MARY, CO-REDEMPTRIX (Based Primarily on the Writings of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta)

Copies permitted, provided no changes are made. MARY, CO-REDEMPTRIX (based primarily on the writings of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta) Introduction In May of 1997, Pope John Paul II wrote a letter to the Rogationist Fathers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the occasion of the centenary of their founding by St. Hannibal Di Francia. In the Pope’s letter, which was published in the l’Osservatore Romano, he stated that the Holy Spirit wishes to give Christians a “new and divine holiness” at the dawn of the Third Millennium. On August 15, 1998, the John Paul II Institute of Christian Spirituality was founded in the United States of America to make better known this “new and divine holiness.” Its founder and collaborators had been studying this “new and divine holiness” for as long as 25 years prior to the founding of this Institute. We at the Institute believe that this “new and divine holiness” demonstrates the principle in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (5:20) concerning sin and Grace that there is a tremendous Grace being given in our times, abounding greater than the increasing sin that pervades the present times of our world. The principal exemplar of this “new and divine holiness” is the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, whose cause of beatification and canonization is currently being processed in Rome. The diocesan phase of her cause closed in October of 2005, eleven years after its opening in November of 1994 on the Feast of Christ the King. The Institute has incorporated in its study of this “new and divine holiness” the lives and writings of other 20th century persons of extraordinary holiness, some of whom have been blessed with graces and gifts which seem to exceed that of any of the saints of prior centuries. Among these other persons whom the Institute believes to be authentic exemplars of a “new and divine holiness” are Blessed Dina Belanger of Canada, Venerable Conception Cabrera de Armida of Mexico, and St. Hannibal Di Francia of Italy. We also include in our studies the writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe about The Immaculate Mary, which seem to confirm the possibility of an exceptional type of union with God beyond that seen in the saints of prior times. Our reasoning here is: that the extraordinary type of divine union which Saint Maximilian says of Our Lady—a creature of God—seems possible in other creatures of God although to a lesser degree, of course. And it is inherent in the maternal instincts of Our Lady that She would want her children to share in her riches of grace as far as it is possible according to the Divine Wisdom, which Itself seems to have decreed the granting of such exceeding riches of grace for souls in this present period of human history. The type of exceptional and divine holiness lived by Our Lady seems to be of the same order—although to a higher degree, of course—as experienced by the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta (1865-1947), whose mission was to make known to the Church a new era of divine holiness which brings to fulfillment the Lord’s prayer: “ Fiat Voluntas Tua, Sicut in Caelo et in Terra.” The foregoing words are given to demonstrate the reasonable probability that God, the Author of this “new and divine holiness,” has also given to the Church “new and divine” language and insights into the mystery of his Will, perhaps never before under- stood. This is worth mentioning, because this presentation on Mary as Co-Redemptrix will include some most startling and wondrous language appropriate for these times of exceptional grace. The principal source of information for this presentation are the writings of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, accompanied in some instances by excerpts from the writings of Saint Maximilian Kolbe and Ven. Conception Cabrera de Armida, as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In St. Maximilian Kolbe’s Mariolgy, he says that in Mary occurs a miracle of the union of God with a creature. He calls attention to the fact that this title of spouse of the Holy Spirit stresses the intimate union between the will of Mary and the unique Will of the three divine Persons and that we can at least say that the Holy Spirit and Mary are two persons who live in such intimate union that they have but one sole life and that her life is the very life of the Holy Spirit in her. St. Maximilian adds: “We are not dealing here with the ordinary, natural presence by which God created her and preserved her being. Nor are we dealing with the special presence of God which makes every baptized person share, by grace, in God’s own nature. What we are concerned with here is a new sort of presence of the Holy Spirit, who unites her to Himself in a manner proper and personal to Himself…” (References are from “Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit” by Fr. H. M. Manteau-Bonamy, O.P.) The insights of St. Maximilian concerning Mary’s surpassing unity of wills and life with the Trinity are enhanced with more clarity in the writings of Luisa Piccarreta. It is important to understand the unique, intimate relationship between the will of Mary and the Will of the Trinity, because it is upon this foundation that all the qualities and missions of Mary are based. In essence, at the time of her Immaculate Conception, Mary was given the Gift of the Divine Will, which had been given to Adam and which established the original state of man. Adam was unfaithful and lost his original state. Mary was faithful to the point that for an entire lifetime She never did her own will but always let the Divine Will reign and operate freely in Her. It is important to understand this relationship of Mary with God, because it was an unique relationship that brought about in Her all her divine qualities and the most intimate association with the Life of Jesus that is possible to a created person. (Excerpts from Piccarreta’s writings and commentaries follow, below, in this presentation.) 2 Concerning the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 521 has an interesting applicability to the theme of this presentation. The first sentence of that paragraph states: “Christ enables us to live in Him all that He Himself lived, and that He lives it in us.” Certainly He lived his life of Redeemer in Mary to the highest degree among created persons. But what is unique about that sentence from paragraph 521 is that “all that He Himself lived” includes not only his exterior life, which is quite well known, but also his interior life—what his Soul was doing united to his Divinity. And this is made bountifully known in Luisa Piccarreta’s 36-volume “Book of Heaven.” In that book Jesus tells Luisa that the saints have imitated his exterior life—and some did so very well—but little was known of his interior life, and that He is now forming a generation of souls who will imitate his interior life—that is, to imitate what his Soul was doing united to his divinity. According to the writings of Luisa Piccarreta, Jesus possessed naturally the Kingdom of the Father’s Will, which reigned and operated in his Humanity, and this formed the divine dimension of his interior life as man. Mary possessed the Kingdom of the Father’s Will within her soul by Gift given at the moment of her creation. By this unity of her human will in the Divine Will, She shared intimately and inseparably in all aspects of the life of her Son. Insights into the mystery of Mary’s mission of Co-Redemptrix are interwoven integrally with her Immaculate Conception and her divine and human Maternity. Therefore, it is necessary to provide here some special insights into these aspects of her life as we demonstrate various proofs of her mission of Co-Redemptrix from the writings of Luisa Piccarreta, which now follow. NOTE: Citation references from Luisa Piccarreta’s 40-year diary, aptly named by Our Lord “Book of Heaven” (pro-manuscripto) will be abbreviated as follows: [BH, Piccarreta, date] ________________ The Immaculate Conception: Jesus to Luisa: “[D]o you want to know what was the greatest prodigy worked by Us [the Trinity] in this creature so holy, and the greatest heroism of this so beautiful creature that no one will ever equal? Her life began in our Will. She followed It and fulfilled It. Thus it can be said that She fulfilled It from the moment She began, and She began from the moment She fulfilled It. And our greatest prodigy was that in each of her thoughts, words, breaths, heartbeats, movements and steps our Will poured Itself out upon Her. And She offered us the heroism of an eternal, divine Heartbeat working in Her. This elevated Her so high that what We are by nature, She is by Grace. All her other prerogatives, her privileges, her Immaculate Conception itself, would have been nothing in comparison to this great prodigy. Moreover, this was what confirmed Her and made Her stable and strong during her entire life. My continuous Will poured Itself in Her and made Her a participant in the Divine Nature. And Her continuous reception of It made Her strong in love, strong in sorrow, and different from everyone. It was our Will operating in Her that drew the Eternal Word to earth and formed the seed of the Divine 3 Fecundity so that a God-man could be conceived without human operation.

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