Friday, July 2, 2021

What it means that God is jealous...


 What it means that God is jealous….

"I am loving and jealous, jealous and loving. I love you as Creator, as Redeemer and as Lover. Second, I love you in my omnipotence which I used in creating you, and in creating everything for love of you, in such a way that air, water, fire, and everything else, tell you that I love you and that I made them for love of you; I love you as my image, and I love you out of regard for you individually. Third, I love you ab aeterno [from eternity], I love you in time, and I love you for all eternity. And this is nothing but a breath that came out of my love; imagine, yourself, what must be the love I contain within Myself. Now, you are obliged to return to Me this triple love, loving Me as your God in whom you must fix all of yourself, and let nothing come out of you which is not love for Me; loving me out of regard for yourself and for the good that comes to you; and loving Me for all, and in all.

Love is jealous of everything, even of one’s thought and breath, as honest as one may be. It wants everything for itself, and with this, it gives to the soul not natural, but Divine purity - and so with all the other virtues. So, one can say that love is patience, love is obedience, is sweetness, is fortitude, is peace – it is everything. If all the other virtues do not receive life from love, they can be called natural virtues at the most; but love changes them into Divine virtues. Oh! what a difference between the two: the natural virtues are servants, the Divine are queens. Therefore, may love be enough for you, in everything.”

With what excess of love I loved the creature; my Divinity was jealous of entrusting to the creature the task of Redemption, making Me suffer the Passion. The creature was impotent to make Me die as many times for as many creatures as had come out, and were to come out, to the light of Creation, and for as many mortal sins as they would have the disgrace to commit. The Divinity wanted life for each life of creature, and life for each death which, by mortal sin, she gave herself. Who could be so powerful over Me as to give Me so many deaths, if not my Divinity? Who would have had the strength, the love, the constancy to see Me die so many times, if not my Divinity? The creature would have grown tired and fallen short. And do not think that this crafting of my Divinity started late, but as soon as my conception was accomplished, even in the womb of my Mama, who many times was aware of my pains, and remained martyred, and felt death together with Me.”

(Above excerpts taken from the Book of Heaven)

Lynne Bauer, JMJ

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

How to Live and Pray in the Divine Will

 

HOW TO LIVE AND PRAY IN THE DIVINE WILL

How to begin to live in the Divine Will

Do we ask Jesus to pray with us?  Are we praying in the Divine Will at all times by calling the Divine Will into all of our actions, thoughts and words?

 Is the first thing we do upon waking in the morning to thank God for the new day, and make our first act of the day an act of love in the Divine Will?

Are we making the Rounds of Creation  (example: thanking God in all His creation, taking this love as our own and offering it back to Him as acts of homage, blessings and praise)?

- the Rounds of Redemption (example: partaking in all the acts of Jesus: His Conception, Birth, etc. , making all His acts our own and returning them to the Holy Trinity, following the acts of Our Lady, or doing the acts of the  Apostles supplementing all they did with the fullness of the Divine Sanctity of the Divine Will as if they had lived in the Divine Will.  Also for all the Popes, Priests, or saints past, present and future, each of the Sacraments, reparations to God for all the lack of obedience, reverence, etc.);    

- and the Rounds of Sanctification of man (example: giving our I Love You to the Holy Spirit in all the Sacraments of the Church; following the life of Luisa and the other saints who lived in the Divine Will on earth, re-giving to God the Glory that these souls did in their activities and rounds in the Divine Will.)

Do we ask, “What would Jesus or Mother Mary do in this or that situation?”

Are we always keeping Jesus company in all that we do saying, “Jesus wants to go to work, shop, eat, etc. now.”  (Jesus says, “This is to live in the Divine Will, keeping your Creator company at all times.”)

