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1. With the Incarnation of the Word we enter more deeply into the
essence of the Infinite Sacrifice, now that the Victim of Calvary is
consecrated with Flesh and Blood from the Virgin Mary, through a twofold
priestly action of Hers, that of Her Divine Soul and that of Her Most Pure
Body, and as well, in corresponding degree, through the priestly action of
Joseph Most Holy with his Fiat, which the Holy Ghost required before
Mary's Fiat, in order for this Mystery to be accomplished.
2. The Palmarian Creed, speaking of the Incarnation, begins with
the following words: "I believe
that, when the full-ness of time was come, the Most High chose to reveal
Himself to men and to accomplish the Salvific Work of Redemption". That time came when the messianic prophecies on the
Incarnation of Christ were ful-filled, as for example that of Isaias, "Behold a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall
be called Emmanuel" (Is. VII: 14). The fullness of time is then the dividing line between both
Testaments, the Old and the New. Nevertheless,
with the Immaculate Conception of Mary, it was anticipated, since She, in
Her Most Holy Person, anticipated the Christian Era.
3. The fullness of time coincided with many other signs announc-ing
that here, in the expression of Saint Paul, was "the
fulfillment of the time" (Gal. IV: 4), in the first place, those
announced in several prophecies, of which we select Jacob's over his son
Juda: "The sceptre shall not be
taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his lineage, till he come that is
to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations" (Gen.
XLIX: 10). This was fulfilled
when Herod, a foreign king, usurped the throne of David shortly before the
Immaculate Conception of Mary. Besides,
at that historic moment there was fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel on the
coming of the Messias. On the
other hand, in the midst of the moral and religious decay of the pagan
nations, particularly that of the Roman Empire, there existed a general
desire for universal renewal and for a new order in the world.
The renowned pagan author Tacitus sums up that universal sentiment
when he says in his history: "Many
were of the persuasion that in the ancient writings of the priests it had
been foretold that in these times the East would hold the supremacy and,
starting from Judah, would come to dominate the world." Without
being aware of it, he was referring to Christianity.
Besides, the Coming of the Messias occurred during a time of
universal peace under the Emperor Octavus Augustus, a most significant
fact, given that it was the Prince of Peace Who was to become incarnate.
4. That was the moment when the Most High chose to reveal Himself
to men in the complete Humanity of Christ.
The word "chose"
means that God hastened the hour He had decreed immediately after Adam
sinned in the Terrestrial Paradise. That
anticipation was furthered by the most vehement love and desire of the
Most Divine Soul of Christ to make reparation, as well as by the constant
supplications of the Holy Virgin Mary, who "vehemently
implored the Celestial Father to hasten the hour of the coming of the
promised Messias", as the Palmarian Creed affirms. Besides, to the prayers of both were added those of the Just
in the Bosom of Abraham, who with great desire awaited the Coming of the
Saviour, as also those of the Souls in Purgatory and of the whole Church
Militant of the time.
5. Once the Most High had chosen the moment for the Incarnation of
the Word of God, there was required, before the realization of the
Mystery, the Fiat of the Most Divine Soul of Christ, Who assented
jubilantly to the desire of the Celestial Father, as did also She who had
desired it since the very moment of Her creation, and who now renewed Her
spiritual offering and sacrifice. Furthermore
there was required the consent of the future parents of the Son of the
Most High, the Divine Mary and Joseph Most Holy, since God chose to submit
His Work also to the free consent of both spouses.
6. The Most Divine Soul of Christ, moved by the Divine Word,
completed the requisites necessary for the Work of the Incarnation. Of the seven Archangels, the one He chose as celestial
Messenger of the good news was the exalted Saint Gabriel, whom He sent for
the purpose down to earth. It
was precisely that glorious Archangel, whose name means "Strength
of God", who had revealed the exact time of the Coming of the
Messias to the Prophet Daniel in the prophecy of the 70 weeks of years, in
which he informed him that the Incarnation would take place within the
65th week. Besides, it was
Saint Gabriel who had communicated to the parents of the Virgin Mary,
Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, the good news that they would have a
Daughter; and in a later apparition that they should impose the sweet name
of Mary. Saint Gabriel was
also the Messenger who announced to Zacharias the conception of the
Precursor as well as the name John which the child was to receive.
It was fitting that the Most Divine Soul of Christ again appoint
the same Archangel as ambassador of the sublime Mystery of the Incarnation
of the Word, towards which all the ministries above mentioned were
directed.
7. When the evangelist Saint Luke relates the Mystery of the
Incarnation of the Word, he speaks of three moments; the Salutation, the
Annunciation and the Incarnation itself.
