The Victory of Christ Over Hell.
( Taken from the
Mystical City
of God )
The hidden and venerable mysteries of this chapter
correspond to many others scattered through the whole extent of this
history. One of them is, that Lucifer and his demons in the
course of the life and miracles our Savior, never could ascertain fully
whether the Lord was true God and Redeemer of the world, and
consequently what was the dignity of the most holy Mary. This was so
disposed by divine Providence, in order that the whole mystery of the
Incarnation and the Redemption of the human race might be more fittingly
accomplished. Lucifer, although knowing that God was to assume human
flesh, nevertheless knew nothing of the manner and the circumstances of
the Incarnation. As he was permitted to form an opinion of this mystery
in accordance with his pride, he was full of hallucinations, sometimes
believing Christ to be God on account of his miracles, sometimes
rejecting such an opinion on account of seeing Him poor, humiliated,
afflicted and fatigued. Harassed by these contradicting evidences, he
remained in doubt and continued his inquiries until the predestined hour
of Christ's Death on the Cross, where, in virtue of the Passion and
Death of the sacred humanity, which he had himself brought about, he was
to be undeceived and vanquished by the full solution of these mysteries.
Lucifer and his demons, as soon as they saw the Lord
taking the Cross upon his sacred shoulders, wished to fly and cast
themselves into hell; for at that moment they began to feel with greater
force the operations of his divine power. By divine intervention this
new torment made them aware that the Death of this innocent Man, whose
destruction they had plotted and who could not be a mere man, threatened
great ruin to themselves. They therefore desired to withdraw and
they ceased to incite the Jews and the executioners, as they had done
hitherto. But the command of the most blessed Mary, enforced by the
divine power, detained them and, enchained like fiercest dragons,
compelled them to accompany Christ to Calvary. The ends of the
mysterious chain that bound them were placed into the hands of Mary, the
great Queen who, by the power of her divine Son, held them all in
subjection and bondage. Although they many times sought to break away
and raged in helpless fury, they could not overcome the power of the
heavenly Lady. She forced them to come to Calvary and stand around the
Cross, where She commanded them to remain motionless and witness
the end of the great mysteries there enacted for the salvation of men
and the ruin of themselves.
Lucifer and his infernal hosts were so overwhelmed
with pains and torments by the presence of the Lord and his blessed
Mother, and with the fear of their impending ruin, that they would have
felt greatly relieved to be allowed to cast themselves into the darkness
of hell. As this was not permitted them, they fell upon one
another and furiously fought with each other like hornets disturbed in
their nest, or like a brood of vermin confusedly seeking some dark
shelter. But their rabid fury was not that of animals, but that of
demons more cruel than dragons.
The time had now come for this ancient dragon to
be vanquished by the Master of life. As this was to be the
hour of his disillusionment, and as this poisonous asp was not to escape
it by stopping his ears to the voice of the Enchanter (Ps. 57, 5), the
Lord began to speak the seven words from his Cross, at the same time
providing that Lucifer and his demons should understand the mysteries
therein contained. For it was by this disclosure that the Lord wished to
triumph over them, over sin and death, and despoil them of their
tyrannous power over the human race. The Savior then pronounced the
first word: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!"
(Luke 23, 34). By these words the princes of darkness came to the full
conviction, that Christ our Lord was speaking to the eternal Father,
that He was his natural Son and the true God with Him and the Holy
Ghost, that He had permitted death in his most sacred and perfect
humanity, united to the Divinity for the salvation of the whole human
race; that now He offered his infinitely precious merits for the pardon
of the sins of all those children of Adam, who should avail themselves
thereof for their rescue, not excepting even the wretches that crucified
Him. At this discovery Lucifer and his demons were thrown into such fury
and despair that they instantly wished to hurl themselves impetuously to
the depths of hell and strained all their powers to accomplish it in
spite of the powerful Queen.
In the second word spoken by the Lord to the
fortunate thief: "Amen I say to thee, today thou shalt be with Me in
paradise," the demons understood that the fruits of the Redemption in
the justification of sinners ended in the glorification of the just.
