TOTUS TUUS, MARIA!

THE SIGNATURE OF THE HEART

Inspiration from the Holy Virgin Mary
about the spiritual background
of covenants concluded by human souls

Myriam van Nazareth

A human life’s fruitfulness is very largely determined by the extent to which the soul actively commits herself to contributing to an unimpeded flow of true Love through the network of God’s creation. True Love is the fuel of Divine Life. Every creature is a node in the network of creation. The major nodes are the human souls. Every human soul’s mission in life basically consists in living up to her vocation to be a pure and active node in the network.

The soul is a pure node to the extent to which her inner dispositions reflect God’s Being: spotless self-denying Love filled with Light, geared exclusively to the accomplishment of God’s Plan of Salvation for the benefit of all creation.

The soul is an active node to the extent to which she dedicates herself to the pursuit of God’s purposes in every detail of life.

In order to fulfil her mission as a pure and active node within the network of creation the human soul should fill every contact and every relationship with any fellow creature – fellow man and animal alike – with heart-felt spontaneous self-denying Love. She enters into sacred covenants before God, for the benefit of fellow creatures.

A covenant in the spiritual sense of the word must not necessarily be imagined to be a formally expressed or even written agreement (sometimes it is, for instance a marriage). It should be understood to be rather an emotional bond between two or more creatures, primarily on the part of a human soul towards another human soul or an animal, as an expression of the inner acceptance of a decree by Divine Providence, which brought specific creatures together for the purpose of enabling them to associate with each other in a special way so as to complement each other and to constitute and maintain a mutual relationship of caring Love. God encourages human souls to conclude covenants with fellow creatures in order that, on the basis of their respective capacities and features, they may help each other make their journeys through life as fruitful as possible within the framework of accomplishing God’s Works. In the eyes of God the responsibility for a fruitful development of the covenant always lies with human souls, never with animals, because only the human soul has got both the ability and the obligation to sanctify herself. For the very same reason the human soul can commit sins, animals cannot. God frequently inspires human souls to enter into a special covenant with animals because animals have got the potential to provide great assistance to the human soul in learning to actually live many virtues and perfect themselves in them. The Mistress of all souls extensively discussed this topic in The Brooklets of Salvation. (the English translation of which is but partly completed as yet).

Therefore it is the ultimate goal of a covenant in the spiritual sense of the word that the creatures involved should assist one another in fulfilling their respective missions in life which are their reason for being. Of human souls within the framework of a covenant God expects that they should fully develop and use the faculties, abilities, talents, gifts and graces they have received from Him for the purpose of letting the covenant grow and bloom into a model of an unimpeded flow of sincere self-denying Love and service, in perfect acceptance of the fellow being as a Work of God that has received a life because God needs this life for the accomplishment of His Works. This is why every covenant between creatures should be regarded as holy, in the sense of 'useful for the accomplishment of God’s Plan of Salvation', and why every violation of a covenant constitutes a transgression against a Work of God. The violation of a covenant can present itself in many forms, among which neglect, maltreatment, abuse of trust and abuse of power should be considered to be the ones which constitute the most serious violations of the Law of true Love and which therefore defile the covenant the most.

On these grounds the human soul should always go on the awareness she is under the holy obligation to shape her relationship with her partner(s) in the covenant such that the covenant can contribute concretely to a smooth flow of true Love within the network of creation. From day one the human soul was intended by God to be the crown on creation, the being that was to make His Presence felt towards all fellow creatures. This is why a covenant should also be regarded as the relationship that comes about with a fellow creature because a human soul acts upon an inner urge from the Holy Spirit who, and thus with God as Witness, inspires this human soul to create towards this fellow creature a bond of Love and make this bond flourish as a tool contributing to the accomplishment of God’s Plan of Salvation for the benefit of all creation. The spiritual goal of a covenant between a human soul and a fellow creature never lies in accomplishing any personal or worldly interests (as in such case there are influences of selfishness and materialism at work), but always in the contribution the covenant may make towards completing Works and Plans of God. There are many types of covenants: parent with child, human being with domestic animal, married people among each other, friends among each other, etc.

A very special type of covenant is the one of total consecration of a soul to the Holy Virgin Mary. This covenant is without any exception always fully satisfied by the Queen of heaven, who engages to provide inner guidance to the soul consecrated to Her, so as to help the latter fully accomplish her being in the image of God, to the extent to which this soul actively and whole-heartedly opens herself up to Mary’s dwelling and guidance inside of her. However, the covenant of total consecration to Mary is rather frequently violated by the consecrated human soul. Within the framework of total consecration to Mary the human soul makes an oath of loyalty and dedication of her entire life and her entire being for the benefit of the accomplishment of God’s Plan of Salvation and of the Works of Love God keeps trying to complete through human souls. Often souls will consecrate themselves to the Holy Virgin purely nominally, merely by speaking a prayer of consecration, yet after that fail to live every detail of their life and of their inner dispositions in accordance with the rules of total consecration, which presuppose the soul consecrated to Mary will henceforth live for the sole purpose of contributing to the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth by dedicating all her trials in a spirit of self-denying Love and unconditional acceptance of all decisions Divine Providence will make noticeable on her journey through life.

