 Book 2 Chapter 8 of the Mystical City of God, Volume 3, by the venerable sister Mary of Jesus of a greater. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Book 2 Chapter 8 The Demons Meet in Hell to Discuss the Triumph of Christ our Lord in Jerusalem, the results of this conference, and measures resolved upon by the priests and Pharisees of Jerusalem. All the mysteries connected with the triumph of our Savior were great and admirable, but not the least wonderful were the hidden effects of the divine power on the hellish fiends when, at the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, they were cast into the infernal abysses. Two entire days, from Sunday till Tuesday of that week, the demons lay shattered by the right hand of the Almighty, manifesting their furious torment to the damned souls of those hellish caverns by their horrid and confused howls of despair. The whole infernal dominion was filled, on that occasion, with unwanted confusion and pain. The Prince of this darkness, Lucifer, more confounded than all the rest, called to his presence all the devilish hosts, and, stationing himself on an eminence, spoke to them as their chief. It cannot be otherwise than that this man, who thus persecutes us and destroys our influence, and who thus crushes my power, is more than a prophet. For Moses, Elias, and Eliseus, and others of our enemies among the ancients, never vanquished us so completely, although they performed miracles. Nor did they ever succeed in hiding from me so many of their doings as this one, for especially of his interior works, I can obtain little information. How can a mere man perform such works, and manifest such supreme power over all creation, as are publicly ascribed to him? Without any change or inflation of mind, he received the praise and glorification of these works from the mouths of men. In celebrating this triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he has shown new power over us and over all the world. For even now I find my strength for visiting destruction upon him and blotting out his name from the land of the living, vanishing away. Jeremiah 11 verse 19 In his present triumph, not only his own friends have extolled him and proclaimed him as blessed, but even many of those who were subject to me have done the same, and have called him the messiahs, promised in their law. He has drawn them all to venerate and adore him. This certainly seems to exceed mere human power, and if he is no more than man, there never was one who partook of the divine power in such a degree, and he is doing and will do us great damage. Since the time when we were cast from heaven, we have never experienced such ruin as defeat, nor have I ever encountered such overwhelming power before this man came into the world. If he should be the incarnate word, as we suspect, there is necessity for thorough deliberation, for if we permit him to live, he will by his example in teaching, draw after him all mankind. In my hate I have several times sought to bring about his death, but without success. In his own country, when I instigated his countrymen to cast him from the precipice, he contemptuously took his way through the midst of those who were to execute the sentence. Luke chapter 4 verse 30 On another occasion he simply made himself invisible to the Pharisees whom I had incited to stone him. But now, with the help of his disciple and our friend Judas, matters seem to promise better success. I have so wrought upon the mind of Judas, that he is willing to sell and betray his master to the Pharisees, whom I have likewise incited to furious envy. They are anxious to inflict upon him a most cruel death, and will no doubt do so. They are only waiting for an occasion, which I will try my utmost to procure for them, for Judas and the priests and the Pharisees are ready to do anything I suggest. Nevertheless, I see in this a great danger, which demands our closest attention, for if this man is the Messiah expected by his people, he will offer his death and all his sufferings for the redemption of man, and thereby satisfy for their misdeeds and gain infinite merits for all of them. He will open the heavens and pave the way for mortals to the enjoyment of those rewards of which God has deprived us. Such an issue, if we do not prevent it, shall indeed be a terrible torment for us. Moreover, this man will lead to the world a new example of patience and suffering, and show its merit to all the rest of mankind, for he is most meek and humble of heart, and was never seen impatient or excited. These same virtues he will teach all men, which even to think of, is an abomination to me, since these are the virtues most offensive to me, and to all those who follow my guidance or are imbued with my sentiments. Hence it is necessary to unite, on a course of action, in regard to persecuting this strange man, Christ, and that you let me know what is your understanding of this matter. Then the princes of darkness, lashing themselves to incredible fury against our redeemer, held long consultations concerning this enterprise. They deeply deplored their having been probably led into great error, by plotting his death with so much cunning and malice. They concluded, henceforth, to make use of redoubled astuteness and cunning, to repair the damage done and hinder his death, for they were by this time confirmed in their suspicion that he was the messiahs, although they did not reach altogether definite conclusions in this matter. This suspicion was, for Lucifer, the cause of so much anxiety and torment, that he approved of the new determination to hinder the death of the Saviour, and he closed the meeting by saying, Believe me, friends, that if this man is at the same time true God, he will, by his passion and death, save all men. Our dominion will be overthrown, and mortals will be raised, to new happiness and dominion over us. We were greatly mistaken in seeking his death. Let us immediately proceed to repair our damage. With this intention, Lucifer and all his ministers betook themselves to the city and neighborhood of Jerusalem, and there, as is referred in the Gospels, they exerted their influence with Pilate and his wife to prevent the death of the Lord. Matthew 27 verse 19 And to place other hindrances, which certainly arose, but are not recorded in the Gospels. For before all others, they beset Judas with new suggestions, dissuading him from his intended treachery toward his divine master. When by their suggestions, they fail to change his mind, or make him desist from his purpose. Lucifer appeared to him, invisible and corporeal form, and reasoned with him not to procure the death of Christ through the help of the Pharisees. Being aware of the unbounded avarice of the disciple, the demon offered him great riches if he would not deliver him over to his enemies. Lucifer now tried much more earnestly to deter Judas informally to persuade him to sell his most meek and divine master. But oh woe and misery of human aberration, Judas had given himself up to the leading of Lucifer's malice, but would not now follow his guidance away from it. For the enemy could not call to aid the force of divine grace, and vain are all other motives and influences to prevent man from falling into sin and to make him follow his true good. It was not impossible for God to convert the heart of this perfidious disciple, but the persuasion of the demon, who had torn him from grace, was of no avail for this purpose. The Lord, however, was justified in not supplying Judas with further help, since he had cast himself into his exceeding great obstinacy while in the very school of his divine master, continuing to resist his teaching, inspirations and vast favors. This regarding, in dreadful presumption, the counsels of the Lord and those of his most holy mother, despising the living example of their lives, the intercourse with them and with all the apostles. Against all these influences for good, the impious disciple had hardened himself with more than demoniacal obstinacy and beyond all the malice of a man free to follow the right. Having run such a course of evil, he arrived at a state in which his hatred of Christ and of his mother made him incapable of seeking any of their mercy, unworthy of any light to recognize it, and blind to all reason and natural law, which could have made him hesitate to injure the guiltless originator of so many blessings conferred upon him. This is indeed an astounding example and dreadful warning for the foolish weakness and malice of men, all of whom, if they have no fear, may be drawn into similar dangers and destruction and bring upon themselves a like unhappy and lamentable ruin. The demons, in despair of ever being able to influence Judas, betook themselves to the Pharisees. By many suggestions and arguments, they sought to dissuade them from persecuting Christ, our Lord and Savior. But the same happened with them as with Judas and for the same reasons. They could not be diverted from their purpose nor from the wicked deed which they had planned, although some of the scribes, from motives of human prudence, were led to reconsider whether what they had resolved was advisable. Yet as they were not assisted by Divine Grace, they were soon again overcome by their hatred and envy of the Savior. Hence resulted the further efforts of Lucifer with the wife of Pilate and with Pilate himself. The former, as is recorded in the Gospels, they incited to womanly pity in order that she might urge Pilate to beware of condemning that just man. Matthew 27 verse 19 By these suggestions and by others, which they themselves made to Pilate, they induced him to resort to so many different shifts in order to evade passing sentence of death upon the innocent Savior. Of these I will speak in their proper place. As Lucifer and his satellites were entirely discomfited in their efforts, they