Based on Excerpt from the
Book of Heaven
Volume 3, December 2 1899 

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History of the Institution of the Feast
Of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross 

 The feast of the Elevation of the Venerable Cross is a very ancient feast.  However, it has been attributed to the dedication of Constantine’s basilica, which enclosed both Calvary and the Holy Sepulcher, that took place on September 14 in 335.  It was at the same time the anniversary of the finding of the Holy Cross.

However, about 615, Chosroes, king of Persia, took Jerusalem and carried off the relic of the Holy Cross.

Fourteen years later, the emperor Heraclius defeated Chosroes.  He then insisted on the restitution of the Cross and carried it on his shoulders in great pomp to Calvary.

Heraclius, who was loaded with ornaments of gold and precious stones, was held back by an invincible force at the entrance gate.

Zacharias, bishop of Jerusalem, said to him:  “With these ornaments you are far fro imitating the poverty of Jesus Christ and HIs humility in bearing His Coss.”  Heraclius thereupon cuffed his splendid garb and walked barefooted with a common cloak on his shoulders, to Calvary, where he again deposited the Cross.

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Book of Heaven
Volume 3  – December 2, 1899

Eloquent praise of the Cross

… Jesus: Let Me hear your voice that cheers my hearing. Let us converse together a little; I have spoken to you many times about the Cross; today, let Me hear you speak of the Cross.

I felt all confused; I did not know what to say. But as He sent mea ray of intellectual light, to make Him content I began to say:

My Beloved, who can say to You what the Cross is? Your mouth alone can speak worthily of the sublimity of the Cross; but since You want me to speak, I will do it.

The Cross, suffered by You, freed me from the slavery of the devil, and espoused me to the Divinity with an indissoluble bond.

The Cross is fecund and gives birth to Grace in me.

The Cross is Light, It disillusions me of what is temporal, and reveals to me what is eternal.

The Cross is fire, and reduces to ashes all that is not of God, to the point of emptying my heart of the tiniest blade of grass that might be in it.

The Cross is coin of inestimable value, and if I have, O Holy Spouse, the fortune of possessing it, I will be enriched with eternal coins, to the point of becoming the richest in Paradise, because the currency that circulates in Heaven is the Cross suffered on earth.

The Cross, then, makes me know myself; not only this, but It gives me the knowledge of God.

The Cross grafts all virtues into me.

The Cross is the noble pulpit of the uncreated Wisdom, that teaches me the highest, the finest and most sublime doctrines. So, only the Cross will reveal to me the most hidden mysteries, the most secret things, the most perfect perfection, hidden to the most erudite and learned of the world.

The Cross is like beneficent water that purifies me; not only this, but It administers to me the nourishment for the virtues, It makes them grow, and only then does It leave me, when It brings me back to Eternal Life.

The Cross is like celestial dew, which preserves and embellishes for me the beautiful lily of purity.

The Cross is the nourishment of Hope.

The Cross is the beacon of operating Faith.

The Cross is like hard wood, which preserves the fire of Charity, keeping it always lit.

The Cross is like dry wood, which dispels and puts to flight all the smokes of pride and of vainglory, producing the humble violet of humility in the soul.

The Cross is the most powerful weapon that offends the demons, and defends me from all of their claws. Therefore, the soul who possesses the Cross is the envy and admiration of the very Angels and Saints, and the rage and indignation of the demons.

The Cross is my Paradise on earth, in such a way that if the Paradise of the Blessed up there, is of delights, the Paradise down here is of sufferings.

The Cross is the chain of most pure gold that connects me to You, my Highest Good, and forms the most intimate union that can possibly be given, to the point of making my being disappear. And It transforms me in You, my Beloved, to the point that I feel lost within You, and I live from your very Life.

