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10/7 Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary

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The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will
Outside the House of the Sisters of the Congregation of Divine Zeal
in Corato, Italy
(Notice the rosary in Luisa’s left hand)

The following excerpts are from
“A Collection of Memories of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta“ by Fr. Bucci.

…On October 7, 1928, 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 Annibale Di Francia. Saint Annibale had already died in the odor of sanctity in Messina.
(Saint Anniable Maria Di Francia died on June 1, 1927 A.D., comforted by a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom he so dearly loved. On October 7, 1990 he was declared “Blessed” by Pope John Paul II. He was canonized on May 16, 2004, by Pope John Paul II.)

… On October 7, 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, 1947, they saw her body carried out.

CHAPTER NINE

Luisa, the terror of demonic forces

… One lady said that she had gone to live in a house at Rotondella in the Province of Matera, where she had been appointed to teach at an elementary school. However, she had felt very ill at ease in that house because there was frequently a man in it with a terrible look who would try to grab her; but the lady defended herself by holding up the rosary she had in her hands; at the sight of it he would flee. The distraught lady left everything and returned to Corato with her children. No one believed the poor soul and she was thought to be out of her mind, especially by her husband who had Masonic leanings. Completely at a loss as to what she should do, she went to see Luisa, who listened to her kindly, comforted her, told her not to be frightened because the devil had no power over her, and urged her to return to her work. The lady took her advice, but wanted to take a photograph of Luisa with her: she had it framed and put it on her bedside table. One evening, while she was reciting the Holy Rosary with her children, she saw the man again. He approached the bed, took the picture of Luisa, threw it on the floor and fled shrieking. From that moment nothing further happened; peace and serenity returned to the house. The photograph of Luisa which had been violently thrown on the floor was not damaged, indeed the glass did not even break. This framed photograph is now in the house of the lady’s daughter-in-law, on her bedside table. …

*****

Luisa Piccarreta; “The Person”
(Excerpt from Fr. Bucci’s “Bucci Family Album“)

… After dinner, Luisa would retire to meditate and pray for about three hours. In the late afternoon several pious women, among whom were the sisters Cimadomo, and they began to pray the holy Rosary in its entirety, with meditations that Luisa had on the Divine Will.

After everyone had left, Luisa would close herself in prayer. Her little room was closed and during this time she daily, in obedience to the directives of her confessor who had ordered her to write everything down without neglecting a single detail, she would write down that which occurred between herself and Our Lord.

***

Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God

Excerpt from Volume 25 – October 7, 1928

Then, the evening came of this day consecrated to the Queen of the Rosary (October 7, 1928), Queen of Victories and of Triumphs.  And this is another Beautiful Sign that, just as the Sovereign Lady (the Blessed Virgin Mary) conquered Her Creator, and bejeweling Him with Her chains of love, She drew Him from Heaven to earth, to make Him form the Kingdom of Redemption, so will the sweet and powerful beads of Her Rosary make Her Victorious and Triumphant again before the Divinity, conquering the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat, to make It come into the midst of creatures. 

 

Circle of García de Bouzas, 18th century
Oil on canvas
Museum  of the Church of San Paio (Pelagius)
Santiago de Compostela,  Spain

OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY – (New/Trad) – instituted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1571 – “When the wicked heresy of the Albigensians was growing…St. Dominick implored with earnest prayers, the aid of the Blessed Virgin, Whose Dignity these errors shamelessly attacked and to Whom it is given to Destroy all heresies…She Instructed Dominic to preach the Rosary…Gregory XIII decreed that thanks should always be offered everywhere throughout the world to the Blessed Virgin under the title of the Rosary…and other Popes granted innumerable indulgences, added a Feast, added to the Breviary, Litanies, Special Office… ” Roman Breviary – Lessons iv, v, vi – Oct. 7. “In Me is All Grace of the Way and of the Truth;” – Ecclus. 24:25

– Luisa enters St. Anthony’s orphanage 1928 – House of the Daughters of Divine Zeal and House of the Divine Will, built by St. Annibale Maria di Francia; and ten years later leaves because of orders from above 1938.