again changed their purpose, and in their fury, now resolved to induce the Pharisees, the executioners, and their helpers, to heap the most atrocious cruelties upon the Lord, and by the excess of torment, to overcome the invincible patience of the Redeemer. All these machinations of the devil, the Lord permitted in order that the high ends of the redemption might be attained, yet he did not allow the executioners to execute on the sacred body of the Savior some of the more indecent atrocities to which they were incited by the demons. On the Wednesday following his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ our Lord remained at Bethany without going to Jerusalem, and on this day the scribes and Pharisees met at the house of Caiaphas in order to plan the death of the Savior of the world. Mark 14 verse 1 The welcome which the Redeemer had met with among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and which had followed so shortly upon the resurrection of Lazarus and the many other miracles of those days, had excited their envy to the highest pitch. Besides, they had already resolved to take away his life under the false pretext of a public good, as Caiaphas had prophesied so contrary to his intention. CHAPTER 11 verse 49 The demon, who saw them thus determined, suggested to some of them not to execute their design on the Feast of the Pash, lest the people who venerated Christ as the messiahs or a great prophet, should cause a disturbance. Lucifer saw by this delay an opportunity to hinder the death of the Lord altogether, but as Judas was now entirely in the clutches of his avarice and hate, and altogether deprived of any saving grace, he came to the meeting of the priests in great disturbance and terror of mind, and began to treat with them concerning the betrayal of his master. He closed the deal by accepting thirty pieces of silver, contempting himself with such a price for him who contained within himself all the treasures of heaven. In order not to lose their opportunity, the priests put up with the inconvenience of its being so near the Pash. All this was so disposed by divine providence directing these events. At the same time happened what our Savior is recorded as saying in Saint Matthew. You know that after two days shall be the Pash, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up to be crucified. Judas was not present when these words were uttered by Christ, but in the same furious spirit in which he had sold Jesus, he returned to the apostles and profiteously began to inquire of his companions and even of the Lord and his blessed mother, wither they were to go from Bethany, and what the master was to do on the following days. All this was merely a treacherous preparation of the profiteous disciple for the betrayal of his master to the chief Pharisees. Like a consummate hypocrite, Judas sought to palliate his treachery by a pretended interest and anxiety, but both the Savior and his most blessed mother well understood the purpose of his feverish activity, for the holy angels immediately reported to them his shameful contract to which he had bound himself for thirty pieces of silver. On that very day, when the traitor approached the great lady to ask her where the Lord proposed to partake of the Pash, she, within effable meekness, answered him. Who can penetrate, O Judas, the secret judgments of the Most High? Henceforward she ceased to warn him against committing the sin, but both she and the Lord tolerated his presence until he himself disparate of remedy and eternal salvation. But this meekest of, now certain of the irreparable ruin of Judas and of the delivery of her Most Holy Son into the hands of his enemies broke out in tenderest lamentations in the presence of the angels, for they were the only ones with whom she could confer about her heart-rending sorrow. In their presence she permitted the sea of her sorrow to overflow and gave expressions of words of greatest wisdom and affection. She excited the wonder of these holy angels, who saw such an exalted and new perfection practiced by a mere creature in the midst of bitterest sorrows and tribulations. Instruction given me by the Queen of Heaven. My daughter, all that thou hast understood and written in this chapter contains great and instructive mysteries for the mortals who will meditate upon it. Prudently consider, first of all, how my Most Holy Son, though he, in order to foil and overcome the devil and in order to weaken his power against men, permitted him to retain the nature and the penetrating knowledge of an angel, nevertheless concealed many things from him as thou hast already recorded in other places. In withholding them from his knowledge, the Almighty foiled the malice of this dragon in a manner most befitting his sweet and irresistible providence. On this account was the hypostatic union of the divine and the human natures concealed, and the devil was allowed to fall into so great confusion regarding this mystery and to be driven into so many cross-purposes until the Lord revealed himself and convinced him of the divine glory of his soul even from the moment of his conception. Likewise, he permitted the devil to witness some of the miracles of his most holy life and concealed from him many others. In a similar manner the Lord provides for the welfare of souls in our days, for although the devil can by his natural powers inform himself of all the doings of each soul, God will not permit it and hides much from him for reasons of his own providence. Afterwards, he allows him to find them out for his greater humiliation. Thus after the work of the redemption, he permitted the demon for his greater torment and confusion to become aware of so many unheated mysteries. The infernal dragon is continually lurking about to search into the doings of souls, not only into the exterior but into the interior activities of each soul, but my most holy son exerts a most loving care over them ever since he was born and died for them. This blessed care would be much more general and continual with many if they themselves did not make themselves unworthy by delivering themselves over to the enemy and listening to his deceits and his malicious and cunning advice. Just as the virtuous and the friends of God gradually become instruments in the hands of the Lord and resign themselves entirely to his divine disposition so that he alone governs and directs them and does not allow them to be moved by other agencies. And so in like manner many of the reprobate and those who are forgetful of their creator and redeemer, and who deliver themselves over to the devil by repeated sins, are moved and drawn into all kinds of wickedness and are mere tools of his depraved malice. An example of this we have in the perfidious disciple and in the murderous Pharisees persecuting their redeemer. None of the mortals are blameless in this respect. For just as Judas and the priests, by the use of their own free will, refuse to follow the good advice of the demon and desist from persecuting Christ our Savior so they could much more easily have refused to join him in persecuting Christ when they were first tempted. For then they were assisted by grace, if only they wished to use it, while afterwards they were assisted only by their own free choice and led by their bad habits. That they were in the second instance deprived of grace and help of the Holy Ghost was only just because they had given themselves up and subjected themselves to the demon. They had made up their minds to follow him in all his malice and allow themselves to be governed entirely by his perversity without ever considering the goodness and power of their creator. Hence you will understand that this infernal serpent can have no power to lead anyone toward the good but very much toward leading those souls into sin, who are neglectful from issuing from their evil state. Hence I say to thee, my daughter, that if mortals would thoroughly understand this danger they would be struck with great terror, for there is no created power which can prevent a soul that has once yielded to sin from casting itself from abyss to abyss. Since the sin of Adam, the weight of human nature, burdened with the concupisable and erasable passions, is drawn toward sin as the stone toward its center. According to this tendency are the bad habits and customs, the power of Satan over those who have sinned and his unceasing tyranny. Who is there that is so much an enemy of his own welfare as to despise these dangers? The Almighty alone can free him and to his right hand is reserved the remedy. In spite of all this, mortals live as secure and forgetful of their ruin as if each one had it in his own power, to prevent and repair it at his pleasure. Though many know and openly confess that they cannot rise from their own ruin without the help of God, yet they allow this consciousness to become a mere habit and a vague sentiment, and instead of lovingly seeking his aid, they offend and irritate God, expecting him to wait upon them, with his grace, until they are tired of sinning, or until they are unable to continue their abominable wickedness and ingratitude. Do thou fear, my dearest, this dreadful danger, and beware of the first sin, for after the first sin thou will be still less able to resist the second, and thou increases the power of the devil over thee. Remember that thy treasure is most valuable and the vase, in which thou carryest it, fragile, by one fall thou canst lose it all. Great is the cunning and sagacity which the serpent uses against thee, and thy insight is but small. Therefore, thou must collect thy senses, and close them to all outward things. Thou must withdraw thy interior within the wall of protection, and refuge raise for thee by the Almighty, whenst thou canst repel all the inhuman assaults of thy enemies. To excite this fear in thee, it will be sufficient to