull prayer? Are you convinced that to return to Biblical prayer is the assurance to find a solid nourishment, chosen by Mary herself ?
- Are you in the logics of the Magnificat which exalts the joy of giving, of losing in order to find, of accepting, the happiness of gratuity, of donation?
- Mary is presented as the believer in the Word of the Lord. How much time do I dedicate to listening to the Word of God?
- Is your prayer nourished from the Bible, as was that of Mary? Or rather am I dedicated to devotions which produce a continuous tasteless and dull prayer? Are you convinced that to return to Biblical prayer is the assurance to find a solid nourishment, chosen by Mary herself ?
- Are you in the logics of the Magnificat which exalts the joy of giving, of losing in order to find, of accepting, the happiness of gratuity, of donation?
Final Prayer:
The prayer which follows is a brief
meditation on the maternal role of Mary in the life of the believer:
“Mary, woman who knows how to rejoice, who knows how to exult, who
allows herself to be invaded by the full consolation of the Holy Spirit,
teach us to pray so that we may also discover the source of joy. In
Elizabeth’s house, your cousin, feeling accepted and understood in your
most intimate secret, you burst out in a hymn of exultation of the
heart, speaking of God, of you about your relationship with him, and of
the unprecedented adventure already begun of being the Mother of Christ
and of all of us, holy people of God. Teach us to give our prayer a
rhythm of hope and tremors of joy, sometimes worn out by bitter whining
and soaked with melancholy almost as obliged. The Gospel speaks to us
about you, Mary, and of Elizabeth: both of you kept in your heart
something, which you did not dare or you did not wish to manifest to
anyone. But each one of you, felt understood by the other, on that
prophetic day of the Visitation and you pronounced words of prayer and
of feast. Your encounter becomes Liturgy of thanksgiving and of praise
to your ineffable God. You, woman of a profound joy, you sang the
Magnificat, in rapture and amazed at all that the Lord was operating in
his humble servant. Magnificat is the cry, the explosion of joy, which
explodes within each one of us, when one feels accepted and understood”.
CONTEMPLATIO
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Saint of the Day: The Feast of the Assumption
Feast Day: August 15
Died: 55 AD
Patron Saint of : universal, heavenly mother of all mankind
 In his August 15, 2004, homily given at Lourdes, Pope John Paul II quoted John 14:3 as one of the scriptural bases for understanding the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. In this verse, Jesus tells his disciples at the Last Supper, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also." According to Catholic theology, Mary is the pledge of the fulfillment of Christ's promise. The feast of the Assumption on August 15 is a public holiday in many countries, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany (Saarland and Bavaria only), Greece, Lebanon, Lithuania, Italy, Malta, Mauritius, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, Slovenia, and Spain . In Eastern Orthodox churches following the Julian Calendar, the feast day of Assumption of Mary falls on August 28. History of the beliefAlthough the Assumption (Latin: assūmptiō, "taken up") was only relatively recently defined as infallible dogma by the Catholic Church, and in spite of a statement by Saint Epiphanius of Salamis in AD 377 that no one knew whether Mary had died or not, apocryphal accounts of the assumption of Mary into heaven have circulated since at least the 4th century. The Catholic Church itself interprets chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation as referring to it. The earliest known narrative is the so-called Liber Requiei Mariae (The Book of Mary's Repose), which survives intact only in an Ethiopic translation. Probably composed by the 4th century, this Christian apocryphal narrative may be as early as the 3rd century. Also quite early are the very different traditions of the "Six Books" Dormition narratives. The earliest versions of this apocryphon are preserved by several Syriac manuscripts of the 5th and 6th centuries, although the text itself probably belongs to the 4th century.An Armenian letter attributed to Dionysus the Areopagite also mentions the event, although this is a much later work, written sometime after the 6th century. John of Damascus, from this period, is the first church authority to advocate the doctrine under his own name. His contemporaries, Gregory of Tours and Modestus of Jerusalem, helped promote the concept to the wider church. In some versions of the story the event is said to have taken place in Ephesus, in the House of the Virgin Mary, although this is a much more recent and localized tradition. The earliest traditions all locate the end of Mary's life in Jerusalem (see "Mary's Tomb"). By the 7th century a variation emerged, according to which one of the apostles, often identified as St Thomas, was not present at the death of Mary, but his late arrival precipitates a reopening of Mary's tomb, which is found to be empty except for her grave clothes. In a later tradition, Mary drops her girdle down to the apostle from heaven as testament to the event. This incident is depicted in many later paintings of the Assumption. Teaching of the Assumption of Mary became widespread across the Christian world, having been celebrated as early as the 5th century and having been established in the East by Emperor Maurice around AD 600. It was celebrated in the West under Pope Sergius I in the 8th century and Pope Leo IV then confirmed the feast as official. Theological debate about the Assumption continued, following the Reformation, climaxing in 1950 when Pope Pius XII defined it as dogma for the Catholic Church. Catholic theologian Ludwig Ott stated, "The idea of the bodily assumption of Mary is first expressed in certain transitus-narratives of the fifth and sixth centuries.... The first Church author to speak of the bodily assumption of Mary, in association with an apocryphal transitus B.M.V., is St. Gregory of Tours." The Catholic writer Eamon Duffy states that "there is, clearly, no historical evidence whatever for it." However, the Catholic Church has never asserted nor denied that its teaching is based on the apocryphal accounts. The Church documents are silent on this matter and instead rely upon other sources and arguments as the basis for the doctrine. Catholic teaching |
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| In this dogmatic statement,
the phrase "having completed the course of her earthly life," leaves
open the question of whether the Virgin Mary died before her assumption
or whether she was assumed before death; both possibilities are allowed.
Mary's assumption is said to have been a divine gift to her as the
'Mother of God'. Ludwig Ott's view is that, as Mary completed her life
as a shining example to the human race, the perspective of the gift of
assumption is offered to the whole human race. In Ludwig Ott's Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma he states that "the fact of her death is almost generally accepted by the Fathers and Theologians, and is expressly affirmed in the Liturgy of the Church", to which he adduces a number of helpful citations, and concludes that "for Mary, death, in consequence of her freedom from original sin and from personal sin, was not a consequence of punishment of sin. However, it seems fitting that Mary's body, which was by nature mortal, should be, in conformity with that of her Divine Son, subject to the general law of death". The point of her bodily death has not been infallibly defined, and many believe that she did not die at all, but was assumed directly into Heaven. The dogmatic definition within the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus which, according to Roman Catholic dogma, infallibly proclaims the doctrine of the Assumption leaves open the question whether, in connection with her departure, Mary underwent bodily death; that is, it does not dogmatically define the point one way or the other, as shown by the words "having completed the course of her earthly life". On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII solemnly declared:
Assumption and Dormition (Eastern Christianity) comparedThe Catholic Feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15, and the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos (the falling asleep of the Mother of God) on the same date, preceded by a 14-day fast period. Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that Mary died a natural death, that her soul was received by Christ upon death, and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her death and that she was taken up into heaven bodily in anticipation of the general resurrection. Her tomb was found empty on the third day. "...Orthodox tradition is clear and unwavering in regard to the central point [of the Dormition]: the Holy Virgin underwent, as did her Son, a physical death, but her body – like His – was afterwards raised from the dead and she was taken up into heaven, in her body as well as in her soul. She has passed beyond death and judgement, and lives wholly in the Age to Come. The Resurrection of the Body ... has in her case been anticipated and is already an accomplished fact. That does not mean, however, that she is dissociated from the rest of humanity and placed in a wholly different category: for we all hope to share one day in that same glory of the Resurrection of the Body which she enjoys even now."Many Catholics also believe that Mary first died before being assumed, but they add that she was miraculously resurrected before being assumed, while others believe she was assumed bodily into Heaven without first passing through death. As mentioned earlier, this aspect of the Assumption is not authoritatively defined in Catholic theology, and either understanding may be legitimately held by Catholics. Eastern Catholics observe the Feast as the Dormition. Many theologians note by way of comparison that in the Catholic Church, the Assumption is dogmatically defined, while in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the Dormition is less dogmatically than liturgically and mystically defined. Such differences spring from a larger pattern in the two traditions, wherein Catholic teachings are often dogmatically and authoritatively defined – in part because of the more centralized structure of the Catholic