God's Mercy - Faustina and Luisa

 

God’s Mercy

Divine Will  - Continuing in my usual state, I found myself outside of myself, and I saw a multitude of people, and in their midst one could hear noises of bombs and gun shots. People were dropping dead or wounded, and those who were left would flee up to a palace nearby; but the enemies would go up there and kill them, more surely than those who remained outside. So I said to myself: ‘How I wish I could see whether the Lord is there in the midst of these people, so as to say to Him: ‘Have mercy – pity on these poor people!’ So I went round and round and I saw Him as a little Child; but little by little He kept growing, until He reached the perfect age. I drew near Him and I said: ‘Amiable Lord, don’t You see the tragedy that is happening? You don’t want to make use of mercy anymore? Do You perhaps want to keep this attribute as useless, which has always glorified your Incarnate Divinity with so much honor, forming a special crown on your august head, and bejeweling You with a second crown, so wanted and loved by You - which is souls?’  Now, while I was saying this, He told me: ‘Enough, enough, do not go any further; you want to speak of Mercy, and what about Justice – what are we going to do with It? I have told you and I repeat to you: ‘It is necessary that Justice follow Its course’.” So I replied: ‘There is no remedy - why then leave me on this earth when I can no longer placate You and suffer in the place of my neighbor? Since it is so, it is better if You let me die.’ At that moment I saw another person behind the shoulders of blessed Jesus, and He told me, almost making a sign with His eyes: “Present yourself to my Father and see what He tells you.’ I presented myself, all trembling, and as soon as He saw me, He told me: “Why have you come to Me?” And I: ‘Adorable Goodness, infinite Mercy, knowing that You are Mercy Itself, I have come to ask for your Mercy – Mercy on your very images, Mercy on the works created by You; Mercy on nothing else but your creatures themselves.’ And He said to me: “So, it is Mercy that you want. But if you want true Mercy, after Justice has poured Itself out It will produce abundant fruits of Mercy.” (Vol. 6, April 16, 1904)

 Divine Mercy – In answer to Luisa’s request for Mercy, St. Mary Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament was born the following year on August 25, 1905.

 

FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING – KING OF MERCY

 Luisa:  I was thinking about today’s Feast – that is, the Feast of Christ the King; and my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me:  “My daughter, the Church does nothing but intuitively grasp what She must know on my Divine Will and how Its Kingdom must come.  Therefore, this Feast is the prelude of the Kingdom of my Divine Fiat. Indeed, the Church is doing nothing other than honoring my Humanity with those titles which, by right, are due to It; and when She has given Me all the honors that befit Me, She will move on to honor and to institute the Feast to the Kingdom of my Divine Will, by which my Humanity was animated. The Church proceeds step by step, and now She institutes the Feast to my Heart, now She consecrates the century, in all solemnity, to Christ the Redeemer, and now She moves on, with greater solemnity, to institute the Feast to Christ the King. Christ the King means that He must have His Kingdom, He must have peoples worthy of such a King. And who will ever be able to form for Me this Kingdom if not my Will? Then, yes, will I be able to say: ‘I have my people – my Fiat has formed it for Me.’ Oh! if the leaders of the Church knew what I have manifested to you about my Divine Will, what I want to do, Its great prodigies, my yearnings, my sorrowful heartbeats, my anguishing sighs, for I want my Will to reign, to make everyone happy, to restore the human family - they would feel that in this Feast of Christ the King is nothing other than the secret echo of my Heart which, echoing in them, without their knowing it, has them institute for Me the Feast of Christ the King in order to call their attention and reflection. ‘Christ the King…. And His true people – where are they?’ And they would say: ‘Let us hasten to make His Divine Will known; let us let It reign, that we may give a people to Christ the King, whom we have called so. Otherwise, we have honored Him with words, but not with facts’.”  (Vol. 25, 10/28/1928)

 Divine Will – In 1994, on the day of the Feast of Christ the King, in the main Church, Archbishop Carmelo Cassati, in the presence of a large crowd, including foreign representatives, officially opened the beautification cause of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta.

