Our Lady of Good Counsel April 26th

Our Lady of Good Counsel

Our Lady of Good Counsel: 

She inspired the Albanians 

to resist the Turks

January of 1467 saw the death of the last great Albanian leader, George Castriota, better known as Scanderbeg. Raised by an Albanian chief, he placed himself at the head of his own people.

Subsequently, Scanderbeg inflicted stunning defeats on the Turkish army and occupied fortresses all over Albania.

With Scanderbeg’s death, the Turkish army, finally free from the Fulminating Lion of War, poured into Albania, occupying all its fortresses, cities and provinces with the exception of Scutari, in the north of the country.

Apparition of Our Lady of Good Counsel

However, the city’s capacity to resist was limited, and its capture was expected at any moment. With its fall, Christian Albania would be defeated. Faced with this prospect, those who wished to practice their faith in Christian lands began a sad exodus. Giorgio and De Sclavis also studied the possibility of fleeing, but something kept them in Scutari, where there was a small church, considered the shrine of the whole Albanian kingdom. In this church the faithful venerated a picture of Our Lady which had mysteriously descended from the heavens two hundred years before.

According to tradition, it had come from the east. Having poured out innumerable graces over the whole population, its church became the principal center of pilgrimage in Albania. Scanderbeg himself had visited this shrine more than once to ardently ask for victory in battle. Now the shrine was threatened with imminent destruction and profanation.

The two Albanians were torn by the idea of leaving the great treasure of Albania in the hands of the enemy in order to flee the Turkish terror. In their perplexity, they went to the old church to ask their Blessed Mother for the good counsel they needed.

That night, the Counsoler of the Afflicted inspired both of them in their sleep. She commanded them to prepare to leave their country, which they would never see again. She added that the miraculous fresco was also going to leave Scutari for another country to escape profanation at the hands of the Turks. Finally, she ordered them to follow the painting wherever it went.

The next morning, the two friends went to the shrine. At a certain moment they saw the picture detach itself from the wall on which it had hung for two centuries. Leaving its niche, it hovered for a moment and was then suddenly wrapped in a white cloud through which the image continued to be visible.

The pilgrim painting left the church and the environs of Scutari. It traveled slowly through the air at a considerable altitude and advanced in the direction of the Adriatic Sea at a speed that allowed the two walkers to follow; after covering some twenty-four miles, they reached the coast.

With unbounded confidence, Giorgio and De Sclavis walk on the waves of the Adriatic Sea.

Giorgio & De Sclavis following Our Lady of Good Counsel

Without stopping, the picture left the land and advanced over the waters while the faithful Giorgio and De Sclavis continued to follow, walking on the waves much like their Divine Master had done on Lake Genesareth. 

When night would fall, the mysterious cloud, which had protected them with its shade from the heat of the sun during the day, guided them by night with light, like the column of fire in the desert that guided the Jews in their exodus from Egypt. They traveled day and night until they reached the Italian coast. There, they continued following the miraculous picture, climbing mountains, fording rivers and passing through valleys. Finally, they reached the vast plain of Lazio from where they could see the towers and domes of Rome. Upon reaching the gates of the city, the cloud suddenly disappeared before their disappointed eyes. Giorgio and De Sclavis began to search the city, going from church to church asking if the painting had descended there. All their attempts to find the painting failed, and the Romans incredulously regarded the two foreigners and their strange tale.Shortly thereafter, amazing news came to Rome: a picture of Our Lady had appeared in the skies of Genazzano to the sound of beautiful music and had come to rest over the wall of a church that was being rebuilt. The two Albanians rushed to find their country’s beloved treasure miraculously suspended in the air next to the wall of the chapel where it remains to this day.Although some inhabitants found the strangers’ story difficult to believe, careful investigation later proved that the two were telling the truth and that the image was indeed the same one that graced the shrine in Scutari.

