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

[Therese]

'The sacred Evangelist Luke tells us that the Mother Virgin, having brought forth her firstbegotten Son, wrapped Him in swathing clothes and placed Him in a manger.  He does not say that She received Him in her arms from her virginal womb; for this did not pertain to the purpose of his narrative.  But the two sovereign prices, saint Michael and saint Gabriel, were the assistants of the Virgin on this occasion.  They stood by at a proper distance in human corporeal forms at the moment when the incarnate Word, penetrating the virginal chamber by divine power, issued forth to light, and they received Him in their hands with ineffable reverence.  In the same manner as a priest exhibits the sacred host to the people for adoration, so these two celestial ministers presented to the divine Mother her glorious and refulgent Son.  All this happened in a short space of time.  In the same moment in which the holy angels thus presented the divine Child to his Mother, both Son and Mother looked upon each other, and in this look, She wounded with love the sweet Infant and was at the same time was exalted and transformed in Him.  From the arms of the holy princes the Prince of all the heavens spoke to his holy Mother:  "Mother, become like unto Me, since on this day, for the human existence, which thou hast today given Me, I will give thee another more exalted existence in grace, assimilating thy existence as a mere creature to the likeness of Me, who am God and Man.'   The most prudent Mother answered:  "Trahe me post Te,  curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum"  (Cant. 1, 3).  Raise me, elevate me, Lord, and I will run after Thee in the odor of thy ointments."'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 480

[Therese]

"And as the most blessed Trinity assisted in an especial manner at the birth of the Word, heaven was at it were emptied of its inhabitants, for the whole heavenly court had betaken itself to that blessed cave of Bethlehem and was adoring the Creator in his garb and habit of a pilgrim (Phil. 2, 7)  And in their concert of praise the holy angels intoned the new canticle;  "Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae volunatits" (Luke 2, 14)."  In sweetest and sonorous harmony they repeated it, transfixed in wonder at the new miracles then being fulfilled and at the unspeakable prudence, grace, humility and beauty of that tender Maiden of fifteen years, who had become the worthy Trustee and Minister of such vast and magnificent sacraments.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 484

[Therese]

'I remind and exhort thee to forget all that is of earth and lose it out of thy sight; that thou seek nothing, or engage thyself with nothing except what can help thee to withdraw and detach thee from the world and its inhabitants; so that, with a heart freed from all terrestrial affection, thou dispose thyself to celebrate in it the mysteries of the poverty, humility and divine love of the incarnate God.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 487

[Therese]

Sorry that these two excerpts are not placed in proper order in this chapter (Chpt. 10).

'She [Blessed Mary, feeling the approach of the most blessed Birth] requested her spouse St. Joseph to betake himself to rest and sleep as the night was already far advanced.  The man of God yielded to the request of his Spouse and urged Her to do the same; and for this purpose he arranged and prepared a sort of couch with the articles of wear in their possession, making use of a crib or manger, that had been left by the shepherds for their animals.  Leaving most holy Mary in the portion of the cave thus furnished, saint Joseph retired to a corner of the entrance, where he began to pray.  He was immediately visited by the divine Spirit and felt a most sweet and extraordinary influence, by which he was wrapt and elevated into an ecstasy.  In it was shown him all that passed during that night in this blessed cave; for he did not return to consciousness until his heavenly Spouse called him.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 472

'She was kneeling in the manger, her eyes raised to heaven, her hands joined and folded at her breat [sic], her soul wrapped in the Divinity and She herself was entirely deified.  In this position, and at the end of the heavenly rapture, the most exalted Lady gave to the world the Onlybegotten of the father and her own, our Savior Jesus, true God and man, at the hour of midnight, on a Sunday, in the year of the creation of the world five thousand one hundred and ninety-nine (5199), which is the date given in the Roman Church, and which date has been manifested to me as the true and certain one.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 475

[Therese]

'What St. Luke says about those that wondered at what the shepherds said concerning the holy Family, happened later, after the Queen, the Child and St. Joseph had departed and fled from the neighborhood of Bethlehem; for divine Providence so arranged things, that the shepherds were unable to spread about these news before that time.  Not all of those that heard them speaking about this matter believed them, for they held them to be uncultured and ignorant people.  These shepherds however were saints and were filled with divine knowledge until they died.  Among those who believed them was Herod, although not because of any laudable faith or piety, but on account of his worldly and wicked fear of losing his kingdom.  Among the children, who merited to be sacrificed by him, there were also some belonging to these holy men.  Their parents consented joyfully to the martyrdom, which the children themselves desired and offering themselves up to the Lord, whom they were made to know beforehand.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 497

[Therese]

'Thy legitimate and chosen occupation should be none other than the love and the praise of the infinite God.  All the rest thou must enter into only sparingly, in such a way as if visible and earthly things scarcely concerned thee and cannot detain thee for even a moment.  Thou must maintain thyself in this soaring height, so that thou seem not to have anything earnestly to attend to, except to seek the highest and true God.  Me thou shoudlst imitate and for God alone shouldst thou live; all the rest should not exist for thee, nor should thou exist for it.  But the gifts and blessings, which thou receives I wish thou dispense and communicate for the good of thy fellow men, observing the perfect order of holy charity; thus thy gifts will not evaporate, but be still more increased (I Cor. 13, 8 ).  In all this thou must keep the regulations, which befit thy condition and state, as I have already shown and instructed thee in other places at other times.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 512

[Therese]

"...for God alone shouldst thou live; all the rest should not exist for thee, nor should thou exist for it."


Like being crucified to the world and the world to us, no?

[Shin]

That about sums it up -- all we had to do was wait a bit!! 

[Therese]

That about sums it up -- all we had to do was wait a bit!! 

 Yes! 

[Therese]

'When any grave and doubtful affair arose, in which there was danger of offending God, or some urgent undertaking for the good of creatures, in which it would be necessary to know the divine will, She [Blessed Mary] first asked permission to submit her petition for enlightenment regarding the divine pleasure.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol, II, 514

[Therese]

'Whenever necessity urged it upon me for the glory of his Majesty, or some circumstance made it unavoidable, I asked permission to propose my wishes.  Although I always found Him most propitious, ready to answer me with kindness and mercifully urging me to declare my wishes, I nevertheless humiliated myself to the dust and merely asked Him to inform me of what was most pleasing and acceptable in his eyes.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 528

[Shin]

What humility, what prudence!

[Therese]

What humility, what prudence!

Yes, and what an example!  Let us be perfect imitators of our Lady.

[Shin]

Thou must maintain thyself in this soaring height,

[Therese]

Thou must maintain thyself in this soaring height,

To remain there we must be very detached and aflame with love for God alone.  May our Lord help us to be completely detached and burning with love for Him!

[Therese]

Ponder then, dearest, upon the small return given for the love of my Son and Lord by mortals, and how forgetful of thanks even his faithful continue to be.  Assume it as thy task, as far as thy weak powers allow, to render satisfaction for this grievous offense: loving Him, thanking Him and serving Him with all thy powers, for all the other men who fail to do so.  Therefore thou must be an angel in promptitude, most fervent and punctual on all occasions; thou must die to all earthly things, eliminating and crushing all human inclinations and rising upon the wings of love to the heights of love designed for thee by the Lord.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 538