Salvation History

Salvation History
The Return of the Divine Feminine
Christiane Kirsch, PhD
Academy for Creativity and
Higher Consciousness

St Joachim and St Anne
• He asked of God the fulfillment of his promises.
• She had an infused knowledge of the divine Scriptures.
• Saint Anne holds a high position among the saints of the Old
Testament, who by their merits hastened the coming of the
Redeemer.
• Both petitioned at the same time before the tribunal of the holy
Trinity for a divine spouse, where they were heard and fulfilled.
• It being then and there divinely disposed, that Joachim and Anne
unite in marriage and become the parents of Her, who was to be the
Mother of the Incarnate God.

The Betrothal of St Joachim and St Anne
• In furtherance of this divine decree the archangel Gabriel was sent to
announce it to them both.
• For this holy angel had been informed of this sacramental mystery on being
sent with this message. The other angels did not yet know of it.
• To St Anne: “It is his will, that thou accept Joachim as the spouse, for he is a man of
upright heart and acceptable to the Lord”.
• To St Joachim: “It is the will of the Almighty, that thou receive saint Anne as thy
spouse, for her the Lord has visited with his blessing”.

The Betrothal of St Joachim and St Anne
• In consequence of this divine message saint Joachim immediately asked for the hand of the most
chaste Anne and, in joint obedience to the divine ordainment, they espoused each other.
• But neither of the manifested to each other the secret of what had happened until several years
afterwards.
• Thus they lived together in such perfect charity, that during their whole life they never experienced a
time, during which one ceased to seek the same thing as the other (Matthew 27:20).
• They made an express vow to the Lord, that if He should give them issue, they would consecrate It to
his service in the temple of Jerusalem.
• They were the immediate grandparents of Christ our Lord, and parents of his most holy Mother.

The Promise
• The petitions of the most holy Joachim and Anne reached the throne of the holy Trinity,
where they were accepted, and the will of God was made known to the holy angels.
• "We have resolved, that the person of the Word shall assume human flesh and that through Him all the race
of mortals shall find a remedy.
• The sins of the living, and their malice are so great, that We are much constrained by the rigor of justice.
• But our goodness and mercy is greater than all their evil-doing, nor can it extinguish our love toward men.
• We will enable them to become inheritors and participators of our eternal glory” (I Peter 3:22).

The Heavenly
Annunciation
“Let now the prophecies of our servants and the
promises made to them that We would send a Savior
to redeem them, be fulfilled. We may give a beginning
to the mystery hidden since the constitution of the
world, We select for the formation of our beloved
Mary the womb of our servant Anne; in her be She
conceived and in her let that most blessed Soul be
created. Although her generation and formation shall
proceed according to the usual order of natural
propagation, it shall be different in the order of grace,
according to the ordainment of our Almighty power.”

The Promise
• “We before our eyes Her, who is to be the chosen One, who is to be acceptable above all creatures
and singled out for our delight and pleasure.
• She is to conceive the person of the Word in her womb and clothe Him with human flesh.
• Since there must be a beginning of this work, by which we shall manifest to the world the treasures
of the Divinity, this shall be the acceptable and opportune time for its execution”.
• “Gabriel promise them, that by the favor of our right hand they will receive the Fruit of
benediction.
• Anne shall conceive a Daughter, to whom We give the name of MARY.“

The Annunciation of Mary
(By Archangel Gabriel to St Joachim)
• Archangel Gabriel to Joachim: “Thy spouse Anne shall conceive and bear a
Daughter, who shall be blessed among women (Luke 42:48).
• The Lord himself has chosen for Her the name of MARY.
• From her childhood let Her be consecrated to the temple, and in it to God, as
thou hast promised.
• She shall be elected, exalted, powerful and full of the Holy Ghost.
• On account of the sterility of Anne her conception shall be miraculous.
• Thou shalt meet, in the Golden Gate, thy sister Anne, who is coming to the
temple for the same purpose.
• The Conception of this Child shall rejoice heaven and earth.”

Prayer of St Anne
• “Blessed the race, that shall be able to see Her
and prostrate themselves at her feet to reverence
Her!”
• How sweet shall be the sight of Her and her
company!
• Blessed the eyes, that shall see Her and the ears,
that shall listen to her words.”

(By Archangel Gabriel to St Anne)
• “The Most High has resolved to give you holy and wonderful fruit and by it He will enrich you with heavenly gifts,
granting to you much more than you had asked.
• He chooses thee to be the mother of Her who is to conceive and bring forth the Only begotten of the Father.
• Thou shalt bring forth a Daughter, who by divine disposition shall be called MARY.
• She shall be blessed among women and full of the Holy Ghost.
• In Her shall be fulfilled the prophecies of thy ancestors. She shall be the portal of life and salvation for the sons of
Adam.
• In thy womb He will give being to Her, who is to vest the Immortal with mortal flesh and human form.
• In this humanity, united with the Word, will be written, as with his own blood, the true law of Mercy.”

(By Archangel Gabriel to St Anne)
• “Know also that I have announced to Joachim, that he shall have a Daughter who shall be
blessed and fortunate.”
• But the full knowledge of the mystery is not given him by the Lord, for he does not know,
that She is to be the Mother of the Messiahs.
• Therefore thou must guard this secret; and go now to the temple to give thanks to the Most
High for having been so highly favored by his powerful right hand.
• In the Golden Gate thou shalt meet Joachim, where thou wilt confer with him about this
tiding.”

The Expectation
• Immediately arising she hastened to the temple of Jerusalem, and there
found saint Joachim, as the angel had foretold to them both.
• Together they gave thanks to the Almighty for this wonderful blessing and
offered special gifts and sacrifices.
• Joyfully they conversed about the favors, which they had received from the
Almighty, especially concerning each one’s message of the archangel Gabriel,
whereby, on behalf of the Lord, they had been promised a Daughter who
should be most blessed and fortunate.

The Expectation
• On this occasion they also told each other, how the same angel, before their
espousal, had commanded each to accept the other, in order that together they
might serve God according to his divine will.
• This secret they had kept from each other for twenty years, without communicating
it, until the same angel had promised them the issue of such a Daughter.
• The prudent matron Anne never disclosed the secret, that her Daughter was to be
the Mother of the Messiahs, either to Joachim or to any other creature.
• However, in the last moments of his life the Almighty made the secret known to
him.

The Expectation
• During a vision, where St Anne was wrapped in marvelous ecstasy, she was favored
with the highest understanding of the laws of nature and with the written and
evangelical precepts.
• She was instructed as to how the divine nature was to unite herself to her own and
how His most holy humanity was to be elevated to the being of God.
• Entirely purifying her, God spiritualized the inferior part of her body and elevated
her soul and spirit to such a degree that thence forward she never attended to any
human affair, which could impede her union with God.

The Immaculate Conception of Mary

The Immaculate Mary
• She is immaculate, and remote from every taint of sin (St Ephrem).
• He who created the first virgin without reproach, also created the second without stain or crime (St Amphilochius).
• Has it been in the power of God, to preserve the angels of heaven unstained amidst the ruin of so many, and could he not preserve the
mother of his Son and the queen of angels from the common fall of man (St Anselm).
• Could God, I add, give the grace even to an Eve to come into the world immaculate, and afterwards be unable to bestow it on Mary? (St
Anselm).
• Mary not only should surpass the purity of all men and of all angels, but should be second in greatness only to that of God (St Anselm).
• It is a common axiom among theologians, that no gift has ever been granted to any creature with which the blessed Virgin was not also
enriched.
• Nothing was ever given to any of the saints that did not shine more pre-eminently in Mary from the beginning of her life (St. Thomas of
Villanova).
• There is an infinite distance between the mother of God and the servants of God (St John Damascene).
• God has conferred greater graces of every kind on the mother than on the servants (St. Thomas).

The Restoration of Divine Order
1. The ruin was great which accursed sin brought upon Adam and the whole human
race.
• When he unhappily lost grace, he at the same time lost the other blessings with which, in the
beginning, he was encircled, and drew upon himself, and upon all his descendants, both the
displeasure of God, and all other evils.
2. But God ordained that the blessed Virgin should be exempt from this common
calamity, for he had destined her to be the mother of the second Adam, Jesus
Christ, who was to repair the injury done by the first.

The Immaculate Conception
How befitting it was to all Three of the Divine Persons that
Mary should be preserved from original sin.
It was befitting to preserve her from original sin
for…
1. The Father as his daughter.
2. The Son as his mother.
3. The Holy Spirit as his spouse.

The Father as his Daughter
• “As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters” (Song of Solomon 2:2).
• Daughter among all my other daughters, thou art like a lily among thorns; for they are all stained
by sin, but thou wert ever immaculate, and ever my friend (St John Damascene).
• There was every reason why Mary should not appear as a sinner and enemy of God, but as his friend, and
pure from sin.
• Mary was to be the mediatrix of peace between God and man.
• Mary was destined for the mother of His only begotten Son.
• God would adorn her soul with every grace, that it might be a worthy habitation for a
God (St Thomas).
• He who is of low birth can hardly become noble
• She was destined to bruise the head of the infernal serpent.
• Remaining free from every stain of sin, she could overthrow and confound his pride.
• As the devil was the head from whence original sin proceeded, that head Mary crushed, because
no sin ever entered the soul of the Virgin, and therefore she was free from all stain (St Augustine).

The Son as his Mother
• The third kind of sanctification is that which is called maternal, and this removes
every stain of original sin. This was in the blessed Virgin (St. Bernardine of
Sienna).
• Mary was conceived without sin, so that the divine Son might be conceived without
sin.
• The tree is known by its fruit. If the Lamb was always immaculate, always
immaculate must the mother also have been (Hugo of St. Victor).
• Who would choose a slave for his mother when he might have a queen?
• It would doubtless have been a reproach to Jesus if it could have been said by the
demons: Was he not born from a mother who was a sinner, and once our slave? (St
Proculus).
• It was meet that he who came to take away sins, should be separate from sinners as
far as concerns the sin of which Adam was guilty (St Thomas).