They were made aware that from this hour the merits of Christ would
commence to act with a new force and strength, that through them should
be opened the gates of Paradise, which had been closed by the first sin,
and that from now on men would enter upon eternal happiness and
occupy their destined heavenly seats, which until now had been
impossible for them. They perceived the power Christ to call sinners,
justify and beautify them, and they felt the triumphs gained over
themselves by the exalted virtues, the humility, patience, meekness and
all the virtues of his life. The confusion and torment of Lucifer at
seeing this cannot be explained by human tongue; but it was so great,
that he humiliated himself so far as to beg the most blessed Virgin to
permit them descend into hell and be cast out from her presence; but the
great Queen would not consent, as the time had not yet arrived.
At the third word spoken by the Lord to his Mother:
"Woman, behold thy son!" the demons discovered that this heavenly
Lady was the true Mother of the Godman, the same Woman whose likeness
and prophetic sign had been shown to them in the heavens at their
creation, and who was to crush their head as announced by the Lord in
the terrestrial paradise. They were informed of the dignity and
excellence of this great Lady over all creatures, and of her power which
they were even now experiencing. As they had from the beginning of the
world and from the creation of the first woman, used all their
astuteness to find out who this great woman that was announced in the
heavens could be, and as they now discovered Her in Mary, whom they had
until now overlooked, these dragons were seized with inexpressible fury;
their having been thus mistaken crushed their arrogance beyond all their
other torments, and in their fury they raged against their own selves
like bloodthirsty lions, while their helpless wrath against the heavenly
Lady was increased a thousandfold. Moreover, they discerned that saint
John was appointed by Christ our Lord as the angel guardian of his
Mother, endowed with the powers of the priesthood. This they understood
to be in the nature of a threat against their own wrath, which was well
known to saint John. Lucifer saw not only the power of the Evangelist,
but that given to all the priests in virtue of their participation in
the dignity and power of our Redeemer; and that the rest of the just,
even though no priests, were placed under the special protection of the
Lord and made powerful against hell. All this paralyzed the strength of
Lucifer and his demons.
The fourth word of Christ was addressed to the
eternal Father: "God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The evil
spirits discovered in these words that the charity of God toward men was
boundless and everlasting; that, in order to satisfy it, He had
mysteriously suspended the influence of the Divinity over his most
sacred humanity, thus permitting his sufferings to reach the highest
degree and to draw from them the most abundant fruits; that He was aware
and lovingly complained of his being deprived of the salvation of a part
of the human race; how ready He was to suffer more, if such would
be ordained by the eternal Father. Man's good fortune in being so
beloved by God increased the envy of Lucifer and his demons, and they
foresaw the divine Omnipotence following out this immense love without
limitation. This knowledge crushed the haughty malice of the enemies and
they were made well aware of their own weakness and helplessness in
opposing this love, if men themselves should not choose to neglect its
influence.
The fifth word of Christ, "I thirst," confirmed
Christ's triumph over the devil and his followers; they were filled with
wrath and fury because the Lord clearly let them see their total
overthrow. By these words they understood Him to say to them: If what I
suffer for men my love for them seem great to you, be assured that my
love for them is still unsatiated, that it continues to long for
their eternal salvation, and that the mighty waters of torments and
sufferings have not extinguished it (Cant. 8, 7). Much more would I
suffer for them, if it were necessary, in order to deliver them
from your tyranny and make them powerful and strong against malice and
pride.
In the sixth word of the Lord: "It is consummated!"
Lucifer and his hordes were informed that the mystery of the Incarnation
and Redemption was now accomplished and entirely perfected according to
the decree of divine wisdom. For they were made to feel that Christ our
Redeemer had obediently fulfilled the will of the eternal Father; that
He had accomplished all the promises and prophecies made to the world by
the ancient Fathers; that his humility and obedience had compensated for
their own pride and disobedience in heaven in having not subjected
themselves and acknowledged Him as their Superior in human flesh; and
that they were now through the wisdom of God justly humbled and
vanquished by the very Lord whom they despised. The great dignity and
the infinite merits of Christ demanded that in this very hour He should
exercise his office and power of Judge over angels and men, such as had
been conceded to him by the eternal Father. He now applied this power by
hurling this sentence at Lucifer and all his followers, that, being
condemned to eternal fire, they instantly depart into the deepest
dungeons of hell. This very sentence was included in the pronouncing of
the seventh word: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!" (Luke
23, 46.) The mighty Queen and Mother concurred with the will
of her Son Jesus and united with his her command that Lucifer and all
demons depart to the infernal depths. In virtue of these decree of the
supreme King and of the Queen, the evil spirits were routed from Calvary
and precipitated to deepest hell more violently and suddenly than a
flash of light through the riven clouds.