Church– while in Eastern Orthodoxy, many doctrines are less authoritative. Mary's Heavenly BirthdayThe Assumption is important to many Catholic and Orthodox Christians as the Virgin Mary's heavenly birthday (the day that Mary was received into Heaven). Her acceptance into the glory of Heaven is seen by them as the symbol of the promise made by Jesus to all enduring Christians that they too will be received into paradise. The Assumption of Mary is symbolised in the Fleur-de-lys Madonna.The present Italian name of the holiday, "Ferragosto", may derive from the Latin name, Feriae Augusti ("Holidays of the Emperor Augustus"), since the month of August took its name from the emperor. The Solemnity of the Assumption on August 15 was celebrated in the eastern Church from the 6th Century. The Catholic Church adopted this date as a Holy Day of Obligation to commemorate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the real physical elevation of her sinless soul and incorrupt body into Heaven. The Solemnity of the Assumption on August 15 is a public holiday in many countries, including Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chile, Cyprus, Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Colombia, Cyprus, East Timor, France, Gabon, Greece, Republic of Guinea, Haiti, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Tahiti, Togo, and Vanuatu. It is also a holiday in some predominantly Catholic states of Germany, including Bavaria and Saarland. In Guatemala it is observed in Guatemala City and in the town of Santa Maria Nebaj, both of which claim her as their patron saint. Also, this day is combined with Mother's Day in Costa Rica. In many places, religious parades and popular festivals are held to celebrate this day. Prominent Catholic and Orthodox countries in which Assumption day is an important festival but is not recognized by the state as a public holiday include Argentina, Brazil, Czech Republic, Ireland, Mexico, the Philippines and Russia. In Canada, Assumption Day is the Fête Nationale of the Acadians, of whom she is the patron saint. Businesses close on that day in heavily francophone parts of New Brunswick, Canada. The Virgin Assumed in Heaven is also patroness of the Maltese Islands and her feast, celebrated on 15 August, apart from being a public holiday in Malta is also celebrated with great solemnity in all the local churches especially in the seven localities known as the Seba' Santa Marijiet. In Anglicanism and Lutheranism, the feast is kept, but without official use of the word "Assumption". Scriptural SourcesAs mentioned, recent papal scholarship has cited John 14:3 as evidence of the Assumption in principle if not formally. Near the end of a review of the doctrine's history – a review which serves as the bulk of Munificentissimus Deus – Pope Pius XII tells us: "All these proofs and considerations of the holy Fathers and the theologians are based upon the Sacred Writings as their ultimate foundation." Precedent to this, he cites many passages that have been offered in support of this teaching:29. ...the holy writers...employed statements and various images and analogies of Sacred Scripture to Illustrate and to confirm the doctrine of the Assumption, which was piously believed... On the feast day of the Assumption, while explaining the prophet's words: "I will glorify the place of my feet," [Isaiah 60:13] he [i.e. St. Anthony of Padua] stated it as certain that the divine Redeemer had bedecked with supreme glory his most beloved Mother from whom he had received human flesh. He asserts that "you have here a clear statement that the Blessed Virgin has been assumed in her body, where was the place of the Lord's feet..." 30. ...St. Albert the Great... in a sermon which he delivered on the sacred day of the Blessed Virgin Mary's annunciation, explained the words "Hail, full of grace" [Luke 1:28]-words used by the angel who addressed her-the Universal Doctor, comparing the Blessed Virgin with Eve, stated clearly and incisively that she was exempted from the fourfold curse that had been laid upon Eve [cf. Genesis 3:16]... 32. Along with many others, the Seraphic Doctor held the same views. He considered it as entirely certain that...God...would never have permitted her body to have been resolved into dust and ashes. Explaining these words of Sacred Scripture: "Who is this that comes up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?" [Song of Songs 8:5] and applying them in a kind of accommodated sense to the Blessed Virgin, he reasons thus: "From this we can see that she is there bodily...her blessedness would not have been complete unless she were there as a person. The soul is not a person, but the soul, joined to the body, is a person. It is manifest that she is there in soul and in body. Otherwise she would not possess her complete beatitude. The Pope also cites, significantly in paragraph 39, 1st Corinthians 15, where we read (vv. 21–26): For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But every one in his own order: the firstfruits Christ, then they that are of Christ, who have believed in his coming. Afterwards the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he shall have brought to nought all principality, and power, and virtue. For he must reign, until he hath put all his enemies under his feet. And the enemy death shall be destroyed last: For he hath put all things under his feet. In this passage Paul alludes to Genesis 3:15 (in addition to the primary reference of Psalms 8:6), where it is prophesied that the seed of the woman will crush Satan with his feet. Since, then, Jesus arose to Heaven to fulfill this prophecy, it follows that the woman would have a similar end, since she shared this enmity with Satan. The pope comments thus in paragraph 39: ...although subject to [Jesus, who is] the new Adam, [Mary, the new Eve] is most intimately associated with him in that struggle against the infernal foe which, as foretold in the protoevangelium [i.e. Genesis 3:15], would finally result in that most complete victory over the sin and death which are always mentioned together in the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Consequently, just as the glorious resurrection of Jesus was an essential part and the final sign of this victory, so that struggle which was common to the Blessed Virgin and her divine Son should be brought to a close by the glorification of her virginal body, for the same Apostle says: "When this mortal thing hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory." The pope also mentions (in paragraph 26) Psalms 132, a liturgical psalm commemorating the return of the Ark of God to Jerusalem and lamenting its subsequent loss. The second half of the psalm says that the loss will be recompensed in the New Covenant, and so it is hopefully prayed, "Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place: thou and the ark, which thou hast sanctified" (v. 8). Since the Church sees this New Covenant ark in Mary, it understands that she was taken into Heaven in the same manner as the Lord – that is, body and soul. In the same paragraph, the pope mentions also Psalms 45:9–17 for support of a heavenly Queen present bodily with the heavenly King Jesus, and Song of Songs 3:6, 4:8, and 6:9, which speaks of David's lover "that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer". Regarding the Marian interpretations of those passages from Psalms 132 to Song of Songs 6:9 and those in between, the pope did, however, consider them "rather free in their use of events and expressions taken from Sacred Scripture" (paragraph 26). Finally, he mentions in the next paragraph "that woman clothed with the sun [Revelation 12:1–2] whom John the Apostle contemplated on the Island of Patmos" as support for the doctrine. The text seems to parallel this woman with the woman of the Genesis 3 prophecy (and hence Mary): for in verse 9 the passage recalls "that old serpent" of Genesis 3, and reflects the prophecy that God would place "enmities between thee [i.e. Satan] and the woman, and thy seed and her seed" when it says that Satan "was angry against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed" (Rev. 12:17). All these passages – viz., John 14:3, Isaiah 60:13, Luke 1:28, Song of Songs 8:5, 1st Corinthians 15:21–26, Psalms 132:8, Psalms 45:9–17, Song of Songs 3:6, 4:8, 6:9, Genesis 3:15, and Revelation 12:1–2 – are drawn upon as Scriptural support of the Assumption both in that original document, and today by Catholic apologists |
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Today's Snippets: Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition of Mary
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| Basilica of the Assumption (or Dormition) |
Site and building
During his visit to Jerusalem in 1898 for the dedication of the Protestant Church of the Redeemer, Kaiser Wilhelm II bought this piece of land on Mount Zion for 120,000 German Goldmark from Sultan Abdul Hamid II and presented it to the "German Union of the Holy Land" ("Deutscher Verein vom Heiligen Lande").
According to local tradition, it was on this spot, near the site of the Last Supper, that the Blessed Virgin Mary
died. In Orthodoxy and Catholicism, as in the language of scripture,
death is often called a "sleeping" or "falling asleep", and this gave
the original monastery its name, the church itself is called Basilica of the Assumption (or Dormition).
The architect and buildings manager of the Diocese of Cologne Heinrich Renard (1868–1928) investigated the site in 1899 and discovered the remains of the Byzantine church of "Hagia Sion" and also of other churches. Connected with this is the thesis of Bargil Pixner of a pre-Crusader Church of Zion, Jerusalem. Direction of construction was entrusted to the architect Theodor Sandel, a member of the Temple Society and a resident of Jerusalem. The foundation stone was laid on 7 October 1900. Construction was completed in only ten years; the basilica was dedicated on 10 April 1910 by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Benedictine Community
The first monks had already been sent to Jerusalem in 1906 from Beuron Archabbey in Germany. They were interned for the first time in 1918-1921, after the end of World War I. In 1926 the monastery was raised to the status of an abbey within the Beuron Congregation. Between 1939 and 1945 the German monks were interned for the second time, and then for the third time as the result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. (The abbey was located in the no man's land between Israel and Jordan).
