135. The more our limited discourse seeks to make
clear and extol the mysterious works of Christ, our
Redeemer, and of his most holy Mother, the more evi
dent it becomes, that mere human words are far from
being able to compass the greatness of these sacraments ;
for, as Ecclesiasticus says, they surpass all our words of
praise (Ecclus. 43, 33). Nor can we ever fathom or
compass them, and there will always remain many
greater secrets than those we have sought to explain.
For those which we do explain are very insignificant,
and we do not deserve to comprehend, nor to speak about
the few, which we attempt to fathom. Inadequate is the
intellect of the highest seraphim to weigh and pierce the
secrets that passed between Jesus and Mary during the
years in which They lived together. Especially is this true
of the years, of which I am now speaking, during which
the Teacher of life instructed Her in everything that
was to happen in the law of grace; namely, how much
this new law was to accomplish in this the sixth age of
the world, which includes these sixteen hundred and fiftyseven
years and all the unknown future until the end of
the World. In all this the most blessed Lady was
instructed in the school of her divine Son; for He fore
told Her all by word of mouth, pointing out the time
and place of each event, the kingdoms and provinces of
their history during the existence of the Church. This
was shown Her so dearly that if She had lived through
our centuries in mortal flesh, She would have known all
the individual members of the holy Church with their
features and names. This happened in regard to the
persons, whom She afterwards saw and conversed with
during her life; for when they came into her presence
for the first time, She already knew them by her interior
faculties and merely began to know them by the experi
ence of the senses.
136. Still, while the most holy Mother of wisdom
so clearly understood these mysteries in the soul of her
Son and in the operations of his faculties, She did not
penetrate so deeply into these secrets as the most holy
Soul of Christ, which was beatifically united to the
Divinity; for the heavenly Lady was a creature and as
yet did not continually enjoy the beatific vision. Nor
did She always comprehend the image conceived in the
beatific vision of this divine Soul of Christ, for this
happened only when She herself was enjoying the intui
tive vision of the Divinity. But She beheld the imagin
ary species of the interior faculties of Christ concerning
the mysteries of the militant Church, and She understood
also how they depended upon his most holy will : that
He decreed and controlled all its developments according
to their proper time, place and occasion. She was made
aware in like manner, how the human will of the
Redeemer conformed itself to the divine, and was
governed by it in all its decrees and dispositions. The
divine harmony overflowed in the will and faculties of
the blessed Lady, leading Her to co-operate with the will
of her Son, and through it, with the divine. Hence there
existed an ineffable similarity between Christ and holy
Mary and She was the helpmate of Christ in the building
up of the new Law.
137. All these hidden sacraments ordinarily transpired
in that humble oratory of the Queen, where the greatest
of all mysteries, the Incarnation of the divine Word in
her virginal womb, had taken place. Though it was such
a narrow and poorly furnished room, consisting merely
of the bare and rude walls, yet it enclosed the grandeur
of Him who is immense and shed forth all the majesty
and sacredness, which since then is attached to the rich
temples and innumerable sanctuaries of the world. In
this holy of holies the Highpriest of the new Law ordi
narily performed his prayers, which always concluded
with fervent intercessions for men. At these times also
He spoke to his Virgin Mother about all the works of
the Redemption and communicated to Her the rich gifts
and treasures of grace, which He had come to shower
upon the children of light in the new Testament and in
his holy Church. Many times did He beseech his eternal
Father not to allow the sins and the ingratitude of men
to hinder their Redemption. As Christ in his fore
knowledge was always conscious of the sins of the human
race and of the damnation of so many thankless souls,
the thought of dying for them caused Him to sweat
blood many times on these occasions. Although the
Evangelists, because they never intended to relate all the
events of his life, mention this sweating of blood but once
before his Passion, it is certain that this happened many
times and in the presence of his most holy Mother; and
this has been intimated to me several times.
138. During prayer our blessed Master sometimes
assumed a kneeling posture, sometimes He was pros
trate in the form of a cross or at other times raised in
the air in this same position which He loved so much.
In the presence of his Mother He was wont to pray:
"O most blessed Cross! When shall thy arms receive
mine, when shall I rest on thee and when shall my arms,
nailed to thine, be spread to welcome all sinners? (Matth.
9, 13). But as I came from heaven for no other purpose
than to invite them to imitate Me and associate with Me,
they are even now and forever open to embrace and
enrich all men. Come then, all ye that are blind, to the
light. Come ye poor, to the treasures of my grace.
Come, ye little ones, to the caresses and delights of your
true Father. Come, ye afflicted and worn out ones, for
I will relieve and refresh you (Matth. 11, 28). Come,
ye just, since you are my possession and inheritance.
Come all ye children of Adam, for I call upon you all.
I am the way, the truth and the life (13, 6), and I will
deny nothing that you desire to receive. My eternal
Father, they are the works of thy hands, do not despise
them ; for I will offer Myself as a sacrifice on the Cross,
in order to restore them to justice and freedom. If they
be but willing I will lead them back to the bosom of thy
elect and to their heavenly kingdom, where thy name
shall be glorified."
139. At all these prayers the beloved Mother was
present, and in her purest soul, as in the purest crystal,
the light of the Onlybegotten was reflected. His inte
rior and exterior prayers re-echoed in Her, causing Her
to imitate his petitions and prayers in the same postures.
When the great Lady for the first time saw Him sweat
blood, her maternal heart was transfixed with sorrow
and filled with astonishment at the effects caused in
Christ, our Lord, by the sins and ingratitudes committed
by men, foreseen by the Lord and known to Her. In the
anguish of her heart She turned to her fellow mortals
and exclaimed : "O children of men ! Little do ye under
stand how highly the Lord esteems his image and like
ness in you! For, as the price of your salvation, He
offers his own blood and deems it little to shed all of it
for you. O could I but unite your wills with mine, in
order that I might bring you to love and obey Him!
