Mystical City of God

Mary‘s Life in the Temple- the Conception - Bk 2 - Ch 4

Life in the Temple of Jerusalem 10 BC

The Blessed Virgin Mary requested that Simeon and her teacher Anne prescribe for Her an order of life and to direct Her in the occupations. The priest and her instructress, having considered her petition (with the aid of grace) desired to regulate the exercises of this heavenly Child of only three years. She was given a daily schedule a routine which she exceeded. The Virgin Mary told the Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus, "In the works of performing more than is required by duty, obligation, or need, after praying for a holy cheerful readiness, ask the advice of thy confessor and superior, and perform them with a spirit entirely free of any preference or self-love. That which they direct, accept, and write in thy heart, never resting in its punctual fulfillment. If it is possible to avail thyself of obedience and counsel, never decide for thyself on anything, no matter how good it may appear to thee; because the true will of God is always manifest in holy obedience."

The Nobility of Virtue - The Conception - Bk 2 - Ch 5

The Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus tells about the virtues and virtuous dispositions of the Virgin Mary, and the different types of virtue. She gets into more specific events in later chapters.  Our Heavenly Queen tells us about the importance of developing our virtues and the capacity for virtue, which are separate. She said, “Consider and always remember the great nobility of virtue, how it so enlightens and beautifies the soul, that even if there were no other gain or object, the desire of possessing it for its own sake would be entirely justifiable. Now, that which exalts virtue beyond all comparison is, that its final end is God himself, for whom truth and perfection, which are its constituents, must be primarily intended. As soon as virtues attain this their end, namely God himself, they will be the foundation of the happiness and blessedness of the creature.”

The Virtue of Faith- The Conception - Bk 2 - Ch 6

The Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus describes the Blessed Virgin Mary’s faith. Not only it’s immensity, but how God assisted her with opportunities to use her faith to grow in merit. When act simply out of knowledge, our actions lack merit because we’re acting according to our senses. Actions of faith, allow us to go beyond our senses, and still act with firm resolve. The Blessed Virgin Mary said, “Faith illumines and ennobles the understanding of man, since it directs him in the darkness of his natural ignorance, not to stray from the way, and it elevates him above himself so that he sees and understands with infallible certainty what is far above his powers and assures him of it no less than if he saw it clearly before him. He is thus freed from the gross and vile narrow-mindedness of those who will believe only what they can experience by their own limited natural powers, not considering that the soul, as long as it lives in the prison of this corruptible body, is very much circumscribed and limited in its sphere of action by the knowledge drawn from the coarse activity of the senses. Appreciate this priceless treasure of the Catholic faith given thee by God, watch over it and practice it in great esteem and reverence.”

The Virtue of Hope- The Conception - Bk 2 - Ch 7

The Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus of Ágreda describes the virtue of hope as it was found and practiced by the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Heavenly Queen tells us that hope sits between despair and presumption advising us, "Between these two dangerous extremes hope directs us in the safe way, maintaining us in the confident belief on the one hand that God will not deny to ourselves what He has promised to all, and on the other, that the promise was not made unconditionally and absolutely, but requires our exertion and effort to merit its fulfillment as far as it is possible with the help of divine grace."

The Virtue of Charity - The Conception - Bk 2 - Ch8

What a great chapter! The Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus describes the virtue of charity (queen of the virtues) in the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Blessed Virgin gives us a list to consider saying, "I desire that you exert your utmost powers to copy within your soul, with the greatest perfection, all that you have learned of my charity."

"In order that you may be sure that you love Him perfectly and truly, search within yourself for the following signs and effects of that love; whether your thought and meditation dwell continually on God, whether his commands and counsel find in you no repugnance or remissness, whether you fear to offend Him, whether you seek immediately to appease Him after having offended Him, whether you grieve to see Him offended and rejoice to see Him served by all creatures, whether you desire and are delighted to speak continually of his love; see whether you delight in the memory of his presence, whether you grieve at your forgetfulness of Him and at his absence from you, whether you love what He loves, and abhor what He abhors, whether you seek to draw all men towards his friendship and grace, whether you pray with confidence; see whether you receive with gratitude his benefits, whether you do not waste them but rather turn them to good account for his honor and glory, whether you strive to extinguish in yourself all the movements of the passions, which retard you or hinder you in your loving aspirations and in your works of virtue."

The Virtue of Prudence - The Conception - Bk 2 - Ch 9

The Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus of Ágreda describes what she was taught about the virtue of prudence and its different forms and applications, and how the Blessed Virgin Mary applied prudence throughout her life. The Blessed Virgin Mary described prudence by saying, "Let this light guide you through the midst of the darkness of human ignorance, so that you may not be disturbed or confounded by the luring passions, nor especially by the malice and snares laid in front of you by the watchful malice of your enemies, seeking to infect your understanding. Not to be endowed with all the perfections of prudence, is not culpable in a person; but to be negligent in learning the rules of prudence, after having been instructed how to attain this knowledge, is a serious fault and the cause of many mistakes and errors in the conduct of affairs. On account of this negligence the passions countermand, impede, and obstruct the dictates of prudence."

The Virtue of Justice - The Conception - Bk 2 - Ch10

An in-depth look at the virtue of Justice. In it, The Blessed Virgin Mary warns us about a lack of justice in our offerings to God. Our Queen said, "…you have included a copious summary to direct your intercourse with people and your worship of the Most High. In regard to this latter I remind you, my dearest, that the supreme majesty of the Omnipotent is highly indignant at the offenses of mortals, who forget the veneration, adoration, and reverence due to Him. If some of them do render it, it is so coarse, inattentive and discourteous, that they do not merit reward but chastisement. They revere and adore profoundly the princes and magnates of the earth; they ask favors and seek to obtain them with the utmost diligence; they are enthusiastic in their thanks, when they succeed, declaring  their lifelong gratitude. But the supreme Lord, who gives them being, life and activity, who preserves and sustains them, who has redeemed them and raised them to the dignity of sons, who wishes to confer upon them his own glory, who is in Himself the infinite and the highest Good; Him, the highest Majesty, they forget, because they cannot see Him with their physical eyes. As if not all good came from Him, they return, at the most, merely a sluggish remembrance and a hasty thanksgiving."

The Virtue of Fortitude - The Conception - Bk 2 - Ch 11

"...if you seek attentively to obtain a full understanding of the excellence and the propriety of the virtue of fortitude, as is my wish, you shall come into the possession of a most efficient check for the guiding of your irascible affections; for these are the passions, which are most easily moved to action and are most apt to overstep the bounds of reason." - The Blessed Virgin Mary

The Virtue of Temperance - The Conception - Bk2 - Ch 12

Regarding the virtue of temperance, "Therefore be careful, my dearest, and watch for the divine light in all your actions, and don't let any of your powers be induced to activity merely by pleasure and inclination; but always act according to reason and for the glory of the Most High in all things necessary for the conduct of your life; in eating, in sleeping, in dressing, in speaking, in hearing, in desiring, in correcting, in commanding, in speaking: let all be governed in thee by the light and the pleasure of the Lord God, and not by your own."- The Blessed Virgin Mary

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit - The Conception - Book 2 - Ch 13

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, "…are the emanations of the Divinity communicating themselves to, and transforming the holy souls, on their own part they do not admit of any limitation but only on the part of the subject upon which they act. If the creatures would empty their hearts of earthly love and affections, although their heart is limited, they would participate without measure in the torrent of the infinite Godhead through the inestimable gifts of the Holy Ghost."– The Blessed Virgin Mary