 Book 2, Chapter 14 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 14. The flight and dispersion of the apostles after the capture of their master, how his most blessed mother was aware of all that happened, and how she acted in consequence, the perdition of Judas and the worry of the demons over what they were obliged to experience. After the seizure of our Savior, Jesus, his prophecy at the supper that all of the apostles would be greatly scandalized in his person. Matthew, Chapter 26, Verse 31. And that Satan would attack them in order to sift them like wheat was fulfilled, for when they saw their divine master taken prisoner, and when they perceived that neither his meekness nor his words so full of sweetness and power, nor his miracles, nor his doctrine exemplified by such an unblameable life, could appease the envy of the priests and Pharisees. They fell into great trouble and affliction. Naturally the fear of personal danger diminished their courage and confidence in the counsels of their master, and beginning to wander in their faith, each one became possessed with anxious thoughts as to how he could escape the threatening persecutions for shadowed by what had happened to their captain and master. The apostles, availing themselves of the preoccupation of the soldiers and servants in binding and fettering the meek lamb of God, betook themselves to flight unnoticed. Certainly their enemies, if they had been permitted by the author of life, would have captured all the apostles, especially if they had seen them fly like cowards or criminals. Matthew, Chapter 26, Verse 56. But it was not proper that they should be taken and made to suffer at that time. This was clearly indicated as the will of the Lord when he said, that if they sought him they should let his companions go free. These words had the force of a divine decree and were verified in the event. For the hatred of the priests and Pharisees extended to the apostles and was deep enough to make them desire the death of all of them. That is the reason why the High Priest, Anas, asked the Divine Master about his disciples and his doctrine. John, Chapter 18, Verse 8. At the flight of the apostles, Lucifer, already troubled and vaguely perplexed, betook himself off, hesitating between different projects of his redoubled malice. He certainly wished to see the doctrine of the Savior and all his disciples blotted out from the world so that not even the memory of them be left. Hence he would have been well satisfied if the Jews had imprisoned and killed them all. But he had no hope of easily attaining this wish and therefore he busied himself in disquieting the apostles by various suggestions and inciting them to flight in order that they might not witness the patience and virtues of their master in his sufferings. The astute dragon feared that by this new proof of his doctrine in his living example the apostles might be confirmed and fortified in their faith and thus resist the temptations which he planned for them. Therefore it seemed to him that if he could weaken them now he could more easily cause them to fall away entirely by subsequent persecutions easily to be raised against them among the only two ready enemies of their master. Thus the demon deceived himself by his own malicious calculations. When therefore he saw the apostles, filled with cowardly fear and much disturbed by the sorrows of their hearts, he rejoiced in their evil plight and considered it the best time to begin his temptations. He assailed them with rabid fury, filling them with strong doubts and suspicions against the master of life and urging them to give him up and to take themselves to flight. They easily yielded to his suggestions of flight, but they resisted many of the doubts against faith, although some failed more, some less, not all of the apostles being equally disturbed or scandalized. They separated from each other, scattering in different directions, for it would have been difficult for all of them to hide as they wished if they remained together. Only Saint Peter and Saint John kept each other company to follow their God and master and see the end of his misfortune. Matthew chapter 26 verse 58 But in the soul of each one of the eleven apostles raged a battle of sorrow and grief, which rung their hearts and left them without consolation or the least rest. On the one side battled reason, grace, faith, love and truth. On the other, temptation, suspicion, fear, cowardice and sorrow. Reason and truth reproached them with their inconstancy and disloyalty in having forsaken their master by cowardly flying from danger after having been warned of it and after having offered themselves so shortly before to die for him if necessary. They remembered their disobedience in neglecting to pray and strengthen themselves against temptations as the Lord had commanded them. Their love for his sweetest conversation and company, for his teaching and miraculous power and their conviction that he was the true God, urged them to return and seek him and to offer themselves to danger and death like faithful servants and disciples. To all this was joined the memory of his most sweet mother, the consideration of her intense sorrow and the desire to seek her and attend upon her in her trouble. But on the other hand was their timidity, exaggerating their fears of the Jews, their dread of death, of shame and confusion. In regard to seeking the company of the sorrowful mother, they feared lest she would oblige them to return to their master unless they should be more easily found if they stayed with her in the same house. Dreadful above all were the impious and horrible suggestions of the demons, for the dragon filled them with harassing doubts whether it would not be suicide to thus deliver themselves to a certain death, that if their master could not free himself, much less could he free them from the hands of the priests, that he would now certainly be put to death and that therefore all ties between him and them were dissolved since they would not see him anymore. That although his life seemed to be blameless, yet he had taught some very hard doctrines, some of them unheard of until that time, whence he had incurred the hatred of those learned in the law and of the priests, as well as the indignation of all the people. Moreover it was a serious matter to follow a man who was to be condemned to an infamous and frightful death. Such was the interior contention and strife in the hearts of the apostles. Satan under cover of this excitement continually sought to instill into their minds doubts concerning the teachings of Christ and concerning the prophecies that treated other mysteries of his passion. As in their sad interior conflict they failed to see the least assurance of seeing their master escape the hands of the priests alive. Their fear settled into a profound sorrow and melancholy in which they decided to fly from the danger and save their own lives. And they were seized with such timidity and cowardice that during this night they felt nowhere safe and every shadow or noise made them tremble with fear. The consideration of the treachery of Judas added still more to their fear. For as he had not been seen in the company of any of the eleven after his treachery's delivery of the Lord, they dreaded lest he should excite against them the hatred of the priests. Saint Peter and Saint John, being more fervent in the love of their master, made a greater show of resistance to fear and to the demon, and the two together resolved to follow their master at a distance. In taking this resolve they relied upon the acquaintance of Saint John with the High Priest Anas, who with Caiaphas alternated in the office of High Priest. In that year it was held by Caiaphas who in the meeting had given the prophetic counsel asking whether one man had not better die in order that the whole world might not perish. John chapter 18 verses 15 and 49 This acquaintance had arisen from the fact that Saint John was esteemed as a man, distinguished and of noble lineage, of affable and courteous manners and amiable in person. Trusting to these favorable circumstances, the two apostles followed the Lord with less fear. The thought of their heavenly Queen was deep in their hearts and they reflected on her bitter sorrow and desire to bring relief and console her if possible. In this pious and loving desire, especially Saint John excelled all the others. The heavenly princess, from the cynical, clearly understood and saw all, not only her most holy son in captivity and suffering, but all that happened inwardly and outwardly to the apostles. She observed their tribulation and temptations, their thoughts and resolves, where each one was and what he did. But although all was known to the most gentle dub, she allowed herself no feeling of indignation against the apostles, nor did she ever in the least reproach them for their disloyalty. On the contrary, she was the one who was principally instrumental in restoring them to a better mind, as I shall show later on. From that hour on, she commenced to pray for them. In sweetest charity and with the compassion of a mother, she interiorly addressed them. Oh ye simple sheep chosen by the Lord, do ye forsake your most loving pastor, who cares for you and feeds you on the pastures of eternal life? Why, being disciples of such a truthful doctrine, do you leave your benefactor and master? How can you forget the sweet and loving intercourse, which so attract in your hearts? Why do you listen to the master of lies and follow the ravenous wolf, who seeks your ruin? Oh most patient and sweetest Lord, how meek and kind and merciful does the love of man make thee! Extend thy gentle love to this little flock, which is now troubled and dispersed by the fury of the serpent. Do not deliver over to the beasts those souls, who have confessed thy name. Psalm 73 verse 19 John, Peter, and James, so much favored by thy love and goodwill, turn an eye of clemency also upon the rest, crush the pride of the dragon, which now pursues them with implacable fury. In all this, most holy Mary did on this occasion, and in the pleasure she caused the Almighty by her holiness, she exceeded in grandeur all that was ever possible in men and angels. Over and above the sensible and spiritual sorrows, caused by the torments of her divine son, and the affronts perpetrated against his divine person, for which the Blessed Mother entertained the highest veneration, attainable by a creature. She was overwhelmed with the sorrow caused by the fall of the apostles, the greatness of which she alone could properly estimate. She was obliged to witness their weakness and forgetfulness in the face of his divine favors, his doctrines and exhortations, and in so short a time after the Last Supper, when he had warned them so lovingly, given them holy communion, and elevated them to such a high dignity as the priesthood. She saw also the danger of their falling into greater sins, on account of the astute and furious attacks of Lucifer and his demons, and on account of the heedlessness of the apostles, in their greater or less confusion and fear. Yet notwithstanding this great sea of sorrow, she multiplied and intensified her petitions in order to merit for them sufficient assistance and speedy pardon from her son, so that they might again return to their faith and to his friendship in grace. She alone was the powerful and efficacious instrument of these results. During these hours the great lady united within herself all the faith, all the holiness, all the worship and divine cult of the church, for in her was preserved and enclosed, as in the living and incorruptible art, and as in the temple and sanctuary, the evangelical law and sacrifice. She by herself alone, then constituted the entire church, because she alone preserved full faith, hope and love, complete worship and adoration, for the great object of our