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22. The plan adopted by the three persons of the Blessed
Trinity in the Incarnation, the first coming of Jesus Christ, is
adhered to each day in an invisible manner throughout the Church
and they will pursue it to the end of time until the last coming
of Jesus Christ.
23. God the Father gathered all the waters together and called
them the seas (maria). He gathered all his graces together and
called them Mary (Maria). The great God has a treasury or
storehouse full of riches in which he has enclosed all that is
beautiful, resplendent, rare, and precious, even his own Son. This
immense treasury is none other than Mary whom the saints call the
"treasury of the Lord". From her
fullness all men are made rich.
24. God the Son imparted to his mother all that he gained by his
life and death, namely, his infinite merits and his eminent
virtues. He made her the treasurer of all his Father had given him
as heritage. Through her he applies his merits to his members and
through her he transmits his virtues and distributes his graces.
She is his mystical channel, his aqueduct, through which he causes
his mercies to flow gently and abundantly.
25. God the Holy Spirit entrusted his wondrous gifts to Mary, his
faithful spouse, and chose her as the dispenser of all he
possesses, so that she distributes all his gifts and graces to
whom she wills, as much as she wills, how she wills and when she
wills. No heavenly gift is given to men which does not pass
through her virginal hands. Such indeed is the will of God, who
has decreed that we should have all things through Mary, so that,
making herself poor and lowly, and hiding herself in the depths
of nothingness during her whole life, she might be enriched,
exalted and honoured by almighty God. Such are the views of the
Church and the early Fathers.
26. Were I speaking to the so-called intellectuals of today, I
would prove at great length by quoting Latin texts taken from
Scripture and the Fathers of the Church all that I am now stating
so simply. I could also instance solid proofs which can be read in
full in Fr. Poir�'s book "The Triple Crown of the Blessed Virgin".
But I am speaking mainly for the poor and simple who have more
good will and faith than the common run of scholars. As they
believe more simply and more meritoriously, let me merely state
the truth to them quite plainly without bothering to quote Latin
passages which they would not understand. Nevertheless, I shall
quote some texts as they occur to my mind as I go along.
27. Since grace enhances our human nature and glory adds a still
greater perfection to grace, it is certain that our Lord remains
in heaven just as much the Son of Mary as he was on earth.
Consequently he has retained the submissiveness and obedience of
the most perfect of all children towards the best of all mothers.
We must take care, however, not to consider this dependence as an
abasement or imperfection in Jesus Christ. For Mary, infinitely
inferior to her Son, who is God, does not command him in the same
way as an earthly mother would command her child who is beneath
her. Since she is completely transformed in God by that grace and
glory which transforms all the saints in him, she does not ask or
wish or do anything which is contrary to the eternal and
changeless will of God.
When therefore we read in the writings of Saint Bernard, Saint
Bernardine, Saint Bonaventure, and others that all in heaven and
on earth, even God himself, is subject to the Blessed Virgin, they
mean that the authority which God was pleased to give her is so
great that she seems to have the same power as God. Her prayers
and requests are so powerful with him that he accepts them as
commands in the sense that he never resists his dear mother's
prayer because it is always humble and conformed to his will.
Moses by the power of his prayer curbed God's anger against the
Israelites so effectively that the infinitely great and merciful
Lord was unable to withstand him and asked Moses to let him be
angry and punish that rebellious people.
How much greater, then, will be the prayer of the humble Virgin
Mary, worthy Mother of God, which is more powerful with the King
of heaven than the prayers and intercession of all the angels and
saints in heaven and on earth.
28. Mary has authority over the angels and the blessed in heaven.
As a reward for her great humility, God gave her the power and the
mission of assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by the
apostate angels who fell away through pride. Such is the will of
almighty God who exalts the humble, that the powers of heaven,
earth and hell, willingly or unwillingly, must obey the commands
of the humble Virgin Mary. For God has made her queen of heaven
and earth, leader of his armies, keeper of his treasures,
dispenser of his graces, worker of his wonders, restorer of the
human race, mediatrix
on behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies, and faithful associate
in his great works and triumphs.
29. God the Father wishes Mary to be the mother of his children
until the end of time and so he says to her, "Dwell in Jacob",
that is to say, take up your abode permanently in my children, in
my holy ones represented by Jacob, and not in the children of the
devil and sinners represented by Esau.
