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THE PASSION
OF OUR LORD Contents CHAPTER X. CHRIST OUR
SAVIOR CELEBRATES THE LAST SUPPER WITH HIS DISCIPLES ACCORDING TO THE LAW AND
HE WASHES THEIR FEET; HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER OBTAINS A FULL KNOWLEDGE AND
UNDERSTANDING OF ALL THESE MYSTERIES. CHAPTER XI. CHRIST OUR
SAVIOR CELEBRATES THE SACRAMENTAL SUPPER, CONSECRATING HIS TRUE AND SACRED
BODY AND BLOOD IN THE HOLY EUCHARIST; HIS PRAYERS AND PETITIONS; THE
COMMUNION OF HIS BLESSED MOTHER AND OTHER MYSTERIES OF THIS OCCASION. CHAPTER XII. THE PRAYER
OF OUR LORD IN THE GARDEN AND ITS MYSTERIES. WHAT HIS MOST BLESSED MOTHER
KNEW OF IT. CHAPTER XIII. OUR SAVIOR
IS DELIVERED INTO THE HANDS OF HIS ENEMIES BY THE TREASON OF JUDAS AND IS TAKEN
PRISONER; THE BEHAVIOR OF THE MOST HOLY MARY ON THIS OCCASION AND SOME OF THE
MYSTERIES OF THIS EVENT. CHAPTER XIV. THE
FLIGHT AND DISPERSION OF THE APOSTLES AFTER THE CAPTURE OF THEIR MASTER; HOW
HIS MOST BLESSED MOTHER WAS AWARE OF ALL THAT HAPPENED AND HOW SHE ACTED IN
CONSEQUENCE; THE PERDITION OF JUDAS AND THE WORRY OF THE DEMONS OVER WHAT
THEY WERE OBLIGED TO EXPERIENCE. CHAPTER XV. JESUS THE SAVIOR,
BOUND AS A PRISONER, IS DRAGGED TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS; WHAT HAPPENED IN
CONNECTION THEREWITH AND WHAT THE MOST BLESSED MOTHER SUFFERED DURING THAT
TIME. CHAPTER XVI. CHRIST IS
DRAGGED TO THE HOUSE OF THE PRIEST CAIPHAS, WHERE HE IS FALSELY ACCUSED AND
ASKED WHETHER HE IS THE SON OF GOD; SAINT PETER DENIES HIM FOR THE SECOND AND
THIRD TIME; WHAT MOST HOLY MARY DID ON THIS OCCASION, AND OTHER MYSTERIES. CHAPTER XVII. THE
SUFFERINGS OF OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST AFTER THE DENIAL OF SAINT PETER UNTIL
MORNING; AND THE GREAT SORROW OF HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER. CHAPTER XVIII. THE
COUNCIL CONVENES ON THE FRIDAY MORNING TO SUBSTANTIATE THE CHARGES AGAINST
THE SAVIOR JESUS; THEY SEND HIM TO PILATE; MOST HOLY MARY, WITH CHAPTER XIX. PILATE
SENDS THE JEWS WITH JESUS AND THEIR ACCUSATIONS TO HEROD, WHERE THEY ADVANCE:
THEIR CHARGES; HEROD TREATS JESUS WITH CONTEMPT AND SENDS HIM BACK TO PILATE;
MARY FOLLOWS THE SAVIOR; OTHER HAPPENINGS IN CONNECTION. CHAPTER XX. OUR SAVIOR,
BY ORDER OF PILATE, IS SCOURGED, CROWNED WITH THORNS AND MOCKED. THE BEHAVIOR
OF THE MOST HOLY MARY DURING THIS TIME. CHAPTER XXI. PILATE
PRONOUNCES THE SENTENCE OF DEATH AGAINST THE AUTHOR OF LIFE; THE LORD TAKES
UP THE CROSS ON WHICH HE IS TO DIE; HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER FOLLOWS HIM; WHAT
SHE DID ON THIS OCCASION TO RESTRAIN THE DEVIL, AND OTHER HAPPENINGS. CHAPTER XXII. HOW OUR
SAVIOR JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED ON CHAPTER XXIII. THE
TRIUMPH OF CHRIST OUR SAVIOR OVER THE DEMON ON THE CROSS; HIS DEATH AND THE
PROPHECY OF HABBACUC; THE COUNCIL OF THE DEMONS IN HELL. CHAPTER XXIV. THE SIDE
OF CHRIST IS OPENED WITH A LANCE, AS HIS BODY HANGS ON THE CROSS; HE IS TAKEN
DOWN AND BURIED. THE DOINGS OF THE BLESSED MOTHER ON THIS OCCASION, AND UNTIL
SHE RETURNED TO THE CENACLE. . |
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CHRIST OUR
SAVIOR CELEBRATES THE LAST SUPPER WITH HIS DISCIPLES ACCORDING TO THE LAW AND
HE WASHES THEIR FEET; HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER OBTAINS A FULL KNOWLEDGE AND
UNDERSTANDING OF ALL THESE MYSTERIES. 445. Our Redeemer proceeded
on his way to 446. The Apostle asked Him
where He wished to celebrate the paschal supper (Matth. 26); for on that
Thursday night the Jews were to partake of the lamb of the Pasch, a most
notable and solemn national feast. Though of all their feasts, this eating of
the paschal lamb was most prophetic and significant of the Messiah and of the
mysteries connected with Him and his work, the Apostles were as yet scarcely
aware of its intimate connection with Christ. The divine Master answered by
sending saint Peter and 447. The heart of this householder
was enlightened by special grace and he readily offered his dwelling with all
the necessary furniture for celebrating the supper according to the law. He
assigned to them a very large hall, appropriate tapestries and adorned for
the mysteries which, unbeknown to him and the Apostles, the Lord was to
celebrate therein. After due preparation had thus been made the Savior and
the other Apostles arrived at this apartment. His most blessed Mother and the
holy women in her company came soon after. Upon entering, the most humble
Queen prostrated Herself on the floor and adored her divine Son as usual,
asking his blessing and begging Him to let Her know what She was to do. He
bade Her go to another room, where She would be able to see all that was done
on this night according to the decrees of Providence, and where She was to
console and instruct, as far as was proper, the holy women of her company.
The great Lady obeyed and retired with her companions. She exhorted them to
persevere in faith and prayer, while She, knowing that the hour of her holy
Communion was at hand, continued to keep her interior vision riveted on the
doings of her most holy Son and to prepare Herself for the worthy reception
of his body and blood. 448. His most holy Mother
having retired, our Lord and Master, Jesus, with his Apostles and disciples,
took their places to celebrate the feast of the lamb. He observed all the
ceremonies of the Law (Exodus 12, 3), as prescribed by Himself through Moses.
During this last Supper He gave to the Apostles an understanding of all the
ceremonies of the figurative law, as observed by the Patriarchs and Prophets.
He showed them how beneath it was hidden the real truth, namely, all that He
himself was to accomplish as Redeemer of the world. He made them understand,
that now the law of Moses and its figurative meaning was evacuated by its
real fulfillment; that, as the light of the new law of grace had begun to
shine, the shadows were dispelled and the natural law, which had been
reconfirmed by the precepts of Moses, was now placed permanently upon its
real foundation, ennobled and perfected by his own teachings; that the
efficacy of the Sacraments of the new Law abrogated those of the old as being
merely figurative and ineffectual. He told them that, by celebrating this
Supper, He set an end to the rites and obligations of the old Law, which was
only a preparation and a representation of what He was now about to
accomplish, and hence having attained its end, had now become useless. 449. This instruction
enlightened the Apostles concerning the deep mysteries of this last Supper.
The other disciples that were present, did not understand these mysteries as
thoroughly as the Apostles. Judas attended to and understood them least of
all, yea, not at all; for he was completely under the spell of his avarice,
thinking only of his prearranged treason and how he could execute it most
secretly. The Lord revealed none of his secret treachery; for so it best
served the designs and equity of his most high 450. On this occasion the
Redeemer composed a new canticle by which He exalted the eternal Father for
having in his Son fulfilled the figures of the old Law and for thus advancing
the glory of his holy name. Prostrate upon the earth, He humiliated Himself
in his humanity before God, confessing, adoring and praising the Divinity as
infinitely superior to his humanity. Then addressing the eternal Father, He
gave vent to the burning affection of his heart in the following sublime
prayer. 451. "My eternal
Father and infinite God, thy divine and eternal will resolved to create this
my human nature in order that I may be the Head of all those that are
predestined for thy glory and happiness and who are to attain their true
blessedness by availing themselves of my works. For this purpose, and in
order to redeem them from the fall of Adam, I have lived with them thirty-three
years. Now, my Lord and Father, the opportune and acceptable hour for
fulfilling thy eternal will has arrived, the greatness of thy holy name is
about to be revealed to men and thy incomprehensible Divinity, through holy
faith, is to be made known and exalted among all nations. It is time that the
seven sealed book be opened as Thou hast commissioned Me to do, and that the
figures of old come to a happy solution (Apoc. 5, 7). The ancient sacrifices
of animals, which prefigured the one I am now voluntarily to make of Myself
for the children of Adam, for the members of my mystical body, for the sheep
of thy flock, must now come to an end, and I beseech Thee in this hour to
look down with an eye of mercy. If in the past thy anger has been placated by
these ancient figures and sacrifices which I am now about to abrogate, let it
now, my Father, be entirely extinguished, since I am ready to offer Myself in
voluntary sacrifice to die for men on the Cross and give Myself as a
holocaust of my love (Eph. 5,2). Therefore, Lord, let the rigor of thy
justice be relaxed and look upon the human race with eyes of mercy. Let Us
institute a new law for men, by which they may throw down the bars of their
disobedience and open for themselves the gates of heaven. Let them now find a
free road and open portals for entering with Me upon the vision of thy
Divinity, as many of them as will follow my footsteps and obey my law." 452. The eternal Father
graciously received this prayer of our
Redeemer and sent innumerable hosts of his angelic courtiers to assist at the
wonderful works, which Christ was to perform in that place. While this
happened in the Cenacle, most holy Mary in her retreat was raised to highest
contemplation, in which She witnessed all that passed as if She were present.
Thus She was enabled to co-operate and correspond as a most faithful
Helpmate, enlightened by the highest wisdom. By heroic and celestial acts of
virtue She imitated the doings of Christ, our Savior; for all of them
awakened fitting resonance in her bosom and caused a mysterious and divine
echo of like petitions and prayers in the sweetest Virgin. Moreover She
composed new and admirable canticles of praise for all that the sacred
humanity of Christ was now about to accomplish in obedience to the divine
will and in accordance and in fulfillment of the figures of the old Law. 453. Very wonderful and
worthy of all admiration would it be for us, as it was for the holy angels
and as it will be for all the blessed, if we could understand the divine harmony
of the works and virtues in the heart of our great Queen, which like a
heavenly chorus neither confused nor hindered each other in their
superabundance on this occasion. Being filled with the intelligence of which
I have spoken, She was sensible of the mysterious fulfillment and
accomplishment of the ceremonies and figures of the old Law through the most
noble and efficacious Sacraments of the new. She realized the vast fruits of
the Redemption in the predestined; the ruin of the reprobate; the exaltation
of the name of God and of the sacred humanity of Christ; the widespread
knowledge and faith in the true God now beginning throughout the world. She
fully understood, how the heavens had been closed for so many ages in order
that now the children of Adam might enter through the establishment and
progress of the new evangelical Church and its ministers; and how her divine
Son was the most wonderful and skillful Artificer of all these blessings,
exciting the admiration and praise of all the courtiers of heaven. For these
magnificent results, without forgetting the least of them, She now blessed
the eternal Father and gave Him ineffable thanks in the consolation and
jubilee of her soul. 454. But also She
reflected, that all these admirable works were to cost her divine Son the
sorrow, ignominies, affronts and torments of his Passion, and at last the
bitter death of the Cross, all of which He was to endure in the very humanity
that He had received from Her; while at the same time, such a number of the
children of Adam, for whom He suffered, would ungratefully waste the copious
fruit of the Redemption. This knowledge filled with bitterest sorrow the
purest heart of the loving Mother. But as She was a living and faithful
reproduction of her most holy Son, all these sentiments and operations found
room in her magnanimous and expanded heart, and therefore She was not
disturbed nor dismayed, nor did She fail to console and instruct her
companions; but, without losing touch of her high intelligences, She descended
to their level of thought in her words of consolation and of eternal life for
their instruction. O admirable Instructress and superhuman example entirely
to be followed and imitated! It is true, that in comparison with this sea of
grace and light, our prerogatives dwindle into insignificance; but it is also
true, that our sufferings and trials in comparison with hers are so to say
only imaginary and not worthy to be even noticed, since She suffered more
than all the children of Adam together. Yet neither in order to imitate Her,
nor for our eternal welfare, can we be induced to suffer with patience even
the least adversity. All of them excite and dismay us and take away our
composure; we give vent to our passions, we angrily resist and are consumed
with restless sorrow; in our stubbornness we lose our reason, give free reign
to evil movements and hasten on toward the precipice. Even good fortune lures
us to destruction, and so no reliance can be placed in our infected and
spoiled nature. Let us be mindful of our heavenly Mistress on such occasions,
in order that we may set ourselves right. 455. Having completed the
Supper and fully instructed his disciples, Christ our Savior, as 456. Such was the prayer of
the Savior in preparing to wash the feet of his disciples. There are not
words or similitudes in all creation which could properly express the divine
impetus of the love with which He undertook and accomplished these works of
mercy; for in comparison to it the activity of fire is but slow, the
inflowing of the tide but weak, the tendency of a stone toward its center but
tardy, and all the forces of the elements in the world that we can imagine in
their united activity, but inadequate representations of the power of his
love. But we cannot fail to perceive, that divine love and wisdom alone could
ever conceive a humiliation, by which both the Divinity and his sacred
humanity lowered themselves beneath the feet of mere creatures, and beneath
the feet of the worst of them, Judas, that He who is the Word of the eternal
Father, the Holy of the holy, the essential Goodness, the Lord of lords and
the King of kings, should prostrate Himself before the most wicked of men and
touch the feet of this most impure and degraded of his creatures with his
lips, and that He should do all this merely for the chance of justifying his
wayward disciple and securing for him immeasurable blessings. 457. The Master arose from
his prayer and, his countenance beaming with peace and serenity, commanded
his disciples to seat themselves like persons of superior station, while He
himself remained standing as if He were their servant. Then He laid aside the
mantle, which He wore over the seamless garment and which covered all his
Person except the feet. He wore sandals, which however He sometimes had
dispensed with on his preaching tours, though at other times He had worn them
ever since his most holy Mother had put them on his feet in 458. He first approached
the head of the Apostle, saint Peter. But when this excitable Apostle saw
prostrate at his feet the Lord, whom he had acknowledged and proclaimed as
the Son of God, being again renewed and enlightened in his faith and overcome
by humiliation at his own insignificance, he said: "Thou shalt never
wash my feet!" The Author of life answered him with some earnestness:
"Thou dost not know at present what I am doing, but later on thou wilt
understand it." This was the same as to say to him: obey now first my
command and will, and do not prefer thy will unto mine, disturbing and
perverting the order of virtues. Before all thou must yield captive thy
understanding and believe that what I do is proper; then, having believed and
obeyed, thou wilt understand the hidden mysteries of my doings, into the knowledge
of which thou must enter by obedience. Without obedience thou canst not be
truly humble, but only presumptuous. Nor can thy humility take preference of
mine; I humiliated Myself unto the Death; and in order to thus humiliate Me,
I sought the way of obedience; but thou, who art my disciple, dost not follow
my doctrine. Under color of humility thou art disobedient, by thus perverting
the right order thou stripst thyself as well of humility as of obedience,
following thy own presumptuous judgment. 459. Saint Peter did not
understand this doctrine contained in the first answer of our Lord; for
though he belonged to his school, he had not yet experienced the divine
effects of this washing and contact. Floundering in the errors of his
indiscreet humility, he answered the Lord: "I will never consent that
Thou wash my feet!" But the Lord of life answered with greater severity:
"If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with Me." By this
threatening answer the Lord sanctioned obedience forever as the secure way.
According to human insight, saint Peter certainly had some excuse for being
slow in permitting God to prostrate Himself before an earthly and sinful man
as he was and to allow Him, whom he had so recently acknowledged and adored
as his Creator, to perform such an unheard of act of self-abasement. But his
opposition was not excusable in the eyes of the divine Master, who could not
err in what He wished to do. For whenever there is not an evident error in
what is commanded, obedience must be blind and without evasion. In this
mystery the Lord wished to repair the disobedience of our first parents, Adam
and Eve, by which sin entered into the world; and because of the similarity
and relation between it and the disobedience of saint Peter, our Lord threatened
him with a similar punishment, telling him, that if he did not obey, he
should have no part in Him; namely, that he should be excluded from the
merits and fruits of the Redemption, by which alone we become worthy of his
friendship and glory. He also threatened to deprive him of participation in
his body and blood, which He was now about to perpetuate in the sacramental
species of bread and wine. The Savior gave him to understand, that how
ardently so ever He desired to communicate Himself not only in part but in
entirety, yet disobedience would certainly deprive even the Apostle of this
blessing. 460. By this threat of our
Lord Christ saint Peter was so chastened and instructed, that he immediately
submitted from his whole heart and said: "Lord, not only my feet, but
also my hands and my head." He wished to say: I offer my feet in order
to walk in obedience, my hands in order to exercise it, and my head in order
to surrender all of my own judgment, that may be contrary to its dictates.
The Lord accepted this submission of saint Peter and said: "He that is
washed, needs not but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly. And you are
clean, but not all," for among them was seated the most unclean Judas.
This Christ said, because the disciples (all except Judas), had been
justified and cleaned by his doctrines; and they needed only to be cleansed
from imperfections and venial sins, so that they might approach holy
Communion with so much the more worthiness and better preparation, such as is
required in order to participate fully in its divine effects and receive its
abundant graces with so much the greater efficacy and plenitude. For venial
sins, distractions and lukewarmness hinder all these benefits very much.
Thereupon the feet of saint Peter were washed, as also those of the other
disciples, who permitted it in great astonishment and bathed in tears; for
all of them were filled with new enlightenment and gifts of grace. 461. The divine Master then
proceeded to wash also the feet of Judas, whose perfidious treason could not
prevent the charity of Christ from secretly bestowing upon him tokens of even
greater charity than upon the other Apostles. Without permitting it to be
noticed by the others, He manifested his special love toward Judas in two
ways. On the one hand, in the kind and caressing manner in which He
approached Him, knelt at his feet, washed them, kissed them and pressed them
to his bosom. On the other hand, by seeking to move his soul with
inspirations proportionate to the dire depravity of his conscience; for the
assistance offered to Judas was in itself much greater than that offered to
the other Apostles. But as the disposition of this Apostle was most wicked,
his vices deeply ingrown upon him, his understanding and his faculties much
disturbed and weakened; as he had entirely forsaken God and given himself
over to the devil, and, as he had enthroned the evil spirit in his heart; he
resisted all the divine advances and inspirations connected with this washing
of his feet. He was moreover harassed by the fear of breaking his contract
with the scribes and pharisees. As the bodily presence of Christ and the
interior urgency of his inspirations both bestormed his sense of right, there
arose within his darkened soul a dreadful hurricane of conflicting thoughts,
filling him with dismay and bitterness, and fiercest anger, whirling him
still farther away from his Savior and turning the divine balsam applied to
his soul into deadly poison of hellish malice and total depravity. 462. Thus it came that the
malice of Judas resisted the saving contact of those divine hands, in which
the eternal Father had placed miraculous power to enrich all creatures with
his blessings. Even if he had not received any other assistance except that
naturally flowing from the visible and personal presence of the Author of
life, the wickedness of this unhappy disciple would have been beyond all
bounds. The outward aspect of Christ our Lord was most exquisitely charming and
attractive; his countenance, serenely dignified, yet sweetly expressive and
beautiful, was framed in abundant waves of golden chestnut hair, freely
growing after the manner of the Nazarenes; his frank and open eyes beamed
forth grace and majesty; his mouth, nose and all the features of his face
exhibited the most perfect proportion and his whole Person was clothed in
such entrancing loveliness, that He drew upon Himself the loving veneration
of all who beheld Him without malice in their hearts. Over and above all
this, the mere sight of Him caused in the beholders an interior joy and
enlightenment, engendering heavenly thoughts and sentiments in the soul. This
divine Personage, so lovable and venerable, Judas now saw at his feet,
striving to please him by new tokens of affection and seeking to gain him by
new impulses of love. But so great was the perversity of Judas, that nothing
could move or soften his hardened heart; on the contrary, he was irritated by
the gentleness of the Savior, and he refused to look upon his face or take
notice of his actions; for from the time in which he had lost faith and
grace, he was filled with hatred toward his Master and toward his heavenly
Mother and never looked Them in the face. Greater, in a certain respect, was
the terror of Lucifer at the presence of Christ our Savior: for this demon,
having established himself in the heart of Judas, could not bear the humility
of the divine Master toward his disciples and sought to escape from Judas and
from the Cenacle. But the Lord detained him by his almighty power in order
that his pride might be crushed. Yet later on he was cast out from that
place, filled with fury, and with the suspicion, that Christ might after all
be the true God. 463. The Lord completed the
washing of the feet, and again assuming the upper garment, seated Himself in
the midst of his Apostles and began the discourse recorded by 464. While he thus reclined
on the bosom of Jesus our Savior, INSTRUCTIONS
WHICH THE GREAT MISTRESS OF THE WORLD, 465. My daughter, in three
virtues mentioned by thee in the foregoing chapter as especially practiced by
my Son and Lord, I wish that thou be particularly zealous as his spouse and
my beloved disciple. They are the virtues of charity, humility and obedience
in which Jesus desired to signalize Himself toward the end of his life.
Without doubt He manifested his love for men during his whole life, since He
performed for them such admirable works from the very first instant of his
conception in my womb. But towards the end of his life, when He established
the evangelical law of the New Testament, the fire of ardent love, that
burned in his bosom, burst out in more consuming flames. On this last
occasion the charity of the Savior for the children of Adam exerted its full
force, since it was urged on by the sorrows of death that encompassed Him,
and was spurred on from the outside by the dislike of men for suffering, their
self chosen misfortunes and their boundless ingratitude and perversity in
seeking to destroy the honor and the life of Him, who was ready to sacrifice
all for their eternal happiness. By this conflict his love was inflamed to
the point at which it could not be extinguished (Cant. 8, 7) ; and thus being
now about to leave the earth, He was driven to exercise all his ingenuity in
attempting to prolong his benefactions and his intercourse with men, leaving
among them, by his teachings, works and examples, the sure means of
participating in the effects of his divine charity. 466. In this art of loving
thy neighbor for God's sake I wish that thou be very expert and zealous. This
thou wilt be, if the very injuries and sufferings with which they afflict
thee, shall waken in thee a greater love. Thou must remember, that then alone
wilt thou be secure and unwavering, when neither benefits nor flatteries of
men have any effect on thee. For to love those who do thee good, is a duty;
but if thou art heedless, thou canst not know, whether in that case thou
lovest them for God's sake, or for the sake of the benefits they confer,
which would be loving thy own advantage or thyself rather than thy neighbor
for God's sake. He who loves for other than God's sake or for vain complaisance
merely, has not yet learned true charity; since he is yet taken up with the
blind love of his own ease. But if thou love those who do not satisfy any of
these cravings, thou art led on to love them for the Lord's sake as the
principal motive and object of thy love, loving Him in his creatures, whoever
they be. Thou must exercise thyself in both the corporal and the spiritual
works of mercy; but as thou hast fewer occasions to exercise those of the
body than those of the spirit, thou must continually extend thy spiritual
works of charity, multiplying, according to the will of thy Savior, thy
prayers, petitions, pious practices, accompanying them with prudent and holy
admonitions and thus advancing the spiritual welfare of souls. Remember that
my Lord and Son conferred no bodily blessings on anyone, without accompanying
them with spiritual, and it would have been derogatory to the divine
perfection of his works, to perform them without this plenitude of goodness.
From this thou wilt understand how much we must prefer the benefits of soul
to those of the body; hence thou must always seek them in the first place,
although earthlyminded men blindly prefer temporal blessings, forgetting the
eternal ones and those tending toward the friendship and grace of the Most
High. 467. The virtues of
humility and obedience were highly exalted by the conduct of my most holy Son
in washing the feet of his Apostles. If by thy interior enlightenment
concerning this extraordinary example thou dost not humble thyself to the
dust, thy heart is indeed hardened and thou art very obtuse in the knowledge
of the Lord. Let it then be understood henceforth, that thou never canst
consider or profess thyself sufficiently humbled, even when thou findest
thyself despised and trodden under foot by all men, sinners as they are; for
they never can be as bad as Judas, or thou as good as thy Lord and Master.
But to merit and to be honored by this virtue of humility, will give thee
such perfection and worthiness, that thou wilt deserve the name of a spouse
of Christ and make thyself somewhat like unto Him. Without this humility no
soul can be raised to excellence and communication with the Lord; for the
exalted must first be humbled and only the lowly ones can and should be
exalted (Matth. 23, 12) ; and souls are always raised up by the Lord in
proportion as they have humiliated themselves. 468. In order that thou
mayest not lose this pearl of humility just at the time when thou thinkest
thyself secure of it, remember that the exercise of it is not to be preferred
to obedience, nor must thou practice it merely at thy own will, but in
subjection to thy superiors; for if thou prefer thy own judgment to that of
thy superiors even if thou do it under color of humility, thou art guilty of
pride; for that would be not only refusing to seek the lowest place, but
placing thyself above thy superior. Hence thou mayest understand the error of
shrinking back, like saint Peter, from the favors and blessings of the Lord,
depriving thee thereby not only of the gifts and treasures offered thee, but
of the advantage of humility, which thou seekest and which is much
preferable. Thou failest also in gratefully acknowledging the high ends and
in striving after the exaltation of his holy name, which the Lord seeks in
such works. It is not thy business to enter into the examination of his
secret and exalted judgments, nor to correct them by thy reasonings and thy
objections on account of which thou mightst think thyself unworthy of his
favors or incapable of performing the works enjoined. All this is a seed of
Lucifer's pride, covered up by apparent humility as he thus seeks to hinder
the communications of the Lord, his gifts and his friendship, which thou
desirest so much. Let it then be to thee an inviolable rule, that as soon as
thy confessors and superiors approve of certain favors and blessings as
coming from the Lord, thou accept them as such with due thanks and reverence.
Do not allow thyself to be led into new doubts and vacillating fears, but
correspond with the favors of the Lord in humble fear and tranquil obedience.
CHRIST OUR
SAVIOR CELEBRATES THE SACRAMENTAL SUPPER, CONSECRATING HIS TRUE AND SACRED
BODY AND BLOOD IN THE HOLY EUCHARIST; HIS PRAYERS AND PETITIONS; THE
COMMUNION OF HIS BLESSED MOTHER AND OTHER MYSTERIES OF THIS OCCASION. 469. With great diffidence
do I enter upon the treatment of the ineffable mystery of the holy Eucharist
and of what happened at its institution; for, raising the eyes of my soul
toward the light which encompasses and governs me in the performance of this
work, the high intelligence given me of these vast wonders and sacraments
reproaches me with my littleness in comparison with the greatness therein
manifested. My faculties are disturbed and I cannot find words to explain
what I see and conceive, although all these conceptions are far from the
reality that is shown to my understanding. But, though ignorant of the terms
and though very unfit for such discourse, I must speak, in order that I may
continue this history and relate what part the great Lady of the world had in
these wonders. If I do not speak as appropriately as the matter demands, let
my amazement and my lowly condition be my excuse; for it is not easy to yield
to the exactions of spoken words, when the will is so intent on supplying the
defects of the understanding and on enjoying that, which it is hopeless and
even unbecoming to manifest. 470. Christ had partaken of
the prescribed supper with his disciples reclining on the floor around a
table, which was elevated from it little more than the distance of six or
seven fingers; for such was the custom of the Jews. But after the washing of
the feet He ordered another, higher table to be prepared, such as we now use
for our meals. By this arrangement He wished to put an end to the legal
suppers and to the lower and figurative law and establish the new Supper of
the law of grace. From that time on He wished the sacred mysteries to be
performed on the tables or altars, which are in use in the Catholic Church.
The table was covered with a very rich cloth and upon it was placed a plate
or salver and a large cup in the form of a chalice, capacious enough to hold
the wine. All this was done in pursuance of the will of Christ our Savior,
who by his divine power and wisdom directed all these particulars. The master
of the house was inspired to offer these rich vessels, which were made of
what seemed a precious stone like emerald. The Apostles often used it
afterwards in consecrating, whenever the occasion permitted it. The Lord
seated himself at this table with the Apostles and some of the other
disciples, and then ordered some unleavened bread to be placed on the table
and some wine to be brought, of which He took sufficient to prepare the
chalice. 471. Then the Master of
life spoke words of most endearing love to his Apostles, and, though his
sayings were wont to penetrate to the inmost heart at all times, yet on this
occasion they were like the flames of a great fire of charity, which consumed
the souls of his hearers. He manifested to them anew the most exalted
mysteries of his Divinity, humanity and of the works of the Redemption. He
enjoined upon them peace and charity, of which He was now to leave a pledge
in the mysteries about to be celebrated. He reminded them, that in loving one
another, they would be loved by the eternal Father with the same love in
which He was beloved. He gave them an understanding of the fulfillment of
this promise in having chosen them to found the new Church and the law of
grace. He renewed in them the light concerning the supreme dignity,
excellence and prerogatives of his most pure Virgin Mother. Among all the
Apostles, 472. All these being
present, awaiting full of wonder what the Author of life intended to do,
there appeared also in the hall the person of the eternal Father and of the Holy
Ghost as they had appeared at the baptism of Christ at the Jordan and at the
Transfiguration on mount Tabor. Although all the Apostles and disciples felt
this divine presence, yet only some of them really were favored with a vision
of it; among these was especially 473. "My Father and
eternal God, I confess, praise and exalt thy infinite essence and
incomprehensible Deity, in which I am one with Thee and the Holy Ghost,
engendered from all eternity by thy intellect, as the figure of thy substance
and the image of thy individual nature (John 10, 30; Ps. 119, 3; Heb. 1, 3).
In the same nature, which I have assumed in the virginal womb of my Mother, I
wish to accomplish the Redemption of the human race with which Thou hast
charged Me. I wish to restore to this human nature the highest perfection and
the plenitude of thy divine complaisance; and then I wish to pass from this
world to thy right hand, bearing with Me all those whom Thou hast given Me
without losing a single one of them for want of willingness on our part to
help them (John 17, 12). My delight is to be with the children of men (Prov.
8, 31) and as, in my absence, they will be left orphans, if I do not give
them assistance, I wish, my Father, to furnish them with a sure and unfailing
token of my inextinguishable love and a pledge of the eternal rewards, which
Thou holdest in reserve for them. I desire that they find in my merits an easy
and powerful remedy for the effects of sin, to which they are subject on
account of the disobedience of the first man, and I wish to restore copiously
their right to the eternal happiness for which they are created." 474. "But since there will
be few who will preserve themselves in this justice, they will need other
assistance, so that they may reinstate themselves and strengthen themselves
in the way of justification and sanctification by being continually furnished
with new and exalted gifts and favors of thy clemency in their dangerous
pilgrimage through life. It was our eternal decree, that they should have
created existence and participate in our divine perfections and happiness for
all eternity; and thy love, which caused Me to assume a nature able to suffer
and welcome the humiliation of the cross (Philip 2, 8), would not rest
satisfied, until it invented new means of communicating itself to men
according to their capacity and our wisdom and power. These means shall
consist in visible and sensible signs adapted to their condition as sentient
beings and causing invisible effects in the spiritual and immaterial part of
their natures." 475. "To advance these
high ends for thy exaltation and glory, eternal Lord and Father, in my name
and in that of all the poor and afflicted children of Adam, I ask the fiat of
thy eternal will. If their sins call out for thy justice, their neediness and
misery appeal to thy infinite mercy. At the same time I, on my part,
interpose all the works of my humanity, which is indissolubly bound to my
Divinity. I offer my obedience in accepting suffering unto death; my
humility, in subjecting Myself to the depraved judgment of men; the poverty
and labors of my life, the insults of my Passion and Death, and the love,
which urges Me to undergo all this for the advance of thy glory and for the
spreading of thy knowledge and adoration among all creatures capable of thy
grace and happiness. Thou, O eternal Lord and my Father, hast made Me the
Brother and the Chief of men, and hast destined them to partake eternally of
the joys of our Divinity (Colos. 1, 18). As thy children, they are to be
heirs with Me of thy everlasting blessings (Rom. 8, 17), and as members of my
body, they are to participate in the effects of my brotherly love (I Cor.
6,15). Therefore, as far as depends upon Me, I desire to draw them on toward
my friendship and to see them share in the goods of the Divinity, to which
they were destined in their origin from their natural head, the first
man." 476. "Impelled by this
boundless love, Lord and Father, I ordain, that from now on men may reenter
into thy full friendship and grace through the sacrament of Baptism, and that
they may do so as soon as they shall be born to daylight; and their desire of
renascence into grace, which they cannot in their infancy manifest on their
own account, shall, with thy permission, be manifested for them by their
elders. Let them become immediate heirs of thy glory; let them be interiorly
and indelibly marked as children of my Church; let them be freed from the
stain of original sin; let them receive the gifts of faith, hope and charity,
by which they may perform the works of thy children: knowing Thee, trusting
in Thee, and loving Thee for thy own Self. Let them also receive the virtues
by which they restrain and govern disorderly inclinations and be able to
distinguish, without fail, the good from the evil. Let this Sacrament be the
portal of my Church, and the one which makes men capable of receiving all the
other favors and disposes them to new gifts and blessings of grace. I ordain
also, that besides this Sacrament, they may receive another, in which they
shall be confirmed and rooted in the holy faith they have accepted, and
become courageous in its defense as soon as they shall arrive at the use of
reason. And because human frailty easily falls away from the observance of my
law and since my charity will not permit Me to leave them without an easy and
opportune remedy, I wish to provide the sacrament of Penance. Through it men,
by acknowledging their faults and confessing them with sorrow, may be
reinstated in justice and in the merits of glory promised to them. Thus shall
Lucifer and his followers be prevented from boasting of having so soon
deprived them of advantages of Baptism." 477. "By the
justification of these Sacraments men shall become fit to share in the
highest token of my love in the exile of this their mortal life; namely, to
receive Me sacramentally under the species of bread and wine in an ineffable
manner. Under the species of bread I shall leave my body, and under the
species of wine, my blood. In each one of them I shall be present really and
truly and I institute this mysterious sacrament of the Eucharist as a
heavenly nourishment proportioned to their condition as wayfaring men; for
their sake shall I work these miracles and remain with them until the end of
the coming ages (Matth. 28, 20). For the strengthening and defense of those,
who approach the end of their lives, I moreover appoint the sacrament of Extreme
Unction, which shall at the same time be a certain pledge of the bodily
resurrection of those thus anointed. In order that all may contribute
proportionately to the sanctification of the members of the mystical body of
the Church, in which by the most harmonious and orderly cooperation all must
have their proper position, I Institute the sacrament of Ordination to
distinguish and mark some of its members by a special degree of holiness and
place them above the other faithful as fit ministers of the Sacraments and as
my chosen priests. Although they derive all their powers from Me, I
nevertheless wish that it should flow from Me through one of their number,
who shall be my Vicar and the Chief, representing my Person and act as my
high priest. Into his keeping I deposit the keys of heaven and him all upon
earth shall obey. For the further perfection of my Church I also establish
the last of the Sacraments, Matrimony, to sanctify the natural union of man
and wife for the propagation of the human race. Thus shall all the grades of
my Church be enriched and adorned by my infinite merits. This, eternal
Father, is my last will, whereby I make all the mortals inheritors of my
merits in the great storehouse of grace, my new Church." 478. This prayer Christ our
Redeemer made in the presence of the Apostles, but without any exterior
manifestation. The most blessed Mother, who from her retreat observed and
followed Him, prostrated Herself upon the floor and, as his Mother, offered
to the eternal Father the same petitions as her Son. Although She could not
add anything to the merits of the works of her divine Son, nevertheless, as
on other occasions, She, as his Helpmate, united her petitions with his, in
order that by her faithful companionship She might move the eternal Father to
so much the greater mercy. And the Father looked upon Them both, graciously
accepting the prayers respectively of the Son and Mother for the salvation of
men. Besides prayer, her divine Son left the performance of yet another work
in her charge. In order to understand what this was, it must be remembered
(as I mentioned in the preceding chapter) that Lucifer was present at the
washing of the Apostles' feet, and that, being forced to remain and witness
the doings of Christ in the Cenacle, he astutely conjectured some great
blessings to be intended for the Apostles. Although the dragon felt his
forces much diminished and altogether unavailing against the Redeemer, he
nevertheless sought with implacable fury and pride to spy out these mysteries
for the concoction of future malicious plans. The great Lady perceived these
intentions of Lucifer and knew that the foiling of them was to be left in her
hands. Therefore, inflamed by zeal and love for the Most High, She, as
sovereign Queen, commanded the dragon and all his squadrons to leave the hall
and descend to tire depths of hell. 479. To accomplish this the
arm of the Almighty gave new power to the Blessed Virgin, so that neither the
rebellious Lucifer nor all his hosts could resist. They were hurled into the
infernal abysses, there to remain until they should again be permitted to
issue as witnesses to the passion and death of the Savior in order to be
finally convinced of his being the Messias and Redeemer, true God and man.
Let it then be understood, that Lucifer and his demons were present at the
legal supper and washing of the feet, and also afterwards at the entire
passion of Christ! But that they were not present at this institution of the
holy Eucharist, nor at the Communion of the disciples. Then the great Queen
was raised to a most sublime state of contemplation of the mysteries about to
be enacted, and the holy angels, as to another valorous Judith, sang to Her
of this glorious triumph over the dragon. At the same time Christ our Lord offered
up to the eternal Father exalted thanksgiving and praise for the blessings
conceded to the human race in consequence of his petition. 480. Thereupon Christ our
Lord took into his venerable hands the bread, which lay upon the plate, and
interiorly asked the permission and cooperation of the eternal Father, that
now and ever afterwards in virtue of the words about to be uttered by Him,
and later to be repeated in his holy Church, He should really and truly
become present in the host, Himself to yield obedience to these sacred words.
While making this petition He raised his eyes toward heaven with an
expression of such sublime majesty that He inspired the Apostles, the angels
and his Virgin Mother with new and deepest reverence. Then He pronounced the
words of consecration over the bread, changing its substance into the
substance of his true body and immediately thereupon He uttered the words of
consecration also over the wine, changing it into his true blood. As an
answer to these words of consecration was heard the voice of the eternal
Father, saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I delight, and shall
take my delight to the end of the world; and He shall be with men during all
the time of their banishment." In like manner was this confirmed by the
Holy Ghost. The most sacred humanity of Christ, in the Person of the Word,
gave tokens of profoundest veneration to the Divinity contained in the
Sacrament of his body and blood. The Virgin Mother, in her retreat,
prostrated Herself on the ground and adored her Son in the blessed Sacrament
with incomparable reverence. Then also the angels of her guard, all the
angels of heaven, and among them likewise the souls of Enoch and Elias, in
their own name and in the name of the holy Patriarchs and Prophets of the old
law, fell down in adoration of their Lord in the holy Sacrament. 481. All the Apostles and
disciples, who, with the exception of the traitor, believed in this holy
Sacrament, adored it with great humility and reverence according to each
one's disposition. The great high priest Christ raised up his own consecrated
body and blood in order that all who were present at this first Mass might
adore it in a special manner, as they also did. During this elevation his
most pure Mother, 482. The heavenly Queen
understood also by a special vision how the most sacred body of Christ is
hidden beneath the accidents of bread and wine without change in them or
alteration of the sacred humanity; for neither can the Body be the subject of
the accidents, nor can the accidents be the form of the body. The accidents
retain the same extension and qualities as before, and each of their parts
retain the same position after the host has been consecrated; and the sacred
body is present in an invisible form, also retaining the same size without
intermingling of parts. It remains in the whole host, and all of it in every
particle of the host, without being strained by the host, or the host by the
body. For neither is the extension of his body correlative with the
accidental species, nor do they depend upon the sacred body for their existence.
They therefore have a totally different mode of existence and the body
interpenetrates the accidents without hindrance. Although naturally the head
would demand a different place than the hands, or these a different one from
the breast or any other part of the body; yet by the divine power the
consecrated body places itself unimpaired in its extent in one and the same
place, because it bears no relation to the space which it would naturally
occupy, having thrown aside all these relations though still remaining a
quantitative body. Moreover it need not necessarily remain in one determined
place only, or in only one host, but at the same time it can be present in
many innumerable consecrated hosts. 483. She understood
likewise, that the sacred body, although not naturally depending upon the
accidents as above declared, yet does not continue to exist sacramentally in
these accidents after the corruption of the species of the bread and wine;
and this for no other reason than because it was so willed by Christ the
Author of these wonders. The coexistence of the sacred body and blood of our
Lord with the incorrupted species of bread and wine therefore rests upon the
arbitrary and voluntary disposition of the Creator of this Sacrament. As soon
as they deteriorate and disappear on account of the natural process
destructive of these species (for instance, as happens in holy Communion with
the sacramental host, which is changed and corrupted by the heat of the
stomach, or when this is effected by other causes) then God, in the last
instant, when the species are ready for their last transformation, again
creates another substance. This new substance, being now devoid of the
Divinity, nourishes the human body and finally coalesces with the human form
of existence, which is the soul. This wonderful creation of a new substance
for the assumption of the changed and corrupted species is consequent upon
the will of the Lord, who wishes not to continue the existence of his body in
the corrupted accidents, and this process is demanded also by the laws of
nature; for the substance of man cannot grow except by some other substance,
which, being newly added, prevents the accidents from continuing to exist. 484. All these and other
wonders the right hand of the Almighty perpetuated in this most august
sacrament of the holy Eucharist. All of them the Mistress of heaven and earth
understood and comprehended profoundly. In like manner 485. Still greater was my
admiration when Jesus our God, having raised the most holy Sacrament, as I
said before, for their adoration, divided it by his own sacred hands, first
partook of it Himself as being the First and Chief of all the priests.
