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    LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF CHRIST
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                 taken from

         "The Mystical City of God"

    by Sister Mary of Jesus of Agreda
                1602--1665

      Of many of the sacraments and mysteries con-
nected with the doings of Christ our Savior on the
Cross the Evangelists make no mention; and we as
Catholics can only form prudent conjectures founded
upon the infallible certainty of our faith. But among
those which have been manifested to me in this history,
and concerning this part of the Passion, is a prayer,
which Christ addressed to his eternal Father before
speaking the seven words on the Cross recorded by the
Evangelists. I call it a prayer because it was addressed
to the Father; but in reality it was a last bequest or
testament, which He made as a true and most wise
Father in order to consign his possessions to his family,
that is, to the whole human race. Even natural reason
teaches us, that he who is the head of a family or the
lord over many or few possessions, would not be a pru-
dent dispenser of his goods, and inattentive to his office
or dignity, if at the hour of his death he would not make
known his will in regard to the disposition of his goods
and his estate, in order that each one of his family may
know what belongs to him and may possess it justly
and peacefully without recourse to lawsuits. For this
very reason, and in order that they may set their minds
at ease in preparation for the hour of death, men of
the world make their last testaments. And even the
religious resign the things permitted them for daily use,
because in that hour earthly matters are apt to fill the
mind with anxieties and prevent them from rising to-
ward their Creator. Although earthly things could not
disturb our Savior, since He neither possessed them, nor,
if He had possessed any, could He be embarrassed by
them in his infinite power; yet it was fitting, that He
should in that hour dispose of the spiritual riches and
treasures which He had amassed for mankind in the
course of his pilgrimage.

    Of these eternal goods the Savior made his last
disposition on the Cross, distributing them and point-
ing out those who should be legitimate heirs and those
who should be disinherited, and mentioning the reasons
for the one as well as the other. All this He did in
conference with his eternal Father, as the supreme Lord
and most just Judge of all creatures; for in this testa-
ment are rehearsed the mysteries of the predestination
of the saints and of the reprobation of the wicked. It
was a testament hidden and sealed for mankind; only
the blessed Mary understood it, because, in addition to
her being informed of the operations of the divine Soul
of Christ, She was also to be the universal Heiress of
all creation. As She was the Coadjutrix of salvation,
She was also to be the testamentary Executrix. For
the Son placed all things in her hands, just as the Father
had assigned the whole creation to Him. She was to
execute his will, and she was to distribute all the treas-
ures acquired and due to her Son as God on account of
his infinite merits. This understanding has been given
me as part of this history for the exaltation of our Queen
and in order that sinners might approach Her as the
Custodian of all the treasures gained by her Son and
our Redeemer in the sight of his eternal Father. All
help and assistance is in the hands of most holy Mary,
and She is to distribute it according to her most sweet
kindness and liberality.

    TESTAMENT MADE BY CHRIST OUR LORD ON THE CROSS
          
         IN HIS PRAYER TO THE ETERNAL FATHER.

          When the holy wood of the Cross had been
raised on mount Calvary, bearing aloft with it the in-
carnate Word crucified, before speaking any of the seven
words, Christ prayed interiorly to his heavenly Father
and said: "My Father and eternal God, I confess and
magnify Thee from this tree of the Cross, and I offer
Thee a sacrifice of praise in my Passion and Death; for,
by the hypostatic union with the divine nature, Thou
hast raised my humanity to the highest dignity, that of
Christ, the Godman, anointed with thy own Divinity.
I confess Thee on account of the plenitude of the high-
est possible graces and glory, which from the first in-
stant of my Incarnation Thou hast communicated to my
humanity, and because from all eternity up to this pres-
ent hour Thou hast consigned to me full dominion of
the universe both in the order of grace and of nature.
Thou hast made Me the Lord of the heavens and of
the elements (Matth. 28, 18), of the sun, the moon and
the stars; of fire and air, of the earth and the sea, of
all the animate and inanimate creatures therein; Thou
hast made Me the Disposer of the seasons, of the days
and nights, with full lordship and possession according
to my free will, and Thou hast set Me as the Head,
the King and Lord of all angels and men (Ephes. 1, 21),
to govern and command them, to punish the wicked and
to reward the good (John 5, 22); Thou hast given Me
the dominion and power of disposing all things from
highest heavens to deepest abysses of hell (Apoc. 20, 1).
Thou hast placed in my hands the eternal justification
of men, the empires, kingdoms and principalities, the
great and the little, the rich and the poor; and of all
that are capable of thy grace and glory, Thou hast made
Me the Justifier, the Redeemer and Glorifier, the uni-
versal Lord of all the human race, of life and death, of
the holy Church, its treasures, laws and blessings of
grace: all hast Thou, my Father, consigned to my hands,
subjected to my will and my decrees, and for this I con-
fess, exalt and magnify thy holy name."