faith, not only supplying her full share for herself, but for the apostles and for the whole human race. She it was who compensated as far as was possible to a creature. For the deficiencies and faults in the rest of the mystical members of the church. She performed heroic acts of faith, hope and love toward her son and true God. She venerated and adored him by her prostrations and genuflections. She blessed him with wonderful songs of praise, not allowing her deep and bitter sorrow to interfere with the beautiful and harmonious disposition and the full operation of all her faculties, as preordained by the Almighty. What Ecclesiasticus says of music that it is inopportune in time of sorrow. Ecclesiasticus chapter 22 verse 6 does not apply to her, for only the Blessed Mary was able and knew how to augment the beautiful harmony of virtues in the midst of sorrow. Leaving the twelve apostles in the sad state above mentioned, I now proceed to relate the most unhappy end of the traitor Judas, somewhat anticipating the course of events, in order to have done with his lamentable and unfortunate lot, and continue the narrative of the passion. With the band that had taken the Lord prisoner, the Sacrilegious Disciple arrived at the house of the High Priest, that of Annas first, and then at that of Caiaphas, who, with ascribes and Pharisees, were awaiting results. When the Prefidious Disciple saw his Divine Master, overwhelmed with blasphemies and injuries, and how he suffered all with such admirable silence, meekness, and patience, he began to reflect upon his own treachery, and that it alone caused cruel injustice to be heaped upon an innocent man and his benefactor. He recalled the miracles he had witnessed, the doctrines he had heard, and the benefits enjoyed at his hands, and he remembered the kindness and meekness of the Most Holy Mary, the charity with which she had solicited his conversion, and the malice with which he had offended the Son and the Mother for such insignificant gain. All the sins he had committed piled themselves up before his interior gaze, like a dark and chaotic, impenetrable mountain. As I have stated above, Judas was forsaken by Divine Grace at the time when he consummated his treachery by his Prefidious Kiss and by his contact with Christ our Savior. According to the hidden judgments of the Most High, although he was now left to his own counsels, the Divine Justice and Equity, ingrained in the natural reason, permitted these reflections to arise, and to be supplemented by many suggestions of Lucifer who possessed him. But though Judas thus reasoned correctly in these matters, it was the devil who awakened these truths, and added many other false and deceitful suggestions, in order to deduct from them not the salutary hope of remedy, but to convince him of the impossibility of repairing the damage and to lead him to the despair to which he at last yielded. Lucifer roused in him a keen sorrow for his misdeeds, not, however, for a good purpose, nor founded upon having offended the Divine Truth, but upon his disgrace among men, and upon the fear of retribution from his master, whom he knew to be miraculously powerful, and one whom he would be able to escape, nowhere in the whole world. Everywhere the blood of the just one would forever cry for vengeance against him. Filled with these thoughts, and others roused by the demon, he was involved in confusion, darkness, and rabid rage against himself. Fleeing from all human beings, he is said to throw himself from the highest roof of the High Priest's house, without being able to execute his design. Gnawing like a wild beast at the flesh of his arms and hands, striking fearful blows at his head, tearing out his hair, and raving in his talk, he rushed away, showered maledictions and execrations upon himself as the most unfortunate and miserable of men. Seeing him thus beside himself, Lucifer inspired him, with the thought of hunting up the priests, returning to them the money and confessing his sin. This Judas hastened to do, and he loudly shouted at them those words, I have sinned, betraying innocent blood. So thought also the demon, although later on he made more efforts to forestall it through Pilate. But as Judas could be of no more use to him for his purpose, he augmented his distress and despair, persuading him that in order to avoid severe punishments, he must end his life. Judas yielded to this terrible deceit, and rushing forth from the city, hung himself on a dried out fig tree. Thus he, that was the murderer of his creator, became also his own murderer. This happened on Friday at twelve o'clock, three hours before our Savior died. It was not becoming that his death and the consummation of our redemption should coincide too closely with the excruable end of the traitorous disciple who hated him with fiercest malice. The demons at once took possession of the soul of Judas and brought it down to hell, his entrails burst from the body hanging upon the tree. Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1 verse 18 All that saw this stupendous punishment of the perfidious and malicious disciple for his treason were filled with astonishment and dread. The body remained hanging by the neck for three days, exposed to the view of the public. During that time the Jews attempted to take it down from the tree and bury it in secret, for it was a sight apt to cause great confusion to the Pharisees and priests who could not refute such a testimony of his wickedness. But no efforts of theirs suffice to drag or separate the body from its position on the tree until three days had passed, when, according to the dispensation of divine justice, the demons themselves snatched the body from the tree and brought it to his soul in order that both might suffer eternal punishment in the profoundest abyss of hell. Since what I have been made to know of the pains and chastisements of Judas is worthy of fear-inspiring attention, I will, according to command, reveal what has been shown me concerning it. Among the obscure caverns of the infernal prisons was a very large one, arranged for more horrible chastisements than the others, which was still unoccupied, for the demons had been unable to cast any soul into it, although their cruelty had induced them to attempt it many times, from the time of Cain until that day. All hell had remained astonished at the failure of these attempts, being entirely ignorant of the mystery, until the arrival of the soul of Judas, which they readily succeeded in hurling and burying in this prison never before occupied by any of the damned. The secret of it was that this cavern, of greater torments and fiercer fires of hell, from the creation of the world, had been destined for those, who, after having received baptism, would damn themselves by the neglect of the sacraments, the doctrines, the passion and death of the Saviour, and the intercession of his most holy mother. As Judas had been the first one, who had signally participated in these blessings, and as he had so fearfully misused them, he was also the first to suffer the torments of this place, prepared for him and his imitators and followers. This mystery I was commanded to reveal, more particularly, for a dreadful warning to all Christians, and especially to the priests, prelates and religious, who are accustomed to treat with more familiarity the body and blood of Christ our Lord, and who, by their office and state, are his closer friends. In order to avoid blame, I would like to find words and expressions sufficiently strong to make an impression on our unfeeling obduracy, so that we may all take a salutary warning and be filled with the fear of the punishments awaiting all bad Christians, according to the station each one of us occupies. The demons tormented Judas with inexpressible cruelty, because he persisted in the betrayal of his master, by whose passion and death they were vanquished and disfoiled of the possession of the world. The wrath which they had conceived against the Saviour and his blessed mother, they wrecked as far as is allowed them, on all those who imitate the traitor is disciple, and who follow him in his contempt of the evangelical law, of the sacraments and of the fruits of redemption. And in this the demons are but executing just punishment on those members of the mystical body of Christ, who have severed their connection with its head Christ, and who voluntarily drift away and deliver themselves over to the accursed hate and implacable fury of his enemies. As the instruments of the divine justice, they chastise the redeemed for their ingratitude toward their redeemer. Let the children of the church consider well this truth, for it cannot fail to move their hearts and induce them to evade such a lamentable fate. During the whole course of the passion, Lucifer with his demons moved about, eagerly spying out all the circumstances of each event, in order to ascertain whether Christ the Lord was really the messiah and redeemer of the world. On the one hand, the miracles seemed to argue the truth of his suspicions, on the other, very often the doings and the sufferings, so much like those of weak human nature, argued the contrary. The strongest argument for the truth of his suspicions was Lucifer's personal experience of the power of the redeemer when he said, I am he. Which caused him and all his associates to fall prostrate, annihilated in the presence of the Lord, and this had happened only a short time after he had been permitted to issue from hell, whether the demons had been hurled from the Seneca. It was true, Mary had routed them from the hall of the Last Supper, yet Lucifer with his ministers connected it with the power exercised by Jesus, and they could not but admit that this power of both mother and son was something altogether new and unexperienced by them. When he had received permission to rise from his fall in the garden, he conferred with the rest and expressed his opinion that this could not be entirely human power, but without doubt the power of one who is God, and at the same time man. If he shall die as we have planned, he will accomplish the redemption of man and satisfy the justice of God, then our sway will cease and all our intentions will be frustrated. We have erred in seeking his death. If now we cannot prevent his death, let us see how far his endurance will go and excite his enemies to torture him with most impious cruelty. Let us stir up their fury against him. Let us suggest to their minds new insults, affronts, ignominies and torments to be inflicted upon his person. Let us strive them to vent upon him all their wrath in order to exhaust his patience and let us carefully study the results. These proposals the demons sought to realize, although on account of the hidden mysteries alluded to above, and to be mentioned later, they found that not all of their plans succeeded. Whenever they incited the executioners to inflict tortures on becoming his royal and divine person, the Lord would not permit such indignities farther than was becoming while he gave free scope to their inhuman barbarities and savage fury and all the rest. The great lady of heaven, Mary, likewise interfered in order to curb the insolent malice of Lucifer, for she was well aware of all the designs of the infernal dragon. At times she would make use of her sovereign power as queen to prevent some of the hellish suggestions to reach the ministers of the passion. At others she prevented their execution by her prayers, or she enlisted the service of her holy angels to drive away and confuse the persecutors of her son. Those sufferings which by her great wisdom she knew that her son wished to undergo, she permitted, fulfilling in all things the divine will. She knew all about the unhappy death of Judas, his torments and place of imprisonment in hell, the bed of fire which he was to occupy for all eternity, as the master of hypocrisy and