***

Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano

A few miles from the city of Rome lies Genazzano—a city rich in history and blessed with the presence of a miraculous painting of the Blessed Virgin that has an amazing story.  In 1356, about a century before the appearance of the miraculous painting that would introduce Genazzano into the annals of marvels in the Church, Prince Pietro Giordan Colonna, whose family had acquired lordship of the city, assigned the most ancient church of the city and its parish to the care of the Hermits of St. Augustine. The faithful would thereby have the necessary pastoral assistance, and repairs could be made on the old church.  Although the prayers of the faithful intensified, financial difficulties prevented the necessary and urgent restoration of the ancient temple. But the Mother who gives wise counsel in every circumstance and attentively provides for the necessities of men chose a Third Order Augustinian, Petruccia de Nocera, to carry out a supernatural prodigy that would bring about the much-desired restoration.

The city of Genazzano

Petruccia had been left a modest fortune following the death of her husband in 1436. Living alone, she dedicated most of her time to prayer and services in the church of the Mother of Good Counsel. It grieved her to see the deplorable state of the sacred premises, and she prayed fervently that they would be restored. Finally, she resolved to take the initiative. After obtaining permission from the friars, she donated her goods to initiate the restoration in the hope that others would help complete it once it was commenced. A plan was drawn up for the building of a magnificent church. However, once that arduous undertaking had begun, Petruccia, who was already eighty years old, found that her generous offering was scarcely enough to complete the first phase of the new construction. To make matters worse, no one came forth to help.To her dismay, the building had hardly risen three feet when construction came to a halt due to lack of resources. Her friends and neighbors began to ridicule her, and detractors accused her of imprudence. Others severely reprimanded her in public. To all of them she would say: “My dear children, do not put too much importance on this apparent misfortune. I assure you that before my death the Blessed Virgin and our holy father Augustine will finish the church begun by me.”

The miraculous image of 

Our Lady of Good Counsel of Genazzano

Our Lady of Good Counsel of Genazzano

On April 25, 1467, the feast day of the city’s patron, Saint Mark, a solemn celebration began with Mass. It was Saturday, and the crowd began to gather in front of the church of the Mother of Good Counsel. The only discrepant note in the celebration was the unfinished work of Petruccia. At about four in the afternoon, everyone heard the chords of a beautiful melody that seemed to come from heaven. The people looked up toward the towers of the churches and saw a white cloud that shone with a thousand luminous rays; it gradually neared the stupefied crowd to the sound of an exceptionally beautiful melody. The cloud descended on the church of the Mother of Good Counsel and poised over the wall of the unfinished chapel of Saint Biagio, which Petruccia had started. Suddenly, the bells of the old tower began to ring by themselves, and the other bells of the town rang miraculously in unison. The rays that emanated from the little cloud faded away, and the cloud itself gradually vanished, revealing a beautiful object to the enchanted gaze of the spectators. It was a painting that represented Our Lady tenderly holding her Divine Son in her arms. Almost immediately, the Virgin Mary began to cure the sick and grant countless consolations, the memory of which was recorded for posterity by the local ecclesiastical authority. The news of the painting and its miracles spread throughout the province and beyond, attracting multitudes. Some cities formed enthusiastic processions to see the picture that the people called the Madonna of Paradise because of its celestial entrance into the city. Numerous alms were donated as an answer to the unwavering confidence that Our Lady had inspired in Petruccia. Amidst the general enthusiasm caused by the painting, Our Lady wished to divulge the true origin of the marvelous fresco to her devotees. Two foreigners named Giorgio and De Sclavis entered the city among a group of pilgrims that had come from Rome. They wore strange clothes and spoke a foreign tongue, saying they had arrived in Rome earlier that year from Albania. While most people had refused to believe their story, it had a special significance for the inhabitants of Genazzano.

Article from TradCatKnight website 

http://tradcatknight.blogspot.ca/2017/04/our-lady-of-good-counsel-she-inspired.html#more

Joachim and Anne, Parents of Mary

Joachim & Anne, parents of the Virgin Mary

Sts. Joachim and Anne

Mary's parents must have been very devout and God-centered people. For God would not have chosen them to be the parents of His Mother from those who were not.  I can imagine how heartbroken Anne and Joachim were on not having children in the days when this was thought shameful.  

