The Life of Mary as Seen by the Mystics Page 25

  When the three years were nearly over, the Blessed Virgin asked John’s permission to visit all the holy places for the last time. Accompanied by the saint and by her many angels, she sadly went along the sorrowful Way of the Cross, weeping as she recalled her Son’s sufferings at each spot, and praying fervently that the faithful would venerate these holy places in future ages. She remained on Calvary for a long time, and such was the ardor of her charity as she prayed for mankind that she would have died then and there if she had not been sustained by divine power. The Saviour appeared to her on Calvary and said:

  “My Mother and Helper in the work of human Redemption, I promise thee that I shall be most liberal with men. In heaven thou shalt be their Mediatrix and Advocate. And I shall bestow My mercy on all those who obtain thy intercession.”

  Then, prostrate at His feet, Mary thanked her Son and begged Him to give her His last blessing, which He did before returning to heaven. When John led her back to the Cenacle, she was so weak that he decided it was time to prepare a tomb for her. Mary herself selected a grotto in the valley near the Garden of Gethsemani.

  Later, in the solitude of her oratory, the Mother of God sadly yet gratefully bade a last farewell in prayer to the holy Church Militant which she had so dearly loved and served as the Mystical Body of Christ.

  Then she conscientiously made her last will and testament in the presence of the Blessed Trinity, to whom she humbly declared:

  “Highest Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the goods of mortal life and of the world I possess none that I can leave, for I have never possessed or loved anything beside Thee. Two tunics and a cloak I leave to John for disposal. My body I ask the earth to receive again. My soul I resign into Thy hands, O my God. My merits I leave to the Holy Church. I offer these merits for the apostles and priests of the present and future ages and for all those who turn to me in order to obtain Thy protection. From this hour I desire to continue my prayers for all the sinning children of Adam as long as the world shall last.”

  The Saviour ratified His Mother’s last will with these words:

  “Let it be done as thou wishest and ordainest.”

  After thanking Him, Mary added a last request that the Apostles might be present at her death, so that they might bless her and pray for her. In reply Jesus assured her that the Apostles were already on their way to Jerusalem. In fact, Almighty God had dispatched a number of angels to notify all the Apostles in distant lands that the Blessed Virgin was soon to die and that they should hasten to her. Consequently they now began to assemble in the Holy City. When St. Peter arrived from Rome, Mary met him at the entrance to her oratory, and kneeling at his feet she asked for his blessing.

  On the morning of her last day, the Blessed Virgin summoned the Apostles and disciples and Holy Women to the Cenacle. They were all deeply moved as they quietly gathered around her. With sad hearts they gazed for the last time at the holy Mother of their God: she was as poor and humble and lovely as ever. They noticed an extraordinary celestial light that seemed to enfold her.

  Mary rose from her couch, and after kneeling and kissing St. Peter’s feet she went to each of the eleven other Apostles for his blessing, and with each she exchanged a touching farewell. She thanked St. John with special affection for all his kindness. She also asked him to distribute her few clothes to a servant woman and to a poor girl who often helped her.

  Then, after a moment’s recollection, the Blessed Virgin said to all who were present:

  “Dearest children, I have loved you with that tender love and charity which was given to me by my divine Son, whom I have seen in you, His chosen friends. My children, love the Church and love one another.”

  And turning reverently to St. Peter, she continued:

  “I commend my son John and all the rest to thee, Peter.”

  And she added, for all of them:

  “I promise you that in heaven I will ever look upon you as a Mother.”

  As she ceased speaking, everyone was weeping. Mary’s eyes too had filled with tears.

  Then, glowing with a heavenly radiance, she sat on her couch. And as each of the Apostles, disciples, and Holy Women in turn knelt before her, she blessed them by touching their foreheads with her crossed hands.

  Next Mary asked all her grieving friends to pray with her and for her in silence while St. Peter celebrated Mass at a small altar in an adjoining room.

  Becoming absorbed in contemplation, she saw her divine Son coming down from heaven in glory, accompanied by many saints and angels. Thereupon she prostrated herself before Him and kissed His feet, making the last and most intense act of faith, love, and humility in all her life.

  The Lord gave her His blessing and said to her:

  “My dearest Mother, the hour has come in which thou art to pass into the glory of My Father. And since, by My power and as My Mother, I have caused thee to enter the world exempt from sin, therefore also death shall have no right to touch thee at thy exit from this world. If thou wishest not to pass through it, come with Me now to partake of My glory, which thou hast merited.”

  But Mary joyfully replied:

  “My Son and my Lord, Thou didst suffer death without being obliged to do so. It is proper therefore that as I have tried to follow Thee in life, so I follow Thee also in death.”

  The Saviour approved her last, generous sacrifice.

  While the angels began softly to sing verses of the Canticle of Canticles, and the Apostles sadly recited prayers for the dying, St. Peter entered the room and gave Mary her last Holy Communion, after which he anointed her with the oils of Extreme Unction.

