Preface by St. Annibale di Francia

Preface

by Saint Annibale Maria. di Francia

J.M.J.A.

Messina, October 29, 1926

Intelligentes quae sit voluntas Dei.

We begin, with this first printing, the publication of more than 20 handwritten volumes of sublime revelations which, always excepting the judgments of the Holy Church, we believe to have been given by Our Lord Jesus Christ to a soul, a dearest daughter and disciple of His, who is the pious author of the Hours of the Passion.

Even now we make known that these revelations, which are continuing and will continue, we don’t know for how much longer, have as their goal the establishment of the complete Triumph of the Kingdom of the Divine Will upon earth.

Who is this beloved daughter and disciple of Our Lord, the author of the Hours of the Passion, who, up to now, has written 20 volumes of divine revelations?

We cannot disclose her name and address because this would mean prostrating her to the most severe affliction, and to the most deeply felt crushing of soul and body.

She wants to live solitary, hidden and unknown.  For no reason in the world would she have put into writing the intimate and prolonged communications with adorable Jesus, from her tenderest age until today, which still continue, who knows until when, if Our Lord Himself had not repeatedly obliged her to, both personally and through holy obedience to her Directors, to which she always surrenders with enormous violence to herself, and also with great strength and generosity, because her concept of holy obedience would make her refuse even an entrance into Paradise, as did actually occur, and will be seen in the revelations of October 11 and 30, 1909.

So very gracious are her discourses and dialogues with Lady Obedience, as she calls her, almost wanting to get even for the subjection to which she is forced.  Now she speaks to her as to a great Princess and Queen who imposes herself severely, now she portrays her as a most powerful Warrior, who arms himself from head to food, ready to strike the moment one dares to contradict him.

In substance, this soul is in a tremendous fight between an overwhelming love of hiddenness and the inexorable empire of Obedience to which she absolutely must surrender – and Obedience always wins.  This constitutes one of the most important traits of a true spirit - of a solid and tested virtue, because she has been submitting to the dominion of the great Lady Obedience, with the greatest violence to herself, for about forty years! 

This solitary soul is a most pure virgin, wholly of God, who appears to be the object of singular predilection of Jesus, Divine Redeemer.  It seems that Our Lord, who century after century increases the wonders of His Love more and more, wanted to make of this virgin with no education, whom He calls the littlest one that He found on earth, the instrument of a mission so sublime that no other can be compared to it - that is, the triumph of the Divine Will upon the whole earth, in conformity with what is said in the ‘Our Father’:   Fiat Voluntas Tua sicut in Coelo et in terra.

This Virgin of the Lord has been placed in bed as victim of Divine Love for more than 40 years, from the time when she was still adolescent.  It has been a state of a long series of sufferings, both natural and supernatural, and of inebriations of the eternal Charity of the Heart of Jesus.  The origin of these pains, which exceed every natural order, has been, almost continuously, an intermittent privation of God, which constitutes that dark night of the soul, called “bitter and terrible” by the mystic and Doctor, St. John of the Cross, so much so, as to compare it to the pains which the souls in Purgatory suffer because of the privation of God.  He compares it somehow to a suffocation of the soul, as when someone is breathless, because the breath of the soul is God:   Christus spiritus oris nostri (Jesus Christ, the breath of our mouth).

In the course of these publications one will be able to read the laments of this wounded dove searching for her Beloved – so intimate, sharp, sensible, as to leave a profound impression of this Victim of Divine Love.  But sometimes the thick veil is torn, the soul sees Jesus, they embrace, they delight in each other, and the soul asks for the mystical kiss of the Sacred Spouse of the Canticles.  At times, the inebriation is such that, in a delirium of love, her human resistance grows weak, and the soul exclaims:  “Enough, enough! No more, Lord, for I cannot sustain it!”, as once St. Francis Saverio exclaimed in similar circumstances.

All of these operations of Divine Love take place mostly in the silence of the night, and in the morning, after Holy Communion, when she remains cloistered and recollected for a couple of hours.

The sufferings of the body add to those of the soul, and occur at a mystical level for the most part.  With no sign appearing on her hands, feet, side or forehead, she receives frequent crucifixion from Our Lord Himself.  Jesus Himself lays her upon a cross, and pierces her with nails.  And then, what Saint Teresa described when she received the wound from the Seraphim, happens within her:  a pain most sharp, such as to make her faint, and at the same time, a rapture of love.

But if Jesus did not do so, it would be for this soul an infinitely greater spiritual suffering, because, with the Seraphim of Carmel, she also says:  to suffer or to die. 

Here is another sign of her true spirit.  Often times, when Our Lord appears to her crowned with thorns, after He has abstracted her from her senses, she gracefully removes the crown of thorns from His head and drives it onto hers, experiencing atrocious spasms, but mystical contentments.

In the course of these publications one will remain astonished in noticing an extraordinary intimacy of Our Lord with this soul, which is in nothing inferior to those of St. Getrude, St. Metilde,  the Saints Margherite or any other Saint.  Often times, as the aforementioned mystic and Doctor observes in similar cases, the familiarity and intimacy with which Our Lord deals with this soul, renders her daring in using certain expressions and in advancing certain demands, which would appear excessive if one did not consider that Adorable Jesus, in the matters of Faith, has given us proofs of His love even greater than those which can be found in the intimate conversations between Jesus and any privileged soul.  It is enough, above all, that He has given Himself to us even as food in the Most Holy Eucharist.

After having mentioned her long and continuous stay in bed as victim, for years and years, with the experience of many spiritual and physical sufferings, it might seem that the sight of this unknown virgin would be afflicting, as though seeing a person lying with all the marks of past pains, of current sufferings, and the like. 

Yet, here there is something admirable.  In seeing this Spouse of Jesus Crucified, who spends the night in painful ecstasies and in sufferings of every kind, during the day, sitting on her bed doing her needlework - nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing appears, of one who has suffered so much during the night; there is nothing, not one thing extraordinary or supernatural in her air.  On the contrary, she appears as a healthy person, happy and jovial.  She speaks, converses, laughs when appropriate, but receives few friends.

Sometimes, some troubled heart confides in her, and asks for her prayers.  She listens kindly and comforts, but never advances to make prophecies, never a word which might hint at revelations.  The great comfort which she presents is always one, always the same:  the Divine Will. 

Although she possesses no human knowledge, she is abundantly endowed with a Wisdom all celestial - with the Science of the Saints.  Her words illuminate and console.  By nature her intellect is not poor.  She studied to the first grade when she was a child; her writing is filled with mistakes, although she does not lack appropriate terms, in conformity with the revelations; terms which seem to be infused by Our Lord.

The Hours of the Passion

At the same time as the sublime Revelations about the virtues in general, and about the Divine Will in particular, for many years, at nighttime, this soul has entered the contemplation of the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, with the addition of distinct information about many scenes of the Passion.

The method was that of going through the 24 hours of the Adorable Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which begin with the Legal Supper and end with His death on the Cross.  These visions were sometimes accompanied by corresponding revelations of Our Lord.

Since nothing was published of the visions and revelations of this soul, in her excessive desire to keep everything hidden, fearing that a publication, even anonymous, might uncover her, she wanted to bury this

Treasure of divine knowledges, of superhuman compassion, of superhuman fount of the most loving affections within herself.