This Holy Council, in the light of the Holy Ghost, interprets, puts
in order and duly situates the contents of certain parts of chapter I of
the Gos-pel of Saint Luke, including verses 26 to 38.
The Archangel Saint Gabriel, accom-panied by a multitude of angels,
"was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth (verse
26) to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of
David; and the virgin's name was Mary" (verse 27), which presents
no difficulty in interpretation. The
following verse (28) pertains to the angelic Salutation, which took
place at the well where the Virgin was accustomed to draw water, and not
in the house, which has been thought until now.
The well was near the little house of Nazareth.
Today it is found within the Church of Saint Gabriel.
At this well the Most Holy Virgin appeared to His Holiness Pope
Gregory XVII on two occasions and in the depth of his soul confirmed the
truth of the tradition guarded at Nazareth that the Virgin Mary there
received the Salutation of the Archangel.
The tradition is also found in several non-canonical books.
Let us consider the sacred text that narrates the Salutation: "And the angel having presented himself to her, said: Hail, full of
grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou amongst women,"
(Luke I: 28). These words of
the verse mentioned are, properly speaking, the Salutation. The phrase, "And
the angel having presented himself to her", also implicitly
introduces verse 30, of which we shall speak later and which refers to the
second apparition of the angel to the Virgin Mary, now in Her house at
Nazareth. In this most
beautiful Salutation is expressed all the grandeur with which Mary was
endowed by the Most High, in that She is here proclaimed "Full
of Grace", as also Tabernacle of the August Trinity in the words "The Lord is with thee", as well as the Woman predestined
to be Mother of God, of Whom She already was Spouse of predilection.
Besides, it emphasizes also the most high dignity of Mary beyond
that of all other women, in the words, "Benedicta
Tu in mulieribus", which phrase is to be understood as "Blessed
art thou amongst all women".
Whereas to take the Latin terms rigorously in a literal sense,
would not duly individualize the Woman "par
excellence", who is Mary, to be distinguished from all others.
That could give rise to the ambiguous interpretation that other
women might compete with Mary, which would be to contest the Supremacy of
Her who is Daughter, Spouse and Mother of the Most High God.
Holy Church has taken over the Angelic Salu-tation for the
composition of the Marian prayer "par
excellence", the Ave Maria, which has resounded times without
number in a multitude of languages to sing throughout the centuries the
glories of the Mother of God.
8. The evangelist continues: "And
hearing this she was troubled at his words, and thought within herself
what manner of salutation this might be" (Luke I: 29).
The first part of the verse; "And
hearing this she was troubled at his words", ought never to be
understood in the sense that the Most Holy Virgin Mary was frightened by
the heavenly vision, since She was accustomed to behold angelic
countenances; nor that She was disturbed by the manly presence of the
Archangel, much less by any influence upon Her virginal modesty, since
that would have been contrary to the sublime dignity of the Woman
Immaculate. Moreover, if
every celestial apparition is accompanied by the charism of elevating the
state of the one favoured, inflaming him with divine love and a most
vehement desire of virtue, what must have been the mystical elevation of
the Queen of Heaven at the vision of the Angelic Salutation!
The sacred text itself excludes such interpretation, although there
have been such even by some Church Fathers, interpretations which we
reject. Besides, the
sacred text says literally that the cause of Mary's perturbation lay in
the Angel's words.
9. The ways of God are incomprehensible to human intelligence, for,
con-sidering that Mary was endowed with "infused
knowledge and a plenitude of light and grace", that Her Soul
pre-existed from the beginning of Creation, and dwelt with the Most High
in Eternal Beatitude, that She was the Seat of Wisdom, and Wisdom itself,
with full knowledge of Her sublime mission to be the future Mother of God,
it is astonishing that now She is troubled at the words of the angel, and
appears to be unaware of God's plans.
This momentary ignorance of the Divine Virgin Mary can only be
explained in the light of the Palmarian Creed, which says, speaking of
Her: "God, in His Infinite Wisdom and in order that this exalted Lady be
able to work in the sub-lime mission to which She was consecrated, in
certain moments of Her life suspended Her infused knowledge and other most
divine gifts, leaving Her in the ordinary condi-tion and state of the
virtues, and thus, with the practice of heroic virtue, to be the
admiration of the angels and the perfect model of mankind".
Since the Divine Virgin Mary was about to fulfil Her sublime
mission to become Mother of the Word made flesh, God suspended Her infused
knowledge and other most divine gifts in order thus to make it possible
for Her to exercise the corresponding heroic virtues.