But imagine the joy and love that they had when Mary was born! She was their cherished treasure.  They taught her to love and serve God with her whole heart, soul and being.  In humble servitude to help others in need. 

It is said that her parents were so happy when Mary was born that they consecrated her to God.  When she was a very young girl she was taken to the temple to serve as a maiden in the service of God. Seeing her go into the temple must have been a great joy but also a great sacrifice -- the beloved child that they doted on was not with them anymore.  They must have missed her terribly.

The child Mary consecrated to the Temple

We do not know much about St. Joachim and St. Anne - but imagine being the parents of the Virgin Mary -- the chosen Mother of God and the grandparents of Jesus Our Lord, how blessed they are!  

St. Joachim and St. Anne pray for us!  Especially us who are grandparents! Help us be good examples of living the Christian Catholic faith.

The Greek Orthodox Church 

has much more to say about 

the story of Joachim and Anne.  See the website http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/48783.htm

+ + + + + + + 

By their fruits you will know them

From a sermon by Saint John Damascene, bishop

Sts. Joachim and Anne with the Virgin Mary as a child

Ann was to be the mother of the Virgin Mother of God, and hence nature did not dare to anticipate the flowering of grace.  Thus nature remained sterile, until grace produced its fruit.  For she who was to be born had to be a first-born daughter, since she would be the mother of the first-born of all creation, in whom all things are held together.

Joachim and Ann, how blessed a couple!  All creation is indebted to you.  For at your hands the Creator was offered a gift excelling all other gifts: a chaste mother, who alone was worthy of him.

St. Anne,Virgin Mary & Jesus the Son of God

And so rejoice, Ann, that you were sterile and have not borne children, break forth into shouts, you who have not given birth. Rejoice, Joachim, because from your daughter a child is born for us, a son is given us, whose name is Messenger of great counsel and universal salvation, mighty God. 

For this child is God.

Joachim and Ann, how blessed and spotless a couple!  You will be known by the fruit you have borne, as the Lord says: By their fruits you will know them. The conduct of your life pleased God and was worthy of your daughter.  For by the chaste and holy life you led together, you have fashioned a jewel of virginity: she who remained a virgin before, during and after giving birth.  She alone for all time would maintain her virginity in mind and soul as well as in body.

Joachim and Ann, how chaste a couple!  While safeguarding the chastity prescribed by the law of nature, you achieved with God’s help something which transcends nature in giving the world the Virgin Mother of God as your daughter.  While leading a devout and holy life in your human nature, you gave birth to a daughter nobler than the angels, whose queen she now is.  Girl of utter beauty and delight, daughter of Adam and mother of God, blessed the loins and blessed the womb from which you come!  

Blessed the arms that carried you, 

blessed your parents’ lips, which 

you were allowed to cover 

with chaste kisses, 

ever maintaining your virginity.  

Rejoice in God, all the earth.  Sing, exult and sing hymns.  

Raise your voice, raise it and be not afraid.

taken from the Liturgy of the Hours

Prayer to the Virgin Most Powerful

Virgin Most Powerful

Virgin most powerful, loving helper of the Christian people, how great is the thanks we owe thee for the assistance thou hast given our fathers who invoked thy maternal help by the devout recitation of thy Rosary when they were threatened by the Turkish infidels. From Heaven thou didst see their deadly peril. Thou didst hear their voices imploring thy compassion. Their humble prayers, enjoined by the great Pope, Saint Pius V, were acceptable to thee, and thou camest quickly to deliver them.

Grant, Dear Mother, that in like manner the prolonged sighs of the Holy Bride of Christ in these our days may reach thy throne and win thy pity. Be moved to compassion and rise once again to deliver her from the many foes who surround her on every side.

