Monday, April 8, 2013 - Litany Lane Blog:
Blessed, Psalms 40:7-11, Isaiah 7:10-14 , Luke 1:23-36, Pope Frances Daily Homily - Humility , Saint Julie Billiart, Numar Belgium, Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame de Namur, Feast of the Annunciation, The Mystical City of God, The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God Book 3:1& 2 The Incarnation, Catholic Catechism Part Two: THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH - Article 1:2:7 The Sacrament of Baptism - the Grace of Baptism
Good Day Bloggers! 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. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone 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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REFLECTION OF THE DAY
As we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation (Deferred from March 25 because of Easter)...
How different would our lives be if our Blessed Mother Mary said "No"?
Christianity would not exist.
Thank you, Blessed Mother Mary for saying "Yes" not only to be the Mother of Jesus
but also for accepting to be the Mother of all of Humanity, of all creatures.
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Prayers for Today: Monday in Easter
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
Pope Francis celebrates Mass of the Annunciation
(2013-04-08 Vatican Radio)
(Vatican Radio) For the Christian, "making progress" means "lowering
oneself" on the road of humility in order allow God’s love to emerge and
be clearly seen. This was the central focus of Pope Francis’ homily on
Monday morning at Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae chapel. The liturgy
was attended by some of the Sisters of Charity, who renewed their vows,
the staff of the Vatican Television Center, the Brazilian Program of
Vatican Radio, and the long-time Papal photographer, Arturo Mari.
(Vatican Radio) For the Christian, "making progress" means "lowering
oneself" on the road of humility in order allow God’s love to emerge and
be clearly seen. This was the central focus of Pope Francis’ homily on
Monday morning at Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae chapel. The liturgy
was attended by some of the Sisters of Charity, who renewed their vows,
the staff of the Vatican Television Center, the Brazilian Program of
Vatican Radio, and the long-time Papal photographer, Arturo Mari.The way of Christian humility rises up to God, as those who bear witness to it “stoop low” to make room for charity. The liturgical feast of the Annunciation occasioned this reflection from Pope Francis, as he celebrated the Annunciation Mass on Monday morning. The Pope said that the road taken by Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for the imperial census was a road of humility. There was the humility of Mary, who “did not understand well,” but “[entrusted] her soul to the will of God.” Joseph was humble, as he “lowered himself” to take on the “great responsibility” of the bride who was with child.
“So it is always with God’s love,” said Francis, “that, in order to reach us, takes the way of humility.” This was the same way that Jesus walked, a way that humbled itself even unto the Cross. Pope Francis went on to say that, for a Christian, “[T]his is the golden rule,” according to which progress and advancement always come through lowering oneself. “One can take no other road,” he said, adding, “if I do not lower myself, if you do not lower yourself, you are not a Christian.”
Pope Francis went on to say, “Being humble does not mean going on the road,” with “downcast eyes.” Such was not the humility of Jesus, or his mother or his foster father, Joseph. The Holy Father underlined that the way of humility is the one that leads to the triumph of the Resurrection. “Let us ask God for the grace of humility,” he prayed, “that humility, which is the way by which charity surely passes,” for, “if there is no humility, love remains blocked, it cannot go [forward].”
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Pope Francis meets head of German Evangelical Church
(2013-04-08 Vatican Radio)
On Monday morning, Pope Francis received in audience Dr. Nikolaus
Schneider, Präses (“President”) of the Evangelical Church (Lutheran) in
Germany, who was accompanied by his wife, and a small group of
associates.
On Monday morning, Pope Francis received in audience Dr. Nikolaus
Schneider, Präses (“President”) of the Evangelical Church (Lutheran) in
Germany, who was accompanied by his wife, and a small group of
associates. The head of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, described the meeting as “very friendly”, noting the Präses expressed his appreciation for the choosing of the name Francis, “because it is the name of a saint that truly speaks to all Christians in a very effective manner.” The Evangelical leader also spoke about his concern for the victims of the recent flooding which has caused so much suffering in Argentina.
Father Lombardi said their ecumenical discussions focused on the value of the ecumenism of the martyrs, to which the Pope gives particular weight, since the blood of the martyrs is something which profoundly unites the various Christian denominations in a common witness to Christ.
Dr. Schneider also spoke about the upcoming anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, which is of course an extremely important commemoration for the Evangelical Church in Germany. The Pope took the opportunity to remind the Präses of the words of Pope Benedict XVI in Erfurt, where Martin Luther lived and worked, which have a particular ecumenical significance in regards to the figure of Luther in particular, as well as for relations between the Catholic Church and those ecclesial communities emerging from the Reformation.
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed 04/08/2013.
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Message, April 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World:"Dear children, I am calling you to be one with my Son in spirit. I am calling you, through prayer, and the Holy Mass when my Son unites Himself with you in a special way, to try to be like Him; that, like Him, you may always be ready to carry out God's will and not seek the fulfillment of your own. Because, my children, it is according to God's will that you are and that you exist, and without God's will you are nothing. As a mother I am asking you to speak about the glory of God with your life because, in that way, you will also glorify yourself in accordance to His will. Show humility and love for your neighbour to everyone. Through such humility and love, my Son saved you and opened the way for you to the Heavenly Father. I implore you to keep opening the way to the Heavenly Father for all those who have not come to know Him and have not opened their hearts to His love. By your life, open the way to all those who still wander in search of the truth. My children, be my apostles who have not lived in vain. Do not forget that you will come before the Heavenly Father and tell Him about yourself. Be ready! Again I am warning you, pray for those whom my Son called, whose hands He blessed and whom He gave as a gift to you. Pray, pray, pray for your shepherds. Thank you."
Message, 25. March 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World:
“Dear children! In this time of grace I call you to take the cross of my beloved Son Jesus in your hands and to meditate on His passion and death. May your suffering be united in His suffering and love will win, because He who is love gave Himself out of love to save each of you. Pray, pray, pray until love and peace begin to reign in your hearts. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
March 18 2013 Message to the World via Annual Apparition to Mirjana:
"Dear children! I call you to, with complete trust and joy, bless the name of the Lord and, day by day, to give Him thanks from the heart for His great love. My Son, through that love which He showed by the Cross, gave you the possibility to be forgiven for everything; so that you do not have to be ashamed or to hide, and out of fear not to open the door of your heart to my Son. To the contrary, my children, reconcile with the Heavenly Father so that you may be able to come to love yourselves as my Son loves you. When you come to love yourselves, you will also love others; in them you will see my Son and recognize the greatness of His love. Live in faith! Through me, my Son is preparing you for the works which He desires to do through you – works through which He desires to be glorified. Give Him thanks. Especially thank Him for the shepherds - for your intercessors in the reconciliation with the Heavenly Father. I am thanking you, my children. Thank you."
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Today's Word: blessed bless·ed [bles-id]
Origin: before 950; Middle English blessen, Old English blētsian, blēdsian to consecrate, orig. with blood, earlier *blōdisōian ( blōd blood + -isō- derivational suffix + -ian v. suffix)
adjective
1. consecrated; sacred; holy; sanctified: the Blessed Sacrament.
2. worthy of adoration, reverence, or worship: the Blessed Trinity.
3. divinely or supremely favored; fortunate: to be blessed with a strong, healthy body; blessed with an ability to find friends.
4. blissfully happy or contented.
5. Roman Catholic Church , beatified.
6. bringing happiness and thankfulness: the blessed assurance of a steady income.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 40:7-11
7 then I said, 'Here I am, I am coming.' In the scroll of the book it is written of me,
8 my delight is to do your will; your law, my God, is deep in my heart.
9 I proclaimed the saving justice of Yahweh in the great assembly. See, I will not hold my tongue, as you well know.
10 I have not kept your saving justice locked in the depths of my heart, but have spoken of your constancy and saving help. I have made no secret of your faithful and steadfast love, in the great assembly.
11 You, Yahweh, have not withheld your tenderness from me; your faithful and steadfast love will always guard me.
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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
God’s covenant with humanity
Mary’s yes and our yes
Mary’s yes and our yes
Luke 1,26-38
1. Opening prayer
1. Opening prayer
Merciful Father, in this holy time of
prayer and of listening to your Word, send also to me your holy angel
that I may receive the proclamation of salvation and that, after opening
my heart, I may offer my yes to Love. Let, I beg you, the Holy Spirit
overshadow me as an overwhelming power. As from now, Father, I do not
wish to express anything other than my “Yes!” and to say to you:
“Behold, I am here for you. Do unto me whatever pleases you”. Amen.
2. Reading
a) The context of the passage:
2. Reading
a) The context of the passage:
The story of the annunciation takes us
from the temple, a holy place par excellence, to the house, to the
intimacy of a personal meeting of God with his creature; it leads us
into ourselves, into the deepest part of our being and our story, where
God alone can reach and touch us. The announcement of the birth of John
the Baptist had opened the sterile womb of Elisabeth, thus overcoming
the absolute powerlessness of humankind and transforming it into the
ability to collaborate with God. On the other hand, the announcement of
the birth of Jesus, knocks on the door of a fertile womb of the one who
is “full of grace” and awaits a reply: it is God who waits for our yes
so as to work everything in us.
b) An aid to the reading of this passage:
vv. 26-27: The first two verses place us at the time and sacred space of the event on which we are meditating and which we relive: we are in the sixth month from the conception of John the Baptist and in Nazareth, a city in Galilee, the land of the marginalized and unclean. Here God has come down to speak with a virgin, to speak to our hearts. The persons involved in this unsettling event are presented to us: Gabriel, the messenger of God, a young woman called Mary and her spouse Joseph of the royal house of David. We too are made welcome into this company and are called to enter into the mystery.
vv. 28-29: These are the very first words of the dialogue between God and his creature. Just a few words, a mere breath, but all-powerful words that disturb the heart, that question deeply the meaning of human life, plans and expectations. The angel announces joy, grace and the presence of God; Mary is disturbed and asks herself how can any of this be happening to her. Where can such a joy come from? How can such a great grace, that can change her very being, be hers?
vv. 30-33: These are the central verses of the excerpt: it is the explosion of the announcement, the manifestation of the gift of God, of his omnipotence in the life of human beings. Gabriel, the strong, speaks of Jesus: the eternal king, the Saviour, the God made child, the humble all-powerful. He speaks of Mary, of her womb, of her life that she was chosen to be the gateway to welcoming God in this world and into the lives of all people. Even at this stage of the events, God begins to draw near, to knock. He stands, attentive, by the door of the heart of Mary; and even now by our house, our hearts…
v. 34: Mary, faced by God’s proposal, allows herself to stand naked, she allows herself to be read to her very depths. She speaks of herself, her heart, her wishes. She knows that for God the impossible is possible, she does not doubt or harden her heart and mind, she does not count the cost; she only wants to be fully available, open, and allows herself to be reached by that humanly impossible touch, but one already written, already realised in God. In a gesture of utter poverty, she places before God her virginity, her not knowing man. This is a complete and absolute surrender of self, full of faith and trust. It is her preliminary yes.
vv. 35-37: God, most humble, gives an answer; the all-powerful bends over the fragility of this woman, who represents each one of us. The dialogue continues, the covenant grows and is strengthened. God reveals the how, he speaks of the Holy Spirit, of the fruitful overshadowing, which does no violence, does not break, but preserves intact. He speaks of the human experience of Elisabeth, he reveals another impossible thing made possible; almost like a guarantee or security. And then comes the last word when one must make a choice: to say yes or no, believe or doubt, dissolve or harden oneself, to open the door or close it. “Nothing is impossible for God”.
v. 38: The last verse seems to contain an infinity. Mary says her “Here I am”, she opens herself wide to God and then the meeting, the union takes place forever. God enters into the human and the human becomes the place of God: these are the most sublime Nuptials possible on earth. And yet, the Gospel ends on a sad and hard note: Mary stays alone, the angel leaves. What remains, however, is the yes pronounced to God and God’s presence; what remains is real Life.
c) The Text: Luke 1:26-38
b) An aid to the reading of this passage:
vv. 26-27: The first two verses place us at the time and sacred space of the event on which we are meditating and which we relive: we are in the sixth month from the conception of John the Baptist and in Nazareth, a city in Galilee, the land of the marginalized and unclean. Here God has come down to speak with a virgin, to speak to our hearts. The persons involved in this unsettling event are presented to us: Gabriel, the messenger of God, a young woman called Mary and her spouse Joseph of the royal house of David. We too are made welcome into this company and are called to enter into the mystery.
vv. 28-29: These are the very first words of the dialogue between God and his creature. Just a few words, a mere breath, but all-powerful words that disturb the heart, that question deeply the meaning of human life, plans and expectations. The angel announces joy, grace and the presence of God; Mary is disturbed and asks herself how can any of this be happening to her. Where can such a joy come from? How can such a great grace, that can change her very being, be hers?
vv. 30-33: These are the central verses of the excerpt: it is the explosion of the announcement, the manifestation of the gift of God, of his omnipotence in the life of human beings. Gabriel, the strong, speaks of Jesus: the eternal king, the Saviour, the God made child, the humble all-powerful. He speaks of Mary, of her womb, of her life that she was chosen to be the gateway to welcoming God in this world and into the lives of all people. Even at this stage of the events, God begins to draw near, to knock. He stands, attentive, by the door of the heart of Mary; and even now by our house, our hearts…
v. 34: Mary, faced by God’s proposal, allows herself to stand naked, she allows herself to be read to her very depths. She speaks of herself, her heart, her wishes. She knows that for God the impossible is possible, she does not doubt or harden her heart and mind, she does not count the cost; she only wants to be fully available, open, and allows herself to be reached by that humanly impossible touch, but one already written, already realised in God. In a gesture of utter poverty, she places before God her virginity, her not knowing man. This is a complete and absolute surrender of self, full of faith and trust. It is her preliminary yes.
vv. 35-37: God, most humble, gives an answer; the all-powerful bends over the fragility of this woman, who represents each one of us. The dialogue continues, the covenant grows and is strengthened. God reveals the how, he speaks of the Holy Spirit, of the fruitful overshadowing, which does no violence, does not break, but preserves intact. He speaks of the human experience of Elisabeth, he reveals another impossible thing made possible; almost like a guarantee or security. And then comes the last word when one must make a choice: to say yes or no, believe or doubt, dissolve or harden oneself, to open the door or close it. “Nothing is impossible for God”.
v. 38: The last verse seems to contain an infinity. Mary says her “Here I am”, she opens herself wide to God and then the meeting, the union takes place forever. God enters into the human and the human becomes the place of God: these are the most sublime Nuptials possible on earth. And yet, the Gospel ends on a sad and hard note: Mary stays alone, the angel leaves. What remains, however, is the yes pronounced to God and God’s presence; what remains is real Life.
c) The Text: 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.
