Captured from the ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi.
Our life is connected with Jesus Christ. During Easter, we hear the words of St. Paul: “If you have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. But when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory” (Col 3:1–4). This is the Easter mystery. All graces we receive with him and through him.
This was profoundly experienced, especially in her ecstasies, by the Carmelite St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi. Upon the words of the psalm: “You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word” (Ps 118:65), she saw that God had shown great goodness through His Word, His Son. He had promised that through the patriarchs and saints of the Old Testament. The saint continues: “But above all, His great goodness was shown when He sent the eternal Word to be incarnated for the redemption of creation. It seemed to me that the eternal Father loved creation in a certain way more than His own Son, when He delivered Him to such torments and sufferings just to raise us to such great glory, that we might become by grace a second God. I say by participation, for the divine nature can only be possessed by God Himself.” (Writings I, 114, on June 5, 1584).
Our glorification is now greater after the fall into sin and our redemption through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ than if humanity had not sinned. Thus the Father speaks to her on May 9, 1585: “My Son (the Word) on the cross fulfilled my love, from which I wanted to give you glory before my Son died and before the first man sinned. I wanted to give you glory, but in another way. Even if Adam had not sinned, I would have brought you to heaven, yes, and the Word would have been incarnated, but He would only have been glorified and not victorious. And the glory I would have given you would have been partly from you, because you would not have committed sin, even though I created you with free will. And thus the glory I would have given you would have been different from the glory I now give you, just as creation is different from me. How great, daughter, is the glory I give you!” The saint replied: “Eternal Father, now I can say: Happy fault, which gives us such glory! And the Word could say: It is finished” (III, 227).
Similarly, the Father speaks to her at the Feast of Pentecost on June 9, 1585, adding: “You would have (without the fall) the glory and enjoyment of beholding my Divinity along with other gifts that belong to that glory; nevertheless, you would not have such great glory and such knowledge as you were to have after the Word shed His Blood and adorned your souls more than before and made them more capable of union with me, and I was moved to show you greater love, that you might better see me and enjoy more” (IV, 86). Let us pray during the Easter season to the risen Lord Jesus in the Holy Spirit with the Virgin Mary:
Lord Jesus Christ, dearest Father,
I ask you, for the joy,
which your beloved Mother had,
when you appeared to her
on that sacred Easter night,
and for her joy,
when she saw you glorified by divine brightness,
illuminate me with the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
that I may be able to fulfill your will
all the days of my life.
For you live and reign
with God the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit
forever and ever.
Amen.
Translated by: P. Metoděj Minařík O.Carm.
