During the forty days after
the Resurrection the Lord remained in the Cenacle (upper room house) and in the
company of his most holy Mother whenever He was not absent in appearing to some
of his chosen friends.
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| Mother and Son Always together |
All the rest of the time He spent in her presence.
Anyone can prudently conjecture, that all this time, in which these two
Sovereigns of the world were together, They spent in works altogether divine
and above all the conceptions of the human mind. At other times the great
Queen, the Patriarchs and Saints, who there assisted in their glorified state,
occupied themselves in the praise and exaltation of the Most High. The exalted
Lady considered all the great motives of these saints for praising and blessing
the Author of all good. Though they, enjoying the beatific vision, fulfilled
and are fulfilling this duty without cessation, yet in their conversations and
intercourse with the heavenly Princess, they were constantly urged by Her to
magnify and praise the divine Majesty for all these blessings and operations so
evident to the eyes of her soul.
All this sacred choir of
the saints joined with their Queen and began to engage in these divine
exercises according to a stated order; so that all of them formed a choir, in
which each one of the blessed recited a verse, while the Mother of wisdom
answered with another.
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| the Patriarch and saints praise and exultation of the risen lord |
In their frequent exercise of these sweet alternating
songs, the great Lady by Herself produced as many hymns and canticles of
praise, as all the saints and angels together; for also the angels entered into
this competition of new songs, admirable to them and to all the blessed. For
the wise worship of God practiced by the heavenly Princess in this life
exceeded that of all other creatures, including those who already enjoyed the
beatific vision. All that the blessed Mary did during these days is beyond the
capacity and estimation of men. But her exalted thoughts and motives were
prudently measured by her most faithful love; for, knowing that her divine Son
tarried in this world principally in order to assist and console Her, She
resolved to compensate Him as far as it was possible. Therefore She did all in
her power to provide for the Lord the same praises and honours as the saints
furnish Him in heaven. By concurring in these praises Herself She at once
raised them to the highest worth and changed the house of the upper room into a
heaven.
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| The angels were also singing praises |
In such exercises She
consumed the greater part of the forty days and during that time were composed
more canticles and hymns than all the saints and Prophets have left for our
use. Sometimes this heavenly gathering made use of the psalms of David or the
prophecies of the Scripture. Admirable was also the delight She drew from her
conversation with her holy mother, her father Joachim, saint Joseph, saint John
the Baptist, and the great Patriarchs.
Another wonder happened during those days,
which was: that all the souls of the just who died in grace within those forty
days, gathered in the upper room house, and those who had no debt to pay, were there
beatified. But those who were subject to purgatory were obliged to wait in the
same place without seeing the Lord, some three, some five days, others again
for a shorter or longer period.
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| And She prays for them |
For the Mother of mercy satisfied for their
defects by genuflections, prostrations or some work of satisfaction, but much
more by the ardent charity with which She wrought for them and applied to them
the infinite merits of her divine Son. Thus She helped to abbreviate their
punishment and the pain of not seeing the Lord ( for they suffered no sensible
pains) and soon they were beatified and admitted to the choir of the saints.
For each one that thus joined their ranks, the great Lady composed new hymns of
praise to the Lord.