         "Now, at this moment, my Lord and eternal
Father, when I am returning from this world to thy
right hand through this death on the Cross, by which I
completed the task of the Redemption of men assigned
to Me, I desire that this same Cross shall be the tribunal
of our justice and mercy. Nailed to it, I desire to judge
those for whom I give my life. Having justified my
cause, I wish to dispense the treasures of my coming into
the world and of my Passion and Death to the just and
the reprobate according as each one merits by his works
of love or hatred. I have sought to gain all mortals
and invited them to partake of my friendship and grace;
from the first moment of my Incarnation I have cease-
lessly labored for them; I have borne inconveniences,
fatigues, insults, ignominies, reproaches, scourges, a
crown of thorns, and now suffer the bitter death of the
Cross; I have implored thy vast kindness upon all of
them; I have watched in prayer, fasted and wandered
about teaching them the way of eternal life. As far as
in Me lay I have sought to secure eternal happiness for
all men, just as I merited it for all, without excluding
any one. I have established and built up the law of
grace and have firmly and forever established the Church
in which all human beings can be saved."

        "But in our knowledge and foresight We are
aware, my God and Father, that on account of their
malice and rebellious obstinacy, not all men desire to
accept our eternal salvation, nor avail themselves of
Our mercy and of the way I have opened to them by my
labors, life and death; but that many will prefer to
follow their sinful ways unto perdition. Thou art just,
my Lord and Father, and most equitable are thy judg-
ments (Psalm 118, 137); and therefore it is right, since
Thou hast made Me the Judge of the living and the dead,
of the good and the bad (Acts 10, 3), that I give to the
good the reward of having served and followed Me, and
to sinners the chastisement of their perverse obstinacy;
that the just should share in my goods, and the wicked
be deprived of the inheritance, which they refuse to ac-
cept. Now then, my eternal Father, in my and thy
name and for thy glorification, I make my last bequest
according to my human will, which is conformable to
thy eternal and divine will. First shall be mentioned my
most pure Mother, who gave Me human existence; Her
I constitute my sole and universal Heiress of all the
gifts of nature, of grace and of glory that are mine.
She shall be Mistress and Possessor of them all. The
gifts of grace, of which as a mere creature She is capa-
ble, She shall actually receive now, while those of glory
I promise to confer upon Her in their time. I desire
that She shall be Mistress of angels and men, claim over
them full possession and dominion and command the
service and obedience of all. The demons shall fear
Her and be subject to Her. All the irrational crea-
tures, the heavens, the stars, the planets, the elements
with all the living beings, the birds, the fishes and the
animals contained in them, shall likewise be subject to
Her and acknowledge Her as Mistress, exalting and
glorifying Her with Me. I wish also that She be the
Treasurer and Dispenser of all the goods in heaven and
on earth. Whatever She ordains and disposes in my
Church for my children, the sons of men, shall be con-
firmed by the three divine Persons; and whatever She
shall ask for mortals now, afterwards and forever, We
shall concede according to her will and wishes."

        "To the holy angels, who have obeyed thy holy
and just will, I assign as habitation the highest heavens
as their proper and eternal abode, and with it the joys
of eternal vision and fruition of our Divinity. I desire
that they enjoy its everlasting possession together with
our company and friendship. I decree, that they recog-
nize my Mother as their legitimate Queen and Lady, that
they serve Her, accompany and attend upon Her, bear
Her up in their hands in all places and times, obeying
Her in all that She wishes to ordain and command.
The demons, rebellious to our perfect and holy will, I
cast out and deprive of our vision and company; again
do I condemn them to our abhorrence, to eternal loss of
our friendship and glory, to privation of the vision of
my Mother, of the saints and of my friends, the just. I
appoint and assign to them as their eternal dwelling the
place most remote from our royal throne, namely the
infernal caverns, the centre of the earth, deprived of
light and full of the horrors of sensible darkness (Jude
6). I decree this to be their portion and inheritance,
as chosen by them in their pride and obstinacy against
the divine Being and decrees. In those eternal dun-
geons of darkness they shall be tormented by everlasting
and inextinguishable fire."

      "From the multitudes of men, in the fulness of
my good will, I call, select and separate all the just
and the predestined, who through my grace save them-
selves by imitating Me, doing my will and obeying my
holy law. These, next to my most pure Mother, I
appoint as the inheritors of all my mysteries, my bless-
ings, my sacramental treasures, of the mysteries con-
cealed in the holy Scriptures; of my humility, meek-
ness of heart; of the virtues of faith, hope, and charity;
of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance; of my
divine gifts and favors; of my Cross, labors, con-
tempt, poverty and nakedness. This shall be their por-
tion and inheritance in this present and mortal life.