Even now from the four quarters of the earth there arises to thy throne the prayer of the Rosary, to beg thy mercy in these troubled times. Unfortunately our sins hinder, or at least retard their effect. Wherefore, Dear Mother, obtain for us true sorrow for our sins and a firm resolution to face death itself rather than return to our former sins. It grieves us that through our own fault, thy help which we need so desperately, should be denied or come too late.

Turn to us, O Mary, and graciously listen to the prayers of the whole Catholic World: conquer the pride of those wicked men, who in their insolence blaspheme Almighty God and would destroy His Church, against which, according to the infallible words of Christ, the gates of Hell shall never prevail. Let it be seen once more that when thou doth arise to protect the Church, her victory is sure. 

Amen.

AN ACT OF MERCY - PRAYERS FOR THE DYING

 

Three Very Beautiful Prayers
 For Dying Souls
An ancient Christian writer wrote that, "of all divine things, the most divine is to share with God in the saving of souls."
The following Prayers are very useful to a dying person, and should be prayed often as an act of mercy. First, where these prayers originated.
There once was a Pope in Rome who was surrounded by many sins.  The Lord God struck him with a fatal illness.  When he say that he was dying he summoned Cardinals, Bishops and learned persons and said to them: "My dear friend!  What comfort can you give me now that I must die, and when I deserve eternal damnation for my sins?"  No one answered him.  One of them a pious curate named John, said: Father, why do you doubt the Mercy of God?"  The Pope replied: "What comfort can you give me now that I must die and fear that I'll be damned for my sins?"  John replied: "I'll read three prayers over you: I hope, you'll be comforted and that you'll obtain Mercy from God."  The Pope was unable to say more.  The curate and all those present knelt and said an Our Father, the then following prayers:
1.       Lord Jesus Christ!   Thou Son of God and Son of the Virgin Mary, God and Man, Thou Who in fear sweated blood for us on the Mount of Olives in  order to bring peace, and to offer Thy Most Holy Death to God Thy Heavenly Father for the salvation of this dying person...If it be, however, that by his sins he merits eternal damnation, then may it be deflected from      him.  This, O Eternal Father through Our Lord Jesus Christ, They Dear Son, Who liveth and reigneth in union with The Holy Spirit now and forever.  Amen
 
2.       Lord Jesus Christ!  Thou Who meekly  died on the trunk of the Cross for us, submitting Thy Will completely to Thy Heavenly Father in order to bring peace and to offer They most Holy Death to Thy Heavenly Father in order to free ....(this person)... and to hide from him what he has earned with his sins; grant this O Eternal Father!  Through Our Lord Jesus Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in union with the Holy Spirit now and forever.  Amen.
 
3.       Lord Jesus Christ!  Thou Who remained silent to speak through the mouths of the Prophets:  I have drawn Thee to me through Eternal Lord, which Lord drew Thee from Heaven into the body of the Virgin into the valley of this needful  world, which Love kept Thee 33 years in this world, and as a sign of Great Lord, Thous hast given Thy Holy Body as Teue Food and Thy Holy Blood as True Drink, as a sign of Great Love, Thous has consented to be a prisoner and to be led from one judge to another  and as a sign of Great Love Thous hast consented to be condemned to death, and hast consented to die and to be buried and truly risen, and appeared to Thy Holy Mother and all the Holy Apostles, and as a sign of Great Love Thou hast ascended, under Thy own Strength and Power, and sitteth at the Right Hand of God Thy Heavenly Father, and Thou has sent Thy Holy Spirit into the hearts of Thy Apostle and the hearts of all who hope and believe in Thee.  Through Thy Sign of Eternal Love, open Heaven today and take this dying person …  and all his sins into the Realm of Thy Heavenly Father, that he may reign with Thee now and forever . Amen
Meanwhile the Pope died.  The curate persevered to the third hour, then the Pope appeared to him in body and comforting  him; his countenance as brilliant as the sun, his clothes as white as snow, and he said: “My  dear brother!   Whereas I was supposed to be a child of damnation I’ve become a child of happiness.  As you recited the first Prayer many of my sins fell from me as rain from Heaven, and as you recited the second Prayer I was purified, as a goldsmith purifies gold  in a hot fire.  I was still further purified as you recited the third Prayer.  Then I saw Heaven open and the Lord Jesus standing on the Right Hand of God the Father Who said to me, “Come, all thy sins are forgiven thee, you’ll be and remain in the Realm of My Father forever.  Amen!
With these words my soul separated from my body and the Angels of God led it to Eternal Joy.
As the curate heard this he said, “O Holy Father, I can’t tell these things to anyone, for they won’t believe me.”  Then the Pope said:  “Truly I tell thee, the Angel of God stands with me and has written the prayers in letters of gold for the consolement of all sinners.  If a person had committed  all the sins in the world, but that the three Prayers shall have been read (over him) at his end (death), all his sins will be forgiven him, even though his soul was supposed to suffer until the Last Judgement, it will be redeemed (freed).
The person who hears them read, he won’t die un unhappy death, also in whose house they will be read.  Thereford take these prayers and carry them into St. Peter’s Basilica and lay them in the Chapel named the Assumption of Mary, for certain consolation.  The person who will be near death, who reads them or hears them read gains 400 years indulgence for the days he was supposed to suffer in Purgatory because of his guilt.  Also who reads this Prayer or hears it read, the hour of his death shall be revealed to him. Amen

