Katya Rivas: The Sorrows of the Virgin Mary

Sunday, 9 April 2006, 10:18 pm
Column: Katya Rivas

Through the season of Lent 2006 Scoop will be publishing a serialisation of Katya Rivas’s "The Passion". Readers can sign up to receive the serial by email at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dailykatya/. To order a video about Katya's work see… http://www.apleatohumanity.com/

The Medallion of the Apostolate of the New Evangelization

The Passion

Reflections that Jesus makes on the mystery of His suffering and the value it has on the Redemption.
Cochabamba — Bolivia
Spanish Editions: 1996 and 1998
English 1st Edition - November 1999

The Passion
Extract 25
The Blessed Mother

Many prophets spoke about me: they prophesied that it was necessary for me to suffer to become worthy of being the Mother of God. On earth they anticipated knowledge of me but it had to be in a very guarded way. Later the Evangelists talked about me, especially Luke, my beloved physician - more of souls than of bodies. Afterwards some devotions were started that had as a basis the sorrows and pains I suffered. And thus it is commonly believed and thought that I experienced seven main sorrows.

My children, your Mother has rewarded and will reward the efforts and love that you have had for me. But as Jesus did, I want to talk to you more extensively about my sorrows. Then, you will talk to your brethren about them, and at last everyone will imitate Me. Because of what I suffered, I am continuously praising Jesus and seek nothing but only that He be glorified in me.

See, little children, it is sad to talk about these things to my own children, because every mother keeps her sorrows to herself. And this I dutifully did in the course of my mortal life; therefore, my wish as a mother has been respected by God. Now that I am here, where the smile is eternal, and having, as all mothers, already concealed the sorrows that I experienced, I should talk about them so that as my children you may know something about my life.

I know the fruits that you will gain from it and how they please Jesus, My beloved Son. I will talk about them as soon as you can understand me.

My Jesus said, “Whoever is first, make yourself last”, and He truly did it because He is the first in the House of God, but He came down to the last step. Now, because of love, I will not take away from Him this first and last place that belongs to Him. Rather, I strive to make you understand this truth, and my joy will be greater when you are convinced, not through the path of simple knowledge but through means of a deep-rooted and profound conviction. May He be first and we the last.

If He was the first, there should be a second one in the ladder of love and glory and; therefore, of lowliness and humiliation. You have now understood: that being should be me. Little children, praise God who having created an enormous distance between Jesus and me, still wanted to place me immediately next to Him.

My children, what appears to the world is not what is most important before God. Having been chosen Mother of God implied for me grave sacrifices and resignations, and the first one was this: knowing through Gabriel the election made in the intimacy of God. I had wanted to remain in a state of humble knowledge and concealment in God. I wanted this more than anything else because it was my delight to know myself as last in everything.

Upon knowing the choice of God, I answered, as you know, but it was difficult to rise up to the dignity for which I was called.

Little children, do you understand my first sorrow of which I speak? Reflect on it, give your Mother the great delight of esteeming that humbleness which I so much esteemed above my virginity. Yes, I was and am the slave to whom anything can be asked of, and I accepted only because my surrender was the same degree as my love.

You enjoyed, O God, elevating me to You, and I enjoyed accepting because my obedience was pleasing to You. But You know how sorrowful it was for me, and that same sorrow is now before You in need of light for these children, whom You love and whom I love. I am the slave, O Children of mine, and as it was done unto me, let it now, without doubt, be done to you all that God wants!

The acceptance gave God the answer that will give men access to the Redemption, and in this was verified that admirable phrase: “Here is a Virgin who shall conceive and give birth to a Son who shall be called Emmanuel.”

The acceptance to become the Mother of Emmanuel, involved my gift to the Son of God in such a way that His Mother would bestow herself to Him, before the Humanity of Jesus would form in me. That is why my gift was the result of the Grace, and also the reason for the Grace. And the precedence should be recognized that God is the foremost reason; nevertheless, it should be affirmed that my acceptance acted in the plan of Grace as an accompanying reason.