Recognizing Himself, as man, inferior to the Divinity, which He was now to
receive in this his own consecrated body and blood. He humiliated and, as it
were, with a trembling of the inferior part of his being, shrank within
Himself before that Divinity, thereby not only teaching us the reverence with
which holy Communion is to be received; but also showing us what was his
sorrow at the temerity and presumption of many men during the reception and
handling of this exalted and sublime Sacrament. The effects of holy Communion
in the body of Christ were altogether miraculous and divine; for during a
short space of time the gifts of glory flowed over in his body just as on
mount Tabor, though the effects of this transfiguration were manifest only to
his blessed Mother, and partly also to saint John, Enoch and Elias. This was
the last consolation He permitted his humanity to enjoy as to its inferior
part during his earthly life, and from that moment until his Death He
rejected all such alleviation. The Virgin Mother, by a special vision, also
understood how Christ her divine Son received Himself in the blessed Sacrament
and what was the manner of its presence in his divine Heart. All this caused
inestimable affection in our Queen and Lady. 486. While receiving his
own body and blood Christ our Lord composed a canticle of praise to the
eternal Father and offered Himself in the blessed Sacrament as a sacrifice
for the salvation of man. He took another particle of the consecrated bread
and handed it to the archangel Gabriel who brought and communicated it to the
most holy Mary. By having such a privilege conferred on one of their number,
the holy angels considered themselves sufficiently recompensed for being
excluded from the sacerdotal dignity and for yielding it to man. The
privilege of merely having even one of their number hold the sacramental body
of their Lord and true God filled them with a new and immense joy. In
abundant tears of consolation the great Queen awaited holy Communion. When
saint Gabriel with innumerable other angels approached, She received it, the
first after her Son, imitating his self-abasement, reverence and holy fear.
The most blessed Sacrament was deposited in the breast and above the heart of
the most holy Virgin Mother, as in the most legitimate shrine and tabernacle
of the Most High. There the ineffable sacrament of the holy Eucharist remained
deposited from that hour until after the Resurrection, when saint Peter said
the first Mass and consecrated anew, as I shall relate in its place. The
Almighty wished to have it so for the consolation of the great Queen and in
order to fulfill his promise, that He would remain with the children of men
until the consummation of the ages (Matth. 28, 20); for after his death his
most holy humanity could not remain in his Church any other way than by his
consecrated body and blood. This true manna was then deposited in the most
pure Mary as in the living ark together with the whole evangelical law, just
as formerly its prophetic figures were deposited in the ark of Moses (Heb. 9,
4). The sacramental species were not consumed or altered in the heart of the
Lady and Queen of heaven until the next consecration. Having received holy
Communion, the blessed Mother gave thanks to the eternal Father and to her
divine Son in new canticles similar to the ones the incarnate Word had
rendered to his Father. 487. After having thus
favored the heavenly Princess, our Savior distributed the sacramental bread
to the Apostles (Luke 22, 17), commanding them to divide it among themselves
and partake of it. By this commandment He conferred upon them the sacerdotal
dignity and they began to exercise it by giving Communion each to Himself.
This they did with the greatest reverence, shedding copious tears and adoring
the body and blood of our Lord, whom they were receiving. They were
established in the power of the priesthood, as being founders of the holy
Church and enjoying the distinction of priority over all others (Ephes. 2,
20). Then saint Peter, at the command of Christ the Lord, administered two of
the particles of holy Communion to the two patriarchs, Enoch and Elias. This
holy Communion so rejoiced these two holy men, that they were encouraged anew
in their hope of the beatific vision, which for them was to be deferred for
so many ages, and they were strengthened to live on in this hope until the
end of the world. Having given most fervent and humble thanks to the Almighty
for this blessing, they were brought back to their abiding place by the hands
of the holy angels. The Lord desired to work this miracle in order to pledge
Himself to include the ancient natural and written laws in the benefits of
the Incarnation, Redemption and general resurrection; since all these
mysteries were contained in the most holy Eucharist. By thus communicating
Himself to the two holy men, Enoch and Elias, who were still in their mortal
flesh, these blessings were extended over the human race such as it existed
under the natural and the written laws, while all the succeeding generations
were to be included in the new law of grace, the Apostles at the head. This
was all well understood by Enoch and Elias, and, returning to the midst of
their contemporaries, they gave thanks to their and our Redeemer for this
mysterious blessing. 488. Another very wonderful
miracle happened at the Communion of the Apostles. The perfidious and
treacherous Judas, hearing the command of his Master to partake of holy
Communion, resolved in his unbelief not to comply, but if he could do so
without being observed, determined to secrete the sacred body and bring it to
the priests and pharisees in order to afford them a chance of incriminating
Jesus by showing them what He had called his own body; or if he should not
succeed therein, to consummate some other vile act of malice with the divine
Sacrament. The Mistress and Queen of heaven, who by a clear vision was observing
all that passed and knew the interior and exterior effects and affections in
the Apostles at holy Communion, saw also the accursed intentions of the
obstinate Judas. All the zeal for the glory of her Lord, existing in Her as
his Mother, Spouse and Daughter, was aroused in her purest heart. Knowing
that it was the divine will, that She should make use of her power as Mother
and Queen, She commanded the holy angels to extract from the mouth of Judas
the consecrated particles as well of the bread as of the wine and replace
them from whence they had been taken. It well befitted Her on this occasion
to defend the honor of her divine Son and prevent Judas from heaping such an
ignominious injury upon Christ the Lord. The holy angels obeyed their Queen,
and when it was the turn of Judas to communicate, they withdrew the
consecrated species one after the other, and, purifying them from their
contact with Judas, the most wicked of living men, they restored them to
their place, altogether unobserved by the disciples. Thus the Lord shielded
the honor of his malicious and obstinate Apostle to the end. This was
attended to by the angels in the shortest space of time and the others then
received holy Communion, for Judas was neither the first nor the last to
communicate. Then our Savior offered thanks to the eternal Father and
therewith ended both the legal and the sacramental Supper in order to begin
the mysteries of his Passion, which I will relate in the subsequent chapters.
The Queen of heaven attended to all full of wonder and joyful praise,
magnifying the Most High. INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO ME BY THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN. 489. O my daughter! Would
that the believers in the holy Catholic faith opened their hardened and stony
hearts in order to attain to a true understanding of the sacred and
mysterious blessing of the holy Eucharist! If they would only detach
themselves, root out and reject their earthly inclinations, and, restraining
their passions, apply themselves with living faith to study by the divine
light their great happiness in thus possessing their eternal God in the holy
Sacrament and in being able, by its reception and constant intercourse, to
participate in the full effects of this heavenly manna! If they would only
worthily esteem this precious gift, begin to taste its sweetness, and share
in the hidden power of their omnipotent God! Then nothing would ever be
wanting to them in their exile. In this, the happy age of the law of grace,
mortals have no reason to complain of their weakness and their passions; since
in this bread of heaven they have at hand strength and health. It matters not
that they are tempted and persecuted by the demon; for by receiving this
Sacrament frequently they are enabled to overcome him gloriously. The
faithful are themselves to blame for all their poverty and labors, since they
pay no attention to this divine mystery, nor avail themselves of the divine
powers, thus placed at their disposal by my most holy Son. I tell thee truly,
my dearest, that Lucifer and his demons have such a fear of the most holy
Eucharist, that to approach it, causes them more torments than to remain in
hell itself. Although they do enter churches in order to tempt souls, they
enter them with aversion, forcing themselves to endure cruel pains in the
hope of destroying a soul and drawing it into sin, especially in the holy
places and in the presence of the holy Eucharist. Their wrath against the
Lord and against the souls alone could induce them to expose themselves to
the torment of his real sacramental presence. 490. Whenever He is carried
through the streets they usually fly and disperse in all haste; and they
would not dare to approach those that accompany Him, if by their long
experience they did not know, that they will induce some to forget the
reverence due to their Lord. Therefore they make special efforts to tempt the
faithful in the churches; for they know what great injury they can thereby do
to the Lord himself, who in his sacramental love is there waiting to sanctify
men and to receive the return of his sweetest and untiring love. Hence thou
canst also understand the strength of those who prepare themselves to partake
of this bread of the angels and how the demons fear the souls, who receive
the Lord worthily and devoutly and who strive to preserve themselves in this
purity until the next Communion. But there are very few who live with this
intention, and the enemy is ceaselessly alert in striving to throw them back
into their forgetfulness, distraction and indifference, so that he may not be
obliged to encounter such powerful weapons in the hands of men. Write this
admonition in thy heart; and since without thy merit the Almighty has
ordained, that thou receive holy Communion daily, seek by all possible means
to preserve thyself in the good dispositions from one Communion to the other.
It is the will of the Lord and my own, that with this sword thou fight the
battles of the Almighty in the name of the holy Church against the invisible
enemies. For in our days they are heaping affliction and sorrow upon the
mistress of nations, while there is none to console her or to take it to
heart (Thren. 1, 1). Do thou thyself weep for the same reason and let thy
heart be torn in sorrow. But while the omnipotent and just Judge who is so
greatly incensed against the Catholics for having outraged his justice by
their unmeasurable and continual transgressions even under the aegis of their
grand faith, none are found to consider and weigh the fearful damage, nor to
approach the easy remedy of receiving the holy Eucharist with a contrite and
humble heart; nor does any one ask for my intercession. 491. Though all the
children of the Church largely incur this fault, yet more to be blamed are
the unworthy and wicked priests; for by the irreverence with which they treat
the blessed Sacrament the other Catholics have been drawn to undervalue it.
If the people see that their priests approach the divine mysteries with holy
fear and trembling, they learn to treat and receive their God in like manner.
Those that so honor Him shall shine in heaven like the sun among the stars;
for the glory of my divine Son's humanity will redound in a special measure
in those who have behaved well toward Him in the blessed Sacrament and have
received Him with all reverence; whereas this will not happen to those who
have not frequented this holy table with devotion. Moreover the devout will
bear on their breast, where they have so often harbored the holy Eucharist,
most beautiful and resplendent inscriptions, showing that they were most
worthy tabernacles of the holy Sacrament. This will be a great accidental
reward for them and a source of jubilation and admiration for the holy angels
and all the rest of the blessed. They will also enjoy the special favor of
being able to penetrate deeper into the mystery of the presence of the Lord
in the sacrament and to understand all the rest of the wonders hidden
therein. This will be such a privilege, that it alone would suffice for their
eternal happiness, even if there were no other enjoyment in heaven. Moreover
the essential glory of those, who have worthily and devoutly received the
holy Eucharist, will in several respects exceed the glory of many martyrs who
have not received the body and blood of the Lord. 492. I wish thee also to
hear, my dearest daughter, from my own mouth, what were my sentiments when in
mortal life I was about to receive holy Communion. In order that thou mayest
better understand what I say, reflect on all I have commanded thee to write
about my gifts, merits and labors in life. I was preserved from original sin
and, at the instant of my Conception, I received the knowledge and vision of
the Divinity, as thou hast often recorded. I knew more than all the saints; I
surpassed the highest seraphim in love; I never committed any fault; I constantly
practiced all the virtues in a heroic degree and in the least of them I was
greater than all the saints in their highest perfection; the intention and
object of my actions were most exalted and my habits and gifts were noble
without measure; I imitated my most holy Son most closely; I labored most
faithfully; I suffered with eagerness and cooperated with the doings of the
Lord exactly as was becoming to me; I ceased not to exercise my love and gain
new and super-eminent merits of grace. Yet I thought myself to have been
fully repaid by being allowed to receive Him even once in the holy Eucharist;
yea, I did not consider myself worthy of this one favor. Reflect then what
should be thy sentiments, and those of the rest of the children of Adam, on
being admitted to the reception of this admirable Sacrament. And if for the
greatest of saints one holy Communion is a superabundant reward, what must
the priests and the faithful think, when they are allowed to receive it so
frequently? Open thy eyes in the deep darkness and blindness which overwhelm
men around thee, and raise them up to the divine brightness in order to
understand these mysteries. Look upon all thy works as insufficient, all thy
sufferings as most insignificant, all thy thanksgiving as falling far short
of what thou owest for such an exquisite blessing as that of possessing in
the holy Church, Christ my divine Son, present in the holy Sacrament in order
to enrich all the faithful. If thou hast not wherewith to show thy thanks for
this and the other blessings which thou receivest, at least humiliate thyself
to the dust and remain prostrate upon it; confess thyself unworthy in all the
sincerity of thy heart. Magnify the Most High, bless and praise Him,
preserving thyself at all times worthy to receive Him and to suffer many
martyrdoms in return for such a favor. THE PRAYER
OF OUR LORD IN THE GARDEN AND ITS MYSTERIES. WHAT HIS MOST BLESSED MOTHER
KNEW OF IT. 493. By the wonderful
mysteries, which our Savior Jesus had celebrated in the Cenacle, the reign
which, according to his inscrutable decree, his eternal Father had consigned
to Him, was well established; and the Thursday night of his last Supper
having already advanced some hours, He chose to go forth to that dreadful
battle of his suffering and death by which the Redemption was to be
accomplished. The Lord then rose to depart from the hall of the miraculous
feast and also most holy Mary left her retreat in order to meet Him on the
way. At this face to face meeting of the Prince of eternity and of the Queen,
a sword of sorrow pierced the heart of Son and Mother, inflicting a pang of
grief beyond all human and angelic thought. The sorrowful Mother threw
Herself at the feet of Jesus, adoring Him as her true God and Redeemer. The
Lord, looking upon Her with a majesty divine and at the same time with the
overflowing love of a Son, spoke to Her only these words: "My Mother, I
shall be with thee in tribulation; let Us accomplish the will of the eternal
Father and the salvation of men." The great Queen offered Herself as a
sacrifice with her whole heart and asked his blessing. Having received this
She returned to her retirement, where, by a special favor of the Lord, She
was enabled to see all that passed in connection with her divine Son. Thus
She was enabled to accompany Him and cooperate with Him in his activity as
far as devolved upon Her. The owner of the house, who was present at this
meeting, moved by a divine impulse, offered his house and all that it
contained to the Mistress of heaven, asking Her to make use of all that was
his during her stay in Jerusalem; and the Queen accepted his offer with
humble thanks. The thousand angels of her guard, in forms visible to Her,
together with some of the pious women of her company, remained with the Lady.
494. Our Redeemer and
Master left the house of the Cenacle with all the men, who had been present
at the celebration of the mysterious Supper; and soon many of them dispersed
in the different streets in order to attend to their own affairs. Followed by
his twelve Apostles, the Lord directed his steps toward 495. Thus Lucifer, seized
by new fear, sought to counteract the suggestions with which he had
previously filled the heart of the perfidious disciple against his Author. He
hoped to confuse his victim; but his new villainy was in vain. For Judas,
having voluntarily lost his faith and not being troubled by any such strong
suspicions as Lucifer, preferred to take his Master's life rather than to
encounter the wrath of the pharisees for permitting Him to live unmolested.
Filled with this fear and his abominable avarice, he took no account of the
counsel of Lucifer, although he had no suspicion of his not being the friend,
whose shape the devil had assumed; Being stripped of grace he neither
desired, nor could be persuaded by anyone, to turn back in his malice. The
priests, having heard that the Author of life was in 496. In the meanwhile our
divine Lord with the eleven Apostles was engaged in the work of our salvation
and the salvation of those who were scheming his death. Unheard of and
wonderful contest between the deepest malice of man and the immeasurable
goodness and charity of God! If this stupendous struggle between good and
evil began with the first man, it certainly reached its highest point in the
death of the Repairer; for then good and evil stood face to face and exerted
their highest powers: human malice in taking away the life and honor of the
Creator and Redeemer, and his immense charity freely sacrificing both for
men. According to our way of reasoning, it was as it were necessary that the
most holy soul of Christ, yea that even his Divinity, should revert to his
blessed Mother, in order that He might find some object in creation, in which
his love should be recompensed and some excuse for disregarding the dictates
of his justice. For in this Creature alone could He expect to see his Passion
and Death bring forth full fruit; in her immeasurable holiness did his
justice find some compensation for human malice; and in the humility and
constant charity of this great Lady could be deposited the treasures of his
merits, so that afterwards, as the new Phoenix from the rekindled ashes, his
Church might arise from his sacrifice. The consolation which the humanity of
Christ drew from the certainty of his blessed Mother's holiness gave Him
strength and, as it were, new courage to conquer the malice of mortals; and
He counted Himself well recompensed for suffering such atrocious pains by the
fact that to mankind belonged also his most beloved Mother. 497. All that happened the
great Lady observed from her retreat. She perceived the sinister thoughts of
the obstinate Judas, how he separated himself from the rest of the Apostles,
how Lucifer spoke to him in the shape of his acquaintance, and all the rest
that passed when he reached the priests and helped them to arrange with so
much haste the capture of the Lord. The sorrow which then penetrated the
chaste heart of the Virgin Mother, the acts of virtue which She elicited at
the sight of such wickedness, and what else She then did, cannot be properly
explained by us; we can only say that in all She acted with the plenitude of
wisdom and holiness, and with the approbation of the most holy Trinity. She
pitied Judas and wept over the loss of that perfidious disciple. She sought
to make recompense for his malice by adoring, confessing, praising and loving
the Lord, whom he delivered by such fiendish and insulting treachery. She
offered Herself with eagerness to die in her Son's stead, if necessary. She
prayed for those who were plotting the capture and death of her divine Lamb,
for She regarded them as prizes to be estimated according to the infinite
value of his precious lifeblood for which this most prudent Lady foresaw they
would be bought. 498. Our Savior pursued his
way across the torrent of Cedron (John 18, 1) to 499. This prayer was as it
were the floodgate through which the rivers of his suffering were to find
entrance like the resistless onslaught of the ocean, as was foretold by David
(Ps. 68, 2). And immediately He began to be sorrowful and feel the anguish of
his soul and therefore said to the Apostles: "My soul is sorrowful unto death"
(Mark 14,34). As these words and the sorrow of Christ our Lord contain such
great mysteries for our instruction, I will say something of what has been
shown me and as far as I can understand concerning them. The Lord permitted
this sorrow to reach the highest degree both naturally and miraculously
possible in his sacred humanity. This sorrow penetrated not only all the
lower faculties of his human life in so far as his natural appetites were
concerned; but also all the highest faculties of his body and soul, by which
He perceived the inscrutable judgments and decrees of the divine justice, and
the reprobation of so many, for whom He was to die. This was indeed by far
the greater source of his sorrow, as we shall see farther on. He did not say
that He was sorrowful on account of his death, but unto death; for the sorrow
naturally arising from the repugnance to the death He was about to undergo,
was a minor fear. The sacrifice of his natural life, besides being necessary
for our Redemption, was also demanded as a return for the joy of having in
his human body experienced the glory of the Transfiguration. On account of
the glory then communicated to his sacred body He held Himself bound to
subject it to suffering, deeming that a recompense of what He had received.
This we see verified also in the three Apostles, who were witnesses as well
of the glorious as of the sorrowful mystery. This they themselves now
understood, being informed thereof by an especial enlightenment. 500. Moreover the immense
love of our Savior for us demanded that full sway be given to this mysterious
sorrow. For if He had caused it to stop short of the highest which that
sorrow was capable of, his love would not have rested satisfied, nor would it
have been so evident that his love was not to be extinguished by the
multitude of tribulations (Cant. 8, 7). At the same time He showed thereby
his charity toward the Apostles, who were with Him and were now much
disturbed by perceiving, that his hour of suffering and death, which He had
so often and in so many ways foretold them, was now at hand. This interior
disturbance and fear confounded and confused them without their daring to
speak of it. Therefore the most loving Savior sought to put them more at rest
by manifesting to them his own sorrow unto death. By the sight of his own
affliction and anxiety they were to take heart at the fears and anxieties of
their own souls. There was still another mystery contained in this sorrow of
the Lord, which referred especially to the three Apostles, saint Peter, John
and James. For, more than all the rest, they were imbued with an exalted
conception of the greatness and Divinity of their Master as far as the
excellence of his doctrine, the holiness of his works, and the power of his
miracles were concerned. They realized more completely and wondered more
deeply at his dominion over all creation. In order that they might be
confirmed in their belief of his being a man capable of suffering, it was
befitting that they should know as eyewitnesses his truly human sorrow and
affliction. By the testimony of these three Apostles who were distinguished
by such favors, the holy Church was afterwards to be well fortified against
the errors, which the devil would try to spread against the belief in the
humanity of Christ our Savior. Thus would the rest of the faithful have the
consolation of this firmly established belief in their own affliction and
sorrow. 501. Interiorly enlightened
in this truth, the three Apostles were exhorted by the Author of life by the
words: "Wait for Me, watch and pray with Me." He wished to
inculcate the practice of all that He had taught them and to make them
constant in their belief. He thereby reminded them of the danger of
backsliding and of the duty of watchfulness and prayer in order to recognize
and resist the enemy, remaining always firm in the hope of seeing his name
exalted after the ignominy of his Passion. With this exhortation the Lord
separated Himself a short distance from the three Apostles. He threw himself
with his divine face upon the ground and prayed to the eternal Father:
"Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass from Me" (Matth.
26, 38). This prayer Christ our Lord uttered, though He had come down from
heaven with the express purpose of really suffering and dying for men; though
He had counted as naught the shame of his Passion, had willingly embraced it
and rejected all human consolation; though He was hastening with most ardent
love into the jaws of death, to affronts, sorrows and afflictions; though He
had set such a high price upon men, that He determined to redeem them at the
shedding of his lifeblood. Since by virtue of his divine and human wisdom and
his inextinguishable love He had shown Himself so superior to the natural
fear of death, that it seems this petition did not arise from any motive
solely coming from Himself. That this was so in fact, was made known to me in
the light which was vouchsafed me concerning the mysteries contained in this
prayer of the Savior. 502. In order to explain
what I mean, I must state, that on this occasion Jesus treated with the
eternal Father about an affair, which was by far the most important of all,
namely, in how far the Redemption gained by his Passion and Death should
affect the hidden predestination of the saints. In this prayer Christ
offered, on his part, to the eternal Father his torments, his precious blood
and his Death for all men as an abundant price for all the mortals and for
each one of the human born till that time and yet to be born to the end of
the world; and, on the part of mankind, He presented the infidelity,
ingratitude and contempt with which sinful man was to respond to his
frightful Passion and Death; He presented also the loss which He was to
sustain from those who would not profit by his clemency and condemn
themselves to eternal woe. Though to die for his friends and for the
predestined was pleasing to Him and longingly desired by our Savior; yet to
die for the reprobate was indeed bitter and painful; for with regard to them
the impelling motive for accepting the pains of death was wanting. This
sorrow was what the Lord called a chalice, for the Hebrews were accustomed to
use this word for signifying anything that implied great labor and pain. The
Savior himself had already used this word on another occasion, when in
speaking to the sons of Zebedee He asked them: whether they could drink the
chalice, which the Son of man was to drink (Matth 20, 22). This chalice then
was so bitter for Christ our Lord, because He knew that his drinking it would
not only be without fruit for the reprobate, but would be a scandal to them
and redound to their greater chastisement and pain on account of their
despising it (I Cor. 1, 23). 503. I understood therefore
that in this prayer Christ besought his Father to let this chalice of dying
for the reprobate pass from Him. Since now his Death was not to be evaded, He
asked that none, if possible, should be lost; He pleaded, that as his
Redemption would be superabundant for all, that therefore it should be
applied to all in such a way as to make all, if possible, profit by it in an
efficacious manner; and if this was not possible, He would resign Himself to
the will of his eternal Father. Our Savior repeated this prayer three times
at different intervals (Matth. 26, 44), pleading the longer in his agony in
view of the importance and immensity of the object in question (Luke 22, 43).
According to our way of understanding, there was a contention or altercation
between the most sacred humanity and the Divinity of Christ. For this
humanity, in its intense love for men who were of his own nature, desired
that all should attain eternal salvation through his Passion; while his
Divinity, in its secret and high judgments, had fixed the number of the
predestined and in its divine equity could not concede its blessings to those
who so much despised them, and who, of their own free will, made themselves
unworthy of eternal life by repelling the kind intentions of Him who procured
and offered it to them. From this conflict arose the agony of Christ, in
which He prayed so long and in which He appealed so earnestly to the power
and majesty of his omnipotent and eternal Father. 504. This agony of Christ
our Savior grew in proportion to the greatness of his charity and the
certainty of his knowledge, that men would persist in neglecting to profit by
his Passion and Death (Luke 22, 44). His agony increased to such an extent,
that great drops of bloody sweat were pressed from Him, which flowed to the
very earth. Although this prayer was uttered subject to a condition and
failed in regard to the reprobate who fell under this condition; yet He
gained thereby a greater abundance and secured a greater frequency of favors
for mortals. Through it the blessings were multiplied for those who placed no
obstacles, the fruits of the Redemption were applied to the saints and to the
just more abundantly, and many gifts and graces, of which the reprobates made
themselves unworthy, were diverted to the elect. The human will of Christ,
conforming itself to that of the Divinity, then accepted suffering for each
respectively: for the reprobate, as sufficient to procure them the necessary
help, if they would make use of its merits, and for the predestined, as an efficacious
means, of which they would avail themselves to secure their salvation by
cooperating with grace. Thus was set in order, and as it were realized, the
salvation of the mystical body of his holy Church, of which Christ the Lord
was the Creator and Head. 505. As a ratification of
this divine decree, while yet our Master was in his agony, the eternal Father
for the third time sent the archangel Michael to the earth in order to
comfort Him by a sensible message and confirmation of what He already knew by
the infused science of his most holy soul; for the angel could not tell our
Lord anything He did not know, nor could he produce any additional effect on
his interior consciousness for this purpose. But, as I related above (No.
498), Christ had suspended the consolation, which He could have derived from
his human nature from this knowledge and love, leaving it to its full
capacity for suffering, as He afterwards also expressed Himself on the Cross
(No. 684). In lieu of this alleviation and comfort, which He had denied
Himself, He was recompensed to a certain extent, as far as his human senses
were concerned, by this embassy of the archangel. He received an experimental
knowledge of what He had before known by interior consciousness; for the
actual experience is something superadded and new and is calculated to move
the sensible and bodily faculties. Saint Michael, in the name of the eternal
Father, intimated and represented to Him in audible words, what He already
knew, that it was not possible for those to be saved who were unwilling; that
the complaisance of the eternal Father in the number of the just, although
smaller than the number of the reprobate was great; that among the former was
his most holy Mother, a worthy fruit of his Redemption; that his Redemption
would also bear its fruits in the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs,
Virgins and Confessors, who should signalize themselves in his love and
perform admirable works for the exaltation of the name of the Most High.
Among these the angel moreover mentioned some of the founders of religious
orders and the deeds of each one. Many other great and hidden sacraments were
touched upon by the archangel, which it is not necessary to mention here, nor
have I any command to do so; and therefore what I have already said, will
suffice for continuing the thread of this history. 506. During the intervals
of Christ's prayer, the Evangelists say, He returned to visit the Apostles
and exhort them to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation (Matth. 14,
41; Mark 14, 38; Luke 22, 42). This the most vigilant Pastor did in order to
show the dignitaries of his Church what care and supervision they were to
exercise over their flocks. For if Christ, on account of his solicitude for
them interrupted his prayer, which was so important, it was in order to teach
them, how they must postpone other enterprises and interests to the salvation
of their subjects. In order to understand the need of the Apostles, I must
mention, that the infernal dragon, after having been routed from the Cenacle
and forced into the infernal caverns, was permitted by the Savior again to
come forth, in order that he might, by his malicious attempts, help to
fulfill the decrees of the Lord. At one fell swoop many of these demons
rushed to meet Judas and, in the manner already described, to hinder him, if
possible, from consummating the treacherous bargain. As they could not
dissuade him, they turned their attention to the other Apostles, suspecting
that they had received some great favor at the hands of the Lord in the
Cenacle. What this favor was Lucifer sought to find out, in order to
counteract it. Our Savior saw this cruelty and wrath of the prince of
darkness and his ministers; therefore as a most loving Father and vigilant
Superior He hastened to the assistance of his little children and newly
acquired subjects, his Apostles. He roused them and exhorted them to watch
and pray against their enemies, in order that they might not enter unawares
and unprovided into the threatening temptation. 507. He returned therefore
to the three Apostles, who, having been more favored, also had more reasons
for watchfulness in imitation of their Master. But He found them asleep; for
they had allowed themselves to be overcome by insidious disgust and sorrow and
in it had been seized by such a remissness and lukewarmness, that they fell
asleep. Before speaking to them or waking them, the Lord looked at them for a
moment and wept over them. For He saw them oppressed and buried in this
deathly shade by their own sloth and negligence. He spoke to Peter and said
to him: "Simon, sleepest thou? couldst not thou watch one hour?"
And immediately He gave him and the others the answer: "Watch ye, and
pray that you enter not into temptation (Mark 14, 37); for my enemies and
your enemies sleep not as you do." That He reprehended Peter especially
was not only because he was placed as head of the rest, and not only because
he had most loudly protested that he would not deny Him and was ready to die
for Him, though all the others should be scandalized in Him and leave Him;
but also because Peter, having from his whole heart made freely these
protests, deserved to be corrected and admonished before all the rest. For no
doubt the Lord chastises those whom He loves and is always pleased by our
good resolutions, even when we afterwards fall short in their execution, as
happened with the most fervent of all the Apostles, saint Peter. When the
Lord came the third time and woke up all the twelve, Judas was already
approaching in order to deliver Him into the hands of his enemies, as I shall
relate in the next chapter. 508. Let us now return to
the Cenacle, where the Queen of heaven had retired with the holy women of her
company. From her retreat, by divine enlightenment, She saw most clearly all
the mysteries and doings of her most holy Son in the garden. At the moment
when the Savior separated Himself with the three Apostles Peter, John and
James, the heavenly Queen separated Herself from the other women and went
into another room. Upon leaving them She exhorted them to pray and watch lest
they enter into temptation, but She took with Her the three Marys, treating
Mary Magdalen as the superior of the rest. Secluding Herself with these three
as her more intimate companions, She begged the eternal Father to suspend in
Her all human alleviation and comfort, both in the sensitive and in the
spiritual part of her being, so that nothing might hinder Her from suffering
to the highest degree in union with her divine Son. She prayed that She might
be permitted to feel and participate in her virginal body all the pains of
the wounds and tortures about to be undergone by Jesus. This petition was
granted by the blessed Trinity and the Mother in consequence suffered all the
torments of her most holy Son in exact duplication, as I shall relate later.
Although they were such, that, if the right hand of the Almighty had not
preserved Her, they would have caused her death many times over; yet, on the
other hand, these sufferings, inflicted by God himself, were like a pledge
and a new lease of life. For in her most ardent love She would have
considered it incomparably more painful to see her divine Son suffer and die
without being allowed to share in his torments. 509. The three Marys were
instructed by the Queen to accompany and assist Her in her affliction, and
for this purpose they were endowed with greater light and grace than the
other women. In retiring with them the most pure Mother began to feel
unwonted sorrow and anguish and She said to them: "My soul is sorrowful,
because my beloved Son is about to suffer and die, and it is not permitted me
to suffer and die of his torments. Pray, my friends, in order that you may
not be overcome by temptation." Having said this She went apart a short
distance from them, and following the Lord in his supplications. She, as far
as was possible to Her and as far as She knew it to be conformable to the
human will of her Son, continued her prayers and petitions, feeling the same
agony as that of the Savior in the garden. She also returned at the same
intervals to her companions to exhort them, because She knew of the wrath of
the demon against them. She wept at the perdition of the foreknown; for She
was highly enlightened in the mysteries of eternal predestination and reprobation.
In order to imitate and cooperate in all things with the Redeemer of the
world, the great Lady also suffered a bloody sweat, similar to that of Jesus
in the garden, and by divine intervention She was visited by the archangel
saint Gabriel, as Christ her Son was visited by the archangel Michael. The
holy prince expounded to Her the will of the Most High in the same manner as
saint Michael had expounded it to Christ the Lord. In both of Them the prayer
offered and the cause of sorrow was the same; and therefore They were also
proportionally alike to one another in their actions and in their knowledge.
I was made to understand that the most prudent Lady was provided with some
cloths for what was to happen in the Passion of her most beloved Son; and on
this occasion She sent some of her angels with a towel to the garden in which
her Son was then perspiring blood, in order to wipe off and dry his venerable
countenance. The Lord, for love of his Mother and for her greater merit,
permitted these ministers of the Most High to fulfill her pious and tender
wishes. When the moment for the capture of our Savior had arrived, it was
announced to the three Marys by the sorrowful Mother. All three bewailed this
indignity with most bitter tears, especially Mary Magdalen, who signalized
herself in tenderest love and piety for her Master. INSTRUCTION
WHICH MARY, THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, GAVE ME. 510. My daughter, all that
thou hast understood and written in this chapter will serve as a most potent
incentive to thee and to all the mortals who will consider it carefully.
Estimate then, and weigh within thy soul, how important is the eternal
predestination or reprobation of the souls, since my most holy Son looked
upon it with such great anxiety, that the difficulty or impossibility of
saving all men added such immense bitterness to the Death, which He was about
to suffer for all. By this conflict He manifests to us the importance and
gravity of the matter under consideration, He prolonged his supplications and
prayers to his eternal Father and his love for men caused his most precious
blood to ooze forth from his body on perceiving, that the malice of men would
make them unworthy of participation in the benefits of his Death. The Lord my
Son has indeed justified his cause in thus having lavished his love and his
merits without measure for the purchase of man's salvation; and likewise, the
eternal Father has justified Himself in presenting to the world such a remedy
and in having made it possible for each one freely to reach out for such
widely different lots, as death and life, fire and water (Eccli. 15, 71). 511. But what pretense or
excuse will men advance for having forgotten their own eternal salvation, when
my divine Son and I have desired and sought to procure it for them with such
sacrifices and untiring watchfulness? None of the mortals will have any
excuse for their foolish negligence, and much less will the children of the
holy Church have an excuse, since they have received the faith of these
admirable sacraments and yet show in their lives little difference from that
of infidels and pagans. Do not think, my daughter, that it is written in
vain: "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Matth. 20, 16): fear
this sentence and renew in thy heart the care and zeal for thy salvation,
conformable to the sense of obligation arising from the knowledge of such
high mysteries. Even if it were not a question of eternal salvation for thee,
thou shouldst correspond to the loving kindness with which I manifest to thee
such great and divine secrets. That I call thee my daughter and a spouse of
my Lord, should cause thee to pay no attention to any visible thing and
embrace only love and suffering for his sake. This I have shown thee by my
example, since I applied all my faculties continually to these two things
with the highest perfection. In order that thou mayest attain this, I wish
that thy prayer be without intermission and that thou watch one hour with me,
that is during the whole of thy life; for, compared with eternity, life is
less than one hour, yea less than one moment. With such sentiments I wish
that thou follow up the mysteries of the Passion, writing them, feeling them
and imprinting them upon thy heart. OUR SAVIOR
IS DELIVERED INTO THE HANDS OF HIS ENEMIES BY THE TREASON OF JUDAS AND IS
TAKEN PRISONER; THE BEHAVIOR OF THE MOST HOLY MARY ON THIS OCCASION AND SOME
OF THE MYSTERIES OF THIS EVENT. 512. While our Savior
occupied Himself in praying to his Father for the spiritual salvation of the
human race, the perfidious disciple Judas sought to hasten the delivery of
Christ into the hands of the priests and pharisees. At the same time Lucifer
and his demons, not being able to divert the perverse will of Judas and of
the other enemies of Christ from their designs on the life of Christ their
Creator and Master, changed the tactics of their satanic malice and began to
incite the Jews to greater cruelty and effrontery in their dealings with the
Savior. As I have already said several times, the devil was filled with great
suspicions lest this most extraordinary Man be the Messias and the true God.
He now resolved to ascertain whether his misgivings were well founded or not
by instigating the Jews and their ministers to the most atrocious injuries
against the Savior. He imparted to them his own dreadful envy and pride, and
thus literally fulfilled the prophecy of Solomon (Wis. 2, 7). For it seemed
to the demon, that if Christ was not God and only a man, He certainly must
weaken and be conquered in these persecutions and torments. If on the other
hand He was God, He would manifest it by freeing Himself and performing new
miracles. 513. Similar motives urged
on the priests and pharisees. At the instigation of Judas they hastily
gathered together a large band of people, composed of pagan soldiers, a
tribune, and many Jews. Having consigned to them Judas as a hostage, they
sent this band on its way to apprehend the most innocent Lamb, who was
awaiting them and who was aware of all the thoughts and schemes of the
sacrilegious priests, as foretold expressly by Jeremias (Jer. 11, 19). All
these servants of malice, bearing arms and provided with ropes and chains, in
the glaring torch and lantern light, issued from the city in the direction of
514. While they were
approaching, the Lord returned the third time to his Apostles and finding
them asleep spoke to them: "Sleep ye now, and take your rest. It is
enough: the hour is come; behold the Son of man shall be betrayed into the
hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go. Behold he that will betray Me is at
hand" (Mark 14, 41). Such were the words of the Master of holiness to
the three most privileged Apostles; He was unwilling to reprehend them more
severely than in this most meek and loving manner. Being oppressed, they did
not know what to answer their Lord, as Scripture says (Mark 14, 40). They
arose and Jesus went with them to join the other eight disciples. He found
them likewise overcome and oppressed by their great sorrow and fallen asleep.
The Master then gave orders, that all of them together, mystically forming
one body with Him their Head, should advance toward the enemies, thereby
teaching them the power of mutual and perfect unity for overcoming the demons
and their followers and for avoiding defeat by them. For a triple cord is
hard to tear, as says Ecclesiastes (4, 12), and he that is mighty against
one, may be overcome by two, that being the effect of union. The Lord again
exhorted all the Apostles and forewarned them of what was to happen. Already
the confused noise of the advancing band of soldiers and their helpmates
began to be heard. Our Savior then proceeded to meet them on the way, and, with
incomparable love, magnanimous courage and tender piety prayed interiorly:
"O sufferings longingly desired from my inmost soul, ye pains, wounds,
affronts, labors, afflictions and ignominious death, come, come, come
quickly, for the fire of love, which burns for the salvation of men, is
anxious to see you meet the Innocent one of all creatures. Well do I know
your value, I have sought, desired, and solicited you and I meet you joyously
of my own free will; I have purchased you by my anxiety in searching for you
and I esteem you for your merits. I desire to remedy and enhance your value
and raise you to highest dignity. Let death come, in order that by my
accepting it without having deserved it I may triumph over it and gain life
for those who have been punished by death for their sins (Osee 13, 14). I
give permission to my friends to forsake Me; for I alone desire and am able
to enter into this battle and gain for them triumph and victory" (Is.
53, 3). 515. During these words and
prayers of the Author of life, Judas advanced in order to give the signal
upon which he had agreed with his companions (Matth. 26, 48), namely the
customary, but now feigned kiss of peace, by which they were to distinguish
Jesus as the One whom they should single out from the rest and immediately
seize. These precautions the unhappy disciple had taken, not only out of
avarice for the money and hatred against his Master, but also, on account of
the fear with which he was filled. For he dreaded the inevitable necessity of
meeting Him and encountering Him in the future, if Christ was not put to
death on this occasion. Such a confusion he feared more than the death of his
soul, or the death of his divine Master and, in order to forestall it, he
hastened to complete his treachery and desired to see the Author of life die
at the hands of his enemies. The traitor then ran up to the meekest Lord,
and, as a consummate hypocrite, hiding his hatred, he imprinted on his
countenance the kiss of peace, saying: "God save Thee, Master." By
this so treacherous act the perdition of Judas was matured and God was
justified in withholding his grace and help. On the part of the unfaithful
disciple, malice and temerity reached their highest degree; for, interiorly
denying or disbelieving the uncreated and created wisdom by which Christ must
know of his treason, and ignoring his power to destroy him, he sought to hide
his malice under the cloak of the friendship of a true disciple; and all this
for the purpose of delivering over to such a frightful and cruel death his
Creator and Master, to whom he was bound by so many obligations. In this one
act of treason he committed so many and such formidable sins, that it is
impossible to fathom their immensity; for he was treacherous, murderous,
sacrilegious, ungrateful, inhuman, disobedient, false, lying, impious and
unequalled in hypocrisy; and all this was included in one and the same crime
perpetrated against the person of God made man. 516. On the part of the
Lord shone forth his ineffable mercy and equity, since those words of David
were fulfilled in an eminent manner: "With them that hated peace I was
peaceable; when I spoke to them they fought against Me without cause"
(Ps. 119, 7). So completely did the Lord fulfill this prophecy, that when, in
answer to the kiss of Judas, He said: "Friend, whereto art thou come
?" He sent into the heart of the traitorous disciple a new and most
clear light, by which Judas saw the atrocious malice of his treason, the
punishment to follow, if he should not make it good by true penitence, and
the merciful pardon still to be obtained from the divine clemency. What Judas
clearly read in those few words of Christ was: "Friend, take heed lest
thou cause thy perdition and abuse my meekness by this treason. If thou seek
my friendship, I will not refuse it to thee on account of this deed, as soon
as thou art sorry for thy sin. Consider well thy temerity in delivering Me by
false friendship and under cover of a false peace and a kiss of reverence and
love. Remember the benefits thou hast received of my charity, and that I am
the Son of the Virgin, by whom thou hast been so often favored and rejoiced
with motherly advice and counsel during thy apostolate. Even if it were only
for her sake, thou shouldst not commit such a treason as to sell and deliver
her Son. In no wise does her loving meekness deserve such an outrageous
wrong, for She has never been unkind to thee. But although thou hast now
committed this wrong, do not despise her intercession, for She alone will be
powerful with Me and for her sake I offer thee pardon and life, since She has
many times besought Me to do so. I assure thee, that We love thee; for thou
art yet in life, where there is hope and where we will not deny thee our
friendship, if thou seek it. But if thou refuse it, thou wilt merit our
abhorrence and eternal chastisement and pain." The seed of the divine
words took no root in the heart of that unhappy reprobate. It was harder than
adamant and more inhuman than that of a wild beast. Resisting the divine
clemency he finally fell into despair, as I shall relate in the next chapter.