 
 

Incarnation - Christ Comes to Us

St. Gregory  Nazianzen

The Marvel of the Incarnation

From a sermon by St Gregory Nazianzen, bishop

The very Son of God, older than the ages, the invisible, the incomprehensible, the incorporeal, the beginning of beginning, the light of light, the fountain of life and immortality, the image of the archetype, the immovable seal, the perfect likeness, the definition and word of the Father: he it is who comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature, and unites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul, to purify like by like. 

He takes to himself all that is human, except for sin. He was conceived by the Virgin Mary, who had been first prepared in soul and body by the Spirit; his coming to birth had to be treated with honor, virginity had to receive new honor. 

He comes forth as God, in the human nature he has taken, one being, made of two contrary elements, flesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity, flesh received it.

He who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh, that I may gain the riches of his divinity. 

He who is full is made empty; he is emptied for a brief space of his glory, that I may share in his fullness. 

What is this wealth of goodness? What is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of God, but failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh, to bring salvation to the image, immortality to the flesh. He enters into a second union with us, a union far more wonderful than the first.

Holiness had to be brought to man by the humanity assumed by one who was God, so that God might overcome the tyrant by force and so deliver us and lead us back to himself through the mediation of his Son. The Son arranged this for the honour of the Father, to whom the Son is clearly obedient in all things. 

The Good Shepherd by Philippede

The Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, came in search of the straying sheep to the mountains and hills on which you used to offer sacrifice. When he found it, he took it on the shoulders that bore the wood of the cross, and led it back to the life of heaven.

Christ, the light of all lights, follows John, the lamp that goes before him. The Word of God follows the voice in the wilderness; the bridegroom follows the bridegroom’s friend, who prepares a worthy people for the Lord by cleansing them by water in preparation for the Spirit.

We need God to take our flesh and die, that we might live. We have died with him, that we may be purified. 

We have risen again with him, because we have died with him. 

We have been glorified with him, because we have risen again with him.

Mother Mary tells how God worked in her life - St. Bridgett of Sweden

St. Bridgett of Sweden

 Prophesies & Revelations

The words of the Queen of Heaven to her beloved daughter about the wonderful love the Son had for His Virgin Mother, about how the Mother of Christ was conceived within the most chaste marriage and sanctified in the womb, and the birth of Our Lord.  

 She tells how she was assumed, body and soul, into Heaven, and about the power of her name, and about the good and evil angels assigned to men for their protection or trial.

Chapter 9

"He united my father and mother in a marriage
 so chaste that there 
could not be found 
a more chaste marriage 
at that time. 
They never wanted to come together 
 except in accordance 
with the Law, and 
only then with the intention to bring forth off-spring.