In 1951 the abbey was separated from the Beuron Congregation and placed under the direct supervision of the Abbot-Primate of the Benedictines in Rome. In 1967 during the Six Days War the abbey came under fire from both sides. The community elected their own abbot for the first time in 1979.
Architecture
The present church is a circular building with several niches containing altars, and a choir. Two spiral staircases lead to the crypt, the site ascribed to the dormition of the Virgin Mary, and also to the organ-loft and the gallery, from where two of the church's four towers are accessible.
Out of regard for the nearby Muslim sacred place of Nabi Da'ud, which now occupies the building in the Upper Room where traditionally the Last Supper took place, the belltower is set far enough away that its shadow does not touch Nebi Da'ud, and is therefore not directly accessible from the church.
References:
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Today's Snippet II: Book 8, Chapter 5 Mystical City of God
The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God
(As dictated Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)SAINT GABRIEL BRINGS NOTICE OF DEATH.
In writing of what still remains of the history of our Lady,
of our only and heavenly Phoenix, the blessed Mary, it is no more than right
that our hearts be filled with tenderness and our eyes with tears at the sweet
and touching marvels of the last years of her life. I should wish to exhort the
devout faithful not to read of them nor consider them as past and absent, since
the powerful virtue of faith can make these truths present to the mind; and if
we look upon them with the proper piety and Christian devotion, without a doubt
we shall gather the sweetest fruit, and our hearts shall feel the effects and
rejoice in the good, which our eyes cannot see.
The most holy Mary had arrived at the age sixty-seven years
without having tarried in her career, ceased in her flight, mitigated the flame
of her love, or lessened the increase of her merits from the first instant of
her Conception. As all this had continued to grow in each moment of her life,
the ineffable gifts, benefits and favors of the Lord had made Her entirely
godlike and spiritual; the affectionate ardors and desires of her most chaste
heart did not allow Her any rest outside the centre of her love; the bounds of
the flesh were most violently irksome; the overwhelming attraction of the
Divinity to unite Itself with Her with eternal and most close bonds, (according
to our mode of speaking) had attained the summit of power in Her; and the earth
itself, made unworthy by the sins of mortals to contain the Treasure of heaven,
could no longer bear the strain of withholding Her from her true Lord. The
eternal Father desired his only and true Daughter; the Son his beloved and most
loving Mother; and the Holy Ghost the embraces of his most beautiful Spouse. The
angels longed for their Queen, the saints for their great Lady; and all the
heavens mutely awaited the presence of their Empress who should fill them with
glory, with her beauty and delight. All that could be alleged in favor of Her
still remaining in the world and in the Church, was the need of such a Mother
and Mistress, and the love, which God himself had for the miserable children of
Adam.
But as some term and end was to be placed to the career of
our Queen, the divine consistory (according to our mode of understanding),
conferred upon the manner of glorifying the most blessed Mother and established
the kind of loving reward due to Her for having so copiously fulfilled all the
designs of the divine mercy among the children of Adam during the many years in
which She had been the Foundress and Teacher of his holy Church. The Almighty
therefore resolved to delight and console Her by giving Her definite notice of
the term still remaining of her life and revealing to Her the day and hour of
the longed for end of her earthly banishment. For this purpose the most blessed
Trinity despatched the archangel Gabriel with many others of the celestial
hierarchies, who should announce to the Queen when and how her mortal life
should come to an end and pass over into the eternal.
The holy prince descended with the rest to the Cenacle in
Jerusalem and entered the oratory of the great Lady where they found Her
prostrate on the ground in the form of a cross, asking mercy for sinners. But
hearing the sound of their music and perceiving them present, She rose to her
knees in order to hear the message and show respect to the ambassador of heaven
and his companions, who in white and refulgent garments surrounded Her with
wonderful delight and reverence. All of them had come with crowns and palms in
their hands, each one with a different one; but all of them represented the
diverse premiums and rewards of inestimable beauty and value to be conferred
upon their great Queen and Lady. Gabriel saluted Her with the Ave Maria, and
added thereto: "Our Empress and Lady, the Omnipotent and the Holy of the
holy sends us from his heavenly court to announce to Thee in his name the most
happy end of thy pilgrimage and banishment upon earth in mortal life. Soon, O
Lady, is that day and hour approaching which, according to thy longing desires,
Thou shalt pass through natural death to the possession of the eternal and
immortal life, which awaits Thee in the glory and at the right hand of thy
divine Son, our God. Exactly three years from today Thou shalt be taken up and
received into the everlasting joy of the Lord, where all its inhabitants await
Thee, longing for thy presence."
The most holy Mary heard this message with ineffable jubilee
of her purest and most loving spirit, prostrating herself again upon the earth,
She answered in the same words as at the incarnation of the Word: "Ecce
ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum." "Behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it done according to thy word" (Luke 1, 38). Then She asked
the holy angels and ministers of the Most High to help Her give thanks for this
welcome and joyful news. The blessed Mother alternately with the seraphim and
other angels sang the responses of a canticle that lasted for two hours.
Although by their nature and supernatural gifts the angelic spirits are so
subtle, wise and excellent, they were nevertheless excelled in all this by their
Queen and Lady, as vassals are by their sovereign; for in Her, grace and wisdom
abounded as in a Teacher, in them, only as in disciples. Having finished this
canticle and humiliating herself anew, She charged the supernal spirits to
beseech the Lord to prepare Her for her passage from mortal to eternal life, and
to ask all the other angels and saints in heaven to pray for the same favor.
They offered to obey Her in all things, and therewith saint Gabriel took leave
and returned with all his company to the empyrean heaven.
The great Queen and Lady of all the universe remained alone
in her oratory, and amid tears of humble joy prostrated Herself upon the earth,
embraced it as the common mother of us all, saying: "Earth, I give thee
thanks as I ought, because without my merit thou hast sustained me sixty-seven
years. Thou art a creature of the Most High and by his will thou hast sustained
me until now. I ask thee now to help me during the rest of my dwelling
upon thee, so that, just as I have been created of thee and upon thee, I may
through thee and from thee be raised to the blessed vision of my Maker.'' She
addressed also other creatures, saying: "Ye heavens, planets, stars and
elements, created by the powerful hands of my Beloved, faithful witnesses and
proclaimers of his greatness and beauty, you also I thank for the preservation
of my life; help me then from today on, that, with the divine favor, I may begin
anew to perfect my life during the time left of my career, in order that I may
show myself thankful to my and your Creator."
The devout Queen resolved to take leave of the holy places
before her departure into heaven, and having obtained the consent of saint John
She left the house with him and with the thousand angels of her guard. Although
these sovereign princes had always served and accompanied Her in all her
errands, occupations and journeys, without having absented themselves for one
moment since the instant of her birth; yet on this occasion they manifested
themselves to Her with greater beauty and refulgence, as if they felt special
joy in seeing themselves already at the beginning of her last journey into
heaven. The heavenly Princess, setting aside human occupations in order to enter
upon her journey to the real and true fatherland, visited all the memorable
places of our Redemption, marking each with the sweet abundance of her tears,
recalling the sorrowful memories of what her Son there suffered, and fervently
renewing its effects by most fervent acts of love, clamors and petitions for all
the faithful, who should devoutly and reverently visit these holy places during
the future ages of the Church. On Calvary She remained a longer time, asking of
her divine Son the full effects of his redeeming Death for all the multitudes of
souls there snatched from destruction. The ardor of her ineffable charity during
this prayer rose to such a pitch, that it would have destroyed her life, if it
had not been sustained by divine power.
