CHAPTER 44: Agreda, Spain ...... (Your review here)
"This is our Abbess, Madre Sor Maria de Jesus."
Video Screenshot: Sor Maria Jesus de Agreda/Posted by: Caballeroperegrino
"Very well. May God be pleased with you."
"Thank you, Father Superior"
"Since you have requested guidance, I am the one God has chosen to bring about some order here. Obviously you need help in obeying His will. Am I wrong or right on this matter, Sister?
"Of course you are right, Father."
"You may bring me something hot to drink. I swear I'm catching a cold."
"Yes Father, it will only take me a minute."
"Alright then, hurry up before I'm too sick to attend mass."
Maria returned with some hot tea, mixed with a few local herbs that were known for their healing quality, pleasant taste and wonderful aroma.
"My God, Sister, do you call this a drink? At least bring me something sweet to hide that ghastly flavor. Haven't you nuns been taught how to make a proper cup of tea? No wonder they sent me here."
"My Lord, please take some honey."
"Listen carefully, Mother. I don't have a lot of time to waste. I want you to tell me the truth."
"Certainly Father. In the name of our Lord, of course I will."
"First you need to know that back in Madrid there are countless rumors flying around and they're all about you. Are you aware of this, Sister Maria?"
"I am sorry, Father, I do not follow you."
"Rumors for God's sake! Gossip! Rumors about you! What's so hard to understand about that? Let's start with your fantasies. What is this nonsense about you and the Indians? I was even told that you never went to school? How can that be possible? Don't they have a school in Agreda?"
"Yes, there is a fine school ...but because of my health."
"Are you telling me that you are too sick to be a nun?"
"Oh no, heaven forbid, I am a bride of Christ."
"Then if you haven't been to school, Sister, tell me how everyone in Madrid is telling me that you have taken it upon yourself to write a biography of our Holy Virgin Mother. Is this true?"
"Father it is true that I am obedient to Our Lady and that Her will is mine."
"So is it your confession that our Most Splendid Mother, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, has selected you from among all of Spain's finest ...from all her diligent, and from all her nobility, to be Her chief servant?"
"Oh no Father, I am not qualified to be her servant."
"Can't you hear yourself speak, Sister? Perhaps your other confessor—what was his name?"
"Father Andres, My Lord."
"That's right. Perhaps he encouraged you to pen your dreams due to his inexperience. Now enough of your double talk."
"Yes, My Lord."
"Listen. You do not want to upset the apple cart, do you Sister Maria?"
"Never, My Lord."
"Then it's settled. Alright, now I must get some rest before evening mass. If I am not feeling better I may not be able to attend. That so called hot drink of yours has only made me worse. I will call upon you soon. Goodbye Sister."
"Praise be to Our Father, His Son, and the Holy Ghost. Goodnight Father."
* * * * * * * *
(A few days later...)
"But Maria, I do not understand. Why must you burn everything—your diaries and your manuscripts? Didn't Father Andres encourage you to write?"
"I'm sorry, Sister Candida. The Lord is now calling me to be obedient. My writings are a distraction. We must all be obedient just as our Lord obeys His Heavenly Father."
* * * * * * * *
Sor Maria de Jesus was assigned several priests during her lifetime to give her both guidance and counsel. Father Andres del la Torre encouraged her—while quite the opposite could be said of a much older Confessor who took a much sterner approach to Sister Maria and woman in general.
Video Screenshot: Sor Maria Jesus de Agreda
Posted by: Caballeroperegrino
Always a humble soul but at times in turmoil, Maria endeavored to be obedient to those in charge of her, even if it brought her enormous pain. Perhaps due to the wisdom of his old age, perhaps the old Confessor had been right to chastise her—but in retrospect, historians and theologians can only shudder. By the age of 42, Sor Maria had been ordered by him to burn close to 5000 pages of priceless writings, including her journal describing her experiences with the American Indians. Her original, 2700 page, 8 volume, Mystical City of God—the biography of Mary, the Mother of Jesus—was among the writings she was forced to destroy. Thankfully, unknown to her, a copy had been secretly made and survives today. The journal is forever lost.
Author: Sor Maria Jesus de Agreda
Sister Maria confessed to investigators that she had bilocated nearly 600 times to preach to the Indians in North America, sometimes as often as four times a day. During one examination, having just been bled with leeches to reduce her fever, in poor health Maria was made to kneel precariously on a rail for ten days, 6 hours each day, while Padre Inquisitor Antonio del Moral and his Spanish scribes sat comfortably questioning her.
Video Screenshot: The Trial of Sor Maria Jesus de Agreda
Posted by: Caballeroperegrino
Official tribunes were conducted on multiple occasions into her behavior and admissions—their official notes survive today as well as other correspondence relating to the great mystery of the Jumano Indians and the Lady in Blue.