In the total, unconditional and lifelong consecration to the Holy Virgin which is practiced truly profoundly the human soul makes Jesus’ thesis come true, by which He says the highest form of Love is the one by which the soul gives up her life for the benefit of her friends – in which 'friends' are understood to mean all fellow creatures, as all creatures are interconnected in a network that is held together by the flow of God’s Love through creation.

The human soul who enters into a special relationship with a fellow creature is not always aware of the fact she is actually concluding a covenant before the eyes of God. Nevertheless within this soul’s heart and conscience the Spirit of God will always waken the abilities which, according to the degree of her being focused on God’s Heart, are to enable her to fruitfully fulfil her vocation as a 'representative' of God towards her fellow creatures. Therefore, to God the concrete fulfilment of a covenant is an important measure indicating the extent to which the soul is actually practicing true Love under all and any circumstances of life and to which she bans all influences of darkness on her own inner dispositions spontaneously, whole-heartedly and persistently. The human soul who takes her covenants seriously lives in such a way as to keep focusing on the maintenance and promotion of feelings of happiness and well-being in the fellow creatures she is entertaining relationships with.

The Mistress of all souls lists the main ingredients of a fruitful covenant between a human soul and a fellow creature as follows:

  • self-denial: The soul subordinates that which she perceives to be her own needs unconditionally to that which she finds and perceives to be the fellow creature’s needs. Many covenants become completely unfruitful due to the fact they are consumed by the cancer of selfishness and/or the cancer of egocentrism (the soul puts herself in the center and harbors the opinion that everything should revolve around her. Her fellow creature is hardly or not at all taken into account).
  • solicitude: The soul spares no effort to preserve all God has provided the fellow creature with, and she is sincerely concerned with the fellow creature’s well-being on all levels of the latter’s life. True solicitude is always based on a strongly developed sense of responsibility towards her fellow creatures as well as towards God’s Plans and Works. However, no strain and no compulsion are felt: True solicitude is practiced spontaneously and straight from the heart.
  • subservience: The soul regards it as a major purpose in her life to serve her fellow creatures, to help and support them on all levels of their lives, based on the feeling that she herself is quite unimportant. The truly subservient soul is driven by the sincere desire to support and assist her fellow creature in the fulfilment of the latter’s mission in life.
  • promoting vital strength and zest for life: Every creature receives life from God, and can to a higher or lesser degree feel an incentive to actually allow her vital strength to produce its full effect. The soul makes a covenant with a fellow creature fruitful to the extent to which she aspires for the preservation or the advancement of this vital strength, and to which she motivates this creature to make the best of its life and to keep seeing the Light in its life. In so doing the soul helps the fellow creature allow a disposition of brightfulness to take root in itself. This brightfulness can then function as a powerful inner motor and a powerful channel through which the creature can add meaning to all kinds of events and developments in its life.
  • conveying warmth, feelings of security, safety and protection: The soul aspires for the very best fulfilment of her vocation as a human soul: making God’s Presence felt to her fellow creature by seeing to it that, through her actions, words and a spontaneous and sincere softness in her entire appearance, her fellow creature feels good when she is near. The soul can only make this come true to the extent to which her appearance and the way she comes across with her fellow creatures are based on openness, honesty and sincerity, free from any deception, deceit or false appearances.
  • promoting hope, trust and courage: The soul is driven by the spontaneous desire to be under all and any circumstances a channel of Light which fills her fellow creature with the certainty that its life is meaningful and that in its life a force of Love is at work, which is helping it pull through even in the difficult moments. Owing to her appearance and that which she seems to radiate the soul enables her fellow creature to experience a rock-solid certainty that it is never going to be abandoned, neglected or betrayed by the soul.
  • preservation and promotion of dignity: The soul respects her fellow creature unconditionally for what it is, with all its specific features, characteristics and traits, firmly understanding and accepting that God Himself has made this creature the way it is for a purpose which in some way fits in perfectly with His Plan for all of creation. This also means that the soul will refrain from any mockery, maltreatment or humiliation to the detriment of the fellow creature on account of any of this creature’s characteristics which some may judge inferior or ridiculous.
  • honesty and sincerity: The soul presents herself to her fellow creature 'as is', without any deception, deceit or lie. Deception and deceit turn the soul into an illusive being. The Mistress of all souls refers to a soul who deceives fellow creatures or who is dishonest or insincere towards them as a ghost light within the network of creation, within which every human soul must be a node filled with the Light of true Love and must present itself as a being the way God has meant it to be, in purity of heart and filled with His dispositions and aspirations. God Himself cheats on no creature, He does not deceive any creature. Neither does a human soul that lives in His image.
  • respect or freedom: The soul respects the fact her fellow creature has received a free will from God. God intended every creature to be a node in the network of His creation, which has got to be able to make its own specific contribution to the blooming of this network exactly through an optimal use of all characteristics, properties, talents, gifts and the individual traits it has received from God. Every constraint sets limits to this contribution. The only form of limitation of freedom God approves of is the one applied with a view to protecting the safety of other beings or of society as a whole. This limitation of freedom must under no circumstances limit the application of true Love towards the fellow creature.

