Thursday, December 20, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog:
Atonement, Isaiah 7:10-14, Psalms 24:1-6, Luke 1: 26-38, Mystical City of God Book 1, Chapter 1 - WHY GOD REVEALED THE LIFE OF MARY IN THESE OUR TIMES.Good Day Bloggers! Joyeux Noelle et Bonne Annee!
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. The "Armageddon" is a pagan belief inspired by the evil one to create chaos and doubt in God. Trust in God, for He creates, He does not destroy and only God knows the hour of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ's second Coming, another chance at eternal salvation. It is this simple since the mortal sin of Adam and Eve: "This world begins and ends everyday for someone". Think about how merciful God truly is as he keeps offering us second chances. He even gives the evil one a multitude of chances to atone. When God decides, not humanity, to once again send Jesus to us for a Second time, it will be a time filled with nothing but love, mercy and compassion for humanity as the first time. Remember the mysteries of Faith: the Annunciation, The Nativity, Jesus's Ministry and most of all His Passion, Death, Resurrection Ascension and the Gift of the Pentecost...nothing but love was shown to humanity from the moment of the conception of Jesus to his Ascension into Heaven. So why would his second coming be something to fear for God so loves us that he gives us his only son for our salvation, for eternal life and happiness not our damnation. Fear is manifested by the evil one to turn us away from God, renounce it, ignore it. Simply be prepared by living everyday as a gift: Trust in God; Honor Jesus's Mercy through the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist; Honor and Embrace the gift of our Our Heavenly Mother, Mary designated by God as our Protectress, Utilize the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and invoke the guidance of our guardian angels as assigned to each one of us by God : 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,
make the most of the gift of Life. 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 Purgatory and/or 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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December 2, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
Dear
children, with motherly love and motherly patience anew I call you to
live according to my Son, to spread His peace and His love, so that, as
my apostles, you may accept God's truth with all your heart and pray for
the Holy Spirit to guide you. Then you will be able to faithfully serve
my Son, and show His love to others with your life. According to the
love of my Son and my love, as a mother, I strive to bring all of my
strayed children into my motherly embrace and to show them the way of
faith. My children, help me in my motherly battle and pray with me that
sinners may become aware of their sins and repent sincerely. Pray also
for those whom my Son has chosen and consecrated in His name. Thank
you."
November 25, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call all of you to renew
prayer. Open yourselves to Holy Confession so that each of you may
accept my call with the whole heart. I am with you and I protect you
from the ruin of sin, but you must open yourselves to the way of
conversion and holiness, that your heart may burn out of love for God.
Give Him time and He will give Himself to you and thus, in the will of
God you will discover the love and the joy of living. Thank you for
having responded to my call.” ~ Blessed
Virgin Mary
November 02, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children, as a mother I implore you to persevere as my apostles. I am praying to my Son to give you Divine wisdom and strength. I am praying that you may discern everything around you according to God’s truth and to strongly resist everything that wants to distance you from my Son. I am praying that you may witness the love of the Heavenly Father according to my Son. My children, great grace has been given to you to be witnesses of God’s love. Do not take the given responsibility lightly. Do not sadden my motherly heart. As a mother I desire to rely on my children, on my apostles. Through fasting and prayer you are opening the way for me to pray to my Son for Him to be beside you and for His name to be holy through you. Pray for the shepherds because none of this would be possible without them. Thank you." ~ Blessed Virgin Mary
"Dear children, as a mother I implore you to persevere as my apostles. I am praying to my Son to give you Divine wisdom and strength. I am praying that you may discern everything around you according to God’s truth and to strongly resist everything that wants to distance you from my Son. I am praying that you may witness the love of the Heavenly Father according to my Son. My children, great grace has been given to you to be witnesses of God’s love. Do not take the given responsibility lightly. Do not sadden my motherly heart. As a mother I desire to rely on my children, on my apostles. Through fasting and prayer you are opening the way for me to pray to my Son for Him to be beside you and for His name to be holy through you. Pray for the shepherds because none of this would be possible without them. Thank you." ~ Blessed Virgin Mary
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Today's Word: atonement a·tone·ment [uh-tohn-muh nt]
Origin: 1505–15; from phrase at one in harmony + -ment, as translation of Medieval Latin adūnāmentum; compare Middle English onement unity
noun
1. satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends.
2. ( sometimes initial capital letter ) Theology . the doctrine concerning the reconciliation of God and humankind, especially as accomplished through the life, suffering, and death of Christ.
3. Christian Science. the experience of humankind's unity with God exemplified by Jesus Christ.
4. Archaic. reconciliation; agreement.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 24:1-6
1 [Psalm Of David] To Yahweh belong the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live there;2 it is he who laid its foundations on the seas, on the flowing waters fixed it firm.
3 Who shall go up to the mountain of Yahweh? Who shall take a stand in his holy place?
4 The clean of hands and pure of heart, whose heart is not set on vanities, who does not swear an oath in order to deceive.
5 Such a one will receive blessing from Yahweh, saving justice from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the people that seeks him, that seeks your presence, God of Jacob
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Today's Epistle - Isaiah 7:10-14
10 Yahweh spoke to Ahaz again and said:11 Ask Yahweh your God for a sign, either in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above.
12 But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask. I will not put Yahweh to the test.'
13 He then said: Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying human patience that you should try my God's patience too?
14 The Lord will give you a sign in any case: It is this: the young woman is with child and will give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the
angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a
virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the
virgin's name was Mary.
He went in and said to her, 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you.' She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, 'Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favour. Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.'
Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.' Mary said, 'You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.' And the angel left her.
Reflection
• The visit of the Angel
to Mary reminds us of the visit of God to different women of the Old
Testament: Sarah, mother of Isaac (Gen 18, 9-15), Anne, mother of
Samuel (1 Sam 1, 9-18), the mother of Samson (Jg 13, 2-5). To all of
them was announced the birth of a son with an important mission in the
realization of God’s plan.
• The account begins with the expression “in the sixth month”. It is the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth. The concrete need of Elizabeth, a woman advanced in age who is expecting her first son with the risk of delivery, this is the background of all this episode. Elizabeth is mentioned at the beginning (Lk 1, 26) and at the end of the visit of the angel (Lk 1, 36.39).
• The angel says: “Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s favour, the Lord is with you”!. Similar words were said also to Moses (Ex 3, 12), to Jeremiah (Jer 1, 8), to Gideon (Jg 6, 12) and to other persons with an important mission in God’s plan. Mary is surprised at the greeting and tries to understand the significance of those words. She is realistic. She wants to understand. She does not accept just any inspiration.
• The angel answers: “Do not be afraid!” Just as it happened in the visit of the angel to Zechariah, here also the first greeting of God is always: “Do not be afraid!”. Immediately the angel recalls the promises of the past which will be fulfilled thanks to the son who will be born and who has to receive the name of Jesus. He will be called the Son of the Most High and in him will be realized the Kingdom of God. This is the explanation of the angel in such a way that Mary is not afraid.
• Mary is aware of, knows the mission which she is about to receive, but she continues to be realistic. She does not allow herself to be drawn by the greatness of the offer, and observes her condition. She analyses the offer according to certain criteria which she has available. Humanly speaking, it was not possible: “But how can this come about, I have no knowledge of man?”
• The angel explains that the Holy Spirit, present in God’s Word since the Creation (Genesis 1, 2), is capable to realize things which seem impossible. This is why, the Holy One who will be born from Mary will be called Son of God. The miracle repeats itself up until today. When the Word of God is accepted by the poor, something new happens, thanks to the force of the Holy Spirit! Something new and surprising such as a son is born of a virgin or a son is born to a woman of advanced age, like Elizabeth, of whom all said that she was barren, that she could not have children! And the angel adds: “See, your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God”.
• The response of the angel clarifies everything for Mary, and she surrenders: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word”. Mary uses for herself the title of Servant, Handmaid of the Lord. This title of Isaiah, which represents the mission of the people not as a privilege, but rather as a service to the other people (Is 42, 1-9; 49, 3-6). Later Jesus will define his mission as a service: “I have not come to be served, but to serve!” (Mt 20, 28). He learnt this from his Mother!
Reflection
• What struck you the most in the visit of the Angel Gabriel to Mary?
• Jesus praises his Mother when he says: “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it” (Lk 11, 28). How does Mary relate to the Word of God during the visit of the Angel?
• Jesus praises his Mother when he says: “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it” (Lk 11, 28). How does Mary relate to the Word of God during the visit of the Angel?
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: Feria
Feast Day: December 19
Patron Saint:
Book 1, Chapter 1,
The Mystical City of God, The Divine History and
Life of The Virgin Mother of God
Treats of the Divine Fore-Ordainment of Christ and His Mother
as the Highest Ideals of all Creation; of the Creation of the Angels
and Men as their Servants; of the Lineage of the Just Men,
Finally Resulting in the Immaculate Conception and Birth of the Queen of
Heaven; and of Her life Up to Her Presentation in the Temple.
WHY GOD REVEALED THE LIFE OF MARY IN THESE OUR TIMES.
The whole of this holy life of Mary is divided, for greater
perspicuity, into three parts. The first treats of all that pertains to the
fifteen years of her life, from the moment of her most pure Conception until the
moment when in her virginal womb the eternal Word assumed flesh, including all
that the Most High performed for Mary during these years. The second part
embraces the mystery of the Incarnation, the whole life of Christ our Lord, his
Passion and Death and his Ascension into heaven, thus describing the life of our
Queen in union with that of her Divine Son and all that She did while living
with Him. The third part contains the life of the Mother of grace during the
time She lived alone, deprived of the companionship of Christ our Redeemer,
until the happy hour of her transition, assumption and crowning as the Empress
of heaven, where She is to live eternally as the Daughter of the Father, the
Mother of the Son and the Spouse of the Holy Ghost. These three parts I
subdivided into eight books, in order that they may be more convenient for use
and always remain the subject of my thoughts, the spur of my will and my
meditation day and night.
In order to say something of the time in which I wrote this
heavenly history, it must be noticed that my father, brother Francis Coronel,
and my mother, sister Catharine de Arana, my parents, founded in their own house
this convent of the discalced nuns of the Immaculate Conception by the command
and will of God, which was declared to my mother, sister Catharine, in a special
vision and revelation. This foundation took place on the octave of the Epiphany,
January 13th, 1619. On the same day we took the habit, my mother and
her two daughters; and my father took refuge in the order of our seraphic Father
Saint Francis, in which two of his sons had already been living as religious.