consider the punishment of Judas, which has been made clear to thy understanding, in regard to thy imitation of my behavior in other matters. How thou shouldest act toward those who hate and persecute thee, how thou shouldest love them and bear with them in charity and patience, and how thou shouldest pray for them to the Lord with true zeal for their salvation, as I have done for the traitor Judas. In all this I have before this, often exhorted thee, I desire that thou excel and distinguish thyself therein, and that thou instruct thy religious, and all those with whom thou dealest in this manner of acting. For in view of the patience and meekness of my most holy Son and my example, the wicked and all mortals should be covered with unutterable confusion, because they have not pardon each other with fraternal charity. The sins of hate and vengeance shall be punished with greater severity than other sins on the judgment day, and in this life these vices will soonest drive away the infinite mercy of God and cause eternal punishment of men, unless they amend in sorrow, those that are kind and sweet toward their enemies and persecutors, and who forget injuries, resemble on that account more particularly the incarnate word. For Christ always went about seeking to pardon and to load with blessings those who were in sin. By imitating the charity and the meekness of the Lamb, the soul disposes itself to receive and maintain that noble spirit of charity and love of God and the neighbor, which makes it apt for all the influences of divine grace and benevolence. Book 2 Chapter 9 of the Mystical City of God, Volume 3, by the venerable sister Mary of Jesus of a Greta. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Book 2 Chapter 9 Christ our Savior parts from His most holy mother in Bethany in order to enter upon His sufferings on the Thursday of His last supper. The great lady asked to partake of holy communion with the rest, and afterwards follows with Magdalene and other holy women. Let us now proceed in our history and return to our Savior in Bethany wither after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He had returned with His apostles. In the last chapter we anticipated the course of events in relating what was undertaken by the demons before the betrayal of Christ and what resulted from the infernal consultation, the treachery of Judas and the Council of the Pharisees. We will now take up the thread of events in Bethany where the great Queen attended upon and served her Divine Son during the three days intervening between the Palm Sunday and Maudi Thursday. All this time, except what was consumed on Monday and Tuesday in going to Jerusalem and teaching in the temple, the author of life, spent with his blessed mother. For on Wednesday he did not go to Jerusalem as I have already said. On these last journeys he instructed his disciples more clearly and fully concerning the mysteries of his passion and of human redemption. Nevertheless, although they listened to the teachings and forewarnings of their God and Master, each one was affected thereby only insofar as his disposition allowed and according to the motives and sentiments of his heart. They were always tardy in their response and in the weakness they fell short of their protestations of zealous love as the events afterwards showed and as we shall see later on. But to the most blessed mother, our Savior, during the day immediately preceding his passion, communicated such exalted sacraments and mysteries of the redemption and of the new law of grace, that many of them will remain hidden until they shall be revealed in the beatific vision. Of those which I have understood, I can say very little. But into the heart of the great Queen, her son deposited all that David calls uncertain and hidden of his divine wisdom. Psalm 50 verse 8 Namely, the greater part of the secrets of his works, odd extra, such as our salvation, the glorification of the predestined and the consequent exaltation of his holy name. The Lord instructed Mary in all that she was to do, during his passion and death, and enlightened her anew with divine light. In all these conferences, her most holy son spoke to her with anew and kingly reserve, such as was in harmony with the greatness of the matter treated of. For now the tenderness and caresses of a son and spouse had entirely ceased. As the natural love of the sweetest mother and the burning charity of her purest soul had now reached a degree above all comprehension of the human mind, and as the conversation and intercourse with her divine son was now drawing to a close, no created tongue can describe the tender and mournful affections of this purest of hearts and the size of her innmost soul. She was the mysterious turtle dove that already began to feel the approach of that solitude, which the company of no creature in heaven or on earth could ever relieve or compensate. Thursday the eve of the passion and death of the Saviour had arrived. At early as dawn the Lord called to him, his most beloved mother, and she, hastening to prostrate herself at his feet, responded, Speak, my Lord and Master, for thy servant hereith. Raising her up from the ground he spoke to her in words of soothing and tenderest love. My mother, the hour decreed by the eternal wisdom of my father, for accomplishing the salvation and restoration of the human race, and imposed upon me by his most holy and acceptable will, has now arrived. It is proper that now we subject to him our own will, as we have so often offered to do. Give me thy permission to enter upon my suffering and death, and as my true mother, consent that I deliver myself over to my enemies in obedience to my eternal father. In this manner, do thou also willingly cooperate with me in this work of eternal salvation, since I have received from thee in thy virginal womb the form of a suffering and mortal man in which I am to redeem the world and satisfy the divine justice. Just as thou of thy own free will didst consent to my incarnation, so I now desire thee to give consent also to my passion and death of the cross. To satisfy me now of thy own free will, to the decree of my eternal father, this shall be the return which I ask of thee, for having made thee my mother, for he has sent me in order that by the sufferings of my flesh I might recover the lost sheep of his house, the children of Adam. CHAPTER 18 verse 11 These and other words of the Saviour, spoken on that occasion, pierced the most loving heart of Mary, and cast her into the throes of a sorrow greater than she had ever endured before. For now had arrived that dreadful hour, whence there was no issue for her pains, neither in an appeal to the swift fleeting time, nor to any other tribunal against the inevitable decree of the eternal father, that had fixed the term of her beloved son's life. When now the most prudent mother looked upon him as her God, infinite in his attributes and perfections, and as the true God-man in hypostatic union with the person of the Word, and beheld him sanctified and ineffably exalted by this union with the God-head, she remembered the obedience he had shown her as his mother, during so many years, and the blessings he had conferred upon her during his long intercourse with her. She realized that soon she was to be deprived of this blessed intercourse and of the beauty of his countenance, of the vivifying sweetness of his words, that she was not only to lose all this at once, but moreover that she was to deliver him over into the hands of such wicked enemies, to ignominies and torments, and to the bloody sacrifice of a death on the cross. How deeply must all these considerations and circumstances now so clearly before her mind, have penetrated into her tender and loving heart, and filled it with a sorrow immeasurable? But with the magnanimity of a queen, vanquishing this invincible pain, she prostrated herself at the feet of her Divine Son and Master, and in deepest reverence, kissing his feet, answered, Lord and Highest God, author of all that has being, though thou art the Son of my womb, I am thy handmaid, the condescension of thy ineffable love alone, has raised me from the dust, to the dignity of being thy mother, it is altogether becoming that I, vile, warmlet, acknowledge and thank thy most liberal clemency, by obeying the will of the eternal Father and thy own, I offer myself and resign myself to his divine pleasure, in order that in me, just as in thee, my Son and Lord, his eternal and adorable will be fulfilled, the greatest sacrifice which I can make, is that I shall not be able to die with thee, and that our lot should not be inverted, for to suffer in imitation of thee and in thy company would be a great relief from my pains, and all torments would be sweet, if undergone in union with thine, that thou shouldest endure all these torments, for the salvation of mankind shall be my only relief in my pains, receive, oh my God, this sacrifice of my desire to die with thee, and of my still continuing to live, while thou, the most innocent lamb and figure of the substance of thy eternal Father, undergoest death. Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 1 verse 3. Receive also the agonies of my sorrow, to see the inhuman cruelty of thy enemies, executed on thy exalted person, because of the wickedness of the humankind, oh ye heavens and elements, and all creatures within them, ye sovereign spirits, ye patriarchs and prophets, assist me to deplore the death of my beloved, who gave you being, and bewail with me, the misery of men, who are the cause of this death, and who, failing to profit of such great blessings, shall lose that eternal life so dearly bought. Oh unhappy you, that are foreknown as doomed, and oh ye happy predestined, who shall wash your stoles in the blood of the lamb. Apocalypse chapter 7 verse 14. You who knew how to profit by this blessed sacrifice, praise ye the Lord Almighty, oh my Son and infinite delight of my soul, give fortitude and strength to thy afflicted mother, and met her as thy disciple and companion, in order that she may participate in thy passion and cross, and in order that the eternal Father may receive the sacrifice of thy mother in union with thine. With these and other expressions of her sentiments, which I cannot all record in words, the Queen of Heaven answered her most holy Son, and offered herself as a companion and co-atatrix in his passion. Thereupon, thoroughly instructed and prepared by Divine Light, for all the mysteries to be wrought by the Master of Life, towards accomplishing all his great ends, the most pure Mother, having the Lord's permission, added another request in the following words. Beloved of my soul and light of my eyes, my Son, I am not worthy to ask thee what I desire from my inmost soul, but thou, oh Lord, art the light of my hope, and in this my trust I beseech thee, if such be thy pleasure, to make me a participant in the ineffable sacrament of thy body and blood. Thou hast resolved to institute it as a pledge of thy glory, and I desire in receiving thee sacramentally in my heart, to share the effects of this new and admirable sacrament. Well do I know, oh Lord, that no creature can ever merit such an exquisite blessing, which thou hast resolved to set above all the works of thy magnificence, and in order to induce thee to confer it upon me, I have nothing else to offer, except thy own self and all thy infinite merits. If by perpetuating these merits, through the same humanity, which thou hast received from my womb, creates for me a certain right, let this right consist not so much in giving thyself to me in this sacrament as in making me thine by this new possession which restores to me thy sweetest companionship. All my desires and exertions I have devoted to the worthy reception of this holy communion from the moment in which thou gave us me knowledge of it, and ever since it was thy fixed decree to remain in the holy church under the species of consecrated bread and wine. Do thou then, my Lord and God, return to thy first habitation, which thou disfined in thy beloved mother and thy slave, whom thou hast prepared for thy reception by exempting her from the common touch of sin. Then shall I receive within me the humanity which I have communicated to thee from my own blood, and thus shall we be united in a renewed and close embrace. This prospect encendles my heart with most art and love, and may I never be separated from thee who art the infinite good and the love of my soul. Many words of incomparable love and reverence were spoken on that occasion by the Queen and Lady, for in the wonderful love of her heart she sought of her most holy Son the privilege of participating in his sacred body and blood. The Lord on his part answered her with great tenderness and granted her request, promising her the blessing of holy communion at the hour of its institution. The purest mother, in deepest devotion, broke out in heroic acts of humility, thankfulness, reverence, and living faith, in expectation of the desired participation in the most holy Eucharist. Then happened what I shall relate next. The Savior commanded the holy angels of her guard to attend upon her invisible forms, and to serve and console her in her sorrow and loneliness. With this command they complied most faithfully. The Lord also expressed his desire that after his departure for Jerusalem with his disciples she should follow shortly after, in company with the holy women, who had accompanied them from Galilee, and that she should instruct and encourage them in order that they might not be scandalized in seeing him suffer the great ignominies and torments of the frightful death of the cross. At the close of this interview the Son of the Eternal Father gave his blessing to his beloved mother and prepared to enter upon this last journey which led to his suffering and death. The sorrow which filled the hearts of both son and mother passes all conception of man, for it was proportion to the love they had for each other, and this love again was proportion to the dignity and greatness of the person's concern. But although we can so little describe it in words, we are not free to exempt ourselves from meditating upon it and following them on their sorrowful journey with the deepest compassion, for if we neglect to do so, as far as our strength and ability permits, we cannot avoid being represented as hard-hearted ingrates. Our Savior, having thus parted with his most beloved mother and sorrowful spouse, taking along with him all his apostles, a little before midday of the Thursday of the Last Supper, departed on his last journey from Bethany to Jerusalem. At the very outset, he raised his eyes to the Eternal Father, and confessing him in words of thankfulness and praise, again professed his most ardent love, and most lovingly and obediently offered to suffer and die, for the redemption of the human race. This prayer and sacrifice of our Savior and Master sprang from such ineffable love and ardor of his spirit that it cannot be described. All that I say of it seems to me rather a game-saying of the truth and of what I desire to say. Eternal Father and my God, said Christ our Lord. In compliance with thy holy will I now go to suffer and die, for the liberation of men, my brethren, and the creatures of thy hands. I deliver myself up for their salvation, and to gather those who have been scattered and divided by the sin of Adam. CHAPTER 11 V. 52 I go to prepare the treasures by which the creatures, made according to thy image and likeness, are to be enriched and adorned, so that they may be restored to the height of thy friendship and to eternal happiness, in order that thy holy name may be known and exalted among all creatures. As far as shall depend upon thee and me, no soul shall be deprived of a salvation most abundant, and thy inviolate equity shall stand justified in all those who despise this copious redemption. Then following the author of life, the most blessed mother, in the company of Magdalene and of the other holy women, who had attended upon the Saviour, and had followed him from Galilee, took leave of Bethany. In the same manner as the Divine Master instructed his apostles and prepared them for his passion, in order that they might not desert him on account of the ignominies they were to witness, and on account of the temptations of Satan. So also the Queen and Mistress of all virtues exerted herself in preparing the devoted band of her disciples for witnessing courageously the death and the frightful scourging and torments of their Divine Master. Although, on account of their feminine nature, these women naturally were more frail and weak than the apostles, yet some of them showed much more fortitude in adhering to the teachings and in relying on the previous exhortations and examples of their great mistress and queen. Among them all, as the Evangelists relate, Mary Magdalene distinguished herself, for she was entirely consumed in the flames of her love, and even naturally she was of a magnanimous, courageous, and energetic disposition, well educated, and full of a noble fidelity. She, before all others of the Apostolate, had taken upon herself to accompany the Mother of Jesus and attend upon her during the entire Passion, and this her resolve she fulfilled as the most faithful friend of the Blessed Mother. The Most Holy Mother imitated and joined the Savior in his prayer and the offering which he made at this time, for as I have often said, in the clear mirror furnished her by the Divine Light, she was made to see all the works of her Divine Son in order that she might imitate them as closely as possible. The holy angels of her guard, obeying the orders of the Savior, accompanied and attended upon her invisible forms. With these heavenly spirits, she conversed about the great sacrament of the Passion, which was yet hidden to her companions and to all the human creatures. They well perceived and deeply pondered the measureless conflagration of love in the pure and candid heart of the Mother, and the force with which they saw her draw after the sweet ointments of mutual love between her and Christ, her Son, spouse, and Redeemer. They presented to the Eternal Father the sacrifice of praise and expiation offered to him by his firstborn and only daughter among the creatures. Since all the mortals were insensible of this benefit and of the indebtedness in which they were placed by the love of Christ their Lord and his Blessed Mother, she ordered the holy angels to give benediction, glory and honor to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and they eagerly fulfilled the wish of their great Princess and Queen. Words fail me, and worthy sentiments of sorrow, for expressing properly what I understood on this occasion, concerning the amazement of the holy angels, when on the one hand they saw the incarnate Word and his most holy Mother, wending their way in most ardent love of mankind toward the accomplishment of man's redemption, and on the other beheld the vileness, ingratitude, and hard-hearted neglect of men concerning their obligations consequent upon this blessing, a blessing which would have moved to recognition even the demons if they had been the objects of such a benefit. The amazement of the angels arose not from any ignorance on their part, but from indignation at their unbearable ingratitude. I am but a weak woman and less than a warmlet of the earth, but in the light which has been given me concerning this matter, I wish to raise up my voice, so that it may be heard through all the world, and rouse up the children of vanity and lovers of deceit. CHAPTER I VIII To a sense of their obligation toward Christ and his holy Mother, prostrate on the ground, I wish to implore all men not to