Let us now return to the Cenacle, where the
Queen of heaven had retired with the holy women of her company.
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| The holy women with Virgin Mary |
From her
retreat, by divine enlightenment, She saw most clearly all the mysteries and
doings of her most holy Son in the garden. At the moment when the Saviour
separated Himself with the three Apostles Peter, John and James, the heavenly
Queen separated Herself from the other women and went into another room. Upon
leaving them She exhorted them to pray and watch lest they enter into
temptation, but She took with Her the three Marys, treating Mary Magdalen as
the superior of the
rest. Secluding Herself with these three as her more
intimate companions, She begged the eternal Father to suspend in Her all human
alleviation and comfort, both in the sensitive and in the spiritual part of her
being, so that nothing might hinder Her from suffering to the highest degree in
union with her divine Son. She prayed that She might be permitted to feel and
participate in her virginal body all the pains of the wounds and tortures about
to be undergone by Jesus (since offering
Herself with eagerness to die in her Son’s stead, if necessary, was not granted.)
This
petition was granted by the blessed Trinity and the Mother in consequence
suffered all the torments of her most holy Son in exact duplication. Although
they were such, that, if the right hand of the Almighty had not preserved Her,
they would have caused her death many times over; yet, on the other hand, these
sufferings, inflicted by God himself, were like a pledge and a new lease of
life. For in her most ardent love She would have considered it incomparably
more painful to see her divine Son suffer and die without being allowed to
share in his torments.
The
three Marys were instructed by the Blessed virgin Mary to accompany and assist
Her in her affliction, and for this purpose they were endowed with greater
light and grace than the other women. In retiring with them the most pure
Mother began to feel unwonted sorrow and anguish and She said to them: “My soul is sorrowful, because my beloved
Son is about to suffer and die, and it is not permitted me to suffer and die of
his torments. Pray, my friends, in order that you may not be overcome by
temptation.” Having said this She went apart a short distance from them,
and following the Lord in his supplications. She, as far as was possible to Her
and as far as She knew it to be conformable to the human will of her Son,
continued her prayers and petitions, feeling the same agony as that of the Saviour
in the garden. She also returned at the same intervals to her companions to
exhort them, because She knew of the wrath of the demon against them. She wept
at the perdition of the foreknown; for She was highly enlightened in the
mysteries of eternal predestination and reprobation. In order to imitate and
cooperate in all things with the Redeemer of the world, the great Lady also
suffered a bloody sweat, similar to that of Jesus in the garden, and by divine
intervention She was visited by the archangel saint Gabriel, as Christ her Son
was visited by the archangel Michael.
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| The night was far spent when she was also visited by archangel Raphael |
The holy prince expounded to Her the will
of the Most High in the same manner as saint Michael had expounded it to Christ
the Lord. In both of Them the prayer offered and the cause of sorrow was the
same; and therefore They were also proportionally alike to one another in their
actions and in their knowledge. The most prudent Lady was provided with some
cloths for what was to happen in the Passion of her most beloved Son; and on
this occasion She sent some of her angels with a towel to the garden in which
her Son was then perspiring blood, in order to wipe off and dry his venerable
countenance. The Lord, for love of his Mother and for her greater merit,
permitted these ministers of the Most High to fulfil her pious and tender
wishes. When the moment for the capture of our Saviour had arrived, it was
announced to the three Marys by the sorrowful Mother. All three bewailed this
indignity with most bitter tears, especially Mary Magdalen, who signalized
herself in tenderest love and piety for her Master.
