Faith, Hope and Charity

VOL 1……..

So, going back to Faith, Jesus would say: “In order to obtain, one must believe. Just as for the head without the sight of the eyes, everything is darkness, everything is confusion, so much so, that if one wanted to walk, he would stumble now at one point, now at another, and would end up falling completely, the same for the soul without Faith – she does nothing but go from precipice to precipice. But Faith serves as the sight of the soul, and as the light which guides her to eternal life. Now, what is this light of Faith nourished by? By Hope. Now, what is the substance of this light of Faith, and of this nourishment of Hope? It is Charity. All of these three virtues are grafted to one another, in such a way that one cannot be without the other.

In fact, what good comes to man from believing in the immense riches of Faith, if he does not hope for them, for himself? He will look at them, yes, but with indifferent eye, because he knows that they do not belong to him. But Hope provides the light of Faith with wings, and by hoping in the merits of Jesus Christ, he looks at them as his own, and he comes to love them.”

“Hope“, Jesus said, “provides the soul with a garment of fortitude, almost of iron, in such a way that, with all of their arrows, the enemies cannot wound her; not only this, but they cannot cause even the slightest disturbance. Everything is tranquillity in her, everything is peace. Oh! it is beautiful to see this soul invested with beautiful Hope, all cleaving to her beloved, all distrustful of herself, and all trustful in God. She challenges the fiercest enemies, she is queen of her passions; she regulates all of her interior, her inclinations, desires, heartbeats, thoughts, with such mastery that Jesus Himself remains enamored, because He sees that this soul operates with such courage and strength. But she draws it from Him, and places all her hope in Him, so much so, that in seeing this firm hope, Jesus cannot deny anything to this soul.

Now, while Jesus would speak about Hope, He would withdraw for a little, leaving a light in my intellect. Who can tell what I comprehended about Hope? If all the other virtues serve to embellish the soul, but can make us stagger and render us inconstant – Hope, instead, renders the soul firm and stable, like those high mountains which cannot be moved a tiny bit. It seems to me that it happens to the soul invested with Hope as to certain very high mountains: all of the intemperances of the air cannot do any harm to these mountains; neither snow, nor winds, nor heat can penetrate into them; whatever thing might be placed at their top, one can be sure of finding there where it was put, even if a hundred years should pass. Just so is the soul clothed with Hope: nothing can do harm to her, neither tribulation, nor poverty; nor do all the various accidents of life dismay her for one instant. She says to herself: “I can do everything, I can bear everything, suffer everything – hoping in Jesus, who forms the object of all my hopes.”

Hope renders the soul almost omnipotent, invincible, and it administers to her the final perseverance, so much so, that only then does she cease to hope and to persevere, when she has taken possession of the Kingdom of Heaven. Then, she lays down Hope and plunges all of herself into the immense ocean of Divine Love.

While my soul would dissolve in the immense sea of Hope, my beloved Jesus would come back and speak to me about Charity, telling me: “Faith and Hope give way to Charity, and Charity connects all the rest of the other two together, in such a way as to make them one, while they are three. And here is how, oh my spouse, the Trinity of the Divine Persons is concealed in the three theological virtues.”

Then He continued: “If Faith makes one believe, and Hope makes one hope, Charity makes one love. If Faith is light and serves as the sight of the soul, and Hope, which is the nourishment of Faith, provides the souls with courage, peace, perseverance and all the rest – Charity, which is the substance of this light and of this nourishment, is like that most sweet and fragrant ointment which, penetrating everywhere, relieves and soothes the pains of life. Charity makes suffering sweet, and makes one reach the point even of desiring it. The soul who possesses Charity diffuses fragrance everywhere; her works, all done out of love, give off a most pleasing odor. And what is this odor? It is the odor of God Himself. The other virtues render the soul solitary and almost unrefined with creatures; Charity, on the other hand, being substance that unites, unites the hearts. But where? In God. Being a most fragrant ointment, Charity spreads everywhere and with everyone. Charity makes one suffer the most ruthless torments with joy, and one reaches the point of not being able to be without suffering. And when she see herself deprived of it, she says to her spouse Jesus: “Sustain me with the fruits, which is suffering, because I am languishing with love; and where else can I show You my love other than in suffering for You?” Charity burns, consumes all other things, even the virtues themselves, and turns them all into itself. In sum, it is like a queen who wants to reign everywhere, and does not want to surrender to anyone.”

FIAT!

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Preparing for the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit

Letter 29.
Today is The Sacred day of Ascension, the name of which you carry, and I feel the duty, although I am the least among all, to send you my sincere and affectionate wishes. But what wishes can I give you? I wouldn’t know what else to wish you other than that dear Jesus may make facts correspond to the name He gave you – that is to say, that He may take each one of your acts within Himself and bring it to Heaven, so making of all your life a continuous Ascension, like many conquests that sweet Jesus takes from earth to Heaven, and like the triumph of His Love in which your life must be consumed. To live in order to be consumed in love is the most beautiful act, which, putting us on the stake of love, consumes us with Jesus and makes His Life rise within us.

Letter 19. To Mrs. Antonietta Savorani, widow from Faenza
As far as the vow, do it on the Day of Ascension, so that sweet Jesus may bring your will to Heaven as the most beautiful victory He has achieved over you

NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE DIVINE WILL

Begins Ascension Thursday May 5, 2016

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

FIRST DAY

Volume 17- May 17, 1925

(Our Lord to Luisa:) “My daughter, to what you have said on fusing yourself in My Will, another appeal must be added—that of fusing yourself in the order of grace, in everything that the Sanctifier—the Holy Spirit—has done and will do for those who are to be sanctified. More so since, while We, the Three Divine Persons, are always united in operating, if the Creation points to the Father, and Redemption to the Son, the Fiat Voluntas Tua will point to the Holy Spirit. And it is precisely in the Fiat Voluntas Tua that the Divine Spirit will make display of His work. You do it when, on coming before the Supreme Majesty, you say: ‘I come to requite You in love for everything that the Sanctifier does for those who are to be sanctified. I come to enter into the order of grace, so as to be able to give You the glory and the requital of love as if all had made themselves saints, and to repair You for all the oppositions and lack of correspondence to grace’. And as much as you can, you search within Our Will for the acts of grace of the Spirit Sanctifier, so as to make His sorrow your own, as well as His secret moans, His anguishing sighs in the depth of the hearts, in seeing Himself so unwelcome. And since the first act He does is to bring Our Will as the complete act of their sanctification, in seeing Himself rejected, He moans with inexpressible moans. And you, in your childlike simplicity, say to Him: ‘Spirit Sanctifier, hurry, I implore You, I pray You again—make Your Will known to all, so that, by knowing It, they may love It, and may welcome Your first act of their complete sanctification—which is your Holy Will.’ My daughter, We, the Three Divine Persons, are inseparable and distinct, and in this way do We want to manifest to the human generations Our works for them—that while being united among Ourselves, each One of Us wants to manifest individually His love and His work toward the creatures.”

Prayer: Seven Glory Be’s in honor of the Holy Spirit, praying that His prodigies may be renewed over the whole Church; Little Chaplet of the Divine Will; and the following prayers from Volume 17- May 17, 1925:

“(Supreme Majesty), I come to requite You in love for everything that the Sanctifier does for those who are to be sanctified. I come to enter into the order of grace, so as to be able to give You the glory and the requital of love as if all had made themselves saints, and to repair You for all the oppositions and lack of correspondence to grace.”

