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Letter 6 of St. Mary
Magdalen de' Pazzi to the Reverend Father Peter of the Company of the Holy Name of Jesus |
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| Fr. Peter Blanca was Sr. Mary Magdalen's confessor and spiritual director before she entered Carmel. | (...) And she is urged on by the Truth, old and new, the incomprehensible God, to make known to you something that will cause you wonder and astonishment; for you know in part your unworthy daughter, inasmuch as you have given her for some time the milk [of doctrine] contrary to the choice according to which God wills that she should now walk. | ||
| (...) But let us go on, let us go on, let us go on! For, the gentle Jesus does not want me to keep on writing more words to you for the satisfaction of my own lowliness and to make you understand the truth, but He wants me to begin to make His work known to you. I say that what God wants me to make known to you and me understand-- I insist, make me understand-- is this: That the appointed time has come, the time predestined from eternity in the mind of God, and long since desired by His servants, past and present, for the renewal of His spouse, the Church. | |||
| Most dear, most dear, most dear Father, ponder, ponder, ponder, please ponder, please ponder-- a thousand times I should like to say it-- ponder what I have said to you, that the appointed time has come when God wants to renew His Church by means of His Vicar and His ministers. (...) | |||
| But now, to return to what I was saying and to use so many words with you, I say that God wills, that God wills His spouse, the Church, to be renewed by means of His Vicar and of His ministers, of whom you are one. And He forces me to make this known to the Vicar of Christ on earth and to three chosen religious families, one of which is your Company and community. Hence I beg you and urge you to join with those of the glorious Father, St. Dominic, and to leave aside any difference of opinion that may exist between you; for we must not, on account of certain very small things, leave off working on those that are greater and of more importance: I mean the honor of God and the salvation of souls. Further, the beginning of this renewal must come from God's ministers and christs-- for so the seraphic Catherine called them. | |||
| Oh my most dear Father, I say that the renewal must come from those who administer that same blood that you administer, and from God's disunited brides who have promised the same vows as you and I. Therefore I beg you, through your words, to convince the Supreme Pontiff Sixtus of what great important are such promises made and not kept, which importance I know you are capable of explaining, for you have advised me of it; then, of what great danger it is to take vows in a place where they are not observed by the community. Therefore, I beg you-- rather, He begs you Who moves you, and He begs you to pray to Him, to make known to the Supreme Pontiff the importance of the promises made, and to have him work with the other chosen religious families and to be a helper and coadjutor in this work and will of God. For what would be the good of what your Fathers and Brothers are doing in leading so many souls to God, if those who know God and are fed with His own body and blood are lost? | |||
| (...) O Word Made Flesh and slain Lamb, You have given Your blood for humans, I mean for Your spouse, the Church! Please make this blood penetrate the heart of my most dear Father, the minister of that blood, so that in offering anew that blood and nourishing himself by it continually he may be able to make its power known and understood! Of, if in the Old Testament the blood of irrational creatures, offered by other creatures, had the power of purifying and cleansing in part-- how much more will this blood, which is not the blood of a mere creature, but of God and of man, have the power of purifying hearts and making that work understood! For, this work has to proceed from and be accomplished in virtue of that blood! | |||
| (...) The Word made this way for us by His blood, a way that has been followed by many. And though you, Reverend Father, will not have to give your blood for this work, you must not fail to work hard in doing everything you can, so that this work will be put into execution. | |||
| (...) So would God now wish His Vicar and His ministers to be; and just as one cannot place in the way of a star any obstacle that might impede its light and splendor-- for even if the clouds sometimes get in the way, still this does not mean that the star in itself has not its light and splendor-- so God would wish His ministers to be: full of so much light, and adorned with so many virtues, that they would give light to the whole Church. Such light does not exist, but let it abide in you! And even if it does exist, it is only in a few, and these are persecuted. It must not happen, moreover, that any cloud of creatures be allowed to get in the way-- of creatures, that is, who are lovers of themselves, of whom there is indeed an abundance! | |||
| Please, most dear Father, have no regard for anything not for the respect of any creature! And even if you had to lay down your life-- and I will say more, even if it were possible (though I know it is not) that you should have to go to hell in order to help in this work and see it completed, you should not withdraw from it. | |||
| (...) Still it is necessary, and I am forced to tell you also this: When you shall have convinced the Supreme Pontiff of what importance are the vows made, but not observed by religious, I would have it told him-- not as a matter of information or of counsel, but through and with loving charity-- that He should direct his principal study and care to his own Order and religious family, which today stands in greater danger and relaxation than any other in existence. (...) | |||
| (...) From our
monastery of Saint Mary of the Angels, near Saint Fredian's, August 1,
1586. The humble
handmaid of the Word Made Flesh |
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| from: La rinnovazione della Chiesa Lettere dettate in estasi Cittą Nuova - Edizioni O.C.D. © 1986 ISBN 88-311-4804-4 |
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