Flower of Devotion

The Blessed Virgin Love once said to St. Bridget:

“From the very beginning of my life, when I heard and understood that there is a God, I feared and cared constantly for my salvation and salvation. Later, when I heard more clearly how God is the Creator and Judge of all My deeds, then I loved Him.
I have always been afraid and thought not to offend Him in thought, word, or deed. And when I went on to learn how God had given His people His law and commandments, and had performed so many miracles for them, I resolved firmly in my heart to love nothing but Him; and all worldly things made me bitter. When I went on to learn that the same God would redeem the world and be born of a Virgin, I was filled with such love for Him that I thought of nothing but God, and I wanted nothing but Him. I avoided as much as I could the presence of my parents and friends and conversations with them. And everything I could have, I gave to those in need. I kept nothing for myself except a modest meal and one dress.
I didn’t like anything but God. I always wished in my heart that I could live until He was born, and that I could earn the right to be His Mother’s handmaid. I also made a vow in My heart that if it were pleasing to Him, I would keep My virginity and possess nothing in the world. But if God wills otherwise, let His will be done, not Mine. For I believed that He could do all things, and that He wanted nothing but what was useful to Me. That’s why I gave all my will to Him.
And when the time drew near when, according to the law of Moses, virgins were to be represented in the temple of the Lord, I joined them also in obedience to My parents. At the same time, I thought that nothing is impossible with God, and that it is known to Him that I want nothing, and I want nothing but Him. And so, if it pleases Him so, He will be able to keep Me in virginity; and if not, then His will be done.
When I returned home from the temple, I became inflamed with a more ardent love for God than before, and every day I burned with new flames and lusts of love. Wherefore I drew farther away from all earthly things than I had done before: I was alone day and night, and I was very much afraid that My lips might speak, or My ears might hear something against God, or My eyes might see something that incited to sin. In My silence I was also timid and fearful, lest I should be silent about what I should have said.
When, therefore, I grieved and troubled in My heart, alone, and placed all My trust in God, the thought immediately occurred to me of the great power of God, that the angels and all creatures serve Him, and how His splendor is ineffable and immeasurable. And while I was admiring all this, I saw three wonderful things. I saw a star, but not the kind that usually shines in the sky. I saw the light further, but not as it shines in the world. I smelled a fragrance, not that of herbs and other plants, but a very lovely, ineffable fragrance that permeated me completely, so that I rejoiced greatly. Then I heard a voice, but not from a man’s mouth. When I heard it, I was alarmed, for I thought it might be an illusion.
And immediatelyAn angel of God appeared to me as a very beautiful man, but not covered with flesh, and said to me, “Hail, full of grace…” When I heard this, I wondered what it could mean and why he greets Me in this way. For I knew and believed that I was worthy of this or anything else good. But I also believed that God could do anything He wanted. Then the angel continued, “The Holy One that is born of you will be called the Son of God, and as it pleases him, so all things will be.”
Still, I did not consider myself worthy of it, but I asked how it could be that I should be unworthy of being the Mother of God when I did not know my husband. And the angel said to me, “With God nothing is impossible, but whatever He wills, He will do.” When I heard these words of the angel, I felt the most ardent desire to become the Mother of God, and my soul said full of love: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word!”
After uttering these words of Mine, I immediately conceived My Son in the flesh amid the unspeakable joy of My soul and of all My members. And having Him under my heart, I carried Him without pain, without burden, and without affliction of the flesh. I humbled myself in everything because I knew that the One I was wearing was the Almighty. When I gave birth to Him, I did not suffer any pains, but as at the conception of Him, I felt an inexpressible joy of soul and body, so that for the delight of My feet did not feel the ground on which they stood.
When I saw My Son’s beauty and contemplated it, I often thought that I was not worthy of such a Son. But when I saw the places of nails on his hands and feet, where I knew from the books of the Prophets that he was to be nailed to the Cross, My eyes filled with tears and My Heart was torn by sorrow. When My Son saw these tears in My eyes, He felt a violent sadness. But as soon as I had conceived the power of His divinity, consolation was expressed in My Heart, for I knew that He willed it so, and that it was so good, and I surrendered all my will entirely to His will.
But in this way my joys have always been seasoned with sorrow and suffering. When the time of my Son’s Passion came, His enemies attacked Him in a robber manner, struck Him on the cheeks and on the neck, spat on Him and mocked Him. Then they led him to the pillar. My Son Himself took off His garments. And He Himself put His hands to the pillar, to which His enemies had tied them without mercy. After He was bound, He was stripped naked as He came into the world, and He bore the shame of His nakedness. And His enemies stood together against Him, and were always with Him, and scourged His Body, which was pure without guilt or sin.
At the first blow I fell, standing close to Him, as if dead. And I saw, when I came to consciousness again, His body was torn to the bone by the blows and scourges of scourging, so that the ribs came out of Him. And the greatest bitterness was the sight when, behind the lashing of the whips, pieces of the Body were torn out with them.
As My Son stood there, covered in blood and torn in his body, one of the scourgers moved in spirit and said, “Do you want to kill him like this without trial?” And he cut His bonds.