“Spirit Sanctifier, hurry, I implore You, I pray You again—make Your Will known to all, so that, by knowing It, they may love It, and may welcome Your first act of their complete sanctification—which is Your Holy Will.”

SECOND DAY

Round of the soul in the Divine Will, Twenty-fourth Hour

(Luisa:) My Jesus, after rising from the dead, You do not depart for Heaven. This tells me that You want to establish the Kingdom of Your Divine Will among creatures, and I won’t abandon You for a single instant. I follow You step by step with my “I love You” as You appear in the risen state to Your Mother. Through the joy You shared, I ask You ever more insistently for the Kingdom of Your Fiat… My “I love You” accompanies You as You appear to Mary Magdalene and to the Apostles. It asks that Your Divine Will be known in a special way to priests, so they in turn, as new Apostles, may make It known to all the world. My “I love You” follows You in all the acts You accomplish among Your friends after the Resurrection. Lastly, it invites Heaven and earth to be present at Your glorious Ascension.

While You with Your triumphant entry into Paradise open the Gates that have been closed for so many centuries to poor humanity, I place my “I love You” on those Eternal Gates. I ask You, through that same blessing You gave to all Your disciples who were present at the celebration of Your Ascension, to bless all human wills, so they may know and appreciate the gift of life lived in Your Will.

Through the great love with which You open for us the Gates of Heaven, I ask You, O my glorious Jesus, to let Your Divine Will descend from those Gates. May It reign upon earth as It reigns in Heaven.

My, Love, You are now seated at the right hand of the Father: Entrenched in my poor little nothingness, “I adore You, praise You, thank You” and I continually form with my “I love You” long chains reaching from earth to Heaven.

Please leave open always the Gates of the Heavenly Home, so I may constantly come and kneel at Your feet, climb into Your arms, and repeat to You incessantly my song of love: “Send us the Kingdom of Your Holy Will and may Your Divine Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven!” Amen.

THIRD DAY

The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will, Day 30

(Our Lady to Luisa:) Now listen to Me, My child. Our Highest Good, Jesus, has departed for Heaven and is now before His Celestial Father, pleading for His children and brothers, whom He has left upon earth. From the Celestial Fatherland, He looks at everyone; no one escapes Him. And His love is so great that He leaves His Mama on earth as comfort, help, lesson and company for His children and Mine.

Now, you must know that as My Son departed for Heaven, I remained together with the Apostles in the cenacle, waiting for the Holy Spirit. They were all around Me, clinging to Me, and we prayed together; they did nothing without My advice. And when I began to speak to instruct them and to narrate some anecdotes about My Son that they didn’t know—as for example, the details of His birth, His baby tears, His loving traits, the incidents which happened in Egypt, and the so many wonders of the hidden life in Nazareth—oh, how attentive they were in listening to Me, and how enraptured they were in hearing of the so many surprises, the so many teachings that He gave Me, which were to serve for them; since My Son had said little or nothing about Himself to the Apostles, reserving for Me the task of letting them know how much He had loved them, and the details which only His Mother knew. So, My child, I was in the midst of My Apostles more than the sun in the midst of the day. I was the anchor, the wheel, the ship in which they found refuge, to be safe and sheltered from every danger. Therefore, I can say that I delivered the nascent Church upon My maternal knees, and that My arms were the ship in which I led her to a safe shore, and I still do.

Then the time came for the descent of the Holy Spirit, promised by My Son in the cenacle. What a transformation, My child! As they were invested, they acquired new science, invincible strength, ardent love. A new life flowed within them, which rendered them brave and courageous, in such a way that they scattered throughout the whole world to make Redemption known, and to give their lives for their Master. I remained with beloved John, and was forced to leave Jerusalem, as the storm of persecution began.

My dearest child, you must know that I still continue My Magisterium in the Church. There is nothing which does not descend from Me. I can say that I pour myself out for love of My children, and that I nourish them with My maternal milk. Now, during these times, I want to display an even more special love by making known how My whole life was formed in the Kingdom of the Divine Will. So I call you onto My knees, into My maternal arms, so that, forming your ship, you may be sure to live in the sea of the Divine Will. Greater grace I could not give you. I beg you, make your Mama content! Come to live in this Kingdom so holy! And when you see that your will wants to have an act of life, come and take refuge in the safe boat of My arms, saying to me: “My Mama, my will wants to betray me, and I deliver it to you, that you may put the Divine Will in its place.”

Oh, how happy I will be, in being able to say: “My child is all Mine, because she lives from Divine Will.” And I will make the Holy Spirit descend into your soul, that He may burn away from you all that is human; and by His refreshing breath, He may rule over you and confirm you in the Divine Will.

FOURTH DAY

Volume 18- November 5, 1925

(Luisa:) I was fusing myself in the Holy Divine Volition according to my usual way; and while I was trying, as much as I could, to requite my Jesus with my little love for all that He has done in Redemption, my lovable and sweet Love, Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter, with your flight in My Will, reach all the Sacraments instituted by Me; descend into the depths of them, to give Me your little requital of love. Oh! how many of My secret tears you will find, how many bitter sighs, how many suffocated moans of the Holy Spirit. His moaning is continuous, before the many disillusions of Our love. The Sacraments were instituted in order to continue My Life on earth in the midst of My children. But, alas!, how many sorrows. This is why I feel the necessity of your little love. It may be small, but My Will will make it great. My love does not tolerate for one who must live in My Will not to associate herself with My sorrows, and not to give Me her little requital of love for all that I have done and that I suffer. Therefore, My daughter, see how My love moans in the Sacraments.

“If I see a newborn being baptized, I cry with sorrow, because, while through Baptism I restore his innocence, I find My child again, I give back to him the rights over Creation which he had lost, I smile at him with love and satisfaction, I make the enemy flee from him, that he may no longer have any right over him, I entrust him to the Angels, and all of Heaven makes feast for him—soon My smile turns into sorrow, the feast into mourning. I see that the one who is baptized will be an enemy of Mine, a new Adam, and maybe even a lost soul. Oh! how my love moans in each Baptism; especially, then, if one adds that the minister who is baptizing does not do it with that respect, dignity and decorum which befit a Sacrament that contains the new regeneration. Ah! many times they pay more attention to a bagatelle, to whatever show, than to administering a Sacrament. So, My love feels itself being pricked by the baptizer and by the one who is baptized, and it moans with unutterable moans. Would you not want, then, to give Me a requital of love, a loving moan, for each Baptism, so as to keep company with My sorrowful moans?

“Move on to the Sacrament of Confirmation. Ah! how many bitter sighs. While, through Confirmation, I restore his courage, I give back to him the lost strengths, rendering him invincible to all enemies and to his passions, and he is admitted to the ranks of the militia of his Creator, that he may fight for the acquisition of the Celestial Fatherland, and the Holy Spirit gives him His loving kiss again, lavishes a thousand caresses on him, and offers Himself as the companion of his career—yet, many times He feels Himself being requited with the kiss of a traitor, His caresses being despised, His company shunned. How many moans, how many sighs for his return, how many secret voices to the heart, for the one who shuns Him—to the point of tiring Himself from speaking. But—no, it is in vain. Therefore, do you not want to give your requital of love, your loving kiss, your company to the Holy Spirit, who moans because of so much neglection?”