• Not from earth, but from heaven, Christ selected this vessel through which he
should descend, and consecrated the temple of modesty (St Ambrose).
• “The first man was of the earth, earthy: the second man from heaven, heavenly” (I
Corinthians 15:47).
• St Ambrose calls the divine mother, a celestial vessel.
• She was superior to the angels of heaven in sanctity and purity, as it was meet she
should be, when a King of glory was to dwell in her womb (St Ambrose).
• “It was befitting the King of glory to remain in no vessel but one purer and more
select than all angels and men” (John the Baptist to St Bridget).

• If it were a dishonor for Jesus Christ to be born of a mother whose body was
subject to the corruption of the flesh, how much greater would be the shame had
he been born of a mother whose soul was corrupted by sin (St Augustine).
• The eternal Word inhabited not only the soul, but the body of Mary (St Thomas).
• Grace not only made the soul, but also the flesh of Mary holy (St Thomas).
• The flesh of the Savior after his resurrection was the very same which he received
from his mother (St Augustine).
• The flesh of Mary and of Christ is one, and hence I esteem the glory of the Son to
be not so much common to both as the same (St Arnold of Carnotensis).

• Mary was not only the mother, but a worthy mother of the Savior.
• Hugo of St Victor saluted Mary by calling her: The worthy mother of a worthy Son.
• The Son of God has built himself no house more worthy than Mary, who was never taken
by the enemy, nor robbed of her ornaments (St Augustine).
• Thou alone hast been found worthy, that in thy virginal hall the King of kings should
choose his first mansion (St Bernard).
• Her singular sanctity merited that she should alone be judged worthy to receive a God (St
Peter Damian).
• The Virgin never committed any actual sin, not even a venial sin, otherwise, he says, she
would not have been a worthy mother of Jesus Christ (St. Thomas of Villanova).

• The Creator of men to be born of man must choose such a mother for himself as he knew to be most fit (St
Bernard).
• When God elects any one to a certain dignity, he also fits him for it (St Thomas of Villanova).
• The Creator hath made thee so pure and perfect that thou hast merited that he should receive from thee the human
nature.
• Ah, that God who is wisdom itself well knew how to prepare upon the earth a fit dwelling for him to inhabit:
• “Wisdom hath built herself a house” (Proverbs 9:1).
• “The Most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle” (Psalm 46:4).
• “God will help it in the morning early” (Psalm 46:5).
• In the morning early; that is, from the beginning of her life, to render her worthy of himself.

• The divine Son came into the world to redeem Mary before all others (St Bernardine of Sienna).
• There are two modes of redeeming (St Augustine):
• One by raising the fallen.
• The other, by preventing from failing doubtless, the latter is the most noble.
• More nobly is he redeemed who is prevented from falling, than he who is raised after failing (St
Antoninus).
• In this way is avoided the injury or stain that the soul always contracts by a fall (St Antoninus).
• We must believe that by a new mode of sanctification the Holy Spirit redeemed her at the first moment
of her conception, and preserved her by a special grace from original sin (St Bonaventure).
• Others have had a deliverer, but the holy Virgin had a pre-deliverer (Cardinal Cusano).

The Holy Spirit as his Spouse
• Mary was the only one who merited to be called the mother and
spouse of God (St Augustine).
• The Holy Spirit came bodily upon Mary and rested in her, enriching
her with grace beyond all creatures, dwelt in her, and made his
spouse queen of heaven and of earth (St Anselm).
• He was with her really, as to the effect, since he came to form from
her immaculate body the immaculate body of Jesus Christ (St
Anselm).
• For this reason Mary is called the temple of the Lord, the sanctuary
of the Holy Spirit (St Thomas).

• If an excellent painter were allowed to choose a bride as beautiful as he
himself might paint her, how great would be his solicitude to make her as
beautiful as possible.
• “Thou art all fair, oh my love; and there is not a spot in thee” (Song of
Solomon 4:7).
• Thou art all fair, oh most glorious Virgin, not in part, but wholly; and the stain of sin,
whether mortal, or venial, or original, is not upon thee (St Bernardine of Sienna and St
Lawrence Justinian).

• We know that this divine spouse loved Mary more than all the other saints and angels united (St
Lawrence Justinian).
• He loved her from the beginning, and exalted her in sanctity above all creatures.
• “The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains; the Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the
tabernacles of Jacob. . . . This man is born in her, and the Highest himself hath founded her” (Psalm 87:1-5).
• “Many daughters have gathered together riches; thou hast surpassed them all” (Proverbs 31:29).
• “There are young maidens without number: one is my dove, my perfect one (the Hebrew reads, my
uncorrupted, my immaculate); she is the only one of her mother” (Song of Solomon 6:9).
• All just souls are children of divine grace; but among these, Mary was the Dove without the bitter gall of sin, the
Perfect One without the stain of original sin, the one conceived in grace.
• All which words signify that Mary was holy from her conception.

• She being elected and pre-elected by God, was borne off by the Holy Spirit for
himself (St Peter Damian).
• Borne off to explain the swiftness of the Divine Spirit, in making her his spouse,
before lucifer should take possession of her (St Peter Damian).
• To this paradise the serpent had no entrance (St John of Damascus).
• “A garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up” (Song of Solomon 4:12).
• Thou art an enclosed garden, where the sinner's hand never entered to rob it of its flowers
(St Bernard).
• That cloud was never in darkness, but always in the light (St Jérôme).

• There are many doctors who maintain that Mary was even exempt from contracting the debt of sin.
• This is that uncorrupted earth which the Lord has blessed, and hence she is pure from all contagion of sin
(St Bruno).
• Our Lady was full of preventing grace in her sanctification, namely, of grace preservative against the
defilement of original sin (St Bonaventure).
• For if it is true that in the will of Adam, as head of the human race, were included the wills of all, it is also
probable that Mary did not contract the debt of sin.
• God having greatly distinguished her in the order of grace from the rest of mankind, it should be piously
believed, that in the will of Adam, the will of Mary was not included.
• Neither did justice suffer that vessel of election to be open to common injuries, for, being far exalted above
others, she was a partaker of their nature, but not of their sin (St Cyprian).

The Guardians and Servants of Mary
"You do already know how the ancient serpent, since he saw the sign of this marvelous Woman,
attempts to circumvent all women, and how, from the first one created, he persecutes all those, whom he
sees excelling in the perfection of their works and life, expecting to find among them the One, who is to
crush his head (Genesis 3:15). When he shall encounter this most pure and spotless Creature, he shall
find Her so holy that he will exert all his powers to persecute Her in pursuance of the concept which
he forms of Her. But the arrogance of this dragon shall be greater than his powers (Isaiah 12:7); and
it is our will that you have charge of this our holy City and tabernacle of the incarnate Word,
protecting, guarding, assisting and defending Her against our enemies as long as She shall be a
wayfarer among the mortals."

The Guardians and Servants
of Mary
• Then the Most High chose and appointed those who were to be occupied in
this exalted service (the guardianship of Mary) from each of the nine choirs
of angels.
• He selected one hundred, being nine hundred in all.
• Moreover he assigned twelve others who should in a special manner assist
Mary in corporeal and visible forms; and they were to bear the emblems or
escutcheons of the Redemption.
• These are the twelve which are mentioned in the twenty-first chapter of the
Apocalypse as guarding the portals of the city .
• Besides these the Lord assigned eighteen other angels, selected from the
highest ranks, who were to ascend and descend by that mystical stairs of Jacob
with the message of the Queen to his Majesty and those of the Lord to Her.

The Guardians and Servants of Mary
• In addition to all these holy angels the Almighty assigned and appointed seventy seraphim,
choosing them from the highest ranks and from those nearest to the Divinity.
• In order that this invincible warrior-troop might be well appointed, saint Michael, the prince
of the heavenly militia was placed at their head.
• he was often near Her and often showed himself to Her.
• The Almighty destined him as a special ambassador of Christ our Lord and to act in some
of the mysteries as the defender of his most holy Mother.
• The Holy Prince Gabriel was appointed to act as legate and minister of the eternal Father in
the affairs of the Princess of heaven.

The Immaculate Conception of Mary
• The number and congregation of ancient Patriarchs and Prophets had been completed and
gathered, and the mountains had been raised, on which this mystical City of God was to be built
(Psalm 86:2).
• He had provided a noble and kingly ancestry from whom She should descend and had selected
for Her the most holy and perfect parents that could be found in the world.
• In the formation of the body of the most holy Mary the wisdom and power of the Almighty
proceeded so cautiously that the quantities of the four natural elements of the human body, the
sanguine, melancholic, phlegmatic and choleric, were compounded in exact proportion and
measure.
• This wonderfully composed temperament was afterwards the source and the cause, which in its
own way made possible the serenity and peace that reigned in the powers and faculties of the
Queen of heaven during all her life.

The Immaculate
Conception of Mary
• On the Saturday next following, the Almighty
created the soul of his Mother and infused it into
the body.
• God maintained a mysterious correspondence in
the execution of this work with that of creating all
the rest of the world in seven days.
• Then no doubt He rested in truth, according to the
figurative language of Scripture, since He has now
created the most perfect Creature of all, giving
through it a beginning to the work of the divine
Word and to the Redemption of the human race.

The Inborn Nature of Mary (St Alphonsus)
• The holy infant, when she received sanctifying grace in the womb of St
Anna, received at the same time the perfect use of reason, with a great divine
light corresponding to the grace with which she was enriched.
• From the first moment when her pure soul was united to her most pure
body, she was enlightened with…
• divine wisdom to comprehend eternal truths,
• the beauty of virtue,
• the infinite goodness of her God.

