16. In the first part of this history (Part I, 219), I
mentioned, that the most pure body of Mary was con
ceived and perfectly formed within the space of seven
days. The Most High wished to work this miracle, in
order that this most holy soul might not have to wait so
long as the souls of ordinary mortals. He wished it to
be created and infused before the usual time, (as it also
really happened), in order that this beginning of the
reparation of the world might have some similarity to
the beginning of its creation. This correspondence again
took place at the coming of the Redeemer so that, having
formed the new Adam, Christ, God might rest as one
who had strained all the powers of his Omnipotence in
the greatest of his works; and that He might enjoy the
most delicious Sabbath of all his delights. And as these
wonders necessitated the intervention of the Mother of
the divine Word, who was to give Him a visible form,
and as She was to unite the two extremes, man and God,
it was proper that She should bear relation to both.
Her dignity was inferior only to that of God and supe
rior to all that was not God ; to this dignity belonged also
a proportionate knowledge and understanding, as well of
the highest essence of the Divinity, as also of all the
inferior creatures.
17. Following up his intention, the supreme Lord con-
tinued the favors, by which He wished to dispose most
holy Mary for the Incarnation during nine days, as I have
begun to explain. On the second day, at the same hour
of midnight, the Virgin Mary was visited in the same way
as described in the last chapter. The divine power raised
Her up by the same elevations and illuminings to prepare
Her for the visions of the Divinity. He manifested
Himself again in an abstractive manner as on the first
day, and She was shown the works performed on the
second day of the creation. She learnt how and when
God divided the waters (Gen. 1, 6), some above and
others below, establishing the firmament, and above it
the crystal, known also as the watery heaven. Her in
sight penetrated into the greatness, order, conditions,
movements and all the other qualities and conditions of
the heavens.
18. And in the most prudent Virgin this knowledge
did not lay idle, nor remain sterile ; for immediately the
most clear light of the Divinity overflowed in Her, and
inflamed and emblazoned Her with admiration, praise and
love of the goodness and power of God. Being trans
formed as it were with a godlike excellence, She produced
heroic acts of all the virtues, entirely pleasing to his
divine Majesty. And as in the preceding first day God
had made Her a participant of his wisdom, so on this
second day, He made Her in corresponding measure a
participant in the divine Omnipotence, and gave Her
power over the influences of the heavens, of the planets
and elements, commanding them all to obey Her. Thus
was this great Queen raised to Sovereignty over the sea,
the earth, the elements and the celestial orbs, with all the
creatures, which are contained therein.
19. This sovereignty and supreme power belonged to
the dignity of most holy Mary on account of the reason
mentioned above ; and besides for two other special ones ;
the first: because this Lady was the privileged Queen,
exempt from the common law of sin and its conse
quences: therefore She was not to be put in the same
general class with the insensate sons of Adam, against
whom the Omnipotent armed the creatures (Wisd. 5, 18)
for vengeance of his injuries and for the punishment of
their frenzy. For if they had not in their disobedience
turned against their Creator, neither would the elements
nor their dependencies have been disobedient toward
them, nor would they have molested them, nor turned
against them the rigor and inclemency of their activity.
And if this rebellion of the creatures is a punishment of
sin, it could not justly extend itself to the most holy
Mary, who was immaculate and without fault. Nor was
it just, that She should be less privileged than the angels,
who were not subject to these consequences of sin, or
deprived of the dominion over the elementary powers.
Although most holy Mary was of corporeal and terres
trial substance, yet She raised Herself above all corporeal
and spiritual creatures, and made Herself Queen and
Mistress of all creation. In this, therefore, She deserved
so much the higher credit, as it was the rarer and the
more precious. More must be conceded to the Queen
than to her vassals, more to the Mistress than to the
servants.
20. The second reason is, because her most holy Son
was Himself to obey this heavenly Queen and his Mother.
Since He was the Creator of the elements and of all
things, it follows naturally that they should obey Her, to
whom the Creator subjected Himself, and that they
should be commanded by Her. Was not the person of
Christ himself, in so far as his human nature was con
cerned, to be governed by his Mother according to the
constitution and law of nature? This privilege of sov
ereignty tended also greatly to enhance the virtues and
merits of most holy Mary, for thereby that which in
ourselves is usually done under constraint and against
our will, was performed by Her freely and meritoriously.
This most prudent Queen did not use her sovereignty
over the elements and the creatures indiscriminately and
for her own alleviation and comfort ; but She commanded
the creatures not to suspend their activities and influences
in as far as they would naturally be painful and incon
venient to Her. For in these things She was to be like
her most holy Son and suffer conjointly with Him. Her
love and humility did not permit Her to withhold and
suspend the inclemencies of the creatures in her regard,
since She knew how valuable suffering is and how
estimable in the eyes of the Lbrd.