After I said this (I don’t know whether it is nonsense), my lovable Jesus was all delighted in listening to me, and taken by enthusiasm of love, kissed me all over, and said to me:

Brava, brava, my beloved – you spoke well! My Love is fire, but not like the terrestrial fire which, wherever it penetrates, renders things sterile and reduces everything to ashes. My fire is fecund, and it renders sterile only that which is not virtue. To all the rest it gives life, it makes beautiful flowers bloom, it makes the most delicious fruits mature, and forms the most delightful celestial garden. The Cross is so powerful, and I communicated so much grace to It, as to render It more effective than the very Sacraments; and this, because in receiving the Sacrament of my Body, the dispositions and free concourse of the soul are needed in order to receive my graces, and many times these may be lacking; while the Cross has the virtue of disposing the soul to grace.

Book of Heaven
Volume 3 – April 20, 1900

The Cross gives us the features and the likeness of Jesus.

My adorable Jesus continues to come, for just a little and like a shadow, and even when He comes He does not say anything. This morning, after He renewed in me the pains of the cross as many as two times, looking at me with tenderness while I was suffering the spasm of the piercings of the nails, He told me:

The cross is a mirror in which the soul admires the Divinity, and by reflecting herself in it, she acquires the features and the likeness that most resembles God. The cross must not only be loved and desired, but one must consider it an honor and a glory. This is to operate as God and to become like God by participation, because I alone gloried in the cross and considered suffering an honor, and I loved it so much that in my whole life I did not want to be one moment without the cross.

Who can say what I understood about the cross from this speaking of blessed Jesus?  But I feel mute in expressing it with words. Ah, Lord, I pray You to keep me always nailed to the cross, so that, having this divine mirror ever before me, I may clean all my stains and embellish myself ever more in your likeness.

Book of Heaven
Volume 3 – April 21, 1900

More than Sacrament, the Cross seals God in the soul.

As I was in my usual state, or rather, with a little bit of concern about something that it is not necessary to say here, my sweet Jesus, on coming, told me:

And they are sacred vessels, and every once in a while it is necessary to dust them off. Your bodies are as many sacred vessels, in which I make my dwelling, therefore it is necessary that I do some little dusting every now and then, that is, that I visit them with some tribulation, so that I may remain in them with more decorum. Therefore, be calm.

Later, after I received Communion, having renewed in me the pains of the crucifixion, He added:

My daughter, how precious is the cross! See now: in giving Itself to the soul, the Sacrament of my Body unites her with Me, It transforms her, to the point that she becomes one with Me. But as the species are consumed, the union, truly established, ceases. Not with the cross. The cross takes God and unites Him with the soul forever, and It places Itself more surely as a seal. Therefore, the cross seals God in the soul, in such a way that there is never separation between God and the crucified soul.

The actual Feast date of September 12th also has special significance. In 1683, the Moslem Turks, under the  leadership of Sultan Mohammed IV, once again began their aggression against Christian Europe. Just a few years earlier, they had been stopped at Poland. A huge army of Muslim Turks, estimated at around 300,000, marched through Hungary (parts of which had been under their control for 150 years) towards Austria. They ravaged Hungary, and were partly successful because of a Calvinist named Thokoly who incited rebellion against the Catholic rulers; for his traitorous dealings, Mohammed IV named Thokoly “King of Hungary and Croatia,” but with the understanding that he was simply a vassal to his Moslem overlord.

The Moslem aggression continued on to Austria. Emperor Leopold fled from Vienna. By July, 1683, the Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha laid siege to Vienna, defended by an army of only 15,000 Christians. The papal nuncio as well as Emperor Leopold begged King Jan Sobieski, who had defeated the Moslem Turks at the Polish borders and had earned the title “Unvanquished Northern Lion,” to come to their aid. Sobieski did not hesitate.

