Talks with Jan
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‘The Lord Possessed Me
in the Beginning
of His Ways’
My friend Jan sent me an email with a question about the Epistle Reading of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception: “What is this reading referring to? Does it have anything to do with Mary?”
Yes, indeed, my dear Jan, this reading, one of my favorites, has everything to do with Our Lady. For me, the words are poetry, soaring into the mind of God Himself Who had present before Him from eternity the Person of the Incarnate Word and of His Most Holy Mother.
First, let me present the reading, from Prov. 8:22-31. Then I will go to the Mystical City of God, The Conception (Chap V) to give Our Lady’s explanation of these words to Ven. Mary of Agreda.
The Epistle for the Immaculate Conception
“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before He made anything.
“I was set up from eternity and of old, before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived: neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out. The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth. He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the earth.
“When He prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass He enclosed the depths. When He established the sky above and poised the fountains of the waters. When He compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when He balanced the foundations of the earth.
“I was with Him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before Him all the times. Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.”
Ven. Mary of Agreda explains
Ven. Mary of Agreda tells us that in this beginning, before God formed any other ideal in His mind, He decreed the formation of the humanity of the Word, and then joined to this the formation of His Most Holy Mother, through whom His Divinity was to enter the world as man, being born from her as God and man.
“Therefore,” Mary of Agreda explains, “it is said: ‘God possessed me’” since both were possessed by His Majesty. He possessed Our Lord as the property and treasure of the Father without possibility of separation, and He possessed the Mother who was to give Him human form.
“Before He made anything from the beginning, I was set up from eternity and of old.” What does this mean?
God, Who is outside of time, foresaw Our Lady from the eternal ages of the Divinity. The first and most admirable image in the mind of God, next to the eternal generation, was that of Christ and, next to it, that of His Mother. Outside of time and in the mind of God, then, the Head and Ideal of all other men and creatures, Our Lord, was present. But following immediately upon Christ, and through Him, is the idea of the Mother of the Man-EGod as supreme among mere creatures.
She states: “This then was the order, so well instituted by the Eternal Wisdom: that all was to commence with Christ and His Mother.”
For this reason, the text adds: “Before the earth was made; and the depths were not as yet and I was already conceived.” And, likewise were made the fountains of waters, the high mountains, the rivers and hills. But, before all this, Our Lady was “brought forth.”
In Creation are diverse metaphors and similitudes that contain great mysteries of the Queen of Heaven; in the past the Church would contemplate and draw forth treasures, from these mysteries like bees seeking pollen from the ambrosial flowers to make their honey. Sadly, since Vatican II, this pursuit of Wisdom has been largely abandoned.
But Ven. Mary of Agreda invites us to consider the elements of Creation much more profoundly in their symbolic sense: The rivers and poles of the earth are the Militant Church, and the gifts of grace were to flow from the sources of the Divinity, Who set the circumferences and was the fixed pole. The creation of high mountains are the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs in whom God executes His counsels and Great works.
Even before the hills, which are the orders of the Holy Angels, “I was brought forth.” That is, even before the angelic hosts, the Son and the Mother were conceived in the Divine Mind. Before the sun and moon – which divide the day and the night symbolizing the Sun of justice, Christ, and his Most Holy Mother, who is beautiful as the moon – Our Lady was present. For these Two divide the day of grace and the night of sin. The sun illuminates the moon and the two illumine all other creatures within the confines of the universe.
Ven. Maria continues, emphasizing again the role of Our Lady: ”Yet before the Most High prepared all this and ordained this mystical sphere and order, of which Christ was to be the Center and Head, He decreed the union of the Word with human nature, and foresaw His Mother, through whom He was to execute these wonders in the world.”
And so we see the high place of Our Lady, above the Angels and all creatures, in the mind of God with her Divine Son before the beginning of time. For the Incarnate Word and His Most Holy Mother were present in spirit when God resolved upon the creation of the whole world. In these two Persons were foreseen all His works, because the Most High looked upon them as models to serve as archetypes for the whole human race.
The rest of mankind – even those who existed before the Incarnation – all depend on the Two as Mediators between themselves and God. As you can see, these high and mystical words are outside of time, and invite us to go beyond as well. It is a ponderous mystery.
Finally, those lovely words “And I was delighted every day, playing before Him at all times, playing in the world.”
The Incarnate Word delighted in His own works, and especially in His Most Holy Mother. He delighted in the prospect of assuming the form of man within her and in making her worthy of so great a privilege. Because of her, His delight is to be with the children of men. He diverts Himself in being with Our Lady and with the worthy children of Mary.
These words are so rich in meaning, entering so to speak into the mind of God, Who before all else has in His Mind the Incarnation of the Divine Son in Mary Most Holy. It is for this reason that it is read on feast days of Our Lady such as the Nativity of Our Lady and the Immaculate Conception.
