When I sent my Onlybegotten, the world, with the exception of the few souls that served Me, was in worse condition than it ever had been since its beginning; for human nature is so imperfect that if it does not subject itself to the interior guidance of my light and to the fulfillment of the precepts of my ministers by sacrificing its own judgment and following Me, who am the way, the truth and the life (John 14, 6), and by carefully observing my commandments in order not to lose my friendship, it will presently fall into the abyss of darkness and innumerable miseries, until it arrives at obstinacy in sin.
From
the creation and sin of the first man until I gave the law to Moses, men
governed themselves according to their own inclinations and fell into many
errors and sins. After having received the law, they again committed sin by not
obeying it (John 7, 19) and thus they lived on, separating themselves more and
more from truth and light and arriving at the state of complete forgetfulness.
In
fatherly love I sent them eternal salvation and a remedy for the incurable
infirmities of human nature, thus justifying my cause. And just as I then chose
the opportune time for the greater manifestation of my mercy, so I now select
this time for showing toward them another very great favour.
For
now the hour has come and the opportune time to let men know the just cause of
my anger, and they are now justly charged and convinced of their guilt. Now I
will make manifest my indignation and exercise my justice and equity. I will
show how well justified is my cause. In order that this may come to pass more
speedily, and because it is now time that my mercy show itself more openly and
because my love must not be idle, I will offer to them an opportune remedy, if
they will but make use of it for returning again to my favour. Now, at this
hour, when the world has arrived at so unfortunate a pass, and when, though the
"Word has become incarnate", mortals are more careless of their weal and seek it less,
when the day of their transitory life passes swiftly at the setting of the sun of
time, when the night of eternity is approaching closer and closer for the
wicked and the day without a night is being born for the just, when the
majority of mortals are sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness of their
ignorance and guilt, oppressing the just and mocking the children of God, when
my holy and divine law
is despised in the management of the iniquitous affairs of state, which are as
hostile as they are contrary to my Providence, when the wicked least deserve my
mercy in these predestined times, I wish to open a portal for the just ones
through which they can find access to my mercy, I wish to give them a light by
which they can dispel the gloom that envelops the eyes of their minds.
I
wish to furnish them a suitable remedy for restoring them to my grace. Happy
they who find it, and blessed they who shall appreciate its value, rich they
who shall come upon this treasure, and blessed and very wise those who shall
search into and shall understand its marvels and hidden mysteries. I desire to
make known to mortals how much intercession of Her is worth, who brought
restoration of life by giving mortal existence to the immortal God. As
recompense I desire that they look upon the wonders wrought by my mighty arm in
that pure Creature, as upon a mirror by which they can estimate their own
ingratitude. I wish to make known to them much of that, which according to my
high judgment is still hidden concerning the "Mother of the Word".
I
have not revealed these mysteries in the primitive Church, because they are so
great, that the faithful would have been lost in the contemplation and
admiration of them at a time when it was more necessary to establish firmly the
law of grace and of the Gospel. Although all mysteries of religion are in
perfect harmony with each other, yet human ignorance might have suffered recoil
and doubt at their magnitude, when faith in the Incarnation and Redemption and
the precepts of the new law of the Gospel were yet in their beginnings.
On
this same account the person of the "Incarnate Word" said to his disciples at the
last supper: Many things have I to say to you, but you are not yet disposed to
receive them (John 6, 12). These words He addressed to all the world, for it
was not yet capable of giving full obedience to the law of grace and full
assent to the faith in the Son, much less was it prepared to be introduced into
the mysteries of his Mother. But now, mankind has greater need for this manifestation,
and this necessity urges Me to disregard their evil disposition. And if men
would now seek to please Me by reverencing, believing, and studying the
wonders, which are intimately connected with this Mother of Piety, and if they
would all begin to solicit her intercession from their whole heart,the world would find some relief.
I
will not longer withhold from men this mystical City of refuge; describe and
delineate it to them, as far as thy shortcomings allow. I do not intend that the
descriptions and declarations of the life of the Blessed Virgin shall be mere
opinions or contemplations, but reliable truth. They that have ears to hear let
them hear. Let those who thirst come to the living waters and leave the
dried-out cisterns. Let those that are seeking for the light, follow it to the
end.
Thus
speaks the Lord God Almighty.