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 conse
quently what was the dignity of the most holy Mary.
This was so disposed by divine Providence, in order
that the whole mystery of the Incarnation and the
Redemption of the human race might be more fittingly
accomplished. Lucifer, although knowing that God was
to assume human flesh, nevertheless knew nothing of
the manner and the circumstances of the Incarnation.
As he was permitted to form an opinion of this mystery
in accordance with his pride, he was full of hallucina
tions, sometimes believing Christ to be God on account
of his miracles, sometimes rejecting such an opinion on
account of seeing Him poor, humiliated, afflicted and
fatigued. Harassed by these contradicting evidences, he
remained in doubt and continued his inquiries until the
predestined hour of Christ s Death on the Cross, where, in
virtue of the Passion and Death of the sacred humanity,
which he had himself brought about, he was to be both
undeceived and vanquished by the full solution of these
mysteries.
702. This triumph of Christ our Savior was accom
plished 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, ac
cording 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 inter
course and vision peculiar to the angels; for such would
be necessary in order to describe and understand cor
rectly 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 significa
tion 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
Calvary. The ends of the mysterious chain that bound
them were placed into the hands of Mary, the great
Queen, who, by the power of her divine Son, held them
all in subjection and bondage. Although they many
times sought to break away and raged in helpless fury,
they could not overcome the power of the heavenly
Lady. She forced them to come to Calvary and stand
around the Cross, where She commanded them to re
main motionless and witness the end of the great mys
teries there enacted for the salvation of men and the
ruin of themselves.
704. Lucifer and his infernal hosts were so over
whelmed with pains and torments by the presence of
the Lord and his blessed Mother, and with the fear of
their impending1
ruin, that they would have felt greatly
relieved to be allowed to cast themselves into the dark
ness 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 Jordan put to shame
(Is. 14, 13; Job 40, 18). How weak and annihilated
was now he, who so often had presumed to overturn
the whole earth! How downcast and confounded he,
who had deceived so many souls by false promises and
vain threats! How dismayed this unhappy one at the
sight of the gibbet, where he had sought to place
Mardocheus! (Esther 7, 9). What horrid shame to see
the true Esther, most holy Mary, asking for the rescue
of her people and the downfall of the traitor and the
chastisement of his pride! There our invincible Judith
beheaded him (Judith 13, 10) ; there She trod upon his
haughty neck. From now on, O Lucifer, I know that
thy arrogance and pride is much greater than thy strength
(Is. 16, 6). Instead of splendor now worms clothe thee
about (Is. 14, 11), and rottenness envelops and consumes
thy carrion corpse ! Thou, who hast afflicted the nations,
art now more woundedr bound and oppressed than all
the world. Thenceforward I do not fear thy counterfeit
threats; I will no longer listen to thy wiles; for I see
thee reduced, weakened and entirely helpless.
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 mys
teries 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 Lu
cifer 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 dis
covered 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 thousandfold. More
over, they discerned that saint John was appointed by
Christ our Lord as the angel guardian of his Mother,
endowed with the powers of the priesthood. This they
understood to be in the nature of a threat against their
own wrath, which was well known to saint John. Luci
fer saw not only the power of the Evangelist, but that
given to all the priests in virtue of their participation in
the dignity and power of our Redeemer; and that the
rest of the just, even though no priests, were placed
under the special protection of the Lord and made
powerful against hell. All this paralyzed the strength
of Lucifer and his demons.
708. The fourth word of Christ was addressed to
the eternal Father: "God, my God, why hast Thou for
saken 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 myste
riously 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
1 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 consum
mated!" 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 compen
sated 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 van
quished 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 her command that Lucifer and all demons de
part to the infernal depths. In virtue of these decrees
of the supreme King and of the Queen, the evil spirits
were routed from Calvary and precipitated to deepest
hell more violently and suddenly than a flash of light
through the riven clouds.