But her Spiritual Father placed the majestic Lady Obedience, the strong Warrior armed from head to foot, before her; and Our Lord Himself pushed her to manifest them for the good of many souls.

She surrendered, and to the author of this Preface was entrusted the printing of the writings which she put on paper regarding this topic so important.

As the first Edition of this admirable Treatise of the 24 Hours of the Passion of Our Lord appeared, the blessing of God seemed evident.  In a short time all copies were depleted, which at that time were 5,000, without being sent to specific addresses.  It was enough to send one copy to some devout person, that requests would begin to arrive.  An announcement was placed in the periodical of our Anthonian Orphanages “Dio e il Prossimo” [“God and Neighbor”] under the name of a Book of Gold, and immediately the requests increased, in such a way that the Edition was soon exhausted.

Most Eminent Cardinal Cassetta, to whom nothing had been sent directly, requested 50 copies at once.

Then came the 2^nd Edition, a larger one, and then the 3^rd.  Both of them were rapidly depleted.

For the purpose of promotion, sales were made at moderate prices, just to cover the expenses.

At that time a pleasant circumstance occurred, which we remember with pleasure.  A letter, addressed directly to me, arrived from the Vatican, written by that angelic Bishop - today Apostolic Nuncio of Venezuela, at that time the Secretary of Bishop Msgr. Tacci (who is today an emeritus Cardinal) - Msgr. Cento, who was then appointed Bishop of Acireale, and will perhaps be a Cardinal of the Holy Church.  There had been no previous contacts between this lovable person and myself.  In this letter he appeared enthusiastic from the reading of the Hours of the Passion by an “unknown author”, and he prayed me to reveal to him her name and address, because he wanted to correspond with her about things of the spirit.

In truth, I was unable to refuse.  But he was not content with an epistolary correspondence, and wanted to go to visit this chosen one of the Lord in person.  Even more, in order to legitimize his trip of such a long distance, he offered to preach in a Triduum for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Chiesa Madre.  Every day he was near the bed of the “pious author” in spiritual conversations, to his great contentment.  After he departed from that town, he always kept the most pleasant memory of this soul, so dear to Jesus.

Once the 3^rd Edition was depleted, the 4^th one came, enriched with other writings of the Servant of God.  This time the printing was executed at our press managed by the Sisters of my faithful one in Messina, and 15,000 copies were printed.  As the announcement was repeated, requests arrived at all of our Houses.

It is not without reason that this book has provoked so much enthusiasm.  Indeed, it is dictated with such surges of love, with such penetration into the sufferings of the Incarnate Word, as to enrapture the soul of one who reads it, and much more of one who meditates on it. 

But, even more, there is an undeniable concurrence of Grace which, one could say, begs two things:  one is extensive reparations for all the sins of the world of every kind, like the very ones which Our Lord Jesus Christ presented to His Eternal Father interiorly at the time of His most bitter Passion.  Because of these reparations of the author of the Hours, Our Lord promised – as is fully believed – many exemptions from divine chastisements to those who meditate these hours and in the places in which they are meditated.  Another divine goal is precisely that of placating Divine Justice, by holding back the scourges which the Lord prepares.

In the course of these publications which we are beginning, there are chapters which foresee divine scourges of earthquakes, wars, fire, cloudbursts, devastation of lands, epidemics, famines and the like.  Everything, everything has been predicted several years before, and everything has come about, and much yet is left to come about.  But the state of victim of this soul, her prayers, her tears, her sufferings and her daringness of love with Jesus have held back part of these scourges, and will hold back yet more.

A sign of the great detachment of this soul from any earthly thing is her firmness and constancy in accepting no gifts, either of money or anything else.  On more than one occasion, people who read the Hours of the Passion and in whom a sense of sacred affection for this solitary and unknown soul arose, wrote to me that they wanted to send her money.  But she was so firmly opposed, it was as if they had offended her.

Her way of living is very modest.  She possesses little, and lives with a loving relative who assists her.  Since the little that they have is not enough to pay the rent or for their support in these sad times of expensive living, she peacefully works, as mentioned before, and earns something from her work, which has to serve especially for her loving relative, because she has no expense for clothing or shoes.  Her food is of a few ounces per day, and is offered to her by her assistant, because she never asks for anything.  Furthermore, a few hours after she has taken that bit of food, she brings it up.  However, her appearance is not of a dying person, but not really that of a perfectly healthy person.  Yet, she is not inactive; rather, she consumes her strengths, both in the supernatural events of sufferings and strain during the night, and with her work during the day.  Her life is therefore almost a perennial miracle.

To her great detachment from any earnings which are not procured with her hands, one must add her firmness in never accepting anything from the publication and sale of the Hours of the Passion, which would be due to her by right as literary property.  As I pressed her not to refuse it, she answered:  “I have no right, because the work is not mine, but of God.”

I will not continue further.  The life of this virgin, Spouse of Jesus, is more celestial than terrestrial.  She wants to be ignored and unknown in the world, looking for nothing but her Jesus and Her Most Holy Mother, whom she calls Mama, and who has a special predilection for this chosen soul.

As the voluminous manuscripts which Our Lord has dictated to her are gradually published, from the tenderness with which Jesus treats her, from the sweet words with which He calls her, from His celestial embraces and her loving correspondence, admirable things will be revealed about the singular virtues of this soul, who - who knows - one day, coming out triumphantly from the infallible judgments of the Church, will be placed on the altar as protection of many.