The Queen asked also the angels of the sanctuaries and the
Evangelist to give Her their blessing in this last leave-taking; and therewith
She returned to her oratory shedding tears of tenderest affection for what She
loved so much upon earth. There She prostrated Herself with her face upon the
earth and poured forth another long and most fervent prayer for the Church; and
She persevered in it, until in an abstractive vision of the Divinity, the Lord
had given Her assurance that He had heard and conceded her petitions at the
throne of His mercy. In order to give the last touch of holiness to her works,
She asked permission of the Lord to take leave of the holy Church, saying:
"Exalted and most high God, Redeemer of the world, head of the saints and
the predestined, Justifier and Glorifier of souls, I am a child of the holy
Church, planted and acquired by thy blood. Give me, O Lord, permission to take
leave of such a loving Mother, and of all my brethren, thy children, belonging
to it." She was made aware of the consent of the Lord and therefore turned
to the mystical body of the Church, addressing it in sweet tears as follows:
"Holy Catholic Church, which in the coming ages shall be
called the Roman, my mother and Mistress, true treasure of my soul, thou hast
been the only consolation of my banishment; the refuge and ease of my labors; my
recreation, my joy and my hope ; thou hast sustained me in my course; in thee
have I lived as a pilgrim to the Fatherland and thou hast nourished me after I
had received in thee my existence in grace through thy head, Christ Jesus, my
Son and my Lord. In thee are the treasures and the riches of his infinite
merits; thou shalt be for his faithful children the secure way to the promised
land, and thou shalt safeguard them on their dangerous and difficult pilgrimage.
Thou shalt be the mistress of the nations to whom all owe reverence; in thee are
the rich and inestimable jewels of the anxieties, labors, affronts, hardships,
torments, of the cross and of death, which are all consecrated by those of my
Lord, thy Progenitor, thy Master, thy Chief, and are reserved for his more
distinguished servants and his dearest friends. Thou hast adorned and enriched
me with thy jewels in order that I might enter in the nuptials of the Spouse;
thou hast made me wealthy, prosperous and happy, and thou containest within thee
thy Author in the most holy Sacrament. My happy Mother, Church militant, rich
art thou and abundant in treasures! For thee have I always reserved my heart and
my solicitude; but now is the time come to part from thee and leave thy sweet
companionship, in order to reach the end of my course. Make me partaker of thy
great goods; bathe me copiously in the sacred liquor of the blood of the Lamb,
preserved in thee as a powerful means of sanctifying many worlds. At the cost of
my life a thousand times would I bring to thee all the nations and tribes of
mortals, that they might enjoy thy treasures. My beloved Church, my honor and my
glory, I am about to leave thee in mortal life; but in the eternal life I will
find thee joyful in an existence which includes all good. From that place I
shall look upon thee with love, and pray always for thy increase, thy prosperity
and thy progress.
This was the parting of the most blessed Mary from the
mystical body of the holy Roman Catholic Church, the mother of the faithful, in
order that all who should hear of Her, might know by her sweet tears and
endearments, in what veneration, love and esteem She held that holy Church.
After thus taking leave, the great Mistress, as the Mother of Wisdom, prepared
to make her testament and last Will. When She manifested this most prudent wish
to the Lord, He deigned to approve of it by his own royal presence. For this
purpose, with myriads of attending angels, the three Persons of the most blessed
Trinity descended to the oratory of their Daughter and Spouse, and when the
Queen had adored the infinite Being of God, She heard a voice speaking to Her:
"Our chosen Spouse, make thy last will as thou desirest, for We shall
confirm it and execute it entirely by our infinite power.'' The most prudent
Mother remained for some time lost in the profoundness of her humility, seeking
to know first the will of the Most High before She should manifest her own. The
Lord responded to her modest desires and the person of the Father said to Her:
"My Daughter, thy will shall be pleasing and acceptable to Me; for thou art
not wanting in the merits of good works in parting from this mortal life, that I
should not satisfy thy desires." The same encouragement was given to her by
the Son and the Holy Ghost. Therewith the most blessed Mary made her will in
this form:
''Highest Lord and eternal God, I, a vile wormlet of the
earth, confess and adore Thee with all the reverence of my inmost soul as the
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, three Persons distinct in one undivided and
eternal essence, one substance, one in infinite majesty of attributes and
perfection. I confess Thee as the one true Creator and Preserver of all that has
being. In thy kingly presence I declare and say, that my last will is this: Of
the goods of mortal life and of the world in which I live, I possess none that I
can leave; for never have I possessed or loved anything beside Thee, who art my
good and all my possession. To the heavens, the stars and planets, to the
elements and all creatures in them I give thanks, because according to thy will
they have sustained me without my merit, and lovingly I desire and ask them to
serve and praise Thee in the offices and ministries assigned to them, and that
they continue to sustain and benefit my brethren and fellowmen. In order that
they may do it so much the better, I renounce and assign to mankind the
possession, and as far as possible, the dominion of them, which thy Majesty has
given me over these irrational creatures, so that they may now serve and sustain
my fellowmen. Two tunics and a cloak, which served to cover me, I leave to John
for his disposal, since I hold him as a son. My body I ask the earth to receive
again for thy service, since it is the common mother and serves Thee as thy
creature; my soul, despoiled of its body and of all visible things, O my God, I
resign into thy hands, in order that it may love and magnify Thee through all
thy eternities. My merits and all the treasures, which with thy grace through my
works and exertions I have acquired, I leave to the holy Church, my mother and
my mistress, as my residuary heiress, and with thy permission I there deposit
them, wishing them to be much greater. And I desire before all else they redound
to the exaltation of thy holy name and procure the fulfillment of thy will earth
as it is done in heaven, and that all the nations come to the knowledge, love
and veneration of Thee, the true God."
"In the second place I offer these merits for my masters
the Apostles and priests, of the present and of the future ages, so that in view
of them thy ineffable clemency may make them apt ministers, worthy of their
office and state, filled with wisdom, virtue and holiness by which they may
edify and sanctify the souls by thy blood. In the third place I offer them for
the spiritual good of my devoted servants, who invoke and call upon me, in order
that they may receive thy protection and grace, and afterwards eternal life. In
the fourth place I desire that my services and labors may move Thee to mercy
toward all the sinning children of Adam, in order that they may withdraw from
their sinful state. From this hour on I propose and desire to continue my
prayers for them in thy divine presence, as long as the world shall last. This,
Lord and my God, is my last will, always subject to thy own." At the
conclusion of this testament of the Queen, the most blessed Trinity approved and
confirmed it; and Christ the Redeemer, as if authorizing it all, witnessed it by
writing in the heart of his Mother these words: "Let it be done as thou
wishest and ordainest."
If all we children of Adam, and especially we who are born in
the law of grace, had no other obligation toward the most blessed Mary than this
of having been constituted heirs of her immense merits and of all that is
mentioned in this short and mysterious testament, we could never repay our debt,
even if in return we should offer our lives and endure all the sufferings of the
most courageous martyrs and saints.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN.
(Blessed Mother Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
"Among the absurd fallacies introduced by the demon into the
world none is greater or more pernicious than the forgetfulness of the hour of
death and of what is to happen at the court of the rigorous Judge. Consider, my
daughter, that through this portal sin entered into the world; for the serpent
sought to convince the first woman principally, that she would not die and need
not think of that matter (Gen. 11, 4). Thus continually deceived, there are
uncountable fools who live without thought of death and who die forgetful of the
unhappy lot that awaits them. In order that thou mayest not be seized by this
human perversity, begin to convince thyself now that thou must die irrevocably;
that thou hast received much and paid little; that the account shall be so much
the more rigorous, as the Judge has been more liberal in the gifts and talents
lavished upon thee in thy sphere. I do not ask of thee more, and also not less,
than what thou owest to thy Spouse and to thy Lord, which is always to operate
the best in all places, times and occasions, without permitting any
forgetfulness, intermission or carelessness." - Blessed Mother Mary
Book 8, Chapter 6 - The Mystical City of God
The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God
THE GLORIOUS TRANSITION OF THE VIRGIN MARY
And now, according to the decree of the divine will, the day
was approaching in which the true and living Ark of the covenant was to be
placed in the temple of the celestial Jerusalem, with a greater glory and higher
jubilee than its prophetic figure was installed by Solomon in the
sanctuary beneath the wings of the cherubim (III King 8, 8). Three days before
the most happy Transition of the great Lady the Apostles and disciples were
gathered in Jerusalem and in the Cenacle. The first one to arrive was saint
Peter, who was transported from Rome by the hands of an angel. At that place the
angel appeared to him and told him that the passing away of the most blessed
Mary was imminent and the Lord commanded him to go to Jerusalem in order to be
present at that event. Thereupon the angel took him and brought him from Italy
to the Cenacle. Thither the Queen of the world had retired, somewhat weakened in
body by the force of her divine love; for since She was so near to her end, She
was subjected more completely to love's effects.
The great Lady came to the entrance of her oratory in order
to receive the vicar of Christ our Savior. Kneeling at his feet She asked his
blessing and said: "I give thanks and praise to the Almighty, that He
brought to me the holy Father for assisting me in the hour of my death.'' Then
came saint Paul, to whom the Queen showed the same reverence with similar tokens
of her pleasure at seeing him. The Apostles saluted Her as the Mother of God, as
their Queen and as Mistress of all creation; but with a sorrow equal to their
reverence, because they knew that they had come to witness her passing away.