Pre-birth State of Mary
(Mary of Jesus of Ágreda)
• Not for one instant was Mary to remain idle, but to engage in works most admirable and
pleasing to her Maker.
• To Her was also concealed the most perfect use of the light of reason.
• She exercised the three theological virtues, faith, hope and charity, which relate immediately
to God.
• These she at once practiced in the most exalted manner recognizing by a most sublime faith
the Divinity with all its perfections and its infinite attributes, and the Trinity with its
distinction of Persons.
• The other virtues which adorn and perfect the rational part of the creature, She possessed in
a proportion corresponding to the theological virtues.

The Multiplication of Virtues (St Alphonsus)
• The soul which possesses a habit of virtue, whenever she corresponds faithfully
with the actual graces which she afterwards receives from God, always produces an
act equal in intensity to the habit she possesses; so that each time she acquires a new
and double merit, equal to the aggregate of all the merits before acquired.
• Mary during her pre-natal state was redoubling continually that sublime grace, which
from the first moment she possessed;
• In every act she performed, at every successive moment, she redoubled her merits,
corresponding with all her power and perfection.
• Multiply for nine months, and consider, what treasures of grace, of merits, and of
sanctity Mary brought into the world when she was born.

(Mary of Jesus of Ágreda)
• Her sanctified Soul at once hastened and aspired with the most intense
desires of uniting Herself with God and without having for one moment
turned to any other object or tarried one moment in her upward flight.
• She knew and was conversant with the whole natural and supernatural order
of things, in accordance with the grandeur of God.
• She perceived that the bad angels and men failed to know and love Him.
• She requested the holy angels whose Queen She already was, to help Her to
glorify the Creator and Lord of all, and to pray also for Her.

• The Lord in this instant showed Her also her guardian angels, whom she
recognized and accepted with joyful submission, inviting them to sing
canticles of praise to the Most High alternatively with Her.
• She was informed moreover of her whole genealogy of all the rest of the
holy people chosen by God, the Patriarchs and Prophets.
• He ordained by the power of right hand, that in perceiving the fall of man
She shed tears of sorrow in the womb of her mother at the gravity of the
offense against the highest Good.

St Anne’s Pregnancy
• The happy mother, holy Anne passed the days of her pregnancy altogether spiritualized by the
divine operations and by the sweet workings of the Holy Ghost in all her faculties.
• Satan, after he was hurled with the other bad angels from heaven into the infernal torments,
never ceased, during the reign of the old Law, to search through the earth hovering with lurking
vigilance above the women of distinguished holiness.
• He wanted to find Her, whose sign he had seen (Genesis 3:15) and whose heel was to bruise and
crush his head.
• Lucifer’s wrath against men was so fierce, that he would not trust this investigation to his
inferiors alone; but leaving them to operate against the virtuous women in general.
• Lucifer himself attended to this matter and assiduously hovered around those, who signalized
themselves more particularly in the exercise of virtue and in the grace of the Most High.

St Anne’s Temptations
• Filled with malice and astuteness, he observed closely the exceeding great holiness of the
excellent matron Anne.
• He saw how quietly her pregnancy took its course and especially, when he saw, that many
angels stood in attendance.
• Above all he was enraged at his weakness in resisting the force, which proceeded from the
blessed Anne and he suspected that it was not she alone, who was the cause of it.
• Filled with this mistrust, the dragon determined, if possible, to take the life of the most
felicitous Anne; or, if that was impossible, to see that she should obtain little satisfaction
from her pregnancy.

St Anne’s Temptations
• Audaciously therefore he set himself to tempt holy Anne, with many suggestions, misgivings, doubts and diffidence about the truth
of her pregnancy, alleging her protracted years.
• All this the demon attempted in order to test the virtue of the saint.
• But the invincible matron resisted these onslaughts with humble fortitude, patience, continued prayer and vivid faith in the Lord.
• For besides the protection abundantly merited by her past life She was defended and freed from the demons by the great princes,
who were guarding her most holy Daughter.
• Nevertheless in his insatiable malice the enemy did not desist on that account and he sought human aid.
• The blessed Anne did not permit herself to be disturbed by these attacks.
• With the help of God saint Anne won a more glorious victory than before.
• The watcher of Israel slumbered not but guarded his Holy City (Psalm 120:4) and furnished it so well with sentinels, chosen from
the strongest of his hosts, that they put to ignominious flight Lucifer and his followers.

The Birth of Mary
• No more were they allowed to molest the fortunate mother.
• The day destined for the parturition of saint Anne and for the birth of Her, who was consecrated and sanctified to be the
Mother of God, had arrived.
• This birth happened on the eighth day of September.
• Saint Anne was prepared by an interior voice of the Lord, informing Her, that the hour of her parturition had come.
• Saint Anne was free from the toils and labors.
• The most blessed child Mary was by divine providence and power ravished into a most high ecstasy.
• Hence Mary was born into the world without perceiving it by her senses.
• It was the most wonderful and miraculous birth in all creation.
• At twelve o’clock in the night this divine Luminary issued forth, dividing the night of the Ancient Law and its pristine
darkness from the new day of grace, which now was about to break into dawn.

The Birth of Mary
• She was born pure and stainless, beautiful and full of grace, thereby
demonstrating, that She was free from the law and the tribute of sin.
• She was clothed, handled and dressed like other infants, though her
soul dwelt in the Divinity.
• She was treated as an infant, though She excelled all mortals and
even all the angels in wisdom.
• The Lord revealed to the holy matron, that she was to treat her
heavenly Child outwardly as mothers treat their daughters, without
any demonstration of reverence; but to retain this reverence
inwardly.

The Birth of Mary
• Saint Anne received in her arms Her, who was her Daughter, but at the same time
the most exquisite Treasure of all the universe.
• The guardian angels of the sweet Child with others in great multitudes showed their
veneration and worship to Mary as She rested in the arms of her mother.
• They joined in heavenly music, some of which was audible to blessed Anne.
• The thousand angels appointed as guardians of the great Queen offered themselves
to her service.
• This was also the first time, in which the heavenly Mistress saw them in a corporeal
form.

The Celestial Annunciation of Mary’s Birth
• At the birth of our Princess Mary the Most High sent the archangel
Gabriel as an envoy to bring this joyful news to the holy Fathers in limbo.
• He told them that already the dawn of eternal felicity had commenced
and that the reparation of man, which was so earnestly desired and
expected by the holy Patriarchs and foretold by the Prophets, had been
begun.
• The holy prince gave them an understanding of the excellence of the
most holy Mary and of what the Omnipotent had begun to work in Her,
in order that they might better comprehend the happy beginning of the
mystery, which was to end their prolonged imprisonment.
• Then all the holy Patriarchs and Prophets and the rest of the just in
limbo rejoiced in spirit and in new canticles praised the Lord for this
benefit.

The Heavenly Reception
• The holy princes obeyed the divine mandate and receiving the child Mary
from the arms of her holy Mother Anne, they arranged a new and solemn
procession bearing heavenward with incomparable songs of joy the true Ark
of the covenant,
• For a short time the baby should rest, not in the house of Obed-Edom, but in
the temple of the King of kings and of the Lord of lords, where later it was
to be placed for all eternity.
• Borne by the hands of the angels the child Mary entered the empyrean heaven
where She prostrated Herself full of love before the royal throne in the
presence of the Most High.
• The holy angels honored and acknowledged most holy Mary as the future
Mother of the Word and as their Queen and Mistress enthroned at the right
hand of her Son.

The Heavenly Reception
• This was the first time in which the most holy soul of Mary saw the blessed Trinity
in unveiled beatific vision.
• The Queen seated at the side of the Lord, who was to be her Son, and seeing Him
face to face, was more successful in her prayer than Bethsabee (III Kings 2:21).
• Mary besought Him to accelerate the reparation of the human race, expected for so
many ages amid the multiplied iniquity and the ruin of souls.
• The Most High heard this most pleasing petition of his Mother.
• He assured Her that soon his promises should be fulfilled, and that He should
descend to the world in order to assume and redeem human nature.

The Annunciation of the
Name of Mary
• In this divine consistory and tribunal of the most holy Trinity it was determined to
give a name to the Child Queen.
• His Majesty thereby made known to the angelic spirits, that the three divine
Persons, had decreed and formed the sweet names of Jesus and Mary for the Son
and Mother from the beginning before the ages.
• They had been delighted with them and had engraved them on their eternal
memories to be as it were the Objects for whose service, They should create all
things.
• The heavenly spirits received the name with most admirable and sweet jubilation.
• All of them gave forth canticles of praise for these great and hidden mysteries.
• With the same reverential jubilee did the angels return in order to replace Her into
the arms of holy Anne, to whom this event remained a secret, as was also the
absence of her Daughter.

The Heavenly Tribunal
Being informed of these and many other mysteries, the holy angels heard a voice from
the throne speaking in the person of the Father:
"Our chosen One shall be called MARY, and this name is to be powerful and magnificent. Those
that shall invoke it with devout affection shall receive most abundant graces; those that shall honor it
and pronounce it with reverence shall be consoled and vivified and will find in it the remedy of their
evils, the treasures for their enrichment, the light which shall guide them to heaven. It shall be terrible
against the power of hell, it shall crush the head of the serpent and it shall win glorious victories over
the princes of hell."

The Annunciation of the Name of Mary
• The Lord commanded the angelic spirits to announce this glorious name to saint Anne, so that what was decreed in heaven
might be executed on earth.
• On the eighth day after the birth of the great Queen multitudes of most beautiful angels in splendid array descended from
on high bearing an escutcheon on which the name of MARY was engraved.
• Appearing to the blessed mother Anne, they told her, that the name of her daughter was to be MARY, which name they
had brought from heaven.
• Divine Providence had selected this name and now ordained to be given to their child.
• The saint called for her husband and they conferred with each other.
• The more than happy father accepted the name with joy and devout affection.
• They decided to call their relatives and a priest and then they imposed the name of MARY on their Child.
• The angels also celebrated this event with most sweet and ravishing music, which, however, was heard only by the mother
and her most holy Daughter.