the leader of all those who were to deny Christ our Redeemer, as well in thought as in their works. Who, according to Jeremiah's? Far from heaven, where are written the names of the predestined. All this the mother of mercy knew, and she wept over his fate, most bitterly, praying for the welfare of men and for their salvation, from such great blindness and ruinous destruction. Yet in all this she conformed herself to the just and hidden decrees of divine providence. Instruction which the Queen of Heaven, Mary, gave me. My daughter, thou art astonished, not without cause, at what thou hast learned and recorded of the unhappy fate of Judas and of the fall of the Apostles, who were all disciples in the school of Christ, nursed at his breast by his doctrine, by the example of his life and by his miracles, enjoying his sweetest and gentlest intercourse and many other benefits of my assistance and intercession. And I truly say to thee, if all the children of the Church would attentively consider this example, they would find a salutary exhortation and warning in this mortal state of life against the dangers surrounding them, even in the midst of the favors and blessings they continually receive at the hands of the Lord. All of them cannot be equal to seeing him with bodily eyes and having intercourse with him as the living image of all sanctity. The Apostles received from me personal exhortations and they were eyewitnesses of my blameless and holy conduct. They received great tokens of my kindness and my charity flowed directly from God through me upon them. If they, in the very act of receiving such favors and in the very presence of their God and Savior, forgot all of them and all of their obligation of corresponding to them, who then shall be so presumptuous in this mortal life as not to fear the danger of eternal ruin, no matter how many favors he has received from the Almighty. They were apostles chosen by their Divine Master, their true God, yet one of them fell lower than any other individual of the human race and the others failed in faith, the foundation of all virtue. Yet all this was conformable to the just judgments of the Most High. Why then should those who are not apostles be without fear, who have not so labored in the school of Christ and who have not so merited my intercession? Concerning the perdition of Judas, and of his most just punishment, thou hast written enough in order to set forth to what extremes a man can be brought by yielding to vices and to the devil, and by refusing to hear and follow the pleading of grace. I, moreover, inform thee that not only the torments of the traitorous disciple Judas, but also those of many other Christians, who condemn themselves and shall be sent to the same place of punishment, which was assigned to them and Judas from the beginning of the world, are greater than the torments of many demons. For my most holy son did not die for the angels, but for men, nor were the fruits and the results of the redemption for the demon, but entirely at the disposal of the children of the church in the holy sacraments. The contempt for these incomparable benefits is not properly the sin of the devils, but of the Christians, and therefore they must expect a special and appropriate punishment for this contempt. The mistake of not having recognized Christ as the true God causes the deepest and most tormenting regret to Lucifer and his evil spirits for all eternity. Hence, on account of this error, they are filled with special wrath against those that were redeemed, particularly against the Christians, who derive the greatest benefits from the redemption and the blood of the Lamb. This is why the devils are so eager to cause forgetfulness and misuse of these graces in them, and why afterwards, in hell, they are permitted to vent so much the greater fury and wrath upon the wicked Christians. If it were not for the equitable dispositions of divine justice, by which the pains are proportioned to the guilt, they would wreak still fiercer vengeance upon them. But the goodness of the Lord extends even to this place and restrains the malice of the demons by his infinite power and wisdom. In the fall of the other eleven apostles, I wish, my dearest, that thou learn the frailty of human nature, since even in such great blessings and favors received of the Lord, it easily falls into the habit of gross negligence and ingratitude, such as the apostles manifested in flying from their heavenly master and leaving him in a spirit of doubt. Men incur this danger from their earthly and sensuous inclinations, the result of past sins, and of the habits formed by a terrestrial, carnal and sensuous life, void of spirituality. On account of it, they desire and love the divine favors and benefits only in a carnal manner. As soon as they fail to find that kind of enjoyment in them, they turn to other sensible enjoyments, are moved by them and lose the true conception of a spiritual life, for they treat it and estimate it according to the low standard of mere sensuality. Hence the apostles, though they were so greatly favored by my most holy son, fell into such gross heedlessness and sins, for the miracles, the teachings and the examples affected them only in a sensible manner, and as they, in spite of their being raised to justice and perfection, permitted themselves to be affected by them only outwardly, they were presently disturbed by temptation and yielded to it. They acted like men who had done little to penetrate into the mysteries and into the spirit of what they had seen and heard in the school of their master. By this example, my daughter, and by my teachings, thou oddest to be well instructed, a spiritual disciple of mine, and not a terrestrial, accustoming thyself to despise mere outwardness, even in favors bestowed upon thee by the Lord or myself. When thou receivest them, do not attach thyself merely to the material or sensible in them, but raise thy mind to the exalted and the spiritual contained therein, to that which is perceived by the interior and spiritual and not by the animal senses. First letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 2, Verse 14 Book 2, Chapter 15, 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 15, Christ the Savior, bound as a prisoner, is dragged to the house of Annas, what happened in connection therewith and what the most blessed mother suffered during that time. Fit were it to speak of the suffering, the affronts and the death of our Savior Jesus, in such vivid and efficacious words, that they enter into the soul like a two-edged sword, piercing with deepest sorrow our inmost hearts. Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 4, Verse 13 Not of an ordinary kind were the pains he suffered, and there is no sorrow like unto his sorrow. For his body was not like the bodies of the rest of men, nor did the Lord suffer for himself, nor for his own sins, but for us and for our sins. First letter of Saint Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 21 Hence the words and expressions by which we describe his torments and sorrows should not be of the common or ordinary kind, but woe is me, who cannot give sufficient force to my words and cannot find those my soul seeks in order to manifest this mystery. I will speak according to my capacity, and as far as is given me, although my powers constrain and limit the greatness of what I understand, and my inadequate words cannot reach the secret concepts of the heart. Let then the vividness and force of the faith, which we profess as children of the church, supply what is defective in my words. If our words are but of the ordinary kind, let our compassion and our sorrow be extraordinary, let our thoughts be of the loftiest, our comprehension most real, our consideration of the deepest, our thankfulness heartfelt, and our love most fervent. For all that we can do shall fall short of what the reality demands of what we owe as servants, as friends, and as children adopted through his sacred passion and death. Having been taken prisoner and firmly bound, the most meek lamb Jesus was dragged from the garden to the house of the High Priest, first to the house of Annas. John 18 verse 13 The turbulent band of soldiers and servants, having been advised by the traitorous disciple that his master was a sorcerer and could easily escape their hands if they did not carefully bind and chain him securely before starting on their way, took all precautions inspired by such a mistrust. Mark 14 verse 44 Lucifer and his com peers of darkness secretly irritated and provoked them to increase their impious and sacrilegious ill treatment of the Lord beyond all bounds of humanity and decency. As they were willing accomplices of Lucifer's malice, they omitted no outrage against the person of their Creator within the limits set them by the Almighty. They bound him with a heavy iron chain, with such ingenuity that it encircled as well the waste as the neck. The two ends of the chain, which remained free, were attached to large rings or handcuffs with which they manacled the hands of the Lord, who created the heavens, the angels and the whole universe. The hands thus secured and bound, they fastened not in the front but behind. This chain they had brought from the house of Anas the High Priest, where it had served to raise the porculus of a dungeon. They had wrenched it from its place and provided it with padlock handcuffs. But they were not satisfied with this unheard of way of securing a prisoner, for in their distrust they added two pieces of strong rope. The one they wound around the throat of Jesus and crossing it at the breast, bounded in heavy knots all about the body, leaving two long ends free in front in order that the servants and soldiers might jerk him in different directions along the way. The second rope served to tie his arms, being bound likewise around his waist. The two ends of this rope were left hanging free to be used by two other executioners for jerking him from behind. In this manner the Almighty and Holy One permitted himself to be bound and made helpless as if he were the most criminal of men and the weakest of the women born, for he had taken upon himself all the iniquities and weaknesses of our sins. