Mystical City of God - AN OFFERING OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING MADE BY ME, SISTER MARY OF JESUS, THE LEAST OF THE MOR TALS, TO THE LORD AND TO HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER, FOR HAVING BEEN CHOSEN TO WRITE THIS HEAVENLY HISTORY UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE QUEEN AND MISTRESS OF HEAVEN.

By Sor Maria of Agreda

AN OFFERING OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING MADE BY ME, SISTER MARY OF JESUS, THE LEAST OF THE MOR TALS, TO THE LORD AND TO HIS MOST HOLY MOTHER, FOR HAVING BEEN CHOSEN TO WRITE THIS HEAVENLY HISTORY UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE QUEEN AND MISTRESS OF HEAVEN.

INDEX Book 8 Chapter 23 Verses: 786-791

786. I confess Thee, God eternal, Lord of heaven,
earth, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the one and true God,
one substance and majesty in the Trinity of Persons;
since, not having received aught from anybody that Thou
shouldst repay him (Rom. 11, 35), solely through thy
ineffable condescension and clemency, Thou revealest
thy mysteries and sacraments to thy little ones (Matth.
11, 25) ; and since Thou dost it in immense bounty and
infinite wisdom, pleasing Thyself and doing all things
aright. In thy works Thou magnifiest thy holy name,
exaltest thy Omnipotence, showest thy greatness, scatterest
thy mercies and establishest thy glory, which is
due to Thee as the holy, the wise, the powerful, the kind,
the liberal God, the sole beginning and Author of all that
is good. None is so holy as Thou, none so powerful, none
so exalted, who raisest the poor from the dust and from
nothingness, and enrichest the needy (Ps. 112, 7). Thine
are, O Most high God, the ends and the poles of the
earth; Thou givest life and givest death; Thou hum
blest and castest down to the abyss the proud; Thou
raisest up the humble according to thy pleasure; Thou
enrichest and impoverishest, in order that in thy pres-
ence no flesh may boast, nor the strongest presume upon
his strength, nor the weakest fear or distrust his weak
ness and his lowliness.
787. I confess Thee, true Lord, as the King and Sa
vior of the world, Jesus Christ. I confess and praise
thy holy name, and give glory to Thee, who conferrest
wisdom. I confess Thee, Queen of heaven, most holy
Mary, worthy Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ, begin
ning of our salvation, Depositary of the treasures of his
grace, living temple of the Divinity, Restoratrix of the
general ruin of the human race, new joy of the saints,
glory of the works of the Almighty and singular instru
ment of his omnipotence. I confess Thee as the sweet
est Mother of mercy, refuge of the unfortunate, Pro
tectress of the poor and of the afflicted. All that the
angelic spirits and the saints proclaim of Thee and in
Thee and through Thee, I also confess, and I join them
in whatever glory and praise they render in Thee and
through Thee to the Divinity, blessing, magnifying and
confessing and believing with them all things concern
ing Thee. O sovereign Mistress of all creation, through
thy powerful intercession alone and because Thou hast
looked upon me with eyes of mercy, thy divine Son has
turned toward me in his clemency and as a Father, not
disdaining for thy sake to choose me, the vile wormlet
of the earth and the least of his creatures, to manifest
his venerable secrets and mysteries. The multitudinous
waters of my faults, ingratitudes, and miseries could not
extinguish his immense charity; and my torpidity and
sluggishness could not dry up or choke the flow of his
divine light and wisdom.
788. I confess, O kindest Mother, before heaven and
earth, that I have striven with myself and with thy
enemies, and that my interior was sadly troubled in hesi
tating between my unworthiness and my desire of wis
dom. I stretched forth my hands and bewailed my
insipidity; I led on my heart and I encountered knowl
edge, and with knowledge I came into the possession of
peace; and when I encountered and loved it, I found it
a goodly possession and I was not confounded. The
sweet and strong force of wisdom wrought within me;
it manifested to me the most hidden things and the
knowledge most uncertain. I placed before my eyes
Thee, the beautiful image of the Divinity and Mystical
City of his habitation, in order that through the dark
some night of this mortal life Thou mightest be my guid
ing star, and light me as the Moon of the immense Light,
in order that I might follow Thee as my Leader, love
Thee as a Mother, obey Thee as a Mistress, hear Thee