There he took the habit, made his profession, lived an exemplary life, and died
a most holy death. My mother and myself received the veil on the day of the
Purification of the Queen of heaven, on the second of February, 1620. On account
of the youth of the other daughter her profession was delayed. The almighty in
His sheer goodness favored our family so much, that all of us were consecrated
to Him in the religious state. In the eight year of the foundation of this
convent, in the twenty-fifth of my age, in the year of our Lord 1627, holy
obedience imposed upon me the office of abbess, to which this day I unworthily
hold. During the first ten years of the time in which I held this office, I
received many commands from the Most High and from the Queen of heaven to write
her holy life, and I continued with fear and doubt to resist these heavenly
commands during all that time until the year 1637, when I began to write it the
first time. On finishing it, being full of fears and tribulations, and being so
counseled by a confessor (who directed me during the absence of my regular
confessor), I burned all the writing containing not only this history, but many
other grave and mysterious matters; for he told me, that women should not write
in the Church. I obeyed his commands promptly; but I had to endure most severe
reproaches on this account from my superiors and from the confessor, who knew my
whole life. In order to force me to rewrite this history, they threatened me
with censures. The Most High and the Queen of heaven also repeated their
commands that I obey. By divine favor I began re-writing this history on the
eighth of December, 1655, on the day of the Immaculate Conception.
I confess to Thee (Matth. 11,25) and magnify Thee, King Most
High, that in thy exalted Majesty Thou hast hidden these high mysteries from the
wise and from the teachers, and in thy condescension hast revealed them to me,
the most insignificant and useless slave of thy Church, in order that Thou
mayest be the more admired as the omnipotent Author of this history in
proportion as its instrument is despicable and weak.
I saw a great and mysterious sign in heaven; I saw a Woman, a
most beautiful Lady and Queen, crowned with the stars, clothed with the sun, and
the moon was at her feet (Apoc. 12,1). The holy angels spoke to me: "This
is that blessed Woman, whom Saint John saw in the Apocalypse, and in whom are
enclosed, deposited and sealed up the wonderful mysteries of the Redemption. So
much has the most high and powerful God favored this Creature, that we, his
angelic spirits, are full of astonishment. Contemplate and admire her
prerogatives, record them in writing, because that is the purpose for which,
according to the measure suitable to thy circumstances, they will be made
manifest to thee." I was made to see such wonders, that the greatness of
them took away my speech, and my admiration of them suspended my other
faculties; nor do I think that all the created beings in this mortal life will
ever comprehend them, as will appear in the sequel of my discourse. At another
time I saw a most beautiful ladder with many rungs; around it were many angels,
and a great number of them were ascending and descending upon it. His Majesty
said to me: "This is the mysterious ladder of Jacob, the house of God and
the portal of heaven Gen. 28, 17); if thou wilt earnestly strive to live
irreprehensible in my eyes, thou wilt ascend upon it to Me."
This promise incited my desires, set my will aflame and
enraptured my spirit; with many tears I grieved, that I should be burden to
myself in my sinfulness (Job 7, 20). I sighed for the end of my captivity and
longed to arrive where there would be no obstacle to my love. In this anxiety I
passed some days, trying to reform my life; I again made a general confession
and corrected some of my imperfections. The vision of the ladder continued
without intermission, but it was not explained to me. I made many promises to
the Lord and proposed to free myself from all terrestrial things and to reserve
the powers of my entirety for his love, without allowing it to incline toward
any creature, be it ever so small or unsuspicious; I repudiated all visible and
sensible things. Having passed some days in these affections and sentiments, I
was informed by the Most High, that the ladder signified the life of the Most
Holy Virgin, its virtues and sacraments. His Majesty said to me: "I desire,
my spouse, that thou ascend this stair of Jacob and enter through this door of
heaven to acquire the knowledge of my attributes and occupy thyself in the
contemplation of my Divinity. Arise then and walk, ascend by it to Me. These
angels, which surround it and accompany it, are those that I appointed as the
guardians of Mary, as the defenders and sentinels of the citadel of Sion.
Consider Her attentively, and, meditating on her virtues, seek to imitate
them." It seemed to me then, that I ascended the ladder and that I
recognized the ladder and I recognized the great wonders and the ineffable
prodigies of the Lord in a mere Creature and the greatest sanctity and
perfection of virtue ever worked by the arm of the Almighty. At the top of the
ladder I saw the Lord of hosts and the Queen of all creation. They commanded me
to glorify, exalt and praise Him on account of these great mysteries and to
write down so much of them, as I might bring myself to understand. The exalted
and high Lord gave me a law, written not only on tablets, as He gave to Moses (Exod.
31, 18), but one wrought by his omnipotent finger in order that it might be
studied and observed (Ps. 1,2).
He moved my will so that in her presence I promised to
overcome my repugnance and with her assistance to set about writing her history,
paying attention to three things: First, to remember that the creature must ever
to seek to acknowledge that profound reverence due to God and to abase itself in
proportion to the condescension to his Majesty toward men and that the effect of
greater favors and benefits must be a greater fear, reverence, attention and
humility; secondly, to be ever mindful of the obligation of all men, who are so
forgetful of their own salvation, to consider and to learn what they owe to the
Queen and Mother of piety on account of the part assumed by Her in the
Redemption, to think of the love and the reverence which she showed to God and
the honor in which we are to hold this great Lady; thirdly to be willing to have
my spiritual director, and if necessary the whole world, find out my littleness
and vileness, and the small returns which I make for what I receive.
To these my protestations the Most Holy Virgin answered:
"My daughter, the world stands much in need of this doctrine, for it does
not know, nor does it practice, the reverence due to the Lord omnipotent. On
account of this ignorance his justice is provoked to afflict and humiliate men.
They are sunken in their carelessness and filled with darkness, not knowing how
to seek relief or attain to the light. This, however, is justly their lot, since
they fail in the reverence and fear, which they ought to have."
Besides this the Most High and the Queen gave many other
instructions, in order to make clear to me their will in regard to this work. It
seemed to me temerity and want of charity toward myself, to reject the
instruction which she had promised me for narrating the course of her most holy
life. It seemed equally improper to put off the writing of it, since the Most
High had intimated this as the fitting and opportune time, saying to me in this
regard: "My daughter, when I sent my Onlybegotten, the world, with the
exception of the few souls that served Me, was in worse condition than it had
ever been since its beginning; for human nature is so imperfect that if it does
not subject itself to the interior guidance of my light and to the fulfillment
of the precepts of my ministers by sacrificing its own judgment and following
Me, who am the way, the truth and the life (John 14,6), and by carefully
observing my commandments in order not to lose my friendship, it will presently
fall into the abyss of darkness and innumerable miseries, until it arrives at
obstinacy in sin. From the creation and sin of the first man until I gave the
law to Moses, men governed themselves according to their own inclinations and
fell into many errors and sins (Rom. 5, 13). After having received the law, they
again committed sin by not obeying it (John 7, 19) and thus they lived on,
separating themselves more and more from truth and light and arriving at the
state of complete forgetfulness. In fatherly love I sent them eternal salvation
and a remedy for the incurable infirmities of human nature, thus justifying my
cause. And just as I then chose the opportune time for the greater manifestation
of my mercy, so now I select this time for showing toward them another very
great favor. For now the hour has come and the opportune time to let men know
the just cause of my anger, and they are now justly charged and convinced of
their guilt. Now I will make manifest my indignation and exercise my justice and
equity; I will show how well justified is my cause. In order that this may come
to pass more speedily, and because it is now time that my mercy show itself more
openly and because my love must not be idle, I will offer to them an opportune
remedy, if they will but make use of it for returning again to my favor. Now, at
this hour, when the world has arrived at so unfortunate a pass and when, though
the Word has become incarnate, mortals are more careless of their weal and seek
it less; when the day of their transitory life passes swiftly at the setting of
the sun of time; when the night of eternity is approaching closer and closer for
the wicked and the day without a night is being born for the just; when the
majority of mortals are sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness of their
ignorance and guilt, oppressing the just and mocking the children of God; when
my holy and divine law is despised in the management of the iniquitous affairs
of state, which are as hostile as they are contrary to my Providence; when the
wicked least deserve my mercy; in these predestined times, I wish to open a
portal for the just ones through which they can find access to my mercy; I wish
to give them a light by which they can dispel the gloom that envelops the eyes
of their minds. I wish to furnish them a suitable remedy for restoring them to
my grace. Happy they who find it, and blessed they who will appreciate its
value, rich they who shall come upon this treasure, and blessed and very wise
those who shall search into and shall understand its marvels and hidden
mysteries. I desire to make known to mortals how much intercession of Her is
worth, who brought restoration of life by giving mortal existence to the
immortal God. As recompense I desire that they look upon the wonders wrought by
my mighty arm in that pure Creature, as upon a mirror by which they can estimate
their own ingratitude. I wish to make known to them much of that, which
according to my high judgment is still hidden concerning the Mother of the
Word."
"I have not revealed these mysteries in the primitive
Church, because they are so great, that the faithful would have been lost in the
contemplation and admiration of them at a time when it was more necessary to
establish firmly the law of grace and of the Gospel. Although all mysteries of
religion are in perfect harmony with each other, yet human ignorance might have
suffered recoil and doubt at their magnitude, when faith in the Incarnation and
Redemption and the precepts of the new law of the Gospel were yet in their
beginnings. On this same account the person of the incarnate Word said to his
disciples at the last supper: "Many things have I say to you; but you are
not yet disposed to receive them" (John 16, 12). These words he addressed
to all the world, for it was not yet capable of giving full obedience to the law
of grace and full assent to the faith in the Son, much less was it prepared to
be introduced into the mysteries of his Mother. But now mankind has greater need
for this manifestation, and this necessity urges Me to disregard their evil
disposition. And if men would now seek to please me by reverencing, believing,
and studying the wonders, which are intimately connected to the Mother of Piety,
and if they would all begin to solicit her intercession from their whole heart,
the world would find some relief. I will not longer withhold from men this
mystical City of refuge; describe and delineate it to them, as far as thy
shortcomings allow. I do not intend that thy descriptions and declarations of
the life of the Blessed Virgin shall be mere opinions or contemplations, but
reliable truth. They that have ears to hear, let them hear. Let those who thirst
come to the living waters and leave the dried-out cisterns; let those that are
seeking for the light, follow it to the end. Thus speaks the Lord, God
Almighty!"