517. The signal of the kiss
having been given by Judas, the Lord with his disciples and the soldiers, who
had come to capture Him, came face to face, forming two squadrons the most
opposed and hostile that ever the world saw. For on the one side was Christ
our Lord, true God and man, as the Captain of all the just, supported by his
eleven Apostles the chieftains and champions of his Church with innumerable
hosts of angelic spirits full of adoring wonder at this spectacle. On the
other side were Judas, the originator of the treason, filled with hypocrisy
and hatred, and many Jews and gentiles, bent on venting their malice with the
greatest cruelty. Surrounding these were Lucifer and a multitude of demons,
inciting and assisting Judas and his helpers boldly to lay their sacrilegious
hands upon their Creator. With unfathomable love for suffering and great
force and authority the Lord then spoke to the soldiers, saying: "Whom
seek ye ?" (John 18, 45). They answered: "Jesus of 518. His enemies could not
understand or fathom the true meaning of these words: I am He. But his most
blessed Mother and the angels understood them, as did also, to a great
extent, the Apostles. It was as if He had said: "I am who am"
(Exod. 3, 14), as I have said to my prophet Moses; for I am of Myself, and
all creatures have their being and existence from Me: I am eternal, immense,
infinite, one in substance and attributes; and I have made Myself man hiding
my glory, in order that, by means of my Passion and Death, to which you wish
to condemn Me, I might save the world. As the Lord spoke with divine power,
his enemies could not resist and when his words struck their ears, they all
fell backwards to the ground (John 18, 6). This happened not only to the
soldiers, but to the dogs, which they had brought with them, and to the
horses on which some of them rode: all of them fell to the ground and
remained motionless like stones. Lucifer and his demons were hurled down with
them, deprived of motion and suffering new confusion and torture. Thus they
remained for some seven or eight minutes, showing no more signs of life than
if they had died. O word of a God, so mysterious in meaning and more than
invincible in power! Let not the wise glory before Thee in their wisdom and
astuteness; nor the powerful in their valor (Jer. 9, 23); let the vanity and
arrogance of the children of Babylon be humbled, since one word from the
mouth of the Lord, spoken with so much meekness and humility, confounds,
destroys and annihilates all the pride and power of man and hell. Let us
children of the Church also learn, that the victories of Christ are gained by
confessing the truth, by giving place unto wrath (Rom. 12, 19), by showing
meekness and humility of heart (Matth. 11, 29), by overcoming and being
overcome with dovelike simplicity, by the peacefulness and resignment of
sheep free from resistance of furious and ravenous wolves. 519. Sadly our divine Lord
contemplated the picture of eternal damnation exhibited in them and listened
to the prayer of his most holy Mother to let them rise, for upon her
intercession his divine will had made that dependent. When it was time for
them to come to themselves, He prayed to the eternal Father, saying: "My Father and eternal
God, in my hands Thou hast placed all things (John 13, 3), and hast consigned
to Me the Redemption required by thy justice. I wish to satisfy it and give
Myself over to death with all my heart, in order to merit for my brethren
participation in thy treasures and the eternal happiness held out to
them." By this expression of his efficacious will the Lord gave
permission to that whole miserable band of men, demons and animals to arise
and be restored to the same condition as before their falling down. A second
time the Savior said to them: "Whom seek ye?" and they again
answered: "Jesus of Nazareth." The Lord answered most meekly:
"I have already told you, that I am He. If therefore you seek Me, let
these go their way" (John 18, 8). With these words He gave permission to
the servants and the soldiers to take Him prisoner and execute their designs,
which, without their understanding it, meant nothing else than to draw upon
his divine Person all our sorrows and infirmities (Is. 53, 4). 520. The first one who
hastened to approach in order to lay hands upon the Master of life, was a
servant of the highpriests named Malchus. In spite of the fear and
consternation of all the Apostles, saint Peter, more than all the rest, was roused
with zeal for the defense of the honor and life of the divine Master. Drawing
a cutlass which he had with him, he made a pass at Malchus and cut off one of
his ears, severing it entirely from the head (John 18, 10). The stroke would
have resulted in a much more serious wound, if the divine providence of the
Master of patience and meekness had not diverted it. The Lord would not
permit that any other death than his own should occur at his capture; his
wounds, his blood and suffering alone should rescue to eternal life the human
race, as many of it as are willing. Nor was it his will, or according to his
teaching, that his Person be defended by the use of arms, and He did not wish
to leave such an example in his Church as one to be principally imitated for
her defense. In order to confirm this doctrine, which He had always
inculcated, He picked up the severed ear and restored it to its place,
perfectly healing the wound and making Malchus more sound and whole than he
was before. But He first turned to saint Peter and reprehended him, saying:
"Put up thy sword into the scabbard, for all that shall take it to kill
with it, shall perish. Dost thou not wish that I drink the chalice, which my
Father hath given Me? Thinkst thou that I cannot ask my Father, and He will
give me presently many legions of angels for my defense? But how then shall
the Scriptures and the Prophets be fulfilled?" (John 18, 11; Matth. 26,
53). 521. Thus saint Peter, the
head of the Church, by this loving exhortation had been taught and enlightened,
that his arms for the establishment and defense of the Church were to be
spiritual and that the law of the Gospel does not inculcate battles and
conquests with material weapons, but conquests of humility, patience,
meekness and perfect charity, which overcome the demon, the world, and the
flesh; that divine virtue would triumph over its enemies and over the power
and intrigues of this world; that arms for attack and defense were not for
the followers of Christ our Savior, but for the princes of the earth to
safeguard their earthly possessions; while the sword of the Church was to be
spiritual, reaching rather the soul than the body. Then Christ our Lord,
turning toward his enemies and the servants of the Jews, spoke to them with
great majesty and grandeur: "You are come as it were to a robber with
swords and clubs to apprehend Me. I sat daily with you, teaching in the
temple, and you laid not hands on Me. But this is your hour and the power of
darkness" (Matth. 26, 55; Luke 22, 53). All the words of our Savior
contained the profoundest mysteries, and it is impossible to comprehend them
all or explain them, especially those which He spoke at his Passion and
Death. 522. Well might those ministers
have been softened and made ashamed of their wickedness by this reprehension
of the divine Master; but they were far from it, because they were of the
cursed and sterile earth, drained of the dew of virtue and human kindness.
Nevertheless the Author of life wished to admonish them of the truth to that
extent. Thereby their malice would be so much the more inexcusable and this
sin and all the others, committed in the very presence of the highest
holiness and justice, would have its due correction and they themselves a
powerful help for conversion, if they should desire it; moreover it would
thereby become evident that He knew all that was to happen, that He delivered
Himself into their hands and over to this Death of his own free will. For
these, and for many other sublime reasons, the Lord spoke the above words,
penetrating their inmost mind. For He knew and fully understood the cause of
their malice, hatred and envy: namely, because He had publicly reprehended
the vices of the priests and pharisees; because He had taught the truth and
the way of life to the people; because He had, by his example and his
miracles, captured the good will of the humble and the pious and brought many
sinners to his friendship and grace. He reminded them, that one who had power
to bring about all these results in public, and who could not be apprehended
in the temple or in the city in which He taught, could certainly not be
captured in the open field without his consent. He clearly made them
sensible, that the reason of their failing to do so before, was because He
himself had not given his permission to men or demons until the hour chosen
by Himself. In order to signify to them, that the hour of his being captured,
ill-treated and afflicted had come He said: "This is your hour and the
power of darkness." As if He had said to them: Until now it was
necessary for Me to be with you as your Master for your instruction,
therefore I did not permit you to take my life. But I desire to consummate by
my death the work of the Redemption consigned to Me by my eternal Father; and
therefore I now permit you to take Me prisoner and to execute your will upon
my Person. Thereupon they fell upon the most meek Lamb like fierce tigers,
binding Him securely with ropes and chains in order thus to lead Him to the
house of the high priest, as I shall presently relate. 523. The most pure Mother
of Christ our Lord was most attentive to all that passed in his capture, and
by means of her clear visions saw it more clearly than if She had been present
in person; for by means of her supernatural visions She penetrated into all
the mysteries of his words and actions. When She beheld the band of soldiers
and servants issuing from the house of the high priest, the prudent Lady
foresaw the irreverence and insults with which they would treat their Creator
and Redeemer; and in order to do what was within her power, She invited the
holy angels and many others in union with Her to render adoration and praise
to the Lord of creation as an offset to the injuries and affronts He would
sustain at the hands of those ministers of darkness. The same request She
made to the holy women who were praying with Her. She told them, that her
most holy Son had now given permission to his enemies to take him prisoner
and ill-treat him, and that they were about to make use of this permission in
a most impious and cruel manner. Assisted by the holy angels and the pious
women the faithful Queen engaged in interior and exterior acts of devoted
faith and love, confessing, adoring, praising and magnifying the infinite
Deity and the most holy humanity of her Creator and Lord. The holy women
imitated Her in the genuflections and prostrations, and the angelic princes
responded to the canticles with which She magnified, celebrated and glorified
the Divinity and humanity of Christ. In the measure in which the children of
malice increased their irreverence and injuries, She sought to compensate
them by her praise and veneration. Thus She continued to placate the divine
justice, lest it should be roused against his persecutors and destroy them;
for only most holy Mary was capable of staying the punishment of such great
offenses. 524. And the great Lady not
only placated the just Judge, but even obtained favors and blessings from the
divine clemency for the very persons who irritated Him and thus secured a
return of good for those who were heaping wrongs upon Christ the Lord for his
doctrine and benefits. This mercy attained its highest point in the disloyal
and obstinate Judas; for the tender Mother, seeing him deliver Jesus by the
kiss of feigned friendship, and considering how shortly before his mouth had
contained the sacramental body of the Lord, with whose sacred countenance so
soon after those same foul lips were permitted to come in contact, was
transfixed with sorrow and entranced by charity. She asked the Lord to grant
new graces, whereby this man, who had enjoyed the privilege of touching the
face whereon angels desire to look, might, if he chose to use them, save
himself from perdition. In response to this prayer of most holy Mary, her Son
and Lord granted Judas powerful graces in the very consummation of his
treacherous delivery. If the unfortunate man had given heed and had commenced
to respond to them, the Mother of mercy would have obtained for him many
others and at last also pardon for his sin. She has done so with many other
great sinners, who were willing to give that glory to Her, and thus obtain
eternal glory for themselves. But Judas failed to realize this and thus lost
all chance of salvation, as I shall relate in the next chapter. 525. Likewise, when the
great Lady saw all the servants and soldiers who had come to take Him, fall
to the ground at his divine word, She, in company with the angels, broke out
in a song of praise of his infinite power and of the virtue of his humanity,
which thereby renewed the victory of the Most High over Pharaoh and his
troops in the Red sea (Exod. 15, 4). She exalted the Lord of hosts, because
He was about to deliver Himself in an admirable manner to suffering and death
in order to save the human race from the captivity of Lucifer. Then She
besought the Lord to permit all these dumbfounded and vanquished enemies to
regain their senses and to arise. She was moved to the petition by her most
generous kindness and deep compassion for these men created by the Lord
according to his own image and likeness; on the other hand, She wanted to
fulfill in an eminent degree the law of loving our enemies and doing good to
those who persecute us, inculcated and practiced by her own Son and Master
(Matth. 5, 44), and finally because She knew that the prophecies of holy
Scripture were to be fulfilled in the Redemption of man. Although all these
were infallible, this did not hinder the most holy Mary from giving voice to
her prayer and thereby moving the Most High to grant these favors; for in the
infinite wisdom and in the decrees of his eternal will all these means were
foreseen as producing these effects in the manner most conformable to the
foreknowledge and foresight of the Lord. But it is not necessary to enter
into further explanation of such mysteries at present. When the servants of
the high priest laid hands on and bound the Savior, the most blessed Mother
felt on her own hands the pains caused by the ropes and chains, as if She
Herself was being bound and fettered; in the same manner She felt in her body
the blows and torments further inflicted upon the Lord, for, I have already
said, this favor was granted to his Mother, as we shall see in the course of
the Passion. Thus her sensible participation in his sufferings was some kind
of relief of the pain, which She would have suffered in her loving soul at
the thought of not being with Him in his torments. INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MOST HOLY MARY, GAVE ME. 526. My daughter, in all
that thou art made to understand and write concerning these mysteries, thou
drawest upon thyself (and upon mortals) a severe judgment, if thou dost not
overcome thy pusillanimity, ingratitude and baseness by meditating day and
night on the Passion and Death of Jesus crucified. This is the great science
of the saints, so little heeded by the worldly; it is the bread of life and
the spiritual food of the little ones, which gives wisdom to them and the
want of which starves the lovers of this proud world (Wis. 15, 3). In this
science I wish thee to be studious and wise, for with it thou canst buy
thyself all good things (Wis. 7, 11). My Son and Lord taught us this science
when He said: "I am the way, the truth and the life: no one cometh to my
Father except through Me" (John 14, 6). Tell me then, my daughter: if my
Lord and Master has made Himself the life and the way for men through his
Passion and Death, is it not evident that in order to go that way and live up
to this truth, they must follow Christ crucified, afflicted, scourged and
affronted? Consider the ignorance of men who wish to come to the Father
without following Christ, since they expect to reign with God without
suffering or imitating his Passion, yea without even a thought of accepting
any part of his suffering and Death, or of thanking Him for it. They want it
to procure for them the pleasures of this life as well as of eternal life,
while Christ their Creator has suffered the most bitter pains and torments in
order to enter heaven and to show them by his example how they are to find
the way of light. 527. Eternal rest is
incompatible with the shame of not having duly labored for its attainment. He
is not a true son of his father, who does not imitate him, nor he a good
disciple, who does not follow his Master, nor he a good servant, who does not
accompany his lord; nor do I count him a devoted child, who does not suffer
with me and my divine Son. But our love for the eternal salvation of men
obliges us, who see them forgetful of this truth and so adverse to suffering,
to send them labors and punishments, so that if they do not freely welcome
them, they may at least be forced to undergo them and so be enabled to enter
upon the way of salvation. And yet even all this is insufficient, since their
inclinations and their blind love of visible things detains them and makes
them hard and heavy of heart; they rob them of remembrance and affection
toward these higher things, which might raise them above themselves and above
created things. Hence it comes, that men do not find joy in their
tribulations, nor rest in their labors, nor consolation in their sorrows, nor
any peace in adversities. For, altogether different from the saints who glory
in tribulation as the fulfillment of their most earnest desires, they desire
none of it and abhor all that is painful. In many of the faithful this
ignorance goes still farther; for some of them expect to be distinguished by
God's most intimate love, others, to be pardoned without penance, others, to
be highly favored. Nothing of all this will they attain, because they do not
ask in the name of Christ the Lord and because they do not wish to imitate
Him and follow Him in his Passion. 528. Therefore, my
daughter, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in
this mortal life. By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred
Passion thou wilt attain the summit of perfection and attain the love of a
spouse. Bless and magnify my most holy Son for the love with which He
delivered Himself up for the salvation of mankind. Little do mortals heed
this mystery; but I, as an Eyewitness, assure thee, next to ascending to the
right hand of his eternal Father, nothing was so highly estimated and so
earnestly desired by Him, as to offer Himself for suffering and death and to
deliver Himself up entirely to his enemies. I wish also that thou lament with
great sorrow the fact that Judas, in his malice and treachery, has many more
followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many
the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and
wish to crucify Him anew. Bewail all these evils, which thou understandest
and knowest, in order that thou mayest imitate and follow me in this matter. THE FLIGHT
AND DISPERSION OF THE APOSTLES AFTER THE CAPTURE OF THEIR MASTER; HOW HIS
MOST BLESSED MOTHER WAS AWARE OF ALL THAT HAPPENED AND HOW SHE ACTED IN
CONSEQUENCE; THE PERDITION OF JUDAS AND THE WORRY OF THE DEMONS OVER WHAT
THEY WERE OBLIGED TO EXPERIENCE. 529. After the seizure of
our Savior Jesus, his prophecy at the Supper, that all of the Apostles would
be greatly scandalized in his Person (Matth. 26, 31) and that satan would
attack them in order to sift them like wheat, was fulfilled. For when they
saw their divine Master taken prisoner and when they perceived, that neither
his meekness, nor his words so full of sweetness and power, nor his miracles,
nor his doctrine exemplified by such an unblamable life, could appease the
envy of the priests and pharisees, they fell into great trouble and
affliction. Naturally the fear of personal danger diminished their courage
and confidence in the counsels of their Master, and beginning to wander in
their faith, each one became possessed with anxious thoughts as to how he
could escape the threatening persecutions foreshadowed by what had happened
to their Captain and Master. The Apostles, availing themselves of the
preoccupation of the soldiers and servants in binding and fettering the meek
Lamb of God, betook themselves to flight unnoticed. Certainly their enemies,
if they had been permitted by the Author of life, would have captured all the
Apostles, especially if they had seen them fly like cowards or criminals
(Matth. 26, 56). But it was not proper that they should be taken and made to
suffer at that time. This was clearly indicated as the will of the Lord, when
He said: that if they sought Him, they should let his companions go free;
these words had the force of a divine decree and were verified in the event.
For the hatred of the priests and pharisees extended to the Apostles, and was
deep enough to make them desire the death of all of them. That is the reason
why the high priest Annas asked the divine Master about his disciples and his
doctrine (John 18,8). 530. At the flight of the
Apostles, Lucifer, already troubled and vaguely perplexed, betook himself off
hesitating between different projects of his redoubled malice. He certainly
wished to see the doctrine of the Savior and all his disciples blotted out
from the world, so that not even the memory of them be left. Hence he would
have been well satisfied, if the Jews had imprisoned and killed them all. But
he had no hope of easily attaining this wish, and therefore he busied himself
in disquieting the Apostles by various suggestions and inciting them to
flight, in order that they might not witness the patience and virtues of
their Master in his sufferings. The astute dragon feared, that by this new
proof of his doctrine in his living example the Apostles might be confirmed
and fortified in their faith and thus resist the temptations which he planned
for them; therefore it seemed to him, that if he could weaken them now, he
could more easily cause them to fall away entirely by subsequent persecutions
easily to be raised against them among the only too ready enemies of their
Master. Thus the demon deceived himself by his own malicious calculations.
When therefore he saw the Apostles filled with cowardly fear and much
disturbed by the sorrow of their hearts, he rejoiced in their evil plight and
considered it the best time to begin his temptations. He assailed them with
rabid fury, filling them with strong doubts and suspicions against the Master
of life and urging them to give Him up and betake themselves to flight. They
easily yielded to his suggestions of flight; but they resisted many of the
doubts against faith, although some failed more, some less, not all of the
Apostles being equally disturbed or scandalized. 531. They separated from
each other, scattering in different directions; for it would have been
difficult for all of them to hide as they wished, if they remained together.
Only saint Peter and 532. Such was the interior
contention and strife in the hearts of the Apostles. Satan under cover of
this excitement, continually sought to instill into their minds doubts
concerning the teachings of Christ and concerning the prophecies, that
treated of the mysteries of his Passion. As in their sad interior conflict
they failed to see the least assurance of seeing their Master escape the
hands of the priests alive, their fears settled into a profound sorrow and
melancholy, in which they decided to fly from the danger and save their own
lives. And they were seized with such timidity and cowardice, that during
this night they felt nowhere safe, and every shadow or noise made them
tremble with fear. The consideration of the treachery of Judas added still
more to their fear; for, as he had not been seen in the company of any of the
eleven after his treacherous delivery of the Lord, they dreaded lest he
should excite against them the hatred of the priests. Saint Peter and 533. The heavenly Princess,
from the Cenacle, clearly understood and saw all; not only her most holy Son
in captivity and suffering, but all that happened inwardly and outwardly to the
Apostles. She observed their tribulation and temptations, their thoughts and
resolves, where each one was and what he did. But although all was known to
the most gentle Dove, She allowed Herself no feeling of indignation against
the Apostles, nor did She ever in the least reproach them for their
disloyalty; on the contrary, She was the One, who was principally
instrumental in restoring them to a better mind, as I shall show later on
(746, 747). From that hour on She commenced to pray for them. In sweetest
charity and with the compassion of a Mother, She interiorly addressed them:
"0 ye simple sheep, chosen by the Lord, do ye forsake your most loving
Pastor, who cares for you and feeds you on the pastures of eternal life ?
Why, being disciples of such a truthful doctrine, do you leave your
Benefactor and Master? How can you forget the sweet and loving intercourse,
which so attracted your hearts? Why do you listen to the master of lies and
follow the ravenous wolf, who seeks your ruin? O most patient and sweetest
Lord, how meek, and kind and merciful does the love of men make Thee! Extend
thy gentle love to this little flock, which is now troubled and dispersed by
the fury of the serpent. Do not deliver over to the beasts those souls, who
have confessed thy name (Ps. 73, 19). Great hopes hast thou set in those,
whom Thou hast chosen as thy servants and through whom Thou hast already
accomplished great things. Let not such graces be in vain, nor reject those
whom Thou hast freely chosen for the foundations of thy Church. Let not
Lucifer glory in having, beneath thy very eyes, vanquished the best of thy
family and household. My Son and Lord, look upon thy beloved disciples John,
Peter and James, so much favored by thy love and good will. Turn an eye of
clemency also upon the rest, crush the pride of the dragon, which now pursues
them with implacable fury." 534. In all that most holy
Mary did on this occasion and in the pleasure She caused the Almighty by her
holiness, She exceeded in grandeur all that was ever possible in men and
angels. Over and above the sensible and spiritual sorrows caused by the
torments of her divine Son and the affronts perpetrated against his divine
Person (for which the blessed Mother entertained the highest veneration
attainable by a creature), She was overwhelmed with the sorrow caused by the
fall of the Apostles, the greatness of which She alone could properly
estimate. She was obliged to witness their weakness and forgetfulness in the
face of his divine favors, his doctrines and exhortations, and in so short a
time after the last Supper, when He had warned them so lovingly, given them
holy Communion and elevated them to such a high dignity as the priesthood.
She saw also the danger of their falling into even greater sins on account of
the astute and furious attacks of Lucifer and his demons, and on account of
the heedlessness of the Apostles in their greater or less confusion and fear.
Yet notwithstanding this great sea of sorrow She multiplied and intensified
her petitions in order to merit for them sufficient assistance and speedy
pardon from her Son, so that they might again return to their faith and to
his friendship in grace. She alone was the powerful and efficacious
instrument of these results. During these hours the great Lady united within
Herself all the faith, all the holiness, all the worship and divine cult of
the Church; for in Her was preserved and enclosed as in the living and
incorruptible ark and as in the temple and sanctuary, the evangelical law and
sacrifice. She by Herself alone then constituted the entire Church, because
She alone preserved full faith, hope and love, complete worship and adoration
for the great object of our faith, not only supplying her full share for
Herself, but for the Apostles and for the whole human race. She it was who
compensated, as far as was possible to a creature, for the deficiencies and
faults in the rest of the mystical members of the Church. She performed
heroic acts of faith, hope, love toward Her Son and true God, She venerated
and adored Him by her prostrations and genuflections, She blessed Him with
wonderful songs of praise, not allowing her deep and bitter sorrow to
interfere with the beautiful and harmonious disposition and the full
operation of all her faculties, as preordained by the Almighty. What
Ecclesiasticus says of music: that it is inopportune in time of sorrow
(Eccli. 22, 6), does not apply to Her; for only the blessed Mary was able and
knew how to augment the beautiful harmony of virtues in the midst of sorrow. 535. Leaving the twelve
Apostles in the sad state above mentioned, I now proceed to relate the most
unhappy end of the traitor Judas, somewhat anticipating the course of events,
in order to have done with his lamentable and unfortunate lot and continue
the narrative of the Passion. With the band that had taken the Lord prisoner,
the sacrilegious disciple arrived at the house of the high priest, that of
Annas first, and then at that of Caiphas, who, with the scribes and pharisees
were awaiting results. When the perfidious disciple saw his divine Master
overwhelmed with blasphemies and injuries and how He suffered all with such
admirable silence, meekness and patience, he began to reflect upon his own
treachery and that it alone caused such cruel injustice to be heaped upon an
innocent Man and his Benefactor. He recalled the miracles he had witnessed,
the doctrines he had heard, and the benefits enjoyed at his hands, and he
remembered the kindness and meekness of the most holy Mary, the charity with
which She had solicited his conversion, and the malice with which he had
offended the Son and the Mother for such insignificant gain. All the sins he
had committed piled themselves up before his interior gaze like a dark and
chaotic, impenetrable mountain. 536. As I have stated
above, Judas was forsaken by divine grace at the time when he consummated his
treachery by his perfidious kiss and by his contact with Christ our Savior.
According to the hidden judgments of the Most High, although he was now left
to his own counsels, the divine justice and equity, ingrained in the natural
reason, permitted these reflections to arise and to be supplemented by many
suggestions of Lucifer who possessed him. But though Judas thus reasoned
correctly in these matters, it was the devil who awakened these truths and
added many other false and deceitful suggestions, in order to deduct from
them not the salutary hope of remedy, but to convince him of the
impossibility of repairing the damage and to lead him to the despair to which
he at last yielded. Lucifer roused in him a keen sorrow for his misdeeds; not
however for a good purpose, nor founded upon having offended the divine
Truth, but upon his disgrace among men and upon the fear of retribution from
his Master, whom he knew to be miraculously powerful and One whom he would be
able to escape nowhere in the whole world. Everywhere the blood of the just
One would forever cry for vengeance against him. Filled with these thoughts
and others aroused by the demon, he was involved in confusion, darkness and
rabid rage against himself. Fleeing from all human beings he essayed to throw
himself from the highest roof of the priests' house without being able to
execute his design. Gnawing like a wild beast at the flesh of his arms and
hands, striking fearful blows at his head, tearing out his hair and raving in
his talk, he rushed away and showered maledictions and execrations upon
himself as the most unfortunate and miserable of men. 537. Seeing him thus beside
himself Lucifer inspired him with the thought of hunting up the priests,
returning to them the money and confessing his sin. This Judas hastened to
do, and he loudly shouted at them those words: "I have sinned, betraying
innocent blood!" (Matth. 27,4). But they, not less hardened, answered
that he should have seen to that before. The intention of the demon was to
hinder the death of Christ if possible, for reasons already given and yet to
be given (No. 419). This repulse of the priests, so full of impious cruelty,
took away all hope from Judas and he persuaded himself that it was impossible
to hinder the death of his Master. So thought also the demon, although later
on he made more efforts to forestall it through Pilate. But as Judas could be
of no more use to him for his purpose, he augmented his distress and despair,
persuading him that in order to avoid severer punishments he must end his
life. Judas yielded to this terrible deceit, and rushing forth from the city,
hung himself on a dried out fig tree (Matth. 27, 5). Thus he that was the
murderer of his Creator, became also his own murderer. This happened on
Friday at twelve o'clock, three hours before our Savior died. It was not
becoming that his death and the consummation of our Redemption should
coincide too closely with the execrable end of the traitorous disciple, who
hated him with fiercest malice. 538. The demons at once
took possession of the soul of Judas and brought it down to hell. His
entrails burst from the body hanging upon the tree (Acts 1, 18). All that saw
this stupendous punishment of the perfidious and malicious disciple for his
treason, were filled with astonishment and dread. The body remained hanging
by the neck for three days, exposed to the view of the public. During that
time the Jews attempted to take it down from the tree and to bury it in
secret, for it was a sight apt to cause great confusion to the pharisees and
priests, who could not refute such a testimony of his wickedness. But no
efforts of theirs sufficed to drag or separate the body from its position on
the tree until three days had passed, when, according to the dispensation of
divine justice, the demons themselves snatched the body from the tree and
brought it to his soul, in order that both might suffer eternal punishment in
the profoundest abyss of hell. Since what I have been made to know of the
pains and chastisements of Judas, is worthy of fear inspiring attention, I
will according to command reveal what has been shown me concerning it. Among
the obscure caverns of the infernal prisons was a very large one, arranged
for more horrible chastisements than the others, and which was still
unoccupied; for the demons had been unable to cast any soul into it, although
their cruelty had induced them to attempt it many times from the time of Cain
unto that day. All hell had remained astonished at the failure of these
attempts, being entirely ignorant of the mystery, until the arrival of the
soul of Judas, which they readily succeeded in hurling and burying in this
prison never before occupied by any of the damned. The secret of it was, that
this cavern of greater torments and fiercer fires of hell, from the creation
of the world, had been destined for those, who, after having received
Baptism, would damn themselves by the neglect of the Sacraments, the
doctrines, the Passion and Death of the Savior, and the intercession of his
most holy Mother. As Judas had been the first one who had so signally
participated in these blessings, and as he had so fearfully misused them, he
was also the first to suffer the torments of this place, prepared for him and
his imitators and followers. 539. This mystery I was
commanded to reveal more particularly for a dreadful warning to all
Christians, and especially to the priests, prelates and religious, who are
accustomed to treat with more familiarity the body and blood of Christ our
Lord, and who, by their office and state are his closer friends. In order to
avoid blame I would like to find words and expressions sufficiently strong to
make an impression on our unfeeling obduracy, so that we all may take a
salutary warning and be filled with the fear of the punishments awaiting all
bad Christians according to the station each one of us occupies. The demons
torment Judas with inexpressible cruelty, because he persisted in the
betrayal of his Master, by whose Passion and Death they were vanquished and
despoiled of the possession of the world. The wrath which they had conceived
against the Savior and his blessed Mother, they wreck, as far as is allowed
them, on all those who imitate the traitorous disciple and who follow him in
his contempt of the evangelical law, of the Sacraments and of the fruits of
the Redemption. And in this the demons are but executing just punishment on
those members of the mystical body of Christ, who have severed their connection
with its head Christ, and who have voluntarily drifted away and delivered
themselves over to the accursed hate and implacable fury of his enemies. As
the instruments of divine justice they chastise the redeemed for their
ingratitude toward their Redeemer. Let the children of the Church consider
well this truth, for it cannot fail to move their hearts and induce them to
evade such a lamentable fate. 540. During the whole
course of the Passion Lucifer with his demons moved about, eagerly spying out
all the circumstances of each event in order to ascertain whether Christ the
Lord was really the Messias and Redeemer of the world. On the one hand the
miracles seemed to argue the truth of his suspicions, on the other very often
the doings and the sufferings, so much like those of weak human nature,
argued the contrary. The strongest argument for the truth of his suspicions
was Lucifer's personal experience of the power of the Redeemer, when He said
"I am He," which caused him and all his associates to fall prostrate,
annihilated in the presence of the Lord; and this had happened only a short
time after he had been permitted to issue from hell, whither the demons had
been hurled from the Cenacle. It was true, Mary had routed them from the hall
of the last Supper; yet Lucifer with his ministers connected it with the
power exercised by Jesus and they could not but admit, that this power of
both Mother and Son was something altogether new and unexperienced by them.
When he had received permission to rise from his fall in the garden, he
conferred with the rest and expressed his opinion, that this could not be
merely human power, but without doubt the power of One, who is God and at the
same time man. "If He shall die, as we have planned, He will accomplish
the Redemption of man and satisfy the justice of God; then our sway will
cease and all our intentions will be frustrated. We have erred in seeking his
death. If now we cannot prevent his death, let us see how far his endurance
will go and excite his enemies to torture Him with most impious cruelty. Let
us stir up their fury against Him; let us suggest to their minds new insults,
affronts, ignominies and torments to be inflicted upon his Person; let us
drive them to vent upon Him all their wrath in order to exhaust his patience,
and let us carefully study the results." These proposals the demons
sought to realize, although, on account of the hidden mysteries alluded to
above (and to be mentioned later, No. 579, 627, 631), they found that not all
of their plans succeeded. Whenever they incited the executioners to inflict
tortures unbecoming his royal and divine Person, the Lord would not permit
such indignities farther than was becoming, while He gave free scope to their
inhuman barbarities and savage fury in all the rest. 541. The great Lady of
heaven, Mary, likewise interfered in order to curb the insolent malice of
Lucifer; for She was well aware of all the designs of the infernal dragon. At
times She would make use of her sovereign power as Queen to prevent some of
the hellish suggestion to reach the ministers of the Passion; at others She
prevented their execution by her prayers, or She enlisted the service of her
holy angels to drive away and confuse the persecutors of her Son. Those
sufferings, which by her great wisdom She knew, that her Son wished to
undergo, She permitted, fulfilling in all things the divine will. She knew
all about the unhappy death of Judas, his torments and place of imprisonment
in hell; the bed of fire, which He was to occupy for all eternity, as the
master of hypocrisy and the leader of all those who were to deny Christ our
Redeemer, as well in thought as in their works, who, according to Jeremias
(17, 3), leave the veins of living waters, that is Christ, and whose names
are written and sealed upon the earth, far from heaven, where are written the
names of the predestined. All this the Mother of mercy knew and She wept over
his fate most bitterly, praying for the welfare of men and for their
salvation from such great blindness and ruinous destruction. Yet in all this
She conformed Herself to the just and hidden decrees of divine INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MARY, GAVE ME. 542. My daughter, thou art
astonished, not without cause, at what thou hast learned and recorded of the
unhappy fate of Judas and of the fall of the Apostles, who were all disciples
in the school of Christ, nursed at his breast by his doctrine, by the example
of his life, and by his miracles, enjoying his sweetest and gentlest
intercourse, and many other benefits of my assistance and intercession. But I
truly say to thee, if all the children of the Church would attentively
consider this example, they would find a salutary exhortation and warning in
this mortal state of life against the danger surrounding them even in the
midst of the favors and blessings they continually receive at the hands of
the Lord. All of them cannot be equal to seeing Him with bodily eyes and
having intercourse with Him as the living image of all sanctity. The Apostles
received from me personal exhortations and they were eyewitnesses of my
blameless and holy conduct; they received great tokens of my kindness and my
charity flowed directly from God through me upon them. If they, in the very
act of receiving such favors and in the very presence of their God and
Savior, forgot all of them and all of their obligation of corresponding to
them: who then shall be so presumptuous in this mortal life as not to fear
the danger of eternal ruin, no matter how many favors he has received from the
Almighty? They were Apostles chosen by their divine Master, their true God;
yet one of them fell lower than any other individual of the human race; and
the others failed in faith, the foundation of all virtue. Yet all this was
conformable to the just judgments of the Most High. Why then should those who
are not Apostles, be without fear, who have not so labored in the 543. Concerning the
perdition of Judas and of his most just punishment thou hast written enough
in order to set forth to what extremes a man can be brought by yielding to
vices and to the devil, and by refusing to hear and follow the pleading of
grace. I moreover inform thee, that not only the torments of the traitorous disciple
Judas, but also those of many other Christians, who condemn themselves and
shall be sent to the same place of punishment, which was assigned to them and
Judas from the beginning of the world, are greater than the torments of many
demons. For my most holy Son did not die for the angels, but for men; nor
were the fruits and results of the Redemption for the demon, but entirely at
the disposal of the children of the Church in the holy Sacraments. The
contempt for these incomparable benefits is not properly the sin of the
devils, but of the Christians; and therefore they must expect a special and
appropriate punishment for this contempt. The mistake of not having
recognized Christ as the true God causes the deepest and most tormenting
regret to Lucifer and his evil spirits for all eternity. Hence, on account of
this error, they are filled with special wrath against those that were
redeemed, particularly against the Christians, who derived the greatest
benefits from the Redemption and the blood of the Lamb. That is why the
devils are so eager to cause forgetfulness and misuse of these graces in them
and why afterwards in hell, they are permitted to vent so much the greater
fury and wrath upon the wicked Christians. If it were not for the equitable
dispositions of divine justice by which the pains are proportioned to the
guilt, they would wreck still fiercer vengeance upon them. But the goodness
of the Lord extends even to this place and restrains the malice of the demons
by his infinite power and wisdom. 544. In the fall of the
other eleven Apostles, I wish, my dearest, that thou learn the frailty of
human nature, since even in such great blessings and favors received of the
Lord, it easily falls into the habit of gross negligence and ingratitude,
such as the Apostles manifested in flying from their heavenly Master and
leaving Him in a spirit of doubt. Men incur this danger from their earthly
and sensuous inclinations, the result of past sins and of the habits formed
by a terrestrial, carnal and sensuous life, void of spirituality. On account
of it they desire and love the divine favors and benefits only in a carnal
manner. As soon as they fail to find that kind of enjoyment in them, they
turn to other sensible enjoyments, are moved by them and lose the true conception
of a spiritual life; for they treat it and estimate it according to the low
standard of mere sensuality. Hence the Apostles, though they were so greatly
favored by my most holy Son, fell into such gross heedlessness and sins; for
the miracles, the teachings and the examples affected them only in a sensible
manner; and as they, in spite of their being raised to justice and
perfection, permitted themselves to be affected by them only outwardly, they
were presently disturbed by temptation and yielded to it. They acted like men
who had done little to penetrate into the mysteries and into the spirit of
what they had seen and heard in the school of their Master. By this example,
my daughter, and by my teachings thou oughtest to be well instructed, a spiritual
disciple of mine, and not a terrestrial, accustoming thyself to despise mere
outwardness, even in favors bestowed upon thee by the Lord or myself. When
thou receivest them, do not attach thyself merely to the material or sensible
in them, but raise thy mind to the exalted and the spiritual contained
therein; to that which is perceived by the interior and spiritual, and not by
the animal senses (I Cor. 2, 14). If even the merely sensible can hinder the
spiritual life, how much is this true of that which pertains altogether to
earthly, animal and carnal life? Clearly I desire of thee to forget and blot
out of thy faculties all images and remembrances of mere creatures in order
that thou mayest be fit to receive my salutary teaching and be capable of imitating
me. JESUS THE
SAVIOR, BOUND AS A PRISONER, IS DRAGGED TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS; WHAT HAPPENED
IN CONNECTION THEREWITH AND WHAT THE MOST BLESSED MOTHER SUFFERED DURING THAT
TIME. 545. Fit were it to speak of
the suffering, the affronts and the Death of our Savior Jesus in such vivid
and efficacious words, that they enter into the soul like a two-edged sword,
piercing with deepest sorrow our inmost hearts (Heb. 4, 13). Not of an
ordinary kind were the pains He suffered and there is no sorrow like unto his
sorrow (Thren. 1, 12). For his body was not like the bodies of the rest of
men, nor did the Lord suffer for Himself, nor for his own sins, but for us
and for our sins (I Pet. 2, 21). Hence the words and expressions, by which we
describe his torments and sorrows, should not be of the common or ordinary
kind. But, woe is me, who cannot give sufficient force to my words, and
cannot find those my soul seeks in order to manifest this mystery! I will
speak according to my capacity and as far as is given me, although my powers
constrain and limit the greatness of what I understand, and my inadequate
words cannot reach the secret concepts of the heart. Let then the vividness
and force of the faith, which we profess as children of the Church, supply
what is defective in my words. If our words are but of the ordinary kind, let
our compassion and our sorrow be extraordinary; let our thoughts be of the
loftiest, our comprehension most real, our consideration of the deepest, our
thankfulness heartfelt, and our love most fervent; for all that we can do
shall fall short of what the reality demands, of what we owe as servants, as
friends, and as children adopted through his most sacred Passion and Death. 546. Having been taken
prisoner and firmly bound, the most meek Lamb Jesus was dragged from the
garden to the house of the high priests, first to the house of Annas (John
18, 13). The turbulent band of soldiers and servants, having been advised by
the traitorous disciple that his Master was a sorcerer and could easily
escape their hands, if they did not carefully bind and chain Him securely
before starting on their way, took all precautions inspired by such a
mistrust (Mark 14, 44). Lucifer and his compeers of darkness secretly irritated
and provoked them to increase their impious and sacrilegious ill-treatment of
the Lord beyond any bounds of humanity and decency. As they were willing
accomplices of Lucifer's malice, they omitted no outrage against the person
of their Creator within the limits set them by the Almighty. They bound Him
with a heavy iron chain with such ingenuity, that it encircled as well the
waist as the neck. The two ends of the chain, which remained free, were
attached to large rings or handcuffs, with which they manacled the hands of
the Lord, who created the heavens, the angels and the whole universe. The
hands thus secured and bound, they fastened not in front, but behind. This
chain they had brought from the house of Annas the high priest, where it had
served to raise the portcullis of a dungeon. They had wrenched it from its
place and provided it with padlock handcuffs. But they were not satisfied
with this unheard of way of securing a prisoner; for in their distrust they
added two pieces of strong rope: the one they wound around the throat of
Jesus and, crossing it at the breast, bound it in heavy knots all about the
body, leaving two long ends free in front, in order that the servants and
soldiers might jerk Him in different directions along the way. The second
rope served to tie his arms, being bound likewise around his waist. The two
ends of this rope were left hanging free to be used by two other executioners
for jerking Him from behind. 547. In this manner the
almighty and holy One permitted Himself to be bound and made helpless, as if
He were the most criminal of men and the weakest of the womanborn; for He had
taken upon Himself all the iniquities and weaknesses of our sins (Is. 53, 6).
They bound Him in the garden, adding to the chains and ropes insulting blows
and vilest language; for like venomous serpents they shot forth their
sacrilegious poison in abuse and blasphemy against Him who is adored by
angels and men, and who is magnified in heaven and on earth. They left the 548. During all this time
Lucifer, while inciting these ministers of evil, watched all the actions and
movements of our Savior. His patience he thus put to the test in order to
find out, whether Jesus was only a man; for this doubt and perplexity
tormented his wicked pride above all others. As he was obliged to acknowledge
the meekness, patience and sweetness of Christ, his serene majesty without
change or disturbance amid all these injuries and sufferings, the infernal
dragon was enraged only so much the more and at one time, like one crazed by
fury, he attempted to seize the ropes in order that he and his fellow demons
might pull at them more violently than his human foes and thus perhaps
overcome the meekness of the Savior. But he was withheld by the most holy
Mary, who, from her retreat by a clear vision saw all that happened to her
divine Son. When She noticed this attempt of Lucifer, She made use of her
power as sovereign Queen and commanded him to desist. All strength
immediately left Lucifer and he could not proceed in his presumptuous intent.
It was not becoming that his malice should add to the sufferings and death of
the Redeemer in such a manner. He was however given permission to excite all
his fellow demons against the Lord, and these again were left a free hand to
incite his mortal enemies among the Jews ; since the latter had liberty of
will to consent or not. Lucifer used this freedom to its full extent, and therefore
said to the other evil spirits: "What kind of a man is this, now born
into the world, who by his patience and by his works so torments us and
annihilates us? None ever maintained such equanimity and such longsuffering
in tribulations since the time of Adam until now. Never have we found among
mortals such humility and meekness. How can we rest, when we see in the world
such a rare and powerful example, drawing others after Him? If this is the
Messias, He will certainly open heaven and close up the highway, by which we
have so far led men into our eternal torments; we shall be vanquished and all
our plans will be frustrated. Even if He is but a mere man, I cannot permit
such an example for the rest of mankind. Haste then, ministers of my exalted
power, let us persecute Him through his human foes, who, obedient to my sway,
have conceived of me some of our own furious envy." 549. The Author of our
salvation, hiding his power of annihilating his enemies in order that our
Redemption might be the more abundant, submitted to all the consequences of
the impious fury which Lucifer and his hellish squadron fomented in the Jews.