3. A moment of prayerful silence
3. A moment of prayerful silence
I have read and listened to the words
of the Gospel. Now I stand in silence … God is present, at the door, and
asks for shelter, yes, even from me and from my poor life …
4. A few questions
4. A few questions
a) God’s announcement, his angel,
enters my life, stands before me and speaks to me. Am I prepared to
welcome him, to give him space, to listen to him attentively?
b)
Suddenly I receive an upsetting announcement; God speaks to me of joy,
grace and presence. All the things that I have been seeking for so long,
always. Who can make me really happy? Am I willing to trust in his
happiness and his presence?
c) Not much is needed, just a movement of the heart, of my being; He is already aware of this. He is already overwhelming me with light and love. He says to me: “You have found favour in my sight”. So, I please God? He finds me pleasant, loveable? Yes, that is how it really is. Why is it that I would not believe it before? Why have I not listened to him?
d) The Lord Jesus wants to come into this world also through me; he wants to reach my brothers and sisters through the paths of my life, of my being. Would I lead him astray? Would I refuse him, keep him at a distance? Would I wipe him out of my story, my life?
5. A key to the reading
c) Not much is needed, just a movement of the heart, of my being; He is already aware of this. He is already overwhelming me with light and love. He says to me: “You have found favour in my sight”. So, I please God? He finds me pleasant, loveable? Yes, that is how it really is. Why is it that I would not believe it before? Why have I not listened to him?
d) The Lord Jesus wants to come into this world also through me; he wants to reach my brothers and sisters through the paths of my life, of my being. Would I lead him astray? Would I refuse him, keep him at a distance? Would I wipe him out of my story, my life?
5. A key to the reading
Some important and strong words that resonate in this passage of the Gospel:
● Rejoice!
● Rejoice!
This is a really strange greeting from
God to his creature; it seems hard to explain and perhaps even
senseless. And yet, for centuries it resonated in the pages of Sacred
Scripture and thus also on the lips of the Hebrew people. Rejoice, be
glad, exult! Many times the prophets had repeated this gentle breath of
God and had shouted the silent beat of his heart for his people, his
remnant. I read this in Joel: “Land, do not be afraid; be glad, rejoice,
for Yahweh has done great things… (2: 21-23); in Zephaniah: “Shout for
joy, daughter of Zion, Israel, shout aloud! Rejoice, exult with all your
heart, daughter of Jerusalem! Yahweh has repealed your sentence” (3:
14); in Zechariah: “Sing, rejoice, daughter of Zion, for now I am coming
to live among you – Yahweh declares!” (2, 14). I read and listen to it,
today, I say it also in my heart, in my life; a joy is announced to me,
a new happiness, never before experienced. I rediscover the great
things that the Lord has done for me; I experience the freedom that
comes from his pardon: I am no longer sentenced, but graced forever; I
live the experience of the presence of the Lord next to me, in me. Yes,
He has come to dwell in our midst; He is once more setting up his tent
in the land of my heart, of my existence. Lord, as the Psalm says, you
rejoice in your creatures (Ps 104: 31); and I too rejoice in you, thanks
to you, my joy is in you (Ps 104: 34).
● The Lord is with you
● The Lord is with you
These simple and enlightened words
pronounced by the angel to Mary, liberate an all-powerful force; I
realise that these words alone would suffice to save my life, to lift me
up again from whatever fall or humiliation, to bring me back when I go
astray. The fact that He, my Lord, is with me, keeps me alive, gives me
courage and trust to go on being. If I am, it is because He is with me.
Who knows but that the experience of Isaac told in Scripture might not
be valid for me, the most beautiful thing imaginable that could happen
to a person who believes in and loves God, when one day Abimelech came
to Isaac with his men to tell him: “It became clear to us that Yahweh
was with you” (Gen 26: 28) and then asked to become friends and form an
alliance. Would that the same thing might be said of me; would that I
could show that the Lord is truly with me, in my life, in my desires, in
my affections, in my choices and actions; would that others might meet
Him through me. Perhaps for this, it is necessary for me to absorb more
the presence of God, for me to eat and drink of Him.
Let me go to the school of Scripture, to read and re-read some passages where the voice of the Lord tells me again and again of this truth and, while He speaks, to be transformed, ever more in-dwelt. “Remain for the present in that country; I shall be with you and bless you” (Gen 26: 3). “To Joshua son of Nun, Yahweh gave this order: Be strong and stand firm, for you are to be the one to bring the Israelites into the country which I have promised them on oath, and I myself shall be with you” (Dt 31: 23). “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, because I am with you to save you and rescue you” (Jer 15: 20). “The angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said: Yahweh is with you, valiant warrior!” (Judges 6: 12). “Yahweh appeared to him the same night and said: I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I shall bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake” (Gen 26: 24). “Be sure, I am with you; I shall keep you safe wherever you go, and bring you back to this country, for I shall never desert you until I have done what I have promised you” (Gen 28: 15). “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be alarmed, for I am your God. I give you strength, truly I help you, truly I hold you firm with my saving right hand” (Is 41: 10)
Let me go to the school of Scripture, to read and re-read some passages where the voice of the Lord tells me again and again of this truth and, while He speaks, to be transformed, ever more in-dwelt. “Remain for the present in that country; I shall be with you and bless you” (Gen 26: 3). “To Joshua son of Nun, Yahweh gave this order: Be strong and stand firm, for you are to be the one to bring the Israelites into the country which I have promised them on oath, and I myself shall be with you” (Dt 31: 23). “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, because I am with you to save you and rescue you” (Jer 15: 20). “The angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said: Yahweh is with you, valiant warrior!” (Judges 6: 12). “Yahweh appeared to him the same night and said: I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I shall bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake” (Gen 26: 24). “Be sure, I am with you; I shall keep you safe wherever you go, and bring you back to this country, for I shall never desert you until I have done what I have promised you” (Gen 28: 15). “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be alarmed, for I am your God. I give you strength, truly I help you, truly I hold you firm with my saving right hand” (Is 41: 10)
● Do not be afraid
The Bible is packed with this
pronouncement full of kindness; like a river of mercy, these words are
found throughout the sacred books, from Genesis to the Apocalypse. It is
the Father who repeats to his children not to be afraid, because He is
with them, he will not abandon them, he will not forget them, He will
not leave them in the hands of their enemies. It is like a declaration
of love from God to humanity, to each one of us; it is a pledge of
fidelity that is relayed from hand to hand, from heart to heart, and
finally comes down to us. Abraham heard these words and after him his
son Isaac, then the patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon and, with
them, Jeremiah and all the prophets. No one is excluded from this
embrace of salvation that the Father offers his children, even those
furthest from him, most rebellious against him. Mary knows how to listen
to these words and knows how to believe full of faith, in an attitude
of absolute surrender; She listens and believes, welcomes and lives for
us too. She is the strong and courageous woman who opens herself to the
coming of God, letting go of all fears, incredulity and a closed spirit.
She repeats these same words of God in our lives and invites us to
believe like her.
● You enjoy God’s favour
● You enjoy God’s favour
“Lord, if I enjoy favour in your
sight…”. This is the prayer that time and time again comes out of the
lips and hearts of those who seek refuge in the Lord; the Scriptures
tell us about such people, we come across them in our crossroads when we
know not where to go, when we feel hounded by solitude or by
temptation, when we experience abandonment, betrayals, heavy defeats of
our own existence. When we no longer have anyone and we fail to find
even ourselves, then we too, like them, find ourselves praying by
repeating these same words: “Lord, if I enjoy favour in your sight…”.
Who knows how often we have repeated these words, even alone and in
silence. But today, here, in this simple passage of the Gospel, we are
forestalled, we are welcomed in anticipation; we need no longer plead,
because we have already found everything that we always sought and much
more. We have received freely, we are overwhelmed and now we can
overflow.
● Nothing is impossible to God
● Nothing is impossible to God
I have nearly come to the end of this
strong journey of grace and liberation; I now come across a word that
shakes me in my depths. My faith is being sifted; the Lord is testing
me, scrutinising me, testing my heart. What the angel says here in front
of Mary, had already been proclaimed many times in the Old Testament;
now the time has come for the fulfilment, now all the impossible things
come to pass. God becomes man; the Lord becomes friend, brother; the
distant is very close. And I, even I, small and poor as I am, am given
to share in the immensity of this gift, this grace; I am told that in my
life too the impossible becomes possible. I only have to believe, to
give my consent. But this means that I have to allow myself to be
shattered by the power of God; to surrender to Him, who will transform
me, free me and renew me. Not even this is impossible. Yes, I can be
reborn today, here and now, by the grace of the voice that has spoken to
me, that has reached me even to the very depths of my heart. I seek and
transcribe the passages of Scripture that repeat this truth. And as I
write them, as I re-read them and say them slowly, devouring every word,
and what they say takes place in me… Genesis 18: 14; Job 42: 2;
Jeremiah 32: 17; Jeremiah 32: 27; Zechariah 8: 6; Matthew 19: 26; Luke
18: 27.
● Here I am
● Here I am
Now I cannot escape, nor can I avoid
the conclusion. I knew from the beginning that here, in this word, so
small and yet so full, so final, that God was waiting for me. The
appointment of love, of the covenant between Him and me had been fixed
precisely on this word, just a gentle voice, just a kiss. I am unsettled
by the richness of the presence I feel in this “Here I am!”; I need not
make much effort to recall the number of times that God first
pronounced and repeated these words to me. He is the ‘Here I am’ made
man, absolutely faithful, unforgettable. I only need to tune into him,
only find his footprints in the sand of my poverty, of my desert; I only
need to welcome his infinite love that never ceases to seek me, to stay
close to me, to walk with me wherever I go. The ‘Here I am’ has already
been pronounced and realised, it is already real. How many before me
and how many today have experienced this! I am not alone. I still remain
silent, listening before I reply… “Here I am!” (Is 65: 1) God
repeats; Mary replies, “Here I am, I am the servant of the Lord”; and
Christ says, “I come to do your will” (Ps 39: 8)…
6. A time of prayer: Psalm 138
6. A time of prayer: Psalm 138
Ref. Father, into your hands I commend my life.
Yahweh, you examine me and know me,
you know when I sit, when I rise,
you understand my thoughts from afar.
You watch when I walk or lie down,
you know every detail of my conduct.
A word is not yet on my tongue before you,
Yahweh, know all about it.
You fence me in, behind and in front,
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such amazing knowledge is beyond me,
a height to which I cannot attain.
Where shall I go to escape your spirit?
Where shall I flee from your presence?
If I scale the heavens you are there,
if I lie flat in Sheol, there you are.
you know when I sit, when I rise,
you understand my thoughts from afar.
You watch when I walk or lie down,
you know every detail of my conduct.
A word is not yet on my tongue before you,
Yahweh, know all about it.
You fence me in, behind and in front,
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such amazing knowledge is beyond me,
a height to which I cannot attain.
Where shall I go to escape your spirit?
Where shall I flee from your presence?
If I scale the heavens you are there,
if I lie flat in Sheol, there you are.
You created my inmost self,
knit me together in my mother's womb.
For so many marvels I thank you;
a wonder am I, and all your works are wonders.
You knew me through and through,
How hard for me to grasp your thoughts,
how many, God, there are!
If I count them, they are more than the grains of sand;
if I come to an end, I am still with you.
God, examine me and know my heart,
test me and know my concerns.
Make sure that I am not on my way to ruin,
and guide me on the road of eternity.
7. Closing prayer
knit me together in my mother's womb.
For so many marvels I thank you;
a wonder am I, and all your works are wonders.
You knew me through and through,
How hard for me to grasp your thoughts,
how many, God, there are!
If I count them, they are more than the grains of sand;
if I come to an end, I am still with you.
God, examine me and know my heart,
test me and know my concerns.
Make sure that I am not on my way to ruin,
and guide me on the road of eternity.
7. Closing prayer
Father, you came down to me, you have
come to me, you have touched my heart, you have spoken to me and
promised joy, presence and salvation. By the grace of the Holy Spirit,
who overshadows me, I, together with Mary, have been able to say to you
yes, the ‘Here I am’ of my life for you. Now there remains only the
force of your promise, of your truth: “You are to conceive and bear
Jesus”. Lord, here is the womb of my life, of my being, of all that I am
and have, open before you. I place all things in you, in your heart.
Enter, come, come down again, I beg you, and make me fruitful, make me
one who gives birth to Christ in this world. May the overflowing love I
receive from you find its fullness and truth in touching the brothers
and sisters that you place beside me. May our meeting, Father, be open, a
gift to all. May Jesus be the Saviour. Amen.
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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: Saints Julie Billiart
Feast Day: April 8
Patron Saint: against poverty; bodily ills; disease
Attributes: n/a
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| Saint Julie Billiart |
She was born on 12 July 1751, at Cuvilly, Picardy, Beauvais, Oise, France, the sixth of seven children of Jean-François Billiart ` and Marie-Louise-Antoinette (née Debraine). By the age of seven, she knew the catechism by heart, and used to gather her companions around her to hear her recite it and to explain it to them. Her education was confined to the rudiments obtained at the village school kept by her uncle, Thibault Guilbiert. In spiritual things her progress was so rapid that the parish priest, Father Dangicourt, allowed her to make her First Communion and to be confirmed aged 9. She took a vow of chastity five years later.
She was held in very high esteem for her virtue and piety, and was commonly called, "the saint of Cuvilly". When twenty-two years old, a nervous shock, occasioned by a pistol-shot fired at her father by an unknown enemy, brought on a paralysis of the lower limbs. Within a few years she was confined to her bed, and remained incapacitated for 22 years. During this time, when she received Holy Communion daily, Julie exercised an uncommon gift of prayer, spending four or five hours a day in contemplation. The rest of her time was occupied in making linens and laces for the altar and in catechizing the village children whom she gathered around her bed, giving special attention to those who were preparing for their First Communion.
Amiens and Viscountess
At Amiens, where Billiart took refuge with Countess Baudoin during the French Revolution, she met Françoise, Viscountess of Gizaincourt, who became her co-laborer in the work as yet unknown to either of them. The Viscountess Blin de Bourdon was 38 years old when she met Julie, and had spent her youth in piety and good works. She had been imprisoned with all of her family during the Reign of Terror, and had escaped death only by the fall of Robespierre. A small company of friends of the viscountess (young and high-born ladies) was formed around the couch of "the saint". Billiart taught them how to lead an interior life, while they devoted themselves generously to the causes of God and the poor. Though they attempted all the exercises of an active community life, some of the elements of stability were wanting, and these first disciples dropped off until only the Viscountess remained.Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame
In 1803, in obedience to Father Varin, superior of the Fathers of the Faith, and under the auspices of the Bishop of Amiens, the foundation was laid of the Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame, a society which had for its primary object the salvation of poor children. Several young persons offered themselves to assist the two superiors, Julie and Françoise. The first pupils were eight orphans. On the feast of the Sacred Heart, 1 June 1804, Mother Julie, after a novena made in obedience to her confessor, was cured of paralysis.The first vows of religion were made on 15 October 1804 by Billiart, Blin de Bourdon, Victoire Leleu and Justine Garson, and their family names were changed to names of saints. They proposed for their lifework the Christian education of girls, and the training of religious teachers who should go wherever their services were asked for. Father Varin gave the community a provisional rule by way of probation, which was so far-sighted that its essentials have never been changed. In view of the extension of the institute, he would have it governed by a superior-general, charged with visiting the houses, nominating the local superiors, corresponding with the members dispersed in the different convents, and assigning the revenues of the society.
