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

[Shin]

'Since I trusted in the Lord, He provided for me in the time of my need.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 547

Those few succinct words are full of great relief!

[Therese]

Well, God is guiding all through His Divine Providence, all our life, entirely .. .

Could you clarify your question a little more Therese?

Thanks for your response, Shin.  I am already familiar with what Bl. Claude de la Columbiere teaches about divine Providence, as I have already read Trustful Surrender and several other books on the subject.  But what does the following text in boldface mean, Shin?  'If He would use his absolute power and perform great miracles for preventing the course of secondary causes, the order of nature would be confounded, and to a certain extent He would contradict Himself in his double role as Author of grace and as Author of nature.  Therefore, miracles must happen but rarely, and on special occasions for particular reasons, or when some end is to be served.  Therefore, God reserves them for the manifestations of his power at certain times.'

[Therese]

'So then the Infant Jesus, with his Mother and saint Joseph, reached the inhabited country of Egypt.  On entering the towns the divine Infant, in the arms of his Mother, raised his eyes and his hands to the Father asking for the salvation of these inhabitants held captive by satan.  And immediately He made use of his sovereign and divine power and drove the demons from the idols and hurled them to the infernal abyss.  Like lightning flashed from the clouds they darted forth and descended to the lowermost caverns of hell and darkness (Luke, 10, 4).  At the same instant the idols crashed to the ground, the altars fell to pieces, and the temples crumbled to ruins.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 643

It is always good to hear of idols being destroyed, the pagan temples reduced to ruins! What a cause for rejoicing!

I'm glad that we both agree on this, Shin.  Who doesn't agree is Ratzinger/Benedict XVI who stated in God and the World, which was published in 2,000, that there were "in fact Christian hotheads and fanatics who destroyed temples, who were unable to see paganism as anything more than idolatry that had to be radically eliminated."  Pope Pius XII, in Fulgens Radiatur, March 21, 1947, explained admiringly about how St. Benedict himself burned a temple of Apollo to the ground.  No, Shin, Conciliarism and its leaders do not believe that God hates all false religions.  Ratzinger thinks that places of false worship are "sacred"--he even wrote this of Mt. Hiei in Japan on August 4, 2007.  But any true Catholic knows that places of false worship are unholy dens of thieves most displeasing to God.

[Therese]

'Since I trusted in the Lord, He provided for me in the time of my need.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 547

Those few succinct words are full of great relief!

Yes!

[Therese]

'Whatever can duly be procured by human exertion, is not to be expected by a miracle, nor must one try to exempt himself from labor in the hope of a supernatural interference on the part of God; for the Lord sweetly concurs with the ordinary and natural course of created things.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 663

[Therese]

'While at work the rational creature can praise God and adore Him in spirit and in truth (John 4, 23).  In order to fulfill this duty, direct thy activity according to his pleasure, consult his will in regard to them, weighing them with the scales of the sanctuary and riveting thy attention upon the divine light which the Almighty infuses in thy soul.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 663

[Therese]

In regard to the cure of the sick and wounded the heavenly Lady hesitated between two different sentiments: the one of charity, which drew Her to nurse the wounded with her own hand, and the other of modesty, which forbade her to touch anyone.  In order that all propriety might by observed, her most holy Son empowered Her to cure the men by her mere word and exhortations; while she might cure the woman by the touch of her hands and cleansing their wounds.  This course of action She maintained thenceforward, taking upon Herself as well the office of a mother as of a sick-nurse, respectively.  But, as I will narrate, after they had lived two years in that place [Heliopolis, Egypt] saint Joseph also began to cure the sick, while the matchless charity of the Queen busied itself more particularly with the cure of the women.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 668

[Therese]

But in all these occupations and cures (O wonderful to relate!) this most modest Mistress never looked upon the face of either man or woman.  Even when the wound was in the face, her modesty was so exquisite that She would not have been able to recognize any of her patients by their features if She had not known all men by another interior kind of vision.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 668

[Therese]

'Looking into it [the Soul of the Infant Jesus] as into a clear mirror, She saw all that passed in Bethlehem more clearly than if She herself had been present to hear the wailing of the children and the parents.  She saw also how her Son prayed to his eternal Father for the parents of these innocents [the Holy Innocents]; that He offered up the murdered children as the first fruits of his own Death; asking Him also that they receive the use of reason, in order that they might be a willing sacrifice for their Redeemer and accept their death for his glory.  Thus He would be able to reward them with the crowns of martyrdom for what they suffered.  All this the eternal Father granted, and as it was made known to the Queen in her Onlybegotten Son, She joined Him in his prayers and sacrifices.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 674

[Therese]