After these Apostles came the others and the disciples still living.
Three days after, they were all assembled in the Cenacle. The heavenly Mother
received them all with profound humility, reverence and love, asking each one to
bless Her. All of them complied, and saluted Her with admirable reverence. By
orders of the Lady given to saint John, and with the assistance of saint James
the less, they were all hospitably entertained and accommodated.
Some of the Apostles who had been transported by the angels
and informed by them of the purpose of their coming, were seized with tenderest
grief and shed abundant tears at the thought of losing their only protection and
consolation. Others were as yet ignorant of their approaching loss, especially
the disciples, who had not been positively informed by the angels, but were
moved by interior inspirations and a sweet and forcible intimation of God's will
to come to Jerusalem. They immediately conferred with saint Peter, desirous of
knowing the occasion of their meeting; for all of them were convinced, that if
there had been no special occasion, the Lord would not have urged them so
strongly to come. The apostle saint Peter, as the head of the Church, called
them all together in order to tell them of the cause of their coming, and spoke
to the assembly: "My dearest children and brethren, the Lord has called and
brought us to Jerusalem from remote regions not without a cause most urgent and
sorrowful to us. The Most High wishes now to raise up to the throne of eternal
glory his most blessed Mother, our Mistress, our consolation and protection. His
divine decree is that we all be present at her most happy and glorious
Transition. When our Master and Redeemer ascended to the right hand of his
Father, although He left us orphaned of his most delightful presence, we still
retained his most blessed Mother and our light now leaves us what shall we do?
What help or hope have we to encourage us on our pilgrimage? I find none except
the hope that we all shall follow Her in due time."
Saint Peter could speak no farther, because uncontrollable
tears and sighs interrupted him. Neither could the rest of the Apostles answer
for a long time during which, amid copious and tenderest tears, they gave vent
to the groans of their inmost heart. After some time the vicar of Christ
recovered himself and added: "My children, let us seek the presence of our
Mother and Lady. Let us spend the time left of her life in her company and ask
Her to bless us." They all betook themselves to the oratory of the great
Queen and found Her kneeling upon a couch, on which She was wont to recline for
a short rest. They saw Her full of beauty and celestial light, surrounded by the
thousand angels of her guard.
The natural condition and appearance of her sacred and
virginal body were the same as at her thirty-third year; for, as I have already
stated, from that age onward it experienced no change. It was not affected by
the passing years, showing no signs of age, no wrinkles in her face or body, nor
giving signs of weakening or fading, as in other children of Adam, who gradually
fall away and drop from the natural perfection of early man or womanhood. This
unchangeableness was the privilege of the most blessed Mary alone, as well
because it consorted with the stability of her purest soul, as because it was
the natural consequence of her immunity from the sin of Adam, the effects of
which in this regard touched neither her sacred body nor her purest soul. The
Apostles and disciples, and some of the other faithful occupied her chamber, all
of them preserving the utmost order in her presence. Saint Peter and saint John
placed themselves at the head of the couch. The great Lady looked upon them all
with her accustomed modesty and reverence and spoke to them as follows: "My
dearest children, give permission to your servant to speak in your presence and
to disclose my humble desires." Saint Peter answered that all listened with
attention and would obey Her in all things; and He begged Her to seat Herself
upon the couch, while speaking to them. It seemed to saint Peter that She was
exhausted from kneeling so long and that She had taken that position in order to
pray to the Lord, and that in speaking to them, it was proper She should be
seated as their Queen.
But She, who was the Teacher of humility and obedience unto
death, practiced both these virtues in that hour. She answered that She would
obey in asking of their blessing, and besought them to afford Her this
consolation. With the permission of saint Peter She left the couch and, kneeling
before the Apostle, said to him: "My lord, I beseech thee, as the universal
pastor and head of the holy Church, to give me thy blessing in thy own and in
its name. Pardon me thy handmaid for the smallness of the service I have
rendered in my life. Grant that John dispose of my vestments, giving them to the
two poor maidens, who have always obliged me by their charity." She then
prostrated Herself and kissed the feet of saint Peter as the vicar of Christ, by
her abundant tears eliciting not less the admiration than the tears of the
Apostle and of all the bystanders. From saint Peter She went to saint John,
kneeling likewise at his feet, said: "Pardon, my son and my master, my not
having fulfilled toward thee the duties of a Mother as I ought and as the Lord
had commanded me, when from the Cross He appointed thee as my son and me as thy
mother (John 19, 27). I humbly and from my heart thank thee for the kindness
which thou hast shown me as a son. Give me thy benediction for entering into the
vision and company of Him who created me."
The sweetest Mother proceeded in her leave-taking, speaking
to each of the Apostles in particular and to some of the disciples; and then to
all the assembly together; for there were a great number. She rose to her feet
and addressed them all, saying: "Dearest children and my masters, always
have I kept you in my soul and written in my heart. I have loved you with that
tender love and charity, which was given to me by my divine Son, whom I have
seen in you, his chosen friends. In obedience to his holy and eternal will, I
now go to the eternal mansions, where I promise you as a Mother I will look upon
you by the clearest light of the Divinity, the vision of which my soul hopes and
desires in security. I commend unto you my mother, the Church, the exaltation of
the name of the Most High, the spread of the evangelical law, the honor and
veneration for the words of my divine Son, the memory of his Passion and
Death, the practice of his doctrine. My children, love the Church, and love one
another with that bond of charity which your Master has always inculcated upon
you (John 13, 34). To thee, Peter, holy Pontiff, I commend my son John and all
the rest."
The words of the most blessed Mary, like arrows of a divine
fire, penetrated the hearts of all the Apostles and hearers, and as She ceased
speaking, all of them were dissolved in streams of tears and, seized with
irreparable sorrow, cast themselves upon the ground with sighs and groans
sufficient to move to compassion the very earth. All of them wept, and with them
wept also the sweetest Mary, who could not resist this bitter and well-founded
sorrow of her children. After some time She spoke to them again, and asked them
to pray with Her and for Her in silence, which they did. During this quietness
the incarnate Word descended from heaven on a throne of ineffable glory,
accompanied by all the saints and innumerable angels, and the house of the
Cenacle was filled with glory. The most blessed Mary adored the Lord and kissed
his feet. Prostrate before Him She made the last and most profound act faith and
humility in her mortal life. On this occasion the most pure Creature, the Queen
of the heavens, shrank within Herself and lowered Herself to the earth more
profoundly than all men together ever have or ever will humiliate themselves for
all their sins. Her divine Son gave Her His blessing and in the presence of the
courtiers of heaven spoke to Her these words: "My dearest Mother, whom I
have chosen for my dwelling-place, the hour is come in which thou art to pass
from the life of this death and of the world into the glory of my Father
and Mine, where thou shalt possess the throne prepared for thee at my right hand
and enjoy it through all eternity. And since, by my power and as my Mother have
caused thee to enter the world free and exempt from sin, therefore also death
shall have no right or permission to touch thee at thy exit from this world. If
thou wishest not to pass through it come with Me now to partake of my glory,
which thou hast merited."
The most prudent Mother prostrated Herself at the feet of her
Son and with a joyous countenance answered: "My Son and my Lord, I beseech
Thee let thy mother and thy servant enter into eternal life by the common portal
of natural death, like the other children of Adam. Thou, who art my true God,
hast suffered death without being obliged to do so; it is proper that as I have
followed Thee in life, so I follow Thee also in death.'' Christ the Savior
approved of the decision and the sacrifice of his most blessed Mother, and
consented to its fulfillment. Then all the angels began to sing in celestial
harmony some of the verses of the Canticles of Solomon and other new ones.
Although only saint John and some of the Apostles were enlightened as to the
presence of Christ the Savior, yet the others felt in their interior its divine
and powerful effects; but the music was heard as well by the Apostles and
disciples, as by many others of the faithful there present. A divine fragrance
also spread about, which penetrated to the street. The house of the Cenacle was
filled with a wonderful effulgence, visible to all, and the Lord ordained that
multitudes of the people of Jerusalem gathered in the streets as witnesses to
this new miracle.