  • “…here in Corato a House has been founded, which was wanted and started by the venerable memory of Father Canonical Annibale Maria di Francia, and which his children, faithful to the will of their founder, have executed and given the name of House of the Divine Will, as the venerable father wanted. And he wanted me to enter this House; and on the first day of its opening, by their goodness, his sons and daughters, the reverend mothers, came to take me and brought me into a room which is such that, as the door of this room is opened, I can see the Tabernacle, I can listen to Holy Mass, I am just under the Gazes of my Jesus in the Sacrament.  O! how happy I feel, that from now on, if Jesus wants me to continue to write, I will write always keeping one eye on the Tabernacle and the other on the paper I write on.  Therefore, I pray You, my Love, to assist me and to give me the strength to make the sacrifice that You Yourself Want.” V25 – 10.7.28

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10/4 Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi (1181 – 1226)

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St. Francis loved God, all creatures – great and small, and all God’s Creation

Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God

Volume 17 – April 15, 1925

The mission of the Divine Will is Eternal, and it is precisely the mission of Our Celestial Father.

I [Luisa] write only to obey, and to my great repugnance.  After a holy priest had read my writings, he had let me know that in certain chapters blessed Jesus was exalting me too much, to the point of telling me that He placed me near His Celestial Mama, that She be me my model.  On hearing this, I felt confused and troubled; I remembered that I had written this only to obey, and to my great repugnance, and that I was connected to the mission of making the Divine Will known.  And I lamented to my Jesus for having told me this, while I
am so bad, and He alone knows all my miseries.  This confused me and humiliated me so much, as to give me no peace.  I felt such distance between me and the Celestial Mother, as if there was an abyss of distance between me and Her.  Then, while I was so troubled, my lovable Jesus came out from within my interior, and clasping me tightly in His arms to infuse peace in me, told me:  “My daughter, why do you trouble yourself so much?  Don’t you know that peace is the smile of the soul, it is the azure and serene sky in which the Divine Sun makes Its light blaze more vividly, in such a way as to let no cloud arise above the horizon, which might occupy the light?  Peace is the beneficial dew which vivifies everything and bejewels the soul with an enrapturing beauty, and attracts the continuous kiss of my Will upon her.  And besides, what is it that opposes the truth? Where is this exalting you too much?  Only because I told you that I placed you near my Divine Mother; because, She having been the depository of all the goods of my Redemption, as my Mother, as Virgin, as Queen, I placed Her at the head of all the redeemed ones, giving Her a distinct, unique and special mission, which no one else will be given.  The very Apostles and the whole Church depend upon Her and receive from Her; there is no good which She does not possess – all goods come from Her; it was right that, as my Mother, I was to entrust everything and everyone to Her maternal Heart.  Embracing everything, and being able to give everything to everyone, was only of my Mother.

Now, I repeat to you that just as I placed my Mama at the head of all, and I deposited in Her all the goods of Redemption, so I chose another virgin, whom I placed near Her, giving her the mission of making my Divine Will known. And if Redemption is great, my Will is even greater; and just as for Redemption there was a beginning in time, not in eternity, in the same way, for my Divine Will, though It is eternal, there was to be the beginning in time of Its making Itself known.  Therefore, because my Will exists in Heaven and on earth, and is the sole and only one which possesses all goods, I was to choose a creature to whom I was to entrust the deposit of the knowledges about It, making known to her, as to a second mother, the qualities, the value, the prerogatives of It, that she might love It and jealously keep the deposit of It.  And just as my Celestial Mother, true depository of the goods of Redemption, is generous with whomever wants of them, so will this second mother be generous in making known to all the deposit of my teachings, the sanctity of it and the good that my Divine Will wants to give, how It lives unknown in the midst of creatures, and how, from the beginning of the creation of man, It years, It prays, It supplicates that man return to his origin – that is, into my Will – and that the rights of Its sovereignty over creatures be given back to It.  My Redemption was one, and I made use of my dear Mother in order to carry It out.  My Will also is one, and I was to make use of another creature; and placing her as though at the head, and forming the deposit in her, she was to serve Me to make my teachings known and to fulfill the designs of my Divine Will.  So, where is this exalting you too much?  Who can deny that the Redemption and the fulfillment of my Will are two unique and similar missions, such that, as they hold each other’s hand, my Will will make the fruits of Redemption be completed, and the rights of Creation be given back to Us, placing the seal on the purpose for which all things were created? This is why this knowledge of the mission of Our Will interests Us so much – because nothing else will do so much good to creatures as it will; it will be the fulfillment and the crowning of all Our works.