The rout of Lucifer and his angels from Calvary to
the abyss of hell was more violent and disastrous than their first
expulsion from heaven. Though, as holy Job says (Job 10, 21), that place
is a land of darkness, covered with the shades of death, full of gloomy
disorder, misery, torments and confusion; yet on this occasion the chaos
and disorder was a thousandfold increased; because the damned were made
to feel new horror and additional punishments at the sudden meeting of
the ferocious demons in their rabid fury. It is certain that the devils
have not the power of assigning the damned to a place of greater or
lesser torment; for all their torments are decreed by divine justice
according to the measure of the demerits of each of the condemned.
As soon as Lucifer was permitted to proceed in these
matters and arise from the consternation in which he remained for some
time, he set about proposing to his fellow-demons new plans of his
pride. For this purpose he called them all together and placing himself
in an elevated position, he spoke to them: "To you, who have for so many
ages followed and still follow my standards for the vengeance of my
wrongs, is known the injury which I have now sustained at the hands of
this Mangod, and how for thirty-three years He has led me about in
deceit, hiding his Divinity and concealing the operations of his soul,
and how He has now triumphed over us by the very Death which we have
brought upon Him. Before He assumed flesh I hated Him and refused to
acknowledge Him as being more worthy than I to be adored by the rest of
creation. Although on account of this resistance I was cast out from
heaven with you and was degraded to this abominable condition so
unworthy of my greatness and former beauty, I am even more
tormented to see myself thus vanquished and oppressed by this Man and by
his Mother. From the day on which the first man was created I have
sleeplessly sought to find Them and destroy Them; or if I should not be
able to destroy Them, I at least wished to bring destruction upon all
his creatures and induce them not to acknowledge Him as their God, and
that none of them should ever draw any benefit from his works. This has
been my intent, to this all my solicitude and efforts were directed. But
in vain, since He has overcome me by his humility and poverty, crushed
me by his patience, and at last has despoiled me of the sovereignty of
the world by his Passion and frightful Death. This causes me such an
excruciating pain, that, even if I succeeded in hurling Him from the
right hand of his Father, where He sits triumphant, and if I should draw
all the souls redeemed down into this hell, my wrath would not be
satiated or my fury placated."
"Is it possible that the human nature, so inferior to
my own, shall be exalted above all the creatures! That it should be so
loved and favored, as to be united to the Creator in the person of the
eternal Word! That He should first make war upon me before executing
this work, and afterwards overwhelm me with such confusion! From the
beginning I have held this humanity as my greatest enemy; it has always
filled me with intolerable abhorrence. O men, so favored and gifted by
your God whom I abhor, and so ardently loved by Him! How shall I hinder
your good fortune? How shall I bring upon you my unhappiness, since I
cannot destroy the existence you have received? What shall we now begin,
O my followers? How shall we restore our reign? How shall we recover our
power over men? How shall we overcome them? For if men from now on shall
not be most senseless and ungrateful, if they are not worse disposed
than we ourselves toward this Godman, who has redeemed them with so much
love, it is clear that all of them will eagerly follow Him; none will
take notice of our deceits; they will abhor the honors which we
insidiously offer them, and will love contempt; they will seek the
mortification of the flesh and will discover the danger of carnal
pleasure and ease; they will despise riches and treasures, and love the
poverty so much honored by their Master; and all that we can offer to
their appetites they will abhor in imitation of their true Redeemer.
Thus will our reign be destroyed, since no one will be added to our
number in this place of confusion and torments; all will reach the
happiness which we have lost, all will humiliate themselves to the dust
and suffer with patience; and my wrath and haughtiness will avail me
nothing."
"Ah, woe is me, what torment does this mistake cause
me! When I tempted Him in the desert, the only result was to afford him
a chance to leave the example of this victory, by following which men
can overcome so much the more easily. My persecutions only brought out
more clearly his doctrine of humility and patience. In persuading Judas
to betray Him, and the Jews subject Him to the deadly torture of the
Cross, I merely hastened my ruin and the salvation of men, while the
doctrine I sought to blot out was only the more firmly implanted. How
could One who is God humiliate Himself to such an extent? How could He
bear so much from men who are evil? How could I myself have been led to
assist so much in making this salvation so copious and wonderful? O how
godlike is the power of that Man which could torment and weaken me so?