In August, Sobieski began his campaign. As he and his troops passed the Shrine to Our Lady of Czestochowa, they begged the Blessed Mother’s blessing and intercession. At the beginning of September, they crossed the Danube and met with the German armies. On September 11, Sobieski was outside of Vienna with an army of about 76,000 men. The hussars lured the Moslem Turks into thinking they were on retreat, and then with reinforcements attacked. The Moslem Turks retreated, but were followed by Sobieski’s calvary. The vanquished Moslem Turks fled Austria (but only after slaughtering hundreds of hostages). Vienna and Christian Europe were saved. The Moslem standard proclaiming “Death to the Infidel” was taken by Sobieski and delivered to the Pope. Worshiping at a Holy Mass of Thanksgiving, Sobieski fell prostrate and with outstretched arms declared it was God’s cause and praised Him for the victory saying, “Veni, vidi, Deus vicit.” meaning “I came, I saw, God conquered,” which he also wrote in a letter to Pope Innocent XI.

On September 12th, Sobieski triumphantly entered Vienna. Pope Innocent XI thereupon declared September 12th as a date to honor Mary, whose maternal intercession had saved Christendom just has it had over 100 years earlier at the Battle of Lepanto. As for Kara Mustapha, Mohammed IV had him strangled for being defeated by the Christians. Pause for a moment: Only the ignorant would not see the connection between September 11, 1683 and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

As we celebrate this feast day, let us remember the opening prayer for the Mass: “Lord, our God, when your Son was dying on the altar of the cross, He gave us as our mother the one He had chosen to be His own mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant that we who call upon the holy name of Mary, our mother, with confidence in her protection may receive strength and comfort in all our needs.” May our Blessed Mother continue to protect us, especially those Christians suffering under Islamic persecution this very day.

This feast is a counterpart to
the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (January 3)

Eight days after the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, according to the custom of the Jews, Her holy parents gave Her the name of Mary.  During the Octave of Her Nativity, the liturgy keeps a feast in honor of this Holy Name.

The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain, with the approval of Rome,  in 1513, and in 1671 it was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples.

In 1683 this feast was extended to the whole Church by Pope Innocent XI to thank the Blessed Virgin Mary for the victory which John Sobieski, king of Poland, had just gained when the king brought an army to the outskirts of beseiged Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople.

After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims who were besieging Vienna.  Sobieski had planned to attack on September 13th, but with the Turks close to breaching the Vienna’s walls he ordered a full attack on September 12th. At 5:30 p.m. that day, Sobieski entered the deserted tent of Kara Mustafa and the battle of Vienna ended.

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The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will
Day Eleven

The Queen of Heaven in the Kingdom of the Divine Will, 
in the first Years of Her Life down here, forms a Most Refulgent Daybreak,
 to make the longed for Day of Light and of Grace rise in the hearts.

The soul to the Little Baby Queen:

Here I am again near Your cradle, Celestial Little Mama. My little heart feels charmed by Your Beauty and I am unable to detach my gaze from a Beauty so rare. How Sweet is Your Gaze; the motion of Your little hands calls me to embrace You and to cling to Your Heart, which is drowned with Love. Holy Little Mama, give me Your Flames, that they may Burn away my human will, and so I can make You content, Living of Divine Will together with You.

Lesson of the Queen of Heaven:

My daughter, if you knew how My Maternal Little Heart rejoices in seeing you near My cradle to listen to Me! I feel Myself, with facts, Queen and Mother, because in having you near Me, I am not a sterile Mother or a Queen without a people, but I have My dear daughter who loves Me very much, and who wants Me to do for her the Office of Mama and of Queen. Therefore, you are the bearer of Joy to your Mama; more so, since you come onto My lap to be taught by Me how to Live in the Kingdom of the Divine Will. To have a daughter who wants to Live together with Me in this Kingdom so Holy is the Greatest Glory, Honor and Feast for your Mama. Therefore, pay attention to Me, My Dear daughter, and I will continue to narrate to you the Wonders of My Birth.