be so dull of heart, and hostile to themselves, as not to rise from this stupor of forgetfulness, which keeps us in constant danger of eternal death, and deprives us of the celestial life and happiness, merited for us by the Redeemer and Lord, by the bitterness of his cross. INSTRUCTION GIVEN ME BY THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, Ms. Holy Mary, My daughter, as thy soul has been furnished with special gifts of enlightenment, I call and invite thee anew, to cast thyself into the sea of mysteries contained in the passion and death of my divine Son, direct all thy faculties and strain all the powers of thy heart and soul, to make thyself at least somewhat worthy of understanding and meditating upon the ignominies and sorrows of the Son of the Eternal Father, in his death on the cross, for the salvation of men, and also of considering my doings and sufferings in connection with his bitterest passion. This science, so much neglected by men, I desire that thou, my daughter, study and learn, so as to be able to follow thy spouse and imitate me, who am thy mother and teacher. Writing down and feeling deeply all that I shall teach thee of these mysteries, thou shouldest detach thyself entirely of human and earthly affections and of thy own self, so as freely to follow our footsteps in destitution and poverty. And since I do thee the special favor of calling thee aside to instruct thee in fulfillment of thy will of my most holy Son, and since we seek through thee to teach others, thou shouldest correspond to this copious redemption, as if it was solely for thy benefit, and as if all of it would be lost, if thou dost not profit by its blessings. So much must thou esteem it, for in the love which caused my most holy Son to die for thee, he looked upon thee with as great an affection, if thou hast been the only one that needed the remedy of his passion and death. This is the standard by which thou must measure thy obligations and thy gratitude. Since thou then both seeest the base and dangerous forgetfulness of men, in regard to this benefit, and knowest that for these very men, their God and creator had died, it should be thy earnest endeavor to compensate him for their neglect by thy ardent love, as if the proper return for his benefits was left entirely to thy fidelity and gratitude alone. At the same time, grieve over the blind folly of men, in despising eternal felicity, and in treasuring up for themselves, the wrath of the Lord, by frustrating the boundless effects of thy love for the world. This is the purpose for which I make known to thee so many secrets, and my unparalleled sorrow, in the hour of his parting from me, to go to his sacred sufferings unto death. There are no words which can describe the bitterness of my soul on that occasion, but the contemplation of it should cause thee to esteem no hardship great, to seek no rest or consolation on earth except to suffer and die for Christ. Do thou sorrow with me, for this faithful correspondence is due to me, who favor thee with these graces. I wish thee also to ponder what a great crime it is in the eyes of the Lord, in mine and in all those of the Saints, that men should despise and neglect the frequent reception of the Holy Communion, and that they should approach it without preparation and fervent devotion. Principally in order that thou mayest understand, and record this warning, I have manifested to thee what I did on that occasion, and how I prepared myself so many years, for receiving my most blessed Son in the Holy Sacrament, and also the rest, which thou art yet to write, for the instruction and confusion of men. For if I, who was innocent of any hindering sin, and filled with all graces, sought to increase my fitness for this favor, by such fervent acts of love, humility, and gratitude, consider what efforts thou and the other children of the Church, who every day and hour incur new guilt and blame, must make in order to fit yourselves for the beauty of the divinity and humanity of my most Holy Son. What excuse can those men give, in the last judgment, who have despised this ineffable love and blessing, which they had always present in the Holy Church, ready to fill them with the plentitude of his gifts, and who rather sought diversion in worldly pleasures, and attended upon the outward and deceitful vanities of this earthly life? Me thou amazed at this insanity, as were the holy angels, and guard thyself against falling into the same error. CHAPTER 10 Christ our Savior celebrates the last supper with his disciples, according to the law, and he washes their feet, his most Holy Mother obtains a full knowledge and understanding of all these mysteries. Our Redeemer proceeded on his way to Jerusalem, on the evening of the Thursday preceding his passion and death. During their conversation on the way, while he instructed them in the approaching mysteries, the apostles proposed their doubts and difficulties, and he, as the teacher of wisdom and as a loving father, answered them in words which sweetly penetrated into their very hearts. For having always loved them, he, like a divine swan, in these last hours of his life, manifested his love with so much the greater force of amiable sweetness in his voice and manner. The knowledge of his impending passion and the prospect of his great torments not only did not hinder him in the manifestations of his love, but just as fire is more concentrated by the frost, so his love broke forth with so much the greater force at the prospect of these sufferings. The conflagration of the love which burned in the heart of Jesus issued forth to overpower by its penetrating activity, first those who were nearest about him, and then also those who sought to extinguish it forever. Accepting Christ and his blessed mother, the rest of us mortals are ordinarily roused to resentment by injury, or dismayed and disgusted by adversity, and we deem it a great thing not to revenge ourselves on those who offend us. But the love of the Divine Master was not daunted by the impending ignominies of his passion, nor dampened by the ignorance of his apostles and the disloyalty which he was soon to experience on their part. The apostle asked him where he wished to celebrate the Paschal Supper. Matthew 26 For on that Thursday night the Jews were to partake of the Lamb of the past, a most notable and solemn national feast. Though of all their feasts, this eating of the Paschal Lamb was most prophetic and significant of the Messiah and of the mysteries connected with him and his work. The apostles were as yet scarcely aware of its intimate connection with Christ. The Divine Master answered by sending St. Peter and St. John to Jerusalem to make arrangements for the Paschal Lamb. This was to be in a house where they would see a servant enter with a jug of water and whose master they were to request in Christ's name to prepare a room for his Last Supper with his disciples. This man lived near to Jerusalem, rich and influential, he was at the same time devoted to the Savior and was one of those who had witnessed and had believed in his miracles and teachings. The author of life rewarded his piety and devotion by choosing his house for the celebration of the great mystery and thus consecrated it as a temple for the faithful of future times. The two apostles immediately departed on their commission and following the instructions they asked the owner of this house to entertain the Master of Life for the solemn celebration of this feast of the unleavened bread. The heart of this householder was enlightened by special grace and he readily offered his dwelling with all the necessary furniture for celebrating the Supper according to the law. He assigned to them a very large hall, appropriately tapestryed and adorned for the mysteries which, unbeknown to him and the apostles, the Lord was to celebrate therein. After due preparation had thus been made, the Savior and the other apostles arrived at this apartment. His most blessed mother and the holy women in her company came soon after. Upon entering, the most humble queen prostrated herself on the floor and adored her divine son as usual, asking his blessing and begging him to let her know what she was to do. He bade her go to another room where she would be able to see all that was done on this night according to the decrees of providence and where she was to console and instruct as far as was proper the holy women of her company. The great lady obeyed and retired with her companions. She exhorted them to persevere in faith and prayer, while she, knowing that the hour of her holy communion was at hand, continued to keep her interior vision riveted on the doings of her most holy son and to prepare herself for the worthy reception of his body and blood. His most holy mother, having retired, our Lord and master, Jesus, with his apostles and disciples, took their places to celebrate the Feast of the Lamb. He observed all the ceremonies of the law. Exodus chapter 12 verse 3 As prescribed by himself through Moses. During this last supper, he gave to the apostles an understanding of all the ceremonies of the figurative law as observed by the patriarchs and prophets. He showed them how beneath it was hidden the real truth, namely all that he himself was to accomplish as redeemer of the world. He made them understand that now the law of Moses and its figurative meaning was evacuated by its real fulfillment, that as the light of the new law of grace had begun to shine, the shadows were dispelled and the natural law, which had been reconfirmed by the precepts of Moses, was now placed permanently on his real foundation, ennobled and perfected by his own teachings. That the efficacy of the sacraments of the new law abrogated those of the old as being merely figurative and ineffectual. He told them that, by celebrating this supper, he set an end to the rights and