I hope that you will look forward to hearing these words float from the pulpit into the hearts of the faithful on these days, asking the Holy Ghost to inspire you to reach the deepest profundities of their meaning and to love Our Lady with an ever increasing fervor and zeal.
Yes, indeed, my dear Jan, this reading, one of my favorites, has everything to do with Our Lady. For me, the words are poetry, soaring into the mind of God Himself Who had present before Him from eternity the Person of the Incarnate Word and of His Most Holy Mother.
First, let me present the reading, from Prov. 8:22-31. Then I will go to the Mystical City of God, The Conception (Chap V) to give Our Lady’s explanation of these words to Ven. Mary of Agreda.
The Epistle for the Immaculate Conception
‘The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made anything...’
“When He prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass He enclosed the depths. When He established the sky above and poised the fountains of the waters. When He compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when He balanced the foundations of the earth.
“I was with Him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before Him all the times. Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.”
Ven. Mary of Agreda explains
Ven. Mary of Agreda tells us that in this beginning, before God formed any other ideal in His mind, He decreed the formation of the humanity of the Word, and then joined to this the formation of His Most Holy Mother, through whom His Divinity was to enter the world as man, being born from her as God and man.
“Therefore,” Mary of Agreda explains, “it is said: ‘God possessed me’” since both were possessed by His Majesty. He possessed Our Lord as the property and treasure of the Father without possibility of separation, and He possessed the Mother who was to give Him human form.
Before all of Creation, God conceived
the ideals of Our Lord & Our Lady
God, Who is outside of time, foresaw Our Lady from the eternal ages of the Divinity. The first and most admirable image in the mind of God, next to the eternal generation, was that of Christ and, next to it, that of His Mother. Outside of time and in the mind of God, then, the Head and Ideal of all other men and creatures, Our Lord, was present. But following immediately upon Christ, and through Him, is the idea of the Mother of the Man-EGod as supreme among mere creatures.
She states: “This then was the order, so well instituted by the Eternal Wisdom: that all was to commence with Christ and His Mother.”
For this reason, the text adds: “Before the earth was made; and the depths were not as yet and I was already conceived.” And, likewise were made the fountains of waters, the high mountains, the rivers and hills. But, before all this, Our Lady was “brought forth.”
In Creation are diverse metaphors and similitudes that contain great mysteries of the Queen of Heaven; in the past the Church would contemplate and draw forth treasures, from these mysteries like bees seeking pollen from the ambrosial flowers to make their honey. Sadly, since Vatican II, this pursuit of Wisdom has been largely abandoned.
But Ven. Mary of Agreda invites us to consider the elements of Creation much more profoundly in their symbolic sense: The rivers and poles of the earth are the Militant Church, and the gifts of grace were to flow from the sources of the Divinity, Who set the circumferences and was the fixed pole. The creation of high mountains are the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs in whom God executes His counsels and Great works.
Even before the hills, which are the orders of the Holy Angels, “I was brought forth.” That is, even before the angelic hosts, the Son and the Mother were conceived in the Divine Mind. Before the sun and moon – which divide the day and the night symbolizing the Sun of justice, Christ, and his Most Holy Mother, who is beautiful as the moon – Our Lady was present. For these Two divide the day of grace and the night of sin. The sun illuminates the moon and the two illumine all other creatures within the confines of the universe.
The Incarnate Word delighted especially
in His Most Hoy Mother
And so we see the high place of Our Lady, above the Angels and all creatures, in the mind of God with her Divine Son before the beginning of time. For the Incarnate Word and His Most Holy Mother were present in spirit when God resolved upon the creation of the whole world. In these two Persons were foreseen all His works, because the Most High looked upon them as models to serve as archetypes for the whole human race.
The rest of mankind – even those who existed before the Incarnation – all depend on the Two as Mediators between themselves and God. As you can see, these high and mystical words are outside of time, and invite us to go beyond as well. It is a ponderous mystery.
Finally, those lovely words “And I was delighted every day, playing before Him at all times, playing in the world.”
The Incarnate Word delighted in His own works, and especially in His Most Holy Mother. He delighted in the prospect of assuming the form of man within her and in making her worthy of so great a privilege. Because of her, His delight is to be with the children of men. He diverts Himself in being with Our Lady and with the worthy children of Mary.
These words are so rich in meaning, entering so to speak into the mind of God, Who before all else has in His Mind the Incarnation of the Divine Son in Mary Most Holy. It is for this reason that it is read on feast days of Our Lady such as the Nativity of Our Lady and the Immaculate Conception.
I hope that you will look forward to hearing these words float from the pulpit into the hearts of the faithful on these days, asking the Holy Ghost to inspire you to reach the deepest profundities of their meaning and to love Our Lady with an ever increasing fervor and zeal.
'I was set up from eternity and of old,
before the earth was made'
Posted December 16 2024
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