Blessed by his right hand be the grateful and the just
among men, who will be faithful children of their
Father! Let those be filled with light and with the
treasures of grace, who will respond to the ardent desires
of my Lord in regard to their salvation. Would that
I could be the insignificant slave of the children of Adam
and thereby induce and assist them to put an end to their
sins and their own damnation ! Lord and Master ! Life
and light of my soul ! Who can be so hard of heart
and so hostile to himself, that he should not feel himself
urged on by thy blessings? Who can be so ungrateful
and so unheedful, as to ignore thy most burning love?
How can my heart bear with men, who, being so favored
by thy bounty, are so coarse and rebellious ? O children
of Adam ! Turn your inhuman cruelty upon me. Afflict
and insult me as much as you will, only pay my beloved
Lord the reverence and love which you owe to his endear
ments. Thou, my Son and Lord, art Light of light, Son
of the eternal Father, figure of his substance (Heb. 1, 3),
as everlasting, as immense, as infinite as He, equal to
Him in essence and attributes, being with Him one God
and one supreme Majesty (John 10, 30). Thou art
chosen among thousands (Cant. 5, 10), beautiful above
all the sons of men, holy, innocent and without defect
of any kind. How then, eternal God, can mortals ignore
the object of their most noble love? the Principle,
which gives them existence"? the End wherein consists
their eternal true happiness? O that I could give my
life in order that all might escape their error!"
140. Many other sentiments of burning love, far
beyond the powers of my heart and tongue, this heavenly
Lady uttered in her dove-like sincerity; and in this love,
and in profoundest reverence, She wiped the sweat from
the face of her sweetest Son. At other times She found
Him in quite a different condition, shining with glory
and transfigured as afterwards on mount Tabor (Matth.
17, 2), in the midst of a great multitude of angels, who
adored Him and in the sweet harmony of their voices
gave praise and thanksgiving to the Onlybegotten of the
Father made man. These celestial voices our blessed
Lady heard and She joined hers with them. At other
times this happened while He was not transfigured; for
the divine will ordained that the sensitive part of the
divine humanity of the Word should sometimes have
this solace, while at other times it should enjoy also the
transfiguring overflow of the glory of the soul into the
body : yet this only at great intervals. But whenever the
heavenly Mother found Him in this state and beheld his
glorified body, or when She heard the hymns of the
angels, She participated in these delights to such an
extent, that, if her spirit had not been so strong, and
if her Lord and Son had not fortified Her, She would
have lost all her natural powers; and even as it was, the
holy angels had to support the failing strength of her
body on those occasions.
141. Many times, when her divine Son was in one of
these states of suffering or joy, and was praying to the
eternal Father or, as it were, conferring with Him con
cerning the highest mysteries of the Redemption, the
Person of the Father approved or conceded his petitions
for the relief of men, or showed to the most holy human
ity of Christ the secret decrees of predestination, repro
bation or condemnation of some souls. All this our
blessed Lady heard, humbling Herself to the dust With
unequaled reverence and fear She adored the Omnip
otent, and accompanied her Son in his prayers, petitions
and thanksgivings, offered up to the eternal Father for
mankind in praise of all his inscrutable judgments. Such
secrets and mysteries the most prudent Virgin conferred
in her heart, and stored them up in her memory, con
verting them into the material and nourishment of her
fiery love. None of these blessings and secret favors
were in her unprofitable or fruitless. To all of them
She corresponded according to the inmost desires of her
Lord. In all of them She fulfilled the highest intentions
of the Almighty, and all his works found due response
from Her as far as was possible from a mere creature.
INSTRUCTIONS WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN,
MARY, GAVE ME.
142. My daughter, one of the reasons why men should
call me Mother of mercy, is the knowledge of my loving
desire, that all be satiated with the flood of grace and
taste the sweetness of the Lord as I myself. I call
and invite all to come with me to the fountain of the
Divinity. Let the most poor and afflicted approach, for
if they respond and follow me, I will offer them my
protection and help, and I will intercede for them with
my Son and obtain for them the hidden manna, which
will give to them nourishment and life (Apoc. 2, 17).
Deny thyself and put off all the works of human weak
ness, and, by the true light, which thou hast received
concerning the works of my Son and my own, contem
plate and study thyself in this mirror, in order to arrive
at that beauty, which the highest King seeks in thee.
143. Since this is the most powerful means for per
fection in thy works, I wish that thou write this
advice into thy heart. Whenever thou must perform
any interior or exterior work, consider beforehand
whether what thou art going to say or do corresponds
with the doings of thy Lord, and whether thou hast the
intention thereby to honor thy Lord and benefit thy
neighbor. As soon as thou art sure that this is thy
motive, execute thy undertaking in union with Him and
in imitation of Him; but if thou findest not this motive
let the undertaking rest. This was my invariable course
in pursuing the imitation of my Lord and Teacher;
though in me there was no reluctance toward the good,
but only the desire of imitating Him perfectly. In this
imitation consists the fruit of his holy teaching, in which
He urges us to do, what is most pleasing and acceptable
to the eternal God. Moreover from this day on be
mindful not to undertake any work, not to speak or even
think any of anything, without first asking my permission
and consulting with me as thy Mother and Teacher.
And as soon as I answer thee give thanks to the Lord;
if I do not answer after continued inquiry, I promise
and assure thee on the part of the Lord, that He will,
nevertheless, give thee light as to what will be according
to his most perfect will. In all things, however, subject
thyself to the guidance of thy spiritual director, and
never forget this practice!
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