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Letter 8 of St. Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi to Reverend Mother, Sister Veronica of Cortona |
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| Sister Veronica Lapparelli (1537-1620) was a Cistercian nun in the famous monastery of the Countess of Cortona. The Catholic Church began the process of canonization for her. | (...) I am not going to speak to [you as to] one who believes that this comes from God; yet I think you will be glad, because of your satisfaction that such a happy time has come, even though it will be very difficult for anyone who has to begin it. | ||
| But what is this that is to make you so glad? Nothing else than the renewal of the Church, the spouse [of Christ]! However, there is need also of your sighs and labors. Please do, all of you, please do act in such a way that we may finally see the garden of the Church well cultivated! Go on sprinkling it with the blood of Christ crucified! Send down the dew of tears shed because of your continual desire of bringing souls back to him, so that with the bride you can tell the Bridegroom to come into His garden and gather His fruits! (...) | |||
| On coming into the world and assuming flesh, the Eternal Word prepared the earth by taking flesh from Mary, who was of the earth. And during all His life He went about sowing the various flowers and plants of His sweet words and gentle commandments; for as He said, His yoke is sweet and His burden light [Mt 11:30]. Oh, if only those religious who are so far removed from Him, for having put aside the vows that they have promised, would ponder this, they would [indeed] observe poverty, obedience, and the other promises made! But the fact is that they contradict the words of Truth, and they argue that His commandments are impossible to keep, because they themselves do not comprehend the sweetness and the gentleness that is found in them. Yet if they would comprehend how light is the burden of God, they would grasp it with supreme desire. For, the burden that God gives us is none other than the observance of His commandments, all of which consist in loving. But those religious make up a burden heavy and insupportable for themselves, because it does not seem to them that they can keep these commandments; and so they exchange loves, for instead of loving God, they love themselves. | |||
| These two loves, so contrary to each other-- love for God and love for oneself-- cannot stand together, since they are as different form one another as ice is from fire. Yet love for God does indeed do in us what fire does to ice, for fire makes the ice dissolve into water; and so, in our case, by opening the door of our heart to love for God, this love dissolves all self-love in us. But we must open the door! (...) | |||
| Jesus planted the fruits and brought completion to this garden on the cross; rather, in virtue on His blood, He gave power to all the Sacraments, and these, like fruits, go on nourishing us as long as we are in this life and bring us to our true end, the Eternal God, the Beginning Who has never known a beginning, the Truth old and new. (...) There are many in this garden who are nourished by its fruits, but few are those who wish to imitate the Author of those fruits. There are many, who take the obligation of handling the fruits of this garden, I mean the most holy Sacraments; but few are those who wish to labor at sowing, reaping, and cultivating this garden by means of the Word of God. | |||
| And many are those who bring decay and stench to the garden by their desire to possess the things created by God and to do their own accursed will in all things; they feed on the things of earth and thus deprive themselves of the vision and fruition of God-- and afterwards they will be nourished forever on the food of eternal damnation. Perhaps we would not like to have the sting; but the enamored Paul said that he had a sting of the flesh that was contrary to the stimulus of the spirit [II Cor 12:7]. Oh, if he, who was [possessed] of such great perfection, had such a sting, how much more do we, who have not reached that perfection, have need of that sting-- but, of course, not to consent to what that sting invites us! | |||
| My most dear Mother [and Sisters], please act in such a way that we may be true nurses in the Church of God! (...) and when we shall have to remove our mouth from the breasts of our most sweet Spouse, in order to lead souls to Him, we ought to do so; for it is indeed proper that those who are stronger should leave their milk-- in order to give it to more, little ones in their turn-- and should [instead] eat bread, which sometimes is very hard and dry. Yet there is a vessel in which we can dip it; I mean, there is the body of our Word Made Flesh, filled with innumerable wounds in which we can hide ourselves and imbibe every sweetness! | |||
| Please act in such a way, please act in such a way that we may lead so many men and so many women consecrated to Him, to His breast, so that they may finally taste God (...) To one who fears You! Oh, yes, for fear is the beginning of wisdom! And these two virtues that are wanting to them-- namely, fear and love-- must be used like two hooks, in order to bring them back and lead them to God! For, all do not leave God through fear, and all do not return to Him through fear. They do not leave God through fear of losing transitory things or the favor of creatures; and they do not return to Him through the fear of suffering the pains of hell. All do not leave God through love of themselves; nor do they return to Him for the love of honoring Him, but through fear of suffering the pains of hell. And even though this way is not perfect, yet we must be content, provided they return by some way to the true religious life. | |||
| From our
monastery of Saint Mary of the Angels on Saint Fredian's street, August 4,
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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