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

[Therese]

[During Blessed Mary's novena in honor of the Feast of the Incarnation celebrated by her annually:] Having thus adorned and beautified the great Queen, all of the eighteen seraphim raised Her to the throne of the Most Blessed Trinity and placed Her at the right hand of the Onlybegotten, our Savior.  There She was asked what was her petition and desire.  And the true Esther answered:  "I ask mercy for my people, O Lord, (Esther 7, 3); and in their name and mine I desire and long to thank thy almighty clemancey for giving human form to the eternal Word in my womb for their salvation."  To these petitions and prayers She added others of incomparable love and wisdom, supplicating for the whole human race and especially for the holy Church.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 652

[Therese]

'But it has especially been shown to me, that on the day on which She celebrated the Incarnation, She liberated all the souls from purgatory; and that from heaven, where this favor was granted to the Queen of all creation and the Mother of the Redeemer, She sent the angels to bring them to Her in order that She might offer them as the fruit of the Incarnation to the eternal Father.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 655

[Therese]

'The dignity of Mother of God so far exceeds the sphere of all other creatures, that it would be base ignorance on the part of men to deny me favors greater than those bestowed upon other saints.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 657

[whiterockdove]

Congratulations on reaching 50 pages of excerpts, Therese,  that's a lot of work!
Thanks and God Bless.

I just listened to an audio homily about Mary at the foot of the cross, it is right in line everything here.
I appreciated it  much more from having read your excerpts, I don't think i would have even grasped what he was talking about without
having read this first.

Thank you, Whiterockdove!  Mystical City of God is so very excellent that I love sharing it with you all!  I'm glad that it has been very helpful to you--it has been very helpful to me as well.  I feel obligated to obeying our Lady's instructions, as though they were written just for me to keep.  We will honor Blessed Mary so much if we obey all her instructions, and we will prove our love for her and for her heavenly wisdom and prudence.  I only wish that I could have included more of the work on this thread.  There was so much important matter that got passed over because the passages were too long for me to type.  You really must read the whole work yourself, dear Whiterockdove, if you really want to know how privileged and graced was Blessed Mary.  Anyone who reads this work will finish it loving Blessed Mary more than ever.  If there is one work I recommend to all Catholics after the Bible it is this one.  The mysteries revealed in this work about Jesus and Mary are a special grace and honor to the reader.  God bless you, and Mary keep you!

I am working on  reading it, I have it on my kindle. It is very dense reading.  It is a treasure and not to be rushed through. I tend to be a speed reader so this is good for me.
That's why I enjoy your posts so much!

[Therese]

Congratulations on reaching 50 pages of excerpts, Therese,  that's a lot of work!
Thanks and God Bless.

I just listened to an audio homily about Mary at the foot of the cross, it is right in line everything here.
I appreciated it  much more from having read your excerpts, I don't think i would have even grasped what he was talking about without
having read this first.

Thank you, Whiterockdove!  Mystical City of God is so very excellent that I love sharing it with you all!  I'm glad that it has been very helpful to you--it has been very helpful to me as well.  I feel obligated to obeying our Lady's instructions, as though they were written just for me to keep.  We will honor Blessed Mary so much if we obey all her instructions, and we will prove our love for her and for her heavenly wisdom and prudence.  I only wish that I could have included more of the work on this thread.  There was so much important matter that got passed over because the passages were too long for me to type.  You really must read the whole work yourself, dear Whiterockdove, if you really want to know how privileged and graced was Blessed Mary.  Anyone who reads this work will finish it loving Blessed Mary more than ever.  If there is one work I recommend to all Catholics after the Bible it is this one.  The mysteries revealed in this work about Jesus and Mary are a special grace and honor to the reader.  God bless you, and Mary keep you!

I am working on  reading it, I have it on my kindle. It is very dense reading.  It is a treasure and not to be rushed through. I tend to be a speed reader so this is good for me.
That's why I enjoy your posts so much!

Yes, I remember that you have the work on your kindle, Whiterockdove.  You are very wise not to rush through Mystical City of God.  Not the smallest part of it should be rushed through.  When reading this work I am careful--very careful--not to be neglectful with a single word of it!  God bless you!

[Therese]

'She [Blessed Mary] besought her divine Son to divide his gifts, caresses and favors among all the children of men; She begged that She alone be singled out to suffer for his love; that all should share in the reward, all should taste the sweetness of the divine Spirit, that all might be induced to enter the path of eternal life, and none be lost in eternal death, since their God himself became man and suffered for the very purpose of drawing all men to Himself (John 12, 32).'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 666

[Therese]

'Then the Queen celebrated the Baptism of Christ our Lord with magnificent thanksgiving for his submitting to be baptized Himself and thus establishing this Sacrament.  After offering her prayers for the Church She withdrew to fast for the forty following days in order to commemorate the fast of the Lord and of Herself after his Baptism, as I have recorded in its place.  During these forty days She did not sleep, or eat or leave Her retreat, unless some great necessity of the Church demanded Her presence.  Her only intercourse was with saint John when receiving holy Communion, or when She was obliged to despatch some business for the government of the Church.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 670


 