St. Anne, St. Joachim and Child Maryy

When an angel revealed to them that they would give birth to the Virgin from whom the salvation of the world would come, they would rather have died than to come together in carnal love; lust was dead in them.   

I assure you that when they did come together, it was because of divine love and because of the angel’s message, not out of carnal desire, but against their will and out of a holy love for God.    

In this way, my flesh was put together by their seed and through divine love.   Then, when my body had been made and formed, God infused the created soul into it from his divinity, and the soul was immediately sanctified along with the body, and the angels guarded and served it day and night.    

St. Anne with child -- Mary conceived with out sin

When my soul was sanctified and joined to its body, my mother felt such great joy that it would have been impossible to describe it!

Afterwards, when my lifetime had been accomplished, my Son first raised up my soul - for it was the mistress of the body - to a more excellent place than others in heaven, right next to his Divinity.  

  

The Assumption of the Virgin c. 1656

Later, he also raised up my body in such a manner that no other creature’s body is so close to God as mine.    

See how much my

Son loved my soul and body!   Yet, there are some people with a malevolent spirit who deny that I was assumed into Heaven, body and soul, and also others who simply do not know any better.   

 But this is a most certain truth: 

I, with body and soul, was assumed to the Divinity!

Hear now how much my Son honored my name!    

My name is 

Mary
 

as it is said in the Gospel.    

When the angels 
hear this name, 
they rejoice in their mind 
and thank God 
for the great mercy 
that he worked through me 
and with me 
and because they see 
my Son’s Humanity 
glorified in his Divinity.  

  

    

  

Those within 
the fire of purgatory rejoice exceedingly, just like a sick 
and bedridden man does if he receives 
a word of comfort
 that pleases his soul: 
he is suddenly 
overjoyed!    

When the good angels hear my name, they immediately move closer to the righteous for whom they are guardians, and rejoice over their progress in good deeds and virtues.

 
All humans have been given both good angels for their protection, and bad angels to test them. The good angels are not separated from God; they serve the soul without leaving God.   They are constantly in his sight. Yet they work to inflame and incite the soul to do good. 

All the demons, however, 
shudder with fear at the name of

Mary!    

When they hear the name, “Mary”, they immediately release a soul out of the claws with which they had held her.   Just as a bird or hawk, with its claws and beak embedded into its prey, releases it immediately if it hears a sound, but soon returns

when it sees that no action follows, so do the demons - frightened when they hear my name – release the soul.   But they return and fly back as fast as an arrow if no improvement follows.

No one is so cold in his love of God (unless he is damned) that he will not experience the devil releasing him from his habitual sins if only he invokes my name with the true intention of never returning to his evil deeds.   

The devil will never return to him unless he resumes the will to commit mortal sins.    

Sometimes, though, the devil is allowed to trouble him for the sake of his greater reward.    

However, the devil shall never own him.

 Chapter 10

       “I am the Queen of Heaven, 

the Mother of God. 

I told you to wear a brooch on your chest. I will now show you more fully how, from the beginning, when I first heard and understood that God existed, I always, and with fear, was concerned about my salvation and my observance of his commandments. But when I learned more about God - that he was my Creator and the judge of all my actions - I loved him more dearly, and I was constantly fearful and watchful so as to not offend him by word or deed.

 

Later, when I heard that he had given the Law and the commandments to the people and worked such great miracles through them, I made a firm decision in my soul to never love anything but him, and all worldly things became most bitter to
me. 

When still later I heard that God himself would redeem the world and be born of a Virgin, I was seized by such great love for him that I thought of nothing but God and desired nothing but him. I withdrew myself, as much as I was able, from the conversation and presence of parents and friends, and I gave away all my possessions to the poor, and kept nothing for myself but meager food and clothing.

Nothing was pleasing to me but God! I always wished in my heart to live until the time of his birth, and perhaps, deserve to become the unworthy handmaid of the Mother of God. I also promised in my heart to keep my virginity, if this was acceptable to him, and to have no possessions in the world. However, if God wanted otherwise, my will was that his will, not mine, be done; for I believed that he could do all things and wanted nothing but what was beneficial and best for me.
 

