Kolbe's Greatest Books of World Civilization: Venerable Mary of Agreda

Concerning the Perfection with which the most Holy Mary copied and imitated the Activity of the Soul of Christ;
how the Incarnate Word Instructed Her In the Laws of grace, the Articles of Faith, the Sacraments,
the Ten Commandments; and with what Alacrity and Noble Prompte She Corresponded.
Also concerning the Death of Saint Joseph, the Preaching of Saint John, the Fasting and
the Baptism of our Redeemer, the call of the First Disciples and
the Baptism of the Virgin Mary, our Blessed Lady.

CHAPTER I

THE LORD STILL FARTHER TRIES THE MOST HOLY MARY BY ACTING TOWARD HER WITH A CERTAIN DISTANCE AND SEVERITY; THE REASONS FOR THIS BEHAVIOR ARE EXPLAINED

Already Jesus, Mary and Joseph had settled in Nazareth and thus changed their poor and humble dwelling into a heaven. In order to describe the mysteries and sacraments which passed between the divine Child and his purest Mother before his twelfth year and later on, until his public preaching, many chapters and many books would be required; and in them all, I would be able to relate but the smallest part in view of the vastness of the subject and the insignificance of such an ignorant woman as I am. Even with the light given me by this great Lady I can speak of only a few incidents and must leave the greater part unsaid. It is not possible or befitting to us mortals to comprehend all these mysteries in this life, since they are reserved for the future life.

2. Shortly after their return from Egypt to Nazareth the Lord resolved to try his most holy Mother in the same manner as He had tried Her in her childhood and as was mentioned in the second book of the first part, chapter twenty-seventh. Although She was now vastly grown in the exercise of her love and wisdom, yet as the power of God and the object of divine charity is infinite, and as moreover the capacity of the Queen exceeded that of all creatures, the Lord wished to raise Her to a higher level of holiness and merit. Moreover, being a true Educator of the spirit, He wished to form of Her a disciple of such exalted knowledge, that She would truly be for us a consummate Teacher and a living example of his own doctrines. For such was to be her office after the ascension of her Son and Redeemer, as I will relate in the third part. It was also befitting and necessary for the honor of Christ, our Redeemer, that the teaching of the Gospel, by which and on which He was to found the law of grace, holy, immaculate and without a wrinkle, should give full evidence of its efficacy and power in a mere creature, and that all its adequate and super eminent effects should be exhibited in some one, who could be a standard for all men. It is clear, that this creature could be none else than the most blessed Mary, who, as his Mother, stood so close to the Master and Teacher of all holiness.

3. The Most High therefore resolved that the heavenly Lady should be the first disciple of his school and the firstborn Daughter of the new Law of grace, the most perfect copy of his ideals and the most pliant material, upon which, as on liquid wax, should be set the seal of his doctrine of holiness, so that the Son and the Mother might be the two true tablets of the new law of the world (Exod. 31, 18). For this purpose of the infinite wisdom He manifested to Her all the mysteries of the evangelical law and of his doctrine; and this was the subject of his instructions from the time of their return from Egypt until his public preaching, as we shall see in the course of this history. In these hidden sacraments the incarnate Word and his holy Mother occupied themselves during the twentythree years of their stay in Nazareth. As all this concerned the heavenly Mother alone (whose life the holy Evangelists did not profess to narrate), the writers of the Gospel made no mention of it, excepting that which was related of the Child Jesus, when, in his twelfth year, He was lost in Jerusalem. During all those years Mary alone was the disciple of Christ. In addition therefore to the ineffable gifts of grace and holiness, which He had conferred upon Her until their arrival in Nazareth, He infused into Her new light and made Her a participant in his divine knowledge, depositing and engraving into her heart the whole law and doctrine of grace, which to the end of the world was to be dispensed by his holy Church. This was moreover effected in such an exalted manner that no human thought or words can express it; and the great Lady was thereby filled with such wisdom and knowledge, that it would suffice to enlighten many worlds, if there were more than one.

4. In order to rear in the heart of the purest Virgin this edifice of holiness to a height beyond all that is not God, the Lord laid its foundations accordingly, trying the strength of her love and of all her other virtues. For this purpose the Lord withdrew Himself, causing Her to lose Him from her sight, which until then had caused Her to revel in continual joy and delight. I do not wish to say, that the Lord left Her bodily; but, still remaining with Her and in Her by an ineffable presence and grace, He hid Himself from her interior sight and suspended the tokens of his most sweet affection. The heavenly Lady in the meanwhile knew not the inward cause of this behavior, as the Lord gave Her no explanation. Moreover her divine Son, without any forewarning showed Himself very reserved and withdrew from her society. Many times He retired and spoke but few words to Her, and even these with great earnestness and majesty. But what was apt to afflict Her most, was the eclipse of the light by which She was wont to see reflected as in a crystal the human operations of his most pure soul. This light was suddenly dimmed so much, that She could not thenceforth distinguish them as a living copy for her own actions.

5. This unannounced and unexpected change was the crucible in which the purest gold of the love of our Queen was cleansed and assayed. Surprised at what was happening, She immediately took refuge in the humble opinion She had of Herself, deeming Herself unworthy of the vision of the Lord, who now had hidden Himself. She attributed it all to her want of correspondence and to her ingratitude for the blessings She had obtained from the most generous and exalted Father of mercies. The most prudent Queen did not feel so much the privation of his delightful caresses, as the dread of having displeased Him and of having fallen short in his service. This was the arrow that pierced her heart with grief. One filled with such true and noble love could not feel less; for all delight of love is founded in the pleasure and satisfaction given by the lover to the one beloved, and therefore He cannot rest, when he suspects that the beloved is not contented or pleased. The loving sighs of his Mother were highly pleasing to her most holy Son. He was enamored with Her anew and the tender affection of his only and chosen One wounded his heart (Cant. 4, 9). But whenever the sweet Mother sought Him out in order to hold converse with Him. He continued to show exterior reserve. Just as the flame of a forge or a conflagration is intensified by the application of insufficient water, so the flame of love in the heart of the sweetest Mother was fanned to an intense blaze by this adversity.

6. The single hearted Dove exercised Herself in heroic acts of all the virtues. She humbled Herself below the dust; She reverenced Her Son in deepest adoration; She blessed the Father, thanking Him for his admirable works and blessings and conforming Herself to his wishes and pleasure; She sought to know his will in order to fulfill it in all things; She unceasingly renewed her acts of faith, hope and burning love; and in all her actions and in all circumstances this most fragrant spikenard gave forth the odor of sweetness for Him, the King of kings, who rested in her heart as in his flowery and perfumed couch (Cant. 1, 11). She persevered in her tearful prayers, with continual sighing and longing from her inmost heart; She poured forth her prayers in the presence of the Lord and recounted her tribulation before the throne of the God (Ps. 141, 3). And many times She broke out in words of ineffable sweetness and loving sorrow, such as these:

7. "Creator of all the universe," She would say, "eternal and almighty God, infinite is thy wisdom and goodness, incomprehensible in essence and perfection: well do I know that my sighs are not hidden to Thee and that Thou knowest of the wound that pierces my heart. If as a useless handmaid I have fallen short in thy service and in pleasing Thee, why, 0 Life of my soul, dost Thou not afflict me and chastise me with all the pains and sufferings of this my mortal life, so that I may not be obliged to endure the turning away of thy eyes, though I have deserved this treatment through my default? All punishments would be less than this; for my heart cannot bear thy displeasure; Thou alone, 0 Lord, art my life, my happiness, my glory, and my treasure. My soul counts for nothing all that Thou hast created and their image lives not in my soul, except in order to magnify thy greatness and to acknowledge Thee as Creator and Lord of all. What shall I then do, if Thou, my blessed Lord, the light of my eyes, the goal of my desires, the north star of my pilgrimage, the life of my being and the essence of my life, fail me? Who will give fountains to my eyes to bewail my want of correspondence to all the blessings I have received and my ingratitude for my benefits? My Lord, my light, my guide and teacher on the way, who by thy most exalted and perfect operations directest my fragile and lukewarm undertakings, how can I regulate my life, if Thou fail me as my model? Who will guide me securely through this desert? What shall I do and whither shall I turn, if Thou deprivest me of thy assistance ?"

8. Nor did this wounded Deer rest satisfied therewith, but, thirsting after the purest fountains of grace, She addressed Herself also to the holy angels and held long conferences and colloquies with them, saying: "Sovereign princes and intimate friends of the highest King, my guardians, by your felicitous vision of his divine countenance (Matth. 18, 10) and the ineffable light (I Tim. 6, 16), I conjure you to tell me the cause of his displeasure, if such He has conceived against me. Intercede for me in his real presence, that through your prayers He may pardon me, if I have offended Him. Remind Him, my friends, that I am but dust (Job 10,9), although I am formed by his hands and have upon me the seal of his image; beseech Him not to forget his needy one to the end, so that she may confess and magnify his name (Ps, 73, 19). Ask Him to give back to me the breath of life which fails me at the dread of having lost his love. Tell me, how and by what means I can please Him and regain the joy of his countenance ?" The holy angels answered: "Our Queen and Sovereign, dilated is thy heart so that Thou canst not be vanquished by tribulation; and none is so able as Thou to understand how near the Lord is to the afflicted, who call upon Him (Ps. 40, 15). Without doubt He recognizes thy affection and does not despise thy loving sighs (Ps. 37, 10). Even shalt Thou find Him a kind Father and his Onlybegotten a most affectionate Son, looking upon thy affliction." The lovelorn Mother replied: "Will it perhaps be presumption to appear before Him and prostrate myself before Him, asking his pardon for any fault He might find in me? What shall I do? What relief can I find in my anxieties ?" And the holy princes answered: "An humble heart does not displease our King (50, 9) ; upon it He fixes his loving regard and He is never displeased by the clamors of those who act in love."

9. These colloquies and answers of the holy angels somewhat gladdened and consolated their Queen and Mistress, since they confirmed Her in her own interior conviction, that these sweetest sighs would excite the special love and delight of the Most High. They would not speak more openly, because the Lord on his own account wished to prolong these delights (Prov. 8, 31). Although her most holy Son, on account of his natural love toward his Mother (a Mother only, not having any father), was often deeply touched with compassion at seeing Her so afflicted; yet He would not show any signs thereof, hiding his compassion under a severe countenance. Sometimes, when the most loving Mother called Him to his meals, He would delay; at other times He would partake of them without looking at Her or speaking to Her. But although the great Lady at such times shed many tears and lovingly sighed in her heart, She always put upon Herself such restraint and weighed all her actions so wisely, that, if it were possible for God to give way to wonder (which certainly He cannot), He would have yielded to such a feeling in the presence of such plenitude of holiness and perfection in this mere Creature. In as far as He was man, the Child Jesus delighted especially in seeing his divine love and grace bring forth such abundant fruits in his Virgin Mother. The holy angels sang to Him new hymns of praise for this admirable and unheard of prodigy of virtues.

10. Upon the request of the loving Mother saint Joseph had made a couch, which She covered with a single blanket and upon which the Child Jesus rested and took his sleep; for from the time in which He had left the cradle, when they were yet in Egypt, He would not accept of any other bed or of more covering. Although He did not stretch Himself out on this couch, nor even always made use of it, He sometimes reclined in a sitting posture upon it, resting upon a poor pillow made of wool by the same Lady. When She spoke of preparing for Him a better restingplace, her most holy Son answered, that the only couch upon which He was to be stretched out, was that of his Cross, in order to teach men by his example (I Pet. 2, 21), that no one can enter eternal rest by things beloved of Babylon and that to suffer is our true relief in mortal life. Thenceforward the heavenly Lady imitated Him in this manner of taking rest with new earnestness and attention. When at night the time for repose had come the Mistress of humility had been accustomed to prostrate Herself before her Son as He reclined on his couch, asking his pardon for not having fulfilled all her duty in serving Him and for not having been sufficiently grateful for the blessings of the day. She poured out her thanks anew and with many tears acknowledged Him as true God and Redeemer of the world; and She would not rise from the ground until her Son commanded Her and gave Her his blessing. This same behavior She observed also in the morning, requesting her divine Teacher and Master to impose upon Her all that She was to do during the day in his service; which Jesus did with tokens of great love.

11. But now He changed his bearing and manner toward Her. When the most innocent Mother approached to reverence and adore Him as She was wont, although her tears and sighs issued ever more abundantly from her inmost heart, He would not answer Her a word, but listened to Her unmoved, commanding Her to betake Herself away. To see her Son, the true God and Man, so different in his behavior and so distant in his action, so sparing of words, and, in all his exterior bearing, so changed, ineffably affected the purest and dovelike heart of the loving Mother. The heavenly Lady examined her interior, searched all the conditions, circumstances and sequence of her actions and racked her memory in her inquiry into the celestial workings of her soul and faculties. Although She could find no shadow of darkness, where all was light, holiness, purity and grace; yet, since She knew, as Job says, that neither the heavens nor the stars are pure in the eyes of God (Job 15, 15), and since He finds fault even in the angelic spirits (Job 25, 5), the great Queen feared lest She should have overlooked some defect, which was known to the Lord. In this anxiety She, though filled with supreme wisdom, suffered agonies of love. For her love, being strong as death (Cant. 8, 6), caused in Her an emulation enkindled by an unquenchable fire of suffering and tribulation. This trial of our Queen lasted many days, during which her most holy Son looked upon Her with incomparable pleasure, by which He raised Her to the position of a Teacher of all the creatures. He rewarded her loyalty and exquisite love with abundant graces in addition to those which She already possessed. Then happened what I shall relate in the following chapter.

INSTRUCTION VOUCHSAFED BY MARY,
THE MOST HOLY QUEEN OF HEAVEN

My daughter, I see that thou art desirous of being a disciple of my most holy Son, since now thou hast understood and described my own behavior in this regard. For thy consolation take notice, that He has exercised this office of Teacher not only once and not only at the time, when He taught his holy doctrine while yet in mortal flesh, as is related in the Gospels (Matth. 28, 20) ; but that He continues to be the Teacher of souls to the end of the world. He admonishes, instructs, and inspires them, urging them to put in practice whatever is most perfect and most holy. Thus He acts toward all without exception, although according to his divine ordainment, and according to the disposition and attentiveness of each soul, everyone receives more or less of the benefits (Matth. 11, 5). If thou hadst always applied this truth, thou wouldst have known by abundant experience, that the Lord does not refuse to act as the Teacher of the poor, of the despised and of the sinners, if they wish to listen to his secret doctrines. As thou now desirest to know what disposition He requires of thee in order to have Him teach Thee to thy heart's content, I shall in his name inform thee of it. I assure thee, that if He shall find thee well disposed He will, as a true and wise Teacher, communicate to thee the plenitude of his wisdom and enlightenment.

13. First of all thou must keep thy conscience pure, undefiled, serene and quiet, keeping a constant watch against falling into any sin or imperfection throughout all the events of this life. At the same time thou must withdraw thyself and disentangle thyself from all that is earthly, so much so that (as I have already formerly admonished thee) thou do not retain any image or memory of human or visible things, but maintain the utmost sincerity, purity and serenity of heart. When thou thus hast cleared thy interior from the images and shadows of earthly things, then thou wilt pay attention to the voice of thy God like a beloved daughter, forgetting the voice of Babylon, the house of her father Adam and all the aftertastes of sin. I assure thee, that He will speak to thee words of eternal life (John 6, 69). It will be thy duty to listen to Him with reverence and humble gratitude; to appreciate his teachings, and to follow them in practice with all diligence and punctuality. Nothing can be hid from this great Master and Teacher (Heb. 4, 13), and He withdraws in disgust from those who are ungrateful and disobedient. No one must think that these withdrawals of the Most High always happen in the same way as they happened to me. For the Lord withdrew from me, not on account of any fault of mine, but out of exceeding love. He is accustorned to withdraw from other creatures in order to visit them with merited punishment for their many sins, outrages, ingratitudes and negligences.

14. Therefore, my daughter, in gauging thy reverence and esteem for the teaching and enlightenment of thy divine Master and for my own exhortations, thou must take into account thy omissions and faults. Moderate thy inordinate fears and do not any more doubt that it is the Lord, who speaks to thee and teaches thee, since his doctrine of itself gives testimony of its own truth and assures thee, that God is its Author; for thou seest that it is holy, pure, perfect and without error. It inculcates whatever is best and reprehends thy least fault, and it is moreover approved by thy instructors and spiritual directors. As I am thy Teacher, I wish that thou also, in imitation of me, come every morning and night humbly and sorrowfully to confess thy faults, in order that I may intercede for thee and as thy Mother obtain for thee the pardon of the Lord. As soon as thou commitest any imperfection, acknowledge it without delay and ask the Lord pardon, promising to amend. If thou attend to these things, which I here tell thee, thou wilt be a disciple of the Most High and of me as thou desirest to be. Purity of soul and the divine grace is the most exquisite and adequate preparation for partaking of the influences of divine light and science, and the Redeemer of the world communicates it to his true disciples.

CHAPTER II

THE OPERATIONS OF THE SOUL OF HER MOST HOLY SON AND ALL THAT HAD BEEN HIDDEN TO HER AGAIN BECOMES VISIBLE TO MOST HOLY MARY SHE IS INSTRUCTED IN THE LAW OF GRACE

Human ingenuity has made long and copious inquisitions into the nature and properties of love and into its cause and effects. In order to explain the holy and divine love of our blessed Mother, I was compelled to add much to all that has been written and said concerning love; for, with the exception of the love existing in the soul of Christ our Redeemer, there was none in all the human creatures, which was equal to that possessed by that heavenly Lady, who merited the name of beautiful love (Ecc1i. 24, 24). The object and end of holy love is the same in all, namely God in Himself and all the other creatures for his sake; but the subject in which it exists, the source from which it flows, the effects which it produces, are widely different. Now in our great Queen all these elements of love attained their highest perfection. Purity of heart, faith, hope, filial and holy fear, knowledge and wisdom, remembrance and gratitude for the greatest benefits, and all the other sources of a most exalted love were hers in boundless affluence and proportion. The flame of her love was not enkindled or enflamed by the foolishness of the senses, which are without the guide and control of reason. Her holy and pure love entered by way of her most exalted understanding of the infinite goodness and ineffable sweetness of God; for since God is wisdom and goodness, He wishes to be loved not only with sweetness, but also with wisdom and knowledge of the one that loves.

16. These loving affections are more alike to themselves in their effects than in their causes; for if they once take possession and subject to themselves the heart, they are hard to expel. From this fact arises the suffering of the human heart in seeing itself forsaken and unnoticed by the one beloved; for this want of proper correspondence implies the obligation of rooting out its own love. As this love has taken such entire possession of the heart, that it dreads a dispossession, although on the other hand reason urges it, such a violent strife is caused, as will resemble the agony of death. In the blind and worldly love this agony is but frenzy and madness. But in divine love this agony is highest wisdom; for, since no reason can be found for expelling love, it is the height of prudence to search after means of loving more ardently and seeking to please the Beloved more zealously. As also the will therein acts with fullest liberty, it happens, that the more freely it loves the highest Good, so much the more does it lose the power of not loving Him. In this glorious strife, the will, being the master and sovereign of the soul, becomes happily the slave of its love; it neither seeks, nor is it able to deny itself this free servitude. On account of this free violence, if the soul finds avoidance or withdrawal of the highest Good which it loves, it suffers the pains and agonies of death, in the same manner as if its life were ebbing away. The soul's whole life is in its love and in the knowledge that it is loved.

17. Hence one can understand a little of the sufferings of the most ardent and pure heart of our Queen in the absence of the Lord and in the eclipse of the light of his love: it caused in Her agonies of doubt, whether perhaps She had not displeased Him. For as She was so to say a vast abyss of humility and love and as She knew not whence the austerity and reserve of her Beloved originated, She suffered a martyrdom so entrancing and yet so severe, as no human or angelic powers will ever be able to fathom. Mary who is the Mother of the most holy love (Eccli. 24, 24) and who reached the pinnacle of created perfection, alone knew how and was able to bear this martyrdom, and in it She exceeded all the sufferings of all the martyrs and the penances of all the confessors added together. In Her was fulfilled, what is said in the Canticles: "I f a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing" (Cant. 8, 7). For in it She forgot all the visible and created things and her own life, accounting it all for nought, until She again found the grace and love of her most holy and divine Son, whom She feared to have lost although She continued to possess Him. No words can equal her care and solicitude, her watchfulness and diligence in trying to please her sweetest Son and the eternal Father.

18. Thirty days passed in this conflict; and they equaled many ages in the estimation of Her, who deemed it impossible to live even one moment without the love and without the Beloved of her soul. After such delay (according to our way of speaking), the heart of the Child Jesus could no longer contain itself or resist further the immense force of his love for his sweetest Mother; for also the Lord suffered a delightful and wonderful violence in thus holding Her in such a suspense and affliction. It happened that the humble and sovereign Queen one day approached her Son Jesus, and, throwing Herself at his feet, with tears and sighs coming from her inmost heart, spoke to Him as follows: "My sweetest Love and highest Good, of what account am I, the insignificant dust and ashes, before thy vast power? What is the misery of a creature in comparison with thy endless affluence? In all things Thou excellest our lowliness and thy immense sea of mercy overwhelms our imperfections and defects. If I have not been zealous in serving Thee, as I am constrained to confess, do Thou chastise my negligence and pardon it. But let me, my Son and Lord, see the gladness of thy countenance, which is my salvation and the wished for light of my life and being. Here at thy feet I lay my poverty, mingling it with the dust, and I shall not rise from it until I can again look into the mirror, which reflects my sou1."

19. These and other pleadings, full of wisdom and most ardent love, the great Queen poured humbly forth before her most holy Son. And as his longings to restore Her to his delights were even greater than those of the blessed Lady, He pronounced with great sweetness these few words: "My Mother, arise." As these words were pronounced by Him, who is Himself the Word of the eternal Father, it had such an effect, that the heavenly Mother was instantly transformed and elevated into a most exalted ecstasy, in which She saw the Divinity by an abstractive vision. In it the Lord received Her with sweetest welcome and embraces of a Father and Spouse, changing her tears into rejoicing, her sufferings into delight and her bitterness into highest sweetness. The Lord manifested to Her great secrets of the scope of his new evangelical law. Wishing to write it entirely into her purest heart, the most holy Trinity appointed and destined Her as his firstborn Daughter and the first disciple of the incarnate Word and set Her up as the model and pattern for all the holy Apostles, Martyrs, Doctors, Confessors, Virgins and other just of the new Church and of the law of grace, which the incarnate Word was to establish for the Redemption of man.

20. To this mystery must be referred all that the heavenly Lady says of Herself and which the holy Church applies to Her in the twenty fourth chapter of Ecclesiasticus under the figure of divine wisdom. I will not detain myself in explaining it, as by proceeding to describe this mysterious event, I shall make plain, what the holy Spirit says in this chapter of our great Queen. It is sufficient to quote some of the sayings therein contained, so that all may understand something of this admirable mystery. "I came out of the mouth of the Most High" says this Lady, "the firstborn before all creatures; I made that in the heavens there should arise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth; I dwelt in the highest places and my throne is in a pillar of cloud. I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea, and have stood in all the earth: and in every people, and in every nation I have had the chief rule: and by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord. Then the Creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and He that made me, rested in my tabernacle, and He said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect. From the beginning (ab initio), and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwellingplace I have ministered before Him. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an honorable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of his saints" (Eccli, 24, 516).

21. A little farther on Ecclesiasticus continues to enumerate the excellences of Mary, saying: "I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honor and of grace. As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor: and my flowers are the fruit of honor and riches. I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge and of holy hope. In me is all the grace on the way and the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. My memory is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me shall yet hunger, and they that drink me shall yet thirst. He that harkened to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that shall explain me shall have life everlasting" (Ecc1i. 24, 2231). Let these words of Scripture suffice for pious souls; for in them they will immediately recognize such a pregnancy of mysteries and sacraments referring to most holy Mary, that their hearts will at once be lifted up and they will understand and feel to what an inexplicable greatness and excellence the teaching and instruction of her Son have exalted the sovereign Mother. By the decree of the most holy Trinity this Princess of heaven was made the true Ark of the covenant in the new Testament ( Apoc. 11, 19); and from the abundance of her wisdom and grace, as from an immense ocean, all sorts of blessings, which were received and shall be received by the other saints until the end of the world, have overflowed.

22. The heavenly Mother came out of her trance and again adored her most holy Son, asking his forgiveness for any negligence that She might have been guilty of in his service. The Child Jesus, raising Her up from the ground where She lay prostrate, said to Her: "My Mother, I am much pleased with the affection of thy heart and I wish thee to dilate it and prepare it for new tokens of my love. I will fulfill the will of my Father, record in thy bosom the evangelical law, which I came to teach in this world. And thou, Mother, shalt put it in practice, with the perfection desired by Me." The most pure Queen responded: "My Son and Lord, may I find grace in thy eyes; and do Thou govern my faculties in the ways of thy rectitude and pleasure. Speak, my Lord, for thy servant hears, and will follow Thee unto death" (Kings III 3, 10). During this conference of the divine Child and his holy Mother, the great Lady began again to see the most holy soul of Christ and its interior operations; and from that day on this blessing increased as well subjectively as objectively; for She continued to receive more clear and more exalted light and in her most holy Son She saw mirrored the whole of the new law of the Gospel, with all its mysteries, sacraments and doctrines, according as the divine Architect of the Church had conceived it and as He had, in his quality of Redeemer and Teacher, predisposed it for the benefit of men. In addition to this clear vision of this law, which was reserved to Mary alone, He added another kind of instruction; for also in his own living words He taught and instructed Her in the hidden things of his wisdom (Ps. SO, 8), such as all men and angels could never comprehend. This wisdom of which Mary partook without deceit, She also communicated without envy, both before and still more after the ascension of Christ our Lord.

23. I well know that it belongs to this history to manifest the most hidden mysteries, which passed between Christ our Lord and his Mother during the years of his boyhood and youth until his preaching; for all these years were spent in teaching his heavenly Mother: but I must confess again, as I have done above that I, as well as all other creatures, are incapable of such exalted discourse. In order to do justice to these mysteries and secrets it would be necessary to explain all the mysteries of the holy Scriptures, the whole Christian doctrine, all the virtues, all the traditions of the holy Church, all the arguments against errors and sects, the decrees of all the holy councils, all that upholds the Church and preserves her to the end of the world, and also the great mysteries of the glorious lives of the saints. For all this was written in the purest heart of our great Queen and it would be necessary to add thereto all the works of the Redeemer and Teacher in multiplying the blessings and instructions of the Church; also all that the holy Evangelists, Apostles, Prophets and ancient Fathers have recorded, and that which afterwards was practiced by the saints; the light vouchsafed to the doctors; the sufferings of the martyrs and virgins; and all the graces which they received for bearing their sufferings and accomplishing their works of holiness. All this, and much more that cannot be enumerated here, most holy Mary knew and personally comprehended and witnessed; She it was that gave proper thanks for it and corresponded with it in her actions as much as is possible for a mere creature, cooperating with the eternal Father as the Author of it all and with Her his onlybegotten Son as the head of the Church. These things I will explain farther on, in so far as it will be possible.

24. Nor, in attending to the instructions of her Son and Teacher and in fulfilling all her works with the highest perfection, did She ever fail in what concerned the outward service and the bodily wants of her Son and saint Joseph; but to all her duties She applied Herself without failing or neglect, providing for their food and their comforts, always prostrate on her knees before her most holy Son with ineffable reverence. She also sought to procure for saint Joseph the consoling intercourse of the Child Jesus as if he had been his natural father. In this the divine Child obeyed his Mother, many times bearing saint Joseph company in the hard labor, which the saint pursued with tireless diligence in order to support with the sweat of his brow the Son of the eternal Father and his Mother. When the divine Child grew larger He sometimes helped saint Joseph as far as his strength would permit; at other times, as his doings were always kept a secret in the family, He would perform miracles, disregarding the natural forces in order to ease and comfort him in his labors.

INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

My daughter, I call thee anew to be, from this day on, my disciple and my companion in the practice of the celestial doctrine, which my divine Son teaches his Church by means of the holy Gospels and other Scriptures. I desire of thee to prepare thy heart with new diligence and attention, so that like a chosen soil, it may receive the living and holy seed of the word of the Lord producing fruits a hundredfold (Luke 8, 8). Make thy heart attentive to my words; and at the same time, let thy reading of the Holy Gospels be continual; meditate and ponder within thyself the doctrines and mysteries which thou perceivest therein. Hear the voice of thy Spouse and Master. He calls all men and invites them to the feast of his words of eternal life (John 6, 69). But so great is the dangerous deception of this mortal life, that only very few souls wish to hear and understand the way of light (Matth. 7, 14). Many follow the delights presented to them by the prince of darkness; and those that follow them know not whither they are led (John 12, 35). But thou art called by the Most High to the paths of true light; follow them by imitating me, and thou wilt have thy longings fulfilled. Deny thyself to all that is earthly and visible; ignore it and refuse to look upon it; have no desire for it and pay no attention to it; avoid being known, and let no creatures have any part in thee; guard thou thy secret (Is. 24, 16), and thy treasure (Matth. 13, 44) from the fascination of men and from the devil. In all this wilt thou have success, if, as a disciple of my most holy Son and of me, thou puttest in perfect practice the evangelical doctrine inculcated by Us. In order to compel thyself to such an exalted undertaking always be mindful of the blessing of being called by divine Providence to the imitation of my life and virtues and to the following of my footsteps through my instruction. From this state of a novice, thou must pass on to a more exalted state and to the full profession of the Catholic faith, conforming thyself to the evangelical law and to the example of thy Redeemer, running after the odor of his ointments and by his truth in the paths of rectitude. By first being my disciple thou shouldst prepare thyself for becoming a disciple of my Son; and both these states should lead thee to the perfect union with the immutable being of God. These three stages are favors of peerless value, which place thee in a position to become more perfect than the exalted seraphim. The divine right hand has conceded them to thee in order to dispose, prepare and enable thee to receive proper light and intelligence for recording the works, virtues, mysteries and sacraments of my life. Freely and without thy merit the Lord has shown thee this great mercy, yielding to my petitions and intercessions. I have procured thee this favor, because thou didst subject thyself in fear and trembling to the will of the Lord in obedience to thy superiors, who continued to give thee express commands for the writing of this history. Thy greatest reward is that thou hast learnt of the three stages or ways, which are so mysterious, hidden and exalted above carnal prudence and so pleasing to thy divine Master (Is. 24, 16). They contain most abundant instruction as thou thyself hast learnt and experienced for the attainment of still higher ends. Do thou record them separately in a treatise for itself, according to the will of my most holy Son. Let its title be the same as what thou hast already mentioned in the introduction to this history: "Laws of the Spouse, crumbs of his chaste love, and fruits collected from the tree of life in this history."

CHAPTER III

MOST HOLY MARY AND JOSEPH GO TO JERUSALEM EVERY YEAR ACCORDING TO THE REQUIREMENT OF
THE LAW AND THEY TAKE WITH THEM THE CHILD JESUS

Some days after our Queen and Lady with her most holy Son and saint Joseph had settled in Nazareth, the time of the year in which the Jews were obliged to present themselves before the Lord in the temple of Jerusalem, was at hand. This commandment obliged the Jews to this duty three times each year, as can be seen in Exodus and Deuteronomy. But it obliged only the men, not the women (Exod. 23, 17); therefore the women could go or not, according to their devotion; for it was neither commanded nor prohibited to them. The heavenly Lady and her spouse conferred with each other as to what they should do in this regard. The holy husband much desired the company of the great Queen, his wife, and of her most holy Son; for he wished to offer Him anew to the eternal Father in the temple. The most pure Mother also was drawn by her piety to worship the Lord in the temple; but as in things of that kind She did not permit Herself to decide without the counsel and direction of the incarnate Word, her Teacher, She asked his advice upon this matter. They finally arranged, that two times a year saint Joseph was to go to Jerusalem by himself, while on the third occasion They would go together. The Israelites visited the temple on the feast of the Tabernacles (Deut. 16, 13), the feast of the Weeks, or Pentecost, and the feast of the unleavened Breads or the Pasch of the preparation. To this latter the sweetest Jesus, most pure Mary, and Joseph went up together. It lasted seven days and during that time happened what I shall relate in the next chapter. For the other solemnities saint Joseph went alone, leaving the Child and the Mother at home.

27. The holy spouse Joseph made these pilgrimages for himself and his Spouse in the name of the incarnate Word. Instructed by Him and furnished with his graces the saint journeyed to the temple, offering there to the eternal Father the gifts always reserved for this occasion. Being the substitute of the Son and Mother, who remained at home praying for him, he offered up the mysterious sacrifices of his prayers and as he therein represented Jesus and Mary, his offering was more acceptable to the eternal Father than the offerings of the whole Jewish people. But whenever he was accompanied by the incarnate Word and the Virgin Mother at the feast of the Pasch, the journey was a most wonderful one to him and to the heavenly courtiers, who, as I have already recorded of similar occasions, formed for them a most solemn procession. The ten thousand angels accompanied the three pilgrims, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in human forms, refulgent in their beauty and full of profoundest reverence, serving their Creator and their Queen. The distance between Nazareth and Jerusalem was in the neighborhood of thirty leagues and the holy angels, according to the command and disposition of the incarnate Word, observed the same mode of accompaniment both in going and returning.

28. They consumed more time in these journeys than in previous ones; for after they had come back from Egypt the Child Jesus desired that they journey on foot; and therefore all three, the son and the parents made the pilgrimage afoot. And it was necessary to proceed slowly; for already the Child Jesus began to assume hardships in the service of his eternal Father and for our advantage. He refused to make use of his immense power for lessening the difficulties of the journey, but undertook it as a man subject to suffering and allowed all the natural causes to produce their effects. One of these effects was the fatigue and exhaustion caused by travel. Although in his first journey the heavenly Mother and saint Joseph eased his fatigue by sometimes carrying Him in their arms; yet this was but a slight alleviation and later on He always made the whole journey on foot. The sweetest Mother did not interfere, since She knew his desire of suffering; but ordinarily She led Him by the hand, and sometimes this was also done by saint Joseph. Many times, when the Child was fatigued and overheated, the loving and prudent Mother was moved to tenderest and tearful compassion. She inquired about his sufferings and fatigue and wiped his divine countenance, which was more beautiful than the heavens and all its stars. She was wont to do this on her knees and with ineffable reverence. The divine Child would respond with much pleasure and speak of the delight with which He accepted these hardships for the glory of the eternal Father and for the good of men. With these conversations and conferences, varied by canticles of divine praise, they shortened much of their journey, as I have already mentioned in other places.

29. At other times, when the great Queen and Lady beheld on the one hand the interior activity of the soul of Christ and on the other hand the perfection of his deified humanity, the beauty and activity of which manifested itself in the operations of divine grace and in his growth as true man, and when She pondered upon all this in her heart (Luke 2, 19), She exercised Herself in heroic acts of all the virtues and was inflamed with divine love. She beheld also the Child as the Son of the eternal Father and as the true God; without ever failing in the love of a true and natural Mother, She showed Him all the reverence due to Him as her God and Creator. All this flowed naturally from her spotless and pure heart. Very often the wind would flutter through the hair of the Child Jesus as He walked along. His hair grew to no greater length than was necessary and He lost none of it, except what the executioners tore out later on. Such little incidents were noticed by the sweetest Mother and they afforded Her subjects for affectionate and sweet meditation. In all her interior and exterior conduct, She was wonderful to the angels and pleasing to her most holy Son and Creator.

30. During these journeys of the holy Family Jesus and Mary performed heroic works of charity for the benefit of souls; They converted many to the knowledge of the Lord, freed them from their sins and justified them, leading them on the way of life eternal. But as it was not yet time for the Teacher of virtue to manifest Himself, all these works were done in secret (John 12, 49). As the heavenly Lady knew that such activity was enjoined upon her Son by the eternal Father, and that for the present it was to remain hidden, She concurred therein as the instrument of the Redeemer's will, though in a covered and hidden manner. In order to govern Herself according to the dictates of the highest wisdom, the most prudent Lady always consulted the divine Child concerning all her doings on the way and concerning their stopping places and their lodginghouses on their journey. The heavenly Princess well knew that her Son prearranged the occasions for his admirable works, which He foresaw and foreordered in his wisdom.

31. Hence they passed their nights sometimes in lodging places, sometimes on the open fields; but the divine Child and his purest Mother never separated. At all times the great Lady attended upon her Son and Master, watching his actions in order to imitate and follow them closely. The same She did in the temple, where She joined in the prayers and petitions of the incarnate Word to his eternal Father and was witness to the humble and profound reverence, by which his humanity acknowledged the gifts flowing from the Divinity. A few times the most blessed Mother heard the voice of the Father saying: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Matth. 17, 5). At other times She perceived and witnessed, how her most holy Son prayed for Her to the eternal Father and how He offered Her to Him as his true Mother: and this knowledge was inexpressibly joyful to Her. She perceived also how He prayed for the whole human race and how He offered up all his works and labors for all these ends. In these petitions and offerings She accompanied, imitated and followed Him at all times.

32. It happened also at other times that the holy angels intoned hymns of sweetest harmony in honor of the incarnate Word, as well when they entered the temple as on their journey. The most fortunate Mother saw them and listened to them, understanding all the mysteries and being filled thereby with new light and wisdom. Her purest heart was inflamed and blazed up in divine love. The Most High showered upon Her new gifts and blessings, such as my inadequate tongue cannot clothe in words. But by them He prepared Her for the adversities, which She was to suffer. For, many times after these consolations, She beheld as in a panorama all the affronts, ignominies, and sufferings awaiting her most holy Son in that same city of Jerusalem. In order that She might, already at that time, see all this with so much the more vivid sorrow, He was wont to enter upon his prayers in the presence of his sweetest Mother; and, as She was filled with the light of divine wisdom and with a divine love for God and her Son, She was pierced with the sword of sorrow mentioned by Simeon (Luke 2, 35); She shed many tears in anticipation of the injuries to be borne by her sweetest Son and at the thought of the sufferings and the ignominious Death to which He was destined (Is. 53, 3). Her soul was filled with anguish, when She remembered, that the beauty of the Son of God, greater than that of all men, was to be disfigured worse than with leprosy (Wis. 2, 20; Ps. 44, 3); and that She herself was to see all this with her own eyes. In order to lessen her sore rows the divine Child was wont to turn toward Her, telling Her to dilate her heart with charity for the human race and together with Him offer to the eternal Father all these sufferings for the salvation of men. Thus both Son and Mother made delightful offerings to the holy Trinity, applying them for the benefit of the faithful, and especially for the predestined who would profit by their merits and by the Redemption through the incarnate Word. Principally in these occupations the sweetest Jesus and his Mother spent the days of their visits to the temple of Jerusalem.

INSTRUCTION VOUCHSAFED ME BY
MARY, THE MOST HOLY QUEEN

My daughter, if thou wilt deeply and attentively weigh thy obligations, thou wilt find very easy and sweet all the labors enjoined upon thee by the commands and precepts of the holy law of the Lord. This must be the first step of thy pilgrimage, as the beginning and foundation of all Christian perfection. But I have already many times reminded thee, that the fulfillment of the precepts of the Lord must not be cold and lukewarm, but most fervent and devoted. For this favor will prevent thee from being satisfied with common virtue, and excite thee to undertake works of purest love beyond that which God imposes upon thee by command. For this is one of the artifices of His wisdom, that He seeks to be obliged by his true servants and friends, in order that He may reward them, and this is what I desire of thee. Remember, dearest, that the journey from the mortal to the eternal life is long, painful and dangerous (Matth. 7, 14): long, because it takes up the whole life, painful, on account of the hardships, dangerous, on account of human frailty and the astuteness of the enemies. In addition to this the time is short (I Cor. 7, 29), the end uncertain (Ecc1i. 9, 2), being either very happy, or most unfortunate (Matth. 25, 31), while the one as well as the other termination is irrevocable (Ecc1i. 11, 3). Since the sin of Adam the animal and earthly life of man is burdensome for all those that subject themselves to it (Job 7, 29), the chains of the passions are strong, the war against the lower nature continual; sensible pleasures are always present and easily fascinate the faculties of man, while that which is noble, as well as its immediate consequences, is often hidden from the gaze. All this fills the pilgrimage of life with hazardous dangers and difficulties.

34. Among all these dangers and difficulties not the least are those of the flesh; for its human weakness, always present and always active, withdraws many from grace. The shortest and the most secure course to follow, both for thee and for all men, is to welcome bitterness and sorrow and put aside ease and pleasure of the senses, and inviolably to resolve not to allow them to become dissipated or enjoy greater freedom than the strict rule of reason permits. In addition to this thou must continually seek after the greater pleasure of the Lord and aspire to the great last end of all thy longings. For this purpose thou must always be solicitous to imitate me, for to this I call and invite thee, desiring that thou arrive at the summit of virtue and holiness. Consider the punctuality and fervor with which I achieved so many and so great results; not because the Lord urged me on by his commands, but because I wished to please Him more: Do thou also multiply thy deeds of fervor, thy devotions, thy spiritual exercises and in all things increase thy prayers and sacrifices to the eternal Father for the benefit of mortals. Help them also by the example and thy exhortations wherever thou canst. Console the sorrowful, encourage the weak, help the fallen to arise; and for all of them offer, if necessary, thy own lifeblood. Above all strive to please my most holy Son, who suffers so kindly the ingratitude of men, preserving them in existence and continuing to shower his favors upon them. Consider his invincible love toward them and how I imitated Him, and even now show toward them the same love. I desire of thee, that thou follow thy sweet Spouse in his exalted charity, and also me, who am thy Teacher.

CHAPTER IV

AT TWELVE YEARS OF AGE THE CHILD JESUS GOES WITH HIS PARENTS TO JERUSALEM AND
HE CONCEALS HIMSELF FROM THEM IN THE TEMPLE

As I have said, Mary and Joseph repeated their visit to the temple at the feast of the unleavened Bread every year. Also when the divine Child was twelve years old and when it was time to allow the splendors of his inaccessible and divine light to shine forth, They went to the temple for this feast (Luke 2, 42). This festival of the unleavened Bread lasted seven days, according to the command of the divine law; and the more solemn days were the first and the last. On this account our heavenly Pilgrims remained in Jerusalem during the whole week, spending their time in acts of worship and devotion as the rest of the Jews, although on account of the sacraments connected with each of Them their worship and devotion was entirely different and greatly exalted above that of the others. The blessed Mother and holy Joseph received during these days favors and blessings beyond the conception of the human mind.

36. Having thus spent all the seven days of the feast They betook themselves on their way home to Nazareth. When his parents departed from Jerusalem and were pursuing their way homeward, the Child Jesus withdrew from them without their knowledge. For this purpose the Lord availed Himself of the separation of the men and women, which had become customary among the pilgrims for reasons of decency as well as for greater recollection during their return homeward. The children which accompanied their parents were taken in charge promiscuously either by the men or the women, since their company with either was a matter of indifference. Thus it happened that saint Joseph could easily suppose that the Child Jesus had remained with his most holy Mother; with whom He generally remained. The thought that She would go without Him was far from his mind, since the heavenly Queen loved and delighted in Him more than any other creature human or angelic. The great Lady did not have so many reasons for supposing that her most holy Son was in the company of saint Joseph: but the Lord himself so diverted her thoughts by holy and divine contemplations, that She did not notice his absence at first. When afterwards She became aware of her not being accompanied by her sweetest and beloved Son, She supposed that the blessed Joseph had taken Him along and that the Lord accompanied his foster father for his consolation.

37. Thus assured, holy Mary and Joseph pursued their home journey for an entire day, as saint Luke tells us. As the pilgrims proceeded onwards they gradually thinned out, each taking his own direction and joining again with his wife or family. The most holy Mary and saint Joseph found themselves at length in the place where they had agreed to meet on the first evening after leaving Jerusalem. When the great Lady saw that the Child was not with saint Joseph and when the holy Patriarch found that He was not with his Mother, the two were struck dumb with amazement and surprise for quite a while. Both, governed in their judgment by their most profound humility, felt overwhelmed with self reproach at their remissness in watching over their most holy Son and thus blamed themselves for his absence; for neither of them had any suspicion of the mysterious manner in which He had been able to elude their vigilance. After a time they recovered somewhat from their astonishment and with deepest sorrow took counsel with each other as to what was to be done (Luke 2, 45). The loving Mother said to saint Joseph: "My spouse and my master, my heart cannot rest, unless we return with all haste to Jerusalem in order to seek my most holy Son." This they proceeded to do, beginning their search among their relations and friends, of whom, however, none could give them any information or any comfort in their sorrow; on the contrary their answers only increased their anxiety, since none of them had so much as seen their Son since their departure from Jerusalem.

38. The afflicted Mother turned to her holy angels. Those that carried the escutcheons inscribed with the most holy name of Jesus (of which I spoke at the Circumcision), had accompanied the Lord, while the other angels still remained with the purest Mother; this was the order maintained whenever the Son separated from the Mother. These, who numbered ten thousand, She asked, saying: "My friends and companions, you well know the cause of my sorrow: in this bitter affliction be my consolation and give me some information concerning my Beloved, so that I may seek and find Him (Cant. 3, 2). Give some relief to my wounded heart, which, torn from its happiness and life, bounds from its place in search of Him." The holy angels, who, though they never lost sight of the Creator and Redeemer, were aware that the Lord wished to furnish his Mother this occasion of great merit, and that it was not yet time to reveal the secret to Her, answered by speaking to her words of consolation without manifesting to Her the whereabouts and the doings of their Lord. This evasive answer raised new doubts in the most prudent Lady. Her anxiety of heart caused Her to break out in tears and sighs of inmost grief, and urged Her onward in search, not of the lost drachm, like the woman in the Gospel, but of the whole treasure of heaven and earth (Luke 15, 8).

39. The Mother of wisdom then began to discuss within her heart the different possibilities. The first thought which presented itself to Her, was the fear lest Archelaus, imitating the cruelty of his father Herod, should have obtained notice of the presence of Jesus and have taken Him prisoner. Although She knew from the holy Scriptures and revelations, and by her conversations with her most holy Son and Teacher, that the time for his Passion and Death had not yet come and that the king would not take away his life, yet She was filled with dread at the thought, that they should have taken Him prisoner and might illtreat Him. In her profoundest humility She also had misgivings, lest perchance She had in any way displeased Him by her conduct and therefore deserved that He should leave Her and take up his abode in the desert with his precursor saint John. At other times, addressing her absent Love, She exclaimed: "Sweet Love and Delight of my soul! Thou art impelled by thy desire of suffering for men and by thy immense charity to avoid no labor or pain; but on the contrary, I fear, 0 Lord and Master, that Thou seekest it on purpose (Is. 53, 7). ·Whither shall I go and whither shall I find Thee, Light of my eyes? (Tob. 10, 4). Dost Thou wish to deprive me of life by the sword of severance from thy presence? But I do not wonder, 0 my highest Good: Thou chastisest by thy absence her who did not know how to profit by thy company. Why, 0 my Lord, hast Thou enriched me with the delights of thy infancy, if I am so soon to lose the assistance of thy loving instruction? But, woe is me! since, not being worthy to retain and enjoy Thee as my Son, I must confess, that I am obliged to thank Thee even for the favor of condescending to accept me as thy slave! If the privilege of being thy unworthy Mother can be of any avail in finding Thee, my God and my highest Good, do Thou, 0 Lord, permit it, and make me worthy of again finding Thee, so that I may go with Thee in the desert, to sufferings, labors, tribulations, or whatever Thou wilt. My Lord, my soul desires to merit at least in part to share thy sorrows and torments, to die, if I do not find Thee, or to live in thy service and presence. When thy Divinity hid Itself from my gaze, thy amiable humanity at least remained; and, although Thou wast austere and less kind to me than Thou hadst been, I could throw myself at thy feet; but now this happiness is taken away from me and I have lost sight entirely of the Sun which enlightens me, left only to groans and sighs. Ah Love of my soul! What sighs from the inmost of my heart can I send Thee as messengers? But I am not worthy of thy clemency, since my eyes find no traces of Thee."