Are we receiving the Holy Eucharist in the Divine Will?  Jesus told Luisa,  “When I instituted the Eucharistic Sacrament and communicated the Apostles, I communicated Myself in the Will of the Father.  And with this, not only did I repair all, but finding in the Divine Will the Immensity and the All-Seeingness of everything and of everyone, I therefore embraced all and communicated all.  And seeing that many would not have taken part in the Sacrament, and the Father offended because they did not want to receive Life, I gave to the Father the satisfaction and the Glory as if all had received Holy Communion, giving to the Father for each one, the satisfaction and the Glory of a Divine Life.  You also: receive Communion in My Will, repeat that which I did, and thus not only will you repair all, but you will give Me to all as I intended to give Myself to all and you will give Me the Glory as if all had communicated.  My Heart is moved upon seeing that the creature – unable to give Me anything of itself that is worthy of Me – takes the things that are Mine, makes them its own, imitates the manner in which I did them, and to please Me gives them to Me.”

Are we making our confession in the Divine Will?  (Making reparation for our sins and the sins of all!)

Before we go the bed at night, do we bring all creatures to Jesus to make reparation for all who do not rest in Him?  Do we invite all the angels and saints and our Guardian Angels to pray while we sleep so that our heartbeats and breaths will be as prayers united to theirs (this will keep us in unceasing prayer even through the night)?

 Are we giving to God, in the name of everyone all the Glory they should give Him praying, excusing them, making reparation for each one in particular, descending into their minds, intelligence’s, glances, words, movements, hands, hearts, footsteps, uniting them to the Humanity of Jesus to satisfy the Father. 

Do we “pay attention” to Jesus when reading or hearing His words or do we allow our minds to wander?  Jesus says, “Be more attentive…and follow the Will of your Jesus, because watchfulness will show you where you are and what you are doing”  “…attention is the path to knowledge”  “…..be attentive, because it is important; it is about the most important thing that exists in Heaven and on earth..”

Are we reading the Volumes to learn from Jesus so we may gain in the knowledge He wants to give us?  Regarding knowledge Jesus tells us, “This knowledge will be like fertilizer to a tree, enabling the fruit to mature upon which creatures will feed.” “  Knowledge will make you appreciate and esteem more highly the Divine palace of My  Will .”  “…vigilance is the path of knowledge.  Knowledge changes the person and things disposing him to receive great gifts”  “Knowledge is the eye of the soul; the soul without knowledge is blind concerning those goods and truths.  In my Will there are no blind souls; rather, each new acquisition of knowledge leads them to a broader perspective.  Enter often, therefore into my Will, Broaden your horizons in My Will and, as I see this, I will return to tell you more about My Will.” “Knowledge prepares the way.  Knowledge is as the contract that I want to make for the gift which I wish to give, and for however much knowledge enters into the soul, so much more is she stimulated to desire the gift….”

Are we thinking more of our brothers and sisters rather than ourselves?  Luisa:  “He also taught me how to love creatures without ever separating myself from Him by seeing each person as an image of God.  If some good came to me, I was to recognize that He used the creature to lavish that good upon me.  If, on the other hand, it happened that I receive evil or harm, I was to think that God permitted it for my spiritual or bodily good.”  When I saw Him and His image in creatures, I could not loose esteem for them.  If they mortified me, I felt obliged to love them in God’s image and believe that they would acquire merits for my soul.”

Do we ask Our Lady to do everything with us - to give us her heart to love Jesus more, to give us her arms to hold Him, to give us the words to say to Him, etc?  (Prayer of Our Holy Father)

Are we accepting all that Jesus gives us - sufferings, trials, etc?  with a smile and joy in our hearts that He allows us to be like Him?  Do we say “Fiat” to everything and mean it?

Are we willing to change at a moments notice if Jesus asks us to do something else?

Do we recognize our nothingness?   From Vol. 1:  “So that I can pour my graces into your heart, it is necessary for you to convince yourself that by yourself you are nothing and are capable of nothing.  I look with much approval and bestow gifts and graces on souls that are wary of attributing to themselves the good effects that result from their own works made in correspondence to My graces.