The characteristic devotions of the Sisters of Notre Dame were established by the foundress from the beginning. She was original in doing away with the time-honored distinction between choir sisters and lay sisters, but this perfect equality of rank did not prevent her from putting each sister to the work for which her capacity and education fitted her. She attached great importance to the formation of the sisters destined for the schools, and in this she was ably assisted by Mother St. Joseph (Françoise Blin de Bourdon), who had herself received an excellent education.
When the congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame was approved by an imperial decree dated 19 June 1806, it numbered 30 members, In that and the following years, foundations were made in various towns of France and Belgium, the most important being those at Ghent and Namur; Mother St. Joseph was the first superior of the latter house.
In the absence of Father Varin from that city, the confessor of the community, the Abbé de Sambucy de St. Estève, a man of superior intelligence and attainments but enterprising and injudicious, endeavored to change the rule and fundamental constitutions of the new congregation so as to bring it why into harmony with the ancient monastic orders. He so far influenced the Bishop, Msgr. Demandolx, that Mother Julie had soon no alternative but to leave the Diocese of Amiens, relying upon the goodwill of Msgr. Pisani de la Gaude, bishop of Namur, who had invited her to make his episcopal city the center of her congregation, should a change become necessary
In leaving Amiens, Mother Julie laid the case before all her subjects and told them they were perfectly free to remain or to follow her. All but two chose to go with her, and thus, in the mid-winter of 1809, the convent of Namur became the motherhouse of the institute and is so still. Msgr. Demandolx, soon undeceived, made all the amends in his power, entreating Mother Julie to return to Amiens and rebuild her institute. She returned, but after a vain struggle to find subjects or revenues, went back to Namur.
Later life, death and canonization
The seven years of life that remained to her were spent in forming her daughters to solid piety and the interior spirit, of which she was herself the model. Msgr. De Broglie, the bishop of Ghent, said of her that she saved more souls by her inner life of union with God than by her outward apostolate. In the space of twelve years (1804–1816) Mother Julie founded fifteen convents, made one hundred and twenty journeys, many of them long and toilsome, and carried on a close correspondence with her spiritual daughters. Hundreds of these letters are preserved in the motherhouse. In 1815 Belgium was the battlefield of the Napoleonic wars, and the mother-general suffered great anxiety, as several of her convents were in the path of the armies, but they escaped injury. In January 1816, she took ill. She died on 8 April 1816, at the motherhouse of her institute, Namur, Belgium, aged 64.Posthumous
The process of her canonization was begun in 1881. She was beatified on 13 May 1906 by Pope Pius X and canonized in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. Saint Julie was best known for her charity.References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Julie Billiart". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
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Today's Snippet I: Namur, Belgium
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| Namur Belgium |
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and (since 1986) of Wallonia.
Namur stands at the confluence of the Sambre and Meuse
rivers and straddles three different regions - Hesbaye to the north,
Condroz to the south-east and Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse to the south-west.
The language spoken is French.
The City of Namur includes the old communes
of Beez, Belgrade, Saint-Servais, Saint-Marc, Bouge, Champion,
Daussoulx, Flawinne, Malonne, Suarlée, Temploux, Vedrin, Boninne,
Cognelée, Gelbressée, Marche-les-Dames, Dave, Jambes, Naninne, Wépion, Wierde, Erpent, Lives-sur-Meuse, and Loyers.
History
The town began as an important trading settlement in Celtic times, straddling east-west and north-south trade routes across the Ardennes. The Romans established a presence after Julius Caesar defeated the local Aduatuci tribe.
Namur came to prominence during the early Middle Ages when the Merovingians built a castle or citadel on the rocky spur overlooking the town at the confluence of the two rivers. In the 10th century, it became a county
in its own right. The town developed somewhat unevenly, as the counts
of Namur could only build on the north bank of the Meuse - the south
bank was owned by the bishops of Liège
and developed more slowly into the town of Jambes (now effectively a
suburb of Namur). In 1262, Namur fell into the hands of the Count of Flanders, and was purchased by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1421.
After Namur became part of the Spanish Netherlands in the 1640s, its citadel was considerably strengthened. Louis XIV of France invaded in 1692, capturing the town and annexing it to France. His renowned military engineer Vauban rebuilt the citadel. French control was short-lived, as William III of Orange-Nassau captured Namur only three years later in 1695 during the War of the Grand Alliance. Under the Barrier Treaty of 1709, the Dutch gained the right to garrison Namur, although the subsequent Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 gave control of the formerly Spanish Netherlands to the Austrian House of Habsburg. Thus, although the Austrians ruled the town, the citadel was controlled by the Dutch. It was rebuilt again under their tenure.
France invaded the region again in 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars, and again annexed Namur, imposing a repressive regime. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the Congress of Vienna incorporated what is now Belgium into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Belgium broke away from the Netherlands in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution, and Namur continued to be a major garrison town under the new government. The citadel was rebuilt yet again in 1887.
Namur was a major target of the German invasion of Belgium
in 1914, which sought to use the Meuse valley as a route into France.
Despite being billed as virtually impregnable, the citadel fell after
only three days' fighting and the town was occupied by the Germans for
the rest of the war. Namur fared little better in World War II; it was in the front lines of both the Battle of the Ardennes in 1940 and the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. The town suffered heavy damage in both wars.
Namur continued to host the Belgian Army's paratroopers until their departure in 1977.
Culture and sights
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| St Aubin's Cathedral is the only academic Late Baroque cathedral in Belgium |
Namur has taken on a new role as the capital of the federal region of
Wallonia. Its location at the head of the Ardennes has also made it a
popular tourist centre, with a casino located in its southern district on the left bank of the Meuse.
The town's most prominent sight is the citadel, now demilitarised and
open to the public. Namur also has a distinctive 18th century cathedral dedicated to Saint Aubain and a belfry classified by UNESCO as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France which are listed as a World Heritage Site.[2]
St Aubin's Cathedral, the only cathedral in Belgium in academic Late Baroque style. It was the only church built in the Low Countries as a cathedral after 1559, when most of the dioceses of the Netherlands were reorganized. It is classified as part of Wallonia's Major Heritage by the Walloon Region. In the interior, the richly ornamented frieze, carved with swags of fruit and flowers between the Corinthian capitals runs in an unbroken band entirely round the church. All colour is avoided, replaced by architectural enrichments and the bas-reliefs in the pendentives of the dome. The interior contains some pieces of art, like paintings by Antoon van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens and Nicolaï, a student of Rubens. The is also an old, romanesque baptismal font. In the cathedral a marble plaque near the high altar conceals a casket containing the heart of Don Juan of Austria, Habsburg governor of the Spanish Netherlands, who died in 1578; his body lies in the Escorial near Madrid. The cathedral strikes the observer as an unexpectedly Italian
statement in this northern city; in fact it was built to designs of the Ticinese architect Gaetano Matteo Pisoni in 1751 and 1767.
A tower of the former Romanesque church dated from the 13th century
that stood on the site has survived and is located at the west end of
the church. In 1908, a Belgian architect, Charles Ménart used the cathedral as inspiration for a church he designed St Aloysius Church in Glasgow.
The Couvent des Soeurs de Notre-Dame contains masterpieces of Mosan art by Hugo d'Oignies. Elsewhere there is an archeological museum and a museum dedicated to Félicien Rops.
An odd Namurois custom is the annual Combat de l'Échasse d'Or (Fight for the Golden Stilt), held on the third Sunday in September. Two teams, the Mélans and the Avresses, dress in medieval clothes while standing on stilts and do battle in one of the town's principal squares.
Since 1986 Namur has been home to the Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film.[3] A jazz (Nam'in'Jazz) and a rock (Verdur Rock) festivals also take place yearly in Namur.
The local football team is named Union Royale Namur.
The local baseball team is named Namur Angels.
Sights near Namur include Maredsous Abbey, Floreffe Abbey, and Annevoie Castle with its surrounding Jardins d'Annevoie.:
Maredsous Abbey
Maredsous Abbey is a Benedictine monastery at Denée near Namur in Belgium. It is a founding member of the Annunciation Congregation of the Benedictine Confederation.
It was founded on 15 November 1872 by Beuron Abbey in Germany, the founder of many religious houses, at the instigation of Hildebrand de Hemptinne, a Belgian monk at Beuron and later abbot of Maredsous.
The foundation was supported financially by the Desclée family, who paid for the design and construction of the spectacular buildings, which are the masterwork of the architect Jean-Baptiste de Béthune (1831–1894), leader of the neo-gothic style in Belgium. The overall plan is based on the 13th century Cistercian abbey of Villers at Villers-la-Ville in Walloon Brabant. The frescos however were undertaken by the art school
of the mother-house at Beuron, much against the will of Béthune and
Desclée, who dismissed the Beuron style as "Assyrian-Bavarian".
Construction was finished in 1892.
School of art
The idea of an art school, inspired by that at the mother house, led to the foundation of the School of Applied Arts and Crafts, also known as the St. Joseph School.
There was a difference of opinion as to whether it should serve more as
a place for training poor children as carpenters, blacksmiths, plumbers
and cobblers, or whether it should function more as a centre of fine
arts and crafts. It was the latter view that prevailed when the school
opened in 1903 under the leadership of Father Pascal Rox, and in due
course the production began of neo-gothic works of high quality
(vestments, pieces of silver, bindings and so on) destined mostly for
the abbey itself. The school's activities were curtailed by World War I
and it was almost closed down in 1919, but it survived by widening its
remit to undertaking paid work in a more modern style for outside
customers. From 1939 onwards, the emphasis changed more explicitly
towards the training of artists rather than skilled craftsmen. In 1964,
after establishing an international reputation, the school merged with
the Namur School of Crafts to form the I.A.T.A. (Technical Institute of
Arts and Crafts).
Products
Maredsous cheese
Maredsous Abbey is also known for the production of Maredsous cheese. It is a loaf-shaped cheese made from cow's milk. The cheese is lightly pressed, then washed in brine to create the firm, orange crust and pungent aroma.
The abbey currently makes five varieties: Maredsous Tradition,
Mi-Vieux (half old), Fumé (smoked), Fondu (fondue), Frais (the fresh
cheese), Light, and Fagotin.
This semi-soft cheese is very popular throughout continental Europe.
Served in tubs and individually packaged triangles in cardboard wheels,
it has been imitated in the United States by Laughing Cow, a French branded cheese called La Vache Qui Rit. It is not imported to the US.
Maredsous beer
In 1963, Moortgat began brewing its Maredsous line of abbey beers, under license of the monks of Maredsous Abbey.
There are currently three beers offered under the Maredsous name: Maredsous Blonde (blonde ale, 6% ABV), Maredsous Brune (dubbel, 8% ABV), and Maredsous Triple (trippel, 10% ABV).
Blessed Columba Marmion
The Blessed Columba Marmion (1858–1923) was abbot here between 1909 and 1923, and is buried in the abbey church.Floreffe Abbey
Floreffe Abbey is a former Premonstratensian monastery, the second of the order to be founded, situated on the Sambre at Floreffe, about 11 km southwest of Namur, Belgium
.
When Norbert of Xanten, founder of the Premonstratensian Order, was returning from Cologne in the year after its foundation with relics for his new church at Prémontré,
Godfrey, Count of Namur, and his wife Ermensendis received him in their
castle at Namur. He made such an impression on them that they asked him
to found a house at Floreffe
nearby. The charter by which they made over a church and house to
Norbert and his order is dated 27 November 1121, so that Floreffe is,
chronologically speaking, the second abbey of the order. Norbert laid
the foundations of the church, which was called Salve ("Save"); the abbey was named Flos Mariae (the "Flower of Mary").
The chronicles of the abbey relate that while celebrating mass at
Floreffe, Saint Norbert saw a drop of blood issuing from the sacred host
onto the paten. Distrusting his own eyes, he said to the deacon who
assisted him: "Brother, do you see what I see?" "Yes, Father" answered
the deacon, "I see a drop of blood which gives out a brilliant light".
The altar stone on which the saint celebrated mass is still preserved at
Floreffe.
Saint Norbert made Richard, one of his first disciples, the first abbot. The second abbot, Almaric, was commissioned by Pope Innocent II to preach the gospel in Palestine.
Accompanied by a band of chosen religious of Floreffe, he journeyed to
the Holy Land and founded the abbey of St. Habacuc (1137). Philip, Count
of Namur, gave to Weric, the sixth abbot, a large piece of the True Cross which he had received from his brother Baldwin, Emperor of Constantinople.
The chronicles record that twice, namely in 1204 and 1254, blood flowed from this relic on the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross,
the miracle being witnessed by the religious and by a large crowd of
people. At the suppression of Floreffe Abbey, the relic was removed to a
place of safety. When, years later, the Norbertine canons, who had been
expelled from France, bought an old Augustinian monastery at Bois-Seigneur-Isaac, it was restored to them. Floreffe Abbey founded a number of other religious houses, including the abbeys of Postel and Leffe.
Louis de Fromantau, elected in 1791, was the fifty-fifth and last abbot of Floreffe. When the French Republican
army invaded Belgium the religious were expelled, and the abbey with
all its possessions was confiscated. Put up for sale in 1797, it was
bought back for the abbot and his community by Canon Richald
masquerading as a Republican. After the Concordat of 1801
the abbot and a few of the monks returned to the abbey, but the
difficulties were so great that after the death of the last of them the
abbey became the property of the Bishop of Namur, who set up a seminary here.
The seminary has remained in operation to the present day. Much of
the earlier buildings survives and the authorities of the seminary
welcome visitors.
Floreffe Beer
The Lefebvre Brewery in Quenast, Wallonia, Belgium, was founded in 1876 by Jules Lefebvre. It produces a range of beers including Barbar, an 8% abv strong pale ale containing honey, and the Floreffe brand of abbey beers. The company produces a wide range of brands, including:
- Hopus, an 8.3% abv strong pale ale.
- Barbar, an 8% abv strong pale ale containing honey.