When the angels began their music, the most blessed Mary
reclined back upon her couch or bed. Her tunic was folded about her sacred body,
her hands joined and her eyes fixed upon her divine Son, and She was entirely
inflamed with the fire of divine love. And as the angels intoned those verses of
the second of the Canticles: "Surge, propera, amica mea," that is to
say: "Arise, haste, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come, the
winter has passed," etc., She pronounced those words of her Son on the
Cross: "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." Then She closed
her virginal eyes and expired. The sickness which took away her life was love,
without any other weakness or accidental intervention of whatever kind. She died
at the moment when the divine power suspended the assistance, which until then
had counteracted the sensible ardors of her burning love of God. As soon as this
miraculous assistance was withdrawn, the fire of her love consumed the
life-humors of her heart and thus caused the cessation of her earthly existence.
Then this most pure Soul passed from her virginal body to be
placed in boundless glory, on the throne at the right hand of her divine Son.
Immediately the music of the angels seemed to withdraw to the upper air; for
that whole procession of angels and saints accompanied the King and Queen to the
empyrean heavens. The sacred body of the most blessed Mary, which been the
temple and sanctuary of God in life, continued to shine with an effulgent light
and breathed forth such a wonderful and unheard of fragrance, that all the
bystanders were filled with interior and exterior sweetness. The thousand angels
of her guard remained to watch over the inestimable treasure of her virginal
body. The Apostles and disciples, amid the tears and the joy of the wonders they
had seen, were absorbed in admiration for some time, and then sang many hymns
and psalms in honor of the most blessed Mary now departed. This glorious
Transition of the great Queen took place in the hour in which her divine Son had
died, at three o'clock on a Friday, the thirteenth day of August, she being
seventy years of age, less the twenty-six days intervening between the
thirteenth day of August, on which She died, and the eighth of September, the
day of her birth. The heavenly Mother had survived the death of Christ the
Savior twenty-one years, four months and nineteen days; and his virginal birth,
fifty-five years. This reckoning can be easily made in the following manner:
when Christ our Savior was born, his virginal Mother was fifteen years, three
months and seventeen days of age. The Lord lived thirty-three years and three
months; so that at the time of his sacred Passion the most blessed Lady was
forty-eight years, six months and seventeen days old; adding to these another
twenty-one years, four months and nineteen days, we ascertain her age as seventy
years, less twenty-five or twenty-six days. *(Age at death, 69 years, 11 months,
5 or 6 days.)
Great wonders and prodigies happened at the precious death of
the Queen; for the sun was eclipsed (as I have mentioned above) and its light
was hidden in sorrow for some hours. Many birds of different kinds gathered
around the Cenacle, and by their sorrowful clamors and groans for a while caused
the bystanders themselves to weep. All Jerusalem was in commotion, and many of
the inhabitants collected in astonished crowds, confessing loudly the power of
God and the greatness of his works. Others were astounded and as if beside
themselves. The Apostles and disciples with others of the faithful broke forth
in tears and sighs. Many sick persons came who all were cured. The souls in
purgatory were released. But the greatest miracle was that three persons, a man
in Jerusalem and two women living in the immediate neighborhood of the Cenacle,
died in sin and impenitent in that same hour, subject to eternal damnation; but
when their cause came before the tribunal of Christ, His sweetest Mother
interceded for them and they were restored to life. They so mended their
conduct, that afterwards they died in grace and were saved. This privilege was
not extended to others that died on that day in the world, but was restricted to
those three who happened to die in that hour in Jerusalem. What festivities were
celebrated on that occasion in heaven I will describe in another chapter, lest
heavenly things be mixed up with the sacred things of earth.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
(The Blessed Mother Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
"My daughter, besides what thou hast understood and written of
my glorious Transition, I wish to inform thee of another privilege, which was
conceded to me by my divine Son in that hour. Thou hast already recorded, that
the Lord offered me the choice of entering into beatific vision either with or
without passing through the portals of death. If I had preferred not to die, the
Most High would have conceded this favor, because sin had no part in me, and
hence also not its punishment, which is death. Thus it would also have been with
my divine Son, and with a greater right, if He had not taken upon Himself the
satisfaction of the divine justice for men through his Passion and Death. Hence
I chose death freely in order to imitate and follow Him, as also I did during
his grievous passion. Since I had seen my Son and true God die, I would not have
satisfied the love I owe Him, if I had refused death, and I would have left a
great gap in my conformity to and my imitation of my Lord the Godman, whereas He
wished me to bear a great likeness to Him in his most sacred humanity. As I
would thereafter never be able to make up for such a defect, my soul would not
enjoy the plenitude of the delight of having died as did my Lord and God.
Hence my choosing to die was so pleasing to Him, and my
prudent love therein obliged Him to such an extent, that in return He
immediately conceded to me a singular favor for the benefit of the children of
the Church and conformable to my wishes. It was this, all those devoted to me,
who should call upon me at the hour of death, constituting me as their Advocate
in memory of my happy Transition and of my desiring to imitate Him in death,
shall be under my special protection in that hour, shall have me as a defense
against demons, as a help and protection, and shall be presented by me before
the tribunal of his mercy and there experience my intercession. In consequence
the Lord gave me a new power and commission and He promised to confer great
helps of His grace for a good death and for a purer life on all those who in
veneration of this mystery of my precious death, should invoke my aid. Hence I
desire thee, my beloved daughter, from this day on to keep in thy inmost heart a
devout and loving memory of this mystery, and to bless, praise, and magnify the
Omnipotent, because he wrought such sacred miracles for me and for the mortals.
By this solicitude thou wilt oblige the Lord and me to come to thy aid in that
last hour.
And since death follows upon life and ordinarily corresponds
with it, therefore the surest pledge of a good death is a good life; a life in
which the heart is freed and detached from earthly love. For this it is, which
in that last hour afflicts and oppresses the soul and which is like a heavy
chain restraining its liberty and preventing it from rising above the things
loved in this world. O my daughter! How greatly do mortals misunderstand this
truth, and how far they err from it in their actions! The Lord gives them life
in order that they may free themselves from the effects of original sin, so as
to be unhampered by them at the hour of their death; and the ignorant and
miserable children of Adam spend all their life in loading upon themselves new
burdens and fetters, so that they die captives of their passions and in the
tyranny of their hellish foes. I had no share in original sin and none of its
effects had any power over my faculties; nevertheless I lived in the greatest
constraint, in poverty and detached from earthly things, most perfect and holy;
and this holy freedom I did indeed experience at the hour of my death. Consider
then, my daughter, and be mindful of this living example; free thy heart more
and more each day, so that with advancing years thou mayest find thyself more
free, more detached and averted from visible things, and so that when the Spouse
shall call thee to his nuptials, thou wilt not need to seek in vain the required
freedom and prudence." ~ The Blessed Mother Mary
Book 8, Chapter 7 - The Mystical City of God
The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God
BURIAL AND ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.
In order that the Apostles, the disciples, and many others of
the faithful might not be too deeply oppressed by sorrow, and in order that some
of them may not die of grief caused by the passing away of the blessed Mary, it
was necessary that the divine power, by an especial providence, furnish them
with consolation and dilate their heart for new influences in their incomparable
affliction. For the feeling, that their loss was irretrievable in the present
life, could not be repressed; the privation of such a Treasure could never find
recompense; and as the most sweet, loving and amiable interactions and
conversation of their great Queen had ravished the heart of each one, the
ceasing of her protection and company left them as it were without the breath of
life. But the Lord, who well knew how to estimate the just cause of their
sorrow, secretly upheld them by his encouragements and so they set about the
fitting burial of the sacred body and whatever the occasion demanded.
Accordingly the holy Apostles, on whom this duty specially
devolved, held a conference concerning the burial of the most sacred body of
their Queen and Lady. They selected for that purpose a new sepulchre, which had
been prepared mysteriously by the providence of her divine Son. As they
remembered, that, according to the custom of the Jews at burial, the deified
body of the Master had been anointed with precious ointments and spices and
wrapped in the sacred burial cloths; they thought not of doing otherwise with
the virginal body of His most holy Mother. Accordingly they called the two
maidens, who had assisted the Queen during her life and who had been designated
as the heiresses of her tunics, and instructed them to anoint the body of the
Mother of God with highest reverence and modesty and wrap it in the
winding-sheets before it should be placed in the casket. With great reverence
and fear the two maidens entered the room, where the body of the blessed Lady
lay upon its couch; but the refulgence issuing from it barred and blinded them
in such a manner that they could neither see nor touch the body, nor even
ascertain in what particular place it rested.