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 father
land. 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, sub
ject 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 pur
pose. 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, 2-5). 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 case 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 pro
ceedings 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 Calvary
to the abyss of hell was more violent and disastrous than
their first expulsion from heaven. Though, as holy Job
says (Job 10, 21), that place is a land of darkness, cov
ered with the shades of death, full of gloomy disorder,
misery, torments and confusion; yet on this occasion
the chaos and disorder was a thousandfold increased;
because the damned were made to feel new horror and
additional punishments at the sudden meeting of the
ferocious demons in their rabid fury. It is certain that
the devils have not the power of assigning- the damned
to a place of greater or lesser torment ; for all their tor
ments are decreed by divine justice according to the meas
ure of the demerits of each of the condemned. But,
besides this essential punishment, the just Judge allows
them to suffer other accidental punishments from time
to time according to occasion; for their sins have left
roots in the world and cause much damage to others,
who are damned on their account, and the new effects still
arising from former sins cause such accidental punishments
in the damned. Thus the demons devised new
torments for Judas, for having sold and brought about
the death of Christ. They also understood then that this
place of dreadful punishments, where they had thrown
him and of which I have spoken above, was destined for
the chastisement of those who damned themselves by
refusing to practice their faith in their lives and for those
who purposely refuse to believe and avail themselves of
the fruits of the Redemption. Against these the devils
execute a more furious wrath, similar to the one they
have conceived against Jesus and Mary.
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 pur
pose 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 re
fused to acknowledge Him as being more worthy than
I to be adored by the rest of creation. Although on ac
count 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 op
pressed 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
1
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 fol
lowers ? 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 sense
less 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 mor
tification 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 Him
self 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 cease
lessly 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 sug
gesting 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 ref
erence 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 In
structor of virtues, a powerful Intercessor and Advocate
in this Woman; yet the natural inclinations and pas
sions 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 stren
uous warfare against mankind by suggesting new attrac
tions, 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 Redemp
tion. 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 con
cocted among these malignant spirits the sect of Ma
homet, 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 neces ary nor proper to mention here. Lucifer
showed himi ilf content with these infernal counsels as
being oppos d 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 under
took to find the impious originators of these errors.
719. Some of the devils charged themselves with per
verting 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 ven
geance, 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 Sac
raments 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 tempta
tions; they will not see through our deceits, they will
let the memory of their Redeemer and of the interces
sion 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 execut
ing 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 Jordan might be swallowed up in his
hroat (Job 40, 18). It is enough to state that they
pent nearly a full year after the Death of Christ in
conferring and considering among themselves the state
of the world up to that time and the changes wrought
by Christ our God and Master through his Death and
after having manifested the light of his faith by so
many miracles, blessings and examples of holy men.
If all these labors have not sufficed to draw all men to
the way of salvation, it can be easily understood, that
Lucifer should have prevailed and that his wrath should
be so great, as to cause us justly to say with saint John:
"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 intrenched
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 furi
ously 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 be
hind 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 re
member 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 Providence reserves the full
understanding of them as a reward of the saints in
heaven and for the beatific vision, in which these mys
teries will be comprehended clearly. This insight will
also be given to the reprobate, to each one according to
his degree, for their confusion and punishment at the
end of their career. But what thou hast learned will
suffice to apprise thee of the dangers of this mortal life
and to enliven thy hope of overcoming thy enemies. I
wish also to warn thee of the new wrath, which the
dragon has conceived especially against thee for what
thou hast written in this chapter. He has ceaselessly
pursued thee with his wrath and has sought to hinder
thee from writing my life, as thou hast experienced con
tinually in this work. But now his haughty pride is in
censed against thee especially, because thou hast revealed
his humiliation, his crushing ruin at the Death of my
most blessed Son, the condition in which it left him
and the secret counsels for revenging himself upon the
children of Adam and especially upon the members of
the holy church. All this has excited and disturbed
him anew, seeing that these secrets will be revealed to
those yet ignorant of them. Thou wilt feel his wrath
in the difficulties he will place in thy way, the tempta
tions and persecutions thou hast already encountered.
Therefore I warn thee to be wary and circumspect
against the rabid fury and cruelty of thy enemy.
723. Thou art astonished, and justly, to see, on the
one hand, the power of my Son s merits and of his Re
demption, 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 presump
tion. 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 ene
mies so full of malice. It is certain, that when hell
came to the full knowledge of the sacrament of the In
carnation 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 teach
ings 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 per
formed 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 ex
ample 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 net
approach and they precipitously fled from the Apos
tles 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 bless
ings of the Redemption ; they yielded to their carnal in
clinations 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 Cath
olics fail to recognize this great damage and do not seri
ously think of a remedy, although they can presume that
the times, of which Jesus forewarned the women of Jeru
salem, 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 be
wail 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 compen
sation 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.
|