TERESA HELENA HIGGINSON and LUISA PICCARRETA
Our Blessed Lord told Teresa that “the sufferings of His Body, yet they
are but like a drop in the ocean compared with what His Soul endured.
Our Lord impressed upon Teresa - His Soul is not known, His Soul is not loved.
(June, 1883)
Book of Heaven, Vol.
12, 1/29/19: “My daughter, first I had to make known what My Humanity did
and suffered exteriorly, to be able to dispose souls to know what My Divinity
did interiorly.”
Book of Heaven, Vol. 12, 2/4/19 “…the
Passion that creatures gave Me on the lst of my days was nothing other than the
shadow, the image of that which the Divinity made Me suffer during the course
of my Life.”
From a letter of Teresa’s to her confessor about
her first revelation in 1879:
“Our divine Lord suddenly represented to me the Divinity as a very large
precious crystal stone in which all things are reflected of exist; past, present and to come, in such a
manner that all things are present in Him. This immense precious
stone sent forth streams of richly colored lights brighter beyond comparison
than ten thousand suns, which I understood represented the infinite Attributes
of God. This great jewel also seemed to be covered with innumerable
eyes which I understood represented the Wisdom and Knowledge of God....Our
Blessed Lord showed me this Divine Wisdom, as the guiding power which regulated
the motions and affections of the Sacred Heart, showing me that it had the
same effect and power over its least action, in raising it, as the sun draws up
the vapor from the ocean.”
Book of Heaven,
April 5, 1901: Luisa: I seemed to find myself on
mount Calvary, in the act of the crucifixion of Our Lord, and while He suffered
the crucifixion, I could see – I
don’t know how – all generations, past,
present and future, in Jesus. And since Jesus had everyone within Himself.
Book of Heaven,
Jan. 22, 1925: Then, in looking at Jesus, I could see His intelligence as more than a sun, and all the
thoughts of Jesus like many rays which came out of that sun, and, extending, covered all the thoughts of creatures,
past, present and future. These rays were traveling in order to take, as
though in their power, all created intelligences, and substitute for them as
perennial glory to the Father, complete reparation for everything, and
impetration of all goods for all created intelligences. Then, drawing me to
Himself, Jesus told me: “My daughter, this
sun which you see within the intelligence of my Humanity, was formed by my
Divinity, which endowed Me with the creative power and the all-seeingness of
all things, in such a way that I was to be the new Sun of souls. And just
as the sun which I created for the good of nature, covers the whole earth with
its light, without denying the effects of its light to anyone, though it does
not depart from the heavens, but unleashes from its center the rays which bring
upon earth the goods that the sun contains – in the same way, without departing
from Me, with Its inaccessible light, my Divinity formed in Me spokes of light.
And these rays covered everyone and everything.
Teresa,
1879: “Our Divine Lord says that the time is at hand when the Wisdom of the
Father shall be adored and the Love of God for man shall be revealed in the
Light which shineth in darkness and enlighteneth every man that cometh into the
world. It is the Will of Our Dear Blessed Lord that His Sacred Head
be adored as the Seat of Divine Wisdom; not the Sacred Head alone, but the Head
as the shrine of the Powers of the Soul
and the faculties of the Mind and in these the Wisdom which guided every
affection of the Sacred Heart and motions of the whole Being of Jesus Our Lord
and Our God.”
Book of Heaven, Aug. 12, 1926: Ah! my daughter, how much disorder reigns in
the three powers of the human soul. One can say that they have shut the door on
Our face, they have barricaded the paths to prevent Our passing and to break
the communications with Us, while it was the greatest gift We gave man in
creating him. These three powers were to
serve him to comprehend the One who had created him, to grow in His likeness,
and, his will being transfused in that of his Creator, to give Him the right to
let It reign. This is why the Supreme Volition cannot reign in the soul if
these three powers – intellect, memory and will – do not hold hands in order to
return to the purpose for which God created man. Therefore, pray that these
three powers may return to the order and the harmony of their Creator, so that
my Supreme Will may reign with Its full triumph.”