  At this solemn moment the Cenacle was filled with a marvelous light and fragrance which everyone perceived. The presence of the Lord was revealed to several of the Apostles, and the chanting of the angels was heard by many.

  Now the Mother of God had reclined on her couch. Her plain mantle and tunic were neatly folded about her. Joining her hands in prayer, she kept her eyes fixed on her divine and glorious Son. The intensity of her love for Him and the fervor of her longing to be with Him completely transfigured her radiant features. She seemed to become utterly inflamed with the fire of her seraphic charity. On her beautiful face appeared an expression of heavenly joy, and her lips parted in the sweet, gentle smile of her youth.

  Then, while a number of cherubic little angels hovered about her, and the choir of angels and archangels was singing the verses of the Canticle: “Behold, my Beloved speaketh to me: ‘Arise, make haste, My Love, My dove, My beautiful one, and come, the winter has passed. . . .’” Mary whispered:

  “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”

  Then the eyes of the Mother of God gently closed. And her soul, without effort, left her body.

  She died of love.

  The Blessed Virgin said to Venerable Mother Mary of Agreda:

  “My daughter, I wish to inform thee of another privilege which was conceded to me in the hour of my glorious Transition. It was this: that all those devoted to me who shall call upon me at the hour of death, making me their Advocate in memory of my happy Transition and of my desiring to imitate my divine Son in death, shall be under my special protection in that hour and shall experience my intercession.

  “And since death follows upon life and ordinarily corresponds with it, the surest pledge of a good death is a good life, a life in which the heart is freed and detached from earthly love.”

  XXXVII

  The Assumption and Crowning

  hen Mary’s soul left her body, the soft chanting of the angels seemed to withdraw slowly from the Cenacle. Peter and John must have perceived the glory of her soul in this moment of its liberation, for they both looked up, while the other Apostles remained absorbed in prayer, with their heads bowed to the ground.

  The Blessed Virgin’s body lay radiant with light, surrounded by her thousand invisible guardian angels. Her eyes were closed, and her hands were folded on her breast.

  When at last all the Apostles
, disciples, and Holy Women present realized that their beloved spiritual Mother had indeed left them, their sorrow was so intense that only a special dispensation of divine power prevented some of them from dying of grief.

  For some time they prayed and wept silently. Then they arose and sang a number of hymns in honor of their departed Queen.

  Later Mary’s two devoted servant girls were told to anoint and wrap her body in a shroud with the greatest reverence and modesty. But when they entered her room, they were so blinded by the dazzling mystical light surrounding her couch that they could not even see her body. Highly excited, they hastened to notify the Apostles. Peter and John then went into the room, perceived the bright light, and heard angels singing: “A Virgin before the Nativity, during the Nativity, and after the Nativity. . . .” Kneeling down and praying for guidance, the two saints heard a Voice say: “Let not this virginal body be touched!”

  They therefore brought in a plain wooden bier. And with their own hands they reverently took Mary’s robe at both ends and carefully lifted her light body onto the bier. Numerous candles were then lit and set around it, and although they burned for many hours they were not at all consumed. During all this time great numbers of the faithful quietly entered the room, prayed for a moment, and left, weeping and mourning.

  On the day of the funeral, the Apostles took up the bier and bore it in a solemn procession from the Cenacle to the tomb in the Valley of Josaphat, near the Garden of Gethsemani. All the Christians of Jerusalem, as well as an invisible multitude of angels, patriarchs, prophets, and saints, accompanied the funeral, during which numerous miraculous cures and conversions of compassionate Jewish and Gentile spectators took place. Everyone was amazed at the delicious fragrance and heavenly music that followed the passage of Mary’s remains.

  When the procession reached the prepared tomb, St. Peter and St. John reverently carried the bier into the sepulcher, which was then filled with aromatic flowers and closed with a large stone, while everyone present wept and prayed in profound sorrow. The heavenly chanting of the angels continued for some time, and many persons noticed an extraordinary light shining around the tomb. Gradually most of the mourners returned to the city, but some of the Apostles and Holy Women remained watching and praying before the sepulcher.

  Meanwhile, immediately after Mary’s death, our Lord had entered heaven, conducting the pure soul of His Mother at His right hand. And presenting her before the throne of the Divinity, He said:

  “Eternal Father, it is right that to My Mother be given the reward of a Mother. And since during all her life and in all her works she was as like to Me as it is possible for a creature to be, let her also be like to Me in glory and on the throne of Our Majesty.”

  This decree was approved by the Father and the Holy Ghost. And Mary’s soul was immediately raised to the right hand of her divine Son and placed beside the throne of the Holy Trinity.

  Later, after the funeral, the Lord descended in a dazzling beam of light to the tomb of the Blessed Virgin, accompanied by Mary’s soul and by innumerable angels. Then the holy soul of the Mother of God penetrated into her body in the sepulcher, reanimated it, and rose up again united to it, utterly radiant, gloriously attired, and indescribably beautiful.