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 6 They bound him in the garden, adding to the chains and ropes, insulting blows and vilest language, for like venomous serpents they shot forth their sacrilegious poison in abuse and blasphemy against him, who is adored by angels and men, and who is magnified in heaven and on earth. They left the Garden of Olives in great tumult and uproar, guarding the Savior in their midst. Some of them dragged him along by the ropes in front, and others retarded his steps by the ropes hanging from the handcuffs behind. In this manner, with a violence unheard of, they sometimes forced him to run forward in haste, frequently causing him to fall. At others they jerked him backwards, and then again they pulled him from one side to the other, according to their diabolical whims. Many times they violently threw him to the ground, and as his hands were tied behind, he fell upon it with his divine countenance and was severely wounded and lacerated. In his falls they pounced upon him, inflicting blows and kicks, trampling upon his body and upon his head and face. All these devil-trees they accompanied with festive shouts and apobrious insults, as was foretold by Jeremiah 3. During all this time Lucifer, while inciting these ministers of evil, watched all the actions and movements of our Savior, his patience he thus put to the test in order to find out whether Jesus was only a man, for this doubt and perplexity tormented his wicked pride above all others. As he was obliged to acknowledge the meekness, patience and sweetness of Christ, his serene majesty without change or disturbance amid all these injuries and sufferings, the infernal dragon was enraged only so much the more, and at one time, like one crazed by fury, he attempted to seize the ropes in order that he and his fellow demons might pull at them more violently than his human foes and thus perhaps overcome the meekness of the Savior, but he was withheld by the most holy Mary, who, from her retreat by a clear vision, saw all that happened to her divine son. When she noticed this attempt of Lucifer, she made use of her power as sovereign queen and commended him to desist. All strength immediately left Lucifer, and he could not proceed in his presumptuous intent. It was not becoming that his malice should add to the sufferings and death of the Redeemer in such a manner. He was, however, given permission to excite all his fellow demons against the Lord, and these again, were left a free hand to incite his mortal enemies among the Jews, since the latter had liberty of will to consent or not. Lucifer used this freedom to its full extent, and therefore said to the other evil spirits, What kind of a man is this, now born into the world, who by his patience and by his works so torments us and annihilates us? None ever maintains such equanimity and such long-suffering intribulations since the time of Adam until now. Never have we found among mortals such humility and meekness. How can we rest when we see in the world such a rare and powerful example, drawing others after him? If this is the Messiahs, he will certainly open heaven and close up the highway, by which we have so far led men, into our eternal torments. We shall be vanquished, and all our plans will be frustrated. Even if he is but a mere man, I cannot permit such an example for the rest of mankind. Haste then, ministers of my exalted power, let us persecute him through his human foes, who, obedient to my sway, have conceived of me some of our own furious envy. The author of our salvation, hiding his power of annihilating his enemies, in order that our redemption might be the more abundant, submitted to all the consequences of the impious fury which Lucifer and his hellish squadron fomented in the Jews. They dragged him bound and chained under continued ill treatment to the house of Annas, before whom they presented him as a malfactor worthy of death. It was the custom of the Jews to present thus bound those criminals who merited capital punishment, and they now made use of this custom in regard to Jesus in order to intimate his sentence even before the trial. The sacrilegious priest, Annas, seated himself in proud and arrogant state on the platform or tribunal of a great hall. Immediately Lucifer placed himself at his side with a multitude of evil spirits. The servants and soldiers brought before him Jesus, bound and fettered, and said, At last we bring hither this wicked man who by his sorceries and evil deeds has disturbed all Jerusalem and Judea. This time his magic power has not availed him to escape our hands in power. Our Saviour Jesus was attended by innumerable angels who confessed and adored him, full of admiration for the incomparable judgments of his wisdom. Romans chapter 11 verse 33 By which the Lord consented to be held as a sinner and a criminal. The iniquitous high priest pretended to be just and zealous for the honour of the Lord, whose life he was seeking. The most meek lamb was silent and open not his mouth as Isaiah's prophesied. Chapter 53 verse 7 Imperiously and haughtily the high priest asked him about his disciples. John chapter 18 verse 19 And what doctrine he was preaching and teaching. This question was put merely for the purpose of misinterpreting his answer if Jesus should utter any word that afforded such a chance, but the master of holiness, who is the guide and the corrector of the most wise. Wisdom chapter 7 verse 15 Offered to the Eternal Father the humiliation of being presented as a criminal before the high priest and of being questioned by him as a prevaricator and author of a false doctrine. Our Redeemer with a humble and cheerful countenance answered the question as to his disciples. I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple whether all the Jews resort and in secret I have spoken nothing. Why askest thou me? Ask those who have heard what I have spoken unto them. Behold, they know what I have said. As the doctrine of Christ our Lord came from his Eternal Father, he spoke for it and defended its honor. He referred them to his hearers, both because those by whom he was now surrounded would not believe him and wish to distort all he should say, and because the truth and force of his teachings recommended and forced themselves upon the minds of his greatest enemies by their own excellence. Concerning the apostles he said nothing because it was not necessary on this occasion and because they were not reflecting much credit upon their master by their present conduct. Though his answer was so full of wisdom and so well suited to the question, yet one of the servants of the High Priest rushed up with raised hand and audaciously struck the venerable and sacred face of Jesus, saying, Answerest thou the High Priest so? The Lord accepted this boundless injury, praying for the one who had inflicted it and holding himself ready, if necessary, to turn and offer the other cheek for a second stroke according to the doctrine he had himself inculcated. Matthew chapter 5 verse 39 But in order that the atrocious and daring offender might not shamelessly boast of his wickedness, the Lord replied with great tranquility and meekness, If I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil, if well, why strike as thou me? O sight most astounding to the supernal spirits, since this is he at the mere sound of whose voice the foundations of the heavens tremble and ought to tremble and the whole firmament is shaken. This is the Lord of whom, Job says, he is wise of heart and mighty in strength, who hath resisted him and hath peace, who hath removed mountains and they whom he overthrew in his wrath knew it not, He who moveth the earth out of its place, who commanded the sun and it riseth not, and shuddeth up the stars as it were under a seal, who doth things great and incomprehensible, whose wrath no man can resist and under whom they stoop that bear up the world. Job chapter 9 verse 4 etc. This is the one who for the love of men patiently suffers a servant to strike and wound him in the face by a buffet. By the humble and appropriate reply of the Lord, the wickedness of the sacrilegious servant stood reprimanded, yet neither the shame of this reprimand nor the shameful negligence of the high priest, which permitted such a criminal unfairness in his very presence, moved either him or the other Jews to moderate their conduct toward the author of life. While this ill-treatment of the Lord was going on, St. Peter and the other disciple, who was none other than St. John, arrived at the house of Annus. St. John, as being well known there, readily obtained entrance while St. Peter remained outside. Afterwards, the servant maid, who was in acquaintance of St. John, allowed also him to enter and see what would happen to the Lord. John chapter 18 verse 16 The two disciples remained in the portico, adjoining the court hall of the priest, and St. Peter approached the fire, which the soldiers, on account of the coldness of the night, had built in the enclosure near the portico. The servant maid, on closer inspection, noticed the depressed bearing of St. Peter. Coming up to him, she recognized him as a disciple of Jesus and said, Are thou not perhaps one of the disciples of this man? This question was asked by the maid, with an air of contempt and reproach. Peter, in his great weakness and hesitancy, yielded to a sense of shame, overcome also by his fear, he answered, I am not his disciple. Having given this answer, he slipped away to avoid further conversation and left the premises. But he soon afterwards followed his master to the house of Caiaphas, where he denied him again at two different times, as I shall relate farther on. The denial of Peter caused greater pain to the Lord than the buffet which he had received. For this sin was directly opposed and abhorrent to his immense charity, while pains and sufferings were sweet and welcome to him, since he could thereby atone for our sins. After this first denial of Peter, Christ prayed for him, to his eternal Father, and ordained that through the intercession of the Blessed Mary, he should obtain pardon even after the third denial. The great lady witnessed all that passed from her oratory, as I have said. As she contained in her own breast the propitiatory and sacrifice of her son and Lord in sacramental form, she directed her petitions and loving aspirations to him, eliciting most heroic acts of compassion, thanksgiving, adoration and worship. She bitterly wept over the denial of Saint Peter and ceased not, until she perceived that the Lord would not refuse him, the necessary helps for effectually rising from his fall. The purest mother also felt all the wounds and torments of her son, in the same portions of her virginal body as the Saviour. When the Lord was bound with chains and ropes, she felt on her wrists such pains that the blood oozed from her fingernails as if they had been really bound and crushed. In the same manner also, the other wounds affected her body. As to these tortures, we're at in the sorrows of her heart, in seeing Christ our Lord suffer, she shed miraculous tears of blood. She felt also the Buffet in the same way, as if the sacrilegious hand had struck at the same time, her son and herself. At this wicked affront and at the blasphemous insult offered to the Lord, she called out to her holy angels to join her in magnifying and adoring their Creator, in compensation for the injuries offered him by sinners, and in so many sorrowful lamentations, she conferred with the angels concerning the cause of her affliction and mourning. Instruction which the great Queen and Lady gave me. My daughter, to great deeds art thou called and invited on account of the divine enlightenment thou receivest concerning the mysteries of the sufferings of my most holy son and of myself for the human race, and on account of the knowledge which thou hast obtained concerning the small return made by heartless and ungrateful men for all our pains. Thou livest yet in mortal flesh and art thyself, subject to this ignorance and weakness, but by the force of truth thou art now roused to great wonder, sorrow and compassion, at the want of attention displayed by mortals toward these great sacraments and at the losses sustained by them through their lukewarmness and negligence. What then are the thoughts of the angels and saints, and what are my thoughts, in beholding this world, and all the faithful, in such a dangerous and dreadful state of carelessness, when they have the passion and death of my divine son before their eyes, and when they have me, for their mother and intercessor, and his most pure life and mind for an example? I tell thee truly, my dearest, only my intercession, and the merits of his son, which I offer to the Eternal Father, can delay the punishment and placate his wrath, can retard the destruction of the world, and the severe chastisement of the children of the church, who know his will, and fail to fulfill it. But I am much more incensed to find so few who can dull with me and try to console my son in his sorrows, as David says. Psalm 68 verse 21 This hardness of heart will cause great confusion to them on the day of judgment, since they will then see with irreparable sorrow not only that they were ungrateful, but inhuman and cruel toward my divine son, toward me, and toward themselves. Consider then thy duty, my dearest, and raise thyself above all earthly things and above thyself, for I am calling thee and choose thee to imitate and follow me into the solitude in which I am left by creatures whom my son and I have pursued