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THE CORONATION 157
Baptism received at their hands. They permitted them
selves to be entrapped by this low deceit, because they
found it
harmonizing with their base inclination, and
they sought to deceive saint Peter. The Apostle knew
of their sin through a revelation and he chastised them
by permitting them both, first Ananias then Saphira,
to fall dead at his feet. Saphira, without know
suddenly
ing what had happened to her husband, shortly after
wards practiced the same deceit and expired in the same
way in the presence of the Apostles.
147. Our Queen knew from the very beginning what
Lucifer was plotting and that Ananias and Saphira were
listening to his wily suggestions. Full of compassion and
sorrow the loving Mother prostrated Herself in the
divine presence and called out from the bottom of her
soul: "Alas, my Son and Lord, that this bloodthirsty
dragon should snatch these simple sheep of our flock!
How does my heart suffer, O my God, to see the con
tagion of avarice and deceit infect the souls, who have
tasted life and thy blood! If this most cruel enemy
scathlessly thus mixes up with them, the evil example of
sin will do great damage on account of the weakness of
men, and one will follow the other in their fall. I shall
lose my life, O Lord, for grief, since I know what an
evil sin is in thy eyes, and especially the sin, not of
strangers, but of thy children. Do Thou, my Beloved,
provide some remedy of this evil, which Thou hast made
known to me." The Lord answered Her :
"My
Beloved
Mother, let not thy heart, in which I reside, be afflicted ;
for I shall draw much good out of this evil for my
Church, and it is for this end that my Providence shall
permit it. In chastising these sins I shall teach the other
faithful, by a visible example, to fear such sins in the
Church; and thus shall caution them against the deceit
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