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Today's Snippet I:
| Book 8, Chapter 4 The Mystical City of God, The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God HER DEVOTION TO THE PASSION OF CHRIST AND TO THE HOLY EUCHARIST - HOW SHE CELEBRATED THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND OTHER FEASTS.
Without ever failing in her attention to the exterior
government of the Church (as I have until now made plain), the most blessed Mary
in secret practiced other exercises and good works, by which She merited
innumerable gifts and blessings from the Most High, as well for the common
benefit of all the faithful, as for myriads of particular souls in furtherance
of their salvation. As far as I can in these last chapters, I shall for our
instruction and admiration and for the glory of the most blessed Mother, write
of these hidden and unknown works. First of all I will state, that
notwithstanding the many privileges which the great Queen of heaven enjoyed, She
constantly kept present in her memory the doings and the mysteries of the life
of her divine Son; for besides the abstractive vision, by which She these last
years continually saw the Divinity and knew all things, the Lord had from her
Conception conceded to Her the privilege of never forgetting what She once had
known or understood; for in this regard She enjoyed the privilege of an angel,
as I have stated in the first part.
I also stated in the second part, in writing of the Passion,
that the blessed Mother felt in her body and purest soul all the pains and
torments of our Savior Jesus, so that none of them were hidden to Her or without
the corresponding suffering in her own self. All the images or impressions of
the Passion remained imprinted in her interior just as She had
received them; for She had made this request of her Lord.
Hence She ordered all her occupations in such a manner, that
She might at all times preserve in her heart the image of her divine Son,
afflicted, outraged, wounded and disfigured by the torments of his Passion, and
within Herself She beheld this image as in a most clear mirror. She heard the
injuries, outrages, affronts and blasphemies against Him, with all the
circumstances of time and place, and She beheld the whole Passion as one living
and penetrating vista. Throughout the day this sorrowful vision excited Her to
most heroic acts of virtue and stirred her sorrow and compassion: but her most
prudent love did not content itself with these exercises. During stated hours
and times She engaged in other exercises with her holy angels, especially with
those I have mentioned in the first part as bearing the tokens or the
escutcheons of the instruments of the Passion. These in the first place, and
then the other angels, She engaged as assistants in the following exercises.
For each kind of the wounds and sufferings of Christ our
Savior She recited special prayers and salutations, in order to give them
special adoration and worship. For each of the contemptuous and insulting words
of the Jews and his other enemies, which had been spoken either in envy or in
fury or vengeance, for each of the blasphemies uttered, She composed special
hymns of veneration and honor to make up for their attempts at diminishing it.
For the insulting gestures, mockeries and personal injuries, She practiced most
profound humiliations, genuflections and prostrations, and in this manner She
sought continually to make up for the affronts and injuries heaped upon her
divine Son in his life and his passion; and thus She confessed his Divinity, his
humanity, his holiness, his miracles, his works and his doctrines. For all She
gave him glory and magnificence; and in all the holy angels joined Her, and
corresponded with Her full of admiration of such wisdom, fidelity and love
united in a mere creature.
Even if the most blessed Mother during her whole life had
engaged in no other occupation than these exercises, She would have accomplished
and merited more than all the saints in all that they have done or suffered for
God. By the force of love her sorrow in these exercises was equal to martyrdom
many times over; and many times would She have died in them, if the divine power
had not sustained her life for still greater merit and glory. And if, as is
true, She in her immense charity offered all these works for the Church let us
consider how much we are in her debt as faithful children for thus increasing
the treasures of help, which She left at the disposal of us unfortunate children
of Eve. And in order that our meditation may not be half-hearted and lukewarm, I
will say, that the effects of her contemplations were often astounding; many
times She wept tears of blood, which covered her whole face; at other times in
her agony She was not only bathed in perspiration, but in a bloody sweat,
running from Her even to the ground. What is more, sometimes her heart was
wrenched from its natural position by the violence of her grief; and when She
was in such extremes, her divine Son came from heaven, furnishing Her with new
strength and life to soothe her sorrow and heal the wounds caused by love of
Him, and in order that by such assistance and comfort, She might continue the
exercises of her compassion.
The Lord however wished Her to lay aside these sorrowful
sentiments and affections on the days in which She commemorated the mystery of
his Resurrection, as I will speak of later on, in order that there might be
maintained the proper relation between cause and effect. For some of these
sorrows were incompatible with the favors overflowing in their effects upon the
body, yet excluding pain. But She never lost sight of his sufferings and
therefore felt other effects of her compassion by uniting with her joys, the
gratitude for what the Lord endured. Thus in the sweetness of all the favors of
the Lord his Passion entered as a mixture of bitterness. She obtained also the
consent of the evangelist saint John to remain retired in her oratory for
celebrating the death and burial of her divine Son on Friday of each week. On
those days saint John remained in the Cenacle to receive those who called upon
Her and allowed none to disturb Her; and whenever he could not attend to this
duty, it was performed by some other disciple. The most blessed Mary retired for
this exercise at five o'clock on Thursday and did not reappear until toward noon
of Sunday. In order that during these three days no important matter pertaining
to the government of the Church might be neglected, the great Lady appointed
one of her angels to take her shape and briefly despatch what would suffer no
delay, so provident and attentive was She in all affairs of charity touching her
children and domestics.
To describe or comprehend what happened with our heavenly
Mother during the exercises of these three days can never be within our
capacity; the Lord alone, who was the Author of them, shall one day manifest it
to us in the light of the saints. Also what I myself have come to know of it, I
am unable to describe; I will only say that beginning with the washing of the
feet, the most blessed Mary commemorated all the mysteries up to that of the
Resurrection; and in each hour and moment She renewed in Herself all the
movements, actions, works and sufferings as they had happened in her divine Son.
She repeated the same prayers and petitions as He himself had made and as we
have seen described in their place. Anew the most pure Mother felt in her
virginal body all the pains endured by Christ our Savior. She carried the Cross
and placed Herself upon it. In short, I will say, that as long as She lived, the
whole passion of her divine Son was renewed in Her week for week. Through this
exercise the great Queen gained great favors and blessings for those who
devoutly bear in mind the Lord's passion; and hence the powerful Queen has
promised to all such souls, especial assistance and participation in the
treasures of the Passion; for She desired from her inmost heart, that the Church
should continue and preserve its commemoration. In virtue of her wishes and
prayers the Lord ordained, that afterwards many persons in the holy Church
should follow these exercises of the Passion, imitating his most blessed Mother,
who was the first one to teach and practice such an exalted profession.
In these exercises the great Queen sought especially to
celebrate the institution of the most blessed Sacrament by new hymns of praise,
of thanksgiving and fervent love. She was solicitous to invite for this purpose
her own angels and many others from the empyrean heaven, in order to assist and
accompany in these praises of the Lord. It was a wonder worthy of his
Omnipotence, that the Most High should send from heaven multitudes of angels to
view this prodigy of Christ's remaining sacramentally present in her heart from
one Communion to the other and to incite them to give glory and praise for the
wonderful effects of his sacramental presence in this Creature, whom they beheld
more pure and more holy than the angels and seraphim and the like of which they
had not seen or would ever see in all the rest of creation.
It was not less wonderful to them (just as it ought to be to
us) to see, that though the great Queen worthy of preserving within Herself the
sacred species as in a tabernacle, She was so solicitous in preparing Herself
anew by the most fervid exercises and devotions every time She was again to
receive holy Communion; and this She did nearly every day except on those in
which She remained in her oratory. She first offered up for this purpose her
weekly exercises of the Passion and besides this, whenever She retired at
nightfall before the day of Communion, She began other exercises such as
prostrations in the form of a cross, genuflections, prayers, and adorations of
the immutable essence of God. She asked permission of the Lord to speak to Him
and to permit Her, in spite of her earthly lowliness to partake of his Son in
the holy Sacrament; She appealed to his infinite bounty and to his love toward
the Church in thus remaining sacramentally present, as a reason that She should
be favored with this blessing. She offered to Him his own Passion and Death, the
worthiness with which He had communicated Himself, the union of his human nature
with the divine, all his works from the moment of his conception in the virginal
womb, all the virtue of the angelic nature and its works, of all the just in
past, present and future times. Then she made most intense acts of humility,
professing Herself but dust and ashes in comparison with the infinite being of
God, to which the highest creatures are so inferior and unequal. In the
contemplation of what She was to receive sacramentally, She was so affected and
so deeply moved, that it is impossible describe it in words; for She raised
Herself and transcended above the choirs of seraphim and cherubim; and as, in
her own estimation, She considered Herself the lowest of all creatures, She
called upon her guardian angels and upon all the other angels, asking them, with
incomparable humility, to supplicate the Lord to dispose and prepare Her for
receiving Him worthily, since She was but an inferior and earthly creature. The
holy angels, obeying Her in joyful admiration, assisted and accompanied Her in
these petitions, in which She persevered for the greater part of the night
preceding her Communion.
As the wisdom of the great Queen, although in itself finite,
is for us incomprehensible, we can never worthily understand to what height rose
her virtues and works of love on these occasions. But they were often of such a
kind as to oblige the Lord to respond by personal visit, in which He gave Her to
understand with what pleasure He came to dwell sacramentally in her heart and to
renew in Her the pledges of his infinite love. When the hour of her Communion
arrived, She first heard the Mass usually celebrated by the Evangelist. In these
Masses, although the Epistles and Gospels, being not yet written, were not read,
the consecration was always the same as now, and to it were added other rites
and ceremonies with many psalms and orations. At the end of Mass the heavenly
Mother approached, making three most profound genuflections; all inflamed with
love She received her Son in the Sacrament, welcoming in her purest bosom and
heart that same God, to whom She had given the most sacred humanity in her
virginal womb. Having communicated, She retired, and, unless some very urgent
need of her fellowmen demanded otherwise, remained alone for three hours. During
these hours the Evangelist was often privileged to see rays of light darting
forth from Her as from the sun.
The prudent Mother also provided that for the celebration of
the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass the Apostles and priests be clothed in ornate
and mysterious vestments, different from those they wore in ordinary life.