FIFTH DAY

Volume 18- November 5, 1925 (continued)

(Our Lord to Luisa:) “But, do not stop, keep flying, and you will hear the anguishing moans of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Penance. How much ingratitude, how many abuses and profanations, on the part of those who administer it and on the part of those who receive it. In this Sacrament, My Blood places Itself in act over the contrite sinner, in order to descend upon his soul, to wash him, embellish him, heal him and strengthen him, to give back to him the lost grace, to place in his hands the keys of Heaven, which sin had snatched away from him; to impress on his forehead the peacemaking kiss of forgiveness. But, ah! how many harrowing moans, in seeing souls approaching this Sacrament of Penance without sorrow, out of habit, almost as a vent of the human heart. Others—horrible to be said—instead of going to find the life of their souls, of grace, go to find death, to pour out their passions. So, the Sacrament is reduced to a mockery, to a nice chat; and My Blood, instead of descending as a bath, descends as fire, which withers them even more. And so, in each Confession, Our love cries inconsolably and, sobbing, repeats: ‘Human ingratitude, how great you are. Everywhere you try to offend Me; and while I offer you life, you turn the very life I offer you into death.’ See, then, how Our moans await your requital of love in the Sacrament of Penance.

“Do not let your love stop; go through all the Tabernacles, through each Sacramental Host, and in each Host you will hear the Holy Spirit moan with unutterable sorrow. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is not only their own life that souls receive, but is My very Life that gives Itself to them. So, the fruit of this Sacrament is to form My Life in them, and each Communion serves to make My Life grow, to develop It, in such a way that one may be able to say: ‘I am another Christ’. But, alas!, how few take advantage of it. Even more, how many times I descend into hearts and they make Me find the weapons to wound Me, and repeat for Me the tragedy of My Passion. And as the Sacramental Species are consumed, instead of pressing Me to stay with them, I am forced to leave bathed with tears, crying over My Sacramental lot; and I find no one who calms My crying and My sorrowful moans. If you could break those veils of the Host, which cover Me, you would find Me bathed with crying, knowing the lot that awaits Me in descending into hearts. Therefore, let your requital of love for each Host be continuous, in order to calm My crying, and to 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 the void of your requital of love. Descend into the Sacrament of Ordination. Here, yes, you will find Our most intimate hidden sorrows, the most bitter tears, the most harrowing moans. The Ordination constitutes man to a supreme height, to a Divine character—the repeater of My Life, the administer of the Sacraments, the revealer of My secrets, of My Gospel, of the most sacred science; the peacemaker between Heaven and earth, the bearer of Jesus to souls. But, alas!, how many times We see, in the ordained one, how he will be a Judas for Us, a usurper of the character which is being impressed in him. Oh! how the Holy Spirit moans in seeing, in the ordained one, the most sacred things, the greatest character which exists between Heaven and earth, being snatched away from Him. How many profanations! Each act of this ordained one, not done according to the character impressed, will be a cry of sorrow, a bitter crying, a harrowing moan. The Ordination is the Sacrament which encloses all other Sacraments together. Therefore, if the ordained one is able to preserve whole within himself the character he has received, he will almost place all other Sacraments in safety, he will be the defender and the savior of Jesus Himself. But, not seeing this in the ordained one, Our sorrows are sharpened more, Our moans become more continuous and sorrowful. Therefore, let your requital of love flow in each priestly act, to keep company with the moaning love of the Holy Spirit.

SIXTH DAY

Volume 18 – November 5, 1925 (continued)

(Our Lord to Luisa:) “Lend Us the ear of your heart and listen to Our profound moans in the Sacrament of Marriage. How many disorders in it! Marriage was elevated by Me to a Sacrament, in order to place in it a sacred bond, the symbol of the Sacrosanct Trinity, the Divine love which It encloses. So, the love which was to reign in the father, mother and children, the concord, the peace, was to symbolize the Celestial Family. I was to have on earth as many other families similar to the Family of the Creator, destined to populate the earth like as many terrestrial angels, to then bring them back to populate the Celestial Regions. But, ah! how many moans in seeing families of sin being formed in the Marriage, which symbolize hell, with discord, with lack of love, with hatred, and which populate the earth like many rebellious angels, who will serve to populate hell. The Holy Spirit moans with harrowing moans in each Marriage, in seeing so many infernal dens being formed on earth. Therefore, place your requital of love in each Marriage, in each creature which comes to the light; in this way, your loving moan will render less sorrowful Our continuous moans.

“Our moans are not yet finished; therefore, let your requital of love reach the bed of the dying one when the Sacrament of the Extreme Unction is administered. But, ah! how many moans, how many of Our secret tears! This Sacrament has the virtue of placing the dying sinner in safety at any cost; it is the confirmation of sanctity for the good and the holy; it is the last bond which it establishes, through its Unction, between the creature and God; it is the seal of Heaven which it impresses in the redeemed soul; it is the infusion of the merits of the Redeemer, in order to enrich her, purify her and embellish her; it is the final brush stroke which the Holy Spirit gives her in order to dispose her to depart from the earth, so as to make her appear before her Creator. In sum, the Extreme Unction is the final display of Our love, and the final clothing of the soul; it is the rearranging of all the good works; therefore, it acts in a surprising way in those who are alive to grace. With the Extreme Unction, the soul is as though covered by a Celestial dew, which extinguishes, as though in one breath, her passions, her attachment to the earth and to all that does not belong to Heaven. But, alas!, how many moans, how many bitter tears, how many indispositions, how many negligences. How many losses of souls; how few the sanctities it finds to be confirmed; how scarce the good works to be reordered and rearranged. Oh! if all could hear Our moans, Our crying, over the bed of the dying one, in the act of administering the Sacrament of the Extreme Unction—all would cry with sorrow. Do you not want, then, to give Us your requital of love for each time this Sacrament is administered, which is the final display of Our love toward the creature? Our Will awaits you everywhere, to have your requital of love and your company with Our moans and sighs.”

SEVENTH DAY

Volume 20 – September 20, 1926

(Our Lord to Luisa:) “It is My Will alone that places the Creator and the creature, the Redeemer and the redeemed ones, the Sanctifier and the sanctified ones, in accord and in communication. Without It, it is as if Creation and Redemption were nothing for them, because that which makes flow the life and the goods that they contain, is missing. The very Sacraments will serve them as condemnation, because since My Will is missing in them, that which breaks the veil of the Sacraments so as to give them the fruit and the life they contain, is missing. Therefore, My Will is everything; without It, Our most beautiful works, Our greatest prodigies, remain extraneous to the poor creatures, because It alone is the depository of all Our works, and therefore only through It can these be given birth for creatures. Oh! if all knew what it means to do or not to do My Will, they would all place themselves in accord with It in order to receive all possible and imaginable goods, and the transmission of the very Divine life.”

Volume 31 – October 16, 1932

(Our Lord to Luisa:) “What a crime to impede the walk, the step of My Volition in the will of the creature. Thus I created creatures in order to form for Myself many ways in the human wills, to be able to have My continuous walk, and therefore My operative act in them. And the one who impedes My walk would want to impede Me in the continuation of My creation, to block My steps and tie My hands so that I would not be able to operate. Alas! not doing My Will seems to be nothing, and yet it is the greatest of crimes that before the Divine Majesty cries out vengeance toward poor creatures, especially when it is known that My Will does a work, that It wants a sacrifice, and not doing it is as if one wanted to contest the truth. And this is a sin against the Holy Spirit, and cries out for vengeance before God. To know My Will and not do It is to close Heaven, to break the Divine relations, and to not know the Divine command that every creature is obligated to know and to submit to what My Volition wants, even though it might cost them their life. Therefore be attentive, adore My Will and what It has disposed for you if you want to content your Jesus.