And can this Woman, his Mother and my Enemy, be so mighty and invincible
in her opposition to me? New is such power in a mere creature, and no
doubt She derived it from the divine Word, whom She clothed in human
flesh. Through this Woman the Almighty has ceaselessly waged war against
me, though I have hated Her in my pride from the moment I recognized Her
in her image or heavenly sign. But if my proud indignation is not to be
assuaged, I benefit nothing by my perpetual war against this Redeemer,
against his Mother and against men. Now then, ye demons who follow me,
now is the time to give way to our wrath against God. Come all of ye to
take counsel what we are to do; for I desire to hear your opinions."
Some of the principal demons gave their answers to
this dreadful proposal, encouraging Lucifer by suggesting diverse
schemes for hindering the fruit of the Redemption among men. They all
agreed that it was not possible to injure the person of Christ, to
diminish the immense value of his merits, to destroy the efficacy of the
Sacraments, to falsify or abolish the doctrine which Christ had
preached; yet they resolved that, in accordance with the new order of
assistance and favor established by God for the salvation of men, they
should now seek new ways of hindering and preventing the work of God by
much the greater deceits and temptations. In reference to these plans
some of the astute and malicious demons said "It is true, that men now
have at their disposal a new and very powerful doctrine and law, new and
efficacious Sacraments, a new Model and Instructor of virtues, a
powerful Intercessor and Advocate in this Woman; yet the natural
inclinations and passions of the flesh remain just the same, and the
sensible and delectable creatures have not changed their nature. Let us
then, making use of this situation with increased astuteness, foil as
far as in us lies the effects of what this Godman has wrought for men.
Let us begin strenuous warfare against mankind by suggesting new
attractions, exciting them to follow their passions in forgetfulness of
all else. Thus men, being taken up with these dangerous things, cannot
attend to the contrary."
Acting upon this counsel they redistributed the
spheres of work among themselves, in order that each squadron of demons
might, with a specialized astuteness tempt men to different vices. They
resolved to continue to propagate idolatry in the world, so that men
might not come to the knowledge of the true God and the
Redemption. Wherever idolatry would fail, they concluded to establish
sects and heresies, for which they would select the most perverse and
depraved of the human race as leaders and teachers of error. Then and
there was concocted among these malignant spirits all the heresies that
have been started in the world from the first ages of the Church until
now, together with those which they have in readiness, but which it is
neither necessary nor proper to mention here. Lucifer showed himself
content with these infernal counsels as being opposed to divine truth
and destructive of the very foundation of man's rescue, namely divine
faith. He lavished flattering praise and high offices upon those demons,
who showed themselves willing and who undertook to find the impious
originators of these errors.
Some of the devils charged themselves with perverting
the inclinations of children at their conception and birth; others to
induce parents to be negligent in the education and instruction of their
children, either through an inordinate love or aversion, and to cause a
hatred of parents among the children. Some offered to create hatred
between husbands and wives, to place them in the way of adultery, or to
think little of the fidelity promised to their conjugal partners. All
agreed to sow among men the seeds of discord, hatred and vengeance,
proud and sensual thoughts, desire of riches or honors, and by
suggesting sophistical reasons against all the virtues Christ has
taught; above all they intended to weaken the remembrance of his Passion
and Death, of the means of salvation, and of the eternal pains of
hell. By these means the demons hoped to burden all the powers and the
faculties of men with solicitude for earthly affairs and sensual
pleasures, leaving them little time for spiritual thoughts and their own
salvation.