Accordingly, with her own hands, She provided ornaments and sacerdotal vestments
for its celebration, thus originating the ceremonious observances in the Church.
Although these vestments were not quite of the same form as nowadays; yet they
were not materially different in appearance from those which in the course of
time came into use in the Roman Church. The material was more alike; for She
made them of linen and rich silks, purchased with the alms and presents made to
Her. Whenever She worked at these vestments, sewing or fitting them, She
remained on her knees or on her feet, and She would not entrust them to other
sacristans than the angels, who assisted and helped Her in all these things;
likewise She kept these ornaments and all that pertained to the service of the
altar in incredible order and cleanliness; and from such hands as hers, all came
forth with a celestial fragrance, which enkindled the spirit of the ministers.
From many kingdoms and provinces, where the Apostles were
preaching, numbers of converts came to Jerusalem in order to visit and converse
with the Mother of the Redeemer of the world, at the same time offering rich
gifts. Among others, four sovereign princes, who were royal governors of
provinces, visited Her and brought many valuable presents, which they placed at
her disposal for her own use and for the Apostles and disciples. The great Lady
answered that She was like her Son, and that the Apostles likewise were in
imitation of their Master; that hence these riches were not appropriate to the
life they professed. They begged Her to console them by accepting their gifts
for the poor or for the divine worship. On account of the persistent requests
She received part of what they offered, and from the rich silks She made some
ornaments for the altar; the rest She distributed among the indigent and the
infirmaries. For She was accustomed to visit such places and often served and
washed the poor with her own hands, performing such services, as well as
distributing the alms, on her knees. Wherever it was possible She consoled the
needy and assisted the sick in their last agony. Nor did She ever rest from
works of charity, either actually engaging in them, or pleading and praying for
others in her retirement.
During these last years the Queen ate or slept very little;
and this little only, because saint John asked Her to rest for at least a small
portion of the night. But this sleep was only a slight suspension of the senses,
lasting no longer than a half hour, during which, in the manner above described,
She lost not the vision of the Divinity. Her food was a few mouthfuls of
ordinary bread and sometimes a little fish, taken at the of the instance of the
Evangelist and in order to keep him company; in this, as in other privileges,
saint John was thus fortunate, not only eating with Her from the same table but
having the food prepared for him by the great Queen and administered to him as
from a mother to her son, and moreover being obeyed by Her as a priest and a
substitute of Christ. Very well could the great Queen get along without even
this sleep or nourishment, which seemed more a ceremony than the sustenance of
life; but She partook of them not from necessity, but in order to practice
obedience and humility and thus pay some tribute to human nature; for in all
things She was most prudent.
All the offices and titles of honor, which the most blessed
Mary held in the Church, that of Queen, Mistress, Mother, Governess and Teacher,
and all the rest, were given to her by the Omnipotent not as empty and fruitless
names, but were accompanied by the superabundant plenitude of grace which is
proper and which the Almighty can communicate to each. This plenitude consisted
in this, that as Queen She knew all that concerned her reign and its extent; as
Mistress She knew the measure of her power; as Mother She knew all the children
and dependents of her household, without excepting anyone through all the ages
of the Church until the end; as Governess She knew all that were subject to Her;
and as Teacher, She possessed the wisdom and science through which the holy
Church, by her intercession, was to be instructed and guided, while enjoying the
presence and the influence of the Holy Ghost until the end of the world.
Hence our great Queen had a clear knowledge not only of all
the saints that preceded or followed Her in the Church, of their lives, their
works, their deaths, and rewards in heaven; but also of all the rites,
ceremonies, decisions, and festivities of the Church in course of the ages, and
of all the reasons, motives, necessities and opportunities, in and for which
they were established with the assistance of the Holy Ghost. For He gives us our
spiritual nourishment in proper time for the glory of the Lord and the increase
of the holy Church. As I have spoken of this matter in the course of this
history, especially in the second part, I need not repeat it here. From her full
knowledge and her corresponding holiness, there arose within the heavenly
Instructress a certain thankful eagerness, to introduce into the Church militant
the worship, veneration and festivities observed by the holy angels in the
triumphant Jerusalem, and thus imitate, as far as was possible, what She had so
often seen done in heaven for the praise and glory of the Most High.
In this more than seraphic spirit She commenced to practice
by Herself many of the ceremonies, rites and exercises, which were afterwards
introduced in the Church; and these She also inculcated and impressed upon the
Apostles, in order that they might introduce them as far as the circumstances
then allowed. She not only invented the exercises of the Passion, of which I
have spoken above, but many other customs and ceremonies which were later on
received in the churches, in the congregations and religions. For whatever She
knew as pertaining to the worship of the Lord or the practice of virtue, She
performed, and in her wisdom She was ignorant of nothing that ought to be known.
Among these exercises and rites was the celebration of the feasts of the Lord
and of Herself, in order to renew the memory of the benefits for which She stood
indebted, as well the benefits relating in general to the human race, as those
especially referring to Herself, striving thus to give thanks and adoration for
all. Although She had spent her whole life in this pursuit without relaxation or
forgetfulness, yet, when She entered upon this new mysterious phase of her life,
She prepared to signalize these feast days by celebrating them with exercises
founded on a deeper insight. As I will speak of the other festivals in the
following chapters, I will describe here only how She celebrated her Immaculate
Conception and Nativity, the first mysteries of her life. These commemorations
or feasts She had begun to celebrate since the Incarnation of the Word; but She
celebrated them more particularly after the Ascension, and especially in these
last years of her life.
On the eighth day of December of each year She celebrated her
Immaculate Conception with a jubilee and gratitude beyond all human words; for
this privilege was for the great Queen of the highest importance and value. She
imagined Herself altogether incapable of ever acknowledging it with sufficient
gratitude. She commenced her exercises on the evening before and spent the whole
night in admirable devotions, shedding tears of joy, humiliating Herself,
prostrating Herself and singing the praises of the Lord. She deeply reflected,
that She was formed of the same earth and descended from Adam according to the
common order of nature; that She was preserved and exempted from the weight of
the same guilt and conceived with such a plenitude of graces and gifts only
because She was set apart and snatched from the rest by the Almighty. She
invited her own angels to help Her to return proper thanks, and in union with
them She alternated new songs of praise. Then She asked the same favor of the
rest of the angels and saints in heaven; but during all this time the divine
love so inflamed Her, that the Lord was obliged to strengthen Her, lest all her
natural forces be consumed and death ensue.
After She had spent the whole night in these exercises,
Christ descended from heaven and the angels raised Her to his royal throne in
heaven, where the celebration of the feast was continued with new glory and
accidental joy of the courtiers of the heavenly Jerusalem. There the blessed
Mother prostrated Herself and adored the most holy Trinity, again giving thanks
for the benefit of her immunity from sin and her Immaculate Conception. Then She
again took her place at the right hand of Christ her Son and the Lord himself as
it were acknowledged the goodness of the eternal Father in having given
Him a Mother so worthy and so full of grace, exempt from the common guilt of
Adam. Anew the three divine Persons confirmed upon Her this privilege, as it
were ratifying and approving it and pleasing Themselves in thus having
distinguished Her among all the creatures. In order to give repeated testimony
to this truth, a voice proceeded from the throne in the name of the Father,
saying: "Beautiful are thy footsteps, O prince's Daughter, conceived
without sin." Another in the name of the Son, said: "Altogether pure
and without contact of guilt is my Mother, who gave Me human form to redeem
men." And in the name of the Holy Spirit: "All fair art thou, my
Spouse, all fair art thou and without stain of the universal guilt."
In between these voices were heard the choirs of all the
angels and saints, singing in sweetest harmony: "Most holy Mary, conceived
without original sin. To all these honors the most prudent Mother answered by
thanksgiving, worship and praise of the Most High, rendered with such profound
humility that it passed all angelic understanding. In order to conclude the
solemnity She was raised to the intuitive and beatific vision of the most holy
Trinity; and after enjoying this glory for some hours, She was brought back by
the angels to the Cenacle. This was the manner in which her Immaculate
Conception was solemnized after the Ascension of her divine Son.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The
Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
My daughter; through the whole course of my life is evident
how gratefully I kept in mind the works of the Redemption, the passion and death
of my divine Son, especially after I had actually seen Him sacrificed Cross for
the salvation of men. But in this chapter particularly have I wished to draw thy
attention to the care and the continual exercises, by which I renewed in me not
only the remembrance, but the sufferings of the Passion. I desire that the
knowledge of this cause men to feel reproach and confusion at their monstrous
forgetfulness of the incomprehensible benefit of the Redemption. O what a
shameful, what a horrible and dangerous ingratitude of men is this!
Forgetfulness is a clear proof of contempt, for one does not forget what one
holds dear. What reason or excuse then can there be, that men forget the eternal
blessings they have received? That they should despise the love, which the
eternal Father has delivered over to death his only begotten Son? The charity
and patience with which his and my Son accepted it for them (John 3, 16). The
insensible earth responds to the efforts of those that cultivate it; wild beasts
become tame and domesticated in return for benefits. Men among themselves are
beholden to their benefactors; and when such thankful feelings are not
forthcoming, they resent it, condemn it, and call it a great offense.
What is the reason then, that only toward their God and
Redeemer they should be ungrateful and forget what He suffered in order to
rescue them from eternal damnation? And in view of this very evil return, they
complain of not receiving his assistance as they desire. In order that they may
understand what fearful guilt they load upon themselves by their ingratitude, I
will remind thee, my daughter, that Lucifer and his demons, seeing so many souls
oblivious of the sufferings of Christ, draw the following conclusions and say of
such souls: "This soul does not remember or hold in esteem the benefit of
God's Redemption and we are certain of gaining it over to our side; for the soul
that is so foolish as not to remember such a blessing, will certainly not detect
our wiles. Let us proceed to tempt and destroy it, since it is deprived of its
strongest defense." Having in their large experience found their reasoning
on point to be almost infallible, they zealously seek to blot out the memory of
the passion and death of Christ to excite a contempt for the preaching or
discoursing about it among men; and they have succeeded to a great extent,
causing dreadful damage to souls. On the other hand they are wary and fearful of
tempting those who have accustomed themselves to the meditation and the
remembrance of the sufferings of Christ; for from this source they feel issuing
against them a force and influence, which often prevents them from approaching
those who thus piously cherish the memory of the Passion.