40. Thus this sincerest Dove persevered in her tears and groans without cessation or rest, without sleeping or eating anything for three whole days. Although the ten thousand angels accompanied Her in corporeal forms and witnessed her affliction and sorrow, yet they gave Her no clue to find her lost Child. On the third day the great Queen resolved to seek Him in the desert where saint John was; for since She saw no indications that Archelaus had taken Him prisoner, She began to believe more firmly, that her most holy Son was with saint John. When She was about to execute her resolve and was on the point of departing for the desert, the holy angels detained Her, urging Her not to undertake the journey, since the divine Word was not there. She wanted also to go to Bethlehem, in the hope of finding Him in the cave of the Nativity; but this the holy angels likewise prevented, telling Her that He was not so far off. Although the blessed Mother heard these answers and well perceived that the holy angels knew the whereabouts of the Child Jesus, She was so considerate and reserved in her humility and prudence, that She gave no response, nor asked where She could find Him; for She understood that they withheld this information by command of the Lord. With such magnanimous reverence did the Queen of the angels treat the sacraments of the Most High and of his ministers and ambassadors (II Mach. 2, 9). This was one of the occasions in which the greatness of her queenly and magnanimous heart was made manifest.

41. Not all the sorrows suffered by all the martyrs ever reached the height of the sorrows of most holy Mary in this trial; nor will the patience, resignation and tolerance of this Lady ever be equaled, nor can they; for the loss of Jesus was greater to Her than the loss of anything created, while her love and appreciation of Him exceeded all that can be conceived by any other creature. Since She did not know the cause of the loss, her anxiety was beyond all measure, as I have already said. Moreover, during these three days the Lord left Her to her natural resources of nature and of grace, deprived of special privileges and favors; for, with the exception of the company and intercourse of the angels, He suspended all the other consolations and blessings so constantly vouchsafed to her most holy soul. From all this we can surmise what sorrow filled the loving heart of the heavenly Mother. But, 0 prodigy of holiness, prudence, fortitude and perfection! in such unheard of affliction and sorrow She was not disturbed, nor lost her interior or exterior peace, nor did She entertain a thought of anger or indignation, nor allowed Herself any improper movement or expression, nor fell into any excess of grief or annoyance, as is so common in great affliction with other children of Adam, who allow all their passions and faculties to be disarranged, yea even in small difficulties! The Mistress of all virtue held all her powers in heavenly order and harmony; though her sorrow was without comparison great and had pierced her inmost heart, She failed not in reverence and in the praise of the Lord, nor ceased in her prayers and petitions for the human race, and for the finding of her most holy Son.

42. With this heavenly wisdom and with greatest diligence She sought Him for three successive days, roaming through the streets of the city, asking different persons and describing to the daughters of Jerusalem the marks of her Beloved, searching the byways and the open squares of the city and thereby fulfilling what was recorded in the Canticles of Solomon (Cant. 5, 10). Some of the women asked Her what were the distinctive marks of her lost and only Son; and She answered all the words of the Spouse: "My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands." One of the women, hearing Her thus describing Him, said: "This Child, with those same marks, came yesterday to my door to ask for alms, and I gave some to Him; and his grace and beauty have ravished my heart. And when I gave Him alms, I felt myself overcome by compassion to see a Child so gracious in poverty and want." These were the first news the sorrowful Mother heard of her Onlybegotten in Jerusalem. A little respited in her sorrow, She pursued her quest and met other persons, who spoke of Him in like manner, Guided by this information She directed her steps to the hospital of the city, thinking that among the afflicted She would find the Spouse and the Originator of patient poverty among his own legitimate brethren and friends (Matth. 5, 40). Inquiring at that place, She was informed that a Child of that description had paid his visits to the inmates, leaving some alms and speaking words of much consolation to the afflicted.

43. The report of these doings of her Beloved caused sentiments of sweetest and most tender affection in the heart of the heavenly Lady, which She sent forth from her inmost heart as messengers to her lost and absent Son. Then the thought struck Her, that, since He was not with the poor, He no doubt tarried in the temple, as in the house of God and of prayer. The holy angels encouraged Her and said: "Our Queen and Lady, the hour of thy consolation is at hand: soon wilt Thou see the Light of thy eyes; hasten thy footsteps and go to the temple." The glorious patriarch saint Joseph at this moment again met his Spouse, for, in order to increase their chance of finding the divine Child, they had separated in different directions. By another angel he had now been likewise ordered to proceed to the temple. During all these three days he had suffered unspeakable sorrow and affliction, hastening from one place to another, sometimes without his heavenly Spouse, sometimes with Her. He was in serious danger of losing his life during this time, if the hand of the Lord had not strengthened him and if the most prudent Lady had not consoled him and forced him to take some food and rest. His sincere and exquisite love for the divine Child made him so anxious and solicitous to find Him, that he would have allowed himself no time or care to take nourishment for the support of nature. Following the advice of the holy princes, the most pure Mary and Joseph betook themselves to the temple, where happened what I will relate in the next chapter.

INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY
THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MOST HOLY MARY

My daughter, by oft repeated experience mortals know, that they do not lose without sorrow what once they have possessed with delight. This truth, so well established, should convince men what little love they have for their God and Creator; since among the many who lose Him, there are so few who heartily grieve at this loss, and thereby show, that they have never possessed or loved Him with a love flowing from grace. Just as they fail to grieve at losing the highest Good, which they do not hold in loving possession, so they also fail to seek after their God when they have lost Him. But there is a great difference in the manner in which men lose sight of their highest Good; for it is not the same to lose sight of God for the purpose of being tried in virtue and love and to lose sight of Him in punishment for sins committed. The first is a contrivance of divine love and a means of communicating itself more abundantly to the one that longs for it and merits it. The second is a just punishment for outrages committed against the Divinity. In the first kind of absence the Lord humiliates the soul by holy fear and filial love leaving it uncertain, whether it has not given cause for his withdrawal (Prov. 28, 13). Although its conscience does not reprehend it, the loving and ingenuous heart knows its danger, feels the loss and thus, as the wise man says, is blessed (Eccli. 9, 1); for it then lives in constant fear and dread of such a loss, knowing that man, until the end of this life, is uncertain, whether he deserves love or hate in the sight of God. During their mortal existence the just man and the sinner commonly share the same good and evil lot without much distinction.

45. This is the great evil which the wise man mentions as among the happenings under the sun; that the impious and the wicked harden their hearts in their malice and false security, seeing that the same mishaps befall both themselves and others, and that no one can tell with certainty who are the chosen or the reprobate, the friends or enemies, of God, the just or the sinners; who are worthy of love and who of hatred. But if men would dispassionately and without deceit appeal to their conscience, it would answer each one truthfully what he should know (Luke 12, 58); for when it cries out against sins committed, they would be foolish not to attribute the evils and adversities to themselves, or to fail to see themselves forsaken by grace and deprived of the highest Good. If their reason were unbiased, the greatest source of misgiving would be, to be unmoved by the loss or by the cessation of the spiritual joys of grace. For the want of this misgiving in a soul created and destined for eternal happiness is a strong indication that the soul neither desires nor loves this happiness, and therefore it is a sign, that it does not seek it in earnest, so as to enjoy a well founded prospect of once possessing the highest Good. For thou must remember, that this well founded assurance, of not having forfeited it in this mortal life, can be attained by all faithful souls.

46. I was deprived of the bodily presence of my most holy Son; but, although I was in hope of again finding Him, yet, in my great love, the uncertainty as to the cause of his withdrawal gave me no rest until I found Him. In this I wish that thou, my dearest, imitate me, whether thou lose Him through thy own fault or by the disposition of his own will. So great should be thy dread of losing Him through thy fault, that neither tribulation, nor trouble, nor necessity, nor danger, nor persecution, nor the sword, neither height nor depth should ever withhold thee from seeking after thy God (Rom. 8, 35) ; for if thou art faithful as thou shouldst be, and if thou dost not wish to lose Him, neither the angels, nor the principalities, nor the powers, nor any other creature can ever deprive thee of Him. So strong are the bonds of his love and its chains, that no one can burst them, except thy own free will.

CHAPTER V

AFTER THREE DAYS MOST HOLY MARY AND SAINT JOSEPH FIND THE CHILD JESUS IN
THE TEMPLE DISPUTING WITH THE TEACHERS

In the foregoing chapter a partial answer might be found to the question raised by some, as to how the heavenly Queen, who was so diligent and solicitous in attending upon and serving her most holy Son, could ever so far lose Him out of sight as to leave Him in Jerusalem. Although it would be a sufficient answer to say that the Lord himself brought it about, yet I will now explain more fully how it could have happened without any voluntary negligence or oversight of the loving Mother. It is certain, that besides availing Himself of the great concourse of people, our Lord was obliged to use also supernatural means to elude the attention of his solicitous Mother; for without it She could no more have lost sight of Him than of the sun, that lighted Her on the way. Therefore, at the parting of the men and the women which I mentioned, the almighty Lord visited his heavenly Mother with an abstractive vision of the Divinity, which with divine power centered and withdrew all her faculties toward her interior. She thus remained so abstracted, inflamed and deprived of her senses, that She could make use of them only in so far as was necessary to pursue her way. As to all the rest, She was entirely lost in the sweetness and consolation of the divine vision. Saint Joseph was guided in his behavior by the circumstances already mentioned; although he also was wrapped in a most exalted contemplation, which made more easy and mysterious his error in regard to the whereabouts of the Child. Thus Jesus withdrew Himself from both of them, remaining in Jerusalem. When after a considerable while the Queen came to Herself and found Herself without the company of her most holy Son, She supposed Him to be with his reputed father.

48. It was very near to the gate of the city, that the divine Child turned and hastened back through the streets. Foreseeing in his divine foreknowledge all that was to happen, He offered it up to his eternal Father for the benefit of souls. He asked for alms during these three days in order to ennoble from that time on humble mendicity as the firstborn of holy poverty. He visited the hospitals of the poor, consoling them and giving them the alms which He had received; secretly He restored bodily health to some and spiritual health to many, by enlightening them interiorly and leading them back to the way of salvation. On some of the benefactors, who gave Him alms, He performed these wonders with a greater abundance of grace and light; thus fulfilling from that time on the promise, which He was afterwards to make to his Church; that he who gives to the just and to the prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive the reward of the just (Matth. 10, 41).

49. Having thus busied Himself with these and other works of his Father, He betook Himself to the temple. On the day which the Evangelist mentions it happened that also the rabbis, who were the learned and the teachers of the temple, met in a certain part of the buildings in order to confer among themselves concerning some doubtful points of holy Scriptures. On this occasion the coming of the Messias was discussed; for on account of the report of the wonderful events, which had spread about since the birth of the Baptist and the visit of the Kings of the east, the rumor of the coming of the Redeemer and of his being already in the world, though yet unknown, had gained ground among the Jews. They were all seated in their places filled with the sense of authority customary to those who are teachers and considered as learned. The Child Jesus came to the meeting of these distinguished men; and He that was the King of kings, and Lord of lords (Apoc. 19, 16), the infinite Wisdom itself (I Cor. 1, 24), and who corrects the wise (Wis. 7, 15), presented Himself before the teachers of this world as an humble disciple, giving them to understand that He had come to hear the discussion and inform Himself on the question treated of, namely: whether the Messias was already come, or, if not, concerning the time in which He should come into the world.

50. The opinions of the scribes were much at variance on this question, some of them answering in the affirmative, others in the negative. Those in the negative quoted some testimonies of holy Scriptures and prophecies with the coarse interpretation reprehended by the Apostle: namely, killing the spirit by the letter (II Cor. 3, 6). They maintained that the Messias was to come with kingly magnificence and display in order to secure the liberty of his people by the exercise of great power, rescuing them in a temporal manner from the slavery of the gentiles; yet, that there were no indications of this power and freedom in the present state of the Hebrews and no possibility of throwing off the yoke of the Romans. This outward circumstance was an argument of great force among this carnal and blinded people; for they presumed, that the coming greatness and majesty of the promised Messias and the Redemption was intended for themselves only; and they believed this Redemption to be temporal and earthly, just as even now the Jews, in the obscurity which envelops their hearts (Is. 6, 10), continue to believe. For to the present day they have not yet come to realize, that the glory, the majesty, and the power of the Redeemer, and the liberty which He is to bring to the world, is not of an earthly, temporal and perishable kind, but heavenly, spiritual and eternal; and that it is not intended alone for the Jews, although offered to them before all other nations, but indiscriminately for the whole human race descended from Adam (I Cor. 3, 15).

51. The teacher of truth, Jesus, foresaw that the discussion would end with the confirmation of this error; for although some of the learned men inclined to the contrary opinion, they were but few; and they had now been silenced by the authority and specious arguments of the others. As the Lord had come into the world in order to give testimony of the truth (John 18, 37), which was He Himself, He would not on this occasion, when it was so important to manifest the truth, allow that the deceit and error opposed to it should be confirmed and established by the authority of the learned. His measureless charity could not pass by unnoticed this ignorance of his works and high purposes in these men, who were set as teachers of the people in matters concerning eternal life and its Author, our Redeemer. Therefore the divine Child presented Himself to the disputants, manifesting the grace poured out over his lips (Ps. 44, 3). He stepped into their midst with exceeding majesty and grace, as one who would propose some doubt or solution. By his pleasing appearance He awakened in the hearts of these learned men a desire to hear Him attentively.

52. The divine Child spoke to them as follows: "The question concerning the coming of the Messias and the answer given to it, I have heard and understood completely. In order to propose my difficulty in regard to its solution, I presuppose what the Prophets say, that his coming shall be in great power and majesty, which has also been confirmed by the testimonies brought forward. For Isaias says, that He shall be our Lawgiver and King, who shall save his people (Is. 30, 27), and David, that He shall crush all his enemies (Ps. 94, 3), Daniel, that all tribes and nations shall serve Him (Dan. 7, 14), Ecclesiasticus} that He shall come with a great multitude of the saints (Ec1us. 24, 3). All the Prophets and Scriptures are full of similar promises, manifesting his characteristics clearly and decisively enough for all those that study them with enlightened attention. But the doubt arises from the comparison of these with other passages in the Prophets, since all of them must be equally true, though on account of their brevity they may appear to contradict each other. Therefore they must agree with each other in another sense, which can and must be found equally applicable in all the passages. How then shall we understand what this same Isaias says of Him, that He shall come from the land of the living, and when He asks: who shall declare his generation? (Is. 53, 8), that He shall be satiated with reproach; that He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and that He shall not open his mouth ? Jeremias states that the enemies of the Messias shall join hands to persecute Him and mix poison with his bread, and they shall wipe out his name from the earth, although they shall not prevail in their attempt (Jer. 11, 19). David says that He shall be the reproach of the people and of men, and shall be trodden under foot and shall be despised as a worm (Ps. 21, 78); Zachary, that He shall come meek and humble seated upon an insignificant beast (Zach. 9, 9). All the Prophets say the same concerning the signs of the promised Messias."

53. "Hence," added the divine Child, "how will it be possible to reconcile these prophecies, if we suppose that the Messias is to come with the power and majesty of arms in order to conquer all the kings and monarchs by violence and foreign bloodshed? We cannot fail to see that He is to come twice; once to redeem the world and a second time to judge it; the prophecies must be applied to both these comings, giving to each one its right explanation. As the purposes of these comings are different so must also the conditions be different; for He is not to exercise the same office in both, but widely divergent and opposite offices. In the first advent He is to overthrow the demon, hurling him from his sovereignty over souls obtained through the first sin. And therefore He must first render satisfaction to God for the whole human race; then also teach men by his word and example the way of eternal life, how they are to overcome their enemies, serve and adore their God and Redeemer; how they must correspond to the gifts and use well the blessings of his right hand. All these requirements the Messias must fulfill in the first coming. The second coming is for the purpose of exacting an account from all men in the general judgment, of giving to each one the return for his works, good or bad, chastising his enemies in his wrath and indignation. This is what the Prophets say of his second coming."

54. "Accordingly, when we wish to understand how his first coming shall be in power and majesty, or as David says, that He shall reign from sea to sea, that in his advent He shall be glorious, as said by the other Prophets: all this cannot be interpreted as referring to visible and terrestrial sovereignty, with all its outward show of pomp and majesty; but of a spiritual reign in a new Church, which would be extended over all the earth with sovereign power and riches of grace and virtue in opposition to the demon. By this interpretation the whole Scripture becomes dear, while in another sense its different parts cannot be made to harmonize. That the people of the Jews ate under dominion of the Romans and are in no condition to restore their sovereignty, not only cannot be held as a proof of his not having come, but on the contrary, it is an infallible sign that He is already come into the world. For our patriarch Jacob has pointed out this very sign for the guidance of his posterity, commanding them to expect the Messias as soon as they should see the tribe of Juda deprived of the sceptre and sovereignty of Israel (Gen. 49, 10) ; and you must confess that neither Juda nor any other tribe of Israel can hope to recover or hold it. The same is also proved by the weeks of Daniel (Dan. 9, 25) ; which must certainly be now complete. Those who wish can also remember, that a few years ago a light was seen in Bethlehem at midnight and that some poor shepherds heard the message of the newborn Redeemer; and soon after some Kings of the East came guided by a star, seeking the King of the Jews in order to adore Him. All this had been prophesied. Herod, the father of Archelaus, believing it an established fact, took away the life of so many children, hoping thereby to destroy the newborn King, whom he feared as his rival in the government of Israel."

55. Other arguments did the Child Jesus add, and while seeming to ask questions He taught with a divine efficacy. The scribes and learned men who heard Him were all dumbfounded. Convinced by his arguments they looked at each other and in great astonishment asked: "What miracle is this? and what prodigy of a boy! Whence has He come and who is the Child ?" But though thus astonished, they did not recognize or suspect who it was, that thus taught and enlightened them concerning such an important truth. During this time and before Jesus had finished his argument, his most holy Mother and saint Joseph her most chaste spouse arrived, just in time to hear him advance his last arguments. When He had finished, all the teachers of the law arose with stupendous amazement. The heavenly Lady, absorbed in joy, approached her most loving Son and in the presence of the whole assembly, spoke to Him the words recorded by saint Luke: "Son, why hast Thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing (Luke 4, 48). This loving complaint the heavenly Mother uttered with equal reverence and affection, adoring Him as God and manifesting her maternal affliction. The Lord answered: "Why is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?"

56. The Evangelist says that they did not understand the mystery of these words (Luke 2, 50); for it was hidden at the time to most holy Mary and saint Joseph. And for two reasons; on the one hand, the interior joy of now reaping what they had sown in so much sorrow, and the visible presence of their precious Treasure, entirely filled the faculties of their souls; and on the other hand, the time for the full comprehension of what had just been treated of in this discussion had not yet arrived for them. Moreover, for the most solicitous Queen there was another hindrance just at that time, and it was, that the veil, concealing the interior of her most holy Son had again intervened and was not removed until some time later. The learned men departed, commenting in their amazement upon the wonderful event, by which they had been privileged to hear the teaching of eternal Wisdom, though they did not recognize it. Being thus left almost alone, the blessed Mother, embracing Him with maternal affection, said to Him : "Permit my longing heart, my son, to give expression to its sorrow and pain; so that it may not die of grief as long as it can be of use to Thee. Do not cast me off from thy sight; but accept me as thy slave. If it was my negligence, which deprived me of thy presence, pardon me and make me worthy of thy company, and do not punish me with thy absence." The divine Child received Her with signs of pleasure and offered Himself as her Teacher and Companion until the proper time should arrive. Thus was the dovelike and affectionate heart of the great Lady appeased, and They departed for Nazareth.

57. But at some distance from Jerusalem, when They were alone upon the road, the most prudent Lady fell on her knees before her Son and adored Him, asking his benediction; for She had not thus reverenced Him openly in presence of the people in the temple, being always anxious to conduct Herself with the perfection of holiness. With loving tenderness the Child Jesus raised Her from the ground and spoke to Her words of sweetest comfort. Immediately the veil fell, revealing anew his most holy soul with greater depth and clearness than ever before. Then the heavenly Mother read and perceived in the interior of her most holy Son all the mysteries of his doings during those three days in Jerusalem. She understood also all that had passed in the dispute with the doctors, what Jesus had said and why He did not manifest Himself more clearly as the true Messias. Many other sacramental secrets He revealed to his Virgin Mother, depositing them with Her as in an archive of all the treasures of the incarnate Word, in order that thence He might receive for all of them the return of honor and praise due to Him as Author of such great wonders. And She, the Virgin Mother, fulfilled all the expectations of the Lord. Then She asked Him to rest a while in the field and partake of some nourishment, and He accepted it from the hands of the great Lady, the attentive Mother of divine Wisdom (Eccli. 24, 24).

58. During the rest of the journey the heavenly Mother discoursed with her sweetest Son on the mysteries, interiorly manifested to Her concerning the discussion with the teachers. He repeated by word of mouth, what He had shown Her interiorly. In particular He told Her, that these doctors had not recognized Him as the Messias because they were inflated and arrogant in their own knowledge. Their understanding was obscured by the darkness of their pride, so that they could not perceive the divine light shining forth in such profusion from Him; while, if they had had the humble and loving desire of seeing the truth, his reasoning would have sufficiently convinced them. On account of these obstacles they saw it not, though it was open before their eyes. Our Redeemer converted many souls to the way of salvation on this journey and, as his most holy Mother was with Him, He used Her as an instrument of his wonderful works. By means of her most prudent words and holy admonitions He enlightened the hearts of all to whom She spoke. They restored health to many of the sick; They consoled the afflicted and sorrowful; and everywhere They scattered grace and mercy without ever losing an occasion for doing good. Since I have described more particularly some of the wonders performed during other of their journeys, I do not stop to describe any more here; for many chapters and much time would be necessary to relate them all and there are other things more to the point to be related in this history.

59. They arrived at Nazareth, where they occupied themselves in what I shall record later on. The evangelist Luke compendiously mentions all the mysteries in few words, saying the Child Jesus was subject to his parents, namely most holy Mary and saint Joseph, and that his heavenly Mother noted and preserved within her heart all these events; and that Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men (Luke 2, 52), of which, as far as my understanding goes, I will speak later on. Just now I wish only to mention, that the humility and obedience of our God and Master toward his parents were the admiration of the angels. But so was also the dignity and excellence of his most blessed Mother, who thus merited that the incarnate God should subject Himself and resign Himself to her care; so much so, that She, with the assistance of saint Joseph, governed Him and disposed of Him as her own. Although his subjection and obedience was to a certain extent a natural result of her motherhood; yet, in order to make proper use of this maternal right and superiority, a different grace was necessary than the one by which She conceived and gave birth to Him. The graces necessary for such ministry and office were given to most holy Mary in such abundance, that they overflowed into the soul of saint Joseph, making Him worthy of being the reputed father of Jesus and the head of this family.

60. To the obedience and subjection of her most holy Son the great Lady on her part responded by heroic works. Among her other excellences She conceived as it were an incomprehensible humility and a most heartfelt gratitude for having regained the companionship of her Son. This blessing, of which the heavenly Queen deemed Herself unworthy, vastly increased in her most pure heart her love and her anxiety to serve her divine Son. And She was so constant in showing her gratitude, so punctual and solicitous to serve Him, kneeling before Him and lowering Herself to the dust, that it excited the admiration of the highest seraphim. Moreover, She sought with the closest attention to imitate Him in all his actions as they became known to Her and exerted Herself most anxiously to copy them and reproduce them in her own life. The plenitude of her perfection wounded the heart of our Christ and Lord, and, according to our way of speaking, held him bound to Her with chains of invincible love. (Osee 11, 4). His being thus bound as God and as Son to this heavenly Princess, gave rise to such an interchange and divine reciprocity of intense love, as surpasses all created understanding. For into the ocean of Mary's soul entered all the vast floods of the graces and blessings of the incarnate Word; and this ocean did not overflow (Eccles. 1, 7), because it contained the depth and expanse necessary to receive them. But these currents turned back to their source like ebbs and tides of the Divinity held between two shores, the Son of God and his Mother. This explains the many repetitions of the humble acknowledgment of the Spouse: "My beloved to me, and I to him, who feedeth among the lilies, till the day break and shadows retire." (Cant. 2, 16). And elsewhere: "I to my beloved, and my beloved to me" (Cant. 6, 2); "I to my beloved, and his turning is to me" (Cant. 7, 10).

61. The fire of divine love, which burned In the heart of our Redeemer and which He came to spread upon the earth, finding material so prepared and ready at hand as was that of the pure heart of Mary, produced such effects, as only the Lord Himself, who was the Author of them, could properly estimate. There is but one thing, which I wish to record, having received an understanding thereof, that in the outward demonstration of his love for his most holy Mother, He guided Himself not by the natural affections and inclinations of a Son, but by her capability of meriting as a pilgrim in mortal life; for He well knew that, if in these demonstrations He would allow his filial love for such a Mother to have full sway, He would impede her merits by forcing upon Her the continual enjoyment of the delights of her Beloved. On this account the Lord restrained to a certain extent the human activity of his love and permitted his Mother, though She had reached the pinnacle of sanctity, to engage in meritorious labor and suffering by stopping now and then the flow of visible favors from his divine humanity. In his daily intercourse the divine Child therefore maintained a certain reserve and moderation. Hence, though the most assiduous Lady was so solicitous in serving and ministering to Him in all his wants, her most holy Son indulged in no such outward tokens of his filial love as would have been an adequate return for her loving service.

INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY THE
MOST HOLY MARY, THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

My daughter, all the works of my most holy Son and my own actions are full of mysterious instruction and doctrine for the mortals who contemplate them diligently and reverently. The Lord absented Himself from me in order that, seeking Him in sorrow and tears, I might find Him again in joy and with abundant fruits for my soul. I desire that thou imitate me in this mystery and seek Him with such earnestness, as to be consumed with a continual longing without ever in thy whole life coming to any rest until thou holdst Him and canst lose Him no more (Cant. S, 4). In order that thou mayest understand better this sacrament of the Lord, remember, that the infinite Wisdom made men capable of his eternal felicity and placed them on the way to this happiness, but left them in doubt of its attainment, as long as they have not yet acquired it, and thus filled them with joyful hope and sorrowful fear of its final acquisition. This anxiety engenders in men a lifelong fear and abhorrence of sin, by which alone they can be deprived of beatitude, and thus prevent them from being ensnared and misled by the corporeal and visible things of this earth. This anxiety the Creator assists by adding to the natural reasoning powers, faith and hope, which are the spurs of their love toward seeking and finding their last end. Besides these virtues and others infused at Baptism, He sends his inspirations and helps to keep awake the soul in the absence of its Lord and to prevent forgetfulness of Him and of itself while deprived of his amiable presence. Thus it pursues the right course until it finds the great goal, where all its inclinations and longing shall be satiated.

63. Hence thou canst estimate the listless ignorance of mortals and how few stop to consider the mysterious order of the creation and justification and all the works of the Almighty tending toward this exalted end. From this forgetfulness flow so many evils endured by men while they appropriate so many earthly goods and deceitful delights, as if they could ever find in them their ultimate end. The height of perversity opposed to the order of the Creator, is that mortals in this transitory and short life rejoice in visible things as if they were their last end, while they ought, on the contrary, to make use of creatures to gain, not to lose, the highest Good. Do thou, therefore, my dearest, be mindful of this dangerous human folly. Consider all delights and joys of the world as insanity, its laughing as sorrow, sensible enjoyment as self deceit, as the source of foolishness, which intoxicates the heart and hinders and destroys all true wisdom. Live in constant and holy fear of losing eternal life and rejoice in nothing except in the Lord until thou obtainest full possession of Him. Fly from conversation with men and dread its dangers. If sometimes God places thee in the way of human intercourse for his glory and by obedience, although thou must trust in his protection, yet never be remiss or careless in guarding thyself from contamination. Do not trust thy natural disposition when there is question of friendship and close intercourse with others; in this consists for thee a greater danger; for the Lord has given thee a pleasing and mild disposition, so that thou mayest naturally incline toward Him, resist none of his intentions and make a proper return for the blessings bestowed upon thee. But as soon as thou givest entrance to creatures into thy heart thou wilt certainly be carried away and alienated by them from the highest Good, and thou wilt pervert the intentions and operations of his infinite wisdom in thy behalf. It would certainly be most unworthy of thee to divert that which is most noble in thy nature toward an unseemly end. Raise thyself above all created things, and above thyself (Thren. 3, 28). Perfect the operations of thy faculties and set before them the exalted perfections of thy God, of my beloved Son and thy Spouse, who is beautiful among the sons of men (Ps. 44, 3). Love Him with all the powers of thy heart and soul.

CHAPTER VI

CONCERNING A VISION WHICH WAS GRANTED TO MOST HOLY MARY WHEN THE CHILD JESUS WAS
TWELVE YEARS OLD, AND WHICH WAS TO ASSIST IN PRODUCING WITHIN HER
THE PERFECT COPY AND IMAGE OF THE EVANGELICAL LAW

In the first and second chapters of this book I began what I must now complete in the following chapters: but I do it not without misgivings as to my halting and inadequate powers of expression and with much more hesitation on account of the lukewarmness of my heart, all of which make me unfit to speak of the hidden intercourse of the incarnate Word with his most blessed Mother. And especially do they make me unworthy of treating about that heavenly intercourse of the Son and the Mother at Nazareth during the eighteen years intervening between his dispute with the doctors at Jerusalem and the beginning of his public preaching in his thirtieth year. On the shores of this vast ocean of mysteries I stand full of confusion and doubt, asking the most high Lord from the bottom of my soul, to transfer my pen to the hands of an angel, in order that no injustice may be done to the subject of the discourse; or that He himself, the most powerful and wise God, speak for me, enlighten my faculties, so that governed by his divine light, they may be fit instruments of his will and truth and be free from the human frailty of an ignorant woman.

65. I have already said in former chapters, that our great Lady was the first and specially privileged Disciple of her most holy Son, chosen among all creatures as the model of the new evangelical law and its Author, according to which He was to mould all the saints of the new law and judge of all the results of the Redemption. In regard to Her the incarnate Word proceeded like a most skillful artist, who understands the art of painting and all that pertains to it most thoroughly; who, throwing all his powers into one chosen work, seeks to gain from it alone renown and fame as from the full exposition of his art. It is certain that all the holiness and glory of the saints was the result of the love and merits of Christ: (Eph. 2, 3) but in comparison with the excellence of Mary, they seem insignificant and as it were only rough sketches; for in all the saints are found defects (I John 1, 8). But this living image of the Onlybegotten was free from all imperfections; and the first strokes of his pencil in Her were of greater beauty than the last touches in the highest angels and saints. She is the model for all the perfection of holiness and virtues of all his elect, and the utmost limit to which the love of Christ can proceed in mere creatures. No one received any grace or glory that most holy Mary could not receive, and She received all that others were incapable of receiving: and her most blessed Son gave to Her all that She could receive and that He could communicate.

66. The multitude and variety of the saints silently enhance the Artificer of their great sanctity, and the greatness of the highest is made more conspicuous by the beauty of the lowest: but all of them together are a glorification of most holy Mary. For by her incomparable holiness they are all surpassed and they all partake of so much the greater felicity as they imitate Her, whose holiness redounds over all. If the most pure Mary has reached the highest pinnacle in the ranks of the just She may also on this very account be considered as the instrument or the motive power through which the saints themselves have reached their station. As we must judge of her excellence (even if only from afar), by the labor which Christ the Lord applied for her formation, let us consider what labor He spent upon Her and how much upon the whole Church. To establish and to enrich his Church He deemed it sufficient to spend only three years in preaching, selecting the Apostles, teaching the people, and inculcating the evangelical law by his public life; and this was amply sufficient to accomplish the work enjoined upon Him by the eternal Father and to justify and sanctify all the true believers. But in order to stamp upon his most holy Mother the image of his holiness, He consumed not three years, but ten times three years, engaging in this work with all the power of his divine love, without ever ceasing hour after hour to add grace to grace, gifts to gifts, blessings to blessings, and holiness to holiness. And at the end of all this He still left Her in a state, in which He could continue to add excellence after his Ascension to his eternal Father as I will describe in the third part. Our reason is unbalanced, our words fail at the greatness of this incomparable Lady; for She is elect as the sun (Cant. 6, 9) ; and her effulgence cannot be borne by terrestrial eyes, nor comprehended by any earthly creatures.

67. Christ our Redeemer began to manifest his designs in regard to his heavenly Mother after they had come back from Egypt to Nazareth, as I have already mentioned; and from that time on He continued to follow up his purpose in his quality as Teacher and as the divine Enlightener in all the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption. After they returned from Jerusalem in his twelfth year, the great Queen had a vision of the Divinity, not an intuitive vision, but one consisting of intellectual images; one very exalted and full of the new influences of the Divinity and of the secrets of the Most High. She was especially enlightened in regard to the decrees of the divine Will concerning the law of grace, which was now to be established by the incarnate Word, and concerning the power, which was given to Him in the consistory of the most blessed Trinity. At the same time She saw how for this purpose the eternal Father consigned to His Son the seven sealed book, of which saint John speaks (Apoc. 5, 1), and how none could be found either in heaven or on earth, who could unseal and open it, until the Lamb broke its seals by his Passion and Death and by his doctrines and merits. For in this figure God wished to intimate, that the secret of this book was nothing else than the new law of the Gospel and the Church founded upon it in this world.

68. Then the heavenly Queen saw in spirit, that, by the decree of the most blessed Trinity, She was to be the first one to read and understand this book; that her Onlybegotten was to open it for Her and manifest it all to Her, while She was to put it perfectly into practice; that She was the first one, who was to accompany the Word, and who was to occupy the first place next to Him on the way to heaven, which He had opened up for mortals and traced out in this book. In Her, as his true Mother, was to be deposited this new Testament. She saw how the Son of the eternal Father and of Herself accepted this decree with great pleasure; and how his sacred humanity obeyed it with ineffable joy on her account. Then the eternal Father turned to the most pure Lady and said:

69. "My Spouse and my Dove, prepare thy heart for the plenitude of knowledge and for receiving the new Testament and Law of my Only begotten in thy soul. Excite thy desires and apply thy mind to the knowledge and practice of our teachings and precepts. Receive from Us the gifts of our liberality and of our love for thee. In order that thou mayest give Us fitting thanks, consider, that by the disposition of our infinite wisdom, We have resolved to make thee, a mere creature, the closest image and likeness of my Onlybegotten, and thus produce in thee effects and fruits worthy of his merits. Therein shall his most holy name be magnified and honored in a fitting degree. Be mindful, therefore, my beloved and chosen Daughter, that a great preparation is required of thee."

70. And the most humble Lady answered: "Eternal Lord and immense God, in thy real and divine presence I lie prostrate, acknowledging at the sight of thy infinite Being my own insignificance, which is mere nothingness. I perceive thy greatness and my littleness. I know that I am unworthy to be thy slave; and for the kindness with which Thou hast looked upon me, I offer to Thee the fruit of my womb and thy Onlybegotten and I beseech Him to answer for his unworthy Mother and his handmaid. My heart is prepared and it is overwhelmed with gratitude for thy mercies and consumed with affection, as long as it cannot satisfy its vehement longings. But if I shall find grace in thy eyes, I will speak, 0 my Lord and Master, in thy presence, asking only this, that Thou do with thy slave whatever Thou wishest and commandest; for no one is able to execute it unless Thou thyself assist him, 0 Lord and most high King. If Thou desirest from me a heart free and devoted, I now offer it to Thee, ready to obey Thee and suffer for Thee until death." Immediately the heavenly Princess felt new influences of the Divinity, being enlightened, purified and spiritualized with such plenitude of the Holy Ghost as to exceed all that had happened to Her until that day; for this blessing was one of the most memorable ones for the peerless and sovereign Lady. Although all of them were exalted and without equal in any of the rest of creatures, reaching the highest perfection; yet in the participation of the divine perfections there is no measure, as long as the capacity of the creature to receive them does not fail. As this power of participation was so vast in this Queen and increased with each participation, the great gifts merely disposed Her for still greater ones. The divine power, therefore, not finding in Her any obstacle, set all its treasures in motion and laid them up in the secure and most faithful depository of the most holy Mary our Queen.

71. She issued from this ecstatic vision and betook Herself to her most holy Son, prostrating Herself at his feet and saying: "My Lord, my Light and my Teacher, behold thy unworthy Mother prepared for the fulfillment of thy wishes: admit me anew as thy disciple and servant and make use of me as the instrument of thy wisdom and power. Execute in me thy pleasure and that of thy eternal Father." Her most holy Son received Her with the majesty and authority of a divine Teacher and instructed Her in most exalted mysteries. In most persuasive and powerful words He explained to Her the profoundest meanings of the works enjoined upon Him by the eternal Father in regard to the Redemption of man, the founding of the Church and the establishment of the new evangelical law. He declared and reaffirmed, that in the execution of these high and hidden mysteries She was to be his Companion and Coadjutrix, receiving and enjoying the first fruits of grace; and that therefore She, the most pure Lady, was to follow Him in his labors until his death on the Cross with a magnanimous and well prepared heart in invincible and unhesitating constancy. He added heavenly instruction such as enabled Her to prepare for the reception of the whole evangelical Law, the understanding and practice of all its precepts and counsels in their highest perfection. Other sacramental secrets concerning his works in this world the Child Jesus manifested to his most blessed Mother on this occasion. And the heavenly Lady met all his words and intentions with profound humility, obedience, reverence, thanksgiving and most ardent love.

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE HEAVENLY LADY GAVE ME

My daughter, many times in the course of thy life, and especially while thou art writing this history of my own life, I have called upon thee and invited thee to follow me by the closest imitation possible to thee. I now renew this invitation and demand, for now thou hast by the condescension of the Most High received light and intelligence in this sacrament of his powerful arm in my heart: how He wrote therein the whole law of grace and all the doctrine of the Gospel, what effects this favor wrought in me, and how I corresponded by the closest and most perfect imitation of my most holy Son and Teacher. The knowledge of all this thou must consider as one of the greatest favors ever bestowed upon thee by the Lord. For in it thou wilt find the sum total and essence of the most exalted sanctity and perfection, reflected as in the clearest mirror. The paths of divine light will therein be revealed to thee, whereon thou canst walk secure from the darkness of ignorance enveloping other mortals.

73. Come then, my daughter, come and follow me. And in order that thou mayest imitate me as I desire and that thy understanding may be properly enlightened, thy spirit sufficiently ennobled and prepared, and thy will inflamed, separate thyself from all earthly things as thy Spouse wishes; withdraw thyself from what is visible, forsake all the creatures, deny thyself, dose thy senses to the deceits and fabulations of the world (Ps. 39, 5). And in thy temptations I exhort thee not to be troubled or afflicted very much; for if they cause thee to halt in thy course, they will already have gained a great advantage over thee and they will prevent thee from becoming strong in the practice of perfection. Listen therefore to the Lord alone, who is desirous of the beauty of thy soul (Ps. 44, 12); who is liberal in bestowing his gifts upon it, powerful to deposit therein the treasures of his wisdom, and anxious to see thee prepare thyself to receive them. Allow Him to write into thy heart the evangelical Law. Let that be thy continual study, thy meditation day and night, the sweet nourishment of thy memory, the life of thy soul and the sweet nectar for thy spiritual taste. Thus wilt thou obtain what the Most High and I require of thee, and what thou thyself desirest.

CHAPTER VII

THE EXALTING PURPOSE OF THE INSTRUCTION OF MOST HOLY MARY ARE EXPLAINED MORE AT LARGE;
AND HOW SHE PUT THESE INSTRUCTIONS INTO PRACTICE

All free and voluntary causes must have some reasonable end or purpose, which move them to act, and having obtained a clear view of this end, they proceed to choose the means for obtaining it. This is certainly true of the works of God, who is the first and primary Cause, and who is infinite Wisdom itself, disposing and executing all things and reaching from end to end in sweetness and power, as the wise man says. Nor does He seek the destruction and annihilation of any creature, but all of them He has made in order that they may enjoy life and existence (Wis. 8, 1). The more wonderful and excellent the works of the Most High, so much the more admirable and exalted are the ends to which they tend. Although the ultimate end of all things is the manifestation of his own glory; yet all are ordained according to infinite knowledge and are connected one with each other like the links of a chain. Thus all creatures succeed each other from the lowest to the highest and nearest to God, the Author of all.

75. All the excellence and sanctity of our great Lady is included in her having been molded by God as the image or living stamp of his own Son; being so well adjusted and refined in grace that She seemed another Christ by communication and privilege (Gal. 4, 4). Thus was established a singular and divine intercourse between Her and her Son. She had given Him the form and existence of man, while the Lord gave Her that other highest spiritual existence of grace, so that there was a mutual correspondence and similarity of gifts. The ends which the Most High had in view, were proportionate to this rare wonder and to this, the greatest of all his operations in mere creatures. In the second and sixth chapter I have said something concerning the honor of Christ and its being bound up with the efficacy of his doctrines and merits: that his honor required their power to be made known in his most holy Mother, and that all the effects of the evangelical Law and the fruits of his Redemption should redound to his glory by being exhibited in Her. More than in all the rest of his holy Church and in all the predestined, was this to be found in the sovereign Lady, his Mother.

76. The second end, which the Lord had in view in this work, concerned likewise the ministry of the Redeemer; for the work of our Redemption was to correspond with those of the Creation of the world, and the remedy of sin was to be correlative with its entrance among men. Therefore, it was befitting that, just as the first Adam had as a companion in sin our mother Eve, and was moved and abetted therein by her, causing the loss of the whole human race, so also, in the reparation of this great ruin, the second and heavenly Adam, Christ our Lord, was to have as a companion and helper his most pure Mother. She was to concur and cooperate in the Redemption; although in Christ alone, who is our Head, existed the full power and adequate cause of the general Redemption. In order that this mystery might not want the proper dignity and correspondence, it was necessary that what was said by the Most High in the first formation of man, be also fulfilled in regard to Christ and his Mother: “It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself” (Gen 2, 18). This the Lord in his Omnipotence did, so that, speaking of the second Adam, Christ, He could say: "This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman because She was taken out of man" (Gen. 2, 23). I shall not detain myself in further explanation of this sacrament; for it is clearly seen by reason enlightened by divine faith, and the resemblance between Christ and his most holy Mother is clearly manifest.

77. Another motive for this mystery, though here mentioned in the third place, is first in regard to the intention; for it concerns the eternal predestination of Christ our Lord, which I have described in the first part of this history. The primary intention of the eternal Word in assuming flesh and becoming the Teacher of men, correspond with the greatness of that very work, which was to be performed. This was the greatest of all his works and it was really the end for which all the rest were to be executed. Hence the divine wisdom so arranged matters, that among mere creatures there should be One, which fully met his desire of being our Teacher and adopting us as his children by his grace. If the Creator had not thus formed the most holy Mary and furnished Her with a degree of sanctity like to that of his divine Son (according to our coarse way of speaking), the adequate motive for his Incarnation, so far as it is manifest to us, would have been wanting. Compare with this what is said of Moses, when he received the tablets of the Law written by the finger of God: he broke them as soon as he saw the people in their idolatry, judging them too faithless to be worthy of such great benefit. Afterwards the Law was written on other tablets made by the hands of man, and these were preserved in the world. The first tablets, made by the hands of God and having written upon them Law of the Lord, were broken by the first sin; and we would not have had any evangelical Law, if there had not been other tablets, Christ and Mary, formed in another way; She in the ordinary and natural way, He by the consent and of the substance of Mary. If this great Lady had not concurred and cooperated as a worthy instrument, we other mortals would be now without this evangelical Law.

78. In the plenitude of this divine science and grace Christ our Lord attained all these sublime ends by teaching the most blessed Mother the mysteries of the evangelical Law. In order that She might be proficient in all of them and at the same time understand them in their different aspects; in order that She might afterwards be Herself the consummate Teacher and Mother of wisdom, the Lord used different means of enlightening Her. Sometimes by abstractive visions of the Divinity, with which during this part of her life She was more frequently favored; at other times by intellectual visions, which were more habitual though less clear. In the one as well as in the other She saw the whole militant Church, with all its history from the beginning of the world until the Incarnation; and what was to be its lot afterwards until the end of the world, and later on in eternal beatitude. This knowledge was so clear, distinct and comprehensive, that She knew all the just and the saints, and those who were to distinguish themselves afterwards in the Church: the Apostles, Martyrs, Patriarchs of the religious orders, the Doctors, Confessors and Virgins. All these our Queen knew in particular with all their merits and graces and the rewards apportioned to them.

79. She was acquainted also with the Sacraments, which her divine Son was to establish in the Church; their efficacy, the results in those that receive them, varying according to the different dispositions of the recipients, and all their strength flowing from the sanctity and merits of her most holy Son, our Redeemer. She was also furnished with a clear understanding of all the doctrines, which He was to preach and teach; of the new and old Testament, and of all mysteries hidden under its four different ways of interpreting them, the literal, moral, allegoric and anagogic; and all that the interpreters of the Scriptures were to write in explanation. But her understanding of all these was much more extensive and profound than theirs. She was aware that all this knowledge was given to Her in order that She might be the Teacher of the whole Church; for this was her office in the absence of her most holy Son, after his Ascension into heaven. In Her the new children of the Church and the faithful engendered by grace were to have a loving Mother, who carefully nourished them at the breasts of her doctrines as with sweetest milk, the proper food of infant children. Thus the most blessed Lady during these eighteen years of her hidden intercourse with her most holy Son fed upon and digested the substance of the evangelical doctrines, receiving them from their Author, Christ, the Redeemer. Having tasted and well understood the scope and efficacy of this law, She drew forth from it sweet nourishment for the primitive Church, whose members were yet in their tender years and unfit for the solid and strong food of the Scriptures and the perfect imitation of their Master and Redeemer. But since I am to speak of this part of her history in its proper place, I do not expatiate farther upon this matter.

80. Besides these visions and instructions concerning her divine Son and his human nature, the great Lady had also two other sources of information which I have already mentioned. The one was the reflection of his most holy Soul and its interior operation, which She saw as in a mirror and in which was included at the same time a reflex image of all his knowledge of things created; so that She was informed of all the counsels of the Redeemer and Artificer of sanctity and also of all the works, which He intended to undertake and execute either by Himself or by his ministers. The other source of information was his own spoken word; for the Lord conversed with his most worthy Mother about all things concerning his Church, from the greatest to smallest, including also all the happenings contemporary with and bearing upon the different phases of the history of the Church. On this account the heavenly Disciple and our Instructress was so imbued with his doctrine and so proficient in the most perfect practice of it, that the perfection of her works corresponded with her immense wisdom and science. Her knowledge was so clear and deep, that it comprehended everything and was never equaled by any creature, nor can it be conceived in its full extent either in thought or words. Neither was there anything wanting that is necessary, nor was there anything added that was superfluous, nor did She ever mistake one thing for another, nor was She in need of discourse or inquiry in order to be able to explain the most hidden mysteries of the Scriptures, whenever such explanation was necessary in the primitive Church.

INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY THE HEAVENLY MOTHER, OUR LADY

The Most High, who in sheer goodness and bounty has given existence to all creatures and denies his providential care to none, faithfully supplies all souls with light, by which they can enter into the knowledge of Him and of eternal life, provided they do not of their own free will prevent and obscure this light by sin or give up the quest of the kingdom of heaven. To the souls, whom, according to his secret judgments, He calls to his Church, He shows himself still more liberal. For with the grace of Baptism He infuses into them not only those virtues, which are called essentially infused and which the creature cannot merit by its own efforts; but also those, which are accidentally infused and which it can merit by its own labors and efforts. These the Lord gives freely beforehand, in order that the soul may be more prepared and zealous in the observance of his holy Law. In other souls, in addition to the common light of faith, the Lord in his clemency grants supernatural gifts of knowledge and virtue for the better understanding of the evangelical mysteries and for the more zealous practice of good works. In this kind of gifts He has been more liberal with thee than with many generations; obliging thee thereby to distinguish thyself in loving correspondence due to Him and to humble thyself before Him to the very dust.