with so many blessings and favors, way in thy heart how much it costs my lord to reconcile mankind to the Eternal Father. Letter to the Colossians chapter 1 verse 22 Taken in thy heart, the deepest grief, that in his holy church there should be many followers of the hypocritical and sacrilegious priests, who, under a cover of false piety, still condemn Christ, that pride and sumptuousness with other grave vices should be raised to authority and exalted, while humility, truth, justice, and all virtues be so oppressed and debased, and avarice and vanity should prevail. Few know the poverty of Christ, and fewer embrace it. Holy faith is hindered, and is not spread among the nations, on account of the boundless ambition of the mighty of this earth. In many Catholics it is inactive and dead, and whatever should be living is near to death and to eternal perdition. The councils of the Gospels are forgotten, its precepts trodden underfoot, charity almost extinct. My son and true God offers his cheeks and patience and meekness to be buffeted and wounded. Who pardons an insult for the sake of imitating him? Just the contrary is set up as law in this world, not only by the infidels, but by the very children of the faith and of light. In recognizing these sins, I desire that thou imitate me in what I did during the Passion and during my whole life, namely, practice the virtues opposed to these vices. As a recompense for their blasphemies, I blessed God, for their oaths I praised him, for their unbelief I excited acts of faith, and so for all the rest of the sins committed. This is what I desire thee to do while living in this world. Fly also the dangerous intercourse with creatures, taught by the example of Peter, for thou art not stronger than he, the Apostle of Christ, and if thou fall in thy weakness, weep over thy faults and immediately seek my intercession. Make up for thy ordinary faults and weaknesses, buy thy patience in adversities, accept them with a joyous mean and without disturbance, no matter what they may be. Whether they be sickness or the molestations coming from creatures, or whether they arise from the opposition of the flesh to the spirit, or from the conflicts with visible or invisible enemies. In all these things, canst thou suffer and must thou bear up in faith, hope, and magnanimous sentiment? I remind thee that there is no exercise more profitable and useful for the soul than to suffer. For suffering gives light, undeceives, detaches the heart from visible things and raises it up to the Lord. He will come to meet those in suffering, because he is with the afflicted and sends to them his protection and help. Psalm 40 verse 15 End of chapter 15 Book 2 chapter 16 Of the mystical city of God, volume 3 By the venerable sister Mary of Jesus of Agreda This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Book 2 chapter 16 Christ is dragged to the house of the high priest Caiaphas, where he is falsely accused, and asked whether he is the son of God. Saint Peter denies him for the second and third time, what most Holy Mary did on this occasion and other mysteries. After Jesus had been insulted and struck in the house of Annas, he was sent, bound and fettered as he was, to the priest Caiaphas, the father-in-law of Annas, who in that year officiated as the prince and high priest. With him were gathered the scribes and distinguished men of the Jews in order to urge the condemnation of the most innocent Lamb. Matthew chapter 26 verse 57 The invincible patience and meekness of the Lord of all virtues. Psalm 23 verse 10 Astounded the demons and they were filled with a confusion and fury so great as no words can describe. Since they could not penetrate into the interior of the sanctuary of his humanity, and since they noticed in the meekest Lord, no inordinate movement, nor any sign of complaint, nor any sighing, nor the least attempt at human relief, by which they are want to search the hearts of other men. The dragon was in the utmost torments and surprised as at something altogether new and unheard of, among weak and imperfect mortals. In his fury he redoubled his efforts to irritate the scribes and servants of the priests against him and excite them to shower their abominable insults and affronts upon his devoted head. In all that the demons suggested to them, they showed themselves most eager and they executed it as far as the divine will allowed. The whole rabble of infernal spirits and merciless foes of Christ left the house of Annas and dragged our Lord's Savior through the streets to the house of Caiaphas, exercising upon him all the cruelty of their ignominious fury. The High Priest and his attendants broke out in loud derision and laughter, when they saw Jesus brought amid tumultuous noise into their presence and beheld him now subject to their power and jurisdiction without hope of escape. Oh mystery of the most exalted wisdom of heaven, oh foolishness and ignorance of hell, and blind stupidity of mortals, what a distance immeasurable do I see between the doings of the Most High and yours, at the very time when the King of Glory as the Lord of all virtues and mighty in battles. Psalm 23 verse 8 Is vanquishing vice and death and all sin by the virtues of patience, humility and charity, the world boasts of having overcome and subjected him to its arrogance and proud supposition. How different were the thoughts of Christ our Lord from those of the ministers of wickedness. The author of life offered up to the Eternal Father the triumph which his meekness and humility won over sin. He prayed for the priests, the scribes and servants, presenting his patience and suffering as a compensation for their persecutions and excusing them on account of their ignorance. The same prayer and petition was sent up at the same time by his blessed mother, for her enemies and the enemies of her Divine Son, thus following and imitating the Lord in all his doings, for as I have many times said, she saw all as if personally present. Between the actions of the Son and the Mother there was a most sweet and wonderful harmony and a correspondence most pleasing to the eyes of the Eternal Father. The High Priest Caiaphas, filled with a deadly envy and hatred against the master of life, was seated in his chair of state or throne. With him were Lucifer and all his demons, who had come from the house of Anas. The scribes and Pharisees, like bloodthirsty wolves, surrounded the gentle lamb. All of them were full of the exultation of the envious, who see the object of their envy, confounded and brought down. By common consent they sought for witnesses, whom they could bribe, to bring false testimonies against Jesus our Saviour. Matthew chapter 26 verse 59 Those that had been procured advanced to proffer their accusations and testimony, but their accusations neither agreed with each other, nor could any of their slander be made to apply to him, who of his very nature was innocence and holiness. Mark chapter 25 verse 56 Letter to the Hebrews chapter 7 verse 26 In order not to be foiled, they brought two other false witnesses, who deposed that they had heard Jesus say, He could destroy the temple of God made by the hands of men and build up another one in three days, not made by them. Mark chapter 16 verse 58 This testimony did not seem to be of much value, although they founded upon it the accusation that he arrogated to himself divine power. Even if this testimony had not been false in itself, the saying, if uttered by the Lord Almighty, would have been infallibly true and could not have been presumptuous or false. But the testimony was false, since the Lord had not uttered these words in reference to the material temple of God as the witnesses wished to inculcate. At the time when he expelled the buyers and sellers from the temple and when asked by what power he did it, he answered, Destroy this temple. That is, destroy this sacred humanity and on the third day I shall restore it, which he certainly did at his resurrection in testimony of his divine power. Our Savior Jesus answered not a word to all the columnese and lies brought forward against his innocence. Caiaphas, provoked by the patient silence of the Lord, rose up in his seat and said to him, Why does thou not answer to what so many witnesses testify against thee? But even to this the Lord made no response. For Caiaphas and the rest were not only indisposed to believe him, but they treacherously wished to make use of his answer in order to columniate him and satisfy the people in their proceedings against the Galilean so that they might not be thought to have condemned him to death without cause. This humble silence which should have appeased the wicked priest only infuriated him so much the more because it frustrated his evil purpose. Lucifer, who incited the high priest and all the rest, intently watched the conduct of the Savior. But the intention of the dragon was different from that of the high priest. He merely wanted to irritate the Lord or to hear some word by which he could ascertain whether he was true God. With this purpose Satan stirred up Caiaphas to the highest pitch of rage and to ask in great wrath and haughtiness. I abjure thee by the living God that thou tell us, if thou be the Christ, the Son of God. This question of the high priest certainly convicted him at once of the deepest folly and of dreadful blasphemy. For if it were sincere, he permitted Christ to be brought before his tribunal in doubt whether he was the true God or not, which would make him guilty of the most formidable and audacious crime. The doubt in such a matter should have been solved in quite another way, conformable to the demands of right reason and justice. Christ our Savior, hearing himself conjured by the living God, inwardly adored and reverenced the divinity, though appealed to by such sacrilegious lips, out of reverence for the name of God, he therefore answered. Thou hast said, I am he, nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man, who I am, sitting on the right hand of the power of God and coming in the clouds of heaven. Matthew chapter 26 verse 64 At this divine answer the demons and the men were affected in different ways. Lucifer and his devils could not bear it, but immediately felt a superior force which hurled them down into the abyss and oppressed them by the truth it contained, and they would not have dared to come again into the presence of Christ our Savior if the divine providence had not allowed them to fall again into doubts, whether this man Christ had really spoken the truth or had merely sought this means of freeing himself from the hands of the Jews. This uncertainty gave them new courage and they came forth once more to the battlefield. The ultimate triumph over the demons was reserved to the cross itself, on which the Savior was to vanquish both them and death, as Zachary had prophesied and as will appear later. But the High Priest, furious at the answer of the Lord, instead of looking upon it as a solution of his doubt, rose once more in his seat and rending his garments as an outward manifestation of his zeal for the honor of God, loudly cried out, He hath blasphemed! What further need have we of witnesses? Behold! Now you have heard the blasphemy! What think you? Matthew chapter 26 verse 65 The real blasphemy, however, consisted rather in these words of Caiaphas, since he denied the certain fact that Christ was the Son of God by his very nature, and since he attributed to the divine personality sinfulness which was directly repugnant to his very nature. Such was the folly of the wicked priest, who by his office should have recognized and proclaimed the universal truth. He made of himself an excruable blasphemer in maintaining that he, who is holiness itself, had blasphemed. Having previously, with satanical instinct, abused his high office in prophesying that the death of one man is better than the ruin of all the