In fear and reverence still greater than on their entrance,
the maidens left the room; and in great excitement and wonder they told the
Apostles what had happened. They, not without divine inspiration, came to the
conclusion, that this sacred Ark of the covenant was not to be touched or
handled in the common way. Then saint Peter and saint John entered the oratory
and perceived the effulgence, and at the same time they heard the celestial
music of the angels who were singing: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord
is with thee." Others responded: "A Virgin before childbirth, in
childbirth and after childbirth." From that time on many of the faithful
expressed their devotion toward the most blessed Mary in these words of praise;
and from them they were handed down to be repeated by us with the approbation of
the holy Church. The two holy Apostles, saint Peter and saint John, were for a
time lost in admiration at what they saw and heard of their Queen; and in order
to decide what to do, they sank on their knees, beseeching the Lord to make it
known. Then they heard a voice saying: "Let not the sacred body be either
uncovered or touched."
Having thus been informed of the will of God they brought a
bier, and, the effulgence having diminished somewhat, they approached the couch
and with their own hands reverently took hold of the tunic at the two ends.
Thus, without changing its posture, they raised the sacred and virginal Treasure
and place it on the bier in the same position as it had occupied on the couch.
They could easily do this, because they felt no more weight than that of the
tunic. On this bier the former effulgence of the body moderated still more, and
all of them, by disposition of the Lord and for the consolation of all those
present, could now perceive and study the beauty of that virginal countenance
and of her hands. As for the rest, the omnipotence of God protected this His
heavenly dwelling, so that neither in life nor in death anyone should behold any
other part except what is common in ordinary conversation, her most inspiring
countenance, by which She had been known, and her hands, by which She had
labored.
So great was the care and solicitude for His most blessed
Mother, that in this particular He used not so much precaution in regard to his
own body, as that of the most pure Virgin. In her Immaculate Conception He made
Her like to Himself; likewise at her birth, in as far as it did not take place
in the common and natural manner of other men. He preserved Her also from impure
temptations and thoughts. But, as He was man and the Redeemer of the world
through his Passion and Death, He permitted with his own body, what He would not
allow with Hers, as that of a woman, and therefore He kept her virginal body
entirely concealed; in fact the most pure Lady during her life had herself asked
that no one should be permitted to look upon it in death; which petition He
fulfilled. Then the Apostles consulted further about her burial. Their decision
becoming known among the multitudes of the faithful in Jerusalem, they brought
many candles to be lighted at the bier, and it happened that all the lights
burned through that day and the two following days without any of the candles
being consumed or wasted in any shape or manner.
In order that this and many other miracles wrought by the
power of God on this occasion might become better known to the world, the Lord
himself inspired all the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be present at the burial of
his most blessed Mother, so that there was scarcely any person in Jerusalem,
even of the Jews or the gentiles, who were not attracted by the novelty of this
spectacle. The Apostles took upon their shoulders the sacred body and the
tabernacle of God and, as priests of the evangelical law, bore the Propitiatory
of the divine oracles and blessings in orderly procession from the Cenacle in
the city to the valley of Josaphat. This was the visible accompaniment of the
dwellers of Jerusalem.
In the midst of this celestial and earthly accompaniment,
visible and invisible, the Apostles bore along the sacred body, and on the way
happened great miracles, which would take much time to relate. In particular all
the sick, of which there were many of the different kinds, were entirely cured.
Many of the possessed were freed from the demons; for the evil spirits did not
dare to wait until the sacred body came near the persons thus afflicted. Greater
still were the miracles of conversions wrought among many Jews and gentiles, for
on this occasion were opened up the treasures of divine mercy, so that many
souls came to the knowledge of Christ our Savior and loudly confessed Him as the
true God and Redeemer, demanding Baptism. Many days thereafter the Apostles and
disciples labored hard in catechizing and baptising those, who on that day had
been converted to the holy faith. The Apostles in carrying the sacred body felt
wonderful effects of divine light and consolation, which the disciples shared
according to their measure. All the multitudes of the people were seized with
astonishment at the fragrance diffused about, the sweet music and the other
prodigies. They proclaimed God great and powerful in this Creature and in
testimony of their acknowledgment, they struck their breasts in sorrow and
compunction.
When the procession came to the holy sepulchre in the valley
of Josaphat, the same two Apostles, saint Peter and saint John, who had laid the
celestial Treasure from the couch onto the bier, with joyful reverence placed it
in the sepulchre and covered it with a linen cloth, the hands of the angels
performing more of these last rites than the hands of the Apostles. They closed
up the sepulchre with a large stone, according to custom at other burials. The
celestial courtiers returned to heaven, while the thousand angels of the Queen
continued their watch, guarding the sacred body and keeping up the music as at
her burial. The concourse of the people lessened and the holy Apostles and
disciples, dissolved in tender tears, returned to the Cenacle. During a whole
year the exquisite fragrance exhaled by the body of Queen was noticeable
throughout the Cenacle, and in her oratory, for many years. This sanctuary
remain a place of refuge for all those that were burdened with labor and
difficulties; all found miraculous assistance, as well in sickness as in
hardships and necessities of other kind. After these miracles had continued for
some years in Jerusalem, the sins of Jerusalem and of its inhabitants drew upon
this city, among other punishments, that of being deprived of this inestimable
blessing.
Having again gathered in the Cenacle, the Apostles came to
the conclusion that some of them and of the disciples should watch at the
sepulchre of their Queen as long as they should hear the celestial music, for
all of them were wondering when the end of that miracle should be. Accordingly
some of them attended to the affairs of the Church in catechizing and baptizing
the new converts; and others immediately returned to the sepulchre, while all of
them paid frequent visits to it during the next three days. Saint Peter and
saint John, however, were more zealous in their attendance, coming only a few
times to the Cenacle and immediately returning to where was laid the treasure of
their heart.
If on this account the glory even of the least of the saints
is eneffable, what shall we say of the glory of the most blessed Mary, since
among the saints She is the most holy and She by Herself is more like to her Son
than all the saints together, and since her grace and glory exceed those of all
the rest, as those of an empress or sovereign over her vassals? This truth can
and should be believed; but in mortal life it cannot be understood, or the least
part of it be explained; for the inadequacy and deficiency of our words and
expressions rather tend to obscure than to set forth its greatness. Let us in
this life apply our labor, not in seeking to comprehend it, but in seeking to
merit its manifestation in glory, where we shall experience more or less of this
happiness according to our works.
Our Redeemer Jesus entered heaven conducting the purest soul
of his Mother at his right hand. She alone of all the mortals deserved exemption
from particular judgment; hence for Her there was none; no account was asked or
demanded of Her for what She had received; for such was the promise that had
been given to Her, when She was exempted from the common guilt and chosen as the
Queen privileged above the laws of the children of Adam. For the same reason,
instead of being judged with the rest, She shall be seated at the right hand of
the Judge to judge with Him all the creatures. If in the first instant of her
Conception She was the brightest Aurora, effulgent with the rays of the sun of
the Divinity beyond all the brightness of the most exalted seraphim, and if
afterwards She was still further illumined by the contact of the hypostatic
Word, who derived his humanity from her purest substance, it necessarily follows
that She should be His Companion for all eternity, possessing such a likeness to
Him, that none greater can be possible between a Godman and a creature. In this
light the Redeemer himself presented Her before the throne of the Divinity; and
speaking to the eternal Father in the presence of all the blessed, who were
ravished at this wonder, the most sacred humanity uttered these words:
"Eternal Father, my most beloved Mother, thy beloved Daughter and the
cherished Spouse of the Holy Ghost, now comes to take possession of the crown
and glory, which We have prepared as a reward for her merit. She is the one who
was born as the rose among thorns, untouched, pure and beautiful, worthy of
being embraced by Us and being placed upon a throne to which none of our
creatures can ever attain, and to which those conceived in sin cannot aspire.
This is our chosen and our only One, distinguished above all else, to whom We
communicated our grace and our perfections beyond the measure accorded to other
creatures; in whom We have deposited the treasure of our incomprehensible
Divinity and its gifts; who most faithfully preserved and made fruitful the
talents, which We gave Her; who never swerved from our will, and who found grace
and pleasure in our eyes. My Father, most equitous is the tribunal of our
justice and mercy, and in it the services of our friends are repaid in the most
superabundant manner. It is right that to my Mother be given the reward of a
Mother; and if during her whole life and in all her works She was as like to Me
as is possible for a creature to be, let Her also be as like to Me in glory and
on the throne of our Majesty; so that where holiness is in essence, there it may
also be found in its highest participation.''