From a letter of Teresa to her confessor in 1880:
“....His
Sacred Humanity is the Tabernacle of the Thrice Holy Trinity; ...St. John had
especially spoken of this devotion for the Most High revealed to him that He
should be thus worshipped before the end of the world, and he spoke of it as a
magnificent city, seeing the multitudes of variety and beauty and splendour of
this Seat of Divine Wisdom. It is a world of infinite magnitude, a sea of
fathomless depths, a never setting sun of inaccessible light and immeasurable heights…
“....He said that as by the cunning and deceit of the devil, man first fell
away from God in Paradise and incurred darkness of intellect and death - so in
these later days of darkness, self-indulgence, intellectual pride and conceit,
the splendour of eternal light, *into which no defiled thing may enter,
shall shine out more glorious and brilliant than ten thousand suns, and the
image of God’s goodness and majesty and power shall be seen in this unspotted
mirror of truth, purity, knowledge and love. Oh my father, do we not see
the depth of that Divine Wisdom in the time that He has reserved for this
manifestation of His adorable Will in this respect? Each time, He also
shows me the great blessings and graces He has in store for all who shall
further His Divine Will to this end, and makes me tremble with terror at
the dread punishments He has in store for all who shall hinder, or try to
hinder the furtherance of this Heavenly Devotion, for their jaws He says shall
be locked as were those of the lions in the den into which Daniel was
cast. They shall be shattered and reduced to nothingness. And
the twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost that sparkle so beautifully in the Divine
Wisdom are, as it were, the foundations to this City of the Lord which He has
dug deep in humility.”
Rev. 21:27 - There shall not enter into it anything
defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are written
in the book of life of the Lamb.
Book of Heaven,
March 3, 1919: “ In the Divine Eden the entrance is closed to the
devil, to the passions, and to the weaknesses. Indeed, satan himself does
not want to enter....”
Teresa, 1880: “I understand too that in the
devotion to the Seat of Divine Wisdom, the Holy Ghost will be unveiled to
our understanding, or His attributes will shine forth in the Person of God the
Son; that the more we practice devotion to the Sacred Head, the more we will
understand the working of the Holy Spirit of God in the human soul, and the
better we will know and love the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost who are
every in a Unity of Essence though in a Trinity of Persons......”
Book of Heaven, May 4,1925: “…the
Holy Spirit will make display of His love, manifesting to you the secrets, the
prodigies of my Will, the goods It contains, to make happy those who will give
themselves to knowing how much good this Supreme Will contains, to love It and
to let It reign in their midst, offering their souls to let It dwell within
their hearts, that It may be able to form Its Life in them.”
Book of Heaven, Jan. 29, 1919 - “I
will carry out the renewal by manifesting what my Divinity did in my Humanity....”
To Fr. Powell, Teresa’s confessor: “The question you asked me was why
our Dear Blessed Lord wished His Sacred Head to be honored as the ‘Shrine of
the powers of His Holy Soul,’ when the soul was certainly all over the body and
the head was not considering the acting seat of all the powers of the
soul. And this is what I understand - that as the Reason or Intellect
in us in that part of the soul that is nearest to God - is in a special manner
the Image of God, nay, is the very light of God in the soul, in which we see
God as He is, and ourselves as we are, and are capable of judging right from
wrong, and as the head is the seat of the reasoning powers, and the
faculties of the mind repose therein, so from the Sacred Head shine forth in a
blaze of resplendent light all knowledge, wisdom, understanding and a guiding
power to direct and govern the Will and Affections of the Sacred Heart.......The
soul pervades every part of the body, but as the reasoning powers are the
highest faculties of the soul, and as the head is said to contain or be the
Shrine of these faculties in a special way, and the memory is said to exist in
the brain, so the reason (intellect) guides and directs the will and love or
affections of the human heart. The head is the highest and noblest part
of man, but I do not mean that the soul is divided, no, these three powers
(memory, intellect, and will) though
really distinct, cannot be separated any more than the Person of the Adorable
Trinity could be separated - they form together but one soul which is
immortal and perfect in its powers when filled with sanctifying Grace as is the
Holy Soul of Jesus.”