10. The cause then of Her perturbation is found in the mysterious
words of the angel, full of strange praise that wounded Her great modesty
and deepest humility. For so
exalted was this virtue in Mary, that She felt unworthy of the dig-nity
that the archangel was announcing. Besides,
Mary sensed in Her Soul that She was the one chosen to be Mother of God,
and She did not see how to combine that mater-nity with Her vow of
Perpetual Virginity and Her married state.
Absorbed in these thoughts She left the well and walked to the
house wondering how all that could be.
There She withdrew and, with that exquisite prudence which marked
Her exalted virtue and right reason, She prostrated Herself in prayer and
meditation before the Most High in order thus to come to know God's will
expressed in those words.
11. But since a necessary requisite for the Most High to perform
the work of the Incarnation of the Word was the consent of Joseph Most
Holy, Spouse of the Divine Virgin Mary, Saint Gabriel, after his
appearance at the well, entered the house of that Most Just Man, and asked
him for his Fiat to the Mystery of the Incar-nation.
With the consent of Saint Joseph, the archangel appeared again to
Mary, now at her house in Nazareth where She was absorbed in deep
meditation. There he spoke these words: "Fear
not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.
Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a
son; and thou shalt call his name JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and
he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of His Kingdom
there shall be no end" (Luke I: 30-33).
The phrase "Fear not", of frequent occurrence in celestial
apparitions, expresses in the present case of Mary the archangel's
encouragement at the perturbation of the Divine Lady. The phrase, "for
thou hast found grace with God", means that Her constant prayer
for the Coming of the Messias had been heard and that She was the one
favoured to be His Mother. The
Most Holy Virgin Mary also understood in mysterious manner through the
words of the archangel that Her spouse Saint Joseph had given his consent
for the Word of God to become incarnate in Her.
It only remained for Her to know how it would be possible to be
mother and yet remain virgin, which is expressed in the following words of
the sacred text, "And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know
not man?" (Luke I: 34), that is, What must I do for this to be
accomplished in me, since this is not possible in a natural way, given my
vow of Virginity and that of my spouse?
The Celestial Messenger replied that it would all be accomplished
in a miraculous manner: "The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall
overshadow thee. And
therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God" (Luke 1: 35).
12. In verse 36 the archangel informs Mary of the pregnancy of
Saint Elizabeth, and thus gives Her a clear sign of the greatness of God
in His works in this example of the miraculous conception of Her cousin of
advanced age. In verse 37 he
concludes with the affirmation that nothing is impossible for God. Mary had abso-lutely no doubt of the power of God, but She
had to exercise Her faith that what was announced by the archangel would
be accomplished in Her. For
that faith Elizabeth felicitated Her at the Visitation, in these words: "Blessed
art thou that hast believed..." (Luke I: 45).
In that act of faith, which Mary made at the Incarnation of the
Word, Mary summed up and in sublime degree surpassed the faith of all the
faithful of all times.
13. Having interpreted the passage pertaining to the Annunciation,
we turn now to examine verse 38 which refers to the moment itself of the
Incarnation of the Word. Let
us consider the sacred text: "And
Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to my according to
thy word. And the angel departed from her".
When the Divine Virgin gave Her Fiat as Handmaid of the Lord
believing the angel's word, She made it possible for the Divine Victim,
Christ Jesus, to take flesh in Her Most Pure Womb, bear all the sins of
mankind and as wayfarer on earth accomplish the Reparation and the
Redemption. By Her Fiat She
offered Her greatest sacrifice, most pleasing and sublime, which only on
Calvary was to be excelled. Besides,
the Divine Mary gave Her consent with great joy and sorrow at the same
time, since on the one hand, She knew that thus the Eternal Father would
receive infinite reparation, and that, through such reparation would come
superabundantly the redemption of mankind.
On the other hand She sorrowed because Her Divine Son conceived in
Her Virginal Womb was to be the reproach of the nations, rejected and
crucified by His own people,
and because so many others, treading under foot the Blood of Christ, would
also fail to benefit by the Redemption.
14. At the very instant in which Mary pronounced Her Fiat to the
Most High, the Word of God and the pre-existent and Most Divine Soul of
Christ assumed a Most Perfect Body, formed miraculously from the Blood of
Mary by the Soul of Christ. The
Soul of Christ acted as a creative instrument of the Holy Ghost and of the
whole August Trinity in the formation of Its own Body informing It at the
same instant. We explain this
doctrine in greater detail: As the Holy Ghost is the Personification of
the Love of the Triune God and the Incarnation is the Work of Divine Love,
the Para-clete has a most special and personal relation with the Work of
the Incarnation as Spouse of Mary. Through
Him the August Trinity manifests the love of Its Espousal to this Divine
Lady by means of the impetuous flood of divine fire which covers and
irresistibly pervades the Soul of Mary and which elicits all the impetus
of Her loving response. Thus the Divine Espousal is consummated most fully as three
drops of Blood flow from Her Immaculate Heart and She, in this way
exercises Her Fiat, there being formed at this very instant the Most
Divine Body of Christ. With
the Incarnation of the Word, the Triune God, in a sublime and mysterious
way and through the Person of the Holy Ghost, consummated His ineffable
Espousal with the Virgin Mary, since through the action and grace of the
Divine Spirit, Mary conceived Her Son Jesus in Her virginal Womb.