This decree of the incarnate Word was approved by the Father
and the Holy Ghost. The most holy soul of Mary was immediately raised to the
right hand of her Son and true God, and placed on the royal throne of the most
holy Trinity, which neither men, nor angels nor the seraphim themselves attain,
and will not attain for all eternity. This is the most exalted and supereminent
privilege of our Queen and Lady, that She is seated on the throne with the three
divine Persons and holds her place as Empress, while all the rest are set as
servants and ministers to the highest King. To the eminence and majesty of that
position, inaccessible to all other creatures, correspond her gifts of glory,
comprehension, vision and fruition; because She enjoys, above all and more than
all, that infinite Object, which the other blessed enjoy in an endless variety
of degrees. She knows, penetrates and understands much deeper the eternal Being
and its infinite attributes; She lovingly delights in its mysteries and most
hidden secrets, more than all the rest of the blessed.
Just as little can be explained the extra joy, which the
blessed experienced on that day in singing the new songs of praise to the
Omnipotent and in celebrating the glory of his Daughter, Mother and Spouse; for
in Her He had exalted all the works of his right hand. Although to the Lord
himself could come no new or essential glory because He possessed and possesses
it immutably infinite through all eternity; yet the exterior manifestations of
His pleasure and satisfaction at the fulfillment of his eternal decrees were
greater on that day.
On the third day after the most pure soul of Mary had taken
possession of this glory never to leave it, the Lord manifested to the saints
His divine will, that She should return to the world, resuscitate her sacred
body and unite Herself with it, so that She might in body and soul be again
raised to the right hand of her divine Son without waiting for the general
resurrection of the dead. The appropriateness of this favor, its accordance with
the others received by the most blessed Queen and with her supereminent dignity,
the saints could not but see; since even to mortals it is so credible, that even
if the Church had not certified it, we would judge those impious and foolish,
who would dare deny it. But the blessed saw it with greater clearness, together
with the determined time and hour as manifested to them in God himself. When the
time for this wonder had arrived, Christ our Savior himself descended from
heaven bringing with Him at His right hand the soul of his most blessed Mother
and accompanied by many legions of the Angels, the Patriarchs and ancient
Prophets. They came to the sepulchre in the valley of Josaphat, and all being
gathered in sight of the virginal temple, the Lord spoke the following words to
the saints.
"My Mother was conceived without stain of sin, in order
that from Her virginal substance I might stainlessly clothe Myself in the
humanity in which I came to the world and redeemed it from sin. My flesh is her
flesh; She co-operated with Me in the works of the Redemption; hence I must
raise Her, just as I rose from the dead, and this shall be at the same time and
hour. For I wish to make Her like Me in all things." All the ancient saints
of the human race then gave thanks for this new favor in songs of praise and
glory to the Lord. Those that especially distinguished themselves in their
thanksgiving were our first parents Adam and Eve, saint Anne, saint Joachim and
saint Joseph, as being the more close partakers in this miracle of his
Omnipotence. Then the purest soul of the Queen, at the command of the Lord,
entered the virginal body, reanimated it and raised it up, giving it a new life
of immortality and glory and communicating to it the four gifts of clearness,
impassibility, agility and subtlety, corresponding to those of the soul and
overflowing from it into the body.
Endowed with these gifts the most blessed Mary issued from
the tomb in body and soul, without raising the stone cover and without
disturbing the position of the tunic and the mantle that had enveloped her
sacred body. Since it is impossible to describe her beauty and refulgent glory,
I will not make the attempt. It is sufficient to say, that just as the heavenly
Mother had given to her divine Son in her womb the form of man, pure, unstained
and sinless, for the Redemption of the world, so in return the Lord, in this
resurrection and new regeneration, gave to Her a glory and beauty similar to his
own. In this mysterious and divine interchange each One did what was possible:
most holy Mary engendered Christ, assimilating Him as much as possible to
Herself, and Christ resuscitated Her, communicating to Her of his glory as far
as She was capable as a creature.
Then from the sepulchre was started a most solemn procession,
moving with celestial music through the regions of the air and toward the
empyrean heaven. This happened in the hour immediately after midnight, which
also the Lord had risen from the grave; and therefore not all of the Apostles
were witness of this prodigy, but only some of them, who were present and
watching at the sepulchre. The saints and angels entered in the order in which
they had started; and in the last place came Christ our Savior and at his right
hand the Queen, clothed in the gold of variety (as David says Ps. 44, 10), and
so beautiful that She was the admiration of the heavenly court. All of them
turned toward Her to look upon Her and bless Her with new jubilee and songs of
praise. Thus were heard those mysterious eulogies recorded by Solomon: Come,
daughters of Sion, to your Queen, who is praised by the morning stars and
celebrated by the sons of the Most High. Who is She that comes from the desert,
like a column of all aromatic perfumes? Who is She, that rises like the aurora,
more beautiful than the moon, elect as the sun, terrible as many serried armies?
Who is She that comes up from the desert resting upon her Beloved and spreading
forth abundant delights? (Cant. 3,6-9; 8,5). Who is She in whom the Deity itself
finds so much pleasure and delight above all other creatures and whom He exalts
above them all in the heavens! O novelty worthy of the infinite Wisdom! O
prodigy of his Omnipotence, which so magnifies and exalts Her!
Amid this glory the most blessed Mary arrived body and soul
at the throne of the most blessed Trinity. And the three divine Persons received
Her on it with an embrace eternally undissoluble. The eternal Father said Her:
"Ascend higher, my Daughter and my Dove." The incarnate Word spoke:
"My Mother, of whom I received human being and full return of my work in
thy perfect imitation, receive now from my hand the reward thou hast
merited." The Holy Ghost said: "My most beloved Spouse, enter into the
eternal joy, which corresponds to the most faithful love; do Thou now enjoy thy
love without solicitude; for past is the winter of suffering for Thou hast
arrived at our eternal embraces." There the most blessed Mary was absorbed
in the contemplation of the three divine Persons and as it were overwhelmed in
the boundless ocean and abyss of the Divinity, while the saints were filled with
wonder and new accidental delight. Since, at the occasion of this work of the
Omnipotent happened other wonders, I shall speak of them as far as possible in
the following chapter.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
(The Blessed Mother Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
"My daughter, lamentable and inexcusable is the ignorance of
men in so knowingly forgetting the eternal glory, which God has prepared for
those who dispose themselves to merit it. I wish that thou bitterly bewail and
deplore this pernicious forgetfulness; for there is no doubt, that whoever
wilfully forgets the eternal glory and happiness is in evident danger of losing
it. No one is free from this guilt, not only because men do not apply much labor
or effort in seeking and retaining the remembrance of this happiness; but they
labor with all their powers in things that make them forget the end for which
they were created. Undoubtedly this forgetfulness arises from their entangling
themselves in the pride of life, the covetousness of the eyes, and the desires
of the flesh (John 2, 16); for employing therein all the forces and faculties of
their soul during the whole time of their life, they have no leisure, care or
attention for the thoughts of eternal felicity. Let men acknowledge and confess,
whether this recollection costs them more labor than to follow their blind
passions, seeking after honors, possessions or the transitory pleasures, all of
which have an end with this life, and which, after much striving and labor, many
men do not, and can never attain.
This is a sorrow beyond all sorrows, and a misfortune without
equal and without remedy. Afflict thyself, lament and grieve without consolation
over this ruin of so many souls bought by the blood of my divine Son. I assure
thee, my dearest, that, if men would not make themselves so unworthy of it, my
charity would urge me, in the celestial glory where thou knowest me to be, to
send forth a voice through the whole world exclaiming: "Mortal and deceived
men, what are you doing? For what purpose are you living? Do you realize what it
is to see God face to face, and to participate in his eternal glory and share
his company? Of what are you thinking? Who has thus disturbed and fascinated
your judgment? What will you seek, if once you have lost this true blessing and
happiness, since there is no other? The labor is short, the reward is infinite
glory, and the punishment is eternal." ~ Blessed Mother Mary
Reference:
- The Mystical City of God: Life of the Virgin Mother of God, manifested to Sister Mary of Jesus of Agreda, 1602-1666 - Imprimatur H. J. Alerding, Bishop of Fort Wayne. Rome City, Ind., Aug. 24, 1912.
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