'Be very careful not to allow thyself to be mastered by anything, be it ever so small; for in order to start a great conflagration the smallest spark is sufficient.  I have often repeated to thee this same warning, and I shall continue to do so more often in the future; for the greatest difficulty in practicing virtue consists in dying to all that is pleasurable to the senses.  Thou canst not be a fit instrument in the hands of the Lord, such as He desires thee to be, if thou does not cleanse thy faculties even of the images of all creatures, so that they do not find entrance into thy desires.  I wish it to be to thee an inexorable law that all things, except God, his angels and saints, be to thee as if they did not exist.  These should be thy sole possession; on this account the Lord has opened to thee his secrets, honors thee with his familiarity and intimacy, and for this purpose also do I honor thee with mine, that thou neither live nor wish to live without the Lord.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 680

[Shin]

'If He would use his absolute power and perform great miracles for preventing the course of secondary causes, the order of nature would be confounded, and to a certain extent He would contradict Himself in his double role as Author of grace and as Author of nature.  Therefore, miracles must happen but rarely, and on special occasions for particular reasons, or when some end is to be served.  Therefore, God reserves them for the manifestations of his power at certain times.'

Well I am not entirely comfortable with the way I am putting this but perhaps this helps:

It seems to me, that by establishing the order of nature, taking an example, gravity, to always contradict it by miracles that allowed flight, would without due cause devalue its weight. Laws without any weight ever, are they laws at all -- no. Now, when men are resurrected, they will be able to go about whereever they will as they will. And some saints have miracles surrounding them as commonly as birds around breadcrumbs, but this shows how far they have traveled in grace which is above nature. But particularly for men who live natural lives, how is it that they should commonly have what is above, the supernatural, the miracles, become the rule or occur for them?

What outweighs the scales sufficiently for the miracle to occur commonly? Who has interceded?

Note the qualifiers 'great' and 'which contradict'.

This makes me think of how miracles were rare for those who lacked faith in Holy Scripture. 'And he wrought not many miracles there, because of their incredulity.' Matthew 13:58

[Therese]

'If He would use his absolute power and perform great miracles for preventing the course of secondary causes, the order of nature would be confounded, and to a certain extent He would contradict Himself in his double role as Author of grace and as Author of nature.  Therefore, miracles must happen but rarely, and on special occasions for particular reasons, or when some end is to be served.  Therefore, God reserves them for the manifestations of his power at certain times.'

Well I am not entirely comfortable with the way I am putting this but perhaps this helps:

It seems to me, that by establishing the order of nature, taking an example, gravity, to always contradict it by miracles that allowed flight, would without due cause devalue its weight. Laws without any weight ever, are they laws at all -- no. Now, when men are resurrected, they will be able to go about whereever they will as they will. And some saints have miracles surrounding them as commonly as birds around breadcrumbs, but this shows how far they have traveled in grace which is above nature. But particularly for men who live natural lives, how is it that they should commonly have what is above, the supernatural, the miracles, become the rule or occur for them?

What outweighs the scales sufficiently for the miracle to occur commonly? Who has interceded?

Note the qualifiers 'great' and 'which contradict'.

This makes me think of how miracles were rare for those who lacked faith in Holy Scripture. 'And he wrought not many miracles there, because of their incredulity.' Matthew 13:58

Thanks be to God, Shin, with your good response, something clicked and I better understand the quote of our Lady.  Your pointing out the qualifiers helped me a great deal.  Thank you so much!

[Therese]

'"My Mother," answered the Infant Jesus, "on account of the love which I bear towards man, whom I have created and come to redeem, the swathings of my childhood have not seemed irksome to Me, since when I shall be grown up I shall be bound and delivered over to my enemies unto death (Matt. 20, 18).  If this prospect is sweet to Me for the love of my Father all the rest is certainly easy to me.  I wish to possess only one garment during all my life, for I seek nothing more than what is sufficient to cover Me.  Although all created things are mine because I have given them being, I turn them all over to men in order that they may owe Me so much the more and in order that I may teach them, according to my example and for my love, to repudiate and despise all that is superfluous for natural life.  Clothe Me, my Mother, in a tunic of a lowly and an ordinary color.  This alone I will wear, and it shall grow with Me.  Over this garment they shall cast lots at my death (Ps. 21, 19); for even this shall not be left at my disposal, but at  the disposal of others; so that men shall see that I was born and wish to live poor and destitute of visible things, which being earthly, oppress and darken the heart of man...."'

Infant Jesus at age one, to His Mother Mary, City of God, Vol. II, 684

[Shin]

You're quite welcome. Deo gratias et Mariae semper Virgini!

[Therese]

'On these occasions [of Blessed Mary always having the sight of the most holy humanity and soul of her Son with all their activities] it often happened that the Child Jesus in the presence of his most holy Mother wept and perspired blood, for this happened many times before his agony in the garden.  Then the blessed Lady would wipe his face interiorly perceiving and knowing the cause of this agony, namely the loss of the foreknown and of those who would be ungrateful for the benefits of their Creator and Redeemer and in whom the works of the infinite power and goodness of the Lord would be wasted.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 695

[Therese]

'Having now reached the age of six years He began now and then to visit the sick in hospitals, seeking out the stricken ones and mysteriously comforting and consoling them in their afflictions.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, City of God, Vol. II, 696