The Name “Mary”
• Be very devout toward my most sweet name.
• I wish that thou be convinced of the great
prerogatives and privileges, which the Almighty
concedes to it.
• Whenever I heard myself called by that name, I
was aroused to thankfulness and urged to new
fervor in the service of the Lord, who gave it to
me.

The Newborn Child
• Let us consider how much more holy she was at her birth, coming to the light after
the acquisition of those merits which she made during the nine months that she
remained in her mother’s womb (St Alphonsus).
• How lovely in the sight of heaven and earth was the beautiful soul of that happy
infant, although still enclosed in the womb of its mother!
• In the eye of God she was the creature most worthy of love, because, already full of grace
and of merit (St Alphonsus).
• She was the creature most full of love for God that until that time had appeared in this
world (St Alphonsus).

The Newborn Child
“Mary was born a saint, and a great saint for great was that
grace with which our Lord enriched her from the
beginning, and great was the fidelity with which Mary at
once corresponded with it” (St Alphonsus).
• To conceive the degree of sanctity in which she was
born, we must call to mind
1) How great was the first grace with which God
enriched Mary.
2) With how great fidelity Mary at once
corresponded with God.

1) Graces of Mary
St Thomas says the most holy Virgin was full of grace in three ways:
1) She was full of grace in soul, so that from the beginning her holy soul belonged
entirely to God.
2) She was full of grace in body, so that she merited to clothe the eternal Word with
her pure flesh.
3) She was full of grace for the common benefit, so that all men might share it.

1) Graces of Mary
• It is certain that the soul of Mary was the most beautiful soul that God ever created.
• Next to the incarnation of the Word, this work was the greatest and most worthy of himself that the Omnipotent
could accomplish in this world a work.
• Mary was so sublime in sanctity, that none but Mary was a fitting mother of God. And no other Son than God was
befitting Mary (St Bernard).
• It was that the divine grace did not descend upon Mary in drops as upon the other saints but like rain upon the
fleece (St Peter Damian).
• The holy Virgin drew into herself all the graces of the Holy Spirit (St Basil).
• I have in fulness all that the other saints have in part (Mary to Ecclesiasticus).
• Even before her birth, she surpassed all the saints and angels in sanctity (St Vincent Ferrer).
• Even the beginning of the life of Mary was more exalted than the completed lives of all the saints put together.

1) Graces of Mary
• Having been elected to an order superior to all creatures, gifts of a superior order were justly
bestowed upon her from the beginning of her life, so that her graces far exceeded those granted
to all other creatures (Father Suarez).
• The Lord gives to everyone grace proportioned to that dignity for which he destines him (St
Thomas).
• When a man is chosen by God for any state, he not only receives the dispositions requisite for
that, but also the gifts necessary to fill the office in a becoming manner (St Bernadine of Sienna).
• Hence Mary, before being made mother of God, was adorned with a sanctity so perfect, that it
rendered her fit for this great dignity (St Thomas).
• This was the perfection of sanctification (St Thomas).

1) Graces of Mary
• As Isaiah foretold, the mountain of the house of the Lord, which was the blessed Virgin, should be prepared
on the summit of all the other mountains, and therefore all the nations must hasten to this mountain, to
receive the divine favors.
• Mary is the mountain which pleased God to choose for his habitation (St John Damascene).
• Mary was called a cypress, but a cypress of Mount Sion (St John Damascene).
• Mary was called a cedar, but a cedar of Lebanon (St John Damascene).
• Mary was called an olive-tree, but a fair olive-tree (St John Damascene).
• Chosen, but chosen as the sun (St John Damascene).
• As the sun, says, with his light so far exceeds all the splendor of the stars, that they are seen no more when
be appears, so the great Virgin Mary surpasses, with her sanctity, the merits of the whole celestial court (St
Peter Damian).

1) Graces of Mary
• The great office which she had from the beginning, of mediatrix of men.
• For this office, it was requisite that she should possess a greater treasure of grace than the whole human race together.
• By her powerful intercession and merits she has obtained salvation for all, procuring for the ruined world the great blessing of
redemption.
• Jesus Christ is our mediator by way of justice, Mary is the mediatrix of grace.
• Whilst to others limited grace is given, to Mary it was given in fulness; thus it was ordered that in this way she might become the
worthy mediatrix between God and men (St Basil).
• If the Virgin had not been full of divine grace, how could she be the ladder of paradise, the advocate of the world, and the true
mediatrix between God and men (St Lawrence Justinian )?
• In order that an intercessor may obtain from his prince favor for all his vassals, it is necessary that he, more than all the other
vassals, should be dear to his monarch (St Alphonsus).
• Mary merited to be the worthy restorer of the ruined world, because she was the most holy and most pure of all creatures (St
Anslem).

2) Mary’s Correspondence with God
From the moment of her conception:
• Mary was grateful to her God.
• Mary began to effect all that she could, using faithfully all that great treasure of grace
that she had received.
• Mary wholly applied herself to please and love the divine goodness.
• From that moment she loved him with all her strength, and thus continued to love him
through all those nine months that she lived before her birth, in which she did not cease for
a moment to unite herself to God by fervent acts of love.

• Mary was enlightened about how much God deserves to be loved by all men,
but especially by her, on account of the peculiar graces with which he had
adorned her and distinguished her from all creatures,
• preserving her from the stain of original sin,
• bestowing on her a grace so abundant,
• destining her for the mother of the Word and the queen of the universe.

• Mary was free from original sin, and therefore she was also exempt from every earthly
attachment, from every irregular tendency, from every distraction, from all strife of the
senses, which could have prevented her from advancing constantly in the divine love (St
Alphonsus).
• Her sanctified Soul at once hastened and aspired with the most intense desires of uniting
Herself with God and without having for one moment turned to any other object or tarried
one moment in her upward flight (Mary of Jesus of Ágreda).
• All her senses united with her blessed spirit in drawing her near to God (St Alphonsus).
• Her pure soul, freed from every hindrance, without lingering, always rose to God, always
loved him, and always increased in love to him (St Alphonsus).

• Mary called herself a plane-tree planted by the waters, for she indeed was that noble
tree of God that always grew beside the stream of divine grace (St Alphonsus).
• She also called herself a vine, “As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor”
(Sirach 24:23), not only because she was so humble in the eyes of the world but also
because, as the vine never ceases to grow according to the Proverb, so the most holy
Virgin always increased in perfection (St Alphonsus).
• Thus it was of her that the Holy Spirit spoke when he said : “Who is this that
cometh up from the desert flowing with delights, leaning on her be loved “(Song of
Solomon 8:5)?

Little Mary
• At the instant of her coming into existence, She began to seek a
remedy for mankind and commenced the work of mediation,
intercession and reparation.
• She assumed the office of Benefactress of men and exercised the
divine and fraternal love enkindled in her heart.
• She perceived the love of God and his desire to descend from
heaven in order to redeem men, though She knew not how it should
be consummated.
• It was befitting that God should feel Himself impelled to hasten his
coming on account of the prayers and petitions of this Creature;
since it was principally for the love of Her that He came.

Mary’s Childhood Years Overview
• Little Mary spoke her first words to her beloved parents asking their blessing.
• At the same time she showed them that she could walk by herself.
• St Anne: “Let your words be few and well considered and may all your footsteps be directed toward the honor of our Creator”.
• During the remaining 1year ½ before she went to the temple, Mary spoke very little except to her mother.
• Mother and daughter passed many hours in sweet conversation about holy things.
• Often, they spoke together about the Lord’s coming and about the fortunate maiden of Israel who would give him to the world.
• Mary became inflamed with ardent love.
• St Anne never revealed the great secret of her heart.
• Mary never wanted to be beautifully dressed and often helped her mother in the household.
• At age 2, she began to perform works of charity towards the poor.
• At 3 years ½, Mary already knew how to read. She seemed like a girl of 5 or 6.

Mary’s Childhood Years
• Her nourishment was of the usual kind, though less in quantity.
• Her parents were solicitous that She take more sleep.
• She was not troublesome, nor did She ever cry for mere annoyance, as is done by other children.
• She was most amiable and caused no trouble to anybody.
• She maintained, even in her infancy, a pleasant countenance, yet mixed with gravity and a peculiar Majesty, never showing
any childishness.
• She sometimes permitted Herself to be caressed, though, by a secret influence and a certain outward austerity.
• Whenever her mother freed her arms and hands, the child Mary immediately grasped the hands of her parents and kissed
them with great submission and reverent humility.
• In giving alms She kissed the hands of the poor, and whenever She was alone, She kissed their feet, never without
conferring still greater favors on their souls by interceding for them and thus dismissing them relieved in body and soul.

The Perfection of Little Mary
• In all things the infant Queen was most gracious, perfect and admirable.
• In the child Mary there was no defect; for as far as her natural powers were concerned.
• She was stronger than other children, and as She exercised sovereignty and dominion over all creation.
• She did not cause any trouble or annoyance to her parents, since She knew beforehand all their thoughts and was anxious to fulfill them before
they were made manifest.
• The fact of her not speaking as soon as She was born, did not arise from the want of ability, but because She did not wish to make use of her
power.
• It was ordained therefore by the Most High, that the sovereign Child should voluntarily keep this silence during the time in which ordinarily
other children are unable to speak.
• The only exception made was regarding the conversation held with the angels of her guard, or when She addressed Herself in vocal prayer to
the Lord.
• She was instructed in reading and other arts by her parents and She submitted, though She had infused knowledge of all things created.
• The angels were filled with admiration at the unparalleled wisdom of this Child, who willingly listened to the teaching of all.