Furthermore, of David it was said that he was an image of Me, so much so, that all of his psalms reveal my person; of Saint Francis of Assisi, that he was a faithful copy of Me.  It is said in the Holy Gospel:  ‘Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect’ – no less; it is also added that no one will enter the Kingdom of Heaven if he is not similar to the image of the Son of God; and many other things.  About all these, no one says that they have been exalted too much, and that these are things not conforming to truths spoken by my very mouth.  Only because to you I said that I wanted to compare you to the Virgin – to make you Her faithful copy, I have exalted you too much?  So, comparing those to Me was not exalting them, nor did anyone raise any doubt or difficulty; but then, comparing to the Virgin – that’s too much exaltation.  This means that they have not understood well the mission of the knowledge of my Will.  Indeed, I repeat to you that I not only place you near Her as Her little daughter, on Her maternal lap, that She may guide you, instruct you on how you must imitate Her, to become Her faithful copy by always doing the Divine Will; so that, from Her lap, you may pass onto the lap of the Divinity.  In fact, the mission of my Will is eternal, and it is precisely the mission of Our Celestial Father, who wants, commands, expects nothing else but that His Will be known and loved, that It be done on earth as It is in Heaven.  So you, making this eternal mission your own and imitating the Celestial Father, must want nothing else for yourself and for all but that my Will be known, loved and fulfilled.  And besides, when it is the creature who exalts herself, one should think about it; but when she remains at her place and I exalt her, all is permissible to Me – making one reach wherever I want, and the way I want.  Therefore, trust Me and do not be concerned.”

***

Volume 29 – February 13, 1931

How the Creation is mute, while the creature is speaking creation.

… Then, I [Luisa] was continuing my little acts of adorations, of love, of praises, of blessings in the Divine Fiat for my Creator; and as I emitted my acts, the Divine Volition extended them everywhere and in every place where the Divine Will was present, which is such that there is not one point in which It is not present. And my always lovable Jesus added: “Dearest daughter of My Will, you must know that My Volition knows not how to do acts by half, but complete ones, and with such fullness as to be able to say: ‘Wherever there is My Will there is My Act.’ And Our Divinity, seeing the adoration, the love of Its creature laid within Our Divine Will, finds Its support within Its Immensity, at whatever point It wants to lean. So, We feel Our profound adoration that the creature has placed for Us in Our Will, and We lean upon it and We rest; We feel that she loves Us everywhere, and We lean within her love; and so with her praises and blessings. So, the creature in Our Will becomes Our support and Our rest; and there is nothing that delights Us more than finding Our rest in Our creature—symbol of the rest that We took after having created the whole Creation.

 Furthermore, Our Divine Will is present everywhere, and Heaven and earth, and everything, are filled with It up to the brim. So, all are veils that hide It, but mute veils; and if in their muteness they eloquently speak of their Creator, it is not them, but My very Divine Will, hidden in the created things, speaks by way of signs, as if It did not have speech. It speaks in the sun by way of signs of light and of heat; in the wind, giving penetrating and ruling signs; in the air It gives mute signs, such as to make Itself breath of all creatures. Oh! if the sun, the wind, the air and all other created things had the good of the word, how many things they would say to their Creator. But, who is the speaking work of the Supreme Being? It is the creature. In creating her, We loved her so much, that We gave her the great good of the word. Our Will wanted to make Itself word of the creature, It wanted to leave the muteness of created things, and forming in her the organ of the voice, It formed the word so as to be able to speak. Therefore, the voice of the creatures is speaking veil in which My Will speaks eloquently, wisely; and since the creature does not say or do always the same thing—as the created things, that never change their action; they are always at their place, doing that same action that God wants from them—therefore My Will maintains the continuous attitude of the multiplicity of the ways that are in the creature. So, it can be said that It speaks not only in the voice, but It renders Itself speaking in the works, in the steps, in the mind and in the heart of creatures. But what is not Our sorrow in seeing this speaking creation making use of the great good of the word to offend Us; making use of the gift to offend the giver and prevent the great prodigy that I can make, of graces, of love, of Divine Knowledges, of the sanctity that I can form in the speaking work of the creature? But for one who lives in My Will, I am voice that speaks, and—oh! how many things I keep manifesting to her; I am in continuous motion and attitude, I enjoy the full freedom to do and say surprising things, and I perform the prodigy of My Will speaking, loving and operating in the creature. Therefore, give Me full freedom, and you will see what My Will can do in you.” …