EIGHTH DAY

Volume 24 – July 29, 1928

(Our Lord to Luisa:) “You must know that during the course of My mortal Life, in everything I did, I always blessed. It was the first act of Creation that I called back upon creatures, and in order to confirm it, in blessing I invoked the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit. The very Sacraments are animated by these blessings and invocations. So, while calling the Likeness to the Creator within souls, My blessing calls also the life of My Divine Will, that It may return as in the beginning of Creation to reign in souls, because My Will alone has the virtue of painting in them, vividly, the Likeness of He who created them, of making it grow and of preserving it with the vivid Divine colors.

“See then, what blessing means: confirmation of Our creative work, because the work We do once is so filled with wisdom, and with sublimity and beauty, that We love to repeat it always. And if Our blessing is nothing other than the longing of Our Heart to see Our Image restored in creatures, as well as the repetition of Our confirmation of what We want to do, the sign of the cross that the Church teaches to the faithful is nothing other than impetrating Our Likeness on the part of creatures; and so, echoing Our blessing, they repeat: ‘In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ Therefore, without knowing it, the Church and all the faithful harmonize with the Eternal Creator, and all want the same thing: God, by blessing and pronouncing the words, ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit,’ wants to give His Likeness; creatures impetrate it by making the sign of the cross, pronouncing the same words.”

NINTH DAY

Volume 22 – June 12, 1927

(Luisa:) I was following the acts of the Divine Fiat according to my usual way, in order to repair and bind all the relations between Creator and creature, between Redeemer and redeemed ones, between Sanctifier and sanctified ones, broken by the human will; and my beloved Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter, one who wants to know all the relations existing between Creator and creature, and to keep their bonds in force, must let My Divine Will reign within herself with absolute dominion.

And one who wants to know and receive all the relations and bonds of sanctity, must love the Sanctifier. The Holy Spirit puts His flames on the way toward one who truly loves, and binds her with the relations of His Sanctity. Without love there is no sanctity, because the bonds of true sanctity are already broken.”

Volume 18; October 1, 1925

(Our Lord to Luisa:) “One who does My Will and lives in It maintains whole the bonds of Creation which exist between Creator and creature, the bonds of Redemption, and the bonds between the Sanctifier and the ones who are being sanctified. My Will seals all these bonds and renders the creature inseparable from Me. Therefore, be sure that your Jesus does not leave you.”

PENTECOST SUNDAY

Heavenly Father, I pray in the Most Holy Divine Will, in the name of Jesus and Mary through Luisa, for everyone and everything past, present and future that The Holy Spirit come with His Divine Fire and Sanctify the earth.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts those who are linked to Luisa with the inextinguishable Fire of Your Divine Love; the Fire of Divine Love that transmutes the soul in God; the Fire of Divine Love that with Its flames invests all the human operations and gives them the form of Divine Operations.

Come Holy Spirit, fill those who are linked to Luisa with the Fire of Your Divine Will that contains such Power as to be a New Baptism for the soul, as Jesus told Luisa, “even more than Baptism itself.” Wash from us every stain, and give us that new Baptism that will strengthen us in Grace, to be admitted to Live with You on earth as it is in Heaven.

Come Holy Spirit, baptize those who are linked to Luisa with the Baptism of Your Divine Fire. Restore and heal us with Your Breath of Fire. Purify us with Your Divine Fire and devour and consume all our passions and evil tendencies, and finding our souls naked with no extraneous humors, it will be easy for You, Holy Spirit, to convert us into Your very Divine Fire. Let us feel the burning of Your Divine Fire and the palpitating Divine Life of our Creator so that all mankind will return to be the “bearer of his Creator.” Then You, Triune God, will feel the happiness, glory and appreciation for Your Creative Work, as it returns Love into Your Divine womb, as it came out, in a Fire of Love from Your Paternal Bosom.

Come Holy Spirit with Your Divine Fire of Your Divine Love and Sanctify the earth. We ask this in the name of Jesus, Our Lord, under the blue mantle of Mary, Our Mother and through the intercession of the little daughter of the Divine Will, Luisa Piccarreta. Amen.

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St. Faustina’s Vision of the Afterlife

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Divine Mercy in My Soul

From the Writings of

The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta

The Little Daughter of the Divine Will

Divine Mercy and The Divine Will

Divine Will

Luisa Piccarreta was born on April 23, 1865 the Sunday after Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), in Corato, Bari, to Nicola Vito and Rosa Tarantino, who had five daughters: Maria, Rachele, Filomena, Luisa and Angela. A few hours after Luisa’s birth, her father wrapped her in a blanket and took her to the main church for baptism. Her mother had not suffered the pangs of labor: her birth was painless.

Divine Mercy

St. Faustina’s Diary – 299. I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy.

Divine Will

Luisa, having accepted the role of victim, came to experience a most peculiar condition: every morning she found herself rigid, immobile, huddled up in bed, and no one could move her because of her weight, as if she were a large piece of lead, nor could they stretch any of her members, to raise her arms or move her head or legs as they were strongly stiffened no one was able to stretch her out,. Her body assumed a rock-like hardness. Her tiny frame grew so heavy that no one could lift it. In this death-like state, Luisa was totally paralyzed, although she retained consciousness and suffered excruciating pains. As we know, it required the presence of a priest who, by blessing her with the sign of the Cross with his thumb on the back of her hands Reciting at the same time the Trisagion prayer of the Byzantine liturgy “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, Have Mercy on us.” This dispelled that corpse-like rigidity – then the body of Luisa came round and started to move, and her sister could lift her easily and with no strain, placing her in her usual and only position, sitting on her little bed.

Divine Mercy

St. Faustina’s Diary: 476. This prayer will serve to appease My wrath. You will recite it for nine days, on the beads of the rosary, in the following manner: First of all, you will say one Our Father and Hail Mary and the I Believe in God. Then on the Our Father beads, you will say the following words: “Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.” On the Hail Mary beads you will say the following words: “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.” In conclusion, three times you will recite these words” Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Divine Will

Volume 6 – April 16, 1904

Jesus and God the Father speak about Mercy. – 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 any more? 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

Divine Mercy

In answer to Luisa’s request for Mercy, St. Mary Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament was born the following year on August 2, 1905

FIAT!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bookofheaven.net/2016/04/03/divine-mercy-in-my-soul/

What the Angel of Peace gave to the Children at Fatima

Circumstances and Dialogue of the 1916 Apparitions

In the spring of 1916, three young Portuguese shepherds, Lucy dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, led their sheep to graze on a hill called the Cabeço. Rain began to fall, so the children found a place on the hillside to serve as a shelter. Even after the rain had passed and the sun had returned, the little shepherds spent the day at this spot, eating lunch, saying the Rosary and playing games. Lucy was then only nine years old, Francisco was eight, and Jacinta was six.

As they were playing, a strong wind suddenly blew, shaking the trees, and the children saw a figure approaching above the olive trees. Lucy described the figure as having “the appearance of a young man of fourteen or fifteen, whiter than snow, which the sun rendered transparent as if it were of crystal, and of great beauty. We were surprised and half absorbed. We did not say a word.

“While coming closer to us, the Angel said: ‘Do not fear! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.’ And kneeling on the earth, he bent his forehead to the ground. Prompted by a supernatural movement, we imitated him and repeated the words which we heard him pronounce: ‘My God, I believe in Thee, I adore Thee, I hope in Thee and I love Thee. I ask pardon for all those who do not believe in Thee, do not adore Thee, do not hope in Thee and do not love Thee.’

