St Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi's fundamental devotion

"Like her spiritual doctrine, St Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi's personal piety was based on her supreme recognition of God, Three in One. Herewith, therefore, we present some twelve rules and principles of the Saint's great devotion.

1. Hold dear and find joy in the divine attributes, namely, the power the wisdom, the goodness and the infinite love with which God loves Himself and all creatures.

2. Wish God all the good, the glory and the honor that He has and will have eternally.

3. Rejoice in the reciprocal communications that the Three Divine Persons have among Themselves.

4. Be glad that God is so great and infinite that He can not be understood by creatures.

5. Be glad of that infinite love with which God loves Himself, has loved Himself and will love Himself eternally. Rejoice that all creatures and all the blessed spirits are not sufficient to love Him as much as He deserves; and thank His divine majesty that It loves Itself infinitely.

6. Be glad of all those treasures and infinite graces that the Eternal Father gave and communicated to the humanity of the Word, such as that grace which the Word had of working miracles and attracting to Himself the hearts of creatures.

7. Be glad that the Eternal Father has given us creatures as an inheritance to the Word Made Man, and rejoice at the satisfaction that the Word takes in this fact and at the pleasure that He finds in the souls of the just.

8. Be glad of that love which the Word Made Man has for virginity.

9. Offer God to God Himself, in thanksgiving for all the glory, honor and blessedness that He possess and for the gifts and graces communicated to all creatures.

10. Tell the Lord: 'If at this moment I could give You all that glory, honor and praise that at this time the blessed spirits and all the just ones on earth give to You, I should do it willingly.'

11. Offer yourself to God and want Him to have that perfection that He is pleased to have, according to His will.

12. Bend your will to love creatures only because God loves them, and rejoice in that love that He has for them and in the perfection that He communicates to them. And, given the case (which is impossible) that God Himself would wish to grant to a creature the right to offend and displease you, nevertheless desire that that creature have all the perfection and glory of the seraphim, even though he possessed these qualities to use in offending you - thus conforming yourself with God by not wanting anything but what God Himself wants.

These rules make up what we can exactly call the Saint's fundamental devotion. For it was upon this foundation, essentially theological, that the Saint built the edifice of her own interior life."

-- Secrets of a Seraph: The Spiritual Doctrine of Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi translated by Gabriel N Pausback, OCarm