9/23 Feast Day of St. Pio of Pietrelcina

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Today is the Feast Day of St. Pio of Pietrelcina

More Information on the Web can be viewed here

St. Pio of Pietrelcina
and the Servant of God,
Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will

Blessed Padre Pio, Luisa Piccarreta and Rosaria Bucci
( from “A Collection of Memories of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta
by Fr. Bucci”)

Luisa Piccarreta and Blessed Padre Pio of Pietrelcina knew one another for some time without ever having met, for Luisa was always confined to the bed where she sat, while Padre Pio was enclosed in the friary of the Capuchin Fathers of San Giovanni Rotondo.
One question naturally arises, how did they come to know one another? This is difficult to discover, yet one thing is certain, that the two did know and esteem one another.
My aunt recounts how Luisa would speak with respect and veneration of the blessed father, describing him as a “true man of God”, who still had great suffering to face for the good of souls.
In about 1930, a well-known figure arrived at Luisa’s house, sent personally by Padre Pio. He was Federico Abresch, a convert of Padre Pio. Federico spoke at length with Luisa. What they said we are not given to know; but one thing is certain. Federico Abresch became an apostle of the Divine Will and regularly visited Luisa, with whom he always had long conversations.
When his little son received his first communion from Padre Pio’s hands, he was also immediately taken to see Luisa who, according to the story, foretold that he would become a priest.
The small boy of that time is now a priest and works at the Congregation for Bishops in Rome; he is known by the name of Mgr. Pio Abresch.
When Luisa was condemned by the Holy Office and her works put on the Index, Padre Pio sent her this message though Federico Abresch: “Dear Luisa, saints serve for the good of souls, but their suffering knows no bounds”. At that time Padre Pio was also in very great difficulties.
Blessed Padre Pio sent many people to Luisa Piccarreta and would say to the people of Corato who went to San Giovanni Rotondo: “What have you come here for? You have Luisa, go to her”.
Padre Pio recommended to certain of his faithful (including Federico Abresch) that they open a spirituality center at San Giovanni Rotondo, inspired by the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta.
Miss Adriana Pallotti (a spiritual daughter of Padre Pio) is currently an heir to Padre Pio’s wishes. She has opened a House of the Divine Will at San Giovanni Rotondo, keeping alive the torch lit by Padre Pio with Federico Abresch. Miss Adriana Pallotti says that it was Blessed Padre Pio who encouraged her to spread Luisa Piccarreta’s spirituality in San Giovanni Rotondo and to help disseminate the Divine Will throughout the world, as Padre Pio desired.
Aunt Rosaria went regularly to San Giovanni Rotondo, especially after Luisa’s death. Padre Pio knew her very well, and when Luisa was still alive he would ask Aunt Rosaria when he saw her: “Rosa’, how is Luisa?”.
Aunt Rosaria would answer him: “She is well!”.
After Luisa’s death, Aunt Rosaria increased her visits to San Giovanni Rotondo, in order to receive enlightenment and advice from Padre Pio.
Aunt Rosaria was the one lamp that stayed alight to resolve Luisa Piccarreta’s case regarding the sentence of the Holy Office, visiting various ecclesiastical figures and, in addition, confronting the Congregation of the Holy Office. Once she managed – it is not known how – to enter the office of the Cardinal Prefect, Ottaviani, who heard her kindly and promised to take up the case.
Indeed, a few days later, Aunt Rosaria was summoned by Archbishop Addazi of Trani, who said to her: “Miss Rosaria, I do not know whether to reprimand you or to admire you for your courage. You have faced the guard dog of the Church, the great defender of the faith, without being bitten”.
The conclusion was that permission was obtained to move Luisa’s body from the cemetery to the Church of Santa Maria Greca.
Luisa said to my aunt: “You will be my witness” and one day Padre Pio told her point-blank in his Benevento dialect: “Rosa’, va nanz, va nanz ca Luisa iè gran e u munn sarà chin di Luisa” (Rosaria, go ahead, go ahead for Luisa is great and the world will be full of Luisa). My aunt often recounted this episode, but things were not going well: everything indicated that Luisa would soon be forgotten.
After the venerated Padre Pio’s death, my aunt said one day: “Padre Pio prophesied that Luisa would be known throughout the world”. And she repeated the phrase Padre Pio had said in his dialect.
I answered that there would be no easy solution to the case of Luisa Piccarreta Indeed nothing further was said of it in Corato either, and Padre Pio’s words could have been considered merely a comforting remark. But Aunt Rosaria retorted: “No! During my confession Padre Pio told me that Luisa is not a human factor, she is a work of God and he himself will make her emerge. The world will be astounded at her greatness; not many years will pass before this happens. The new millennium will see Luisa’s light”.
I was silent at this assertion and my aunt asked me: “But do you believe in Luisa?”.
I answered her that I did.
Then she said to me: “Come to my house in a few days’ time, because I have something very important to tell you”.
It was during the 70s and Padre Pio had been dead for a several
years.