“Having repeated that prayer three times, he got up again and said to us: ‘Pray in this way. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.’ And he disappeared.”

Lucy recalled, “The supernatural atmosphere which enveloped us was so intense that, during a long moment, we barely realized the fact of our own existence. We remained in the position in which the Angel had left us, always repeating the same prayer. The presence of God made itself felt in such an intense and intimate manner, that we did not dare even to speak any longer among ourselves. The next day, we still felt our spirit enveloped in this atmosphere which only disappeared very slowly.”

The Angel of Peace had come to speak to the children, to infuse them with this extraordinary grace through which they were penetrated with the Divine Presence, and to demonstrate to them the attitude, posture and fervor with which to pray to God. Interestingly, during the apparition Francisco could not hear the words of the Angel, and had to be told what was said afterward; this would be the case for all of the other apparitions as well. After some time the three little shepherds recovered their physical strength and playfulness.

The second apparition of the Angel took place during the summer of 1916. While the children were playing around their favorite well, the Angel suddenly appeared. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray, pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High.”

Lucy asked the Angel how they were to make sacrifices.

The Angel replied, “Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will draw peace upon your country. I am its Guardian Angel, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings which the Lord will send you.”

Lucy comments, “Those words of the Angel engraved themselves in our spirit, as a light which made us understand Who God is, how much He loves us and wants to be loved by us, the value of sacrifice and how pleasing it is to Him, and that out of respect for it, God converts sinners.” The dominant theme in this second apparition of the Angel was the importance of making offerings to God through every possible action and sacrifice, even the smallest, and of making the offerings with special intentions, especially for the conversion of sinners.

The third apparition of the Angel took place in the autumn of 1916, the children took their sheep to the same place where the first apparition took place. There in the blessed place of the Cabeço, they were reciting the prayer the Angel had taught them when above them an unknown light appeared. Lucy relates, “We got up again to see what was happening, and we saw the Angel again, who had in his left hand a Chalice over which was suspended a Host, from which some drops of Blood fell into the Chalice.”

Leaving the Chalice and the Host suspended in the air, he prostrated himself down to the earth near the children and repeated three times this prayer:

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He, Himself is offended. And I draw upon the infinite merits of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that You might convert poor sinners.

Then, getting up, the Angel took the Chalice and Host. He gave Lucy the Sacred Host on the tongue. Then while giving the Precious Blood from the Chalice to Francisco and Jacinta, he said:

“Eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God.” Then, prostrating himself on the ground he repeated with the children three times the same prayer: Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He, Himself is offended. And I draw upon the infinite merits of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that You might convert poor sinners.

This final apparition of the Angel was clearly the summit of the three, as the children were graced to see the Precious Blood of Our Lord fall from the Sacred Host into the Chalice, and then receive Holy Communion from the hands of the Angel.

Again, the need for converting poor sinners was a theme in this final apparition of the Angel. The prayer repeated by the Angel demonstrates that through our prayers, united with the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, sinners can be converted. Our prayers and sacrifices alone amount to very little; but when they are united to the merits of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, they become infinitely valuable. Also emphasized was the need for reparation for the sins committed against God, by which He is constantly hurt and seeking consolation. In addition, the way the children received Holy Communion is particularly instructive for our time: they received Communion in the kneeling position, and the Sacred Host was given on the tongue.

The appearance of the Angel of Peace to three little Portuguese shepherds was a preparation for the signal grace that was about to be bestowed upon them: the appearance of the Queen of Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary. The apparitions of the Angel prepared them for seeing the Mother of God, through the transforming Divine graces the Angel showered on them, and his instructions about prayer, sacrifice and offerings. Through his apparitions to Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta, the Angel of Peace came to ready them for the decisive roles they were each to play in the most important event of the Twentieth Century, the appearance of Our Lady at Fatima.

Yet the Angel of Peace’s instructions were not meant for the children alone. They apply to each of us especially this year 2016, and just as they prepared the children for the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, they can also help serve as a preparation for our reception of Our Lady’s Fatima Message in 2017.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bookofheaven.net/2016/03/30/what-the-angel-of-peace-gave-to-the-children-at-fatima/

Happy Easter – He is Risen

For HE is RISEN

Letters of Luisa Piccarreta
Letter #72. To Mother Cecilia

In Voluntate Dei!

My good and reverend Mother,

(…) Now I (Luisa) feel the need to send you my Easter wishes. My Mother, what wish can I send you? I know that crosses surround you; how many times you have to swallow bitter pills, that make your heart bleed. It seems to me that dear Jesus surrounds you with these pains in order to give you strength, and with tender and loving voice, He says to you: “My daughter, give these pains to Me, that they may form my arms, my heart, my steps – my whole Life, to be able to live within you.” My Mother, it is the crosses, the sufferings united to the Divine Volition, that form the raw material in order to receive in us the life of Jesus, Who calls our littleness to live in Him and to rise in Him.

Here is my wish, my Mother: to rise not only on Easter, but continually in Jesus; so that every pain and each one of our acts, may be the means in order to rise in the One Who loves us so much. I believe I could not send you a more beautiful wish; and I believe you will appreciate it, more so, under the rain of unheard-of crosses and of profound humiliations. The storms give no sign of ceasing. Pray that He will make peace rise again from the storms, otherwise one cannot live.

My sister tells you many things and sends you her affectionate wishes. In a special way, I send my wishes to Sister Remigia (and our website sends this wish to you, dear reader), that she may form her perfect resurrection in the Divine Will, and use every act she does in order to grow in sanctity. We must be convinced that not the great things make us saints, but the little ones, which we have in our power and which serve as the nourishment of sanctity. I commend myself to your prayers, and leaving you rising together with Jesus, I kiss your right hand and with a thousand regards, united to my sister, I say,

The little daughter of the Divine Will.

Corato, April 5, 1939

FIAT!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bookofheaven.net/2016/03/26/happy-easter-he-is-risen/

Holy Saturday

3/26 Holy Saturday – Volume 2; March 31, 1899

St. Annibale Di Francia

One of last pictures before his death on June 1, 1927

Book of Heaven

Volume 2; March 31, 1899

The value of sufferings.

This morning, my adorable Jesus made Himself seen crucified, and after He communicated His pains to me (Luisa), He told me: “Many are the wounds that made Me suffer during my Passion, but one was the cross. This means that many are the roads through which I draw souls to perfection, but one is the Heaven in which these souls must unite. So, if one misses that Heaven, there is no other which can make them blessed forever.”

Then He added: “Take a look: one is the cross, but this cross was formed with various pieces of wood. This means that one is Heaven, but this Heaven contains various places, more or less glorious; and these places will be distributed according to the sufferings suffered down here, more or less heavy. Oh, if all knew the preciousness of suffering, they would compete with one another to suffer more! But this science is not recognized by the world, and so they abhor all that can make them richer for eternity.”

FIAT!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bookofheaven.net/2016/03/26/holy-saturday/

Holy Saturday – Hope of the Resurrection

The Hope of the Resurrection

Jesus’ Humanity: seed of resurrection of souls

Published 3/25/16 by the Official Website of Luisa Piccarreta

“At daybreak on the first day of the week…. they went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” (Luke 24:1-3)

On Holy Saturday, the day before Resurrection, humanity seems to live its darkest moment: the total absence of God, after the death on the cross of God’s only Son, seems to frustrate every hope. A great void was created between Heaven and earth, God abandoned forever his creatures!

