Virtues of Humility, Faith and Hope
Excellence of Humility by Blessed Mary
INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN GAVE ME, Sr. Mary of Agreda:
“My daughter, the mortals are not capable of understanding the ineffable operations of the arm of the Omnipotent in preparing me for the Incarnation of the eternal Word, Especially during the nine days, which preceded this exalted sacrament was my spirit elevated and united with the immutable being of the Divinity. I was submerged in the ocean of His infinite perfections, participating in all those eminent and divine effect, which are beyond all presentiment of the human hearts. The knowledge of creatures communicated to me penetrated into their very essence, so that it was more profound and piercing than that of all the angelic spirits, though their knowledge of creation, on account of the beatific vision, is altogether admirable. Moreover the images of them all were impressed upon my mind to be used by me according as I desired.
What I wish of thee today is to take notice how I used this knowledge and to imitate me according to thy power with the help of the infused light, which thou hast received for this purpose. Profit by the knowledge of creatures by making of them a ladder to ascend unto God thy Creator; so that thou mayest seek in all of them their first beginning and their last end. Let them serve thee as a mirror from which the Godhead is reflected, reminding thee of his Omnipotence and inciting thee to the love, which He seeks in thee. Be thou filled with wonder and praise at the greatness and magnificence of the Creator and in His presence humiliate thyself to the dust. Shun no difficulty or suffering in order to become meek and humble of heart. Take notice, my dearest, that this virtue of humility was the firm foundation of all the wonders, which the Most High wrought in me; and in order that thou mayest esteem this virtue so much the more, remember that of all others, it is at the same time the most precious, the most delicate and perishable; for if thou lose it in any respect, and if thou be not humble in all things without exception, thou wilt not be humble in anything. Remember thy earthly and corruptible nature, and be not ignorant of the fact, that the Most High has providentially formed man in such a way that his own existence and formation intimate and rehearse the important lesson of humility never allowing him to be without this salutary teaching. On this account He has not formed him of the most excellent material, and has concealed the noblest part of his being in the sanctuary of his interior (Exod, 30, 24), teaching him to weigh as in a balance on the one side, the infinite and eternal existence of the Lord, and on the other, his own ignoble material existence. Thus he is to give unto God what belongs to Him, and to himself what belongs to his own self (Matth. 22, 21).
Most zealously I attended to this adjustment, becoming an example and guide therein to all the mortals. I wish that thou also do it in imitation of me, and that thou zealously study to acquire the humility, which pleases the Most High and myself, who desire thy true advancement. I wish that thy perfection be built up in the deep trenches of thy own self-knowledge; in order that the deeper its foundations are laid, to so much the higher and more exalted perfection may rise the edifice of thy virtue. Thus thy will shall find a most intimate conformity with that of the Lord, who looks down from the eminence of His throne upon the humble of the earth.”
Book II Volume II
The Power of Faith
Instructions from Blessed Virgin Mary:
“Continually exercise this virtue of faith, for it places you near to your last end, after which you strive, and brings you near to the object of your desires and your love. Faith teaches the sure way of eternal salvation; faith is the light that shines in the darkness of this mortal life and pilgrimage; it leads men securely to the possession of the Fatherland to which they are wayfaring if they do not allow it to die out by infidelity and sinfulness.
Faith enlivens the other virtues and serves as a nourishment of the just man and a support in his labors.
Faith confounds and fills with fear the infidels and the lax Christians in their negligence; for it convinces them in this world of their sin and threatens punishment in the life to come.
Faith is powerful to do all things, for nothing is impossible to the believer; faith makes all things attainable and possible.
Faith illumines and ennobles the understanding of man, since it directs him in the darkness of his natural ignorance, not to stray from the way, and it elevates him above himself so that he sees and understands with infallible certainty what is far above his powers and assures him of it no less than if he saw it clearly before him.
He is thus freed from the gross and vile narrow-mindedness of those who will believe only what they can experience by their own limited natural powers, not considering that the soul, as long as it lives in the prison of this corruptible body, is very much circumscribed and limited in its sphere of action by the knowledge drawn from the coarse activity of the senses.
Appreciate, therefore, my daughter, this priceless treasure of the Catholic faith given you by God, watch over it and practice it in great esteem and reverence.”
The Power of Hope
Instructions from Mary the Queen of Heaven and Earth:
"My daughter, as with two indefatigable wings, my spirit raised its flight by means of faith and hope toward the endless and the highest good, until it rested in union with God through intimate and perfect love. Many times I tasted and enjoyed the clear vision and fruition of Him; but as these blessings were not continuous in my state of pilgrimage, I supplied their place by the exercise of faith and hope.
They remained with me during my visions and fruitions and immediately became active during their absence, preventing any cessation in my high aspirations. The effects of these virtues, the love, the efforts and the desires which they excited in my soul toward the possession of the eternal fruition of God, cannot be adequately comprehended by the created mind in its present limited state, but they shall be known in God and cause eternal praise in those who will be worthy to see Him in heaven.
Thou, my dearest, having received such great enlightenment concerning the excellence of this virtue and the works which I practiced by its help, should work without ceasing to imitate me according to the assistance of divine grace. Renew continually and confer within thyself the promises of the Most High and, with unshaken confidence in their divine truthfulness, raise thy heart to ardent desires and longings for their attainment.
In this firm hope thou can assure thyself of arriving through the merits of my most holy Son, at the blessed cohabitation in the celestial Fatherland and at the companionship of all those who there see in immortal glory the face of the Most High. With its help thou can raise thy heart above earthly things and fix thy mind upon the immutable Good, to which thou aspires; all visible things will appear to thee burdensome and disagreeable, and thou wilt esteem them as vile and contemptible; nothing wilt thou strive after except that most lovable and delightful object of thy desires.