obligations of the old law, which was only a preparation and a representation of what he was now about to accomplish and hence having attained its end had now become useless. This instruction enlightened the apostles concerning the deep mysteries of this last supper. The other disciples that were present did not understand these mysteries as thoroughly as the apostles. Judas attended to and understood them least of all, yea, not at all, for he was completely under the spell of his avarice, thinking only of his prearranged treason and how he could execute it most secretly. The Lord revealed none of his secret treachery, for so it best served the designs and equity of his most high providence. He did not wish to exclude him from the supper and from the other mysteries, leaving it to his own wickedness to bring about his exclusion. The Divine Master always treated him as his disciple, apostle and minister, and was careful of his honor. Thus he taught the children of the church by his own example, with what veneration they should treat his ministers and priests, how they must guard their honor and avoid speaking of their sins and weaknesses, still adhering to frail human nature in spite of their high office. None of them will ever be worse than Judas, as we can well assume, and not one of the faithful will ever be like Christ, our Lord and Savior, nor, as our faith teaches us, will anyone ever have his divine authority and power. Hence, as all men are of infinitely smaller consideration than our Savior, let them accord to his ministers, who though wicked will ever be better than Judas, the same treatment as he condescended to accord to this most wicked disciple and apostle. This duty toward priests is not less urgent even in superiors, for also Christ our Lord, who bore with Judas and was so careful of his reputation, was infinitely his superior. On this occasion the Redeemer composed a new canticle by which he exalted the Eternal Father, for having in his son fulfilled the figures of the Old Law, and for thus advancing the glory of his holy name. Prostrate upon the earth, he humiliated himself in his humanity before God, confessing, adoring, and praising the Divinity as infinitely superior to his humanity. Then addressing the Eternal Father, he gave vent to the burning affection of his heart in the following sublime prayer. My Eternal Father and Infinite God, thy divine and eternal will, resolve to create this, my human nature, in order that I may be the head of all those that are predestined for thy glory and happiness, and who are to attain their true blessedness by availing themselves of my works. For this purpose, and in order to redeem them from the fall of Adam, I have lived with them thirty-three years. Now my Lord and Father, the opportune and acceptable hour, for fulfilling thy eternal will, has arrived. The greatness of thy holy name is about to be revealed to men and thy incomprehensible Divinity, through holy faith, is to be made known and exalted among all nations. It is time that the seven-sealed book be opened as thou hast commissioned me to do, and that the figures of Old come to a happy solution. The ancient sacrifices of animals, which prefigured the one I am now voluntarily to make of myself, for the children of Adam, for the members of my mystical body, for the sheep of thy flock, must now come to an end, and I beseech thee in this hour to look down with an eye of mercy. If in the past thy anger has been placated by these ancient figures and sacrifices which I am now about to abrogate, let it now, my Father, be entirely extinguished, since I am ready to offer myself, in voluntary sacrifice, to die for men on the cross, and give myself as a holocaust of my love. Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 2. Therefore, Lord, let the rigor of thy justice be relaxed, and look upon the human race with eyes of mercy. Let us institute a new law for men, by which they may throw down the bars of their disobedience and open for themselves the gates of heaven. Let them now find a free road and open portals, for entering with me, upon the vision of thy divinity, as many of them as will follow my footsteps and obey my law. The Eternal Father graciously received this prayer of our Redeemer, and sent innumerable hosts of his angelic courtiers, to assist at the wonderful works which Christ was to perform in that place. While this happened in the Seneca, most holy Mary in her retreat was raised to the highest contemplation, in which she witnessed all that past as if she were present. Thus she was unable to cooperate and correspond, as a most faithful helpmate, enlightened by the highest wisdom. By heroic and celestial acts of virtue, she imitated the doings of Christ our Savior, for all of them awakened, fitting resonance in her bosom, and caused a mysterious and divine echo of light petitions and prayers in the sweetest virgin. Moreover, she composed new and admirable canticles of praise, for all that the sacred humanity of Christ was now about to accomplish in obedience to the Divine Will, and in accordance and in fulfillment of the figures of the old law. Very wonderful and worthy of all admiration, would it be for us, as it was for the Holy Angels, and as it will be for all the Blessed, if we could understand the Divine Harmony of the works and virtues in the heart of our great Queen, which like a heavenly Chorus neither confused nor hindered each other in their superabundance on this occasion. Being filled with the intelligence of which I have spoken, she was sensible of the mysterious fulfillment and accomplishment of the ceremonies and figures of the old law, through the most noble and efficacious sacraments of the new. She realized the vast fruits of the redemption in the predestined, the ruin of the reprobate, the exultation of the name of God, and of the sacred humanity of Christ, the widespread knowledge and faith in the true God, now beginning throughout the world. She fully understood how the heavens had been closed for so many ages, in order that now the children of Adam might enter through the establishment and progress of the new Evangelical Church and its ministers, and how her Divine Son was the most wonderful and skillful artificer of all these blessings, exciting the admiration and praise of all the courtiers of heaven. For these magnificent results, without forgetting the least of them, she now blessed the eternal Father and gave him ineffable thanks in the consolation and jubilee of her soul. But also she reflected that all these admirable works were to cost her Divine Son, the sorrow, ignominies, affronts and torments of his passion, and at last the bitter death of the cross of which he was to endure in the very humanity that he had received from her, while at the same time such a number of the children of Adam, for whom he suffered, would ungrateful waste the copious fruit of the redemption. This knowledge filled with bitterest sorrow the purest heart of the loving mother. But as she was a living and faithful reproduction of her most holy Son, all these sentiments and operations found room in her magnanimous and expanded heart, and therefore she was not disturbed nor dismayed, nor did she fail to console and instruct her companions. But without losing touch of her high intelligences, she descended to their level of thought, in her words of consolation, and of eternal life, for their instruction. O admirable instructorous and superhuman example, entirely to be followed and imitated! It is true that in comparison with the sea of grace and light, our prerogatives dwindle into insignificance, but it is also true that our sufferings and trials, in comparison with hers, are, so to say, only imaginary and not worthy to be even noticed, since she suffered more than all the children of Adam together. Yet neither in order to imitate her, nor for our eternal welfare, can we be induced to suffer with patience even the least adversity. All of them excite and dismay us, and take away our composure. We give vent to our passions. We angrily resist, and are consumed with restless sorrow. In our stubbornness we lose our reason, give free reign to evil moments, and hasten on toward the precipice. Even good fortune lures us to destruction, and so no reliance can be placed in our infected and spoiled nature. Let us be mindful of our heavenly mistress on such occasions, in order that we may set ourselves right. John completed the supper, and fully instructed his disciples, Christ our Savior, as Saint John tells us. John 13.4. Arose from the table in order to wash their feet. He first prostrated himself before his eternal Father, and addressed to him another prayer of the same kind as that before the supper. It was not uttered in words, but was conceived interiorly as follows. Eternal Father, Creator of the universe, I am thy image and the figure of thy substance engendered by thy intellect. Letter to the Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3. Having offered myself for the redemption of the world through my passion and death according to thy will, I now desire to enter upon these sacraments and mysteries by humiliating myself to the dust so that the pride of Lucifer may be confounded by the humility of thy only begotten. In order to leave an example of humility to my apostles and to my church, which must be built up on the secure foundation of this virtue, I desire my Father to wash the feet of my disciples, including the least of all of them, Judas, steeped in his own malice. I shall prostrate myself before him in deepest and sincerest selfabasement to offer him my friendship and salvation. Though he is my greatest enemy among the mortals, I shall not refuse him pardon for his treachery nor deny him kindest treatment so that, if he shall decline to accept it, all the world may know that I have opened up to him the arms of my mercy and that he