82. In order that thou mayest be well instructed and informed, I wish to warn thee as a solicitous and loving Mother, of the cunning of satan for the destruction of these works of the Lord. From the very moment in which mortals begin to have the use of their reason, each one of them is followed by many watchful and relentless demons. For as soon as the souls are in a position to raise their thoughts to the knowledge of their God and commence the practice of the virtues infused by Baptism, these demons, with incredible fury and astuteness, seek to root out the divine seed; and if they cannot succeed in this, they try to hinder its growth, and prevent it from bringing forth fruit by engaging men in vicious, useless, or trifling things. Thus they divert their thoughts from faith and hope, and from the pursuit of other virtues, leading them to forget that they are Christians and diverting their attention from the knowledge of God and from the mysteries of the Redemption and of life eternal. Moreover the same enemy instills into the parents a base neglectfulness and carnal love for their offspring; and he incites the teachers to carelessness, so that the children find no support against evil in their education, but become depraved and spoiled by many bad habits, losing sight of virtue and of their good inclinations and going the way of perdition.

83. But the most kind Lord does not forget them in this danger and He renews in them his holy inspirations and special helps. He supplies them with the holy teachings of the Church by his preachers and ministers. He holds out to them the aid of the Sacraments and many other inducements to keep them on the path of life. That those who walk in the way of salvation are the smaller number, is due to the vice and depraved habits imbibed in youth and nourished in childhood. For that saying of Deuteronomy is very true : "As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be" (Deut. 33, 25). Hence the demons gain courage and increase their tyrannical influence over souls in the early years of man's life, hoping that they will be able to induce men to commit so much the greater and the more frequent sins in later years, the more they have succedeed in drawing them into small and insignificant faults in their childhood. By these they draw them on to a state of blind presumption; for with each sin the soul loses more and more the power of resistance, subjects itself to the demon, and falls under the sway of its tyrannical enemies. The miserable yoke of wickedness is more and more firmly fastened upon it; the same is trodden underfoot by its own iniquity and urged onward under the sway of the devil from one precipice to another, from abyss to abyss (Ps. 41, 8) : a chastisement merited by all those, that allow themselves to be overcome by evildoing in the beginning. By these means Lucifer has hurled into hell so great a number of souls and continues so to hurl them every day, rising up in his pride against the Almighty. In this manner has he been able to introduce into the world his tyrannical power, spreading among men forgetfulness of death, judgment, heaven and hell, and casting so many nations from abyss to abyss of darkness and bestial errors, such as are contained in the heresies and false sects of the infidels. Do thou therefore beware of this terrible danger, my daughter, and let not the memory of the law of thy God, his precepts and commands, and the truths of the Catholic Church and the doctrines of the Gospels ever fail in thy mind. Let not a day pass in which thou dost not spend much time in meditating upon all these; and exhort thy religious and all those who listen to thee to do the same. For thy enemy and adversary is laboring with ceaseless vigilance to obscure thy understanding in forgetfulness of the divine law, seeking to withdraw thy will, which is a blind faculty, from the practice of justification. This, thou knowest, consists in acts of living faith, trustful hope, ardent love, all coming from a contrite and humble heart (Ps. SO, 19).

CHAPTER VIII

HOW OUR GREAT QUEEN PRACTICED THE TEACHINGS OF THE GOSPEL AS TAUGHT HER BY HER MOST HOLY SON

Our Redeemer advanced in age and divine activity, leaving behind Him the years of his boyhood and fulfilling the task imposed upon Him by his eternal Father for the benefit of mankind. He did not engage in the work of preaching, nor did He perform at that time such open miracles as afterwards in Galilee, or before, in Egypt. But under cover of secrecy He produced great effects in the souls and bodies of men. He visited the poor and infirm; He consoled the afflicted and sorrowful. By special enlightenment and holy inspirations He led many souls to the way of salvation, inducing them to turn to their Creator and to withdraw from the devil and the works of death. These labors were continuous and He was frequently absent from the house of the blessed Virgin. Although the persons thus assisted were aware, that they were moved and converted by the words and the presence of Jesus, yet, as they were left in ignorance of the mystery of his assistance and could ascribe it only to the agency of God himself, they did not speak about it. The great Lady learned of these wonders by seeing them reflected in the most holy soul of her Son and by other means; and She adored Him and gave Him thanks for them prostrate at his feet.

85. The rest of the time her most holy Son passed with his Mother, instructing Her and engaging with Her in prayer. He spoke to Her of his solicitude for his cherished flock, of the merits which He wished to accumulate for the benefit of souls, and of the means to be applied for their salvation. The most prudent Mother listened to all his words and cooperated with his divine love and wisdom, assisting Him in his office of Father, Brother, Friend, Teacher, Advocate, Protector and Redeemer of the human race. These conferences They held either by conversation or by interior communications, for in both ways the Son and the Mother could hold converse with each other. Her most holy Son would say: "My Mother, the fruit of my works and the foundation upon which I wish to build the Church, is to be a doctrine founded in holy science, which if believed and followed, shall be the life and salvation of men: an efficacious and holy law, which shall be capable of destroying the deathly poison of Lucifer, instilled by the first sin. I wish that men, by means of my precepts and counsels, become spiritualized and exalted to a participation and likeness of Myself, and that they, in their mortal flesh, become depositaries of my riches and afterwards participators of my eternal glory. I wish to give them the law of Moses, so renewed and improved, that it shall contain also the precepts and counsels."

86. All these intentions of the Master of life his heavenly Mother understood with profoundest insight and accepted with ardent love, reverencing and thanking Him in the name of all the human race. And as the Lord proceeded in all his instructions, She understood more and more fully the efficacy of all these sacraments, the powerful influence of the evangelical Law and doctrine in obedient souls, and the rewards attached to it; and She labored in its practical fulfillment as if She were the representative of each one of the creatures. She knew all the four Gospels word for word as they were to be written, and all the mysteries, which were to be contained therein. She of Herself understood all the teachings of the Gospels; for her knowledge was greater than that of its authors. She could have explained them without having seen the text. She knew also that her knowledge was to be copied from that of Christ, engraved on her soul as was the Law of the old Testament on the tablets in the ark. Her knowledge was to serve as the original, legitimate and veracious manuscript of the new Law of grace for the guidance of the saints and the just; for all of them were to copy the virtues and the holiness contained in this archive of grace, most holy Mary.

87. Her divine Teacher also instructed Her in her obligation of practicing this holy doctrine in its entirety, so that the high purposes, which He had in view in making Her partake in such exalted blessings and favors, might be attained. If we were to relate here, how fully and exquisitely the great Queen corresponded with his designs, it would be necessary to describe her whole life in this chapter; for it was a complete summary of the Gospel, copied from her own Son and Teacher. All that this holy doctrine has effected in the Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins and in all the just and the saints, which have lived and shall live to the end of the world, could not be described, much less understood, except by the Lord himself. Yet we must consider, that all the saints and the just were conceived in sin and all of them placed some hindrance to grace; all of them could have attained higher grace and holiness and fell short in their correspondence with grace. But our heavenly Lady had no such defects or failings; She alone was material adequately disposed and adapted for the powerful activity of God and his blessings. She was the one who, without embarrassment and without opposition, received the impetuous torrent of the Divinity communicated to Her by her own Son and God. From all this we may understand, that only in the beatific vision and in eternal felicity we shall be able to estimate, how much was due to this wonder of his Omnipotence.

88. Whenever I wish to explain some of the more important things manifested to me in this matter, I am at a loss what terms to use. For our great Queen and Lady observed the precept and doctrines of the Gospel according to the measure of her profound understanding of them and no creature is capable of reaching the limits of the science and intelligence of the Mother of wisdom in these teachings of Christ. Moreover, that which is understood of it exceeds the capacity of human words and speech. Let us take for an example the doctrine of that first sermon, which the Teacher of life gave on the mountain to his disciples, and which is recorded by saint Matthew (Matth. 5, 1). In it is contained the sum of Christian perfection, on which the Church is founded and which makes those blessed that observe them.

89. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," says our Lord and Teacher, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This was the first and solid foundation of all evangelical life. Although the Apostles and our holy Father saint Francis understood it in a most exalted manner, yet Mary alone penetrated and fully weighed the greatness of this poverty in spirit; and just as She understood it, so She practiced it to its last limits. Into her heart the image of temporal riches found no entrance, nor did She feel the inclination toward them; but, while loving created things as the handiwork of the Lord, She at the same time detested them in so far as they were a hindrance or a burden to the love of God. She made use of them in moderation and only in so far as they were useful toward divine love. This admirable and most perfect poverty entitled Her to possess all things as Queen of heaven and earth. What I have said here in regard to poverty, though strictly true, is but little in comparison to what our great Lady really understood and practiced in regard to this poverty of spirit, the first beatitude.

90. The second beatitude is: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth." By her sweetest meekness the most holy Mary excelled in the practice of this beatitude not only over all mortals, just as Moses excelled all men of his time, but She surpassed the angels and seraphim themselves; for this sincerest Dove, being yet in mortal flesh, was interiorly and exteriorly no more exposed to disturbance and excitement of her faculties, than these pure spirits, who are not endowed with senses. In such an unlimited degree was She Mistress of all her bodily faculties and powers, as well as of the hearts of all with whom She had intercourse, that She possessed the earth in every day and reduced it to peaceful subjection. The third beatitude is: "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." The most holy Mary understood, more than any tongue can explain, the value and excellence of tears, and at the same time the foolishness and danger of laughter and human enjoyment. For, while all the children of Adam, though they are conceived in original sin and afterwards incur many other actual sins, give themselves over to laughter and gaiety, this heavenly Mother, being without sin at her Conception and ever after, was aware, that this mortal life should be consumed in weeping over the absence of the supreme Good and over the sins, which have been and are committed against God. For the sake of all men She wept over their sins, and merited by her most innocent tears the great consolations and favors of the Lord. Her most pure heart was in continual distress at the sight of the offenses committed against her Beloved and her God; her eyes distilled incessant tears (Jer. 9, 1), and her bread day and night was to weep over the ingratitude of sinners toward their Creator and Redeemer (Ps. 41, 4). No creatures, not all of them together, wept more than the Queen of angels, though for men, on account of their sins, there is abundant cause of wailing and weeping, while in Her there was cause only for joy and delight on account of her treasures of grace.

91. The fourth beatitude, "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill," helped our heavenly Lady to enter into the understanding of this mysterious hunger and thirst. In Her this hunger and thirst for justice was greater than all the disgust ever entertained against it by the enemies of God. Having arrived at the pinnacle of justice and sanctity, her desire for it increased in proportion; while the plenitude of graces, poured out upon Her in a continual stream from the treasury of the Divinity, satiated her longing desires. As for the fifth beatitude: "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy," She possessed it in such a high degree, that She alone deserved to be called the Mother of mercy, just as the Lord alone is called the Father of mercies (II Cor. 1, 3). She, who was most innocent and without any fault in the eyes of God, exercised mercy in its highest degree for the benefit and for the salvation of the human race. As She knew by her exalted science the excellence of this virtue, She never denied and never will deny mercy to anyone, whoever may ask; nor will She ever cease to seek out and hasten to the relief of the poor and needy, in order to offer them her assistance.

92. Without compeer was She also in the exercise of the sixth beatitude: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." For She was elect as the sun (Cant. 6, 9), a true imitation of the real Sun of justice and an image of our material sun, which is not defiled by things beneath it. Into the heart and mind of our most pure Princess no touch of defilement has ever found entrance; on the contrary, defilement was made impossible in Her on account of the exquisite purity of her thoughts and because, from the first moment of her existence and many times afterwards, She was favored with the vision of the Divinity, although, being yet in a state of pilgrimage, these visions were not continual. The seventh beatitude: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God," was conferred upon Her in admirable measure. She stood in need of this blessing in order to preserve the peace of her heart and of her faculties in the trials and tribulations of her life and in the passion and death of her most holy Son. Never was She inordinately disturbed, and She knew how to accept the greatest sufferings with supreme peace of mind, being in all things a perfect Daughter of the heavenly Father. Yea, it was especially by the exercise of this beatitude, that She deserved to be called the Daughter of the eternal Father. In the eighth beatitude: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," Mary reached the pinnacle of perfection. For She alone besides God was capable of bearing with equanimity the sacrifice of the life and honor of Christ our Lord, and the atrociousness with which it was consummated. For we must remember that She was the true Mother, as God was the true Father of his Onlybegotten. This Lady alone imitated the Lord in his Passion and understood fully, that to such extremes must be executed the law of her divine Teacher in the Gospels.

93. In this manner I am able to explain part of what I have understood of the knowledge of the Gospel possessed and put into practice by this great Lady. In the same way She comprehended the evangelical precepts, counsels and parables of the Gospel; as for instance, the precepts of loving enemies, pardoning injuries, doing good works in secret and without vainglory, avoiding hypocrisy; the counsels of perfection and the teachings contained in the parables of the recovered treasures, the lost pearl, the virgins, the seed scattered on the ground, the talents and all other parables of the four Gospels. All of them She understood, together with the doctrines which they inculcate, and the high ends which the Master had in view. She knew all things in the most holy and perfect manner, and thus She also accomplished them to the last point. Of this Lady we can say what Christ said of Himself: that She came not to abrogate the law, but to fulfill it.

INSTRUCTION VOUCHSAFED ME BY THE
QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MOST HOLY MARY

My daughter, it was proper that the Teacher of virtue should make known to us what He did, and that He should fulfill what He taught. For both word and action belong to the office of teaching. The words should instruct, while the example should move and give witness to the teaching, in order that it may be accepted and practiced. All this was fulfilled by my most holy Son, and by me in imitation of Him (Matth. 5, 9). As neither He nor I was to remain always upon this earth, He wished to leave behind Him the holy Gospels as a summary of his life and of mine, in order that the children of the light, by believing and practicing its teachings, might regulate their lives in imitation of his. For in it the practical results of the teachings of Christ are exhibited, such as they brought forth in me by imitating Him. Of great value are the sacred Gospels, and for this reason thou must look upon them with utmost veneration. I call thy attention to the fact, that my most holy Son and I are much honored and pleased to see the divine sayings and the doings of his life properly esteemed and respected among men. On the other hand, the Lord considers the forgetting and the neglecting of the doctrines contained in the Gospels a great injury done to Him by the children of the Church in our times. For there are many who do not listen or attend to them, who give no thanks for this blessing, and who make no more of them than if they were pagan writings, or as if they did not contain in them the light of faith.

95. Thy debt is great in this regard; for thou hast received insight into the veneration and esteem in which I held the evangelical doctrines, and thou wast made aware, how I labored in order to put them into practice. Thou hast not been able to learn all of what I practiced and understood, as thy capacity is too limited; yet remember at least, that with no entire nation have I been so condescending as with thee alone in lavishing this blessing. Therefore, be very careful how thou correspond with it, lest thou render fruitless the love which has been instilled into thee for the divine Scriptures, and particularly for the Gospels and their exalted doctrines. They are to serve thee as a shining beaconlight, and my life should be thy model for forming thy own. Take heed how important and necessary it is for thy welfare to attend to this with all diligence; how much pleasure thou canst thereby give to my Son and Lord, and how I shall consider myself obliged anew to treat with thee as a Mother and as a Teacher. Fear the danger of not attending to the divine calls, for that is the cause of the loss of innumerable souls. Since thou receivest so many and so wonderful calls from thy merciful and omnipotent God, how reprehensible will be thy rudeness, how abominable thou wilt make thyself to the Lord, to me and the saints, if thou fail to correspond with them!

CHAPTER IX

HOW THE MOST HOLY MARY WAS INSTRUCTED IN THE ARTICLES OF FAITH AND
WHAT USE SHE MADE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE

The unshakable foundation of our justification, and the beginning of all holiness in men, is the belief in the truths, which have been revealed by God in his holy Church. Like a most skillful architect, the Lord has built his Church on a firm rock, in order that the storms and floods of her earthly course of existence might find Her altogether immovable (Luke 6, 48). Thus wisely provided with a firm foundation in her articles of faith, the evangelical Church is invincibly established as the only true one, the Roman Catholic Church. She is one in the unity of faith, hope and charity, to be found only in Her; one without the division or contradiction which reigns in the synagogues of satan. The sects and heresies are full of darkness and errors and are at war not only with each other and with right reason, but each one is at war with itself by maintaining contradictory and erroneous doctrines at the same or different times. Against all these our holy faith shall ever remain victorious and the portals of hell shall never prevail against it in the least of its points (Matth 16, 18); though, according to the prophecy of the Master of Life, the powers of hell incessantly winnow and sift it like wheat, as has happened to saint Peter and his successors.

97. In order that our Queen and Lady, this wonderful ocean of grace and knowledge, might receive adequate information concerning the evangelical law, it was necessary that She come into possession also of all the truths of the Catholic faith, which would in all times be believed by the faithful. She must be especially well instructed in the first principles of all Christian belief. For all truths, down to the very dogmas, which were to be defined and believed concerning her own Self, were within the capacity of most holy Mary and could be entrusted to her admirable wisdom. Hence, as I shall describe afterwards, She was informed of all tenets of the Catholic faith together with the circumstances of time, place and manner of their publication as they became opportune and necessary in the course of the history of the Church. In order to instruct the blessed Virgin especially in these articles, the Lord sent upon Her an abstractive vision of the Divinity, such as I have described on other occasions. In this vision were manifested to her most hidden mysteries of his inscrutable Judgment and Providence. She became aware of the infinite bounty, whereby He established the blessing of infused faith and enabled man deprived of the vision of the Divinity, easily and quickly to come to the knowledge of God, without hesitation and without waiting or searching for this knowledge by limited and shortsighted investigation of natural science. For from the first dawn of reason, our Catholic faith raises us immediately to the certain knowledge, not only of the Divinity in three Persons, but of the humanity of Christ our Lord and of the means of gaining eternal life. All this is not attained by the fruitless and sterile human science, unless the mind is impregnated with the force and virtue of divine faith.

98. In this vision then, our great Queen clearly perceived all these mysteries and all that is contained in them. She saw how the holy Church propounded fourteen special articles of Catholic belief from the very beginning, and how She afterwards, in diverse times, defined many truths and dogmas, which are contained in them and in the holy Scriptures as in roots ready to be cultivated and to bring forth fruit. After seeing all this in her vision, She saw it reflected also in the most holy soul of Christ, where the whole fabric of divine teachings originated. Thereupon the celestial Princess entered into conference with her Lord concerning the practical application of these articles of faith to her life. He informed Her, that She was to be the first One, who should, in a singular and most perfect manner, believe and practically exhibit each of the articles of divine faith. In regard to the first of those seven articles that pertain to the Divinity, She understood that there is but one true God, independent, necessary, infinite, immense in his attributes and perfections, unchangeable and eternal. She understood also how just and necessary it is for creatures to believe and confess this truth. She gave thanks for the revelation of this first article and begged her most holy Son to continue to favor the human race by conferring upon men the grace of believing and accepting this truth. By this infallible, though obscure, light, She saw the wickedness of idolatry and wept with indescribable sorrow and bitterness over such aberration. In reparation She ardently exercised Herself in faith and worship of God, and performed many other acts inspired by her intimate sense of this obligation.

99. Then proceeding to the second article, that God is the Father, She learned how it was to lead on men to the belief of the Trinity and other doctrines, which explain the three persons in one God, and how men are to come to the full knowledge of their last end, its proper attainment and enjoyment. She understood how the person of the Father could not be born or proceed from the Others, and how He is, as it were, the origin of all else; hence She clearly saw how He created heaven and earth and all creatures and how He is without beginning and at the same time the beginning of all things. For this truth our heavenly Lady gave thanks and in the name of the whole human race, began to shape her actions in correspondence with this new knowledge. The third article, that there is a Son, the Mother of grace believed with particular clearness of comprehension, especially as regards the processions of the Deity ad intra. The first and most important of these acts ad intra is none other than the eternal generation of the Son. This takes place from all eternity by the operation of the divine intellect through which the Son is engendered of the Father, being not inferior, but equal in Divinity, eternity, and infinite attributes. She believed and comprehended also in the fourth article, that there is a Holy Ghost, the third Person, proceeding from the Father and the Son as from one principle, by an act of the will, equal to the other Persons in all things and having only these personal distinctions, which result from the emanations and processions of the infinite intellect and will. Although, concerning these mysteries, most holy Mary possessed the knowledge, which She had already attained in her former visions, it was supplemented in this vision by the knowledge of the circumstances and qualifications attached to these truths and articles of the Catholic faith, and by the discernment of the heresies, which Lucifer concocted and sowed in opposition to these articles ever since he fell from heaven and knew of the Incarnation of the Word. In satisfaction for all these errors the most blessed Lady excited acts of supreme faith, in the manner already described.

100. Also the fifth article, that the Lord is the Creator, most holy Mary believed and understood. She perceived that the creation of all things, though it is attributed to the Father, is common to the three Persons, in as far as they are one only God, infinite, omnipotent and the first cause of the existence and preservation of all creatures; that no other being has the power to create or produce out of nothing any other being, even if there were question of an angel creating the lowest worm. For only He, who is independent of any inferior or superior cause can create. She understood the necessity of this article of the holy faith for counteracting the errors of Lucifer, in order that God might be known and acknowledged as the Author of all things. In the sixth article She understood anew all the mysteries of predestination, vocation and final justification; how the reprobate, because they did not profit by the means offered to them by divine mercy, lose eternal happiness. The most faithful Lady perceived also how the work of salvation is common to the three persons; and how it pertains especially to the Word in as far as He is man; because He was to be the price of the rescue, which would be accepted by God in satisfaction for original and actual sins. The great Queen took notice of all the Sacraments and mysteries accepted and believed by the holy Church; and She accompanied the understanding of each of them with heroic acts of many virtues. In the seventh article which contains the doctrine of God's activity in bringing about the eternal happiness of man, She understood all that pertains to the eternal felicity of mortal creatures in the fruition of the beatific vision; how important it is for them to believe in this truth in order to attain eternal happiness and how they should consider themselves not a progeny of this earth, but citizens of heaven, who are only making a pilgrimage and ought, therefore, be much consoled in this faith and hope of heaven.

101. Of the seven articles which pertain to the divine humanity, our great Queen had a similar knowledge, yet accompanied by new affections of her purest and humblest heart. That He was conceived as man by the operation of the Holy Ghost She had experienced in Herself and She knew that this would be an article of the holy faith. Indescribable were the effects which this knowledge wrought in the most prudent Lady. She humbled Herself below the most insignificant of creatures and to the very dust of the earth. She was profoundly penetrated by the consciousness of having been created out of nothing. She completed the deep trenches and built the strong foundations of humility, upon which the Almighty was to erect the high and exquisite edifice of infused science and exalted perfection. She extolled the Almighty and gave thanks to Him for Herself and for the whole human race, because He had chosen such an excellent way of drawing toward Him the hearts of men by his human presence and by the intimate relations established with them by the Christian faith. The same effects were produced in Her by the second of these articles, that Christ our Lord was born of Mary, a Virgin. She had full understanding of the mysteries contained in this dogma: that She was the One chosen by God to retain intact her Virginity and yet be also selected among all creatures as the Mother of the Lord; that as well the Almighty as She herself should share in the dignity and excellence of such divine handiwork; and that the holy Church should believe and hold such a doctrine as one of her certain tenets. Enraptured by the consideration of these and many other truths, the heavenly Lady excited within Herself such acts of exalted virtue as cannot be expressed by any human terms. She spent Herself in returning a full measure of praise, worship, and thankful acknowledgment for each of them, humbling Herself in proportion as She was exalted and annihilating Herself to the dust.

102. The third of these articles is, that Christ our Lord underwent suffering and death; the fourth, that He descended into hell and freed the souls of the just, who were in limbo awaiting his coming; the fifth, that He rose from the dead; the sixth, that He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the eternal Father; the seventh, that thence He is to come to judge the living and the dead in the general judgment in order to give to each according to his works. These truths, just as the others, the most holy Mary believed and understood profoundly as well in themselves as in regard to the order, sequence and necessity with which they are to be held and believed by mortals. She alone made up for the faults of those who have not or will not believe in these truths and for the deficiencies caused by our slowness in believing them and by our want of proper esteem, veneration and thankfulness due to these divine teachings. The whole Church calls our Queen most fortunate and blessed, not only because She gave belief to the messenger of heaven (Luke 1, 45), but because She unswervingly trusted in the fulfillment of the mysteries wrought and accomplished in her virginal womb; and She believed them both for Herself and for all the children of Adam. She was the Champion of the divine faith, who, in the sight of the heavenly court, unfurled the banner of holy faith to all the faithful on earth. She was the first Queen of the Catholic faith in this world and was to have no equal. In Her all Catholics have a true Mother; and on this account, those that call upon Her, are especially her children; for without a doubt this kind Mother and Commandress of the Catholic faith looks with an especial love upon those who follow Her in this great virtue of faith and who exert themselves in its spread and defense.

103. My discourse would be too prolix, if I were to say all that I have learned of the faith of our great Lady, of all her penetration into. the circumstances and secrets of these articles of faith, and into all the truths connected with these Catholic doctrines. Certainly I have not words enough to rehearse the mysteries revealed to Her in her conferences with her divine Teacher, Jesus, in her humble and prudent inquiries, in the answers of her most sweet Son, in the profound secrets laid bare before her eyes, and in the sacraments manifest only to Mother and Son. Moreover, I was informed that it is not proper to reveal all of them to men in this mortal life. But in most holy Mary the whole of this new and divine Testament was deposited and She alone preserved it most faithfully, in order that She might in proper time dispense whatever the necessities of the holy Church might demand. 0 most fortunate and happy Mother! For if a wise son is the delight of his father (Prov. 10, 1), who can describe the joy of this great Queen, when She saw the glory resulting to the Eternal Father through the work I of his Onlybegotten, who was also her Son, and when She fully penetrated the vast mysteries contained in the doctrines of the holy Catholic faith?

INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN ME BY THE HEAVENLY LADY, MOST HOLY MARY

My daughter, mortal mind is not capable of comprehending what I was made to feel through the infused knowledge and faith of the articles established by my most holy Son as those of the holy Church, and what were the effects wrought thereby upon my faculties. Necessarily, therefore, thy words fail thee in seeking to declare what thou hast understood concerning them; for all the concepts of the mind fall short of comprehending and expressing these mysteries. But what I desire and command, is this; that thou preserve with all reverence and solicitude the precious knowledge and understanding of these venerable sacraments. For as Mother I remind and warn thee of the cruel and cunning efforts of thy enemies to rob thee of them. Be thou ever on thy guard, that they may find thee full of strength, and that thy domestics, which are the faculties of thy body and mind, be clothed with the double vestments of interior and exterior watchfulness in order to be able to resist the onslaught of their temptation (Prov. 31, 17). The powerful arms for battling against those who make war on thee, must be the doctrines of the Catholic faith (Rom. 1, 17), for the firm belief in them and the continual exercise of them, the incessant meditation and remembrance of them, illumine the souls, drives away errors, disclose the deceits of satan and disperse his falsehoods just as the rays of the sun dispel the dark clouds. Moreover, all these exercises serve as substantial nourishment of the spirit to strengthen the soul for the battles of the Lord.

105. If the faithful do not feel these and even more wonderful effects of faith, it is not because faith has not the strength and efficacy to produce them, but it is because some of the faithful are so forgetting and negligent, while others give themselves up so much to a carnal and bestial life and thereby counteract the blessing of faith. They think so rarely of it, that they might as well not have received it at all. As they live like the infidels who have never enjoyed its advantages and as they gradually become conscious of their unhappy infidelity, they fall into greater wickedness than the unbelievers. For such is the result of their abominable ingratitude and contempt for this exalted and sovereign gift. I ask of thee, my dearest daughter, that thou give thanks for the blessings of holy faith with profound humility and fervent love; that thou practice it with unceasing and heroic acts; that thou continually meditate on its mysteries. Thus shalt thou enjoy without hindrance its sweet and godlike effects. The more vivid and penetrating thy knowledge of the mysteries of faith, so much the greater and more powerful will be its effects upon thee. If thou concurrest with proper diligence, thou wilt grow in the understanding of the exalted and wonderful mysteries and sacraments pertaining to the essence of the triune God, to the hypostatical union of the divine and human nature, to the life, death and resurrection of my most holy Son, and to the other activities of the Godman. Thus wilt thou taste of his sweetness and gather plentiful fruits of peace and of eternal life.

CHAPTER X

HOW MOST HOLY MARY RECEIVED ENLIGHTENMENT ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, AND HOW SHE APPLIED IT

Just as the doctrines of the Catholic faith pertain to the activity of the intellect, so the commandments pertain to the activity of the will. Although all free acts, as well those required by the practice of the infused, as those of the acquired virtues, depend upon the activity of the willpower, yet they do not all depend upon it in the same way; for the acts of faith proceed immediately from the intellect, and depend upon the will only in so far as they are embraced by it with a sincere, pious and reverential affection. The obscure acts and truths of faith do not force their acceptance upon the intellect without cooperation of the will, and therefore the intellect waits upon the decision of the will. But in the exercise of virtues founded upon faith, the will acts for itself and relies upon the intellect only for guidance toward the accomplishment of that which was resolved upon. The will is so free and independent that it permits no commands of the intellect, nor any kind of violence. This is the order established by the Lord, so that no one might be forced to serve Him unwillingly, through necessity, by compulsion or violence; but that, according to the Apostle, each one may serve God with unrestricted liberty and joyfulness.

107. After the blessed Virgin had been so divinely instructed in the articles and dogmas of our holy faith, She was favored by another vision of the Divinity, similar to that mentioned in the last chapter. It was vouchsafed to Her for the purpose of renewing in Her the understanding of the ten commandments of the Decalogue. In it were manifested to Her, with great clearness and fullness, all the mysteries of the Commandments as they were propounded by the divine clemency for the guidance of men to eternal life and as they had been given to Moses on the two tablets. On the first of these tablets were written the three precepts concerning the honor and worship of God, on the second, the seven pertaining to our intercourse with our neighbors. The Redeemer of the world, her most holy Son, was to rewrite all of them in the hearts of men (I Pet. 1, 4), while our Queen and Lady was to commence the practice of all that each one contained. She also understood their relation to each other, and how necessary they were to men in order to attain to the participation of the Divinity. She had a clear comprehension of the equity, justice and wisdom with which they were established by the divine will; and that they were a holy, immaculate, sweet, lightsome, pure, unerring and convenient law for the creatures. She saw how welladjusted and conformable they were to human nature, how well they can and ought to be embraced with joy and appreciation, and how their Author proffered the help of his grace for their observance. Our great Queen perceived in this vision many other exalted mysteries and secrets concerning the holy Church, concerning those who, in it, would observe the divine commands, and those who would despise and transgress them.

108. The blessed Lady issued from this vision transformed by an ardent and zealous love for the divine law. Immediately She betook Herself to her most holy Son, in whose soul She saw the divine laws clearly mirrored, to reproduce them in her own self according to the order of grace. At the same time, by abundant enlightenment, She was made aware how it pleased the Lord to make Her a living model of the observance of all these commandments. It is true, as I have said several times, that our great Lady possessed a habitual infused knowledge of all these mysteries for her continual guidance; yet this habitual knowledge was renewed and intensified day by day. As the extent and depth of mysteries was so to say infinite, there always remained a measureless field of new secrets open for her interior vision. On this occasion many new points were explained to Her by the divine Teacher, and He propounded to Her the new law and precepts in their bearing upon each other and in the sequence, which they were to hold in the militant Church of his Gospel. Also concerning each one of them separately, She obtained new and special enlightenments. Although our limited capacity and understanding cannot comprehend such high and sovereign sacraments, none of them were concealed from the heavenly Lady. For we must not measure her profound knowledge with the capacity of our shortsighted understanding.

109. With a most humble and ready heart She subjected Herself to the observance of all his commandments, and petitioned God to instruct Her and grant Her this divine grace to execute all that He had commanded. The Lord answered Her as follows: "My Mother, thou art the one whom I have eternally chosen and predestined for the greater pleasure of my Father, one in Divinity with Me. Our eternal love, which urges Us to communicate the blessings of our Divinity to creatures and thus raise them to the participation of our glory and felicity, has established this holy and pure law, by which mortals may attain the end for which they were created. This our wish shall be fulfilled perfectly in thee, my beloved Dove, for in thy heart our divine law shall be written so clearly and deeply, that from the very beginning of thy existence to all eternity it shall not be effaced; and in no wise shall it remain unfulfilled or ineffectual in thee, as is the case with other children of Adam. Take notice, dearest Sulamite, that this law is entirely pure and immaculate; and that therefore, We wish to deposit it in thee, who art also pure and immaculate and in whom all our intentions and operations are glorified."

110. These words, which were realized in the heavenly Mother without any hindrance, enriched and deified Her with the full understanding and acceptance of the ten Commandments and the mysteries contained therein. Directing her intellect by the celestial light and conforming her will to that of the divine Teacher, She entered into the meaning of the first and most noble of all the commandments: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind" (Matth. 22, 37), for in these words it was given afterwards by the Evangelists and long before by Moses in Deuteronomy. Her mind grasped it with all the qualifications added thereto by the Lord: that men should preserve it in their hearts, that the fathers should teach it to their children, and that they should meditate upon it in their houses and outside of them, on their journeys, during sleep and in their watching, and that they should incessantly have it before the eyes of their soul. Just as deep as was her understanding of this commandment, so great was her zeal in fulfilling all that the Lord wished to command thereby. Though no other child of Adam has succeeded in fulfilling it perfectly during mortal life, yet most holy Mary succeeded, and more completely than the highest and most ardent Seraphim, than all the saints and the blessed of heaven. I will not tarry in explaining this more fully, for in the first part of this history, when speaking of her virtues, I have sufficiently discoursed upon the love of the blessed Virgin. On this occasion particularly She shed the most bitter tears because of the sins which were to be committed against this great Commandment; and She took it upon Herself to satisfy by her love for the defects and faults of mortals.

111. Upon the first precept follow the two others; not to dishonor the name of God by false and vain swearing, and to honor Him by observing and sanctifying his feasts. These Commandments the Mother of wisdom understood and penetrated, engraving them in her pious and humble heart and resolving to render supreme veneration and worship to the Deity. Deeply she pondered on the injuries committed by creatures against the immutable being of God and his infinite goodness by false and vain oaths, or by blasphemies against God and against his saints. In her sorrow on account of the presumptuous transgression of these commandments by the rational creatures She conjured her attending angels in her name to charge the guardian spirits of all men to prevent the committance of this outrage against God; to restrain men, by holy inspirations and by the fear of God, from perjuring or blaspheming his holy name. Moreover, She besought the Almighty to shower his benedictions of sweetness on those, who abstained from vain oaths and who reverenced his holy name.

112. In regard to the keeping of the holidays, which is the third Commandment the great Queen was made acquainted by her guardian angel with all the feasts, which were to be instituted by the Church, and with the manner of their celebration and observance. As I have mentioned in its place, She had commenced to celebrate those which commemorate the already consummated mysteries of her life, such as that of the most holy Trinity, and those pertaining to her most holy Son and the angels. To celebrate these and other mysteries, afterwards solemnized by the Church, She invited the heavenly court, and, in union with them, She sang hymns of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. The days which are especially assigned for the worship of God, She spent entirely therein; not that her exterior activity ever interfered with her interior attention, or hindered the flights of her soul, but because She wished to sanctify the feasts of the Lord in such a manner as was required by the new law of grace; and all this as the first disciple of the Redeemer of the world, She eagerly strove to fulfill.

113. The same understanding and knowledge most holy Mary possessed in regard to the seven Commandments, which concern our duties toward our neighbor. Regarding the fourth Commandment, to honor father and mother, She understood well who were to be included under the name of parents; how, after the honor due to God, that due to parents comes next; and how children are to render them this honor in all reverence; also what are the obligations of parents toward their children. She saw the justice of the fifth commandment, forbidding murder, since the Lord is the Master of life and being of man, and withheld power over it even from its owner, and therefore much more from any of his fellow beings. As life is the very first of the natural goods and the foundation of grace, She gave thanks to the Lord for having by his Commandment so bountifully protected it. She looked upon all men as creatures of his hand, capable of his grace and glory, and purchased by the blood of her Son; and therefore She earnestly prayed for the faithful observance of this commandment in the Church of God. Our most pure Lady understood the nature of the sixth Commandment in the same manner as the blessed, who need no precaution against human passions and can look upon it without being touched by it. The most blessed Lady, altogether preserved from the taint of sin, understood the nature of this Commandment even from a higher standpoint of grace than the saints. Such were the sentiments awakened in this great Paragon of chastity while She excited love for it and sorrow for the impurities committed by men, that She wounded anew the heart of the Almighty (Cant. 4, 9); and, according to our way of speaking, consoled her divine Son for the offenses of mankind against this precept. Since She knew that in the new law of the Gospel the observance of this Commandment was to be carried so far as to make possible congregations of virgins and men, who would promise inviolate chastity by vow, She besought the Lord to guarantee them his unbroken blessings. The Lord granted this request of his purest Mother and He assured Her that, as a reward of virginal purity, its devotees should have the privilege of being the followers of Her, who was the Virgin Mother of the Lamb (Ps. 44, 15). With incomparable joy She gave thanks to the Lord for thus extending the practice of virginity, which She herself had inaugurated in the new law. I will not stop to descant upon the priceless value of this virtue, since I have already spoken of it in the first part and in other places.

114. Equally remarkable was Mary's understanding of the other Commandments, of the seventh: "Thou shalt not steal"; of the eighth, "Thou shalt not give false testimony"; of the ninth, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife"; of the tenth, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods and possessions." In regard to each of them She excited great acts of interior compliance with them and for each of them She praised and thanked the Lord, that He should have provided for men such wise and effectual means of attaining their eternal happiness through these beneficent and well adapted laws. For She saw, that by their observance, men would not only secure eternal reward due to them, but could also enjoy true peace and tranquillity adapted to each one's state and circumstances. For if all rational creatures would submit to the just requirements of God's law, and would resolve to follow and observe his Commandments, they would enjoy that most delightful and exquisite happiness, which is produced by the testimony of a good conscience. All the human delight cannot be compared to the consolation of having been faithful to the divine law in all things, great and small (Matth. 25, 21). This blessing we owe mostly to Christ, our Redeemer, who confirmed us in doing good and thus secures for us sweet rest, and peace, and consolation, and many other blessings in this life. If all of us do not attain them, it is because we do not observe his Commandments. The labors, misfortunes, and unhappiness of the people are the inseparable effects of the transgressions of mortals, and, though each one contributes his share in causing our misfortunes, yet we are so senseless, that as soon as we are overtaken by any adversity, we begin to lay the blame on others, while we should lay it only on ourselves.

115. Who can estimate the evils of this life springing from dishonest dealings, forbidden by the seventh commandment, or from the want of contentment with one's own lot in reliance on the help of the Lord, who forgets not the birds of the air, or the smallest worm of the earth? What miseries and afflictions do not Christian nations suffer merely because their rulers are not satisfied with the territories given into their charge by the highest King? Seeking to extend their sway and influence they have left in the world neither peace, nor quiet possession, nor any souls for the service of their Creator. No less evil and discord is caused by false testimony and lies, which offend the infinite truth and hinder human intercourse, sowing the seed of strife, destroying peace and tranquillity in the human hearts. Both the one as well as the other prevent the Creator to dwell in them as is his wish. Coveting another's wife and adultery violate the holy law of matrimony, confirmed and sanctified by the Sacrament, and how many hidden and open evils have they not caused, and do they not cause, among Catholics? If we consider how many transgressions are manifest to the eyes of the world, and how many more remain hidden to men, while they are not hidden to God, the exact and just judge, who punishes them even now, shall we not be convinced that He will be so much the severer in his punishments, the more He has overlooked our sins at present and the longer He has patiently allowed the Christian commonwealths to continue in existence?

116. All these truths our great Queen perceived in the Lord. Although She was aware of the wickedness of men in thus lightly throwing aside the respect and reverence due to their God after He had so kindly provided for them such necessary laws and precepts; yet the most prudent Lady was neither scandalized at human frailty, nor did She wonder at man's ingratitude; but like a kind Mother, She pitied the mortals, and with most ardent love She thanked the Almighty for his benefits trying to satisfy for the transgressions against the evangelical law and asking for the grace to observe them perfectly. The summary of all these Commandments: to love God above all and our neighbor as ourselves, the most holy Mary comprehended perfectly; also the truth, that the proper understanding and practice of these two Commandments is the perfection of true virtue. He that practices them is not far from the kingdom of God, and the observance of them is to be preferred to the offering of holocausts, as the Lord himself teaches us in the Gospel (Mark 12, 34, 33). In the proportion as our Queen understood these precepts, so She put them into practice, fulfilling them as they are contained in the Gospel, without the omission of the least of its precepts or counsels. This heavenly Princess put the teachings of the Redeemer more perfectly into practice than all the saints and faithful of the holy Church.

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE HEAVENLY LADY AND QUEEN GAVE ME

My daughter, when the Word of the eternal Father issued forth from his bosom and assumed humanity in my womb, He came to enlighten those that walk in the darkness and in the shadow of death (Luke 1, 79), and to restore them to their lost happiness. Hence, in order to be their light, their way, their truth and their life, it was necessary that He should give them a law so holy, that it would justify them; so clear that it would enlighten them; so secure, that it would encourage them; so powerful, that it would move them; so efficacious, that it would help them; so truthful, that it would bring joy and delight to all that would observe it. The immaculate law of the Gospel has in it the power to produce all these and other more wonderful effects; and God has created and constituted rational creatures in such a way, that all their happiness, corporal and spiritual, temporal and eternal, depends entirely upon observing this law. Hence thou canst judge of the blind ignorance with which their deadly enemies have fascinated mortals (Gal. 3, 1), since all men, in the inordinate desire and pursuit of happiness, neglect the divine law, where alone it can be found; and hence few really attain happiness.

118. Knowing this, prepare thy heart so that the Lord may write in it his holy law. Forget and put away from thee all that is visible and earthly, so that all thy faculties may be free and unencumbered of any images except of those which are fixed there by the finger of God and are contained in the doctrine and precepts of the gospel truths. In order that thy desires may not be frustrated beseech the Lord day and night, to make thee worthy of the blessings and promises of my most holy Son. Remember that the negligence is more abominable in thee than in all the other mortals; for no one else has his divine love so urgently called, or assisted with the like blessings and helps. In the days of abundance as well as in the days of affliction and temptation remember thy debt to the Lord and his jealous zeal, so that neither favors may exalt thee nor sufferings and pain oppress thee. If in the one as in the other state do thou turn to the divine law written in thy heart, observing it inviolably and incessantly with all attention and perfection. In regard to the love of the neighbors apply always the first law of doing unto others as thou wishest done to thyself, which is the standard of all intercourse with men. If thou desirest them to think and act well toward thee, thou thyself must do the same with thy brethren. If thou feel that they offend thee in little things, avoid thou giving them any such offense. If thou see others doing what seems evil and disagreeable to their neighbor, avoid it thyself; for thou knowest how much it offends against the law established by the Most High. Weep over thy faults and those of thy fellowmen; because they are against the law of God; this is true charity toward the Lord and toward thy neighbor. Sorrow over the afflictions of others as over thy own, for thus wilt thou imitate me.

CHAPTER XI

THE DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF THE MOST HOLY MARY CONCERNING THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS WHICH WERE TO BE INSTITUTED BY CHRIST THE LORD, AND CONCERNING THE FIVE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH

In order to complete the beauty and the riches of the holy Church, it was proper that her Founder, Christ our Redeemer, should institute the seven sacraments, which were to serve as the common treasury of all his merits. Yea, the Creator of all these blessings himself was to remain really present in one of them as the nourishment and consolation of the faithful and as a pledge of their enjoying Him eternally face to face. For the perfection of the knowledge and grace of the most holy Mary it was necessary that the fulness of these sacramental blessings be transplanted into her dilated and ardent soul, in order that to its full extent and in the same manner as it existed in the heart of her holiest Son, the law of grace might be written and recorded in the tablets of her mind. In his absence She was to be the Teacher of the Church and She was to instruct the primitive Christians to venerate and enjoy these Sacraments with all the perfection possible.

120. By a new enlightenment, each of these mysteries in particular were accordingly made manifest to the blessed Mother in the interior of her most holy Son. In regard to the first of these Sacraments She saw, that the ancient law of circumcision was to be honorably laid aside and to be replaced by the admirable and sweet sacrament of Baptism. She was informed that the matter of this Sacrament was to be pure natural water and that its form was to contain the names of the three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, thus implicitly including faith in the most holy Trinity. She understood how Christ, its Author, was to impart to this Sacrament the power of taking away all sins and of perfectly sanctifying its recipient. She saw the admirable effects it was to cause in men, regenerating them so as to constitute them adoptive sons of God and heirs of heaven; infusing into them the virtues of faith, hope and charity with many other virtues, and impressing upon their souls the character of children of the holy Church. This and all other effects of this holy Sacrament were made manifest to most holy Mary. Thereupon She sought her divine Son with burning desire to be allowed to receive it in proper time; which He promised Her, and as I shall describe later on, afterwards really fulfilled.

121. A like understanding the great Lady also received concerning the second Sacrament, that of Confirmation. This is given in the second place, because Baptism is intended to engender the children of the Church, while Confirmation is to make them strong and courageous in confessing the faith received in Baptism, augmenting the first graces and adding thereto the graces suited to each one's state. She understood the form, matter, minister and effects of this Sacrament, and the character it impresses upon the soul; and how, by the holy oil and chrism, which form the matter of this Sacrament, is typified the odor of the good works of Christ in which the faithful participate by faith, while the same only in a different way, is also indicated by the form of the Sacrament, namely, by the words used in its administration. Corresponding with these enlightenments, our great Queen elicited heroic acts of praise, thanksgiving and fervent petition, desiring that all men draw from these fountains of the Lord and enjoy these incomparable treasures, while acknowledging and confessing Him as the true God and Redeemer. She wept bitterly over the lamentable loss of so many, who, in spite of the preaching of the Gospel, feel not its healing powers.

122. In regard to the third Sacrament, that of Penance, the heavenly Lady saw the usefulness and necessity of this means of restoring souls to the grace and friendship of God, since by their frailty they lose it so often. She understood its requirements and the power of its ministers and the ease with which the faithful can secure to themselves its blessings. As the true Mother of mercy She gave special thanks to the Almighty for providing such a powerful medicine against the repeated and daily faults of her children. She prostrated Herself upon the ground and, in the name of the holy Church, She reverently acknowledged the sacred tribunal of Confession, where the Lord, with ineffable kindness, relieved and solved all doubts of the souls in regard to their j ustification or condemnation, leaving it to the judgment of the priests, whether they should grant or deny absolution.

123. Especially deep was the intelligence of the most prudent Lady in regard to the sovereign sacramental mystery of the most holy Eucharist. Her penetration of its secrets surpassed that of the most exalted seraphim. For to Her was manifested the supernatural manner of the presence of the humanity and Divinity of her Son under the appearances of bread and wine, the power of the words of consecration, by which the substance of the bread and wine is changed into the substance of his body and blood, while the appearances remained; how He could be present at the same time in so many diverse parts; how the sacred mystery of the Mass was to be instituted, in order that He may be consecrated and offered to the eternal Father to the end of times; how He should be reverenced and adored in the holy Sacrament in so many temples of the Catholic Church throughout the world; what effects of grace He would produce in those, who were to receive Him more or less well prepared, and what punishments would come to those who receive Him unworthily. She was informed also of the faith of the believers and the errors of the heretics in regard to this mystery, and especially of the immense love of her Son in thus resolving to give Himself as food and nourishment of eternal life to each one of the mortals.

124. By these and other enlightenments concerning the most holy Eucharist, her most chaste bosom was visited with new conflagrations of love beyond the conception of human intellect. Although She had invented new canticles of praise and worship at the enlightenments, which She had received concerning each article of faith and each mystery; yet in considering this great Sacrament her heart expanded more than ever before, and, prostrate on the ground, She spent Herself in new demonstrations of love, worship, praise, thanksgiving and humility; in sentiments of deepest sorrow for those, who were to abuse it for their own damnation. She burned with the desire of seeing this Sacrament instituted, and if She had not been sustained by the power of the Almighty, the force of her affection would have bereft Her of natural life. Moreover the presence of her most holy Son was also calculated to moderate the excess of her longings and enabled Her to abide the time of its institution. Even from that time on She wished to prepare Herself for its reception, and asked Her Son to be allowed to receive Him in the holy Sacrament as soon as it should be instituted. She said to Him: "Supreme Lord and life of my soul, shall I, who am such an insignificant worm and the most despicable among men, be allowed to receive Thee? Shall I be so fortunate as to bear Thee once more within my body and soul? Shall my heart be thy dwelling and tabernacle, where Thou shalt take thy rest and shall I thus delight in thy close embrace and Thou, my Beloved, in mine?"