The Preparation to Leave for the Temple
• The child Mary began to prepare and dispose her mother, manifesting to her, six months before, her ardent desire of living
in the temple.
• There is no doubt, that she would have lost her life in this fierce and vivid sorrow, if the hand of the Almighty had not
comforted her.
• The grace and dignity of her heavenly Daughter was fully known to Anne and had entirely ravished her heart, making the
presence of Mary dearer to her than life.
• A few days before most holy Mary reached the age of three years, She was favored with an abstract vision of the Divinity,
in which it was made known to Her that the time of her departure for the temple ordained by God, had arrived.
• At the same time saint Anne had a vision, in which the Lord enjoined her to fulfill her promise by presenting her Daughter
in the temple on the very day, on which the third year of her age should be complete.
• Saint Joachim also had a vision of the Lord at this time, receiving the same command as Anne.
• Great was also the grief of this holy old man, though not quite as that of saint Anne, for the high mystery of her being the
future Mother of God was yet concealed from him.

Mary’s Thoughts on
Parenting
• It is an act of justice due to the eternal God that the creature coming to the use of reason,
direct its very first movement toward God.
• By knowing, it should begin to love Him, reverence Him and adore Him as its Creator and
only true Lord.
• And if the rational creature has not known and adored the Creator from the first dawn of
reason, it should do this as soon as it obtains knowledge of the essential God by the light
of faith.
• The parents are naturally bound to instruct their children from their infancy in this
knowledge of God.
• The proper education and instruction of children will do much toward making them freer
and more habituated to the practice of virtue, since thus they will be accustomed to follow
the sure and safe guiding star of reason from its first dawn.

The Presentation in the Temple
There never has been, and there never will be, any offering of a pure creature greater and more perfect than that which
Mary made to God, being yet only a child of three years, when she presented herself in the temple to offer him her
whole self as a perfect holocaust, consecrating herself as a perpetual victim in his honor.
“Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me” (Song of Solomon 2:10).
“Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house” (Psalm
45:10).
Let us consider, then, how acceptable to God was this offering which Mary made of herself, as she presented herself
promptly and entirely to him.
1. Promptly without delay.
2. Entirely with out reserve.

Mary’s Admission to the
Temple
• A few days before Mary’s third birthday, God revealed to her parents that the
time had come for her to be taken to live in the temple at Jerusalem.
• The holy child was very happy to be going to the temple.
• The beautiful Child, by her fervent and loving aspirations, hastened after the
ointments of her Beloved, seeking in the temple Him, whom She bore in her
heart.
• Three priests came to Mary’s home to decide upon her admission to the
temple.
• On the question which sacrifices Mary was ready to make, she replied she
wanted to give up fish, meet, milk and all fruits except berries.
• She said she wished to sleep on the floor and get up three times every night
for prayer.

The Journey towards the Temple
• The three years’ time decreed by the Lord having been completed, Joachim and Anne set out from Nazareth, accompanied by a few kindred and bringing
with them the true living Ark of the covenant,
• The most holy Mary was borne on the arms of her mother in order to be deposited in the holy temple of Jerusalem.
• On the trip they went to the house of Zachariah, the future father of John the Baptist.
• Mary was let to God’s house, in a beautiful and solemn procession through the Holy City.
• This humble procession was scarcely noticed by earthly creatures, but it was invisibly accompanied by the angelic spirits, who were singing in heavenly
strains the glory and praise of the Most High.
• The Princess of heaven heard and saw them as She hastened her beautiful steps along in the sight of the highest and the true Solomon.
• Mary was dressed in a lovely sky-blue robe with garlands of flowers around her arms and neck.
• On each side of her, were three girls dressed in white with flowers and candles.
• Thus they pursued their journey from Nazareth to the holy city of Jerusalem.
• Also the parents of the holy child Mary felt in their hearts great joy and consolation of spirit.

Mary’s Entrance in the Temple
• Together they conducted Her to the portion of the temple buildings, where many young girls lived to be brought up in
retirement and in virtuous habits, until old enough to assume the state of matrimony.
• It was a place of retirement especially selected for the first-born daughters of the royal tribe of Juda and the sacerdotal
tribe of Levi.
• Fifteen stairs led up to the entrance of these apartments.
• The young girls sang these words from psalm 44: “Though art beautiful therefore God bless thee forever. The King shall greatly desire
thy beauty for He is the Lord thy God. Therefore shall people praise thee forever and ever”.
• In ascending the fifteen stairs the Child brought to fulfillment, that, which Jacob saw happening in sleep.
• She hastened upward with incomparable fervor and joy, neither turning back, nor shedding tears, nor showing any childish
regret at parting from her parents.
• She heart a voice from heaven saying: “Come my Beloved, my Spouse”.
• She also felt by the effects of the overflowing love, that this truly was the house of God and the portal of heaven.

Mary’s Entrance in the
Temple
• They put a brown veil over Mary’s head and girls welcomed her by
throwing flowers on her.
• At the top of the stairs she was greeted by a priest named Simeon
and a holy prophetess called Anna, who was to be Mary’s special
teacher.
• Anne considered the charge a special favor of divine Providence
and merited by her holiness and virtue to have Her as a disciple,
who was to be the Mother of God and Mistress of all the creatures.
• She said to the women, “The arch of the covenant is now in the temple”.
• Addressing the twelve angels of the Apocalypse, Mary said: "And I
beseech you, my ambassadors, if the Almighty permit you, go and
console my holy parents in their affliction and solitude.“
• In answer to Mary’s prayers, God mercifully consoled and
comforted St Joachim and St Anne.

Mary’s Life in the Temple
• God gave Mary to understand that he would allow her to suffer and labor for love
of him during her life though she would not know in advance how and what
happened.
• Mary asked to be allowed in his presence the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience
and perpetual enclosure in the temple.
• “My chosen one, now you do not yet understand why it is impossible for thee to fulfill all thy
desires”.
• She made the vow of chastity.
• Her angels proceeded to adorn her with a gorgeous robe and sparkling jewels of
many colors that symbolized her virtues.
• God told her to ask for whatever she desired.
• Mary beseeched him with burning fervor to send the redeemer to the world, to
bless her parents with grace and to console the poor and the afflicted.

Mary’s Life in the Temple
• The girls in the temple prayed for temple necessities, for God’s people, and for the coming of the Messiah.
• Mary took lessons in Holy Scripture, in singing and in the ceremonies of the temple.
• Mary always rose in the middle of the night to pray, where a supernatural light surrounded her.
• Through the years, she grew in wisdom, in grace and in infused mystical knowledge.
• Even as a child she had a remarkably advanced understanding of the scriptures and she loved to spend hours studying them.
• Mary read in the Scriptures that the Son of God would choose a virgin to be His mother.
• She resolved to remain a virgin herself.
• She spoke of loving tenderness about the Messiahs.
• She gradually pieced together many of the significant scriptural references to the mysteries of Christ’s life with the help of her angels, such as
the promise of his incarnation.
• “Rejoice oh daughter of Zion, shout for joy. Behold, thy King will come to thee, the just and savior” (Zechariah 9:9).
• “God shall come to judge his people” (Deuteronomy 32:36).

Mary’s Angelic Visions
• Mary began to feel a supernal influence of great power and sweetness,
spiritualizing Her and elevating Her in burning ecstasy, and immediately the
Most High commanded the seraphim to assist in illumining and preparing her
most holy soul.
• Instantly She was filled with a divine light and force, which perfected and
proportioned her faculties in accordance with the mysteries now to be
manifested to Her.
• The celestial Child was raised body and soul to the empyrean heaven, where
She was received by the holy Trinity with befitting benevolence and pleasure.
• Then She was further transformed by new workings of divine light, so that
She saw, intuitively and face to face, the Divinity itself.
• This was the second time that It manifested Itself to Her in this intuitive
manner during the first three years of her life.

• The Person of the Father spoke to the future Mother of his Son, and said: "My
Dove, my beloved One, I desire thee to see the treasures of my immutable being and of my infinite
perfections, and to perceive the hidden gifts destined for the souls, whom I have chosen as heirs of
my glory and who are rescued by the life-blood of the Lamb.
• Burning with desire of securing such favor, She asked of his Majesty to be allowed to make four
vows in his presence: of chastity, of poverty, of obedience, and of perpetual enclosure in the temple
whither He had called Her.
• Thy desire shall be fulfilled through many other virgins in the coming law of grace.
• In order to imitate thee and to serve Me, they will make these same vows and live together in
community and thou shalt be the Mother of many daughters."

• She enjoyed another, an imaginary vision of the Lord in a lower state of ecstasy, so that in connection with
it, She saw other mysteries.
• First all her senses were illumined with an effulgent light, which filled them with grace and beauty.
• Then they robed Her in a mantle or tunic of most exquisite splendor.
• They signified the immaculate purity and the various heroic virtues of her soul.
• They placed on Her also a necklace or collar of inestimable and entrancing beauty, which contained three
large stones, symbolic of the three great virtues of faith, hope and charity.
• They also adorned her hands with seven rings of rare beauty whereby the Holy Ghost wished to proclaim
that He had enriched Her with his holy gifts in a most eminent degree.
• In addition to all this the most holy Trinity crowned her head with an imperial diadem, constituting Her
thereby as his Spouse and as the Empress of heaven.

The Divine Espousals
• In testimony whereof the white and refulgent vestments were emblazoned with letters or
figures of the finest and the most shining gold, proclaiming: Mary, Daughter of the eternal
Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost and Mother of the true Light.
• “Thou shalt be our Spouse, our beloved and chosen One among all creatures for all eternity; the angels shall
serve thee and all the nations and generations shall call thee blessed” (Luke 1:48).
• The sovereign Child being thus attired in the court dress of the Divinity, then celebrated a
more glorious and marvelous espousal than ever could enter the mind of the highest
cherubim and seraphim.
• He deposited within Her his own Divinity in the person of the Word and with it all the
treasures of grace befitting such eminence.

The Divine Espousals
• “I accept Thee, O my King and my Lord, as my Spouse and I offer myself as thy slave. Let not my
understanding attend to any other object, nor my memory hold any other image, nor my will seek other object
or pleasure than Thee, my highest Good, my true and only Love”.
• The Most High received with ineffable pleasure this consent of the sovereign Princess to
enter the new espousal with her most holy soul. As upon his True Spouse and as Mistress of
all creation, He now lavished upon Her all the treasures of his grace and power, instructing
Her to ask for whatever She desired and assuring Her that nothing would ever be denied
Her.
• And all the angelic host sang new songs of admiration in praise of the Most High, while
those appointed by his Majesty, midst heavenly music, bore back the holy Child from the
empyrean heaven to the place in the temple, from which they had brought Her.