With the Espousal of the Sacred Hearts, the Holy Ghost was also
espoused with the Immaculate Heart of Mary through the new channel of the
Sacred Heart. The Father and the Divine Word did not have direct personal
relation to the formation of Christ's Body, for this was due rather to the
Unity of the Divine Essence since the Incarnation was accomplished by the
action and grace of the Holy Ghost, Who personally moved the Soul of
Christ to realize the formation of Its own Body.
Thus, the Holy Ghost is true Father of the complete Humanity of
Christ, since it was He who formed His Body.
This in no way means that He is the Father of the Son, that is, of
His Divinity, since He gave nothing of His own substance. Rather it was the Virgin Mary who gave of Her own substance
for the formation of the Body of the Son of God, and for which She is, and
rightly so, the Mother of God.
15. Through the spiritual Espousal of the Divine Souls there burst
forth impetuously from the depths of the Soul of Mary the Grace of the
Holy Ghost, at the very moment when the three Drops of Blood issued from
Her Immaculate Heart. And
that Sanctifying Grace was poured out in the three Drops, forming through
the action of the Soul of Christ, as instrument of the Paraclete, a most
perfect body of a child, thus being consummated the Espousal of the Divine
Souls in the mystical union of the Sacred Hearts.
16. In the doctrine of the three Drops of the Most Pure Blood of
Mary, which issued from Her Heart, are to be found various and profound
meanings. First, they show
that the Incarnation of the
Word burst forth from the depths of Mary's Soul like an explosion of love
of the three Divine Persons when this mystery was performed by the power
of the Triune God. Moreover,
they express the joint action of three "Fiats"
necessary for the realization of the Incarnation: that of the Most Divine
Soul Of Christ, that of the Divine Mary, and that of Joseph Most Holy.
They also indicate the Divine Maternity of Mary which possesses a
threefold Espousal: with God Himself, with Christ, God and Man, and with a
Man, the pure creature Saint Joseph.
Moreover, the three Drops of Blood are symbolic in other ways: In
order for the Incarnation of the Word to be realized there was required a
threefold priestly ministry; that of the Souls of Christ, of Mary and of
Saint Joseph. Also, in order
for the sacrifice of Calvary to be accomplished and be completed, the
presence of three priests was necessary,- three victims and three
transpierced hearts - Jesus, Mary and Saint John the Evangelist. This is necessary in the Mass as well, in which is renewed
the spiritual offering of the Divine Souls when the Victim offers Himself
in the Offer-tory; necessary for the Incarnation of the Word in the
Consecration; and necessary for the Immolation of Christ on Calvary,
through the Communion of the Celebrant.
Besides this, three priestly hearts are required, and the unbloody
immolation of three victims.
17. "The Incarnation of
the Divine Word is the extension of the Hypostatic Union, which is the
Eternal High Priesthood of Christ" (Dogmatic Definition 44).
God, at the very instant of creating the Soul of Christ united to
the Divine Word, consti-tuted and annointed It as an essentially Priestly
Soul, and therefore since that same instant Christ exists as Eternal High
Priest. The Hypostatic Union
itself is the very root of Christ's Priesthood, because at that moment of
creation, His Most Divine Soul was inundated with the uncreated and
infinite holiness of the Divine Word and assumed, as well as the Glory of
God, the mission of Mediator between Him and all of creation.
The Soul of Christ was then, created a Priestly Soul.
Moreover, at the very instant of the Incarnation of the Word,
Christ's Eternal High Priesthood was extended to all His corporeal
Humanity, which in turn was inundated by the uncreated and infinite
holiness of the Word, and for that reason all of His Body is worthy of
adoration.
18. We will now explain the doctrine of the sublime Incarnation of
the Divine Espousal of Jesus and Mary, which the Holy Ghost worked at the
very instant in which the Incarnation of the Word took place, and by means
of which the spiritual Espousal of the Souls of Christ and Mary was also
extended to their Hearts. The
mutual and sublime Espousal in body of Christ and Mary was effected
through the enthronement of a Particle of Christ's Heart with a Drop of
His Blood in the Heart of Mary, and by the enthronement of a Particle of
Mary's Heart with a Drop of Her Blood in the Heart of Christ, resulting in
a sublime intercommunication of blood between both Hearts.
