In
the School of Mary
Instruction of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Venerable Mary of Agreda
TAKEN FROM THE CITY OF GOD, Books I and V [Abridged and
Unabridged Versions]
The Condition of the
World at the Time of the First Christmas
The Virtue of Silence
The Trinity
The Creation of the Angels and Fall
of Lucifer
The Creation and Fall of Man
Saint Joachim and Anne
The Immaculate Conception
Jesus
Instructs His Mother in the Law of Grace
The Continued Prayers of Jesus and
Mary for Mankind
The
Condition of the World at the Time of the First Christmas
Ven. Mary of Agreda: ". .
. He moved my will so that in her presence I promised to overcome my
repugnance and with her assistance to set about writing her history,
paying attention to three things: First, to remember that the creature
must ever seek to acknowledge the profound reverence due to God and to
abase itself in proportion to the condescension of His Majesty toward
men and that the effect of greater favors and benefits must be a
greater fear, reverence, attention and humility; secondly, to be ever
mindful of the obligation of all men, who are so forgetful of their own
salvation, to consider and learn what they owe to the Queen and Mother
of piety on account of the part assumed by her in the Redemption, to
think of the love and the reverence which she showed to God and the
honor in which we are to hold this great Lady; thirdly, to be willing
to have my spiritual director, and if necessary the whole world, find
out my littleness and vileness, and the small returns which I make for
what I receive.
To these my protestations the most Holy Virgin answered:
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Y DAUGHTER, the world stands much in need of this doctrine, for it does not know, nor does it practice, the reverence due to the Lord omnipotent. On account of this ignorance His justice is provoked to afflict and humiliate men. They are sunken in their carelessness and filled with darkness, not knowing how to seek relief or attain to the light. |
This,
however, is justly their lot, since they fail in the reverence and
fear, which they ought to have.
Besides this the Most High and the Queen gave me many other
instructions, in order to make clear to me their will in regard to this
work. It seemed to me temerity and want of charity toward myself, to
reject the instruction which she had promised me for narrating the
course of her most holy life. It seemed equally improper to put off the
writing of it, since the Most High had intimated this as the fitting
and opportune time, saying to me in this regard: "My daughter, when I
sent My Only-begotten, the world, with the exception of the few souls
that served Me, was in worse condition than it ever had been since
its beginning; for human nature is so imperfect that if it does not
subject itself to the interior guidance of My light and to the
fulfillment of the precepts of My ministers by sacrificing its own
judgment and following Me, Who am the way, the truth and the life
(John 14, 6), and by carefully observing My Commandments in order not
to lose My friendship, it will presently fall into the abyss of
darkness and innumerable miseries, until it arrives at obstinacy in
sin. From the creation
and sin of the first man until I gave the law to Moses, men governed
themselves according to their own inclinations and fell into many
errors and sins (Rom. 5, 13). After having received the law, they again
committed sin by not obeying it (John 7, 19) and thus they lived on,
separating themselves more and more from truth and light and arriving
at the state of complete forgetfulness. In fatherly love I sent them
eternal salvation and a remedy for the incurable infirmities of human
nature, thus justifying My cause. And just as I then chose the
opportune time for the greater manifestation of My mercy, so I now
select this time for showing toward them another very great favor. For
now the hour has come and the opportune time to let men know the just
cause of My anger, and they are now justly charged and convinced of
their guilt. Now I will make manifest My indignation and exercise my
justice and equity; I will show how well justified is My cause. In
order that this may come to pass more speedily, and because it is now
time that My mercy show itself more openly and because My love must not
be idle, I will offer to them an opportune remedy, if they will but
make use of it for returning again to My favor. Now, at this hour, when
the world has arrived at so unfortunate a pass, and when, though the
Word has become incarnate, mortals are more careless of their weal and
seek it less; when the day of their transitory life passes swiftly at
the setting of the sun of time; when the night of eternity is
approaching closer and closer for the wicked and the day without a
night is being born for the just; when the majority of mortals are
sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness of their ignorance and
guilt, oppressing the just and mocking the children of God; when My
holy and Divine law is despised in the management of the iniquitous
affairs of state, which are as hostile as they are contrary to My
Providence; when the wicked least deserve My mercy; in these
predestined times, I wish to open a portal for the just ones through
which they can find access to My mercy; I wish to give them a light by
which they can dispel the gloom that envelops the eyes of their minds.