In order to dispose thyself day by day for holy Communion
thou shouldst apply whatever thou performest in these exercises; imitate also
the other works practices, which thou hast come to know of me. If the Mother of
Him whom I was to receive, deemed myself unworthy of Communion and by so many
means sought the purity necessary for such a Sacrament, consider what thou must
do, so poor and subject to so many miseries and imperfections! Purify the temple
of thy interior, scrutinizing it by the divine light and adorning it with great
virtues, since it is the eternal God, whom thou art to receive; One, of whom
nobody but Himself is worthy. Invoke the intercession of the angels and saints
to obtain grace from the Lord. Above all I exhort thee to call upon me and ask
me to help thee; for thou must know, that I am the special Advocate and
Protectress of those, who desire to arrive at great purity for receiving holy
Communion. Whenever they invoke me for this purpose, I present myself before the
throne of the Most High, and, as one well knowing the disposition required for
harboring God himself, I ask this favor and grace for those who are about to
receive Him in the holy Sacrament. I have not lost in heaven the solicitude and
zeal which I exhibited upon earth. Having asked me, proceed to ask also the
intercession of the angels, for they also are very anxious to see souls approach
the holy Eucharist with great devotion and purity.
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Today's Snippet II:
Book 8, Chapter 1
The Mystical City of God, The Divine History and
Life of The Virgin Mother of God
Describes the Journey of the Most Blessed Mary with Saint John
to Ephesus; the Death and Chastisement of Herod; the Destruction of
the Temple of Diana; the Return of the Most Blessed Mary from Ephesus to Jerusalem; the Instructions She
gave to the Evangelists; the exalted State of Her purest Soul before Her death; Her most
blessed Transition, Assumption and Coronation in heaven.
THE PERSECUTION OF HEROD AND THE WILL OF GOD MADE KNOWN TO
MARY OCCASION HER SOJOURN IN EPHESUS.
Saint John made preparations for the journey and embarkation
for Ephesus, and on the fourth day, which was the fifth of January of the year
forty, saint John notified Her that it was time to leave; for there would be a
ship and all things had been arranged for the journey. The great Mistress of
obedience, without answer or delay, knelt down and asked permission of the Lord
to leave the Cenacle and Jerusalem; and then She proceeded to take leave of the
owner of the house and its inhabitants. It can easily be imagined, how sorrowful
they were at this leave-taking; for on account of her most sweet conversation,
and because of the favors and blessings received at her liberal hands, all were
held captives and prisoners in love and veneration of Her, whereas now all at
once they were to be deprived of her consoling presence and of this rich
Treasure, the well spring of so many blessings. All of them offered to follow
and accompany Her; but as this was not opportune, they asked Her to hasten her
return and not to forsake forever this house, which was entirely at her
disposal. The heavenly Mother thanked them for these pious and loving wishes by
expressing her own humble love, and She somewhat allayed their grief by giving
them hope of her return.
Then She asked permission of saint John to visit the holy
places of our Redemption and there to worship and adore the Lord, who had
consecrated them by his presence and his precious blood. With the Apostle She
made these sacred stations, exhibiting incredible devotion and tears of reverent
love, and saint John, deeply consoled at being permitted to accompany Her,
exercised himself in heroic acts of virtue. The most blessed Mother saw at each
of the holy places the angels, who had been deputed to guard and defend them;
and anew She charged them to resist Lucifer and his demons, lest they destroy or
profane by irreverence those sacred spots, as they desired and intended to do
through the unbelieving Jews. She told the angels to drive away by holy
inspirations the bad thoughts and diabolical suggestions, by which the infernal
dragon sought to excite the Jews and other mortals to blot out the memory of
Christ our Savior in those holy places, and She charged them with this duty for
all the future times, since the wrath of the evil spirits against the places and
the works of the Redemption endures through all the ages. The holy angels obeyed
their Queen and Mistress in all that She ordained.
Having satisfied her piety, She asked saint John on her knees
to bless her for the journey, just as She had been wont to do with her divine
Son; for She continued to exercise the same great virtues of obedience and
humility toward the beloved disciple, His substitute. Many of the faithful of
Jerusalem offered Her money, jewels, vehicles and all things necessary for her
journey to the sea and to Ephesus. The most prudent Lady humbly showed her
appreciation to all, but accepted nothing. For her journey to the sea She made
use of an unpretentious beast of burden, on which She was carried along as the
Queen of the virtues and of the poor. She recollected the journeys and
pilgrimages She had made with her divine Son and with her spouse Joseph, and
these recollections together with the heavenly love, which had induced Her once
more to travel, awakened in her dove-like heart tender and devout affections.
They came to the harbor and immediately embarked in the ship
with other passengers. The great Queen of the world was now for the first time
upon the sea. She saw and comprehended with clearness the vast Mediterranean and
its communication with the great ocean. She beheld its height and depth, its
length and breadth, its caverns and secret recesses, its sands and minerals, its
ebb and tide, its animals, its whales and fishes of all sizes, and whatever
other portentous animals it enclosed.
When this great panorama of creatures, in which were
reflected, as from a most clear mirror, the greatness and omnipotence of the
Creator, was presented to her faculties filled with heavenly wisdom, her spirit
winged its ardent flight to the very being of God, so wonderfully reflected in
those creatures, and for all of them, and in all of them, She gave praise and
glory and magnificence to the Most High. With the compassion of a most loving
Mother for those who trusted their lives to the indomitable fury of the sea in
navigating over its waves, She most fervently besought the Almighty to protect
from its dangers all who should call upon her name and ask for her intercession.
The Lord immediately granted this petition and promised to favor whoever upon
the sea should carry some image of Her and should sincerely look upon this Star
of the sea, most blessed Mary, for help in its perils. Accordingly it will be
understood, that, if the Catholics and the faithful encounter ill success and
perish in navigation, it is because they ignore the favors to be obtained from
the Queen of the angels, or because on account of their sins they fail to
remember Her in the raging storms, or fail to seek her favors with sincere faith
and devotion; for neither can the word of the Lord ever fail, nor will the great
Mother ever deny assistance to those endangered by the perils of the sea.
When they landed the great Queen continued to work miracles
equal to those wrought upon the sea. She cured the sick and the possessed, who,
as soon as they came into her presence, were set free. I will not tarry to
relate all these wonders; for many books would be necessary and much time to
describe all the doings of the most blessed Mary and the favors of heaven, which
She dispensed as the instrument and medium of the omnipotence of the Most High.
I will record only those, which are necessary for this history and which shall
suffice to manifest in some measure the unknown and wonderful works of our great
Queen and Lady. In Ephesus lived some Christians, who had come from Jerusalem.
There were not many, but on learning of the arrival of the Mother of Christ the
Redeemer, they hastened to pay Her a visit and offer their dwellings and their
possessions for her use. But the great Queen of virtues, who sought neither
ostentation nor temporal commodities, chose for her dwelling the house of a few
retired and poor women, who were living by themselves free from the
companionship of men. By the intervention of the angels, they lovingly and generously placed
their home at the disposition of the Lady. In it they selected a very retired
room for the Queen and another for saint John, which these Two occupied during
their stay in Ephesus.
'I'he most blessed Mary thanked the owners who were to live
with Her. Then She retired to her room and, prostrate upon the ground as was
usual in her prayers, She adored the immutable essence of God, offering to sacrifice
Herself in his service in this city and saying: "Lord God omnipotent, by
the immensity of thy Divinity Thou fillest all the heavens and the earth (Jer.
23, 34). I, thy humble handmaid, desire to fulfill entirely thy holy will, on
all occasions, in all places, and at all times, in which thy Providence shall
deign to place me; for Thou art my only Good, my being and my life, and toward
thy pleasure and satisfaction tend all my thoughts, words and actions." The
most prudent Mother perceived that the Lord accepted her prayer and her
offering, and that He responded to her desires with divine power, ready to
assist and govern Her always.
She continued her prayer for the holy Church and laid out her
plans for the assistance of all the faithful. She called her angels and sent
some of them to aid the Apostles and disciples, whom She knew to be too much
pressed in the persecutions, raised by the demons through infidel men. In those
days saint Paul fled from Damascus before the attacks of the Jews, as he himself
mentions in the second epistle to the Corinthians, where he says, that he was
let down from the walls of the city in a basket (IICor. 11, 23). To
defend him from these perils and those with which Lucifer threatened him on his
way to Jerusalem, the great Queen of angels sent her angels to be his guard and
protection; for the wrath and fury of hell was roused against saint Paul more
than against any of the other Apostles. This is the journey the Apostle himself
refers to in his letter to the Galatians (Gal. 1, 18), where he says, that after
three years he went to Jerusalem to visit saint Peter. These three years are not
to be counted from the time of his conversion, but from the time he had returned
from Arabia to Damascus. This is to be inferred from the text itself, for after
stating that he returned from Arabia to Damascus, he immediately adds, that
after three years, he went up to Jerusalem. If those three years are counted
from the time before his sojourn in Arabia, the text would occasion much
confusion.
With greater clearness this may be proved by computing the
time of the death of saint Stephen and the journey of the most blessed Virgin to
Ephesus. For counting from the day of his Nativity, saint Stephen died at the
end of the thirty-fourth year of Christ, but counting them from the day of the
Circumcision, as the Church does now, saint Stephen died seven days before the
completion of the thirty-four years, being the seven days before the first of
January. The conversion of saint Paul happened in the year thirty-six, on the
twenty-fifth of January. If he had come to Jerusalem three years afterwards, he
would have found there the most holy Mary and saint John, while he himself says,
that he had not seen any one of the Apostles there, except saint Peter and saint
James the less, who was called Alpheus. If the holy Queen and saint John had at
that time been in Jerusalem saint Paul would certainly not have missed seeing
them, and he would have mentioned at least saint John; yet he says, that he had
not seen him. The explanation is, that saint Paul came to Jerusalem in the year
forty, four years after his conversion, and a little less than a month after the
most blessed Mary had departed for Ephesus. Saint Paul had entered the fifth
year of his conversion and the other Apostles, except the two he saw, had
already left Jerusalem and were preaching the Gospel of Christ, each one in his
appointed province.