They dragged Him bound and chained under continued ill-treatment to the house
of Annas, before whom they presented Him as a malefactor worthy of death. It
was the custom of the Jews to present thus bound those criminals who merited
capital punishment; and they now made use of this custom in regard to Jesus,
in order to intimate his sentence even before the trial. The sacrilegious
priest Annas seated himself in proud and arrogant state on the platform or
tribunal of a great hall. Immediately Lucifer placed himself at his side with
a multitude of evil spirits. The servants and soldiers brought before Him
Jesus, bound and fettered, and said: "At last we bring hither this
wicked Man, who by his sorceries and evil deeds has disturbed all 550. Our Savior Jesus was
attended by innumerable angels, who confessed and adored Him, full of
admiration for the incomprehensible judgments of his wisdom (Rom. 11, 33) by
which the Lord consented to be held as a sinner and a criminal. The
iniquitous high priest pretended to be just and zealous for the honor of the
Lord, whose life he was seeking. The most meek Lamb was silent and opened not
his mouth, as Isaias prophesied (53, 7). Imperiously and haughtily the high
priest asked Him about his disciples (John 18, 19), and what doctrine He was
preaching and teaching. This question was put merely for the purpose of
misinterpreting his answer, if Jesus should utter any word that afforded such
a chance. But the Master of holiness, who is the Guide and the Corrector of
the most wise (Wis. 7, 15), offered to the eternal Father the humiliation of
being presented as a criminal before the high priest and of being questioned
by him as a prevaricator and author of a false doctrine. Our Redeemer with an
humble and cheerful countenance answered the question as to his doctrines:
"I have spoken openly to the world: I have always taught in the
synagogue and in the temple, whither all the Jews resort: and in secret I
have spoken nothing. Why askest thou Me? ask those, who have heard what I
have spoken unto them: behold they know what I have said." As the
doctrine of Christ our Lord came from his eternal Father, He spoke for it and
defended its honor. He referred them to his hearers, both because those by
whom He was now surrounded, would not believe Him and wished to distort all
He should say, and because the truth and force of his teachings recommended
and forced themselves upon the minds of his greatest enemies by their own
excellence. 551. Concerning the
Apostles He said nothing, because it was not necessary on this occasion and because
they were not reflecting much credit upon their Master by their present
conduct. Though his answer was so full of wisdom and so well suited to the
question, yet one of the servants of the high priest rushed up with raised
hand and audaciously struck the venerable and sacred face of Jesus, saying:
"Answerest Thou the high priest so?" The Lord accepted this
boundless injury, praying for the one who had inflicted it; and holding
Himself ready, if necessary, to turn and offer the other cheek for a second
stroke, according to the doctrine He had himself inculcated (Matth. 5,39).
But in order that the atrocious and daring offender might not shamelessly
boast of his wickedness, the Lord replied with great tranquility and
meekness: "If I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil; if well,
why strikest thou Me ?"O sight most astounding to the supernal spirits!
Since this is He, at the mere sound of whose voice the foundations of the
heavens tremble and ought to tremble and the whole firmament is shaken! This
is the Lord of whom Job says, He is wise of heart and mighty in strength; who
hath resisted Him and hath peace? Who hath removed mountains, and they, whom
He overthrew in his wrath, knew it not; He who moveth the earth out of its
place; who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and shutteth up the stars
as it were under a seal; who doth things great and incomprehensible, whose
wrath no man can resist, and under whom they stoop, that bear up the world
(Job 9, 4, etc.); this is the One, who for the love of men patiently suffers
a servant to strike and wound Him in the face by a buffet! 552. By the humble and
appropriate reply of the Lord, the wickedness of the sacrilegious servant
stood reprimanded. Yet neither the shame of this reprimand, nor the shameful
negligence of the high priest, which permitted such a criminal unfairness in
his very presence, moved either him or the other Jews to moderate their
conduct toward the Author of life. While this ill-treatment of the Lord was
going on, saint Peter and the other disciple, who was none other than 553. The denial of Peter
caused greater pain to the Lord than the buffet which He had received; for
this sin was directly opposed and abhorrent to his immense charity, while
pains and sufferings were sweet and welcome to Him, since He could thereby
atone for our sins. After this first denial of Peter, Christ prayed for him
to his eternal Father and ordained that through the intercession of the
blessed Mary he should obtain pardon even after the third denial. The great
Lady witnessed all that passed from her oratory, as I have said. As She
contained in her own breast the propitiatory and sacrifice of her Son and
Lord in sacramental form, She directed her petitions and loving aspirations
to Him, eliciting most heroic acts of compassion, thanksgiving, adoration and
worship. She bitterly wept over the denial of saint Peter, and ceased not,
until She perceived that the Lord would not refuse him the necessary helps
for effectually rising from his fall. The purest Mother also felt all the
wounds and torments of her Son in the same portions of her virginal body as
the Savior. When the Lord was bound with the chains and ropes, She felt on
her wrists such pains, that the blood oozed from her fingernails, as if they
had been really bound and crushed: in the same manner also the other wounds
affected her body. As to these tortures were added the sorrows of her heart
in seeing Christ our Lord suffer, She shed miraculous tears of blood. She
felt also the buffet in the same way, as if that sacrilegious hand had struck
at the same time her Son and Herself. At this wicked affront and at the
blasphemous insult offered to the Lord, She called out to her holy angels to
join Her in magnifying and adoring their Creator in compensation for the
injuries offered Him by sinners, and in many most sorrowful lamentations She
conferred with the angels concerning the cause of her affliction and
mourning. INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE GREAT QUEEN AND LADY GAVE ME. 554. My daughter, to great
deeds art thou called and invited on account of the divine enlightenment thou
receivest concerning the mysteries of the sufferings of my most holy Son and
of myself for the human race, and on account of the knowledge which thou hast
obtained concerning the small return made by heartless and ungrateful men for
all our pains. Thou livest yet in mortal flesh and art thyself subject to
this ignorance and weakness; but by the force of truth thou art now roused to
great wonder, sorrow and compassion at the want of attention displayed by
mortals toward these great sacraments and at the losses sustained by them through
their lukewarmness and negligence. What then are the thoughts of the angels
and saints, and what are my thoughts in beholding this world and all the
faithful in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness, when they
have the Passion and Death of my divine Son before their eyes, and when they
have me, for their Mother and Intercessor and his most pure life and mine for
an example? I tell thee truly, my dearest, only my intercession and the
merits of his Son, which I offer to the eternal Father, can delay the
punishment and placate his wrath, can retard the destruction of the world and
the severe chastisement of the children of the Church, who know his will and
fail to fulfill it (John 15, 15). But I am much incensed to find so few who
condole with me and try to console my Son in his sorrows, as David says (Ps.
68, 21). This hardness of heart will cause great confusion to them on the day
of judgment; since they will then see with irreparable sorrow, not only that
they were ungrateful, but inhuman and cruel toward my divine Son, toward me
and toward themselves. 555. Consider then thy
duty, my dearest, and raise thyself above all earthly things and above
thyself; for I am calling thee and choose thee to imitate and follow me into
the solitude, in which I am left by creatures, whom my Son and I have pursued
with so many blessings and favors. Weigh in thy heart, how much it cost my
Lord to reconcile mankind to the eternal Father (Colos. 1,22) and regain for
them his friendship. Weep and afflict thyself that so many should live in
such forgetfulness and that so many should labor with all their might at
destroying and losing what was bought by the blood of God itself and all that
I from the first moment of my Conception have sought to procure and am procuring
for their salvation. Awaken in thy heart the deepest grief, that in his holy
Church there should be many followers of the hypocritical and sacrilegious
priests who, under cover of a false piety, still condemn Christ; that pride
and sumptuousness with other grave vices should be raised to authority and
exalted, while humility, truth, justice and all virtues be so oppressed and
debased and avarice and vanity should prevail. Few know the poverty of
Christ, and fewer embrace it. Holy faith is hindered and is not spread among
the nations on account of the boundless ambition of the mighty of this earth;
in many Catholics it is inactive and dead; and whatever should be living, is
near to death and to eternal perdition. The counsels of the Gospel are
forgotten, its precepts trodden under foot, charity almost extinct. My son
and true God offers his cheeks in patience and meekness to be buffeted and
wounded (Thren. 3, 30). Who pardons an insult for the sake of imitating Him?
Just the contrary is set up as law in this world, not only by the infidels,
but by the very children of the faith and of light. 556. In recognizing these
sins I desire that thou imitate me in what I did during the Passion and
during my whole life, namely practice the virtues opposed to these vices. As
a recompense for their blasphemies, I blessed God; for their oaths, I praised
Him; for their unbelief, I excited acts of faith, and so for all the rest of
the sins committed. This is what I desire thee to do while living in this
world. Fly also the dangerous intercourse with creatures, taught by the
example of Peter, for thou art not stronger than he, the Apostle of Christ;
and if thou fall in thy weakness, weep over thy fault and immediately seek my
intercession. Make up for thy ordinary faults and weaknesses by thy patience
in adversities, accept them with a joyous mien and without disturbance, no
matter what they may be, whether they be sickness or the molestations coming
from creatures, or whether they arise from the opposition of the flesh to the
spirit, or from the conflicts with visible or invisible enemies. In all these
things canst thou suffer and must thou bear up in faith, hope and magnanimous
sentiment. I remind thee, that there is no exercise more profitable and
useful for the soul than to suffer: for suffering gives light, undeceives,
detaches the heart from visible things and raises it up to the Lord. He will
come to meet those in suffering, because He is with the afflicted and sends
to them his protection and help (Ps. 40, 15). CHRIST IS
DRAGGED TO THE HOUSE OF THE PRIEST CAIPHAS, WHERE HE IS FALSELY ACCUSED AND
ASKED WHETHER HE IS THE SON OF GOD; SAINT PETER DENIES HIM FOR THE SECOND AND
THIRD TIME; WHAT MOST HOLY MARY DID ON THIS OCCASION, AND OTHER MYSTERIES. 557. After Jesus had been
thus insulted and struck in the house of Annas, He was sent, bound and
fettered as He was, to the priest Caiphas, the son in-law of Annas, who in
that year officiated as the prince and high priest; with him were gathered
the scribes and distinguished men of the Jews in order to urge the
condemnation of the most innocent Lamb (Matth. 26, 57). The invincible
patience and meekness of the Lord of all virtues (Ps. 23, 10) astounded the
demons, and they were filled with a confusion and fury so great as no words
can describe. Since they could not penetrate into the interior of the
sanctuary of his humanity, and since they noticed in the meekest Lord no
inordinate movement, nor any sign of complaint, nor any sighing, nor the
least attempt at human relief, by which they are wont to search the hearts of
other men, the dragon was in the utmost torments and surprised as at
something altogether new and unheard of among weak and imperfect mortals. In
his fury he redoubled his efforts to irritate the scribes and servants of the
priests against Him and excite them to shower their abominable insults and
affronts upon his devoted head. In all that the demon suggested to them they
showed themselves most eager and they executed it as far as the divine will
allowed. 558. The whole rabble of
infernal spirits and merciless foes of Christ left the house of Annas and
dragged our Lord Savior through the streets to the house of Caiphas,
exercising upon Him all the cruelty of their ignominious fury. The high priests
and his attendants broke out in loud derision and laughter, when they saw
Jesus brought amid tumultuous noise into their presence and beheld Him now
subject to their power and jurisdiction without hope of escape. O mystery of
the most exalted wisdom of heaven! O foolishness and ignorance of hell, and
blind stupidity of mortals! What a distance immeasurable do I see between the
doings of the Most High and yours! At the very time when the King of glory,
as the Lord of all virtues and mighty in battles, (Ps. 23, 8), is vanquishing
vice, and death, and all sin by the virtues of patience, humility and
charity, the world boasts of having overcome and subjected Him to its
arrogance and proud presumption! How different were the thoughts of Christ
our Lord from those of the ministers of wickedness! The Author of life
offered up to the eternal Father the triumph, which his meekness and humility
won over sin; He prayed for the priests, the scribes and servants, presenting
his patience and sufferings as a compensation for their persecutions and
excusing them on account of their ignorance. The same prayer and petition was
sent up at the same time by his blessed Mother, for her enemies and the
enemies of her divine Son, thus following and imitating the Lord in all his doings;
for, as I have many times said, She saw all as if personally present. Between
the actions of the Son and the Mother there was a most sweet and wonderful
harmony and a correspondence, most pleasing to the eyes of the eternal
Father. 559. The high priest
Caiphas, filled with a deadly envy and hatred against the Master of life, was
seated in his chair of state or throne. With him were Lucifer and all his
demons, who had come from the house of Annas. The scribes and pharisees, like
bloodthirsty wolves, surrounded the gentle Lamb; all of them were full of the
exultation of the envious, who see the object of their envy confounded and
brought down. By common consent they sought for witnesses, whom they could
bribe to bring false testimonies against Jesus our Savior (Matth. 26, 59).
Those that had been procured, advanced to proffer their accusations and
testimony; but their accusations neither agreed with each other, nor could
any of their slander be made to apply to Him, who of his very nature was
innocence and holiness (Mark 25, 56; Heb. 7, 26). In order not to be foiled,
they brought two other false witnesses, who deposed, that they had heard
Jesus say, He could destroy the temple of God made by the hands of men, and
build up another one in three days, not made by them (Mark 16, 58). This
testimony did not seem to be of much value, although they founded upon it the
accusation, that He arrogated to Himself divine power. Even if this testimony
had not been false in itself, the saying, if uttered by the Lord Almighty,
would have been infallibly true and could not have been presumptuous or
false. But the testimony was false; since the Lord had not uttered these
words in reference to the material 560. Our Savior Jesus
answered not a word to all the calumnies and lies brought forward against his
innocence. Caiphas, provoked by the patient silence of the Lord, rose up in
his seat and said to Him: "Why dost Thou not answer to what so many
witnesses testify against Thee?" But even to this the Lord made no
response. For Caiphas and the rest were not only indisposed to believe Him;
but they treacherously wished to make use of his answer in order to calumniate
Him and satisfy the people in their proceedings against the Galileean, so
that they might not be thought to have condemned Him to death without cause.
This humble silence, which should have appeased the wicked priest, only
infuriated him so much the more because it frustrated his evil purpose.
Lucifer, who incited the high priest and all the rest, intently watched the
conduct of the Savior. But the intention of the dragon was different from
that of the high priest. He merely wanted to irritate the Lord, or to hear
some word, by which he could ascertain whether he was true God. 561. With this purpose
satan stirred up Caiphas to the highest pitch of rage and to ask in great
wrath and haughtiness: "I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell
us, if Thou be the Christ, the Son of God." This question of the high
priest certainly convicted him at once of the deepest folly and of dreadful
blasphemy; for if it was sincere, he had permitted Christ to be brought
before his tribunal in doubt whether He was the true God or not, which would
make him guilty of the most formidable and audacious crime. The doubt in such
a matter should have been solved in quite another way, conformable to the
demands of right reason and justice. Christ our Savior, hearing Himself
conjured by the living God, inwardly adored and reverenced the Divinity,
though appealed to by such sacrilegious lips. Out of reverence for the name
of God He therefore answered: "Thou hast said: I am He. Nevertheless I
say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man (who I am) sitting on the
right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven"
(Matth. 26, 64). At this divine answer the demons and the men were affected
in different ways. Lucifer and his devils could not bear it; but immediately
felt a superior force, which hurled them down into the abyss and oppressed
them by the truth it contained. And they would not have dared to come again
into the presence of Christ our Savior, if the divine 562. But the high priest,
furious at the answer of the Lord, instead of looking upon it as a solution
of his doubt, rose once more in his seat, and rending his garments as an
outward manifestation of his zeal for the honor of God, loudly cried out:
"He hath blasphemed; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now
you have heard the blasphemy: what think you?" (Matth. 26, 65.) The real
blasphemy however consisted rather in these words of Caiphas, since he denied
the certain fact that Christ was the Son of God by his very nature, and since
he attributed to the divine Personality sinfulness, which was directly
repugnant to his very nature. Such was the folly of the wicked priest, who by
his office should have recognized and proclaimed the universal truth. He made
of himself an execrable blasphemer in maintaining that He, who is holiness
itself, had blasphemed. Having previously, with satanical instinct, abused
his high office in prophesying that the death of one man is better than the
ruin of all the people, he now was hindered by his sins from understanding
his own prophecy. As the example and the opinions of princes and prelates
powerfully stirs up the flattery and subserviency of inferiors, that whole
gathering of wickedness was incensed at the Savior Jesus: all exclaimed in a
loud voice: "He is guilty of death (Matth. 26, 66), let Him die, let Him
die!" Roused by satanic fury they all fell upon their most meek Master
and discharged upon Him their wrath. Some of them struck Him in the face,
others kicked Him, others tore out his hair, others spat upon his venerable
countenance, others slapped or struck Him in the neck, which was a treatment
reserved among the Jews only for the most abject and vile of criminals. 563. Never among men were
such outrageous and frightful insults heaped upon anyone as were then heaped
upon the Redeemer. Saint Luke and saint Mark say that they covered his face
and then struck Him with their hands and fists saying: Prophesy, prophesy to
us, Thou Prophet, who was it that struck Thee? The reason for their doing
this was mysterious: namely, the joy with which our Savior suffered all these
injuries and blasphemies (as I will soon relate) made his face shine forth in
extraordinary beauty, and on this account those ministers of wickedness were
seized with unbearable consternation and shame. They sought to attribute it
to sorcery and magic and, by a resolution befitting also well their
unworthiness, they covered the face of the Lord with an unclean cloth, so
that they might not be hindered and tormented by its divine light in venting
their diabolical wrath. All these affronts, reproaches and insults were seen
and felt by the most holy Mary, causing in Her the same pains and wounds in
the same parts of her body and at the same time as inflicted upon the Lord.
The only difference was, that in our Lord the blows and torments were inflicted
by the Jews themselves, while in his most pure Mother they were caused by the
Almighty in a miraculous manner and upon request of the Lady. According to
natural laws, the vehemence of her interior sorrow and anxiety would have put
an end to her life; but She was strengthened by divine power, so as to be
able to continue to suffer with her beloved Son and Lord. 564. The interior acts
performed by the Savior under these barbarous and unheard of persecutions,
cannot be fathomed by human reason or faculties. Mary alone understood them
fully, so as to be able to imitate them with the highest perfection. But as
the divine Master now experienced in his own Person, how necessary his
sympathy would be for those who were to follow him and practice his doctrine,
He exerted Himself so much the more in procuring for them grace and blessings
on this occasion, in which He was teaching them by his own example the narrow
way of perfection. In the midst of these injuries and torments, and those
which followed thereafter, the Lord established for his perfect and chosen
souls the beatitudes, which He had promised and proposed to them some time
before. He looked upon the poor in spirit, who were to imitate Him in this
virtue and said: "Blessed are you in being stripped of the earthly
goods; for by my Passion and Death I am to entail upon you the heavenly
kingdom as a secure and certain possession of voluntary poverty. Blessed are
those who meekly suffer and bear adversities and tribulations; for, besides
the joy of having imitated Me, they shall possess the land of the hearts and
the good will of men through the peacefulness of their intercourse and the
sweetness of their virtues. Blessed are they that weep while they sow in
tears; for in them, they shall receive the bread of understanding and life,
and they shall afterwards harvest the fruits of everlasting joy and
bliss." 565. "Blessed are also
those who hunger and thirst for justice and truth; for I shall earn for them
satiation far beyond all their desires, as well in the reign of grace as in
the reign of glory. Blessed are they, who, imitating Me in my offers of
pardon and friendship, mercifully pity those that offend and persecute them;
for I promise them the fullness of mercy from my Father. Blessed be the pure
of heart, who imitate Me in crucifying their flesh in order to preserve the
purity of their souls. I promise them the vision of peace and of my Divinity,
by becoming like unto Me and by partaking of Me. Blessed are the peaceful,
who, yielding their rights, do not resist the evil-minded and deal with them
with a sincere and tranquil heart without vengeance; they shall be called my
children, because they imitate my eternal Father and I shall write them in my
memory and in my mind as my adopted sons. Those that suffer persecution for
justice's sake, shall be the blessed heirs of my celestial kingdom, since
they suffer with Me; and where I am, there also they shall be in eternity.
Rejoice, ye poor; be consoled all ye that are and shall be afflicted; glory
in your lot, ye little ones and despised ones of this world, you who suffer
in humility and longanimity, suffer with an interior rejoicing; since all of
you are following Me in the path of truth. Renounce vanity, despise the pomp
and haughtiness of the false and deceitful 566. In such divine acts
and in other aspirations for the good of sinners, our Savior Jesus occupied
Himself, while He was surrounded by his malignant enemies as by ravenous dogs
(Ps. 21, 17), who pursued Him and satiated Him with insults, affronts,
blasphemies and wounds. The Virgin Mary, who was most attentive to all that
passed, accompanied Him in all his acts and petitions; for She made the same
petitions for his enemies. She took charge of the blessings lavished by her
Son upon the just and the predestined, and constituted Herself as their
Mother, their Helper and Protectress. In the name of all of them She composed
hymns of praise and thanksgiving, because the Lord had assigned such an
exalted position in the reign of grace to the despised and poor of this
earth. On this account also, and on account of what She afterwards witnessed
in the interior of Christ, She chose anew labor and contempt, tribulations
and pains as her share during the Passion and during the rest of her most
holy life. 567. Saint Peter had
followed the Lord Jesus from the house of Annas to that of Caiphas, although
he took care to walk at some distance behind the crowd of enemies for fear
that the Jews might seize him. He partly repressed this fear on account of
the love of his Master and by the natural courage of his heart. Among the
great multitude which crowded in and out of the house of Caiphas and in the
darkness, it was not difficult for the Apostle to find entrance into the
house of Caiphas. In the gates of the courtyard a servant maid, who was a
portress as in the house of Annas, likewise noticed saint Peter; she
immediately went up to the soldiers, who stood at the fire with him and said:
"This man is one of those who were wont to accompany Jesus of
Nazareth." One of the bystanders said: "Thou art surely a Galileean
and one of them." Saint Peter denied it and added an oath, that he was
not a disciple of Jesus, immediately leaving the company at the fire. Yet, in
his eagerness to see the end, although he left the courtyard, he did not
leave the neighborhood. His natural love and compassion for the Lord still
caused him to linger in the place, where he saw Him suffer so much. So the
Apostle moved about, sometimes nearer, sometimes farther from the hall of
justice for nearly an hour. Then a relative of that Malchus, whose ear he had
severed, recognized him and said: "Thou art a Galileean and a disciple
of Jesus; I saw thee with Him in the garden." Then Peter deeming himself
discovered, was seized with still greater fear, and he began to assert with
oaths and imprecations, that he knew not the Man (Matth. 26, 72). Immediately
thereupon the cock crowed the second time, and the prediction of his divine
Master, that he should deny Him thrice before the cock crowed twice, was
fulfilled to the letter. 568. The infernal dragon
was very anxious to destroy saint Peter. It was Lucifer that incited the two
maids, whom he could more easily influence, and afterwards, the soldiers, to
molest the Apostle by their attention and inquiries. At the same time as soon
as he saw him in his dangerous hesitation and change of mind he tried to
disturb saint Peter by vivid imaginations of impending cruelty. Thus tempted,
Peter simply denied the Lord at first, added an oath to the second denial,
and curses and imprecations against himself at the third. Hence, from one sin
he fell into another greater one, yielding to the cruel persecutions of the
enemies. But saint Peter, now hearing the crowing of the cock, remembered the
warning of his divine Master (Luke 22, 61); for, the great Queen in her
gentle love having interceded for him, the Lord now cast upon him a look of
boundless mercy. From her oratory in the Cenacle She had witnessed the
denials together with all the circumstances and the causes which had brought
the Apostle to fall so deeply. She had seen him beset with natural fear and much
more by the merciless assaults of Lucifer. She threw Herself upon the ground
and tearfully interceded for him, alleging his frailty and appealing to the
merits of her divine Son. The Lord himself moved the heart of Peter, and by
means of the light sent to him, gently reproached him, exhorting him to
acknowledge his fault and deplore his sin. Immediately the Apostle left the
house of the high priest, bursting with inmost sorrow into bitter tears over
his fall. In order to weep in the bitterness of his heart he betook himself
to a cave, even now called that of the Crowing Cock; there he poured forth
his sorrow and confusion in a flood of tears. At the end of three hours he
had obtained pardon for his crimes; and the holy impulses and inspirations
had continued during that whole time until he was again restored to grace.
The most pure Mother and Queen sent to him one of her angels, who secretly
consoled him and excited in him the hope of forgiveness, so that he might not
delay his full pardon by want of trust in the goodness of God. The angel was
ordered not to manifest himself, because the Apostle had so recently
committed his sin. Hence the angel fulfilled his commission without being
seen by the Apostle. Saint Peter was consoled and strengthened in his great
sorrow by these inspirations and thus obtained full pardon through the
intercession of most holy Mary. INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE GREAT QUEEN AND LADY GAVE ME. 569. My daughter, the
mysterious sacrament of the patience of my Son, by which He bore all the affronts
and insults, is a sealed book, which can be opened and understood only by the
divine light. Thou hast come to the knowledge of it, as it has been partly
laid open for thee, although on account of thy limited powers, thou writest
much less than thou hast seen. But as this mystery is being made clear and
intelligible to thee in the secret of thy heart, I wish that it be also
written there and that thou study by this living example that divine science,
which neither flesh nor blood can teach thee. For the world does not know,
nor does it merit to know, this science. This philosophy consists in
recognizing and loving the happy lot of the poor, the humble, the afflicted,
the despised, and those unknown among the children of vanity. This school my
most holy and loving Son established in his Church, when He proclaimed and
set up the eight beatitudes (Matth. 5, 210). Afterwards, when He himself
assumed all the sufferings of his Passion, He became for us a Teacher, who
practices what He teaches, as thou hast seen. Nevertheless, although this is
set before the eyes of the Catholics, and can be plainly read by them in this
book of life during their whole earthly pilgrimage, there are but few and
scattered souls who enter into this school and study this book, while
countless are the wayward and foolish, who ignore this science in their
unwillingness to be taught. 570. All abhor poverty and
thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness.
Infinite is the number of those who are carried away by their anger and
vengeance, despising meekness. Few deplore their real miseries and struggle
merely for terrestrial consolations; scarcely any love justice, or loyally
pursue it in their dealings with the neighbors. Mercy is almost extinct,
purity of heart is sullied and infringed upon, peace is constrained. None
grant pardon, none wish to suffer for justice's sake, yea not even the least
of the many torments and pains, which they have so justly merited. Thus, my
dearest, there are few who attain the blessings promised by my divine Son and
by me. Many times the just indignation and anger of the Almighty is roused
against the professors of the true faith; since in the very sight of the
living example of their Master, they live almost like infidels; many of them
being even more abominable in their lives; for they are properly those who
despise the fruits of the Redemption, which they have come to know and
confess. In the land of saints they impiously perform the works of wickedness
(Is. 26, 10), and make themselves unworthy of the remedies, which are put at
their disposal in more merciful abundance. 571. Of thee I desire, my
daughter, that thou labor valiantly for this blessedness, by seeking to
imitate me perfectly according to thy grace of so deeply understanding this
doctrine, which is hidden from the prudent and wise of this world (Mark 11,
25). Day for day I manifest to thee new secrets of my wisdom, in order that
it may be established in thy heart and thou mayest extend thy hands to
valiant deeds (Prov. 31, 19). And now I will tell thee of an exercise which I
practiced and which thou canst imitate to a certain degree. Thou knowest
already, that from the very first instant of my Conception I was full of
grace, without the least stain or participation of the least effect of
original sin. On account of this singular privilege I was blessed in all the
virtues, without feeling any repugnance or opposition in the exercise of
them, and without being conscious of owing satisfaction for any sins of my
own. Nevertheless the divine enlightenment taught me, that I was a Daughter
of Adam by nature, which in him had sinned, and therefore I felt bound to
humiliate myself to the very dust, even though I shared none of the guilt of
that sin. And since I also possessed senses of the same kind as those,
through which sin and its effects were contracted and which then and
afterwards are operative in present human conditions, I thought myself
obliged to mortify them, humiliate them and deprive them of the enjoyment
proper to their nature, simply on account of this my parentage from Adam. I
acted like a most faithful daughter of a family, who assumes the debt of her
father and of her brothers as her own, though she had no share in contracting
it, and who strives to pay and satisfy for it the more earnestly, the more
she loves her family and the more they are unable to satisfy and free
themselves from it, not giving herself any rest until she succeeds. This have
I done with all the human race, whose miseries and transgressions I bewailed.
Because I was a Daughter of Adam I mortified in me the senses and faculties
with which he sinned, and I humiliated myself as one that had fallen and one
guilty of his sin and disobedience, though I was entirely free from them. All
this I did not only for Adam, but for all who by nature are my brethren. Thou
canst not imitate me under like conditions, since thou art a partaker in his
sin and guilt. But I herewith impose upon thee to labor without ceasing for
thyself and for thy neighbor, and to humiliate thyself to the very dust;
since a contrite and humble heart draws down mercy from the divine goodness. THE
SUFFERINGS OF OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST AFTER THE DENIAL OF SAINT PETER UNTIL
MORNING; AND THE GREAT SORROW OF HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER. 572. The holy Evangelists
pass over in silence what and where the Savior suffered after the
ill-treatment in the house of Caiphas and the denial of saint Peter. But they
all take up again the thread of events, when they speak of the council held by
them in the morning in order to deliver Him over to Pilate, as will be
related in the next chapter. I had some doubts as to the propriety of
speaking of this intervening time and of manifesting that which was made
known to me concerning it: for it was intimated to me, that all cannot be
known in this life, nor is it proper that all should be made known to all
men. On the day of judgment these and many other sacraments of the life and
the Passion of our Lord shall be published to the whole world. I cannot find
words for describing that which I might otherwise manifest: I do not find
adequate expressions for my concepts, and much less for the reality itself;
all is ineffable and above my capacity. But in order to obey the orders given
me, I will say what I am able, so as not to incur the blame of concealing the
truth, which directly reproaches and confuses our vanity and forgetfulness.
In the presence of heaven I confess my own hardness of heart, in not dying of
sorrow and shame for having committed such great sins at such a cost to my
God, the Originator of my life and being. We cannot ignore the wickedness and
gravity of sin, which caused such ravages in the Author of grace and glory. I
would be the most ungrateful of all the womanborn, if I would not now abhor
sin more than death and as much as even the demon, and I cannot but intimate
and assert, that this is the duty likewise of all the children of the holy
Catholic church. 573. By the ill-treatment,
which the Lord received in the presence of Caiphas, the wrath of this high
priest and of all his supporters and ministers was much gratified, though not
at all satiated. But as it was already past midnight, the whole council of
these wicked men resolved to take good care, that the Savior be securely
watched and confined until the morning, lest He should escape while they were
asleep. For this purpose they ordered Him to be locked, bound as He was, in
one of the subterranean dungeons, a prison cell set apart for the most
audacious robbers and criminals of the state. Scarcely any light penetrated
into this prison to dispel its darkness. It was filled with such uncleanness
and stench, that it would have infected the whole house, if it had not been
so remote and so well enclosed; for it had not been cleaned for many years,
both because it was so deep down and because of the degradation of the
criminals that were confined in it; for none thought it worth while making it
more habitable than for mere wild beasts, unworthy of all human kindness. 574. The order of the council
of wickedness was executed; the servants dragged the Creator of heaven and
earth to that polluted and subterranean dungeon there to imprison Him. As the
Lord was still bound with the fetters laid upon Him in the garden, these
malicious men freely exercised all the wrathful cruelty with which they were
inspired by the prince of darkness; for they dragged Him forward by the
ropes, inhumanly causing Him to stumble, and loading Him with kicks and cuffs
amid blasphemous imprecations. From the floor in one corner of the
subterranean cavern protruded part of a rock or block, which on account of
its hardness had not been cut out. To this block, which had the appearance of
a piece of column, they now bound and fettered the Lord Jesus with the ends
of the ropes, but in a most merciless manner. For they forced Him to approach
it and tied Him to it in a stooping position, so that He could neither seat
Himself nor stand upright for relief, forcing Him to remain in a most painful
and torturing posture. Thus they left Him bound to the rock, closing the
prison door with a key and giving it in charge of one of the most malicious
of their number. 575. But the infernal
dragon rested not in his ancient pride. In the desire of finding out who this
Christ was and of overcoming his imperturbable patience, he invented another
scheme, to the execution of which he incited the jailer and some others of
the servants. He inspired the one who held the key of the divine Treasure
Trove, the greatest in heaven and earth, with the idea of inviting some of
his equally evil-minded companions to descend to the dungeon and entertain
themselves for awhile with the Master of life by forcing Him to speak of
prophecy, or do some other strange or unheard of thing; for they believed Him
to be a diviner or magician. Moved by this diabolical suggestion, he invited
some of the soldiers and servants, who readily consented. While they were
discussing this matter, a multitude of angels, who assisted the Redeemer in
his Passion, when they saw Him so painfully bound in such an improper and
polluted place, prostrated themselves before Him, adoring Him as their true
God and Master, and showing Him so much the more reverence and worship the
more they admired the love which moved Him to subject Himself to such abuse
for the sake of mankind. They sang to Him some of the hymns and canticles
which his own Mother had composed in his praise, as I have mentioned above.
The whole multitude of angelic spirits begged Him, in the name of the same
Lady, that, since He would not permit his own almighty power to alleviate the
sufferings of his humanity, He give them permission to unfetter and relieve
Him of this torturing position and to defend Him from that horde of servants
now instigated by the demons to heap upon Him new insults. 576. The Lord would not
permit the angels to render this service and He said to them:
"Ministering spirits of my eternal Father, I do not wish to accept any
alleviation in my sufferings at present and I desire to undergo these
torments and affronts in order to satiate my burning love for men and leave
to my chosen friends this example for their imitation and consolation in
their sufferings; and in order that all may properly estimate the treasures
of grace, which I am gaining for them in great abundance through my pains. At
the same time I wish to justify my cause, so that, on the day of my wrath,
all may know how justly the reprobate shall be condemned for despising the
most bitter sufferings by which I sought to save them. Tell my Mother to console
Herself in this tribulation, since the day of rest and gladness shall come.
Let Her accompany Me now in my works and sufferings for men; for her
affectionate compassion and all her doings, afford Me much pleasure and
enjoyment." Thereupon the holy angels betook themselves to their great
Queen and Lady and consoled Her with this message, although She already knew
in another way the will of her divine Son and all that happened in the house
of Caiphas. When She perceived the new cruelty with which they had left
Christ the Lord bound in a posture so painful and hard, She felt in her
purest body the same pains; just as She had felt that of the blows and cuffs
and other insults inflicted upon the Author of life. All the sufferings of
the Lord miraculously reacted upon the virginal body of this sincerest Dove;
the same pains beset the Son and Mother, and the same sword pierced both
their hearts; with only this difference, that Christ suffered as Godman and
sole Redeemer of mankind, while Mary suffered as a creature and as a faithful
helper of her most holy Son. 577. When the blessed Queen
perceived that this band of vile miscreants, incited by the devil, would be
permitted to enter the dungeon, She wept bitterly at what was to happen.
Foreseeing the malicious intentions of Lucifer, She held Herself ready to
make use of her sovereign power to prevent the executions of any designs upon
the person of Christ that would imply indecency, such as the dragon sought to
induce those unhappy men to carry out. For although all they did was most
unbecoming and irreverent in his regard, yet there were insults, which would
have been still more indecent, and by which the demon, not having succeeded
hitherto, desired now to try the meek forbearance of the Lord. So exquisite
and rare, wonderful and heroic, were the doings of the Lady at this time and
during the whole Passion, that they could not worthily be mentioned or
becomingly extolled, even if many books were written for this sole object;
and as they are indescribable in this life, we must leave their full
revelation to the beatific vision. 578. The ministers of
wickedness therefore broke into the dungeon, blasphemously gloating over the
expected feast of insult and ridicule, which they were now to hold with the
Lord of all creation. Going up to Him they began to defile Him with their
loathsome spittle and rain blows and cuffs upon Him with unmentionable and
insulting mockery. The Lord opened not his mouth or made any answer; He
raised not his divine eyes and lost not the humble serenity of his
countenance. The sacrilegious buffoons wished to drive Him to some ridiculous
or extraordinary saying or action, so that they might make a laughingstock of
Him as a sorcerer; and when they were compelled to witness his unchanging
meekness, they allowed themselves to be incited still more by the demons.
They untied the divine Master from the stone block and placed Him in the
middle of the dungeon, at the same time blindfolding Him with a cloth; there
they began to come up one after the other and strike Him with their fists, or
slap or kick Him, each one trying to outdo the other in vehemence of their
blasphemous cruelty and asking Him to prophesy who had struck Him. This kind
of sacrilegious treatment these servants repeated even more often and
continued longer than before the tribunal of Annas, to which saint Matthew
(26, 67), saint Mark (14, 65), and saint Luke (22, 64) refer, tacitly
including all that followed. 579. The most meek Lamb
silently bore this flood of insults and blasphemies. Lucifer, tormented by
his anxious desire of seeing some sign of impatience in Him, was lashed into
fury at the equanimity with which the Savior bore it all. Therefore he
inspired those slaves and friends of his with the project of despoiling the
Lord of all his clothes and pursuing their ill-treatment according to
suggestions which could only originate in the execrable demon. They readily
yielded to this new inspiration and set about its execution. But the most
prudent Lady was moved to most tearful prayers and aspirations at this
abominable attempt and interfered with her power as the Queen. She asked the
eternal Father to withdraw his cooperation with the secondary or created
causes toward such a beginning and She commanded the faculties of these servants
not to perform their natural functions. Thus it happened that none of the
ruffians could execute the indecencies, which the demon or their own malice
suggested to them. Some of these suggestions they forgot immediately and
others they could not follow up, because their limbs became as it were frozen
or paralyzed until they again changed their intent. As soon as they desisted
the use of their limbs would again be restored, for this was not intended as
a punishment, but merely in order to prevent their practicing any
indecencies. They were left entirely free to practice those cruelties or
indulge in other irreverence, which were not so indecent, or were permitted
by the Lord. 580. The powerful Queen also
commanded the demons to be silent and forbade them to follow out the indecent
intentions of Lucifer, their leader. By this command of the powerful Lady the
dragon completely lost his power in those matters which Mary wished to
include in her prohibition. Neither could he further irritate the foolish
anger of those depraved men, nor could they go any further in their indecency
than She permitted. But while experiencing within themselves the wonderful
and extraordinary effects of her commands, they did not merit to be
undeceived or recognize the divine power, although they thus saw themselves
alternately paralyzed and suddenly restored to the full use of their powers.
They attributed it merely to the sorcery and magic of the Master of truth. In
their diabolical infatuation they continued to practice their insulting
mockery and tortures upon the person of Christ, until they noticed that the
night had already far advanced; then they again tied Him to the column and
leaving Him thus bound, they departed with all the demons. It was ordained by
the divine Wisdom, that the power of the blessed Mother safeguard propriety
and decency due to the person of her most pure Son against the improper
intentions of Lucifer and his ministers. 581. Again the Savior was
alone in the dungeon, surrounded by the angelic spirits, who were full of
admiration at the doings and the secret judgments of the Lord in what He
wished to suffer. They adored Him with deepest reverence and magnified his
holy name in exalted praise. The Redeemer of the world addressed a long
prayer to his eternal Father for the children of the evangelical Church, for
the spreading of the holy faith, and for the Apostles, especially for saint
Peter, who during that time was beweeping his sin. He prayed also for those
who had injured and tormented Him; above all He included in his prayer his
most holy Mother and all those who in imitation of Him were to be afflicted
and despised in this world. At the same time He offered up his Passion and
his coming Death for these ends. His grief-stricken Mother followed Him in
these prayers, offering up the same petitions for the children of the Church
and for its enemies without any movements of anger, indignation or dislike
toward them. Only against the demon was She incensed, because he was entirely
incapable of grace on account of his irreparable obstinacy. In sorrowful
complaints She addressed the Lord, saying: 582. "Divine Love of
my soul, my Son and Lord, Thou art worthy to be reverenced, honored and
praised by all creatures, since Thou art the image of the eternal Father and
the figure of his substance (Heb. 1, 3), infinite in thy being and in thy
perfections. Thou art the beginning of all holiness (Apoc. 1, 8). But if the
creatures are to serve Thee in entire subjection, why do they now, my Lord
and God, despise, vilify, insult and torture thy Person, which is worthy of
the highest worship and adoration? 'Why has the malice of men risen to such a
pitch? Why has pride dared to raise itself even above heaven? How can envy become
so powerful? Thou art the only and unclouded Sun of justice, which enlightens
and dispels the darkness of sin (John 1, 9). Thou art the fountain of grace,
withholding its waters from no one. Thou art the One, who in his liberal love
givest being and life to all that live upon this earth, and all things depend
upon Thee, while Thou hast need of none (Acts 17, 28). What then have they
seen in thy doings, what have they found in thy Passion, that they should
treat Thee in so vile a manner? O most atrocious wickedness of sin, which has
so disfigured the heavenly beauty and obscured the light of thy countenance!
O cruel sin, which so inhumanly pursues the Repairer of all thy evil
consequences! But I understand, my Son and Master, I understand that Thou art
the Builder of true love, the Author of human salvation, the Master and Lord
of virtues (Ps, 23, 10): Thou wishest to put in practice Thyself what Thou
teachest the humble disciples of thy school: Thou wishest to humble pride,
confound haughtiness and become the example of eternal salvation to all. And
if Thou desirest that all imitate thy ineffable patience and charity, then
that is my duty before all others, since I have administered to Thee the
material and clothed Thee in this body now subjected to suffering, and
wounded, spit upon and buffeted. O would that I alone should suffer these
pains, and that Thou, my most innocent Son, be spared! And since this is not
possible, let Me suffer with Thee unto death. You, O heavenly spirits, who
full of wonder at the longsuffering of my Son recognize his immutable Deity
and the innocence and excellence of his humanity, seek ye to compensate for
these injuries and blasphemies heaped upon Him by men. Give Him glory and
magnificence, wisdom, honor, virtue and power (Apoc. 5, 12). Invite the
heavens, the planets and the stars and the elements to acknowledge and
confess Him; and see whether there is another sorrow equal to mine!"