people, he now was hindered by his sins from understanding his own prophecy. As the example and the opinions of princes and prelates powerfully stirs up the flattery and subservience of inferiors, that whole gathering of wickedness was incensed at the Savior Jesus, all exclaimed in a loud voice. He is guilty of death! Let him die! Let him die! Matthew chapter 26 verse 66 Roused by satanic fury, they fell upon their most meek master and discharged upon him their wrath. Some of them struck him in the face, others kicked him, others tore out his hair, others spat upon his venerable countenance, others slapped or struck him in the neck, which was a treatment reserved among the Jews, only for the most abject and vile criminals. Never among men were such outrageous and frightful insults heaped upon anyone, as were then heaped upon the Redeemer. St. Luke and St. Mark say they covered his face and then struck him with their hands and fists saying, Prophecy, prophesy to us thou prophet, who was it that struck thee? The reason for their doing this was mysterious, namely, the joy with which our Savior suffered all these injuries and blasphemies, made his face shine forth in extraordinary beauty, and on this account, those ministers of wickedness were seized with unbearable consternation and shame. They sought to attribute it to sorcery and magic, and by a resolution befitting also well their unworthiness, they covered the face of the Lord with an unclean cloth so that they might not be hindered and tormented by his divine light, inventing their diabolical wrath. All these affronts, reproaches, and insults were seen and felt by the most holy Mary, causing in her the same pains and wounds in the same parts of her body and at the same time as inflicted upon the Lord. The only difference was that in our Lord the blows and torments were inflicted by the Jews themselves, while in his most pure mother they were caused by the Almighty in a miraculous manner and upon request of the Lady. According to natural laws, the vehemence of her interior sorrow and anxiety would have put an end to her life, but she was strengthened by divine power, so as to be able to continue to suffer with her beloved Son and Lord. The interior acts performed by the Savior under these barbarous and unheard of persecutions cannot be fathomed by human reason or faculties. Mary alone understood them fully, so as to be able to imitate them with the highest perfection. But as the Divine Master now experienced in his own person how necessary his sympathy would be for those who were to follow him and practice his doctrine, he exerted himself so much the more in procuring for them grace and blessings on this occasion in which he was teaching them by his own example the narrow way of perfection. In the midst of these injuries and torments, and those which followed thereafter, the Lord established for his perfect and chosen souls the beatitudes which he had promised and proposed to them some time before. He looked upon the poor in spirit who were to imitate him in this virtue and said, Blessed are you in being stripped of the earthly goods, for by my passion and death I am to entail upon you the heavenly kingdom as a secure and certain possession of voluntary poverty. Blessed are those who meekly suffer and bear adversities and tribulations, for besides the joy of having imitated me they shall possess the land of the hearts and the goodwill of men through the peacefulness of their intercourse and the sweetness of their virtues. Blessed are they that weep while they sow in tears, for in them they shall receive the bread of understanding and life, and they shall afterwards harvest the fruits of everlasting joy and bliss. Blessed are also those who hunger and thirst for justice and truth, for I shall earn for them satiation far beyond all their desires, as well in the reign of grace as in the reign of glory. Blessed are they who, imitating me in my offers of pardon and friendship, mercifully pity those that offend and persecute them, for I promise them the fullness of mercy from my Father. Blessed be the pure of heart, who imitate me in crucifying their flesh in order to preserve the purity of their souls. I promise them the vision of peace and of my divinity by becoming like unto me and by partaking of me. Blessed are the peaceful, who, yielding their rights, do not resist the evil-minded and deal with them with a sincere and tranquil heart without vengeance. They shall be called my children, because they imitate my eternal Father, and I shall write them in my memory and in my mind as my adopted sons. Those that suffer persecution for justice's sake shall be the blessed heirs of my celestial kingdom, since they suffer with me, and where I am there also they shall be in eternity. Rejoice ye, poor, be consoled all ye that are and shall be afflicted. Glory in your lot, ye little ones and despised ones of this world. You who suffer in humility and longanimity suffer with an interior rejoicing, since all of you are following me in the path of truth. Renounce vanity, despise the pomp and haughtiness of the false and deceitful Babylon. Pass ye through the fires and the waters of tribulation until you reach me, who am the light, the truth and your guide to the eternal rest and refreshment. In such divine acts and in other aspirations for the good of sinners, our Saviour Jesus occupied himself while he was surrounded by his malignant enemies as by ravenous dogs. Psalm 21 verse 17 For she made the same petitions for his enemies. She took charge of the blessings lavished by her son, upon the just and the predestined, and constituted herself as their mother, their helper and protectress. In the name of all of them, she composed hymns of praise and thanksgiving, because the Lord had assigned such an exalted position in the reign of grace to the despised and poor of this earth. On this account also, and on account of what she afterwards witnessed in the interior of Christ, she chose anew labor and contempt, tribulations and pains as her share during the passion and during the rest of her most holy life. St. Peter had followed the Lord Jesus from the house of Annas to that of Caiaphas, although he took care to walk at some distance behind the crowd of enemies for fear that the Jews might seize him. He partly repressed this fear on account of the love of his master and by the natural courage of his heart. Among the great multitude, which crowded in and out of the house of Caiaphas and in the darkness, it was not difficult for the apostle to find entrance into the house of Caiaphas. In the gates of the courtyard, a servant made, who was a fortress as in the house of Annas, likewise known as St. Peter, she immediately went up to the soldiers who stood at the fire with him and said, This man is one of those who were want to accompany Jesus of Nazareth. One of the bystanders said, Thou art surely a Galilean and one of them. St. Peter denied it and added an oath that he was not a disciple of Jesus, immediately leaving the company at the fire. Yet in his eagerness to see the end, although he left the courtyard, he did not leave the neighborhood. His natural love and compassion for the Lord still caused him to linger in the place where he saw him suffer so much. So the apostle moved about, sometimes nearer, sometimes farther, from the hall of justice for nearly an hour. Then a relative of Malchus, whose ear he had severed, recognized him and said, Thou art a Galilean and a disciple of Jesus, I saw thee with him in the garden. Then Peter deemed himself discovered was seized with still greater fear and he began to assert with oaths and implications that he knew not the man. Matthew chapter 26 verse 72 Immediately thereupon the cock crowed the second time and the prediction of his divine master that he should deny him thrice before the cock crowed twice was fulfilled to the letter. The infernal dragon was very anxious to destroy St. Peter. It was Lucifer that incited the two maids whom he could more easily influence and afterwards the soldiers to molest the apostle by their attention and inquiries. At the same time as soon as he saw him in his dangerous hesitation and change of mind he tried to disturb St. Peter by vivid imaginations of impending cruelty. Thus tempted Peter simply denied the Lord at first, added an oath to the second denial, and curses and implications against himself at the third. Hence from one sin he fell into another greater one, yielding to the cruel persecutions of the enemies. But St. Peter, now hearing the crowing of the cock, remembered the warning of his divine master. Luc chapter 22 verse 61 For the great queen in her gentle love, having interceded for him, the Lord now cast upon him a look of boundless mercy. From her oratory in the Seneca, she had witnessed the denials, together with all the circumstances and the causes which had brought the apostle to fall so deeply. She had seen him beset, with natural fear, and much more by the merciless assaults of Lucifer. She threw herself upon the ground, and tearfully interceded for him, alleging his frailty and appealing to the merits of her divine son. The Lord himself moved the heart of Peter, and by means of the light sent to him, gently reproached him, exhorting him to acknowledge his fault and deplore his sin. Immediately the apostle left the house of the high priest, bursting within most sorrow into bitter tears over his fall. In order to weep in the bitterness of his heart, he betook himself to a cave, even now called that of the crowing cock. There he poured forth his sorrow and confusion in a flood of tears. At the end of three hours, he had obtained pardon for his sins, and the holy impulses and inspirations had continued, during that whole time, until he was again restored to grace. The most pure mother and queen sent to him one of her angels, who secretly consoled him, and excited in him the hope of forgiveness, so that he might not delay his full pardon by want of trust in the goodness of God. The angel was ordered not to manifest himself, because the apostle had so recently committed his sin. Hence the angel fulfilled his commission without being seen by the apostle. St. Peter was consoled and strengthened in his great sorrow by these inspirations, and thus obtained full pardon through the intercession of most holy Mary. Instruction which the great queen and lady gave me. My daughter, the mysterious sacrament of the patience of my son, by which he bore all the affronts and insults, is a sealed book, which can be opened and understood only by the divine light. Thou hast come to the knowledge of it, as it has been partly laid open for thee, although on account of thy limited powers, thou rightest much less than thou hast seen. But as this mystery is being made clear and intelligible to thee, in the secret of thy heart, I wish that it be also written there, and that thou study by this living example, that divine science, which neither flesh nor blood, can teach thee. For the world does not know, nor does it merit to know, this science. This philosophy consists in recognizing and loving the happy lot of the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the despised, and those unknown among the children of vanity. This school my most holy and loving son, established in his church, when he proclaimed and set up the eight beatitudes. Matthew chapter 5 verses 2 through 10. Afterwards, when he himself assumed all the sufferings of his passion, he became for us a teacher who practices what he teaches, as thou hast seen. Nevertheless, although this is set before the eyes of the Catholics, and can be plainly read by them in this book of life, during their whole earthly pilgrimage, there are but few and scattered souls who enter into this school and study this book, while countless are the wayward and foolish who ignore this science in their unwillingness to be taught. All abhor poverty