The Abbey of Floreffe was founded in 1121. In approximately 1250, a Mill-brewery was built within the Abbey. Upon the arrival of the French Revolution in 1794, the Abbey was abandoned by the monks. In 1960 the brewery was restored and run by the commercial brewery Het Anker brewery in Mechelen. In 1983, the Lefebvre Brewery took over production. The Floreffe range: Blonde, Double, Floreffe Triple and Prima Melior.
References
- Population per municipality on 1 January 2011 (XLS; 322 KB)
- "Belfries of Belgium and France - UNESCO World Heritage Centre". whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
- 22ème Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur retrieved May 14, 2007. (French language)
- (French) Jean-Pol Hiernaux : Namur, capitale de la Wallonie, in Encyclopédie du Mouvement wallon, Tome II, Charleroi, Institut Jules Destrée, 2000, ISBN 2-87035-019-8 (or 2d ed., CD-ROM, 2003, ISBN 2-87035-028-7)
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Today's Snippet II: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are a Roman Catholic religious institute of religious sisters, dedicated to providing education to the poor.
The institute was founded in Amiens in 1803, but the opposition of the local bishop to missions outside his diocese led to the moving of headquarters to then French Namur
in 1809, from which it spread to become a worldwide organization. The
Sisters now have foundations in five continents and in 20 countries.
Foundation
Founded in 1804 at Amiens, France, by St. Julie Billiart
and Marie-Louise-Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Countess of Gézaincourt,
whose name as a Sister was Mother St. Joseph. Mlle Blin de Bourdon, who
had received spiritual guidance from Julie for many years, offered to
defray the immediate expenses of founding the Congregation.
At Amiens, August 5, 1803, they took a house in Rue Neuve. In the chapel of this house, at Mass on February 2, 1804, the two foundresses and their postulant, Catherine Duchatel of Reims, made or renewed their vow of chastity, to which they added that of devoting themselves to the Christian education of girls,
further proposing to train religious teachers who should go wherever
their services were requested. Victoire Leleu (Sister Anastasie) and
Justine Garçon (Sister St. John) joined the institute this year and with
the foundresses, made their vows of religion October 15, 1804. The Fathers of the Faith who were giving missions in Amiens sent to the five sisters women and girls to be prepared for the sacraments. St. Julie was successful and on the invitation of the missioners continued to assist them in the neighboring towns.
Returning to Amiens, the foundress taught the young sisters the ways
of the spiritual life. To attain the double end of the institute, they
found teachers, among whom were Fathers Varin, Enfantin and Thomas, the
last-named a former professor in the Sorbonne, and Mother St. Joseph Blin, to train the novices and sisters.
The first regular schools of the Sisters of Notre-Dame were opened in
August, 1806. Pupils flocked into the class-rooms at once. The urgent
need of Christian education among all classes of society in France at
that time, led the foundresses to modify their original plan of teaching
only the poor and to open schools for the children of the rich also. A
unique feature of St. Julie's educational system was to use revenue from
the Institute's academies to defray expenses at the free schools.
The community lived under a provisional rule, based upon that of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, drawn up by Mother Julie and Father Varin, which was approved in 1805 by Msgr. Jean-François Demandolx, Bishop of Amiens.
The necessary recognition was accorded on March 10, 1807. A more
permanent Rule was adopted in 1818 and it was the basis for the various
versions of the Rule until 1968. At that time a total revision occurred
guided by changes at the second Vatican Council. The most recent update
occurred in 1984.
Expansion
The first branch house was established at St. Nicholas, near Ghent.
St. Nicholas as well as Mother Julie's five other foundations in
France, were all temporary. Later and permanent foundations were made in
Belgium: Namur, 1807, which became the mother-house in 1809; Jumet, 1808; St. Hubert, 1809; Ghent, 1810; Zele, 1811; Gembloux and Andenes, 1813; Fleurus, 1814; and all arrangements for Liège and Dinant, though the communities took possession of these convents only after 1816.
Mother St. Joseph Blin de Bourdon, the co-foundress, was elected Superior General
in succession to Saint Julie. During her generalate the institute
passed through the most critical period of its existence, owing to the
persecution of religious institutes by William of Orange-Nassau, King of the Netherlands. To compel them to remain in statu quo, to hold diplomas obtained only after rigid examinations in Dutch and French by state officials, to furnish almost endless accounts and writings regarding convents, schools,
finances, and subjects, were some of the measures adopted to harass and
destroy all teaching institutes; but Mother St. Joseph's tact,
clear-sightedness, and zeal for souls saved the institute. During his
tour in 1829, King William visited the establishment at Namur and was so
pleased that he created the mother-general a Dutch subject. The
Revolution of 1830 and the assumption of the crown of Belgium by Léopold of Saxe-Gotha put an end to the petty persecutions of religious. Mother St. Joseph founded houses at Thuin, 1817; Namur Orphanage, 1823; Hospital St. Jacques, 1823; Verviers, 1827; Hospital d'Harscamp and Bastogne, 1836, the latter having been for the past thirty years a state normal school; Philippeville,
1837. The most important work of her generalate was the compiling and
collating the Rules and Constitution of the Sisters of Notre Dame. She
has left an explanation of the rule; the particular rule of each office;
the Directory and Customs. She had preserved a faithful record of all
that Mother Julie had said or written on these points. She also drew up a
system of instruction based upon that of St. John Baptist de La Salle.
Pope Paul VI canonized St. Julie Billiart in 1969.
Mother St. Joseph was twice re-elected superior-general, the term
being at first fixed at ten years. To give greater stability to the
government of the institute, a general chapter was convoked which should
settle by ballot the question of life-tenure of the office of
superior-general. The assembly unanimously voted in the affirmative. In
1819 a foundation was asked for the Netherlands
by Rev. F. Wolf, S.J., but, on account of political difficulties,
Mother St. Joseph could not grant it. She offered, instead, to train
aspirants to the religious life. Accordingly, two came to Namur, passed
their probation, made their vows, and returned to labor in their own
country. This is the origin of the congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame of Amersfoort,
whose mother-house is at Amersfoort, Netherlands. Later in 1850, the
political situation in Europe necessitated that the Amersfoort Sisters
go to Coesfeld, Germany to train two young women, Hilligonde Wohlbring,
Elizabeth Kuhling,and others according to the rule of St. Julie. The Sisters of Notre Dame of Coesfeld spread to America and have large schools in Cleveland, Ohio, Covington, Kentucky, Toledo, Ohio, Thousand Oaks, California.
Mother St. Joseph died on February 9, 1838.
The third superior-general was Mother Ignatius (Therese-Josephine Goethals,
b. 1800; d. 1842). Her services during the persecution under King
William were invaluable. Excessive toil, however, told upon her later,
and she died in the fourth year of her generalate; but not before she
had sent the first colony of sisters to America in 1840. She was succeeded by Mother Marie Therese, who, on account of
ill-health, resigned her office the following year and Mother
Constantine (Marie-Jeanne-Joseph-Collin,
b. 1802, d. 1875) was elected. She governed the institute for
thirty-three years, her term of office being marked by the papal
approbation of the Rule in 1844, the first mission to England in 1845, to California in 1851, to Guatemala in 1859. Under Mother Aloysie (Therese-Joseph Mainy,
b. 1817, d. 1888), fifth superior-general, the processes for the
canonization of Mother Julie and Mother St. Joseph were begun in 1881;
twenty houses of the institute were established in Belgium, England, and
America. Under her successor, Mother Aimee de Jesus (Elodie Dullaert, b. 1825, d. 1907), the Sisters of Notre Dame, at the request of Léopold II of Belgium, took charge of the girls' schools in the Jesuit missions of the Congo Free State,
where three houses were established. She also sent from England a
community of eight sisters for the girls' schools in the Jesuit mission of Zambezi, Mashonaland. An academy and free school were opened later at Kronstadt, Orange River Colony, South Africa. Mother Aimee de Jesus was created by the King of Belgium a Knight of the Order of Leopold,
and Sister Ignatia was accorded a similar honor after fourteen years of
labor in the Congo. During this generalate Mother Julie Billiart was
solemnly beatified by Pius X, May 13, 1906. Mother Marie Aloysie was elected superior general in January, 1908.
The current Congregational Leader is Sister Teresita Weind, elected in 2008.
The first foundation in America was made at Cincinnati, Ohio, at the request of the Right Reverend John B. Purcell, then Bishop and later the first Archbishop of Cincinnati.
Sister Louise de Gonzague was appointed superior of the eight sisters
who came here for this purpose. After firmly establishing the institute
in America, failing health caused her recall to Namur, where she worked
until her death in 1866. Upon Sister Louise, another of the original
group, devolved in 1845 the charges of superior not only of the house of
Cincinnati, but also of the others then founded or to be founded east
of the Rocky Mountains. Every year the sisters were asked for in some
part of the country and the mother-house of Namur gave generously of
Sisters and funds until the convents in America were able to supply
their own needs.
Sisters of Notre Dame founded fifteen houses, including Trinity College, Washington, D.C.,
and a provincial house and novitiate at Cincinnati, Ohio. Sister Agnes
Mary (b. 1840, d. 1910) made three foundations and built the first
chapel dedicated to Blessed Mother Julie in America, a beautiful Gothic
structure in stone, at Moylan, Pennsylvania. Over the decades many houses have been founded in multiple states.
In 1846 a colony of eight sisters left Namur under the care of Right Reverend F.N. Blanchet and Father de Smet, S.J., to labor among the Indians of the Oregon mission. Five years later these sisters, at the request of the Right Reverend Joseph S. Alemany, Archbishop of San Francisco, were transferred to San Jose, California.
The first establishment on the Pacific Coast was followed in course of
time by ten others, which formed a separate province from Cincinnati.
For thirty years it was under the wise care of Sister Marie Cornélia.
In 1851 two foundations were made in Guatemala, Central America,
under government auspices and with such an outburst of welcome and
esteem from the people as reads like a romance. In less than twenty
years, the forty-one Sisters of Notre Dame were exiled.
It was through the Redemptorists that the Sisters of Notre Dame first
went to England. Father de Buggenoms, a Belgian, superior of a small
mission at Falmouth,
felt the urgent need of schools for the poor Catholic children. He
asked and obtained from the Superior of the Sisters of Notre Dame at
Namur a community of six sisters, and with these he opened a small
school at Penryn in Cornwall.
It continued only three years, however, as the place afforded no means
of subsistence to a religious house. The Redemptorists having
established a second English mission at Clapham, near London,
and having asked again for Sisters of Notre Dame for a school, the
community of Penryn was transferred there in 1848. Through the
initiative of Father Buggenoms the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, a community in the Diocese of Northampton, about fifty in number, were affiliated in 1852 to the Institute of Notre Dame, with the consent of the Bishop of Namur and Bishop of Northampton.
Scarcely had the Hierarchy been re-established in England when the
Government offered education to the Catholic poor; the Sisters of Notre
Dame devoted themselves earnestly to this work, under the guidance of
Sister Mary of St. Francis (Hon. Laura M. Petre), who was to the
congregation in England what Mother St. Joseph was to the whole
institute. Before her death (June 24, 1886) eighteen houses had been
founded in England. By 1910 there were twenty-one.
Among these English houses is the Training College for Catholic School-Mistresses at Mount Pleasant, Liverpool,
the direction of which was confided to the Sisters of Notre Dame by the
Government in 1856. The nuns which governed the Training College
resided in what is now known as Notre Dame Catholic College on Everton Valley.
At the request of the Scottish Education Department, the Sisters of Notre Dame opened the Dowanhill Training College for Catholic School-Mistresses at Glasgow in 1895. A second convent in Scotland opened at Dumbarton in 1910.
Following the Second Vatican Council, and with ecclesiastical
approval, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur updated their Constitutions
in 1984. Their charism now, as then, is to make known God's goodness.
In 1992, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur established Notre Dame Mission Volunteers - AmeriCorps as a non-profit volunteer organization. [1]
References
- About Us Notre Dame Mission Volunteers website. Retrieved 4/8/13.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
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Today's Snippet III: Book 3, Chapter 1
The Mystical City of God,The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God
Contains the most Exquisite Preparations of the
Almighty for the Incarnation of the Word in Mary most Holy; the Circumstances
Accompanying this Mystery; the Exalted State, in which the
Blessed Mother was placed; her Visit to Saint Elisabeth and the Sanctification of the Baptist: Her Return to Nazareth
and a Memorable Battle of the Virgin with Lucifer
THE NOVENA BEFORE THE INCARNATION.
In order that her most faultless life might be to all an example of
the
highest holiness, the Most High had placed upon our Queen and Mistress
the
duties of a spouse of saint Joseph which was a position requiring more
interaction with her neighbors. The heavenly Mistress, finding Herself
in this
new estate, was filled with such exalted thoughts and sentiments in the
fulfillment of her duties, and ordered all the activities of her life
with such
wisdom, that She was an object of admirable emulation to the angelic
spirits and
an unparalleled example for men. Few knew Her and still fewer had
interaction
with Her: but these happy ones were so filled with that celestial
influence of
Mary, that with a wonderful joy and with unwonted flights of spirit they
sought
to express and manifest the light, which illumined their hearts and
which they
knew came from Her. The most prudent Queen was not unaware of these
operations
of the Most High but neither was it yet time, nor would her most
profound
humility as yet consent to their becoming known to the world. She
continually
besought the Lord to hide them from men, to make all the favors of his
right
hand redound solely to his praise, and to permit Her to be ignored and
despised
by all the mortals, in as far as his infinite goodness would not be
offended
thereby.
In such fruitful occupations and in augmenting the gifts and graces from
which all this good proceeded, our Queen, the Spouse of Joseph, busied Herself
during the six months and seventeen days, which intervened between her espousal
and the Incarnation of the Word. I cannot pretend to refer even briefly to her
great heroic acts of all the virtues, interior and exterior, to all her deeds of
charity, humility, religion, and all her works of mercy, the alms and
benefactions; for this exceeds the power of the pen. The best I can do is to sum
up and say: that the Most High found in most holy Mary the fulfillment of all
his pleasure and of his wishes, as far as is possible in the correspondence of a
creature with its Creator. By her sanctity and merits God felt Himself as it
were obliged, and, (according to our way of speaking), compelled, to hasten his
steps and extend the arms of his Omnipotence to bring about the greatest of
wonders conceivable in the world before or after: namely the Incarnation of the
Onlybegotten of the Father in the virginal womb of this Lady.