• During Mary’s first year in the temple and until she was about four years old, she continued to have angelic
and heavenly visions.
• Her father died when she was 3½, and her heavenly visitations were of comfort to her. However, for the
next ten years of her life she had few visions.
• All the ten years she spent in the temple, the Lord continued to absent himself from her views with only a
few rare exceptions.
• This was a source of keen and prolonged suffering for Mary.
• When Mary was 12 years old, her mother died.
• Angels transported her to her mother Anne’s deathbed to receive her mother's final blessing.
• Mary’s visions of angels and of God’s essence then resumed, helping her to be comforted over the loss of
her mother.

Mary’s Tribulations
• Six months after Mary had entered the temple, the Lord appeared to her in a vision.
• “I wish that though dispose thyself for tribulations and sorrows for love of me”.
• “As a beginning of their fulfillment, I announce to thee that thy father Joachim must pass from this mortal to eternal life. He will be placed
among the saints in limbo to await the redemption of mankind”.
• Mary requested several of her angels to console him.
• She asked God to let him see them. This favor was granted.
• “The Almighty wishes thee to know now that thy daughter is to be the happy mother of the Messiahs”.
• St Anne also heart this message.
• His soul was carried to the limbo of the patriarchs and the just where amid intense rejoicing he shared with them that
happy tidings that from Mary was to be born the redeemer of the world.
• Mary bagged her angels to console her mother.

Mary’s dark Night
• Soon afterwards, the Lord decided to train her further in the science of
suffering.
• He suspended all visions and similar graces and ordered all her angels to
conceal themselves from her.
• Feeling utterly forsaken in this sudden and unexpected dark night, Mary began
to fear that it was due to her unworthiness and continually sought to make
amends.
• For days she suffered and longed for the sweet presence of her Lord.
• “I seek him but do not find him. I call him and he does not answer me.
Daughters of Jerusalem tell him that I am dying of love” (Song of Solomon
5).
• God also allowed Satan to try her in order to increase her merit and reward.

Mary’s Temptations
• Irritated by her perfect virtue and holiness, the devil vainly attempted to incite her to commit
even a slight venial sin in thought, word or deed.
• During these various tests, Mary never stopped praying to the Lord for help.
• Without ever loosing her inner union with God, she successfully fought and conquered all these
temptations.
• Satan then changed his tactic and incite others to persecute her.
• He made the other girls become inflamed with envy against her.
• Observing Mary’s devotion, holiness, and obedience, they began to fear that their virtues would
be overlooked.
• Driven on by the devil, soon they let themselves being moved to anger and hatred against her.

Mary’s Temptations
• Finally, they plotted together to persecute her until she would be forced to leave the temple.
• They invented lies about her and called her a hypocrite.
• They persecuted and insulted her, at times even hitting her.
• Little Mary remained humble, patient and charitable.
• Returning good for evil, Mary prayed for her enemies.
• At first Simeon believed the negative reports from the other girls about Mary, but God revealed
to him that she was entirely innocent of their false charges.
• The priests asked Mary for pardon and the trouble finally subsided.
• The priests restrained both the devil and her companions from persecuting her so much.

The Death of St Anne
• One day when she had reached the age of 12, her angel said to her:
• The life of thy holy mother Anne is now about to come to an end.
• This unexpected sad news filled Mary’s affectionate heart with sorrow.
• Mary fervently prayed to the Lord to assist her mother.
• That night, he commended Mary’s angels to carry her bodily to St Anne’s bedside.
• St Anne: You will be an orphan, but you will live under the guardianship of the Lord.
• Pray for a husband of the race of David.
• Ask the Almighty to show his mercy by sending his promised Messiahs.
• Beseech him to be your protection.
• Mary’s heart suffered a keen sense of loneliness.
• She thanked the Lord for having given her such a perfect mother and for having showered so many graces on her parents.

Mary’s Divine Consolations
• One day, for the first time in years, Mary’s angels again became visible to her
and said:
• Soon thou shall see him whom thy soul desires.
• In order to console his beloved, he afflicts them.
• In order to be sought after, he withdraws.
• Then gradually by series of mystical experiences, God endowed Mary’s pure
soul with new graces and tranquilized her spirit.
• At last, having raised her to a still higher spiritual plane, he again revealed
himself to her in an exalted vision amply rewarded all her sufferings and
loving anxiety.
• Mary was overwhelmed with joy.

Mary to St Bridget
• From my infancy, the Holy Spirit was perfectly with me and as I grew it filled me so completely as to leave no room for any sin to
enter.
• When I had attained an age to know my Creator, I turned to him with unspeakable love and desired him with my whole heart.
• I was always solicitous and fearful for my salvation.
• I firmly resolved in my mind, to love not but him and all worldly things became most bitter to me.
• Hearing that this same God was to redeem the world and to be born of a virgin, I was filled with such love for her.
• I vowed in my heart to observe virginity if it was pleasing to him and to possess nothing in the world.
• I wanted that God’s will not mine be done.
• Nothing pleased me but God and ever did I long in my heart, to live to the time of his birth if by chance I might be the handmade
of the Lord.
• God placed me on Earth as a teacher and example for all the elect and I want you to do as I did.
• God wants those who have, to help those who have not.

The Call to Holy Matrimony
• When Mary was 13½ years old, God informed Simeon and her that she was to be
married.
• Mary, had another abstractive vision of the Divinity.
• God tried Her in this vision, by commanding Her to enter the state of matrimony.
• As distant as heaven is from earth, were the thoughts of most holy Mary from the
plans which the Most High now made known to Her.
• Though She felt some sadness, it did not hinder Her from practicing the most
heroic obedience which until then had fallen to her lot, and She resigned Herself
entirely into the hand of the Lord.

The Call to Holy Matrimony
• Because she had taken a vow of chastity, Mary wished to keep her vow and remain a
virgin.
• “Preserve me, then, my Spouse, pure and chaste, as I have desired for Thee and through Thee”.
• During the nine days that followed Mary continually prayed to God with many tears
for that which she had so much at heart.
• After she had prayed for nine days about a possible marriage, God let her know that
He had selected her spouse, one who would respect her vow of chastity.
• “I will find for Thee a perfect man conformable to my heart and I will choose him from the number
of my servants; my power is infinite, and my protection and aid shall never fail Thee."

The Arrangement of the Wedding Feast
• God spoke in sleep to the high priest, saint Simeon, and commanded him to
arrange for the marriage of Mary, the daughter of Joachim and Anne of Nazareth.
• She did not desire to be married; but as it was a custom for the firstborn maidens
not to leave the temple without being provided for, it was proper She should be
married to whomever it seemed good to the priests.
• “Thy holy desires are acceptable to the Lord; but remember, that no maiden of Israel abstains
from marriage as long as we expect the coming of the Messiahs conformably to the divine
prophecies”.

The Call for Eligible Men
• Temple priests issued a call for eligible men from the house of David and tribe of Judah in Jerusalem
to assemble on Mary’s 14th birthday.
• And as the sweet odor of her virtue and nobility, the fame of her beauty, her possessions and her
modesty, and her position as being the firstborn in her family was known to all of them, each one
coveted the happiness of meriting Her as a spouse.
• Among the eligible men was 33-year-old Joseph from Nazareth, who was then living in Jerusalem.
• Joseph was a handsome, modest, chaste and holy man, most saintly in all his inclinations.
• Joseph had a deeper veneration and esteem than any of the others for the most noble maiden Mary,
but he alone considered himself unworthy of such a blessing.
• He inwardly renewed his vow of chastity.

St Joseph
• The saint’s marvelous holiness begun when he was sanctified in the womb of his mother seven months after
his conception.
• At his birth, he was a beautiful baby that caused an extraordinary delight to his parents.
• From his third year, he began to know God by faith and already practiced advanced forms of prayer.
• At the age of seven, he had attained the perfect use of reason and a high degree of holiness.
• He was a quiet, likable and humble boy.
• Joseph’s brothers used to tease him and make fun of him.
• The parents complained that Joseph was too serious and solitary, too simple and lacking in ambition.
• He had no desire for a prosperous career.
• All he wanted was to pray and quietly perform some manual labor.

St Joseph
• During his teens, he often prayed in some grottos, in one
of which the child Jesus was later born.
• Wherever he lived, he was always loved by those who
knew him.
• He spent much time in prayer, fervently asking God for
the coming of the Messiahs.
• He consistently avoided the society of women.
• From the age of twelve he had made and kept a vow of
chastity.
• His purity of soul was that of an angel.

Joseph received the
Visitation of an Angel
• The grain of salvation was going to be confided to
him.
• St Joseph in his humility, was not able to
understand this message.
• As an unmarried descendant of King David, he
was to go to the temple of Jerusalem with his best
clothes.
• He was at that time 33 years old.
• Joseph had taken a vow of chastity at the age of
12, and he begged God to reveal His will about this
vow and about marriage with Mary.

The Chosen One
• After the High Priest had presented Mary to them and explained the purpose of the meeting, Mary returned to her cell and wept.
• Upon inspiration, a high priest gave each eligible man a thin, dry piece of wood, like a staff, to single out the one whom He had
chosen as the spouse of Mary.
• Each suiter came forward and placed his branch on an altar facing the Holy of Holies.
• When Joseph, the last in line was about to deposit his branch, suddenly it blossomed into a white lily-like flower.
• A a resplendent dazzling white dove of light descended and rested upon Joseph’s head.
• God then revealed to him that Mary was to be his spouse.
• He was to accept this most pure person, with attentive reverence to her requests.
• At this manifestation and token from heaven the priests declared saint Joseph as the spouse selected by God himself for the maiden
Mary.