30. Just as in natural and bodily generation there is a father and
a mother, so in the supernatural and spiritual generation there is
a father who is God and a mother who is Mary. All true children of
God have God for their father and Mary for their mother; anyone
who does not have Mary for his mother, does not have God for his
father. This is why the reprobate, such as heretics and
schismatics, who hate, despise or ignore the Blessed Virgin, do
not have God for their father though they arrogantly claim they
have, because they do not have Mary for their mother. Indeed if
they had her for their mother they would love and honour her as
good and true children naturally love and honour the mother who
gave them life. An infallible and unmistakable sign by which we
can distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of
God, from one of God's true friends is that the heretic and the
hardened sinner show nothing but contempt and indifference for our
Lady. He endeavours by word and example, openly or insidiously -
sometimes under specious pretexts - to belittle
the love and veneration shown to her. God the Father has not told
Mary to dwell in them because they are, alas, other Esaus.
31. God the Son wishes to form himself, and, in a manner of
speaking, become incarnate every day in his members through his
dear Mother. To her he said: "Take Israel for your inheritance."
It is as if he said, God the Father has given me as heritage all
the nations of the earth, all men good and evil, predestinate and
reprobate. To the good I shall be father and advocate, to the bad
a just avenger, but to all I shall be a judge. But you, my dear
Mother, will have for your heritage and possession only the
predestinate represented by Israel. As their loving mother, you
will give them birth, feed them and rear them. As their queen, you
will lead, govern and defend them.
32. "This one and that one were born in her." According to the
explanation of some of the Fathers, the first man born of Mary is
the God-man, Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ, the head of mankind,
is born of her, the predestinate, who are members of this head,
must also as a necessary consequence be born of her. One and the
same mother does not give birth to the head without the members
nor to the members without the head, for these would be monsters
in the order of nature. In the order of grace likewise the head
and the members are born of the same mother. If a member of the
mystical body of Christ, that is, one of the predestinate, were
born of a mother other than Mary who gave birth to the head, he
would not be one of the predestinate, nor a member of Jesus
Christ, but a monster in
the order of grace.
33. Moreover, Jesus is still as much as ever the fruit of Mary, as
heaven and earth repeat thousands of times a day: "Blessed is the
fruit of thy womb, Jesus." It is therefore certain that Jesus is
the fruit and gift of Mary for every single man who possesses him,
just as truly as he is for all mankind. Consequently, if any of
the faithful have Jesus formed in their heart they can boldly say,
"It is thanks to Mary that what I possess is Jesus her fruit, and
without her I would not have him." We can attribute more truly to
her what Saint Paul said of himself, "I am in labour again with
all the children of God until Jesus Christ, my Son, is formed in
them to the fullness of his age." Saint Augustine, surpassing
himself as well as all that I have said so far, affirms that in
order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God all the
predestinate, while in the world, are hidden in the womb of the
Blessed Virgin where they are protected, nourished, cared for and
developed by this good Mother, until the day she brings them forth
to a life of glory after death, which the Church calls the
birthday of the just. This is indeed a mystery of grace unknown to
the reprobate and little known even to the predestinate!
34. God the Holy Spirit wishes to fashion his chosen ones in and
through Mary. He tells her, "My well-beloved, my spouse, let all
your virtues take root in my chosen ones that they may grow from
strength to strength and from grace to grace. When you were living
on earth, practising the most sublime virtues, I was so pleased
with you that I still desire to find you on earth without your
ceasing to be in heaven. Reproduce yourself then in my chosen
ones, so that I may have the joy of seeing in them the roots of
your invincible faith, profound humility, total mortification,
sublime prayer, ardent charity, your firm
hope and all your virtues. You are always my spouse, as faithful,
pure, and fruitful as ever. May your faith give me believers; your
purity, virgins; your fruitfulness, elect and living temples."
35. When Mary has taken root in a soul she produces in it wonders
of grace which only she can produce; for she alone is the fruitful
virgin who never had and never will have her equal in purity and
fruitfulness. Together with the Holy Spirit Mary produced the
greatest thing that ever was or ever will be: a God-man. She will
consequently produce the marvels which will be seen in the latter
times. The formation and the education of the great saints who
will come at the end of the world are reserved to her, for only
this singular and wondrous virgin can produce in union with the
Holy Spirit singular and
wondrous things. 36. When the Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds
Mary in a soul, he hastens there and enters fully into it. He
gives himself generously to that soul according to the place it
has given to his spouse. One of the main reasons why the Holy
Spirit does not work striking wonders in souls is that he fails to
find in them a sufficiently close union with his faithful and
inseparable spouse. I say "inseparable spouse", for from the
moment the substantial love of the Father and the Son espoused
Mary to form Jesus, the head of the elect, and Jesus in the elect,
he has never disowned her, for she has always been faithful and
fruitful.
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