Thursday
July 21, 2005
vol 16, no. 202

"Blessed is the man that heareth Me, and that watcheth daily at My gates, and waiteth at the posts of My doors!" Proverbs 8: 34

Daily Application of the City of God through Holy Slavery to Jesus and Mary.

"This is the main point of this series of articles: If we wish to practice holy slavery to Jesus through Mary as given us by St. Louis de Montfort, an excellent way is to read, meditate upon and practice what is written in the City of God for it was given us that we may follow and imitate step-by-step the lives and virtues of Our Lord and His Immaculate Mother."

    In previous installments of this series, we saw first 1 that the Mystical City of God by Venerable Mary of Jesus of Agreda is as fully approved by the Catholic Church as private revelation can be. Hence, we are free to read and believe its revelations without any fear of danger to faith or morals; second, 2 that the book is of supernatural excellence and was purposefully reserved by Almighty God for our most needy times.

    In these last two installments, let us examine the importance of the City of God in our everyday lives, and in these apocalyptic times, that we may share in its fruits and not frustrate the merciful designs of our loving God and our Mother of Mercy.

The City of God and Holy Slavery

    "By whom a man is overcome, of the same also he is the slave" (2 Peter 2:19). Notice St. Peter does not say by "what," but by "whom." It is indeed true that we are all slaves. The only question is, of whom?

    If we are as we should be, slaves of our Lord Jesus Christ in and through His Immaculate Mother, then we shall gain the most perfect freedom both now and in eternal life. Actually, this is not really slavery at all, but complete liberation, since we fulfill the Will of our Heavenly Father unto deification, rather than our own will unto ruin. This slavery is actually great dignity, freedom and peace which are fruits of a good conscience.

    If, however, we make the disastrous error of desiring what worldlings call "freedom," that is, freedom from Christ, His holy law and His holy Catholic Church, succinctly expressed in the freedom to sin (and this is the Masonic meaning of "freedom" which has permeated the Novus Ordo), we are actually slaves of the devil. This is true, wretched slavery, involving the greatest ignominy, debasement and the greatest torments in this life and the next, fruits of a bad conscience.

    Thus, slaves of Jesus and Mary consider themselves slaves, but are truly free; slaves of Lucifer consider themselves free, yet are actually under a most horrible and tyrannous slavery, from which may God deliver them! The great and inescapable fact is that we are all slaves (Romans 6:20-22). Even our Lord Jesus Christ chose to be a servant (Philippians 2:7), and said we must do likewise (Luke 22:24-27).

    Our constant goal then should be to pray and labor with all diligence to become more and more a holy slave whose one and only care and concern is to accomplish the Holy Will of God, for by this we prove our love for Him. "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).

    Let us be His slave, for "He hath first loved us" (1 John 4:10) and His "charity presseth us" (2 Corinthians 5:14). And how we should practice this slavery with joyful alacrity! How much easier it is to carry the cross than to drag it!

    That our Queen desired nothing more than to be the humble slave of her holy Son is apparent even in Holy Scriptures (where so few of her words are recorded). "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to Thy word" (Luke 1:38). This is the summary of Christian perfection. Fiat voluntas Dei. [Editor's Note: This is why Tim chose those words of Our Lady for the title of his series of columns for The Daily Catholic.]

    There are dozens of examples in the City of God of the desire of Mary Immaculate to be a slave of Our Lord. 3 A prime example is the plea she addresses to Almighty God shortly after the Nativity of her Son.

   "[T]each me to fulfill as Thy unworthy Mother and lowly slave Thy holy will...Behold the creature of Thy hands, adorn me with Thy grace so that Thy Son and my God receive me for His slave" (Incarnation, p. 404, my emphasis).

    Without holy slavery, the City of God would never have come to us. 4 Though one would have to read the book to fully understand this truth, in brief a titanic struggle ensued between the greatness of the revelations to be given, and the sanctity of the exalted state required to receive them, and the self-admitted lowliness and uselessness of the instrument chosen to receive them, Venerable Mary of Agreda. It is as if an entirely new way of dealing with creatures was needed, and this way turned out to be nothing else than holy slavery.

    Venerable Mary struggled with her own nothingness, knowing all too well her unworthiness to receive the title of daughter of Mary. Almighty God, as it were, contested this title. Then, in a moment of supreme grace, when the Highest sought to meet the lowest, Venerable Mary wrenched this plea from the very depths of her being:

   "I raised my eyes full of dread to the throne of the Most High and my visage was transported in fear and hope; I turned toward my Advocate, 5 and desiring to be admitted as her slave, since I did not merit the title of daughter, I spoke from the bottom of my heart without forming any words" (Incarnation, p. 18, my emphasis).

