The Mystical City of God: A Popular Abridgment

The Mystical City of God: A Popular Abridgment
by Venerable Mary of Agreda

A highly successful abridgment of the monumental 2,676-page 4 vol. Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as seen in mystic vision by Ven. Mary of Agreda (1602-1665). This book overflows with enthralling information about Our Lord and Our Lady, about the creation of the world, the meaning of the Apocalypse, Lucifer's rebellion, the location of hell, the hidden life of Jesus, etc. Reveals that St Joseph ate meat, but Our Lord and Our Lady seldom did. It makes Christ's hidden life really come alive. Acclaimed by the Popes, cardinals, and theologians - one of the greatest Catholic books ever.

About the Author:
Venerable Mother Mary of Jesus of Agreda, also known as the Blue Nun, was born in 1602 in Agreda, Spain. She possessed a considerable amount of divine knowledge even at a very young age and consequently was confirmed at just four years old. When she was twenty-five, Mary was instituted as president of a Franciscan nunnery that her mother left behind after the older woman's death. Throughout her lifetime, she wrote fourteen books, among them the four-volume Mystical City of God, and also served as spiritual advisor to King Philip IV of Spain. It has also been said that her writings were inspirational for Mel Gibson as he produced his filmThe Passion of the Christ, released in 2004. Mother Mary of Jesus died in 1665 at the age of sixty-three, and less than ten years later was declared venerable
by Pope Clement X.

Product Details:
Item No: 0126 (Grouped)
Pages: 794
ISBN: 9780895550705
Publisher: Saint Benedict Press, LLC
Imprint: TAN Books 
Publication Year: 2009
Binding: Paperbound
Dimensions: 5.5" X 8.5" X 1.25"

Excerpts from this Book:
"The vow of poverty is a generous renunciation and detachment from the heavy burden of temporal things. It is an alleviation of the spirit, and it is a relief afforded to human infirmity, the liberty of a noble heart to strive for eternal and spiritual blessings. It is satiety and abundance, in which the thirst for earthly treasures is allayed, and sovereignty and ownership, in which the noblest enjoyment of all riches is established. All this, my daughter, and many other blessings are contained in voluntary poverty, and all this the sons of the world are ignorant and deprived of, precisely because they are lovers of earthly riches and enemies of this holy and opulent poverty." 
— Ven. Mary of Agreda, p. 85

  "Voluntary poverty restores to man the nobility of his condition, liberating him from vile servitude and reinstating him his noble freedom and mastery of all things. The soul is never more a mistress than when she despises them, and only then has she the more firm possession and makes the more excellent use of riches when she gives them away or leaves them of her own free will; only then her appetite for them is best satiated when she does not care to possess them. Then above all is the heart set free and made capable of the treasures of the Divinity, for which the Creator furnishes it with almost infinite capacity."
— Ven. Mary of Agreda, p. 85

 "The temporal goods are created by the 

Highest

 for the sole purpose of sustaining life; having attained this end, the need for them ceases. And as this need is limited, soon, and easily satisfied, there is no reason that the immortal soul's care should be only fitful and temporary. Simultaneously, the hunger after riches should be so perpetual and unintermitting as it has come to be among men. It is the height of perverseness for man to mix up the end and the means in an affair so important and urgent that he 

devotes

 all his time, all his care, all the exertion of his powers, and all the alertness of his mind to the life of the body, of which he knows not the duration nor the end, and that on the other hand, in many years of his existence he spares for his poor soul only one hour, and that very often the last and the worst one of his whole life."
— Venerable Mary of Agreda, p. 85-6

"My daughter, to preserve perfectly this vow [of chastity], it is necessary to make an inviolable pact with thy senses, not to use them, except for what is according to the dictates of reason and for the glory of the Creator. After once the senses are mortified, it will be easy to overcome thy enemies. Only through them can they conquer thee, for no thoughts can recur or be awakened to an activity unless fomented and excited by the images impressions admitted through the exterior senses.
— Ven. Mary of Agreda, p. 86

"The vow of chastity includes purity of body and soul; this is easily lost ... This great treasure is deposited in a castle, which has many portals and openings, and if these are not well guarded and defended, the treasure is without security. To preserve this vow perfectly, my daughter is necessary to make an inviolable pact with thy senses, not to use them, except for what is according to the dictates of reason and for the glory of the Creator. After once the senses are mortified, it will be easy to overcome thy enemies, for only through them can they conquer thee; for no thoughts can recur, or be awakened to activity, unless fomented and excited by the images and impressions admitted through the exterior senses."
— Ven. Mary of Agreda, p. 86

"The works of her, who was to be the Mother of the God-man, were all together and in every way most perfect, and even to understand them exceeds the capacity of all human creatures and the angels. Her interior acts of the virtues were so precious and of such great merit and favor that they surpass all that the seraphim can do . . . But it is my Will that during thy pilgrimage in thy mortal body thou place most holy Mary as the beginning of thy joy and that thou follow her through the desert of renunciation and abnegation of all that is human and visible. Follow her by a perfect imitation according to the measure of thy strength and of the light which thou 

receiver

. Let her be thy guiding star and thy Directress: she will manifest to thee my Will and will let thee find my holy law which is written in her by the power of my right hand: meditate upon it day and night."
— Ven. Mary of Agreda, p. 87