as my Teacher, and that I might see myself as in an im
maculate mirror and reach highest perfection by having
before me thy ineffable example, virtues and works.
789. But who could ever have bent the divine Majesty
to so vile a slave, if not Thou, O powerful Queen, who
art the greatness of love, the vastness of clemency, the
source of mercy, the prodigy of grace, and who has filled
up the abysses of the guilt of all the children of Adam ?
Thine, O lady, is the credit and the glory for all that I
have written, not only because it records thy most holy
and admirable life, but because Thou hast given it a
beginning, hast furthered it, and brought it to a close;
and if Thou hadst not been its Author and Controller, it
could never have entered into the thoughts of man. Let
then all thanks and credit be thine ; because Thou alone
canst give a worthy return to thy divine Son and our
Redeemer for this new and peerless blessing. That
Thou make such a return, I can only ask Thee in the
name of the whole Church and in my own name. And
this I desire now to do, O Mother and Queen of the vir
tues. Humbled in thy presence deeper than to the dust,
I confess that I have received this and other blessings
as favors, which I could never merit. Only what Thou
hast taught and commanded, have I written; I was but
the mute instrument of thy tongue, moved and governed
by thy wisdom. Perfect Thou this work of thy hands,
not only for the appropriate glory and praise of the Most
High, but add to it what is wanting, in order that I may
practice thy doctrine, follow thy footsteps, obey thy com
mands, and run after the odor of thy ointment, which is
the sweetness and fragrance of thy virtues diffused with
ineffable kindness through this history.
790. I acknowledge myself, O Empress of heaven, as
the most unworthy, the most indebted of all the children
of the holy Church. In order that the monstrosity of
my ingratitude may not become apparent in the Church,
before the Almighty and before Thee, I propose, offer, and
seek to make known my renunciation of all that is visible
and earthly; I again subject my liberty to the divine will
and to thy own, engaging myself not to use my free will,
except for God s glory and pleasure. I beseech Thee,
the Blessed among all creatures, that, just as by the clem
ency of the Lord and thy own I hold the title of his
spouse, and of thy daughter and disciple, and as thy Son,
my Lord, has so often deigned to confirm these titles,
Thou permit me not, O purest Lady, to fall short of these
titles. Thy protection and assistance failed me not in
the writing of thy wonderful life ; help me now to put
in practice thy teachings, wherein eternal life consists.
Thou wishest and commandest me to imitate Thee ; stamp
and engrave upon my soul thy living image. Thou hast
sown in my earthly heart the holy seed : guard it, cher
ish it, O Mother, sweet Mistress, that it may bring forth
fruit a hundredfold; that it may not be snatched away
by the birds of prey, the dragon and his demons; for of
their wrath I have been warned in every word I have
written of Thee, my Lady. Guide me unto the end, com
mand me as my Queen, instruct me as my Teacher, cor
rect me as my Mother. Receive as thanksgiving for all
this thy own life and the high pleasure which Thou hast
afforded to the most blessed Trinity, as the perfection
of his marvels. Let the angels and saints praise Thee, let
all nations and generations know Thee; let all creatures,
in Thee and through Thee, eternally bless their Creator
and let my soul and all my faculties magnify Thee.
791. This heavenly history (as I have adverted
throughout the course of it) I have written in obedience
to the commands of my superiors and confessors, who
have had the guidance of my soul. They have assured
me that I would fulfill the will of God through obedience
in writing it, and that I should obey the most blessed
Mother, who for many years has commanded me to
write it; and although I have always subjected all of it
to the criticism and to the will of my superiors, with
holding not a single word from their scrutiny : I never
theless submit it again to their better judgment. Above
all do I submit it to the amendment and correction of the
holy Roman Catholic Church, to whose censure and
teaching, as her daughter, I protest I will be subject,
ready to believe and hold all that this same holy Church,
our Mother, approves and believes, and ready to reject
all that she rejects; for in obedience to her I wish to
live and to die. Amen.

THE END.

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