The Blessed Lady appeared to me in a vision and said, "Be humble. Become humble like the Mother of your Saviour. In following Jesus, you must give your all. Follow the way of Christ and you will become an instrument of God. Allow the sword to pierce your heart by carrying your cross. Bear your cross with patience and it will become light. Open your heart and soul to God as to me, the Mother of your Saviour. I, your Mother, opened my heart and soul to the sword. You too must become part of the suffering of Christ, and console Jesus through prayer. I repeat, in following Jesus, you are obliged to give your all. You must strive to do the will of God, for if not, the evil one will be the first to accuse you. I am your Mother, crowned with glory by the Blessed Trinity."
Message of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Christiana Agbo at Aokpe Nigeria - 17th February 1994
Reflection
Our heavenly Queen and mother would not relent on teaching us the strategies to making heaven. In this apparition, she exhorts us to be humble. Humility exalts (Mt. 23:12). She has been exalted by God to become the mother of the Saviour and to her _hyperdulia_ state and therefore all generations shall call her blessed on account of her unparalleled humility (Lk. 1:48), not on account of her intellect, purity or eloquence even though these are also desirable for perfection of the soul. Her humility was so deep that her exaltation has become the greatest amongst all creatures. Small buildings have shallow foundations compared to skyscrapers. The more the humility, the more the exaltation. The devils cannot repent, they cannot pray for forgiveness because humility is the foundation of prayer (CCC 2559) hence their permanent fall from glory to doom. Our Mother wants us to pray always because prayer oils the virtue of humility which brings about exaltation as a reward. No wonder she revealed in her tenth of the fifteen promises to those who pray the Rosary that “the faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven”. Humility will give us reasons to pray, prayer will bring us to the presence of God who sanctifies and glorifies. The Catechism speaks of the seven capital (deadly) sins and their contrary virtues. Pride, the sin of the adversary, is one of them. Humility is opposed to pride. Humility is the virtue of the Blessed Mother. Now Gen. 3:15 becomes clearer. A war between two virtues: humility and pride; the woman and the serpent.