The Divine Will and Creation

Volume 20 - November 1, 1926
What the Supreme Fiat does in each created thing, and the lessons It gives to the creatures in order to come and reign in their midst.
I was doing my usual round in the whole Creation, to be able to love and glorify as the Divine Fiat Itself loves and glorifies, in all created things. But while I was doing this, I thought to myself: ‘My sweet Jesus makes me go around through the whole Creation, almost to reach His Will in all of Its acts, to keep It company, to give to It my “I love You”, my “Thank You”, my “I adore You”, and to ask that Its Kingdom may come soon. But I do not know all that this Divine Will does in each created thing – I would like to know It, so that my act may be one with Its own.’
Now, while I was thinking of this, my always lovable Jesus, all goodness, came out from within my interior and told me: “It is right that the little daughter of my Will know what the One from whom her origin came, does. You must know that my Eternal Fiat not only fills the whole Creation and is life of each created thing, but It keeps all of Our qualities spread out throughout the whole Creation. In fact, Creation was to serve as terrestrial Paradise for the human family, and therefore It was to be the echo of the beatitudes and happinesses of Heaven. If It did not contain the joys and the contentments of the Celestial Fatherland, how could It form the happiness of the terrestrial fatherland? More so, since one was the Will – That which beatified Heaven, as well as That which was to make the earth happy. Now, if you want to know what my Will does in the heavens - in that blue which can be seen always firm and stretched out over the heads of all, there is no point in which heavens cannot be seen; both at night and at daytime they remain always at their place. So, Our Will keeps Our Eternity, Our Firmness that never changes, spread out in them. It remains always in Its perfect balance, nor does It ever change for any circumstance; and while It loves and glorifies Our Eternity - Our unshakeable Being, It makes the earth happy and says to man: ‘Look – take the heavens as model, which are always extended above your head. Be always firm in good, just as I am. From here, I am always stretched out to protect you, so that you too, like a second heaven populated with stars… - which to your eyes seem to be so bound to the heavens that one could say that the stars are daughters of the heavens - …so that you too will be firm in good, and the heaven of your soul will be populated with stars, like many births and daughters of yours.’
So, in doing your round in the Creation, when you arrive at the heavens, you too, united with Our Will, love and glorify Our eternity, Our unshakeable Being that never changes, and pray that It may render the creatures firm in good, that they may be the reflection of the heavens, and may enjoy the happiness brought by a good which is continuous and never interrupted.
Then, continuing your round in the space of Creation, you will arrive at the sun, a sphere which is closer to the earth than the heavens, in order to bring to the creatures the fount of terrestrial happiness, the similes of the beatitudes, and the flavors of the happiness of the Celestial Fatherland. Do you want to know, then, what my Will does in the sun? It glorifies Our interminable light, Our innumerable flavors. It loves and glorifies Our infinite sweetnesses, the indescribable shades of Our beauties; and with its heat, It echoes Our immense Love.
Oh! how the sun sings Our praises; how it loves and glorifies Our Divine Being. Just as Our Divinity, unveiled, beatifies the whole Celestial Fatherland with ever new acts, in the same way, the sun, faithful echo of its Creator, celestial bearer of the Supreme Majesty, veiled by its light in which my Will dominates and reigns, brings terrestrial happiness to the earth. It brings its light and its heat; it brings sweetness and almost innumerable flavors to plants, to herbs, to fruits; it brings warmth and fragrance to the flowers, and so many different shades of beauty, as to delight and embellish all nature. Oh! how the sun – or rather, my Will in the sun – through plants, fruits and flowers, offers true terrestrial happiness to the human generations. And if they do not enjoy it fully, it is because they have moved away from that Will which reigns in the sun; and the human will, placing itself against the Divine, breaks Its happiness. My Will, veiled in the light of the sun, while loving and singing the praises of Our divine qualities, from the height of its sphere says to man: ‘In everything you do, be always light, just as I am, so that the light may convert you completely into heat, and you may become as one single flame of love for your Creator. Look at me: by always being light and heat, I possess sweetness; so much so, that I communicate it to the plants, and from the plants to you. If you will always be light and heat, you too will possess the divine sweetness. You will have no more bile or anger in your soul; you will possess the flavors and the different shades of the beauties of the Supreme Being. You will be sun like me; more so, since God has made me for you, and you were made for Him, therefore it is right that you be more sun than I.’
See, my daughter, how many things you have to do united with my Will in that sphere of the sun. You must sing the praises, love and glorify Our light, Our love, Our infinite sweetnesses, Our innumerable flavors, Our incomprehensible beauty. You must impetrate for the creatures all the divine qualities that the sun contains, so that in finding the divine qualities within their midst, my Will may come to reign unveiled, with Its full triumph, in the midst of the human generations.
And now, my daughter, let us descend into the lower part of the earth; let us go into the sea, in which immense masses of crystal clear waters are piled up – symbol of divine purity. These waters are always walking – they never stop. They have no voice, yet they murmur; they are without life, yet so strong as to form waves so high, that they overwhelm and shatter ships, peoples and things, to then descend into their shore. And after they have knocked down the things which they invested, peacefully, as if they had done nothing, they continue their usual murmuring.
Oh! how my Will in the sea sings the praises, loves and glorifies Our Power, Our strength, Our eternal motion that never stops! And if Our Justice forms its just roaring waves, such as to knock down cities and peoples, like peaceful sea after the storm, Our peace is never disturbed, and my Will, veiled by the waters of the sea, says to man: ‘Be pure like these crystal clear waters. But if you want to be pure, walk always toward Heaven, otherwise you would putrefy, just as these waters, so pure, would become putrid if they did not always flow. Let the murmuring of your prayer be continuous, if you want to be strong and powerful like me - if you want to knock down the strongest enemies as well as your rebellious will, which prevents Me from unveiling Myself and going out of this sea to come to reign in you and extend in you the peaceful sea of my grace. How could you possibly want to remain below this sea that glorifies Me so much?’
You too, sing the praises, love and glorify Our Purity, Our Power, Strength and Justice, united to my Will which awaits you in the sea as Its own daughter; Our eternal motion toward the creatures in order to do good to them, and the continuous murmuring of Our Love through the created things, which, while murmuring love, wants the continuous return of the murmuring of the continuous love of the creatures. Pray that my Will may give them the divine qualities It exercises in the sea, so that It may come and reign in the midst of those who now keep It rejected in the whole Creation.
Therefore, if you want to know what my Will does in all Creation, go around in It, and my Fiat, finding Its daughter in all created things, will unveil Itself and will tell you what It does toward the Divine Majesty, and the call and the lessons It wants to give to the creatures.”

December 8, 1926
How one who lives in the Divine Will is the echo and the little sun. How these writings come from the Heart of Our Lord. The works of Our Lord are veils which hide the noble Queen of the Divine Will.
I was doing my usual acts in the eternal Volition, and my always lovable Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter, you are Our echo. As you enter into Our Will in order to love, to praise, to ask for the coming of Our Kingdom, We hear in you the echo of Our Love, the echo of Our glory, the echo of Our Fiat that wants to come upon earth in order to reign, that wants to be prayed, and prayed again, and be pressed to come to reign on earth as It does in Heaven. And as you go around through the whole Creation to follow the acts of the Supreme Will in It, We hear your echo in the sea, in the valleys, on the mountains, in the sun, in the heavens, in the stars – in everything. How beautiful is this echo – it is Our echo which resounds in all of Our things. In this echo, We hear the echo of Our voice, the motion of Our works, the treading of Our steps, the motions - the pulsation of Our heartbeat, and We greatly delight in seeing your littleness, as you, while echoing, try to imitate Our voice, to copy the motions of Our works, to make the same sound as Our steps, and to love with Our own heartbeat.”
Then, sighing, He added: “My daughter, if the sun had reason and saw a plant, a being, that wanted to become sun, the sun would increase all of its light, its heat and its effects over this being, so as to make it become sun. And even though it would not deny its light and its effects to the other beings - because it is in the nature of light to diffuse and to do good to all, wherever it is – the fortunate being which received, all together, all the reflections and all the goods that the sun contains, would become sun. What glory, what contentment would the sun not receive, in being able to form another sun? The entire earth, for many centuries, has never rendered it so much glory, so much love, by receiving its many effects, as this one being which has turned into sun.
By living in Our Fiat, the soul does nothing but imitate her Creator, and the eternal Sun concentrates all of Its reflections over her, in such a way that she becomes the little sun, in the likeness of the Divine Sun. Was this not exactly Our purpose and Our saying: ‘Let Us make man in Our image and likeness’? To make him without having him be like Us and carry within himself the image of the One who had created him, was neither decorous, nor worthy of a work of Our hands; nor would the generation of a being dissimilar from Us be Power of that regenerative breath which came from Our womb. What would one say of a mother who generated, not a child who had eyes, mouth, hands, feet and who was similar to her in all his limbs; at most, smaller than her in his limbs, but lacking nothing of all the organs of the mother – but she generated a plant, a bird, a stone, things which are dissimilar from her? It would be incredible – things against nature and unworthy of a mother, who was not able to infuse her image and all of her limbs in her newborn. Now, if all things generate and form things similar to them, much more so with God, prime Generator, whose honor and glory in forming the creatures was to form them as similar to Himself. Therefore, my daughter, let your flight in my Will be continuous, that It may concentrate Its rays over you, and darting through you, It may make of you Its little sun.”
After this, I felt tired and I could not make up my mind to write what my adored Jesus had told me. And Jesus, surprising me, to give me will and strength in order to do it, told me: “My daughter, don’t you know that these writings come from the depth of my Heart, and I make the tenderness of my Heart flow in them, to move those who will read them, and the firmness of my divine speech, to strengthen them in the truths of my Will? In all the sayings, truths, examples which I make you write on paper, I make flow the dignity of my celestial Wisdom, in such a way that those who read them, or will read them, if they are in grace, will feel in them my tenderness, the firmness of my speech and the light of my Wisdom, and as though in between magnets, they will be drawn into the knowledge of my Will. Those who are not in grace, then, will not be able to deny that it is light; and light always does good, it never does harm; it illuminates, it warms, it allows one to discover the most hidden things and moves one to love them. Who can say he does not receive good from the sun? No one. More than sun, I am releasing these writings from within my Heart, that they may do good to all. This is why I have so much interest that you write – for the great good I want to do to the human family; so much so, that I look at them as my own writings, because it is always I the One who dictates, and you are the little secretary of the long story of my Will.”
Then, I was following, in the Divine Will, everything that Jesus had done while being on earth in His Humanity, and I asked in each one of His acts that His Fiat may be known, and that It may come triumphantly to reign in the midst of creatures. And my highest and only Good, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter, just as all Creation is a veil which hides my Will, in the same way, my Humanity and all of my works, tears and pains are many veils which hide my Supreme Fiat. It reigned in my acts, triumphant and dominating, and It laid the foundations in order to come to reign in the human acts of the creatures. But do you know who tears these veils to let It come out to dominate in her own heart? One who recognizes It in each one of my acts and invites It to come out. She tears the veil of my works, she enters into them, she recognizes the noble Queen, and she prays It – she presses It to no longer remain hidden; and opening her heart to It, she invites It to enter. She tears the veil of my tears, of my Blood, of my pains, the veil of the Sacraments, the veil of my Humanity, and giving her submission to It, she implores It to no longer remain veiled, but to make Itself known as Queen – which It is - in order to take Its dominion and form the children of Its Kingdom. From here the necessity that you go around in Our Will and in all of Our works – to find the noble Queen of Our Will hidden in them, to pray It to unveil Itself, to come out of Its apartments, so that all may know It and let It reign.”