By virtue of these enthronements, there exists the real, true and
most singular sacramental presence of Christ in Mary and of Mary in
Christ, with one Mystical Heart alone, Espousal of the Sacred
Hearts of Jesus and Mary, these latter perfectly main-taining their
identity without any confusion. In
this way they live joined together in a unique and majestic manner,
arriving at perfect communion in suchwise that all thoughts, emotions,
joys and sorrows of Jesus and Mary flow from the same fount: their Divine
Espousal.
19. This Espousal is so intimate, that from the Particle of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus and from the Drop of His Blood that were enthroned
in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, there flows, by means of the same Drop of
Christ's Blood and through the same Particle of His Sacred Heart, the
Blood of Christ in the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and at the same time from
the Particle of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and from the Drop of Her
Blood which were enthroned in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, there flows, by
means of the same Drop of Mary's Blood and through the same Particle of
Her Immacu-late Heart, the Blood of Mary in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Moreover, by virtue of the fact that the Particle of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus and the Drop of His Most Precious Blood are hypostatically
united to the Divine Word, when the Immaculate Heart of Mary receives the
Particle of the Sacred Heart and the Drop of His Most Pre-cious Blood, She
receives concomitantly both with His Flesh and with His Blood, that is to
say in both, Christ, in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Likewise, when the Sacred Heart of Jesus receives the Particle of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Drop of Her Most Pure Blood, by
concomitance He receives with Her Flesh and with Her Blood the Divine Mary
in Body, Blood and Soul. However,
the Particle of Mary's Heart and the Drop of Her Most Pure Blood which
sacramentally remain in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are not
hypostatically united to the Divine Word, since only the Blood of Mary
which Christ assumed remains permanently so united.
20. We now proceed to unfold the doctrine which refers to the way
in which Christ, whole and entire is, by virtue of concomitance, present
in any one part of His human nature, as likewise Mary whole and entire is
present in any one part of the person of Mary.
The word "concomitance"
which is derived from the Latin verb "con-comitare"
denotes primarily that which accompanies something else.
Presence by con-comitance is real and true, though it occurs
indirectly.
21. For better understanding of our doctrine, we will first explain
the application this term has in the Holy Eucharist.
The Body and Blood of Christ can be present in the Eucharist in two
ways: by virtue of the words of consecration ("ex vi verborum"), or by natural concomitance ("ex
naturali concomitantia"). By
virtue of the words of consecration the Body of Christ is contained under
the species of bread and His Blood under the species of wine; and by
concomitance are contained His Blood, Soul and Divinity under the species
of bread. By virtue of the
words of consecration, that which they literally signify is made present
directly in the Eucharist.
The words of the consecration of the bread signify expressly and
formally the Body of Christ which is contained in the entire Holy Host, as
well as in every part of It, since the intention of the consecrating words
is to make present directly the whole Body of Christ in the host and of
course in every particle of it. We
say the same of the formula of consecration of the wine, the words of
which signify expressly and for-mally the Blood of Christ, all of which is
found in whatever part, no matter how small, of the consecrated species,
since the intention of the formula of consecration is to make present
directly all of Christ's Blood in whatever part of the species "wine".
22. The Body of Christ is truly united to His Blood, His Soul and
His Divinity; just as His Most Precious Blood is also truly united to His
Body, Soul and Divinity.
23. As the Body of the living Christ is present under the species
of bread in the Holy Eucharist, His blood has necessarily to be united to
It concomi-tantly and inseparably since the Blood is an integral part of
Christ's human nature. Since
the Blood of the living Christ is present under the species of wine, His
Body has necessarily to be united to It concomitantly and inseparably for
the same reason. With respect to His Soul we teach that, while the Body and
Blood of the living Christ are under their respective species, the Soul
has necessarily, concomitantly and inseparably to be united to His Body
and Blood, now that Christ can die no more.
As the Divinity is united substantially to Christ's complete human
nature assumed by the Word of God in Hypostatic Union, there is present
concomitantly in both the Body and Blood, the Word of God.
Since the Son is present, so are the Father and the Holy Ghost
through circumincession of the Three Divine Persons, that is to say,
through the indwelling of each Person in the Others by virtue of the unity
of the Divine Essence. In the
Body of Christ, present substantially under the accident of bread, and in
His Blood present substantially under the accident of wine, Christ works
integ-rally.