(Thren. 1, 12). Such and many more were the sorrowful aspirations of the most
pure Lady, in giving vent to the bitterness of her grief and pain. 583. Peerless was the
patience of the heavenly Princess in the Death and Passion of her beloved Son
and Lord; so that what She suffered never seemed to Her much, nor her
afflictions equal to those demanded by her affection, which was measured only
by the love and the dignity of her Son and the greatness of his sufferings.
Nor did She in any of the injuries and affronts against the Lord take any
account of their being committed against Herself. She reflected not on the
share which She herself had in them, although She was made to suffer so much
by all of them: She deplored them only in so far as they outraged the divine
Personality and caused damage to the aggressors. She prayed for them all,
that the Most High might pardon them and grant them salvation from the evils
of sin and enlightenment for gaining the fruits of Redemption. INSTRUCTION
GIVEN BY THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MOST HOLY MARY. 584. My daughter, it is
written in the holy Gospels (John 5, 57) that the eternal Father has given to
his only Son and mine the power to judge and condemn the reprobate on the
last day, the day of universal judgment. This was eminently proper, not only
in order that all the sinners may see their Judge, who will sentence them
according to the most just will of God; but also in order that they may
behold and recognize his humanity, by which they were redeemed, and be
confronted in it with the torments and injuries it suffered in order to
rescue them from eternal damnation. The same Judge and Lord, who shall judge
them, shall also advance the charge. As they cannot answer or satisfy for the
crimes with which He charges them, their confusion will be only the beginning
of the eternal torments, which they merit by their obstinate ingratitude; for
then shall become evident to all the world the greatness of his most merciful
and kind Redemption and the justice of their damnation. Great was the sorrow,
most bitter the grief, of my most holy Son, that not all should make use of
the fruits of his Redemption. This same thought also pierced my heart and
immensely added to the sorrow of seeing Him spit upon, buffeted, and
blasphemed more cruelly than can ever be understood by living man. But I
understood all these sufferings clearly and as they should be understood;
therefore my sorrow was great in proportion to this knowledge, just as it was
also the measure of my reverence and love of the person of Christ, my Son and
Lord. But next to this sorrow, my greatest one was to know, that after all
these death dealing sufferings of the Lord, so many men should still damn
themselves even within sight of all the infinite treasures of grace. 585. I wish that thou
imitate and follow me in this sorrow and that thou lament this fearful
misfortune; for among all the losses sustained by men, there is none which
deserves to be so deplored, nor which can ever be compared to it. My Son and
I look with especial love upon those who imitate this sorrow and afflict
themselves on account of the perdition of so many souls. Seek thou, my
dearest, to distinguish thyself in this exercise and continue to pray: for
thou canst scarcely imagine how acceptable are such prayers to the Almighty.
But remember his promise, that those who pray shall receive (Luke 11, 9), and
that to those who knock the gates of his infinite treasures shall be opened.
In order that thou mayest have something to offer in return, write into thy
heart, what my most holy Son and thy Spouse suffered at the hands of those
vile and depraved men, and the invincible patience, meekness and silence with
which He submitted to their wicked whims. With this example, labor from now
on, that no anger, nor any other passion of a daughter of Adam have any sway
over thee. Let an interior and ever active horror of pride, and a dread of
injuring thy neighbor, be engendered in thy bosom. Solicitously ask the Lord
for patience, meekness, and peacefulness and for a love of sufferings and
Christ's Cross. Embrace this Cross with a pious affection and follow Christ
thy Spouse, in order that thou mayest at last possess Him (Matth, 16, 14). THE COUNCIL
CONVENES ON THE FRIDAY MORNING TO SUBSTANTIATE THE CHARGES AGAINST THE SAVIOR
JESUS; THEY SEND HIM TO PILATE; MOST HOLY MARY, WITH 586. At the dawn of Friday
morning, say the Evangelists (Matth. 27, 1; Mark 15, 1; Luke 22, 66; John 11,
47), the ancients, the chief priests and scribes, who according to the law
were looked upon with greatest respect by the people, gathered together in
order to come to a common decision concerning the death of Christ. This they
all desired; however they were anxious to preserve the semblance of justice
before the people. This council was held in the house of Caiphas, where the
Lord was imprisoned. Once more they commanded Him to be brought from the
dungeon to the hall of the council in order to be examined. The satellites of
justice rushed below to drag Him forth bound and fettered as He was; and
while they untied Him from the column of rock, they mocked Him with great
contempt saying: "Well now, Jesus of Nazareth, how little have thy
miracles helped to defend Thee. The power which Thou didst vaunt, of being
able to rebuild the temple in three days, has failed altogether in securing
thy escape. But Thou shalt now pay for thy presumption and thy proud
aspirations shall be brought low. Come now to the chief priests and to the
scribes. They are awaiting Thee to put an end to thy imposition and deliver
Thee over to Pilate, who will quickly finish Thee." Having freed the
Lord from the rock they dragged Him up to the council. The Lord did not open
his lips; but the tortures, the blows and the spittle, with which they had
covered Him and which He could not wipe off on account of his bonds, had so
disfigured Him, that He now filled the members of the council with a sort of
dreadful surprise, but not with compassion. Too great was their envious wrath
conceived against the Lord. 587. They again asked Him
to tell them, whether He was the Christ (Luke 22, 1), that is, the Anointed.
Just as all their previous questions, so this was put with the malicious
determination not to listen or to admit the truth, but to calumniate and
fabricate a charge against Him. But the Lord, being perfectly willing to die
for the truth, denied it not; at the same time He did not wish to confess it
in such a manner that they could despise it, or borrow out of it some color
for their calumny; for this was not becoming his innocence and wisdom.
Therefore He veiled his answer in such a way, that if the pharisees chose to
yield to even the least kindly feeling, they would be able to trace up the
mystery hidden in his words; but if they had no such feeling, then should it
become clear through their answer, that the evil which they imputed to Him
was the result of their wicked intentions and lay not in his answer. He
therefore said to them: "If I tell you that I am He of whom you ask, you
will not believe what I say; and if I shall ask you, you will not answer, nor
release Me. But I tell you, that the Son of man, after this, shall seat
Himself at the right hand of the power of God" (Luke 22, 67). The
priests answered: "Then thou art the Son of God?" and the Lord
replied: "You say that I am." This was as if He had said: You have
made a very correct inference, that I am the Son of God; for my works, my
doctrines, and your own Scripture, as well as what you are now doing with Me,
testify to the fact, that I am the Christ, the One promised in the law. 588. But this council of
the wicked was not disposed to assent to divine truth, although they
themselves inferred it very correctly from the antecedents and could easily
have believed it. They would neither give assent nor belief, but preferred to
call it a blasphemy deserving death. Since the Lord had now reaffirmed what
He had said before, they all cried out: "What need have we of further
witnesses, since He himself asserts it by his own lips?" And they
immediately came to the unanimous conclusion that He should, as one worthy of
death, be brought before Pontius Pilate, who governed 589. The executioners
therefore brought our Savior Jesus Christ to the house of Pilate, in order to
present Him, still bound with the same chains and ropes in which they had
taken Him from the garden, before his tribunal. The city of 590. The sun had already
arisen while these things happened and the most holy Mother, who saw it all
from afar, now resolved to leave her retreat and follow her divine Son to the
house of Pilate and to his death on the Cross. When the great Queen and Lady
was about to set forth from the Cenacle, saint John arrived, in order to give
an account of all that was happening; for the beloved disciple at that time
did not know of the visions, by which all the doings and sufferings of her
most holy Son were manifest to the blessed Mother. After the denial of saint
Peter, 591. The Queen of heaven set
forth through the streets of 592. Some of them that met
Her on the streets, recognized Her as the Mother of Jesus of Nazareth and
moved by their natural compassion, said: "0 sorrowful Mother! What a
misfortune has overtaken Thee! How must thy heart be wounded and lacerated
with grief!" Others again impiously said: "Why didst Thou permit
Him to introduce such novelties among the people? It would have been better
to restrain and dissuade Him; but it will be a warning for other mothers, and
they will learn from thy misfortunes, how to instruct their children."
These and other more horrible sentiments were expressed in the hearing of
this sincerest Dove; but all of them She met with burning charity, accepting
the pity of the kindhearted, and suffering the malice of the unbelievers. She
was not surprised at the ingratitude of the unresponsive and the ignorant;
but implored the eternal Father to impart suitable blessings to all. 593. Through the swarming
and confused crowds the angels conducted the Empress of heaven to a sharp
turn of the street, where She met her most holy Son. With the profoundest
reverence She prostrated Herself before his sovereign Person and adored it
more fervently and with a reverence more deep and more ardent than ever was
given or ever shall be given to it by all the creatures. She arose and then
the Mother and Son looked upon each other with ineffable tenderness,
interiorly conversing with each other in transports of an unspeakable sorrow.
The most prudent Lady stepped aside and then followed Christ our Lord,
continuing at a distance her interior communication with Him and with the
eternal Father. The words of her soul are not for the mortal and corruptible
tongue: but among other prayers the afflicted Mother said: "Most high
God and my Son, I am aware of thy burning love for men, which leads Thee to
hide the infinite power of thy Divinity beneath a form of passible flesh
(Phil. 2, 7) formed in my womb. I confess thy incomprehensible wisdom in
accepting such affronts and torments, and in sacrificing Thyself, who art the
Lord of all creation, for the rescue of man, who is but a servant, dust and
ashes (Gen. 3,19). Thy goodness is to be praised, blessed, confessed and
magnified by all creatures; but how shall I, thy Mother, ever cease to desire
that all these injuries be heaped upon me and not upon thy divine Person, who
art the beauty of the angels and the glory of the eternal Father? How shall I
cease to desire the end of these pains? With what sorrow is my heart filled
to behold Thee so afflicted, thy most beautiful countenance so defiled, and
when I see, that to the Creator and Redeemer alone is denied pity and
compassion in such bitter suffering? But if it is not possible, that I
relieve Thee as Mother, do Thou accept my sorrowful sacrifice in not being
able to bring Thee the relief which is due to the true and holy Son of
God." 594. The image of her
divine Son, thus wounded, defiled and bound, remained so firmly fixed and
imprinted in the soul of our Queen, that during her life it was never
effaced, and remained in her mind as distinctly, as if She were continually
beholding Him with her own eyes. Christ our God arrived at the house of
Pilate, followed by many of the council and a countless multitude of the
people. The Jews, wishing to preserve themselves as clean before the law as
possible for the celebration of the Pasch and the unleavened bread, excused
themselves before Pilate for their refusing to enter the pretorium or court
of Pilate in presenting Jesus. As most absurd hypocrites they paid no
attention to the sacrilegious uncleanness, with which their souls were
affected in becoming the murderers of the innocent Godman. Pilate, although a
heathen, yielded to their ceremonious scruples, and seeing that they
hesitated to enter his pretorium, he went out to meet them. According to the
formality customary among the Romans, he asked them (John 18, 28) :
"What accusation have you against this Man ?" They answered:
"If He were not a criminal, we would not have brought Him to thee thus
bound and fettered." This was as much as to say: We have convinced ourselves
of his misdeeds and we are so attached to justice and to our obligations,
that we would not have begun any proceedings against Him, if He were not a
great malefactor. But Pilate pressed his inquiry and said: "What then
are the misdeeds, of which He has made Himself guilty?" They answered:
"He is convicted of disturbing the commonwealth, He wishes to make
Himself our king and forbids paying tribute to Caesar (Luke 23, 2); He claims
to be the son of God, and has preached a new doctrine, commencing in Galilee,
through all Judea and 595. The most holy Mary,
with saint John and the women who followed Her, was present at this
interview; for the holy angels made room for them where they could hear and
see all that was passing. Shielded by her mantle She wept tears of blood,
pressed forth by the sorrow which pierced her virginal heart. In her interior
acts of virtue She faithfully reproduced those practiced by her most holy
Son, while in her pains and endurance She copied those of his body. She asked
the eternal Father to grant Her the favor of not losing sight of her divine
Son, as far as was naturally possible, until his Death; and this was conceded
to Her, excepting during the time in which He was in prison. Considering it
but just, that amid all the false accusations of the Jews the innocence of
the Savior and the injustice of the sentence should become known, the most
prudent Lady fervently prayed, that the judge be not deceived and that he
obtain clearest insight into Christ's being delivered over to him by the envy
of the priests and scribes. In virtue of this prayer, Pilate clearly saw the
truth, was convinced of the innocence of Christ and of his being a victim of
their envy (Matth. 28, 18). On her account also the Lord declared Himself
more openly to Pilate, although the latter did not cooperate with the truth
made known to him. It profited not him, but us; and it served to convict the
priests and pharisees of their treachery. 596. In their wrath the
Jews were anxious to dispose Pilate favorably toward their project and they
wished him to pronounce the sentence of death against Jesus without the least
delay. When they perceived his hesitation, they ferociously raised their
voices, accusing Jesus over and over again of revolting against the government
of
598. But though Pilate for these and other reasons
was a most wicked and unjust judge in thus condemning Christ, whom he held to
be a mere man, though good and innocent; yet his crime was much smaller than
that of the priests and pharisees. And this not only because they were moved
by envy, cruelty and other vices, but also because they sinned in not
acknowledging Christ as their true Messias and Redeemer, God and Man, such as
He had been promised in the Law, which they believed and professed. For their
own condemnation the Lord permitted, that in their very accusations they
called Him Christ and anointed King, thus confessing with their lips what
they denied and discredited in their proceedings. They were bound to believe
this truth, which they confessed in their words, and thus come to the understanding
of the true anointment of the Savior, which was an unction prefigured in the
kings and priests of the olden times and consisted in the anointment
mentioned by David (Ps. 44, 8) and different from theirs; namely, the unction
of the Divinity resulting from its union with the humanity and by which
Christ's soul was anointed with the gifts of grace and glory corresponding to
the hypostatic union. All these mysteries of truth were providentially hidden
beneath the accusations of the Jews, although they in their perfidy would not
believe them, and in their envy interpreted them falsely. For they imputed to
the Savior the desire of making Himself king, without his being one, while
just the contrary was really the truth: He was in every respect the supreme
Lord, but did not wish to show or make use of the power of a temporal king.
He had not come into this world to command men, but to obey (Matth. 20, 28).
Still greater was the blindness of the Jews in hoping for a temporal king as
their Messias and at the same time calumniously asserting that Jesus made of
Himself a king. It seems that they sought for their Messias a King so
powerful, that they would not be able to resist Him; although they then would
have to receive a king by compulsion and not with the free will benevolently desired
by the Lord. 599. Our great Lady
profoundly understood these hidden sacraments and the wisdom of her chaste
heart made use of them to excite heroic acts of all the virtues. Other
children of Adam, conceived in original sin and defiled by their own, are
wont to be disturbed and oppressed in proportion to the increase of sorrow
and tribulation, and excited to impatience and other inordinate passions; but
most holy Mary, who was actuated not by sin or its effects, or by mere
nature, was impelled by exalted grace to just the contrary course of action.
For the great persecutions and the vast waters of affliction and sorrow
extinguished not in her bosom the fire of divine love (Cant. 8, 7); but they
were new incentives to the fires of divine love in her soul, breaking forth
in petitions for the sinners so much the more ardently, as the malice of men
reached greater excesses. O Queen of virtues, Mistress of creatures and
sweetest Mother of mercy! How hard of heart am I, how slow and insensible,
that my soul is not annihilated by sorrow at what I understand of thy
sufferings and those of thy divine Son! That I still live, knowing all I do
know, should cause in me a sorrow unto death. It is a crime against love and
piety to beg favors from the innocent, whom we see suffering torments. With
what truth can we then say as creatures, that we love God, our Redeemer, and
Thee, my Queen, who art his Mother, if Thou and He alone drink out the
chalice of such torments and pains, while we are draining the chalice of the
pleasures of INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE GREAT QUEEN OF HEAVEN GAVE ME. 600. My daughter, great is
the neglect and the inattention of men in failing to consider the works of my
most holy Son and to penetrate with humble reverence the mysteries which He
has concealed within them for the salvation of all. But many do not know, and
others are astonished, that the Lord should have consented to be presented as
a criminal before iniquitous judges and be examined by them as a wicked
malefactor; that they should have been allowed to treat Him as an ignorant
fool; and that He should not have made use of his divine wisdom to defend his
innocence, convict the Jews and all his enemies of their malice, since He
could so easily have done it. But these sentiments of wonder should be
especially united to a deep veneration for the judgments of the Lord, who
disposed all things connected with the Redemption according to his equity,
goodness and rectitude and in a manner befitting all his attributes, denying
none of his enemies sufficient help to follow the good, if only they wished
to use their freedom for that purpose. He wished all of them to be saved (I
Tim. 2, 4), and if not all of them attained this salvation, no one can justly
complain of his superabundant kindness. 601. But besides this, I
wish, my dearest, that thou understand the instructive lessons contained in
these works; for in each one of them my Son acted as Redeemer and Teacher of
men. In the silence and the meekness, which He maintained during his Passion,
permitting Himself to be reputed as a wicked and foolish man, He left to
mankind a lesson just as important as it is unnoticed and unpracticed by the
children of Adam. Because they do not heed the contagion of Lucifer through
sin, which is perpetuated in the world, they do not seek in the Physician the
medicine of suffering, which the Lord in his immense charity has left to the
world in word and deed. Let men then consider themselves conceived in sin
(Ps. 50, 7), and let them realize how strong has grown in them the hellish
seed of pride, of presumption, vanity, self-esteem, avarice, hypocrisy,
deceitfulness, and all other vices. Each one ordinarily seeks to advance his
honor and vainglory, struggling to be applauded and renowned. The learned and
those who think themselves wise, wish to be applauded and looked up to,
bragging about their knowledge. The unlearned try to appear wise. The rich
glory in their riches and wish to be respected on their account. The poor
strive to be and appear rich, anxious to gain the approbation of the wealthy.
The powerful seek to be feared, worshipped and obeyed. All of them are
pursuing the same deceit of seeking to appear what they are not in fact, and
fail in reality to come up to what they appear to be. They palliate their
faults, extol their virtues and abilities, they attribute to themselves the
goods and the blessings as if they had not received them from God. They
receive them as if they were their due and not owing to his liberal kindness;
instead of being thankful for them they abuse them as weapons against God and
against their own selves. Commonly all are swollen up by the mortal poison of
the serpent and so much the more anxious to drink it, the more deeply they
are already wounded and weakened by his lamentable assaults. The way of the
cross and imitation of Christ in humble Christian sincerity is deserted,
because they are so few that walk upon it. 602. In order to crush the
head of Lucifer and overcome pride and arrogance, my Son observed this
patient silence in his Passion, permitting Himself to be treated as an
ignorant and foolish criminal. As the Teacher of this philosophy and as the
Physician of the sickness of sin, He would not deny the charges nor defend or
justify Himself, nor refute those who accused Him, showing us by his own
living example, how to oppose and counteract the intentions of the serpent.
In the Lord was that teaching of the wise man put into practice: More
precious is a little foolishness in its time than wisdom and glory (Eccles.
10, 1); for it is better that human frailty be at times considered ignorant
and wicked, than that it make a vain show of virtue and wisdom. Infinite is
the number of those who are entangled in this dangerous error, who, desiring
to appear wise, speak much and multiply words like the foolish (Eccles. 1,
14). They only lose what they strive so much to attain, since they become
known as foolish. All these vices arise from the pride rooted in human
nature. But do thou, my daughter, preserve the doctrine of my divine Son and
that which comes from me. Abhor human ostentation, suffer in silence and let
the world consider thee ignorant; for it does not know where true wisdom
dwells. PILATE SENDS
THE JEWS WITH JESUS AND THEIR ACCUSATIONS TO HEROD, WHERE THEY ADVANCE THEIR
CHARGES; HEROD TREATS JESUS WITH CONTEMPT AND SENDS HIM BACK TO PILATE; MARY
FOLLOWS THE SAVIOR; OTHER HAPPENINGS IN CONNECTION. 603. One of the accusations
of the Jews and the priests before Pilate was that Jesus our Savior had begun
to stir up the people by his preaching in the 604. Christ our Lord
therefore went forth from the house of Pilate to the 605. When Herod was
informed that Pilate would send Jesus of Nazareth to him, he was highly
pleased. He knew that Jesus was a great friend of John the Baptist, whom he
had ordered to be put to death (Mark 6, 27), and had heard many reports of
his preaching. In vain and foolish curiosity he harbored the desire of seeing
Jesus do something new and extraordinary for his entertainment and wonder
(Luke 23, 8). The Author of life therefore came into the presence of the
murderer Herod, against whom the blood of the Baptist was calling more loudly
to this same Lord for vengeance, than in its time the blood of Abel (Gen. 4,
10). But the unhappy adulterer, ignorant of the terrible judgment of the
Almighty, received Him with loud laughter as an enchanter and conjurer. In
this dreadful misconception he commenced to examine and question Him,
persuaded that he could thereby induce Him to work some miracle to satisfy
his curiosity. But the Master of wisdom and prudence, standing with an humble
reserve before his most unworthy judge, answered him not a word. For on
account of his evildoing he well merited the punishment of not hearing the
words of life, which he would certainly have heard if he had been disposed to
listen to them with reverence. 606. The princes and
priests of the Jews stood around, continually rehearsing the same accusations
and charges which they had advanced in the presence of Pilate. But the Lord
maintained silence also in regard to these calumnies, much to the
disappointment of Herod. In his presence the Lord would not open his lips,
neither in order to answer his questions, nor in order to refute the
accusations. Herod was altogether unworthy of hearing the truth, this being
his greatest punishment and the punishment most to be dreaded by all the
princes and the powerful of this earth. Herod was much put out by the silence
and meekness of our Savior and was much disappointed in his vain curiosity.
But the unjust judge tried to hide his confusion by mocking and ridiculing
the innocent Master with his whole cohort of soldiers and ordering him to be
sent back to Pilate. Having made fun of the reserve of the Lord, the servants
of Herod joined in treating Him as a fool and as one deficient in mind and
they clothed Him in a white garment, in order to mark Him as insane and to be
avoided as dangerous. But by the hidden providence of the Most High this
dress signified the purity and innocence of the Savior, and these ministers
of wickedness were thus unwittingly giving testimony of the truth, which they
were trying to obscure in deriding the miraculous power of the Lord. 607. Herod showed himself
thankful to Pilate for the courtesy of sending Jesus of Nazareth to be judged
before his tribunal. He informed Pilate, that he found no cause in Him, but
held Him to be an ignorant man of no consequence whatever. By the secret
judgments of divine Wisdom, Herod and Pilate were reconciled on that day and
thenceforward remained friends. Conducted by many soldiers, both of Herod and
Pilate, amid a still greater concourse, tumult, and excitement of the people,
Jesus returned from Herod to Pilate. For the very ones who had some time
before hailed and venerated Him as the Savior and Messias, blessed of the
Lord (Matth. 21, 9), now perverted by the priests and magistrates, had
changed their minds, and they despised and condemned the same Lord, whom they
had so shortly before reverenced and glorified. For of such influence is
usually the erroneous example of the chiefs in misleading the people. In the
midst of all this confusion and ignominy the Lord passed along, repeating
within Himself in unspeakable love, humility and patience, those words, which
He had long before spoken by the mouth of David: "I am a worm and no
man; the reproach of men and the outcast of people. All they that saw me have
laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with their lips and wagged the
head" (Ps. 21, 7). The Lord was a worm and no man, not only because He
was not engendered like the rest of men, and because He was not merely and
solely a man, being true God and man; but also because He was not treated
like a man, but like a wretched and despised worm. Amid all the scorn with
which He was overwhelmed and trodden under foot, He made no more outcry than
an humble wormlet, which is despised and crushed as a most vile and
despicable creature. All the innumerable multitudes that saw our Redeemer
spoke of Him with wagging heads, as if retracting their previous conception
and opinion of this Prophet of Nazareth. 608. Although his afflicted
Mother was made interiorly aware of all that happened, She was not present in
body when the priests advanced their insulting accusations before Herod, and
when he sputtered forth his questions to the Author of life. She remained
outside of the hall of judgment, whither they had taken the Lord. But when He
came forth from the hall She met him and They looked upon each other in
reciprocal sorrow of their souls, such as corresponded to the love between
such a Son and Mother. The sight of the white vestment, by which they
proclaimed Him fit to be treated only as an insane fool, pierced her heart
with new sorrow; though She alone, of all mankind, recognized the mystery of
his purity and innocence indicated by this vestment. She adored Him in it
with deepest reverence and followed Him through the streets back to the house
of Pilate; for in this house was to be executed the divine decree for our
salvation. On this way from Herod to Pilate it happened, that on account of
the crush of the people and on account of the haste, they tripped Him up and
threw Him on the ground several times. By their cruel pulling at the ropes
with which He was bound, they caused the blood to flow from his sacred veins.
His hands being tied, He could not easily help Himself to rise from his
falls. Therefore the multitudes of the people, who followed and who were
neither able, nor cared to stop in their onward rush, stepped upon the divine
Lord, treading Him under foot and kicking Him. The blows and wounds He thus
received, instead of stirring the compassion of the soldiers, only excited
them to loud laughter; for, instigated by the demons, they had become devoid
of all human compassion, no less than so many wild beasts. 609. At the sight of such
unmeasured cruelty, the most sorrowful and loving Mother was moved to deepest
compassion, and turning to her holy angels She commanded them to gather up
the divine blood in order that it might not be trodden upon and dishonored by
the feet of sinners. This the heavenly servants willingly fulfilled. She
commanded also, that if her divine Son should again fall to the earth, they
hasten to his assistance and prevent these evildoers from injuring and
stepping on his most sacred body. But She was the most prudent of all
mortals, She did not wish them to execute her command, unless it met the
approval of the Lord; and therefore She urged them to make this proposal
themselves and ask his permission, representing to Him at the same time her
anguish as his Mother in seeing Him thus irreverently subjected to the feet
of sinners. In order to so much the sooner move the Lord to grant this
petition, She begged Him through the holy angels, that He commute this
humiliation of being trodden upon and crushed by the rabble into an act of
obedience in complying with the petition of his afflicted Mother, who at the
same time acknowledged Herself as his slave and formed of the dust. All these
petitions of his blessed Mother the angels presented to the Lord Christ in
her name; not that He was ignorant of them, since He knew all things and was
Himself the instigator of them through his divine grace, but the Lord desires
in all these matters a regard for the due process of reason. The great Lady
was aware of this desire and in her most exalted wisdom practiced virtues in
diverse ways and by diverse activities, unimpeded by the foreknowledge of the
Lord concerning all things. 610. Our Savior Jesus
yielded to the desire and petitions of his most blessed Mother and gave the
angels permission to execute her requests as her ministers. During the rest
of the passage to the house of Pilate they would not permit the Lord to be
tripped or cast to the ground, or to be stepped upon by the crowd as had
happened before. But in regard to other injuries, He allowed the stupid wrath
and blind malice of the servants of the law and of the populace to vent
themselves freely and fully upon his divine Person. His most holy Mother
heard and saw all with an unconquered but lacerated heart. In a proportionate
manner this was also witnessed by the other Marys and 611. Pilate was again
confronted with Jesus in his palace and was bestormed anew by the Jews to
condemn Him to death of the cross. Convinced of the innocence of Christ and
of the mortal envy of the Jews, he was much put out at Herod's again referring
the disagreeable decision to his own tribunal. Feeling himself obliged in his
quality of judge to give this decision, he sought to placate the Jews in
different ways. One of these was a private interview with some of the
servants and friends of the high priest and priests. He urged them to prevail
upon their masters and friends, not any more to ask for the release of the
malefactor Barabbas, but instead demand the release of our Redeemer; and to
be satisfied with some punishment he was willing to administer before setting
Him free. This measure Pilate had taken before they arrived a second time to
press their demand for a sentence upon Jesus. The proposal to choose between
freeing either Barabbas or Jesus was made to the Jews, not only once, but two
or three times. The first time before sending Him to Herod and the second
time after his return; this is related by the Evangelists with some
variation, though not essentially contradicting truth (Matth. 27, 17). Pilate
spoke to the Jews and said: "You have brought this Man before me,
accusing Him of perverting the people by his doctrines; and having examined
Him in your presence, I was not convinced of the truth of your accusations.
And Herod, to whom I have sent Him and before whom you repeated your accusations,
refused to condemn Him to death. It will be sufficient to correct and
chastise Him for the present, in order that He may amend. As I am to release
some malefactor for the feast of the Pasch, I will release Christ, if you
will have Him freed, and punish Barabbas," But the multitude of the
Jews, thus informed how much Pilate desired to set Jesus free, shouted with
one voice: "Enough, enough, not Christ, but Barabbas deliver unto
us." 612. The custom of giving freedom
to an imprisoned criminal at this great solemnity of the Pasch was introduced
by the Jews in grateful remembrance of the release of their forefathers from
servitude by their passage through the Red Sea, when the Almighty freed them
from the power of Pharaoh by killing the firstborn children of the Egyptians
and afterwards annihilating him and his armies in the waters of the Red sea
(Exodus 12, 29). In gratitude for this favor the Jews always sought out the
greatest malefactor and pardoned him his crimes; while they refused such
clemency to those who were less guilty. In their treaties with the Romans
they expressly reserved this privilege; and the governors complied with it.
But in the present instance they failed to follow out in their demands what they
were so loudly proclaiming in regard to Jesus. According to law they were to
demand the release of the greatest criminal and this they proclaimed Jesus to
be; yet they persisted in demanding the punishment of Christ and the release
of Barabbas, whom they judged less guilty. In such blindness and perversity
had the wrath and envy of the demon cast them, that they lost the light of
reason even in their own affairs and against their own selves. 613. While Pilate was thus
disputing with the Jews in the pretorium, his wife, Procula, happened to hear
of his doings and she sent him a message telling him: "What hast thou to
do with this Man? Let him go free; for I warn thee that I have had this very
day some visions in regard to Him!" This warning of Procula originated
through the activity of Lucifer and his demons. For they, observing all that
was happening in regard to the person of Christ and the unchangeable patience
with which He bore all injuries, were more and more confused and staggered in
their rabid fury. Although the swollen pride of Lucifer could not explain how
his Divinity could ever subject Itself to such great insults, nor how He
could permit his body to suffer such ill-treatment, and although he could not
come to any certain conviction, whether this Jesus was a Godman or not; yet
the dragon was persuaded, that some great mystery was here transpiring among
men which would be the cause of great damage and defeat to him and his malice
if he did not succeed in arresting its progress in the world. Having come to
this conclusion with his demons, he many times suggested to the pharisees the
propriety of ceasing their persecutions of Christ. These suggestions,
however, since they originated from malice and were void of any power for
good, failed to move the obstinate and perverted hearts of the Jews.
Despairing of success the demons betook themselves to the wife of Pilate and
spoke to her in dreams, representing to her that this Man was just and
without guilt, that if her husband should sentence Him he would be deprived
of his rank and she herself would meet with great adversity. They urged her
to advise Pilate to release Jesus and punish Barabbas, if she did not wish to
draw misfortune upon their house and their persons. 614. Procula was filled
with great fear and terror at these visions, and as soon as she heard what
was passing between the Jews and her husband, she sent him the message
mentioned by saint Matthew, not to meddle with this Man nor condemn One to
death, whom she held to be just. The demon also injected similar misgivings
into the mind of Pilate and these warnings of his wife only increased them.
Yet, as all his considerations rested upon worldly policy, and as he had not
cooperated with the true helps given him by the Savior, all these fears
retarded his unjust proceedings only so long as no other more powerful
consideration arose, as will be seen in effect. But just now he began for the
third time to argue (as saint Luke tells us), insisting upon the innocence of
Christ our Lord and that he found no crime in Him nor any guilt worthy of
death, and therefore he would punish and then dismiss Him (Luke 23, 22). As
we shall see in the next chapter, he did really punish Christ in order to see
whether the Jews would be satisfied. But the Jews, on the contrary, demanded
that Christ be crucified. Thereupon Pilate asked for water and released
Barabbas. Then he washed his hands in the presence of all the people, saying:
"I have no share in the death of this just Man, whom you condemn. Look
to yourselves in what you are doing, for I wash my hands in order that you
may understand they are not sullied in the blood of the Innocent."
Pilate thought that by this ceremony he could excuse himself entirely and
that he thereby could put its blame upon the princes of the Jews and upon the
people who demanded it. The wrath of the Jews was so blind and foolish that
for the satisfaction of seeing Jesus crucified, they entered upon this
agreement with Pilate and took upon themselves and upon their children the
responsibility for this crime. Loudly proclaiming this terrible sentence and
curse, they exclaimed: "His blood come upon us and upon our
children" (Matth. 27, 25). 615. O most foolish and
cruel blindness! O inconceivable rashness! The unjust condemnation of the Just
and the blood of the Innocent, whom the judge himself is forced to proclaim
guiltless, you wish to take upon yourselves and upon your children, in order
that his blood may call out against you to the end of the world! O perfidious
and sacrilegious Jews! So lightly then weighs the blood of the Lamb, who
bears the sins of the world, and the life of a Man, who is at the same time
God! How is it possible you wish to load with it yourselves and your
children? If He had been only your brother, your benefactor and master, your
audacity would have been tremendous and your malice execrable. Justly indeed
do you merit the punishment which you meet; and that the burden, which you
have put upon yourselves and your children, allows you no rest or relief in
all the world: it is just that this burden should rest upon you heavier than
heaven and earth. But, alas! Though this divine Blood was intended to wash
and cleanse all the children of Adam, and though it was in effect poured out
upon all the children of the holy Church, yet there are many belonging to it
who make themselves guilty of this blood by their works in the same manner as
the Jews charged themselves with it, both by word and deed. They did not know
or believe that it was the blood of the Savior, while Catholics both know and
confess that it is their Redeemer's. 616. The sins and depraved
lives of the Christians proclaim louder than tongues their abuse of the blood
of Christ and their consent to the guilt in his death which they load upon themselves.
Let Christ be affronted, spit upon, buffeted, stretched upon a cross,
despised, let Him yield to Barabbas and die; let Him be tormented, scourged
and crowned with thorns for our sins: let his blood interest us no more than
that it flow copiously and be imputed to us for all eternity: let the
incarnate God suffer and die; if only we are left free to enjoy the apparent
goods of this world, to seize the pleasing hour, to use creatures for our
comfort, to be crowned with roses, live in joy; let our power be unrefrained,
let no one seek preference before us; be we permitted to despise humility,
abhor poverty, hoard up riches, engage in all deceits, forgive no injuries,
entertain the delights of carnal pleasures, let our eyes see nothing that
they shall not covet. Such be our rule in life without regard for aught else.
And if by all this we crucify Christ, let his blood come upon us and upon our
children. 617. Ask the damned in
hell, whether these were not the sentiments expressed in their works as described
by Solomon, and whether it was not because they spoke thus foolishly in their
hearts, that they were called impious, and were so in reality. What else
except damnation can they expect, who abuse the blood of Christ and waste it
upon themselves, not as such who are seeking a remedy? Where do we find,
among the children of the Church, anyone that would willingly permit a thief
and malefactor to be preferred to him? So little is this doctrine of humility
practiced, that one excites surprise if he allows another just as good and
honorable as himself, or even more honorable, to take precedence. Though it
is certain that no one can be found as good as Christ or as bad as Barabbas,
yet there are innumerable men who, in spite of this example, are offended and
judge themselves disgraced, if they are not preferred and exalted by honors,
riches and dignities, and in whatever pertains to the ostentation and
applause of the world. These are sought after, contended for and solicited;
in such things are consumed the thoughts and all the exertions and powers of
men, almost from the time in which they can use their faculties until they
lose them. The most lamentable misfortune is, that even those who, by their
profession and their state, have renounced and turned their backs upon such
things, do not free themselves. While the Savior has commanded them to forget
their people and the house of their parents (Ps, 44, 11), they devote to them
the best part of their human existence, by giving them their attention and
solicitude in the direction of their affairs, their best wishes and care in
the augmentation of their worldly goods. It seems but a small matter to them
to engage themselves in these vanities. Instead of forgetting the house of
their father they forget the house of their God in which they live, and where
they are divinely assisted to gain a salvation, an honor and esteem never
possible in the world, and where they receive their sustenance without any
anxiety or worry. They show themselves ungrateful for all these benefits by
drifting away from the humility due to their state. Thus the humility of
Christ our Savior, his patience, his injuries, the dishonor of the cross, the
imitation of Christ's works, the following of his doctrines; all is left to
the poor, to the lonely ones, to the weak and humble of this world; while the
ways of Sion are deserted and full of wailing, because there are so few who
will come to the solemn feast of the imitation of Christ our Lord (Thren. 1,
4). 618. Pilate was not
conscious of the absurdity of his pretense, that to have washed his hands and
to have charged the Jews with the blood of Christ, was sufficient to clear
him before his conscience and before men; for by this ceremony, so full of
hypocrisy and deceit, he tried to satisfy both. It is true that the Jews were
the principal actors and more guilty in the condemnation of the innocent
Godman, and that they themselves expressly charged themselves with its guilt.
But Pilate was not on that account free from it; since, knowing the innocence
of Christ our Lord, he should not have allowed a thief and robber to be
preferred before Christ; neither should he have chastised, nor pretended to
correct Him, who showed nothing that could be corrected or amended (Luke 23,
25). Much less should he have condemned and delivered Him over to his mortal
enemies, whose envy and cruelty was so evident. He is not a just judge who is
aware of the truth and justice and places it in the balance with his own
human respect and his own personal interest; for such a course drags down the
right reason of men who are so cowardly of heart. Since they do not possess
the strength and perfection of mind necessary to a judge, they cannot resist
their greed, or their human respect. In their blind passions they forsake justice
in order not to endanger their temporal advantages, as happened to Pilate. 619. In the house of
Pilate, through the ministry of the holy angels, our Queen was placed in such
a position that She could hear the disputes of the iniquitous judge with the scribes
and priests concerning the innocence of Christ our Savior, and concerning the
release of Barabbas in preference to Him. All the clamors of these human
tigers She heard in silence and admirable meekness, as the living counterpart
of her most holy Son. Although She preserved the unchanging propriety and
modesty of her exterior, all the malicious words of the Jews pierced her
sorrowful heart like a two-edged sword. But the voices of her unspoken
sorrows resounded in the ears of the eternal Father more pleasantly and
sweetly than the lamentation of the beautiful Rachel who, as Jeremias says,
was beweeping her children because they cannot be restored (Jer. 31, 15). Our
most beautiful Rachel the purest Mary, sought not revenge, but pardon for her
enemies, who were depriving Her of the Onlybegotten of the Father and her
only Son. She imitated all the actions of the most holy Soul of Christ and
accompanied Him in the works of most exalted holiness and perfection; for
neither could her torments hinder her charity, nor her affliction diminish
her fervor, nor could the tumult distract her attention, nor the outrageous
injuries of the multitudes prevent her interior recollection: under all
circumstances She practiced the most exalted virtues in the most eminent degree.
INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE GREAT MISTRESS OF HEAVEN, MOST BLESSED MARY, GAVE ME. 620. My daughter, in what
thou hast written and understood, I see thee astonished to find, that Pilate
and Herod exhibited less unkindness and cruelty in the death of my divine Son
than the priests, highpriests and pharisees; and thou dwellest much upon the
fact that those were secular and gentile judges, while these were teachers of
the law and priests of the people of Israel, professing the true faith. In
answer to thy thoughts I will remind thee of a doctrine not new, which thou
hast understood on former occasions; but I wish that thou refresh it in thy
mind and remember it for the rest of thy life. Know then, my dearest, that a
fall from the highest position is extremely dangerous and the damage done is
either irreparable, or very difficult of redress. Lucifer held an eminent
position in heaven, as regards both natural gifts and gifts of grace; for in
beauty he excelled all the creatures, and by his sin he fell to the deepest
abyss of loathsomeness and misery and into a more hardened obstinacy than all
his followers. The first parents of the human race, Adam and Eve, were
exalted to the highest dignity and raised to exquisite favor, as coming forth
from the hand of the Almighty: their fall caused perdition to themselves and
to all their posterity, and faith teaches what was the cost of their
salvation. To restore them and their posterity was the work of an infinite
mercy. 621. Many other souls have
reached the heights of perfection and have thence fallen most unfortunately,
arriving at a state in which they almost despaired or found themselves
incapable of rising. This sad state in the creature originates from many
causes. The first is the dismay and boundless confusion of one who feels that
he has fallen from an exalted state of virtue; for he knows that he has not
only lost great blessings, but he does not expect to obtain greater ones than
those of the past and those he has lost; nor does he promise himself more
firmness in keeping those he can obtain through renewed efforts, than he has
shown in those acquired and now lost through his ingratitude. From this
dangerous distrust originates lukewarmness, want of fervor and diligence,
absence of zeal and devotion; since diffidence extinguishes all these in the
soul, just as the sprightliness of ardent hope overcomes many difficulties,
strengthens and vivifies weak human creatures to undertake great works.
Another obstacle there is, not less formidable, namely: the souls accustomed
to the blessings of God, either through their office, as the priests and
religious, or by the exercise of virtues and the abundance of divine favors,
as spiritual minded persons, usually aggravate their sins by a certain
contempt of these very blessings and a certain abuse of the divine things.
For by the abundance of the divine favors they fall into a dangerous dullness
of mind. They begin to think little of the divine favors and become
irreverent. Thus failing to cooperate with God's grace, they hinder its
effect. They lose the grace of holy fear of the Lord, which arouses and
stimulates the will to obey the divine commandments and to be alert in the
avoidance of sin and pursuit of eternal life in the friendship of God. This
is an evident danger for lukewarm priests, who frequent the holy Eucharist
and other Sacraments, without fear and reverence; also for the learned and
wise, and the powerful of this world, who so reluctantly correct and amend
their lives. They have lost the appreciation and veneration of the remedial
helps of the Church, namely, the Sacraments, preaching and instruction. Thus
these medicines, which for other sinners are so salutary and counteract
ignorance, weaken those who are the physicians of the spiritual life. 622. There are other
reasons for this kind of danger, which must be referred to the Lord himself.