and thirst after riches, none of them being willing to recognize their emptiness. Infinite is the number of those who are carried away by their anger and vengeance, despising meekness. Few deplore their real miseries and struggle merely for terrestrial consolations. Scarcely any love justice, or loyally pursue it in their dealings with the neighbors. Mercy is almost extinct, purity of heart is sullied and infringed upon, peace is constrained. None grant pardon, none wish to suffer for justice's sake, yea not even the least of the many torments and pains which they have so justly merited. Thus, my dearest, there are few who attain the blessings promised by my Divine Son and by me. Many times the just indignation and anger of the Almighty is roused against the professors of the true faith, since in the very sight of the living example of their master, they live almost like infidels, many of them being even more abominable in their lives, for they are properly those who despise the freaks of the redemption which they have come to know and confess. In the land of saints they impiously perform the works of wickedness. Isaiah 26 verse 10 Mark chapter 11 verse 25 Proverbs chapter 31 verse 19 On account of this singular privilege, I was blessed in all virtues, without feeling any repugnance or opposition in the exercise of them, and without being conscious of owing satisfaction for any sins of my own. Nevertheless the divine enlightenment taught me that I was a daughter of Adam by nature, which in him had sinned, and therefore I felt bound to humiliate myself to the very dust, even though I shared none of the guilt of that sin. And since I also possess senses of the same kind as those through which sin and its effects were contracted and which then and afterwards are operative in present human conditions, I thought myself obliged to mortify them, humiliate them, and deprive them of the enjoyment proper to their nature, simply on account of this, my parentage from Adam. I acted like a most faithful daughter of a family who assumes the debt of her father and of her brothers as her own, though she had no share in contracting it, and who strives to pay and satisfy for it the most earnestly, the more she loves her family and the more they are unable to satisfy and free themselves from it, not giving herself any rest until she succeeds. This have I done with all the human race, whose miseries and transgressions I bewailed. Because I was a daughter of Adam, I mortified in me the senses and faculties with which he sinned, and I humiliated myself as one that had fallen and one guilty of his sin and disobedience, though I was entirely free from them. All this I did not only for Adam, but for all who by nature are my brethren. Thou canst not imitate me under light conditions, since thou art a partaker of his sin and guilt. But I herewith impose upon thee to labor without ceasing for thyself and for thy neighbor, and to humiliate thyself to the very dust, since a contrite and humble heart draws down mercy from the Divine Goodness. Book 2, Chapter 17, 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 17, the sufferings of our Savior Jesus Christ after the denial of Saint Peter until morning and the great sorrow of his most holy mother. The holy evangelists pass over in silence what and where the Savior suffered after the ill treatment in the house of Caiaphas and the denial of Saint Peter. But they all take up again the threat of events when they speak of the counsel held by them in the morning in order to deliver him over to Pilate, as will be related in the next chapter. I had some doubts as to the propriety of speaking of this intervening time and of manifesting that which was made known to me concerning it. For it was intimated to me that all cannot be known in this life nor is it proper that all should be made known to all men. On the day of judgment these and many other sacraments of the life and the passion of our Lord shall be published to the whole world. I cannot find words for describing that which I might otherwise manifest. I do not find adequate expression for my concepts and much less for the reality itself. All is ineffable and above my capacity. But in order to obey the orders given me I will say what I am able so as not to incur the blame of concealing the truth which directly reproaches and confuses our vanity and forgetfulness. In the presence of heaven I confess my own hardness of heart and not dying of sorrow and shame for having committed such great sins at such a cost to our God, the originator of my life and being. We cannot ignore the wickedness and gravity of sin which cause such ravages in the author of grace and glory. I would be the most ungrateful of all the women born if I would not now abhor sin more than death and as much as even the demon. And I cannot but intimate and assert that this is the duty likewise of all the children of the Holy Catholic Church. By the ill treatment which the Lord received in the presence of Caiaphas, the wrath of this high priest and of all his supporters and ministers was much gratified, though not at all satiated. But as it was already past midnight, the whole council of these wicked men resolved to take good care that the Savior be securely watched and confined until the morning, lest he should escape while they were asleep. For this purpose they ordered him to be locked, bound as he was, in one of the subterranean dungeons, a prison cell set apart for the most audacious robbers and criminals of the state. Scarcely any light penetrated into this prison to dispel its darkness. It was filled with such uncleanness and stench that it would have infected the whole house if it had not been so remote and so well enclosed. For it had not been clean for many years, both because it was so deep down and because of the degradation of the criminals that were confined in it, for none thought it worthwhile making it more habitable than for mere wild beasts, unworthy of all human kindness. The order of the council of wickedness was executed. The servants dragged the creator of heaven and earth to that polluted and subterranean dungeon there to imprison him. As the Lord was still bound with the fetters, laid upon him in the garden, these malicious men freely exercised all the wrathful cruelty with which they were inspired by the Prince of Darkness, for they dragged him forward by the ropes, inhumanly causing him to stumble and loading him with kicks and cuffs amid blasphemous implications. From the floor in one corner of the subterranean cavern protruded part of a rock or block which on account of its hardness had not been cut out. To this block, which had the appearance of a piece of column, they now bound and fettered the Lord Jesus with the ends of the ropes but in a most merciless manner. For they forced him to approach it and tied him to it in a stooping position so that he could neither seat himself nor stand upright for relief, forcing him to remain in a most painful and torturing posture. Thus they left him bound to the rock, closing the prison door with the key and giving it in charge of one of the most malicious of their number. But the infernal dragon rested not in his ancient pride. In the desire of finding out who this Christ was and of overcoming his imperturbable patience, he invented another scheme, to the execution of which he incited the jailer and some others of the servants. He inspired the one who held the key of the divine treasure trove, the greatest in heaven and earth, with the idea of inviting some of his equally evil-minded companions to descend to the dungeon and entertain themselves for a while with the master of life by forcing him to speak a prophecy or do some other strange or unheard of thing, for they believed him to be a diviner or magician. Moved by this diabolical suggestion, he invited some of the soldiers and servants who readily consented. While they were discussing this matter, a multitude of angels who assisted the Redeemer in his passion when they saw him so painfully bound in such an improper and polluted place, prostrated themselves before him, adoring him as their true God and master. And showing him so much the more reverence and worship, the more they admired the love which moved him to subject himself to such abuse for the sake of mankind. They sang to him some of the hymns and canticles which his own mother had composed in his praise, as I have mentioned above. The whole multitude of angelic spirits begged him, in the name of the same lady, that since he would not permit his own almighty power to alleviate the sufferings of his humanity, he give them permission to unfetter and relieve him of this torturing position and to defend him from that horrid of servants, now instigated by the demons to heap upon him new insults. The Lord would not permit the angels to render this service, and he said to them, Ministering spirits of my eternal father, I do not wish to accept any alleviation in my sufferings at present, and I desire to undergo these torments and affronts in order to satiate my burning love for men and leave to my chosen friends this example for their imitation and consolation in their sufferings, and in order that all may properly estimate the treasures of grace which I am gaining for them in great abundance through my pains. At the same time I wish to justify my cause, so that, on the day of my wrath, all may know how justly the reprobate shall be condemned for despising the most bitter sufferings by which I sought to save them. Tell my mother to console herself in this tribulation, since the day of rest and gladness shall come. Let her accompany me now in my works and sufferings for men, for her affectionate compassion and all her doings afford me much pleasure and enjoyment. Thereupon the holy angels betook themselves to their great queen and lady, and consoled her with this message, although she already knew in another way the will of her divine son, and all that happened in the house of Caiaphas. When she perceived the new cruelty with which they had left Christ the Lord, bound in a posture so painful and hard, she felt in her purest body the same pains, just as she had felt that of the blows and cuffs and other insults inflicted upon the author of life. All the sufferings of the Lord miraculously reacted upon the virginal body of this sincerest dove, the same pains beset the mother and son, and the same sword pierced both their hearts, with only this difference that Christ suffered as God-man and sole redeemer of mankind, while Mary suffered as a creature and as a faithful helper of her most holy son. When the Blessed Queen perceived that this band of vile miscretans, incited by the devil, would be permitted to enter the dungeon, she wept bitterly at what was to happen. For seeing the malicious intentions of Lucifer, she held herself ready to make use of her sovereign power to prevent the executions of any designs upon the person of Christ that would imply indecency, such as the dragon sought to induce those happy men to carry out. For although all they did was most unbecoming and irreverent in his regard, yet there were insults which would have been still more indecent, and by which the demon, not having succeeded hitherto, desired now to try the meek forbearance of the Lord. So exquisite and rare, wonderful and heroic were the doings of the Lady at this time and during the whole passion, that they could not worthily be mentioned or becomingly extolled, even if many books were written for this sole object, and as they are indescribable in this life, we must leave this full revelation to the beatific vision. The ministers of wickedness therefore broke into the dungeon, blasphemously gloating over the expected feast of insult and ridicule, which they were now going to hold with the Lord of all creation. Going up to him they began to defile him with their loathsome spittle and rain blows