How much do we desire and want to possess the Divine Will in us?  Jesus:  “…first I want to see that the soul truly wants to do My Will and never her own, that she is ready to sacrifice anything to do Mine, and that in all she does she asks Me always, even on loan, the Gift of My Volition.”

Are we taking time for adoration and meditation each day?   If  we wanted to know someone with whom we were living, we would observe his acts, his gestures; we would listen to his words; we would keep our eyes constantly focused on him and watch everything he does; we would examine his works; we would put ourselves as much as possible in contact with him.   Meditation attracts God to converse with the soul.  Luisa meditated on the Passion constantly.  She says regarding meditation on the Passion, “All the good I have received has come from this source of good and love.”  (On the Hours of the Passion, Jesus says: “How attentively and respectfully must the soul do these Hours, thinking that the Angels hang from their lips in order to repeat that which she says right after her.”  “…whoever always thinks on my Passion forms a fountain in his heart and the more he thinks on It, the more this fountain flows. In vol. 3 Jesus says, “Oral prayer serves to maintain correspondence, Interior meditation must serve as food to maintain the conversation between God and the soul.”

Are we asking Jesus, Our Blessed Mother, and Luisa to pray with us to the Father begging for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven, for all mankind?

Are we praying for the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our souls in the attainment of the gifts of the virtues? 

Are we aware of and recognize the gifts we receive each day and immediately thank God for them?  (Example:  You have a question about something regarding the Divine Will and are answered immediately)

Are we obedient to the teachings of our Holy Catholic Church, our Holy Father and our superiors?  In vol. 8 Jesus tells us: “Obedience is the space of my dwelling within the soul.  Where there isn’t this space of obedience, I could say that there is no place for Me inside of that soul; and I am forced to remain outside.”  “ The Will of God makes one take possession of the Divine, but obedience is the key to open the door and enter this possession.

Are we saying our Consecration daily or as much as possible?  Are we praying for the Beatification of Luisa?

PRAYING IN THE DIVINE WILL

When asked the way she used to enter into the Divine Will, Luisa responded briefly:  “To enter into the Divine Will, above all it is necessary for me to forget myself, my will, my interests – which for me no longer exist, and to preoccupy myself only with the interests of Jesus; that my everything disappear, and that in the Will of Jesus – the Love, the Prayers, the Reparations of Jesus Himself become mine.  Thus, everything that is His becomes mine: His Will too is mine;  and since in the Divine Will there are all goods past, present and future, thus all these goods, too, become mine.  To live in the Divine Will is to live on all that Jesus possesses.  But the “all” does not consist in a formula.  It was told to me that the soul must enter into the Divine Will at the cost of whatever sacrifice, when God asks it; and the greater the sacrifices to enter into the Divine Will, the more perfect will become the transformation and the acquisition that it will make.  To practice entering into the Divine Will with repeated formulas and with repeated intentions in all acts, even minimal, in so far as one can, is acceptable to God, and is a setting out toward this Divine Transformation, whereby the creature acts and operates in the Divine Will.”

JESUS SPEAKS TO US OF OUR NOTHINGNESS,

HUMILITY, AND HOW TO PRAY

(Volume 1)

On our nothingness:  “So that I can pour my graces into your heart, it is necessary for you to convince yourself that by yourself you are nothing and are capable of nothing.  I look with much approval, and bestow gifts and graces on souls that are wary of attributing to themselves the good effects that result from their own works made in correspondence to my graces.  The souls that consider my gifts and graces given to them by my Love - to have been acquired by themselves, are committing many thefts.” (Also in Vol. 19, pg. 46-46)

On humility:  Jesus says to Luisa, “If you had been more humble and closer to Me you would not have done that work so poorly.  But because you thought you could begin, continue and end the work without Me, you succeeded - despite your regret - but not according to my wish.  Therefore, ask for my assistance at the start of everything you undertake.  Always have Me present to work with you and it will be completed with perfection.  Know that if you always do this you will acquire the greatest humility.  If you do the opposite, pride will reenter you and choke the seed of the beautiful virtue of humility that has been sown in you.