125. The divine Master answered: "My beloved Mother, many times shalt thou receive Me in the holy Sacrament, and after my Death and Ascension into heaven that shall be thy consolation; for I shall choose thy most sincere and loving heart as my most delightful and pleasant resting place." At this promise of the Lord the great Queen humbled Herself anew and, prostrate in the dust, She gave Him thanks, exciting the admiration of heaven itself. From that hour She began to dispose all her thoughts and actions with the object of preparing Herself for the time when She would be allowed to receive her most holy Son in the holy Sacrament; and during all the years She never forgot, or interrupted these acts of her will. Her memory, as I have already said, was more tenacious and constant than that of an angel, and her intelligence was greater than that of all the angels; therefore, as She always bore in mind this and other mysteries, her actions corresponded to her great knowledge. From that time on also, She continually and fervently besought the Lord, that He give light to mortals in order that they might know and revere this, the greatest of all the Sacraments, and that they might receive it worthily. Whenever we receive this holy Sacrament in proper disposition (and so it should be always), we owe it, next to the influence of the Redeemer, to the tears and prayers of this heavenly Mother, who merited this grace for us. If anyone of us audaciously receives it in the state of sin, let him know that, besides the sacrilegious insult offered to his Lord and God, he also offends the most holy Mother; since he despises and abuses her love, her pious desires, her prayers, tears and sighs. Let us exert ourselves to avoid such horrible crimes.

126. In regard to the fifth Sacrament, that of Extreme Unction, most holy Mary understood the object for which it was instituted, its matter and form and the part borne by its minister. She saw that its matter must be the blessed oil of olives, serving as a symbol of mercy; that its form should be the words of supplication, spoken while the senses, with which we have sinned are anointed, and that none other than a priest could be its minister. She knew its object and results, which are the help afforded to the faithful in the danger of death, and strengthening them against the temptations and assaults of the devil, so frequent and terrible in the last hour. Thus he that receives this sacrament worthily recovers the strength of soul, which has been lost by the sins previously committed, and also, if it is useful, health of the body. At the same time the sick are moved to sentiments of devotion and to a desire of seeing God, while venial sins are forgiven together with some of the effects of mortal sin; it stamps upon the body the seal of heaven (though not an indelible one), so that the demon dares not approach where, by grace and by his Sacraments, the Lord has taken up his habitation. By the power of this Sacrament Lucifer loses the authority and right acquired over man through original and actual sin, so that the body of the just, which is to rise and, with the soul, is to enjoy its God, may be properly marked for its union with its soul. All this the most faithful Mother and Lady knew and for it She gave thanks in the name of the faithful.

127. Concerning the sixth Sacrament, Holy Orders, She understood how her most blessed Son, the provident Founder of grace and of the Church, thereby constituted apt ministers of his Sacraments for the sanctification of his mystical body and for the consecration of his body and blood; giving them a dignity above that of all men and of the angels themselves. This caused in Her such an extreme reverence for the dignity of priests, that She began from that moment to revere and honor them. She asked the Almighty to make them worthy and efficient ministers of his graces and to inspire the faithful with a high veneration for the priesthood. She wept over the faults as well of the priests as of the people in regard to their duties toward each other. But since I have already spoken of the great respect due to the priests, I will not now expatiate upon this subject. All the rest which pertains to this Sacrament, its matter and form, its effects and ministry, was likewise made known to the most blessed Mother.

128. She was also instructed in the great object of Matrimony, the seventh and last of the Sacraments; namely, to sanctify and bless the propagation of the faithful in the evangelical law and to typify the mystery of the spiritual marriage and close union of Christ with his Church (Ephes. 5, 32). She understood how this Sacrament was to be perpetuated, what is its matter and form; what great benefits resulted from it for the faithful children of the Church, and all the other mysteries concerning its effects, necessity and power. For all this She composed hymns of praise and thanksgiving in the name of the faithful, who were to share in its blessings. At the same time She was informed of the rites and ceremonies to be instituted by the Church in future times for the ministration of the Sacraments and for the well ordering of divine worship among the faithful: also of the laws of the holy Church for the government of the faithful, especially of the five precepts of the Church: namely, to hear Mass on feast days; to confess and partake of the most sacred body of Christ at stated times; to fast on the appointed days; to give tithes and firstfruits of our earthly goods to the Lord.

129. In all these precepts of the Church the most blessed Lady perceived the mysteries of our justification, the object of their establishment, the effects caused by them in the faithful, and the necessity of their existence in the new Church of God. She saw how necessary for the faithful was the first of these commandments, establishing days consecrated to the Lord, that men might seek their God, assist at the sacred and mysterious sacrifice of the Mass, which was to be offered for the living and the dead; that they might renew the profession of faith and the memory of the divine Passion and Death, by which we were redeemed; that they might, as much as possible, cooperate in the offering of this great sacrifice and partake of the blessings and fruits gained by the Church in the most sacred mystery of the Mass. She saw also the necessity of stirring up our loyalty and fervor by sacramental Confession and holy Communion, in order to restore to us the friendship and love of the Almighty. For besides the danger incurred by forgetting or neglecting the use of these two Sacraments, men commit another injury by frustrating the loving desires of their God in establishing such Sacraments for our benefit; since such neglect cannot exist without great contempt of the divine goodness, either tacit or expressed, it is a very serious insult to God in the guilty ones.

130. She had the same understanding of the last two precepts: to fast and to pay tithes. She saw how necessary it was for men to vanquish their enemies by restraint and mortification of the passions, which cause so many unhappy and negligent Christians to lose eternal happiness. It is the disorder of the flesh, which foments these passions, and the flesh is subdued by fasting. Herein the Teacher of life himself has given us an example, although He had no need to conquer the disorders of sin. The paying of tithes most holy Mary recognized as specially ordained by the Lord, in order that thereby the faithful might acknowledge Him as the supreme Creator and Lord of all, paying tribute to Him of their temporal goods and thanking Him for the gifts of his Providence in the preservation of life. He wished also that these offerings be appropriated for the sustenance and comfort of his priests. For, seeing that their sustenance is secured by the sweat of the people, they were to be thankful to the Lord for so abundantly supplying their needs and mindful of their obligation to seek the spiritual welfare of souls and to devote their whole life to the worship of God and the advance of his holy Church.

131. I have tried to be very succinct in my explanations of these great mysteries, which secretly transpired in the inflamed and magnanimous heart of the Queen of heaven, when She was instructed by the Almighty in the laws and precepts of the new Church of the Gospel. The fear of being too prolix, and much more that of committing an error, has prevented me from manifesting all that has interiorly been made known to me and all that I have understood in this matter; the light of our holy faith, assisted by Christian piety and prudence, will teach Catholics the greatest venerations for these high mysteries; it will lead them to contemplate with lively faith the wonderful harmony of the Sacraments, laws, doctrines and mysteries contained in the Catholic Church, and how she has governed herself steadily from the beginning and will govern herself to the end of the world. All this was treasured up admirably in the soul of the blessed Lady and Queen; in Her, according to our way of speaking, Christ brought his Church to the highest purity and perfection; in Her He deposited all the riches of the new law in order that She might be the first to enjoy them to their full extent and that She might fructify, love, increase them and render thanks for them in the name of all the other mortals. She was also to weep over their sins, in order that the flood of mercy for the human race might not be impeded. The soul of Mary was to serve as the public record of all that God was to do for the Redemption of man, and the document, which was to bind Him to complete his Redemption. She was to be both the Coadjutrix and the everlasting memorial of all the wonders He intended to work among us.

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN GAVE ME

My daughter, many times I have reminded thee how injurious to the Almighty and how dangerous to mortals is the forgetfulness and the neglect of the mysterious and wonderful works of his divine clemency toward men. My maternal solicitude urges me to renew in thee the memory and the sorrow for this lamentable tendency. Where is the judgment and good sense of men, that they should forget their eternal welfare and the glory of their Redeemer and Creator? The gates of grace and of glory are open; and yet they not only do not enter, but they fly from light and life, and they shut them out from hearts darkened by the shadows of death. O more than inhuman cruelty of the sinner toward himself! Overtaken by the most dangerous and deathly sickness, He does not wish to accept the remedy so graciously offered to him! Who would not willingly be snatched from death and restored to life? What sick person would not be grateful to the physician for curing him of his sickness? If men know how to be thankful for the restoration of health, which is so soon to be again taken from them by death and only serves them to endure new labors and dangers, why are they so foolish and hard of heart as not to be thankful for or even recognize the blessings of Him, who gives them eternal life and happiness, who rescues them from pains without end and inconceivably great?

133. O my dearest daughter, how can I receive as children and be a Mother to those who thus despise my dearest Son and Lord and all his clemency? The angels and saints of heaven understand his kindness, and they are astounded at the gross and dangerous ingratitude of mortals, and they see how the rectitude of divine judgments shall become manifest before the whole world. Already in previous parts of this history I have declared to thee many of these secrets; and now I have made known to thee still more, in order that thou mayest imitate me so much the more closely and weep with me over this unhappy state of mortals, by which God has been, and is, so greatly offended. Weep thou over their sins and at the same time try to make up for them. I wish that thou let no day pass without having given most humble thanks to his greatness; since He had instituted the great Sacraments and receives only abuse in return. Do thou receive them with profound reverence, faith and firm hope. Especially must thou be filled with highest esteem for the sacrament of Penance and try to excite in thee the dispositions and fulfill the requirements, which the holy Church and its teachers point out as necessary for its worthy reception. Approach it with an humble and thankful heart day after day; and whenever thou art conscious of any fault, do not postpone the remedy afforded by this Sacrament. Wash and cleanse thy soul; for it is the most abominable carelessness to know oneself stained with sin, and to remain in such disgrace for a long time, yea even for one instant.

134. Particularly do I wish thee to understand the wrath of the Almighty against those who dare to receive the Sacraments unworthily, especially the august Sacrament of the Altar. 0 soul! How dreadful is this sin in the eyes of the Lord and his saints! Yea, not only the receiving of Him unworthily, but the irreverence committed in his real presence on the altar! How can they be called children of the Church, who, claiming to believe and respect this mystery, not only neglect to visit Him in the many places where He is sacramentally present, but also dare to indulge in such disrespect toward Him as even the heathens are not guilty of against their false idols? This is a matter which could not be deplored sufficiently in many discourses; and I tell thee, my daughter, that the men of the present age have so outraged the justice of the Lord, that I cannot even manifest to them, what in my kindness I desire as a remedy of this evil. But let them know at present that his sentence shall be dreadful and without mercy, rendered against those wicked and faithless servants who are condemned by the words of their own mouth (Luke 19, 22). This thou canst announce to all that will hear thee; and counsel them to come at least once a day to the churches in which their God is sacramentally present, in order to adore and worship Him; and let them assist at the sacrifice of the Mass, for men do not know how much they lose by their negligence in this regard.

CHAPTER XII

THE INCESSANT PRAYERS AND PETITIONS OF CHRIST, THE REDEEMER, FOR OUR WELFARE; AND HOW OUR MOST HOLY MOTHER JOINED HIM THEREIN AND RECEIVED MANY NEW ENLIGHTENMENTS

The more our limited discourse seeks to make clear and extol the mysterious works of Christ, our Redeemer, and of his most holy Mother, the more evident it becomes, that mere human words are far from being able to compass the greatness of these sacraments; for, as Ecclesiasticus says, they surpass all our words of praise (Ecclus. 43, 33). Nor can we ever fathom or compass them, and there will always remain many greater secrets than those we have sought to explain. For those which we do explain are very insignificant, and we do not deserve to comprehend, nor to speak about the few, which we attempt to fathom. Inadequate is the intellect of the highest seraphim to weigh and pierce the secrets that passed between Jesus and Mary during the years in which They lived together. Especially is this true of the years, of which I am now speaking, during which the Teacher of life instructed Her in everything that was to happen in the law of grace; namely, how much this new law was to accomplish in this the sixth age of the world, which includes these sixteen hundred and fifty seven years and all the unknown future until the end of the World. In all this the most blessed Lady was instructed in the school of her divine Son; for He foretold Her all by word of mouth, pointing out the time and place of each event, the kingdoms and provinces of their history during the existence of the Church. This was shown Her so dearly that if She had lived through our centuries in mortal flesh, She would have known all the individual members of the holy Church with their features and names. This happened in regard to the persons, whom She afterwards saw and conversed with during her life; for when they came into her presence for the first time, She already knew them by her interior faculties and merely began to know them by the experience of the senses.

136. Still, while the most holy Mother of wisdom so clearly understood these mysteries in the soul of her Son and in the operations of his faculties, She did not penetrate so deeply into these secrets as the most holy Soul of Christ, which was beatifically united to the Divinity; for the heavenly Lady was a creature and as yet did not continually enjoy the beatific vision. Nor did She always comprehend the image conceived in the beatific vision of this divine Soul of Christ, for this happened only when She herself was enjoying the intuitive vision of the Divinity. But She beheld the imaginary species of the interior faculties of Christ concerning the mysteries of the militant Church, and She understood also how they depended upon his most holy will: that He decreed and controlled all its developments according to their proper time, place and occasion. She was made aware in like manner, how the human will of the Redeemer conformed itself to the divine, and was governed by it in all its decrees and dispositions. The divine harmony overflowed in the will and faculties of the blessed Lady, leading Her to cooperate with the will of her Son, and through it, with the divine. Hence there existed an ineffable similarity between Christ and holy Mary and She was the helpmate of Christ in the building up of the new Law.

137. All these hidden sacraments ordinarily transpired in that humble oratory of the Queen, where the greatest of all mysteries, the Incarnation of the divine Word in her virginal womb, had taken place. Though it was such a narrow and poorly furnished room, consisting merely of the bare and rude walls, yet it enclosed the grandeur of Him who is immense and shed forth all the majesty and sacredness, which since then is attached to the rich temples and innumerable sanctuaries of the world. In this holy of holies the Highpriest of the new Law ordinarily performed his prayers, which always concluded with fervent intercessions for men. At these times also He spoke to his Virgin Mother about all the works of the Redemption and communicated to Her the rich gifts and treasures of grace, which He had come to shower upon the children of light in the new Testament and in his holy Church. Many times did He beseech his eternal Father not to allow the sins and the ingratitude of men to hinder their Redemption. As Christ in his foreknowledge was always conscious of the sins of the human race and of the damnation of so many thankless souls, the thought of dying for them caused Him to sweat blood many times on these occasions. Although the Evangelists, because they never intended to relate all the events of his life, mention this sweating of blood but once before his Passion, it is certain that this happened many times and in the presence of his most holy Mother; and this has been intimated to me several times.

138. During prayer our blessed Master sometimes assumed a kneeling posture, sometimes He was prostrate in the form of a cross or at other times raised in the air in this same position which He loved so much. In the presence of his Mother He was wont to pray: "0 most blessed Cross! When shall thy arms receive mine, when shall I rest on thee and when shall my arms, nailed to thine, be spread to welcome all sinners? (Matth. 9, 13). But as I came from heaven for no other purpose than to invite them to imitate Me and associate with Me, they are even now and forever open to embrace and enrich all men. Come then, all ye that are blind, to the light. Come ye poor, to the treasures of my grace. Come, ye little ones, to the caresses and delights of your true Father. Come, ye afflicted and worn out ones, for I will relieve and refresh you (Matth. 11, 28). Come, ye just, since you are my possession and inheritance. Come all ye children of Adam, for I call upon you all. I am the way, the truth and the life (13, 6), and I will deny nothing that you desire to receive. My eternal Father, they are the works of thy hands, do not despise them; for I will offer Myself as a sacrifice on the Cross, in order to restore them to justice and freedom. If they be but willing I will lead them back to the bosom of thy elect and to their heavenly kingdom, where thy name shall be glorified."

139. At all these prayers the beloved Mother was present, and in her purest soul, as in the purest crystal, the light of the Onlybegotten was reflected. His interior and exterior prayers reechoed in Her, causing Her to imitate his petitions and prayers in the same postures. When the great Lady for the first time saw Him sweat blood, her maternal heart was transfixed with sorrow and filled with astonishment at the effects caused in Christ, our Lord, by the sins and ingratitudes committed by men, foreseen by the Lord and known to Her. In the anguish of her heart She turned to her fellow mortals and exclaimed: "0 children of men! Little do ye understand how highly the Lord esteems his image and likeness in you! For, as the price of your salvation, He offers his own blood and deems it little to shed all of it for you. 0 could I but unite your wills with mine, in order that I might bring you to love and obey Him! Blessed by his right hand be the grateful and the just among men, who will be faithful children of their Father! Let those be filled with light and with the treasures of grace, who will respond to the ardent desires of my Lord in regard to their salvation. Would that I could be the insignificant slave of the children of Adam and thereby induce and assist them to put an end to their sins and their own damnation! Lord and Master! Life and light of my soul! Who can be so hard of heart and so hostile to himself, that he should not feel himself urged on by thy blessings? Who can be so ungrateful and so unheedful, as to ignore thy most burning love? How can my heart bear with men, who, being so favored by thy bounty, are so coarse and rebellious? 0 children of Adam! Turn your inhuman cruelty upon me. Afflict and insult me as much as you will, only pay my beloved Lord the reverence and love which you owe to his endearments. Thou, my Son and Lord, art Light of light, Son of the eternal Father, figure of his substance (Heb. 1, 3), as everlasting, as immense, as infinite as He, equal to Him in essence and attributes, being with Him one God and one supreme Majesty (John 10, 30). Thou art chosen among thousands (Cant. 5, 10), beautiful above all the sons of men, holy, innocent and without defect of any kind. How then, eternal God, can mortals ignore the object of their most noble love? the Principle, which gives them existence? the End wherein consists their eternal true happiness? 0 that I could give my life in order that all might escape their error!"

140. Many other sentiments of burning love, far beyond the powers of my heart and tongue, this heavenly Lady uttered in her dovelike sincerity; and in this love, and in profoundest reverence, She wiped the sweat from the face of her sweetest Son. At other times She found Him in quite a different condition, shining with glory and transfigured as afterwards on mount Tabor (Matth. 17, 2), in the midst of a great multitude of angels, who adored Him and in the sweet harmony of their voices gave praise and thanksgiving to the Onlybegotten of the Father made man. These celestial voices our blessed Lady heard and She joined hers with them. At other times this happened while He was not transfigured; for the divine will ordained that the sensitive part of the divine humanity of the Word should sometimes have this solace, while at other times it should enjoy also the transfiguring overflow of the glory of the soul into the body; yet this only at great intervals. But whenever the heavenly Mother found Him in this state and beheld his glorified body, or when She heard the hymns of the angels, She participated in these delights to such an extent, that, if her spirit had not been so strong, and if her Lord and Son had not fortified Her, She would have lost all her natural powers; and even as it was, the holy angels had to support the failing strength of her body on those occasions.

141. Many times, when her divine Son was in one of these states of suffering or joy, and was praying to the eternal Father or, as it were, conferring with Him concerning the highest mysteries of the Redemption, the Person of the Father approved or conceded his petitions for the relief of men, or showed to the most holy humanity of Christ the secret decrees of predestination, reprobation or condemnation of some souls. All this our blessed Lady heard, humbling Herself to the dust. With unequaled reverence and fear She adored the Omnipotent, and accompanied her Son in his prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, offered up to the eternal Father for mankind in praise of all his inscrutable judgments. Such secrets and mysteries the most prudent Virgin conferred in her heart, and stored them up in her memory, converting them into the material and nourishment of her fiery love. None of these blessings and secret favors were in her unprofitable or fruitless. To all of them She corresponded according to the inmost desires of her Lord. In all of them She fulfilled the highest intentions of the Almighty, and all his works found due response from Her as far as was possible from a mere creature.

INSTRUCTIONS WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MARY, GAVE ME

My daughter, one of the reasons why men should call me Mother of mercy, is the knowledge of my loving desire, that all be satiated with the flood of grace and taste the sweetness of the Lord as I myself. I call and invite all to come with me to the fountain of the Divinity. Let the most poor and afflicted approach, for if they respond and follow me, I will offer them my protection and help, and I will intercede for them with my Son and obtain for them the hidden manna, which will give to them nourishment and life (Apoc. 2, 17). Deny thyself and put off all the works of human weakness, and, by the true light, which thou hast received concerning the works of my Son and my own, contemplate and study thyself in this mirror, in order to arrive at that beauty, which the highest King seeks in thee.

143. Since this is the most powerful means for perfection in thy works, I wish that thou write this advice into thy heart. Whenever thou must perform any interior or exterior work, consider beforehand whether what thou art going to say or do corresponds with the doings of thy Lord, and whether thou hast the intention thereby to honor thy Lord and benefit thy neighbor. As soon as thou art sure that this is thy motive, execute thy undertaking in union with Him and in imitation of Him; but if thou findest not this motive let the undertaking rest. This was my invariable course in pursuing the imitation of my Lord and Teacher; though in me there was no reluctance toward the good, but only the desire of imitating Him perfectly. In this imitation consists the fruit of his holy teaching, in which He urges us to do, what is most pleasing and acceptable to the eternal God. Moreover from this day on be mindful not to undertake any work, not to speak or even think any of anything, without first asking my permission and consulting with me as thy Mother and Teacher. And as soon as I answer thee give thanks to the Lord; if I do not answer after continued inquiry, I promise and assure thee on the part of the Lord, that He will, nevertheless, give thee light as to what will be according to his most perfect will. In all things, however, subject thyself to the guidance of thy spiritual director, and never forget this practice!

CHAPTER XIII

MOST HOLY MARY PASSES HER THIRTY-THIRD YEAR, EVER AFTER REMAINING UNCHANGED AS TO HER VIRGINAL BODY; SHE PLANS TO SUPPORT HER MOST HOLY SON AND SAINT JOSEPH BY THE LABOR OF HER HANDS

After Jesus had reached his twelfth year our great Queen and Lady occupied Herself particularly in the exercises and the mysteries, which I have pointed out but could not fully describe in the foregoing chapters. In the course of time our Savior passed the period of his adolescence at eighteen and his blessed Mother ( according to the dates given in Vol. II P. 138 and 475), reached her perfect growth in her thirtythird year. I call it that, because according to the division of man's life commonly accepted, the age of thirtythree years is that of full bodily growth and perfection, being the end of youthful vigor, or, as others would have it, the beginning of it. Whatever opinion is accepted, that is the end of natural perfection of the body and it lasts only a short time; for immediately corrupted nature, never remaining in the same state, begins to decline. Like the moon, which begins to lessen as soon as it has reached fullness, it never remains in the same state. From that time on the body does not grow in length, nor can the increase in bulk be called a perfection, being rather a defect of nature. On this account our Lord Christ died at the completion of his thirty-third year; for his most ardent love induced Him to wait only until his body should have attained its perfect growth and vigor and was in all respects most capable of bringing the perfect gifts of nature and grace to this sacrifice. Not because divine grace was in need of any growth in Him, but in order that his human nature might correspond with the perfection of grace and that nothing might be wanting even exteriorly to the completeness of his sacrifice for mankind. In accordance with this it is said, that the Almighty created Adam and Eve in the condition of a man and woman at the age of thirtythree years. It is true, of course, that in the first and second age of the world the life of man was much longer and, by dividing the periods of human life at that time, many more years would have to be counted for each period before the time of David than after that time, when old age begins at seventy years.

145. When therefore the Queen of heaven arrived at her thirtythird year, her virginal body had attained full natural growth, so well proportioned and beautiful, that She was the admiration not only of human beings, but of the angelic spirits themselves. She had grown in size and stature to the most perfect proportion in all the parts of her body and most strikingly resembled her divine Son in features and complexion, when later on He arrived at that age; always, of course, taking into account, that Christ was the most perfect Man, while his Mother was the most perfect Woman. Other mortals, on account of the decline of the natural humors and temperature, ordinarily begin to deteriorate and gradually approach decay as far as their body is concerned; the exquisite balance of bodily humors is disturbed and the earthly ones begin to predominate more and more; the hair begins to whiten, the countenance to wrinkle, the blood to cool, some of the strength to weaken; and the whole human frame, in spite of the greatest care, commences to decline toward old age and corruption. But in the most holy Mary it was not so; for the wonderful beauty and strength, which She had attained at the age of thirty-three years, remained unchanged; and when She had reached her seventieth year, as I shall relate later on, She still retained the same beauty and entirety of her virginal body as at the age of thirty-three.

146. The blessed Lady was well aware of this special privilege conceded to Her by the Most High and She rendered Him most humble thanks. She understood also that it was granted to Her in order that the likeness of her most holy Son might always be preserved in Her, though with the differences consequent upon her different nature and longer life; for the Lord attained full bodily growth at thirty-three years, while She retained it during her much longer life. Saint Joseph, although he was not so very old at the time when our blessed Lady reached her thirtythird year, was much broken and worn out as far as his body was concerned; for his continual cares, his journeys and his incessant labors for the sustenance of his Spouse and of the Lord had weakened him much more than his years. This was so ordained by the Lord, who, wishing to lead him on to the practice of patience and of other virtues, permitted him to suffer sickness and pain (as I will relate in the following chapter). His most prudent Spouse, knowing that he was much weakened and always having loved and served him better than any wife ever did her husband, spoke to him and said: "My spouse and my master, I am deeply obliged to you for the faithful labors, watchfulness and care thou hast bestowed on my welfare. For in the sweat of thy brow thou hast until now supported me, thy servant, and my most holy Son, the true God, and in this thy solicitude, thou hast spent thy strength and the best part of thy health and of thy life in protecting me and attending upon my welfare. From the hands of the Almighty thou shalt receive the reward of thy works and the blessings of sweetness which thou deservest (Ps, 20, 4). But now I beseech thee, my master, rest henceforth from thy labors since thy impaired strength is not any more equal to them. I wish from now on to show my gratitude by laboring in thy service and provide for such sustenance as the Lord wishes us to have."

147. The saint listened to the words of his sweetest Spouse with abundant tears of humblest acknowledgment and consolation. Although he at first earnestly entreated Her to be allowed to continue forever in his labors, yet at last he yielded to her request and obeyed his Spouse, the Mistress of the world. From that time on he rested from the hard labor of his hands, by which he had earned a livelihood for all three. They gave away the carpenter tools as an alms, not wishing to have anything superfluous or useless in their house and family. Being thus at leisure, saint Joseph occupied himself entirely in the contemplation of the mysteries of which he was the guardian and in the exercise of virtues. As He had the happiness and good fortune of continually enjoying the sight and the intercourse of the divine Wisdom incarnate, and of Her, who was the Mother of It, this man of God reached such a height of sanctity, that, his heavenly Spouse excepted, no one ever surpassed Him and he far outstripped all other creatures. The blessed Lady, and also her most holy Son, attended upon him and nursed him in his sickness, consoling and sustaining him with the greatest assiduity; and hence there are no words sufficiently expressive of the humility, reverence and love which all this caused in the simple and grateful heart of this man of God. He thus became the admiration and joy of the angels and the pleasure and delight of the Most High.

148. Thenceforth the Mistress of the world took upon Herself the task of supporting by her work her most holy Son and her husband, for such was the will of the eternal Wisdom in order to raise Mary to the very pinnacle of all virtues and perfections and in order to furnish an example for the confusion of the daughters and the sons of Adam and Eve. The Lord set up for us as a model this strong Woman, clothed with beauty and fortitude. For at this age of thirtythree years She was to show Herself girded with strength and ready to extend her hands to the poor, purchasing the field and cultivating the vineyard by her own labor to bring forth its fruits. The heart of her husband confided in Her, and not only that of her husband, Saint Joseph, but also that of her Son, the true Godman, the Teacher of the poor and the Poor of the poor: and they were not deceived (Prov. 31, 10). The great Queen began to busy Herself much more in spinning and weaving linen and wool, thus mysteriously fulfilling all that Solomon says about Her in the Proverbs. But as I have explained this chapter of Scripture at the end of the first part, I shall not repeat it here, although much of what I said then pertains to this period of her life when both interiorly and exteriorly She executed it in action.

149. The Lord was not wanting in ability to provide for his bodily living, that of his blessed Mother and of saint Joseph; for not in bread alone does man live and is sustained (Matth. 4, 4) ; He could have created it by his mere word, as He himself assures us. He could have each day created the necessary food; but then the world would have been deprived of this spectacle of his holy Mother, Lady of the whole world, laboring for their sustenance; and the Virgin herself would have been deprived of the reward due to these meritorious works. All was arranged by the Teacher of our salvation with admirable providence for the glory of our Queen and for our instruction. Her diligence and care in these employments cannot be expressed in words. She labored much: and because She always lived in retirement, She was assisted by that most fortunate woman, of whom I have spoken before (Vol. 11227,423). This woman assumed some of the labor of the great Queen and performed the necessary errands. But Mary never used any command when in want of her assistance, but spoke to her in humble request and with the utmost consideration, always seeking to find out her wishes by asking her whether she would not like to do this or that. Her blessed Son, like his heavenly Mother, ate no meat; their nourishment was only fish, fruit and herbs, and these only in the greatest moderation. For saint Joseph She procured flesh meat, and, although their poverty and want was apparent also in this, yet it was seasoned by the good will and loving kindness with which She served it to her spouse. The blessed Lady slept but little, and often She spent the greater part of the night in work; for the Lord now permitted her to spend more time in such employment than in Egypt. Sometimes it happened that with all her diligence and labor She could not earn what was necessary; for saint Joseph now had need of more expensive nourishment and clothes than formerly. At such times Christ our Lord made use of his almighty power in multiplying what was in their possession, or in commanding the angels to bring the necessaries from elsewhere. But more frequently He miraculously enabled his most holy Mother to accomplish much in a short time by the labor of her hands and thus multiply its results.

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MARY, GAVE ME

My daughter, in what thou hast written of my labors, thou shouldst have received a most exalted doctrine for thy imitation and direction; but in order that thou mayest not forget I will now give thee a summary of it. I wish that thou imitate me in three virtues which thou wilt find in what thou hast written: they are the virtues of prudence, charity and justice, so little taken notice of by mortals. Prudence should teach thee to provide for the wants of thy neighbor as far as possible in thy state. Charity should make thee diligent and zealous in coming to their assistance. Justice should oblige thee to fulfill the obligations of charity, as necessity and love itself point them out to thee. Thou shouldst be an eye to the blind, an ear to the deaf, and thy hands should labor for those that are maimed (Job 29, 15). Although, on account of thy state of life, thou must practice this doctrine principally and continually in a spiritual way, yet I desire that thou take it to the heart also as far as the temporal and bodily wants of thy neighbor demand, always striving to be most faithful in imitating me. For I also provided for the necessities of my spouse, and held Myself ready to serve and support him, deeming myself obliged thereto; and I fulfilled this obligation with ardent charity until he died. Although the Lord had given him to me for my support, I faithfully provided for him by my labors as long as he was unable to perform this task himself. I judged it to be my duty thus to use the strength given to me by the Lord and would have considered it a great fault not to do so with great assiduity.

151. The children of the Church pay no attention to this example and therefore they have fallen into a perverseness which greatly exasperates the just Judge. For, though all mortals, not only since the first sin by which all incurred work as a punishment, but also from the very first beginning, were created in order to work (Gen. 2, 15), nevertheless, work is not evenly distributed among men. The powerful and the rich and those whom the world calls lords and nobles all try to exempt themselves from this common law and try to throw this burden upon the humble and the poor of human society. The rich keep up their pride and ostentation by the labor and sweat of the poor, and the powerful draw their strength from the weakness and helplessness of the lowly. In many of the proud, by their haughtiness, this perversity reaches such extremes that they begin to think all this is due to them and they despise, oppress and trod under foot the poor (James 2, 6). They falsely suppose that others are created only in order that they themselves might enjoy leisure and delight and all the world's goods; and in addition to this, they do not even pay the small wages for these services. In this matter of not paying proper wages to the poor and to the servants and in matters of like sort thou wilt find great crimes against the order and will of the Almighty. But let it be known that just as the rich pervert justice and reason and refuse to take their share in human labor, so also will mercy be inverted for them, and be showered upon the despised and lowly (Wis. 6, 7). Those who in their pride gave themselves up to contemptible idleness, shall be chastised by the demons whom they have imitated.

152. Thou, dearest, take heed against such deception; let the advantages of earnest labor be always before thy eyes according to my example; separate thyself from the children of Belial, who so idly seek vain applause, and thus labor for naught. Do not deem thyself above others, because thou art a superior, but deem thyself more lowly and humble, a slave of all the rest; diligently serving them all without distinction. If necessary, be ready to labor for their sustenance and be convinced that this is incumbent upon thee not only as their superior, but also because the religious are thy sisters, daughters of the heavenly Father and creatures of the Lord thy Spouse. Since thou hast received more than all the rest at his liberal hand, thou art also obliged to labor more than they. The weak and ailing relieve of bodily labor and do their work thyself. I wish that thou not only avoid charging others with work which thou canst perform thyself and which belongs to thee, but that thou assume, as much as possible, that of all the rest, deeming thyself their inferior and their servant as I wish thee always to consider thyself. Since thou canst not do all thyself, and since it is necessary that thou distribute bodily labor among thy subjects, I exhort thee to observe good order and equity, not putting more labor upon those who are too humble or weak to object; but I wish that thou humiliate those who are of a haughty and proud spirit and are unwilling to occupy themselves in hard work. However, this must be done without exasperating them and with a gentle firmness, helping them to suppress their lukewarmness and want of subjection by placing upon them the yoke of holy obedience in accordance with their profession. In doing this thou conferrest upon them the greatest blessing and thou only fulfillest thy own obligation; therefore, thou shouldst see to it that they understand thee in that way. All this thou wilt attain if thou make no personal distinctions and assign to each one the work which she can do, and what is appropriate to her; obliging and compelling each one with equity and justice to abhor idleness and laxity, and let them see thee engaged in the hardest and most difficult work. Thereby thou wilt gain an humble liberty of commanding them; but what thou canst do thyself, command no one, in order that thou mayest enjoy the fruit and the reward of labor in imitation of me and in obeying all that I advise and remind thee of.

CHAPTER XIV

THE SUFFERINGS AND INFIRMITIES OF SAINT JOSEPH IN THE LAST YEARS OF HIS LIFE
AND HOW THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, HIS SPOUSE, NURSED HIM DURING THAT TIME

A common defect in all of us that are called to the light and to the profession of holy faith in the school of Christ, our Lord, is that of looking upon Him too much as our Redeemer and not sufficiently as our Teacher in our sufferings (Luke 24, 26). We all desire to reap the fruit of salvation and enter the portals of grace and glory; but we do not with like zeal seek to follow Him on the way of the Cross by which He entered and upon which He invites us to attain eternal glory (Matth. 16, 24). Although, as Catholics, we do not fall into such insane errors as the heretics; for we know and profess that without exertion and labor there can be no reward or crown (II Tim. 2, 5) ; and that it is a sacrilegious blasphemy to avail oneself of the salvation of Christ in order to sin without remorse or restraint. Nevertheless, as far as really practicing the works inculcated by faith, some of the children of the Church differ little from the children of darkness; for they look upon difficult and painful works as unnecessary for the following of Christ and for participation in his glory.

154. Let us throw off this error in our practice and let us understand well that suffering was not only for Christ, our Lord, but also for us; that if He suffered labors and death as the Redeemer of the World, He suffered them also as our Teacher, thereby inviting us as his friends to enter upon the way of his Cross; so much so, that his nearest friends receive the greatest share of suffering, and no one can merit heaven without the price of personal exertions. In imitation of his most holy Mother, the Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins and all his followers have won their crown by labors and those that have been most prepared for suffering have obtained so much the more abundant reward and the higher crown. It might be objected that our Lord was at the same time God and man, and that if He has given us the most conspicuous and wonderful example of suffering, He did it more in order to be admired than to be imitated. But this is only a bold and daring pretense on our part; for He can meet this objection with the example of his Mother, our most pure and innocent Queen, with that of her blessed spouse, and of so many men and women, weak and deficient as we ourselves, who were less guilty, but who have imitated Him and followed Him on the way of the Cross. The Lord did not suffer only in order to excite our admiration, but in order that we imitate his example, and He did not let even his Divinity stand in the way of labor and suffering, but allowed sorrow and suffering to overwhelm Him in proportion to his innocence and sinlessness.

155. Along this royal highway of the Cross the Lord led the spouse of his blessed Mother, saint Joseph, whom He loved above all the sons of men. In order to increase his merits and crown before the time of his meriting should come to an end, He visited him in the last years of his life with certain sicknesses, such as fever, violent headaches and very painful rheumatisms, which greatly afflicted and weakened him. In the midst of these infirmities, he was suffering from another source, more sweet, but extremely painful, namely, from the fire of his ardent love which was so vehement, that the flights and ecstasies of his most pure soul would often have burst the bounds of his body if the Lord, who vouchsafed them, had not strengthened and comforted him against these agonies of love. In these sweet excesses the Lord allowed him to suffer until his death and on account of the natural weakness of his extenuated body, this exercise was the source of ineffable merits for the fortunate saint, not only because of the sufferings occasioned, but because of the love by which these sufferings were brought about.

156. Our great Queen, his Spouse, was a witness to all these mysteries; and, as I have already stated (Vol. II 368, 381, 394, 404), She knew the whole interior of the soul of saint Joseph, being thus rejoiced by the knowledge of having for her spouse a man so holy and so beloved of the Lord. She beheld and comprehended the sincerity and purity of his soul; his burning love; his exalted and heavenly thoughts; his dovelike patience and meekness in his grievous ailments and exquisite sufferings. She knew that he never complained either of these nor of any of the other trials, nor ever asked for any relief in his wants and necessities; for he bore all with incomparable equanimity and greatness of soul. As his most prudent Spouse contemplated and weighed all these heroic virtues of saint Joseph, She grew to look upon him with such a veneration as cannot ever be properly estimated by anyone. She labored with incredible joy for his support and comfort; and the greatest of his comforts was that She should prepare and administer his victuals with her own virginal hands. But as all her service seemed little in the eyes of the heavenly Lady compared to the necessities of her spouse, She sometimes, in her love for him, made use of her power as Queen and Mistress of all creation and commanded that the food which She administered to him impart special strength and supply new life to this holy and just man of God.

157. This command of the great Lady, whom all creatures obeyed, was fulfilled; and when saint Joseph tasted of the victuals, which bore these blessings of sweetness, and when he perceived their effects, he was wont to say to the Queen: "My Lady and Spouse, what celestial food is this which vivifies me, rejoices my senses, restores my strength and fills my soul and spirit with new delight?" The Empress of heaven served him his meals on bended knees; and when he was much disabled and suffering, She took off his shoes in the same posture. At other times She supported him in her arms. Although the humble saint sought to rouse himself in order to forestall some of these ministrations of his Spouse, he could not altogether prevent them, for She was intimately aware of all his sufferings and weaknesses and of the circumstances and occasions when he needed her assistance. At such times the heavenly Nurse always hastened to assist him in his wants. Often also, as the Mistress of wisdom and of virtue, She comforted him by words of sweetest consolation. In the last three years of his life, when his infirmities increased, our Queen attended upon him day and night and her only other employment was the service and ministration due to her most holy Son. Jesus sometimes joined and assisted Her in the care of her holy spouse whenever he was not engaged in other necessary works. There was never a sick person, nor will there ever be one, who was so well nursed and comforted. Great was the happiness and worth of this man of God, saint Joseph, for he alone deserved to have for his Spouse Her, who was the Spouse of the Holy Ghost.

158. But the heavenly Lady was not satisfied with these proofs of her devotion toward holy Joseph: She made use of other means for his relief and comfort. Several times She asked the Lord in her ardent charity to impose upon Her the pains suffered by her spouse and release him therefrom. To gain her point, She, the Mother and Mistress of all sanctity, pleaded before the Most High, alleging that her debt was greater than that of all the earthborn and that since She had not given the proper return, She was inferior to them, deserving all their sufferings and offered her heart for all manner of pain and suffering. She pleaded also the sanctity of saint Joseph, his purity, innocence, and the delight of the Lord in this heart made according to that of his Son. She asked for many blessings for him and gave most heartfelt thanks for having created a man so worthy of his favors, so full of justice and holiness. She invited the holy angels to give thanks to God for him; and in contemplating the glory and wisdom of the Lord as shown in this man, She sang new hymns of praise. For on the one hand She saw the pains and sufferings of her beloved spouse, which excited her pity and condolence, and on the other hand She was aware of his merits and the delight of the Lord in this man, and how the saint pleased and glorified his God by his patience. The heavenly Lady exercised different virtues suitable to the occasion, and of so exalted a degree, that She excited the admiration of the angelic spirits. Yet greater should be the admiration of us ignorant men to see that a mere Creature so perfectly fulfilled so many different duties and that in Her the anxiety of Martha should not interfere with the contemplation of Mary. She imitated in this the activity of the supernal spirits, who guard and assist us without losing sight of the Most High (Matth. 18, 10). But Mary far excelled them in her attention to God, while engaged in bodily labor, of which they were incapable. Though She was a child of Adam, She lived like a heavenly spirit, occupying the superior part of her being in the exalted exercises of her divine love and employing her inferior faculties in works of charity toward her spouse.

159. Sometimes, when the merciful Queen perceived the bitterness and severity of the sufferings of saint Joseph, She was moved to tender pity; and then She would humbly ask permission of her most holy Son to be allowed to command the natural sources and occasions of these pains to disappear and thus put a stop to the sufferings of this just and beloved man of God. As all creatures obeyed the command of their great Mistress, her holy spouse was then immediately relieved and rested from his pains, sometimes for a day, sometimes longer, until his ailments, according to the decree of the Almighty, again assumed sway for the increase of his merits. At other times She ordered the holy angels, as their Queen (though not in the form of a command, but of a request), to console saint Joseph and comfort him in his sorrows and labors, as the frail condition of his body demanded. Thereupon the angelic spirits would appear to saint Joseph in human forms, most beautiful and shining, and begin to speak to him of the Divinity and its infinite perfections. Then they would raise their voices in sweetest harmony of celestial music, singing hymns of divine canticles, by which they restored his drooping strength and inflamed the love of his purest soul. To rejoice him the more he was specially informed, not only of the source of these blessings and divine favors, but of the great holiness of his virginal Spouse, of her singular love and charity in conversing with him and serving him, and of many other excellences and privileges of the great Mistress of the world. All this together caused such effects in saint Joseph, and so raised his merits before God, as no tongue can express, nor any human understanding in this life can comprehend.

INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY THE
QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MOST HOLY MARY

My daughter, one of the virtuous works most pleasing to the Lord and most fruitful for souls, is the loving care of the sick. By it is fulfilled to a great extent that natural law which requires us to do to our neighbors what we wish them to do to us. In the Gospel this is adduced as one of the works for which the Lord shall give eternal reward to the just (Matth. 25, 34); and the failure to exercise this duty is alleged as one of the causes of the eternal damnation of the wicked. In the same place the justice of this retribution is also explained; namely, as men are the children of the eternal Father, the Lord accounts any good or ill done to our neighbor as done to his own children, whose part He takes; for so it is customary among human parents. With regard to thyself thou must moreover consider that thou art the mother of thy religious and that they, just as thou thyself, are the spouses of my blessed Son. The fact that they have received of Him less blessings should so much the more oblige thee to serve and nurse them in their sickness. On this account I have on another occasion told thee that thou must consider thyself the infirmarian of all of them, as being inferior to them because of thy great obligations. I assign to thee thereby an office which is great in the house of the Lord. In order to fulfill its obligations do not charge others with the work which thou canst do thyself in the service of the sick; and whatever, on account of the duties of thy office thou canst not compass, be thou careful in commending to the special care of those who are appointed to discharge these duties by obedience. Besides common charity, there are other reasons why the religious should be attended to in their ailments with the greatest care and solicitude; namely, in order that their afflictions and necessities may not cause them to long for return to their parental homes and to the world. Be sure, that in this way much harm enters the cloister; for human nature is so adverse to suffering, that, rather than feel the want of necessities, it will again face the greatest dangers of the soul.

161. In order to stir thee on toward proficiency in the exercise of this doctrine, the charity which I showed toward my spouse, Joseph, in his ailments should serve thee as a spur and encouragement. Very tardy is that charity (and even the politeness), which waits until the needy one asks for help. I did not wait, but hastened to assist before I was asked. My charity and attention anticipated the requests of my spouse and thus I consoled him not only by my services but by my loving solicitude and attention. I shared his sufferings and hardships with heartfelt compassion; but at the same time I praised the Most High and thanked Him for the blessings of affliction conferred on his servant. If sometimes I sought to relieve his pains, it was not in order to deprive him of the occasion of meriting, but that he might by this aid excite himself to glorify so much the more the Author of all goodness and holiness; and to these virtues I exhorted and encouraged him. With similar perfection shouldst thou exercise this noble virtue, providing for the needs of the sick and weak, comforting them by thy compassion and words of advice, doing them all kinds of good service, without wishing them to lose the reward of suffering. Let not thy carnal love disturb thee when thy sisters fall sick, although they be those thou lovest or needest most; for thereby many souls, both in the world and in religion, lose the merit of their labors. The sorrow occasioned by the sight of sickness or danger in their friends, disturbs their equanimity and under the pretense of compassion, they begin to complain and refuse to submit themselves to the dispositions of divine Providence. In all these things I have given thee an example and I demand of thee to imitate it perfectly by following my footsteps.

CHAPTER XV

OF THE HAPPY DEATH OF SAINT JOSEPH AND WHAT FOLLOWED UPON IT : HOW JESUS,
OUR REDEEMER, AND BLESSED MARY, OUR LADY ASSISTED AT HIS PASSING AWAY

Already eight years saint Joseph had been exercised by his infirmities and sufferings, and his noble soul had been purified more and more each day in the crucible of affliction and of divine love. As the time passed his bodily strength gradually diminished and he approached the unavoidable end, in which the stipend of death is paid by all of us children of Adam (Heb. 9, 27). In like manner also increased the care and solicitude of his heavenly Spouse, our Queen, assisting and serving him with unbroken punctuality. Perceiving, in her exalted wisdom, that the day and hour for his departure from this cumbrous earth was very near, the loving Lady betook Herself to her blessed Son and said to Him: "Lord God Most High, Son of the eternal Father and Savior of the world, by thy divine light I see the hour approaching which thou hast decreed for the death of thy servant Joseph. I beseech Thee, by thy ancient mercies and by thy infinite bounty, to assist him in that hour by thy almighty power. Let his death be as precious in thy eyes, as the uprightness of his life was pleasing to Thee, so that he may depart in peace and in the certain hope of the eternal reward to be given to him on the day in which Thou shalt open the gates of heaven for all the faithful. Be mindful, my Son, of the humility and love of thy servant; of his exceeding great merits and virtues; of the fidelity and solicitude by which this just man has supported Thee and me, thy humble handmaid, in the sweat of his brow."

163. Our Savior answered: "My Mother, thy request is pleasing to me, and the merits of Joseph are acceptable in my eyes. I will now assist him and will assign him a place among the princes of my people (Ps. 115, 15), so high that he will be the admiration of the angels and will cause them and all men to break forth in highest praise. With none of the human born shall I do as with thy spouse." The great Lady gave thanks to her sweetest Son for this promise; and, for nine days and nights before the death of saint Joseph he uninterruptedly enjoyed the company and attendance of Mary or her divine Son. By command of the Lord the holy angels, three times on each of the nine days, furnished celestial music, mixing their hymns of praise with the benedictions of the sick man. Moreover, their humble but most precious dwelling was filled with the sweetest fragrance and odors so wonderful that they comforted not only saint Joseph, but invigorated all the numerous persons who happened to come near the house.