Book of Heaven, Vol. 35, 8/29/37: “It is in the intelligence that God places
the image of the Most Holy Trinity.”
Book of Heaven, Aug. 12, 1926: “My
daughter, man was created by God with
three powers: memory, intellect and will; and this, so that he might have
the links of communications with the Divine Persons of the Sacrosanct Trinity.
These were like paths along which to ascend to God, like doors through which to
enter, like rooms in which to form the continuous dwelling – the creature for
God, God for the creature. These are the royal paths of both of them, the gold
doors which God placed in the depth of the soul through which the Supreme
Sovereignty of the Divine Majesty might enter; the safe and unshakeable room in
which God was to have His celestial dwelling.”
Book of Heave, June 7, 1928: “My daughter, how many prodigies of Ours
concurred in creating man! With Our breath, the soul was infused in him, and in
the soul Our paternal goodness infused three
Suns, by which We formed in it the
perennial and refulgent day - not subject to any night. These three Suns were
formed by the Power of the Father, by the Wisdom of the Son, by the Love of the
Holy Spirit. While being formed in the soul, these three Suns remained in
communication with the Three Divine Persons, in such a way that man possessed
the way through which to ascend to Us, and We possessed the way through which
to descend in him. These three Suns are
the three powers: intellect, memory and will. While being distinct among
them, they hold hands and arrive at forming one single power, symbol of Our adorable Trinity, since
while being three distinct Persons, We form one single Power, one single
Intellect, and one single Will.”
Teresa, Nov., 1880: “Jesus, the True Light, will
arise and shed true Light and Wisdom and heat over the face of the earth.
He will give us to eat of the Tree of
Knowledge. He will feed us with good fruit, the wheat of His elect,
and from the wine which makes virgins, He will give us to drink nectar and
honey....
Book of Heaven,
Aug. 12, 1926: “The Sun of Justice shall arise and we shall see Him in the very light of
His countenance, and if we allow ourselves to be guided by this light, He will
open the eyes of the soul. He will instruct the understanding.
He will recollect the memory. He will feed the imagination with real and
profitable substance. He will guide and bend the will. He will fill the hearing with good
things and the heart with all it can desire.”
Book of Heaven,
Dec. 3 1906: “Everything in you must be sweetness and peace, in such a way
that it may be said of you that which is said about Me: that nothing but milk and honey flows within Me,
symbolizing sweetness with honey, and peace with milk. I am so filled and
soaked with them, that they pour out from my eyes, from my mouth, and from all
of my works.”
Teresa, 1881: “I see more clearly now why Our
Dear Lord is called the Word - because He is produced by the Father’s thought
or contemplation of Himself....” “And although the Son and the Holy Ghost
are equally powerful, yet the almighty power is attributed in a special manner
to the Eternal Father and as the three Divine Persons have the same wisdom and
goodness, yet the Wisdom is particularly attributed to the Son and the Goodness
to the Holy Ghost...”
“I saw how the Sacred Head was in a special manner the dwelling place of
the Holy Ghost, and as at the moment of the Creation the Spirit of
God moved upon the waters, so He is ever enshrined in the Sea of glass, and His
brightness is the light thereof, and His love the Sun that gives light and
governs all things in this terrestrial and celestial Paradise as the sun rules
the things of the earth. I have understood from Our Dear Blessed Lord
that He wished the great mystery of The Incarnation to be made very clear or
taught very carefully to the children.”
Book of Heaven, May 9, 1900: Luisa: “I seemed to see the mystery of the
Most Holy Trinity, and man, formed with the three powers in Its image. I also
understood that for one who stayed in that light, his will would be transformed in the Father, his intellect in the Son,
his memory in the Holy Spirit.”