They call me Co-Redemptrix for the sorrows I have suffered; but I was so, even before, because of the gift I had made through Gabriel. O, my divine Son! How much honor you have wanted to give your Mother in compensation for the great sorrow I suffered in rising to the dignity of your Mother!

You, little children, are blind in the world, but when you see, wonderful things will become incentives for your joy for me. You will see what unity of glory and humility there is here where my Jesus is the sun that is never hidden. You will see how wise a design was carried out through my renouncement, to the lowliness of hiding.

But now, hear me. As my maternity was advancing, I had to talk to some of my loved ones about the honor I had received and I did so concealing as much as I could. I lamented the renounced triumph of the secret in God because God Himself should be glorified in me.

However, very soon I had the joy of knowing that I was considered as a woman amongst many. My soul rejoiced because the Slave of God, who wanted humiliations as only I could, was being trampled on before the world. When Joseph hid, I did not suffer, I truly rejoiced. Do not say that I suffered then because that is not true.

That was how God satisfied my desire for humiliations. This was the Lord’s compensation for becoming the Mother of God: to be considered as a fallen woman. Daughter, learn the knowledge of love, learn to esteem holy humility, and do not fear because it is a virtue that shines with sparkling light.

When the marriage took place, I had no problems. I knew how things would be and I feared nothing. Indeed, God gives, to those who give themselves entirely to Him, a perfect place in the most inconsistent situations, as was mine: I was forced by human obligation to marry a man, even when I knew that I could belong only to God.

I suffered so many sorrows on earth! It is not easy being Mother of the Highest, I assure you. But neither can it be called difficult that which is done for the purest of ends and to be pleasing to God. Remember it!

Have you ever thought what it was that caused me the most sorrow on that Holy Night in Bethlehem? You distract your mind with the stable, with the manger, and with the poverty. I, on the other hand, tell you that I spent that night in complete ecstasy of my Son. And even though I had to do what every mother does with her small child, I did not abandon my ecstasy, my bliss. And so, the only thing that caused me sorrow that night of love was seeing the affliction of my poor Joseph on looking for a refuge, any place, for me. Conscious of what was to happen and Who would come to earth, my beloved husband, on seeing that I was confused, became anguished and I felt much sympathy for him. Later, we were filled with joy and we forgot every worry.

We fled to Egypt and all that is possible has been said about this, even though some center their imagination upon the fatigue of the journey more than upon the fear of a mother who knew that she possessed the greatest treasure in Heaven and Earth.

Later living in Nazareth, little Jesus was growing up full of life and, at that time, He caused us few and minimum worries. Every mother knows what it is like to wish for the health of her own child, and how a very simple thing looks like a great dark cloud. My Boy went through all the epidemics and childhood illnesses of those times. Like every mother, I could not be immune to any of the anxieties that a mother’s heart goes through.

But one day the very dark cloud that darkened the festive light of the Mother of God arrived. That cloud is called losing Jesus…. No poet or master of the spirit could imagine Mary when she knew that she had lost her adored Son and had no news of Him until three days later… Little children, do not be amazed at my words, I experienced the greatest confusion of my life. You have not reflected enough on those words of mine: “Son, your father and I have been looking for you for three days. Why have You done this to us?” My God, now that I speak to these beloved children, I cannot stop praising You. You who hid to make us feel the delight of finding You. O! In what other way could it be possible to know the sweetness that a glass full of honey puts in the soul as when she embraces her All?

You see, I also tell you about my joys; but not without reason do I relate and join together the joys and sorrows. Draw benefits, in the best way possible, from all that happened. God hides in order to be found. Some know this truth, others thinking about that terrible sorrow of having lost Jesus, do everything to find Him. You should not stay inert and overwhelmed.

Your Mother would like to save you from dealing with so much that is still to be said. First, there are things never announced and; therefore, not yet appreciated. Secondly, by knowing them, you will have to join me in suffering and painful considerations. Moreover, everything that my Jesus wants, has been said without any opposition whatsoever.

