“Mother of my Lord, I beg you to offer the sacrifice of my life to your Son!”
Then Mary welcomed the soul of the first martyred Apostle of Christ and accompanied him to his triumphant reception in the glory of heaven, where Almighty God said to her:
“My Daughter, for the exaltation of My Holy Name, for thy glory, and for the benefit of mortals, I now give thee My royal word that if men, at the hour of their death, call upon thee with affection, like my servant James, I will look upon them with fatherly mercy.”
Meanwhile St. Peter had also been arrested by order of Herod. As the Blessed Virgin in her retreat in Ephesus saw in visions all that was happening to the Christians in Jerusalem, she prayed more fervently than ever that this severe persecution might soon come to an end. Thereupon the Lord instructed her to send back into hell the demons who were stimulating the hatred of the Church’s enemies, and to order one of her angels to free St. Peter from prison, and to consent to the decree of God’s justice that Herod, since his hard heart was beyond redemption, be stricken dead, although Mary wept over the loss of that cruel ruler’s soul.
During their brief stay in Ephesus, the Blessed Virgin converted a number of persons to faith in Christ by the example of her charity among the poor and the sick, whom she regularly assisted with her own hands, particularly when they were dying. She prayed especially for the deluded young pagan priestesses of the famous Temple of Diana and succeeded in bringing nine of them to belief in the true God.
One day the Blessed Virgin received a letter from St. Peter which, out of humility, she asked St. John to open and read to her. Peter requested them to meet him and the other Apostles in Jerusalem in order to decide whether the practices of the Law of Moses should be retained among the Gentile converts. Mary and John therefore took the next ship to Palestine. During the journey the devils tried desperately to make the boat sink in a series of terrible storms which lasted for fourteen days, until finally, due to Mary’s unwavering faith and prayers, her divine Son appeared to her above the sea and calmed it.
As soon as she arrived in Jerusalem, although she wished first of all to visit the Way of the Cross, the Blessed Virgin went right to the Cenacle to greet St. Peter. Then, accompanied by her angels, she visited the holy places, and when she came to Mount Olivet, Jesus showed Himself again to His Mother as a reward for having obeyed St. Peter’s summons before attending to her devotions.
When St. Paul and St. Barnabas came to Jerusalem for the council, they went first of all to thank the Mother of their Saviour for their conversion. And as Mary knelt and kissed St. Paul’s hands, he was favored with a mystical insight into the unique role of the Blessed Virgin in the Church of Christ.
St. Peter insisted that Mary should attend the first meeting of the assembled Apostles and disciples, at which he announced that they would pray together to the Holy Spirit for ten days before deciding the difficult question that confronted them. On the first and last day he celebrated Mass and distributed Holy Communion. The Blessed Virgin personally cleaned and decorated the hall of the Cenacle for the first of these ceremonies. But during the ten days she retired to her room, where she remained without eating or speaking to anyone.
At this time she had a mystical experience in which she was shown Lucifer and all his companions being obliged to hear Almighty God announce to them that the Mother of the Saviour would always defend His Church from their attacks. Then the Lord told her to exercise her authority and drive the demons back into the abyss, while the Holy Trinity assured her that the Church would ever be assisted by the omnipotence of the Father, the wisdom of the Son, and the love of the Holy Ghost.
On the tenth day the council met and wisely decided not to impose the ancient Jewish practices on the Gentile converts.
Later, when Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in turn began to write the Gospels, the Blessed Virgin not only prayed for them, but also appeared to each and requested him not to mention her except when absolutely necessary. Only St. Luke received her permission to write somewhat more freely about her, and he drew much of his information from her direct inspiration. Even when St. John wrote his Gospel some years after Mary’s death, she appeared to him and told him that it was still not opportune for him to reveal the mysteries which he knew concerning her part in the plan of the Redemption, in order that many of the new Christians who had been idolaters should not make a goddess of the holy Mother of their God.
When the Apostles and disciples left Jerusalem after the historic Council, the Blessed Virgin gave to St. Paul and Barnabas some relics of Christ’s clothes and objects used in the Passion. She continued to take a close personal interest in the travels and labors of all the principal missionaries of the new Church, and therefore she commanded her angels to watch over them and report to her everything that happened to them.
Very often, at her command, her angels appeared visibly to the Apostles and encouraged them with messages from the Mother of their Master. At other times the angels invisibly accompanied and protected them, or warned them of dangers and indicated what they should do in special circumstances.
Besides frequently writing letters to the Apostles, Mary was allowed to appear to them on several occasions when they prayed for her help in some emergency. Thus she appeared to St. Peter when he was in Antioch and again in Rome.
With her own hands, she prepared all that was needed by the Apostles for the service of the altar.
Frequently, and especially on great religious feast days, she visited the poor and the sick in Jerusalem, consoling and assisting them by washing the women and children and by giving them nourishing food which she had cooked for them or some clothing which she had accepted for distribution among the needy.