Book
of Heaven, Aug. 20, 1923: “The
true image of it is the sun which illuminates our horizon: it illuminates all, but without clamor;
it is light, but has no speech, it says nothing to anyone - the good it does,
the seeds it fecundates, the life it gives to all plants, and how it purifies
the polluted air with its heat, and destroys what can be harmful to all
humanity. And yet, it is so silent, that even though they have it with
them, they pay no attention to it. But in spite of this, it does not
cease to be majestic and beautiful, and to continue the good it does to
all. And if the sun were missing, everyone would mourn for it, because
the greatest miracle of fecundity and preservation of all nature would be
missing. The sanctity of living in my Will is more than sun.”
From a letter of Teresa to Fr. Snow in 1887: “....at
present I feel as though I had not to run after God as it were, but that I
possessed Him and was more closely united to Him than my soul is to my
body, that He is the soul of my existence and that I feel and live in Him,
and He does all and that I do nothing.”
“He told me frequently that as I had given myself wholly to Him to be His
entirely, so He would be all mine, and that He would glorify me in the sight of
the angels and saints, because I had emptied myself and become as naught to
myself......”
Book of Heaven, July 9, 1925 - Jesus to
Luisa: “…you are nothing other
than a little particle which binds all other particles of the other creatures.”
Book of Heaven, Nov 3, 1907: “You are nothing but tiny little grass
which God delighted in endowing with a marvelous virtue…”
Book of Heaven, Nov. 10, 1923: “I know that you are nothing and can do nothing, and this is why you afflict
yourself; but it is the strength of my arm that wants and can operate, and I
like to operate great things in the littlest ones.”
Teresa:
“...the uncreated Wisdom of God is God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost...God the
Son, becoming man and being the image of the uncreated Wisdom of God, built for
Himself a House which is the Sacred Head - (for Wisdom has built Herself a
house..) And as Jesus has promised to remain with us forever, so He and the
Spirit of Truth will guide and govern and enlighten His Church to the end of
time.
Book of Heaven, May 2, 1899: “The whole of Heaven is veiled in my Church.
Just as in Heaven one is the head, which is God, and many are the saints, of
different conditions, orders and merits, so in my Church, in which all Heaven
is veiled, one is the head, which is the Pope, and even in the triple tiara
that covers his head is the Sacrosanct Trinity veiled; and many are the members
that depend upon this head – that is, different dignities, various orders,
superior and inferior. From the littlest to the greatest, they all serve to
embellish my Church; and each one, according to its degree, has the office
entrusted to it; and by the exact fulfillment of the virtues, it comes to give
of itself a splendor so very fragrant in my Church, that the earth and Heaven
are perfumed and illumined, and the people are so drawn by this light and by
this fragrance, that it is almost impossible for them not to surrender to the
truth.
Book of Heaven, Nov.1, 1899: Luisa:
“Oh, what happy days! After this, days of triumphs and of peace would arise;
the face of the earth seemed to be renewed, and the pillar would acquire its
original prestige and splendor. Oh, happy days! - I hail you from afar, days which will give great glory to my
Church, and great honor to the God who is Her Head!”
Teresa to a Poor Clare Colenttine who nursed her in her last illness (1905)
“In one of our spiritual talks, I asked
Teresa how one could comply with Our Lord’s desire in praying without ceasing, for it seemed tiring to be saying vocal
prayers all day long. She replied that Our Lord did not mean us to be on
our knees praying from morning til night, but that He wishes us to raise our minds and hearts from material things to
things Divine.”
“My dear child, how can I be disappointed at anything our dear Lord sends to
me. He is the Eternal Wisdom and Love, and I just press His dear Hands a
little closer in mine and say, ‘Dear Lord, Thou knowest what is best.’ My
dear child, whatever happens to you, always trust our dear Lord and remember
all He sends is best even though you cannot understand. You must believe
in His love hidden in the sufferings He sends and love His Holy Will.