Since they must choose these in order to labor profitably,
I assign to them the trials I have chosen for Myself in
this life, as a pledge of my friendship, in order that
they may undergo them with joy. I offer them my pro-
tection and defense, my holy inspirations, my favors
and powerful assistance, my blessings and my justifi-
cation, according to each one's disposition and degree
of love. I promise to be to them a Father, a Brother
and a Friend, and they shall be my chosen and beloved
children, and as such I appoint them as the inheritors of
all my merits and treasures without limitation. I de-
sire that all who dispose themselves, shall partake of
the goods of my holy Church and of the Sacraments;
that, if they should lose my friendship, they shall be
able to restore themselves and recover my graces and
blessings through my cleansing blood. For all of them
shall be open the intercession of my Mother and of the
saints, and She shall recognize them as her children,
shielding them and holding them as her own. My an-
gels shall defend them, guide them, protect them and
bear them up in their hands, lest they stumble, and if
they fall, they shall help them to rise" (Ps. 90, 11, 12).

     "Likewise it is my will that my just and chosen
ones shall stand high above the reprobate and the de-
mons, that they shall be feared and obeyed by my ene-
mies; that all the rational and irrational creatures
shall serve them; that all the influences of the heavens,
the planets and the stars shall favor them and give them
life; that the earth, its elements and animals, shall sus-
tain them; all the creatures, that are mine and serve
Me, shall be theirs, and shall serve also them as my
children and friends (I Cor. 3, 22; Wis. 16, 24), and
their blessing shall be in the dew of heaven and in the
fruits of the earth (Genes. 27, 28). I wish to hold
with them my delights (Prov. 8, 31), communicate to
them my secrets, converse with them intimately and live
with them in the militant Church in the species of bread
and wine, as an earnest and an infallible pledge of the
eternal happiness and glory promised to them; of it, I
make them partakers and heirs, in order that they may
enjoy it with Me in heaven by perpetual right and in
unfailing beatitude."

        "I consent that the foreknown and reprobate
(though they were created for another and much higher
end), shall be permitted to possess as their portion and
inheritance the concupiscence of the flesh and the eyes
(John 1, 2-16), pride in all its effects; that they eat
and be satisfied with the dust of the earth, namely, with
riches; with the fumes and the corruption of the flesh
and its delights, and with the vanity and presumption
of the world. For such possessions have they labored,
and applied all the diligence of their mind and body; in
such occupations have they consumed their powers, their
gifts and blessings bestowed upon them by Us, and they
have of their own free will chosen deceit, despising the
truth I have taught them in the holy law (Rom. 2, 8).
They have rejected the law which I have written in
their hearts, and the one inspired by my grace; they
have despised my teachings and my blessings, and lis-
tened to my and their own enemies; they have accepted
their deceits, have loved vanity (Ps. 4, 3), wrought
injustice, followed their ambitions, sought their delight
in vengeance, persecuted the poor, humiliated the just,
mocked the simple and the innocent, strove to exalt
themselves, and desired to be raised above all the cedars
of Lebanon in following the laws of injustice" (Ps. 36,
35).
    "Since they have done all this in opposition to
our divine goodness and remained obstinate in their
malice, and since they have renounced the rights of son-
ship merited for them by Me, I disinherit them of my
friendship and glory. Just as Abraham separated the
children of the slave, setting aside some possessions
for them and reserving the principal heritage for Isaac,
the son of the freedwoman Sarah (Gen. 25, 5), thus I
set aside their claims on my inheritance by giving them
the transitory goods, which they themselves have chosen.
Separating them from our company and from that of
my Mother, of the angels and saints, I condemn them
to the eternal dungeons and the fire of hell in the com-
pany of Lucifer and his demons, whom they have freely
served, I deprive them forever of all hope of relief.
This is, O my Father, the sentence which I pronounce
as the Head and the Judge of men and angels (Eph. 4,
15; Col. 2, 10), and this is the testament made at my
Death, this is the effect of my Redemption, whereby
each one is rewarded with that which he has justly
merited according to his works and according to thy
incomprehensible wisdom in the equity of thy strictest
justice" (II Tim. 4, 8). Such was the prayer of
Christ our Savior on the Cross to his eternal Father.
It was sealed and deposited in the heart of the most holy
Mary as the mysterious and sacramental testament, in
order that through her intercession and solicitous care it
might at its time, and even from that moment, be exe-
cuted in the Church, just as it had before this time
been prepared and perfected by the wise providence of
God, in whom all the past and the future is always one
with the present.

    INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MARY,
                       GAVE ME.
        My daughter, seek with all the powers of thy
mind during thy whole life to remember the mysteries
manifested to thee in this chapter. I, as thy Mother
and thy Instructress, shall ask the Lord by his divine
power to impress in thy heart the knowledge, which I
have vouchsafed thee, in order that it may remain fixed
and ever present to thee as long as thou livest. 

Taken from "The Mystical City of God," Volume 3,
"The Transfixion." by Sister Mary of Agreda, 
translated by Rev. George Blatter.

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