The holy Mother of God had now attained a degree of radiant sanctity in which the mere sight of her was at times sufficient to convert even bitter opponents of the Church. A prominent and cultured Jew for whom she had been praying was one day inspired by his guardian angel with the desire of seeing, merely out of idle curiosity, the Mother of the now-famous crucified Jesus of Nazareth. Yet as soon as Mary quietly and prudently spoke to this distinguished man, he fell to the ground at her feet, confessing Christ as the Saviour of the world and begging for baptism.
When Satan perceived all the good that the Blessed Virgin was accomplishing for the young Church, he resolved to destroy her in one concerted attack by all his demons, which they launched against her one day while she was praying alone in her room. During this intense spiritual conflict, Mary prayed for all souls who are afflicted by the devil, and the Lord granted her the power of protecting all who turn to her when they are tempted. Then the Saviour appeared to her as her loving Son, accompanied by St. Joachim and St. Ann and many patriarchs, prophets, and angels. And Almighty God gave Lucifer a vision of the Virgin Mother as “a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and upon her head was a crown of twelve stars.” And the demons realized with anguish that they were defeated and bound by the God-given power of this holy Virgin whom they had planned to destroy. Then the Lord said to His Mother:
“My Beloved, thou hast given Me human form. Thou hast followed and imitated Me above all My creatures. Be thou therefore the protectress of My Church. Command the infernal dragon that as long as thou shalt live in the Church, he shall not sow the seed of error and heresy, for during the days of thy life I desire that the Church derive this advantage from thy presence.”
And as soon as Mary uttered the command, “that great dragon was cast down to the earth, and with him his angels. . . .”
More and more as the years passed, the Blessed Virgin felt torn between her ever-increasing longing for union with God in heaven and her compassionate love for the Church and for mankind. She therefore had to strive to achieve the right adjustment between the active and the contemplative life. However, as she prayed for divine guidance in this difficult problem, God raised her to a unique mystical state of continuous abstractive vision which became more intense ever
y day and which filled her soul with infused wisdom. Thus by a special privilege she enjoyed without interruption, whether working or resting, a profound and intimate spiritual union of heart, mind, and soul with her beloved Son and God. Consequently, while remaining actively attentive to the needs and welfare of all the children of the Church, she was also able to be continually absorbed in prayerful contemplation.
Every day of her life after the death of her divine Son, and especially every Friday, the Blessed Virgin relived and commemorated the Passion of Jesus in all its harrowing details. In order to make reparation for the insults and tortures which He had suffered, she recited appropriate prayers and performed various acts of mortification for each of the hate-filled words and blows that sinful men had heaped on their God on Good Friday. Many times during these devotions she wept tears of blood which covered her face, and she was bathed in a bloody sweat, so intense was her identification with her Son’s sufferings. She obtained St. John’s permission to remain alone in her room each week from five o’clock on Thursday afternoon until Sunday morning. Then, beginning with the Washing of the Feet, she beheld in vision and compassionately re-experienced in her soul and body all that Jesus had endured for men during those hours in Holy Week.
Nearly every day she heard Mass, usually celebrated by St. John, and received Holy Communion, after which she would withdraw and remain alone in her room for three hours. So fervent were her preparation before and her thanksgiving after Communion that often her divine Son responded by a personal visit to His Mother. During these hours of ecstatic contemplation St. John sometimes saw rays of bright light darting forth from Mary as she prayed.
Toward the end of her life, through the intensity of her burning charity, the Blessed Virgin’s soul had approached so closely to union with God that only the Lord’s reluctance to deprive His Church of such an invaluable guide restrained Him from welcoming her forever into the glory of heaven. She then began to suffer a ceaseless spiritual martyrdom, for she could no longer hold back the overflowing force of her yearning for heaven and the Beatific Vision of God; yet she was too humble ever to ask for the privilege of liberation from mortal life. At this time, therefore, Almighty God rewarded her with the special grace of celebrating the joys of the Resurrection in a mystical way every Sunday and of enjoying a still more intimate union with Him in daily Communion. And He said to her:
“My most loving Mother, I shall be with thee in a wonderful new manner, as long as thy mortal life lasts. And soon thou shalt be free from the fetters of thy mortal body.”
Henceforth, at the command of the Lord through an angel, St. John gave the Blessed Virgin Holy Communion every day until the end of her life. And at the moment when she received the Holy Eucharist, the Saviour manifested Himself to her in His sacred humanity in the form which He had when He instituted the Blessed Sacrament, but His appearance was more glorious and more resplendent than at the Transfiguration.
The Mother of God also commemorated every year with profound joy and gratitude the anniversaries of the Annunciation and the Nativity and many of the feasts honoring the Mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption which the Church has since instituted.