In order to proceed with a dignity befitting Himself, God prepared most holy
Mary in a singular manner during the nine days immediately preceding this
mystery, and allowed the river of his Divinity to rush impetuously forth (Psalm
45, 5) to inundate this City of God with its floods. He communicated such great
graces and gifts and favors, that I am struck dumb by the perception of what has
been made known to me concerning this miracle, and my lowliness is filled with
dread at even the mention of what I understood. For the tongue, the pen, and all
the faculties of a creature fall far below any possibility of revealing such
incomprehensible sacraments. Therefore I wish it to be understood, that all I
say here is only an insignificant shadow of the smallest part of these wonders
and ineffable prodigies, which are not at all to be encompassed by our limited
words, but only by the power divine, which I do not possess.
On the first day of this most blessed novena the heavenly Princess Mary,
after a slight rest, according to the example of her father David and according
to the diurnal order and arrangement laid out for Her by the Lord, left her
couch at midnight (Psalm 118, 62), and, prostrate in the presence of the Most
High, commenced her accustomed prayer and holy exercises.
In this vision our Princess Mary learned most high secrets of the Divinity
and of its perfections, and especially of God's communications ad extra in
the work of creation. She saw that it originated in the goodness and liberality
of God, that creatures were not necessary for supplementing his Divine
existence, nor for his infinite glory, since without them He was glorious
through the interminable eternities before the creation of the world. Many
sacraments and secrets were manifested to our Queen, which neither can nor
should be made known to all; for She alone was the only One (Cant. 6, 8: 7, 6),
the chosen One, selected by the highest King and Lord of creation for these
delights. But as her Highness in this vision perceived this impulse and
inclination of the Divinity to communicate Itself ad extra with a force
greater than that which makes all the elements tend toward their center, and as
She was drawn within the sphere of this divine love, She besought the eternal
Father with heart aflame, that He send his Onlybegotten into the world and give
salvation to men, since in this manner He should satisfy, and, (speaking
humanly), execute the promptings of his Divinity and its perfections.
These petitions of his Spouse were very sweet to the Lord; they were the
scarlet lace, with which She bound and secured his love. And in order to put his
desires into execution He sought first to prepare the tabernacle or temple,
whither He was to descend from the bosom of the eternal Father. He resolved to
furnish his beloved and chosen Mother with a clear knowledge of all his works ad
extra, just as his Omnipotence had made them. On the first day therefore,
and in this same vision, He manifested to Her all that He had made on the first
day of the creation of the world, as it is recorded in Genesis, and She
perceived all with greater clearness and comprehension, than if She had been an
eye-witness; for She knew them first as they are in God, and then as they are in
themselves.
She perceived and understood, how the Lord in the beginning (Gen. 1; 1, 5),
created heaven and earth; in how far and in what way it was void, and how the
darkness was over the face of the abyss; how the spirit of the Lord hovered over
the waters and how, at the divine command, light was made, and what was its
nature; how, after the darkness was divided, it was called night and the light
day, and how thus the first day was made. She knew the size of the earth, its
longitude, latitude and depth, its caverns, hell, limbo and purgatory with their
inhabitants; the countries, climes, the meridians and divisions of the world,
and all its inhabitants and occupants. With the same clearness She knew the
inferior orbs and the empyrean heaven; how the angels were made on the first
day; She was informed of their nature, conditions, diversity, hierarchies,
offices, grades and virtues. The rebellion of the bad angels was revealed to
Her, their fall and the occasion and the cause of that fall, though the Lord
always concealed from Her that which concerned Herself. She understood the
punishment and the effects of sin in the demons, beholding them as they are in
themselves; and at the conclusion of the first day, the Lord showed to Her, how
She too was formed of this lowly earthly material and endowed with the same
nature as all those, who return to the dust: He did not however say, that She
would again return to it; yet He gave Her such a profound knowledge of the
earthly existence, that the great Queen humiliated Herself to the abyss of
nothingness; being without fault. She debased Herself more than all the children
of Adam with all their miseries.
This whole vision and all its effects the Most High arranged in such a way as
to open up in the heart of Mary the deep trenches that were required for the
foundations of the edifice, which He wished to erect in Her: namely so high a
one, that it would reach up to the substantial and hypostatic union of the human
and divine nature. And as the dignity of Mother of God was without limits and to
a certain extent infinite, it was becoming that She should be grounded in a
proportionate humility, such as would be without limits though still within the
bounds of reason itself. Attaining the summit of virtue, this blessed One among
women humiliated Herself to such an extent, that the most holy Trinity was, as
it were, fully paid and satisfied, and (according to our mode of understanding)
constrained to raise Her to the highest position and dignity possible among
creatures and nearest to the Divinity itself. In this highest benevolence his
Majesty spoke and said to Her:
"My Spouse and Dove, great is my desire redeeming man from sin and my
immense kindness is as it were strained in waiting for the time, in which I
shall descend in order to repair the world; ask Me continually during these days
and with great affection for the fulfillment of this desire. Prostrate in my
royal presence let not thy petitions and clamors cease, asking Me that the
Onlybegotten of the Father descend in reality to unite Himself with the human
nature. "Whereupon the heavenly Princess responded and said: "Lord and
God eternal, whose is all the power and wisdom, whose wish none can resist
(Esther 13, 9), who shall hinder thy Omnipotence? Who shall detain the impetuous
current of thy Divinity, so that thy pleasure in conferring this benefit upon
the whole human race remain unfulfilled? If perhaps, 0 my Beloved, I am a
hindrance to such an immeasurable benefit, let me perish before I impede thy
pleasure; this blessing cannot depend upon the merits of any creature;
therefore, my Lord and Master, do not wait, as we might later on merit it so
much the less. The sins of men increase and the offenses against Thee are
multiplied; how shall we merit the very blessing, of which we become daily more
unworthy? In Thee thyself, my Lord, exists the last cause and motive of our
salvation; thy infinite bounty, thy numberless mercies incite Thee, the groans
of thy Prophets and of the Fathers of thy people solicit Thee, the saints sigh
after Thee, the sinners look for Thee and all of them together call out to Thee;
and if I, insignificant wormlet, on account of my ingratitude, am not unworthy
of thy merciful condescension, I venture to beseech Thee, from the bottom of my
heart, to speed thy coming and to hasten thy Redemption for thy greater
glory."
When the Princess of heaven had finished this prayer, She returned to her
ordinary and more natural state; but anxious to fulfill the mandate of the Lord,
She continued during that whole day her petitions for the Incarnation of the
Word and with the deepest humility She repeated the exercises of prostrating
Herself to the ground and praying in the form of a cross. For the Holy Ghost,
who governed Her, had taught Her this posture, by which She so highly pleased
the most blessed Trinity. God saw, in the body of the future Mother of the Word,
as it were the crucified person of Christ and therefore He received this morning
sacrifice of the most pure Virgin as an advance offering of that of his most
holy Son.
On the second day, at the same hour of midnight, the Virgin Mary was visited
in the same way as described in the last chapter. The divine power raised Her up
by the same elevations and illuminings to prepare Her for the visions of the
Divinity. He manifested Himself again in an abstractive manner as on the first
day, and She was shown the works performed on the second day of the creation.
She learnt how and when God divided the waters (Gen. 1, 6), some above and
others below, establishing the firmament, and above it the crystal, known also
as the watery heaven. Her insight penetrated into the greatness, order,
conditions, movements and all the other qualities and conditions of the heavens.
And in the most prudent Virgin this knowledge did not lay idle, nor remain
sterile; for immediately the most clear light of the Divinity overflowed in Her,
and inflamed and emblazoned Her with admiration, praise and love of the goodness
and power of God. Being transformed as it were with a godlike excellence, She
produced heroic acts of all the virtues, entirely pleasing to his divine
Majesty. And as in the preceding first day God had made Her a participant of his
wisdom, so on this second day, He made Her in corresponding measure a
participant in the divine Omnipotence, and gave Her power over the influences of
the heavens, of the planets and elements, commanding them all to obey Her. Thus
was this great Queen raised to Sovereignty over the sea, the earth, the elements
and the celestial orbs, with all the creatures, which are contained therein.
More and more the Queen of heaven reflected his infinite attributes and
virtues; more and more brilliantly shone forth her beauty under the touch of the
pencil of the divine Wisdom and under the colors and lights added to it from on
high. On the third day She was informed of the works of creation as they
happened on the third day. She learned when and how the waters, which were
beneath the firmament, flowed together in one place, (Gen. 1, 9), disclosing the
dry land, which the Lord called earth, while He called the waters the sea. She
learned in what way the earth brought forth the fresh herbs, and all plants and
fructiferous trees with their seeds, each one according to its kind. She was
taught and She comprehended the greatness of the sea, its depth and its
divisions, its correspondence with the streams and the fountains, that take
their rise from it and flow back into it; the different plants and herbs, the
flowers, trees, roots, fruits and seeds; She perceived how all and each one of
them serve for the use of man. All this our Queen understood and penetrated with
the keenest insight more clearly, distinctly and comprehensibly than Adam or
Solomon. In comparison with Her all those skilled in medicine in the world would
appear but ignorant even after the most thorough studies and largest experience.
The most holy Mary knew all that was hidden from sight, as Wisdom says (Wis. 7,
21); and just as She learned it without any fiction, She also communicates it
without envy. Whatever Solomon says there in the book of Wisdom was realized in
Her with incomparable and eminent perfection.
There is another special favor, which the most holy Mary received for the
benefit of the mortals on the third day and in that vision of the Divinity; for
during this vision God manifested to Her in a special way the desire of his
divine love to come to the aid of men and to raise them up from all their
miseries. In accordance with the knowledge of his infinite mercy and the object
for which it was conceded, the Most High gave to Mary a certain kind of
participation of his own attributes, in order that afterwards, as the Mother and
Advocate of sinners, She might intercede for them. This participation of the
most holy Mary in the love of God and in his inclination to help her, was so
heavenly and powerful that if from that time on the strength of the Lord had not
come to her aid, She would not have been able to bear the impetuosity of her
desire to assist and save mankind. Filled with this love and charity, She would,
if necessary or feasible, have delivered Herself an infinite number of times to
the flames, to the sword and to the most exquisite torments of death for their
salvation. All the torments, sorrows, tribulations, pains, infirmities She would
have accepted and suffered; and She would have considered them a great delight
for the salvation of sinners. Whatever all men have suffered from the beginning
of the world till this hour, and whatever they will suffer till the end, would
have been a small matter for the love of this most merciful Mother. Let
therefore mortals and sinners understand what they owe to most holy Mary.
From that day on, the heavenly Lady continued to be the Mother of kindness
and great mercy, and for two reasons: first, because from that moment She sought
with an especial and anxious desire to communicate without envy the treasures of
grace, which She had comprehended and received; and therefore such an admirable
sweetness grew up in her heart, that She was ready to communicate it to all men
and to shelter them in her heart in order to make them participants of the
divine love, which there was enkindled. Secondly, because this love of most holy
Mary for the salvation of men was one of the principal dispositions required for
conceiving the eternal Word in her virginal womb. It was eminently befitting
that She should be all mercy, kindness, piety and clemency, who was Herself to
conceive and give birth to the Word made man, since He in his mercy, clemency
and love desired to humiliate Himself to the lowliness of our nature, and wished
to be born of Her in order to suffer for men. It is said: like begets like: just
as the water partakes of the qualities of the minerals through which it flows;
and although the birth of Christ originated in the Divinity, yet it also partook
of the conditions of the Mother as far as was possible. She therefore would not
have been suitable for concurrence with the Holy Ghost in this conception, in
which only the activity of the man was wanting, if She had not been endowed with
perfections corresponding to those of the humanity of Christ.
The Most High manifested to Her in this vision, by most special
enlightenments, the new Law of grace which the Redeemer of the world was to
establish, the Sacraments contained in it, the end for which He would leave them
in his new Church of the Gospel, the gifts and blessings prepared for men, and
his desire, that all should be saved and that all should reap the fruit of the
Redemption. And so great was the wisdom, which the most holy Mary drew from
these visions, wherein She was taught by the highest Teacher and the Corrector
of the wise (Wis. 7, 15), that, if by any means man or angel could describe it,
more books would have to be written of this science of our Lady than all those
which have been composed in this world concerning all the arts and sciences, and
all the inventions of men. And no wonder her science was greater than that of
all other men: for into the heart and mind of our Princess was emptied and
exhausted the ocean of the Divinity, which the sins and the evil disposition of
the creatures had confined, repressed and circumscribed. It was concealed within
its own source until the proper time, which was no other than the hour in which
She was chosen as Mother of the Onlybegotten of the Father.
Joined with the sweetness of this divine science, our Queen felt a loving,
yet piercing sorrow, which this very science continued to renew. She perceived
in the Most High the ineffable treasures of grace and blessings, which He had
prepared for mortals and She saw the weight of the Divinity as it were inclined
toward the desire of seeing all men enjoy them eternally. At the same time She
saw and considered the wicked disposition of the world, and how blindly mortals
impeded the flow of these treasures and deprived themselves of participation of
the Divinity. From this resulted a new kind of martyrdom full of grief for the
perdition of men and of the desire of remedying such lamentable loss. This
caused Her to offer up the most exalted prayers, petitions, sacrifices,
humiliations and heroic acts of love of God and of men, in order that no one, if
possible, should henceforth damn himself, and that all should recognize their
Creator, and Redeemer, confess Him, adore and love Him. All this took place in
this very vision; but as these petitions were of the same kind as those already
described, I do not expatiate on them here.
In conjunction therewith the Lord showed Her also the works of creation
performed on the fourth day (Gen. 1, 14-17). The heavenly Princess Mary learned
how and when the luminaries of heaven were formed in the firmament for dividing
day and night and for indicating the seasons, the days and the years; how for
this purpose was created the great light of heaven, the sun, presiding as the
Lord of the day, and joined with it, the moon, the lesser light, which reigns
over the darkness of the night. In like manner were formed the stars of the
eighth heaven, in order that they might gladden the night with their brilliance
and preside with their various influences over both the day and the night. She
understood what was the material substance of these luminous orbs, their form,
their size, their properties, their various movements and the uniformity as well
as the inequality of the planets. She knew the number of the stars, and all
their influences exerted upon the earth, both in regard to the living and the
lifeless creatures; the effects and changes, which they cause in them by these
influences.
The fifth day of the novena, which the most blessed Trinity celebrated in the
temple of most holy Mary, in order that the eternal Word might assume human
shape in Her, had arrived. Just as in the preceding days She was elevated to an
abstractive vision of the Divinity, and, as the veil fell more and more from the
secrets of the infinite wisdom, She discovered new mysteries also during this
day. For the preparations and enlightenments emitted ever stronger rays of light
and divine graces, which flashed into her most holy soul and emptied the
treasures of infinity into her faculties, assimilating and transforming the
heavenly Lady more and more to a likeness of her God in order to make Her worthy
of being his Mother.