Conformably with this reckoning we must assume, that saint
Paul spent the first year after his conversion, or the greater part of it, in
journeying to Arabia and preaching the Gospel there; then, the three following
years, in Damascus. Hence the evangelist Luke, in the ninth chapter of his Acts
of the Apostles, although he says nothing of Paul's journey to Arabia,
nevertheless says that for many days after his conversion the Jews of Damascus
plotted to take his life, these many days referring to the four years thus
passed. Then he adds, that his disciples, aware of the plots of the Jews, on a
certain night lowered him in a basket from the city walls and thus despatched
him on his journey to Jerusalem. There, although knowing of his miraculous
conversion, the Apostles and the new disciples, nevertheless retained a certain
fear and suspicion of his not persevering, because he had been such a professed
enemy of Christ, our Savior. Hence they at first held themselves aloof from
saint Paul, until saint Barnaby spoke to them and introduced him to saint Peter,
saint James and other disciples (Acts 26, 27). Saint Paul prostrated himself at
the feet of the vicar of Christ, kissed them in acknowledgment of his errors and
sins, and begging to be admitted as one of his subjects and as a follower of his
Master, whose holy name and faith he desired to preach at the cost of his blood.
From the fear and suspicion of saint Peter and James
concerning the perseverance of saint Paul we can likewise deduct that he arrived
in Jerusalem in the absence of the most blessed Mary and saint John; for he
would have presented himself first of all to Her to allay suspicion against him;
and the two Apostles would likewise have first asked Her, whether they could
trust saint Paul. All of them would have been set at ease by the most prudent
Lady, as She was so solicitous and attentive in consoling and instructing the
Apostles, especially saint Peter. But since the great Lady had already left for
Ephesus, they had no one to assure them of the constancy of saint Paul, until
saint Peter reassured himself of it at seeing him thus prostrate at his feet.
Thereupon he was received with great joy of soul by saint Peter and the other
disciples. All of them gave humble and fervent thanks to the Most High, and
commissioned saint Paul to preach in Jerusalem. This he gladly did, to the
astonishment of all the Jews who knew him. As his words were like burning
arrows, that penetrated into the hearts of all that heard him, they were struck
with terror; and in two days all Jerusalem was roused by the news of his
arrival, flocking to see him with their own eyes.
Lucifer and his demons were not asleep on this occasion, for
they were visited by the Almighty with an increase of torment at the arrival of
saint Paul. The divine power, so evident in him, oppressed and paralyzed the
infernal dragons. But as their pride and malice shall never be extinguished
through all the eternity of their existence (Ps. 73, 23), they were roused to
fury, as soon as they recognized this divine virtue as flowing from Paul.
Lucifer, with incredible rage, called together many legions of the demons and
exhorted them anew to rouse themselves and exert all the forces of their malice
for the entire destruction of saint Paul, and not to leave any stone unturned in
Jerusalem and in all the world for the attainment of this object. The demons
without delay set about this work, exciting Herod and the Jews against the
Apostle, and directing their attention to the burning zeal with which he began
to preach in Jerusalem.
The great Mistress of heaven perceived all this from her
retirement in Ephesus; for in addition to the knowledge of all things through
her heavenly science, She received information of all that happened to saint
Paul from the angels She had sent for his defense. As the most blessed Mother
expected the disturbance about to be raised by the malice of Herod and the Jews,
especially against saint Paul, and as, on the other hand, She knew the
importance of preserving his life for the exaltation of God's name and the
spread of the Gospel, the great Queen was filled with new solicitude and regret
at being absent from Palestine, where She could have rendered more immediate
assistance to the Apostles. Therefore She sought to furnish it so much the more
abundantly from Ephesus by multiplying her prayers and petitions, her ceaseless
tears and sighs, and by other measures through the hands of her holy angels. In
order to allay her anxieties, the Lord one day in her prayer, assured Her, that
He would fulfill her petitions and protect the life of saint Paul in this
danger and in these assaults of the devil. And so He did: for one day saint
Paul, while praying in the temple, was raised to an ecstatic rapture and filled
with most exalted enlightenment and understanding, wherein the Lord commanded
him immediately to leave Jerusalem and save his life from the hatred of the
unbelieving Jews.
Hence saint Paul sojourned in Jerusalem at that time not more
than fifteen days, as he himself says in his epistle to Galatians (Gal. 1, 18).
After some years he turned thither from Miletus and Ephesus and was taken
prisoner, and he refers to this ecstasy in the temple and to the command of the
Lord to leave Jerusalem in the twenty-second chapter of the Acts. Of this vision
and command he informed saint Peter, as the head of the apostolic college; and
after consultation concerning his mortal danger, he was secretly sent to
Caesarea and Tarsus with orders to preach indiscriminately to the gentiles,
which he did. The most blessed Mary was the instrument and Mediatrix of all
these miraculous favors. It was through Her that her Divine Son operated them,
and from Her, God received the proper thanks for the graces distributed to the
whole Church.
Having thus been reassured in regard to the life of saint
Paul, the most blessed Mother entertained the hope that through the assistance
of divine Providence She might save the life of her cousin James, who was very
dear to Her and who was still in Saragossa, protected by the hundred angels She
had appointed for his guardians and companions at Granada. These holy angels
frequently went back and forth, bringing the petitions of the Apostles to the
most blessed Mary and her counsels back to him. In this way saint James learned
of the sojourn of the great Queen in Ephesus. When he had brought the chapel or
small temple of the Pillar in Saragossa to a sufficient state of completion, he
consigned it to the care of the bishop and the disciples anointed by him here as
in other cities in Spain. Some months after the apparition of the Queen, he
departed from Saragossa, continuing to preach through different provinces.
Having come to Catalonia, he embarked for Italy, where without much delay, he
pursued his journey overland always preaching until he again embarked for Asia,
and ardently desiring to see there the most blessed Mary, his Mistress and
Protectress.
Saint James happily attained his object and reached Ephesus.
There he prostrated himself at the feet of the Mother of his Creator, shedding
copious tears of joy and veneration. From his inmost heart he thanked Her for
the peerless favors obtained at her hands from the Most High during his travels
and his preaching in Spain and especially for her having visited him and
conferred such blessings upon him during her visits. The heavenly Mother, as
Mistress of humility, immediately raised him from the ground and said to him:
"My Master, remember thou art the anointed of the Lord and his minister,
and that I am an humble wormlet." With these words the great Lady fell on
her knees and asked the blessing of saint James as a priest of the Most High. He
remained for some days in Ephesus in the company of the most blessed Mary and of
his brother John, to whom he gave an account of all that had happened to him in
Spain. With the most prudent Mother during those days he held most exalted
colloquies and conferences, of which it will suffice to record the following.
When the Jews, through the conviction and conversion of
Philetus and Hermogenes, saw their hope frustrated, they were filled with new
anger against the apostle saint James and they were determined to put an end to
his life. For this purpose they bribed Democritus and Lysias, centurions of the
Roman militia, to furnish them with soldiers for the arrest of the
Apostle.
In order to hide their treachery they were to raise a feigned
quarrel or disturbance on a certain day during his preaching and thus get him
within their power. The execution of this wicked design was left to Abiator, the
high-priest of that year and to Josias, a scribe of the same mind as the
high-priest. As they had planned, so they executed their scheme; for, while the
saint was preaching to the people about the mystery of the Redemption, proving
it to them with admirable wisdom from the testimonies of the ancient writings
and moving his audience to tears of compunction, the priest and the scribe were
roused to diabolical fury. Giving the signal to the Roman soldiers, the priest
sent Josias to throw a rope around the neck of saint James and fell upon him,
proclaiming him a disturber of the people and the author of a new religion in
opposition to the Roman empire.
Democritus and Lysias thereupon rushed up with their soldiers
and brought the Apostle bound to Herod, the son of Archelaus, whose malice had
been roused interiorly through the astuteness of Lucifer and exteriorly by the
evil-minded and hateful Jews. Thus doubly incited, Herod began against the
disciples of the Lord, whom he abhorred, the persecution mentioned by saint Luke
in the twelfth chapter of the Acts and sent his soldiers to afflict and imprison
them. He instantly commanded saint James to be beheaded, as the Jews had asked.
Incredible was the joy of the holy Apostle at being seized and bound like his
Master and at seeing himself conducted to the place, where he was to pass from
this mortal life to the eternal through martyrdom, as he had been informed by
the Queen of heaven. He offered most humble thanks for this benefit and publicly
reiterated the open profession of his faith in Christ our Lord. Remembering the
petition he had made in Ephesus, that She be present at his death, he called
upon Her from his inmost Soul.
The most holy Mary from her oratory heard these prayers of
her beloved Apostle and cousin; for She was attentive to all that happened to
him and She helped and favored him with her own efficacious petitions. During
this her prayer, She saw a great multitude of angels and heavenly spirits of all
hierarchies descending from heaven, part of them surrounding the Apostle in
Jerusalem as he was led to the place of execution, while numerous others
approached their Queen at Ephesus. Presently one of them addressed Her saying
"Empress of heaven and our Lady, the most high Lord and God bids you
immediately to hasten to Jerusalem to console his great servant James, to assist
him in his death to grant all his loving and holy desires." This favor the
most blessed Mary joyfully and gratefully acknowledged. She praised the Most
High for the protection granted to those who trust in his mercy and put their
lives in his hands. In the meanwhile the Apostle was led to execution and on the
way thereto he wrought great miracles upon the sick and ailing and on some
possessed by the demons. There were a great number of them, because the rumor of
his execution by Herod had spread about and many of the unfortunates hastened to
receive his last ministrations and counsels. All that applied were healed by the
great Apostle.
In the meanwhile the holy angels placed their Queen and
Mistress upon a most refulgent throne, as they had done on other occasions, and
on it bore Her to Jerusalem and to the place of the execution of saint James.