Invocation to the DivineWill in all our Actions

INVOCATION TO THE DIVINE WILL IN ALL OUR ACTIONS

From the Hours of the Passion

(Linking ourselves to Luisa)

I am nothing, God is everything, Father I love You! 

I want to unite myself to your Divinity, and I dissolve my nothingness in It, and in this way I give You everything.

Come Divine Will to Live in our Lives

How can I live without Jesus? Sorrowful Mama, do not leave me alone, take me with You; but first place all of myself in Jesus. Empty me of everything, in order to place all of Jesus within me, just as You placed Him within Yourself.

-          to think in our minds,

Fusing myself in your mind, I want to reunite all the thoughts of the creatures within You and fuse them in your thoughts, in order to find sufficient reparation for all evil thoughts, and for so many suffocated enlightenments and inspirations. I would like to make all thoughts one with Yours, to give You true reparation and perfect glory.

-          to flow in our blood,

It seems to me that to the rivers of iniquities that the creatures send You, You want to answer with rivers of blood, so that these sins may be drowned in it, and with it You may give to each one the deed of your forgiveness.

-          to look with our eyes,

I want to fuse my eyes in Yours, and also those of all creatures, to be able to repair with your own eyes for all the evil we have done with our sight.

-          to listen in our hearing,

I ask for your forgiveness, and I repair for all the times You called us and we have been deaf, or we have pretended not to hear You; and You, my weary Good, have repeated your calls – but in vain! I want to fuse my hearing in Yours, and also that of all creatures, to make a continuous and complete reparation.

-          to speak in our voices

I want to fuse my tongue in Yours, and also the tongues of all creatures, in order to repair with your own tongue for all sins and evil discourses.

-          to breath in our breathing,

Come, O life of my heart, at that moment, to return to me all I have given You: your company, your Heart as bed and rest, your arms as support, your labored breath to relieve my toils; in such a way that, in breathing, I will breathe through your breath which, like purifying air, will purify me of any stain, and will dispose me to enter the eternal beatitude. 

-          to beat in our hearts,

I fuse myself in your Heart, allow me to enclose all the affections, heartbeats and desires, to repair for them together with You, and to give to everyone your affections, heartbeats and desires, so that no one may ever again offend You.

-          to move in all our actions,

I want to fuse myself in your neck, in your chest, in your shoulders, in your hands, in your feet, to be able to repair together with You for all attachments, and therefore give to all the chains of your Love; to be able to repair with You for all the coldness, and so fill the breasts of all creatures with your fire, as I see that You have so much of it, that You are unable to contain it; and to be able to repair with You for all illicit pleasures and for love of comforts, to give to everyone the spirit of sacrifice and love of suffering.

-          to suffer in our suffering; and may our souls become consumed and fused with Your Will to become living crucifixes, immolated only for the Glory of the Father,

Everything I have, everything I am – everything is for You, O my Jesus. Should my pains be necessary in order to save even one soul alone – here I am, I am ready to suffer everything. I offer myself wholly to You - do with me whatever You best please.

-          to pray in us and then offer these prayers to Yourself as ours to satisfy for the prayers of all

I pray You that your passion be always in my mind, in my heart, in my gazes, in my steps and in my pains, so that, wherever I turn, inside and outside of myself, I may always find You present in me. And You, give me the grace never to forget what You have borne and suffered for me. May this be the magnet which, drawing my whole being into You, will never again allow me to go far away from You.

-          to infuse in us the Faith of Mary Most Holy in order to possess You and She possessed You

O my Jesus, I want to diffuse myself in everything, and in those wounds embittered by the many misbeliefs, I desire that the shreds of my body tell You, always: "I believe - I believe in You, O my Jesus, my God, and in your Holy Church, and I intend to give my life to prove my Faith to You!"

-          to infuse in us the Hope of Mary Most Holy in order to desire You as She desired You,

O my Jesus, alas, how tortured is your poor Heart! How to comfort so much pain? I will diffuse myself in You; I will place my heart in Yours, my ardent desires in Yours, so that any evil desire may be destroyed.

-          to infuse in us the charity  of Mary Most Holy in order to love You as She loved You

On that wound, O Jesus, which makes You suffer so much from coldness and lack of love, I intend to place many little bits of my flesh, to say to You constantly: "I love You, I love You, I love You!"

-          to adore in us, and since Your Will multiplies acts to the infinite, thus we intend to give You the satisfaction and adoration as if all had assisted at Holy Mass, and give to all the fruit of the Sacrifice and impetrate salvation for all,

On that wound which gives You so much pain from the so many irreverences to your Most Holy Person, I intend to place a piece of myself, to tell You always: "I adore You, I adore You, I adore You!"

- In washing Father we love You; come Divine Will to wash in our washing and wash all souls of every stain.

O please, O Jesus, with these tears of yours and this water with which You washed the feet of the apostles, let us wash the souls who must receive You; let us purify their hearts; let us inflame them, and shake off the dust with which they are dirtied, so that, when they receive You, You may find in them your satisfactions, instead of your bitternesses.