But, in this false and bitter reality, God has already called Jesus to Him, indeed, He has already resurrected Him and Jesus is alive in the nether world announcing salvation, so that no one is excluded from it. With his descent into the nether world, He has thrown open the doors of salvation to the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity to free it from the darkness in which it lies. And those who believe in Him will be saved “for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is save.” (Romans 10: 9-10)

This truth is the foundation of faith for all believers. If Christ has not raised, even though he emptied himself taking the form of a slave, performed miracles and died, without sin, on the cross, our faith would be based on an unstable foundation

Death could not hold him!

If at first the good news, announced by the women, provokes incredulity, even among the disciples themselves, it gradually reopens the road to hope, the hope that a new life has been prepared for each creature in whom the faith reigns. A life beyond death, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live”. (John 11:25). Therefore, there will be a resurrection for us too, and we will be clothed with immortality. We will have a new and glorious body, transformed by the Holy Spirit to be like Christ. Christ is risen and lives for ever and ever, through Him also all human beings on whom death passes, will rise again. This is our sure hope.

In the light of the Divine Will, the Resurrection puts together all that was torn from Jesus’ Humanity during His sorrowful Passion. Nothing has to be wasted, but everything has to be reunited again to Jesus’ Humanity, which incorporates all creatures within itself. So, after this, if one wanders away from Jesus, it is out of his obstinate will that he tears himself from Him to go out and be lost.

The portent of Redemption was the Resurrection, which, more than refulgent sun, crowned Jesus’ Humanity, making even His littlest acts shine, with such splendor and marvel as to astonish Heaven and earth. The Resurrection will be the beginning, the foundation and the fulfillment of all goods – crown and glory of all the Blessed. Jesus’ Resurrection is the true sun which worthily glorifies His Humanity; It is the true glory of every Christian. Without Resurrection, it would have been as though heavens without sun, without heat and without life. It is the symbol of the souls who will form their sanctity in the Divine Will.

The Saints of the living in the Divine Will, will symbolize His resurrected Humanity. Each act, word, step, etc. done in the Divine Will is a divine resurrection that the soul receives; it is a mark of glory that she receives; it is to go out of herself in order to enter the Divinity,

During the course of His Life on the earth Jesus enclosed the Supreme Will in each one of His acts, breaths, gazes – in everything. And as He kept enclosing It, the Divine Volition prepared for Him the glory.

Sin had taken away all the rights of the creatures. Man – because he had withdrawn from the Divine Will, had broken the binding link which joined him with God, which gave him all the rights of his Creator. Therefore Jesus offered Himself to come upon earth in order to restore all this. And He didn’t descend upon earth under royal guises, but he became man. He had to redo all the creatures, in everything, to bring the creature back to creation and give back to God the glory.

In His Humanity, Jesus took all the miseries of man upon Himself and crucified them dying upon the cross. In being raised up His Humanity gave the right to all creatures to be raised up into glory and into Eternal bliss not only in their souls, but also in their bodies. Jesus’ Humanity enclosed within itself the seed of the resurrection of everyone, and in virtue of this seed being in Jesus, It gave to all the good of being able to rise up from the dead.

Jesus’ Resurrection is the confirmation of the Fiat Voluntas Tua on earth as It is in Heaven.

FIAT!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bookofheaven.net/2016/03/26/holy-saturday-hope-of-the-resurrection/

Divine Mercy Chaplet Starts Good Friday

Start Good Friday, March 25, 2016
The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy Novena**
(1) say the novena prayer for the day
(2) then pray the Chaplet

**How to pray the Chaplet: http://www.praydivinemercy.com/

OUR LORD’S PROMISES ATTACHED TO THE
PRAYING OF THE CHAPLET OF DIVINE MERCY
AS REVEALED TO ST. FAUSTINA KOWALSKA

1. “The souls that say this chaplet will be embraced by My mercy during their lifetime and especially at the hour of their death.” (Diary, 754)
2. “When hardened sinners say it, I will fill their souls with peace, and the hour of their death will be a happy one.” (Diary, 1541)
3. “When they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as a just Judge but as a merciful Savior.” (Diary, 1541)
4. “Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death.” (Diary, 687)
5. “Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy….I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy.” (Diary, 687)
6. “To priests who proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak.” (Diary, 1521)
7. “The prayer most pleasing to Me is prayer for the conversion for sinners. Know, my daughter, that this prayer is always heard and answered.” (Diary, 1397)
8. “At three o’clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony….I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion.” (Diary, 1320; also, cf. Diary, 1572)
9. “Souls who spread the honor of My mercy…at the hour of death I will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior.” (Diary, 1075)
10. “I promise that the soul that will venerate this image (of the Divine Mercy) will not perish.” (Diary, 48)….“The two rays denote Blood and Water….These two rays issued from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father.” (Diary, 299)
11. “I desire that the Feast of Mercy…be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter….The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion (in a state of grace on this day) shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.” (Diary, 699)
12. “Through this chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.” (Diary, 1731)
Excerpts taken from the Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska, titled Divine Mercy in My Soul, ©1987, Congregation of
Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, MA 01263.

http://fathersofmercy.com/wp-content/uploads/Divine-Mercy-Chaplet-Promises-Attached-To.pdf

First Day: Good Friday, March 25
Today bring to Me ALL MANKIND, ESPECIALLY ALL SINNERS, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me. Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit.   Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy for ever and ever. Amen.

Second Day: Holy Saturday, March 26
Today bring to Me THE SOULS OF PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS, and immerse them in My unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave Me strength to endure My bitter Passion. Through them as through channels My mercy flows out upon mankind. Most Merciful Jesus, from whom comes all that is good, increase Your grace in men and women consecrated to Your service,* that they may perform worthy works of mercy; and that all who see them may glorify the Father of Mercy who is in heaven. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the company of chosen ones in Your vineyard—upon the souls of priests and religious; and endow them with the strength of Your blessing. For the love of the Heart of Your Son in which they are enfolded, impart to them Your power and light, that they may be able to guide others in the way of salvation and with one voice sing praise to Your boundless mercy for ages without end. Amen.

Third Day: Easter Sunday, March 27
Today bring to Me ALL DEVOUT AND FAITHFUL SOULS, and immerse then in the ocean of My mercy. The souls brought Me consolation on the Way of the Cross. They were that drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of bitterness. Most Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart and never let us escape from It. We beg this grace of You by that most wonderous love for the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so fiercely. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon faithful souls, as upon the inheritance of Your Son. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, grant them Your blessing and surround them with Your constant protection. Thus may they never fail in love or lose the treasure of the holy faith, but rather, with all the hosts of Angels and Saints, may they glorify Your boundless mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Fourth Day: EASTER MONDAY March 28
Today bring to Me THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD AND THOSE WHO DO NOT YET KNOW ME. I was thinking also of them during My bitter Passion, and their future zeal comforted My Heart. Immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. Most compassionate Jesus, You are the Light of the whole world. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who do not believe in God and of those who as yet do not know You. Let the rays of Your grace enlighten them that they, too, together with us, may extol Your wonderful mercy; and do not let them escape from the abode which is Your Most Compassionate Heart. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who do not believe in You, and of those who as yet do not know You, but who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Draw them to the light of the Gospel. These souls do not know what great happiness it is to love You. Grant that they, too, may extol the generosity of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Fifth Day: EASTER TUESDAY March 29
Today bring to Me THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO HAVE SEPARATED THEMSELVES FROM MY CHURCH,* and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. During My bitter Passion they tore at My Body and Heart, that is, My Church. As they return to unity with the Church, My wounds heal and in this way they alleviate My Passion. Most Merciful Jesus, Goodness Itself, You do not refuse light to those who seek it of You. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Church. Draw them by Your light into the unity of the Church, and do not let them escape from the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart; but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of Your mercy.   Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Son’s Church, who have squandered Your blessings and misused Your graces by obstinately persisting in their errors. Do not look upon their errors, but upon the love of Your own Son and upon His bitter Passion, which He underwent for their sake, since they, too, are enclosed in His Most Compassionate Heart. Bring it about that they also may glorify Your great mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Sixth Day EASTER WED. March 30
Today bring to Me THE MEEK AND HUMBLE SOULS AND THE SOULS OF LITTLE CHILDREN, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels, who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. Only the humble soul is capable of receiving My grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence. Most Merciful Jesus, You yourself have said, “Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.” Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy and they are the heavenly Father’s favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God Himself takes delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, O Jesus, and they unceasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon meek souls, upon humble souls, and upon little children who are enfolded in the abode which is the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls bear the closest resemblance to Your Son. Their fragrance rises from the earth and reaches Your very throne. Father of mercy and of all goodness, I beg You by the love You bear these souls and by the delight You take in them: Bless the whole world, that all souls together may sing out the praises of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