The holy Apostle fell upon his knees in order to offer his life to the Most High
in sacrifice, and when he raised his eyes toward heaven, he saw in the air near
him the Queen of heaven, whom he had been invoking in his heart. He beheld Her
clothed in divine splendors and great beauty, surrounded by multitudes of the
angels. At this heavenly spectacle the soul of James was moved to new jubilee
and his heart was seized with the ardors of a divine love. He wished to proclaim
the most blessed Mary as the Mother of God and the Mistress of all creation. But
one of the sovereign spirits restrained him in this fervent desire and said:
"James, servant of our Creator, restrain within thy own bosom these
precious sentiments and do not manifest to the Jews the presence and assistance
of our Queen; for they are not worthy or capable of knowing Her, but instead of
reverencing Her will only harden themselves in their hatred." Thus advised
the Apostle forebore and moving his lips in silence, he spoke to the heavenly
Queen as follows:
"Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ, my Mistress and
Protectress, Thou consolation of the afflicted and refuge of the needy, in this
hour bestow upon me, my Lady, thy so much desired blessing. Offer for me to thy
Son and Redeemer of the world, the sacrifice of my life, since I am burning with
desire to be a holocaust for the glory of his name. Let today thy most pure and
spotless hands be the altar of my sacrifice, in order that it may become
acceptable in the eyes of Him, who died for me upon the cross. Into thy hands,
and through them into the hands of my Creator, I commend my spirit." Having
said these words, and keeping his eyes fixed upon the most holy Mary, who spoke
to his heart, the holy Apostle was beheaded by the executioner. The great Lady
and Queen of the world (O wonderful condescension!) received the soul of her
beloved Apostle and placing it at her side on the throne, ascended with it to
the empyrean heavens and presented it to her divine Son. As the most blessed
Mary entered the heavenly court with this offering, She caused new joy and
accidental glory to all the heavenly inhabitants and was received with songs of
praise. The Most High received the soul of James and placed it in eminent glory
among the princes of his people. The most blessed Mary, prostrate before the
throne of the Almighty, composed a song of praise and thanksgiving for the
triumphal martyrdom first gained by one of his Apostles. On this occasion the
great Lady did not see the Divinity by intuitive vision, but by an abstractive
one, such as I have described before this. But the blessed Trinity filled Her
with new blessings and favors for herself and for the holy Church, for which She
had made great preparations. All the saints likewise blessed her and then the
holy angels brought Her back to her oratory in Ephesus, where in the meanwhile
an angel had impersonated Her. On arriving the heavenly Mother of virtues
prostrated Herself as usual in order to give thanks to the Most High for all
that had happened.
The disciples of saint James during the following night
secured his sacred body and secretly brought it to Jaffa, where by divine
disposition they embarked with it for Galicia in Spain. The heavenly Lady sent
an angel to guide and accompany them to the port, where according to the divine
will they were to disembark. Although they did not see the angel, they felt his
protection during the whole voyage and often in a miraculous manner. Thus Spain,
just as it owed its first instruction in the faith so rooted in the hearts of
its people, to the protection lavished by most holy Mary upon the Apostle, now
also owes to Her the possession of his sacred body for its consolation and
defense. Saint James died in the year forty-one of our Lord, on the twenty-fifth
of March, five years and seven months after his setting out to preach in Spain.
According to this count and that which I gave above, the martyrdom of saint
James happened seven full years after the death of our Savior Jesus Christ.
The death of saint James and the haste of Herod in inflicting
it, greatly increased the most impious cruelty of the Jews; for in the savage
brutality of the wicked king saw a valuable means of pursuing their vengeance
against the followers of Christ the Lord. Lucifer and his demons were of like
opinion; they, by their suggestions, and the Jews, by their insistent
flatteries, persuaded him to seize upon saint Peter, which he readily did in
order to gain the good will of the Jews for his own temporal ends. The demons
stood in great awe of the vicar of Christ on account of the power emanating from
him against them; therefore they secretly sought to hasten his imprisonment.
Saint Peter, bound with many chains, lay in the dungeon awaiting his execution
after the holidays of the Pasch (Acts 12, 4).
The dangerous crisis impending over the Church was not
unknown to the heavenly Mother, for, from her retreat in Ephesus, by her
clearest interior vision of all things, She saw all things that passed in
Jerusalem. She likewise increased her ardent requests, her sighs, prostrations
and bloody tears, supplicating the Lord for the liberation of saint Peter and
the protection of the holy Church. These prayers of the blessed Mother
penetrated the heavens and wounded the heart of her Son Jesus our Savior. In
response the Lord descended in person to her oratory, where She was lying
prostrate with her virginal face upon the ground mingling with the dust. The
sovereign King entered and raised Her lovingly from the ground, saying: "My
Mother, moderate thy sorrow and ask whatever thou wishest; for I shall grant it
all and thou shalt find grace in my eyes to obtain it. I desire that thou act
according to thy wishes, using the powers I have given Thee: do or undo whatever
is necessary for the welfare of my Church, and Thou mayest be sure, that all the
fury of the demons will be turned toward Thee." She thanked him for this
new favor and offered to undertake the battles of the Lord for his faithful,
saying: "Most High Lord, hope and life of my soul, prepared is the heart
and spirit of thy servant to labor for the souls bought with thy blood and life.
Although I am but useless dust, I know Thee to be infinite in power and wisdom;
with the favor of thy assistance I fear not the infernal dragon. Thou wishest me
to dispose and act in thy name for the welfare of the Church, I now command
Lucifer and his ministers of wickedness, who are disturbing the Church, to
descend to the abyss and there be silenced until it shall please thy Providence
to permit their return to the earth." This command of the Queen of the
world in Ephesus was so powerful, that at the very moment of her issuing it, all
the demons in Jerusalem were precipitated into hell, the whole multitude
descending into the eternal caverns without power of resisting the divine force
exerted through the most blessed Mary.
Lucifer and his companions knew that this chastisement
proceeded from our Queen, whom they called their enemy because they dared not
pronounce her name. They remained in hell, confounded and dismayed as on other
occasions, until they were permitted to rise in order to battle against Mary, as
will be related further on. During that time they consulted anew about the means
of attaining this end. Having obtained this triumph over the demons the most
blessed Mary bethought Herself of overcoming likewise the opposition of Herod
and the Jews, and therefore She said to her divine Son: "Now, my Son and
Lord, if it is thy will, let one of thy holy angels be sent to deliver thy
servant Peter from prison." Christ Our Lord approved of her wish and, at
the orders of both these Sovereigns, one of the heavenly spirits there present
hastened to liberate saint Peter from his prison in Jerusalem.
The angel executed these orders very swiftly. Coming to the
dungeon, he found saint Peter fastened with two chains, guarded by two soldiers
at his side and by a number of other soldiers at the entrance of the prison.
Pasch had already been celebrated and it was the night before he was to be
executed according to the sentence passed upon him. But the Apostle was so
little disturbed that he was sleeping with as much unconcern as his guards (Acts
12, 6). When the angel arrived, he was obliged to wake him by force and while
saint Peter was still drowsy, said to him: "Arise quickly; put on thy
girdle and thy shoes, take thy mantle and follow me. Peter found himself free of
the chains and, without understanding what was happening to him and ignorant of
what this vision could mean, followed the angel. Having conducted him through
some streets, the angel told him, that the Almighty had freed him from prison
through the intercession of his most blessed Mother, and thereupon disappeared.
Saint Peter, coming to himself understood the mystery and gave thanks to the
Lord for this favor.
Saint Peter thought it best first to give an account of his
liberation and consult with James the Less and others of the faithful, before
seeking safety in flight. Hastening his steps he came to the house of Mary, the
mother of John, who was also called Mark. This was the house of the Cenacle,
where many of the disciples had gathered in their affliction. Saint Peter called
to them front the street, and a servant-maid, by the name of Rhode, descended to
see who was calling. As She recognized the voice of Peter, She left him standing
at the door outside and fled excitedly to the disciples, telling them that it
was Peter. They thought it some foolish misunderstanding of the servant; but she
maintained, that it was Peter; so they, far from guessing the liberation of
Peter, concluded that it might be his angel. During these questions and answers
saint Peter was in the street clamoring at the door, until they opened it and
with incredible joy and gladness saw the holy Apostle and head of the Church
freed from the sorrows of prison and death. He gave them an account of all that
had happened to him through aid of the angel, in order that they might in strict
secrecy notify saint James and all his brethren. Foreseeing that Herod would
search for hint with great diligence, they unanimously decided that he leave
Jerusalem that very night and not return, lest he should be taken in some future
search. Saint Peter therefore fled, and Herod, having instituted a search in
vain, chastised the guards, and was roused to new fury against the disciples.
But on account of his pride and impious designs, God cut short his activity by a
severe punishment, of which I shall speak in the following chapter.
In her anxieties and in her reliance upon the divine help our
Queen labored incessantly in prayers and tears, travailing in her clamors as I
have shown on other occasions. Ever governed by her most exalted prudence, She
spoke to one of the highest angels of her guard, saying: "Minister of the
Most High and creature of his hands, my solicitude for the holy Church strongly
urges me to seek its welfare and progress. I beseech thee to ascend to the
throne of the Most High, represent to Him my affliction; ask Him in my name,
that I may be permitted to suffer instead of his faithful servants and that
Herod be prevented from executing his designs for the destruction of the
Church." Immediately the angel betook himself to the Lord with this
message, while the Queen of heaven, like another Esther, remained in prayer for
the liberty and salvation of her people and of Herself. (Esther 4, 16). The
heavenly ambassador was sent back by the blessed Trinity with the answer:
"Princess of heaven, the Lord of hosts says, that Thou art the Mother, the
Mistress and the Governess of the Church, and that Thou holdest his power while
Thou art upon earth; and He desires Thee, as the Queen and Mistress of the
heaven and earth, to execute sentence upon Herod."
In her humility the most blessed Virgin was somewhat
disturbed by this answer, and urged by her charity, She replied to the angel:
"Am I then to pronounce sentence against a creature who is the image of the
Lord? Since I came forth from his hands I have known many reprobates among men
and I have never called for vengeance against them; but as far as I was
concerned, always desired their salvation if possible, and never hastened their
punishment. Return to the Lord, angel, and tell Him that my tribunal and power
is inferior to and dependent upon his, and that I cannot sentence any one to
death without consulting my Superior; and if it is possible to bring Herod to
the way of Salvation, I am willing to suffer all the travails of the world
according to the disposition of his divine Providence in order that this soul
may not be lost." The angel hastened back with this second message of his
Queen and having presented it before the throne of the most blessed Trinity, was
sent back to Her with the following answer: "Our Mistress and Queen, the
Most High says, that Herod is of the number of the foreknown, since he is so
obstinate in his malice, that he will take no admonition or instruction; he will
not cooperate with the helps given to him; nor will he avail himself of the
fruits of the Redemption, nor of the intercession of the saints, nor of thy own
efforts, O Queen and Lady, in his behalf."