In my soul there was an ardor of hope, such as is possible only to those who have apprehended its object in faith and tasted it by experience; no tongue and no words can describe or express its intensity.
Besides, in order to spur thee on still more, consider and deplore with heartfelt sorrow the unhappiness of so many souls who are images of God and capable of His glory, and who through their own fault are deprived of the true hope of enjoying it.
If the children of the holy Church would pause in their vain occupations and would take time to consider and weigh the blessings of unerring faith and hope, which separates them from darkness and which, without their merit, distinguishes them from the followers of blind unbelief, they would without doubt be ashamed of their torpid forgetfulness and repudiate their vile ingratitude.
But let them be undeceived, for most terrible punishments await them; they are most detestable in the sight of God and the saints, because they despise the blood shed by Christ for the very purpose of gaining them these blessings.
As if all were only a fiction they treat with contempt the blessings of truth, hastening about during their whole life without spending even one day, and many of them not even an hour, in the consideration of their duties and of their danger. Weep, O soul, over this lamentable evil, and according to thy power work and pray for its extirpation through my most holy Son. Believe me that whatever exertion and attempt thou makes toward this purpose shall be rewarded by His Majesty."
Virtues of Humility, Charity and Obedience
Instructions from Blessed Mary about the great virtue of humility which she imitated perfectly from the teachings and example of Her Son our Lord Jesus:
“In his malice and astuteness, the ancient serpent strains all his powers to destroy in the human heart the science of humility, sowed by the Redeemer as a seed of holiness in the human heart; and in its place he seeks to sow the cockle of pride (Matth. 13, 25).
In order to root out these and allow free growth to the blessing of humility, it is necessary that the soul consent and seek to be humiliated by its fellow creatures and that it ask the Lord incessantly and in all sincerity of heart for this virtue and for the means to attain it.
Very scarce are the souls that apply themselves to this science and reach the perfection of this virtue; for it requires entire conquest of one's whole self to which few attain, even among those who profess to be virtuous.
This contagion of pride has so deeply penetrated into the human faculties, that it is communicated to nearly all of men's doings and there is scarcely one among men who is without pride, just as the rose never grows without thorns or the grain without husks.
On this account the Most High makes so much of the truly humble; and those who entirely triumph over pride, He exalts and places with the princes of His people, esteeming them as His favored children and exempting them from the jurisdiction of the demon. Thus it comes that the devil dares scarcely approach them, because he fears the humble and their victories over him more than the fires of hell.
I desire, my dearest, that thou attain the inestimable treasure of humility in all its fullness, and that thou offer to the Most High a docile and yielding heart, in order that He may impress upon it, like on soft wax, the image of my own most humble activity.
As thou hast been informed of such deeply hidden secrets concerning this sacrament, thou are under great obligations to correspond to my wishes, not losing the least occasion of humiliation and advancing in this virtue. Neglect none of them, since thou knows how much I sought after them, who was the Mother of God Himself, most pure and full of grace. The greater my prerogatives, so much the greater was my humility, because in my estimation they far exceeded my merits and only increased my obligations.
All you children of Adam (Ps. 50, 7), were conceived in sin, and there is none who has not sinned on his own account. If none can deny this infection of his nature, why should not all humiliate themselves before God and before men? Lowering themselves to the very dust and placing themselves in the last place is not such a great humiliation for those who have sinned, for even then they will always be more honored than they deserve.
The truly humble must lower themselves beneath that which they have deserved. If all the creatures would despise and abhor them, or offend them; if they would consider themselves worthy of hellfire, they would only fulfill justice, but not the requirement of humility, since that would only be admitting their deserts.
But real, deep humility goes to the length of desiring a greater humiliation than that due to one's self in justice. On this account there is no mortal who can attain to the kind of humility which I practiced, such as thou has understood and described; but the Most High will be satisfied with and ready to reward the efforts of those who humble themselves as far as they can and as they deserve in justice.
Let then the sinners admit their baseness and understand how they make of themselves monsters of hell by imitating Lucifer in his pride. For pride found him beauteous and endowed with great gifts of grace and nature; and although he dissipated these blessings, he had nevertheless possessed them as his own.
But man, who is mere slime, and moreover has sinned and is full of ugliness and baseness, is a monster if he bloats himself up in vain pride. By such absurdity he surpasses even the demon; since man possesses a nature neither so noble, nor was ever gifted with such grace and beauty as Lucifer. He and his hellish followers despise and laugh over men, who in such inferiority swell up in pride; for they can well understand this vain and contemptible madness and delirium.
Mind well therefore, my daughter, this lesson, and humiliate thyself lower than the earth, showing just as little sense of injury as the dust, whenever the Lord, either himself or through others, sends thee humiliation. Never judge thyself injured by anyone nor consider thyself offended; if thou abhor pretense and lying, remember, that the greatest offense is to aspire after honor or high position.
Do not attribute to creatures that which God brings about in order to humiliate thee or others by affliction and tribulations; for this is protesting against mere instruments, while it is divine mercy which inflicts punishment on men for their humiliation. This, if they would only understand, is really what is happening by the disposition of the Lord to the kingdoms of our day.
Humiliate thyself in the divine presence for thyself and for all thy fellowmen, in order to placate His wrath, just as if thou alone were guilty; and as if thou never had made any satisfaction; since during mortal life no one can ever know whether He has satisfied for His transgressions.
Seek to appease Him as if thou alone had offended Him; and in regard to the gifts and favors which thou hast received and does receive, show thyself grateful as one who deserves much less and owes much more. By these considerations humiliate thyself more than all others, and labor without ceasing to correspond to the divine clemency, which has shown itself so liberal toward thee.”