164. One day before he died, being wholly inflamed with divine love on account of these blessings, he was wrapped in an ecstasy which lasted twenty-four hours. The Lord himself supplied strength for this miraculous intercourse. In this ecstasy he saw clearly the divine Essence, and, manifested therein, all that he had believed by faith: the incomprehensible Divinity, the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption, the militant Church with all its Sacraments and mysteries. The blessed Trinity commissioned and assigned him as the messenger of our Savior to the holy Patriarchs and Prophets of limbo; and commanded him to prepare them for their issuing forth from this bosom of Abraham to eternal rest and happiness. All this most holy Mary saw reflected in the soul of her divine Son together with all the other mysteries, just as they had been made known to her beloved spouse, and She offered her sincerest thanks for all this to her Lord.

165. When Saint Joseph issued from this ecstasy his face shone with wonderful splendor and his soul was entirely transformed by his vision of the essence of God. He asked his blessed Spouse to give him her benediction; but She requested her divine Son to bless him in her stead, which He did. Then the great Queen of humility, falling on her knees, besought saint Joseph to bless Her, as being her husband and head. Not without divine impulse the man of God fulfilled this request for the consolation of his most prudent Spouse. She kissed the hand with which he blessed Her and asked him to salute the just ones of limbo in her name. The most humble Joseph, sealing his life with an act of self-abasement, asked pardon of his heavenly Spouse for all his deficiencies in her service and love and begged Her to grant him her assistance and intercession in this hour of his passing away. The holy man also rendered humblest thanks to her Son for all the blessings of his life and especially for those received during this sickness. The last words which saint Joseph spoke to his Spouse were: "Blessed art Thou among all women and elect of all the creatures. Let angels and men praise Thee; let all the generations know, praise and exalt thy dignity; and may in Thee be known, adored and exalted the name of the Most High through all the coming ages; may He be eternally praised for having created Thee so pleasing in his eyes and in the sight of all the blessed spirits. I hope to enjoy thy sight in the heavenly fatherland."

166. Then this man of God, turning toward Christ, our Lord, in profoundest reverence, wished to kneel before Him. But the sweetest Jesus, coming near, received him in his arms, where, reclining his head upon them, Joseph said: "My highest Lord and God, Son of the eternal Father, Creator and Redeemer of the World, give thy blessing to thy servant and the work of thy hand; pardon, 0 most merciful King, the faults which I have committed in thy service and intercourse. I extol and magnify Thee and render eternal and heartfelt thanks to Thee for having, in thy ineffable condescension, chosen me to be the spouse of thy true Mother; let thy greatness and glory be my thanksgiving for all eternity." The Redeemer of the world gave him his benediction, saying: "My father, rest in peace and in the grace of my eternal Father and mine; and to the Prophets and Saints, who await thee in limbo, bring the joyful news of the approach of their redemption." At these words of Jesus, and reclining in his arms, the most fortunate saint Joseph expired and the Lord himself closed his eyes. At the same time the multitude of the angels, who attended upon their King and Queen, intoned hymns of praise in loud and harmonious voices. By command of the Lord they carried his most holy soul to the gathering place of the Patriarchs and Prophets, where it was immediately recognized by all as clothed in the splendors of incomparable grace, as the putative father and the intimate friend of the Redeemer, worthy of highest veneration. Conformably to the will and mandate of the Lord, his arrival spread inutterable joy in this countless gathering of the saints by the announcement of their speedy rescue.

167. It is necessary to mention that the long sickness and sufferings which preceded the death of saint Joseph was not the sole cause and occasion of his passing away; for with all his infirmities he could have extended the term of his life, if to them he had not joined the fire of the intense love within his bosom. In order that his death might be more the triumph of his love than of the effects of original sin, the Lord suspended the special and miraculous assistance by which his natural forces were enabled to withstand the violence of his love during his lifetime. As soon as this divine assistance was withdrawn, nature was overcome by his love and the bonds and chains, by which this most holy soul was detained in its mortal body, were at once dissolved and the separation of the soul from the body in which death consists took place. Love was then the real cause of the death of saint Joseph, as I have said above. This was at the same time the greatest and most glorious of all his infirmities for in it death is but a sleep of the body and the beginning of real life.

168. Her spouse having thus passed away, the great Lady began to prepare his body for burial according to Jewish custom. No other hands touched him than her own and those of the holy angels, who assisted Her in visible human forms. In order that the utmost propriety might be observed by the Virgin Mother, God enveloped the body of saint Joseph in a wonderful light, which hid all except his countenance; and thus his purest Spouse, although She clothed him for burial, saw only his face. Sweetest fragrance exhaled from his body and it remained so beautiful and lifelike, that the neighboring people eagerly came to see it and were filled with admiration. Accompanied by the Redeemer of the world, his most blessed Mother and a great multitude of angels, and escorted by their friends and many others, the sacred body of the most glorious saint Joseph was borne to the common burying place. But on all these occasions and in these occupations, the most prudent Queen preserved her composure and gravity, without allowing her countenance to exhibit any unwomanly or disorderly excitement; nor did her sorrow prevent Her from attending to all that belonged to the service of her deceased spouse or her divine Son. In everyone of her movements was visible the royal and magnanimous behavior of the Queen of the human race. She reiterated her thankful acknowledgment of the great favors done to her spouse by the son of God and, prostrate at his feet in new abasement of humility, She said to Him: "Lord and Master of my whole being, my true Son, the holiness of my spouse Joseph might until now have detained Thee in my company; though unworthy of it, I beseech Thee by thy own goodness not to forsake me now; receive me anew as thy servant and look upon the humble desires and longings of my heart." The Savior of the world accepted this new offering of his most holy Mother and He promised not to leave Her until the time when obedience to his eternal Father would oblige Him to begin his life of public preaching.

TEACHING OF MARY, THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

My dearest daughter, it was not without special reason that thy heart was moved to great compassion and pity toward those who are at the point of death and that thou art inspired with a desire to help them in that hour; for it is true, as thou hast perceived, that then the souls of men incur the most incredible and dangerous attacks from the demons, as well as from their own frailty and from the creatures around them. That hour is the great trial of life, upon which depends the last sentence of eternal death or eternal life, of eternal suffering or eternal glory. As the Most High has condescendingly vouchsafed to fill thee with these sentiments, I exhort thee to exert all thy powers and faculties to act accordingly. Remember, then, my friend, that when Lucifer and his satellites of darkness perceive, by the course of natural events, that anyone falls a prey to a dangerous and mortal disease, they immediately prepare to assail the poor and un-bewaring soul with all their malice and astuteness in order to vanquish them if possible by various temptations. Whenever they see an opening for attacking the souls, they try to supply in fury and malice the shortness of time.

170. At such times they gather like bloodthirsty wolves and search out the natural and acquired failings in his nature, taking into account his inclinations, habits and customs, and where his passions cause him greater weakness, in order to direct toward this part the strongest battery and engines of war. Those that have a disorderly love of earthly life, they persuade that there is not such great danger and they prevent others from undeceiving them. Those that have been negligent in the reception of the Sacraments, they try to make still more careless and they place obstacles and difficulties in the way in order that they may die without them, or in order that they may receive them without fruit and with a bad disposition. Others they fill with false suggestions and shame in order that they may not confess their sins and open their conscience. Others they confuse and try to prevent from making proper restitution and thus unburdening their consciences. Others, who love vanity, they entangle, even at that last hour, in many vain and proud desires with regard to what is to be done for them after death. Those that have been avaricious or sensual, they seek to excite violently toward what they loved so blindly during life. In short, of all the bad habits and customs this cruel enemy avails himself in order to fill their minds with images of creatures and draw them away from their salvation or make them incapable of it. All the sinful actions and vicious habits of their previous life have become, as it were, pledges in the hands of the common enemy for the possession of the sinner and weapons for assault and battery in this tremendous hour of death. Every appetite, which has been inordinately indulged, is an avenue or bypath by which he enters into the citadel of the soul. Once in, he breathes forth his pestilential fumes, and raises the clouds of darkness, his proper work, so that the soul may not give heed to the divine inspirations, have no true sorrow for its sins, and do no penance for its wicked life.

171. Generally these enemies cause a great damage to the souls in that hour by exciting the vain hope of a longer life and being able to execute later on what God suggests to them by means of the holy angels. Giving way to this deceit, they find themselves afterwards betrayed and lost. Just as great is the danger of those who have shown little esteem for the saving graces of the Sacraments: for this contempt is very offensive to the Lord and to the saints, and divine justice is wont to punish it by leaving these souls to their own wicked counsels. This leads them to great neglect in profiting by this help. Thus they are themselves forsaken by the Lord in their last hour, in which they expected to provide for their salvation. There are few among the just whom this ancient serpent does not furiously attack in their last agony. And if satan boasts of having ruined even saints at such times, what hope have the wicked, the negligent and sinful, who have spent their whole lives in making themselves unworthy of divine favor and grace, and who are devoid of meritorious works to offset the assaults of their enemies? My holy Spouse, saint Joseph, was one of those who enjoyed the privilege of neither seeing nor feeling the presence of the demon in his last hour; for as soon as they approached to deal with him as they do with the rest of men, they felt a powerful force, which kept them at a distance and the holy angels hurled them back into their abyss. Seeing themselves thus oppressed and crushed, they were seized with great uneasiness and confusion. Almost stupefied, Lucifer called a meeting of his followers in hell, in order to consult about this surprising event and in order to have them once more search the earth for the Messias; and then happened what thou shalt relate later on in its place.

172. Hence thou wilt understand the great danger in the hour of death, when both the good works and the bad will begin to show their effects. I will not tell thee how many are thus lost, in order that thy sincere love of God may not cause thee to die of sorrow at this loss. But the general rule is: a good life gives hope of a good end; all other reliance is doubtful, and salvation resting upon it is very rare and merely accidental. The best precaution is to take a good start from afar; and therefore I admonish thee, that, at the dawning of each day, when thou lookest upon the light, thou seriously consider whether it may not be the last of thy life, and, if it should be the last (for thou dost not know), that thou place thy soul in such a state as to be able to meet death with a smiling face. Do not delay even for one instant sorrow for thy sins and a firm purpose of confessing them as soon as thou findest thyself guilty of any and of amending the least of thy imperfections. In all this be so careful that thou leave not upon thy conscience the smallest defect without being sorry for it and without cleansing thyself by the blood of my most holy Son. Place thyself in such a condition that thou art ready to appear before the just Judge, who is to examine and judge thy least thoughts and all thy movements.

173. In order that according to thy pious wishes, thou mayest help those who are in danger of death, thou shouldst give to others the same counsels that I have now given thee. Exhort them to lead a careful life in order to secure a happy death. Moreover, say some prayers for this intention every day of thy life, fervently asking the Almighty to disperse the deceits of the devils, to destroy the snares prepared against those who are in the throes of death, and that his right hand confound all the demons. Know that I have directed my prayers to that end for mortals and in this I wish thee to imitate me. That thou mayest help them so much the more, I wish thee to order and command the demons to depart from the sick and stop their persecutions; and thou canst very efficaciously use this power, even when thou art absent from the sick, for thou art to command them in the name of the Lord, and thou art to compel them to obey thee for his greater honor and glory.

174. When thy own religious are in danger of death do thou, without exciting them, instruct them in what they are to do. Admonish them and help them to receive the holy Sacraments, and see that they receive them frequently during life in preparation for a good end. Seek to encourage and console them, speaking to them of the things of God and his mysteries contained in the holy Scriptures. Exhort them to awaken their good intentions and desires and to prepare themselves to receive the light and the graces of the Most High. Excite them to hope, strengthen them against temptations and teach them how they are to resist and overcome them, seeking to divine them before they themselves manifest them to thee. The Almighty will give thee an understanding of them so that thou mayest apply the right medicine to each; for the infirmities of the soul are hard to diagnose and cure. All that I now tell thee thou must execute as the most beloved daughter of the Lord and in his service, and I will procure for thee certain privileges for thyself and for those thou desirest to aid in that terrible hour. Do not stint thy charity in these works for thou shalt work not by thy own strength alone, but by the power which God wishes to exercise in thee for his own glory.

CHAPTER XVI

THE AGE OF THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN AT THE DEATH OF SAINT JOSEPH,
AND SOME OF THE PRIVILEGES OF HER HOLY SPOUSE

The most fortunate of men, saint Joseph, reached an age of sixty years and a few days. For at the age of thirty-three he espoused the blessed Virgin and he lived with Her a little longer than twenty-seven years as her husband. When saint Joseph died, She had completed the half of her forty-second year; for She was espoused to saint Joseph at the age of fourteen (as stated in the first part, book second, chapter twenty-second). The twenty-seven years of her married life completed her forty-first year, to which must be added the time from the eighth of September until the death of her blessed spouse. The Queen of heaven still remained in the same disposition of natural perfection as in her thirty-third year; for, as already stated in the thirteenth chapter of this book, She showed no signs of decline, or of more advanced age, or of weakness, but always remained in that same most perfect state of womanhood. She felt the natural sorrow due to the death of saint Joseph; for She loved him as her spouse, as a man preeminent in perfection and holiness, as her protector and benefactor. This sorrow in the most prudent Lady was well-ordered and most perfect, but it was far from being therefore less deep; for her love was great, yea so much the greater as She was well informed of the high rank he held among the saints, who are written in the book of eternal life and in the eternal mind of the Most High. We do not lose without sorrow what we love in an ordinary manner; so much the greater will be our sorrow for losing what we love much.

176. It is not the purpose of this history to describe at length the perfections and excellences of saint Joseph, nor have I any commission to do so, except in so far as will suffice to point out his dignity and that of our Queen, to whose merits (next to those of her divine Son) must be ascribed the gifts and graces conferred by the Almighty upon this glorious Patriarch. The heavenly Lady was either the instrumental or meritorious cause of the holiness of her spouse, or at least the final object or purpose of this holiness. For all the vast Perfection of his virtues and graces were conferred upon saint Joseph for the purpose of making of him a worthy protector and spouse of Her, whom God selected as his Mother. According to this standard and according to the love of God for his most holy Mother is to be measured the holiness of saint Joseph; and from my understanding of this matter, if there had been in the world another man more perfect and more worthy, the Lord would have chosen this other one for the spouse of his Mother. Since he was chosen by God, saint Joseph was no doubt the most perfect man upon earth. Having created and destined him for such a high end, it is certain that God, in his almighty power, prepared and perfected him in proportion to the exaltedness of his end. That is (according to our way of thinking), his holiness, virtues, gifts, graces and infused and natural habits were made to correspond by divine influence with the end for which he was selected.

177. I perceive a certain difference in the graces given to this great Patriarch and those vouchsafed to other saints; for many saints were endowed with graces and gifts that are intended not for the increase of their own sanctity, but for the advance of the service of the Most High in other souls; they were, so to say, gifts and graces freely given and not dependent upon the holiness of the receiver. But in our blessed Patriarch all the divine favors were productive of personal virtue and perfection; for the mysterious purpose, toward which they tended and helped along, was closely connected with the holiness of his own life. The more angelic and holy he grew to be, so much the more worthy was he to be the spouse of most holy Mary, the depository and treasurehouse of heavenly sacraments. He was to be a miracle of holiness, as he really was. This marvelous holiness commenced with the formation of his body in the womb of his Mother. In this the providence of God himself interfered, regulating the composition of the four radical humors of his body with extreme nicety of proportion and securing for him that evenly tempered disposition which made his body a blessed earth fit for the abode of an exquisite soul and well-balanced mind (Wisdom 8, 19). He was sanctified in the womb of his mother seven months after his conception, and the leaven of sin was destroyed in him for the whole course of his life, never having felt any impure or disorderly movement. Although he did not receive the use of his reason together with this first sanctification, which consisted principally in justification from original sin, yet his mother at the time felt a wonderful joy of the Holy Ghost. Without understanding entirely the mystery she elicited great acts of virtue and believed that her Son, or whomever she bore in her womb, would be wonderful in the sight of God and men.

178. The holy child Joseph was born most beautiful and perfect of body and caused in his parents and in his relations an extraordinary delight, something like that caused by the birth of saint John the Baptist, though the cause of it was more hidden. The Lord hastened in him the use of his reason, perfecting it in his third year, endowing it with infused science and augmenting his soul with new graces and virtues. From that time the child began to know God by faith, and also by natural reasoning and science, as the cause and Author of all things. He eagerly listened and understood profoundly all that was taught him in regard to God and his works. At this premature age he already practiced the highest kinds of prayer and contemplation and eagerly engaged in the exercise of the virtues proper to his youth; so that, at the time when others come to the use of reason, at the age of seven years or more, saint Joseph was already a perfect man in the use of it and in holiness. He was of a kind disposition, loving, affable, sincere, showing inclinations not only holy but angelic, growing in virtue and perfection and advancing toward his espousal with most holy Mary by an altogether irreproachable life.

179. For the confirmation and increase of his good qualities was then added the intercession of the blessed Lady; for as soon as She was informed that the Lord wished Her to enter the married state with him, She earnestly besought the Lord to sanctify saint Joseph and inspire him with most chaste thoughts and desires in conformity with her own. The Lord listened to her prayer and permitted Her to see what great effects his right hand wrought in the mind and spirit of the patriarch saint Joseph. They were so copious, that they cannot be described in human words. He infused into his soul the most perfect habits of all the virtues and gifts. He balanced anew all his faculties and filled him with grace, confirming it in an admirable manner. In the virtue and perfection of chastity the holy spouse was elevated higher than the seraphim; for the purity, which they possessed without body, saint Joseph possessed in his earthly body and in mortal flesh; never did an image of the impurities of the animal and sensible nature engage, even for one moment, any of his faculties. This freedom from all such imaginations and his angelic simplicity fitted him for the companionship and presence of the most Pure among all creatures, and without this excellence he would not have been worthy of so great a dignity and rare excellence.

180. Also in the other virtues he was wonderfully distinguished, especially in charity; for he dwelt at the fountainhead of that living water, which flows on to eternal life (John 4, 14); he was in close proximity to that sphere of fire and was consumed without resistance. The best that can be said of the charity of our saint is what I have already said in the preceding chapter; namely, that his love of God was really the cause of his mortal sickness and of his death. The manner of his death was a privilege of his singular love, for his sweet sighs of love surpassed and finally put an end to those of his sickness, being far more powerful. As the objects of his love, Christ and his Mother, were present with him always and as both of Them were more closely bound to him than to any of the womanborn, his most pure and faithful heart was unavoidably consumed by the loving effects of such a close union. Blessed be the Author of such great wonders and blessed be the most fortunate of mortals, saint Joseph, who so worthily corresponded to their love. He deserves to be known and extolled by all the generations of men and all nations, since the Lord has wrought such things with no other man and to none has He shown such love.

181. The divine visions and revelations vouchsafed to saint Joseph, I have particularly mentioned in the course of this history (Vol. II 422, 423, 471 ); but there were many more than can be described, and the greatest of them all was his having known the mysteries of the relation between Christ and his Mother and his having lived in their company for so many years as the putative father of the Lord and as the true spouse of the Queen of heaven. But I have been informed concerning certain other privileges conferred upon saint Joseph by the Most High on account of his great holiness, which are especially important to those who ask his intercession in a proper manner. In virtue of these special privileges the intercession of saint Joseph is most powerful: first, for attaining the virtue of purity and overcoming the sensual inclinations of the flesh; secondly, for procuring powerful help to escape sin and return to the friendship of God; thirdly, for increasing the love and devotion to most holy Mary; fourthly, for securing the grace of a happy death and protection against the demons in that hour; fifthly, for inspiring the demons with terror at the mere mention of his name by his clients; sixthly, for gaining health of body and assistance in all kinds of difficulties; seventhly, for securing issue of children in families. These and many other favors God confers upon those who properly and with good disposition seek the intercession of the spouse of our Queen, saint Joseph. I beseech all the faithful children of the Church to be very devout to him and they will experience these favors in reality, if they dispose themselves as they should in order to receive and merit them.

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN,
MOST HOLY MARY, GAVE ME

My daughter, although thou hast described my spouse, saint Joseph, as the most noble among the princes and saints of the heavenly Jerusalem; yet neither canst thou properly manifest his eminent sanctity, nor can any of the mortals know it fully before they arrive at the vision of the Divinity. Then all of them will be filled with wonder and praise as the Lord will make them capable of understanding this sacrament. On the last day, when all men shall be judged, the damned will bitterly bewail their sins, which prevented them from appreciating this powerful means of their salvation, and availing themselves, as they easily could have, of this intercessor to gain the friendship of the just Judge. The whole human race has much undervalued the privileges and prerogatives conceded to my blessed spouse and they know not what his intercession with God is able to do. I assure thee, my dearest, that he is one of the greatly favored personages in the divine presence and has immense power to stay the arms of divine vengeance.

183. I desire that thou be very thankful to the divine condescension for vouchsafing thee so much light and knowledge regarding this mystery, and also for the favor which I am doing thee therein. From now on, during the rest of thy mortal life, see that thou advance in devotion and in hearty love toward my spouse, and that thou bless the Lord for thus having favored him with such high privileges and for having rejoiced me so much in the knowledge of all his excellences. In all thy necessities thou must avail thyself of his intercession. Thou shouldst induce many to venerate him and see that thy own religious distinguish themselves in their devotion to him. That which my spouse asks of the Lord in heaven is granted upon the earth and on his intercession depend many and extraordinary favors for men, if they do not make themselves unworthy of receiving them. All these privileges were to be a reward for the amiable perfection of this wonderful saint and for his great virtues; for divine clemency is favorably drawn forth by them and looks upon saint Joseph with generous liberality, ready to shower down its marvelous mercies upon all those who avail themselves of his intercession.

CHAPTER XVII

THE DOINGS OF MOST HOLY MARY AFTER THE DEATH OF SAINT JOSEPH
AND SOME OF HER DEALINGS WITH THE HOLY ANGELS

Christian perfection is all included in the two states of life known to the Church: the active and the contemplative life. To the active life belong all the operations of the body and the senses, practiced in our intercourse with our neighbor in temporal affairs. They embrace a wide field and include the practice of the moral virtues, which constitute the perfection of our active life. To the contemplative life belong the interior activities of the understanding and will, aiming at the most noble and the spiritual objects proper to the rational creature. Therefore, the contemplative life is more excellent than the active, and, as it is more quiet, more delightful and beautiful, it is also more desirable in itself. It tends more directly toward the highest end, that is God, since it consists in the deepest know ledge and love of God, and thus participates of the qualities of eternal life, which is entirely contemplative. These two lives, the two sisters Martha and Mary (Luke 10, 41), the one quiet and thoughtful, the other solicitous and bustling; or those other two sisters and wives, Lia and Rachel: the one, fruitful, but ugly and with sore eyes, the other beautiful and gracious, but sterile in the beginning. For the active life is more productive, though in it the soul is taken up with numerous and various occupations, during which it is kept in disturb deserts and solitudes, which are more favorable to that kind of life; and the other, that pursued the active life, and the care of souls by teaching and exhortation, set aside some of their time for retirement from exterior activity, and divided their days between contemplation and active life. By thus attending to both with perfection, they attained the merits and reward of the two kinds of life, founded on love and grace as their principal support.

186. The most blessed Mary alone joined these two lives in a perfect manner: the highest and most ardent contemplation was not hindered by her occupations in the active life. In Her was the solicitude of Martha without its excitement, and the quiet and rest of Mary without idleness of the body; She possessed the beauty of Rachel and the fruitfulness of Lia; and only this great and prudent Queen truly exemplified what these sisters mysteriously typified. Although She attended upon her ailing spouse, and supported him and her most holy Son by her labor, She did not on that account interrupt or curtail her heavenly contemplations, nor was She under any necessity of seeking solitude or retirement, in order to restore the quiet and peace of her heart and raise it beyond the seraphic regions. Yet, when She found Herself alone and deprived of the company of saint Joseph, She so arranged her exercises, as to spend her time entirely in the interior activity of divine love. She immediately perceived, by her insight into the interior of her most holy Son, that such was his will, that She should relax her labors by which She had attended to the wants of saint Joseph through night and day, and that instead of this hard labor, She should now join his Majesty in his prayers and exalted works.

187. The Lord also reminded Her that for the moderate nourishment necessary to Them it would be sufficient to engage in labor only for a short time each day; for from that time on they were to eat only once a day at eventide, having until now followed another custom out of regard to saint Joseph and in order to keep him consoling company at mealtimes. Thenceforward Jesus and Mary ate but once a day at about six o'clock in the evening; many times their meal consisted merely of bread, at other times the blessed Lady added fruits or herbs, or perhaps fish; and this formed the only refreshment of the Sovereigns of the heaven and earth. Although their frugality and abstinence had always been great, yet it was greater after they were left alone, and They never dispensed Themselves except in regard to the kind of food and in regard to the time of taking it. When They were invited they ate a little of what was offered to Them, without abstaining entirely, commencing to practice the advice which Jesus was afterwards to give to his disciples for their conduct while preaching the Gospel. The simple food used by the heavenly Sovereigns was served by the great Lady to her divine Son on her knees, having asked permission thus to serve it. Sometimes She also prepared it in that posture, moved thereto by the thought that it was to serve as nourishment of the true Son of God.

188. The presence of saint Joseph was no hindrance to the most blessed Mother in treating her Son with all due reverence, not missing the least point of what this reverence toward Him demanded. But after the death of saint Joseph the great Lady practiced prostrations and genuflections much more frequently; for there was always more freedom for such actions in the presence of her holy angels, than in the presence of her spouse who was man. Many times She remained prostrate upon the ground until the Lord commanded Her to rise; very often She kissed his feet, at other times his hand, usually She was filled with tears of the profoundest humility and reverence. She always stood in the presence of her divine Son in posture of adoration and most ardent love, awaiting his divine pleasure and intent upon imitating his interior virtues. Although She had no faults, and was not guilty of even the least imperfection or negligence in the service and love of her most holy Son, her eyes (like those of the servant and of the anxious handmaid mentioned by the Prophet, only more devotedly) were continually upon the hands of her Master, in order to obtain the graces She desired for assisting Her to greater perfection. It cannot enter into human thought what divine science aided Her in understanding and performing so many and so great works in union with the incarnate Word during the time They both lived alone together, without any other company than that of the holy angels of their guard and service. They alone were the eyewitnesses and were moved to admiration and to highest praises, to see themselves so inferior in wisdom and purity to a mere Creature who was worthy of such holiness: for She alone made a full return for the graces She received.

189. With the holy angels the Queen of heaven entered into a sweet emulation and strife in regard to the ordinary and humble services which were necessary for the comfort of the Word of God and the well-ordering of their little dwelling, for there was no one to attend to these things except the heavenly Lady and those most noble and faithful vassals and ministers, who, for this purpose assisted in human forms ready and anxious to attend to all the work. The great Queen wished to perform all the humble work Herself and with her own hands to scrub the house and arrange its poor furnishings, wash the dishes and cooking utensils, and set the rooms in order; but these courtiers of the Most High, being truly courteous and more expeditious, though not more humble in their operations, usually anticipated these services before the Queen could find time to perform them. Sometimes, and at certain periods, often, She would find them thus at the work which She was about to perform, the holy angels having begun it beforehand; but at her word they desisted and allowed Her to satisfy her humility and devotion in completing it Herself. In order that they might not interfere with her affectionate desires, She said to the holy angels: "Ministers of the Most High, you are such pure spirits that you reflect the light of the Divinity for my illumination, and, therefore, these low and servile occupations are not suitable to your state, your nature and condition. These pertain to me, who, besides being only of earth, am the lowest of the mortals and the least of the servants of my Lord and Son. Permit me, my friends, to perform the service to which I am bound, since I can thereby gain merits which, on account of your station and dignity, you do not need. I know the value of these servile works which the world despises, and the Lord has given me this knowledge not in order that I may allow them to be done by others, but that I may perform them myself."

190. "Our Queen and Lady," answered the angels, "it is true that in thy eyes and in the estimation of the Lord these works are as valuable as Thou knowest them to be; but if Thou dost thereby earn the precious rewards of thy humility, take notice that we would be deficient in obedience to the Lord if we would knowingly omit any of these works permitted us by the Most High. The merits which Thou losest in not performing this service, Thou, O Lady, canst easily make up by the mortification of denying thyself the desire of executing them." The most prudent Virgin answered these arguments by saying: "No, my masters and sovereign spirits, you must not look upon these works in such a light; for if you consider yourselves bound to serve me as the Mother of your great Lord, whose creatures you are, remember that He has raised me from the dust to this great dignity and that therefore my debt of gratitude for this benefit is greater than yours. As my obligation is so much the greater, my return must also be greater than yours. If you desire to serve my Son as his creatures, I likewise must serve Him on this account, and I am more bound to do so because I am the Mother of such a Son. Thus you will always find me more obliged than yourselves to be humble, thankful and annihilated to the very dust in his presence."

191. These and similar sweet and admirable contentions were going on between most holy Mary and her angels; and the palm of humility always remained in the hands of their Queen and Mistress. The world is justly ignorant of these mysteries, being unworthy of knowing them on account of its vanity and pride. Its foolish arrogance deems insignificant and contemptible these humble and servile occupations, while the courtiers of heaven who know their value appreciate them, and the Queen of creation eagerly sought after them as very precious. But let us leave the world to its intentional or unconscious ignorance. Humility is not for the proud of heart, nor lowly service for purple and fine linen, nor scrubbing and washing for costly gems and silks, nor are the precious jewels of these virtues intended indiscriminately for all men. But if the contagion of worldly pride enters into the schools of humility and contempt of the world, namely, into religious communities, and if this kind of humiliation is looked upon by them as a disgrace, we cannot deny that such sentiments are nothing but a most shameful and reprehensible pride. If we religious men and women despise the benefits of such humble occupations and count them a degradation like worldly people, how can we appear before the angels and our Queen, who esteemed as greatest honors those very works which we look upon as contemptible and dishonorable?

192. My sisters, daughters of this great Queen and Lady, to you I speak, who are called and transported to the bridal chamber of the great King to true joy and exaltation (Ps. 44, 16)! Do not allow yourselves to be robbed of your right to be called children of such a Mother! If She, who was the Queen of angels and men, humbled Herself by engaging in such lowly and trivial occupations, in scrubbing and busying Herself in the most common handiwork, what presumption shall the haughtiness, vain pride and want of humility of mere slaves appear to be in her sight and in the sight of the Lord God himself? Far from our community be such treason, fit only for Babylon and its inhabitants. Let us feel honored by that which the exalted Queen esteemed as a crown of merit, and let it be for us a subject of most shameful confusion and a cause for dreadful reprehension to be found wanting in the same zealous contention of humility which She entertained with the holy angels. Let us eagerly seek after humble and servile occupation and let us cause in the angels and heavenly companions the same emulation, which was so pleasing to our Queen, and to her most holy Son and our Spouse.

193. We must understand that without real and solid humility, it is audacious to seek the reward of uncertain spiritual or sensible consolations, and to strive after them is daring foolishness. Let us rather look upon our heavenly Teacher who is the perfect example of a holy and perfect life. In the great Queen the favors and delights of heaven alternated with her humble and servile occupations for it happened many times when She was engaged in prayer with her Son, that the holy angels in sweet, harmonious voices sang the hymns and canticles composed by Mary herself in praise of the infinite Being of God and of the hypostatical union of the Word with human nature in the second Person of the Trinity. The Blessed Lady often asked the angels to repeat these hymns to her Lord and Creator and, alternating the verses with them, She added new hymns. They obeyed Her, lost in admiration at the profound wisdom manifested in what She thus said and composed for them. Then, whenever her most holy Son retired to rest, or during his meals, She commanded them, as the Mother of their Creator, solicitous to entertain Him, that they furnish sweet music in her name and the Lord permitted it whenever She so ordered, therein yielding to the ardour of her love and veneration, with which She served Him in his last years. In order to narrate all that has been revealed to me in this regard, a much longer discourse were necessary and much greater ability than mine. From what I have insinuated one can judge to some extent of other deep mysteries of this intercourse and find motive and occasion to magnify and extol the great Lady and Queen whom may all nations know and praise as blessed among creatures, as the Mother of the Creator and Redeemer of the world.

INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

My daughter, I wish that, before proceeding to narrate other mysteries, thou understand well all that the Lord commanded in regard to my intercourse with my holy spouse, saint Joseph. When I espoused myself to him, God commanded me to change the order of my meals and other exterior duties in order to accommodate myself to his circumstances; for he was the head of the family, and, according to the common rule, I was the inferior. The same conduct was also followed by my most holy Son, though He was true God, yet He subjected Himself before the eyes of the world to him who was thought to be his father. As soon as We were alone after the death of my spouse, who was the occasion of this change in our lives, we returned to our former way of living. The Lord did not expect saint Joseph to accommodate himself to us, but that We should accommodate ourselves to him as the common order among men required. Nor did the Lord resort to miracles in order to escape the necessity of taking food or of following ordinary human occupations; for in all things, He acted as the Teacher of all virtues, and of all perfection, being an example to parents and children, to prelates, superiors and superioresses, to subjects and inferiors; to parents, in order that they may learn to love their children, help them, nourish them, exhort them, correct them and lead them on in the way of salvation without remissness or carelessness; to children, in order that they may learn to esteem, love and honor their parents as the instruments of their existence, diligently obey them according to the natural law, which requires and teaches obedience and repudiates the opposite as monstrous and horrible; to prelates and superiors, in order that they may love their subjects and direct them as their children; to inferiors, that they obey without resistance, even if they should in other respects be of higher and better condition in life; for in so far as the superior represents God, the prelate is always superior in dignity; but real charity must always teach both to be of one spirit.

195. In order that thou mayest acquire this great virtue, I desire that thou conform and accommodate thyself to thy sisters and inferiors without affection of formality, and that thou treat them with dovelike meekness and sincerity. Do thou pray when they pray, work and eat, and take thy recreation with them. For real perfection in a convent consists in conforming with the common spirit, and if thou act thus, thou wilt be guided by the holy Spirit, who governs all well regulated communities. Following this order thou canst make progress in abstinence, eating less than the others, though the same amount of food is placed before thee. Without being singular thou canst, with a little discretion, abstain from what thou desirest for the love of thy Spouse and of me. If thou art not hindered by some grave infirmity, never absent thyself from the common exercises unless perhaps obedience to thy superiors sometimes prevent thee. Be present at all common exercises with special reverence, attention and devotion, for at such times thou wilt most frequently be visited by the Lord.

196. I wish also that thou learn from this chapter to conceal carefully the special works thou undertakest in imitation of my own; for, although I had no need of refraining from any work in the presence of saint Joseph, yet I was careful to add retirement as an additional observance of perfection and prudence, since retirement of itself makes good works more praiseworthy. But this is not to be understood of ordinary and obligatory works, since thou must give a good example and let thy light shine, avoiding any danger of scandal or cause for cavil. There are many works which can be done in secret and unobserved by the eyes of creatures, and which are not lightly to be exposed to the danger of publicity and ostentation. In thy retirement thou canst make many genuflections; prostrate in the dust, thou canst humiliate thyself, adoring the supreme Majesty of the Most High and offering thy mortal body, which oppresses thy soul, as a sacrifice for the disorderly inclinations against justice and reason. Thus thou wilt not reserve any part of thy being from the service of thy Creator and Spouse, and thou wilt force thy body to make up the loss which it causes to the soul by its passions and earthly affections.

197. With this object in view seek to keep it always in strict subjection, allowing it to partake only of those comforts which serve to keep it in proper condition for the activity of the soul and not to pander to its passions and appetites. Mortify and crush it until it is dead to all that is delightful to the senses, so that even the common actions necessary for life shall appear to thee more painful than agreeable, taste more of bitterness than of dangerous enjoyment. Although I have already on other occasions spoken to thee of the value of this mortification and humiliation, thou shouldst now, by this example which I have given thee, be still more convinced of their great value. I now command thee not to despise any of these acts or deem them of little consequence, but esteem all of them as precious treasures to be gained for thyself. In this thou must be covetous and avaricious, eagerly grasping the occasions of doing servile work, such as scrubbing, cleaning the house, engaging in the most menial services, and attending upon the sick and infirm as I have said before. In all of these works place me before thy eyes as an example in order that my carefulness and humility may urge thee on, full of joy to be able to imitate me, and shame for any negligence therein. If I, who never had displeased or offended the Lord since the beginning of my existence, judged this virtue of humility so necessary in order to find grace in his eyes and be raised up by his right hand, how much more is it necessary for thee to humble thyself to the dust and annihilate thyself in his sight, who wast conceived in sin and hast so often offended Him? (Ps. 50, 7) . Humiliate thyself to nothingness, and acknowledge that what being the Most High has given thee, thou hast but ill employed, and that, therefore, thy very existence should be a subject of humiliation to thee. Thus wilt thou at last find the treasure of grace.

CHAPTER XVIII

OTHER MYSTERIES AND OCCUPATIONS OF THE GREAT QUEEN AND LADY
AND HER MOST HOLY SON, WHILE THEY LIVED ALONE TOGETHER.

As I have already said in other places the knowledge of many of the sacramental mysteries of Jesus and Mary are reserved for the increase of the accidental beatitude of the predestined in eternal life. The highest and most ineffable of these mysteries took place during the four years in which they lived together after the death of saint Joseph and after the public preaching of our Lord. It is impossible for any mortal worthily to understand such profound secrets: how much less can I, rude and untutored as I am, manifest properly what I have been made to understand concerning them. But in that which I do manifest, will be seen the cause of my inability. The soul of Christ our Lord was a most transparent and flawless mirror, in which the blessed Mother saw reflected all the mysteries and sacraments which the Lord, as the Head and Artificer of the holy Church, the Restorer of the human race, the Teacher of eternal salvation and the angel of the great council, wrought and accomplished according to eternal decrees of the most blessed Trinity.

199. In the execution of this work consigned to Him by the eternal Father, Christ our Lord consumed his whole earthly life and lent to it all the perfection possible to a God man. In the measure as He approached its consummation and the full accomplishment of its sacraments, so also the force of His divine Wisdom and Omnipotence became more evident. Of all these mysteries our great Queen and Lady was the eyewitness and her purest heart was their depository. In all things She cooperated with her divine Son, as his helpmate in the works of the reparation of mankind. Accordingly, in order to understand entirely the designs of eternal Providence and the process of dispensing all the mysteries of salvation, it was necessary that She comprehend also the things hidden in the science of Christ our Redeemer, the works of his love and prudence by which He prepared the efficient means of attaining his high purposes. In the little which I can say of the works of most holy Mary, I must always presuppose the works of her most Holy Son; for She cooperated with Him and imitated Him as her pattern and model.

200. The Savior of the world was already twentysix years of age; and in the measure as his most holy humanity approached its perfect growth and its earthly end, Christ proceeded to manifest it by permitting his operations to show more and more openly the purpose of the Redemption. All these mysteries the evangelist Luke includes in those few words, with which he closes the second chapter: "And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and man." Among men his blessed Mother cooperated and grew in knowledge with the increase and progress of her Son, without remaining ignorant of anything that the Son of God and man could ever communicate to a mere creature. Among these hidden and divine mysteries the great Lady also perceived during these years, how her Son and true God began more and more to extend his plans, not only those of his uncreated Divinity, but of his humanity, so as to include all the mortals in his Redemption as a whole; how He weighed its value in the eyes of the eternal Father, and how, in order to close the gates of hell and call men to eternal happiness, He had come down from heaven to suffer the bitterest torments and death; and how, in spite of all this, the folly and wickedness of those that were to be born after He had thus annihilated Himself on the Cross, would rather urge Him to widen the portals and open the lowest abysses of hell, consigning them to those horrible and dreadful torments, which their blind ignorance continued to disregard.

201. The knowledge and contemplation of this sad fate caused great affliction and sorrow to the human nature of Christ our Lord, and sometimes pressed forth a bloody sweat. In these agonies the divine Teacher persevered in his petitions for all that were to be redeemed. In conformity with the will of his eternal Father He desired with the most ardent love to be sacrificed for the rescue of men. For, as not all were to be saved by his merits and sacrifices, He knew, that at all events the divine justice must be satisfied and the offenses to the Divinity be made good by the punishment, which divine equity and justice had prepared from all eternity for the infidels and the thankless sinners on the day of retribution. Entering into these profound secrets by her deep wisdom the great Lady joined her most holy Son in the sorrowful contemplation and sighs for those unfortunates, while at the same time her heart was torn by grief at the heavy affliction of the blessed fruit of her womb. Many times the meekest Dove shed ensanguined tears, when She saw her Son sweat blood in the agonies of his sorrow. For only this most prudent Lady and her Son, the true God and man, could ever justly weigh, as in the scales of the sanctuary, what it meant, on the one hand to see a God dying upon a cross in order to seal up the infernal regions, and, on the other hand, the hardness and blindness of mortal hearts in casting themselves headlong into the jaws of eternal death.

202. In these great sorrows it sometimes happened, that the most loving Mother was overcome by deathly weaknesses, and they would no doubt have ended her life, if She had not been preserved by divine intervention. Her sweetest Son, in return for her most faithful and loving compassion, sometimes commanded the angels to console Her and take Her into their arms, at other times, to sing her own heavenly canticles of praise in honor of the Divinity and humanity. At other times the Lord himself took Her into his arms and gave Her new celestial understanding of her exemption from this iniquitous law of sin and its effects. Sometimes, thus reclining in his arms, the angels sang to Her in admiration, while She, transformed and enraptured in heavenly ecstasies, experienced new and exquisite influences of the Divinity. At such times this chosen One, this perfect and only One, was truly reclining on the left hand of the humanity, while rejoiced and caressed by the right hand of the Divinity (Cant. 2, 6) ; her most loving Son and Spouse conjured the daughters of Jerusalem not to wake his Beloved from his sleep, which cured the sorrows and infirmities of her love, until She herself desired to be thus waked; and the supernal spirits broke forth in wonder, to see Her raised above them all, resting on her beloved Son, clothed in varicolored garment at his right hand, and they blessed and extolled Her above all creatures (Ps. 44, 10).

203. The great Queen was made acquainted with the deepest secrets concerning the predestination of the elect in virtue of the Redemption, and She saw them as they were written in the eternal memory of her Son. She was enabled to see how He applied to them his merits and efficaciously interceded for their salvation; how his love and grace, of which the reprobate made themselves unworthy, were awarded to the predestined according to their different dispositions. Among the predestined She also saw those, whom the Lord in his wisdom and solicitude was to call to his apostolate and imitation, and how by means of his hidden and foreordained decrees, He began to enlist them to the standard of his Cross, which they themselves afterwards were to unfold before the world; and how He pursued the policy of a good general, who, planning a great battle or conquest, assigns the different duties to different parts of his army, chooses the most courageous and welldisposed for the most arduous positions. Thus Christ our Redeemer, in order to enter upon the conquest of the world and despoil the demon of his tyrannical possession by the power of his Godhead as the Word, disposed of this new army to be enlisted, assigned the dignities and offices of his courageous and strong captains and predestined them for their posts of duty. AIl the preparations and apparatus of this war were prearranged in the divine wisdom of his most holy will just in the order in which all was to take place.

204. All this was also open and manifest to the most prudent Mother; and to Her was given, by infused species, to see and personally to know many of the predestined, especially the Apostles and disciples, and a great number of those, who were called to the holy Church in the primitive and later ages. On account of this supernatural knowledge given to Her by God, She knew the Apostles and others before coming in contact with them, and just as the divine Master had prayed and obtained for them their vocation before He called them, so also the heavenly Lady had made them the object of her prayers. Hence, in the favors and graces, which the Apostles received before hearing or seeing their Master, and which disposed and prepared them to accept their vocation to the apostolate, the Mother of grace had likewise cooperated. In proportion as the time of his public preaching drew nearer, the Lord redoubled his prayers and petitions for them and sent them greater and more efficacious inspirations. In like manner the prayers of the heavenly Lady grew to be more fervent and efficacious; and when afterwards they attached themselves to the Lord and saw Her face to face, She was wont to say of them as well as of many others, to her Son: "These, my Son and Master, are the fruits of thy prayers and of thy holy desires." And She sang songs of praise and thanksgiving, because She saw his wishes fulfilled, and because She saw those, who were called from the beginning of the world, drawn to his following.

205. In the prudent contemplation of those wonders our great Queen was wont to be absorbed and to break out in matchless hymns of admiration and praise, performing heroic acts of love and adoring the secret judgments of the Most High. Entirely transformed and penetrated by this fire, which issued from the Lord in order to consume the world, She was accustomed, some times in the secret of her heart, at others in a loud voice, to exclaim: "O infinite love! O manifestation of goodness ineffable and immense! Why do mortals not know Thee? Why should thy tenderness be so ill repaid? O ye labors, sufferings, sighs, petitions and desires of my Beloved, altogether more precious than pearls, than all the treasures of the world! Who shall be so unhappy and so ungrateful as to despise Thee? O children of Adam, whom can you find to die for you many times, in order that your ignorance might be undeceived, your hardness be softened and your misfortunes relieved?" After these ardent exclamations, the blessed Mother conversed with her Son mouth to mouth, and the highest King consoled and dilated her heart reminding Her, how pleasing She herself was to the Most High, how great a grace and glory were to be merited for the predestined in comparison with the ingratitude and hardness of the reprobate. Especially He showed Her the love of Himself toward Her, that of the blessed Trinity, and how much God was pleased with her faithful correspondence and immaculate purity.

206. At other times the Lord showed Her, what He was to do in his public preaching; how She was to cooperate with Him and help Him in the affairs and in the government of the new Church. She was informed of the denial of saint Peter, the unbelief of Thomas, the treachery of Judas, and other events of the future. From that moment on the dutiful Lady resolved to labor zealously in order to save that treasonous disciple, and She followed her resolve, as I shall relate in its place. The perdition of Judas began by his despising her good will and by conceiving against the Mother of Grace a sort of ill will and impiety. Of these great mysteries and sacraments the heavenly Lady was informed by her most holy Son. So great was the wisdom and science deposited in Her, that all attempts at fully explaining them is vain; for only the knowledge of the Lord could exceed that of Mary, which far excelled that of all the seraphim and cherubim. But if our Lord and Redeemer Jesus, and Mary, his most holy Mother, employed all these gifts of grace and science in the service of mortals; and if a single sigh of Christ our Lord was of incalculable value for all creatures, and if those of his Mother, though they had not the same value as his, being those of a mere creature, were worth more in the eyes of God than the doings of all creation taken together, to what an immense value will both their united merits swell, when we add together what Son and Mother did for us, in their petitions, tears, bloody sweat, fearful torment and death of the Cross and all the other actions, in which the Mother joined the divine Son as his helpmate and partaker of all his acts! O ingratitude of men! O hardness of our carnal heart, more than adamantine! Where is our insight? Where our reason? Where is even the most common compassion or gratitude of human nature? Is it not moved to pity and compassion by the sensible objects, the causes of its eternal damnation? Why then does it so completely forget to be moved by the life and sufferings of the Lord, the cause of everlasting happiness and peace in the life to come?

INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY THE
QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MOST HOLY MARY

My daughter, it is certain, that even if thou or any of the mortals were able to speak in the language of the angels, they would not on that account be able to describe the blessings and favors, which the right hand of the Most High showered upon me in those last years of the life of my Son with me. These works of the Lord are of an order, far above thy capacity and that of the rest of the mortals. But since thou hast received such special enlightenment concerning these sacraments, I wish that thou praise and extol the Almighty for all that He did for me and for raising me out of the dust by such exalted favors. Although thy love of the Lord must be spontaneous as that of a devoted daughter and of a most loving spouse, not selfish or forced; yet I wish, that, for the support of thy human weakness and the strengthening of thy hope, thou fondly remember, how delightful the Lord is in his charity toward those who love Him with filial fear. 0 my dearest Daughter, if men would place no hindrance by their sins, and if they would not resist this infinite bounty, how measureless would be the favors and blessings upon them! According to thy way of understanding thou must look upon Him as being outraged and made sorrowful by the opposition of mortals to his boundless desires of doing them good. And they carry their opposition so far, that they accustom themselves not only to be unworthy of tasting of his sweetness, but also not to believe, that others ever participate in his sweetness and blessings, which He desires so much to communicate to all.