Lucifer heard these different suggestions of the
demons, and answering them, he said: "I am much beholden to you for your
opinions: I approve of them and adopt them all; it will be easy to put
them into practice with those, who do not profess the law given by this
Redeemer to men, though with those who accept and embrace these laws, it
will be a difficult enterprise. But against this law and against those
that follow it, I intend to direct all my wrath and fury and I shall
most bitterly persecute those who hear the doctrine of this Redeemer and
become his disciples; against these must our most relentless battle be
waged to the end of the world. In this new Church I must strive to sow
my cockle (Matth. 14, 25), the ambitions, the avarice, the sensuality,
and the deadly hatreds, with all the other vices, of which I am the
head. For if once these sins multiply and increase among the faithful,
they will, with their concomitant malice and ingratitude, irritate God
and justly deprive men of the helps of grace left to them by the merits
of the Redeemer. If once they have thus despoiled themselves of these
means of salvation, we shall have assured victory over them. We must
also exert ourselves to weaken piety and all that is spiritual and
divine; so that they do not realize the power the Sacraments and receive
them in mortal sin, or at least without fervor and devotion. For since
these Sacraments are spiritual, it is necessary to receive them with
well-disposed will, in order to reap their fruits. If once they despise
the medicine, they shall languish in their sickness and be less able to
withstand our temptations; they will not see through our deceits, they
will let the memory of their Redeemer and of the intercession of his
Mother slip from their minds. Thus will their foul ingratitude make them
unworthy of grace and so irritate their God and Savior, as to deprive
them of his helps. In all this I wish, that all of you assist me
strenuously, losing neither time nor occasion for executing my
commands.''
It is not possible to rehearse all the schemes of
this dragon and his allies concocted at that time against the holy
Church and her children, in order that these waters of Jordan might be
swallowed up in his throat (Job 40, 18). It is enough to state that they
spent nearly a full year after the Death of Christ conferring and
considering among themselves the state of the world up to that time and
the changes wrought by Christ our God and Master through his Death and
after having manifested the light of his faith by so many miracles,
blessings and examples of holy men. If all these labors have not
sufficed to draw all men to the way of salvation, it can be easily
understood, that Lucifer should have prevailed and that his wrath should
be so great, as to cause us justly to say with saint John: "Woe to the
earth, for satan is come down to you full of wrath and fury!'' But alas!
that truths so infallible and so much to be dreaded and avoided by men,
should in our days be blotted from the minds of mortals to the
irreparable danger of the whole world! Our enemy is astute, cruel and
watchful: we sleepy, lukewarm and careless! What wonder that Lucifer has
intrenched himself so firmly in the world, when so many listen to him,
accept and follow his deceits, so few resist him, and entirely forget
the eternal death, which he so furiously and maliciously seeks to draw
upon them? I beseech those, who read this, not to forget this dreadful
danger. If they are not convinced of this danger through the evil
condition of the world and through the evils each one experiences
himself, let them at least learn this danger by the vast and powerful
remedies and helps, which the Savior thought it necessary to leave
behind in his Church. For He would not have provided such
antidotes if our ailment and danger of eternal death were not so great
and formidable.
Words of The Queen.
(The Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
This close imitation and living reproduction of Christ,
confronting the demons in the first children of the Church, they feared
so much, that they dared not approach and they precipitously fled from
the Apostles and the just ones imbued with the doctrines of my divine
Son. In them were offered up to the Almighty the first fruits of grace,
and of Redemption. What is seen in the saints and in perfect
Christians in those times, would happen in the present times with all
the Catholics if they would accept grace and work with it instead of
permitting it to go to waste, and if they would seek the way of the
Cross; for Lucifer fears it as much now as in the times thou hast been
writing of. But soon the charity, zeal and devotion in many of faithful
began to grow cold and they forgot the blessings of the Redemption; they
yielded to their carnal inclinations and desires, they loved vanity and
avarice and permitted themselves to be fascinated and deceived by the
false pretenses of Lucifer, obscuring the glory of their Savior and
inveigling them into the meshes of their mortal enemies. This foul
ingratitude has thrown the world into the present state and has
encouraged the demons to rise up in their pride against God, audaciously
presuming to possess themselves of all the children of Adam on account
of this forgetfulness and carelessness of Catholics. They presume to
plot the destruction the whole Church by the perversion of so many who
have fallen away from it; and by inducing those who are in it, to
think little of it, or by hindering them from producing the fruits of
the blood and death of their Redeemer. The greatest misfortune is, that
many Catholics fail to recognize this great damage and do not seriously
think of a remedy, although they can presume that the times, of which
Jesus forewarned the women of Jerusalem, have arrived; namely, those in
which the sterile should be happy, and in which many would call upon the
mountains and the hills to cover and fall upon them, in order not to see
the devastation of wickedness cutting down the sons of perdition, the
dried trees, barren of all the fruits of virtue.
( Taken from the
Mystical City
of God )
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