Divine Mercy (Saint Faustina) – “Write this:  before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy.” (Diary, #83, told to St. Faustina in 1934)

A New Pentecost

A NEW PENTECOST

Excerpts from CONCHITA - A Mother's Spiritual Diary (Conchita de Armida)

"On sending to the world a new Pentecost, I want it inflamed, purified, illuminated, inflamed and purified by the light and fire of the Holy Spirit. The last stage of the world must be marked very specially by the effusion of the Holy Spirit. He must reign in hearts and in the entire world, not so much for the glory of His Person as for making the Father loved and bearing testimony of Me, although His glory is that of the whole Trinity" (Diary, Jan. 26, 1916).

"Tell the Pope that it is My will that in the whole Christian world the Holy Spirit be implored to bring peace and His reign into hearts. Only this Holy Spirit will be able to renew the face of the earth. He will bring light, union and charity to hearts.”

"The world is foundering because it rejects the Holy Spirit, and all the evils which afflict it have therein their origin. The remedy is found in Him. He is the Consoler, the author of all grace, the bond of union between the Father and the Son and the supreme conciliator since He is charity, uncreated and eternal Love.”

"May the whole world have recourse to this Holy Spirit since the day of His reign has arrived. This last stage of the world belongs very specially to Him that He be honored and exalted.”

"May the Church preach Him, may souls love Him, may the whole world be consecrated to Him, and peace will come along with a moral and spiritual reaction, greater than the evil by which the world is tormented.”

"May all at once this Holy Spirit begin to be called on with prayers, penances and tears, with the ardent desire of His coming. He will come, I will send Him again clearly manifest in His effects, which will astonish the world and impel the Church to holiness" (Diary, Sept. 27, 1918).

"Ask for this renewal, this new Pentecost, for My Church has need of priests sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The world is foundering in the abyss since it lacks priests who will help it from falling in; priests who bear the light to shine on the paths of good; pure priests to pull out of the mud so many hearts; priests afire who will fill the entire universe with divine love.”

"Ask, supplicate heaven, that all may be restored in Me by the Holy Spirit" (Diary, Nov. 1, 1927).

"I want to return to the world in My priests. I want to renew the world of souls by making Myself seen in My priests. I want to give a might impulse to My Church infusing in her, as it were, a new Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, in My priests" (Diary, Jan. 5, 1928).

"To obtain what I ask, every priest must make a consecration to the Holy Spirit, asking Him, through Mary's intercession, to come to them as it were in a new Pentecost, to purify them, to fill them with love, possess them, unify them, sanctify them and transform them into Me" (Diary, Jan. 25, 1928).

"One day not too far away, at the center of My Church, at Saint Peter's there will take place the consecration of the world to the Holy Spirit, and the graces of this Divine Spirit, will be showered on the blessed Pope who will make it.”

"It is My desire that the universe be consecrated to the Divine Spirit that He may spread Himself over the earth in a new Pentecost." (Diary, March 11, 1928).

 

Lynne Bauer, JMJ

What we need to do in order to enter into the Divine Will

Excerpts from the Book of Heaven and Luisa's letter 

Volume 12, Feb. 16, 1921

“My daughter, in order to enter into my Will there are neither paths nor doors nor keys, because my Will is everywhere. It flows under one’s feet, on the right, on the left, above one’s head - everywhere. The creature must do nothing other than remove the little stone of her own will, which, though it is there in my Will, does not take part in, nor does it enjoy Its effects, rendering itself as though a stranger in my Volition. In fact, it is as if the little stone of her will prevented the water from flowing from the shore to run somewhere else, because the stones are blocking it. But if the soul removes the little stone of her will, at that very instant she flows into Me, and I into her; she finds all my goods at her disposal: strength, light, help - whatever she wants. This is why there are no paths, nor doors, nor keys - it is enough to want it, and everything is done. My Will takes charge of everything, and of giving her what she lacks, and It makes her wander freely within the interminable boundaries of my Will. All the opposite for the other virtues: how many efforts are needed, how many struggles, how many long ways. And while it seems that the virtue is smiling at her, one passion a little bit violent, one temptation, one unexpected encounter, hurl her back and put her at the start, to walk the way.”