Make it your one joy and your one happiness; if you do this, I assure you,
you will enjoy a heaven upon earth; but, of course, in order to love God’s Holy
Will, one must first know God and love Him, and trust Him, and then we will
willingly serve Him with love.”
Book of Heaven,
June 2, 1899: “The greatest favor I
can do to a soul is to make her know herself. The knowledge of self and the
knowledge of God go together; the more
you know yourself, the more you know God. The soul who has known herself,
seeing that she can do nothing good by herself, transforms this shadow of her
being in God, and it happens that in God she does all her operations.”
Teresa writes to a priest concerning Our Blessed
Mother and Queen:
“As the heavens are above the earth, so
is the glory and majesty of Mary above the highest of God’s creatures and their
beauty fades almost to nothingness beside her. For in the very instant of her
Immaculate Conception she far exceeded the cherubim and seraphim in knowledge,
love and perfection, and each breath she drew, every motion and action of
her whole life and being was one of next to infinite homage, adoration and
profoundest knowledge and love; each beating of her heart was an immeasurable
height and depth of perfection, and all the love and perfection of all the
angels and saints united in one would not reach to her perfection at her
birth.”
Book of Heaven,
Dec. 8, 1922: “My daughter, the immaculate conception of my beloved Mama was
prodigious and all marvelous; so much so, that Heaven and earth were stupefied
and made feast. All Three Divine Persons competed among Themselves: the Father
poured out an immense sea of power; I, the Son, poured out an infinite sea of
wisdom, and the Holy Spirit, an immense sea of eternal love, which, merging
into one, formed one single sea; and in
the middle of this sea the conception of this Virgin was formed, elect among
the elect.
Teresa:
“I feel as though I had no heart of
soul, but that God Himself is my soul and there He shines and rules all in such
wonderful wisdom and peace. His glory and holy Will are all I desire.”
Teresa,
May 23, 1880: “Around His Sacred Head
shone a light of indescribable
brilliancy and beauty; as it were, a sun in which sparkled 12 magnificent crystal stones
reflecting all the colours of the rainbow.
Rev. 21:18-21 And the building of the wall thereof was of
jasper stone: but the city itself pure
gold, like to clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were
adorned with all manner of precious stones.
The first foundation was jasper: the second, sapphire: the third, a chalcedony:
the fourth, an emerald: The fifth, sardonyx: the sixth, sardius: the seventh,
chrysolite: the eighth, beryl: the ninth, a topaz: the tenth, a chrysoprasus:
the eleventh, a jacinth: the twelfth, an amethyst.
The
following lines found written in her writing book after her death under the
title, “Submission, “show how the love of God and His Divine Will were the
keynotes of her sanctity:
Father of all, we fain would say, as did Thy Only Son,
In every hour of every day, Oh! let Thy Will be done.
In thought, in word, in deed, in death, things finished or begun,
Let every transitory breath whisper, Thy Will be done.
In daily cares to thousands known or known perchance to none,
Let this request be heard above, Oh! Lord Thy Will be done.
In sickness though some stroke unseen may oft the senses stun,
Let grace suggestive intervene to feel Thy Will be Done.
In health, when in it’s full career the race of man is run,
Let joy be taught by holy fear to pray, Thy Will be done.
Amidst the rocks and shoals of life which few can ever shun,
Let peace compose each spark of strife and cry Thy Will be done.
And when the bow of hope shall blend all colours into one,
Time in eternity shall end with - Lord, Thy Will be done.
O Seat of Divine Wisdom and guiding power which regulates and govern all the
motions and love of the Sacred Heart, may all minds know Thee, all hearts love
thee, and all tongues praise Thee now and forever. (Prayer of Teresa)
In a letter to Federico Abresch (#20) Luisa
says, “The Sacred Heart of Jesus is nothing other than the immense Reign of
His Will. It is not the Heart that
dominates, it is the Divine Will that dominates His Divine Heart.”
Lynne Bauer
Aug. 2000