21. Only on some occasions, when She knew that it
was not for her benefit but necessary for her Son and
Creator, the sweet Mother restrained the force of the
elements and their influences, as we shall see farther on
during her journey to Egypt and on other occasions,
where She most prudently judged it proper, that the
creatures recognize their Creator and reverence Him,
or protect and serve Him in some necessity (Infr. 543,
590, 633). What mortal will not marvel at the knowl
edge of such a new miracle? To see a mere earthly
creature, yet One clothed with the sovereignty and
dominion of the whole creation, esteem Herself in her
own eyes as the most unworthy and insignificant of the
creatures, and, in these humble sentiments, command the
wrath of the winds and all the rigors of the natural
elements to turn against Her and under obedience fulfill
her command ! In obeying Her, however, these elements,
full of reverence and courtesy toward such a Mistress,
yielded to her wishes, not in vengeance of the wrongs of
their Creator, as they do in regard to the rest of the
children of Adam, but in order to respect her commands.
22. In the presence of this humility of our invincible
Queen, we mortals cannot deny our most arrogant vanity
and presumption, or rather our audacity, since, seeing
that on account of our insane outrages we merit the
furious rebellion of the elements and of all the harmful
forces of the universe against us, we complain of their
rigor, as if their molestations were an injury. We depre
cate the rigor of the cold, we complain of the exhaustion
of heat; all painful things we abhor, and we condemn
with all energy these ministers of divine justice and seek
our own comforts and delights, as if they were to last
forever and as if it were not certain that we are only
drawing therefrom a heavier punishment of our faults.
23. But returning to the consideration of the knowl
edge and power given to the Princess of heaven and the
other gifts preparing Her worthily for the position of
Mother of God, we can understand their excellence, for
we see in them a certain infinity or boundlessness, par
ticipating of the Divinity, and similar to that which was
afterwards possessed by the most holy soul of Christ.
For She not only knew all creatures in God, but compre
hended them in such a way as to master them and at
the same time reserve capacity for knowing many others,
if there had existed more to be known. I call this knowl
edge an infinity, because it seems to partake of the quali
ties of infinite knowledge and because, in one and the
same action of her mind and without successive ad
vertence, She saw and perceived the number of the
heavens, their latitude and profundity, their order,
motions, qualities, their matter and form; the elements
with all their changes and accidents : all of these She
knew at the same time. The only thing the most wise
Virgin did not know was the immediate end of this
knowledge until the moment of her consent and the ful
fillment of the ineffable mercy of the Most High. She
continued during these days her most fervent prayers for
the coming of the Messias, according to the command of
the Lord. And He had given Her to understand that
He would not tarry, as the time destined for his arrival
was at hand.
INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN
GAVE ME.
24. My daughter, from what thou art going to learn
of the favors and blessings conferred upon me in prepa
ration for the dignity of Mother of God, I wish thee to
perceive the admirable order of his wisdom in the cre
ation of man. Take notice, therefore, that his Creator
made him out of nothing, not in order to be a slave, but
in order to be the king and the master of all creation
(Gen. 1, 26), and in order that he make use of creatures
in sovereignty, command and mastery; yet at the same
time man was to recognize himself as the image of his
Maker and the work of his hand, remaining more de
voted to God and more submissive to his will than the
creatures to man; for all this was demanded by justice
and reason. And in order that man might not be with
out information and knowledge of the Creator and of
the means of perceiving and executing his will, He added
to his natural light a greater one, more penetrating, more
limpid, more certain, more free and extensive, namely the
light of divine faith, by which man might know the
existence of God and of his perfections, and conjointly
with these, his works. Furnished with this knowledge
and dominion man was established in good standing,
honored and enriched, having no excuse for not devoting
himself entirely to the fulfillment of the divine will.
25. But the foolishness of man disturbs this order and
destroys this harmony, when, being created as the lord
and king of creatures, he enslaves himself, subjecting
himself to them, and degrading his dignity in using visi
ble things not as a prudent master, but as an unworthy
vassal. For he debases himself beneath the lowest of
creatures, by losing sight of the fact that he is their
superior. All this perversity arises from the use of crea
tures not for the service of the Creator through well
ordered faith, but for the indulgence of the passions and
the delights of the senses. Hence also arises man s great
abhorrence of those things which are not pleasing to the
senses.
26. Thou, my dearest, look faithfully toward thy Cre
ator and Lord and in thy soul seek to copy the image of
his divine perfections : lose not the mastery and dominion
over creatures, let none of them infringe upon thy
liberty; but seek to triumph over all of them, allowing
nothing to interpose itself between thee and thy Creator.
Subject thyself gladly, not to the pleasurable in creatures,
since that will obscure thy understanding and weaken thy
will, but to the adverse and the painful resulting from
their activity. Suffer this with joyous willingness, for
I have done the same in imitation of my Son, although
I had the power to neutralize their molestations and had
no sins to atone for.
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