'The memory of the Passion, the institution of the blessed Sacrament, and of the Resurrection She celebrated not only every week, as described above, but also on the anniversaries of their happening.  Each year She observed their commemoration in the manner as is now done in the Church in the Holy Week.  Besides the exercises of each week She added many others; and on Good Friday, at the hour in which Christ was crucified, She placed Herself upon a cross and there remained for three hours.  She renewed all the prayers of the Lord, with all the sorrows and mysteries of that day.  But on the following Sunday, which corresponds to the Resurrection, She was raised by the holy angels to the empyrean heavens where during that day She enjoyed the beatific vision, while on the ordinary Sundays her vision of the Godhead was abstractive.'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 674

[Therese]

'I wish thee to fill all thy days and thy nights with works holy and pleasing in the sight of the Lord; but on the festivals thou shouldst add other interior and exterior exercises.  Excite the fervor of thy heart, recollect thyself, and if it seems to thee that thou art doing much, labor still more earnestly to make certain thy vocation and election (II Pet. 1, 10), nor ever omit any exercise out of negligence.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 677

[Shin]

We do not value the holy days enough!

[Therese]

We do not value the holy days enough!

You're right, Shin.  Let us be resolved to celebrate them better in the future.  God bless you!

[Therese]

'In guilt the soul weakens in virtue, the enemy acquires more influence, and the passions tend to become indomitable and invincible; hence may fall, but not so many rise from their sins.  The remedy against these dangers is to live in continual and unremitting anxiousness to merit the divine grace, in ceaseless striving to do the more perfect, not giving the enemy any chance to find the soul off its guard or unoccupied with some exercise or work of virtue.  Thereby the weight of the lower human nature will be lightened, the passions and bad inclinations will be crushed, the demon intimidated, the soul will be raised up and will gain strength against the flesh and dominion over the inferior and sensitive faculties, subjecting them to the divine will.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 693

[Therese]

'It is not possible that either thou or any other creature arrive at the perfection and excellence of my works, nor does the Lord bind anyone to that; but with his divine grace thou canst fill thy life with works of virtue and holiness, and spend in them all thy time and all thy faculties; so that, adding exercise to exercise, prayer to prayer, petition to petition, virtue to virtue, thou let no time, no day, no hour of thy life be bare of good works learned of me.  For this purpose I joined other works with those necessary for the government of the Church, and celebrated the festivals in the manner and with the preparations thou hast come to know and describe.  As soon as one was solemnized, I began to prepare me for another, so that not for one moment was my life void of works holy and pleasing in the sight of the Lord.  All the children of the Church, if they wish, can imitate me and thou shouldst do it more zealously than the others.  This is the purpose for which the Holy Ghost ordained the solemnities and commemorations of my divine Son and of myself and of the saints recurring in the holy Church.'

"As I have exhorted thee many times, I wish that thou distinguish thyself by their devout celebration, especially by the celebration of the mysteries of the Divinity and humanity of my divine Son, those of my life and of my glory.  Then I desire of thee a special devotion to the angels, as well on account of their great excellence, holiness, beauty and ministry, as also on account of the great favors and blessings thou hast received through these celestial spirits.  I desire that thou assimilate thyself to them in purity of thy soul, in the exaltedness of thy thought, in the fervor of thy love, and in living as if thou hadst neither an earthly body or its passions.  They are to be thy friends and companions in thy pilgrimage, in order that they may be such also in the Fatherland.  With them thou shouldst now maintain conversation and familiar intercourse, in which they will show thee the attributes and the tokens of thy Spouse, give thee certain knowledge of his perfections, lead thee to the straight ways of justice and of peace, defend thee from the demon, warn thee of his deceits.  In the continued teaching of these spirits and ministers of the Most High thou shalt hear the laws of divine love.  Hear and obey them exactly.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 694-695

[Therese]

'It was a great mercy and providence of the Lord, that many of the faithful of the primitive Church were thus timely forewarned of the death of their Queen; for He does not send labors and evils to his people without first manifesting them to his servants, as is said by the prophet Amos (Amos 3, 7).'

Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 708

[Therese]

'Among the absurd fallacies introduced by the demon into the world none is greater or more pernicious than the forgetfulness of the hour of death and of what is to happen at the court of the rigorous Judge'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 711

[Therese]

'I do not ask of thee more, and also not less, than what thou owest to they Spouse and to thy Lord, which is always to operate the best in all places, times and occasions, without permitting any forgetfulness, intermission or carelessness.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 711

[Therese]

'If in thy weakness thou incurrest the guilt of some omission or negligence, let not the sun go down or the day pass without having sorrowed for it, or confessed it, if thou canst, as if it were for the last account.  Proposing amendment, even of the slightest fault, commence to work with new fervor and solicitude, like one from whom the time is slipping away for accomplishing such an arduous and laborious task as the gaining of the eternal glory and felicity and the avoiding of everlasting death and punishment.  This is to be the continual occupation of all thy spiritual and sensitive faculties, in order that thou make thy hope certain and joyful (II Cor. 1, 7); in order that thou mayest not labor in vain (Phil. 2, 16), nor run on into the uncertain (I Cor. 9, 26), like those who content themselves with some good works which they mix up with many reprehensible and detestable crimes.  These can not walk in security and joy of interior hope; since their own conscience assails them and saddens them, unless they are lost in forgetfulness and in the foolish delights of the flesh.'

Our Lady to Ven. Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God, Vol. IV, 712