repelled my advances with obstinate contempt. Such was the prayer of the Saviour in preparing to wash the feet of his disciples. There are not words or similitudes in all creation, which could properly express the divine impetus of the love with which he undertook and accomplished these works of mercy. For in comparison to it, the activity of fire is but slow, the inflowing of the tide but weak, the tendency of a stone towards its center but tardy, and all the forces of the elements in the world that we can imagine in their united activity but inadequate representations of the power of his love. But we cannot fail to perceive that divine love and wisdom alone could ever conceive a humiliation by which both the divinity and his sacred humanity lowered themselves beneath the feet of mere creatures, and beneath the feet of the worst of them, Judas, that he who is the Word of the Eternal Father, the Holy of the Holy, the essential goodness, the Lord of lords and the King of kings, should prostrate himself before the most wicked of men and touch the feet of this most impure and degraded of his creatures with his lips, and that he should do all this merely for the chance of justifying his wayward disciple and securing for him immeasurable blessings. The master arose from his prayer, and, his countenance beaming with peace and serenity, commanded his disciples to sit themselves like persons of superior station while he himself remained standing as if he were their servant. Then he laid aside the mantle which he wore over the seamless garment and which covered all his person except the feet. He wore sandals which, however, he sometimes had dispensed with on his preaching tours, though at other times he had worn them ever since his most holy mother had put them on his feet in Egypt. They grew in size with his feet as he advanced in age as I have already remarked, having laid aside this mantle which was the garment spoken of by the evangelist. He girded his body with one end of a large towel permitting the other part to hang down free. Then he poured water into a basin for washing the feet of the apostles who were wonderingly observing the proceedings of their Divine Master. He first approached the head of the apostles, Saint Peter, but when this excitable apostle saw prostrate at his feet the Lord, whom he had acknowledged and proclaimed as the Son of God, being again renewed and enlightened in his faith and overcome by humiliation at his own insignificance, he said, Thou shalt never wash my feet! The author of life answered him with some earnestness, Thou dost not know at present what I am doing, but later on Thou wilt understand it. This was the same as to say to him, Obey now first my command and will, and do not prefer thy will unto mine, disturbing and perverting the order of virtues. Before all, thou must yield captive thy understanding, and believe that what I do is proper. Then having believed and obeyed, Thou wilt understand the hidden mysteries of my doings into the knowledge of which thou must enter by obedience. Without obedience thou canst not be truly humble, but only presumptuous, nor can thy humility take preference of mine. I humiliated myself unto the death, and in order to thus humiliate me, I sought the way of obedience, but thou, who art my disciple, dost not follow my doctrine. Under the color of humility, thou art disobedient, by thus perverting the right order, thou stripest thyself, as well of humility as of obedience, following thy own presumptuous judgment. St. Peter did not understand this doctrine, contained in the first answer of our Lord, for though he belonged to his school, he had not yet experienced the divine effects of this washing and contact, flandering in the errors of his indiscreet humility he answered the Lord. I will never consent that thou wash my feet, but the Lord of life answered with greater severity. If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me. By this threatening answer the Lord sanctioned obedience forever as the secure way. According to human insight St. Peter certainly has some excuse for being slow in permitting God to prostrate himself before an earthly and sinful man as he was, and to allow him, whom he had so recently acknowledged and adored as his Creator, to perform such an unheard of act of self-abasement, but his opposition was not excusable in the eyes of the Divine Master who could not err in what he wished to do. For whenever there is not an evident error in what is commanded, obedience must be blind and without evasion. In this mystery the Lord wished to repair the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, by which sin entered into the world, and because of the similarity and relation between it and the disobedience of St. Peter, our Lord threatened him with a similar punishment, telling him that if he did not obey he should have no part in him, namely that he should be excluded from the merits and fruits of the redemption, by which alone we become worthy of his friendship and glory. He also threatened to deprive him of participation in his body and blood, which he was now about to perpetuate in the sacramental species of bread and wine. The Savior gave him to understand that how ardently soever he desired to communicate himself not only in part but in entirety, yet disobedience would certainly deprive even the apostle of this blessing. By this threat of our Lord Christ, St. Peter was so chastened and instructed that he immediately submitted from his whole heart and said, Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. He wished to say, I offer my feet in order to walk in obedience, my hands in order to exercise it, and my head in order to surrender all of my own judgment, that may be contrary to its dictates. The Lord accepted this submission of St. Peter and said, He that is washed needs not but to wash his feet, but is holy clean, and you are clean, but not all. Forceded among them was the most unclean Judas. This Christ said, because the disciples, all except Judas, had been justified and cleaned by his doctrines, and they needed only to be cleansed from imperfections and venial sins, so that they might approach holy communion with so much the more worthiness and better preparation, such as is required in order to participate fully in its divine effects and receive its abundant graces with so much the greater efficacy and plentitude. For venial sins, distractions and lukewarmness hinder all these benefits very much. Thereupon the feet of St. Peter were washed, as also those of the other disciples, who permitted it in great astonishment and bathed in tears, for all of them were filled with new enlightenment and gifts of grace. The Divine Master then proceeded to wash also the feet of Judas, whose perfidious treason could not prevent the charity of Christ from secretly bestowing upon him, tokens of even greater charity than upon the other apostles. Without permitting it to be noticed by the others, he manifested his special love toward Judas in two ways. On the one hand, in the kind and caressing manner in which he approached him, knelt at his feet, washed them, kissed them, and pressed them to his bosom. On the other hand, by seeking to move his soul with inspirations, proportionate to the dire depravity of his conscience, for the assistance offered to Judas was in itself much greater than that offered to the other apostles. But as the disposition of this apostle was most wicked, his vices deeply ingrown upon him, his understanding in his faculties much disturbed and weakened as he had entirely forsaken God and given himself over to the devil, and as he had enthroned the evil spirit in his heart, he resisted all the divine advances and inspirations connected with this washing of his feet. He was, moreover, harassed by the fear of breaking his contract with the scribes and Pharisees, as the bodily presence of Christ and the interior urgency of his inspirations both bestormed his sense of right. There arose within his darkened soul a dreadful hurricane of conflicting thoughts, filling him with dismay and bitterness and fiercest anger, whirling him still farther away from his Savior and turning the divine balsam applied to his soul into deadly poison of hellish malice and total depravity. Thus it came that the malice of Judas resisted the saving contact of those divine hands in which the Eternal Father had placed miraculous power to enrich all creatures with his blessings. Even if he had not received any other assistance, except that naturally flowing from the visible and personal presence of the Author of Life, the wickedness of this unhappy disciple would have been beyond all bounds. The outward aspect of Christ our Lord was most exquisitely charming and attractive. His countenance, serenely dignified, yet sweetly expressive and beautiful, was framed in abundant waves of golden chestnut hair, freely growing after the manner of the Nazarenes. His frank and open eyes, beamed forthgrace and majesty, his mouth nose and all the features of his face exhibited the most perfect proportion, and his whole person was clothed in such entrancing loveliness that he drew upon himself the loving veneration of all who beheld him without malice in their hearts. Over and above all this, the mere sight of him, caused in the beholders an interior joy and enlightenment engendering heavenly thoughts and sentiments in the soul. This divine personage, so lovable and venerable, Judas now saw at his feet striving to please him by new tokens of affection and seeking to gain him by new impulses of love. But so great was the perversity of Judas that nothing could move or soften his heart and heart. On the contrary, he was irritated by the gentleness of the Saviour, and he refused to look upon his face or take notice of his actions. For from that time, in which he had lost faith and grace, he was filled with hatred