Jesus says, “Say to me often, ‘Lord, give me the grace to do well, from beginning to end, all that I want to undertake solely for You.  I no longer want to be a slave to creatures.’  Do this so that when you walk, speak, work, or do any other thing, you will do it solely for my satisfaction and pleasure.  When you experience mortification’s, hurts and contradictions, I want you to have your eyes fixed on Me and believe that it all comes from Me and not from creatures.”  (From Vol. 1)

 On dryness in prayer (when unable to pray or meditate):  “At prayer, when you do not feel recollected, think of nothing and be at peace.  Do not think about why your prayer is unsuccessful, because this causes more distraction.  Instead, humble yourself, believe in the merits of suffering and remain tranquil.  Offer to Me your disappointments, boredom and distress as a sacrifice of praise, satisfaction, and reparation for the offenses done to Me.  Your prayer will then rise like fragrant incense to My throne.

Prayer of Pope John Paul II

Immaculate Conception, Mary, my Mother,

Live in me, act in me, speak in and through me,

Think your thoughts in my mind,

Love through my heart,

Give me your dispositions and feelings,

Teach, lead, and guide me to Jesus,

Correct, enlighten, and expand my thoughts and behavior,

Possess my soul,

Take over my entire personality and life,

Replace it with Yourself,

Incline me to constant

adoration and thanksgiving.

Pray in me and through me. 

Let me live in you, and keep me

in this union always.  Amen.

cont. from page 2:

more on Humility:

“This was the cause of all the evils that inundate the earth, that is, the lack of humility.”  “No rescripts (an authoritative order of decree) of Grace leave my Throne, except by means of humility.  Nor can any ticket be received by Me, if it does not have the signature of humility.  No prayer is heard by my ears not moves my Heart to compassion, if it is not perfumed with the fragrance of humility.” (Vol. 3, pg. 27)

(Read also: Vol. 3, pages 28 & 29)

On Pride:

Jesus says: “I cannot enter into hearts that stink with pride - souls so puffed up with themselves that there is no place in their hearts for Me.  They do not give credit to my graces and by fall after fall go to ruin. I therefore want you to very often - continuously - perform acts of humility.  You must be like an infant in swaddling bands who, unable to move by himself, even to walk or move a hand, must rely on its mother for everything.  In that way, I want you to remain near Me - like an infant - to always ask for my help and assistance, acknowledging your nothingness and expecting everything from Me.

Luisa says, “I then pictured human pride as an ugly worm in the act of kneeling at the feet of the Great King.  It rises up and swells up in a way that makes itself think it is something big.  And by its great audacity begins, little by little, to crawl and climb up the garb of the King until it reaches the King’s head.  Seeing the King’s golden crown, it wants to take it away from Him and place it on its own head.  It then wants to remove the Kings royal vestments, dethrone Him, and use every means to take the King’s life.  The worm does not even know what kind of being it is.  And, in its pride, does not know that if the King would notice the bold aggressor, He could destroy it-crush it under His feet-and make all the worm’s golden dreams collapse in a single instant. (Vol. 1, pg. 83)

 Jesus says, “My daughter, pride eats away Grace.  In the hearts of the proud there is nothing but an emptiness all full of smoke, which produces blindness.  Pride does nothing but make oneself an idol.  Therefore, the soul of the proud does not have his God in himself.  By sin, he has tried to destroy Him in his heart; and, erecting an altar in his heart, he puts himself upon it and adores himself.  (Vol. 3, pg. 9)

On Grace:

“My daughter, do you know what my Grace does?  My Grace renders the soul of the Beatific Visionaries happy; and it renders happy the wayfarers with this one difference: the Visionaries enjoy and delight themselves and the wayfarers work and put it to trade.  Therefore, he who possesses Grace bears in himself Paradise ; for the possess Grace is none other than to possess Me.  And since I alone am the enchanting Object that enchants all of Paradise and forms all the contentment’s of the Blessed, by possessing Grace, the soul possesses her Paradise wherever she may be. (Vol. 3, pg. 12)

Grace is the life of the soul.  Just as the soul gives life to the body, so too Grace gives life to the soul.  But, it is not sufficient for the body to have only the soul in order to have life, it also needs a good to nourish it in order to grow to its proper stature.  What is this food?  It is correspondence.  (correspondence: agreement between particular things)  Thus, Grace and correspondence form that spiraled chain that conducts it to Heaven.  And, according to the measure of the soul’s correspondence, thus does Grace form the links of this chain.  What is the passport to enter into the Kingdom of Grace ?  It is humility.  The soul, always looking at her nothingness, perceiving herself to be nothing but dust and wind, puts all her confidence in Grace.  And Grace, taking command, conducts her along the path of all the virtues and makes her reach the peak of perfection.” (Vol. 3, pg. 32)

Also on Grace: “Such is my Grace.  The sun is an image of it, which inundates the peoples everywhere.  The poor, the rich, the ignorant and the learned; Christians and infidels (an unbeliever).  No one, no one can say he is deprived of it because the light of the Truth and the influence of my Grace fill the earth, like the sun at midday.”     ....My Grace never leaves anyone.  Rather, man voluntarily goes out of it, and not having Grace within him, my Grace seeks to follow him with the glimmering of its light.”  (Vol. 3, pg. 43)

On Mortification: (mortification: to subdue by abstinence or self inflicted pain))

“Jesus says, “...thus mortification has the power to devour all the imperfections and defects that are found in the soul, and goes so far as to spiritualize the body as well.  And it places itself about the soul and seals in all the virtues.  Until mortification shall have well devoured your soul as well as your body, it will not be able to seal perfectly in you the mark of my Crucifixion.”

“Mortification must be the breath of the soul.”

 HOW TO COME CLOSE TO JESUS

1.  Prayer and meditation (Meditation attracts God to converse with the soul.)

      Luisa meditated on the Passion constantly.  She says regarding meditation on the Passion, “All the good I have received has come from this source of good and love.” 

From the Hours of the Passion:

(From a letter of Luisa’s)  Luisa tells us: “Wherefore I tell you that the purpose of these Hours of the Passion is, not so much that of recounting the story of the Passion; but the purpose is the REPARATION, uniting together the different points of the Passion of Our Lord with the diversity of so many offenses, and together with Jesus, make worthy REPARATION, redoing for Him almost all that which all creatures owe Him.  From this comes the different ways of making reparation.  In these Hours, that is, in some passages one blesses; in others one compassionates; in others one praises; in others one comforts suffering Jesus; in others one compensates; in others one begs (Moses begged for God’s mercy and God relented (Exodus 32-7-14) prays and asks.”

(The following are from Vol. 2)

Jesus tells us: “...whoever always thinks on my Passion forms a fountain in his heart and the more he thinks on It, the more this fountain grows.  And since the waters which spring forth are waters common to all; so this fountain of my Passion, which is formed in the heart, serves for the good of the soul, for my Glory and for the good of creatures.”  

 “...I will not regard these Hours as things of theirs, but as things done by Me; and I will give them my same merits as if I were in the act of suffering my Passion and, in this way, I will make them obtain the same effects, according to the disposition of the souls.  This I will do upon the earth, and I could not give more.”

“These Hours are the most precious of all because they are none other than the repetition of that which I did in the course of my mortal Life and of that which I continue to do in the Most Holy Sacrament.  When I hear these Hours of my Passion, I hear my own voice and my own prayers.  I see my Will in that soul that desires the good of all and that makes reparation for all, and I feel Myself transported to dwell in her in order to be able to do in her that which she herself does.  Oh, how greatly would I be pleased if even one were to do these Hours of my Passion in each town!  I would feel Myself in each town; and my Justice, greatly disdained in these times, would be placated in part.”