The Princess Mary, through these words of the Most High, was instructed in
the great mysteries regarding the number of the predestined and the reprobate
and also regarding the hindrances and impediments by which sinful men delayed
the coming of the eternal Word as man into the world. Having present before
Herself the vision both of the infinite bounty and equity of the Creator and of
the measureless iniquity and malice of men, the most prudent Mistress, inflamed
by the fire of divine love, spoke to his Majesty and said:
"My Lord and infinite God of wisdom and incomprehensible sanctity, what
mystery is this, which Thou hast manifested to me? Without measure are the
misdeeds of men, so that only thy wisdom can comprehend them. But can all these
and many more, perhaps, extinguish thy bounty and love, or vie with them? No, my
Lord and Master, it must not be so; the malice of men must not detain thy mercy.
I am the most useless of all the human race; yet on its behalf I remind Thee of
thy fidelity. Infallibly true it is, that heaven and earth will come to naught,
before thy word can fail (Is. 51, 6), and it is also true, that Thou hast many
times given thy word through the holy Prophets; and Thou hast promised them by
word of mouth, a Redeemer and our sa1vation. How then, my God, can these
promises fail of fulfillment without conflicting with thy infinite wisdom; or
how can man be deceived without conflicting with thy goodness? In order to
induce Thee to fulfill thy promise and to secure them eternal felicity through
thy incarnate Word, I have nothing to offer on the part of mortals nor can any
creature oblige Thee; and if this blessing could be merited, then thy infinite
and bounteous clemency would not thereby be glorified. Only through thy own Self
can this obligation be imposed upon Thee, for only in God can a sufficient
reason be found for his becoming man: in Thee alone was the reason and the
motive for our creation, and therefore in Thee alone also the reason for our
reparation after our fall. Do not seek, my God and most high King, for merits,
nor for a greater motive, than thy own mercy and the exaltation of thy holy
name.
"It is true, my Spouse," answered the Most High, "that on
account of my goodness I bound Myself to the promise of vesting Myself in human
nature and of dwelling among them, and that no one could merit in my sight such
a promise; but the ungrateful behavior of men, so abominable in my sight and in
my justice, does not merit the execution of this promise.
It is impossible to describe the hidden secrets, which most holy Mary then
saw in the Lord; for She perceived in Him all the creatures of the past, present
and the future, and the position of each one in creation, the good and bad
actions and the final ending of each one. If She had not been strengthened, She
could not have preserved her life under the effects and feelings caused by the
knowledge and insight into these hidden sacraments and mysteries. But as his
Majesty, in these new miracles and blessings had such high ends in view, He was
not sparing but most liberal with the beloved One, whom He had chosen as his
Mother. And as our Queen derived this science from the bosom of God itself, She
participated also in the fire of his eternal Charity, which inflamed Her with
the love of God and the neighbor. Therefore, continuing her intercession, She
said:
"Lord and eternal God, invisible and immortal, I confess thy justice, I
magnify thy works, I adore thy infinite Essence and hold in reverence thy
judgments. My heart melts within me with tenderest affection, when I perceive
thy unlimited bounty toward men and their dark ingratitude and grossness toward
Thee. For all of them, 0 my God, Thou seekest eternal life; but there are few
who are thankful for this inestimable benefit, and many who will perish by their
malice. If on this account, 0 my eternal Good, Thou relinquishest thy
undertaking, we mortals are lost; but while Thou, in thy divine foreknowledge,
perceivest the sins and the malice of men who offend Thee so much, Thou also
foreseest thy Onlybegotten made man and his works of infinite price and value in
thy sight; and these will counterbalance and exceed the malice of sin beyond all
comparison.
At this prayer of most pure Mary, the eternal Father (in our way of speaking)
represented to Himself his Onlybegotten as borne in the virginal womb of this
great Queen; and He was moved by her humble and loving petitions. His apparent
hesitation was merely a device of his tender love in order to enjoy so much the
longer the voice of his Beloved, causing her sweet lips to distil most sweet
honey (Cant. 4, 11) and her emissions to be like those of paradise (Cant. 4,
13). And to draw out still more this loving contention, the Lord answered Her:
"My sweetest Spouse and chosen Dove, great is that which thou askest of Me
and little is that which obliges Me on the part of men; how then shall such a
singular blessing be conferred on those unworthy ones? Leave Me, my friend, to
treat them according to their evil deserts." Our powerful and kind Advocate
responded: "No, my Master, I will not desist from my importunity; if much I
ask, I ask it of Thee, who are rich in mercies, powerful in action, true in thy
words. My father David said of Thee and of the eternal Word: "The Lord hath
sworn, and He will not repent: thou art a priest forever according to the order
of Melchisedech" (Ps. 109, 4). Let then that Priest come, who is at the
same time to be the sacrifice for our rescue; let Him come, since Thou canst not
repent of thy promise; for Thou dost not promise in ignorance. Let me be
clothed.
In this contest (just as it once happened to Jacob) our Lady and Queen was
asked, what was her name; and She said: "I am a daughter of Adam, formed by
thy hands from the insignificant dust." And the Most High answered:
"Henceforth Thou shalt be called: Chosen for the Mother of the
Onlybegotten." But the latter part of this name was heard only by the
courtiers of heaven, while to Her it was as yet hidden until the proper time.
She therefore heard only the word "Chosen." Having thus protracted
this amorous contention according to the disposition of his divine wisdom and as
far as served to inflame the heart of this elected One, the whole blessed
Trinity gave to Mary, our most pure Queen, the explicit promise, that They would
now send into the world the eternal Word made man. Filled with incomparable joy
and exultation by this fiat, She asked and received the benediction of the Most
High. Thus this strong Woman issued forth from the contest with God more
victorious than Jacob; for She came out rich, strong and laden with spoils, and
the One that was wounded and weakened (to speak in our way) was God himself; for
He was drawn by the love of this Lady to clothe Himself in that sacred bridal
chamber of her womb with the weakness of our passible nature. He disguised and
enveloped the strength of his Divinity, so as to conquer in allowing Himself to
be conquered, and in order to give us life by his death. Let the mortals see and
acknowledge, how most holy Mary, next to her most blessed Son, is the cause of
their salvation.
During this vision were also revealed to this great Queen the works of the
fifth day of the creation in the manner in which they happened; She saw how, by
the force of the divine command, were engendered and produced in the waters
beneath the firmament, the imperfect reptiles, which creep upon the earth, the
winged animals that course through the air, and the finny tribes that glide
through the watery regions. Of all these creatures She knew the beginnings, the
substance, the form and figure according to their kinds; She knew all the
species of the animals that inhabit the fields and woods, their conditions,
peculiarities, their uses and connections; She knew the birds of heaven (for so
we call the atmosphere), with the varied forms of each kind, their ornaments,
feathers, their lightness; the innumerable fishes of the seas and the rivers,
the differences between the whales, their forms, composition and qualities,
their caverns and the foods furnished them by the sea, the ends which they
serve, the use to which they can be put in the world. And his Majesty especially
commanded all these hosts of creatures to recognize and obey most holy Mary,
giving Her the power to command all of them, as it happened on many occasions to
be mentioned later on. Therewith She issued from the trance of this day and She
occupied Herself during the rest of it in the exercise and petitions, which the
Most High had pointed out to Her.
Having seen God in this vision She was immediately shown the works on the
sixth day of the creation of the world. She witnessed, as if She Herself had
been present, how at the command of the Lord the earth brought forth the living
beings according to their kinds, as Moses says (Gen. 1, 24). Holy Scripture here
refers to the terrestrial animals, which being more perfect than the fishes and
birds in life and activity, are called by a name signifying the more important
part of their nature. She saw and understood all the kinds and species of
animals, which were created on this sixth day, and by what name they were
called: some, beasts of burden, because they serve and assist man, others, wild
beasts, as being more fierce and untamed; others, reptiles, because they do not
raise themselves or very little from the earth. She knew and comprehended the
qualities of all of them: their fury, their strength, the useful purposes which
they serve, and all their distinctions and singularities. Over all these She was
invested with dominion and they were commanded to obey Her. She could without
opposition on their part have trodden upon asps and basilisks, for all would
have meekly borne her heel. Many times did some of these animals show their
subjection to her commands, as when, at the birth of her most Holy Son, the ox
and the ass prostrated themselves and by their breaths warmed the infant God at
the command of his blessed Mother.
After seeing the creation of all the irrational creatures, She became aware,
how the most blessed Trinity, in order to complete and perfect the world, said:
"Let us make man to our image and likeness" (Gen. 1, 26), and how by
virtue of this divine decree the first man was formed of the earth as the first
parent of all the rest. She had a profound insight into the harmonious
composition of the human body and soul and of their faculties, of the creation
and infusion of the soul into the body and of its intimate union with the body.
Of the structure of the human body and all its parts, She obtained a deep
knowledge: She was informed of the number of the bones, veins, arteries, nerves
and ligatures; of the concourse of humors to compose the befitting temperaments,
the faculties of nutrition, growth and locomotion; She learned in what manner
the disturbances or changes in this harmony caused the sicknesses, and how these
can he cured. All this the most prudent Virgin understood and comprehended
without the least error, better than all the wise men of the world and better
than even the angels.
The Lord manifested to Her also the happy state of original justice, in which
He placed the first parents Adam and Eve; She understood their condition, beauty
and perfection of innocence and grace; and for how short a time they persevered
in it. She perceived how they were tempted and overcome by the astuteness of the
serpent (Gen. 2, 51), and what were the consequences of their sin; and how great
were the fury and hate of the demon against the human race. At the vision of all
these things our Queen made great and heroic acts of virtue, highly pleasing to
God. She understood, that She was a daughter of these first parents and that She
descended from a nature so thankless to its Creator. In the remembrance of this
She humiliated Herself in his divine presence, thereby wounding the heart of God
and obliging Him to raise Her above all that is created. She took it upon
Herself to weep for the first sin and for all the rest, that followed from it,
as if She Herself had been guilty of them all. Hence, even at that time, that
first sin might have been called a fortunate fault, which caused tears so
precious in the eyes of the Lord, and which earned us such sureties and pledges
of our Redemption.
The seventh day of this mysterious preparation for the approaching sacrament
arrived, and in the same hour as already mentioned, the heavenly Lady was called
and elevated in spirit, but with this difference, that She was bodily raised by
her holy angels to the empyrean heaven, while in her stead one of them remained
to represent Her in corporeal appearance. Placed into this highest heaven, She
saw the Divinity by abstract vision as in other days; but always with new and
more penetrating light, piercing to new and more profound mysteries, which God
according to his free will can conceal or reveal. Presently She heard a voice
proceeding from the royal throne, which said: "Our Spouse and chosen Dove,
our gracious Friend, who hast been found pleasing in our eyes and hast been
chosen among thousands: We wish to accept thee anew as our Bride, and therefore
We wish to adorn and beautify thee in a manner worthy of our design."
On hearing these words the most Humble among the humble abased and
annihilated Herself in the presence of the Most High more than can be
comprehended by human power. Entirely submissive to the divine pleasure and with
entrancing modesty, She responded: "At thy feet, 0 Lord, lies the dust and
abject worm, ready is thy poor slave for the fulfillment of all thy pleasure in
her. Make use, 0 eternal Good, of this thy insignificant instrument according to
thy desire, and dispose of it with thy right hand." Presently the Most High
commanded two seraphim, of those nearest to his throne and highest in dignity to
attend on this heavenly Virgin. Accompanied by others, they presented themselves
in visible form before the throne, and there surrounded the most holy Mary, who
was more inflamed with divine love than they.
The heavenly Princess, most holy Mary, had now attained such fullness of
grace and beauty and the heart of God was so wounded by her tender affections
and desires (Cant. 4, 9), that He was so to say irresistibly drawn to begin his
flight from the bosom of the eternal Father to the bridal-chamber of her
virginal womb and end the long delay of more than five thousand years.
Nevertheless, since this new wonder was to be executed in the plenitude of his
wisdom and equity, the Lord arranged this event in such a way, that the Princess
of the heavens Herself, being the worthy Mother of the incarnate Word, should at
the same time be also the most powerful Mediatrix of his coming and the Redeemer
of his people much more than Esther was of Israel (Esther ch. 7 and 8). In the
heart of most holy Mary burned the flame, which God himself had enkindled, and
without intermission She prayed for the salvation of the human race. However, as
yet the most humble Lady restrained Herself in modesty, knowing that on account
of the sin of Adam, the sentence of death and of eternal privation from the
vision of God had been promulgated (Gen. 3, 9).
The Most High received his holy and chosen Bride, most holy Mary, into his
presence. Although this happened not in an intuitive, but in an abstractive
vision of the Divinity, it was accompanied with incomparable favors of light and
purification proceeding from the Lord himself, such as were specially reserved
for this day. For they were so divine, that, in our way of speaking, God himself
who wrought them, was astonished and was charmed with the work of his hand. As
if entranced with love, He spoke to Her and said: "Revertere, revertere,
Sulamitis, ut intueamur te" (Return, return, 0 Sulamitess, that We may
behold thee). "My Spouse, my most perfect and beloved Dove, pleasing in my
sight, turn and advance toward Us, that We may behold thee and be charmed by thy
beauty. I do not regret to have created man and I delight in his formation,
since thou hast been born of him. Let my celestial spirits see how justly I have
desired and do desire to choose thee as my Spouse and the Queen of all the
creatures. Let them see what good reason I have to rejoice in this my bridal
chamber, from whence my Onlybegotten, next to that of my own bosom, shall derive
the greatest glory. Let all understand, that if I justly repudiated Eve, the
first queen of the earth, on account of her disobedience, I now place thee and
establish thee in the highest dignity, showing my magnificence and power in
dealing with thy purest humility and self-abasement."
In order to put the last touch to this prodigious work of preparing the most
holy Mary, the Lord extended his powerful arm and expressly renewed the spirit
and the faculties of the great Lady, giving Her new inclinations, habits and
qualities, the greatness and excellence of which are inexpressible in
terrestrial terms. It was the finishing act and the final retouching of the
living image of God, in order to form, in it and of it, the very shape, into
which the eternal Word, the essential image of the eternal Father (II Cor. 4, 4)
and the figure of his substance (Heb. 1, 3), was to be cast. Thus the whole
temple of most holy Mary, more so than that of Solomon, was covered with the
purest gold of the Divinity inside and out, (III Kings, 6, 30), so that nowhere
could be seen in Her any grossness of an earthly daughter of Adam. Her entire
being was made to shine forth the Divinity; for since the divine Word was to
issue from the bosom of the eternal Father to descend to that of Mary, He
provided for the greatest possible similarity between the Mother and the Father.