and cuffs upon him with unmentionable and insulting mockery. The Lord opened not his mouth or made an answer. He raised not his divine eyes and lost not the humble serenity of his countenance. The sacrilegious buffoons wished to drive him to some ridiculous or extraordinary saying or action so that they might make a laughingstock of him as a sorcerer, and when they were compelled to witness his unchanging meekness, they allowed themselves to be incited still more by the demons. They untied the Divine Master from the stone block and placed him in the middle of the dungeon, at the same time blindfolding him with a cloth. There they began to come up, one after the other, and strike him with their fists or slap or kick him, each one trying to outdo the other in vehemence of their blasphemous cruelty and asking him to prophesy who had struck him. This kind of sacrilegious treatment these servants repeated even more often and continued longer than before the tribunal of Annas to which Saint Matthew, Chapter 26, Verse 67, Saint Mark, Chapter 14, Verse 65, and Saint Luke, Chapter 22, Verse 64, refer, tacitly including all that followed. The most meek lamb silently bore this flood of insults and blasphemies. Lucifer, tormented by his anxious desire of seeing some sign of impatience in him, was lashed into fury at the equanimity with which the Savior bore it all. Therefore he inspired those slaves and friends of his with the project of despoiling the Lord of all his clothes and pursuing their ill treatment according to suggestions which could only originate in the excruable demon. They readily yielded to this new inspiration and said about its execution, but the most prudent lady was moved to most tearful prayers and aspirations at this abominable attempt and interfered with her power as the Queen. She asked the Eternal Father to withdraw his cooperation with the secondary or created causes towards such a beginning, and she commanded the faculties of these servants not to perform their natural functions. Thus it happened that none of the Ruffians could execute the indecencies which the demon or their own malice suggested to them. Some of these suggestions they forgot immediately and others they could not follow up because their limbs became as it were frozen or paralyzed until they again changed their intent. As soon as they desisted the use of their limbs would again be restored for this was not intended as a punishment but merely in order to prevent their practicing any indecencies. They were left entirely free to practice those cruelties or indulge in other irreverence which was not so indecent or were permitted by the Lord. The powerful Queen also commanded the demons to be silent and forbade them to follow out the indecent intentions of Lucifer, their leader. By this command of the powerful lady the dragon completely lost his power in those matters which Mary wished to include in her prohibition. Neither could he further irritate the foolish anger of those depraved men nor could they go any further in their indecency than she permitted. But while experiencing within themselves the wonderful and extraordinary effects of her commands they did not merit to be undeceived or recognize the divine power, although they thus saw themselves alternately paralyzed and suddenly restored to the full use of their powers. They attributed it to the sorcery and magic of the Master of Truth. In their diabolical infatuation they continued to practice their insulting mockery and tortures upon the person of Christ until they noticed that the night had already far advanced. Then they again tied him to the column and leaving him thus bound they departed with all the demons. It was ordained by the divine wisdom that the power of the Blessed Mother safeguarded propriety and decency due to the person of her most pure son against the improper intentions of Lucifer and his ministers. Again the Savior was alone in the dungeon surrounded by the angelic spirits who were full of admiration at the doings and the secret judgments of the Lord in what he wished to suffer. They adored him with the deepest reverence and magnified his name in exalted praise. The Redeemer of the World addressed a long prayer to his eternal Father for the children of the Evangelical Church, for the spreading of the Holy Faith and for the Apostles, especially for Saint Peter who during that time was beweeping his sin. He prayed also for those who had injured and tormented him. Above all he included in his prayer his most holy mother and all those who in imitation of him were to be afflicted and despised in this world. At the same time he offered up his passion and his coming death for these ends. His grief-stricken mother followed him in these prayers offering up the same petitions for the children of the Church and for its enemies without any movements of anger, indignation or dislike toward them. Only against the demon was she incensed because he was entirely incapable of grace on account of his irreparable obstinacy. In sorrowful complaints she addressed the Lord saying, Though art worthy to be reverenced, honoured and praised by all creatures, since thou art the image of the eternal Father and the figure of his substance. Letter to the Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 Infinite in thy being and in thy perfections, thou art the beginning of all holiness. Apocalypse chapter 1 verse 8 But if the creatures are to serve thee in entire subjection, why do they now, my Lord and God, despise, vilify, insult and torture thy person, which is worthy of the highest worship and adoration? Why has the malice of men risen to such a pitch? Why has pride dared to raise itself even above heaven? How can envy become so powerful? Thou art the only and unclouded son of justice which enlightens and dispels the darkness of sin. John chapter 1 verse 9 Thou art the fountain of grace withholding its waters from no one. Thou art the one who in his liberal love give his being and life to all that live upon this earth and all things depend upon thee while thou hast need of none. Acts of the Apostles chapter 17 verse 28 What then have they seen in thy doings? What have they found in thy passion? That they should treat thee in so vile a manner, almost atrocious wickedness of sin which has so disfigured the heavenly beauty and obscured the light of thy countenance? O cruel sin, which so inhumanly pursues the repairer of all thy evil consequences, but I understand my son and master, I understand that thou art the builder of true love, the author of human salvation, the master and Lord of virtues. Psalm 23 verse 10 Thou wishes to put in practice thyself, what thou teaches the humble disciples of thy school, thou wishes to humble pride, confound haughtiness and become the example of eternal salvation to all. And if thou desires that all imitate thy ineffable patience and charity, then that is my duty above all others, since I have administered to thee the material and clothed thee in this body, now subjected to suffering and wounded, spit upon and buffeted. O would that I alone should suffer these pains, and that thou, my most innocent son, be spared. And since this is not possible, let me suffer with thee unto death. You, O heavenly spirits, who full of wonder at the long suffering of my son, recognize his immutable deity and the innocence and excellence of his humanity, seek ye to compensate for these injuries and blasphemies heaped upon him by men, give him glory and magnificence, wisdom, honor, virtue and power. Apocalypse chapter 5 verse 12 Invite the heavens, the planets and the stars and the elements to acknowledge and confess him and see whether there is another sorrow equal to mine. Such and many more were the sorrowful aspirations of the most pure lady in giving vent to the bitterness of her grief and pain. Peerless was the patience of the heavenly princess in the death and passion of her beloved son and lord, so that what she suffered never seemed to her much, nor her afflictions equal to those demanded by her affection, which was measured only by the love and the dignity of her son and the greatness of his sufferings. Nor did she in any of the injuries and affronts against the lord take any account of their being committed against herself. She reflected not on the share which she herself had in them, although she was made to suffer so much by all of them. She deplored them only insofar as they outraged the divine personality and caused damage to the aggressors. She prayed for them all that the Most High might pardon them and grant them salvation from the evils of sin and enlightenment for gaining the fruits of redemption. Instruction given by the Queen of Heaven, Most Holy Mary. My daughter, it is written in the Holy Gospels. John chapter 5 verse 57 That the Eternal Father has given to his only son and mine the power to judge and condemn the reprobate on the last day, the day of universal judgment. This was eminently proper, not only in order that all the sinners may see their judge who will sentence them according to the most just will of God, but also in order that they may behold and recognize his humanity by which they were redeemed and be confronted in it with the torments and injuries it suffered in order to rescue them from eternal damnation. The same judge and Lord, who shall judge them, shall also advance the charge. As they cannot answer or satisfy for the crimes with which he charges them, their confusion will be only the beginning of the eternal torments which they merited by their obstinate in gratitude, for then shall become evident to all the world the greatness of his most merciful and kind redemption and the justice of their damnation. Great was the sorrow, most bitter the grief, of my most holy son, that not all should make use of the fruits of his redemption. This same thought also pierced my heart and immensely added to the sorrow of seeing him spit upon, buffeted and blasphemed, more cruelly than can ever be understood by living man, but I understood all these sufferings clearly and as they should be understood. Therefore, my sorrow was great in proportion to this knowledge just as it was also the measure of my reverence and love of the person of Christ, my son and Lord. But next to this sorrow, my greatest one was to know that after all these death-dealing sufferings of the Lord, so many men should still damn themselves even within sight of all the infinite treasures of grace. I wish that thou imitate and follow me in the sorrow and that thou lament this fearful misfortune, for among all the losses sustained by men there is none which deserves to be so deplored nor which can ever be compared to it. My son and I look with a special love upon those who imitate this sorrow and afflict themselves on account of the perdition of so many souls. Seek thou, my dearest, to distinguish thyself in this exercise and continue to pray, for thou canst scarcely imagine how acceptable are such prayers to the Almighty, but remember his promise that those who pray shall receive. Luke 11 verse 9 And that to those who knock, the gates of his infinite treasures shall be opened. In order that thou mayest have something to offer in return, right into thy heart, what my most holy Son and thy spouse suffered at the hands of those vile and depraved men, and the invincible patience, meekness and silence with which he submitted to their wicked whims. With this example, labor from now on, that no anger nor any other passion of a daughter of Adam have any sway over thee. Let an interior and ever-active horror of pride and a dread of injuring thy neighbor be engendered in thy bosom. Solicitously ask the Lord for patience, meekness and peacefulness, and for a love of sufferings and Christ's cross. Embrace this cross with a pious affection and follow Christ thy spouse in order that thou mayest at last possess him. Matthew chapter 16 verse 14 End of chapter 17