“Know that every time you do it (the Hours), my Mother feels as if She were on earth in person and as if She repeated her life, and therefore, She receives that glory and love which She gave to Me upon earth...”

After Luisa was told this she said, “I followed Her; and, from that time on, helped by His Grace, I have never again omitted it.”

“...know that by doing these Hours, the soul takes my thoughts and makes them hers; she takes my reparation, prayers, desires, affections, even my most intimate fibers and makes them hers.  And raising herself up between Heaven and earth, she performs my same office and, as co-redemptrix, says together with Me, ‘Ecce ego, mitte me (behold me, send me).  I want to make reparation to You for all, respond to You for all and impetrate good for all.’

“.... as the soul remembers my Life, my Passion and my prayers, they go around this soul and gather her words, her prayers, the tears, the offerings, the compassion which she gives Me.  They unite them to mine and bring them before my Majesty to renew for Me the Glory of my own Life.  And the pleasure of the Angels is such that they are reverently waiting to hear that which the soul says and pray together with her.  Therefore, how attentively and respectfully must the soul do these Hours, thinking that the Angels hang from their lips in order to repeat that which she says right after her.”

“In these times (1916 - now worse than those times!) want great satisfaction, and only he who makes Me his own can give it to Me.  And that which The Father found in Me, that is; glory, complacency, love, entire and perfect satisfactions for the good of all, I want to find in these souls, like so many other Jesus’, who return all to Me.  And You must repeat these intentions in each hour of the Passion which you do, in each action, in all....”

“Do you not know that for each word on my Passion, thought, compassion, reparation, memory of my pains, so many communications as in electricity spring up between Me and the soul; and, therefore, the soul is adorned with so many varieties of beauty? (Vol. 12)

Jesus, speaking of those who will do the Hours:  “I will also give them a soul for each word which they will recite if they will do them together with Me and with my same Will, because all the greater or lesser efficacy of these Hours of my Passion is in the greater or lesser union which they have with Me.  And by doing them with my Will, the creature hides itself in my Will; and with my Will in act, I can do all the good that I want, even with a single word.  And this I will do every time that they will do them.”  (Vol 2)

The Blessed Mother tells us: The prayer most powerful on the Heart of my Son and that which softens Him the most is the creature’s clothing itself with all that He Himself did and suffered, having given all of it to the creature as a gift.  Therefore, my daughter, crown your head with Jesus’ thorns.  Bead your eyes with His tears.  Impregnate your tongue with His bitterness.  Dress your soul with His Blood.   Adorn yourself with His wounds.  Pierce your hands and feet with His nails and, as another Christ, present yourself before His Divine Majesty.   This spectacle will move Him so that He will not know how to refuse anything to the soul dressed with his own garment.”  (Vol. 2)

The souls in Purgatory and the Saints spoke to Luisa saying, “.... there is no soul which enters into Purgatory that does not bear the stamp of the Hours of the Passion and, helped and escorted by these Hours, takes his place in a secure place.  There is not a soul that flies into Paradise , which is not accompanied by these Hours of the Passion.  These Hours make rain from Heaven continuous dew upon the earth, in Purgatory and even in Heaven.”  (Vol. 12)

“Meditate on the Cross, and it will give you the most beautiful features one can find in Heaven and earth.  Always be enamored of the Cross...”   (Vol. 1)

 On confidence in prayer: (vol. 3, pg. 24)  Luisa says after her offering to Jesus, “Wherefore, I made the offering with complete confidence that the Child would have accepted it.  It seemed as though Jesus accepted my poor offerings with great pleasure, but what He like the most was the confidence with which I had offered it.