My (Blessed Mother Mary) cradle was surrounded by Angels, who competed among themselves in singing lullabies to Me, as to their Sovereign Queen. And since I was endowed with Reason and with Science, Infused in Me by My Creator, I did My First Duty to Adore, with My Intelligence, and also with My babbling little voice of a baby, the Most Holy Adorable Trinity. And the Ardor of My Love for a Majesty so Holy was so Great that, feeling Myself languishing, I was delirious for wanting to be in the Arms of the Divinity, to receive Their Embraces, and to give Them My own. And so the Angels, for whom My Desires were Commands, picked Me up, and carrying Me on their wings, brought Me into the Loving Arms of My Celestial Father. O! With how much Love They awaited Me. I was coming from the exile, and the brief pauses of separation between Me and Them were the cause of New Fires of Love; they were New Gifts that They prepared for Me, to give them to Me; and I would find New Devices to ask for Pity and Mercy for My children who, living in the exile, were under the lash of Divine Justice.

And dissolving Myself all in Love, I said to Them: “Adorable Trinity, I feel Happy—I feel Myself Queen, nor do I know what unhappiness and slavery is. On the contrary, because of Your Will Reigning in Me, the Joys, the Happinesses, are so Great and so many that, little as I am, I cannot embrace them all. But in so much Happiness, there is a vein of intense bitterness in My little Heart: I feel in It My children unhappy, slaves to their rebellious will. Have Pity, Holy Father have Pity. Make My Happiness whole—make Happy these unhappy children, whom I carry, more than Mother, within My Maternal Heart. Let the Divine Word descend upon earth, and everything will be granted. And I will not come down off of Your Paternal knees if You do not give Me the Deed of Grace, that I may bring to My children the Good News of their Redemption.”

The Divinity was moved at My Prayers, and filling Me with New Gifts, They said to Me: “Return to the exile and continue Your Prayers. Extend the Kingdom of Our Will in all Your Acts, for at the appropriate time We will make You content.” But They did not tell Me either when or where He would descend.

So I would depart from Heaven only to do the Divine Will. This was the Most Heroic Sacrifice for Me, but I did it gladly, so that the Divine Will alone might have Full Dominion over Me. Now listen to Me, My daughter. How much did your soul cost Me, to the point of embittering the Immense Sea of My Joys and Happinesses. Every time you do your will, you render yourself a slave, and you feel your unhappiness; and I, as your Mama, feel in My Heart the unhappiness of My daughter. O! How sorrowful it is to have unhappy children. And how you should take to heart doing the Divine Will, since I reached the point of departing from Heaven so that My will might have no life in Me.

Now, My daughter, continue to listen to Me (Blessed Mother Mary): in each one of your acts, may your First Duty be to Adore your Creator, to Know Him and to Love Him. This places you in the Order of Creation, and you come to recognize He who Created you. This is the Holiest Duty of each creature: to recognize her Origin.

Now you must know that My bringing Myself to Heaven, descending, praying, formed the Daybreak around Me, which, spreading in the whole world, surrounded the hearts of My children, so that, from the Dawn, the Daybreak might rise, to make arise the Serene Day of the awaiting of the Divine Word upon earth.

The soul:

Celestial Little Mama, in seeing You, just Newly Born, giving me Lessons so Holy, I feel enraptured and I comprehend how much You Love me, to the point of rendering Yourself unhappy because of me. O please! Holy Mama, You who Love me so much, let the Power, the Love, the Joys that inundate You, descend into my heart, so that, filled with them, my will may find no room to live in me, and may freely give up the place to the Dominion of the Divine Will.

Little Sacrifice:

Today, to honor Me, you will do three acts of adoration to your Creator, reciting three Glory Be’s to thank Him for the many times I received the Grace to be admitted to Their Presence.

Ejaculatory Prayer:

Celestial Mama, make the Daybreak of the Divine Will rise within my soul.

From “Pictures you rarely see on TV…”

O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife.
Who more than self the country loved and mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness and every gain Divine!
(America The Beautiful – Verse 3)

The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta was born in Corato in the Province of Bari, on April 23 A.D.1865 and died there in the odor of sanctity on March 4 A.D. 1947. For four days her mortal remains were exposed for the veneration of an immense throng of the faithful, including over forty priests, who went to her house to have a last look at Luisa the Saint, so dear to their hearts.