-In dressing Father we love You; come Divine Will in our dressing and dress all souls with Your Light.

O please, let us give them His Blood, that It may administer to them the necessary aids, and with Its light, It may make them understand the good which is in suffering and the likeness to Jesus they acquire.

-In taking food and drink Father we love You; come Divine Will to live in us with the food of Your Divine Will

O Jesus, as I remain upon your Heart, give food also to me, as You gave it to the apostles: the food of love, the food of the divine word, the food of your Divine Will. O my Jesus, do not deny me this food, which You so much desire to give me so that your very Life may be formed in me.

-In reading and writing Father we love You; come Divine Will in our writing and write Your Will in all hearts

Jesus, my Mother come to write together with me. Lend me your most holy hands so that I may write that which pleases You and only that which You want.

-In working Father we love You, come Divine Will to work in our working

I want to fuse myself in your hands to repair for all the evil works, for the good done badly and with presumptuousness, and give to all the fragrance of your works.

-Upon going to sleep Father we love You; come Divine Will to rest in our rest and extend Your Peace over all the world.

While I sleep, continue to be my sentry, and wake me up whenever You need to. Give me your kiss and your blessing, and I kiss your Heart, and in It I continue my sleep.

-To our Guardian Angel; Our Angles Our Guardians, make all souls always live in the Most Holy Will of God.

My guardian Angel, precede us; go and dispose the souls who must receive this Blood, so that not one drop may remain without its abundant effect.

In the Holy Name of Jesus – Amen!

"Jesus and Mary, to You I give my heart and my soul"

The Holy Eucharist (from The Book of Heaven)

Volume 1

Now, while seeing Jesus or the priest celebrating the Divine Sacrifice, Jesus would make me understand that in the Mass there is all the depth of our sacrosanct religion.  Ah! yes, the Mass tells us everything and speaks to us about everything.  The Mass reminds us of our redemption; It speaks to us, step by step, about the pains that Jesus suffered for us; It also manifests to us His immense love, for He was not content with dying on the Cross, but He wanted to continue His state of victim in the Most Holy Eucharist.  The Mass also tells us that our bodies, decayed, reduced to ashes by death, will rise again on the day of the judgment, together with Christ, to immortal and glorious life.  Jesus made me comprehend that the most consoling thing for a Christian, and the highest and most sublime mysteries of our holy religion are:  Jesus in the Sacrament and the resurrection of our bodies to glory.  These are profound mysteries, which we will comprehend only beyond the stars; but Jesus in the Sacrament makes us almost touch them with our own hands, in different ways.  First, His Resurrection; second, His state of annihilation under those species, though it is certain that Jesus is there present, alive and real.  Then, once those species are consumed, His real presence no longer exists.  And as the species are consecrated again, He comes again to assume His sacramental state.  So, Jesus in the Sacrament reminds us of the resurrection of our bodies to glory:  just as Jesus, when His sacramental state ceases resides in the womb of God, His Father, the same for us – when our lives cease, our souls go and make their dwelling in Heaven, in the womb of God, while are bodies are consumed.  So, one can say that they will no longer exist; but then, with a prodigy of the omnipotence of God, our bodies will acquire new life, and uniting with the soul, will go together to enjoy the eternal beatitude.  Can there be anything more consoling for a human heart than the fact that not only the soul, but also the body will be beatified in the eternal contentments?  It seems to me that on that day it will happen as when the sky is starry and the sun comes out.  What happens?  With its immense light, the sun absorbs the stars and makes them disappear; yet the stars exist.  The sun is God, and all the blessed souls are the stars; with His immense light, God will absorb us all within Himself, in such a way that we will exist in God and will swim in the immense sea of God.  Oh! how many things Jesus in the Sacrament tells us; but who can tell them all?  I would really be too long.  If the Lord allows it, I will reserve saying something else on other occasions

Volume 3 - May 1, 1900
…“My daughter, if the Eucharist is the deposit of the future glory, the cross is the disbursement with which to purchase it.  If the Eucharist is the seed which prevents corruption – like those aromatic herbs that prevent decomposition when applied to cadavers – and gives immortality to soul and body, the cross embellishes and is so powerful that if debts have been contracted, it becomes their guarantor, and it more surely obtains the restitution of the debt’s deed.  And after it has satisfied every debt, it forms for the soul the most refulgent throne in the future glory.  Ah, yes, the cross and the Eucharist alternate, and one operates more powerfully than the other.”

Volume 4 - July 3, 1902
“My daughter, each period of my life receives from man distinct and special acts and degrees of imitation, of love, of reparation and other things.  But the period of my Eucharistic Life is all life of hiddenness, of transformation and of continuous consummation; so much so, that I can say that after my love reached the excess and was even consumed, in my infinite wisdom I could not find any other external sign to prove my love for man.  And just as my Incarnation, Life and Passion on the cross receive love, praise, thanksgiving, imitation - my Sacramental Life receives from man an ecstatic love, a love of dissolving oneself in Me, a love of perfect consummation; and as the soul is consumed in my very Sacramental Life, she can say that she performs, before the Divinity, the same offices that I perform continuously before God for love of men.  And this consummation will make the soul overflow into eternal life.”

Volume 11 - September 25, 1913
“My daughter, I had to do in such a way that sanctity might be easy and accessible to all - unless they did not want it - in all conditions, in all circumstances and in every place.  It is true that the Most Holy Eucharist is center; but who instituted It?  Who constrained my Humanity so that It might be enclosed within the little circle of a Host?  Wasn’t that my Will?  My Will will always have primacy over everything.  Further, if everything is in the Eucharist, the Priests who call Me from Heaven into their hands, and who are in contact with my Sacramental Flesh more than anyone should be the most saintly and the most good; instead, many are the worst.  Poor Me, how they treat Me in the Holy Eucharist!  And the many souls who receive Me, perhaps every day, should be many saints if the center of the Eucharist were sufficient.  Instead - and it makes one want to cry - they remain always at the same point:  vain, irascible, punctilious, etc.  Poor center of the Most Holy Eucharist, how dishonored It remains!

Volume 12 - December 26, 1919

I was thinking to myself:  ‘How can it be that doing the Will of God surpasses even the Sacraments?’  And Jesus, moving in my interior, told me:  “My daughter, why are Sacraments called Sacraments?  Because they are sacred - they have the value and the power to confer Grace and Sanctity.  However, these Sacraments operate according to the dispositions of the creatures; so much so, that sometimes they remain even fruitless, unable to confer the good which they contain.  Now, my Will is Sacred and Holy, and It contains altogether the virtue of all the Sacraments.  Not only this; It does not have to work to dispose the soul to receive the goods which my Will contains.  In fact, as soon as the soul has disposed herself to do my Will, she has already disposed herself by herself, and my Will, finding everything prepared and disposed, even at the cost of any sacrifice, communicates Itself to the soul without delay, pouring the goods It contains, and forming the heroes - the martyrs of the Divine Volition, the most unheard-of portents...  And then, what do the Sacraments do if not unite the soul with God?  And what is to do my Will?  Isn’t it perhaps to unite the will of the creature with her Creator?  It is to dissolve oneself in the Eternal Volition - the nothingness ascending to the All, and the All descending into the nothingness.  It is the most noble, the purest, the most beautiful, the most heroic act that a creature can do.