Every year on the feast of the Ascension, the Lord asked His Mother whether she would prefer to remain henceforth forever in the joy of heaven or whether she wished to return to the world to help the Church. Each year she humbly answered that if it was the will of God, she would gladly return to labor for mankind, for whom He had suffered and died.
The Blessed Virgin said to St. Bridget of Sweden:
“After the Ascension of my Son, I still lived a long time in the world. Such was the Will of God, in order that by seeing my patience and my conduct many more souls might be converted to Him, and in order that the Apostles and other elect souls of God might be strengthened. Also the natural constitution of my being required that I should live longer and that thereby my crown might be increased.
“During all the time that I lived after my Son’s Ascension, I visited the places where He had suffered and where He had performed His miracles. Thus the memory of His Passion became so imprinted on my heart that it ever remained quite fresh in my mind, whether I happened to be eating or working.
“My senses were so completely withdrawn from worldly things that I constantly alternated between new supernatural yearnings and sorrows. Yet I controlled my grief and my joy in such a way that I did not neglect any of my duties toward God. My way of life among people was such that apart from my scanty meals I paid no attention to what human beings thought of me or expected me to do.”
XXXVI
The Dormition
fter the Blessed Virgin had passed her sixtieth birthday, the Holy Trinity, wishing to reward her perfect generosity in doing the will of God throughout her life, sent the Archangel Gabriel to reveal to her when she was destined to die.
Upon entering her oratory, the archangel found her prostrated on the ground in the form of a cross, praying for sinners. The Mother of God respectfully rose to her knees as soon as she perceived Gabriel, who was accompanied by many angels bearing crowns and palms as symbols of various rewards for their Queen.
Gabriel greeted Mary with these words:
“The Lord sends us to announce to thee in His name the happy end of thy pilgrimage upon earth. Exactly three years from today thou shalt be taken up and received into the everlasting joy of heaven.”
The Blessed Virgin bowed to the ground and replied gratefully:
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word.”
Then for two hours she alternated with the angels in hymns of thanksgiving to God for this welcome news, and she asked the Lord and all the saints and angels to help her prepare for death.
From that moment Mary intensified all her devotions as if she wished to make up for any past relaxation in her fervor. She immediately wrote to the Apostles and disciples to encourage them in their missionary work, and she exercised still greater zeal in strengthening the faith of all the converts whom she met. Although she kept her secret, her conduct was that of a person who is preparing to depart and who wishes to leave all her friends rich in heavenly blessings.
A few days later, however, she said to St. John:
“My son and master, in His condescending mercy the Lord has revealed to me that there remain only three more years until my passage into eternal life. I beseech you, my son, to help me during this short space of time to give the Almighty some return for the immense blessings which I have received from His generous love. And from the bottom of my heart I beseech you to pray for me.”
Unable to restrain his tears, John answered:
“My Mother and my Lady, help your poor child who is going to be left an orphan. . . .”
Seeing that his tender heart was stricken with intense pain, Mary gently consoled him and assured him that she would ever remain his Mother and Advocate in heaven.
Although John was at first permitted to reveal the secret of their approaching loss only to St. James the Less, by a divine inspiration the other Apostles and disciples, wherever they happened to be, began to realize that the beloved Mother of their Saviour would not be with them on earth much longer. In fact Almighty God filled the whole of creation with a mysterious sorrow over the prospective death of its Queen. The light of the sun and stars and planets lost some of its brightness during the last days of her life. The birds of the air seemed to be especially affected, for often in the presence of St. John they surrounded Mary’s oratory in great numbers and sang sorrowful notes until she ordered them to praise their Creator with joy as usual. And once while she was visiting the holy places, some wild animals from the hills around Jerusalem came up to her, bowed their heads, and uttered mournful sounds.
St. John became so grief stricken that often he was unable to hide his sorrow. Several times some of the Holy Women saw him weeping, and in the end—for the Lord did not wish to take His Mother from them without warning—they persuaded John
to disclose to them the cause of his grief. Thus the tragic impending loss of the Church eventually became known to Mary’s closest friends, who henceforth begged her to take them with her or not to forget them in heaven.
During the last two years of her life, the Blessed Virgin greatly increased her charity work. She healed in body and soul all the sick who came to her. She drew innumerable persons from sin to grace and made many new converts to the Church. She relieved the misery of the poor by giving them whatever possessions or gifts she had and often by performing miracles for them. In every way she generously strove to help the faithful personally before her death. And above all she consoled and encouraged them by promising that she would continue to help all Christians until the end of time.
During the last days of her life, the Saviour visited His Mother more often than before, comforting her affectionately and assuring her that He would soon place her on a royal throne in heaven. On these occasions Mary fervently interceded for all living and future servants of the Church. Whenever she received Holy Communion, those who saw her noticed that her lovely features shone for several hours afterward with a marvelous radiance that filled her friends with mystical joy.
The Life of Mary as Seen by the Mystics Page 24