Do you think that I spent our family life peacefully in Nazareth? It was peaceful in virtue of the uniformity with the love of God. But from the creatures, there was so much trouble!

Our unique way of living was noticed, and as a result we were ridiculed publicly. I was considered excessive because of the fact that when Jesus left the house, I could not contain My tears, and Jesus went out frequently. Joseph was harassed as if he were a slave to Jesus and me. What could the world understand? We left all the care to the One who lived amongst us, adored in all His manifestations.

What a beloved Son that young Boy was; more handsome than the sea, wiser than Solomon, and stronger than Samson. All the mothers would have taken Him away from me; such was the charm that surrounded Him. The small minded covered me with soothing judgments; however, they did not spare criticism toward the never tiring father whom they thought was subject to his faithful but jealous wife. Everyone was familiar with my wholeness, but they all thought it to be a common and selfish passion.

This, my little children, is what is not known. This happened between a world that could not see nor understand, and His purest Mother. Jesus kept quiet, without encouraging me, because the Mother of God had to go through the crucible, that is, as one woman amongst many from whom opinions should not be spared.

Admire the Wisdom of God in these things and find the Divine meaning, which joins the greatest of sublimity to the tests that are more painful in relation with such sublimity, because every abyss calls upon another abyss and every depth calls upon its depth.

The hour of separation has come, the hour for Jesus’ action. With it, the feared day of the departure from Nazareth arrived.

Jesus had spoken extensively to me of His mission and of the fruits that it would give Him and everyone; He had made me love it beforehand. It was necessary, therefore, for us to separate, even if for a short time… He said goodbye, kissed us, and went forward to His mission as teacher of humanity. But His departure did not go unnoticed in the small village where Jesus was so loved.

There were gestures of affection, of blessings and, since they did not know the good that Jesus was going to do, a loss was foreseen by these people of small intellect but generous at heart.

And I, amongst so many manifestations, how did I feel? A thousand affections rushed upon me, but He did not delay His departure by a minute. My Jesus knew what awaited Him after His preaching. He had told me so many times and so profusely of the treachery of the Pharisees and the others. And now you see Him leaving, alone without me to fulfill His mandate; without me who had made Him grow with the warmth of my heart; without me who adored Him like no one would ever adore Him!

Later I followed Him. I found Him when he was surrounded by so many people that it was not possible for me to see Him. And He, truly the Son of God, gave His Mother a sublime answer as was His wisdom, but it pierced this maternal heart from side to side. Yes I understood Him completely, but that did not free me from sorrows. To the human relationship, He countered the Divine in which I was included, it is true; nevertheless, the remarks of the others hurt Me.

The initial blow was followed by the joy of seeing His greatness, of seeing Him honored, venerated, and loved by the people; and quickly this wound also healed.

I traveled the paths with Him, enthralled with His knowledge, comforted with His teachings, and I never tired of loving and admiring Him.

Then came His first friction with the Sanhedrin. The miracle happened: the miracle that raised so much ado in the minds of the proud Jewish priests. He was hated, persecuted, spied upon, and tempted. And I? I knew everything and from then on, with open arms, I offered the holocaust of my Son, His surrender, and His horrible and ignominious death into the hands of the Father. I already knew about Judas; I knew the tree from which the wood would be taken for my Son’s Cross.

You cannot imagine the intimate tragedy that I lived together with my Jesus, in order for the Redemption to be fulfilled.

I had said before: Co-redemptrix. For this, the usual sorrows were not enough. A more intimate union to His great suffering was necessary, so that all men should be redeemed. So, as I went from town to town with Him, I became more and more informed about the heartbroken cries that My Son poured out during so many sleepless nights that He spent in prayer and meditation. Before me every state of mind of His was revealed and truly my Calvary and my Cross began then.

