St. Mariam Thresia, one day while lying exhausted after the most severe diabolic vexations, she saw a women sitting near her and a man lying on her lap in a most pitiable condition. He was wounded all over the body and shedding blood. The women said to Thresia affectionately “daughter do you see this man? Your torments are nothing when compared to his, so despair not in anything, hope in God, He will not give you sufferings more than you can bear”. Bl. Virgin often encouraged Thresia to suffer with courage and steadfastness .
She had frequent visions of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, who gave her their hearts. First on the eve of 15 August 1904, the feast of the Assumption of Mary, when Thresia was 28 years old, after three days of fast to prepare herself for a special grace, she saw Jesus in the company of his mother Mary and an angel, he gave her his heart while saying that he was taking away hers. Again on 5 October 1906, First Friday after Holy Communion, she was given the heart of Mother Mary. Jesus gives his heart on Marian feast so that she can love her with it; and likewise Mary gives her heart on First Friday, which is especially dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Later she was given also the heart of St. Joseph. St. Mariam Thresia once told her sisters during an exhortation: “I have given my whole heart to the Lord; I want nothing in the world besides the Lord.” She writes that “the heart of Mother was placed at the right side of Jesus’ heart and of St. Joseph on the left”.
St. Mariam Thresia has chronicled to have experienced the piercing of her heart (Transverberation) thrice (6 Sep, 16 Feb, and 13 April 1906) and twice a piece of flush was pulled out along with the spear. Due to the ignorance of the meaning of this strange experience, she took it for some divine punishment for sins. Since both Mariam Thresia and her Spiritual Father wanted an explanation of her strange experience, the angel replied “It is a sign of love.”
On Sep 16, 1905 Jesus appeared to her beaming with happiness. He held a ring in His hand and said “Let me put this ring on your finger” she remained silent. Another night when she woke up from sleep she found on her ring finger a ring studded with precious stones.Yet another day Jesus showed her a golden and jewel rings to be given only after her death, she was crowned her with flowers on Jan 1, 1905, and was given the crown of thrones on Nov 23, 1906.
Witnesses have reported feeling a sweet fragrance pervade the air on certain occasions in the life of Thresia. There are still other charisms that were very prominent in her life like prophecy, levitation , ecstasy , aureole, reading the mind, etc. She could often tell people the solution to their problems before they ever told her about them. There were many recorded mystical phenomena’s in a single life like Mariam Thresia of Puthenchira.
For St. Mariam Thresia every Eucharistic Celebration was a repetition of Calvary. According to her letters she mentions that the holy host came alive as Infant Jesus, or the suffering Lord. Sometimes she saw Jesus “bleeding all over, bruised and in tears” asking her to atone for the sins of those who had received the Holy Communion in their sin. She has also chronicled that Jesus stood by her during the Mass talking to her, for her the altar tuned to heaven or the hill of Calvary, and also about the presence of Bl. Mother and angels thronging around the altar.
Thresia with an open heart communicated and sought the guidance from her Spiritual Father about every visions and auditions of the Blessed Virgin, of the Sacred Heart, of angels bringing her Holy Communion, of Jesus celebrating Mass in her room, of heaven, hell or purgatory spiritual ecstacies and visions. She confided totally to Father Joseph Vithayathil, with blind confidence.
St. Mariam Thresia is the first stigmatic of Kerala an experience, God allowed her to identify herself in His passion and death from the age of 33 till her death.
Sr. Udaya Kallukaran Chf