 Volume 12, March 23, 1921

“My daughter, my Will has the special virtue of rendering souls little, making them become so little, that they feel the extreme need for my Will to administer life to them. Their littleness is such that they are unable to do one act or take one step if my Will does not administer to them the act or the step. So they live completely at the expense of my Will, because their littleness carries no baggage, either of their own things, or of love of self, but they take everything from my Will - not in order to keep it for themselves, but to give it to Me; and since they need everything, they live dissolved in my Will.

 Volume 3, April 25, 1900

“My daughter, purity in operating is so great, that one who operates with the sole purpose of pleasing Me alone, does nothing other than spread light from all of his operating. One who does not operate in an upright way, even in good, does nothing other than spread darkness.”

Volume 3, April 25, 1900

“…the soul who is truly mine must live not only for God, but in God. You, try to live in Me, for in Me you will find the receptacle of all virtues, and strolling in their midst, you will nourish yourself with their fragrance, so much so, as to become replete. And you yourself will do nothing but give off light and celestial fragrance, because to live in Me is true virtue, and it has the virtue of giving to the soul the same shape as the Divine Person in whom she dwells, and of transforming her into the very divine virtues with which she nourishes herself.”

 Jesus tells Luisa constantly throughout the Volumes, “Be attentive”.  We must always be attentive to the Divine Will no matter what we are doing, even in the most ordinary things.  Even the most insignificant acts can be used by the Divine Will to form Its Life in you.

Volume 14, May 19, 1922

“…I ask for your acts in order to multiply Myself.  When you operate, I look anxiously to see whether you operate in my Will, to receive the contentment of seeing Myself multiplied in your act. How attentive you should be, and let nothing escape you.”

 VOL 36, November 20, 1938

I feel the Divine Will inside and outside of me, surprising me whenever I'm about to do my little actions, or to say my little 'I love you' - to invest them with Its light and make them Its own.  It has such an astonishing inimitable attention that it's almost incredible.  If the creature is not attentive in giving It her little acts, oh!, how much It suffers.  Oh! how much I too would like to be all attentive - to imitate It by letting nothing escape me, so that we can surprise each other.  But as I was thinking this, my sweet Jesus, visiting my little soul, all love told me: "My blessed daughter, the soul that wants to live in my Will lives in waiting for It; she waits for It when she loves, because she wants to love together with It.  If she operates she awaits my Will, because It wants to be Actor and Audience.  My Will is in continuous and anxious expectation of everything the creature does, in order to inhabit her - to be the Actor, to make her acts Its own.

 Letter 63 of Luisa

Oh, how the Divine Will wants you a saint!  But It wants you to call It continuously, in order to make the day of peace arise in your soul, and make all the miseries which prevent true sanctity, magically disappear from your heart.  The Divine Fiat awaits you, to say to you:  “Give me life in your acts and I will make you a saint.  And everything will turn into happiness.”

Faith, Hope and Charity

 

FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY

 

Taken from “Conchita, A Mothers Spiritual Diary” (Blessed Conchita di Armida)

I want to speak to you about Faith

"Today, I want to speak to your about faith.' I then felt myself flooded and enraptured by a light in my understanding, enlightening my mind. In this interior silence, I began to hear some divine and inexplicable things about faith. I shall try to tell in so far as I can, being so miserable, the beautiful things I heard.

"Faith is the foundation of holiness. It is a special light, coming from heaven by which the soul sees God in this world. It is a ray of light, illuminating God's countenance and making Him visible to the soul. It is the life and force of the spirit, the sun which tears it, brightens it, ever making it increase in perfection and in holiness. God so loves this virtue, a direct emanation from His own divinity, that the soul which possesses it, disposes of, it might be said, the will of God, inclining Him to grant it what it desires. It is a virtue to which He grants all His power. There is question here of the faith of a humble soul.