24. We conclude by saying that the Divine Virgin Mary is, by
concomitance, truly, really, spiritually and physically present in the
Holy Eucharist in each sacra-mental species, because necessarily She is
always united to Christ, and besides, acts jointly with Him.
This presence of the whole Mary is by virtue of Her real and
Mystical Espousal with the Most Sacred Humanity of Christ.
25. Now that concomitance with regard to the Eucharist has been
explained, we proceed to speak of the Presence of Christ in Mary and of
Mary in Christ in the Divine Espousal of their Souls and in the
Incarnation of that Espousal. At
the very instant of the realization of the Divine Espousal of the Souls,
the Most Divine Soul of Christ dwells in the Divine Soul of Mary directly
and inseparably. By virtue of
the Hypostatic Union of the Most Divine Soul of Christ with the Second
Person of the Most Holy
Trinity, the Word of God from the same instant also dwells in the Soul of
Mary by concomitance; and by virtue of circumincession of the Three Divine
Persons, the Father and the Holy Ghost dwell there as well. The Soul of Mary on being espoused directly with the Soul of
Christ, and by concomitance with the Most Holy Trinity, acts jointly with
Them, which reveals Her association to the Divine Council. The presence of the Divine Soul of Mary in the Most Divine
Soul of Christ by virtue of the Divine Espousal is direct because it
excludes all possibility of concomitance.
26. We have spoken of the Indwelling of the Soul of Christ in the
Soul of Mary, and viceversa, in other chapters of the present Treatise,
when referring to how, in the Old Testament, the Soul of Mary always
appeared under various forms, accompanied by the Most Divine Soul of
Christ.
27. Finally we shall explain the form in which Christ is present in
Mary and Mary in Christ from the very moment of the Incarnation of the
Divine Espousal of Jesus and Mary, which is to say the Espousal of their
Sacred Hearts.
28. From the very instant of the Incarnation of the Word, the
entire Christ dwells in the Immaculate Heart of Mary by virtue of the
enthronement of a Particle of His Sacred Heart and of a Drop of His Most
Precious Blood. Without
mixture or confusion, by this direct and sublime union of the Particle of
Heart with the Flesh of Mary, and of the Drop of Blood with the Blood of
Mary, Christ is espoused with the Flesh and Blood of Mary, that is to say,
with Her whole corporeal nature. The
Particle of Christ's Heart and the Drop of His Most Precious Blood are two
most sublime quantitative accidents.
Both in the one as in the other, and in the following way Christ is
enthroned Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Heart of Mary: In the
Particle of Christ's Heart all of His Flesh is present directly due to the
most special concomitance of the substantial unity of His glorious Flesh.
More-over, by natural concomitance, there are His Blood and His
Soul. And His Divinity is
present by union of the Humanity of Christ with the same in the Person of
the Word; and by circumincession, the Father and the Holy Ghost.
Likewise, all of Christ's Blood is present directly in the Drop of
His Most Precious Blood due to the most special concomitance of the
substantial unity of His glorious Blood.
Moreover, by natural concomitance there are His Body and Soul.
Likewise there is the Divinity, this through union of the Humanity
of Christ with the same in the Person of the Word.
And the Father and the Holy Ghost are present by circumincession.
29. In like manner, from the very instant of the Incarnation of the
Word, Mary whole and entire dwells in the Heart of Christ by virtue of the
enthronement of a Particle of Her Immaculate Heart and of a Drop of Her
Most Pure Blood. Without
mixture or confusion, through the direct and sublime union of the Particle
of Her Heart with the Flesh of Christ and of the Drop of Her Blood with
the Blood of Christ, the Divine Mary
is espoused with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, that is to say, with His
whole corporeal nature. The
Particle of the Heart of Mary and the Drop of Her Most Pure Blood are two
most sublime quantitative accidents.
Both in the one as in the other, Mary is enthroned Body, Blood and
Soul in the Heart of Christ in the fol-lowing way: In the Particle of the
Heart of Mary all Her Flesh is present directly by virtue of the most
special concomitance of the substantial unity of Her glorious Flesh.
Moreover, by natural concomitance, there are Her Blood and Soul.
Likewise, in the Drop of Her Most Pure Blood all of Mary's Blood is
present directly due to the most special concomitance of the substantial
unity of Her glorious Blood. Moreover,
Her Body and Soul are present by natural concomitance.
30. As has already been defined, Christ's Most Divine Body was
conceived in a state of glory. We
now define that Mary, at the moment of the Incarnation of the Word
rejoiced in the gifts of the state of glory with which Her Body was
endowed in the Immaculate Conception, transforming Her whole being; by
virtue of which the Drops of Blood and the Particles of Heart of both
Christ and of Mary were also glori-ous at the Incarnation of the Espousal.