Ah, yes, I confirm it to you, I repeat it:  my Will is Sacrament, and It surpasses all the Sacraments together - but in a more admirable way; without mediation from anyone; with nothing material.  The Sacrament of my Will is formed between my Will and the will of the soul; the two wills are tied together and form the Sacrament.  My Will is Life, and the soul is already disposed to receive Life; It is Holy, and she receives sanctity; It is Strong, and she receives fortitude; and so with all the rest.

On the other hand, how much my other Sacraments have to work to dispose the souls - if they manage at all!  And how many times these channels which I left to my Church remain beaten up, despised, oppressed!  Some even use them to praise themselves, turning them against Me to offend Me.  Ah, if you knew the enormous sacrileges committed in the Sacrament of Confession, and the horrendous abuses of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, you would cry with Me for the great pain!  Ah! yes, only the Sacrament of my Will can sing glory and victory.  It is full in Its effects, and untouchable by creature’s offense.  In fact, in order to enter my Will, the creature must lay down her will, her passions; only then does my Will lower to her, investing her, identifying her with Itself, making portents out of her.  Therefore, when I speak about my Will I become festive - I never stop; my joy is full, and no bitterness enters between Me and the soul.  But for the other Sacraments, my Heart swims in the pain.  Man has turned them into founts of bitterness, while I gave them as founts of graces.”

 Volume 13 - November 26, 1921

I have been watching over each one of your Acts, and immediately I made my Volition flow, as to a place of honor.  I Myself knew how many graces were necessary, having to work the greatest miracle that exists in the world, which is that of living continuously in my Volition: the soul must assimilate everything of God in its act, so as to give it back again intact, just as the soul assimilated it, and then to assimilate it again.  Thus, it even surpasses the miracle of the Eucharist: the accidents of bread and wine possess neither reason nor will nor desires that could put themselves in opposition to my Sacramental Life.  The Host does nothing itself; the work is all my own: if I want it, then I do it.  Instead, to bring about the miracle of living in my Volition, I must bend a human will and reason, a desire, and a love that is purely free: how many things are necessary?  And so, there are many souls who go to communion and who take part in the miracle of the Eucharist; but, because they would have to sacrifice themselves more in order to bring about the miracle of my Will having life within them, there are very few who are so disposed."

Volume 14 - July 6, 1922

Listen my daughter, when I instituted the Eucharistic Supper I saw and called all to come to Me, all generations, from the first to the last man, so that I could give to all my Sacramental Life, and not just once but just as often as man needs corporal nourishment.  I desired to constitute Myself as the nourishment of their souls.  But I felt very abused when I realized that this, my Sacramental Life, was encompassed by indifference, by carelessness, and even by ruthless death. I felt all the crudeness of the death of my Sacramental Life, and so painfully, so repeatedly. But then I took a better look and, making use of the Power of my Will, I called around Me the souls that were to live in my Will, and oh, how happy I felt!  I felt as if surrounded by these souls which the Power of my Will had absorbed and the center of whose life was my Volition. I saw in them my own immensity; within them I found myself protected from all creatures, and I entrusted to them my Sacramental Life. I deposited my Sacramental Life in them not only for them to cherish, but also for them to reciprocate Me with a life of their own for each consecrated Host. This is natural for them to do because my Sacramental Life takes its life from my Eternal Will, which these souls have as the center of their lives. Therefore, when my Sacramental Life is formed within them, the same Will that Acts within Me, Acts also within them. As I feel their lives within my Sacramental Life their lives are multiplied in each HOST and I feel that they give Me in reciprocity Life for Life. Oh, how I exulted upon seeing you as the first soul whom I called in a special way to live in my Will!  I deposited in you the first of all my Sacramental Lives, and I entrusted you to the Power and Immensity of my Supreme Will so that they would render you capable of receiving this deposit.  From that moment you were present to me and I made you the depository of my sacramental Life and, in you, all those who would live in my Will.  I gave you primacy over all, and justly so, because my Will is above all, even above the Apostles and the priests. It is true they consecrate Me, but their lives do not remain conjoined with mine. What's more, they abandon Me, they forget Me, and take no care of my Presence. On the other hand, those souls who live in my Will are lives within my very Life, and, therefore, inseparable from Me. That is why I love you so; it is my own Will in you that I love."

Volume 15 - March 27, 1923
I wanted to hide Myself under these eucharistic veils and, so hidden, enter into her to form this transformation of the creature into Myself.  But in order for this transformation to take place, the dispositions were needed on the part of creatures; and my love, giving in to excess, in instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist, released from within my Divinity more graces, gifts, favors and light for the good of man, to render him worthy to receive Me.  I could say that it released so much good as to surpass the gifts of Creation.  First, I wanted to give him the graces in order for him to receive Me, and then Myself, to give him the true fruit of my Sacramental Life.  However, in order to anticipate souls with these gifts, it takes a little emptying of themselves, hate of sin, and desire to receive Me.  These gifts do not descend into rot, into mud.  Therefore, without my gifts they do not have the true dispositions to receive Me, and in descending into them, I do not find the space to communicate my Life; I am as though dead for them, and they are dead for Me; I burn, and they do not feel my flames; I am light, and they remain more blinded.  Alas! how many sorrows in my Sacramental Life.  Many, feeling nothing good in receiving Me because of lack of dispositions, reach the point of nauseating Me; and if they continue to receive Me, it is to form my continuous Calvary and their eternal damnation.  If it is not love that pushes them to receive Me, it is one more affront that they give Me - one more sin which they add to their souls.  Therefore, pray and repair for the many abuses and sacrileges that are committed in receiving Me in the Sacrament.”

Volume  18 - November 5, 1925

"Do not allow your love to stop; run to all the Tabernacles, each Sacramental Host; and you will hear the Holy Spirit moaning with unnarratable sorrow in each Host.  When souls receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist, not only their life is given to them, but my Own Life.  Thus, the fruit of this Sacrament is to form my Life in them; and each Communion serves to make my Life grow, to develop in them in such a manner that they are able to say 'I am another Christ.'  But, oh Me, how few take advantage of it!  Indeed, how many times do I descend into hearts and find arms that wound Me; and they repeat the tragedy of my Passion to Me!  And, as they consume the Sacramental Species, instead of pressing Me to remain with them, I am constrained to go out bathed in tears, crying over my Sacramental lot; and I do not find anyone to quiet my crying and my doleful moans…  If you could break the veils of the Host that cover Me, you would find Me bathed in tears, knowing the lot that awaits Me in descending into hearts.  "Therefore, let your exchange of love be continuous for each Host to quiet my crying; you will render less sorrowful the moans of the Holy Spirit.  Do not stop; otherwise, We will not find you always together with Us in our moans and in our secret tears; We will feel a void in your exchange of love…

Volume 36 – April 21, 1938

I was always along the way of the Divine Will and, feeling worried, I said to myself:  how can it be that so many divine lives can be formed in us for as many acts that we do in It?  And my always adorable Jesus, in order to let me understand better, told me: "My daughter, everything is easy to us because when we find one who gives her human will to live in Ours, we delight to form even in the motion, in the breathing, in the step, new lives which move, breathe and speak.  The human will gives us many veils in which we form many of our lives.  This is the ultimate expression of our love, and we like it so much that, provided that the human will gives us its little veil, we populate all its acts with the variety of our divine lives.  And, then, my Eucharistic Life proves and confirms what I am telling you:  aren't, perhaps, the accidents of the Bread like small veils in which I am consecrated, alive and real in body, blood, soul and Divinity?  If there are one thousand Hosts, I form my life in each one of them.  If there's one Host only, I form one life.