For the sins of those souls who, by their state or by their advanced virtues,
are more closely bound to their God, are weighed in the balance of God's
justice in quite a different way from the sins of those who have been less
favored by his mercy. Although the sins of all are more or less essentially
the same, yet the circumstances of sin are very different. For the priests
and teachers, the powerful and the dignitaries, and those who, on account of
their station or by reputation, are supposed to be advanced in a holy life,
cause great scandal by their fall or by any sins they commit. There is much
more of bold disrespect in their presumption and temerity against God, whom
they know better and to whom they owe much more, but whom they offend with
more deliberation and knowledge than the ignorant. Hence, as is evident from
the tenor of all the holy Scriptures, the sins of Catholics, and especially
of those that are instructed and enlightened, are so displeasing to God. As
the term of each man's life is preordained for each one as the time in which
he is to gain the eternal reward, so the measure or number of sins to be
borne by the patience or forbearance of the Lord is likewise preordained.
This measure of divine justice is determined not only by the number and
quantity of the sins, but also by their quality and weight. Thus it may
happen, that in the souls favored by greater enlightenment and graces of
heaven, the grievousness supplies what is wanting in the number of the sins,
and that with fewer sins they are forsaken sooner and chastised more severely
than others with many more sins. Nor can all expect for themselves the same
issue as David (II Reg. 12, 13) and saint Peter; because not all of them have
to their credit as many good actions to be remembered by the Lord. Besides
the special privileges of some cannot be set up as a rule for all others;
because, according to the secret judgments of the Lord, not all are destined
for a special office. 623. By this explanation,
my dearest, thou wilt be able to satisfy thy doubts and thou wilt understand
what a bitter evil so many souls incur, whom the Almighty has redeemed by his
blood, placed in the way of light and drawn toward Himself; and how some
persons can fall from a more exalted state into more perverse obstinacy than
others below them in station. This truth is well illustrated in the mystery
of my Son's Passion, in which the priests, scribes and the whole people were
much more indebted to their God than the heathens, who knew not of the true
religion. I desire that this truth, as exhibited by their example, convince
thee of this terrible danger and excite in thee holy fear. And with this fear
join humble thanks and an exalted esteem of the favors of the Lord. In the
days of abundance, be not unmindful of the hour of want (Eccli, 13, 25).
Ponder as well the one as the other within thyself, and remember that thou
carriest thy treasure in a fragile vessel, which thou canst easily lose (II
Cor. 4, 7). Know well, that the reception of such blessings argues not merit,
and the possession of them is not due to thee in justice, but comes to thee
by liberality and kindness. That the Most High has favored thee with so much
familiar intercourse is no assurance that thou eanst not fall, and no license
to live carelessly and without reverence and fear. All things happen to thee
according to the number and greatness of thy blessings; for the wrath of the
serpent has increased toward thee in proportion, and is more alert against
thee than against other souls. He has become aware that the Most High has not
been so liberally loving to men of many generations as toward thee, and if
thou meet so many blessings and mercies with ingratitude, thou shalt be most
wretched and worthy of a rigorous punishment, against which thou canst make
no objection. OUR SAVIOR,
BY ORDER OF PILATE, IS SCOURGED, CROWNED WITH THORNS AND MOCKED. THE BEHAVIOR
OF THE MOST HOLY MARY DURING THIS TIME. 624. Pilate, aware of the
obstinate hostility of the Jews against Jesus of Nazareth, and unwilling to
condemn Him to death, of which he knew Him to be innocent, thought that a
severe scourging of Jesus might placate the fury of the ungrateful people and
soothe the envy of the priests and the scribes. If He should have failed in
anything pertaining to their ceremonies and rites, they would probably
consider Him sufficiently chastised and cease in their persecutions and in
their clamors for his Death. Pilate was led to this belief by what they had
told him in the course of his trial; for they had vainly and foolishly
calumniated Christ of not observing the Sabbath and other ceremonies, as is
evident from his sermons reported by the Evangelists (John 9, 6). But Pilate was
entirely wrong in his judgment and acted like an ignorant man; for neither
could the Master of all holiness be guilty of any defect in the observance of
that Law, which He had come not to abolish but to fulfill (Matth. 5, 7) ; nor
even if the accusation had been true, would He have deserved such an
outrageous punishment. For the laws of the Jews, far from demanding such an
inhuman and cruel scourging, contained other regulations for atonement of the
more common faults. In still greater error was this judge in expecting any
mercy or natural kindness and compassion from the Jews. Their anger and wrath
against the most meek Master was not human, not such as ordinarily is
appeased by the overthrow and humiliation of the enemy. For men have hearts
of flesh, and the love of their own kind is natural and the source of at
least some compassion. But these perfidious Jews were clothed in the guise of
demons, or rather transformed into demons, who exert the more furious rage
against those who are rendered more helpless and wretched; who, when they see
anyone most helpless, say: let us pursue him now, since he has none to defend
nor free him from our hands. 625. Such was the
implacable fury of the priests and of their confederates, the pharisees,
against the Author of life. For Lucifer, despairing of being able to hinder
his murder by the Jews, inspired them with his own dreadful malice and
outrageous cruelty. Pilate, placed between the known truth and his human and
terrestrial considerations, chose to follow the erroneous leading of the
latter, and order Jesus to be severely scourged, though he had himself
declared Him free from guilt (John 19, 1). Thereupon those ministers of
satan, with many others, brought Jesus our Savior to the place of punishment,
which was a courtyard or enclosure attached to the house and set apart for
the torture of criminals in order to force them to confess their crimes. It
was enclosed by a low, open building, surrounded by columns, some of which
supported the roof, while others were lower and stood free. To one of these
columns, which was of marble, they bound Jesus very securely; for they still
thought Him a magician and feared his escape. 626. They first took off
the white garment with not less ignominy than when they clothed Him therein
in the house of the adulterous homicide Herod. In loosening the ropes and
chains, which He had borne since his capture in the garden, they cruelly
widened the wounds which his bonds had made in his arms and wrists. Having
freed his hands, they commanded Him with infamous blasphemies to despoil
Himself of the seamless tunic which He wore. This was the identical garment
with which his most blessed Mother had clothed Him in 627. I understand that some
of the doctors have said or have persuaded themselves, that our Savior Jesus
at his scourging and at his crucifixion, for his greater humiliation,
permitted the executioners to despoil Him of all his clothing. But having
again been commanded under holy obedience to ascertain the truth in this
matter, I was told that the divine Master was prepared to suffer all the
insults compatible with decency; that the executioners attempted to subject
his body to this shame of total nakedness, seeking to despoil Him of the
cincture, which covered his loins; but in that they failed; because, on
touching it, their arms became paralyzed and stiff, as had happened also in
the house of Caiphas, when they attempted to take off his clothes (Chap.
XVII). All the six of his tormentors separately made the attempt with the
same result. Yet afterwards, these ministers of evil, in order to scourge Him
with greater effect, raised some of the coverings; for so much the Lord
permitted, but not that He should be uncovered and despoiled of his garments
entirely. The miracle of their being hindered and paralyzed in their brutal
attempts did not, however, move or soften the hearts of these human beasts;
but in their diabolical insanity they attributed it all to the supposed
sorcery and witchcraft of the Author of truth and life. 628. Thus the Lord stood
uncovered in the presence of a great multitude and the six torturers bound
Him brutally to one of the columns in order to chastise Him so much the more
at their ease. Then, two and two at a time, they began to scourge Him with
such inhuman cruelty, as was possible only in men possessed by Lucifer, as
were these executioners. The first two scourged the innocent Savior with hard
and thick cords, full of rough knots, and in their sacrilegious fury strained
all the powers of their body to inflict the blows. This first scourging
raised in the deified body of the Lord great welts and livid tumors, so that
the sacred blood gathered beneath the skin and disfigured his entire body.
Already it began to ooze through the wounds. The first two having at length
desisted, the second pair continued the scourging in still greater emulation;
with hardened leather thongs they leveled their strokes upon the places
already sore and caused the discolored tumors to break open and shed forth
the sacred blood until it bespattered and drenched the garments of the
sacrilegious torturers, running down also in streams to the pavement. Those
two gave way to the third pair of scourges, who commenced to beat the Lord
with extremely tough rawhides, dried hard like osier twigs. They scourged Him
still more cruelly, because they were wounding, not so much his virginal
body, as cutting into the wounds already produced by the previous scourging.
Besides they had been secretly incited to greater fury by the demons, who
were filled with new rage at the patience of Christ. 629. As the veins of the
sacred body had now been opened and his whole Person seemed but one continued
wound, the third pair found no more room for new wounds. Their ceaseless
blows inhumanly tore the immaculate and virginal flesh of Christ our Redeemer
and scattered many pieces of it about the pavement; so much so that a large
portion of the shoulder bones were exposed and showed red through the flowing
blood; in other places also the bones were laid bare larger than the palm of
the hand. In order to wipe out entirely that beauty, which exceeded that of
all other men (Ps, 44, 3), they beat Him in the face and in the feet and
hands, thus leaving unwounded not a single spot in which they could exert
their fury and wrath against the most innocent Lamb. The divine blood flowed
to the ground, gathering here and there in great abundance. The scourging in
the face, and in the hands and feet, was unspeakably painful, because these
parts are so full of sensitive and delicate nerves. His venerable countenance
became so swollen and wounded that the blood and the swellings blinded Him.
In addition to their blows the executioners spirited upon his Person their
disgusting spittle and loaded Him with insulting epithets (Thren. 3, 30). The
exact number of blows dealt out to the Savior from head to foot was 5,115.
The great Lord and Author of all creation who, by his divine nature was
incapable of suffering, was, in his human flesh and for our sake, reduced to
a man of sorrows as prophesied, and was made to experience our infirmities,
becoming the last of men (Is. 53, 3), a man of sorrows and the outcast of the
people. 630. The multitudes who had
followed the Lord, filled up the courtyard of Pilate's house and the
surrounding streets; for all of them waited for the issue of this event,
discussing and arguing about it according to each one's views. Amid all this
confusion the Virgin Mother endured unheard of insults, and She was deeply afflicted
by the injuries and blasphemies heaped upon her divine Son by the Jews and
gentiles. When they brought Jesus to the scourging place She retired in the
company of the Marys and 631. Having at length
executed the sentence of scourging, the executioners unbound the Lord from
the column, and with imperious and blasphemous presumption commanded Him
immediately to put on his garment. But while they had scourged the most meek
Master, one of his tormentors, instigated by the devil, had hidden his
clothes out of sight, in order to prolong the nakedness and exposure of his
divine Person for their derision and sport. This evil purpose suggested by
the devil, was well known to the Mother of the Lord. She therefore, making
use of her power as Queen, commanded Lucifer and all his demons to leave the
neighborhood, and immediately, compelled by her sovereign power and virtue,
they fled. She gave orders that the tunic be brought by the holy angels
within reach of her most holy Son, so that He could again cover his sacred
and lacerated body. All this was immediately attended to, although the
sacrilegious executioners understood not the miracle, nor how it had been
wrought; they attributed it all to the sorcery and magic of the demon. During
this protracted nakedness our Savior had, in addition to his wounds, suffered
greatly from the cold of that morning as mentioned by the Evangelists (Mark
14, 55; Luke 22, 35; John 18, 18). His sacred blood had frozen and compressed
the wounds, which had become inflamed and extremely painful; the cold had
diminished his powers of resistance, although the fire of his infinite
charity strained them to the utmost in order to suffer more and more. Though
compassion is so natural in rational creatures, there was none for Him in his
affliction and necessity, except that of his sorrowful Mother, who tearfully
bewailed and pitied Him in the name of the whole human race. 632. Among other divine
mysteries, hidden to the wise of this world, this also causes great
astonishment, that the wrath of the Jews, who were men of flesh and blood
like ourselves, should not have been appeased at their seeing Christ torn and
wounded by 5,115 lashes; that the sight of a person so lacerated should not
have moved their natural compassion, but should arouse their envy to inflict
new and unheard of tortures upon the Victim. Their implacable fury at once
planned another outrageous cruelty. They went to Pilate and in the presence
of his counselors said: "This seducer and deceiver of the people, Jesus
of Nazareth, in his boasting and vanity, has sought to be recognized by all
as the king of the Jews. In order that his pride may be humbled and his
presumption be confounded, we desire your permission to place upon Him the
royal insignia merited by his fantastic pretensions." Pilate yielded to
the unjust demand of the Jews, permitting them to proceed according to their
intentions. 633. Thereupon they took
Jesus to the pretorium, where, with the same cruelty and contempt, they again
despoiled him of his garments and in order to deride Him before all the
people as a counterfeit king, clothed Him in a much torn and soiled mantle of
purple color. They placed also upon his sacred head a cap made of woven
thorns, to serve Him as a crown (John 19, 2). This cap was woven of thorn
branches and in such a manner that many of the hard and sharp thorns would
penetrate into the skull, some of them to the ears and others to the eyes.
Hence one of the greatest tortures suffered by the Lord was that of the crown
of thorns. Instead of a scepter they placed into his hands a contemptible
reed. They also threw over His shoulders a violet colored mantle, something of
the style of capes worn in churches; for such a garment belonged to the
vestiture of a king. In this array of a mock king the perfidious Jews decked
out Him, who by his nature and by every right was the King of kings and the
Lord of lords (Apoc. 19, 16). Then all the soldiers, in the presence of the
priests and pharisees, gathered around Him and heaped upon Him their
blasphemous mockery and derision. Some of them bent their knees and mockingly
said to Him: God save Thee, King of the Jews. Others buffeted Him; others
snatched the cane from his hands and struck Him on his crowned head; others
ejected their disgusting spittle upon Him; all of them, instigated by furious
demons, insulted and affronted Him in different manners. 634. O charity
incomprehensible and exceeding all measure! O patience never seen or imagined
among mortals! Who, O my Lord and God, since Thou art the true and mighty God
both in essence and in thy works, who could oblige Thee to suffer the
humiliation of such unheard of torments, insults and blasphemies? On the
contrary, O my God, who among men has not done many things which offend Thee
and which should have caused Thee to refuse suffering and to deny them thy
favor? Who could ever believe all this, if we knew not of thy infinite goodness.
But now, since we see it and in firm faith look upon such admirable blessings
and miracles of love, where is our judgment? what effect upon us has the
light of truth? What enchantment is this that we suffer, since at the very
sight of thy sorrows, scourges, thorns, insults and affronts, we seek for
ourselves, without the least shame or fear, the delights, the riches, the
ease, the preferments and vanities of this world? Truly, great is the number
of fools (Eccles. 1, 15), since the greatest foolishness and dishonesty is to
recognize a debt and be unwilling to pay it; to receive blessings and never
give thanks for them; to have before one's eyes the greater good, and despise
it; to claim it for ourselves and make no use of it; to turn away and fly
from life, and seek eternal death. The most innocent Jesus opened not his
mouth in those great and many injuries. Nor was the furious wrath of the Jews
appeased, either by the mockery and derision of the divine Master, or by the
torments added to the contempt of his most exalted Person. 635. It seemed to Pilate
that the spectacle of a man so ill-treated as Jesus of Nazareth would move
and fill with shame the hearts of that ungrateful people. He therefore
commanded Jesus to be brought from the pretorium to an open window, where all
could see Him crowned with thorns, disfigured by the scourging and the
ignominious vestiture of a mock king. Pilate himself spoke to the people,
calling out to them: "Ecce Homo," "Behold, what a man!"
(John 19, 5). See this Man, whom you hold as your enemy! What more can I do
with Him than to have punished Him in this severe manner? You certainly have
nothing more to fear from Him. I do not find any cause of death in Him. What
this judge said was certainly the full truth; but in his own words he
condemned his outrageous injustice, since, knowing and confessing that this
Man was just and not guilty of death, he had nevertheless ordered Him to be
tormented and punished in such a way that, according to the natural course,
he should have been killed many times over. O blindness of self love! O
hellish malice of estimating only the influence of those, who can confer or
take away mere earthly dignities! How deeply do such motives obscure the
reason, how much do they twist the course of justice, how completely do they
pervert the greatest truths in judging of the just by the standards of the
unjust! Tremble, ye judges of the earth (Ps. 2, 10), look to it that the
sentences you render are not full of deceit; for you yourselves shall be
judged and condemned by your unjust judgments! As the priests and pharisees,
in their eager and insatiable hostility, were irrevocably bent upon taking
away the life of Christ our Savior, nothing but his Death would content or
satisfy them; therefore they answered Pilate: "Crucify Him, Crucify
Him!" (John 19,6.) 636. When the Blessed among
women, most holy Mary, saw her divine Son as Pilate showed Him to the people
and heard him say: "Ecce homo!" She fell upon her knees and openly
adored Him as the true Godman. The same was also done by saint John and the
holy women, together with all the holy angels of the Queen and Lady; for they
saw that not only Mary, as the Mother of the Savior, but that God himself
desired them thus to act. The most prudent Lady spoke to the eternal Father,
to the angels and especially to her most beloved Son precious words of
sorrow, compassion and profound reverence, possible to be conceived only in
her chaste and love inflamed bosom. In her exalted wisdom She pondered also
the ways and means by which the evidences of his innocence could be made most
opportunely manifest at a time when He was so insulted, mocked and despised
by the Jews. With this most proper intention She renewed the petitions above
mentioned, namely, that Pilate, in his quality of judge, continue to maintain
the innocence of Jesus our Redeemer and that all the world should understand,
that Jesus was not guilty of death nor of any of the crimes imputed to Him by
the Jews. 637. On account of these
prayers of the most blessed Mother Pilate was made to feel great compassion
at seeing Jesus so horribly scourged and ill treated and regret at having
punished Him so severely. Although he was naturally disposed to such emotions
by his soft and compassionate disposition; yet they were principally caused
by the light he received through the intercession of the Queen and Mother of
grace. This same light moved the unjust judge after the crowning of thorns to
prolong his parley with the Jews for the release of Christ, as is recorded in
the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel of "According to our law
He is guilty of death, for He claims to be the Son of God." This reply
threw Pilate into greater consternation, for he conceived it might be true,
that Jesus was the Son of God according to his heathen notions of the
Divinity. Therefore he withdrew with Jesus into the pretorium, where,
speaking with Him alone, he asked whence He was? The Lord did not answer this
question; for Pilate was not in a state of mind either to understand or to
merit a reply. Nevertheless he insisted and said to the King of heaven:
"Dost Thou then not speak to me? Dost Thou not know, that I have power
to crucify Thee and power to dismiss Thee?" Pilate sought to move Him to
defend Himself and tell what he wanted to know. It seemed to Pilate that a
man so wretched and tormented would gladly accept any offer of favor from a
judge. 638. But the Master of
truth answered Pilate without defending Himself but with unexpected dignity;
for He said: "Thou shouldst not have any power against Me, unless it
were given thee from above. Therefore, he that hath delivered Me to thee,
hath the greater sin." This answer by itself made the condemnation of
Christ inexcusable in Pilate; since he could have understood therefore, that
neither he nor Caesar had any power of jurisdiction over this man Jesus; that
by a much higher decree He had been so unreasonably and unjustly delivered
over to his judgment; that therefore Judas and the priests had committed a
greater sin than he in not releasing Him; and that nevertheless He too was
guilty of the same crime, though not in such high degree. Pilate failed to
arrive at these mysterious truths; but he was struck with still greater
consternation at the words of Christ our Lord, and therefore made still more
strenuous efforts to liberate Him. The priests, who were now abundantly aware
of his intentions, threatened him with the displeasure of the emperor, which
he would incur, if he permitted this One, who had aspired to be king, to
escape death. They said: "If thou freest this Man, thou art no friend of
Caesar ; since he who makes a king of himself rises up against his orders and
commands." They urged this because the Roman emperors never permitted
anyone in the whole empire to assume the title or insignia of a King without
their consent and order; if therefore Pilate should permit it, he would contravene
the decrees of Caesar, He was much disturbed at this malicious and
threatening intimation of the Jews, and seating himself in his tribunal at
the sixth hour in order to pass sentence upon the Lord, he once more turned
to plead with the Jews, saying: "See there your King!" And all of
them answered: "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!" He
replied: "Shall I crucify your King?" Whereupon they shouted
unanimously: "We have no other king than Caesar." 639. Pilate permitted
himself to be overcome by the obstinacy and malice of the Jews. On the day of
Parasceve then, seated in his tribunal, which in Greek was called
lithostratos, and in Hebrew gabatha, he pronounced the sentence of death
against the Author of life, as I shall relate in the following chapter. The
Jews departed from the hall in great exultation and joy, proclaiming the
sentence of the most innocent Lamb. That they did not realize whom they thus
sought to annihilate was the occasion of our Redemption. All this was well
known to the sorrowful Mother, who, though outside of the hall of judgment,
saw all the proceedings by exalted vision. When the priests and pharisees
rushed forth exulting in the condemnation of Christ to the death of the
Cross, the pure heart of this most blessed Mother was filled with new sorrow
and was pierced and transfixed with the sword of unalleviated bitterness.
Since the sorrow of most holy Mary on this occasion surpassed all that can
enter the thoughts of man, it is useless to speak more of it, and it must be
referred to the pious meditation of Christians. Just as impossible is it to
enumerate her interior acts of adoration, worship, reverence, love,
compassion, sorrow and resignation. INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE GREAT QUEEN AND LADY OF HEAVEN GAVE ME. 640. My daughter, thou
reflectest with wonder upon the hardness and malice of the Jews, the weakness
of Pilate, who knew of their evil dispositions and permitted himself to be
overcome, though fully convinced of the innocence of my Son and Lord. I wish
to relieve thee of this astonishment by furnishing thee with instructions and
warnings suitable for making thee careful on the path to eternal life. Know
then that the ancient prophecies concerning the mysteries of the Redemption
and all the holy Scriptures were to be infallibly fulfilled; for sooner shall
heaven and earth fall to pieces, than that their words fail of their effect
as determined in the divine Mind (Matth. 24, 35; Acts 3, 18). In order that
the most ignominious death foretold for my Lord should be brought about (Sap.
2, 20; Jer. 11, 19) it was necessary that He should be persecuted by men. But
that these men should happen to be the Jews, the priests and the unjust
Pilate, was their own misfortune, not the choice of the Almighty, who wishes
to save all (I Tim. 2, 4). Their own wickedness and malice brought them to
their ruin; for they resisted the great grace of having in their midst their
Redeemer and Master, of knowing Him, of conversing with Him, of hearing his
doctrine and preaching, of witnessing his miracles; and they had received
such great favors, as none of the ancient Patriarchs had attained by all
their longings (Matth. 13,7). Hence the cause of the Savior was justified. He
manifestly had cultivated his vineyard by his own hands and showered his
favors upon it (Matth. 21, 33). But it brought Him only thorns and briars,
and its keepers took away his life, refusing to recognize Him, as was their
opportunity and their duty before all other men. 641. This same, which
happened in the head Christ the Lord and Son of God, must happen to all the
members of his mystical body, that is, to the just and predestined to the end
of the world. For it would be monstrous to see the members incongruous with
the Head, the children show no relation with the Father, or the disciples
unlike their Master. Although sinners must always exist (Matth. 18, 7), since
in this world the just shall always be mingled with the unjust, the
predestined with the reprobate, the persecutors with the persecuted, the
murderers with the murdered, the afflicting with the afflicted; yet these
lots are decided by the malice and the goodness of men. Unhappy shall be he,
through whom scandal comes into the world and who thus makes himself an
instrument of the demon. This kind of activity was begun in the new Church by
the priests and pharisees, and by Pilate, who all persecuted the Head of this
mystic body and, in the further course of the world, by all those who
persecute its members, the saints and the predestined, imitating and following
the Jews and the devil in their evil work. 642. Think well, then, my
dearest, which of these lots thou wishest to choose in the sight of my Son
and me. If thou seest thy Redeemer, thy Spouse and thy Chief tormented,
afflicted, crowned with thorns and saturated with reproaches and at the same
time desirest to have a part in Him and be a member of his mystical body, it
is not becoming, or even possible, that thou live steeped in the pleasures of
the flesh. Thou must be the persecuted and not a persecutor, the oppressed
and not the oppressor; the one that bears the cross, that encounters the
scandal, and not that gives it; the one that suffers, and at the same time
makes none of the neighbors suffer. On the contrary, thou must exert thyself
for their conversion and salvation in as far as is compatible with the
perfection of thy state and vocation. This is the portion of the friends of
God and the inheritance of his children in mortal life ; in this consists the
participation in grace and glory, which by his torments and reproaches and by
his death of the Cross my Son and Lord has purchased for them. I too have
cooperated in this work and have paid the sorrows and afflictions, which thou
hast understood and which I wish thou shalt never allow to be blotted out
from my inmost memory. The Almighty would indeed have been powerful enough to
exalt his predestined in this world, to give them riches and favors beyond
those of others, to make them strong as lions for reducing the rest of
mankind to their invincible power. But it was inopportune to exalt them in
this manner, in order that men might not be led into the error of thinking
that greatness consists in what is visible and happiness in earthly goods;
lest, being induced to forsake virtues and obscure the glory of the Lord,
they fail to experience the efficacy of divine grace and cease to aspire
toward spiritual and eternal things. This is the science which I wish thee to
study continually and in which thou must advance day by day, putting into
practice all that thou learnest to understand and know . PILATE
PRONOUNCES THE SENTENCE OF DEATH AGAINST THE AUTHOR OF LIFE; THE LORD TAKES
UP THE CROSS ON WHICH HE IS TO DIE; HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER FOLLOWS HIM; WHAT
SHE DID ON THIS OCCASION TO RESTRAIN THE DEVIL, AND OTHER HAPPENINGS. 643. To the great
satisfaction and joy of the priests and pharisees Pilate then decreed the
sentence of death on the Cross against Life itself, Jesus our Savior. Having announced
it to the One they had thus condemned in spite of his innocence, they brought
Him to another part of the house of Pilate, where they stripped Him of the
purple mantle, in which they had derided Him as mock king. All happened by
the mysterious dispensation of God; though on their part it was due to the
concerted malice of the Jews; for they wished to see Him undergo the
punishment of the Cross in his own clothes so that in them He might be
recognized by all. Only by his garments could He now be recognized by the
people, since his face had been disfigured beyond recognition by the
scourging, the impure spittle, and the crown of thorns. They again clothed
Him with the seamless tunic, which at the command of the Queen was brought to
Him by the angels; for the executioners had thrown it into a corner of
another room in the house, where they left it to place upon Him the mocking
and scandalous purple cloak. But the Jews neither understood nor noticed any
of these circumstances, since they were too much taken up with the desire of
hastening his Death. 644. Through the diligence
of the Jews in spreading the news of the sentence decreed against Jesus of
Nazareth, the people hastened in multitudes to the house of Pilate in order
to see Him brought forth to execution. Since the ordinary number of
inhabitants was increased by the gathering of numerous strangers from
different parts to celebrate the Pasch, the city was full of people. All of
them were stirred by the news and filled the streets up to the very 645. Of the eleven Apostles
646. The servants and
priests sought to quiet the multitudes, in order that they might be able to
hear the sentence pronounced against Jesus of Nazareth; for after it had been
made known to Him in person, they desired to have it read before the people
and in his presence. When the people had quieted down, they began to read it
in a loud voice, so that all could hear it, while Jesus was standing in full
view as a criminal. The sentence was proclaimed also in the different streets
and at the foot of the Cross; and it was afterwards published and spread in
many copies. According to the understanding given to me, the copies were a
faithful reproduction, excepting some words which have been added. I will not
discuss them, for the exact words of this sentence have been shown me and I
give them here without change. LITERAL
RENDERING OF THE SENTENCE OF DEATH PRONOUNCED AGAINST JESUS OF 647. "I Pontius
Pilate, presiding over lower Galilee and governing Jerusalem, in fealty to
the Roman Empire, and being within the executive mansion, judge, decide, and
proclaim, that I condemn to death, Jesus, of the Nazarean people and a
Galileean by birth, a man seditious and opposed to our laws, to our senate,
and to the great emperor Tiberius Cesar. For the execution of this sentence I
decree, that his death be upon the cross and that He shall be fastened
thereto with nails as is customary with criminals; because, in this very
place, gathering around Him every day many men, poor and rich, He has
continued to raise tumults throughout Judea, proclaiming Himself the Son of
God and King of Israel, at the same time threatening the ruin of this
renowned city of Jerusalem and its temple, and of the sacred Empire, refusing
tribute to Caesar; and because He dared to enter in triumph this city of
Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon, accompanied by a great multitude of the
people carrying branches of palms. I command the first centurion, called
Quintus Cornelius, to lead Him for his greater shame through the said city of
648. According to the above
reckoning the creation of the world happened in March; and from the day on
which Adam was created until the Incarnation of the Word 5199 years; adding
the nine months, during which He remained in the virginal womb of his most
holy Mother, and the thirty-three years of his life, we complete the 5233
years and three months, which according to the reckoning of the Romans
intervened between the anniversary of his birth and the 25th of March, the
day of his death. According to the reckoning of the Roman Church there are
not more than nine months and seven days to the first year, since it begins
its count of years with the first of January of the second year of the world.
Of all the opinions of the teachers of the Church I have understood the one
which corresponds to the reckoning of the Roman Church in the Roman martyrlogy
to be the correct one. This I have also stated in the chapter of the
Incarnation of Christ our Lord in the first book of the second part, chapter
eleventh. 649. The sentence of Pilate
against our Savior having been published in a loud voice before all the
people, the executioners loaded the heavy Cross, on which He was to be
crucified, upon his tender and wounded shoulders. In order that He might
carry it they loosened the bonds holding his hands, but not the others, since
they wished to drag Him along by the loose ends of the ropes that bound his
body. In order to torment Him the more they drew two loops around his throat.
The Cross was fifteen feet long, of thick and heavy timbers. The herald began
to proclaim the sentence and the whole confused and turbulent multitude of
the people, the executioners and soldiers, with great noise, uproar and
disorder began to move from the house of Pilate to 650. "0 Cross, beloved
of my soul, now prepared and ready to still my longings, come to Me, that I
may be received in thy arms, and that, attached to them as on an altar, I may
be accepted by the eternal Father as the sacrifice of his everlasting
reconciliation with the human race. In order to die upon thee, I have
descended from heaven and assumed mortal and passible flesh; for thou art to
be the sceptre with which I shall triumph over all my enemies, the key with
which I shall open the gates of heaven for all the predestined (Is. 22, 22),
the sanctuary in which the guilty sons of Adam shall find mercy, and the
treasurehouse for the enrichment of their poverty. Upon thee I desire to
exalt and recommend dishonor and reproach among men, in order that my friends
may embrace them with joy, seek them with anxious longings, and follow Me on
the path which I through thee shall open up before them. My Father and
eternal God, I confess Thee as the Lord of heaven and earth (Matth. 11, 25),
subjecting Myself to thy power and to thy divine wishes, I take upon my
shoulders the wood for the sacrifice of my innocent and passible humanity and
I accept it willingly for the salvation of men. Receive Thou, eternal Father,
this sacrifice as acceptable to thy justice, in order that from today on they
may not any more be servants, but sons and heirs of thy kingdom together with
Me" (Rom. 8, 17). 651. None of these sacred
mysteries and happenings were hidden from the great Lady of the world, Mary;
for She had a most intimate knowledge and understanding of them, far beyond
that of all the angels. The events, which She could not see with the eyes of
her body, She perceived by her intelligence and revealed science, which
manifested to Her the interior operation of her most holy Son. By this divine
light She recognized the infinite value of the wood of the Cross after once
it had come in contact with the deified humanity of Jesus our Redeemer.
Immediately She venerated and adored it in a manner befitting it. The same
was also done by the heavenly spirits attending upon the Queen. She imitated
her divine Son in the tokens of affections, with which He received the Cross,
addressing it in the words suited to her office as Coadjutrix of the
Redeemer. By her prayers to the eternal Father She followed Him in his exalted
sentiments as the living original and exemplar, without failing in the least
point. When She heard the voice of the herald publishing and rehearsing the
sentence through the streets, the heavenly Mother, in protest against the
accusations contained in the sentence and in the form of comments on the
glory and honor of the Lord, composed a canticle of praise and worship of the
innocence and sinlessness of her all holy Son and God. In the composing of
this canticle the holy angels helped Her, conjointly with them She arranged
and repeated it, while the inhabitants of 652. As all the faith,
knowledge and love of creatures, during this time of the Passion, was
enshrined in its highest essence in the magnanimous soul of the Mother of
wisdom, She alone had the most proper conception and correct judgment of the
suffering and Death of God for men. Without for a moment failing in the
attention necessary to exterior actions, her wisdom penetrated all the
mysteries of the Redemption and the manner in which it was to be accomplished
through the ignorance of the very men who were to be redeemed. She entered
into the deepest consideration of the dignity of the One, who was suffering,
of what He was suffering, from and for whom He was suffering. Of the dignity
of the person of Christ our Redeemer, uniting within Himself the divine and
the human natures, of their perfections and attributes, the most blessed Mary
alone possessed the highest and intuitive knowledge outside of the Lord
himself. On this account She alone among all mere creatures attached
sufficient importance to the Passion and Death of her Son and of the true
God. Of what He suffered, She was not only an eyewitness, but She experienced
it personally within Herself, occasioning the holy envy not only of men, but
of the angels themselves, who were not thus favored. But they well knew that
their great Queen and Mistress felt and suffered in soul and body the same
torments and sorrows as her most holy Son and that the holy Trinity was
inexpressibly pleased with Her; and therefore they sought to make up by their
praise and worship for the pains which they could not share. Sometimes, when
the sorrowful Mother could not personally witness the sufferings of her Son,
She was made to feel in her virginal body and in her spirit the effects of
his torments before her intelligence made Her aware of them. Thus surprised
She would say: "Ah! what new martyrdom have they devised for my sweetest
Lord and Master?" And then She would receive the clearest knowledge of
what the Lord was enduring. The most loving Mother was so admirably faithful
in her sufferings and in imitating the example of Christ our God, that She
never permitted Herself any easement either of her bodily pains, such as
rest, or nourishment, or sleep; nor any relaxation of the spirit, such as any
consoling thoughts or considerations, except when She was visited from on
high by divine influence. Then only would She humbly and thankfully accept
relief, in order that She might recover strength to attend still more
fervently to the object of her sorrows and to the cause of his sufferings.
The same wise consideration She applied to the malicious behavior of the Jews
and their servants, to the needs of the human race, to their threatening
ruin, and to the ingratitude of men, for whom He suffered. Thus She perfectly
and intimately knew of all these things and felt it more deeply than all the
creatures. 653. Another hidden and
astonishing miracle was wrought by the right hand of God through the
instrumentality of the blessed Mary against Lucifer and his infernal spirits.
It took place in the following manner: The dragon and his
associates, though they could not understand the humiliation of the Lord,
were most attentive to all that happened in the Passion of the Lord. Now,
when He took upon Himself the Cross, all these enemies felt a new and
mysterious tremor and weakness, which caused in them great consternation and
confused distress. Conscious of these unwonted and invincible feelings the
prince of darkness feared, that in the Passion and Death of Christ our Lord
some dire and irreparable destruction of his reign was imminent. In order not
to be overtaken by it in the presence of Christ our God, the dragon resolved
to retire and fly with all his followers to the caverns of hell. But when he
sought to execute this resolve, he was prevented by the great Queen and
Mistress of all creation; for the Most High, enlightening Her and intimating
to Her what She was to do, at the same time invested Her with his power. The
heavenly Mother, turning toward Lucifer and his squadrons, by her imperial
command hindered them from flying; ordering them to await and witness the
Passion to the end on mount 654. Our Savior proceeded
on the way to Calvary bearing upon his shoulders, according to the saying of
Isaias, his own government and principality (Is. 9, 6), which was none else
than his Cross, from whence He was to subject and govern the world, meriting
thereby that his name should be exalted above all other names and rescuing
the human race from the tyrannical power of the demon over the sons of Adam
(Col. 2, 15). The same Isaias calls it the yoke and sceptre of the oppressor
and executor, who was imperiously exacting the tribute of the first guilt. In
order to destroy this tyrant and break the sceptre of his reign and the yoke
of our servitude, Christ our Savior placed the Cross upon his shoulders;
namely, upon that place, where are borne both the yoke of slavery and the
sceptre of royal power. He wished to intimate thereby, that He despoiled the
demon of this power and transferred it to his own shoulders, in order that
thenceforward the captive children of Adam should recognize Him for their
legitimate Lord and true King. All mortals were to follow Him in the way of
the Cross (Matth. 14, 24) and learn, that by this Cross they were subjected
to his power (John 12, 32) and now become his vassals and servants, bought by
his own lifeblood (I Cor. 4, 20). 655. But alas, the pity of
our most ungrateful forgetfulness! That the Jews and ministers of the Passion
should be ignorant of this mystery hidden to princes of this world, and that
they should not dare touch the Cross of the Savior, because they considered
it the wood of ignominy and shame, was their own fault and a very great one.
Yet not so great as our own, since its mystery being already revealed to us,
we spend our indignation only on the blindness of those who were persecuting
our Lord and God. For, if we blame them for being ignorant of what they ought
to have known, how much should we blame ourselves, who, knowing and
confessing Christ the Redeemer, persecute and crucify Him by our offenses
(Reb. 6, 6)? O my sweetest Love, Jesus, light of my intellect and glory of my
soul! Do not, O my Lord, trust in my sluggish torpidity to follow Thee with
my Cross on thy way! Take it upon Thee to do me this favor; draw me after Thee,
to run after the fragrance of thy sweetest love (Cant. 1, 3) of thy ineffable
patience, of thy deepest humility, that I may desire for contempt and
anguish, and seek after participation in thy ignominy, insults and sorrows.
Let this be my portion and my inheritance in this mortal and oppressing life,
let this be my glory and my repose; and outside of the Cross and its
ignominy, I desire not to live or be consoled or to partake of any rest or
enjoyment. As the Jews and all of that blind multitude avoided the touch of
the Cross of Him, who was so innocently sentenced to die upon it, He opened
with it a passage and cleared for Himself a way. His perfidious persecutors
looked upon his glorious dishonor as a contagion and they fled from its
approach, though all the rest of the streets were full of shouting and
clamoring people, who crowded aside as the herald advanced proclaiming the
sentence. 656. The executioners, bare
of all human compassion and kindness, dragged our Savior Jesus along with
incredible cruelty and insults. Some of them jerked Him forward by the ropes
in order to accelerate his passage, while others pulled from behind in order
to retard it. On account of this jerking and the weight of the Cross they
caused Him to sway to and fro and often to fall to the ground. By the hard
knocks He thus received on the rough stones great wounds were opened,
especially on the two knees and they were widened at each repeated fall. The
heavy Cross also inflicted a wound on the shoulder on which it was carried. The
unsteadiness caused the Cross sometimes to knock against his sacred head, and
sometimes the head against the Cross; thus the thorns of his crown penetrated
deeper and wounded the parts, which they had not yet reached. To these
torments of the body the ministers of evil added many insulting words and
execrable affronts, ejecting their impure spittle and throwing the dirt of
the pavement into his face so mercilessly, that they blinded the eyes that
looked upon them with such divine mercy. Thus they of their own account
condemned themselves to the loss of the graces, with which his very looks
were fraught. By the haste with which they dragged Him along in their
eagerness to see Him die, they did not allow Him to catch his breath; for his
most innocent body, having been in so few hours overwhelmed with such a storm
of torments, was so weakened and bruised, that to all appearances He was
ready to yield up life under his pains and sorrows. 657. From the house of
Pilate the sorrowful and stricken Mother followed with the multitudes on the
way of her divine Son, accompanied by 658. Beyond all human
thought and estimation was the sorrow of the most sincere Dove and Virgin
Mother while She thus witnessed with her own eyes her Son carrying the Cross
to 659. As the Evangelist
tells us, there were other women among the crowds, who followed the Savior in
bitter tears and lamentations (Luke 23, 27). The sweetest Jesus turning toward
them, addressed them and said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over
Me; but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days shall
come, wherein they shall say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have
not borne, and the pups that have not given suck. Then shall they begin to
say to the mountains: Fall upon us, and to the hills: Cover us. For if in the
green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry?" By
these mysterious words the Lord acknowledged the tears shed on account of his
Passion, and to a certain extent, by showing his appreciation of them, He
approved of them. In these women He wished to teach us for what purpose our
tears should be shed so that they may attain their end. These compassionate
disciples of the Lord were at that time ignorant of the true reason for their
tears, since they wept over his sufferings and injuries, and not over the
cause of these sufferings; and therefore they merited to be instructed and
admonished of the truth. It was as if the Savior had said to them: Weep over
your sins and over the sins of your children, and attribute what I suffer to
those sins. I suffer not for my sins, for I am guilty of none and it is not
even possible that I be guilty of any. If I approve of your compassion
for Me as good and just, much more do I desire you to weep over your sins,
for which I suffer, and by this manner of weeping you shall acquire for
yourselves and your children the price of my blood and of my Redemption,
ignored by this blind people. For there shall come days, namely the days of
universal judgment and chastisement, in which those shall be held fortunate,
who have not begotten children; and the foreknown shall call upon the
mountains and the hills to shield them against my wrath. For if their sins,
now only assumed by Me, have such effects on me, who am innocent, what
horrible punishments will they draw upon those, who are so barren and without
any fruits of grace and merits? 660. As a reward for their
tears and their compassion these women were enlightened so as to understand
this doctrine. In fulfillment of the prayerful wish of the blessed Mother the
pharisees and ministers were inspired with the resolve to engage some man to
help Jesus our Savior in carrying the Cross to INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE GREAT QUEEN AND LADY GAVE ME. 661. I desire that the
fruit of the obedience with which thou writest the history of my life shall
be, that thou become a true disciple of my most holy Son and of myself. The
main purpose of the exalted and venerable mysteries, which are made known to
thee, and of the teachings, which I so often repeat to thee, is that thou
deny and strip thyself, estranging thy heart from all affection to creatures,
neither wishing to possess them nor accept them for other uses. By this
precaution thou wilt overcome the impediments, which the devils seek to place
in the way of the dangerous softness of thy nature. I who know thee, thus
advise and lead thee by the way of instruction and correction as thy Mother
and Instructress. By the divine teaching thou knowest the mysteries of the
Passion and Death of Christ and the one true way of life, which is the Cross;
and thou knowest that not all who are called, are chosen. Many there are who
wish to follow Christ and very few who truly dispose themselves to imitate
Him; for as soon as they feel the sufferings of the Cross they cast it aside.