Moreover, when Christ and Mary, during their pilgrimage on earth
had their glorious gifts suspended, the qualities of the Most Singular
Sacramental Presence of the one in the other were also veiled, without
los-ing the mutual presence since there remained the
glorious gift of sacramentality. Once
they terminated their pilgrimage on earth they began to enjoy definitively
the full glorification of their Bodies.
31. For greater clarification of all that has been explained, we
shall briefly refer to the doctrine of bodies in the state of glory,
making the concept of concomitance of the substantial unity of the
glorious flesh and blood more under-standable, as well as that of most
sublime quantitative accident. We
take as our basis the Dogmatic Definition of His Holiness Pope Gregory
XVII which says "that one of
the gifts of the glorious body is sacramentality".
By virtue of sacramentality, a body in the state of glory is
entirely present in each quantitative part of the same, since, through the
characteristic of glory it necessarily follows that the whole must
accompany the part. Besides,
a body in the state of glory is able to appear with its accidents, among
which the quantitative, whether wholly or in part; and in the latter case,
it is sacramentalized in each of its parts, given the spiritualization of
the material substance. By
virtue of the spiritualization, the sub-stance, both of the flesh and of
the blood of a body in the state of glory is indivi-sible, and in whatever
portion of either is directly contained the whole substance, due to the
fact that the substantial unity remains in each portion given the glorious
qualities; just as the soul is substantially indivisible, in the same way
as the flesh and blood of a body in the state of glory are substantially
indivisible in themselves for possessing qualities of a spirit.
We make clear that a body in the state of glory is not able to
sacramentalize itself through transubstantiation.
The case of tran-substantiation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist,
where the Body and Blood of Christ are present under the species of bread
and wine, is a most singular miracle of the power of God and therefore
surpasses the powers of a body in the state of glory.
We sum up in conclusion: the concept of most sublime quantitative
accident does not fully cor-respond to the philosophical concept of
accident, since according to the latter, the accident is not the
substance. Nevertheless, in
each part of a glorified body the whole substance with its accidents is
wholly present, by virtue of the gift of sacra-mentality which is proper
to a glorified body; the quantitative accident in relation to a part of
the flesh and blood of a glorified body is at the same time the whole
substance of that flesh and blood. The
most sublime quantitative accidents of the Drop of Mary's Blood and of the
Particle of Christ's Heart occupy a real place in the centre of the human
heart where they are enthroned, penetrating it without wounding or
displacing the flesh or blood that are already there in the places that
the most sublime accidents occupy.
32. The Espousal of the Divine Blood of Jesus with the Most Pure
Blood of Mary is sacramentalized in the Drop of Blood of the Divine Mary,
through which is realized the extension of the Espousal to men in order to
incorporate them into the Mystical Body of Christ.
The new faithful of the Church receive really, truly and physically
this Singular Sacrament of the Espousal in Baptism under the Most Sublime
Quantitative Accident of the Drop of Blood of the Divine Mary at the
moment when it is enthroned directly in their hearts; along with the Drop
of Christ's Blood by con-comitance. In
the Drop of Mary's Blood all Her Blood is present directly and
sacra-mentally by concomitance of It's substantial unity; and by natural
concomitance are present Her Body and Soul.
In the same way, in His Drop of Blood, Christ is present whole and
entire. Both direct presence
and presence by concomitance are real, true and physical.
33. We continue to meditate, more upon this wonderful doctrine by
explaining the nature of the sublime and Singular Sacrament of the Drop of
Mary's Blood.
34. In order for the Church to be able to participate in the
Espousal of the Divine Blood of Jesus with the Most Pure Blood of Mary,
the Holy Ghost endowed the Mystical Body with the Sacrament of the
Espousal, which is the Drop of Blood of the Divine Mary.
This Sacrament differs in nature from the seven Sacraments of the
Church in that it is not an instrument of the transmission of Grace in the
manner of the seven Sacraments; rather, it is Sacramental Grace itself
present in the Sacrament of Baptism, received in the Sacrament of
Regeneration. The Singular
Sacrament of the Drop of Blood of the Divine Mary makes man consanguineous
with Christ and Mary through the singular sacramental presence of the
Espousal of their Most Divine Blood in the heart of man.
And by virtue of this presence, he is elevated to the dignity of
son of God due to the indwelling of the
Holy Ghost. The Sacrament of
the Drop of Mary's Blood is then, a sacrament of union and mediation, for
the following reasons: the final purpose of the Sacrament of Baptism is to
transmit Sanctifying Grace to souls, that is, the indwelling of the Holy
Ghost, and in this way man is made divine.