One day Luisa asked the confessor permission to suffer in bed for a certain time, about forty days. “If this is the Will of God, stay”, Don Michele said; but the bed was never again abandoned by Luisa, who was then, in 1888, 23 years old, and remained, always sitting, nailed to the bed, for the fifty-nine years until her death, which occurred on March 4, 1947.

Luisa started writing Volumes I and II from Feb 28, to Oct 30 A.D. 1899 and the final Volume XXXVI from Apr 12 to Dec 28 A.D. 1938 – a period of forty years. September 1939 was the start of WWII. Rosaria Bucci, “Luisa’s faithful and silent confidant”, who lived with her and assisted her for forty years. On October 7 A.D. 1928, (forty years after the gift of the Divine Will in September 8, 1889), when the house of the sisters of the Congregation of Divine Zeal in Corato was ready, Luisa was taken to the convent in accordance with the wishes of Saint Annibal. Blessed Annibal had already died in the odor of sanctity in Messina. In 1938, a tremendous storm was unleashed upon Luisa Piccarreta: she was publicly disowned by Rome and her books were put on the Index. At the publication of the condemnation by the Holy Office, she immediately submitted to the authority of the Church. A priest was sent from Rome by the ecclesiastical authorities, who asked her for all her manuscripts, which Luisa handed over promptly and without a fuss. Thus all her writings were hidden away in the secrecy of the Holy Office. On October 7 A.D. 1938, because of orders from above, Luisa was obliged to leave the convent and find a new place to live. She spent the last nine years of her life in a house in Via Maddalena, a place which the elderly of Corato know well and from where, on March 8 A.D. 1947, they saw her body carried out.
Forty days after Luisa’s death, on April 12, 1947, the Virgin of the Revelation appeared to Bruno Cornacchiola in the Roman Apparition of Tre Fontane.

Carata, on March 4 A.D. 1987, recognized canonically the Pious Association “Luisa la Santa” (Piccoli Figli della Divina Volonta’) founded by Padre Bucci

Book of Heaven – October 3, A.D. 1928

…Now there will be an exchange: if Jerusalem gave to Rome the life of religion and therefore of Redemption, Rome will give to Jerusalem the Kingdom of the Divine Will. This is so true, that just as I chose a Virgin from the little town of 

Nazareth for the Redemption, so I have chosen another virgin in a little town of Italy belonging to Rome, to whom the mission of the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat has been entrusted. And since this must be known in Rome just as my coming upon earth was known in Jerusalem, Rome will have the great honor of requiting Jerusalem for the great gift received from her, which is Redemption, by making known to her the Kingdom of my Will. Then will Jerusalem repent of her ingratitude, and will embrace the life of the religion which she gave to Rome; and, grateful, she will receive from Rome the life and the great gift of the Kingdom of my Divine Will. And not only Jerusalem, but all of the other nations will receive from Rome the great gift of the Kingdom of my Fiat, the first criers of It, Its gospel – all full of peace, of happiness and of restoration of the creation of man. And not only will my manifestations bring sanctity, joys, peace and happiness, but the whole of Creation, competing with them, will unleash from each created thing each of the happinesses It contains, and will pour them upon the creatures.
1967 (Forty years after Luisa entered the Congregation of Divine Will in Corato in 1928) the holy city of Jerusalem was restored to Jewish control for the first time in almost 2,000 years, a sign that the time of the Gentiles was coming close to fulfillment and that the Kingdom of God on earth was at hand. In the United States the Rogationists established their first community in 1967 assuming parish work in Mendota, California. Forty years after 1967 on March 7th A.D. 2006 three days after the 59th anniversary of Luisa’s passage to Heaven Luisa’s cause was officially opened in Rome. Nov 20 A.D. 1994 – Feast of Christ the King: Archbishop Cassati officially opened the beatification cause of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta in the principal church of Corato. The year 2033 will follow 40 years after the opening of Luisa’s cause and two-thousand years after the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and the first Pentecost.