Wherefore, He said to me: Confidence has two arms.  With the one, one embraces my Humanity and uses it as a ladder to rise up to my Divinity.  With the other, one embraces the Divinity and draws from It torrents of celestial graces.  Therefore, the soul is all inundated by the Divine Being.  When the soul is confident, she is sure to obtain what she asks.  I let my arms be bound.  I let the soul do what she wants.  I let her penetrate deeper within my Heart, and I let her take for herself what she has asked of Me.  If I did not do this, I would feel Myself in a state of violence.”

In vol. 3, pg. 96, Jesus tells us, “Oral prayer serves to maintain correspondence.  Interior meditation must serve as food to maintain the conversation between God and the soul.”

2. On interior silence (vol. 3, pg. 62)  Jesus asks, “...but what is true rest?  It is interior rest, the silence of everything that is not God.  You see the twinkling stars of moderate light, not dazzling like the sun, sleep; the silence of all nature, of mankind and, finally, of animals...for all are looking for a place, a cave where to be in silence and in rest from the fatigue of life.  If that is necessary for the body, so much more for the soul.  But to be able to rest in God, inner silence is necessary.  But what is this inner silence?  It is to silence our own passions by holding them in check; to impose silence on desires, inclinations and sentiments; in summary, on everything which does not call God.  Now what is the means to unite man to this?  The only and absolutely necessary means is to undo one’s own being according to nature, reduce it to nothing; as it was nothing before it was created, and when you have reduced your being to nothing, take it up again in God. 

Other forms of meditation:  the Gospel, Mass, reading the writings of Luisa, the Rosary.

(Meditate on the Novena of Preparation for Christmas in vol. 1, beginning on pg. 1)

Other readings on prayer:

Use and effects of prayer in the Divine Will - Vol. 15, pg. 76-79

Fusing oneself in the Divine Will - Vol. 17, pg. 113-124

Oral and interior prayer - Vol. 3, pg. 96

2.  Abandonment

      In Vol. 1, Luisa gives us an example of her total abandonment when she received a new confessor, and she overcomes her doubts and fears by her total abandonment to God.

      By her readiness to suffer.

Jesus Gives Five Rules of Life to the Soul

(From Vol. 1)

1.  Total detachment from all creation, including ourselves. 

      Jesus says: “If you do not accomplish effective detachment, and not only that, but affective detachment as well, you will not be completely vested in my Light.  If, on the other hand, you divest yourself of all earthly things, you will become like a transparent crystal that allows the fullness of light to pass through it.  In that way my Divinity, which is Light, will enter into you.”

2.  Detachment from ourselves to live solely and completely in Him.

      Luisa says:  “I was to clothe myself in the true spirit of faith since I could, thanks to it, obtain the means to know and mistrust myself; acknowledging that by myself I am good for nothing; acquiring the means to know my Jesus better; and having greater confidence in Him.”

      Jesus says:  “You will get out of yourself and dive into the immense sea of my providence after you have learned to know yourself and have learned who I am.  Because I am so jealous, I will not allow you to take the slightest pleasure in others.  You must always keep yourself close to your Spouse, and face Him, so that He cannot doubt you.  Thus you will give Me absolute dominion over you.  For love of Me, you should subject yourself to all that I deem necessary....” 

 3.  “Not your will but my Will alone should remain in you to dominate like a King in his royal palace.”   ...This nobility will prevail in you if; from time to time, you will try to enter into your nothingness; that is to say, if you will attain perfect knowledge of yourself.  You must do all you can to enter into the infinite power of my Will.  From It, you will derive all the graces you will need to raise you up into Me, to do everything with Me without reference to yourself.”

 4.  “From now on I want that there be no “you” and “I”.  There will be no “I shall do” and “you shall do”. 

These shall disappear and be replaced by “we” will do.  Everything will be “ours”.  You, as any faithful spouse would do, will take common action with Me and guide the destiny of the world.

