St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi week

The Saint's own words on many subjects.

About the Church:
O my beloved Spouse and loving Word, you engender the Body of the holy Church in a way which you alone know and understand...By means of your Blood, you make a well-organized, well-formed body of which you are the head. The angels delight in its beauty, the archangels admire it, the seraphim are enraptured by it, all the angelic spirits marvel at it, and all the souls of the blessed in heaven rejoice in it. the Blessed Trinity takes delight in it in a manner beyond our comprehension ("The Complete Works of St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi" 3)

About Our Lady:

O Mary, anyone who looks at you is comforted in any anxiety or tribulation or pain, and is victorious over any temptation. Anyone who does not know something about God, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone who does not find mercy in God, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone whose will is not in conformity, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone who falters on account of weakness, let him have recourse to you who are all strong and powerful. Anyone in constant struggle, let him have recourse to you who are a tranquil sea...Whoever is tempted...let him have recourse to you, who are the mother of humility, and nothing drives away the devil mote than humility. Let them, one and all, have recourse to you, O Mary! (CW3)

About charity toward the neighbour:

O Lord, if I see my neighbour committing sin, I shall make an excuse for him on the grounds of his intention, which being hidden cannot be seen, and even if I see plainly that his intention was distorted and evil, help me to know how to make allowance for the temptation, which is something from which no mortal is excluded. And if someone should come to speak to me of my neighbour's faults, I do not want to listen, and I shall answer that I will pray for him and ask the Lord to let me first amend myself. Besides, it will be easier for me to speak to my erring neighbour himself about his fault than to talk about it with others, because instead of remedying that fault, many others, much more serious, may be committed than those that are being discussed. (after Divine Intimacy - 'Probation')

About Eucharist

O Lord, the soul's mouth....lovingly tastes you; it savour the purity of the divine essence and of your humanity and attains to such a knowledge of your purity that that which used to seem virtue to it, now seems like a shortcoming both in itself and in others. Receiving the Holy Sacraments which draw strength from your Blood and from your Passion, and of the Blood that was she therein. We savour this most fully when we receive the holy Sacrament of your Body and Blood, for there more than anywhere else this sweetness and grace are found hidden, when the Sacrament is really received with purity and honesty. Let whoever wishes to taste of your gentleness and sweetness approach this Blood and there he will find all rest and consolation. The soul will be washed with this Blood, cleansed in this Blood, nourished by this Blood (after "The Complete Works of St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi" vol 3).

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

O Holy Spirit, you show us what we must do to please the Trinity, interiorly through your inspirations, and exteriorly through preaching and warnings, and that all proceeds from you, since no one can say the sweet and holy name of Jesus unless he is moved by you. You are the dispenser of the treasures hidden in the bosom of the Father and treasurer of the counsels which pass between the Father and the Word. You are that rod that strikes the rock and makes it bring forth the water that satisfies every creature. The cataracts of heaven are always open to send down grace, but we do not have the mouth of our desire open to receive it. Come, come O most gentle Spirit! Spirit of goodness! I contemplate you as you leave the bosom of the Father, and enter the side of the Word, then leaving by the heart of the Word, come to us here on earth. From the bosom of the Son burning love. (DI, vol4, 'Revelations and Enlightenments', CW vol 4)

Wisdom of God and human wisdom:

Your wisdom, O Word, is like the bush you showed to Moses, which burned, but was not consumed...Those who seek and go after the wisdom that is human abhor your wisdom, but to God human wisdom is foolishness....In addition, by abhorring your wisdom, they deny themselves union with you, for by offending you they deprive themselves both of you and of it....

What do you do, O wisdom of my Word? You raise up the soul and you submerge it in the depths: you erect and tear down every building; always weeping and singing, watching and sleeping, walking and never moving - you are wisdom, containing in yourself every treasure and remaining far from foolishness...

And how is this wisdom acquired? It is acquired by an enlightened understanding of God's being, by continual affection and desire for God in God. Those who have reached this point have acquired the pleasure of wisdom. Those who savour it, taste it; and those who know nothing, understand it. Oh, why do we not pursue this wisdom continually without ever stopping? ( Drink of the Stream)

Her love for the Holy Spirit

Looking at myself, O God of Love, I would never raise my mind and my will to ask for this Comforter. But looking again at Your Being, which is goodness and love, and mercy, I cannot but long for the coming of Your Holy Spirit. I know, though not as well as I should, that I am not in any way a vessel suitable to receive You. But considering that you are He Who makes suitable every heart; and with the offering of the Blood of the Word, ... which offering i pray the saints to make for me to the Most Holy Trinity....I take courage to ask and beg for this Holy Spirit.

Wherefore I pray you, all you angelic spirits and saintly souls in heaven, in your act of love and through that same continued act of love that is yours, pray to the Holy Ghost that he may come and dwell in me and in all the other daughters of Mary. Moreover, in asking for this Holy Spirit, I intend to receive the entire Holy Trinity. (after "Seraph among Angels" - by Sr Mary Minima O.Carm)

Her vision of Jesus

And suddenly Jesus presented Himself to her in that age of young manhood, at which sight she greatly rejoiced and remained for a long while looking upon His beauty with great admiration. then she began to speak, saying: My Jesus, in this flowery age of Your young manhood, I shall see You everywhere, excepting those places in which I am to see You as a child and as a youth. When I shall see You in those so beautiful and gracious age when You left us Yourself and suffered Your Passion......I am much please to look upon You as You show me Yourself now, that is sitting on the well, where You were asking questions and giving enlightening answers...If I were desirous of change, i could go on discoursing with my intellect in many places, for You worked so much during this time; but I shall be content to stay with You and sit on the well. And sometimes I shall also anoint You with the Magdalen... The ointment will be love of my neighbour... The tears with which I have to wash Your holy feet will be that charity of which St Paul spoke: "Weep with them that weep; rejoice with them that rejoice" (Rom 12:15). The hair, which is something almost superfluous, will be the condescension that the soul which understands You in an exalted way must practice; for it must accommodate itself to the weakness and littleness of its neighbour....

I will now return to looking at You on the well, where I see that on the right You have a cross, dark and resplendent; for although my intense suffering of soul, known to You, has ended, nevertheless I shall still have this cross of seeing that You are neither loved nor known, and that that which is Your will is not put into effect. I am speaking of the work of renewal of Your bride, the Church, the work so well understood by me and which, in every case, will be a cross for me. For whether it is understood or not understood, whether it is carried out or not carried out, it will be a cross for me, but a cross resplendent and glorious... You have written in Your hands ll my words.

O my God, to say that You take words for works, how can this be? ... Oh yes, I understand. It is because You crown the intense desire to do a work, where there is no possibility of doing it, more than a work done without the desire. And if Your work will not be accomplished, it will not be for this reason, that it is not Your will, but because there is not the proper disposition in creatures, or generous hearts to do it, as would be necessary. (CW)

Conversation with God, the Father

O Eternal Father, that You are blessed and glorious in Yourself is no cause for wonder. That all creatures are blessed and glorious through You is no cause for wonder. But that You communicate Yourself to, and take pleasure in, a creature so vile, this is a cause for wonder.... Then he leads the soul into so much grandeur and into so much light! And still it gives You more pleasure that we give belief, obedience, to creatures, even though we know such grandeur. But this is not understood by creatures; and therefore so few give You this pleasure.... Yes, I have understood. (CW).

Selected from 'Drink of the Stream'