Seventh Day: EASTER THURSDAY March 31
Today bring to Me THE SOULS WHO ESPECIALLY VENERATE AND GLORIFY MY MERCY,* and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed most over my Passion and entered most deeply into My spirit. They are living images of My Compassionate Heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death. Most Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of Your mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God Himself. In the midst of all afflictions and adversities they go forward, confident of Your mercy; and united to You, O Jesus, they carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls will not be judged severely, but Your mercy will embrace them as they depart from this life. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls who glorify and venerate Your greatest attribute, that of Your fathomless mercy, and who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls are a living Gospel; their hands are full of deeds of mercy, and their hearts, overflowing with joy, sing a canticle of mercy to You, O Most High! I beg You O God: Show them Your mercy according to the hope and trust they have placed in You. Let there be accomplished in them the promise of Jesus, who said to them that during their life, but especially at the hour of death, the souls who will venerate this fathomless mercy of His, He, Himself, will defend as His glory. Amen.

Eighth Day: EASTER FRIDAY, April 1 (also First Friday)
Today bring to Me THE SOULS WHO ARE DETAINED IN PURGATORY, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice. Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be celebrated. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded: Manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way but only through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. Amen.

Ninth Day: EASTER SATURDAY, April 2, also First Saturday and the eleventh anniversary of the death of St. John Paul II
Today bring to Me SOULS WHO HAVE BECOME LUKEWARM,* and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: ‘Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.’ For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy. Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls, who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen.

FIAT!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bookofheaven.net/2016/03/25/divine-mercy-novena-starts-good-friday/

The Sun of My Will

The book THE SUN OF MY WILL Luisa Piccarreta

An Ordinary Life Outside The Ordinary
from the Vatican by MARIA ROSARIA DEL GENIO

Preface by Cardinal JOSE SARAIVA MARTINS
Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes

PREFACE
“We are living in a time of mercy.” Meeting with parishioners in Rome March 6, 2014, Pope Francis has no doubt about how to define our era, so tormented by conflicts of every kind: “a time in which God shows us a greater Love.” It is an affirmation that is only understandable according to divine logic, which astonishingly opposes the sin of mankind with a larger tolerance and a disarming declaration of trust in His creatures.

Certainly, every page of the Bible speaks to us about His extraordinary benevolence. Where it shines with greater intensity, however, is precisely on the cross of the Son of God. As Pope Francis said in his homily on March 24, 2013, “Jesus takes upon Himself the evil, the filth, the sin of the world, including the sin of all of us, and He cleanses it, He cleanses it with His blood, with the mercy and the love of God. Let us look around: how many wounds are inflicted upon humanity by evil! Wars, violence, economic conflicts that strike the weakest through greed for money, … power, corruption, divisions, crimes against human life and against creation! And – as each one of us knows and is aware – our personal sins: our failures in love and respect towards God, towards our neighbor and towards the whole of creation. Jesus on the cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of God’s love He conquers it, He defeats it with His resurrection.”

It is a victory that does not end “at daybreak on the first day of the week” in Jerusalem. It is repeated in each one of us every time we decide to live the “first day” of a life that is wholly renewed by God’s love through the joyous encounter with the Risen Jesus, who always sets out to encounter us. In this sense, mercy is an appeal to return to God with courage; having faith in His patience and infinite tenderness. Every moment God is inviting people to this encounter of rebirth in Him. Throughout the history of humankind there is no lack of examples – some striking as well – of people courageously turning back to God.

The entire Church is encouraged by Her Lord, first of all, to respond continually to His appeal of mercy and, at the same time, to proclaim it to the men and women of every age. After all, the call to come back to God is as everlasting as the impulse to go out of oneself to carry out the Church’s mission of evangelization. The image Pope Francis uses in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium is beautiful: to be people who are an amphora – a vessel holding water – called to quench the thirst of those in the spiritual desert of our time. He wisely adds that “at times, the amphora becomes a heavy cross, but it was from the Cross, from his pierced side, that our Lord gave Himself to us as a source of living water” (sec. 86).

Certainly among these “amphora-people,” one cannot but contemplate the testimony of the saints who, since time immemorial, have illuminated the path for humanity. By rereading their lives in the paschal light, this mysterious connection emerges between personal suffering and “communal” fecundity. One sees in them the “much fruit” generated by dying to themselves and to their own wills!

The profound testimony of Luisa Piccarreta also shows us this dynamic that is so typical of God’s mercy and that draws people to the deepest unity with Him in order to transform the heart into a gushing spring of water to benefit everyone. Thus, in her simple life as a lay woman who worked making lace, bound to the Church by an adamant obedience to her confessors, one sees her nailed to her bed of suffering for about 70 years in order to create a magnificent masterpiece of love for all creatures.

From her continual contemplation of Jesus’ passion, Luisa is led to conform herself to Christ, to the point of offering herself with Him to the Father for the benefit of all humanity. She learns from the book of the Cross that the Will of God is not about carrying out orders received, but a gift in which one must place, before all else, the center of one’s life. This “living in the Divine Will” is the actual way in which the Son Jesus lived on earth, bringing here with him the life of Heaven. Pope Benedict XVI also recalled this in a passage of his Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est when he affirmed: “The love-story between God and man consists in the very fact that this communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment, and thus our will and God’s will increasingly coincide:
God’s will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without by the commandments, but is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself Then, self-abandonment to God increases and God becomes our joy (cf. Ps 73 [72]:23-28)” (sec. 17).

Living this way means that even our smallest act in life takes part in the dynamic of mercy, contributing with Jesus to bring His light to all hearts – and to God – all the praise and adoration that everyone ought to give Him.

This petite woman from Southern Italy – who experienced a succession of various epidemics, two wars and who dried many tears shed because of the difficult living conditions of the people around her – transformed her entire heart into a dwelling place for God alone. Those who met her felt drawn to the truth of Heaven and compelled to live a life of holiness, a life spent entirely engaged in ordinary everyday activities, modeled after the family of Nazareth.

And it is precisely in the everyday that God’s mercy seeks out humanity – to restore to them the innocence of Eden – to a life filled with joy and to an existence guided by the certainty of being God’s beloved children.