No words at my disposal could ever suffice to describe as I would wish, the
effects of these favors in the heart of our great Queen and Mistress. Human
thought cannot conceive them, how then can human words express them? But what
has caused the greatest wonder in me, when I considered these things in the
light given to me, is the humility of this heavenly Woman and the mutual contest
between her humility and the divine power. Rare and astonishing prodigy of
humility, to see this Maiden, most holy Mary, though raised to the supremest
dignity and holiness next to God, yet humiliating Herself and debasing Herself
below the meanest of the creatures; so that, by the force of this humility, no
thought of her being destined for the Mothership of the Messias could find
entrance into her mind! And not only this: She did not even have a suspicion of
anything great or admirable in Herself (Ps. 130, 1). Her eyes and heart were not
elated; on the contrary the higher She ascended by the operation of the right
hand of her God, so much the more lowly were her thoughts concerning Herself. It
was therefore just, that the Almighty should look upon her humility (Luke 1,
48), and that therefore all generations should call her fortunate and blessed.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The Virgin Mary speaks
to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
My daughter, whoever has only a selfish and servile love is not a worthy
spouse of the Most High, she must not love or fear like a slave, nor is she
supposed to serve for her daily wages. Yet although her heart must be a filial
and generous love on account of the excellence and immense goodness of her
Spouse, she must nevertheless also feel herself much bounden to Him, when she
considers how rich and liberal He is; how, on account of his love for souls, He
has created a variety of visible goods in order that they might serve those who
serve Him; and especially, when she considers how many hidden treasures He has
in readiness in the abundance of his sweetness (Ps. 30, 20) for those that fear
Him as his true children. I wish that thou feel deeply obliged to thy Lord and
Father, thy Spouse and Friend, at the thought of the riches given to those
souls, who become his dearest children. For, as a powerful Father, He holds in
readiness these great and manifold gifts for his children, and if necessary, all
of his gifts for each one of them in particular. In the midst of such motives
and incentives of love the disaffection of men is inexcusable, and at the sight
of so many blessings, given without measure, their ingratitude is unpardonable.
Remember, also, my dearest, that thou wast no foreigner, or stranger in this
house of the Lord, his holy Church (Ephes. 2, 19); but thou wast made a domestic
and a spouse of Christ among the saints, favored by his gifts and by the dowry
of a bride. Since all the treasures and riches of the bridegroom belong to the
legitimate spouse, consider of how great possessions He makes thee participant
and mistress. Enjoy them all, then, as his domestic, and be zealous for his
honor as a much-favored daughter and spouse; thank Him for all these works and
benefits, as if they had all been prepared for thee alone by the Lord. Love and
reverence Him for thyself and for all thy neighbors, to whom God has been so
liberal. In all this imitate, with thy weak faculties, that which thou hast
understood of what I have done. I assure thee also, daughter, that it will he
very pleasing to me, if thou magnify and praise the Omnipotent with fervent
affection, for the favors and riches which, beyond all human conception, the
divine right hand showered upon me.
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Today's Snippet IV: Book 3, Chapter 2
The Mystical City of God,
The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God
THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD.
Thereupon his Majesty announced to all the other angels that
the time of the Redemption had come and that He had commanded it to be brought
to the world without delay; for already, in their own presence, the most holy
Mary had been prepared and adorned to be his Mother, and had been exalted to the
supreme dignity. The heavenly spirits heard the voice of their Creator, and with
incomparable joy and thanksgiving for the fulfillment of his eternal and perfect
will, they intoned new canticles of praise, repeating therein that hymn of Sion:
"Holy, holy, holy art thou, God and Lord Sabaoth (Is. 6, 3). Just and
powerful art Thou, Lord our God, who livest in the highest (Ps. 112, 5) and
lookest upon the lowly of the earth. Admirable are all thy works, most high and
exalted in thy designs."
The supernal prince Gabriel, obeying with singular delight
the divine command and accompanied by many thousands of most beautiful angels in
visible forms, descended from the highest heaven. The appearance of the great
prince and legate was that of a most handsome youth of rarest beauty; his face
emitted resplendent rays of light, his bearing was grave and majestic, his
advance measured, his motions composed, his words weighty and powerful, his
whole presence displayed a pleasing, kindly gravity and more of godlike
qualities than all the other angels until then seen in visible form by the
heavenly Mistress. He wore a diadem of exquisite splendor and his vestments
glowed in various colors full of refulgent beauty. Enchased on his breast, he
bore a most beautiful cross, disclosing the mystery of the Incarnation, which He
had come to announce. All these circumstances were calculated to rivet the
affectionate attention of the most prudent Queen.
The whole of this celestial army with their princely leader
holy Gabriel directed their flight to Nazareth, a town of the province of
Galilee, to the dwelling place of most holy Mary. This was an humble cottage and
her chamber was a narrow room, bare of all those furnishings which are wont to
be used by the world in order to hide its own meanness and want of all higher
goods. The heavenly Mistress was at this time fourteen years, six months and
seventeen days of age; for her birthday anniversary fell on the eighth of
September and six months seventeen days had passed since that date, when this
greatest of all mysteries ever performed by God in this world, was enacted in
Her.
The bodily shape of the heavenly Queen was well proportioned
and taller than is usual with other maidens of her age; yet extremely elegant
and perfect in all its parts. Her face was rather more oblong than round,
gracious and beautiful, without leanness or grossness; its complexion clear, yet
of a slightly brownish hue; her forehead spacious yet symmetrical; her eyebrows
perfectly arched; her eyes large and serious, of incredible and ineffable beauty
and dovelike sweetness, dark in color with a mixture tending toward green; her
nose straight and well shaped; her mouth small, with red-colored lips, neither
too thin nor too thick. All the gifts of nature in Her were so symmetrical and
beautiful, that no other human being ever had the like. To look upon Her caused
feelings at the same time of joy and seriousness, love and reverential fear. She
attracted the heart and yet restrained it in sweet reverence; her beauty
impelled the tongue to sound her praise, and yet her grandeur and her
overwhelming perfections and graces hushed it to silence. In all that approached
Her, She caused divine effects not easily explained; She filled the heart with
heavenly influences and divine operations, tending toward the Divinity.
Her garments were humble and poor, yet clean, of a
dark silvery hue, somewhat like the color of ashes, and they were arranged and
worn without pretense, but with the greatest modesty and propriety. At the time
when, without her noticing it, the embassy of heaven drew nigh unto Her, She was
engaged in the highest contemplation concerning the mysteries which the Lord had
renewed in Her by so many favors during the nine receding days. And since, as we
have said above, the Lord himself had assured Her that his Onlybegotten would
soon descend to assume human form, this great Queen was full of fervent and
joyful affection in the expectation of its execution and inflamed with humble
love, She spoke in her heart: "Is it possible that the blessed time has
arrived, in which the Word of the eternal Father is to be born and to converse
with men? (Brauch 10, 38). That the world should possess Him? That men are to
see Him in the flesh? (Is. 40.5). That his inaccessible light is to shine forth
to illumine those who sit in darkness? (Is. 9, 2). O, who shall be worthy to see
and know Him! O, who shall be allowed to kiss the earth touched by his
feet!"
"Rejoice, ye heavens, and console thyself, O earth (Ps.
95, 11); let all things bless and extol Him, since already his eternal happiness
is nigh! O children of Adam, afflicted with sin, and ye creatures of
my Beloved, now shall you raise your heads and throw off the yoke of your
ancient servitude! (Is. 14, 25). O, ye ancient Forefathers and Prophets, and all
ye just, that are detained in limbo and are waiting in the bosom of Abraham, now
shall you be consoled and your much desired and long promised Redeemer shall
tarry no longer! (Agg. 2, 8). Let us all magnify Him and sing to Him
hymns of praise! O who shall be the slave of Her, whom Isaias points out as his
Mother (Is. 7, 4); O Emmanuel, true God and Man! O key of David, who art to
unlock heaven! (Is. 22, 22). O eternal Wisdom! O Lawgiver of the new Church!
Come, come to us, O Lord, and end the captivity of thy people; let all flesh see
thy salvation!" (Is. 40, 5).
In order that the mystery of the Most High might be
fulfilled, the holy archangel Gabriel, in the shape described in the preceding
chapter and accompanied by innumerable angels in visible human forms and
resplendent with incomparable beauty, entered into the chamber, where most holy
Mary was praying. It was on a Thursday at six o'clock in the evening and at the
approach of night. The great modesty and restraint of the Princess of heaven did
not permit Her to look at him more than was necessary to recognize him as an
angel of the Lord. Recognizing him as such, She, in her usual humility, wished
to do him reverence; the holy prince would not allow it; on the contrary he
himself bowed profoundly as before his Queen and Mistress, in whom he adored the
heavenly mysteries of his Creator. At the same time he understood that from that
day on the ancient times and the custom of old whereby men should worship
angels, as Abraham had done (Gen. 38, 2), were changed. For as human
nature was raised to the dignity of God himself in the person of the Word, men
now held the position of adopted children, of companions and brethren of the
angels, as the angel said to Evangelist Saint John, when he refused to be
worshipped (Apoc. 19, 10).
The holy archangel saluted our and his Queen and said:
"Ave gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus" (Luke 1,
28). Hearing this new salutation of the angel, this most humble of all creatures
was disturbed, but not confused in mind (Luke 1, 29). This disturbance arose
from two causes: first, from her humility, for She thought herself the lowest of
the creatures and thus in her humility, was taken unawares at hearing Herself
saluted and called the "Blessed among women;" secondly, when She heard
this salute and began to consider within Herself how She should receive it, She
was interiorly made to understand by the Lord, that He chose Her for his Mother,
and this caused a still greater perturbance, having such an humble opinion of
Herself. On account of this perturbance the angel proceeded to explain to Her
the decree of the Lord, saying: "Do not fear, Mary, for thou hast found
grace before the Lord (Luke 1, 30); behold thou shalt conceive a Son in thy
womb, and thou shalt give birth to Him, and thou shalt name Him Jesus; He shall
be great, and He shall be called Son of the Most High," and the rest as
recorded of the holy archangel.
Our most prudent and humble Queen alone, among all the
creatures, was sufficiently intelligent and magnanimous to estimate at its true
value such a new and unheard of sacrament; and in proportion as She realized its
greatness, so She was also moved with admiration. But She raised her humble
heart to the Lord, who could not refuse Her any petition, and in the
secret of her spirit She asked new light and assistance by which to govern
Herself in such an arduous transaction; for, as we have said in the preceding
chapter, the Most High, in order to permit Her to act in this mystery solely in
faith, hope and charity, left Her in the common state and suspended all other
kinds of favors and interior elevations, which She so frequently or continually
enjoyed. In this disposition She replied and said to holy Gabriel, what is
written in saint Luke: "how shall this happen, that I conceive and bear;
since I know not, nor can know, man?" At the same time She interiorly
represented to the Lord the vow of chastity, which She had made and the
espousal, which his Majesty had celebrated with Her.
The holy prince Gabriel replied (Luke 1, 24): "Lady, it
is easy for the divine power to make Thee a Mother without the cooperation of
man; the Holy Spirit shall remain with Thee by a new presence and the virtue of
the Most High shall overshadow Thee, so that the Holy of holies can be born of
Thee, who shall himself be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin
Elisabeth has likewise conceived a son in her sterile years and this is the
sixth month of her conception; for nothing is impossible with God. He that can
make her conceive, who was sterile, can bring it about, that Thou, Lady, be his
Mother, still preserving thy virginity and enhancing thy purity.
With these and many other words the ambassador of heaven
instructed the most holy Mary, in order that, by the remembrance of the ancient
promises and prophecies of holy Writ, by the reliance and trust in them and in
the infinite power of the Most High, She might overcome her hesitancy at the
heavenly message. But as the Lady herself exceeded the angels in wisdom,
prudence and in all sanctity, She withheld her answer, in order to be able to
give it in accordance with the divine will and that it might be worthy of the
greatest of all the mysteries and sacraments of the divine power. She reflected
that upon her answer depended the pledge of the most blessed Trinity, the
fulfillment of his promises and prophecies, the most pleasing and acceptable of
all sacrifices, the opening of the gates of paradise, the victory and triumph
over hell, the Redemption of all the human race, the satisfaction of the divine
justice, the foundation of the new law of grace, the glorification of men, the
rejoicing of the angels, and whatever was connected with the Incarnation of the
Onlybegotten of the Father and his assuming the form of servant in her virginal
womb (Philip 2, 7)
A great wonder, indeed, and worthy of our admiration, that
all these mysteries and whatever others they included, should be intrusted by
the Almighty to an humble Maiden and made dependent upon her fiat. But
befittingly and securely He left them to the wise and strong decision of this
courageous Woman (Prov. 31, 11), since She would consider them with such
magnanimity and nobility, that perforce his confidence in Her was not misplaced.
The operations, which proceed within the divine Essence, depend not on the
cooperation of creatures, for they have no part in them and God could not expect
such cooperations for executing the works ad intra; but in the
works ad extra and such as were contingent, among which that of
becoming man was the most exalted, He could not proceed without the cooperation
of most holy Mary and without her free consent. For He wished to reach this acme
of all the works outside Himself in Her and through Her and He wished that we
should owe this benefit to this Mother of wisdom and our Reparatrix.
Therefore this great Lady considered and inspected profoundly
this spacious field of the dignity of Mother of God (Prov. 21, 16) in order to
purchase it by her fiat; She clothed Herself in fortitude more than
human, and She tasted and saw how profitable was this enterprise and commerce
with the Divinity. She comprehended the ways of his hidden benevolence and
adorned Herself with fortitude and beauty. And having conferred with Herself and
with the heavenly messenger Gabriel about the grandeur of these high and divine
sacraments, and finding herself in excellent condition to receive the message
sent to Her, her purest soul was absorbed and elevated in admiration, reverence
and highest intensity of divine love. By the intensity of these movements and
supernal affections, her most pure heart, as it were by natural consequence, was
contracted and compressed with such force, that it distilled three drops of her
most pure blood, and these, finding their way to the natural place for the act
of conception, were formed by the power of the divine and holy Spirit, into the
body of Christ our Lord. Thus the matter, from which the most holy humanity of
the Word for our Redemption is composed, was furnished and administered by the
most pure heart of Mary and through the sheer force of her true love. At the
same moment, with a humility never sufficiently to be extolled, inclining
slightly her head and joining her hands, She pronounced these words, which were
the beginning of our salvation: "Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum'' (Luke 1,
31).
At the pronouncing of this "fiat," so sweet to the
hearing of God and so fortunate for us, in one instant, four things happened.