"Faith is the torch which illumines, with its light, the obscurity of the spirit. It is solely by this light that the soul travels safely amidst the difficulties of a life bent on perfection, so that a fully developed supernatural faith is indispensable. It constitutes the capital point of the soul which consecrates itself to the interior life. This supernatural faith attains its perfection going beyond all that is natural and supernatural in the soul, fixedly gazing on one point: God, never separating itself from Him, on any occasion of life or death… If this faith sheds its light on souls and casts on them its divine influence, it renders them spiritual, filled with delicacy, elevating all their actions and movements higher above the earth, persisting in these obscure regions and making them acquire great merit. Faith is a light but it lives in obscurity, it is enveloped in its shadows and the soul rarely perceives it. It radiates the soul by its clarity, in its very interior, making it know and showing it the dangers and riches of the spirit. It only slightly externalizes itself. This life of obscurity which purifies souls is what makes them merit this beautiful title of martyrs of the faith, since, in truth, the life of the spirit is an existence of martyrdom, that is, a life on the Cross in the exercise of all virtues.

"Faith tears away the veil of mysteries. The soul which possesses this virtue touches, experiences and at times contemplates real presence in the Eucharist, the mystery of faith par excellence and the mystery of love. The soul sees itself miserable in the light of this mystery of faith, and if it does not as yet see the clarity of the beatific vision, face to face, nonetheless in truth admires its splendor. Its ardor consumes it and, in the vivacity of this faith, it annihilates itself before the love of a God it contemplates so closely" (Diary, Oct. 31, 1895).

The Virtue of Hope

"The virtue of hope is one which does not linger to desire nothing or to ask nothing of the earth, neither personal prestige, riches nor honors. It has set its flight higher: it expects the possession of God Himself not due to personal merit of the soul but on account of the superabundance of My infinite merits. The souls which possesses holy hope, rejoices not for its own good which will come about for it eternally. It goes beyond its personal, legitimate and permissible good, but it rises higher, and it does not stop at its own glory but at the glory which, through it, God Himself will receive. The virtue of supernatural and perfect hope consists in yearning constantly for the possession of the Beloved, not for itself but for the glory of God, working efficaciously to obtain it, choosing and embracing the way of the Cross.

"Apropos of this, Jesus told me. 'Just as I am your hope, I am equally your way. He who follows Me never walks in darkness but the way I represent is the Cross. He who wishes to come after Me must deny himself, bear his cross and follow Me setting his feet on My bloodstained tracks…' He assured me that the Cross is the dwelling place of perfection, that it contains all the mysteries, gifts and fruits of the Spirit" (Diary, Nov. 3, 1895).

 

Primacy of Love

"Love is the soul of every life of prayer and of every good work. If they are not accompanied by love, all of men's works are dead. Love is the fire which inflames everything. When a soul possesses this holy love, it revives in it faith and hope and urges it on to the practice of all the moral virtues.

"The soul which loves Me runs along the paths of perfection unconcerned about the thorns it trod on. It then comes to fly without hindrance from the thousands of obstacles it meets. It overcomes them by the interior ardor of a living faith and a holy hope. The theological virtues have their seat and their development in love. Charity communicates to them life and brings them up to heaven. The world has no idea of the grandeur of these three theological virtues which are founded on divine love.

"Some souls do not love Me. That is why they are lost. Among the souls who love Me and call themselves Mine, how few there are who give Me their whole heart! Almost always I receive but a part of their heart. All of it, so rarely! Nevertheless I want them to love Me 'with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their strength!' The human heart turns partly toward creatures, toward the world, toward self. Self-love for the greatest part fills it. It lives and breathes only for that. I demand a love which surpasses everything. I have imposed this precept on them to render men happy and to save them. Despite this, how few, I repeat, are the souls who carry out My sovereign will to perfection! I wish them well and they resist. I present them with a treasure and they despise it. I give them life and they run to death. To love and to sacrifice oneself, therein is the eternal felicity in heaven.