In order to fulfil a covenant with a fellow creature in a holy, fruitful way meeting the purpose for which God has guided this fellow creature towards a human soul’s path through life, this soul must enter into an emotional bond with this fellow creature on the basis of sincere, honest, open contacts, in which she is willing to allow this fellow creature to share in certain, often in all, elements of her own life: food, drink, shelter, protection, if the case arises any common activities; the soul provides the fellow creature with a feeling of belonging, of 'being part of it', a feeling of being accepted and respected the way it is, and the feeling it is considered to be a valuable element of the soul’s life. To give one example: it is desirable to allow a domestic animal to actually live in the house, not in the open or in a doghouse, for instance, where it is compelled to lead a life as a mere watcher or 'catcher of vermin', and for the remainder is ignored and not adopted into the loving environment and security of a life together with a human soul who makes her love for the animal felt, respects it without restrictions, and is grateful for the gift of this living being on her journey through life. An animal can be a powerful channel of Love, provided it is given a chance to be. No animal was made by God and entrusted to humans to be maltreated, neglected or despised, as such treatment or attitude towards a fellow creature is nothing short of a betrayal towards God.

'Accepting' a fellow creature is related to its very specific nature, it does not mean the soul would not be allowed to guide her fellow creature away from behaviour or dispositions which may stand in the way of its functioning within the network of creation in a loving way. If the fellow creature is a human soul both souls are under a holy obligation to support each other in practicing and perfecting true virtue.

The fruitfulness of a covenant between creatures is fully determined by the extent to which all actions and communications between these creatures are filled with sincere self-denying, unconditional Love and the extent to which even all thoughts, feelings and desires between these creatures are filled with this Love. Moreover, the relationship between two creatures that have concluded a mutual covenant, or of which one has concluded a covenant towards the other, is also characterized by many inner, hidden processes in mind and heart, which may be either positively or negatively 'charged'. These determine to a significant extent the degree of Love that will flow between these creatures. In the eyes of God these inner, hidden processes are in a way even more decisive as indicators for the deep value of the human soul’s merits within the framework of a covenant than the externally visible signs, as the soul will especially in her inner, hidden processes (thoughts, feelings, desires, aspirations) prove to God to what extent her dedication in favour of her fellow creatures is unselfish.

Covenants remind the human soul of the fact she has got certain obligations towards God, the fulfilment of His Law of true Love, and the entire network of creation, and that she is not a world of her own but an element within a great whole, and that God therefore expects her to live a life of service and self-denial. The health of the network of creation as a whole is therefore to a very large extent determined by the degree to which all covenants that are concluded between human souls and fellow creatures in this world are actually filled with true Love in daily practice.

This is why the Mistress of all souls addresses the present teaching to the souls in association with an urgent call to fill all of their contacts and relationships with all fellow creatures Divine Providence leads onto their path through life with self-denying Love and service, in an ever increasing awareness that every fellow creature is a Work of God that, through His Wisdom, is brought into contact with her with a view to helping her perfect all dispositions which are able to provide her access to Eternal Bliss and to helping perfect the network of creation so as to be a system within which God’s Love keeps flowing without any obstructions. There is no other way towards banning the darkness, misery and chaos from this world once and for all. All suffering is a bitter fruit of sin, it was sowed into creation by the first human souls’ succumbing to the temptation to commit the original sin of opposing God’s Law. This is why the human souls are responsible for the restoration of sanctity within creation. Every soul can contribute to this by filling her own contacts and relationships with all fellow creatures with self-denying Love and by banishing every trace of darkness from her deepest inner dispositions. No greater homage to the Christ’s Sufferings and Death on the Cross is possible, and there is no greater way to show appreciation for His Legacy contained in the Mystery of Salvation.

Myriam, May 2019