First, the most holy body of Christ our Lord was formed from the three drops of
blood furnished by the heart of most holy Mary. Secondly, the most holy soul of
the same Lord was created, just as the other souls. Thirdly, the soul and the
body united in order to compose his perfect humanity. Fourthly, the Divinity
united Itself in the Person of the Word with the humanity, which together became
one composite being in hypostatical union; and thus was formed Christ true God
and Man, our Lord and Redeemer. This happened in springtime on the twenty-fifth
of March, at break or dawning of the day, in the same hour, in which our first
father Adam was made and in the year of the creation of the world 5199, which
agrees also with the count of the Roman Church in her Martyrology under the
guidance of the Holy Ghost. This reckoning is the true and certain one, as was
told me, when I inquired at command of my superiors. Conformable to this the
world was created in the month of March, which corresponds to the beginning of
creation. And as the works of the Most High are perfect and complete (Deut. 32,
4), the plants and trees come forth from the hands of his Majesty bearing fruit,
and they would have borne them continually without intermission, if sin had not
changed the whole nature. The divine Child began to grow in the natural manner
in the recess of the womb, being nourished by the substance and the blood of its
most holy Mother, just as other men; yet it was more free and exempt from the
imperfections, to which other children of Adam are subject in that place and
period. For from some of these, namely those that, are accidental and
unnecessary to the substance of the act of generation, being merely effects of
sin, the Empress of heaven was free. She was also free from the superfluities
caused by sin, which in other women are common and happen naturally in the
formation, sustenance and growth of their children. For the necessary matter,
which is proper to the infected nature of the descendants of Eve and which was
wanting in Her, was supplied and administered in Her by the exercise of heroic
acts of virtue and especially by charity. By the fervor of her soul and her
loving affections the blood and humors of her body were changed and thereby
divine Providence provided for the sustenance of the divine Child. Thus in a
natural manner the humanity of our Redeemer was nourished, while his Divinity
was recreated and pleased with her heroic virtues. Most holy Mary furnished to
the Holy Ghost, for the formation of this body, pure and limpid blood, free from
sin and all its tendencies. And whatever impure and imperfect matter is supplied
by other mothers for the growth of their children was administered by the Queen
of heaven most pure and delicate in substance. For it was built up and supplied
by the power of her loving affections and her other virtues. In a like manner
was purified whatever served as food for the heavenly Queen. For, as She knew
that her nourishment was at the same time to sustain and nourish the Son of God,
She partook of it with such heroic acts of virtue, that the angelic spirits
wondered how such common human actions could be connected with such supernal
heights of merit and perfection in the sight of God.
Thus adorned and deified by the Divinity and its gifts, the
most holy soul of Christ our Lord proceeded in its operations in the following
order: immediately it began to see and know the Divinity intuitively as It is in
Itself and as It is united to his most holy humanity, loving It with the highest
beatific love and perceiving the inferiority of the human nature in comparison
with the essence of God. The soul of Christ humiliated itself profoundly, and in
this humility it gave thanks to the immutable being of God for having created it
and for the benefit of the hypostatic union, by which, though remaining human,
it was raised to the essence of God. It also recognized that his most holy
humanity was made capable of suffering, and was adapted for attaining the end of
the Redemption. In this knowledge it offered itself as the Redeemer in sacrifice
for the human race (Ps. 39, 8), accepting the state of suffering and giving
thanks in his own name and in the name of mankind to the eternal Father. He
recognized the composition of his most holy humanity, the substance of which it
was made, and how most holy Mary by the force of her charity and of her heroic
virtues, furnished its substance. He took possession of this holy tabernacle and
dwelling; rejoicing in its most exquisite beauty, and, well pleased, reserved as
his own property the soul of this most perfect and most pure Creature for all
eternity. He praised the eternal Father for having created Her and endowed Her
with such vast graces and gifts: for having exempted Her and freed Her from the
common law of sin, as his Daughter, while all the other descendants of Adam have
incurred its guilt (Rom. 5, 18). He prayed for the most pure Lady and for saint
Joseph, asking eternal salvation for them. All these acts, and many others, were
most exalted and proceeded from Him as true God and Man. Not taking into account
those that pertain to the beatific vision and love, these acts and each one by
itself, were of such merit that they alone would have sufficed to redeem
infinite worlds, if such could exist.
Even the act of obedience alone, by which the most holy
humanity of the Word subjected itself to suffering and prevented the glory of
his soul from being communicated to his body, was abundantly sufficient for our
salvation. But although this sufficed for our salvation, nothing would satisfy
his immense love for men except the full limit of effective love (John 13, 1);
for this was the purpose of his life, that He should consume it in
demonstrations and tokens of such intense love, that neither the understanding
of men nor of angels was able to comprehend it. And if in the first instant of
his entrance into the world He enriched it so immeasurably, what treasures, what
riches of merits must He have stored up for it, when He left it by his Passion
and Death on the cross after thirty-three years of labor and activity all
divine! O immense love! O charity without limit! O mercy without measure! O most
generous kindness! and, on the other hand, O ingratitude and base forgetfulness
of mortals in the face of such unheard of and such vast benefaction! What would
have become of us without Him? How much less could we do for this our Redeemer
and Lord, even if He had conferred on us but small favors, while now we are
scarcely moved and obliged by his doing for us all that He could? If we do not
wish to treat as a Redeemer Him, who has given us eternal life and liberty, let
us at least hear Him as our Teacher, let us follow Him as our Leader, as our
guiding light, which shows us the way to our true happiness.
These operations of Christ our Lord in the first instant of
his conception were followed, in another essential instant, by the beatific
vision of the Divinity, which we have mentioned in the preceding chapter (No.
139); for in one instant of time many instants of essence can take place. In
this vision the heavenly Lady perceived with clearness and distinction the
mystery of the hypostatic union of the divine and the human natures in the
person of the eternal Word, and the most holy Trinity confirmed Her in the title
and the rights of Mother of God. This in all rigor of truth She was, since She
was the natural Mother of a Son, who was eternal God with the same certainty and
truth as He was man. Although this great Lady did not directly cooperate in the
union of the Divinity with the humanity, She did not on this account lose her
right to be called the Mother of the true God; for She concurred by
administering the material and by exerting her faculties, as far as it pertained
to a true Mother; and to a greater extent than to ordinary mothers, since in Her
the conception and the generation took place without the aid of a man. Just as
in other generations the agents, which bring them about in the natural course,
are called father and mother, each furnishing that which is necessary, without
however concurring directly in the creation of the soul, nor in its infusion
into the body of the child; so also, and with greater reason, most holy Mary
must be called, and did call Herself, Mother of God for She alone concurred in
the generation of Christ, true God and Man, as a Mother, to the exclusion of any
other natural cause; and only through this concurrence of Mary in the
generation, Christ, the Man-God, was born.
But She was especially persistent and fervent in her prayer
to obtain guidance of the Almighty nor the worthy fulfillment of her office as
Mother of the Onlybegotten of the Father. For this, before all other graces, Her
humble heart urged Her to desire, and this was especially the subject of her
solicitude, that She might be guided in all her actions as becomes the Mother of
God. The Almighty answered Her: "My Dove, do not fear, for I will assist
thee and guide thee, directing thee in all things necessary for the service of
my onlybegotten Son." With this promise She came to Herself and issued from
her ecstasy, in which all that I have said had happened, and which was the most
wonderful She ever had. Restored to her faculties, her first action was to
prostrate Herself on the earth and adore her holiest Son, God and Man, conceived
in her virginal womb; for this She had not yet done with her external and bodily
senses and faculties. Nothing that She could do in the service of her Creator,
did this most prudent Mother leave undone. From that time on She was conscious
of feeling new and divine effects in her holiest soul and in her exterior and
interior faculties. And although the whole tenor of her life had been most noble
both as regards her body as her soul; yet on this day of the incarnation of the
Word it rose to still greater nobility of spirit and was made more godlike by
still higher reaches of grace and indescribable gifts.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The
Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
My dearest daughter, many times I have confided and
manifested to thee the love burning within my bosom: for I wish that it should
be ardently re-enkindled within thy own, and that thou profit from the
instruction, which I give thee. Happy is the soul, to which the Most High
manifests his holy and perfect will; but more happy and blessed is he, who puts
into execution, what he has learned. In many ways God shows to mortals the
highways and pathways of eternal life: by the Gospels and the holy Scriptures,
by the Sacraments and the laws of the holy Church, by the writings and examples
of the saints, and especially, by the obedience due to the guidings of its
ministers, of whom his Majesty said : "Whoever hears you, hears Me;"
for obeying them is the same as obeying the Lord himself. Whenever by any of
these means thou hast come to the knowledge of the will of God, I desire thee to
assume the wings of humility and obedience, and, as if in ethereal flight or
like the quickest sunbeam, hasten to execute it and thereby fulfill the divine
pleasure.
Besides these means of instruction, the Most High has still
others in order to direct the soul; namely, He intimates his perfect will to
them in a supernatural manner, and reveals to them many sacraments. This kind of
instruction is of many and different degrees; not all of them are common or
ordinary to all souls; for the Lord dispenses his light in measure and weight
(Wis. 11, 21). Sometimes He speaks to the heart and the interior feelings in
commands; at others, in correction, advising or instructing: sometimes He moves
the heart to ask Him; at other times He proposes clearly what He desires, in
order that the soul may be moved to fulfill it; again He manifests, as in a
clear mirror, great mysteries, in order that they may be seen and recognized by
the intellect and loved by the will. But this great and infinite Good is always
sweet in commanding, powerful in giving the necessary help for obedience, just
in his commands, quick in disposing circumstances so that He can be obeyed,
notwithstanding all the impediments which hinder the fulfillment of his most
holy will.
In receiving this divine light, my daughter. I wish to see
thee very attentive, and very quick and diligent in following it up in deed. In
order to hear this most delicate and spiritual voice of the Lord it is
necessary, that the faculties of the soul be purged from earthly grossness and
that the creature live entirely according to the spirit; for the animal man does
not perceive the elevated things of the Divinity (I Cor. 2, 14). Be attentive
then to his secrets (Is. 34, 16) and forget all that is of the outside; listen,
my daughter, and incline thy ear; free thyself from all visible things (Ps. 44,
11). And in order that thou mayest be diligent, cultivate love; for love is a
fire, which does not have its effect until the material is prepared; therefore
let thy heart always be disposed and prepared. Whenever the Most High bids thee
or communicates to thee anything for the welfare of souls, or especially for
their eternal salvation, devote thyself to it entirely; for they are bought at
the inestimable price of the blood of the Lamb and of divine love. Do not allow
thyself to be hindered in this matter by thy own lowliness and bashfulness; but
overcome the fear which restrains thee, for if thou thyself art of small value
and usefulness, the Most High is rich (I Pet. 1, 18), powerful, great, and by
Himself performs all things (Rom. 10, 12). Thy promptness and affection will not
go without its reward, although I wish thee rather to be moved entirely by the
pleasure of thy Lord.
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part Two: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery,
Section Two: The Seven Sacraments of the Church
Article 1:2:7 Sacrament of Baptism
SECTION TWO
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
Article 1 THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
Article 1 THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
VII. The Grace of Baptism
1262
The different effects of Baptism are signified by the perceptible elements of
the sacramental rite. Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification,
but also regeneration and renewal. Thus the two principal effects are
purification from sins and new birth in the Holy Spirit.Acts 2:38
For the
forgiveness of sins . . .
1263
By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well
as all punishment for sin.Council of Florence (1439): DS 1316 In those who have been reborn nothing
remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam's
sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is
separation from God.
1264
Yet certain temporal consequences of sin remain in the baptized, such as
suffering, illness, death, and such frailties inherent in life as weaknesses of
character, and so on, as well as an inclination to sin that Tradition calls
concupiscence, or metaphorically, "the tinder for sin" (fomes
peccati); since concupiscence "is left for us to wrestle with, it cannot
harm those who do not consent but manfully resist it by the grace of Jesus
Christ."Council of Trent (1546): DS 1515 Indeed, "an athlete is not crowned unless he
competes according to the rules."2 Tim 2:5
"A new
creature"
1265
Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte "a
new creature," an adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of
the divine nature,"2 Cor 5:17 member of Christ and coheir with
him,1 Cor 6:15 and a temple of the Holy Spirit.1 Cor 6:19
1266
The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of
justification:
- enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues;
- giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit;
- allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues.
Thus the whole organism of the Christian's supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.
- enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues;
- giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit;
- allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues.
Thus the whole organism of the Christian's supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.
Incorporated
into the Church, the Body of Christ
1267
Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ: "Therefore . . . we are
members one of another."Eph 4:25 Baptism incorporates us into the
Church. From the baptismal fonts is born the one People of God of the New
Covenant, which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations,
cultures, races, and sexes: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into
one body."1 Cor 12:13
1268
The baptized have become "living stones" to be "built into a
spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood."1 Pet 2:5 By Baptism they share
in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are
"a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that
[they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness
into his marvelous light."1 Pet 2:9 Baptism gives a share in the common
priesthood of all believers.
1269
Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer to
himself, but to him who died and rose for us.1 Cor 6:19;
⇒ 2 Cor 5:15 From now on, he is
called to be subject to others, to serve them in the communion of the Church,
and to "obey and submit" to the Church's leaders,Heb 13:17 holding
them in respect and affection.Eph 5:21 Just as Baptism is the source of
responsibilities and duties, the baptized person also enjoys rights within the
Church: to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the Word of God and to
be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church.LG 37; ⇒ CIC, cann. 208 223; CCEO,
can. 675:2
1270
"Reborn as sons of God, [the baptized] must profess before men the faith
they have received from God through the Church" and participate in the
apostolic and missionary activity of the People of God.LG 11; cf. LG
17; AG 7; 23
The
sacramental bond of the unity of Christians
1271
Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians, including
those who are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church: "For men
who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in some, though
imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church. Justified by faith in Baptism,
[they] are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called
Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of
the Catholic Church."UR 3 "Baptism therefore constitutes the
sacramental bond of unity existing among all who through it are reborn."UR 22 # 2
An
indelible spiritual mark . . .
1272
Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to
Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark
(character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin
prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Rom 8:29; Council of Trent (1547): DS 1609-1619 Given once for
all, Baptism cannot be repeated.
1273
Incorporated into the Church by Baptism, the faithful have received the sacramental
character that consecrates them for Christian religious worship.LG 11 The
baptismal seal enables and commits Christians to serve God by a vital
participation in the holy liturgy of the Church and to exercise their baptismal
priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity.LG 10
1274
The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord ("Dominicus
character") "for the day of redemption."St.
Augustine, Ep. 98, 5: PL 33, 362 "Baptism
indeed is the seal of eternal life."St. Irenaeus,
Dem ap. 3: SCh 62, 32 The faithful Christian who
has "kept the seal" until the end, remaining faithful to the demands
of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life "marked with the sign of
faith,"Roman Missal, EP
I (Roman Canon) 97 with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed
vision of God - the consummation of faith - and in the hope of resurrection.
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