  Now amid celestial music a magnificent triumphant procession ascended from the tomb to heaven. First came the rejoicing angels and saints, and then Christ the King with His Immaculate Mother at His side, while the souls of all the blessed in heaven gladly welcomed and praised their new Queen and the whole universe seemed to be chanting exultantly:

  “Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her Beloved?”

  At the throne of the Holy Trinity the three divine Persons received and welcomed Mary in a mystical embrace of eternal love, after she had bowed before Them in deep humility and reverence. She was attired in a marvelous sparkling robe that trailed behind her and scintillated with multicolored iridescence.

  Then the eternal Father announced to all the angels and saints:

  “Our Daughter Mary has been chosen by Our will from among all creatures as the first in Our favor, and she has never fallen from the position of a true Daughter. Therefore she has a claim to Our Kingdom, of which she is to be acknowledged and crowned the lawful Sovereign and Queen.”

  The Incarnate Word declared:

  “To My true and natural Mother belong all the creatures that I have created and redeemed. And of all things over which I am King, she too shall be the rightful Queen.”

  And the Holy Ghost said:

  “By the title of My only chosen Spouse, to which she has faithfully corresponded, the crown of Queen is also due to her for all eternity.”

  Then the three divine Persons solemnly placed on Mary’s bowed head a splendid gleaming crown of glory which far exceeds in beauty any crown that ever has been or ever will be awarded to a creature by God.

  At the same time a Voice sounded from the throne, saying:

  “Our Beloved and Chosen One among creatures, Our Kingdom is yours. You are the Queen and Sovereign of the Seraphim and of all Our ministering angels and of all the created universe. We give you power, majesty, and dominion over it. While filled with grace beyond all others, you humbled yourself to the lowest place in your own estimation. Receive now the supreme honor which you deserve, and participate in the sovereign power exercised by the Divinity over all that Our Omnipotence has created. From your royal throne you shall rule over hell and earth and nature. Our own will shall ever by ready to accomplish your will. You shall be the Protectress, Advocate, and Mother of the Church Militant. Whenever any of the children of Adam call upon you from their hearts or serve you, you shall relieve them and help them in their labors and necessities. You shall be the Friend and Defender of the just and of Our friends. All of them you shall comfort, console, and fill with blessings according to their devotion to you. Therefore We make you the treasury of all Our graces. In your hands We place the distribution of Our grace and blessings. For We wish nothing to be given to the world that does not pass through your hands. And We will refuse nothing that you wish to grant. Whatever is Ours shall be yours, just as you have ever been Ours. And you shall reign with Us forever.”

  In execution of this divine decree, all the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Heaven, all the angels and saints and blessed, and especially St. Joachim, St. Ann, and St. Joseph, joyfully rendered homage and obedience to their glorious new Queen and Sovereign.

  Meanwhile, on the morning of Mary’s Assumption into heaven, St. Peter and St. John had been watching and praying at her tomb with some of the faithful. Suddenly they noticed that the music of the angels had ceased. Looking up at the sky, the two Apostles were partly enlightened by the Holy Spirit and guessed that the Blessed Virgin’s body might have been taken up to heaven by God.

  As they were debating whether to open the tomb, St. Thomas arrived from the Orient. When they told him that Mary was already dead, he burst into tears and earnestly begged them to allow him to have one last look at the Mother of his Lord. Peter and John consented and proceeded to open the tomb.

  John and Thomas went in and reverently knelt down in prayer. Then John stood up, while Thomas held aloft a torch.

  There was nothing on the bier but Mary’s robe and mantle.

  In wonder and awe the two saints gazed at the ceiling of the tomb. Then John ran to the entrance and cried to the others outside:

  “Come and see—she is no longer here!”

  St. Peter and the rest entered two by two in the narrow grotto. In mixed joy and sorrow they all wept as they slowly realized what an extraordinary honor and privilege God had accorded to Mary.

  Peter carefully folded and took with him her mantle and robe. Then they all stood outside the tomb and sang hymns of praise to the Lord and to His holy Mother.

  After they had replaced the large stone, they were standing gazing silently at the sepulcher when suddenly an angel appeared to them and said:

&nb
sp; “Men of Galilee, why do you tarry here? Your Queen and ours is now living body and soul in heaven and reigning in it forever with Christ. She has sent me to confirm you in this truth. And she recommends to you again the Church, the conversion of souls, and the spread of the Gospel. She wishes you now to return to your ministry. From her throne she will watch over you and protect you.”

  Then, celebrating this first feast of our Lady’s Assumption with deep joy and peace of heart, the Apostles and disciples went back to the Cenacle, praying together and singing hymns of thanksgiving to God.

  The Blessed Virgin said to St. Bridget of Sweden:

  “One day while I was admiring the Love of God in a spiritual ecstasy, my soul was filled with such joy that it could hardly contain itself. And during that contemplation my soul departed from my body. You cannot imagine what splendor my soul perceived then, and with what honor the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost welcomed it, and with what a multitude of angels it was carried upward.