Excerpts from Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda

[Therese]

'The Almighty ordained that the message of the Conception of his holy Mother should  in some way be similar to the one, by which the Incarnation was announced.  For saint Anne was mediating in humble fervor upon her, who was to bear the Mother of the Incarnate Word.  And the most holy Virgin was making the same reflection upon Her, who was to be the Mother of God, as I will relate in its place (Part II, 117).  It was also the same angel, that brought both messages, and in human form, though he showed himself in a more beautiful and mysterious shape to the Virgin Mary.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God

["The author has made use of capital letters in the text slightly at variance with common usage, in order to avoid complication and secure greater clearness.  The paragraph numbers are those of the newest Spanish edition of "Ciudad de Dios" in 1912.  In the abridgement they vary slightly."

--Translator]

[mod edit: thread title changed on request, additional info added]

[Shin]

I remember reading about St. Joachim and St. Anne in the past and their holy lives as well as the holy lives of the people they belonged to.

These were the few people who were truly preparing for the Savior and following religion properly!

[Therese]

I remember reading about St. Joachim and St. Anne in the past and their holy lives as well as the holy lives of the people they belonged to.

These were the few people who were truly preparing for the Savior and following religion properly!

Yes, and I read in the City of God that St. Anne was unexcelled in the infused virtues of faith, hope and love.  But afterwards, her daughter Mary must have excelled her, no?  Both St. Anne and St. Joaquim were descendants of the Aaronic priesthood and were most holy and upright, the perfect parents for the Arc of the Covenant and the perfect grandparents for God.  The City of God mentions that Jesus had a Father in Heaven with no Mother, and a Mother on earth with no Father.  Now we can say that He has a Father and Mother with Him in Heaven.  God bless you.   

[Therese]

'Much like to this, though much more wonderful, was the miracle of the Conception of Mary most holy in her mother Anne.  The parents were so entirely governed by grace and withdrawn from concupiscence and delectation, that the accidental imperfections, which ordinarily are the material or the instruments of conception, and which induce original sin, were altogether wanting.  Thus was furnished a material exempt form imperfection and furnished in such a manner that the act itself was meritorious.  Hence in so far as this act was concerned it could easily be free from sin or imperfection, even if divine Providence had not previously arranged every particular of this event.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. I, p. 176

[whiterockdove]

I am at the beginning of this wonderful book ( actually books! There are multiple volumes)
I have been thinking on this part; in referring to the creation of Mary, (95.); "This sign was also like the rainbow which appeared after the flood in the clouds of heaven, as a guarantee that even if men should sin like the angels and become disobedient, they were not to be punished like the angels without remission, but would be furnished with salutary medicine and remedy by this wonderful sign."

Thank you and God bless you, Therese

[Shin]

Good evening whiterockdove!

Yes that part impressed me too! I have been reading through the first chapters too! It looks like we're doing the same thing!

  

[Therese]

I am at the beginning of this wonderful book ( actually books! There are multiple volumes)
I have been thinking on this part; in referring to the creation of Mary, (95.); "This sign was also like the rainbow which appeared after the flood in the clouds of heaven, as a guarantee that even if men should sin like the angels and become disobedient, they were not to be punished like the angels without remission, but would be furnished with salutary medicine and remedy by this wonderful sign."

Thank you and God bless you, Therese

Have you ever read The Glories of Mary, Whiterockdove?  If you haven't, then you truly must read this book too!  It is so excellent and so incredibly comforting (like the passage you have mentioned) that everybody should read it, especially those despairing of salvation. City of God and The Glories of Mary are two of the best books ever written.  I am so pleased that you are reading City of God!  Please post any passage you really like on this thread if you'd like to post it.  God bless you! 

[Therese]

Good evening whiterockdove!

Yes that part impressed me too! I have been reading through the first chapters too! It looks like we're doing the same thing!

  

Good, Shin!  God bless you!

[whiterockdove]

I will look that one up, Therese. Hopefully I can get it on my e-reader.
I jump from one book to the next and it takes me quite a long time to get thru any
one book.  And I tend to read in the wee hours when all is finally quiet and I have time to myself.
Then I'm out of gas and zzzzz zzzzzz....   

Shin, you have probably left me in the dust by now

It is nice to go thru books with others, and this one is quite unusual. I read that she produced  hundreds of pages in just a few weeks
and then had to burn what she had written along with various other works 
Thanks be to God she was able to rewrite it. It wasn't by her own ego or whim, either.
Those to whom she was obedient at the time were telling her to do these things.

Writing was so labor intensive and unforgiving back then!

[Therese]

I will look that one up, Therese. Hopefully I can get it on my e-reader.

Good, Whiterockdove!  I can assure you that it will be well worth the read! just like City of God is.  God bless you!

[Therese]

'Now the natural substance of Mary, which She derived from Adam, scarcely comes into consideration, when we take into account her dignity as Mother of God with all that it imports as bringing Her so near to the Eternal Father by grace and participation in the Divinity.  This dignity causes her natural being to appear as merely accessory and of minor importance.  Hence the Evangelist [in the Apocalypse] directed his gaze upon that which was in Her most exalted and heavenly, and not upon the insignificant part of her being that came from earth.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol I, p. 203

[whiterockdove]

And just as She rose above all the guilt and the effects of original and actual sin, God now placed these in a symbolical manner under her feet, in order that the good angels might know, and the bad ones, (though they did not attain knowledge of the mysteries), might fear this Woman even before She came into actual existence.

Ven. Mary Agreda, City of God, Vol. 1, no.98

I'm not sure what is being referred to in the parentheses.

[Therese]

And just as She rose above all the guilt and the effects of original and actual sin, God now placed these in a symbolical manner under her feet, in order that the good angels might know, and the bad ones, (though they did not attain knowledge of the mysteries), might fear this Woman even before She came into actual existence.

Ven. Mary Agreda, City of God, Vol. 1, no.98

I'm not sure what is being referred to in the parentheses.

The bad angels did not attain knowledge of mysteries of which the good angels attained knowledge  It appears that the mysteries of the guilt and the effects of original sin and actual sin symbolized under Mary's feet was not knowledge attained to by the bad angels.  God bless you!

[Therese]

'The blessed Trinity made known to [Mary] that before his most just tribunal nothing would ever be denied Her; that She should command the devil and that She should have power, by virtue of her commands, to keep him away from souls, since She would have at her disposal the arm of the Almighty.  But the reason of this favor was not made known to Her, nor the reason for all her other gifts, and this reason was no other than that She was to be the Mother of the Word.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. I, pp. 222-223

[Therese]

'As the whole remedy of guilt and the justification of all the souls was to take its rise from the Redemption, this love of the great Queen for the Redemption from that first instant [of her Conception], earned Her the power of demanding that no sinner, how great and abominable soever he might be, should be excluded from the fruit of the Redemption and justification, nor fail to attain eternal life if he invoked the intercession of this powerful Lady and Advocate.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. I, p. 239

[eschator83]

Bless you for your motivation for me to start this book once again.  I was given an abridged version several years ago, translated by Fiscar Marison, but then with Rev Geo Blatter shown in parenthesis (I wonder why?).  It doesn't show a printing date, although the copyright is 1978.  My page numbers are different than yours, but the structure refers to three parts with a total of eight books.  I'm still searching for the selections you've chosen, but it's rewarding.