THE GLORIOUS VIRGIN DIED OF LOVE SUPREMELY SWEET AND PEACEFUL
Our Lady revealed to St. Mechtilde that the illness of which she died was nothing else than a vehement assault of divine love. But St. Brigid [of Sweeden] and St. John Damascene affirm that she died an extremely peaceful death. Theotimus, both affirmations are true.
The stars are marvellously beautiful to look at. They emit a pleasant brilliance. But if you watch attentively, it is through sparkling, twinkling and flashes that they produce their rays. It is as if they brought forth light with difficulty at different instances. May be their light being weak, it cannot act continuously and evenly. May be our eyes are too weak to keep them in sight constantly and steadily because of the great distance between us and these stars. The saints who died of love felt a great variety of occurrences and symptoms of love before death arrived. They experienced many raptures, many assaults, many ecstasies, many languishings and many agonies. It seemed that their love gave birth to their happy death with difficulty and with many attempts. It was due to the weakness of their love, not yet absolutely perfect. This weakness could not keep its love with equal steadiness.
It was entirely different in the most Holy Virgin. For we see the beautiful dawn growing into day not at different intervals or with jerks. Thus by a kind of continual expansion and increase which are almost imperceptible yet felt [by the senses], we see it growing in brilliance. But it is so even that no one sees any interruption, separation or discontinuity in its increase. Thus divine love went on increasing each moment in the virginal heart of our glorious Lady. But it was a gentle, peaceful, continuous increase without any agitation, fault or violence whatever. Ah no! Theotimus, we should not think of any vehemence or restlessness in this heavenly love in the maternal heart of the Virgin. For love by its very nature is gentle, gracious, peaceful and tranquil. Sometimes if it makes some assaults, if it gives some shocks to the spirit, it is because it finds some resistance there. When the passages of the soul are open to love without opposition or hindrances, it makes peaceful progress with unparallelled sweetness. Thus holy love used its power in the virginal heart of the holy Mother without difficulty or violent vehemence, since it found neither any resistance nor any hindrance.
We see great rivers boil and gush out with great noise over rugged places where rocks make shoals and reefs which oppose and hinder the flow of waters. On the contrary, when they reach the plains, they glide gently and flow without effort. In like manner divine love meets with many obstacles and resistances in human souls. In fact, all have some, though in varying degrees. Then love makes use of force fighting against evil tendencies striking at the heart, pushing the will by various emotions and struggles. Thus it makes room for itself or at least overcome these obstacles. But in the holy Virgin everything favoured and supported the progress of heavenly love. The progress and increase of love were immensely greater than in all the rest of the creatures. However, this progress was infinitely gentle, peaceful and tranquil. No. She did not swoon away by love or by compassion beneath the cross of her Son, though she had then the most ardent and painful assault of love which one could imagine. Though this assault was extreme, it was at the same time equally strong and gentle altogether, powerful and tranquil, active and peaceful composed of sharp ardour but sweet.
I am not saying, Theotimus, that the soul of the Most Holy Virgin did not have two parts, and consequently two appetites. One was spiritual, following the higher reason and the other according to the senses and the inferior reason. Hence she could feel the aversions and oppositions of one appetite to the other. For this struggle was found even in our Lord, her Son. But I say that in this Heavenly Mother all the emotions were so well ordered and regulated that divine love exercised in her its empire and its rule very peacefully. She was not disturbed by the different wills and the appetites or by the struggle of the senses. For neither the reluctance of the natural appetite nor the movements of the senses did ever come to the extent of sin, not even of venial sin. On the contrary, all these were holily and faithfully put at the service of holy love for the practice of other virtues. Most of these virtues cannot be practised except in the midst of difficulties, oppositions and contradictions.
The thorns, according to popular opinion, are not only different from but also opposed to flowers. It seems that if they were not there in this world it would go better. It has made St. Ambrose think that there would have been no thorns but for sin. Since they are there, the good farmer makes use of them. He makes hedges and enclosures around the fields and the young trees. Thus the thorns serve as protection and defence against animals. Similarly, the glorious Virgin had a share of all human wretchedness except those which come directly from sin. She made use of them very usefully for the practice and growth of the holy virtues of courage, temperance, justice, prudence, poverty, humility, suffering and compassion. So they did not cause any hindrance. Instead those miseries provided many occasions for heavenly love to strengthen itself by continual practice and progress. Mary did not turn away her attention with which she was receiving the loving tokens of the Saviour for all the ardour and concern of Martha. Our Lady has chosen the love of her Son and nothing takes it away from her (Lk 10:42).
The magnet, as everyone knows, Theotimus, naturally attracts iron to itself by a hidden and very amazing power. All the same, five things hinder its activity: 1 a great distance between the magnet and the iron; 2- if there is a diamond between them; 3 if the iron is greased; 4 if it is rubbed with garlic; 5- If the iron is too heavy. Our heart is made for God. He attracts it constantly and does not cease to pour into it the delights of his heavenly love. Five things, however, prevent the activity of this holy attraction: 1sin which creates a distance between us and God; 2 attachment to riches; 3-sensual pleasures; 4pride and vanity; 5self-love with its numerous disorderly passions which it produces. These passions are a heavy burden on us which weighs us down. None of these impediments had any place in the heart of the glorious Virgin: 1she was always preserved from every sin; 2- always very poor in spirit; 3always very pure; 4 always very humble; 5always the peaceful Mistress of all her passions. She was entirely free from the rebellion which self-love makes against the love of God.
If iron, therefore, is freed from all impediments and even its weight, it will be very strongly yet gently attracted by an even attraction by the magnet. However, the attraction will be always more active and stronger in so far as one will be closer to the other and the movement is approaching its end. So it was with the Holy Mother. She had nothing in her that prevented the activity of the love of her Son. Hence she united herself with him by an unsurpassing union through gentle, peaceful, effortless ecstasies. In these ecstasies the sense-powers did not cease from their activity without giving any inconvenience to the union of the spirit. Reciprocally, the perfect concentration of her spirit did not give any distraction to the senses. So the death of this Virgin was more gentle than we can ever imagine. Her Son attracted her gently after the fragrance of his perfumes (Song 1:3). She followed very lovingly after his sacred fragrance into the bosom of the goodness of her Son. She loved very much her most holy, most pure and most lovable body. However she left it easily, without any resistance whatever. It was Judith who loved very much the sackcloth of penance and widowhood. However, she left it and stripped herself of it with pleasure to put on her nuptial garments when she went to win victory over Holofernes (Jdt 10:2,3). Or it was like Jonathan when, for love of David, he stripped off his robe (1Sam 18:4). Love had given to this immaculate Spouse supreme sorrows of death beneath the cross. Indeed, it was reasonable that finally death should give her supreme delights of love.
END OF BOOK SEVEN