208. Be careful also to give thanks for the incessant labors of my most holy Son for all men, and for what I have done in union with Him, as has been shown thee. Catholics should bear in mind more constantly the passion and death of the Lord, because the Church so often recalls it to their remembrance, although few show themselves grateful. But there are still fewer who take thought of the other works of my Son and of mine. For the Lord allowed not one hour, yea not a moment, to pass, in which He did not employ in gaining gifts and graces for rescuing all men from eternal damnation and making them participants of his glory. These works of the Lord God incarnate will be witnesses against the forgetfulness and hardheartedness of the faithful, especially on the day of judgment. If thou, who possessest the light and the doctrine of the Most High and my teachings, wilt not be grateful, thy confusion will be even greater than that of others, since thy guilt is more heinous. Thou must not only correspond to the many general blessings, but also to the special and particular ones, which thou experiencest every day. Guard against the danger of forgetfulness and conduct thyself as my daughter and disciple. Do not delay for one moment to apply thyself to a good life in the best way possible to thee. For this purpose attend well to the interior lights and to the instructions of thy spiritual guides, the ministers of the Lord. Be assured, if thou correspond to some of the graces and favors, the Most High will open up his almighty hands and fill thee with riches and treasures.

CHAPTER XIX

CHRIST OUR LORD BEGINS TO PREPARE FOR HIS PUBLIC PREACHING BY ANNOUNCING TO SOME
THE PRESENCE OF THE REDEEMER INTO THE WORLD; HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER
ASSISTS HIM THEREIN AND THE POWERS OF HELL BEGIN TO GET UNEASY.

The fire of divine charity burned in the bosom of our Redeemer and Master as in a closed furnace until the opportune time destined for its manifestation. For in due time He was to lay bare the burning love of his bosom by means of his public preaching and miracles, and at last even to break the vase of his humanity in order to pour forth his charity. Although it is true, as Solomon says, that fire cannot be concealed in the bosom without burning the vestments (Prov. 6, 27), and although the Lord always manifested his love, sending forth from Him its sparks and flames in all his doings since the moment of his Incarnation; yet, in comparison to what He was to accomplish in his chosen time and in comparison to the conflagration of his interior love, we may say that the flames of his love had until then remained covered and enclosed. The Lord had now reached perfect adolescence, attaining his twentyseventh year. According to our way of speaking, it seemed as if He could not any more restrain the impetus of his love and of his desire to fulfill the will of the eternal Father in accomplishing the salvation of men. He was filled with sorrowing love, prayed and fasted much, and began to mingle with the people and communicate with mortals. Many times He passed the nights in prayer on the mountains, and began to absent Himself two or three days from the house and from his most holy Mother.

210. The most prudent Lady, by these absences and excursions of her Son, foresaw the approach of his labors and sufferings. She already felt the sword, prepared for her devout and affectionate love, piercing her heart and soul, and was entirely consumed in most tender acts of love for her Beloved. During these absences of her Son her heavenly courtiers and vassals, the holy angels, attended upon Her in visible forms, and the great Lady spoke to them of her sorrows, and sent them as messengers to her Son and Lord in order that they might bring Her news of his occupations and exercises. The holy angels obeyed their Queen and by their frequent messages She was enabled, in her retirement, to follow the highest King Christ in all his prayers, supplications and exercises. Whenever the Lord returned She received Him prostrate upon the ground, adoring Him and thanking Him for the blessings, which He had gained for the sinners. She served Him as a loving Mother and sought to procure for Him the poor refreshment, of which She knew He stood in need as a true man subject to suffering; for often it happened that He had passed two or three days without rest, or food or sleep. As already described the most blessed Mother was well aware of the labors and cares weighing down the soul of the Redeemer. The Lord always informed Her of them, and of his new undertakings, of the hidden blessings communicated to many souls by new light concerning the Divinity and concerning the Redemption.

211. Full of this knowledge the great Queen was wont to say to her most holy Son: "My Lord, highest and true happiness of souls! I see, Light of my eyes, that thy most ardent love for men will not rest or be appeased until it has secured eternal salvation for them; this is the proper occupation of thy charity and the work assigned to Thee by the eternal Father. Thy words and precious works must necessarily draw toward Thee many hearts; but, 0 my sweetest Love, I desire that all the mortals be attracted and that all of them correspond to thy solicitude and exceeding great charity. Behold me, thy slave, 0 Lord, with a heart prepared to fulfill all thy wishes and to offer her life, if necessary, in order that all creatures may submit to the longings of thy most ardent love, which so completely devotes itself to drawing them to thy grace and friendship." To this offering the Mother of mercy was urged by her ardent desire to see the teaching and labors of our Redeemer and Master bring forth their proper fruit. As the most prudent Lady fully estimated their value and dignity, She wished that they be lost for none of the souls, nor that proper thanks for them should be wanting in men. In her charity She wished to assist the Lord, or rather to assist her fellowmen, who heard his words and witnessed his works, in corresponding to these favors and lose not their chances of salvation. She was consumed with a desire to render worthy thanks and praise to the Lord for his wonderful bounty toward souls, seeking to repay the debt of acknowledgment and gratitude, not only for those mercies that were efficacious, but for those which the guilt of men made inactive. In this thanksgiving the thanks of our great Lady were as hidden as they were admirable. For in all the works of Christ our Lord She participated in a most exalted degree, not only in so far as She cooperated as the cause, but in as far as the effects are concerned. She so labored for each soul, as if She herself were the one to be benefited. Of this I will say more in the third part.

212. To this offering of the most loving Mother her most holy Son answered: "My dearest Mother! already the time is come in which I must, conformably to the will of my eternal Father, commence to prepare some hearts for the reception of my light and doctrine and for giving them notice of the opportune and foreordained time of the salvation of men. In this work I wish thee to follow and assist Me. Beseech thou my Father to send his light into the hearts of the mortals and awaken their souls, that they may with an upright intention receive the message of the presence of their Savior and Teacher in the world." From that day on his Mother, according to his own desire, accompanied Him in all his excursions from the town of Nazareth.

213. Our Lord began to make these excursions more frequently in the three years preceding his public preaching and Baptism; in the company of our great Queen He made many journeys in the neighborhood of Nazareth and to the province of Nephthali, as was prophesied by Isaias (Is. 5,2), or other parts. In his conversation with men He began to announce to them the coming of the Messias, assuring them, that He was already in the world and in the territory of Israel. He told them of it without intimating that He himself was the one they thus expected; for the first testimony of his being Son of God, was given publicly by the eternal Father, when the voice from heaven was heard at the Jordan: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Matth. 3, 17). Without especially announcing his true dignity, the Onlybegotten spoke of it in general terms, as one who knows with certainty. Without performing any public miracles or using other outward demonstration, He secretly accompanied his teachings and testimonies by interior inspirations and helps, which He conferred on the hearts of those with whom He conversed and treated. Thus disposing their souls by faith, He prepared them to receive Him afterwards so much the more readily in person.

214. He made acquaintance with such, as, by his divine wisdom, He knew to be prepared and capable (or rather, less unsuited) to accept the seed of truth. To the more ignorant He spoke of the signs of the coming of the Redeemer known to all, such as the coming of the three Kings and the slaughter of the Innocents, and of similar events. With the more enlightened He adduced the testimonies of the Prophets, already fulfilled, and He explained to them these truths with the power and force of a divine Teacher. He proved to them, that the Messias had already come to Israel, and He pointed out to them the kingdom of God and the way to reach it. As He exhibited in his outward appearance so much beauty, grace, peace, sweetness and gentleness of manner and of speech, and as all his discourse, though veiled, was nevertheless so vivid and strong, and as He added thereto also his interior help of grace, the fruit of this wonderful mode of teaching was very great. Many souls forsook the path of sin, others began a virtuous life, all of them were instructed and made capable of understanding the great mysteries, and especially of believing, that the Messias had already begun his reign.

215. To these works of mercy the divine Teacher added many others; for He consoled the sorrowful, relieved the oppressed, visited the sick and grief-stricken, encouraged the disheartened, gave salutary counsel to the ignorant, assisted those in the agony of death, secretly gave health of body to many, helped those in great distress, and at the same time led them on to the path of life and of true peace. All those that trustfully came to Him, or heard Him with devout and upright mind, were filled with light and with the powerful gifts of his Divinity. It is not possible to enumerate or estimate the admirable works of the Redeemer during these three years of public preaching after his Baptism. All was done in a mysterious manner so that without manifesting Himself as the Author of salvation, He communicated it to a vast number of souls. In nearly all these wonderful operations our great Lady was present as a most faithful witness and coworker. As all of them were manifest to Her, She assisted and gave thanks for them in the name of the creatures and the mortals who were thus favored by divine bounty. She composed hymns of praise to the Almighty, prayed for the souls as one knowing all their interior necessities, and by her prayers gained for them new blessings and favors. She herself also undertook to exhort and counsel them, drawing them to the sweet teachings of her Son and giving them intimation of the coming of the Messias. Yet She practiced these works of mercy more among women, imitating among them the works of mercy which her most holy Son performed for men.

216. Few persons accompanied or followed the Savior and his most blessed Mother in those first years; for it was not yet time to call them to a close following of his doctrines. He permitted them to remain in their homes, simply instructing and urging them to a more perfect life by his divine enlightenment. The ordinary companions of the heavenly Teachers were the holy angels, who served them as most faithful vassals and servants. Although they often returned from these excursions to their home in Nazareth, yet on their journeys They stood more in need of the ministry of these courtiers of heaven. Some of the nights they passed in prayer without any other shelter than that of the sky, and on these occasions the angels protected them and sheltered Them from the in clemency of the weather, and sometimes they brought food. At other times the Lord and his Mother begged food, refusing to accept any money, or other gifts not necessary for their present nourishment. When at times They separated, the Lord Jesus visiting the sick in hospitals and his Mother other sick persons, innumerable angels accompanied Mary in visible forms. Through their mediation She performed some of her works of charity and was kept informed of the doings of her most holy Son. I do not dilate in particular upon the wonders performed by Them during this time; nor upon the labors and difficulties encountered on these excursions, in the taverns, and from the obstacles which the common enemy placed in their way: it is enough to know that the Teacher of life and his most holy Mother were looked upon as poor pilgrims, and that they preferred the way of suffering, without evading any labor deemed advisable for our salvation.

217. In this hidden manner the divine Master and his Mother spread the knowledge of his coming to all sorts of persons; yet the poor were more especially the objects of his blessed solicitude. They ordinarily are more capable of God's truths, because they are less burdened with sin and endowed with more light, and because their minds are more free and unhampered by vain anxieties. They are likewise more humble and diligent in subjecting their will and understanding, and in applying themselves to an upright and virtuous life. Moreover, as during these three years Jesus did not preach openly, nor with manifest authority confirmed by miracles, He addressed Himself rather to the humble and poor, who are led to the truth with less show of authority. Nevertheless the attention of the ancient serpent was much aroused by many of the doings of Jesus and his Mother; for not all of his miracles remained concealed, though the power by which they were done was hidden. Satan saw that through his words and exhortations many sinners were brought to penance, amended their life and escaped his tyranny; others advanced in virtue, and in all who listened to the Teacher of life, the common enemy noticed a great and unheard of change.

218. What enraged him most, was that he could not succeed in his attempts with those that were in the throes of death. Though he multiplied his cunning and malice in these last hours of the souls in this life, it often happened that this bloodthirsty dragon, having approached the sick in order to exert his malice, was interrupted by the entrance of Jesus or Mary and felt a powerful force, which hurled him and his demons to the deepest caverns of hell. If Jesus or Mary had previously come to the sickroom, the demons could not enter and could exert no influence upon the sick person, who thus died in the powerful protection of the Lord. As the dragon felt this divine power without being able to account for it, he conceived an insane rage, and anxiously sought means of counteracting the damage. Then happened what I shall relate in the next chapter, as I do not wish to enlarge this present one.

TEACHING OF THE MOST HOLY QUEEN, MARY

My daughter, I see thee astonished at the information, which I give thee concerning the mysterious works of my most holy Son and concerning my own share in them. For thou seest on the one hand, how powerful they are for making an impression on human hearts, and on the other, that many of them have remained hidden until now. Thy wonder should not be that men have not known these mysteries, but that, having been informed of so many others concerning the life and activity of their own and my Lord, they have held them in such contempt and forgetfulness. If they were not so ignoble of heart, and would lovingly contemplate the divine truths, they would find in my Son's and in my own life, as far as it is known to them, most powerful motives for thankfulness. By the articles of faith and by the many other truths taught and preached in the holy Church, many worlds could be converted. For these truths exhibit clearly, that the Onlybegotten of the eternal Father clothed Himself in the mortal flesh of sinful man in order to redeem the human race by the frightful death of the Cross (Philip 2, 7), acquiring for them eternal life by the loss of his own, and recalling and liberating them from everlasting death. If this blessing were taken at its true value and mortals were not so ungrateful to their God and Savior and so cruel toward themselves, none would lose their chance of salvation or bring upon themselves eternal damnation. In thy amazement then, my dearest, weep ceaselessly over the terrible loss sustained by so many insane and thankless souls, who are forgetful of God, of their duty and of their own selves.

220. On former occasions I have already told thee, that the number of those foreknown as doomed, is so great, and of those that save themselves is so small, that it is not expedient to say more in particular. For if thou hast the sentiments of a true daughter of the Church, the spouse of Christ, my Son and Lord, thou wouldst die at seeing such misfortune. What thou mayest know, is, that all the loss and misfortune apparent in Christian nations and governments, as well among chiefs as among subjects of the Church and of the secular state, all originate and flow from the forgetfulness and contempt of the works of Christ and of the works of his Redemption. If there were a way of rousing them to a sense of thankfulness and to a sense of their duty as faithful and acknowledged children of their Creator and Redeemer, and of me, who am their Intercessor, the wrath of the divine Judge would be appeased, and there would be some diminution of the widespread ruin and Perdition among Catholics. The eternal Father, who is justly zealous for the honor of his Son and rigorously chastises the servants, who know the will of their Lord and refuse to fulfill it, would again be reconciled.

221. The faithful in the Church make much of the sin of the infidel Jews in taking away the life of their God and Master. They are right in doing so, for it was a most heinous crime and merited the punishments decreed against that people. But Catholics forget, that their own sins are rendered heinous by other elements of guilt surpassing that of the Jews; for although their error was culpable, they esteemed it as truth in the end; then also the Lord delivered Himself up to them, allowing them to follow the counsels of hell, by which they were oppressed for their sins (Luke 22, 53). In our days the Catholics are not in ignorance, but in the fullness of the light, by which they know and understand the divine mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption. The holy Church has been founded, spread out, made illustrious by miracles, by saints, by holy writings, by the knowledge and proclamation of truths unknown to the Jews. In spite of all these multiplied advantages, blessings, truths and enlightenments, many live like infidels and as if they had not before their eyes so many inducements to draw them on and oblige them, nor so many chastisements to fill them with dread. How can Catholics then, under these circumstances, imagine that the sins of others were greater or more grievous than their own? How can they presume that their punishment shall not be more lamentable? O my daughter, ponder well this doctrine, and be filled with a holy fear! Humiliate thyself to the dust and confess thyself the lowest of the creatures before the Most High. Look upon the works of thy Redeemer and Master. Imitate them and apply them sorrowfully to satisfy for thy own faults in sorrow and penance. Do thou imitate and follow me in my ways, as far as thou art enlightened from on high. And I wish that thou labor not only for thy own salvation, but also for the salvation of thy brethren. This thou must do by praying and suffering for them, charitably admonishing those thou canst, and eagerly doing for them more than is thy duty. Show thyself even more anxious to benefit those who have offended thee, be patient with all, and humiliate thyself below the most abject. According to the directions given thee before, be thou solicitous to assist, with fervent charity and firm assurance, those that are in the dangers of death.

CHAPTER XX

LUCIFER CALLS A MEETING IN HELL IN ORDER TO HINDER THE WORKS OF CHRIST OUR REDEEMER
AND OF HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER

The tyrannical sway of Lucifer over this world was not any more so unobstructed as it had been in the ages preceding the Incarnation of the divine Word; for from the hour in which the Son of the eternal Father descended from heaven and assumed flesh in the bridal chamber of his virginal Mother, this strongly armed one felt a superior force, which oppressed and crushed him, as I have related in its place (Luke 11, 21). After the birth of Christ he felt this power, when the Infant Jesus entered into Egypt (Vol. II 130, 643), and on many occasions afterward this dragon was routed and overcome by the force of divine truth issuing from the great Queen. Comparing and connecting these past happenings with all the new experiences related in the foregoing chapter, the ancient serpent was beginning to be much troubled by his fears and suspicions, lest a new and vast force had established itself on the earth. But as the sacrament of the Incarnation was deeply hidden from him, he lived on in his blind fury without suspicion of the truth, although, since his fall from heaven, he had most anxiously tried to ascertain when and how the divine Word would leave heaven and assume human flesh; for this wonderful work of God was what his arrogance and pride feared most of all. This anxiety induced him to convoke the many council meetings, of which I have spoken in this history, and also the one of which I now speak.

223. Finding himself then full of uncertainty concerning the experiences of the demons and of Himself with Jesus and Mary, this enemy of the human race questioned himself by what power he had been vanquished and put to flight in his attempts to ruin the dangerously sick and the dying and in his other encounters with the Queen of heaven. As he could not clear the mystery for himself, he resolved to consult those of his associates who excelled in malice and astuteness. He gave forth a roar or tremendous howl in hell, using the language understood by the demons, and called together those who were subject to him. All of them having been gathered together, he made them a speech, saying: "My ministers and companions, who have always followed me in my just opposition, you well know that in the first state in which we were placed by the Creator of all things, we acknowledged Him as the universal source of all our being and thus also respected Him. But as soon as, to the detriment of our beauty and preeminence, so close to the Deity, He imposed upon us the command, that we adore and serve the person of the Word, in the human form, which He intended to assume, we resisted his will. For although I knew, that this reverence was due Him as God, yet as He chose to unite Himself to the nature of man, so ignoble and inferior to mine, I could not bear to be subject to Him, nor could I bear to see, that He did not favor me rather than the creature man. He not only commanded us to adore Him, but also to recognize as our superior a Woman, his Mother, a mere earthly creature. To these grievances I took exception and you with me. We objected to them and resolved to deny Him obedience. On account of our behavior at that time we are punished and made to suffer the pains of our present condition. Although we are aware of these truths and acknowledge them with terror among ourselves, it will not do to confess them before men (Jas. 2, 19). And this I put as a command upon you all, in order that they may not know of our present difficulty and weakness."

224. "But if this Godman and his Mother are really to come, it is clear, that their coming into this world shall be the beginning of our greatest ruin and torment, and that, for this reason, I must seek with all my strength to prevent it and to destroy Them, even at the cost of overturning and destroying all the world. You all know how invincible has been my strength until now, since such a great portion of the world obeyed my command and is subject to my will and cunning. But in the last few years I have noticed on many occasions, that your powers seemed to have decreased and weakened, that you were oppressed and overcome, and I myself feel a superior force, which restrains and intimidates me. Several times I have searched with you through the whole world, trying to find some clue for this loss and oppression which we feel. If this Messias, who is promised to the chosen people of God, is already in the world, we not only fail to discover Him on the whole face of the earth, but we see no certain signs of his coming and we perceive none of the pomp and outward show naturally attendant upon such a person. Nevertheless I have my misgivings, lest the time of his coming from heaven onto this earth be already near. Therefore we ought all be eager to destroy Him and the Woman whom He shall choose for His Mother. Whoever shall distinguish himself in this work, shall not complain of my thankfulness and reward. Until now I have found guilt and the effects of guilt in all men, and I have seen no such majesty and grand magnificence as would induce the Word to become man and which would oblige mortals to adore Him and offer Him sacrifice, for by this homage we shall be able to recognize Him. The certain indication of his coming and the distinguishing mark of the Messias will no doubt be, that neither sin nor its consequences, common to other children of Adam, will ever be able to touch Him."

225. "So much the greater therefore," continued Lucifer, "is my confusion at present; for, if the eternal Word has not yet come into the world, I cannot understand these new experiences, nor whence comes this strong opposition which overpowers us. Who drove us out and hurled us from Egypt? Who destroyed the temples and crushed the idols of that country in which we were adored by all the inhabitants? Who oppresses us now in the land of Galilee and its neighborhood, and prevents us from perverting many of the persons in danger of death? Who keeps away from sin so many souls as if they were withdrawn from our jurisdiction, and who causes so many to better their lives and begin to seek the kingdom of God? If this damaging influence is allowed to continue, great misfortune and torment may arise for all of us from this secret force, which we do not comprehend. It is necessary to put a stop to it and search anew all over the world, whether it does not contain a great prophet or saint, who seeks our destruction; I have not been able to discover anyone to whom I could ascribe such a power. Only I have a great hatred against that Woman, our enemy, especially since we persecuted Her in the temple and later on in her house at Nazareth. For we have always been vanquished and terrified by the virtue which shields Her and resists our malice. Never have I been able to search her interior or come near her person. She has a Son, and, when Both of Them attended at his father's death, all of us were unable to approach the place where They were. They are poor and neglected people; She is an unknown and helpless little woman: but I presume without a doubt, that both Son and Mother must be counted among the just. For I have continually sought to draw them into the failings common to men, and yet I have never succeeded in causing them to commit the least of the disorderly or reprehensible of actions, which are so common and natural with other people. I know that the Almighty conceals from me the state of these souls; and this doubtlessly argues some hidden danger for us. Although the interior condition of some other souls has been concealed from us on certain occasions, yet this was but rarely and not in the manner as with these Two. Even if this Man is not the Messias, it is certain that they are just and our enemies, which is sufficient reason for persecuting Them and ruining Them, and especially for seeking to find out who They are. Do you all follow me in the enterprise with all diligence, for I shall be your leader in our fight against Them."

226. With this exhortation Lucifer concluded his long speech, in which he gave to the demon much other information and malicious counsel. But I need not mention them here, since this history will contain other references to the hellish plots to make us understand the cunning of that venomous serpent. Immediately the prince of darkness, together with countless legions of evil spirits, issued forth from hell and spread over the whole world. They persisted in roaming through it many times, searching out in their malice and cunning all the just, tempting those they recognized as such and provoking them and other men to commit the evil deeds hatched out in their own infernal minds. But Christ our Lord in his wisdom concealed his own person and that of his Mother for many days from the haughty Lucifer. He did not permit him to see or recognize Him, until He betook Himself to the desert, where He allowed and wished the devil to tempt Him after his long fast; and Lucifer did tempt Him, as I shall relate in its place.

227. When this meeting was held in the infernal regions, Christ, to whom as our divine Master all was known, betook Himself to prayer against the malice of the dragon and among other petitions He prayed as follows:

"Eternal and most high God and Father, I adore Thee and exalt thy infinite and immutable Essence; I confess Thee as the highest and boundless Good and I offer Myself in sacrifice to thy divine will for the vanquishing and crushing of the infernal powers and of their malicious counsels against my creatures. I shall battle for them against my and their enemies, and by my own works and victories I shall leave them an encouragement and example of what they must do, so that those who serve Me from their heart, may prevail against Lucifer's malice. Defend, my Father, the souls from the snares and cruelty of the serpent and its followers, and grant to the just the power of thy right hand, in order that through my intercession and Death they may gain victory over their temptations and dangers." Our great Queen and Lady had a like knowledge of the evil counsels of Lucifer and saw all that passed in her divine Son and the prayer He offered. As the Coadjutrix of his triumphs She joined in the prayers and petitions of her Son to the eternal Father. The Most High granted all of them, and on this occasion Jesus and Mary obtained immense assistance and rewards from the Father for those that battle against the demons in the name of Jesus and Mary. So great was the efficacy of their prayers, that all those who pronounce these names in reverence and faith, overcome their hellish enemies and precipitously repel them in virtue of the prayers, triumphs and victories of our Savior and of his most holy Mother. On account of the protection thereby offered to us against the arrogant giants of hell, and on account of all the other helps furnished us in the holy Church of our Lord, no excuse is left us for not battling legitimately and valiantly, or for not overcoming and vanquishing the demon, as the enemy of the eternal God and our own. For in this we should follow the example of our Savior according to our ability.

TEACHING OF THE MOST HOLY MARY, THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

My daughter, weep with bitterest sorrow over the stubbornness and blindness of mortals in not understanding and acknowledging the loving protection, which they have in my divine Son and in me as a relief from all their troubles and necessities. My Lord spared Himself no exertion and left no means unemployed in order to gain for them inestimable treasures of heaven. He garnered up his infinite merits in the holy Church, the most important fruit of his Passion and Death; He left the secure pledges of his glorious love; and procured for them most easy and efficacious means in order that all of them might enjoy and apply them for their use and for their eternal salvation. He offers them moreover his protection and mine; He loves them as children; He cherishes them as his chosen friends; He calls them by his inspirations; He invites them by his blessings and graces; He awaits them as a most kind Father; He seeks them as their Pastor; He helps them as the most Powerful; He rewards them as One possessing infinite riches, and governs them as a mighty King. All these and innumerable other favors, which are pointed out by faith, offered by the Church and presented before their very eyes, men forget and despise; as if blind, they love the darkness and deliver themselves up to the fury and rage of those cruel enemies. They listen to his lies, obey his wicked suggestions and confide in his snares; they trust and give themselves up to the unquenchable fire of his wrath. He seeks to destroy them and consign them to eternal death, only because they are creatures of the Most High, who vanquished and crushed this most cruel foe.

229. Guard thyself, therefore, my dearest, against this deplorable error of the children of men and disengage thy faculties in order that thou mayest clearly see the difference between the service of Christ and that of Belial. Greater is that difference than the distance between heaven and earth. Christ is eternal life, the true light and the pathway to eternal life; those who follow Him He loves with imperishable love, and He offers them his life and his company; with it, an eternal happiness, such as neither eyes have seen, nor ears have heard, nor ever can enter into the mind of man (John 14, 6). Lucifer is darkness itself, error, deceit, unhappiness and death; he hates his followers and forces them into evil as far as possible, and at the end inflicts upon them eternal fire and horrid torments. Let mortals give testimony, whether they are ignorant of these truths, since the holy Church propounds them and calls them to their minds every day. If men believe these truths, where is their good sense? Who has made them insane? Who drives from their remembrance the love, which they ought to have for themselves? Who makes them so cruel to themselves? 0 insanity never sufficiently to be bewailed and so little considered by the children of Adam! All their life they labor and exert themselves to become more and more entangled in the snares of their passions, to be consumed in deceitful vanities and to deliver themselves over to an inextinguishable fire, death and everlasting perdition, as if all were a mere joke and as if Christ had not come down from heaven to die on a Cross for their rescue! Let them but look upon the price, and consider how much God himself paid for this happiness, who knew the full value of it.

230. The idolaters and heathens are much less to blame for falling into this error; nor does the wrath of the Most High enkindle so much against them as against the faithful of his Church, who have such a clear knowledge of this truth. If the minds of men, in our present age, have grown forgetful of it, let them understand that this happened by their own fault, because they have given a free hand to their enemy Lucifer. He with tireless malice labors to overthrow the barriers of restraint, so that, forgetful of the last things and of eternal torment, men may give themselves over, like brute beasts, to sensual pleasures, and unmindful of themselves consume their lives in the pursuit of apparent good, until, as Job says (Job 21, 13), they suddenly fall a prey to eternal perdition. Such is in reality the fate of innumerable foolish men, who abhor the restraint imposed upon them by this truth. Do thou, my daughter, allow me to instruct thee, and keep thyself free from such harmful deceit and from this forgetfulness of the worldly people. Let the despairing groans of the damned, which begin at the end of their lives and at the beginning of their eternal damnation, ever resound in thy ears: O we fools, who esteemed the life of the just as madness! O how are they counted among the sons of God, and their lot is among the saints ! We have erred then from the path of truth and of justice. The sun has not arisen for us. We have wearied ourselves in the ways of iniquity and destruction, we have sought difficult paths and erred by our own fault from the way of the Lord. What has pride profited us? What advantage has the boasting of riches brought us? All has passed away from us like a shadow. O had we but never been born! This, my daughter, thou must fear and ponder in thy heart, so that, before thou goest to that land of darkness and of eternal dungeons from whence there is no return, thou mayest provide against evil and avoid it by doing the good. During thy mortal life and out of love do thou now perform that of which the damned in their despair are forced to warn thee by the excess of their punishment.

CHAPTER XXI

SAINT JOHN, HAVING OBTAINED GREAT FAVORS FROM THE MOST HOLY MARY, IS ORDERED BY THE HOLY GHOST TO GO FORTH ON HIS PUBLIC PREACHING. HE FIRST SENDS TO THE HEAVENLY LADY HIS CROSS

I have already spoken of some of the favors conferred on saint John by the blessed Mary during her s0journ in Egypt; also of her solicitude for her cousin Elisabeth and saint John, when Herod resolved to take away the lives of the holy Innocents. I have also mentioned, that the future Precursor of Christ, after the death of his mother, remained altogether in the desert until the time appointed by the divine wisdom, and that he lived there more the life of a seraph than of a man. His conversation was with the holy angels and with the Lord of all creation; this was his sole occupation and never was he idle in the exercise of his love and of the heroic virtues, which he began in the womb of his mother. Not for one moment was grace in him unprofitable, nor did he fail in the least point of perfection possible. His senses, being altogether withdrawn from earthly things, did not in any way hinder him; for they did not serve him as windows, through which the images of the deceitful vanities of the creatures are wont to bring death to the souls. Since this saint was so fortunate as to be visited by the divine light before he saw the light of created sun of this world, he overlooked all that is seen by eyes of flesh, and fixed his interior gaze immovably upon the being of God and his infinite perfections.

232. The divine favors received by saint John exceed all human intelligence, capacity and thought; his holiness and exalted merits we shall understand in the beatific vision and not before. As it does not pertain to the object of this history to relate what I have seen of these mysteries, and what the holy doctors and other authors have written of his prerogatives, I must confine myself to relate that which is necessary for my present purpose; namely, what refers to the share of the heavenly Lady in his exaltation; for through Her saint John received most inestimable favors. Among them not the least was her sending food to him every day until he reached the age of seven years, which She did by the ministry of the holy angels, as I mentioned above. From his seventh year until he reached the ninth, She sent him only bread; but after that year she ceased to send him any food. For She understood that during the rest of his stay in the desert, it was the will of heaven and of himself, that he nourish himself by roots, wild honey and locusts, which he accordingly did until he came forth to preach. Yet, though Mary did not any more send him food, She continued to send to him her holy angels in order to console him and inform him of the doings and mysteries of the incarnate Word; but these visits happened no oftener than once a week.

233. These great favors, besides serving other ends, encouraged saint John to bear with his solitude: not that the desolation of his abode and the severity of his penance caused him any discouragement; 'to make these desirable and sweet to him, his own wonderful holiness and grace were sufficient. But these tokens of love served to counteract the vehemence of his love, which drew him toward Christ and his Mother and to make their absence and the want of their intercourse bearable to him. For there is no doubt, that restraining his desire for this intercourse was a far greater pain and suffering to his loving soul, than all the inclemencies of his habitation, his fasting and penances, and the horrors of the lonely mountains, and would have been impossible if his heavenly Lady and aunt had not assisted him by continually sending her holy angels to bring messages from his Beloved. The great Hermit inquired into all the particulars of the Son and Mother with the anxious solicitude of a loving bridegroom (Cant. 1, 6). He transmitted to them the messages of his ardent love and of the sighs, that came from his inmost heart wounded by the absence of the Objects of his love. He besought the celestial Princess through her messengers to send him their blessing and he asked the angels to adore and humbly reverence the Lord in his name. He himself ceased not to adore Him in spirit and in truth from his solitude. He asked also the holy angels, who visited him and the others that attended upon him, to do the same. These were the ordinary occupations of the Precursor until he arrived at the perfect age of thirty years and in this manner he was prepared by divine Providence for his appointed task.

234. The destined and acceptable time decreed by the eternal wisdom for sending forth saint John, the Harbinger of the incarnate Word, the Voice resounding in the desert, had now come (Is. 40, 3). As related by the Evangelists, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, under the high priests Annas and Caiphas, the command of God came to John, the son of Zacharias in the desert (Luke 3, 1). And he came to the banks of the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins and preparing the hearts for the reception of the promised Messias, pointing Himself with his finger, who had been expected for so many ages. This command of the Lord saint John heard in an ecstasy, in which, by an especial operation of the Divinity, he was enlightened and prepared by the plenitude of the light and grace of the holy Spirit. In this rapture he obtained a deep insight into the mysteries of the Redemption, and he was favored with an abstractive vision of the Divinity, so wonderful that he was transformed and changed to a new existence of sanctity and grace.. The Lord commanded him to issue forth from the desert in order to prepare the way for the preaching of the incarnate Word by his own, thus exercising the office of a Precursor and all that pertained to it; for he was now instructed and filled with most abundant grace for his work.

235. The new preacher saint John came from the desert clothed in camel skin, girded with a cincture or cord made likewise of leather. His feet were bare, his features thin and emaciated, his appearance wonderfully graceful, modest and humble, his soul was filled with invincible and magnanimous courage, his heart inflamed with the love of God and man, his words rang forth strong and forceful, piercing to the souls of his hearers like the sparks from the immutable and divine essence of the Almighty. He was gentle toward the meek, loving toward the humble, wonderful in the sight of angels and men, terrible to the proud, dreadful to the sinners, and an object of horror to the demons. He was a Preacher fit to be the instrument of the incarnate Word and such as was needed for this people of the Hebrews, who were so hardhearted, thankless and stubborn, and who were now cursed with heathen governors, avaricious and proud priests, without enlightenment, without prophets, without piety, without fear of God, though they had been visited by so many calamities and chastisements for their sins. He was now sent to open the eyes of his people to their miserable state and prepare their hearts to know and receive their Savior and Teacher.

236. The anchoret John, many years before, had made for himself a large cross, which he had placed at the head of his couch: with it he performed some exercises of penance and he was accustomed to place himself upon it in the form of one crucified, when he was engaged in prayer. He did not wish to leave this treasure in the desert; therefore, before issuing forth, he sent it by the hands of the holy angels to the Queen of heaven and earth and requested them to tell Her that the cross had been his greatest and most beloved companion in his long banishment; that he sent it to Her as a precious treasure, because he knew what was to be wrought upon it by the Son of God, and also because the holy angels had told him, that her most holy Son and Redeemer of the world often made use of a cross like this, when performing his prayers in his oratory. The angels had made this cross fashioning it from a tree in the desert at his request; for the saint had neither the necessary strength nor the instruments for this kind of work, whereas the holy angels wanted not the skill and needed no instruments on account of the power they have over material creation. With this present and message of saint John the holy princes returned to their Queen, and She received this token from their hands with innermost emotions of sorrow and consolation, at the thought of what mysteries were in so short a time to be enacted upon the hard wood of the Cross. She addressed it in words of tenderness and placed it in her oratory, where She kept it ever afterwards together with the other cross which had been used by her Son. At her death the most prudent Lady left these crosses, with other remembrances, to the Apostles as a priceless heritage, and by them they were carried through different countries where they preached.

237. In regard to this matter I had some doubts, which I proposed to the Mother of wisdom, saying to Her:

"Queen of heaven and my Mistress, most holy among the saints and chosen among creatures as the Mother of God himself: being an ignorant and dull woman, I find a difficulty in what I have here written; if Thou give me permission, I would like to mention it to Thee, for Thou, o Lady, art the Mistress of wisdom and hast deigned to be my Teacher in the doctrine of eternal life and salvation. My difficulty is this: I see not only saint John but also Thee, my Queen, reverence the Cross before thy most holy Son had died upon it; whereas I have always believed, that until the hour in which He wrought our salvation upon sacred wood of the Cross, it had served as a gibbet of shame for the punishment of criminals and that therefore it was considered as a token of contempt and ignominy; and even the holy Church teaches us, that all its value and dignity came to the Cross by its contact with the body of the Redeemer and through its connection with mystery of man's Redemption."

ANSWER AND INSTRUCTION GIVEN ME BY THE
QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MOST HOLY MARY

My daughter, gladly will I satisfy thy desire and answer thy doubt. What thou sayest is true: the Cross was ignominious before my Son and Lord honored and sanctified it by his Passion and Death and solely on account of this Passion and Death the adoration and reverence shown to it by the Church is now due to it. If anyone, who was ignorant of the mysteries, which were connected with it and which were so well known to me and saint John, would have given it such worship and honor as I have before the Redemption, he would have been guilty of error and idolatry; for he would have worshipped a creature of which he did not know that it was worthy of such honor. But we showed this veneration to the Cross for several reasons : We knew for certain, that the Redeemer was to accomplish his work upon the Cross; we knew also that, before dying upon it, He had begun to sanctify this sacred emblem by his contact in placing Himself upon it during his prayers and in offering Himself freely to die upon it. The eternal Father moreover had accepted these foreseen works of the Cross from his divine Son by an unalterable decree. All the actions and the contacts of the incarnate Word were of infinite value and thus sanctified the sacred wood, making it worthy of the highest veneration. Whenever I or saint John showed this reverence to the Cross, we had before our minds these mysteries and truths: we did not adore the Cross in itself, nor the material of which it was made; for the divine worship was not due to it until the works of the Redemption should have been completed upon it; but we waited for the formal execution of the work intended to be performed upon it by the incarnate Word. This was the real object of our reverence and worship of the Cross. And this is also now the meaning and intent of the practice of the adoration of the Cross in the holy Church.

239. Accordingly thou must ponder well thy obligation and that of all the mortals in regard to the reverence and esteem due to the holy Cross; for if I and the holy Precursor, even before the Death of my divine Son upon it, so eagerly imitated Him in his love and reverence of it and in the exercises which He performed in connection therewith, what should not the faithful children of the Church do after they have seen their Creator and their Redeemer crucified upon it, and when they have the image of the Crucified before their very eyes? I desire, then, my daughter, that thou embrace the Cross with boundless esteem, that thou use it as the priceless jewel of thy Spouse, and that thou accustom thyself to perform those exercises upon it, which are known and practiced by thee, without ever of thy own will forgetting or neglecting them as long as obedience will permit thee. Whenever thou approachest such sacred exercises, let it be with a profound reverence and with a deep pondering of the Passion and Death of the Lord, thy Beloved. Try to introduce the same custom among thy religious, zealously exhorting them thereto; for no exercise is more proper to the spouses of Christ, and if performed with devotion and reverence, it will be most pleasing to their Lord. In addition to this, I wish that thou, in imitation of saint John the Baptist prepare thy heart for all that the holy Spirit wishes to work in thee for his own glory and for the benefit of souls. As far as depends upon thee, love solitude and withdraw thy soul from the confusion of created things. Whenever thy duty to God forces thee to deal with creatures, seek always thy own sanctification and the edification of thy neighbor, so that in thy outward conversation and intercourse the zeal of thy spirit may shine forth. His exalted virtues now known to thee and those resplendent in the lives of other saints, should serve thee as a spur and as an example: seek, like a busy bee, to build up the sweet honeycomb of sanctity and innocence so much desired in thee by my divine Son. Distinguish well between the labors of the bee and of the spider: the one converts her nourishment into sweetness useful for the living and the dead, while the other changes it into snare and venom. Do thou gather the flowers of virtue from the saints in the garden of the Church, as far as thy weak endeavors with the aid of grace will permit; imitate them eagerly and incite others by thy eloquence, thus drawing blessings upon the living and the dead while thou anxiously flyest from the harm and damage of sinful deeds.

CHAPTER XXII

MOST HOLY MARY ORDERS HER ONLYBEGOTTEN SON FOR THE REDEMPTION OF THE HUMAN RACE TO THE ETERNAL FATHER; IN RETURN FOR THIS SACRIFICE HE GRANTS HER A CLEAR VISION OF THE DIVINITY;
SHE TAKES LEAVE OF HER SON AS HE DEPARTS FOR THE DESERT

The love of our great Queen and Lady for her divine Son must always remain the standard by which we must measure as well her actions as all her emotions either of joy or sorrow during her earthly life. But we cannot measure the greatness of her love itself, nor can the holy angels measure it, except by the love which they see in God by the intuitive vision. All that can ever be expressed by our inadequate words, similes and analogies, is but the least portion of what this heavenly furnace of love really contained. For She loved Jesus as the Son of the eternal Father, equal to Him in essence and in all the divine attributes and perfections; She loved Him as her own natural Son, Son to Her in as far as He was man, formed of her own flesh and blood; She loved Him because as man He was the Saint of saints and the meritorious cause of all other holiness (Dan. 9, 24). He was the most beautiful among the sons of men (Ps. 44, 3). He was the most dutiful Son of his Mother, her most magnificent Benefactor; since it was He, that by his sonship, had raised Her to the highest dignity possible among creatures. He had exalted Her among all and above all by the treasures of his Divinity and by conferring upon Her the dominion over all creation together with favors, blessings and graces, such as were never to be conferred upon any other being.

241. These motives and foundations of her love were established and as it were, all comprehended in the wisdom of the heavenly Lady, together with many others, which only her exalted knowledge could appreciate. In her heart there was no hindrance of love, since it was the most innocent and pure; She was not ungrateful, because her profoundest humility urged Her to a most faithful correspondence; She was not remiss, because in Her the most abundant grace wrought with all its efficacy; She was not slow or careless, since She was filled with most zealous and diligent fervor; not forgetful, since her most faithful memory was constantly fixed upon the blessings received and upon the reasons and the precepts of deepest love. She moved in the sphere of the divine love itself, since She remained in his visible presence and attended the school of divine love of her Son, copying his works and his doings in his very company. Nothing was wanting to this peerless One among lovers for entertaining love without limitation of measure or manner. This most beautiful Moon then, being at its fullness, and looking into this Sun of justice just as it had risen like a divine aurora from height to height and reached the noontide splendor of the most clear light of grace; this Moon, Mary, detached from all material creatures and entirely transformed by the light of this Sun, having experienced on her part all the effects of his reciprocal love, favors and gifts, in the height of her blessedness, at a time when the loss of all these blessings in her Son made it most arduous, heard the voice of the eternal Father, calling Her as once He had called upon her prototype, Abraham, and demanding the deposit of all her love and hope, her beloved Isaac (Gen. 22, 1).

242. The most prudent Mother was not unaware, that the time of her sacrifice was approaching; for her sweetest Son had already entered the thirtieth year of his life and the time and place for satisfying the debt He had assumed was at hand. But in the full possession of the Treasure, which represented all her happiness, Mary was still considering its loss as far off, not having as yet had its experience. The hour therefore drawing near, She was wrapt in a most exalted vision and felt that She was being called and placed in the presence of throne of the most blessed Trinity. From it issued a voice of wonderful power saying to Her: "Mary, my Daughter and Spouse, offer to Me thy Onlybegotten Son in sacrifice." By the living power of these words came to Her the light and intelligence of the Almighty's will, and in it the most blessed Mother understood the decree of the Redemption of man through the Passion and Death of her most holy Son, together with all that from now on would happen in the preaching and public life of the Savior. As this knowledge was renewed and perfected in Her, She felt her soul overpowered by sentiments of subjection, humility, love of God and man, compassion and tenderest sorrow for all that her Son was to suffer.

243. But with an undismayed and magnanimous heart She gave answer to the Most High: "Eternal King and omnipotent God of infinite wisdom and goodness, all that has being outside of Thee exists solely for thy mercy and greatness, and Thou art undiminished Lord of all. How then dost Thou command me, an insignificant wormlet of the earth, to sacrifice and deliver over to thy will the Son, whom thy condescension has given me? He is thine, eternal Father, since from all eternity before the morning star Thou hast engendered Him (Ps. 109, 3), and Thou begettest Him and shalt beget Him through all the eternities; and if I have clothed Him in the form of servant (Philip 2, 7) in my womb and from my own blood, and if I have nourished his humanity at my breast and ministered to it as a Mother: this most holy humanity is also thy property, and so am I, since I have received from Thee all that I am and that I could give Him. What then can I offer to Thee, that is not more thine than mine? I confess, most high King, that thy magnificence and beneficence are so liberal in heaping upon thy creatures thy infinite treasures, that in order to bind Thyself to them Thou wishest to receive from them as a free gift, even thy own Onlybegotten Son, Him whom Thou begettest from thy own substance and from the light of thy Divinity. With Him came to me all blessings together and from his hands I received immense gifts and graces (Wis. 7, 11) ; He is the Virtue of my virtue, the Substance of my spirit, Life of my soul and Soul of my life, the Sustenance of all my joy of living. It would be a sweet sacrifice, indeed, to yield Him up to Thee who alone knowest his value; but to yield Him for the satisfaction of thy justice into the hands of his cruel enemies at the cost of his life, more precious than all the works of creation; this indeed, most high Lord, is a great sacrifice which Thou askest of his Mother. However let not my will but thine be done. Let the freedom of the human race be thus bought; let thy justice and equity be satisfied; let thy infinite love become manifest; let thy name be known and magnified before all creatures. I deliver Him over into thy hands before all creatures. I deliver over into thy hands my beloved Isaac, that He may be truly sacrificed; I offer my Son, the Fruit of my womb, in order that, according to the unchangeable decree of thy will, He may pay the debt contracted not by his fault, but by the children of Adam, and in order that in his Death He may fulfill all that thy holy Prophets, inspired by Thee, have written and foretold."

244. This sacrifice with all that pertained to it, was the greatest and the most acceptable that ever had been made to the eternal Father since the creation of the world, or ever will be made to the end, outside of that made by his own Son, the Redeemer; and hers was most intimately connected with and like to that, which He offered. If the greatest charity consists in offering one's life for the beloved, without a doubt most holy Mary far surpassed this highest degree of love toward men, as She loved Her Son much more than her own life. For in order to preserve the life of her Son, She would have given the lives of all men, if She had possessed them, yea and countless more. Among men there is no measure by which to estimate the love of that heavenly Lady, and it can be estimated only by the love of the eternal Father for his Son. As Christ says to Nikodemus (John 15, 13): so God loved the world, that He gave his only Son in order that none of those who believed in Him might perish; so this might also be said in its degree of the love of the Mother of mercy and in the same way do we owe to Her proportionately our salvation. For She also loved us so much, that She gave her only Son for our salvation; and if She had not given it in this manner, when it was asked of Her by the eternal Father on this occasion, the salvation of men could not have been executed by this same decree, since this decree was to be fulfilled on condition, that the Mother's will should coincide with that of the eternal Father. Such is the obligation which the children of Adam owe to most holy Mary.

245. Having accepted the offering of the great Lady, it was fitting that the most Blessed Trinity should reward and immediately pay Her by some favor, which would comfort Her in her sorrow and manifest more clearly the will of the eternal Father and the reasons for his command. Therefore the heavenly Lady, still wrapped in the same vision and raised to a more exalted ecstasy, in which She was prepared and enlightened in the manner elsewhere described (I, 623), the Divinity manifested Itself to Her by an intuitive and direct vision. In this vision, by the clear light of the essence of God, She comprehended the inclination of the infinite Good to communicate his fathomless treasures to the rational creatures by means of the works of the incarnate Word, and She saw the glory, that would result from these wonders to the name of the Most High. Filled with jubilation of her soul at the prospect of all these sacramental mysteries, the heavenly Mother renewed the offering of her divine Son to the Father; and God comforted Her with the life-giving bread of heavenly understanding, in order that She might with invincible fortitude assist the incarnate Word in the work of Redemption as his Coadjutrix and Helper, according to the disposition of infinite Wisdom and according as it really happened afterwards in the rest of her life.

246. Then most holy Mary issued forth from this exalted rapture in the description of which I will not further detain myself; for it was accompanied by the same circumstances as the other intuitive visions already mentioned. But by its effects and the strength imparted through it, She was now prepared to separate from her divine Son, who had already resolved to enter upon his fast in the desert in view of receiving his Baptism. He therefore called his Mother and, speaking to Her with the tokens of sweetest love and compassion, He said: "My Mother, my existence as man I derive entirely from thy substance and blood, of which I have taken the form of a servant in thy virginal womb (Phil. 2, 7). Thou also hast nursed Me at thy breast and taken care of Me by thy labors and sweat. For this reason I account Me more thine own and as thy Son, than any other ever acknowledged, or more than any ever will acknowledge himself as the son of his mother. Give Me thy permission and consent toward accomplishing the will of my eternal Father. Already the time has arrived, in which I must leave thy sweet intercourse and company and begin the work of the Redemption of man. The time of rest has come to an end and the hour of suffering for the rescue of the sons of Adam has arrived. But I wish to perform this work of my Father with thy assistance, and Thou art to be my companion and helper in preparing for my Passion and Death of the Cross. Although I must now leave Thee alone, my blessing shall remain with Thee, and my loving and powerful protection. I shall afterwards return to claim thy assistance and company in my labors; for I am to undergo them in the form of man, which Thou hast given Me."