    Thus, Venerable Mary became a holy slave of Our Lady. She was, to my knowledge, the prototype of holy slavery. This forms a primary reason I have desired to write this series of articles, for holy slavery is intimately connected with the City of God, and both are of paramount importance in the struggles of the Church against her enemies today.

    Holy slavery, the perfect and True Devotion to Our Lady, was further revealed to Venerable Mary in a passage which many consider the most important in the whole book, for it sums up what Almighty God and Our Lady desire as fruits for granting us these revelations.

   "By first being my disciple thou shouldst prepare thyself for becoming a disciple of my Son; and both these states should lead thee to the perfect union with the immutable being of God. These three stages are favors of peerless value, which place thee in a position to become more perfect than the exalted seraphim" (Transfixion, pp. 24-25, my emphasis).

    To illustrate the vast importance of the City of God for our apocalyptic times, and for those desiring to practice True Devotion, I defer to Abbe J.A. Boullan, doctor in theology, who extracted his book on the life of St. Joseph directly from the City of God. He made a most profound connection between the great Marian apostles of the last days, prophesied by St. Louis de Montfort, and the City of God. 6

    He quotes this passage from True Devotion, pp. 29-30:

"I have said that the Most High, with His holy Mother, will form great saints, who will surpass in sanctity the greater part of the other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon surpass small shrubs, as it has been revealed to a holy soul." 7

    Abbe Boullan then states how these great saints are to be formed, and this forms the crucial importance of the City of God which so few understand.

   "But to return to Maria d' Agreda, I think it is not hazarding too much to affirm that from the doctrine of the works of this servant of God will be formed the great saints announced in the preceding lines." 8

    What greater statement could be made on the importance of the City of God? Abbe Boullan indicates it is by studying the City of God and putting into practice what is there inculcated that the "great saints announced" by St. Louis de Montfort will be formed. He further quotes St. Louis de Montfort: "It will come, and quickly, this happy time, this age of Mary, when souls, losing themselves in the abyss of her interior, will become the living copies of Mary, to love and glorify Jesus Christ. Ut adveniat regnum tuum, adveniat regnum Maria. May the reign of Mary come, so that the Kingdom of Christ may come." 9 Boullan further emphasizes this by quoting the Venerable Superior-General of St. Sulpice, Abbe Emery, perhaps the greatest French clergyman of his time. Abbe Emery, speaking of the revelations in the City of God, says: "It is only after having read and reread them that I have understood the wise recommendation of our founder, M. Olier, 'study the interior of Jesus in Mary.'" 10

    Boullan then states: "Now, it is by this means that the great saints of whom we speak must form themselves." 11

    It must be emphasized: The book was given us precisely in order that we may "study the interior of Jesus in Mary" so that we may "become the living copies of Mary, to love and glorify Jesus Christ."

    I must admit my lack of ability to communicate how important is this connection between True Devotion, the great Marian apostles of the last times, and the City of God. I leave it to those for whom it is meant, and encourage all to read the City of God. and understand and partake of its fruits. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Luke 14:35; Ez. 12:2).

Next Week: Part Eight Living from Communion to Communion

FOOTNOTES:

1 In Defense of the City of God, Vol. XXIV, No. 75, Reign of Mary

2 The Excellence of the City of God, Vol. XXV, Nos. 77 and 78, Reign of Mary

3For example, cf. Transfixion, pp. 54, 65 and 194.

4 cf. Conception7; Incarnation 17-20,99; Transfixion 67; Coronation 665 ff.

5 Our Lady

6 I had made this same connection, and was greatly delighted to find such a learned and worthy theologian to cite in making it known.

7 The Admirable Life of the Glorious Patriarch St. Joseph, (New York: Sadlier, 1860), p. 20 (emphasis in original). The "holy soul" spoken of is St. Vincent Ferrer.

8 Ibid., my emphasis.

9 Ibid., pp. 20-21 (emphasis in original).

10 Ibid., p. 21 (emphasis in original).

11 Ibid.

(First Published in Reign of Mary #81, Summer 1995)

For the full volumes of Venerable Mary of Agreda's work on line, see THE MYSTICAL CITY OF GOD

For past articles in Fiat Voluntas Dei, see 2005tim.htm Archives