For the third time the most holy Mary despatched the heavenly
prince with still another message to the Most High, saying: "If it must be
that Herod die in order to hinder him from persecuting the Church, do thou, O
angel, represent to the Almighty, how in the infinite condescension of his
charity, He has granted me in mortal life to be the Refuge of the children of
Adam, the Advocate and Intercessor of sinners; that my tribunal should be that
of kindness and clemency for the refuge and assistance of all that seek my
intercession; and that all should leave it with the assurance of pardon in the
name of my divine Son. If then I am to be a loving Mother to men, who are the
creatures of his hands and the price of his life-blood, how can I now be a
severe judge against one of them? Never was I charged with dealing out justice,
always mercy, to which all my heart inclines; and now it is troubled by
this conflict of love with obedience to rigorous justice. Present anew, O angel,
this my anxiety to the Lord, and learn whether it is not his pleasure that Herod
die without my condemning him."
The holy messenger ascended for the third time and the most
blessed Trinity listened to his message with the plenitude of pleasure and
complacency at the pitying love of his Spouse. Returning, the angel thus
informed the loving Mistress: "Our Queen, Mother of our Creator and my Lady,
the almighty Majesty says that thy mercy is for those mortals who wish to avail
themselves of thy powerful intercession, not for those who despise and abhor it
like Herod; that Thou art the Mistress of the Church invested with all the
divine power, and that therefore it is meet Thou use it as is opportune: that
Herod must die; but it shall be through thy sentence and according to thy
order." The most blessed Mary answered: "Just is the Lord and
equitable are his judgments (Ps. 118, 137). Many times would I suffer death to
rescue this soul of Herod, if he himself would not by his own free will make
himself unworthy of mercy and choose perdition. He is a work of the Most High
(Job 10, 8), formed according to his image and likeness (Gen. 1, 27); he was
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, which taketh away the sins of the world
(Apoc. 1, 5). But I set aside all this and, considering only his having become
an obstinate enemy of God, unworthy of his eternal friendship, by the most
equitable justice of God, I condemn him to the death he has merited, in order
that he may not incur greater torments by executing the evil he has
planned."
This wonder the Lord wrought for the glory of his most
blessed Mother and in witness of his having constituted Her as the Mistress of
all creatures with supreme power to act as their Sovereign like her divine Son.
I cannot explain this mystery better than in the words of the Lord in the fifth
chapter of saint John, where He says of Himself: "The son cannot do
anything that the Father does not; but He does the same, because the Father
loves Him; and if the Father raises the dead, the son also raises whom he
pleases, and the Father has given to the Son to judge all, in order that just as
all honor the Father, they may also honor the Son; for no one can honor the
Father without honoring the Son." And immediately He adds: that He has
given Him the power of judging, because He is the Son of man, which He is
through his most blessed mother. On account of the likeness of the heavenly
Mother to her Son (of which I have often spoken) the relation or proportion of
the Mother with the Son in this power of judgment must be transferred to the
Mother in the same manner as that of the Son from the Father. Mary is the Mother
of mercy and clemency to all the children of Adam that call upon Her; but in
addition to this the Almighty wishes it to be understood that She possesses full
power of judging all men and that all should honor Her, just as they honor her
Son and true God. As his true Mother He has given Her the same power with him in
the degree and proportion due to Her as his Mother and a mere creature.
Making use of this power the great Lady sent the angel to
Caesarea, where Herod then was, to take away his life as the minister of divine
justice. The angel executed the sentence without delay. The evangelist saint
Luke says, that the angel of the Lord struck Herod and, eaten up by worms, the
unhappy man died the temporal and eternal death. The wound of this stroke was
interior and from it sprang the corruption and the worms that so miserably
finished him. From the same, text it appears that, after having beheaded saint
James and after saint Peter had escaped, Herod descended to Caesarea in order to
compose some differences that had arisen between him and the inhabitants of
Sidon and Tyre (Acts 12, 23). Within a few days, vested in royal purple and
seated upon a throne, he harangued the people with great show of words. The
people, full of vain flattery, proclaimed him as a victor and as a god; and
Herod, in foolish vanity, was pleased with this adulation of the people. Because
he had not given honor to God, but usurped to himself divine honor in vain
pride, as saint Luke says, the angel of the Lord struck him. Although
this was his last crime, which filled the measure of his iniquity, he merited
the chastisement not only for this, but for so many other crimes committed by
him in persecuting the Apostles, mocking the Lord our Savior (Luke 23, 11),
beheading the Baptist (Mark 6, 27), committing adultery with his sister-in-law
Herodias, and for many other abominations.
Immediately the angel returned to Ephesus and gave an account
of the execution of the sentence against Herod. The merciful Mother wept over
the loss of this soul; but praised the judgments of the Lord and gave him thanks
for the benefit, which the Church would derive from his chastisement; for, as
saint Luke says (Acts 12, 24), the Church grew and increased by the word of
God. This was true not only in Galilee and Judea, where the persecutor
Herod was removed, but, through saint John and the help of the most holy Mother,
the Church was taking root in Ephesus. The science of the blessed Apostle was
full as that of the cherubim, and the love of his heart was inflamed like that
of the seraphim; and he had with him as his Mother and Teacher, the Mistress of
wisdom and grace. On account of these precious advantages the Evangelist could
undertake great and wonderful works for the foundation of the law of
grace, not only in Ephesus, but in all neighboring regions of Asia and in the
borderlands of Europe.
Arriving at Ephesus the Evangelist began to preach in
the city, baptizing those whom he converted to the faith of Christ our
Savior and confirming the faith by great miracles and prodigies, such as had
never been witnessed by those gentiles. Since the Greek schools in those
countries turned out many philosophers and men learned in what, notwithstanding
the admixture of many errors, could be called human sciences, the blessed
Apostle convincingly taught them the true science, making use not only of
miracles and signs, but of argumentation for the credibility of the Christian
faith. All his catechumens he immediately sent to the most holy Mary and She
instructed many; as She knew the interior inclinations of all, She spoke to the
heart of each one and filled it with heavenly light. She wrought prodigies and
miracles for the benefit of the unfortunate, curing the possessed and the
infirm, succored the poor and the needy and, by the labor of her own hands, gave
assistance to the sick in the infirmaries, attending upon them in person. In her
house the kindest Queen had a supply of clothes for the most poor and forsaken
of her fellowmen. She helped many in the hour of their death, gaining these
souls in their last agony and bringing them safely through all the assaults of
the demon to their Creator. So many souls did She draw to the path of truth and
life eternal, and so numerous were the wonders She wrought for this end, that
they could not be recorded in many books; for no day passed in which She did not
increase the possessions of the Lord by the copious and abundant fruit of souls.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The
Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
All are the children of the eternal Father who is in heaven
(Matth 23, 9) and all are obliged to have a care of their brethren according to
each one's condition. This obligation rests more especially upon the children of
the Church, who can live up to it by their prayers and supplications. But this
duty lies still more directly upon those who have influence, upon those who are
nourished by the Christian faith, and who enjoy more of the benefits of the
liberal hand of the Almighty. Those who through the law of Christ are favored
with temporal advantages and who make use of them for the service and the
delights of the flesh, are they who, as the powerful, are to be more powerfully
tormented (Matth 23,9). If the pastors and the chiefs of the house of the Lord
seek only a life of ease, without caring to engage in true earnest labor, they
will make themselves accountable for the ruin of the flock of Christ and for the
carnage brought on by the infernal wolves. O my daughter, into what a
lamentable state has the Christian people been cast by the powerful, by the
pastors, and by the wicked ministers, whom God has given them in his secret
judgments! O what confusion and chastisements await them! Before the tribunal of
the just Judge they will have no excuse; since the Catholic truth undeceives
them, their conscience loudly protests, while they wilfully remain deaf to all
warnings.
The cause of God remains neglected and without a champion;
his possessions, which are the souls, are left without increase; all as it were
look but to their own interest and preservation, each one according to his own
diabolical cunning and according to his state of life. Truth is obscured,
flattery raises its voice, avarice is unbridled, the blood of Christ is trodden
under foot, the fruits of the Redemption are held in contempt; no one wishes to
risk his own comfort or interest in order to save what has cost the Savior his
blood and life. Even the friends of God are influenced by the evils; for they do
not make use of their charity and its holy liberty as they ought; and most of
them allow themselves to be overcome by their cowardice and content themselves
with working for themselves alone, forsaking the common cause of the souls of
others. Hence thou mayest understand, my daughter, that now, after the
evangelical Church has been established by my divine Son and fertilized by his
own blood, those unhappy times have come, of which the Lord himself complains
through his holy Prophets, saying: what the palmerworm hath left the locust has
eaten, and what the locust left the bruchus consumed, and the residue is
destroyed by the mildew; (Joel 1, 4) and in order to gather some fruits from his
vineyard, the Lord goes about like the gleaner after the vintage, who seeks some
remaining grape, or some olive, which is not dried up, or carried away by the
demons (Is. 24, 13).
Tell me now, my daughter, how is it possible, if thou still
hast a true love for my divine Son and for me, that thou find consolation or
rest in thy heart at the sight of the loss of souls, which He redeemed by his
blood and I have sought with blood-mingled tears? Even today, if I could shed
them, I would begin to do so with new weeping and compassion; and since it is
not possible for me now to weep over the dangers threatening the Church, I wish
that thou do it and that thou spurn consolation in a misfortune so calamitous
and so worthy of lament. Weep bitterly then, and lose not the merit of such a
sorrow; and let it be so deep, that thou findst no relief except in affliction
for the sake of the Lord whom thou lovest. Think of what I did, in order to
stave off the damnation of Herod and to prevent it for those who wish to avail
themselves of my intercession. In the beatific vision I pray without ceasing for
the salvation of my clients. Let not the labors and tribulations sent to thee by
my divine Son intimidate thee from helping thy brethren and acquiring them for
the possession of Christ. Amidst the injuries done to Him by the children of
Adam, do thou labor to recompense them in some measure by the purity of
thy soul, which I desire shall be rather that of an angel than of an earthborn
woman the battles of the Lord against his enemies and in his name and mine,
crush their head, reign over their pride cast them into hell. Do thou also
counsel the ministers of Christ with whom thou conversest, to use their power in
doing the same, to defend the souls in faith and, in them, the honor and glory
of the Lord; for thus shall they repress and vanquish them with divine power.
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