247. With these words, while both Mother and Son were overflowing with abundant tears, the Lord placed his anns around the neck of the most tender Mother, yet Both maintaining a majestic composure such as befitted these Masters in the art of suffering. The heavenly Lady fell at the feet of her divine Son and, with ineffable sorrow and reverence, answered: "My Lord and eternal God: Thou art indeed my Son and in Thee is fulfilled all the force of love, which I have received of Thee: my inmost soul is laid open to the eyes of thy divine wisdom. My life I would account but little, if I could thereby save thy own, or if I could die for Thee many times. But the will of the eternal Father and thy own must be fulfilled and I offer my own will as a sacrifice for this fulfillment. Receive it, my Son, and as Master of all my being, let it be an acceptable offering, and let thy divine protection never be wanting to me. It would be a much greater torment for me, not to be allowed to accompany Thee in thy labors and in thy Cross. May I merit this favor, my Son, and I ask it of Thee as thy true Mother in return for the human form, which Thou hast received of me." The most loving Mother also besought Him to take along some food from the house, or that He allow it to be sent to where He was to go. But the Savior would not consent to anything of the sort, at the same time enlightening his Mother of what was befitting for the occasion. They went together to the door of their poor house, where She again fell at his feet to ask his blessing and kiss his feet. The divine Master gave Her his benediction and then began his journey to the Jordan, issuing forth as the good Shepherd to seek his lost sheep and bring them back on his shoulders to the way of eternal life, from which they had been decoyed by deceit (Luke 15, 5).

248. When our Redeemer sought saint John in order to be baptized, He had already entered his thirtieth year, although not much of it had yet passed; for He betook Himself directly to the banks of the Jordan, where saint John was baptizing (Matth. 3, 13), and He received Baptism at his hands about thirty days after He had finished the twenty-ninth year of his life on the same day as is set aside for its celebration by the Church. I cannot worthily describe the sorrow of most holy Mary at his departure, nor the compassion of the Savior for Her. All words and description are far too inadequate to manifest what passed in the heart of the Son and Mother. As this was to be part of their meritorious sufferings, it was not befitting that the natural effects of their mutual loves should be diminished. God permitted these effects to work in Them to their full extent, and as far as was compatible with the holiness of both Mother and Son. Our divine Teacher found no relief in hastening his steps toward the goal of our Redemption, to which He was drawn by the force of his immense charity; nor was the thought of what He intended, a lessening of the sense of loss, which She sustained at his departure; for all this only made more certain and more conspicuous the torments which He was to undergo. 0 my dearest Love! Why does not our ingratitude and hardness of heart allow us to meet Thee with a responsive love? Why does not the perfect uselessness of man, and still more, his ingratitude, influence Thee to desist? Without us, 0 my eternal Goodness and Life, Thou wilt be just as happy without us as with us, just as infinite in perfections, holiness and glory; we can add nothing to that which Thou hast in Thyself, since Thou art entirely independent of creatures. Why then, 0 my Love, dost Thou so anxiously seek us out and care for us? Why dost Thou, at the cost of thy Passion and the Cross, purchase our happiness? Without doubt, because thy incomprehensible love and goodness esteems it as thy own, and we alone insist in treating our own happiness as alien to Thee and to ourselves.

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE MOST HOLY MARY,
THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN GAVE ME

My daughter, I wish that thou ponder and penetrate more and more this mystery of which thou hast written, so fixing it in thy soul, that thou wilt be drawn to imitate my example at least in some part of it. Consider then, that in the vision of the Divinity which I had on this occasion, I was made to comprehend the high value which the Lord sets upon the labors, the Passion and Death of my Son, and upon all those who were to imitate and follow Jesus in the way of the Cross. Knowing this, I not only offered to deliver my Son over to Passion and Death, but I asked Him to make me his companion and partaker of all his sorrows, sufferings and torments, which request the eternal Father granted. Then, in order to begin following in the footsteps of his bitterness, I besought my Son and Lord to deprive me of interior delights; and this petition was inspired in me by the Lord himself, because He wished it so, and because my own love taught me and urged me thereto. This desire for suffering and the wishes of my divine Son led me on in the way of suffering. He himself, because He loved me so tenderly, granted me my desires; for those whom He loves, He chastises and afflicts (Prov. 3, 12). I as his Mother was not to be deprived of this blessed distinction of being entirely like unto Him, which alone makes this life most estimable. Immediately this will of the Most High, this my earnest petition, began to be fulfilled: I began to feel the want of his delightful caresses and He began to treat me with greater reserve. That was one of the reasons, why He did not call me Mother, but Woman, at the marriagefeast at Cana and at the foot of the Cross (John 2, 4, 19, 26) ; and also on other occasions, when He abstained from words of tenderness. So far was this from being a sign of a diminution of his love, that it was rather an exquisite refinement of his affection to assimilate me to Him in the sufferings which He chose for Himself as his precious treasure and inheritance.

250. Hence thou wilt understand the ignorance and error of mortals, and how far they drift from the way of light, when, as a rule, nearly all of them strive to avoid labor and suffering and are frightened by the royal and secure road of mortification and the Cross. Full of this deceitful ignorance, they do not only abhor resemblance to Christ's suffering and my own, and deprive themselves of the true and highest blessing of this life; but they make their recovery impossible, since all of them are weak and afflicted by many sins, for which the only remedy is suffering. Sin is committed by base indulgence and is repugnant to suffering sorrow, while tribulation earns the pardon of the just judge. By the bitterness of sorrow and affliction the vapors of sin are allayed; the excesses of the concupiscible and irascible passions are crushed; pride and haughtiness are humiliated; the flesh is subdued; the inclination to evil, to the sensible and earthly creatures, is repressed; the judgment is cleared; the will is brought within bounds and its desultory movements at the call of the passions, are corrected; and, above all, divine love and pity are drawn down upon the afflicted, who embrace suffering with patience, or who seek it to imitate my most holy Son. In this science of suffering are renewed all the blessed riches of the creatures; those that fly from them are insane, those that know nothing of this science are foolish.

251. Exert thyself then, my dearest daughter, to advance in this knowledge, welcome labors and suffering, and give up ever desiring human consolations. Remember also that in the spiritual consolations the demon conceals his pitfalls for thy ruin and destruction, for thou shouldst know his continual attempts to ruin the spiritually inclined. The pleasures of contemplating and looking upon the Lord, and his caresses great or small, are so enticing, that delight and consolation overflow in the faculties of the mind and cause some souls to accustom themselves to the sensible pleasures of this intercourse. In consequence thereof they make themselves unfit for other duties belonging to reasonable life of human creatures; and when it is necessary to attend to them they are annoyed, lose their interior peace and control, become morose, intractable, full of impatience toward their neighbors, forgetting all humility and charity. When they then perceive their own restlessness and its consequences, they blame all to their exterior occupations, in which the Lord has placed them for the exercise of their obedience and charity, failing to see or acknowledge that all their troubles arise from their want of mortification and subjection to providence and from their attachment to their own selfish inclinations. The demon tries to beguile them by mere desires for quiet and solitude and the secret communications of the Lord in solitude; for they imagine, that in retirement all is good and holy, and that all their trouble arises from inability to follow their pious desires in solitude.

252. In these very faults thou hast fallen sometimes, and from now on I wish that thou guard against them especially. For all things there is a time, as the Wise man says (Eccles. 3, 5), both for enjoying delightful embraces and for abstaining therefrom. To seek to prescribe to the Lord a time for his intimate embraces is the error of souls only beginning imperfectly to serve the Lord and to strive after virtue; and similar is the fault of feeling too deeply the want of these consolations. I do not tell thee therefore purposely to seek distraction and exterior occupations, nor to find thy pleasure in them, for this is nothing short of dangerous; but to obey with peace of mind whenever thy superiors command, and willingly to leave the delights of the Lord in order to find Him again in useful labor and in the service of thy neighbor. This thou must prefer to retirement and to private consolations, and on this account thou must not love them too much; for in the anxious cares of a superior thou must learn to believe, hope and love so much the more deeply. In this manner thou must find thy Lord at all times, in all places and occupations, as thou hast already experienced. I desire that thou never consider thyself deprived of his sweetest vision and presence, or of his most loving intercourse, or that thou doubt with pusillanimity, whether thou canst find and enjoy God outside of thy retirement. All creation is full of his glory (Eccli. 42, 16), and there is no void, and thou livest and movest and hast thy being in God (17, 28). Enjoy thou thy solitude whenever He does not oblige thee to these exterior occupations.

253. All this thou wilt still more fully understand in the nobility of the love, which I require of thee for the imitation of my Son and of me. With Him thou must rejoice sometimes in his youth; sometimes accompany Him in his labors for the salvation of men; sometimes retire with Him to solitude; sometimes be transfigured with Him to a new creature; sometimes embrace with Him tribulations and the cross, following up the divine lessons which He taught thereby; in short, I wish thee to understand well, that in me there was a continual desire to imitate, or an actual imitation, of all that was most perfect in his works. In this consisted my greatest perfection and holiness, and therein I wish thee to follow me, so far as thy weak strength, assisted by grace, will allow. For this purpose thou must first die to all the inclinations of a daughter of Adam, without reserving in thee any choice of desires, any self constituted judgment as to admitting or rejecting the good; for thou knowest not what is befitting, and thy Lord and Spouse, who knows it and who loves thee more than thou dost thyself, will decide all this for thee, if thou resignest thyself entirely to his will. He gives thee a free hand only in regard to thy love of Him and in thy desire to suffer for Him, while in all the rest thy desires will only make thee drift away from his will and mine. This will surely be the result of following thy own will and inclinations, desires and appetites. Deny and sacrifice them all, raising thyself above thyself, up to the high and exalted habitation of the Lord and Master; attend to his interior lights and to the truth of his words of eternal life (John 6, 69), and in order that thou mayest follow them, take up the Cross (Matth. 16, 24), tread in his footsteps, walk in the odor of his ointments (Cant. 1,3), and be anxious to reach thy Lord; and having obtained possession of Him, do not leave Him (Cant. 3, 4).

CHAPTER XXIII

THE OCCUPATIONS OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER DURING THE ABSENCE OF HER MOST HOLY SON AND HER INTERCOURSE WITH HER GUARDIAN ANGELS

When the Redeemer of the world had left the bodily presence of his most loving Mother, She felt Herself as it were in an eclipse or under a shadow, caused by the transposition of the clear Sun of justice, which had illumined and rejoiced Her; yet, though this might be true of her senses, her soul lost nothing of the light in which it bathed and in which it was raised above the burning love of the seraphim. As all the operations of her faculties, during the absence of the human personality of her Son, concerned themselves with the Deity, She so ordered all her doings, that, retired within her dwelling and separated from all human intercourse, She might apply Herself to the contemplation and praise of the Lord. She wanted to give Herself up entirely to the exercise of prayer and petition in order that the seed of the divine word and doctrine, which the Lord was to plant into the hearts of men, might not be lost on account of their hardness and ingratitude and not fail to give abundant fruit of eternal life and salvation of souls. By means of her infused knowledge She knew the intentions of the incarnate Word and therefore the most prudent Lady resolved not to converse with any human creature, in order to imitate Him in his fasting and retirement of the desert, as I will relate farther on; for She was a living image and faithful reproduction of Christ, whether He was absent or present.

255. Shut up in her house during all the days in which her divine Son was absent, our blessed Lady spent her time in exercise of devotion. Her prayers were so ardent, that She shed tears of blood in weeping over the sins of men. She genuflected and prostrated Herself upon the ground more than two hundred times each day; and this was an exercise, which She practiced with especial earnestness during all her life, as an exterior manifestation of her humility, charity, reverence and worship of God. Of it I shall speak many times in the course of this history. Thus cooperating with her absent Son and Redeemer, She interceded so powerfully and efficaciously with the eternal Father, that on account of her merits and on account of her presence here upon this earth, (according to our way of speaking) He forgot the sins of all the mortals, who were then making themselves unworthy of the preaching and doctrine of his most holy Son. Mary then, cleared away this hindrance by the clamors of her burning charity. She was the Mediatrix, who merited and gained for us the blessing of being taught by our Lord himself and of receiving the law of his holy Gospel from his own lips.

256. What time still remained after her prolonged contemplations and exalted prayers, the great Queen spent in conversation and intercourse with her holy angels; for the Lord had commanded them anew to attend upon their Mistress in bodily forms during all the time in which her Son was to be absent. It is in this form that they were to serve his Tabernacle and guard the holy City of his habitation. The ministers of God obeyed most diligently and served their Queen with admirable and befitting reverence. As love is so active and so impatient of the absence and privation of the object beloved, it finds its greatest comfort in speaking of its sorrow and rehearsing the cause of it, in renewing ever again the memory and discussing the excellences and conditions of the beloved; by such discourse it beguiles its sorrow, diverts its grief, and recalls to memory the images of her well beloved. Such was also the course pursued by the most loving Mother of our truest and highest Good; for while her faculties were overwhelmed by the immense ocean of the Divinity She felt not the bodily absence of her Son and Lord; but as soon as She again recovered the use of her senses, which had been accustomed to his amiable intercourse, and now found Herself deprived of it, She immediately felt the irresistible force of her most intense, chaste and sincere love, unfathomed by any creature. It would have been impossible for nature to suffer such pain and still retain life, had it not in Her been divinely supported and strengthened.

257. In order to afford some relief to her sorrow laden heart, She therefore returned to her holy angels and complained to them as follows: "Ye diligent ministers of the Most High, fashioned by the hands of my Beloved, my friends and companions, give me intelligence of my cherished Son and Master; tell me where He tarries, and inform Him that I am dying on account of the want of his life-giving presence. 0 sweet and bounteous love of my soul! Where art Thou, more beautiful than all the sons of men? Where dost Thou lay thy head? Where rests thy most delicate and most holy body from its fatigues? Who is there to attend upon Thee, light of my eyes? How can my tears ever cease to flow, deprived of the clear light of the Sun, which illumined mine? Where, 0 my Son, canst Thou find repose? Where shall this thy lonely and poor little bee find Thee? What course shall this thy little bark pursue in the vast billows of this ocean of love? Where shall I find peace? 0 Beloved of my desires, to forget thy presence is not possible to me! How then can it be possible to live in mere memory of Thee without actual intercourse? What shall I do? 0 who shall console me and lend me his company in this bitter solitude, whom shall I seek among creatures, as long as Thou art absent, who art the only One and all that my heart yearns after in its love? Sovereign spirits, tell me, what does my Lord and my Beloved? Inform me of his exterior movements, and omit nothing of his interior doings, as far as in the light of his Divinity is made clear to you. Point out to me all his footsteps in order that I may follow and imitate Him."

258. The holy angels obeyed their Queen, consoling Her in the sorrows of her mournful love, speaking of the Most High and repeating to Her most exalted praises of the most sacred humanity of her son and of all his perfections. They informed Her of all his occupations and undertakings, and of the places in which He wandered. This they did by enlightening her understanding in the same way a higher angel is wont to enlighten those of an inferior order: for this was her manner of intercourse with the angels, unhindered by her body and the senses. The heavenly Spirits communicated to Her the prayers of the incarnate Word, his teachings, his visits to the poor and the sick, and other actions, so that the heavenly Lady was enabled to imitate Him in all these proceedings according to her condition. She thus engaged in most excellent and magnanimous undertake which illumined mine? Where, 0 my Son, canst Thou find repose? Where shall this thy lonely and poor little bee find Thee? What course shall this thy little bark pursue in the vast billows of this ocean of love? Where shall I find peace? 0 Beloved of my desires, to forget thy presence is not possible to me! How then can it be possible to live in mere memory of Thee without actual intercourse? What shall I do? 0 who shall console me and lend me his company in this bitter solitude, whom shall I seek among creatures, as long as Thou art absent, who art the only One and all that my heart yearns after in its love? Sovereign spirits, tell me, what does my Lord and my Beloved? Inform me of his exterior movements, and omit nothing of his interior doings, as far as in the light of his Divinity is made clear to you. Point out to me all his footsteps in order that I may follow and imitate Him."

259. She also several times sent the holy angels to visit in her name her sweetest Son. On such occasions She gave them most prudent instructions, full of deep and reverential love: also supplying them with linen cloths and towels, prepared by her own hands, in order that they might wipe the divine visage of the Savior, when they saw him exhausted and covered with a bloody sweat; for the blessed Mother knew, that He was thus overcome more and more often, as He approached the fulfillment of all the works of the Redemption. The holy angels obeyed their Queen therein with incredible reverence and holy fear, because they knew that the Lord himself permitted it in order to yield to the ardent desires of his most holy Mother. At other times, informed by the angels or by a special vision or revelation of the Lord, She knew of his prayers and petitions for mankind in the mountains: then She would perform the same prayers in her house in the same posture and with the same words. Sometimes, when She saw that the Lord of all creation was in want of food, She also sent Him, by the hands of the angels, some nourishment, although this happened but seldom; for the Lord, as I have indicated in the foregoing chapter, did not always permit his Mother to act according to the promptings of her love; therefore, during the forty days of his fast, She did not send any food, because She understood such to be his will.

260. At other times the heavenly Lady occupied Herself in composing hymns of praise and thanksgiving to the Most High; this She did by Herself or in company and alternating songs with the angels. All these canticles were most exalted in style and contained the deepest mysteries. At other times She hastened to the assistance of her neighbor in imitation of her most holy Son. She visited the sick, consoled the sorrowful and afflicted, enlightened the ignorant, brought relief to them and enriched them with divine grace and bounty. Only during the time of the great fast of our Lord She retired and remained in her house, as I have already mentioned. During this retirement, our Queen and Lady separated Herself from all human company and She was favored by almost continually recurring ecstasies, in which She received peerless gifts and treasures of the Divinity; for the hand of the God imprinted and painted, as upon an admirably prepared canvas, the outlines and images of his infinite perfections. All these new graces and gifts She employed in working for the salvation of men, and all her occupations and thoughts followed closely the doings of the Savior, as becoming the Coadjutrix of the Lord in his labors for the Redemption of mortals. Although these benefits and close intercourse with the Lord could not but bring Her a great and ever new joy and exultation of soul in the Holy Spirit, yet in the inferior and sensible parts of her being She experienced the pains, which She had sought and asked of the Savior in union with Him and in imitation of his sufferings. In this desire of following Him in his sufferings, She was insatiable, and She besought the eternal Father for this privilege with incessant and burning love. She renewed that most pleasing sacrifice of the life of her Son and her own, which She had made in accordance with the will of God, and She was consumed with the desire of suffering with her Beloved, enduring the greatest pains precisely because of the want of such suffering.

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN,
MOST HOLY MARY, GAVE ME

My dearest daughter, the wisdom of the flesh has made men ignorant, foolish and hostile to God, because it is of the devil, deceitful, earthly and rebellious to the divine laws (Rom. 8, 7). The more the children of Adam study and exert themselves to reach the evil objects of their carnal and animal passions, and to attain the means of indulging them, so much the more will they fall into ignorance of divine things, by which alone they can come to their true ultimate end. This ignorance and worldly prudence is still more abominable and still more hateful in the eyes of God, when it occurs in the children of the Church. By what right can the children of this world call themselves sons of God, brethren of Christ and inheritors of his possessions? The adopted son must be, in all that is possible, like unto the natural son. A brother is not of different blood or position from that of his brother. One is not called an heir merely because he is in some way concerned with the possessions of his father, but because he has the full enjoyment and comes into the possession of the principal property of the testator. How then are those heirs of Christ, who love, desire and seek only earthly goods and are perfectly satisfied with them? How can those be his brothers, who so widely depart from his position, his teachings and his holy rule of life? How can they be similar to Him and claim to be his image and likeness, when they so often destroy in themselves all likeness of Him and allow themselves to be so often sealed with the image of the infernal beast? (Apoc. 16, 2).

262. By divine light thou knowest, my daughter, these truths, and how much I exerted myself to make myself the image of the Most High, namely, my Son and Lord. Do not think, that I have given thee such deep insight into my works without some purpose; for it is my wish that this remain written in thy heart and be forever before thy eyes, serving thee as a rule for all thy conduct during the remainder of thy life, which cannot be of very long duration now. Do not allow thyself to be retarded and snared away from my following by intercourse with creatures; let them alone, avoid them, despise them in so far as they can hinder thee on thy way. In order that thou mayest advance in my school, I wish to see thee poor, humble, despised, abased yet always with a cheerful heart and countenance. Do not try to repay thyself with the applause or the love of any creature, nor allow human sentiment to rule thee; for the Most High has not destined thee for such useless entanglements, or for occupations so lowly and adverse to the religious state to which He has called thee. Think attentively and humbly of the tokens of his love received at his hands; and of the treasures of his grace, which He has showered upon thee. Neither Lucifer nor any of his ministers and followers are ignorant of them: they are filled with wrath against thee and in their cunning they will let no stone unturned for thy destruction. His greatest efforts will be directed against thy interior, where he has planted his battery of cunning and deceit. Do thou live well prepared and watchful against all his attacks, close the portals of thy senses and preserve the authority of thy will, without allowing it to be spent on human undertakings no matter how good and upright they may appear to thee: for if in the least point thou curtail the love which God requires of thee, this very point will be seized upon by thy enemies as a portal of entrance. All the kingdom of God is within thee (Luke 17, 21), keep it there, and there wilt thou find it, and in it all the good thou desirest. Forget not my teachings and discipline, lock it up in thy bosom and remember how great is the danger and damage from which I thereby wish to preserve thee. That thou art called to imitate and follow me, is the greatest blessing, which thou canst ever desire. I am ready in my extreme clemency to grant thee this blessing, if thou dispose thyself to high resolves, holy words and perfect works, which alone can raise thee to the state which the Almighty and I desire thee to attain.

CHAPTER XXIV

OUR SAVIOR JESUS GOES TO THE BANKS OF THE JORDAN, WHERE HE IS BAPTIZED BY SAINT JOHN. SAINT JOHN HIMSELF THEN ASKS TO BE BAPTIZED BY THE SAVIOR.

Leaving his beloved Mother in the poor dwelling at Nazareth, our Redeemer, without accompaniment of any human creature, but altogether taken up with the exercise of his most ardent charity, pursued his journey to the Jordan, where, in the neighborhood of a town called Bethany, otherwise called Betharaba, on the farther side of the river, his Precursor was preaching and baptizing. At the first steps from the house, our Redeemer, raising his eyes to the eternal Father, offered up to Him anew with an infinite love, whatever He was now about to begin for the salvation of mankind: his labors, sorrows, passion and death of the Cross, assumed for them in obedience to the eternal Will, the natural grief at parting as a true and loving Son from his Mother and at leaving her sweet company, which for twenty-nine years He had now enjoyed. The Lord of all creation walked alone, without show and ostentation of human retinue. The supreme King of kings and Lord of lords (Apoc. 19, 16), was unknown and despised by his own vassals, vassals so much his own, that they owed their life and preservation entirely to Him. His royal outfit was nothing but the utmost poverty and destitution.

264. As the Evangelists have passed over in silence the doings of our Savior during his early years, and so many other circumstances of his life, which were most real and most worthy of our attention, and since our gross forgetfulness is so much accustomed to pass over unnoticed what has not been written, therefore we examine and consider so little the immensity of his blessings and of his measureless love, by which He has enriched us so much and has sought us to bind us to Him with so many bonds of charity (Oseas. 11, 4). O eternal love of the Onlybegotten of the Father! O delight and life of my soul How little known, and much less acknowledged, is thy most burning love? Why, O Lord and sweet love of my soul, why dost Thou exhibit so many artifices of love, so many watchings and sufferings for those whom Thou needest not and who will neither correspond nor attend to thy favors, not any more than if they had been offered but deceit or buffoonery? O hearts of men, more rude and fierce than that of wild beasts! What has hardened you so? What detains you? What oppresses you and makes you so sluggish that you will not follow thankfully in the ways of your Benefactor? O lamentable illusion and aberration of the human understanding! What mortal lethargy has come over it? Who has blotted out from its memory such infallible truths and such memorable benefits, and even thy own true happiness? Are we of flesh and have we our senses? Who has made us more hard and insensible than are the rocks and stony mountain heights? Why do we not wake up and recover some of our sensibility at sight of the benefits of our Redemption? At the words of a Prophet the dead bones came to life and moved about (Ezechiel 37, 10), but we resist the words and exertions of Him who gives life and being to all. So defective is our earthly love; so great our forgetfulness!

265. Accept me then, 0 my Lord, and light of my soul, accept this vile wormlet of the earth, which creeps along in order to meet thy beautiful footsteps now begun in search of me! By them thou raisest me to the certain hope of finding in Thee the truth, the way and the delights of eternal life. I possess nothing wherewith to repay Thee, my Beloved, except thy own goodness and love and the being which through them Thou hast given me. Less than thy own Self cannot be paid for the infinite bounty Thou hast shown to me. Thirsting after thy love I go to meet Thee on the way: do not, O my Lord and Master, take away or deprive her of the vision of thy clemency, whom in her poverty Thou hast sought so diligently and lovingly. Life of my soul and Soul of my life, as I have not been so fortunate as to merit to see Thee bodily in this life and in that blessed age of thy earthly life, let me at least be a daughter of thy holy Church, let me be a part of this thy mystical body and the congregation of thy faithful. In this life, so full of dangers, in this frail flesh, in these times of calamity and tribulations, do I live; but I cry out from its profound depths, I sigh from the bottom of my heart for thy infinite merits. That I shall share them, I have the assurance of faith, the spur of hope, and the claims of holy charity. Look down then upon thy humble slave in order to make me thankful for such great blessings, meek of heart, constant in love, and entirely comfortable and pleasing to thy holy will.

266. While proceeding on his way to the Jordan, our Savior dispensed his ancient mercies by relieving the necessities of body and soul in many of those whom He encountered at different places. Yet this was always done in secret; for before his Baptism He gave no public token of his divine power and his exalted office. Before appearing at the Jordan, He filled the heart of saint John with new light and joy, which changed and elevated his soul. Perceiving these new workings of grace within himself, he reflected upon them full of wonder, saying: "What mystery is this? What presentiments of happiness? From the moment when I recognized the presence of my Lord in the womb of my mother, I have not felt such stirring of my soul as now! Is it possible that He is now happily come, or that the Savior of the world is now near me?" Upon this enlightenment of the Baptist followed an intellectual vision, wherein he perceived with greater clearness the mystery of the hypostatic union of the person of the Word with the humanity and other mysteries of the Redemption. In the fulness of this intellectual light he gave the testimonies, which are recorded by saint John in his Gospel and which occurred while the Lord was in the desert and afterwards, when He returned to the banks of the Jordan. The Evangelist mentions one of these public testimonies as happening at the interpellation of the Jews, and the other when the Precursor exclaimed: "Behold the lamb of God," as I shall narrate later on (John 1,36). Although the Baptist had been instructed in great mysteries, when he was commanded to go forth to preach and baptize; yet all of them were manifested to him anew and with greater clearness and abundance on this occasion, and he was then notified that the Savior of the world was coming to be baptized.

267. The Lord then joined the multitude and asked Baptism of saint John as one of the rest. The Baptist knew Him and, falling at his feet, hesitated, saying: "I have need of being baptized, and Thou, Lord, askest Baptism of me?" as is recorded by saint Matthew. But the Savior answered: "Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfill all justice" (Matth. 3, 14). By thus hesitating to baptize Christ his Lord and asking Him for Baptism instead, he gave evidence that he recognized Him as the true Redeemer and there is no contradiction between this and what saint John records of the Baptist as saying to the Jews: "And I knew Him not; but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me : “He, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining, He it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and I gave testimony that this is the Son of God" (John 1, 33, 34). There is also no contradiction between these words of saint John and those of saint Matthew; for the testimony of heaven and the voice of the eternal Father over Christ on the banks of the Jordan happened when the Precursor had the vision mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Hence he had not seen Christ bodily until then and could, therefore, deny having known Christ, at least in the same way as he then knew Him; for just because he knew Christ then both by sight and by intellectual vision, he prostrated himself at the feet of the Savior.

268. When saint John had finished baptizing our Lord, the heavens opened and the Holy Ghost descended visibly in the form of a dove upon his head and the voice of his Father was heard: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matth. 3, 17). Many of the bystanders heard this voice, namely, those who were not unworthy of such a wonderful favor; they also saw the Holy Ghost descending upon the Savior. This was the most convincing proof which could ever be given of the Divinity of the Savior, as well on the part of the Father, who acknowledged Him his Son, as also in regard to the nature of the testimony given; for without any reserve was Christ manifested as the true God, equal to his eternal Father in substance and in perfection. The Father himself wished to be the first to testify to the Divinity of Christ in order that by virtue of his testimony all the other witnesses might be ratified. There was also another mystery in this voice of the eternal Father: it was as it were a restoration of the honor of his Son before the world and a recompense for his having thus humiliated Himself by receiving the Baptism of the remission of sins, though He was entirely free from fault and never could have upon Him the guilt of sin (Heb. 7, 26).

269. This act of humiliation in receiving Baptism in the company of those who were sinners, Christ our Redeemer offered up to the eternal Father as an act of acknowledgment of the inferiority of his human nature, which, in common with all the rest of the children of men, He had derived from Adam. By it He also instituted the sacrament of Baptism, which was to wash away the sins of the world through his merits. By thus humiliating Himself in this baptism of sins, He sought and obtained from the eternal Father a general pardon for all those who were to receive it; He freed them from the power of the demon and of sin, and regenerated them to a new existence, spiritual and supernatural as adopted sons of the Most High, brethren of their Redeemer and Lord. The past, present and future sins of men always remaining in the sight of the eternal Father, had prevented the effects of this Baptism; but Christ our Lord merited the application of this so easy and delightful remedy, so that the eternal Father was obliged to accept it in justice as a complete satisfaction according to all the requirements of his equity. Christ was also not deterred from thus securing this remedy by his foreknowledge of the abuse of holy Baptism by so many mortals in all ages and of its neglect by innumerable others. All these impediments and hindrances Christ our Lord removed by satisfying for their offenses, humiliating Himself and assuming the form of a sinner in his Baptism (Rom. 8, 3). This is the meaning of the words: suffer it to be so now for so it becometh us to fulfill all justice. Then in order to honor the incarnate Word and in recompense for his humiliation, and in order to approve of Baptism and establish its wonderful efficacy, the eternal Father gave forth his voice and the Holy Ghost descended. Thus was Christ proclaimed as the true Son of God, and all three Persons of the Holy Trinity ratified the sacramental rite of Baptism.

270. The great Baptist was the one who reaped the greatest fruit from these wonders of holy Baptism; for he not only baptized his Redeemer and Master, saw the Holy Ghost and the celestial light descending upon the Lord together with innumerable angels, heard the voice of the Father and saw many other mysteries by divine revelation: but besides all this, he himself was baptized by the Redeemer. The Gospel indeed says no more than that he asked for it, but at the same time it also does not say that it was denied him; for, without a doubt, Christ after his own Baptism, conferred it also on his Precursor and Baptist. It was He that instituted this Sacrament afterwards as He made it a general law and enjoined the public ministration of it upon the Apostles after the Resurrection. As I shall relate later on, it was also the Lord who baptized his most holy Mother before its general promulgation, and He, on that occasion, established the form in which Baptism was to be administered. These facts were made known to me, and also that saint John was the first fruit of the Baptism of Christ our Lord and of the new Chrrch, which He founded in this Sacrament. Through it the Baptist received the character of a Christian together with a great plenitude of grace, since he had not upon him original sin; for he had been justified by the Redeemer before he was born, as was said in its place. By the answer of the Savior: "Suffer it to be so now, that all justice be fulfilled," He did not refuse, but He deferred saint John's Baptism until He himself should have been baptized and have fulfilled the requirements of God's justice. Immediately after his own Baptism He baptized saint John, gave him his blessing, and betook Himself to the desert.

271. Let us return now to the main subject of this history, namely, to the occupations of our great Queen and Lady. As soon as her most holy Son was baptized, although She knew by the divine light of his movements, the holy angels who had attended upon their Lord brought Her intelligence of all that had happened at the Jordan; they were those that carried the ensigns or shields of the passion of the Savior, as described in the first part. To celebrate all these mysteries of Christ's Baptism and the public proclamation of his Divinity, the most prudent Mother composed new hymns and canticles of praise and of incomparable thanksgiving to the Most High and to the incarnate Word. All his actions of humility and prayers She imitated, exerting Herself by many acts of her own to accompany and follow Him in all of them. With ardent charity She interceded for men, that they might profit by the sacrament of Baptism and that it might be administered all over the world. In addition to these prayers and hymns of thanksgiving, She asked the heavenly courtiers to help Her in magnifying her most holy Son for having thus humiliated Himself in receiving Baptism at the hands of one of his creatures.

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN,
MOST HOLY MARY, GAVE ME

My daughter, since in recounting to thee the works of my most holy Son I so often remind thee how thankfully I appreciated them, thou canst understand how pleasing to the Most High is the faithful correspondence on thy part, and the great mysteries of his blessings connected with it. Thou art poor in the house of the Lord, a sinner, insignificant and useless as dust; yet I ask thee to assume the duty of rendering ceaseless thanks for all that the incarnate Word has done for the sons of Adam and for establishing the holy and immaculate, the powerful and perfect law for their salvation. Especially shouldst thou be thankful for the institution of Baptism by which He frees men from the tyranny of the devil, fills them with grace, clothes them with justice and assists them to sin no more. This is indeed a duty incumbent upon all men in common; but since creatures neglect it almost entirely, I enjoin thee to give thanks for all of them, as if thou alone wert responsible for them. Thou art bound to the Lord for other things to special thankfulness, because He has shown Himself so generous to none among other nations as He has with thee. In the foundation of his holy law and of his Sacraments thou wert present in his memory; He called and chose thee as a daughter of his Church, proposing to nourish thee by his own blood with infinite love.

273. And if the Author of grace, my most holy Son, as a prudent and wise Artificer, in order to found his evangelical Church and lay its first foundations in the sacrament of Baptism, humiliated Himself, prayed and fulfilled all justice, acknowledging the inferiority of his human nature; and if, though at the same time God and man, He hesitated not to lower Himself to the nothingness of which his purest soul was created and his human being formed: how much must thou humiliate thyself, who hast committed sins and art less than the dust and despicable ashes? Confess that in justice thou meritest only punishment, the persecution and wrath of all the creatures; that none of the mortals who has offended his Creator and Redeemer can say in truth that any injustice or offense is done to them if all the tribulations and afflictions of the world from its beginning to its end were to fall upon them. Since all sinned in Adam (I Cor. 15, 22), how deeply should they humiliate themselves when the hand of the Lord visits them? (Job 19, 21). If thou shouldst suffer all the afflictions of men with the utmost resignation and at the same time wouldst fulfill all that I enjoin upon thee by my teachings and exhortations with the greatest fidelity, thou nevertheless must esteem thyself as a useless and unprofitable servant (Luke 17, 10). How much then must thou humiliate thyself when thou failest so much in thy duty and in the return due to all the blessings received from God? As I desire thee to make a proper return both for thyself and for others, think well how much thou art obliged to annihilate thyself to the very dust, not offering any resistance, nor ever being satisfied until the Most High receive thee as his daughter and accept thee as such in his own presence and in the celestial vision of the triumphant Jerusalem.

CHAPTER XXV

OUR REDEEMER, AFTER HIS BAPTISM, WALKS TO THE DESERT WHERE, BY THE PRACTICE OF HEROIC VIRTUES, HE GAINS GREAT VICTORIES OVER OUR VICES; HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER KNOWS OF ALL HIS DOINGS AND IMITATES HIM MOST PERFECTLY

By the testimony which the eternal Truth had vouchsafed to give of the Divinity of Christ our Savior, his Person and his teachings were so fully accredited before men that He could have immediately begun his public life and his divine activity and miracles, so that all should have recognized Him as the natural Son of the eternal Father, as the Messias of the Jews, and the Savior of men. Nevertheless the divine Teacher of all holiness did not wish to commence his preaching nor to be known as our Redeemer without having first triumphed over our enemies, over the world, the demon and the flesh, in order that afterwards He might so much the more easily overcome the hellish deceits continually spread about by satan. By his heroic exercises of virtue He wished to give us the first lesson of a Christian and spiritual life and to teach us by these triumphs of Christian perfection, how we are to strengthen our weakness and discourage our common enemies by continued battle and victories, lest we be otherwise delivered over to them by the fluctuations of our own wills. Although the Lord, as being God, was infinitely above the demon and, as man without deceit of sin, supremely holy and the Master over all creation (1 Pet. 2, 22); He nevertheless wished to overcome in his human nature, by his personal justice and holiness, all the vices and their author; and, therefore, He offered his most holy humanity to the buffetings of temptation, concealing his superiority from his invisible enemies.

275. By his retirement Christ our Lord began to conquer and taught us to conquer the world; for it is an established fact that the world is accustomed to forsake those whom it does not need for its earthly purposes, that it does not seek those who themselves do not seek it. Therefore, he who really despises the world must show his contempt by ceasing to have any connection with it in his affections and aspirations. The Lord vanquished also the flesh, teaching us to overcome it by imposing upon his most innocent body such a severe and prolonged fast; though his body showed no rebellion toward the good nor any inclinations to evil. The devil He vanquished by the preaching of the truth, as I shall explain more fully afterward; for all the temptations of the father of lies are wont to come cloaked and veiled in deceitful snares. That the Lord should not enter upon his public teaching and make Himself known to the world before He had gained his triumphs over the body is another warning and admonition against the weakness of our flesh. He wished to caution us against the honors of this world, even those that accrue to us from supernatural favors, as long as our passions are not conquered and as long as we have not vanquished our common enemies. For if the applause of men finds us unfortified and still living under the influence of the enemies within our own selves, the favors and blessings of the Lord offer us little security and the wind of vainglory may overturn even the towering mountains of virtues. It imports much to all men to remember that we carry the treasures of heaven in most fragile vases (II Cor. 4, 7); and that, if God wishes to glorify his name by our weakness, He will know by what means He shall draw his doings to light. Avoidance of the enemy alone is incumbent upon us and most suitable.

276. Without delay Christ our Lord pursued his journey from the Jordan to the desert after his Baptism. Only his holy angels attended and accompanied Him serving and worshipping Him, singing the divine praises on account of what He was now about to undertake for the salvation of mankind. He came to the place chosen by Him for his fast: a desert spot among bare and beetling rocks, where there was also a cavern much concealed. Here He halted, choosing it for his habitation during the days of his fast (Matth. 4, 1). In deepest humility He prostrated Himself upon the ground which was always the prelude of his prayer and that of his most blessed Mother. He praised the eternal Father and gave Him thanks for the works of his divine right hand and for having according to his pleasure afforded Him this retirement. In a suitable manner He thanked even this desert for accepting his presence and keeping Him hidden from the world during the time He was to spend there. He continued his prayers prostrate in the form of a cross, and this was his most frequent occupation in the desert; for in this manner He often prayed to the eternal Father for the salvation of men. During these prayers, for reasons which I shall explain when I come to the prayer in the garden, He sometimes sweated blood.

277. Many of the wild beasts of the desert came to the neighborhood now inhabited by their Creator; for He sometimes walked about in these regions. With an admirable instinct they recognized Him and gave forth their voices, moving about as if in testimony of his Divinity. But the birds of heaven of which great multitudes gathered around the Savior, were especially eager in their demonstrations, manifesting their joy at the blessed presence of their divine King and Lord by their sweet and loud singing and in divers other ways. After the Savior had begun his fast He persevered therein without eating anything for forty days, offering up his fast to the eternal Father as a satisfaction for the disorder and sins to which men are drawn by the so vile and debasing, yet so common and even so much esteemed vice of gluttony. Just as our Lord overcame this vice so He also vanquished all the rest, and He made recompense to the eternal Judge and supreme Legislator for the injuries perpetrated through these vices by men. According to the enlightenment vouchsafed to me, our Savior, in order to assume the office of Preacher and Teacher and to become our Mediator and Redeemer before the Father, thus vanquished all the vices of mortals and He satisfied the offenses committed through them by the exercises of the virtues contrary to them, just as He did in regard to gluttony. Although He continued this exercise during all his life with the most ardent charity, yet during his fast He directed in a special manner all his efforts toward this purpose.

278. A loving Father, whose sons have committed great crimes for which they are to endure the most horrible punishment, sacrifices all his possessions in order to ward off their impending fate: so our most loving Father and Brother, Jesus Christ, wished to pay our debts. In satisfaction for our pride He offered his profound humility; for our avarice, his voluntary poverty and total privation of all that was his; for our base and lustful inclinations, his penance and austerity; for our hastiness and vengeful anger, his meekness and charity toward his enemies; for our negligence and laziness, his ceaseless labors; for our deceitfulness and our envy, his candid and upright sincerity and truthfulness and the sweetness of his loving intercourse. In this manner He continued to appease the just Judge and solicited pardon for us disobedient and bastard children; and He not only obtained this pardon for them, but He merited for them new graces and favors, so that they might make themselves worthy of his company and of the vision of his Father and his own inheritance for all eternity. Though He could have obtained all this for us by the most insignificant of his works; yet He acted not like we. He demonstrated his love so abundantly, that our ingratitude and hardness of heart will have no excuse.

279. In order to keep informed of the doings of our Savior the most blessed Mary needed no other assistance than her continual visions and revelations; but in addition to all these, She made use of the service of her holy angels, whom She sent to her divine Son. The Lord himself thus ordered it, in order that, by means of these faithful messengers, both He and She might rejoice in the sentiments and thoughts of their inmost hearts faithfully rehearsed by these celestial messengers; and thus They each heard the very same words as uttered by Each, although both Son and Mother already knew them in another way. As soon as the great Lady understood that our Redeemer was on the way to the desert to fulfill his intention, She locked the doors of her dwelling, without letting anyone know of her presence; and her retirement during the time of our Lord's fast was so complete, that her neighbors thought that She had left with her divine Son. She entered into her oratory and remained there for forty days and nights without ever leaving it and without eating anything, just as She knew was done by her most holy Son. Both of them observed the same course of rigorous fasting. In all his prayers and exercises, his prostrations and genuflections She followed our Savior, not omitting any of them; moreover She performed them just at the same time; for, leaving aside all other occupations, She thus profited by the information obtained from the angels and by that other knowledge, which I have already described. Whether He was present or not, She knew the interior operations of the soul of Christ. All his bodily movements, which She had been wont to perceive with her own senses, She now knew by intellectual vision or through her holy angels.

280. While the Savior was in the desert He made every day three hundred genuflections, which also was done by our Queen Mary in her oratory; the other portions of her time She spent in composing hymns with the angels, as I have said in the last chapter. Thus imitating Christ the Lord, the Holy Queen cooperated with Him in all his prayers and petitions, gaining the same victories over the vices, and on her part proportionately satisfying for them by her virtues and her exertions. Thus it happened, that, while Christ as our Redeemer gained for us so many blessings and abundantly paid all our debts, most holy Mary, as his Helper and our Mother, lent us her merciful intercession and became our Mediatrix to the fullest extent possible to a mere creature.

INSTRUCTIONS WHICH THE QUEEN AND LADY GAVE ME

My daughter, corporal penances are so appropriate and fitted to mortal creatures, that the ignorance of this truth and the neglect and contempt of bodily mortification cause the loss of many souls and bring many more into the danger of eternal loss. The first reason why men should afflict their body and mortify their flesh is their having been conceived in sin (Ps. 50, 7). By this original sin human nature is depraved, filled with passions, rebellious to reason, inclined to evil and adverse to the spirit (Rom. 7, 23). If the soul allows itself to be carried away by them, it will be precipitated by the first vice into many others. But if this beastly flesh is curbed by mortification and penance, it loses its strength and acknowledges the authority of the spirit and the light of truth. The second reason is that none of the mortals have altogether avoided sinning against God; and the punishment and retribution must inevitably correspond to the guilt, either in this life or the next; therefore, as the soul commits sin in union with the body, it follows that both of them must be punished. The interior sorrow is not sufficient for atonement, if the flesh seeks to evade the punishment corresponding to the guilt. Moreover, the debt is so great and the satisfaction that can be given by the creature so limited and scanty that there remains continual uncertainty whether the Judge is satisfied even after the exertions of a whole lifetime: hence, the soul should find no rest to the end of life.

282. Even though divine clemency is so liberal with men, that, if they try to satisfy for their sins by penance as far as their limited capacity goes, God remits their offenses and in addition thereto has promised the guilty ones new gifts and graces and eternal rewards: yet his faithful and prudent servants, who really love their Lord, are constrained voluntarily to add other penances; for the debtor who merely wishes to do what he is obliged to and adds nothing of his own freewill, certainly pays his debts, but will remain poor and destitute, if after payment of his debts nothing remains. What then are those to expect, who neither pay nor make any efforts towards paying? The third reason for bodily mortification, and the most urgent one, is the duty of Christians to imitate their divine Teacher and Master. Moreover, my divine Son and I, without being guilty of any faults, or bad inclinations, devoted ourselves to labors and made our lives a continual practice of penance and mortification of the flesh. It was thus that the Lord saw fit to attain the glory of his body and of his holy name, and He wished me to follow Him in all things. If We then pursued such a course of life because it was reasonable, what must be thought of mortals that seek nought but sweetness and delight, and abhor all penances, affronts, ignominies, fasting and mortification? Shall then only Christ, our Lord, and I suffer all these hardships while the guiltladen debtors and deservers of all these punishments throw themselves head over heels into the filth of their carnal inclinations? Shall they employ their faculties, given to them for the service of Christ, my Lord, and for his following, merely in dancing attendance on their lusts and the devil, who has introduced evil into the world? This absurd position, maintained by the children of Adam, is the cause of great indignation in the just Judge.

283. It is true, my daughter, that by the bodily afflictions and mortifications of my most blessed Son, the defects and deficiencies of human merits have been atoned for; and that He wished me, as a mere creature and as one taking the place of other creatures, to cooperate with Him most perfectly and exactly all in his penances and exercises. But this was not in order to exempt men from the practice of penance, but in order to encourage them to it; for in order merely to save them, it was not necessary to suffer so much. Our blessed Savior, as a true Father and Brother, wished also to enhance the labors and penances of those who were to follow in his footsteps; for the efforts of creatures are of little value in the eyes of God unless they are made precious by the merits of Christ. If this is true of works which are entirely virtuous and perfect, how much more is it true of those which are infected with so many faults and deficiencies, even in the greatest acts of virtue, as ordinarily performed by the children of Adam? For in the works of even the most spiritual and virtuous persons many deficiencies occur. These deficiencies are made good by the merits of Christ, our Lord, so that the works of men may become acceptable to the eternal Father. But those who neglect good works and remain altogether idle can by no means expect to apply to themselves the good works of Christ; for they have in themselves nothing that can be perfected by the works of Christ, but only such things as deserve condemnation. I do not sneak now, my daughter, of the damnable error of some of the faithful, who have introduced into the works of penance the sensuality and vanity of the world, so that they merit greater punishment for their penance than for their sins, since they foster in their penances vain and imperfect purposes and forget the supernatural ends of penance, which alone give value to penance and life to the soul. On some other occasion, if necessary, I will speak of this error; do thou now deplore this blindness and labor with great zeal; for if thy labors were even as great as that of the Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, they would be no greater than they should be. Chastise thy body with ever greater severity, and remember that thou art deficient in many things, while thou hast but a short life and art so weak and incapable of repaying thy debts.