Laborious exertions are very painful and averse to human nature according to
the flesh; and the fruits of the spirit are more hidden and few guide
themselves by the light. On this account there are so many among mortals,
who, forgetful of the eternal truths, seek the flesh and the continual
indulgence of its pleasures. They ardently seek honors and fly from injuries:
they strive after riches, and contemn poverty; they long after pleasure and
dread mortification. All these are enemies of the Cross of Christ (Phil. 3,
18), and with dreadful aversion they fly from it, deeming it sheer ignominy,
just like those who crucified Christ, the Lord. 662. Another deceit has
spread through the world: many imagine that they are following Christ their
Master, though they neither suffer affliction nor engage in any exertion or
labor. They are content with avoiding boldness in committing sins, and place
all their perfection in a certain prudence or hollow self-love, which
prevents them from denying anything to their will and from practicing any
virtues at the cost of their flesh. They would easily escape this deception,
if they would consider that my Son was not only the Redeemer, but their
Teacher; and that He left in this world the treasures of his Redemption not only
as a remedy against its eternal ruin, but as a necessary medicine for the
sickness of sin in human nature. No one knew so much as my Son and Lord; no
one could better understand the quality of love than the divine Lord, who was
and is wisdom and charity itself; and no one was more able to fulfill all his
wishes (I John 4, 16). Nevertheless, although He well could do it, He chose
not a life of softness and ease for the flesh, but one full of labors and
pains; for He judged his instructions to be incomplete and insufficient to
redeem man, if He failed to teach them how to overcome the demon, the flesh
and their own self. He wished to inculcate, that this magnificent victory is
gained by the Cross, by labors, penances, mortifications and the acceptance
of contempt: all of which are the trademarks and evidences of true love and
the special watchwords of the predestined. 663. Thou, my daughter,
knowest the value of the holy Cross and the honor which it confers upon ignominies
and tribulations; do thou embrace the Cross and bear it with joy in imitation
of my Son and thy Master (Matth. 16, 24). In this mortal life let thy glory
be in tribulations, persecutions (Rom. 5, 3), contempt, infirmities, poverty,
humiliation and in whatever is painful and averse to mortal flesh. And in
order that in all thy exercises thou mayest imitate me and give me pleasure,
I wish that thou seek no rest or consolation in any earthly thing. Thou must
not dwell in thy thoughts upon what thou bearest, nor seek to relieve thyself
by enlisting the compassion of others. Much less must thou make much of, or
try to impress others with the recital of the persecutions or molestations of
creatures, nor should it ever be heard from thy lips, how much thou endurest,
nor shouldst thou compare thy sufferings with those of others. I do not wish
to say, that it is a sin to accept of some reasonable and moderate
alleviation, or to mention thy afflictions. But in thee, my dearest, much
alleviation, if not a sin, would be an infidelity to thy Spouse and Lord; for
He has put thee personally under more obligation than many generations of men
and thy response in suffering and love will be defective and wanting, if it
is not complete and loyal in all respects. So faithful does the Lord wish thy
correspondence to be, that thou must allow thy weak nature not even one sigh
for mere natural relief and consolation. If love alone impels thee, thou wilt
allow thyself to be carried along by its sweet force and rest in it alone;
and the love of the Cross would immediately dispense with such natural
relief, in the same way as thou knowest I have done in my total
self-sacrifice. Let this be to thee a general rule: that all human
consolation is an imperfection and a danger, and that thou shouldst welcome
only that, which the Most High sends to thee Himself or through his holy
angels. And even these favors of the divine right hand thou must accept only
in so far as they strengthen thee to suffer more constantly and to withdraw
thee from all that ministers to the senses. HOW OUR
SAVIOR JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED ON 664. Our Savior then, the
new and true Isaac, the Son of the eternal Father, reached the mountain of
sacrifice, which is the same one to which his prototype and figure, Isaac,
was brought by the patriarch Abraham (Gen. 22, 9). Upon the most innocent
Lamb of God was to be executed the rigor of the sentence, which had been
suspended in favor of the son of the Patriarch. 665. When the most prudent
Mother perceived that now the mysteries of the Redemption were to be
fulfilled and that the executioners were about to strip Jesus of his clothes
for crucifixion, She turned in spirit to the eternal Father and prayed as
follows: "My Lord and eternal God, Thou art the Father of thy
onlybegotten Son. By eternal generation He is engendered, God of the true
God, namely Thyself, and as man He was born of my womb and received from me
this human nature, in which He now suffers. I have nursed and sustained Him
at my own breast; and as the best of sons that ever can be born of any
creature, I love Him with maternal love. As his Mother I have a natural right
in the Person of his most holy humanity and thy 666. The invincible Mother
finished her prayer and She perceived that the impious ministers were
preparing to give to the Lord the drink of wine, myrrh and gall, of which
saint Matthew and saint Mark speak (Matth. 27, 34; Mark 15, 23). Taking
occasion from the words of Solomon: Give strong drink to the sorrowful and
wine to those that suffer bitterness of heart, the Jews were accustomed to
give to those about to be executed a drink of strong and aromatic wine in
order to raise their vital spirits and to help them to bear their torments
with greater fortitude. This custom they now perverted in order to augment
the sufferings of the Savior (Prov. 3, 6). The drink, which was intended to
assist and strengthen other criminals, by the perfidy of the Jews was now
mixed with gall, so that it should have no other effect than to torment his
sense of taste by its bitterness. The blessed Mother was aware of their
intentions and in her maternal tenderness and compassion asked the Lord not
to drink of it. Jesus in deference to the petition of his Mother, without
rejecting entirely this new suffering, tasted of the mixture, but would not
drink it entirely (Matth. 27, 34) 667. It was already the
sixth hour, which corresponds to our noontime, and the executioners,
intending to crucify the Savior naked, despoiled Him of the seamless tunic
and of his garments. As the tunic was large and without opening in front,
they pulled it over the head of Jesus without taking off the crown of thorns;
but on account of the rudeness with which they proceeded, they inhumanly tore
off the crown with the tunic. Thus they opened anew all the wounds of his
head, and in some of them remained the thorns, which, in spite of their being
so hard and sharp, were wrenched off by the violence with which the
executioners despoiled Him of his tunic and, with it, of the crown. With
heartless cruelty they again forced it down upon his sacred head, opening up
wounds upon wounds. By the rude tearing off of the tunic were renewed also
the wounds of his whole body, since the tunic had dried into the open places
and its removal was, as David says, adding new pains to his wounds (Ps. 68,
27). Four times during the Passion did they despoil Jesus of his garments and
again vest Him. The first time in order to scourge Him at the pillar; the second
time in order to clothe Him in the mock purple; the third, when they took
this off in order to clothe Him in his tunic; the fourth, when they finally
took away his clothes. This last was the most painful, because his wounds
were more numerous, his holy humanity was much weakened, and there was less
shelter against the sharp wind on 668. To all these sufferings
was added the confusion of being bereft of his garments in the presence of
his most blessed Mother, of her pious companions, and in full sight of the
multitudes gathered around. By his divine power He, however, reserved for
Himself the nether garment which his Mother had wound around his loins in 669. "Eternal Father
and my Lord God, to the incomprehensible Majesty of thy infinite goodness and
justice I offer my entire humanity and all that according to thy will it has
accomplished in descending from thy bosom to assume passible and mortal flesh
for the Redemption of men, my brethren. I offer Thee, Lord, with Myself, also
my most loving Mother, her love, her most perfect works, her sorrows, her
sufferings, her anxious and prudent solicitude in serving Me, imitating Me
and accompanying Me unto death. I offer Thee the little flock of my Apostles,
the holy Church and congregation of the faithful, such as it is now and as it
shall be to the end of the world; and with it I offer to Thee all the mortal
children of Adam. All this I place in thy hands as the true and almighty Lord
and God. As far as my wishes are concerned, I suffer and die for all, and I
desire that all shall be saved, under the condition that all follow Me and
profit of my Redemption. Thus may they pass from the slavery of the devil to
be thy children, my brethren and coheirs of the grace merited by Me.
Especially, O my Lord, do I offer to Thee the poor, the despised and
afflicted, who are my friends and who follow Me on the way to the Cross. I
desire that the just and the predestined be written in thy eternal memory. I
beseech Thee, my Father, to withhold thy chastisement and not to raise the
scourge of thy justice over men; let them not be punished as they merit for
their sins. Be Thou from now on their Father as Thou art mine. I beseech Thee
also, that they may be helped to ponder upon my Death in pious affection and be
enlightened from above; and I pray for those who are persecuting Me, in order
that they may be converted to the truth. Above all do I ask Thee for the
exaltation of thy ineffable and most holy name." 670. This prayer and
supplication of our Savior Jesus were known to the most blessed Mother, and
She imitated Him and made the same petitions to the eternal Father in as far
as She was concerned. The most prudent Virgin never forgot or disregarded the
first word which She had heard from the mouth of her divine Son as an infant:
"Become like unto Me, my Beloved." His promise, that in return for
the new human existence which She had given Him in her virginal womb, He
would, by his almighty power, give Her a new existence of divine and eminent
grace above all other creatures, was continually fulfilled. To this favor was
due also her deep science and enlightenment concerning all the operations of
the sacred humanity of her Son, none of which ever escaped her knowledge and
attention. Whatever She thus perceived She imitated; so that She was always
anxious to study and penetrate them with deep understanding, to put them
promptly into action, and to practice them courageously and zealously during
all her life. In this neither sorrow could disturb Her, nor anguish hinder
Her, nor persecution detain Her, nor the bitterness of her suffering weaken
Her. If the great Queen had assisted at the Passion with the same sentiments
as the rest of the just, it would indeed have been admirable; but not so
admirable as the way in which She suffered. She was singular and
extraordinary in all her sufferings; for, as I have said above, She felt in
her own virginal body all the torments of Christ our Lord, both interior and
exterior. On account of this conformity we can say, that also the heavenly
Mother was scourged, crowned, spit upon, buffeted, laden with the Cross and
nailed upon it; for She felt these pains and all the rest in her purest body.
Although She felt them in a different manner, yet She felt them with such
conformity that the Mother was altogether a faithful likeness of her Son.
Besides the greatness of her dignity, which in most holy Mary must, on this
account, have corresponded in the highest possible degree with that of
Christ, there was concealed therein another mystery. This was, that the
desire of Christ to see his exalted love and benignity as exhibited in his
Passion copied in all its magnitude in a mere creature, was fulfilled in Her,
and no one possessed a greater right to this favor than his own Mother. 671. In order to find the
places for the augerholes on the Cross, the executioners haughtily commanded
the Creator of the universe. (0 dreadful temerity!), to stretch Himself out
upon it. The Teacher of humility obeyed without hesitation. But they,
following their inhuman instinct of cruelty, marked the places for the holes,
not according to the size of his body, but larger, having in mind a new
torture for their Victim. This inhuman intent was known to the Mother of
light, and the knowledge of it was one of the greatest afflictions of her
chastest heart during the whole Passion. She saw through the intentions of
these ministers of sin and She anticipated the torments to be endured by her
beloved Son when his limbs should be wrenched from their sockets in being nailed
to the Cross. But She could not do anything to prevent it, as it was the will
of the Lord to suffer these pains for men. When He rose from the Cross, and
they set about boring the holes, the great Lady approached and took hold of
one of his hands, adoring Him and kissing it with greatest reverence. The
executioners allowed this because they thought that the sight of his Mother
would cause so much the greater affliction to the Lord; for they wished to
spare Him no sorrow they could cause Him. But they were ignorant of the
hidden mysteries; for the Lord during his Passion had no greater source of
consolation and interior joy than to see in the soul of his most blessed
Mother, the beautiful likeness of Himself and the full fruits of his Passion
and Death. This joy, to a certain extent, comforted Christ our Lord also in
that hour. 672. Having bored the three
holes into the Cross, the executioners again commanded Christ the Lord to
stretch Himself out upon it in order to be nailed to it. The supreme and
almighty King, as the Author of patience, obeyed, and at the will of the
hangmen, placed Himself with outstretched arms upon the blessed wood. The
Lord was so weakened, disfigured and exhausted, that if the ferocious cruelty
of those men had left the least room for natural reason and kindness, they
could not have brought themselves to inflict further torments upon the
innocent and meek Lamb, humbly suffering such nameless sorrows and pains. But
not so with them; for the judges and their executioners (O terrible and most
hidden judgments of the Lord! ) were transformed in their malice and deathly
hatred into demons, void of the feelings of sensible and earthly men and
urged on only by diabolical wrath and fury. 673. Presently one of the
executioners seized the hand of Jesus our Savior and placed it upon the auger
hole, while another hammered a large and rough nail through the palm. The
veins and sinews were torn, and the bones of the sacred hand, which made the
heavens and all that exists, were forced apart. When they stretched out the
other hand, they found that it did not reach up to the auger hole; for the
sinews of the other arm had been shortened and the executioners had
maliciously set the holes too far apart, as I have mentioned above. In order
to overcome the difficulty, they took the chain, with which the Savior had
been bound in the garden, and looping one end through a ring around his
wrist, they, with unheard of cruelty, pulled the hand over the hole and
fastened it with another nail. Thereupon they seized his feet, and placing
them one above the other, they tied the same chain around both and stretched
them with barbarous ferocity down to the third hole. Then they drove through
both feet a large nail into the Cross. Thus the sacred body, in which dwelled
the Divinity, was nailed motionless to the holy Cross, and the handiwork of
his deified members, formed by the Holy Ghost, was so stretched and torn
asunder, that the bones of his body, dislocated and forced from their natural
position, could all be counted. The bones of his breast, of his shoulders and
arms, and of his whole body yielded to the cruel violence and were torn from
their sinews. 674. It is impossible for
human tongue or words of mouth to describe the torments of our Savior Jesus
and what He suffered on this occasion. On the last day alone more will be
known, in order that his cause may be justified before sinners and the praise
and exaltation of the saints may be so much the greater. But at present,
while our faith in this truth gives us occasion and obliges us to apply our
reason (if such we possess), I ask, implore and beseech the children of the
holy Church, each one for himself, to study this most venerable sacrament.
Let us contemplate it and weigh it with all its circumstances, and we shall
find powerful motives to abhor and firmly resolve to avoid sin, as the cause
of all this suffering to the Author of life. Let us contemplate and look upon
his Virgin Mother, so afflicted in spirit and overwhelmed by the torments of
her purest body, in order that through this gate of light we may enter to see
the Sun that illumines our heart. O Mistress and Queen of virtues! O true
Mother of the immortal King of ages become man! It is true, O my Lady, that
the hardness of our ungrateful hearts makes us very unfit and unworthy of
suffering thy pains and those of thy most holy Son our Lord; but through thy
clemency make us partakers of this favor, which we do not deserve. Purify and
free us from this deadening lukewarmness and gross neglect. If we are the
cause of these sufferings, what propriety or what justice can there be in
visiting them only on Thee and on thy Beloved? Let the chalice pass from the
lips of the Innocent, in order that it may be tasted by the guilty who
deserve it. But alas! Where is our good sense? Where wisdom and knowledge?
Where is the light of our eyes? Who has so entirely deprived us of our
understanding? Who has robbed us of our human and sensible hearts? If I, O
Lord, had not received from Thee this being according to thy image and
likeness; if Thou hadst not given me life and motion; if all the elements and
creatures, formed by thy hand for my service (Eccli. 39, 30), were not giving
me continual notice of thy immense love: at least thy being nailed so
outrageously to the Cross, and all thy torments and sorrows for my salvation,
should have sufficed to draw me to Thee with the bonds of compassion and
gratitude, of love and confidence in thy ineffable kindness. But if so many
voices cannot awaken me, if such love does not enkindle mine, if thy Passion
and Death do not move me, if such great benefits cannot oblige me, what end
shall I expect as the result of my foolishness? 675. After the Savior was
nailed to the Cross, the executioners judged it necessary to bend the points of
the nails which projected through the back of the wood, in order that they
might not be loosened and drawn out by the weight of the body. For this
purpose they raised up the Cross in order to turn it over, so that the body
of the Lord would rest face downward upon the ground with the weight of the
Cross upon Him. This new cruelty appalled all the bystanders and a shout of
pity arose in the crowd. But the sorrowful and compassionate Mother
intervened by her prayers, and asked the eternal Father not to permit this
boundless outrage to happen in the way the executioners had intended. She
commanded her holy angels to come to the assistance of their Creator. When,
therefore, the executioners raised up the Cross to let it fall, with the
crucified Lord face downward upon the ground, the holy angels supported Him
and the Cross above the stony and fetid ground, so that his divine
countenance did not come in contact with the rocks and pebbles. Thus
altogether ignorant of the miracle the executioners bent over the points of
the nails; for the sacred body was so near to the ground and the Cross was so
firmly held by the angels, that the Jews thought it rested upon the hard
rock. 676. Then they dragged the
lower end of the Cross with the crucified God near to the hole, wherein it
was to be planted. Some of them getting under the upper part of the Cross
with their shoulders, others pushing upward with their halberds and lances,
they raised the Savior on his Cross and fastened its foot in the hole they
had drilled into the ground. Thus our true life and salvation now hung in the
air upon the sacred wood in full view of the innumerable multitudes of
different nations and countries. I must not omit mentioning another barbarity
inflicted upon the Lord as they raised Him: for some of them placed the sharp
points of their lances and halberds to his body and fearfully lacerating Him
under the armpits in helping to push the Cross into position. At this
spectacle new cries of protest arose with still more vehemence and confusion
from the multitude of people. The Jews blasphemed, the kindhearted lamented,
the strangers were astounded, some of them called the attention of the
bystanders to the proceedings, others turned away their heads in horror and
pity; others took to themselves a warning from this spectacle of suffering,
and still others proclaimed Him a just Man. All these different sentiments
were like arrows piercing the heart of the afflicted Mother. The sacred body
now shed much blood from the nail wounds, which, by its weight and the shock
of the Cross falling into the hole, had widened. They were the fountains, now
opened up, to which Isaias invites us to hasten with joy to quench our thirst
and wash off the stains of our sins (Is. 12, 3). No one shall be excused who
does not quickly approach to drink of them; since the waters are sold without
exchange of silver or gold, and they are given freely to those who will but
receive them (Is. 54, 1). 677. Then they crucified
also the two thieves and planted their crosses to the right and the left of
the Savior; for thereby they wished to indicate that He deserved the most
conspicuous place as being the greatest malefactor. The pharisees and
priests, forgetting the two thieves, turned all the venom of their fury
against the sinless and holy One by nature. Wagging their heads in scorn and
mockery (Matth. 27, 39) they threw stones and dirt at the Cross of the Lord
and his royal Person, saying: "Ah Thou, who destroyest the temple and in
three days rebuildest it, save now Thyself; others He has made whole, Himself
He cannot save; if this be the Son of God let Him descend from the Cross, and
we will believe in Him" (Matth. 27, 42). The two thieves in the
beginning also mocked the Lord and said: "If Thou art the Son of God,
save Thyself and us." These blasphemies of the two thieves caused
special sorrow to our Lord, since they were so near to death and were losing
the fruit of their deathpains, by which they could have satisfied in part for
their justly punished crimes. Soon after, however, one of them availed
himself of the greatest opportunity that a sinner ever had in this world, and
was converted from his sins. 678. When the great Queen
of the angels, most holy Mary, perceived that the Jews in their perfidy and
obstinate envy vied in dishonoring Him, in blaspheming Him as the most wicked
of men and in desiring to blot out his name from the land of the living, as
Jeremias had prophesied (Jer. 11, 19), She was inflamed with a new zeal for
the honor of her Son and true God. Prostrate before the person of the
Crucified, and adoring Him, She besought the eternal Father to see to the
honor of his Onlybegotten and manifest it by such evident signs that the
perfidy of the Jews might be confounded and their malice frustrated of its
intent. Having presented this petition to the Father, She, with the zeal and
authority of the Queen of the universe, addressed all the irrational
creatures and said: "Insensible creatures, created by the hand of the
Almighty, do you manifest your compassion, which in deadly foolishness is
denied to Him by men capable of reason. Ye heavens, thou sun, moon and ye
stars and planets, stop in your course and suspend your activity in regard to
mortals. Ye elements, change your condition, earth lose thy stability, let
your rocks and cliffs be rent. Ye sepulchres and monuments of the dead, open
and send forth your contents for the confusion of the living. Thou mystical
and figurative veil of the temple, divide into two parts and by thy
separation threaten the unbelievers with chastisement, give witness to the
truth and to the glory of their Creator and Redeemer, which they are trying
to obscure." 679. In virtue of this
prayer and of the commands of Mary, the Mother of the Crucified, the
Omnipotence of God had provided for all that was to happen at the death of
his Onlybegotten. The Lord enlightened and moved the hearts of many of the
bystanders at the time of these happenings on earth, and even before that
time, in order that they might confess Jesus crucified as holy, just and as the
true Son of God. This happened, for instance, with the centurion and many
others mentioned in the Gospels, who went away from 680. The soldiers who had
crucified Jesus our Savior, according to a custom permitting the executioners
to take possession of the property of those whom they executed, now proceeded
to divide the garments of the innocent Lamb. The cloak or outside mantle,
which by divine disposition they had brought to 681. As the wood of the
Cross was the throne of his majesty and the chair of the doctrine of life,
and as He was now raised upon it, confirming his doctrine by his example,
Christ now uttered those words of highest charity and perfection:
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" (Luke 23,
34.) This principle of charity and fraternal love the divine Teacher had appropriated
to Himself and proclaimed by his own lips (John 15, 12; Matth. 15, 44). He
now confirmed and executed it upon the Cross, not only pardoning and loving
his enemies, but excusing those under the plea of ignorance whose malice had
reached the highest point possible to men in persecuting, blaspheming and
crucifying their God and Redeemer. Such was the difference between the
behavior of ungrateful men favored with so great enlightenment, instruction
and blessing; and the behavior of Jesus in his most burning charity while
suffering the crown of thorns, the nails, and the Cross and unheard of
blasphemy at the hands of men. O incomprehensible love! O ineffable
sweetness! a patience inconceivable to man, admirable to the angels and
fearful to the devils! One of the two thieves, called Dismas, became aware of
some of the mysteries. Being assisted at the same time by the prayers and
intercession of most holy Mary, he was interiorly enlightened concerning his
Rescuer and Master by the first word on the Cross. Moved by true sorrow and
contrition for his sins, he turned to his companion and said: "Neither
dost thou fear God, seeing that thou art under the same condemnation? And we
indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath
done no evil." And thereupon speaking to Jesus, he said: "Lord,
remember me when Thou shalt come into thy kingdom!" (Luke 23, 40.) 682. In this happiest of
thieves, in the centurion, and in the others who confessed Jesus Christ on
the Cross, began to appear the results of the Redemption. But the one most
favored was this Dismas, who merited to hear the second word of the Savior on
the Cross: "Amen, I say to thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.
"O fortunate thief, who, of all others, heard those words so much
desired by all the saints and just of the earth! Such a word the ancient
Patriarchs and Prophets did not hear; they had judged themselves very happy
to be allowed to descend into limbo and wait through the long ages for
paradise, which thou, in changing so happily thy condition, didst acquire in
one moment. Thou hast now ceased to rob earthly possessions of thy neighbor,
and immediately snatchest heaven from the hands of thy Master. Thou seizest
it in justice and He yields it to thee in grace, since thou wast the last
disciple of his doctrine on earth and the most alert of all in practicing it
after having heard it from his mouth. Thou hast lovingly corrected thy
brother, confessed thy Creator, reprehended those who blasphemed Him,
imitated Him in patient suffering, asked Him humbly as thy Redeemer not to
forget thy miseries; and He, as thy Exaulter, has at once fulfilled thy
desires without delaying the guerdon merited for thee and all the mortals. 683. Having thus justified
the good thief, Jesus turned his loving gaze upon his afflicted Mother, who
with "Woman, behold thy
son!" and then to the Apostle: "Behold thy Mother!" (John 19,
26.) The Lord called Her Woman and not Mother, because this name of Mother
had in it something of sweetness and consolation, the very pronouncing of
which would have been a sensible relief. During his Passion He would admit of
no exterior consolation, having renounced for that time all exterior
alleviation and easement, as I have mentioned above. By this word
"woman" he tacitly and by implication wished to say: Woman blessed
among all women, the most prudent among all the daughters of Adam, Woman,
strong and constant, unconquered by any fault of thy own, unfailing in my
service and most faithful in thy love toward Me, which even the mighty waters
of my Passion could not extinguish or resist (Cant. 8, 7), I am going to my
Father and cannot accompany Thee further; my beloved disciple will attend
upon Thee and serve Thee as his Mother, and he will be thy son. All this the
heavenly Queen understood. The holy Apostle on his part received Her as his
own from that hour on; for he was enlightened anew in order to understand and
appreciate the greatest treasure of the Divinity in the whole creation next
to the humanity of Christ our Savior. In this light He reverenced and served
Her for the rest of her life, as I will relate farther on. Our Lady also
accepted him as her son in humble subjection and obedience. Always practicing
the highest possible perfection and holiness without failing on any occasion,
and not permitting even the immensity of her present suffering to weigh down
her magnanimous and most prudent heart, She promised then and there that She
would show him this obedience during her whole life. 684. Already the ninth hour
of the day was approaching, although the darkness and confusion of nature
made it appear to be rather a chaotic night. Our Savior spoke the fourth word
from the Cross in a loud and strong voice, so that all the bystanders could
hear it: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" (Matth.
27,46.) Although the Lord had uttered these words in his own Hebrew language,
they were not understood by all. Since they began with: "Eli,
Elli," some of them thought He was calling upon Elias, and a number of
them mocked Him saying: "Let us see whether Elias shall come to free Him
from our hands?" But the mystery concealed beneath these words was just
as profound as it was unintelligible to the Jews and gentiles; and they have
been interpreted in many ways by the doctors of the Church. I shall give the
interpretation which has been manifested to me. The dereliction of which
Christ speaks, was not one in which the Divinity separated from the humanity,
dissolving the hypostatic union, nor including a cessation of the beatific
vision in his soul; for both of these He enjoyed from the first moment of his
conception by the Holy Ghost in the virginal womb and could never lose. But
certainly the sacred humanity was in so far forsaken by the Divinity as it
did not ward off death or the most bitter sorrows of his Passion; though, on
the other hand, the eternal Father did not forsake Him entirely, since He
showed his concern by causing the changes in the visible creation in order to
give witness for his honor at his Death. Christ our Savior intimated quite a
different dereliction by these words of complaint, one which originated from
his immense love for men; namely, from his love of the foreknown as lost and
the reprobate, which during his last hour caused in Him the same anguish as
it did during his prayer in the garden. He grieved that his copious and
superabundant Redemption, offered for the whole human race, should not be
efficacious in the reprobate and that He should find Himself deprived of them
in the eternal happiness, for which He had created and redeemed them. As this
was to happen in consequence of the decree of his Father's eternal will, He
lovingly and sorrowfully complained of it in the words: "My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me?" that is, in so far as God deprived Him of
the salvation of the reprobate. 685. In confirmation of
this sorrow the Lord added: "I thirst!" The sufferings of the Lord
and his anguish could easily cause a natural thirst. But for Him this was not
a time to complain of this thirst or to quench it; and therefore Jesus would
not have spoken of it so near to its expiration, unless in order to give
expression to a most exalted mystery. He was thirsting to see the captive
children of Adam make use of the liberty, which He merited for them and
offered to them, and which so many were abusing. He was athirst with the
anxious desire that all should correspond with Him in the faith and love due
to Him, that they profit by his merits and sufferings, accept his friendship
and grace now acquired for them, and that they should not lose the eternal
happiness which He was to leave as an inheritance to those that wished to
merit and accept it. This was the thirst of our Savior and Master; and the
most blessed Mary alone understood it perfectly and began, with ardent
affection and charity, to invite and interiorly to call upon all the poor,
the afflicted, the humble, the despised and downtrodden to approach their
Savior and thus quench, at least in part, his thirst which they could not
quench entirely. But the perfidious Jews and the executioners, evidencing
their unhappy hardheartedness, fastened a sponge soaked in gall and vinegar
to a reed and mockingly raised it to his mouth, in order that He might drink
of it. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of David: "In my thirst they gave
me vinegar to drink" (John 16, 28; Ps. 68, 22). Our most patient Savior
tasted of it, partaking of this drink in mysterious submission to the
condemnation of the reprobate. But at the instance of his blessed Mother He
immediately desisted; because the Mother of grace was to be the portal and
Mediatrix of those who were to profit of the Passion and the Redemption of
mankind. 686. In connection with
this same mystery the Savior then pronounced the sixth word: "Consumma tum est," "It is consummated" (John 19, 29).
Now is consummated this work of my coming from heaven and I have obeyed the
command of my eternal Father, who sent Me to suffer and die for the salvation
of mankind. Now are fulfilled the holy Scriptures, the prophecies and figures
of the old Testament, and the course of my earthly and mortal life assumed in
the womb of my Mother. Now are established on earth my example, my doctrines,
my Sacraments and my remedies for the sickness of sin. Now is appeased the
justice of my eternal Father in regard to the debt of the children of Adam.
Now is my holy Church enriched with the remedies for the sins committed by
men; the whole work of my coming into the world is perfected in so far as
concerns Me, its Restorer; the secure foundation of the triumphant Church is
now laid in the Church militant, so that nothing can overthrow or change it.
These are the mysteries contained in the few words: "Consummatum est." 687. Having finished and
established the work of Redemption in all its perfection, it was becoming
that the incarnate Word, just as He came forth from the Father to enter
mortal life (John 16, 8), should enter into immortal life of the Father
through death. Therefore Christ our Savior added the last words uttered by
Him: "Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit." The Lord spoke these words in a loud and
strong voice, so that the bystanders heard them. In pronouncing them He
raised his eyes to heaven, as one speaking with the eternal Father, and with
the last accent He gave up his spirit and inclined his head. By the divine
force of these words Lucifer with all his demons were hurled into the deepest
caverns of hell, there they lay motionless, as I shall relate in the next
chapter. The invincible Queen and Mistress of all virtues understood these
mysteries beyond the understanding of all creatures, as She was the Mother of
the Savior and the Coadjutrix of his Passion. In order that She might
participate in it to the end, just as She had felt in her own body the other
torments of her Son, She now, though remaining alive, felt and suffered the
pangs and agony of his death. She did not die in reality; but this was
because God miraculously preserved her life, when according to the natural
course death should have followed. This miraculous aid was more wonderful
than all the other favors She received during the Passion. For this last pain
was more intense and penetrating; and all that the martyrs and the men
sentenced to death have suffered from the beginning of the world cannot equal
what the blessed Mary suffered during the Passion. The great Lady remained at
the foot of the Cross until evening, when the sacred body (as I shall relate)
was interred. But in return for this last anguish of death, all that was
still of this mortal life in the virginal body of the purest Mother, was more
than ever exalted and spiritualized. 688. Of many of the sacraments
and mysteries connected with the doings of Christ our Savior on the Cross the
Evangelists make no mention; and we as Catholics can only form prudent
conjectures founded upon the infallible certainty of our faith. But among
those which have been manifested to me in this history, and concerning this
part of the Passion, is a prayer, which Christ addressed to his eternal
Father before speaking the seven words on the Cross recorded by the
Evangelists. I call it a prayer because it was addressed to the Father; but
in reality it was a last bequest or testament, which He made as a true and
most wise Father in order to consign his possessions to his family, that is,
to the whole human race. Even natural reason teaches us, that he who is the
head of a family or the lord over many or few possessions, would not be a
prudent dispenser of his goods, and inattentive to his office or dignity, if
at the hour of his death he would not make known his will in regard to the
disposition of his goods and his estate, in order that each one of his family
may know what belongs to him and may possess it justly and peacefully without
recourse to lawsuits. For this very reason, and in order that they may set
their minds at ease in preparation for the hour of death, men of the world
make their last testaments. And even the religious resign the things
permitted them for daily use, because in that hour earthly matters are apt to
fill the mind with anxieties and prevent them from rising toward their
Creator. Although earthly things could not disturb our Savior, since He
neither possessed them, nor, if He had possessed any, could He be embarrassed
by them in his infinite power; yet it was fitting, that He should in that
hour dispose of the spiritual riches and treasures which He had amassed for
mankind in the course of his pilgrimage. 689. Of these eternal goods
the Savior made his last disposition on the Cross, distributing them and
pointing out those who should be legitimate heirs and those who should be
disinherited, and mentioning the reasons for the one as well as the other.
All this He did in conference with his eternal Father, as the supreme Lord
and most just Judge of all creatures; for in this testament are rehearsed the
mysteries of the predestination of the saints and of the reprobation of the
wicked. It was a testament hidden and sealed for mankind; only the blessed
Mary understood it, because, in addition to her being informed of the
operations of the divine Soul of Christ, She was also to be the universal
Heiress of all creation. As She was the Coadjutrix of salvation, She was also
to be the testamentary Executrix. For the Son placed all things in her hands,
just as the Father had assigned the whole creation to Him. She was to execute
his will and she was to distribute all the treasures acquired and due to her
Son as God on account of his infinite merits. This understanding has been
given me as part of this history for the exaltation of our Queen and in order
that sinners might approach Her as the Custodian of all the treasures gained
by her Son and our Redeemer in the sight of his eternal Father. All help and
assistance is in the hands of most holy Mary and She is to distribute it
according to her most sweet kindness and liberality. TESTAMENT
MADE BY CHRIST OUR LORD ON THE CROSS IN HIS PRAYER TO THE ETERNAL FATHER. 690. When the holy wood of
the Cross had been raised on mount Calvary, bearing aloft with it the
incarnate Word crucified before speaking any of the seven words, Christ
prayed interiorly to his heavenly Father and said: "My Father and
eternal God, I confess and magnify Thee from this tree of the Cross, and I
offer Thee a sacrifice of praise in my Passion and Death; for, by the
hypostatic union with the divine nature, Thou hast raised my humanity to the
highest dignity, that of Christ, the Godman, anointed with thy own Divinity.
I confess Thee on account of the plenitude of the highest possible graces and
glory, which from the first instant of my Incarnation Thou hast communicated
to my humanity, and because from all eternity up to this present hour Thou
hast consigned to me full dominion of the universe both in the order of grace
and of nature. Thou hast made Me the Lord of the heavens and of the elements
(Matth. 28, 18), of the sun, the moon and the stars; of fire and air, of the
earth and the sea, of all the animate and inanimate creatures therein; Thou
hast made Me the Disposer of the seasons, of the days and nights, with full
lordship and possession according to my free will, and Thou hast set Me as
the Head, the King and Lord of all angels and men (Ephes, 1,21), to govern
and command them, to punish the wicked and to reward the good (John 5, 22);
Thou hast given Me the dominion and power of disposing all things from
highest heavens to deepest abysses of hell (Apoc. 20, 1). Thou hast placed in
my hands the eternal justification of men, the empires, kingdoms and
principalities, the great and the little, the rich and the poor; and of all
that are capable of thy grace and glory, Thou hast made Me the Justifier, the
Redeemer and Glorifier, the universal Lord of all the human race, of life and
death, of the holy Church, its treasures, laws and blessings of grace: all
hast Thou, my Father, consigned to my hands, subjected to my will and my
decrees, and for this I confess, exalt and magnify thy holy name." 691. "Now, at this
moment, my Lord and eternal Father, when I am returning from this world to
thy right hand through this death on the Cross, by which I completed the task
of the Redemption of men assigned to Me, I desire that this same Cross shall
be the tribunal of our justice and mercy. Nailed to it, I desire to judge
those for whom I give my life. Having justified my cause, I wish to dispense
the treasures of my coming into the world and of my Passion and Death to the
just and the reprobate according as each one merits by his works of love or
hatred. I have sought to gain all mortals and invited them to partake of my
friendship and grace; from the first moment of my Incarnation I have
ceaselessly labored for them; I have borne inconveniences, fatigues, insults,
ignominies, reproaches, scourges, a crown of thorns, and now suffer the
bitter death of the Cross; I have implored thy vast kindness upon all of
them; I have watched in prayer, fasted and wandered about teaching them the
way of eternal life. As far as in Me lay I have sought to secure eternal
happiness for all men, just as I merited it for all, without excluding
anyone. I have established and built up the law of grace and have firmly and
forever established the Church in which all human beings can be saved." 692. "But in our
knowledge and foresight We are aware, my God and Father, that on account of
their malice and rebellious obstinacy not all men desire to accept our
eternal salvation, nor avail themselves of our mercy and of the way I have
opened to them by my labors, life and death; but that many will prefer to
follow their sinful ways unto perdition. Thou art just, my Lord and Father,
and most equitable are thy judgments (Ps. 68, 137); and therefore it is right,
since Thou hast made Me the Judge of the living and the dead, of the good and
the bad (Act 10, 3), that I give to the good the reward of having served and
followed Me, and to sinners the chastisement of their perverse obstinacy;
that the just should share in my goods, and the wicked be deprived of the
inheritance, which they refuse to accept. Now then, my eternal Father, in my
and thy name and for thy glorification, I make my last bequest according to
my human will, which is conformable to thy eternal and divine will. First
shall be mentioned my most pure Mother, who gave Me human existence; Her I
constitute my sole and universal Heiress of all the gifts of nature, of grace
and of glory that are mine. She shall be Mistress and Possessor of them all.
The gifts of grace, of which as a mere creature She is capable, She shall
actually receive now, while those of glory I promise to confer upon Her in
their time. I desire that She shall be Mistress of angels and men, claim over
them full possession and dominion and command the service and obedience of
all. The demons shall fear Her and be subject to Her. All the irrational
creatures, the heavens, the stars, the planets, the elements with all the
living beings, the birds, the fishes and the animals contained in them, shall
likewise be subject to Her and acknowledge Her as Mistress, exalting and
glorifying Her with Me. I wish also that She be the Treasurer and Dispenser
of all the goods in heaven and on earth. Whatever She ordains and disposes in
my Church for my children, the sons of men, shall be confirmed by the three
divine Persons; and whatever She shall ask for mortals now, afterwards and
forever, We shall concede according to her will and wishes;" 693. "To the holy
angels, who have obeyed thy holy and just will, I assign as habitation the
highest heavens as their proper and eternal abode, and with it the joys of
eternal vision and fruition of our Divinity. I desire that they enjoy its
everlasting possession together with our company and friendship. I decree,
that they recognize my Mother as their legitimate Queen and Lady, that they
serve Her, accompany and attend upon Her, bear Her up in their hands in all
places and times, obeying Her in all that She wishes to ordain and command.
The demons, rebellious to our perfect and holy will, I cast out and deprive
of our vision and company; again do I condemn them to our abhorrence, to
eternal loss of our friendship and glory, to privation of the vision of my
Mother, of the saints and of my friends, the just. I appoint and assign to
them as their eternal dwelling the place most remote from our royal throne,
namely the infernal caverns, the centre of the earth, deprived of light and
full of the horrors of sensible darkness (Jude 6) . I decree this to be their
portion and inheritance, as chosen by them in their pride and obstinacy
against the divine Being and decrees. In those eternal dungeons of darkness
they shall be tormented by everlasting and inextinguishable fire." 694. "From the
multitudes of men, in the fullness of my good will, I call, select and
separate all the just and the predestined, who through my grace save
themselves by imitating Me, doing my will and obeying my holy law. These,
next to my most pure Mother, I appoint as the inheritors of all my mysteries,
my blessings, my sacramental treasures, of the mysteries concealed in the
holy Scriptures; of my humility, meekness of heart; of the virtues of faith,
hope, and charity; of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance; of my
divine gifts and favors; of my Cross, labors, contempt, poverty and
nakedness. This shall be their portion and inheritance in this present and
mortal life. Since they must choose these in order to labor profitably, I
assign to them the trials I have chosen for Myself in this life, as a pledge
of my friendship, in order that they may undergo them with joy. I offer them
my protection and defense, my holy inspirations, my favors and powerful
assistance, my blessings and my justification, according to each one's
disposition and degree of love. I promise to be to them a Father, a Brother
and a Friend, and they shall be my chosen and beloved children, and as such I
appoint them as the inheritors of all my merits and treasures without
limitation. I desire that all who dispose themselves, shall partake of the
goods of my holy Church and of the Sacraments; that, if they should lose my
friendship, they shall be able to restore themselves and recover my graces
and blessings through my cleansing blood. For all of them shall be open the
intercession of my Mother and of the saints, and She shall recognize them as
her children, shielding them and holding them as her own. My angels shall
defend them, guide them, protect them and bear them up in their hands lest
they stumble, and if they fall, they shall help them to rise" (Ps. 90,
11, 12). 695. "Likewise it is
my will that my just and chosen ones shall stand high above the reprobate and
the demons, that they shall be feared and obeyed by my enemies; that all the
rational and irrational creatures shall serve them; that all the influences
of the heavens, the planets and the stars shall favor them and give them
life; that the earth, its elements and animals, shall sustain them; all the
creatures, that are mine and serve Me, shall be theirs, and shall serve also
them as my children and friends (I Cor. 3, 22; Wis. 16, 24), and their
blessing shall be in the dew of heaven and in the fruits of the earth (Genes.