5.  “Finally, according to the measure with which you detach yourself from what is not totally mine, you shall become always more immersed in my absolute Will.  Then, thanks to the knowledge of my Essence, which day-by-day will become more vivid to you, you will acquire the fullness of my Love.

Lynne Bauer, JMJ

June, 2008 

Friday, June 4, 2021

THE GIFT


THE GIFT

(Book of Heaven, Volume 19, Sept. 29, 1931)

“My daughter, the living in my Will is a gift that We give to the creature – great gift that surpasses in value, in sanctity, in beauty and in happiness all other gifts, in an infinite and unreachable way. When We give this gift so great, We do nothing other than open the doors to make her the possessor of Our divine possessions - the place in which passions, dangers, have no more life; nor can any enemy harm her or do her evil. This gift confirms the creature in good, in love, in the very Life of her Creator; and the Creator remains confirmed in the creature; therefore, the inseparability takes place between one and the other. With this gift the creature will feel her lot changed: from poor to rich, from ill to perfectly healed, from unhappy, she will feel that all things change for her into happiness.

To live in Our Will as gift greatly differs from doing It; the first is prize, and Our decision to win the creature, with an invincible and irresistible force; to fill the human will with Our own in a sensible way, in a way that she will touch with her own hand, and with clarity, the great good that comes to her, such that only someone who is insane would flee from such a great good. In fact, for as long as the soul is a pilgrim one, the doors do not close behind the gift, but remain open, so that, freely, not being forced, she may live in Our gift; more so, since Our Will will not give this gift by necessity, but because It loves her, and It is fully her own.

On the other hand, to do Our Will is not prize, but duty and necessity, to which, willingly or unwillingly, she must submit; and the things that are done out of duty and out of necessity, if they can be shunned, are shunned, because in them does not enter the spontaneous love that makes one love and recognize Our Will as worthy of being loved and known. The necessity hides Its good, which It contains, and makes one feel the weight of the sacrifice and of the duty. On the other hand, the living in Our Will is not sacrifice, but conquest; it is not duty, but love.  She feels, in Our gift, her own self dissolved within it, and she loves It not only as Our Will, but also because It is exclusively hers; and by not giving It the first place, the regime, the dominion, she would not love herself.

Now, my daughter, this is what We want to give to creatures – Our Will as gift, because by looking at It and possessing It as one’s own thing, it will be easy to let It form Its Kingdom. This gift was given to man in Eden, and, ungrateful, he rejected it back to Us. But We did not change Our Will - We keep It reserved, and what one rejects, with more surprising graces We keep prepared to give it to others. Nor do We care about the time, because centuries for Us are like one single point. However, great preparations are needed on the part of creatures – to know the great good of the gift in order to long for it. But the time will come when Our Will will be possessed as gift by the creature.”


Saturday, May 29, 2021

God's Mercy - Faustina and Luisa

 


God’s Mercy

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

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

 

FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING – KING OF MERCY

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

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

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

Thursday, May 27, 2021

A New Pentecost


A NEW PENTECOST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Lynne Bauer, JMJ


Friday, May 14, 2021

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



Excerpts from the Book of Heaven and Luisa's letter 

Volume 12, Feb. 16, 1921

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

 Volume 12, March 23, 1921

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

 Volume 3, April 25, 1900

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

Volume 3, April 25, 1900

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

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

Volume 14, May 19, 1922

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

 VOL 36, November 20, 1938

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

 Letter 63 of Luisa

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

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Faith, Hope and Charity

 

FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY

 

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

I want to speak to you about Faith

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

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

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

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

The Virtue of Hope

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

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

 

Primacy of Love

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

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

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

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

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

Divine Will and Total Self-surrender

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

 

 

Book of Heaven, Volume 2 - September 19, 1899

The fruits of Faith, of Hope and of Charity.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Lynne Bauer, JMJ - Oct. 12, 2020

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