Pray for a second Pentecost!

The number forty has always signified a sacred period of time: the rains during the time of Noah lasted 40 days and nights; the Jews wandered through the desert for 40 years, our Lord fasted and prayed for 40 days before beginning His public ministry.

Book of Heaven – September 8, 1927

… My daughter, the number forty is symbolic and significant in my life down here. When I was born, for forty days I wanted to remain in the grotto of Bethlehem – symbol of my Divine Will which, while being present in the midst of creatures, was as though hidden and outside of the city of their souls. And I, in order to repair for the forty centuries of human will, wanted to remain outside of the city for forty days, in a miserable hut, crying, moaning and praying, to callback my Divine Will into the city of souls, so as to give It Its dominion. And after forty days I went out to present Myself to the temple, and reveal Myself to the holy old Simeon. He was the first city I was calling to the knowledge of my Kingdom; and his joy was so great, that he closed his eyes to the earth to open them to eternity. Forty days I spent in the desert, and then, immediately, I did my public life, to give them the remedies and the means in order to reach the Kingdom of my Will. For forty days I wanted to remain on earth after my Resurrection, to confirm the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat

and Its forty centuries of Kingdom which It was to possess. So, in everything I did down here, the first act was the restoration of the Kingdom; all other things entered into the secondary order, but the first link of connection between Me and creatures was the Kingdom of my Will. Therefore, when it is about my Will, I hold nothing back, neither light, nor sacrifices, nor manifestations, nor happiness – they are seas that I release from Myself so as to make It known, to make It reign, and to make It loved.”

Book of Heaven – October 10, 1928

… “My daughter, do you think that my keeping you imprisoned for forty years and more has been by chance, without agreat design of mine? No! no! The number forty has always been significant and preparatory to great works. For forty years the Jews walked in the desert without being able to reach the promised land, their fatherland; but after forty years of sacrifices they had the good of taking possession of it. But, how many miracles, how many graces, to the point of nourishing them with the celestial manna during that time. A prolonged sacrifice has the virtue and strength to obtain great things from God. I Myself, during my life down here, wanted to remain in the desert for forty days, away from all, even from my Mama, to then go out in public to announce the Gospel which was to form the life of my Church – that is, the Kingdom of Redemption. For forty days I wanted to remain as risen, to confirm my Resurrection and to place the seal upon all the goods of Redemption. So I wanted for you, my daughter: in order to manifest the Kingdom of my Divine Will, I wanted forty years of sacrifices. But, how many graces have I not given you! How many manifestations! I can say that in this great length of time I placed in you all the capital of the Kingdom of my Will, and everything that is necessary in order to make creatures comprehend it. So, your long imprisonment has been the continual weapon, always in the act of fighting with your very Creator, to have you manifest my Kingdom.

….Now, it seems to me that every time the Reverend priests occupy themselves with reviewing the writings in order to prepare them, my sweet Jesus comes to attention, to see what they do and how they do it. I do nothing but admire the goodness, the love of my beloved Jesus who, while coming to attention in my Heart, echoes in the Tabernacle, and from within it, inside that cell, does what He does inside my heart. I remain all confused in seeing this, and I thank Him with all my heart.

Book of Heaven
3/19/01 – Vol. 4

This morning, as I was all oppressed and in suffering, much more so, because of the privation of my sweet Jesus, after much waiting, I saw Him for just a little and He told me: “My daughter, the true way of suffering is in not looking at whom the sufferings come from, or at that which one suffers, but at the good that must come from those sufferings. This was my way of suffering. I looked neither at the executioners, nor at the suffering, but at the good I intended to do by means of my suffering, also for the very ones who gave Me suffering. And looking at the good that was to come to men, I disregarded everything else, and with intrepidness I followed the course of my suffering. My daughter, this is the easiest and most profitable way to suffer – not only with patience, but with unconquered and courageous heart.”