Then My Son put on His garments again. And I saw the places where My Son stood, filled with all the Blood, and from these footprints I knew where My Son stood. For wherever he came, the earth was covered with blood. However, his enemies did not allow him to clothe himself completely, but urged Him and drew Him to quicken His steps. While He was being led like a robber, My Son was wiping His own eyes from His blood.
And when He was condemned to death, a Cross was laid upon Him to carry it. When he was carrying him some way, one of the people came to him and helped him to carry him. As My Son walked to the place of His Passion, some struck Him in the breast, others struck Him in the face. He was beaten so hard that although I did not see the beaters, I could hear the sound of the beatings.
And when I came with Him to the place of His Passion, I saw there all the instruments prepared to put Him to death. When My Son arrived there, He took off His garments. And the servants said among themselves, “These garments were ours, and he will not get them again, for he is condemned to death.” Then the cruel executioners took Him and dragged Him out on the Cross.
First, they fastened their right hand to the tree, where a hole had been drilled for the nail. They pierced the hand itself where the bone was strongest. Then they stretched out their other hand with a rope and fastened
it like the first. Then they nailed the right foot to the Cross, and then the left leg with two nails, so that they severed all the nerves and veins. Then they put a crown of thorns on His Head, which pricked it so badly that the Blood dripping from it reddened His entire beard.
As he hung there, bloodied and wounded, he pitied Me for the pain I suffered as I stood at the foot of His Cross and sighed. With bloodshot eyes he looked at John, the son of my sister, and commended me to him. At that time I heard some say that My Son was a robber, others that He was a liar, others that no one was more worthy of death than this Son of Mine. Listening to these discourses renewed My sorrows.
When, as I have already said, My Son was nailed with the first nail, I fell as if I were dead at the first blow. My eyes darkened, my hands trembled, my legs trembled beneath me; and, full of bitter sorrow, I did not look until He was completely crucified. When I arose again, I saw My Son hanging miserably, and I, His Mother, filled with the heaviest sorrow, could scarcely stand with grief.
When My Son saw Me and His friends weeping bitterly, He cried out to His Father in a voice full of complaint: “My Father, why have You forsaken Me?” As if to say, “There is no one who has pity on Me but You, My Father.” Now his eyes seemed to be half dead, his cheeks were concave, his face was covered with sorrow; His mouth opened, his tongue bled. His life was bent to his back, and when all the moisture in him was dry, he looked as if he had no entrails at all. His whole body turned pale and weakened by the loss of blood. His hands and feet were cruelly torn and took on the posture of the cross to which they were nailed. His hair and beard were sprinkled with blood.
When My Son hung there so wounded and torn, His heart was still healthy and fresh, for it was built by birth strong and well. From my body My Son received body very pure and exquisitely built. His skin was delicate and thin to such an extent that at the slightest blow blood immediately oozed from it. He also had blood so fresh that it could be seen through His clean skin. And because He possessed a most excellent nature, death and life fought in His wounded body. Sometimes pain rose from the limbs and from the torn nerves of the body to His Heart, which was still healthy and fresh; and tormented Him with an inexpressible ailment. Again the sorrow passed from the Heart downwards into the limbs, and thus prolonged death.
My Son, plunged in such sorrow, looked upon His weeping friends, who, with His help, would rather suffer these torments themselves and burn forever in hell than see Him crucified in this way. At that time, His suffering, which He endured as a result of the sorrows of His friends, was far greater than all the bitterness and deep sorrow He bore in His body and in His Heart; for he loved them tenderly. Now He cried out to His Father, because of too much sorrow for His Humanity, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit!”
When, in My deep sorrow, I heard this cry, all the limbs in Me trembled in the bitter sorrow of My heart. And whenever this cry came to my mind, each time it sounded in my ears as if it were a new voice, but always present in my soul. Then, when death drew near and the Son’s heart broke with excess of pain, all His members trembled. His head rose a little, and then drooped on his breast. His mouth opened, His tongue was covered with blood, and His hands drew back a little from the places where they had been nailed. And all the weight of his body was now on his legs. His fingers and hands stretched out, as it were, and his back pressed even more against the tree.
Then some said to me, “Mary, your Son is dead.” Others said, “He died, but he will rise again.” While everyone was saying this, one of the executioners ran up and thrust his spear into my Son’s side so violently that it almost came out the opposite side. And when he drew his spear, its blade was bloody. At that time, I thought that My own Heart had been pierced as I watched the Heart of My most beloved Son being pierced.
Then He was taken down from the Cross and I received Him, all pale, into My bosom. His eyes froze and were filled with Blood, His lips were as cold as snow, His face grew thin and tight. His hands were so stiff that they could not be bent lower than the waist. As He hung on the Cross, I held Him on my lap like a man broken in all his limbs. Then they laid Him on a clean cloth, and I wiped His wounds and limbs with My cloth handkerchief. Then I
closed my eyes and mouth to Him, which opened after His death. Then he was laid in the grave.
Oh, how gladly, if it were the will of my Son, I would have been buried alive with Him! When this was done, the good Apostle John came to me and took me home.
This, My daughter, is that My Son suffered all for you!