The Promise in Marriage
• "Joseph, my servant, Mary shall be thy Spouse; accept Her with
attentive reverence, for She is acceptable in my eyes, just and most
pure in soul and body, and thou shalt do all that She shall ask.“
• Calling Her forth for her espousal, the Chosen one issued
forth like the sun, more resplendent than the moon, and
She entered the presence of all with a countenance more
beautiful than that of an angel, incomparable in the charm
of her beauty, nobility and grace.

The Wedding Ceremony
on Mount Zion
• The priests espoused Her to the most chaste and
holy of men, saint Joseph.
• This touching ceremony took place later in a house
on Mount Zion.
• Some relatives of her parents had prepared for her
a lovely sky-blue wedding gown and cape.
• The heavenly Princess, purer than the stars of the
firmament, with tearful and sorrowful countenance
and as the Queen of majesty, most humble yet
uniting all perfections within Herself, took leave of
the priests, asking their blessing.

The Reciprocal Vow of Chastity
• Mary set out with perfect resignation and trust in God for the new life to which he was leading her.
• They set out for Nazareth, where the modest home of Anne and Joachim was available.
• Mary told Joseph of her earlier consecration to God and her vow of perpetual chastity of body and soul.
• “I am his and I acknowledge him as my spouse and Lord with the firm resolve of preserving my chastity for him”.
• “I beseech thee, my master, to help me in fulfilling this vow, while in all other things I will be thy servant”.
• Joseph was over-joyed shared with Mary that he had made the same vow at the age of 12.
• Joseph promised Mary that he would agree to a relationship with her as brother, companion, and faithful
servant, in an expression of chaste love.
• In this conversation the Most High confirmed anew the virtue of chastity in the heart of saint Joseph, and
the pure and holy love due to his most holy spouse Mary.

• "My Mistress, in making known to me thy chaste and welcome sentiments, thou hast
penetrated and dilated my heart.
• I have not opened my thoughts to Thee before knowing thy own.
• I desire Thee to know, Lady, that at the age of twelve years I also made a promise to
serve the Most High in perpetual chastity.
• On this account I now gladly ratify this vow in order not to impede thy own.
• I pray Thee accept my chaste love and hold me as thy brother, without ever
entertaining any other kind of love, outside the one which Thou owest to God and
after God to me”.

• Both Mary and Joseph were now filled with heavenly consolation.
• The heavenly Princess, as one who is the Mistress of all virtues and who in all
things pursued the highest perfection of all virtues, lovingly corresponded to the
desires of saint Joseph.
• The Most High also gave to saint Joseph new purity and complete command over
his natural inclinations, so that without hindrance or any trace of sensual desires,
but with admirable and new grace, he might serve his spouse Mary, and in Her,
execute his will and pleasure.
• Just as Anne and Joachim had done, Mary and Joseph donated one-third of their
income to the temple and one-third to the poor.

Their Mutual Veneration
• Then arose between the two Spouses a holy contest, who should
obey the other as superior.
• She, who among the humble was the humblest, won in this contest
of humility; for as the man is the head of the family.
• St Joseph was seized with ever new admiration and, in great joy of
spirit, continued to praise and thank the Lord again and again for
having given him a Companion and Spouse so far above his merits.
• An effulgence or reflection of the divine light shone from the face
of our Queen, which was mingled with an ineffable and always
visible majesty.
• God filled his humble heart with an indescribable reverence for her.

Their Mutual Veneration
• “My spouse and Lady, I give thanks to the Lord most high God for the favor of having
designed me as your husband without my merits, though I judged myself unworthy even of
thy company”.
• “Hold me, therefore, as thy servant, and by the true love which I have for thee tell me,
Lady, what is thy pleasure, in order that I may fulfill it.“
• “My master, I am fortunate, that the Most High, in order to place me in this state of life,
has chosen thee for my husband and that He has given me such evident manifestation of
his will, that I serve thee”.

Mary’s Vision
• “My chosen one, observe all the laws of a spouse in holiness, purity and all perfection and
let my servant Joseph help thee. Obey him and listen to his advice”.
• “My Lord and maker, show me thy good will and blessing and with it I will strive to obey
and serve thy servant Joseph”.

Their Early Life in Nazareth
• Mary spent every moment of her daily life in inner recollection, prayer and spiritual
communion with God in her heart, worshipping and beseeching him to send the
promised redeemer to suffering mankind.
• The humble and lovely maiden never once thought that this great and widely
expected event would directly involve her.
• The few persons who knew her were filled with a mysterious joy which they knew
came from her.
• Many turned from sin at the mere sight of her.
• All were affected by some divine influence.

Mary’s Thoughts on Matrimony
• My daughter, in the example of the matrimonial life wherein the Most High placed me, thou
findest a reproof for those souls, who allege their life in the world as an excuse for not
following perfection.
• I lived in the house of my spouse with the same perfection as in the temple.
• For in changing my state of life I altered neither my sentiments nor the desire and anxiety to
love and serve God; on the contrary I added to my solicitude.
• On this account God favored me and disposed and accommodated powerfully all things in
conformity to my desires.
• The Lord will do the same for all men, if on their part they correspond.
• They however blame the state of matrimony, deceiving themselves.

Thoughts from Mary on the
Powerful Intercession of St Joseph
1) The overcoming of sensuality, and the attainment of purity
2) Escape from sin, and a return to God’s love
3) Love, and devotion to me, Mary
4) Protection, and help for a happy death
5) Terror on the part of demons at the mention of Joseph’s
name
6) Health and assistance in difficulty
7) Desires for children. If you properly and with good
disposition seek Joseph’s intercession, these and many other
favors from God will become available to you.

The Annunciation
“There are young maidens without number; one is my dove, my perfect one” (Song of Solomon 6:8-9).
• God sought among women the holiest and most humble.
• Among them all he saw one, the youthful virgin Mary, who, as she was the most perfect in all virtues, so was she the
simplest; and humble as a dove in her own esteem.
• Mary, looking on God with the eyes of a simple, humble dove, he was so enamored of her beauty, that with the bands of
love she made him a prisoner in her virginal womb (St Augustine).
“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
1. Mary could not humble herself more than she did in the incarnation of the Word.
2. God could not exalt Mary more than he exalted her.

The Annunciation
• The time which almighty God had appointed for the incarnation of his Son was drawing
near.
• Mary was prepared for the glorious mystery of the annunciation.
• During the nine days which immediately preceded that decisive turning point in history, the
Lord gave his chosen Spouse and future Mother a series of marvelous mystical experiences.
• Mary received mystical revelations about the creation of the world and the fire of His love.
• These revelations raised her pure soul to an unparalleled degree of holiness and fervor.
• They infused into her mind a thorough and profound knowledge of his creation.

The Annunciation
• "While the King was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the odor thereof” (Song of Solomon 1:12).
• The humility of Mary, whose odor ascended to heaven, drew, from the bosom of the eternal Father,
into her virginal womb the divine Word.
• He would not take flesh from her without her consent.
• The blessed Virgin had already well learned from the Holy Scriptures that the time foretold by the
prophets for the coming of the Messiah had arrived.
• When Mary was 14½ years old God sent the angel Gabriel to inform her that she had been chosen to
be the mother of Jesus, the Son of God and the Messiah.
• God, who exalts the humble, has made thee worthy to find the grace lost by man (St Peter
Chrysologus).

The Annunciation
• To thee is now offered the price of our salvation
(St Bernard).
• As he is greatly enamored of thy beauty, so much
the more desires thy consent, on which he has
made the salvation of the world depend (St
Bernard).
• By another fiat God created the light, the heaven,
and the earth ; but by this fiat of Mary, says the
saint, God became man like us (St Alphonsus).
• After saying yes to the angel Gabriel and to God,
Mary was led by the Holy Spirit to prostrate herself
in the form of a cross.

The Consent
1) The consent of Mary to the redemptive
Incarnation is necessary because of God's
plan.
2) It is a representative consent. It is given by
Mary as the corporate personality of this
humanity.
3) This consent is efficacious, salvific.

The Sweet Odor of Humility
• Lucifer, seeing himself endowed with great beauty, aspired to exalt his throne above the stars, and make himself like to God
(St Bernard).
• Now what would not that proud spirit have said and attempted if he had seen himself adorned with the privileges of Mary?
(St Bernard).
• Not so the humble Mary; the more she saw herself exalted, the more she humbled herself (St Bernard).
• She pleased God by her virginity but by her humility she conceived (St Bernard).
• The humility of Mary was like a ladder, by which our Lord deigned to descend upon earth to become man in her womb (St
Augustine).
• For this beautiful humility, thou hast indeed merited to be regarded by God with peculiar love,
• to charm thy King with thy beauty (St Bernard).
• to draw him with the sweet odor of thy humility, from his repose in the bosom of God, into thy most pure womb (St Bernard).

The Exaltation of Mary
“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
• God, by making himself the Son of the Virgin, established her in superior rank to all the saints and angels (St
Arnold Carnotensis).
• God alone is superior to thee, and all others are inferior (St Anselm).
• By whatever name you may wish to call her, whether queen of heaven, ruler of the angels, or any other title of
honor, you will never succeed in honoring her so much as by calling her only the mother of God (St Anselm).
• To be mother of God is a dignity next to that of being God (Blessed Albertus Magnus).
• By reason of this close union with an infinite good, Mary received a certain infinite dignity (St Thomas).

• After the hypostatic union, there is none more intimate than
the union of the mother of God with her Son (St Denis).
• In order to become mother of God, it was requisite that the
holy Virgin should be exalted to a certain equality with the
divine Persons, by a certain infinity of graces (St Bernardine).
• God dwelt in Mary in a singular mode of fitness, making
himself one with her (St Peter Damian).
• God dwells in a virgin with whom he has the identity of one
nature (St Peter Damian).