"To overcome vices and to practice virtues, it is necessary to sacrifice oneself, but do so with love. The soul which does this, love Me wholeheartedly and I will be its eternal recompense. Give Me a love like this, give Me souls who love Me in suffering, who find their joy on the Cross. My Heart thirsts for such a love. I want a pure love, an unselfish love, an expiatory, crucified love, a sound love such as it may be said no longer exists on earth. Yet it is the only true love, the love which saves, purifies and the love I require through My commandments. All other apparent loves do not satisfy Me; all other love is vain, artificial, often culpable, save the love which I have just shown you.

"Love Me as I have loved you, in my interior Cross, after the very first moment of my Incarnation. Love Me in suffering and in sacrifice out of love. Love Me for I am God and solely to please Me. It is toward this love I aspire, the love I desire. Happy the soul possessing it… I promise that on this earth, that soul will begin to taste of the delights of heaven" (Diary, Sept. 11, 1900).

Divine Will and Total Self-surrender

The tableau of virtues and vices contains not only specifically distinct virtues but also presents synthetic virtues, which are as it were a harmony of many virtues. Thus, there is had the divine will and total self-surrender.

 

 

Book of Heaven, Volume 2 - September 19, 1899

The fruits of Faith, of Hope and of Charity.

 

This morning I was a little disturbed, especially because of the fear that it is not Jesus that comes, but the devil, and that my state may not be Will of God.  While I was in this agitation, my adorable Jesus came and told me:  “My daughter, I do not want you to waste time thinking about this.  You distract yourself from Me, and you cause the food with which to nourish Me to be lacking.  What I want is that you think only of loving Me and of remaining all abandoned in Me, because in this way you will offer Me a food very pleasing to Me – and not just every now and then, as you would if you continued like this, but continuously.  Would this not be a greatest contentment for you – that your will, by being abandoned in Me and by loving Me, be food for Me, your God?”

 

After this, He showed me His Heart, which contained three distinct globes of light, which then formed a single one.  And Jesus, resuming His speech, told me:  “The globes of light which you see in my Heart are the Faith, the Hope and the Charity which I brought upon earth to make suffering man happy by offering them to him as gift.  Now, to you also I want to give a more special gift.”  And while He was saying this, many threads of light came out of those globes of light, which inundated my soul like a sort of net, and I remained inside of it.  And Jesus:  “Here is how I want you to occupy your soul.  First, fly upon the wings of Faith, and in that light, by plunging yourself into it, you will know and acquire ever more news about Me, your God; but by knowing Me more, your nothingness will feel almost dissolved, and you will have no place to lean on.  You, however, rise more, and dive into the immense sea of Hope, which is made of all my merits that I acquired in the course of my mortal life, and of all the pains of my Passion, which I also gave to man as gift.  Only through these can you hope for the immense goods of Faith, because there is no other way to obtain them.  So, as you avail yourself of these merits of mine as if they were your own, your ‘nothing’ will no longer feel dissolved and sinking into the abyss of nothingness, but acquiring new life, it will be embellished and enriched, in such a way as to draw the very divine gazes upon itself.  Then the soul will no longer be timid, but Hope will administer to her courage and strength, in such a way as to render her stable like a pillar exposed to all the intemperances of the air, which are the various tribulations of life, and which do not move her a tiny bit.  And Hope will cause the soul not only to immerse herself without fear into the immense riches of Faith, but to make herself the owner of them; and through Hope she will reach such a point as to make God Himself her own.  Ah, yes! Hope makes the soul reach wherever she wants; Hope is the door of Heaven - only by means of It can it be opened, because one who hopes for everything, obtains everything.  Then, after the soul has reached the point of making God Himself her own, immediately, without any obstacle, she will find herself in the immense ocean of Charity, and carrying Faith and Hope with her, she will immerse herself in it and will form one single thing with Me, her God.”