But what does the Hosts give to me?  Nothing.  Not one 'I love you'- not a breath, not a heartbeat; not a single step to accompany.  I am lonely and many times this loneliness oppresses me - embitters me - and I burst into tears.  How heavy it is for me not having one to whom I can say a word.  I am in the nightmare of a deep silence.  What can the Host give to me?  The hiding place in which to hide myself.  The tiny little prison to make me, I would almost say... to make me unhappy.  But since it is my Will that wants me to remain in each Sacramental Host - and my Will never brings unhappiness, either to Us or to the creatures who live in It - It makes flow in my Sacramental Life our celestial joys, which are inseparable from us.  This, from our side, but the Host never gives me anything.  It doesn't defend me, it doesn't love me.  Now, if I form my lives in the Hosts that give Me nothing, how much more would I form them those who live in my Will. 

The difference between my Sacramental lives and the many lives I form in one who lives in my Will is incalculable.  It is greater than the difference between Heaven and earth.  It is, primarily, that we are never alone, and having company is the greatest joy that delights both the divine and the human life.  Now you must know that, as I form my Life in the thought of the creature who lives in my Will, I feel the company of the human intelligence, which courts me and loves me.  It comprehends me, placing its memory, intellect and will in my power.  Since these three powers were created in our image, I feel our eternal memory - which forgets nothing - given to us for company.  I feel the company of my Wisdom, which understands me and also the company of the human will fused with Mine - loving me with my eternal love.  How could I not multiply, for each of her thoughts, as many of our lives.  When we find her understanding and loving us more, we can say that we find our reward, since the more lives we form, the more we let ourselves be understood.  We redouble our love and she loves us more.  If we form our life in her word, we find company in her word, and since our Fiat is her own, we also find all the prodigies it operated when our Fiat was pronounced.  If we form our life in her breath we find her breath, which breathes together with ours and keeps company with our omnipotent breath which, in creating her, gave her life.  If we form our life in her motion, oh!, we find her hands that hug us, squeeze us tightly and don't want to leave us, ever again.  If we form it in her steps, they follow us everywhere. 

"What does Jesus Christ do in the Eucharist? It is God who, as our Savior, offers himself each day for us to his Father's justice. If you are in difficulties and sorrows, he will comfort and relieve you. If you are sick, he will either cure you or give you strength to suffer so as to merit Heaven. If the devil, the world, and the flesh are making war upon you, he will give you the weapons with which to fight, to resist, and to win victory. If you are poor, he will enrich you with all sorts of riches for time and eternity. Let us open the door of his sacred and adorable Heart, and be wrapped about for an instant by the flames of his love, and we shall see what a God who loves us can do. O my God, who shall be able to comprehend?" — St. John Vianney

"I will make all things new!"

Mar. 11, 2013:

This morning while reading the Book of Heaven, opening it at random as I usually do, I opened to Volume 12, Oct. 19, 1918 where Jesus was speaking about a “general uproar” everywhere – How He will “renew the world with sword, with fire and with water, with sudden deaths and contagious diseases.”  Then He added, “I will make new things.”  I thought about a vision given to me years ago of a field of ash – there was nothing, no trees, buildings, nothing but a ground of what seemed to be ash and a sea of people all looking in the same direction towards the horizon where a brilliant cross appeared followed by a large ball of fire – not the sun (this is the only way I can explain it) which also appeared on the horizon causing everyone to prostrate themselves to the ground.  (this is explained in my notes)  Is this what  will be before He makes all things new?

 I also thought about what He had said to me years ago when all our belongings were ruined, and wondered if this all related to each other, and that He will renew all things after the ruin.  As I had not finished my Liturgy of the Hours this morning prior to Mass, I went to the Adoration Chapel to finish it.  Having read all but the Morning Prayer Intercessions, I began reading and read, “Help us to work with you in making all things new in Christ.”

Regarding what happened years ago when our belongings were ruined:  Several years ago while living in N. Palm Bch. FL, we were moving to a town just to the north and into a new home.  When our furniture arrived from the moving company, we noticed that every piece of furniture and all boxes were moldy and mildew.  It was either that evening or the next that we were having a Divine Will meeting at our new house.  God provided for us as we did have a metal banquet table and a few folding chairs, and went to a local store where we were able to buy beds (even our beds were ruined), and they were even on sale.  Even though all of this happened, I still felt great peace and at one time during the day I heard within my interior, “I make all things new!”  I never bothered about writing this down as I didn’t think it important – until after the above.

3/17/13 

I have been bombarded lately with “I will make all things new” – in my spiritual readings, in the Liturgy of the Hours, etc.  I believe it is telling us that we are at the door or the frontier of the new era, but first, as Jesus told me years ago, the Passion of His Church must come!

Lynne B.

True Humility and Grace

January 12, 1900
Difference between knowledge of self and humility. Jesus alone can glory in possessing true humility.

Finding myself in my usual state, my adorable Jesus came in a pitiful state. He had His hands bound tightly, His face covered with spit, and many people were slapping Him horribly. And He remained quiet, placid, without making one movement or emitting one lament; not even a batting of eyelashes, in order to show that He Himself wanted to suffer these outrages; and this, not only externally, but also internally. What a moving scene, such as to break the hardest hearts! How many things that Face said, with that spit hanging, dirtied with mud! I felt horrified, I trembled, I saw myself all pride before Jesus.

While He was in that appearance, He said to me: “My daughter, only the little ones let themselves be handled as one wants; not those who are little of human reason, but those who are little yet filled with divine reason. I alone can say that I am humble, because in man, that which is said to be humility should rather be called knowledge of self; and one who does not know himself already walks in falsehood.”

Jesus remained silent for a few minutes, and I stayed there, contemplating Him. While I was doing this, I saw a hand carrying a light, which, searching in my interior, in the most intimate hiding places, wanted to see whether the knowledge of myself and love of humiliations, confusions and opprobriums, were present in me. That light found a void in my interior – and I too saw it – which had to be filled with humiliations and confusions, in the example of blessed Jesus. Oh, how many things that light and that holy Face which was before me, made me understand! I said to myself: ‘A God, humiliated and confused for love of me, and I, a sinner, without these insignia! A God, stable, firm in bearing so many insults, to the point that He does not move, not one bit, to shake that disgusting spit off of Himself. Ah, His interior before God, and His exterior before men are made manifest to me; and yet, if He wanted to free Himself, He could, because it is not the chains that bind Him, but His firm Will, which wants to save mankind at any cost. And I? And I? Where are my humiliations? Where, the firmness, the constancy in doing good for love of my Jesus and for love of my neighbor? Ah, how different we are as victims – myself and Jesus! Ah, we are not similar at all!