I wish to furnish them a suitable remedy for restoring them to My
grace. Happy they who find it, and blessed they who shall appreciate
its value, rich they who shall come upon this treasure, and blessed and
very wise those who shall search into and shall understand its marvels
and hidden mysteries. I desire to make known to mortals how much
intercession of Her is worth, who brought restoration of life by giving
mortal existence to the immortal God. As recompense I desire that they
look upon the wonders wrought by my mighty arm in that pure Creature,
as upon a mirror by which they can estimate their own ingratitude. I
wish to make known to them much of that, which according to My high
judgment is still hidden concerning the Mother of the Word."
"I
have not revealed these mysteries in the primitive Church, because they
are so great, that the faithful would have been lost in the
contemplation and admiration of them at a time when it was more
necessary to establish firmly the law of grace and of the Gospel.
Although all mysteries of religion are in perfect harmony with each
other, yet human ignorance might have suffered recoil and doubt at
their magnitude, when faith in the Incarnation and Redemption and the
precepts of the new law of the Gospel were yet in their beginnings. On
this same account the person of the incarnate Word said to His
disciples at the Last Supper: "Many things have I to say to you; but
you are not yet disposed to receive them" (John 16, 12). These words He
addressed to all the world, for it was not yet capable of giving full
obedience to the law of grace and full assent to the faith in the Son,
much less was it prepared to be introduced into the mysteries of His
Mother. But now mankind has greater need for this manifestation, and
this necessity urges Me to disregard their evil disposition. And if men
would now seek to please Me by reverencing, believing, and studying the
wonders, which are intimately connected with this Mother of Piety, and
if they would all begin to solicit her intercession from their whole
heart, the world would find some relief. I will not longer withhold
from men this mystical City of refuge; describe and delineate it to
them, as far as thy shortcomings allow. I do not intend that thy
descriptions and declarations of the life of the Blessed Virgin shall
be mere opinions or contemplations, but reliable truth. They that have
ears to hear, let them hear. Let those who thirst come to the living
waters and leave the dried-out cisterns; let those that are seeking for
the light, follow it to the end. Thus speaks the Lord, God Almighty!"
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DESIRE that you esteem as a great treasure, the virtue of silence, which I began to practice from my birth . . . I attached myself this with great predilection, resolving to adhere to it as a companion and a friend during all my life. Thus I kept it with inviolable caution . . . |
"Speaking without moderation
and forethought is a two-edged sword
which wounds both the one who speaks and the one who hears, and the two
of them destroy or hinder charity and all the virtues. From this you
can understand how much God is offended by the vice of inconsiderate
and loose talk, and how justly loquacity and the tumult of
dispute estranges His spirit and veils His presence. For those who
talk much cannot keep free from grievous sins. Only with God and His
Saints can one speak with security, and even then it must be with
forethought and discretion. With creatures it is very difficult to
preserve the golden mean without danger of passing from the correct and necessary to the imperfect and
superfluous.
'The remedy that will guard
you against all danger is to tend continually toward the other extreme,
striving rather to be silent. For the prudent middle course of speaking
only what is necessary is found more in being silent a great deal than
in immoderate speech. Remember that you cannot amuse yourself in
self-sought conversation with creatures without relinquishing God in
the secret interior of your soul; and that what you cannot do without
impudence and insult in your relations with other creatures, you should
not do in your dealings with your Lord and the Lord of all. Close your
ears to the deceitful conversations which might induce you to say what
you should not; for it is not just for you to speak more than what is
enjoined you by your Lord and Master.
"Listen to His holy law, which
He has written in your heart with so liberal a hand; hear there the
voice of your Pastor, and reply to Him there, and to Him alone. I wish
to impress you with the fact that if you are to be My disciple and
companion, it must be by distinguishing yourself especially in this
virtue of silence. Reflect much and write this doctrine in your heart
today-----and attach yourself more and more to this
virtue; for first I wish to see this disposition in you, and then I
will teach you how you must speak.
"I do not want to dissuade you
from speaking words of admonition and consolation to your daughters . .
. Speak also with those who can give you tokens of your Beloved, and
who can encourage and inflame you with His love. In such conversations
you will acquire a profitable silence of the soul; for in them is
excited a horror and disgust for conversation of men, and you will
learn to relish only conversation about the wished-for Eternal good . .
.
"O My daughter, forget all
earthly things in the hiding place of your silence, and imitate Me with
all your fervor and all your might; for thus shall you arrive at that
state to which your Spouse invites you . . . for His Majesty
speaks to those who are alone and in silence."
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