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140 CITY OF GOD
ing a Creature, who was :
altogether a prodigy and a sum
mary of wonders. This favor began at the first Com
munion and through the preservation of the species con
tinued until the second Communion received at the hands
of saint Peter on the octave of Pentecost. Then, as the
new species took their place in her heart, the former
ones were consumed. By this miraculous exchange, the
previous sacramental species continued to yield their
place to those She received in her Communions until the
end of her life, so that She was never deprived of the
presence of her Son and God in sacramental form.
126. Through this privilege, and that of the continual
and abstractive vision of the Divinity mentioned before,
the most blessed Mary was made so godlike, and her
and faculties were raised so far above human
operations
conception, that it will be impossible to understand them in
this mortal life, or to attain of them a proportionate idea
as is possible for us concerning other things. Nor can I
find words to explain the little which could be made clear
to me. After She returned from heaven She was en
tirely renewed and transformed in regard to the use of
her senses ;
for on the one hand, She was absent from her
divine Son, in whom She had worthily employed them,
when He was sensibly present; on the other hand, She
felt and perceived Him resting in her heart, whereon all
her attention was centered. From the day on which She
descended She made a new treaty with her eyes and ex
ercised a new dominion and sway over them of not per
mitting any terrestrial and visible images to enter ex
cept those that were necessary for the government of the
Church and for the discharge of her duties. She made
no use of these images, nor were they necessary to Her,
for conversing or meditating interiorly, and they were
merely stored in her memory and understanding ;
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