While my little brain was wandering in this, my adorable Jesus told me: “Only my Humanity was filled with opprobriums and humiliations, to the point that they overflowed outside. This is why Heaven and earth tremble before my virtues, and the souls who love Me use my Humanity as a staircase in order to ascend and lap up a few little drops of my virtues. Tell me now: before my humility, where is yours? I alone can glory in possessing true humility. My Divinity, united to my Humanity, could operate prodigies at each step, word and work; yet, I voluntarily constrained Myself within the circle of my Humanity, I showed Myself as the poorest, and I reached the point of mingling with sinners themselves. I could have done the Work of Redemption in very little time, and even with one single word; yet, during the course of many years, with many hardships and sufferings, I wanted to make the miseries of man my own; I wanted to exercise Myself in many different actions, so that man might be completely renewed and divinized, even in the lowest works. In fact, once they had been exercised by Me, who was God and Man, they received new splendor, and remained with the mark of divine works. My Divinity, hidden within my Humanity, wanted to lower Itself to such baseness, subjecting Itself to the course of human actions - while with one single act of my Will I could have created infinite worlds - feeling the miseries and the weaknesses of others as if they were Its own, seeing Itself covered with all the sins of men before Divine Justice, having to pay their penalty at the price of unheard-of pains and with the shedding of all Its Blood…. Thus It exercised continuous acts of profound and heroic humility.

Oh daughter, here is the immense difference between my humility and the humility of creatures, even that of all of my Saints, which is only a shadow in the face of mine; because the creature is always a creature and does not know, as I know, how great is the weight of sin. Even though heroic souls, following my example, have offered themselves to suffer the pains of others, their pains are not different from those of the other creatures; they are not new things for them, because they are made of the same clay. Moreover, the mere thought that those pains are the cause of new gains, and that they glorify God, is a great honor for them. Furthermore, the creature is restricted within the circle in which God placed her, and she cannot go out of those limits within which she has been circumscribed by God. Oh, if it were in their power to do or undo things, how many other things they would do - everyone would reach the stars! But my divinized Humanity had no limits, yet It voluntarily constrained Itself within Itself; and this was the braiding of all my works with heroic humility.

This had been the cause of all evils which inundate the earth – lack of humility; and by exercising this virtue, I was to draw all goods from Divine Justice. Ah, yes, no concessions of graces come from my throne, if not by means of humility, nor can any ticket be received by Me, if it does not carry the signature of humility. No prayer is listened to by my ears, and moves my Heart to compassion, if it is not perfumed by the fragrance of humility. If the creature does not arrive at destroying that seed of honor, of esteem – and this can be destroyed by arriving at loving to be despised, humiliated, confused – she will feel a braiding of thorns around her heart; she will feel a void in her heart which will always bother her, and will render her very dissimilar from my Most Holy Humanity. If she does not arrive at loving humiliations, at the most she will be able to know herself a little bit, but will not shine before Me, clothed with the garment of humility, beautiful and worthy of sympathy.”

Who can say how many things I understood about this virtue, and the difference between knowledge of self and humility? I seemed to touch with my own hand the distinction between these two virtues, but I have no words to explain myself.

In order to say something, I will use an image. For example, a poor man says he is poor, and he frankly manifests his poverty, also to people who do not know him and who may believe that he possesses something. One can say that he knows himself and tells the truth; and because of this, he is loved more, he moves others to compassion for his miserable state, and everyone helps him. So it is to know oneself. If then, feeling ashamed of manifesting his poverty, that poor man boasted of being rich, while everyone knows that he does not even have clothes to cover himself and that he is dying of starvation – what happens? Everyone despises him, nobody helps him, and he becomes an object of mockery and ridicule to anyone who knows him; and the miserable one, going from bad to worse, ends up dying. So is pride before God and also before other men. And here is how one who does not know himself already leaves the truth and slumps into the path of falsehood.

Now, here is the difference with humility, though it seems to me that knowledge of self and humility are sisters born of the same womb, and one can never be humble if he does not know himself. For example, there is a rich man who, out of love for humiliations, stripping himself of his noble garments, covers himself with miserable rags. He lives unknown, manifesting to no one who he is; he mingles with the poorest, he lives with the poor as if he were one of them, and makes scorns and confusions his delights. Here is the beautiful sister of the knowledge of self, which is humility.

Ah, yes, humility draws grace; humility breaks the strongest chains, which are sin. Humility surmounts any wall of division between the soul and God, and brings her back to Him. Humility is a little plant, but always green and flowery, not subject to being gnawed by worms; nor will winds, hail or heat be able to do harm to it, or make it wither, even slightly. Though being the littlest plant, humility produces very high branches, which penetrate even into Heaven, braiding around the Heart of Our Lord; and only the branches which come from this plant have free access into that adorable Heart. Humility is the anchor of peace during the storms of the sea waves of this life. Humility is the salt which spices all virtues and preserves the soul from the corruption of sin. Humility is the little grass which sprouts along the way treaded by wayfarers; while being treaded, it disappears, but soon one can see it sprout again, more beautiful than before. Humility is like a gentle graft, which renders the wild plant gentle. Humility is the sunset of guilt. Humility is the coin of grace. Humility is like the moon, which guides us in the darkness of the night of this life. Humility is like that shrewd merchant who knows well how to trade his riches, and wastes not even one cent of the grace that is given to him. Humility is the key of the door of Heaven, such that no one can enter into It if he does not keep this key in good custody. Finally – otherwise I would never end and I would be too long – humility is the smile of God and of all Heaven, and it is the crying of all hell.

January 22, 1900
Correspondence to Grace.

After going through most bitter days of privation, my poor heart was struggling between the fear of having lost Him and the hope that, who knows, I might see Him again. Oh God, what a bloody war this poor heart of mine had to bear! The pain was so great that now it would become ice-cold, now it would be squeezed as though under a press, and would drip blood. While I was in this state, I felt my sweet Jesus near me; He removed a veil from me which prevented me from seeing Him, so finally I was able to see Him. Immediately I said to Him: ‘Ah, Lord! You don’t love me any more!’

And He: “Yes, yes… What I recommend to you is correspondence to my grace, and in order to be faithful, you must be like the echo that resounds in an empty space: as soon as a voice is emitted, immediately, without the slightest hesitation, one can hear the echo booming after it. In the same way, as soon as you begin to receive my grace, without even waiting for Me to finish giving it, begin immediately the echo of your correspondence.”

January 31, 1900
Grace, and correspondence to It.

After He came quite a few times, but always in silence, I felt a void and a pain for I could not hear the most sweet voice of my sweet Jesus; and He, coming back, almost to content me, told me: “Grace is the life of the soul. Just as the soul gives life to the body, so does grace give life to the soul. However, in order to have life it is not enough for the body to have the soul; it also needs food with which to nourish itself and grow to the proper stature. In the same way, it is not enough for the soul to have grace in order to have life, but food is needed to nourish her and raise her to the proper stature. And what is this food? It is her correspondence. So grace, and correspondence to it, form the links of the chain which lead her to Heaven, and according to the measure in which the soul corresponds to grace, she keeps forming the links of this chain.”

Then He added: “What is the passport to enter into the kingdom of grace? It is humility. Through humility, by always looking at her nothingness and seeing that she is nothing but dust or wind, the soul will place all her trust in grace, so much so, as to make of it her master. And grace, taking dominion over all of the soul, leads her along the path of all virtues, and makes her reach the summit of perfection.”

What would a soul without grace be like? It seemed to me that she would be like the body without the soul, which becomes stinking and spews worms and rot from all parts, so much so, as to become an object of horror to the human sight itself. In the same way, without grace, the soul becomes so abominable as to be horrifying to the sight – not of men, but of God Trice Holy. Ah, Lord, free me from such misfortune, and from the abominable monster of sin!