CHAPTER XXVI

AFTER HIS FAST THE LORD ALLOWS HIMSELF TO BE TEMPTED BY LUCIFER; CHRIST VANQUISHES HIM, AND HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER IS KEPT INFORMED OF ALL THAT HAPPENS

In the twentieth chapter I have related how Lucifer came forth from the infernal caverns in order to find and tempt the divine Master. I mentioned also that the Lord concealed Himself in the desert, where, after a fast of about forty days, He permitted the tempter to approach Him, as told by the Evangelists (Matth. 4, 2). Coming to the desert and finding the object of his search alone, Lucifer was highly rejoiced; for he found Jesus separated from his Mother, whom he and his satellites esteemed their Enemy on account of the defeats they had suffered at her hands. As he never had entered into any contest with the Lord, and as Mary was absent, the dragon in his pride accounted his victory secure. But when Lucifer and the other demons observed their Opponent more closely, they began to feel great fear and discouragement. Not because they recognized his Divinity, for of this they had no suspicions as long as they saw Him so despised; nor because of any previous experience with Him, for as yet they had measured their forces only with the heavenly Queen; but because they saw manifested in his exterior so much reserve and so much majesty, and because his actions were so perfect and heroic, that they inspired great fear and dread. His behavior and his condition were totally different from those of other men, whom they had tempted and easily overcome. Lucifer conferred about these matters with his demons, saying: "What manner of man is this, who is so adverse to the vices by which we assail other men? If He is so forgetful of the world and has his flesh in such entire subjection and control, how shall we find any opening for our temptations? How shall we hope for victory, if He has deprived us of the weapons, by which we make warfare among men? I have many misgivings about this contest." So great is the value and power of contempt of the world and subjection of the flesh, that they fill with terror the devil and all hell; and the demons would not rise up against us in such pride, if they would not find men subject to these tyrants before he comes to tempt them.

285. Christ the Savior permitted Lucifer to remain under the false impression, that He was a mere human creature though very holy and just; He wished to raise his courage and malice for the contest, for such is the effect of any advantages espied by the devil in his attacks upon the victims of his temptations. Rousing his courage by his own arrogance, he began this battle in the wilderness with greater prowess and fierceness than the demons ever exhibited in their battles with men. Lucifer and his satellites strained all their power and malice, lashing themselves into fury against the superior strength which they soon found in Christ our Lord. Yet our Savior tempered all his actions with divine wisdom and goodness, and in justice and equity concealed the secret source of his infinite power, exhibiting just so much as would suffice to prove Him to be a man so far advanced in holiness as to be able to gain these victories against the infernal foes. In order to begin the battle as man, He directed a prayer to the eternal Father from his inmost soul, to which the intelligence of the demon could not penetrate, saying: "My Father and eternal God, I now enter into battle with the enemy in order to crush his power and humble his pride and his malice against my beloved souls. For thy glory and for the benefit of souls I submit to the daring presumption of Lucifer. I wish thereby to crush his head in order that when mortals are attacked by his temptations without their fault, they may find his arrogance already broken. I beseech Thee, my Father, to remember my battle and victory in favor of mortals assailed by the common enemy. Strengthen their weakness through my triumph, let them obtain victory; let them be encouraged by my example, and let them learn from Me how to resist and overcome their enemies."

286. During this battle the holy angels that attended upon Christ were hidden from the sight of Lucifer, in order that he might not begin to understand and suspect the divine power of our Savior. The holy spirits gave glory and praise to the Father and the Holy Ghost, who rejoiced in the works of the incarnate Word. The most blessed Virgin also from her oratory witnessed the battle in the manner to be described below. The temptation of Christ began on the thirtyfifth day of his fast in the desert, and lasted to the end of the fast, as related by the Evangelists. Lucifer assumed the shape of a man and presented himself before the Lord as a stranger, who had never seen or known Him before. He clothed himself in refulgent light, like that of an angel, and, conjecturing that the Lord after his long fast must be suffering great hunger, he said to Him: If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread" (Matth. 4, 3). By thus cunningly resting his advice on the supposition of his being the Son of God, the demon sought some information on what was giving him the greatest concern. But the Savior of the world answered only in these few words: "Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God." Christ took the words from the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. But the devil did not penetrate into the meaning given to these words by Christ for Lucifer understood Him to mean, that God could sustain the life of man without bread or any other nourishment. But though this was also the true signification of these words, yet our divine Master included a much deeper meaning; desiring by these words to say to the devil: This Man, with whom thou speakest, lives in the word of God, which is the divine Word, hypostatically united to his humanity. Though that was precisely what the Lucifer desired so much to know, he did not deserve to understand the words of the Godman, because He did not wish to adore Him as true God.

287. Lucifer found himself repulsed by the force of this answer and by the hidden power which accompanied it; but he wished to show no weakness, nor desist from the contest. The Lord allowed the demon to continue in his temptation and for this purpose permitted Himself to be carried by the devil bodily to Jerusalem and to be placed on the pinnacle of the temple. Here the Lord could see multitudes of people, though He himself was not seen by anybody. Lucifer tried to arouse in the Lord the vain desire of casting Himself down from this high place, so that the crowds of men, seeing Him unhurt, might proclaim Him as a great and wonderful man of God. Again using the words of the holy Scriptures, he said to Him: "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written (Ps. 90, 11): that He hath given his angels charge over Thee, and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash thy foot against a stone" (Matth. 4, 6). The heavenly spirits who accompanied their King, were full of wonder, that He should permit Lucifer to carry Him bodily in his hands, solely for the benefit of mortal man. With the prince of darkness were gathered innumerable demons; for on that occasion hell was almost emptied of its inhabitants in order to furnish assistance for this enterprise. The Author of wisdom answered: "It is also written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Deut. 6, 16). While giving these answers the Redeemer of the world exhibited a matchless meekness, profoundest humility, and a majesty so superior to all the attempts of satan, as was of itself alone sufficient to crush Lucifer's arrogance and to cause him torments and confusion never felt before.

288. Being thus foiled, he attacked our Lord in still another way, seeking to rouse his ambition by offering Him some share in his dominion. For this purpose he took the Lord upon a high mount, from whence could be seen many lands, and said to Him with perfidious daring: "All these will I give to Thee, if falling down, Thou wilt adore me" (Matth. 4, 9). Exorbitant boldness, and more than insane madness and perfidy! Offering to the Lord what he did not possess, nor ever could give, since the earth, the stars, the kingdoms, principalities, riches and treasures, all belong to the Lord, and He alone can give or withhold them when it serves and pleases Him! Never can Lucifer give anything, even not of the things of the earth, and therefore all his promises are false. The King and Lord answered with imperial majesty: "Begone, satan, for it is written: The Lord thy God thou shalt adore, and Him only shalt thou serve." By this command, "Begone satan," Christ the Redeemer took away from Lucifer permission further to tempt Him, and hurled him and all his legions into the deepest abysses of hell. There they found themselves entirely crushed and buried in its deepest caverns, unable to move for three days. When they were permitted again to rise, seeing themselves thus vanquished and annihilated, they began to doubt whether He, who had so overwhelmed them, might not be the incarnate Son of God. In this doubt and uncertainty they remained, without ever being able to come to certain conviction until the death of the Savior. Lucifer was overcome by hellish wrath at his defeat and was almost consumed in his fury.

289. Our divine Conqueror Christ then sang hymns of praise and thanks to the eternal Father for having given Him this triumph over the common enemy of God and man; and amid the triumphal songs of a multitude of angels, He was borne back to the desert. They carried Him in their hands, although He had not need of their help, since He could make use of his own divine power; but this service of the angels was due to Him in recompense for enduring the audacity of Lucifer in carrying to the pinnacle of the temple and to the mountain top the sacred humanity of Christ, in which dwelt substantially and truly the Divinity itself. It would never have entered into the thoughts of man, that the Lord should give such a permission to satan, if it had not been made known to us in the Gospels. But I do not know which deserves the greater astonishment: that He should consent to be carried about from one place to another by Lucifer, who did not know Him; or that He should allow Himself to be sold by Judas, or to be received in the holy Sacrament by this treacherous disciple and by so many sinful members of the Church, who do know Him to be their God and yet receive Him unworthily. What we certainly must wonder at, is that He permitted as well the one as the other and that He continues to permit it for our benefit and in order to draw us to Him by his meekness and by his patient love. O sweetest master of my soul! How sweet, and kind, and merciful art Thou not toward the souls! (Joel 2, 13). Out of purest love Thou didst descend from heaven to earth for them, Thou didst suffer and give away thy life for their salvation. Mercifully Thou waitest for them and bearest with them, Thou callest and seekest after them; Thou receivest them and dost enter into their bosom; Thou yieldest Thyself entirely to them and anxiously desirest them to be thine. What transfixes and bursts my heart, is that, while Thou seekest to draw us to Thee out of pure love, we fly from Thee and respond to all Thy excesses of love only by ingratitude. O immense love of my God, so badly repaid and so little acknowledged! Give me, O Lord, fountains of tears to weep over this wrong, which is so deeply to be deplored, and let all the just of the earth help me. When the Lord had been carried back to the desert, the angels, according to the Gospel, ministered unto Him (Matth. 4, 11); for at the end of his temptation and fast they served Him with a celestial food, in order that his sacred body might again be invigorated. Not only were the angels present to rejoice at this divine banquet, but also the birds of the desert came in order to contribute to the recreation of their Creator by their harmonious songs and graceful movements; and in their own way the wild animals of the desert joined them, throwing off their native wildness and producing their joyful antics and sounds in acknowledgment of the victory of their Lord.

290. Let us return to Nazareth, where, in her oratory, the Princess of the angels had witnessed the battles of her most holy Son. She had seen them all by the divine light already described and by the uninterrupted messages of her angels, who brought them back and forth between the Savior and the blessed Queen. She repeated the same prayers as the Lord and at the same time. She entered likewise into the conflict with the dragon, although invisibly and spiritually. From her retreat She anathemized and crushed Lucifer and his followers, cooperating in all the doings of Christ in our favor. When She perceived that the demon carried the Lord from place to place, She wept bitterly, because the malice of sin reduced the King of kings to such misusage. In honor of all the victories, which He gained over the devil, She composed hymns of praise to the Divinity and the most holy humanity of Christ, while the angels set them to music and were sent with them to congratulate Him for the blessings won for the human race. Christ on his part sent back the angels with words of sweet consolation and rejoicing on account of his triumphs over Lucifer.

291. And since She had been his faithful companion and sharer in his labors and fasts of the desert, the Lord sent Her some of the celestial food and commanded the angels to present and minister it to Her. Wonderful to record, the great multitudes of the birds that had gathered around the Savior, flew after these angels with a heavier, yet an exceedingly swift flight, and entered the dwelling of the Queen of heaven and earth; and while the blessed Lady partook of the food sent to her by her Son, they sang and chirped before our Lady in the same way as they had done in the presence of the Savior. The most holy Virgin tasted the heavenly food, now even more precious to Her, since it came from and was blessed by the hands of her Son; and by it She was again rejoiced and strengthened after her long and rigorous fast. She gave thanks to the Almighty and humiliated Herself to the very earth; and the acts of her virtue were so heroic and excellent, that our words and conceptions are not able to encompass them. We shall see them in their true light, when we shall rejoice with the Lord; then we shall give glory and praise for these ineffable blessings, as is due Him from all the human race.

QUESTION WHICH I ASKED THE
QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MOST HOLY MARY

292. Queen of all the heavens and Mistress of the universe, thy kind condescension emboldens me to ask Thee, as my Teacher and Mother, for information concerning a certain doubt raised in my mind by the mention of the celestial food, which the angels served to the Savior in the desert. I understood it to be of the same quality as that served to Thee and to the Lord on other occasions, when the ordinary food was wanting. I have called it celestial food, because I had no other name for it; yet I do not know if that name is appropriate. For I am uncertain whence this food was procured and what was its nature. In heaven I understand, there is no need of bodily food, for there the earthly mode of sustaining life is not continued. Although the blessed enjoy also sensible delight from created objects, and also the taste must have its proper function in heaven just as the other senses, I suspect that its pleasures are not derived from the eating of food, but from some overflow of the soul's glory into the body and its senses. Thus the grossness and imperfection of the senses in mortal life have no share in their heavenly activity and in its objects. Of all this, I, being so ignorant, desire to be informed by thy motherly kindness and condescension.

ANSWER AND INSTRUCTION GIVEN ME BY THE HEAVENLY LADY

My daughter, thou hast well doubted: for it is true, that in heaven no material food or nourishment is used, as thou hast already understood and declared. The food which the angels brought to my holy Son and to me, was truly a heavenly food, and I myself have suggested this name to thee, because the strength of this food is heavenly and not earthly, where everything is gross, very material and limited. It will help thee to understand something of the quality of this food, and the manner of its creation, when I tell thee, that the Lord, to supply our wants, made use of some created material, most ordinarily water, on account of its clearness and simple composition; for the Lord does not require complicated matter for his miracles. At other times it was bread or some kinds of fruit. These materials He furnished with such a power and such qualities of taste, that they exceeded, as heaven does the earth, all the delicacies here below. There is nothing in the world which can be compared to them; for all other food is insipid and strength less in comparison to this celestial food. To understand this the better, consider the examples mentioned in holy Scripture: for instance the food given to Elias, by the strength of which he walked for forty days and nights to mount Horeb; the manna, which was called the bread of the angels, because they prepared it by condensing the vapors of the earth (Exod. 16, 14) and thus condensed and shaped like grain, they showered it upon the earth. It possessed a great variety of tastes, as Scripture tells us, and it was very nourishing to the body. Also the water converted into wine by the most holy Son at the nuptials of Cana was of such good taste and strength, that it excited the admiration of the guests (John 2, 10).

294. In the same way as the Lord gave a supernatural excellence to the water and turned it into a most sweet and delicate liquor, so He also gave a spiritual strength to the bread or the fruit. Such nourishment restored the waste of bodily strength and delighted the senses in an admirable manner, renewing their vigor and fitting them for labors and difficulties without causing the least loathing or inconvenience. This kind of food was ministered by the holy angels to my most holy Son after his fast, and this I and my spouse Joseph received on different occasions. The Almighty showed the same favor also to some of his friends and servants, rejoicing them with heavenly food, although not so frequently and in so wonderful a manner as He did Us. Thy doubt is then answered; but now listen to the instruction pertaining to this chapter.

295. In order to understand better what thou hast written, thou must keep in mind three motives of our Lord in entering upon this battle with Lucifer, and this understanding will furnish thee great light and strength against Satan and his followers. His first motive was to destroy sin and the seeds of sin, sown in the human nature by Satan in the first transgression of Adam. These seeds are the seven capital vices: pride, avarice, lust and the others, being the seven heads of the dragon. Lucifer appointed an infernal chieftain over each one of these vices in the battle of hell against the human race, and the evil spirits were distributed into squadrons under these leaders in order to maintain the sort of orderly confusion, which I have described in the first part of this heavenly history (Part I, No. 103). Accordingly my divine Son entered into conflict with each one of these princes of darkness, vanquishing them and destroying their power. In the Gospels only three temptations are mentioned, being those which are more manifest to the senses; but the conflict and the triumph was far more extensive, for Christ our Lord overcame all these princes and their vices. Pride He overcame by his humility; anger, by his meekness; avarice, by his contempt for riches; and all the other vices, by their corresponding virtues. The greatest defeat and consternation, however, overtook these enemies at the foot of the Cross, when they became certain that it was the incarnate Word who had conquered and crushed them. Since that time they are timid in entering into conflict with those men, who rely on the power and triumph of my Son.

296. The second motive for engaging in this conflict was obedience to the command of the eternal Father, who not only wished Him to die for men, and redeem them by his Passion and Death, but also to enter into battle with the demons and vanquish them by the force of his incomparable virtues. The third motive, and the one that was consequent upon the second, was to furnish mankind an example and a model for triumphing over their enemies and to take away from all men any cause of wonder or surprise at being tempted and persecuted by the devils. He wished that all should have this consolation in their temptations and conflicts, that their Redeemer and Teacher first suffered them in his own Person (Heb. 4, 15); for, though in some respects his temptations were different from ours, yet in substance, they were entirely the same, only of greater satanic force and malice. My Lord permitted Lucifer to strain all his powers in his battle with Him, in order that by his divine power He might crush and enfeeble hell in its battles against mankind, making it more easy for us to overcome them, if we wish to avail ourselves of the advantages gained by this very conflict of our Redeemer.

297. All mortals have need of this instruction, if they are to vanquish the demon; but thou, my daughter, needest it more than many generations on account of the wrath of this dragon against thee and on account of thy natural weakness in battle, when not assisted by my teaching and this example. Before all see that thou keep in subjection thy flesh and the influences of the world. Mortifying thy flesh and flying the world by retiring from creatures to the interior of thy soul, thus conquering both these enemies and preserving the blessed light of grace, which thou there receivest, and loving nothing except in as far as well ordered charity permits. For this purpose renew in thyself the memory of the narrow path pointed out to thee; for the Lord has given thee a natural faculty of ardent love, and We wish that thou consecrate this faculty entirely to the love of God. Consent not to any movement of thy appetites, no matter in how small a matter; and allow thy senses no liberty, except for the exaltation of the Most High, or for suffering or doing something for the benefit and love of thy neighbor. If thou obey me in all things, I will see that thou art protected and strengthened against this cruel dragon for the battles of the Lord (I King 25, 28). A thousand shields will surround thee both for defense and offense against the demon. Accustom thyself always to use against him the words of holy Writ, not deigning to exchange many words with such an astute enemy. Weak creatures should not indulge in conferences or arguments with their mortal enemy and the master of lies; since even my divine Son, who was Allpowerful and infinitely wise, did not do so. In this He gave the souls an example how circumspectly they are to act with the devil. Arm thyself with living faith, unwavering hope and love of humility, for these are the virtues by which the dragon is crushed and vanquished and against which he dares not make a stand. He flies from them because they are powerful weapons against his pride and arrogance.

CHAPTER XXVII

CHRIST OUR REDEEMER LEAVES THE DESERT AND RETURNS TO THE PLACE WHERE SAINT JOHN
WAS BAPTIZING. HIS OCCUPATION UNTIL HE CALLS THE FIRST DISCIPLES.
THE BLESSED VIRGIN KNOWS OF ALL HIS DOINGS AND IMITATES THEM

Christ our Redeemer, having triumphed over the devil and all his vices and having attained the high and mysterious ends of his retirement and fast in the desert, now resolved to leave his solitude in order to pursue the further works enjoined upon Him by the eternal Father for the Redemption of man. In taking leave of the desert, He prostrated Himself upon the ground, praising the eternal Father and giving Him thanks for all that He had done through his sacred humanity for the glory of the Divinity and for the benefit of the human race. He added also a fervent prayer for all those who would, in imitation of Him, retire either for their whole life or for some time, into solitude, and far from the world and its allurements follow Him in contemplation and holy exercises for their spiritual advancement. The Father in heaven promised his favors and his words of eternal life as well as his special helps and his blessings of sweetness to all those, who on their part dispose themselves properly to receive and correspond with them. Having said this prayer the Savior, as true man, asked permission to leave the desert and attended by the holy angels He departed.

299. The Master directed his most faithful steps toward the Jordan, where his great Precursor saint John was still preaching and baptizing. By his presence and appearance there He wished to secure new testimony of his mission and Divinity through the mouth of saint John. Moreover He was drawn by his own love to see and speak with him, for during his Baptism the heart of the Precursor had become inflamed and wounded by the divine love of the Savior, which so resistlessly attracted all creatures. In the hearts which were well disposed, as was that of saint John, the fire of love burned with so much the greater ardor and violence. When the Baptist saw the Savior coming to him the second time, his first words were those recorded by the Evangelist: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world." Saint John gave this testimony while pointing out the Lord with his finger to those who were listening to his instructions and were receiving Baptism at his hands. He added: "This is He of whom I said: after me there cometh a Man, who is preferred before me; because He was before me. And I knew Him not; but that He may be made manifest in Israel, therefore I am come baptizing with water."

300. These words the Baptist spoke, because before Jesus had come to be baptized, he had not seen Him, nor received any revelations concerning his coming, as was the case on this occasion and as I have said in chapter the twenty-fourth. He continued to speak of Christ, telling the bystanders how he had seen the Holy Ghost descend upon the Lord in Baptism, and how he had given testimony of his being Christ the Son of God (John 1, 2932). For while Jesus was in the desert the Jews had sent to Him the embassy from Jerusalem, which is spoken of in the first chapter of the Gospel of saint John, asking him, who he was and the other questions there recorded. The Baptist answered that he was baptizing in water, but that in their midst had been One whom they knew not (for Christ had been among them at the Jordan). This One, saint John said, was to come later, whose shoelatches he was not worthy to loosen. Hence, when saint John again saw the Savior returning from the desert, he called Him the Lamb of God and referred to the testimony, which shortly before he had given to the Pharisees, at the same time adding, that he had seen the Holy Ghost descending upon his head, as had been promised him by revelation beforehand. Both saint Matthew and saint Luke also mention, that the voice of the Father was heard at his Baptism, whereas saint John the Apostle mentions only the appearance of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove; for he wished to record merely the words of saint John to the Jews in regard to Christ.

301. The Queen of heaven, in her retirement, knew of this faithful testimony of the Precursor in denying, that he himself was the Christ and in asserting the Divinity of her Son. In return She begged the Lord to reward his faithful servant John. The Almighty granted her prayer, for the holy Baptist was raised above all the womanborn in the esteem of the Most High. Because saint John refused the honors offered to him, the Lord conferred upon him the highest honor that is possible to give to a man next to the Redeemer. On this occasion, when the Baptist saw the Savior the second time, he was filled with new and vast graces of the Holy Ghost. Some of the bystanders, when they heard him say: "Behold the Lamb of God," were strongly moved and asked him many questions; but, the Savior, permitting him to inform his hearers of the truth as explained above, turned away and left this place to go to Jerusalem. Jesus was but a very short time near the Precursor. He did not go directly to the holy city; but for many days He tarried in smaller towns, teaching the people and in a veiled manner telling them, that the Messias was already in the world. He directed them on the way of salvation, and induced many to seek the Baptism of John, in order to prepare themselves by penance for the coming Redemption.

302. The Evangelists say nothing of the time and of the doings of Christ immediately after his fast. But I have been informed, that the Savior remained about ten months in Judea before He returned to Nazareth in order to see his blessed Mother. Nor did He enter Galilee until He had again allowed Himself to be seen by saint John, who for the second time proclaimed Him as the Lamb of God. This time it was done in the hearing of Andrew and the first Apostles; and immediately afterward He called Philip, as related by John the Evangelist (John I, 3643). These ten months the Savior spent in enlightening the souls and preparing them by his helps, his teaching and admirable blessings, stirring them up from their stupor, so that afterwards, when He should begin to work miracles, He might find them more ready to believe and follow Him as their Redeemer. Many of those whom He had during this time catechized and instructed, really became his followers. He did not speak with the pharisees and scribes during this time; for they were not so well disposed to believe that the Messias had come. They did not admit such belief even afterwards, when this truth had been confirmed by his preaching and when his miracles and other testimonies had so clearly given witness to Christ our Lord (Matth. 11, 5). To the humble and the poor, who on account of their station of life merited to be the first to be evangelized and instructed (Luke 4, 18), the Savior preached during these ten months in the kingdom of Judea; to them He showed his merciful1iberality not only by individual instruction, but by his hidden favors and private miracles. Hence they received Him as a great Prophet and a holy Man. He stirred the hearts of innumerable persons to forsake sin and to seek the kingdom of God, which was now approaching.

303. Our blessed Lady remained during all this time in Nazareth, knowing of all the doings of her Son; She was kept informed of them not only by the divine light, of which I have spoken, but also by the messages brought to Her by her thousand angels, who, during the absence of the Redeemer, always appeared to Her in bodily forms. In order to imitate Him perfectly, She left her solitude at the same time as the Savior. Though She could not grow in love, yet, after the overthrow of the demons through our Lord's fasting and other virtues, She manifested it by greater fervor. The heavenly Mother having received new increase of grace, ardently set about imitating all the works of her Son for the benefit of the human race and acting as his messenger in the manifestation of his office as Redeemer of mankind. Accompanied by her angels, filled with the plenitude of wisdom and furnished with the power of Mistress of the universe, She went forth from her house in Nazareth to the neighboring places and performed great miracles, although in a hidden manner, just as the incarnate Word was doing in Judea. She spoke of the advent of the Messias without revealing who He was; She instructed many in the way of life, drew them from their sins, put to flight the demons, enlightened the erring and the ignorant and prepared them for the Redemption by inducing them to believe in its Author. To these spiritual works of mercy She added many bodily blessings, healing the sick, consoling the afflicted, visiting the poor. Though She labored mostly among the women, yet She benefited also many of the men, who, if they were despised and poor, were not deprived of her aid and of the happiness of being visited by the Sovereign of the angels and of all the universe.

304. In imitation of all that the Lord was doing in Judea, She also went about on foot spending nearly all this time on her excursions, yet She returned a few times to her dwelling in Nazareth. During these ten months She ate very little; for, as I have indicated in the preceding chapter, She had been so satiated and strengthened by the celestial food sent to Her by her Son from the desert, that She was enabled not only to travel afoot to many places and over great distances, but also to abstain from other nourishment. The blessed Lady likewise knew of the doings of saint John while preaching and baptizing on the banks of the Jordan. Several times She sent him a multitude of her angels in order to encourage him and thank him for the loyalty he had shown to her Lord and Son. In the midst of all these occupations the loving Mother suffered great agonies of desire to enjoy the sight and the presence of her most holy Son; while the heart of Jesus in return was wounded by the clamors of her chaste and heavenly love. Before returning to visit Her and before beginning his public preaching and miracles, happened what I shall relate in the following chapter.

INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY
THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MOST HOLY MARY

I will give thee two important lessons deducted from this chapter. First, love solitude and seek it with particular affection in order that thou mayest partake of the blessings promised and merited by my divine Son for those who imitate Him therein. As far as possible, when thou art not obliged to converse with thy neighbor in virtue of obedience always try to be alone; and when thou art obliged to come out of thy retirement and solitude, carry it with thee in the secret of thy heart in such a manner that thy senses and thy occupations shall not deprive thee of it. Attend to thy outward employments as if they were to be done only in passing, and consider thy retirement as something which is to be permanent; for this purpose thou must not allow the images of creatures to enter thy mind, for, very often, they occupy the mind more completely than the objects themselves, and they always embarrass the soul and take away from it the liberty of the heart. It is unworthy of thee to let thy heart be interested in anything or be taken up by any creature. My divine Son wishes to be in it all alone and this is also what I desire. My second lesson is that thou learn to set a proper value on thy soul, in order to preserve it in its purity and innocence. Over and above this, however, although it is my will that thou labor for the justification of all men, I wish that thou, in imitation of my Son and of me, busy thyself especially with the poor and despised of this world. These little ones often beg for the bread of counsel and instruction (Thren. 4, 4), and they find none to give it to them, as do the rich and powerful of the earth who have many to advise them. Of these poor and despised ones many come to thee; admit them with true compassion; console them kindly, so that, in their simplicity, they may follow enlightened counsel; for counsel is to be administered to the better instructed in a different way. Seek to gain those souls, who, on account of their temporal necessities, are so much the more precious in the eyes of God; I wish that thou labor incessantly, that they and all others may not waste the fruit of Redemption; nor do thou ever rest from this labor; be ready even to die, if necessary, to advance this enterprise.

CHAPTER XXVIII

CHRIST, OUR REDEEMER, BEGINS TO CALL AND SELECT HIS DISCIPLES IN THE PRESENCE OF THE BAPTIST, AND COMMENCES TO PREACH. THE MOST HIGH COMMANDS HIS BLESSED MOTHER TO FOLLOW HIM.

Our Savior, having visited the villages in Judea for ten months after his fast, now resolved to manifest Himself to the world; not that He had spoken exclusively only in private of the truths of eternal life ; but He had not until then proclaimed Himself publicly as the Messias and the Master of life, whereas now the time for doing so, according to the decrees of infinite Wisdom, had arrived. Hence the Lord sought again the presence of his Precursor John, in order that through his testimony (since such was his office in the world), the light might be manifested in the darkness (John 1, 5). By divine revelation the Baptist knew of this visit of the Savior and of his intention to make Himself known to the world as the Redeemer and the true Son of the eternal Father. When, therefore, saint John saw Him coming he exclaimed in wonderful joy of his spirit to his disciples: "Ecce Agnus Dei," "Behold the Lamb of God." This testimony referred not only to his previous identical words in regard to Christ, but also presupposed the more particular instructions which he had given to his close disciples. It was as if he said to them: Here now you see the Lamb of God, of whom I have spoken to you, who has come to redeem the world and open the way to heaven. This was the last time that the Baptist saw the Savior in the natural way; but Christ appeared to him just before his death, as I shall relate farther on.

307. The two first disciples of Christ who were with saint John at the time, heard this testimony and, moved by it and by the light and grace interiorly imparted to them, they began to follow the Lord. Benignantly turning to them the Lord asked them, what they sought (John, 1, 38). They answered that they wished to know where He lived; and the Lord bade them follow. They were with Him that day as saint John tells us. One of them, he says, was saint Andrew, the brother of saint Peter; the other he does not mention. But I was made to understand that it was saint John himself, who, in his great modesty, did not wish to give his name. These two, then, saint John and saint Andrew, were the first fruits of the Baptist's apostolate, being the first of the disciples of the Baptist who followed the Savior in consequence of his express testimony and without being outwardly called by the Lord. Saint Andrew immediately sought his brother Simon and took him along, saying that he had found the Messias, who called Himself Christ. Looking upon Peter He said: "Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter." All this happened within the confines of Judea and on the next day the Lord entered Galilee. There He found saint Philip and called him to his following. Philip immediately sought Nathanael and brought him to Jesus, telling him what had happened and that they had found the Messias in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael, having spoken with the Lord as recorded in the first chapter of saint John's Gospel, joined as the fifth of the disciples of Christ.

308. With these five disciples, the first stones in the foundation of the new Church, Christ, the Savior, entered Galilee for the purpose of beginning his public preaching and baptizing. In the Apostles thus called He enkindled, from the moment of their joining the Master, a new light and fire of divine love and showered upon them the sweetness of his blessings (Ps, 20, 4). It is not possible worthily to describe the labors undergone by the divine Teacher in the vocation and education of these and of the other disciples, in order to found upon them the Church. He sought them out with great diligence and solicitude; He urged them on frequently by the powerful and efficacious help of his grace; He enlightened their hearts and enriched them with incomparable gifts and blessings; He received them with admirable kindness; He nourished them with the sweetest milk of his doctrines; He bore with them with invincible patience; He caressed them as a most loving Father caresses his tender and darling sons. As our nature is base and uncouth material for the exalted and exquisite aspirations of the Spirit, and as they were to be not only perfect disciples, but consummate masters of perfection in the world and in the Church, the work of transforming and raising them from their rough natural state into such a heavenly and divine position by his instructions and example, necessarily was a vast enterprise. In the performance of this work the Lord has left a most exalted example of patience, meekness and charity for all the prelates, princes and whoever is charged with the guidance of subjects. Not less significant for us sinners are the proofs of his fatherly kindness: for He was not satisfied with simply bearing with their faults and defects, their natural inclinations and passions: but He allowed his tender kindness to overflow thus wonderfully toward them, in order that we might be cheered on to trust Him and not permit ourselves to be dismayed amidst the countless imperfections and weaknesses natural to our earthly existence.

309. By the means already mentioned the Queen of heaven was informed of all the wonderful doings of our Savior in the vocation of the Apostles and disciples and in his public preaching. She gave thanks to the eternal Father for these the first disciples, acknowledging and admitting them in imitation of her Son as her spiritual children, and offering them to the divine Majesty with new songs of praise and joy. On this occasion of the choice of the first disciples She was favored by a new revelation of the Most High in which She was informed again of his holy and eternal decree concerning the Redemption of man and of the manner in which it was to be executed in the preaching of his most holy Son. He said to Her: "My Daughter and my Dove, chosen out of thousands, it is necessary that Thou accompany and assist my Onlybegotten and thine in the labors which He is about to undertake in the work of the Redemption. The time of his suffering is come and I am about to open up the stores of wisdom and goodness in order to enrich men by my treasures. Through their Redeemer and Teacher I wish to free them from the slavery of sin and of the devil and to pour out the abundance of my grace upon the hearts of all the mortals who prepare themselves to know my incarnate Son and to follow Him as their Head and Guide upon the way of eternal salvation. I wish to raise from the dust and enrich the poor, cast down the proud, exalt the humble and enlighten the blind in the darkness of death (Is. 9, 2). I wish to set up my friends and chosen ones and make known the greatness of my name. In the execution of this, my holy and eternal will, I wish that Thou my cherished and chosen One, cooperate with my Son, that thou accompany Him, follow and imitate Him, and I will be with Thee in all that Thou shalt do."

310. "Supreme King of the universe," most holy Mary answered, "from whom all creatures receive their being and preservation, although I am but vile dust and ashes, I will speak in thy presence according to thy condescension (Gen. 18, 27). Accept, 0 most high Lord and God, the heart of thy handmaid, which is prepared to sacrifice itself for the accomplishment of thy pleasure. Receive the holocaust, not only of my lips, but of my inmost soul in obedience to the orders of thy wisdom manifested unto thy slave. Behold me prostrate before thy presence and supreme Majesty: fulfill in me entirely thy will and pleasure. I desire, 0 almighty God, if it is possible, to suffer and to die either with or instead of thy and my Son. This would be the fulfillment of all my desires and the excess of my joy, that the sword of thy justice strike rather me, since I am closer to guilt. He is sinless as well by nature as also by the prerogatives of the Divinity. All creatures are infinitely distant from his dignity; yet it is also true that any of the acts of thy Onlybegotten is abundantly sufficient for the Redemption, and that He has done much for men. If on account of this it is possible for me to die in order to save his priceless life, I am prepared to die. But if thy decree is unchangeable, grant me, highest God and Father, if possible, that I pour out my life with his. But in this also will I submit to thy will, just as I am ready to obey Thee in following Him and in sharing his labors. Do Thou assist me with the power of thy right hand in order that I may hasten to imitate Him and fulfill thy pleasure and my own longings."

311. I cannot further describe in words what I understood concerning the heroic and wonderful acts performed by our Queen and Lady on this occasion; how fervently She desired to die and suffer on receiving this command of the Most High, either in order to exempt her most holy Son from death or at least to share his Death with Him. Hence, if fervent acts of love, even when they are directed toward things impossible, so highly oblige God, that if they arise from a true and upright heart, He accepts them as really effective and as worthy of full reward: what must have been the merits of the Mother of grace and love in thus offering her life as a sacrifice of her love? Neither human nor angelic intellect shall ever reach this exalted sacrament of love. It would have been sweet to Her to suffer and die; but it occasioned Her much more pain not to be permitted to die with her Son, or to be alive while She saw Him suffer and die, as I shall record later on. Hence, one can form some estimate how closely allied in glory Mary must be with Christ and how similar her grace and sanctity was to that of her model, Christ; for in all things She corresponded to his love and rose to the highest point imaginable in a mere creature. In these sentiments our Queen issued forth from her vision, and the Most High again commanded her angels to assist and serve Her in what She was to do. They, as the most faithful ministers of the Lord, obeyed, ordinarily accompanied Her in visible forms and served Her wherever She went.

INSTRUCTION WHICH OUR QUEEN AND LADY GAVE ME

My daughter, all the doings of my most holy Son prove his divine love toward men and how different this love is from that which they have among themselves. Mortals are ordinarily so small-minded, niggardly, avaricious and sluggish, that they are usually not moved to love anyone unless they see some advantage in the objects of their love. Hence the love of creatures is founded upon the good thought to be in that which they love. But divine love, having its fountain within itself, and being capable of effecting its own wishes, does not seek the creature because it is worthy, but it loves creatures in order to make them worthy of love. Therefore, no soul must despair of the divine goodness. Yet no one must on that account have a vain and presumptuous trust, expecting divine love to work in it effects of grace of which he is altogether unworthy; for in these gifts of his love the Most High follows a course of equity most mysterious to the creature. Although God loves them all and wishes all to be saved, yet in the distribution of these gifts and effects of his love He undeniably applies a certain measure and weight of his sanctuary, by which He dispenses them. Now, as man cannot penetrate or comprehend this secret, he must take care not to forfeit or lose the first grace and first vocation; for he does not know whether he will not lose the second by his ingratitude, and he can be certain of not losing the second only by making use of the first grace. The soul can know for certain only this: that grace will not be denied if the soul does not make itself unworthy. These workings of divine love in the soul are accompanied by interior enlightenment, so that in the presence of this light, men are reproved for their sins and convinced of their evil state and of the danger of eternal death. But human pride makes many of them so foolish and base of heart that they resist this light; others are hard to move and never fail to have some vain excuse for their negligence; whence they counteract the first effects of the love of God and make themselves unfit for future graces. Now, without the help of grace, men cannot avoid evil, nor can they do the good, or even know it; thus many cast themselves from abyss to abyss. For, since they counteract and repel grace, and thus are unworthy of further help, they inevitably draw upon themselves ruin by falling from sin to sin.

313. Be attentive, therefore, my dearest, to the light which has excited thy heart to the love of the Most High; for by the enlightenment which thou hast received in the history of my life, even if thou hadst no other light, thou art placed under such great obligations that if thou dost not correspond with them in the holiness of thy life, thou shalt be more reprehensible in the eyes of God and in mine, and in the presence of angels and men, than all the other humanborn. Let also the conduct of the first disciples of my most holy Son, and the promptitude with which they followed Him, serve thee as an example. Although his forbearance and kind instruction were a special grace, they faithfully corresponded to it and followed the teachings of their Master. Their human nature was weak, yet they did not make themselves incapable of receiving further blessings of God's right hand and they set their desires toward much higher aims than their weak strength would be able to attain. In order to bring this faithful love in thee to its greatest perfection, I wish that thou imitate me in all the works which I have performed on this occasion, and in the desire to die for my divine Son or with Him, if it had been permitted. Prepare thy heart for what I shall yet reveal to thee of the Death of the Lord and of my own life in order that thou mayest in all things do what is perfect and holy. Consider, my daughter, that I have a complaint against the human race, of which I have spoken to thee at other times, and which applies to nearly all men: that they neglect and forget to inform themselves of what I and my most holy Son have done for them; that they do not weigh gratefully the blessings of each hour, nor seek to make a proper return. See that thou do not thus offend me, since I have made thee a sharer in these exalted secrets and sacraments, wherein thou findest so much light and instruction and the practice of the highest and most excellent virtues. Raise thyself above thyself, labor diligently in order that thou mayest receive more and more grace, and, by corresponding with it, gather much merit and eternal rewards. All the works which I have performed on this occasion, and in the desire to die for my divine Son or with Him, if it had been permitted. Prepare thy heart for what I shall yet reveal to thee of the Death of the Lord and of my own life in order that thou mayest in all things do what is perfect and holy. Consider, my daughter, that I have a complaint against the human race, of which I have spoken to thee at other times, and which applies to nearly all men: that they neglect and forget to inform themselves of what I and my most holy Son have done for them; that they do not weigh gratefully the blessings of each hour, nor seek to make a proper return. See that thou do not thus offend me, since I have made thee a sharer in these exalted secrets and sacraments, wherein thou findest so much light and instruction and the practice of the highest and most excellent virtues. Raise thyself above thyself, labor diligently in order that thou mayest receive more and more grace, and, by corresponding with it, gather much merit and eternal rewards.

CHAPTER XXIX

CHRIST RETURNS WITH THE FIVE FIRST DISCIPLES TO NAZARETH; HE BAPTIZES HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER; OTHER INCIDENTS DURING THIS TIME

The mystic edifice of the militant Church which aspires to the most exalted mysteries of the Divinity, is founded entirely upon the holy Catholic faith, established by our Redeemer and Master, its wise and prudent Architect. To insure this firmness in the first foundation stones, his disciples, He began immediately to imbue them with the truths and mysteries relating to his Divinity and humanity. In order to make Himself known as the Messias and the Redeemer of the world, who had descended from the bosom of his eternal Father to assume human flesh, it was urgently necessary to explain to them the manner of his Incarnation in the womb of his most blessed Mother. It behooved Him, therefore, in order that they might know and venerate Her as a true Mother and Virgin, to speak to them of this heavenly mystery together with what relates to the hypostatic union and the Redemption. With this heavenly doctrine, then, were nourished the firstborn sons of the Savior and, before the Apostles came into the presence of the great Queen and Lady, they had already conceived most exalted ideas of her celestial excellences. They had been informed that She was a Virgin before, during and after her parturition, and they had been inspired by Christ with the profoundest reverence and love and filled with the desire of immediately seeing and knowing such a heavenly Creature. Christ thus aimed not only to satisfy his own zeal in extending the honor of his holy Mother, but also to excite in his Apostles the highest veneration and reverence toward Her. Although all of them were divinely enlightened, yet saint John began to distinguish himself in this love of Mary before all the rest; from the very first words of the Master concerning the dignity and excellence of his purest Mother, he grew in the loving esteem of her holiness; for he was selected and prepared for greater privileges in the service of his Queen, as I shall relate and as is recorded in the Gospels.

315. The five disciples of the Lord begged Him to grant them the consolation of seeing and reverencing his Mother. In accordance with their petition, He journeyed directly to Nazareth through Galilee, continuing to preach and teach publicly on the way and proclaiming Himself as the Master of truth and eternal life. Many, carried away by the force of his doctrines and by the light and grace overflowing into their hearts, began to listen to Him and to follow Him; though He did not, for the present, call any more to be his disciples. It is worthy of notice that though the five disciples had conceived such an ardent devotion to the heavenly Lady and though they saw with their own eyes how worthy She was of her eminent position among creatures, yet they all maintained strict silence about their thoughts. By the disposition of heaven they seemed as if mute and ignorant in all that concerned the publication of what they thought and felt in regard to her excellences; for it was not befitting that these mysteries of our holy faith should be proclaimed to all men indiscriminately. The Sun of justice was now dawning upon souls (Mal. 4, 2), and it was necessary that its own splendor should shine forth to illumine all the nations; and although its resplendent moon, his Mother, was now in the fullness of her sanctity, it behooved Her to reserve her light for the night, in which the Church should deplore the absence of that Sun in the bosom of his eternal Father. And this office She fulfilled, as I shall relate in the third part; for then the splendor of the great Lady broke forth, while before that time her holiness and excellence were manifested only to the Apostles, in order that they might know and reverence Her, and that they might listen to Her as the worthy Mother of the Redeemer of the world and as the Teacher of all virtue and perfection.

316. The Savior then pursued his way to Nazareth, instructing his new children and disciples not only in the mysteries of faith, but in all virtues by word and example, as He continued to do during the whole period of his evangelical preaching. With this in view He searched out the poor and afflicted, consoled the sick and sorrowful, visited the infirmaries and prisons, performing miracles of mercy as well for body as for soul. Yet He did not profess Himself as the Author of any miracles until he attended the marriage feast at Cana, as I shall relate in the next chapter. While the Savior proceeded on his journey his most holy Mother prepared to receive Him and his disciples at Nazareth; for She was aware of all that happened, and therefore hospitably set her poor dwelling in order and solicitously procured the necessary victuals beforehand for their entertainment.

317. When the Savior of the world approached the house, his blessed Mother awaited Him at the door, and, as He entered, prostrated Herself on the ground, adoring Him and kissing his hands and feet, while She asked for his blessing: Then She sounded the praise of the most holy Trinity in exalted and wonderful words, and also of his humanity in the presence and hearing of the new disciples. This She did not without mysterious purpose on her part; for, besides showing to her divine Son the honor and adoration due to Him as the true Godman. She wished also to make a return for the praise with which her Son had exalted Her in the eyes of his disciples. Thus, just as the Son had in her absence instilled into their minds the reverence for the dignity of his Mother, so the most prudent and faithful Mother, in the presence of her Son, wished to instruct them in regard to the worship due to their divine Master, as to their God and Redeemer. The profound humility and worship with which the great Lady received Christ the Savior filled the disciples with new devotion and reverential fear for their divine Master; henceforth She served them as an example and model of true devotion, entering at once into her office as Instructress and spiritual Mother of the disciples of Christ by showing them how to converse with their God and Redeemer. They were immediately drawn toward their Queen and cast themselves on their knees before Her, asking to be received as her sons and servants. The first to do this was saint John, who from that time on distinguished himself in exalting and reverencing Mary before all the Apostles, while She on her part received him with an especial love; for, besides his excelling in virginal chastity, he was of a meek and humble disposition.

318. The great Lady received them all as her guests, serving them their meals and combining the solicitude of a Mother with the modesty and majesty of a Queen, so that She caused admiration even in the holy angels. She served her divine Son on her knees in deepest reverence, At the same time She spoke of the Majesty of their Teacher and Redeemer to the Apostles instructing them in the great doctrines of the Christian faith. During that night, when the Apostles had retired, the Savior betook himself to the oratory of his purest Mother as He had been wont to do, and She, the most Humble among the humble, placed Herself at his feet as in the years gone by. In regard to the practice of humility, all that She could do seemed little to the great Queen, and much less than She ought to in view of his infinite love and the immense gifts received at his hands. She confessed Herself as useless as the dust of the earth. The Lord lifted Her from the ground and spoke to Her words of life and eternal salvation, yet quietly and serenely. For at this period He began to treat Her with greater reserve in order to afford Her a chance of merit, as I have mentioned when I spoke of this departure for the desert and for his Baptism.

319. The most blessed Lady also asked Him for the Sacrament of Baptism, which He had now instituted, and which He had promised Her before. In order that this might be administered with a dignity becoming as well the Son as the Mother, an innumerable host of angelic spirits descended from heaven in visible forms. Attended by them, Christ himself baptized his purest Mother. Immediately the voice of the eternal Father was heard saying: "This is my beloved Daughter, in whom I take delight." The incarnate Word said: "This is my Mother, much beloved, whom I have chosen and who will assist Me in all my works." And the Holy Ghost added: "This is my Spouse, chosen among thousands." The purest Lady felt and received such great and numerous effects of grace in her soul, that no human words can describe them; for She was exalted to new heights of grace and her holy soul was made resplendent with new and exquisite beauty of heaven. She received the characteristic token impressed by this Sacrament, namely, that of the children of Christ in his holy Church. In addition to the ordinary effects of this Sacrament (outside of the remission of sins, of which She stood in no need), She merited especial graces on account of the humility with which She submitted to this Sacrament of purification. By it She accumulated blessings like to those of her divine Son, with only this difference: that She received an increase of grace, which was not possible in Christ. Thereupon the humble Mother broke out in .a canticle of praise with the holy angels, and prostrate before her divine Son, She thanked Him for the most efficacious graces She had received in this Sacrament.

INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

My daughter, I see thee much moved to emulation and desire by the great happiness of the disciples of my most holy Son, and especially that of saint John, my favored servant. It is certain that I loved him in a special manner; because he was most pure and candid as a dove; and in the eyes of the Lord he was very pleasing, both on account of his purity and on account of his love toward me. His example should serve thee as a spur to do that which my Son and I expect of thee. Thou art aware, my dearest, that I am the most pure Mother and that I receive with maternal affection all those who fervently and devoutly desire to be my children and servants in the Lord. By the love which He has given me, I shall embrace them with open arms and shall be their Intercessor and Advocate. Thy poverty, uselessness and weakness shall be for me only a more urgent motive for manifesting toward thee my most liberal kindness. Therefore, I call upon thee to become my chosen and beloved daughter in the holy Church.

321. I shall, however, make the fulfillment of my promise depend upon a service on thy part: namely, that thou have a true and holy emulation of the love with which I loved saint John, and of all the blessings flowing from it, by imitating him as perfectly as thy powers will allow. Hence, thou must promise to fulfill all that I now command thee, without failing in the least point. I desire, then, that thou labor until all love of self die within thee, that thou suppress all the effects of the first sin until all the earthly inclinations consequent upon it are totally extinguished; that thou seek to restore within thee that dovelike sincerity and simplicity which destroys all malice and duplicity. In all thy doings thou must be an angel, since the condescension of the Most High with thee was so great as to furnish thee with the light and intelligence more of an angel than that of a human creature. I have procured for thee these great blessings and, therefore, it is but reasonable on my part to expect thee to correspond with them in thy works and in thy thoughts. In regard to me thou must cherish a continual affection and loving desire of pleasing and serving me, being always attentive to my counsels and having thy eyes fixed upon me in order to know and execute what I command. Then shalt thou be my true daughter, and I shall be thy Protectress and loving Mother.

The Mystical City of God Venerable Mary of Agreda BOOK FIVE: The TRANSFIXION

The Mystical City of God
Venerable Mary of Agreda
BOOK FIVE: The TRANSFIXION