Rome, April 23; 2014
Anniversary of the birth of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta
Cardinal JOSE SARAIVA MARTINS, C.M.F.
Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes

Afterword by Archbishop
GIOVAN BATTISTA PICHIERRI
Archbishop o/ Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie and Nazareth
LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA

AFTERWORD

The publication of this first documented biography of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta is both a final achievement and a new point of departure. After the conclusion of the Diocesan investigation into the life, virtues and fame of holiness on October 29, 2005 in the presence of hundreds of faithful from many parts of the world, I was already keenly aware of the need to have an expanded biographical profile that could present the multi-faceted figure of this lay Dominican from our archdiocese. A video documentary was produced titled, “Dawn of a Mystery,’’ translated from the original Italian, “Alba di un mistero,’’ into various languages, with the aim of being an introduction to Luisa’s life and her spirituality of “living in the Divine Will.” Subsequently, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of her death, the publication of the small book Giorni di Luce (Days of Light) focused attention on the event of her funeral and the impact it already had beyond Corato at the time.

Nevertheless, it is only thanks to Maria Rosaria Del Genia’s valuable research and study that it has been possible to reconstruct, in an organic framework and historical context, the servant of God’s journey of life and faith.

I thank the public association of the faithful, “Luisa Piccarreta Association – Little Children of the Divine Will,’’ for having supported the project of this publication – an essential means of raising and spreading awareness that is now being offered to everyone. What emerges most of all is a markedly strong religious profile of Luisa and her unbroken relationships with the archbishops and the priests appointed for her spiritual guidance. Reading this skillfully narrated story, one gathers that Luisa’s secluded life did not keep her from sharing deeply, within her abilities, the historical events of her time. One could say, she almost lived them as the protagonist even if it was on a transcendental plane. But what is amazing is how close she is to the people. Her mystical experience does not distance her at all from life’s everyday struggles during a period of great economic and social difficulties. Though she sought to stay out of sight, she realizes that she cannot remove herself from a public mission that unfolds in her countless personal encounters with all those who visit her. She also takes advantage of her handiwork – which she never abandoned – to become a teacher of the craft of lace making and also of God’s love. She never gives up on anyone who is going through a difficult time and, if necessary, she reaches out to them with her letters full of intimate assurance and hope;

This biography, as I said, is also a point of departure – first of all, for those who have been familiar with Luisa Piccarreta for a long time. Her life will be able to help them understand better the mes sage she carried. By reflecting on her daily actions and the essential focal points of her spiritual life, such as – sustained nourishment from the Eucharist; obedience to her confessor; unceasing invocations in prayer; and charity toward those most in need people will be inspired to follow in her footsteps, according to God’s Will for each person.

However, those in the world who will benefit most of all will be people who have heard just a little bit about her life and, drawn to her spirituality, have asked for information and resources that go into greater depth.

Therefore, this book intends to be of service so that the mes sage of the “Divine Will” shines throughout the whole world, in fidelity to the truth about Luisa’s life and in communion with the Catholic Church. It is that Church to which the servant of God intended to surrender herself and to all that the Holy Spirit gave her to understand about the “fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra” (“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven’’) (Mt 6:10).

It is no mystery that this proclamation has struck a chord in so many different countries in the world and that so many faithful have found a reason to renew their faith and for many others to rediscover it. Any personal spiritual deepening is almost always accompanied by a communal journey with prayer groups, often guided by a priest or, in any case, in communion with the local bishop of the diocese involved.

In some cases the bishops themselves have organized the groups that are present in their dioceses, guaranteeing that their formation be in light of Church doctrine with an itinerary of study and a sacra mental Christian life.

A source of great wonder is the vitality evident in groups that are thousands of miles from Corato – in lands where Christianity is still very new. I am thinking about those groups in South Korea or the many groups in the Philippines and the outreach taking place in Australia. One cannot forget the many groups in the United States, Mexico and many other countries in Central and South America, as well as all the news from the faithful in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia and Venezuela, for example.

Often I ask myself the reason for such participation and why it has spread so far and wide. Undoubtedly God’s plans often take us off guard and leave us astonished. It is a plan that has been carried out for many years, thanks to the tireless work of priests, laypeople and consecrated men and women who, after having come into contact with Luisa Piccarreta’s spirituality and without ever having had the chance to know her personally, have dedicated themselves to spreading the message that set their hearts on fire. This has not been an organized and coordinated strategy, but a “movement” that sprung up naturally on its own accord and that, in many different ways, gave rise to what can be defined as the “family of little children of the Divine Will” in the world. As bishop of the diocese that looks after the historical memory of Luisa, my constant invitation is for all people to live in unity and ecclesial communion and to feel part of one plan alone – partners in a plan that God wants to carry out in the Church for the benefit of all of humanity.

With The Lord’s Prayer, all of us must pray for the coming of the Divine Kingdom – the fulfillment of God’s Will on earth as it is in heaven. By inviting us to participate in His love through the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus asks us, just as He did with Luisa, to embrace heaven and earth together. In that way He lets us share, through His humanity, in all the heavenly gifts He possesses and that He wishes to give to every person.

To the extent to which we submit ourselves to this call and are removed from all personal self-interest or biases, the Divine call that Jesus gave to Luisa to “live in his Divine Will” will be able to bear the fruits of holiness in many hearts that are often closed up in sadness and locked in the illusion of a life without God.

In order to help these hardened hearts, the archdiocese and the association are promoting her cause for sainthood, letting this gift be more widely known in the Church – the gift safeguarded in this little creature who lived in the simplicity of her faith. In addition, they have begun working on a critical edition of her writings in order to offer greater assurance to the faithful who value the importance of these writings for their spiritual growth. In fact, even though they may have been motivated by good intentions, many tried to create transcripts, translations and publications that have often been found not to correspond to Luisa Piccarreta’s original writings. In specific cases, even some independent translations have fomented false interpretations and misleading doctrines of which no trace can be found in Luisa’s life and thought. An authentic dissemination can never neglect the authenticity of the message and, therefore, the content one wants to spread far and wide. If one distributes writings whose conformity to the original cannot be guaranteed, no real dissemination would ever be achieved. On this point, my constant invitation is to be prudent and to adhere to what is gradually being done with the typical and critical edition of the servant of God’s writings. It is a complex task that must be supported in every way and, most of all, by praying for those who are carrying it out.

Moreover, I am convinced that spreading her way of life can never be disconnected from proper formation which is ministered in communion with the Catholic Church and is integrated with all aspects of Christian life.

Knowledge of this exalted spirituality must not close us up and turn into sterile spiritual self-reflection, but must open us up to our brother or sister who walks by and in whom we often recognize the cry of Jesus Himself, who dwells in us and wants to be reciprocated with His own love. After all, it is what Luisa did her entire life by continually offering herself as victim on behalf of everyone. It is not surprising then that initiatives aimed at the social development of the poorest have also blossomed in many groups dedicated to the Divine Will.

Luisa’s work is certainly still far from losing its impact. This can also be seen with the ample news about graces received through her intercession and that the Postulation of the cause for her beatification is diligently gathering and examining. Even more evidence is seen in the stream of visitors to the city of Corato, Luisa’s birthplace. But most of all, it is evidenced by the fact that so many people naturally turn to Luisa of their own accord, as they did long ago, to ask to be accompanied along their life’s journey with the confidence that they will be led to God.

All of this requires that we collaborate, each one contributing his or her part, so that God’s Will is done on earth as in heaven.

Archbishop GIOVAN BATTISTA PICHIERRI
Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie and Nazareth

FIAT

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bookofheaven.net/2016/03/20/the-sun-of-my-will/