toward his master and toward his heavenly mother and never looked them in the face. Here, in a certain respect, was the terror of Lucifer at the presence of Christ our Lord, for this demon, having established himself in the heart of Judas, could not bear the humility of the Divine Master toward his disciples and sought to escape from Judas and from the Seneca. But the Lord detained him by his almighty power in order that his pride might be crushed. Yet later on he was cast out from that place, filled with fury and with the suspicion that Christ might, after all, be the true God. The Lord completed the washing of the feet and, again, assuming the upper garment, seated himself in the midst of his apostles and began the discourse recorded by St. John. Know you what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and you say well, if then I, being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also. Amen, amen, I say to you. The servant is not greater than his Lord. Neither is the apostle greater than he that sent him. John 13. Then the Lord proceeded to propound great mysteries and truths, which I will not expatiate here, but for which I refer the reader to the Gospels. This discourse still further enlightened the apostles in the mysteries of the most blessed Trinity and of the incarnation, and prepared them by new graces for the Holy Eucharist, confirming them in their understanding of the vast significance of his doctrines and miracles. Among them all, St. Peter and St. John were most fully enlightened, but each of the apostles received more or less insight according to his disposition and according to the divine ordainment. As St. John says about his questioning the Lord concerning the traitor who was to sell him and the answer of the Lord, all happened before at the supper itself, when the beloved disciple reclined on the bosom of his divine master. For St. Peter, in his fervent attachments to his master and his outspoken love, was anxious to know who was the traitor in order that he might avenge or prevent the treason. But St. John, though he recognized the traitor by the bread dipped into the sauce and handed to Judas, would not inform St. Peter. He alone knew the secret, but taught by the charity which he had acquired in the school of his divine master. He buried the secret in his bosom. While he thus reclined on the bosom of Jesus our Savior, St. John was privileged in many other ways, for there he was made to see many most exalted mysteries of the divine humanity and of the Queen of Heaven, his most holy mother. On this occasion also he was commissioned to take charge of her, for on the cross Christ did not say to him, She shall be thy mother, nor thou shalt be her son. But behold thy mother, because this was not a matter resolved upon at that time, but one which was then to be made manifest publicly as having been ordained and decreed beforehand. Of all these sacraments connected with the washing of the feet, of the words and discourses of her son, his most pure mother was minutely informed by interior vision as I have stated at other times, and for all of them she gave thanks and glory to the most high. And when afterwards the wonderful works of the Lord were accomplished, she beheld them not as one ignorant of them, but as one who saw fulfilled what she had known before and what had been recorded in her heart like the law recorded on the tablets of Moses. She enlightened also her companions of all that was proper, during whatever they were not capable of understanding. Instruction which the great mistress of the world, most Holy Mary, gave me. My daughter, in three virtues mentioned by thee in the foregoing chapter, was especially practiced by my son and Lord, I wish that thou be particularly zealous as his spouse and my beloved disciple. They are the virtues of charity, humility and obedience in which Jesus desired to signalize himself toward the end of his life. Without doubt he manifested his love for men during his whole life, since he performed for them such admirable works from the very first instant of his conception in my womb. But towards the end of his life, when he established the evangelical law of the New Testament, the fire of ardent love, that burned in his bosom, burst out in more consuming flames. On this last occasion, the charity of Christ for the children of Adam exerted its full force, since it was urged on, by the sorrows of death that encompassed him, and was spurred on from the outside, by the dislike of men for suffering, their self-chosen misfortunes and their boundless ingratitude and perversity, in seeking to destroy the honor and the life of him, who was ready to sacrifice all for their eternal happiness. By this conflict his love was inflamed to the point at which it could not be extinguished. And thus being now about to leave the earth, he was driven to exercise all his ingenuity in attempting to prolong his benefactions and his intercourse with men, leaving among them by his teachings, works, and examples, the sure means of participating in the effects of his divine charity. In this art of loving thy neighbor, for God's sake, I wish that thou be very expert and zealous. I wish thou wilt be, if the very injuries and sufferings with which they afflict thee shall awaken in thee a greater love. Thou must remember that then alone wilt thou be secure and unwavering, when neither benefits nor flatteries of men have any effect on thee. For to love those who do thee good is a duty. But if thou art heedless, thou canst not know, whether in this case thou lovest them for God's sake, or for the sake of the benefits they confer, which would be loving thy own advantage or thyself, rather than thy neighbor for God's sake. He who loves for other than God's sake, or for vain complacence merely, has not yet learned true charity, since he is yet taken up with the blind love of his own ease. But if thou love those who do not satisfy any of these cravings, thou art led on to love them for the Lord's sake, as the principal motive and object of thy love, loving him in his creatures, whoever they be. Thou must exercise thyself, both in the corporal and the spiritual works of mercy. But as thou hast fewer occasions to exercise those of the body than those of the spirit, thou must continually extend thy spiritual works of charity, multiplying, according to the will of thy Saviour, thy prayers, petitions, pious practices, accompanying them with prudent and holy admonitions, and thus advancing the spiritual welfare of souls. Remember that my Lord and Son conferred no bodily blessings on anyone without accompanying them with spiritual, and it would have been derogatory to the divine perfection of his works, to perform them without this plentitude of goodness. From this thou wilt understand how much we must prefer the benefits of the soul to those of the body. Hence thou must always seek them in the first place, although earthly-minded men blindly prefer temporal blessings, forgetting the eternal ones and those tending toward the friendship and grace of the Most High. The virtues of humility and obedience were highly exalted in the conduct of my Most Holy Son in washing the feet of his Apostles, if by thy interior enlightenment concerning this extraordinary example thou dost not humble thyself to the dust, thy heart is indeed hardened, and thou art very obtuse in the knowledge of the Lord. Let it then be understood, henceforth, that thou never canst consider or profess thyself sufficiently humbled, even when thou findest thyself despised and trodden underfoot, by all men, sinners as they are, for they never can be as bad as Judas, nor thou as good as thy Lord and Master. But to merit and to be honored by this virtue of humility will give thee such perfection and worthiness that thou wilt deserve the name of a spouse of Christ and make thyself somewhat like unto him. Without this humility no soul can be raised to excellence and communication with the Lord, for the exalted must first be humbled and only the lowly ones can and should be exalted. And souls are always raised up by the Lord in proportion as they have humiliated themselves. In order that thou mayest not lose this pearl of humility, just at the time when thou thinkest thyself secure of it, remember that the exercise of it is not to be preferred to obedience, nor must thou practice it merely at thy own will, but in subjection to thy superiors, for if thou prefer thy own judgment to that of thy superiors, even if they do it under color of humility, thou art guilty of pride, for that would be not only refusing to seek the lowest place, but placing thyself above thy superior. Hence thou mayest understand the error of shrinking back, like St. Peter, from the favors and blessings of the Lord, depriving thee thereby not only of the gifts and treasures offered thee, but the advantage of humility which thou seekest and which is much preferable. Thou failest also in gratefully acknowledging the high ends and in striving after the exaltation of his name which the Lord seeks in such works. It is not thy business to enter into the examination of his secret and exalted judgments, nor to correct them by thy reasonings and thy objections, on account of which thou might as think thyself unworthy of his favors or incapable of performing the works enjoined. While this is a seed of Lucifer's pride, covered up by apparent humility as he thus seeks to hinder the communications of the Lord, his gifts and his friendship, which thou desirest so much, let it then be to thee an inviolable rule that as soon as thy confessors and superiors approve of certain favors and blessings as coming from the Lord, thou accept them as such with due thanks and reverence. Do not allow thyself to be led into new doubts and vacillating fears, but correspond with the favors of the Lord in humble fear and tranquil obedience. End of chapter 10