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Letter 9 of St. Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi
to the Much Revered Mother in Christ, Sister Catherine de Ricci of the Venerable Monastery of Saint [Vincent] at Prato and Most Dear to Me in the Lord: |
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 Catherine de' Ricci (1522-1590), an enclosed Dominican nun, developed a friendship with Maria Magdalen although they never met. They both received the gift of ecstasy and both were destined to be canonized by the Catholic Church. |
(...) Conversing with you familiarly as with the loving bride of our loving Bridegroom, Christ Jesus, I shall make known to you a work which, if you have not already been informed of it, I know will be most pleasing to you. I say that I am constrained by the First Truth to make known to you-- and to the chosen one who must put it into execution-- a work ordained from eternity. I am speaking of the renewal of holy Church, which work, I believe, is not less desired by us than it is willed by God. For I know that it is almost impossible for God to withhold His just wrath any longer, and that it is only, only, only the offerings that have been made to Him of the blood [of Jesus], and the blood which He retains, that He does not send vengeance on His so many persecutors. | |
| Therefore I am forced by our sweet Bridegroom to tell you to be willing to light new kindlings of the love of God in your heart. Moreover, do not fail to incite and persuade all your other Mothers and Sisters to light such a new fire of love for God that their breasts will burn, and so great will be the flame that comes from your monastery that they may warm many hearts frozen in the love of self, in self-will and in the desire for the things of earth. (...) | |||
| (...) Please be willing, O my most dear Mother, to be a helper! Please be willing, O my most dear Mother, to be a helper in manifesting this work of such great importance and so pleasing to God! Please be willing to be my helper on earth, as I hope and feel my seraphic Catherine is in heaven. (...) | |||
| Moreover, we have to eat Flesh [communion], as I hope and believe that you are doing continually: I do likewise and, though perhaps not with that frequency and continuity that you do, at least in a way that leaves me content. (...) | |||
| Please, O my dear Mother, let us not be willing to let ourselves be surpassed by the brides of the world, who continue to grow like their spouse in all things and force themselves to learn his will. So also must we do: go on becoming like our Spouse, Christ crucified, Jesus, and seeking to do His will-- which will we do not have to seek to understand, even though I am driven to make it understood by others! | |||
| Now, if God is supreme goodness, there must be in us a just and strict simplicity. Then, not to begin enumerating all the attributes of God, I will come to the one so much desired by me. I mean that if God is communicative, we also must be communicative, in communicating the lights that God communicates to us, and especially those lights that can help bring His creatures back to Him. (...) | |||
| Oh most dear Mother and the spouse of the uncreated Wisdom, may Your Reverence be willing to be the dove that left the ark and went to see if the deluge had subsided, and then returned with the olive branch. Be willing, I say, to leave the ark in the way that God will show you and will wish-- not to see if the deluge has subsided, no, because it has not yet subsided-- but to help make it subside. (...) | |||
| Moreover, I seem to understand that sweet Truth would be pleased were you to make this work known to our Most Reverend Cardinal, in the way that God will reveal to you. I would also desire-- and I do not think this deviated from the will of God-- that you make him understand this before the feast of the glorious Assumption of Mary goes by, or at least within the octave, to the end that he may come in time to learn what I am forced to make known to him. I know that it will be easy [for you] to grasp that this is the will of God, because of the continual enlightenment that you have received and receive from God; and your actions will be not a little help for what I am forced to tell him, for I am speaking of the renewal of the Church. (...) | |||
| From our
monastery of Saint Mary of the Angels near Saint Fredian's, August 5,
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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