The Holy Couple in the Mind of God

"In the eighth chapter of the Proverbs, Wisdom says of Itself, that It was present in the Creation, ordering all things conjointly with the Almighty (Prov. 8, 30).  And I said above that this Wisdom is the incarnate Word, who with his most holy Mother was present, in spirit, when God resolved upon the creation of the whole world; for in that instant the Son was not only coexistent in divine essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but also the human nature, which He was to assume, was foreseen and conceived as the prototype of all works in the divine mind of the Father.  Conjointly with Him was also foreseen as present the human nature of his most holy Mother, who was to conceive Him in her most pure womb.  In these two Persons were foreseen all his works, so that on account of Them (speaking in a human way) He overlooked all that could offend Him in the conduct of the men and angels that were to fall; for the conduct of the latter was an inducement rather to desist from the creation of the human race and of the things that were to subserve for their use.

"The Most High looked upon his Son and upon his most holy Mother as models, produced in the culmination of his wisdom and power, in order that They might serve as prototypes according to which He was to copy the whole human race.  Thus the rest of men depended on these Two as Mediators between themselves and God.  He created also the necessary material beings required for human life, but with such wisdom, that some of them also serve as symbols, to represent in a certain way these two Beings, which He primarily intended and to which all others were to be subservient, namely, Christ and most holy Mary.  On this account He made the luminaries of heaven, the sun and the moon (Gen. 1, 16) so that in dividing the day and the night, they might symbolize the Sun of justice, Christ, and his most holy Mother, who is beautiful as the moon (Cant. 6, 9), for these Two divide the day of grace and the night of sin.  The sun illuminates the moon; and both, together with the stars of the firmament, illumine all other creatures within the confines of the universe.

"He created the rest of the beings and added to their perfection, because they were to be subservient to Christ and most holy Mary, and through them to the rest of men.  Before the universe proceeded from its nothingness, He set it as a banquet abundant and unfailing, and more memorable than the feast of Assuerus (Esther 1, 3); for He was to create man for his delight and to draw him to the enjoyment of his knowledge and love.  Like a most courteous and bounteous Lord He did not wish that the invited guests should wait, but that both the creation and the invitation to the banquet of his knowledge and love be one and the same act.  Man was not to lose any time in that which concerned him so much: namely, to know and praise his almighty Maker.

"On the sixth day he formed and created Adam, as it were of the age of thirty-three years.  This was the age in which Christ was to suffer death, and Adam in regard to his body was so like unto Christ, that scarcely any difference existed.  Also according to the soul Adam was similar to Christ.  From Adam God formed Eve so similar to the Blessed Virgin, that she was like unto Her in personal appearance and in figure.  God looked upon these two images of the great Originals with the highest pleasure and benevolence, and on account of the Originals He heaped many blessings upon them, as if He wanted to entertain Himself with them and their descendants until the time should arrive for forming Christ and Mary."

--Mary of Agreda, City of God: The Conception: The Divine History and Life of the Virgin Mother of God Manifested to Mary of Agreda for the Encouragement of Men, trans. from the original Spanish by Fiscar Marison [Rev. Geo. J. Blatter] (1912), bk. I, chap. XI, paragraphs 134-37, pp. 125-27.