So many considerations increased my sorrows each day that I was His Mother and yours! So many sins, all the sins; so much sorrow, all the sorrows; so many thorns, all the thorns; Jesus was not alone. He knew it, and felt it. He saw His Mother in continuous union with Him. He was afflicted by it, more so, because my suffering was for Him the greatest suffering.

My Son, my adored Son, if only these sons and daughters knew what happened then between You and me!…

And the hour of the holocaust came after the sweetness of the Paschal Supper. And after that, I had to rejoin the people. I, who loved and adored Him in a unique way, had to be far from Him. Do you understand, O my children?

I knew that Judas was taking his treacherous steps and there was nothing I could do; and I knew that Jesus had sweated Blood in the Garden and there was nothing I could do for Him. Then they arrested Him, insulted Him, and wickedly condemned Him.

I cannot tell you everything. I shall only say that my Heart was in turmoil with continuous anxiety; a seat of continuous bitterness, uncertainties, a place of desolation, tired and disconsolate. And all the souls that later would be lost? And all the simony and sacrilegious interchanges?

O children of my sorrows! If today you were given the graces of suffering for me, bless the One who gave them to you with fervor, and sacrifice yourselves without doubt.

You think about my greatness, my beloved children. It helps you to think about it; but listen to me: do not think about me, but about Him. I would like to be forgotten, if it were possible! Give all your compassion to Him, to my Jesus, to your Jesus, to Jesus, your love and mine.

Thus, little children, the sorrow of my Heart was a continuous sword that pierced my soul, my life. I felt it, while Jesus did not. He comforted me with His Resurrection, when my immense joy suddenly healed all the wounds that bled within me. “My Son,“ I kept repeating. Why so much desolation? Your Mother is near You. Is my love not enough? How many times did I comfort You in Your afflictions? And now, can Your Mother not give You some relief? O Father of my Jesus, I do not want anything more than what You want. You know it; but see if so many afflictions can have some relief. The Mother of Your Son asks this from You.

And now on Calvary I protested: “My God, return to those eyes that I adore the light that you imprinted in them since the day that You gave Him to me! Divine Father, see the horror of that holy face! Can you not at least wipe away so much Blood? O Father of My Son, O Spouse my love, O You Yourself, Word who wanted to have humanity from me! May the prayer of those arms opened up to Heaven and on earth be the supplication of His and my acceptance!

Look, O God, to what that One whom You love has been reduced to! It is His Mother who asks You to alleviate so much sadness. After a short time, I will be without Him. Thus my promise, which I offered from my Heart when in the Temple, will be fulfilled entirely. Yes, I will remain alone, but lighten His pain without attending to mine…

EDITOR’S NOTES: Through the Christian season of Lent 2006, Scoop will be publishing a series of daily reflections on the Passion from Bolivian author Katya Rivas. Rivas, has received an official imprimatur from the Catholic Church for several books.. Readers can sign up to recieve daily extracts from Katya Rivas's writings by email at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dailykatya/

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: “Copyright© 2000 by The Great Crusade of Love and Mercy. All rights reserved. This book is published in coordination with The Apostolate of the New Evangelization. Permission is granted to reproduce this book as a whole in its entirety with no changes or additions and as long as the reproduction and distribution is done solely on a non-profit basis. This document is available at no cost online and can be downloaded and printed from the following Web Sites: in English at: http://www.greatcrusade.org and Spanish at: http://www.grancruzada.org …Please copy and distribute this book”.

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The Writings of Katya Rivas

The Great Crusade of Love and Mercy

Each year as an part of an observance of Lent Scoop.co.nz publishes a serialisation of Katya Rivas's book "The Passion".

Katya Rivas's work was the subject of a documentary made in 1999 by Australian's Ron Tesoriero and Mike Willissee called "Signs from God" ( read a review here ). In the same year the then Bishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio - now Pope Francis - requested a scientific investigation of a remarkable and unexplained phenomena involving a discarded host which had started to bleed. In 2013 Ron Tesoriero published a book "Unseen : New Evidence" which addresses what happened with this investigation and its implications for the quest to discover the origin of life. ( Find out more here ).

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