Newsletter #69 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel USA

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

The Heart of God The Father is The First Foundation of The Devotion to The Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Garden of Eden is the Sixth symbolic picture (Part III) of the Immaculate Heart of Mary the Queen of heaven and earth.

MARY’S HEART, THE GARDEN OF EDEN

Part III
THE QUALITIES OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN SYMBOLIZED BY ANIMALS AND BIRDS IN THE EARTHLY PARADISE

And now we go on to another object to be seen in the earthly paradise. In the second
chapter of Genesis, we read that God brought to the first man the animals and the birds He had created that Adam might give them suitable names, as a sign of his dominion over them and of their dependence on him. Several learned Doctors are of the opinion that Adam offered some of the animals to God in sacrifice at that time.

What, then, is represented by the animals and birds subjected by God to the dominion of Adam
in Paradise? They represent the natural passions that have their seat in the corporal and physical
heart of man. These passions are of two kinds, that is, the more earthly and animal instincts, such as anger, hatred, fear, sadness, aversion, distrust, which are represented by the animals, and the more spiritual emotions, such as love, desire, hope, courage, and joy typified by the birds.

All these passions existed in the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, just as they are found in the hearts of all children of Adam, but she enjoyed the great privilege that in her Heart they were completely subject to reason, just as the savage beasts were under the complete control of Adam in the earthly paradise. The spirit of Christ, the new man, reigned so perfectly in Mary’s Heart and so absolutely ruled her passions, that they never experienced any motivation contrary to the will of God. She never employed them except under the guidance of Holy Ghost and for the glory of His Divine Majesty. She never loved anything besides God; she never desired anything except to please Him; she feared nothing save to displease Him. All the difficult tasks she undertook were accomplished in His service and for His glory, the sole cause of her joy, even as the offence and dishonor afforded Him by sin were the only motives of her hatred, her aversion, and her anger. So truly were her natural passions uplifted and almost annihilated towards the world and all worldly objects and concerns, even with regard to herself and her own interests, that her emotions existed and vibrated only for what was pleasing to Him who possessed, animated, and directed them in all thoughts.

From this we learn that the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary was truly the Earthly Paradise, in which there was no war, trouble or disorder of any kind, but peace, tranquility and Marvellous order, combined with ceaseless praise and adoration of the God who had established His throne in this Paradise. All her passions, being entirely subject to reason and the Spirit of God, and perfectly blended together, blessed, and praised Him with admirable harmony in the variety of their distinct motions, uses and functions. They were all guided by the same Spirit, and all directed towards the same end, to glorify the Divine Majesty.

Now let us study the gardeners. In the first terrestrial paradise, Adam was appointed “to dress
it, and to keep it,” (Gen. 2, 15) but instead of cherishing his beautiful garden, he sold it to his arch-enemy the serpent, for a mere taste of the forbidden fruit. Instead of cultivating the Garden of Eden, Adam brought sin into it, filling it with thorns and thistles. What an unfaithful guardian! What a wicked gardener!

But in the second Paradise, the enclosed garden of the Heart of Mary, the gardener is Wisdom,
eternal, watchful and faithful, and the three assistant gardeners are Love, which digs and prepares the soil to receive the seed of heavenly inspiration, Grace which sows the seed, and Patience that cultivates it to fruition by perseverance. Thus, the flowers of Mary’s heart grow ever more beautiful, more admirable to us and more delightful to God, while the fruits of her garden multiply a hundred thousandfold.

As for the significance of the events that transpired, let us consider that the marriage of our First
Parents in the Garden of Eden, a holy union designated directly by God, was symbolic of the hypostatic union between the divinity and humanity of the Eternal Word, and the mystical alliance of Our Saviour and His Church. Yet where was the contract for these divine alliances drawn up, if not in the Garden of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the handmaid of God Almighty and the beloved Spouse of the Holy Ghost? There took place the secret and ineffable negotiations between the Eternal Father and the Blessed Virgin concerning the mystery of the Incarnation. There she made the offering and surrender of herself to the Divine Will and gave her consent to have a part in the Divine Espousals, not only between the august Trinity and herself, but between divine and human nature, between the Son of God and Holy Church.

In the original garden of Paradise, God sought for Man, saying “Where art thou?” (Gen. 3, 9),
because sin made Adam seek to hide and blot himself out in fear. In the second Paradise, God sought to hide Himself and His great glory for love, concealing His royal splendour so that the Three Kings, who came from afar to adore Him, had to ask: “Where is he?” It was sin that caused the annihilation of Adam, but love achieved the annihilation of the new Adam, the Son of God, who descended into the garden of Mary to draw us from the nothingness of sin.

In the first garden, God pronounced sentence upon the serpent: “The woman shall crush thy
Head and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Gen. 3, 15) In the garden of Mary’s Immaculate Heart, this pronouncement was fulfilled. Her Immaculate Conception crushed original sin, her sanctity routed the powers of evil, and her love obtained the exchange of our death sentence, bringing us the Saviour of the world. (Cf. St. John Damascene: Orat. 2 de domit. B. Mariae)

Man, having rebelled against God in the first paradise, was driven from that garden and banished forever with all his posterity, and at the gate was placed an angel with a flaming sword in his hand to prevent the children of Adam from re-entering the Garden of Eden. From this we learn
that to enter and share the second paradise, namely the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of the new Adam, we must cease to be sons of Adam and become children of Jesus Christ, that is, our old life must die. This death seems fearful; the sword of the cherubim is terrifying; yet actually it is a sword of love, which wounds, or even slays the blessed, in order to heal their souls and make them live the life of God. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Ps. 115, 15) says Sacred Scripture, meaning the death that is not death but the beginning of eternal life.

Since the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the garden of delectation of the Godman, our own hearts must be one of two things, either a hell of torment for ourselves, or a paradise of delights for us and for Jesus Christ. If we banish sin and self-love from the garden of our heart, opening wide the door to grace and to the King of Virtue, He will enter in and find repose in that place. (Prov. 15, 15) If we drive away grace and mortification, letting sin grow in our garden, then the demons will enter and make it their abode, a veritable hell instead of paradise. But if we strive to imitate Mary, our Queen, tending our heart with wisdom, love, grace and patience, God will not refuse us the full measure of His gifts so that we may cultivate our garden fruitfully, and make it, like Mary’s, a paradise of delight for Our Lord and Saviour, as well as a place of refreshment, deep sweetness, and peace for ourselves.

Fr. Pancras Raja
Spiritual Director
January 12, 2022

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Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
http://ourladyofmountcarmelusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Consecration-to-Immaculate-Heart-by-Our-Lady-of-Mt.-Carmel-SSPX-Marian-Corps.pdf

Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Posted in Newsletters and tagged 2022, Father Pancras Raja, January