• God has created all the world for this Virgin, who was to be his mother
(St Bernard).
• “I was with him forming all things” (Proverbs 8:30).
• God, for love of Mary, did not destroy man after the sin of Adam (St
Bernardine).
• God has not created thee for himself alone, but has given thee
• to the angels for their restorer.
• to men for their deliverer.
• to the demons for their conqueror, for by thy means we recover
divine grace, and by thee the enemy is conquered and crushed.

• The Lord bestowing upon her, in the highest degree, all the graces (Blessed Albertus
Magnus).
• She was a virgin, but without the reproach of sterility.
• She was a mother, but with the privilege of virginity.
• Her beauty put to flight impure emotions.
• Although she was beautiful in person, she never excited impure desires. Therefore she was called
myrrh, which prevents corruption.
• Death came upon her, but without its suffering, and without the corruption of the body.

The Visitation
• Happy that house which the mother of God visits (Engelgrave).
• Four days after the Annunciation, Mary departed with Joseph on a four-day trip to the home of Zechariah
and Elizabeth, near Jerusalem.
• Angels who were visible only to Mary accompanied them on their journey.
• Happy is that house esteemed which is visited by some royal personage but happier should that soul be
called which is visited by the queen of the world, most holy Mary,
• Mary cannot but fill with mercies and graces those blessed souls whom she deigns to visit with her favors.
• This was experienced by the house of the Baptist, wherein scarcely had Mary entered, when she filled all that
family with celestial graces and benedictions.

Mary – Channel of Graces
• The visit of the blessed Virgin was not like the visits of the worldly.
• The first graces that we know to have been given upon earth by the Word, after he had become incarnate, were bestowed
during the visitation.
• These first-fruits of the redemption all passed through Mary, and she was the channel by means of which grace was
communicated…
• to the Baptist.
• the Holy Spirit to Elizabeth.
• the gift of prophecy to Zachary.
• How great is the virtue of the words of our Lady, for at the sound of them the Holy Spirit is given (St Bonaventure).
• When the Virgin Mary conceived the Word of God in her womb, she obtained a certain jurisdiction over all the temporal
manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
• No creature obtained any grace from God, unless according to the disposal of this pious mother (St Bernardine).

The Magnificat
These words of praise, pronounced by saint Elisabeth were referred by the Mother of wisdom and humility to the Creator; and in the
sweetest and softest voice She intoned the Magnificat as recorded by saint Luke (1:46-55).
46. “My soul doth magnify the Lord;
47. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
48. Because He hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49. Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me and holy is his name.
50. And his mercy is from generation unto generation to them that fear him.
51. He hath showed might in his arm; He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
52. He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble.
53. He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich He hath sent empty away.
54. He hath received Israel, his servant, being mindful of his mercy;
55. As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever."

The Visitation
• Following guidance from the Holy Spirit, Mary prayed that
Zechariah would be able to answer when townspeople would
ask what name he wished to call his son.
• Therefore, just as the voice of our Lady Mary was the
instrument for the sanctification of the child John and his
mother, so her secret mandate and her intercession had the
effect of loosening the tongue of Zacharias, filling him with
the holy Spirit and the gift of prophecy.
• Then Zechariah became filled with the Holy Spirit and finally
was able to speak and broke forth in the words of Luke
(1:68-79)

Luke (1:68-79)
68. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because He hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
69. And hath raised up a horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant:
70. And he hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning;
71. Salvation from our enemies, and from the hands of all that hate us:
72. To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament,
73. The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us,
74. That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear,
75. In holiness and justice before him, all our days.
76. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
77. To give knowledge of salvation to his people: unto the remission of their sins:
78. Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us
79. To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace”.

The Visitation
• Zechariah received prophecy about the divinity and humanity of the coming Messiah, who would
bring about redemption.
• The old Priest who knew now that she was the chosen Mother of the Messiahs was deeply moved and
blessed Mary:
• “In thee let all nations know thy God and through thee let the name of the Lord of Jacob be glorified”.
• Mary consoled St Elisabeth who was heart broken at seeing her leave.
• Mary gave many mystic blesses and graces to St John.
• “You are the Mother of God himself, may your intercession never fail me” (St John).
• Elizabeth concealed from public knowledge the private prophecy she had received earlier, because not
all hearts were as well-prepared as hers and because it was not yet time for this mystery to be known.

The Return to Nazareth
• Mary and Joseph set out on their journey home.
• During this 4-day trip the blessed woman mercifully healed a woman who was partly
possessed by evil spirits.
• She converted a person to a better life.
• She prayed more than ever that the lord might assist St Joseph with special graces
and understanding when her became aware of her condition.
• She could not explain God’s holy secret to him until the Lord himself allowed her
to do so.

Mary’s Pregnancy
• Back home in Nazareth, Lucifer and his devils were solely puzzled by Mary’s exceptional holiness.
• However, they did not think that se was the Virgin chosen to be the Mother of the Messiahs because she had a
husband and was very modest.
• Nevertheless, Satan was enraged against her, due to her sanctity.
• He decided to send 7 Legions of his devils to tempt her in each of the 7 capital sins.
• But Mary was warned by the Lord:
• My Spouse and my dove, I will be with thee in battle since I am in thy virginal womb.
• I wish that thou confound these enemies before I appear in the world.
• I trust this victory to thy fidelity and thy love.
• Mary: My Lord, I belong entirely to thee. Give me strength.

Mary’s Temptations on the 7 Capital Sins
• God allowed the first Legion of devils to tempt her to pride.
• Then the devils changed themselves into resplendent angels and tried to convince Mary that
they came from God in order to congratulate and praise her.
• Mary repeated the words of the psalm: “Who is like unto God, who dwells on high and
looks down upon the humble in heaven and on earth” (Psalm 113:5-6).
• The second Legion of demons tried to tempt her avarice by offering her great
wealth, gold and jewels, telling her that God wanted her to distribute it to the poor.
• Mary did not argue with the devils and prayed these words of the psalmist: “I have acquired
for my heritage and for my riches the keeping of thy testimonies and thy laws my Lord”
(Psalm 119:111).

• When the third group of the devils sought to tempt the Blessed Virgin to impurity,
she renewed her vow of chastity with such fervor and merit that her enemies were
driven from her presence.
• Then the fourth Legion did all they could to provoke her to anger. They posed as
some women whom Mary knew and shouted out rages insults and threats at her and
stole the thing she needed most.
• Mary saw through their tricks and utterly disregarded them.
• The woman’s heart soften and she apologized.
• Mary warned her to letting herself be stirred to anger by the devil.
• Even the demons were astounded for they had never seen anyone react that way.

• The fifth Legion had no success at all in tempting Mary to gluttony.
• Then the spirits of envy gave her a long list of natural blessings and spiritual favors, which God
had bestowed on others but denied to her.
• They induced some prosperous persons to describe to her the happiness of those who are rich and well
fortunate in worldly things.
• Mary told them that they should thank the Lord for all they have and use it well.
• Finally, the last Legion of devils tried to tempt her to idleness.
• By making her feel tired and dejected, they suggested that she postpone certain prayers and good deeds.
• They also sent people to bother her and take up her time in order to prevent her from doing good.
• Mary prudently detected these plots and did not allow the devil to keep her from her prayers and good works.

The Final Temptations
• By now, Lucifer was so enraged against Mary that he himself strove with all his
mind to hurt her and the child in her womb.
• But though Mary saw and heart him, she remained as unmoved as if he were nothing but a
net.
• Then in order to poison her mind, the father of lies began to recite every falsehood
and heresy known to history concerning God and his truth.
• Mary firmly proclaimed the various truths opposed to these errors and sang hymns of praise
to the Lord.
• When she prayed to God from preventing the devils from spreading false teachings so freely
throughout the world, the Lord did in fact set limits to the demon’s activity.

The Final Temptations
• In one last attempt, Lucifer stirred up a bitter quarrel over
property among Mary’s neighbors by taking on the
appearance of a woman known to them and by convincing
them that Mary was the true source of all their troubles.
• Mary humbly begged her neighbors to forgive her if she
had offended them and she proved them that none of
them had done anything against the others.
• Finally, Mary was allowed to command the defeated devils to
return to hell and as a reward, the Lord himself appeared to
her with all her angels and honored her.

Life in Nazareth during Mary’s Pregnancy
• St Joseph did not notice that Mary was pregnant until she was in her fifth month.
• Mary waited for God to manifest how He wished Joseph to learn of her pregnancy, and she did not tell Joseph
about it.
• When Joseph realized that Mary was pregnant, he became extremely distraught.
• Because he loved his dear wife so tenderly, he felt a keen stab of grief in his heart.
• As he was a holy and just man, he withheld his judgment.
• St Joseph’s suffering was known to Mary and it filled her affectionate heart with intense compassion for him.
• She felt obliged to keep God’s great secret to herself until she gave her permission to reveal it to anyone.
• She resigned the whole matter into the hands of divine providence.

Life in Nazareth during Mary’s Pregnancy
• Mary was growing in health, gracefulness and loveliness.
• St Joseph, however, was so troubled that he was wasting away from weakness.
• Mary prayed to the Lord to console her unhappy husband.
• Although St Joseph recognized that Mary appeared to be a virtuous woman, he felt he must leave her and move away to the
desert.
• Joseph made plans to permanently leave Mary during the night.
• He prayed that God might help and protect Mary.
• Mary received a divine promise of relief.
• While St Joseph was sleeping before his planned departure, the archangel Gabriel visited him.
• Joseph was filled with the Holy Spirit, and when he awoke, he knew that Mary was to be the mother of the Messiah, the
Son of God.

Life in Nazareth during
Mary’s Pregnancy
• St Joseph was filled with joy and at the same time with sorrow
for having doubted her.
• St Joseph realized that all his thoughts were open to her sight.
• Now Joseph could not do enough to please and help Mary
because.
• He resolved hence forth to be her servant in all things.
• Now, I consecrate my heart and my whole life to your
service.
• Mary: The Lord has made me his Mother in order that I
should be the servant of all.

Salvation History

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