But it necessarily follows that man must receive the most high
grace of divine filiation through the human nature of Christ, Mediator of
Justice between God and men, making them consanguineous with their Father,
the Man Christ, Who not content with just exer-cising a paternity over
human creation, gives it as well, due to having made it in the image and
likeness of His own nature, as Creator and in the order of natural
exis-tence, His own Blood, in order that His paternity over human
creation, now in the order of grace, might also be a relationship of
blood. Man, on being elevated
to the dignity of a consanguineous son of Christ, is at the same time
elevated to the most high dignity of son of God, participating in divine
nature.
35. But in order that man be able to obtain the filiation of this
consan-guinity with Our Lord Jesus Christ, it is absolutely necessary to
be a consanguineous son of Our Mother, the Virgin Mary, She being the
Mediatrix of Grace between Christ and man.
Thus, only through this consanguinity with Mary can man be
consanguineous with Christ. That
is the reason why, through the Sacrament of Baptism, one receives directly
the sacramental Blood of Mary in the Most Sublime Accident of a Drop of
Her Blood; and in It by concomitance, the Blood of Christ, with which It
is espoused.
36. Now that the doctrine has been explained, we can perfectly
understand the meaning of the Divine Virgin Mary's words in Her message of
9 August 1980 to His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII, where She says: "I
am Grace itself ... Those of
you who are members of the Church One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and
Palmarian, are nourished with the Blood of the Lamb, Whose Blood proceeds
from the Mother of the Lamb. As
Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ that I am, I continue to nourish
Christ in the Church".
37. We conclude by saying that the Drop of the Most Precious Blood
of Christ enthroned in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, espousal of Christ
and Mary, as likewise the Drop of Blood of the Divine Mary in the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, espousal of Mary with Christ, and the continual flow of
Christ's Blood to Mary and of Mary's Blood to Christ, is the same, unique
and most Singular Sacrament of the direct Espousal of all of the Blood of
Christ with all of the Blood of the Divine Mary, with which the Holy Ghost
endowed the Church as the Singular Sacrament in the Most Sublime
Quan-titative Accident of the Drop of Mary's Blood.
38. The Espousal of the Divine Flesh of Christ with the Most Pure
Flesh of Mary is also sacramentalized in the Particle of the Heart of
Christ. The living mem-bers
of the Mystical Body receive the Singular Sacrament of the Espousal,
really, truly and physically in the Most Sublime Quantitative
Accident of the Particle of Christ's Heart, at the moment when It is
enthroned directly in their hearts. And
through concomitance of the Espousal, a Particle of Mary's Heart as well.
This Sacra-ment is received in Holy Communion at the very instant
of the corruption of the sacra-mental species.
In the Particle of Christ's Heart all of His Flesh is
sacramentalized directly by concomitance of Its substantial unity; His
Blood and Soul are present by natural concomitance; His Divinity is
present by virtue of the union of His Humanity with the same in the Person
of the Word; and due to circumincession, the Father and the Holy Ghost are
also present. In the Particle of Mary's Heart Mary is wholly pre-sent.
We conclude by saying that the Particle of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus enthroned in the Heart of Mary, Espousal of Christ with Mary, as
likewise the Particle of Mary's Heart enthroned in the Sacred Heart of
Jesus, Espousal of Mary with Christ, is the same, unique and most Singular
Sacrament of the direct Espousal of the Heart of Jesus with the Heart of
Mary. That is, the direct
Espousal of all of the Flesh of Christ with all of the Flesh of Mary
contained in the Most Sublime Quantitative Accident of the Particle of the
Heart of Christ, which is the Singular Sacrament given the Church by the
Holy Ghost. Both direct
presence and presence by concomitance are real, true and physical.
39. We meditate more deeply on the nature of the Sacrament of the
Particle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.
Besides giving Himself as food and drink in the Most August and
Most Divine Sacrament of the Eucharist, He also desires that this Divine
nourishment remain substantially in man.
Therefore, when the Eucharistic pre-sence of the Body and Blood of
Christ ceases, as well as of the Body and Blood of Mary, through the
corruption of the sacramental species, at the same instant there remains
in our hearts the presence of the Espousal of the Flesh of Christ with the
Flesh of Mary in the Most Sublime Quantitative Accident of the Particle of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This
latter is then the Sacrament which preserves the Eucharistic substance, in
order that through it the body and soul live in a permanent, direct and
greater union with Christ and with Mary.
This Singular Sacrament is the very Sacramental Grace of the
Eucharist, which is received through the Most August Sacrament of the
Altar. |