 

Most loving Jesus continued: “If Faith is the king, Charity is queen, and Hope is like the peacemaking mother who pacifies everything.  In fact, with Faith and Charity there may be disturbance, but Hope, being bond of peace, converts everything into peace.  Hope is support, Hope is refreshment; and when the soul, rising by means of Faith, sees the beauty, the sanctity and the love with which she is loved by God, and feels drawn to love Him, but in seeing her insufficiency, how little she does for God, and how she should love Him but does not, she feels discomforted, disturbed and almost does not dare to draw near God – immediately this peacemaking mother comes out, and placing herself between Faith and Charity, she begins to perform her office of peacemaker.  She makes the soul peaceful again, she pushes her, raises her, gives her new strengths; and carrying her before king Faith and queen Charity, she excuses the soul, she places a new effusion of her merits before the soul, and she prays them to receive her.  And Faith and Charity, with their gazes fixed only on this peacemaking mother, so tender and compassionate, receive the soul, and God forms the delight of the soul, and the soul the delight of God.”

 

Oh, holy Hope, how admirable you are!  I imagine seeing the soul who is possessed by this beautiful Hope, like a noble wayfarer, who walks in order to go and take possession of a land that will make his whole fortune.  But since he is unknown and he journeys through lands which are not his, some deride him, some insult him, some strip him of his clothes, and some reach the point of beating him and even of threatening to kill him.  And the noble wayfarer – what does he do in all these trials?  Will he be disturbed?  Ah, no – never!  On the contrary, he will deride those who do all this to him, and knowing with certainty that the more he suffers, the more he will be honored and glorified when he comes to take possession of his land, he himself teases the people into tormenting him more.  But he is always tranquil, he enjoys the most perfect peace; and what is more, while in the midst of these insults, he remains so calm, that while the others are all alert around him, he keeps sleeping in the bosom of his longed-for God.  Who administers so much peace and so much firmness to this wayfarer in continuing the journey he has undertaken?  Certainly Hope in the eternal goods that will be his; and since they are his, he will overcome everything in order to take possession of them.  Now, by thinking that they are his own, he comes to love them – and here is how Hope gives rise to Charity.

Who can say, then, what the light of blessed Jesus makes me see?  I would rather have let it pass in silence, but I see that lady obedience, laying down her friendly guises of friendship, assumes the aspect of a warrior and is arming his weapons to wage war against me and to wound me.  O please! Do not arm yourself so quickly – lay down your claws, be quiet, for I will do as you say, as much as I can, and so we will always remain friends.

 

Now, when the soul carries herself into the most extensive sea of Charity, she experiences ineffable delights, and enjoys joys which are unspeakable to mortal soul.  Everything is love; her sighs, her heartbeats, her thoughts, are as many sonorous voices that she makes resound around her most loving God.  These voices are all of love, calling Him to themselves, in such a way that blessed God, drawn and wounded by these loving voices, requites them, and it happens that His sighs, His heartbeats, and all of the Divine Being continuously call the soul to God.

 

Who can say, then, how wounded the soul is by these voices; how she begins to rave as though taken by a most ardent fever; how she runs, almost made insane, and goes to plunge herself into the loving Heart of her Beloved to find refreshment, and how she suckles, in torrents, the divine delights?  She becomes inebriated with love, and in her inebriation, she makes canticles, all of love, for her most sweet Spouse.  But who can say everything that passes between the soul and God?  Who can speak about this Charity, which is God Himself?

 

At this moment, I see an immense light, and my mind remains stupefied; it applies itself now at one point, now at another, and I try to write it on paper, but I feel I stammer in expressing it.  So, not knowing what to do, for now I keep silent, and I believe that lady obedience will forgive me this time, because if she wants to get huffy with me, this time she is not so right.  The wrong is all hers, for not giving me a more fluent tongue to be able to express it.  Have you understood, most reverend obedience?  We remain at peace, don’t we?

 

Lynne Bauer, JMJ - Oct. 12, 2020