27, 28). I wish to hold with them my delights (Pros. 8, 31), communicate to
them my secrets, converse with them intimately and live with them in the
militant Church in the species of bread and wine, as an earnest and an
infallible pledge of the eternal happiness and glory promised to them; of it,
I make them partakers and heirs, in order that they may enjoy it with Me in
heaven by perpetual right and in unfailing beatitude." 696. "I consent that
the foreknown and reprobate (though they were created for another and much
higher end), shall be permitted to possess as their portion and inheritance
the concupiscence of the flesh and the eyes (John 1, 216), pride in all its
effects; that they eat and be satisfied with the dust of the earth, namely,
with riches; with the fumes and the corruption of the flesh and its delights,
and with the vanity and presumption of the world. For such possessions have
they labored, and applied all the diligence of their mind and body; in such
occupations have they consumed their powers, their gifts and blessings
bestowed upon them by Us, and they have of their own free will chosen deceit,
despising the truth I have taught them in the holy law (Rom. 2, 8). They have
rejected the law which I have written in their hearts and the one inspired by
my grace; they have despised my teachings and my blessings, and listened to
my and their own enemies; they have accepted their deceits, have loved vanity
(Ps. 4, 3), wrought injustice, followed their ambitions, sought their delight
in vengeance, persecuted the poor, humiliated the just, mocked the simple and
the innocent, strove to exalt themselves and desired to be raised above all
the cedars of Lebanon in following the laws of injustice" (Ps. 36, 35). 697. "Since they have
done all this in opposition to our divine goodness and remained obstinate in
their malice, and since they have renounced the rights of sonship merited for
them by Me, I disinherit them of my friendship and glory. Just as Abraham
separated the children of the slave, setting aside some possessions for them
and reserving the principal heritage for Isaac, the son of the freedwoman
Sarah (Gen. 25, 5), thus I set aside their claims on my inheritance by giving
them the transitory goods, which they themselves have chosen. Separating them
from our company and from that of my Mother, of the angels and saints, I
condemn them to the eternal dungeons and the fire of hell in the company of
Lucifer and his demons, whom they have freely served, I deprive them forever
of all hope of relief. This is, O my Father, the sentence which I pronounce
as the Head and the Judge of men and angels (Eph. 4, 15; Col. 2, 10), and
this is the testament made at my Death, this is the effect of my Redemption,
whereby each one is rewarded with that which he has justly merited according
to his works and according to thy incomprehensible wisdom in the equity of thy
strictest justice" (II Tim. 4, 8). Such was the prayer of Christ our
Savior on the Cross to his eternal Father. It was sealed and deposited in the
heart of the most holy Mary as the mysterious and sacramental testament, in
order that through her intercession and solicitous care it might at its time,
and even from that moment, be executed in the Church, just as it had before
this time been prepared and perfected by the wise providence of God, in whom
all the past and the future is always one with the present. INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MARY, GAVE ME. 698. My daughter, seek with
all the powers of thy mind during thy whole life to remember the mysteries
manifested to thee in this chapter. I, as thy Mother and thy Instructress,
shall ask the Lord by his divine power to impress in thy heart the knowledge,
which I have vouchsafed thee, in order that it may remain fixed and ever
present to thee as long as thou livest. In virtue of this blessing keep in
thy memory Christ crucified, who is my divine Son and thy Spouse, and never
forget the sufferings of the Cross and the doctrine taught by Him upon it.
This is the mirror by which thou must arrange all thy adornments and the
source from which thou art to draw thy interior beauty, like a true daughter
of the Prince (Ps. 44, 14), in order that thou mayest be prepared, proceed
and reign as the spouse of the supreme King. As this honorable title obliges
thee to seek with all thy power to imitate Him as far as is becoming thy
station and possible to thee by his grace, and as this is to be the true
fruit of my doctrine, I wish that from today on thou live crucified with
Christ, entirely assimilated to thy exemplar and model and dead to this
earthly life (II Cor. 5, 15). I desire that in thee shall vanish the effects
of the first sin, that thou live only for the operations and movements of
divine virtue, and that thou renounce thy inheritance as a daughter of the
first Adam, in order that in thee may bear fruit the inheritance of the
second Adam, who is Jesus Christ, thy Redeemer and Teacher. 699. Thy state of life must
be for thee a most rigid cross on which thou must remain crucified, and thou
must not widen thy path by seeking for dispensation and weakening
interpretation of thy rules to make it easy and comfortable, but at the same
time, insecure and full of imperfections. This is the deception into which
the children of 700. So far from this
deceit, do I wish thee to be, my daughter, that thou must live strictly up to
the most rigorous demands of thy profession; in such a way that thou canst
not stretch thyself in any way, being nailed immovably to the Cross with
Christ. Thou must set aside all temporal advantages, for the least point
pertaining to the utmost perfection of thy state. Thy right hand, my
daughter, must be nailed to the Cross by obedience, and reserve not for
thyself the least movement, the least activity, or word, or thought not
controlled by this virtue. Thou must not maintain any position that is of thy
own choice, but only such as is willed by others; thou must not appear wise
in thy own conceit in anything, but ignorant and blind, in order to follow
entirely the guidance of thy superiors (Prov. 3, 7). He that promises, says
the wise man (Prov. 6, 1 ), binds his hands, and by his words shall he be
bound and chained. Thou hast bound thy hand by the vow of obedience and hast
thereby lost thy liberty and thy right of wishing or not wishing. Thy left
hand thou hast nailed to the Cross by the vow of poverty, depriving thee of
all right to follow any inclination toward the objects usually coveted by the
eyes; for both in the use and in the desire for such creatures thou must
rigorously imitate Christ impoverished and despoiled upon the Cross. By the
third vow, that of chastity, thy feet are nailed to the Cross, in order that
all thy steps and movements may be pure, chaste and beautiful. For this thou
must not permit in thy presence the least word offensive to purity, nor, by
looking upon or touching any human creature, allow any sensual image or
impression within thee; thy eyes and all thy senses are to remain consecrated
to chastity, without making more use of them than to fix them upon Jesus
crucified. The fourth vow, of perpetual enclosure, thou wilt maintain in the
bosom of my divine Son, to which I consign thee. In order that this doctrine
may appear to thee sweet, and this path less narrow, contemplate and consider
in thy heart the image of my Son and Lord full of blood, torments, sorrows,
and at last nailed to the Cross, no part of his sacred body being exempt from
wounds and excruciating pains. The Lord and I were most solicitous and
compassionate toward all the children of men; for them We suffered and
endured such bitter sorrows, in order that they might be encouraged not to
refuse less severe sufferings for their own eternal good and in return for so
obliging a love. Therefore let mortals show themselves thankful, willingly
entering upon the rough and thorny path and accepting the Cross, to bear it
after Christ. Thus will they walk upon the direct path toward heaven and gain
an eternal happiness (Matth. 16,24). THE TRIUMPH
OF CHRIST OUR SAVIOR OVER THE DEMON ON THE CROSS; HIS DEATH AND THE PROPHECY
OF HABBACUC; THE COUNCIL OF THE DEMONS IN HELL. 701. The hidden and
venerable mysteries of this chapter correspond to many others scattered
through the whole extent of this history. One of them is, that Lucifer and
his demons in the course of the life and miracles of our Savior, never could
ascertain fully whether the Lord was true God and Redeemer of the world, and
consequently what was the dignity of the most holy Mary. This was so disposed
by divine 702. This triumph of Christ
our Savior was accomplished in such an exalted and miraculous manner, that I
feel the sluggishness and insufficiency of my powers to describe it. It took
place in a manner too spiritual and too far removed from the perception of
the senses, according to which I must describe its process. In order to
manifest it, I should wish we were able to speak and understand one another
by means of the simple intercourse and vision peculiar to the angels; for
such would be necessary in order to describe and understand correctly this
great miracle of the omnipotence of God. I shall say what I can and leave the
understanding of it more to the enlightenment of faith than to the
signification of my words. 703. In the preceding
chapter I have said that Lucifer and his demons, as soon as they saw the Lord
taking the Cross upon his sacred shoulders, wished to fly and cast themselves
into hell; for at that moment they began to feel with greater force the
operations of his divine power. By divine intervention this new torment made
them aware that the Death of this innocent Man, whose destruction they had
plotted and who could not be a mere man, threatened great ruin to themselves.
They therefore desired to withdraw and they ceased to incite the Jews and the
executioners, as they had done hitherto. But the command of the most blessed
Mary, enforced by the divine power, detained them and, enchained like
fiercest dragons, compelled them to accompany Christ to 704. Lucifer and his
infernal hosts were so overwhelmed with pains and torments by the presence of
the Lord and his blessed Mother, and with the fear of their impending ruin,
that they would have felt greatly relieved to be allowed to cast themselves
into the darkness of hell. As this was not permitted them, they fell upon one
another and furiously fought with each other like hornets disturbed in their
nest, or like a brood of vermin confusedly seeking some dark shelter. But their
rabid fury was not that of animals, but that of demons more cruel than
dragons. Then the haughty pride of Lucifer saw itself entirely vanquished and
all his proud thoughts of setting his throne above the stars of heaven and
drinking dry the waters of the 705. The time had now come
for this ancient dragon to be vanquished by the Master of life. As this was
to be the hour of his disillusionment, and as this poisonous asp was not to
escape it by stopping his ears to the voice of the Enchanter (Ps, 57, 5), the
Lord began to speak the seven words from his Cross, at the same time
providing that Lucifer and his demons should understand the mysteries therein
contained. For it was by this disclosure that the Lord wished to triumph over
them, over sin and death, and despoil them of their tyrannous power over the
human race. The Savior then pronounced the first word: "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do!" (Luke 23, 34). By these words the
princes of darkness came to the full conviction, that Christ our Lord was
speaking to the eternal Father, that He was his natural Son and the true God
with Him and the Holy Ghost, that He had permitted death in his most sacred
and perfect humanity, united to the Divinity for the salvation of the whole
human race; that now He offered his infinitely precious merits for the pardon
of the sins of all those children of Adam, who should avail themselves
thereof for their rescue, not excepting even the wretches that crucified Him.
At this discovery Lucifer and his demons were thrown into such fury and
despair that they instantly wished to hurl themselves impetuously to the
depths of hell and strained all their powers to accomplish it in spite of the
powerful Queen. 706. In the second word
spoken by the Lord to the fortunate thief: "Amen I say to thee, today
thou shalt be with Me in paradise," the demons understood that the
fruits of the Redemption in the justification of sinners ended in the
glorification of the just. They were made aware that from this hour the
merits of Christ would commence to act with a new force and strength, that
through them should be opened the gates of Paradise, which had been closed by
the first sin, and that from now on men would enter upon eternal happiness
and occupy their destined heavenly seats, which until now had been impossible
for them. They perceived the power of Christ to call sinners, justify and
beautify them, and they felt the triumphs gained over themselves by the exalted
virtues, the humility, patience, meekness and all the virtues of his life.
The confusion and torment of Lucifer at seeing this cannot be explained by
human tongue; but it was so great, that he humiliated himself so far as to
beg the most blessed Virgin to permit them to descend into hell and be cast
out from her presence; but the great Queen would not consent, as the time had
not yet arrived. 707. At the third word
spoken by the Lord to his Mother: "Woman, behold thy son!" the
demons discovered that this heavenly Lady was the true Mother of the Godman,
the same Woman whose likeness and prophetic sign had been shown to them in
the heavens at their creation, and who was to crush their head as announced
by the Lord in the terrestrial paradise. They were informed of the dignity
and excellence of this great Lady over all creatures, and of her power which
they were even now experiencing. As they had from the beginning of the world
and from the creation of the first woman, used all their astuteness to find
out who this great woman that was announced in the heavens could be, and as
they now discovered Her in Mary, whom they had until now overlooked, these
dragons were seized with inexpressible fury; their having been thus mistaken
crushed their arrogance beyond all their other torments, and in their fury
they raged against their own selves like bloodthirsty lions, while their
helpless wrath against the heavenly Lady was increased a thousand fold.
Moreover, they discerned that 708. The fourth word of
Christ was addressed to the eternal Father: "God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me?" The evil spirits discovered in these words that the
charity of God toward men was boundless and everlasting; that, in order to
satisfy it, He had mysteriously suspended the influence of the Divinity over
his most sacred humanity, thus permitting his sufferings to reach the highest
degree and drawing from them the most abundant fruits; that He was aware and
lovingly complained of his being deprived of the salvation of a part of the
human race; how ready He was to suffer more, if such would be ordained by the
eternal Father. Man's good fortune in being so beloved by God increased the
envy of Lucifer and his demons, and they foresaw the divine Omnipotence
following out this immense love without limitation. This knowledge crushed
the haughty malice of the enemies and they were made well aware of their own
weakness and helplessness in opposing this love, if men themselves should not
choose to neglect its influence. 709. The fifth word of
Christ, "I thirst," confirmed Christ's triumph over the devil and
his followers; they were filled with wrath and fury because the Lord clearly
let them see their total overthrow. By these words they understood Him to say
to them: If what I suffer for men and my love for them seem great to you, be
assured that my love for them is still unsatiated, that it continues to long
for their eternal salvation, and that the mighty waters of torments and
sufferings have not extinguished it (Cant. 8, 7). Much more would I suffer
for them, if it were necessary, in order to deliver them from your tyranny
and make them powerful and strong against your malice and pride. 710. In the sixth word of
the Lord: "It is consummated!" Lucifer and his hordes were informed
that the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption was now accomplished and
entirely perfected according to the decree of divine wisdom. For they were
made to feel that Christ our Redeemer had obediently fulfilled the will of
the eternal Father; that He had accomplished all the promises and prophecies
made to the world by the ancient Fathers; that his humility and obedience had
compensated for their own pride and disobedience in heaven in not having
subjected themselves and acknowledged Him as their Superior in human flesh;
and that they were now through the wisdom of God justly humbled and
vanquished by the very Lord whom they despised. The great dignity and the
infinite merits of Christ demanded that in this very hour He should exercise
his office and power of Judge over angels and men, such as had been conceded
to Him by the eternal Father. He now applied this power by hurling this
sentence at Lucifer and all his followers, that, being condemned to eternal
fire, they instantly depart into the deepest dungeons of hell. This very
sentence was included in the pronouncing of the seventh word: "Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit!" (Luke 23,46.) The mighty Queen and
Mother concurred with the will of her Son Jesus and united with his command
that Lucifer and all demons depart to the infernal depths. In virtue of these
decrees of the supreme King and of the Queen, the evil spirits were routed
from 711. Christ our Savior, as
the triumphant Conqueror having vanquished the great enemy, now yielded up
his spirit to the Father and permitted death to approach by inclining his
head (John 19, 30). By this permission He also vanquished death, which had
been equally deceived in Him with the demons. For death could not attack men,
or had any jurisdiction of them, except through the first sin, of which it
was a punishment. On this account the Apostle says that the weapon or the
sting of death is sin, which opens up the wounds by which death enters into
the world of humanity (Rom. 5, 12); and as our Savior paid the debt of sin
which He could not commit, therefore, when death took away his life without
the shadow of justice, it lost the power which it had over the other sons of
Adam (I Cor. 15,55). Thenceforward neither death nor the devil could attack
men, unless they, failing to avail themselves of the victory of Christ, should
again subject themselves of their own free will. If our first Father Adam had
not sinned and we ourselves in him, we would not suffer the punishment of
death, but merely pass over to the happiness of the eternal fatherland. But
sin has made us its subjects and slaves of the devil. He avails himself of
death to deprive us first of the grace, the blessings and the friendship of
God. Thereby he also prevents us from reaching eternal life and we remain in
the slavery of sin and the devil, subject to his tyrannous power (I John 3,
8). Our Savior Christ despoiled the demon of all these advantages and, in
dying without sin and satisfying for our own, merited that our death should
be a death of the body only, and not of the soul; that it should have power
to take away our temporal life, but not our eternal; the natural, not the
spiritual; and that it should thenceforward be merely the portal to the
eternal happiness, if we ourselves did not renounce that blessing. Thus the
Lord satisfied for the chastisements due to the first sin, at the same time
furnishing us a means of offering a compensation in our own name by accepting
our natural and bodily death for the love of God. Christ absorbed death (I
Cor. 15, 51) and offered his own as a bait for deceiving death (Osee. 13,
14). By his Death He put an end of its power, overcame it, and was the Death
of death itself. 712. In this triumph the
Savior fulfilled the prophecy contained in the canticle and prayer of Habbacuc,
of which I shall select some passages necessary for my purpose. The prophet
was informed of the mystery and the power of Christ over death and the devil.
In prophetic foresight he prayed that the Lord vivify the work of his hands,
that is, man; that in his greatest wrath He remember his mercy. He prophesied
that the glory of this miracle should fill the heavens and the praise of it,
the earth; that its splendor shall be as that of light; that in his hands He
shall embrace the horns, which are the arms of the Cross and wherein is
hidden his strength; that death should fly from Him captive and vanquished;
that before his feet the devil should be routed and measure the earth (Habac.
3, 25). All this was fulfilled to the letter; for Lucifer departed having his
head crushed under the feet of Christ and his blessed Mother, who subdued Him
by their sufferings and by their power. Since the devil was forced to cast
himself to lowest hell, which is the middle of the earth and farthest removed
from its surface, he is said to measure the earth. The rest of the canticle
pertains to the triumph of Christ our Lord in the succeeding ages of the
Church; but that need not be rehearsed here. It is, however, proper for men
to understand that Lucifer and his demons were restricted, lamed and weakened
in their power of tempting the rational creatures, unless their sins and
their own free will do not again unbind them and encourage them to return for
the destruction of the world. All this will be better understood from the proceedings
of the infernal council held in hell and from what I shall say further in the
course of this history. COUNCIL
HELD BY LUCIFER AND HIS DEMONS IN HELL AFTER THE DEATH OF CHRIST OUR LORD. 713. The rout of Lucifer
and his angels from 714. As soon as Lucifer was
permitted to proceed in these matters and arise from the consternation in
which he remained for some time, he set about proposing to his fellow demons
new plans of his pride. For this purpose he called them all together and
placing himself in an elevated position, he spoke to them: "To you, who
have for so many ages followed and still follow my standards for the
vengeance of my wrongs, is known the injury which I have now sustained at the
hands of this Mangod, and how for thirty-three years He has led me about in
deceit, hiding his Divinity and concealing the operations of his soul, and
how He has now triumphed over us by the very Death which we have brought upon
Him. Before He assumed flesh I hated Him and refused to acknowledge Him as
being more worthy than I to be adored by the rest of creation. Although on
account of this resistance I was cast out from heaven with you and was
degraded to this abominable condition so unworthy of my greatness and former
beauty, I am even more tormented to see myself thus vanquished and oppressed
by this Man and by his Mother. From the day on which the first man was
created I have sleeplessly sought to find Them and destroy Them; or if I
should not be able to destroy Them, I at least wished to bring destruction
upon all his creatures and induce them not to acknowledge Him as their God,
and that none of them should ever draw any benefit from his works. This has
been my intent, to this all my solicitude and efforts were directed. But in
vain, since He has overcome me by his humility and poverty, crushed me by his
patience, and at last has despoiled me of the sovereignty of the world by his
Passion and frightful Death. This causes me such an excruciating pain, that,
even if I succeeded in hurling Him from the right hand of his Father, where
He sits triumphant, and if I should draw all the souls redeemed down into
this hell, my wrath would not be satiated or my fury placated." 715. "Is it possible
that the human nature, so inferior to my own, shall be exalted above all the
creatures! That it should be so loved and favored, as to be united to the
Creator in the person of the eternal Word! That He should first make war upon
me before executing this work, and afterwards overwhelm me with such
confusion! From the beginning I have held this humanity as my greatest enemy;
it has always filled me with intolerable abhorrence. O men, so favored and
gifted by your God, whom I abhor, and so ardently loved by Him! How shall I
hinder your good fortune? How shall I bring upon you my unhappiness, since I
cannot destroy the existence you have received? What shall we now begin, O my
followers? How shall we restore our reign? How shall we recover our power
over men? How shall we overcome them? For if men from now on shall not be
most senseless and ungrateful, if they are not worse disposed than we
ourselves toward this Godman, who has redeemed them with so much love, it is
clear that all of them will eagerly follow Him; none will take notice of our
deceits; they will abhor the honors which we insidiously offer them, and will
love contempt; they will seek the mortification of the flesh and will
discover the danger of carnal pleasure and ease; they will despise riches and
treasures, and love the poverty so much honored by their Master; and all that
we can offer to their appetites they will abhor in imitation of their true
Redeemer. Thus will our reign be destroyed, since no one will be added to our
number in this place of confusion and torments; all will reach the happiness
which we have lost, all will humiliate themselves to the dust and suffer with
patience; and my wrath and haughtiness will avail me nothing." 716. "Ah, woe is me,
what torment does this mistake cause me! When I tempted Him in the desert,
the only result was to afford Him a chance to leave the example of this
victory, by following which men can overcome me so much the more easily. My
persecutions only brought out more clearly his doctrine of humility and
patience. In persuading Judas to betray Him, and the Jews to subject Him to
the deadly torture of the Cross, I merely hastened my ruin and the salvation
of men, while the doctrine I sought to blot out was only the more firmly
implanted. How could One who is God humiliate Himself to such an extent? How
could He bear so much from men who are evil? How could I myself have been led
to assist so much in making this salvation so copious and wonderful? O how
godlike is the power of that Man which could torment and weaken me so? And
how can this Woman, his Mother and my Enemy, be so mighty and invincible in
her opposition to me? New is such power in a mere creature, and no doubt She
derived it from the divine Word, whom She clothed in human flesh. Through
this Woman the Almighty has ceaselessly waged war against me, though I have
hated Her in my pride from the moment I recognized Her in her image or
heavenly sign. But if my proud indignation is not to be assuaged, I benefit
nothing by my perpetual war against this Redeemer, against his Mother and
against men. Now then, ye demons who follow me, now is the time to give way
to our wrath against God. Come all of ye to take counsel what we are to do;
for I desire to hear your opinions." 717. Some of the principal
demons gave their answers to this dreadful proposal, encouraging Lucifer by
suggesting diverse schemes for hindering the fruit of the Redemption among
men. They all agreed that it was not possible to injure the person of Christ,
to diminish the immense value of his merits, to destroy the efficacy of the
Sacraments, to falsify or abolish the doctrine which Christ had preached; yet
they resolved that, in accordance with the new order of assistance and favor
established by God for the salvation of men, they should now seek new ways of
hindering and preventing the work of God by so much the greater deceits and
temptations. In reference to these plans some of the astute and malicious
demons said: "It is true, that men now have at their disposal a new and
very powerful doctrine and law, new and efficacious Sacraments. a new Model
and Instructor of virtues, a powerful Intercessor and Advocate in this Woman;
yet the natural inclinations and passions of the flesh remain just the same,
and the sensible and delectable creatures have not changed their nature. Let
us then, making use of this situation with increased astuteness, foil as far
as in us lies the effects of what this Godman has wrought for men. Let us
begin strenuous warfare against mankind by suggesting new attractions,
exciting them to follow their passions in forgetfulness of all else. Thus
men, being taken up with these dangerous things, cannot attend to the
contrary." 718. Acting upon this
counsel they redistributed the spheres of work among themselves, in order
that each squadron of demons might, with a specialized astuteness, tempt men
to different vices. They resolved to continue to propagate idolatry in the
world, so that men might not come to the knowledge of the true God and the
Redemption. Wherever idolatry would fail, they concluded to establish sects
and heresies, for which they would select the most perverse and depraved of
the human race as leaders and teachers of error. Then and there was concocted
among these malignant spirits the sect of Mahomet, the heresies of Arius,
Pelagius, Nestorius, and whatever other heresies have been started in the
world from the first ages of the Church until now, together with those which
they have in readiness, but which it is neither necessary nor proper to
mention here. Lucifer showed himself content with these infernal counsels as
being opposed to divine truth and destructive of the very foundation of man's
rescue, namely divine faith. He lavished flattering praise and high offices upon
those demons, who showed themselves willing and who undertook to find the
impious originators of these errors. 719. Some of the devils
charged themselves with perverting the inclinations of children at their
conception and birth; others to induce parents to be negligent in the
education and instruction of their children, either through an inordinate
love or aversion, and to cause a hatred of parents among the children. Some
offered to create hatred between husbands and wives, to place them in the way
of adultery, or to think little of the fidelity promised to their conjugal
partners. All agreed to sow among men the seeds of discord, hatred and
vengeance, proud and sensual thoughts, desire of riches or honors, and by
suggesting sophistical reasons against all the virtues Christ has taught;
above all they intended to weaken the remembrance of his Passion and Death,
of the means of salvation, and of the eternal pains of hell. By these means
the demons hoped to burden all the powers and the faculties of men with
solicitude for earthly affairs and sensual pleasures, leaving them little
time for spiritual thoughts and their own salvation. 720. Lucifer heard these
different suggestions of the demons, and answering them, he said: "I am
much beholden to you for your opinions: I approve of them and adopt them all;
it will be easy to put them into practice with those, who do not profess the
law given by this Redeemer to men, though with those who accept and embrace
these laws, it will be a difficult enterprise. But against this law and
against those that follow it, I intend to direct all my wrath and fury and I
shall most bitterly persecute those who hear the doctrine of this Redeemer
and become his disciples; against these must our most relentless battle be
waged to the end of the world. In this new Church I must strive to sow my
cockle (Matth. 14, 25), the ambitions, the avarice, the sensuality, and the
deadly hatreds, with all the other vices, of which I am the head. For if once
these sins multiply and increase among the faithful, they will, with their
concomitant malice and ingratitude, irritate God and justly deprive men of
the helps of grace left to them by the merits of the Redeemer. If once they
have thus despoiled themselves of these means of salvation, we shall have
assured victory over them. We must also exert ourselves to weaken piety and
all that is spiritual and divine; so that they do not realize the power of
the Sacraments and receive them in mortal sin, or at least without fervor and
devotion. For since these Sacraments are spiritual, it is necessary to
receive them with well-disposed will, in order to reap their fruits. If once
they despise the medicine, they shall languish in their sickness and be less
able to withstand our temptations; they will not see through our deceits,
they will let the memory of their Redeemer and of the intercession' of his
Mother slip from their minds. Thus will their foul ingratitude make them
unworthy of grace and so irritate their God and Savior, as to deprive them of
his helps. In all this I wish, that all of you assist me strenuously, losing
neither time nor occasion for executing my commands." 721. It is not possible to
rehearse all the schemes of this dragon and his allies concocted at that time
against the holy Church and her children, in order that these waters of "Woe to the earth, for
satan is come down to you full of wrath and fury!" But alas! that truths
so infallible and so much to be dreaded and avoided by men, should in our
days be blotted from the minds of mortals to the irreparable danger of the
whole world! Our enemy is astute, cruel and watchful: we sleepy, lukewarm and
careless! What wonder that Lucifer has entrenched himself so firmly in the
world, when so many listen to him, accept and follow his deceits, so few
resist him, and entirely forget the eternal death, which he so furiously and
maliciously seeks to draw upon them? I beseech those, who read this, not to
forget this dreadful danger. If they are not convinced of this danger through
the evil condition of the world and through the evils each one experiences
himself, let them at least learn of this danger by the vast and powerful
remedies and helps, which the Savior thought it necessary to leave behind in
his Church. For He would not have provided such antidotes if our ailment and
danger of eternal death were not so great and formidable. INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN GAVE ME. 722. My daughter, by divine
enlightenment thou hast received a deep understanding of the glorious triumph
of my Son and Lord on the Cross over the demons and of their rout and
vanquishment. But thou must remember that thou art yet ignorant of much more
than what thou knowest concerning these ineffable mysteries. For in mortal
flesh the creature cannot comprehend them in their reality, and divine 723. Thou art astonished,
and justly, to see, on the one hand, the power of my Son's merits and of his
Redemption, the ruin and weakness caused by the demons in men; and, on the
other hand, to see the power of the devil lording it over the world in
haughty presumption. Although the light given to thee in writing this history
is equal to this astonishment, I wish to add still another point of
information, in order that thou mayest guard thyself so much the more
carefully against enemies so full of malice. It is certain, that when hell
came to the full knowledge of the sacrament of the Incarnation and
Redemption, and of the poverty, humility and lowliness of the birth of Jesus,
of his life and miracles, ending in the mysterious Passion and Death, and of
all the rest of his labors to draw men to Him, Lucifer and his demons were
weakened and disabled and they saw that they could not tempt the faithful in
the same way as the rest of men and as they ceaselessly desire to do. In the
primitive Church this terror and fear of the baptized, and of the followers
of Christ our Lord, continued many years; for the divine virtues shone forth
brightly in their imitation of Christ, in their zeal in confessing the faith,
in following the teachings of the Gospel, in practicing heroic virtues and
most fervent love, humility, patience and contempt of the vanities and
deceits of the world. Many shed their blood and gave their life for Christ
the Lord; they performed many admirable and exalted deeds for the glory of
his name. This invincible fortitude resulted from their living at a time so
near to the Passion and Death of their Redeemer and so close to the
prodigious example of his patience and humility; but also because they were less
tempted by the devils, who could not so soon rise from the crushing defeat
brought upon them by the triumph of the crucified God. 724. This close imitation
and living reproduction of Christ, confronting the demons in the first children
of the Church, they feared so much, that they dared not approach and they
precipitously fled from the Apostles and the just ones imbued with the
doctrines of my divine Son. In them were offered up to the Almighty the first
fruits of grace, and of Redemption. What is seen in the saints and in perfect
Christians in those times, would happen in the present times with all the
Catholics if they would accept grace and work with it instead of permitting
it to go to waste, and if they would seek the way of the Cross; for Lucifer
fears it just as much now as in the times thou hast been writing of. But soon
the charity, zeal and devotion in many of the faithful began to grow cold and
they forgot the blessings of the Redemption; they yielded to their carnal inclinations
and desires, they loved vanity and avarice, and permitted themselves to be
fascinated and deceived by the false pretenses of Lucifer, obscuring the
glory of their Savior and inveigling them into the meshes of their mortal
enemies. This foul ingratitude has thrown the world into the present state
and has encouraged the demons to rise up in their pride against God,
audaciously presuming to possess themselves of all the children of Adam on
account of this forgetfulness and carelessness of Catholics. They presume to
plot the destruction of the whole Church by the perversion of so many who
have fallen away from it; and by inducing those who are in it, to think
little of it, or by hindering them from producing the fruits of the blood and
death of their Redeemer. The greatest misfortune is, that many Catholics fail
to recognize this great damage and do not seriously think of a remedy,
although they can presume that the times, of which Jesus forewarned the women
of Jerusalem, have arrived; namely, those in which the sterile should be
happy, and in which many would call upon the mountains and the hills to cover
and fall upon them, in order not to see the devastation of wickedness cutting
down the sons of perdition, the dried trees, barren of all the fruits of
virtue. In these evil times dost thou live, my dearest; and in order that
thou mayest not be included in the perdition of so many souls, do thou bewail
it in the bitterness of thy heart, never forgetting the mysteries of the
Incarnation, Passion and Death of my Divine Son. I desire thee to give thanks
in compensation for the great number of those, who forget it, and I assure
thee that the mere memory and contemplation of these mysteries are terrible
to hell, torment and drive away the demons, and that they avoid and fly those
who thankfully remember the life and passion of my divine Son. THE SIDE OF
CHRIST IS OPENED WITH A LANCE, AS HIS BODY HANGS ON THE CROSS; HE IS TAKEN
DOWN AND BURIED. THE DOINGS OF THE BLESSED MOTHER ON THIS OCCASION, AND UNTIL
SHE RETURNED TO THE CENACLE. 725. The Evangelist 726. The holy angels
answered: "Our Queen and Mistress, let thy afflicted heart be dilated
for what is still to be borne. The omnipotent Lord has concealed his glory
and power from mortals in order to subject Himself to the cruelty of man's
impious malice and has always permitted the laws established for the course
of human events to be fulfilled. One of them is, that the condemned shall not
leave the cross without the consent of the judge. We are ready and able to
obey Thee and to defend our true God and Creator, but his will restrains us,
because He wishes to justify his cause to the end and to shed the rest of the
blood still in Him for the benefit of mankind and in order that He may bind
them still more firmly to make a return for his copious and redeeming love
(Ps. 79, 7). If they do not avail themselves of this blessing as they ought,
their punishment shall be deplorable and its severity shall make amends for
the longsuffering of God in delaying his vengeance." This answer of the
angels increased the sorrow of the afflicted Mother; for it had not been as
yet revealed to Her, that her divine Son should be wounded by the lance, and
the fear of what should happen to the sacred body renewed her tribulation and
anxiety. 727. She soon saw an armed
band approaching Calvary; and in her dread of some new outrage against the
deceased Savior, She spoke to 728. This wounding of the
lance, which could not be felt by the sacred and dead body of the Lord, was
felt by the most blessed Mother in his stead and in the same manner as if her
chaste bosom had been pierced. But even this pain was exceeded by the
affliction of her most holy soul, in witnessing the cruel laceration of the
breast of her dead Son. At the same time, moved by compassion and love and in
forgetfulness of her own sorrow, She said to Longinus: "The Almighty
look upon thee with eyes of mercy for the pain thou hast caused to my
soul!" So far and no farther went her indignation (or more properly, her
most merciful meekness), for the instruction of all of us who are ever
injured. For to the mind of this sincerest Dove, this injury to the dead
Christ weighed most heavily; and the retribution sought by Her for the
delinquent was one of the greatest blessings, namely that God should look
upon him with eyes of mercy and return blessings and gifts of grace for the
offense. Thus it also happened; for the Savior, moved by the prayer of his
blessed Mother, ordained that some of the blood and water from his sacred
side should drop upon the face of Longinus and restore to him his eyesight,
which he had almost lost. At the same time sight was given to his soul, so
that he recognized in the Crucified his Savior, whom he had so inhumanly
mutilated. Through this enlightenment Longinus was converted; weeping over
his sins and having washed them in the blood and water of the side of Christ,
he openly acknowledged and confessed Him as the true God and Savior of the
world. He proclaimed Him as such in the presence of the Jews, confounding by
his testimony their perfidy and hardness of heart. 729. The most prudent Queen
then perceived the mystery of this lance thrust, namely, that in this last
pouring forth of the blood and water issued forth the new Church, cleansed
and washed by the Passion and Death of Jesus, and that from his sacred side,
as from the roots, should now spread out through the whole world the fruits
of life eternal. She conferred within Herself also upon the mystery of that
rock struck by the rod of divine justice (Exod. 17, 6), in order that the
living waters might issue forth, quenching the thirst of all the human race
and recreating and refreshing all who betook themselves to drink there from.
She considered the coincidence of the five fountains from the wounds of his
hands, feet and sides, which opened up the new paradise of the most holy
humanity of our Savior, and which were more copious and powerful to fertilize
the earth than those of the terrestrial paradise divided into four streams
over the surface of the globe (Gen. 2, 10). These and other mysteries the
great Lady rehearsed in a canticle of praise, which She composed in honor of
her divine Son after his being wounded by the lance. Together with this
canticle She poured forth a most fervent prayer, that all these mysteries of
the Redemption be verified in the blessings spread over the whole human race.
730. The evening of that
day of the parasceve was already approaching, and the loving Mother had as
yet no solution of the difficulty of the burial of her dead Son, which She
desired so much; but the Lord ordained, that the tribulations of his
tenderest Mother should be relieved by Joseph of Arimathea and Nikodemus,
whom he had inspired with the thought of caring for the burial of their
Master. They were both just men and disciples of the Lord, although not of
the seventy-two; for they had not as yet openly confessed themselves as
disciples for fear of the Jews, who suspected and hated as enemies all those
that followed Christ and acknowledged Him as Teacher. The dispositions of
divine Providence concerning the burial of her Son had not been made known to
the most prudent Virgin and thus her painful anxiety increased to such an
extent, that She saw no way out of the difficulty. In her affliction She
raised her eyes to heaven and said: "Eternal Father and my Lord, by the
condescension of thy goodness and infinite wisdom I was raised to the exalted
dignity of being the Mother of thy Son; and by that same bounty of an immense
God Thou hast permitted me to nurse Him at my breast, nourish Him and
accompany Him to his death. Now it behooves me as his Mother to give
honorable burial to his sacred body, though I can go no farther than to
desire it and deeply grieve, because I am unable to fulfill my wishes. I
beseech thy divine Majesty to provide some way for accomplishing my
desires." 731. This prayer the loving
Mother offered up after the sacred body of the Lord was perforated by the
lance. Soon after She saw another group of men coming toward Calvary with
ladders and other apparatus seemingly for the purpose of taking from the
Cross her priceless Treasure; but as She did not know their intentions, She
was tortured by new fears of the cruelty of the Jews, and turning to saint
John, She said: "My Son, what may be the object of these people in
coming with all these instruments?" The apostle answered: "Do not
fear them that are coming, my Lady; for they are Joseph and Nikodemus with
some of their servants, all of them friends and servants of thy divine Son
and my Lord." Joseph was just in the eyes of the Most High (John 19,
38), a noble decurion in the employment of the government, a member of the
council, who as is given us to understand in the Gospel, had not consented to
the resolves and the proceedings of the murderers of Christ and who had
recognized Jesus as the true Messias. Although Joseph had been a secret
disciple of the Lord, yet at his death, in consequence of the efficacious
influence of the Redemption, he openly confessed his adherence. Setting aside
all fear of the envy of the Jews and caring nothing for the power of the
Romans, he went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus (Mark 15,
43), in order to take Him down from the Cross and give Him honorable burial.
He openly maintained that he was innocent and the true Son of God, as
witnessed by the miracles of his life and death. 732. Pilate dared not
refuse the request of Joseph, but gave him full permission to dispose of the
dead body of Jesus as he thought fit. With this permission Joseph left the
house of the judge and called upon Nikodemus. He too was a just man, learned
in divine and human letters and in the holy Scriptures, as is evident in what
733. They approached most
Holy Mary, who, in the company of 734. Nevertheless they
continued to urge the expediency of her retiring for a short time, until they
should lower their Master from the Cross. But the great Lady responded:
"My dearest masters, since I was present, when my sweetest Son was
nailed to the Cross, fear not to allow me to be present at his taking down;
for this act of piety, though it shall affect my heart with new sorrow, will,
in its very performance, afford a great relief." Thereupon they began to
arrange for the taking down of the body. First they detached the crown from
the head, laying bare the lacerations and deep wounds it had caused. They
handed it down with great reverence and amid abundant tears, placing it in
the hands of the sweetest Mother. She received it prostrate on her knees, in
deepest adoration bathed it with her tears, permitting the sharp thorns to
wound her virginal countenance in pressing it to her face. She asked the
eternal Father to inspire due veneration toward the sacred thorns in those
Christians, who should obtain possession of them in future times. 735. In imitation of the
Mother, 736. In all these
proceedings our great Queen acted with such heavenly wisdom and prudence,
that She excited the admiration of the angels and men; for all her words were
full of the deepest significance, the most winning affection and compassion
for her deceased Son, full of tenderness in her lamenting, and full of
mystery in sentiment and meaning. Her sorrow exceeded all that could ever be
felt by mortals. She moved the hearts to compassion and tears. She
enlightened all in the understanding of the sacrament now transpiring under
their hands. Above all, without failing in the least of her duties, She
preserved her humble dignity and serenity of countenance in the midst of her
heartrending affliction. With uniform adaptation to the circumstances She
spoke to her beloved Son, to the eternal Father, to the angels, to the
bystanders, and to the whole human race, for whose Redemption the Lord had
undergone his Passion and Death. I will not detain myself in particularizing
the most prudent and sorrowful words of the Lady on this occasion; for
Christian piety will be able to conceive many of them, and I cannot stay to
enumerate all these mysteries. 737. Some time passed
during which the sorrowful Mother held at her breast the dead Jesus, and as
evening was far advancing, 738. At the same time the
graves, which had opened at the Death of Christ, were again closed; for among
other mysteries of their opening up, was this, that these graves as it were
unsealed themselves in order to receive Him, whom the Jews had repudiated,
when He was alive and their Benefactor. At the command of the Queen many
angels remained to guard the sepulchre, where She had left her heart. In the
same order and silence, in which they had come, they now returned to 739. The Jews, confused and
disturbed by the events, went to Pilate on the morning of the Sabbath and
asked him for soldiers to guard the sepulchre; for Christ, this seducer, they
said, had openly announced, that after three days He would arise; hence his
disciples might steal the body and then say that He had arisen. Pilate
yielded to this malicious measure and gave them the guard they desired, which
they stationed at the sepulchre (Matth. 28, 12). But the perfidious priests
merely wished to palliate the event, which they feared would really happen,
as was manifest afterwards, when they bribed the soldiers of the guard to
testify, that Jesus had not arisen, but had been stolen by the disciples. As
no counsel will prevail against God (Prov. 21, 30), the Resurrection of
Christ became only so much the more public and was the more fully confirmed. INSTRUCTION
WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN GAVE ME. 740. My daughter, the lance
thrust which my blessed Son received in his side, was cruel and very painful
only to me; but its effects and mysteries are most sweet to those souls who
know how to taste its sweetness. It was a great affliction to me; but whoever
meets with this mysterious favor will find it a great relief and consolation
in his sorrows. In order that thou mayest understand this and participate in
it, thou must know, that my Son and Lord, on account of his most ardent love
for men, in addition to the wounds of the feet and hands, wished to open the
wound of his heart, the seat of love, in order that through this port the
souls might enter and there receive refuge and relief. This is the only
retreat which I wish thee to seek during the time of thy banishment, and
which thou must consider as thy habitation upon earth. There thou wilt find
the conditions and laws of love for imitating me and learn how for injuries
thou must return blessings to all who commit them against thee and thine,
just as thou hast seen me do, when I was grieved by the wounding of the side
of my dead Son. I assure thee, my dearest, that thou canst not do anything
more adapted to the obtaining of the efficacious graces from the Almighty.
The prayer, which thou offerest in a forgiving spirit, is powerful not only
for thy own good, but for the good of the one that offends thee; for the kind
heart of my Son is easily moved, when He sees that creatures imitate Him in
pardoning offenders and in praying for them; for they thereby participate in
his most ardent charity manifested on the Cross. Write this doctrine in thy
heart and in imitation of me practice this virtue, of which I thought so
highly. Through this wound look upon the heart of Christ thy Spouse and upon
me, sweetly and ardently loving in it thy enemies and all creatures. 741. Consider also the
anxious and ever ready providence of the Most High in coming to the aid of
the creatures, that call to Him in true confidence. This thou hast seen in my
behalf, when I found myself afflicted and at a loss concerning the proper
burial of my divine Son. In order to come to my assistance in this plight,
the Lord showed his sweet love by moving the hearts of Joseph and Nikodemus
and of the other faithful to assist me in burying Him. By their opportune
help I was so much consoled in this tribulation, that on account of their
behavior and my prayer the Most High filled them with wonderful influences of
the Divinity, by which they were regaled during the time of taking Jesus from
the Cross and his burial; and from that time on these faithful were
enlightened and filled with the mysteries of the Redemption. This is the
admirable disposition of the sweet and powerful providence of God, that in
order to bind Himself to do good to some of his creatures, He sends
affliction upon others, thus giving an occasion for the practice of
benevolence, so that at the same time those in necessity may be benefited.
Thus the benefactor, on account of the good work he does and on account of
the prayer of the poor, is rewarded by receiving graces of which he otherwise
would not be worthy. The Father of mercies, who inspires and assists the good
work done, afterwards pays for it as if it were due in justice. For we can
correspond to his inspirations merely according to our insignificant
abilities, while all that is really good, comes entirely from his hands
(James 1, 17). 742. Consider also the equity maintained by this |