Therefore, I entrusted all my will to him.  When the time approached for the virgins to be presented in the temple of the Lord, I was also among them due to the devout compliance of my parents to the Law.  I thought to myself that nothing was impossible for God, and since he knew that I wanted and desired nothing but him, I knew that he could protect my virginity, if it pleased him. 

Presentation of the Virgin Mary to the Temple

However, if not, 
I wanted his will 
to be done. 
After I had heard all the commandments in the temple, 
I returned home, burning even more now than ever before with the love of God, being inflamed daily with new fires and desires of love.
 

For this reason, I withdrew myself even more from everyone, and was alone day and night, fearing greatly, and most of all, that my mouth should say anything, or my ears hear anything against the will of my God, or that my eyes see anything alluring or harmful. I was also afraid in the silence, and very worried that I might be silent about things of which I should, instead, have spoken.
 

While I was worried in my heart like this, alone by myself and placing all my hope in God, an inspiration about God’s great power came over me, and I recalled how the angels and everything created serve him, and how his glory is indescribable and unlimited. 

While I was thus fascinated by this thought, I saw three wonderful things: I saw a star, but not the kind that shines in the sky; I saw a light, but not the kind that shines in this world; I smelled a fragrance, but not of herbs or anything else of this world. It was most delightful and truly indescribable, and it filled me up so completely that I jubilated with joy!  

After this, I immediately heard a voice - but not from a human mouth - and when I heard it, I shuddered with the great fear that it might be an illusion, or a mockery by an evil spirit. But shortly after this, an angel of God appeared before me; he was like the most handsome of men, but not in the 

flesh as is the body of a created man, and he said to me:  

‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!’  

When I heard this, I wondered what he meant and why he had come to me with such a greeting, for I knew and believed that I was unworthy of any such thing - or any good thing! However, I also knew that nothing is impossible for God, if he desires it.
 

Then the angel spoke again: 

‘The child to be born in you is holy 

and will be called the Son of God. 

May his will be done as it pleases him.’  

But, not even then did I consider myself worthy, and I did not ask the angel why, or when, this would happen. Instead I asked him how it could be that I, an unworthy maiden, who did not know any man, should become the Mother of God. 

The angel answered me (as I have just said): 

‘Nothing is impossible for God, 

for whatever he wants to do will be done.’

When I had heard these words of the angel, I felt the most fervent desire to become the Mother of God, and my soul spoke out of love and desire, saying:

‘See, here I am; 

your will be done in me!’ 

With these words, my Son was conceived in my womb to the indescribable joy of my soul and my every limb! While I had Him in my womb, I bore Him without any pain, without any heaviness or discomfort.   I humbled myself in all things,knowing that He whom I bore was the Almighty! 

 

When I gave birth to him, it was also without any pain or sin, just as I had conceived him, but with such exaltation and joy of soul and body that my feet did not feel the ground where they had been standing because of this indescribable joy!

Just as he had entered my limbs to the joy of all my soul, he left my body, leaving my virginity intact, and my soul and whole body in a state of indescribable joy and jubilation.
 

When I gazed upon and contemplated his beauty, joy seeped through my soul like dewdrops and I knew myself to be unworthy of such a son. 

But when I considered the places where (as I had learned from the predictions of the prophets) nails would be pierced through his hands and feet at the crucifixion, my eyes filled
with tears and my heart was almost torn apart by sorrow.
 

When my Son saw my weeping eyes, he became almost deathly saddened.

However, when I considered his divine power, I was consoled again in knowing that this was what he wanted and that it should happen in this way, and I joined all my will to his. 

      So my joy was always 

                      mixed with sorrow"

To read more of the revelations from St. Bridgett of Sweden go to this website for a PDF file that you can download and add to your computer to read at your leisure.

http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Bridget%20%28Birgitta%29%20of%20Sweden%20-%20Prophecies%20and%20Revelations.pdf