Aunt Rosaria’s secret

In 1975, on 2 February to be exact – I remember it was a
very chilly day – my aunt summoned me to her house. She was very old and was
beginning to have problems with her sight, due to diabetes. My nephew and niece,
Vincenzo and Sara, went to her house to keep her company.

That day, I found her sitting at the window as she recited the
Rosary.

I sat down next to her, and having greeted her, asked her what
it was she wanted to tell me that was so important.

She looked at me and said: “What I am going to tell you now
is of the utmost importance. Try to use it well and I urge you to meditate on
the miracles of the Lord who gave us Luisa, a precious creature in God’s eyes
and an instrument of his mercy. You would find it hard to discover such a
precious, great soul. Luisa goes beyond herself, and you can only contemplate
her fully in God’s mystery. Mary was the One who brought redemption into the
world with her Fiat, which is why the Lord enriched her in such a
wonderful way that she became a creature who was raised to the dignity of Mother
of God. Mary is the Mother of God, and no other creature will ever equal
her in greatness and power; after God it is she alone who expresses the Lord’s
marvels to the world. After Our Lady comes Luisa, who brings the world the third
Fiat, the Fiat of Sanctification“.

She said this quietly, marking her words well, convinced of
what she was asserting. I was overwhelmed by these assertions.

“That is why Luisa was always nailed to her bed and every
day offered to the Divine Majesty as a victim of expiation to God’s Most Holy
Will“, she continued. “God was pleased with this creature and so
jealously guarded her that he removed her from human beings, entrusting her only
to his Church, so that she could preserve her and humanly forge her with
infinite penances and misunderstandings. My Luisa knew no human consolations but
only divine ones; her body was continually suspended between heaven and earth,
and her earthly life was a continuous contradiction in comparison with normal
human lives. Even in her body, she had to belong entirely to God“.

She then confided to me: “One day the Lord said to Luisa:
‘all those who have seen and known you will be saved’”.

“Dear Peppino, this is an extraordinary gift of God and it
has remained shrouded in silence because Luisa did not want knowledge of it
broadcast, or she would have become the object of curiosity or veneration which,
she said, she did not deserve. Except that one day her confessor told me that I
could speak of it and spread it with discretion. Now I have told you, in
the hope that you may be able to make good use of it“.

That day I was left enchanted by the language used by Aunt
Rosaria, who expressed theological concepts perfectly, and even in a poetic
vein.

By accident, the notes I had made were lost and I have limited
myself to writing what I remember.

Her death, almost unexpected, gave me no time to ask her
further questions, which would have provided a clear explanation of what she had
told me.

Aunt Rosaria died in 1978.

9/23 St. Pio of Pietrelcina died on this day in 1968

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St. Pio of Pietrelcina
and the Servant of God,
Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will

Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God
Volume 6 – September 28, 1904

Repressing oneself is worth more than acquiring a kingdom

The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

This morning, since my most sweet Jesus was not coming, I went through a very hard time. I did nothing but repress and force myself, and I said to myself: “What am I still here for? What is the value for me of this repressing myself continuously?” While I was thinking of this, He came like a flash and said to me: “Repressing oneself is worth more than acquiring a kingdom.” And He disappeared.

9/23 Tomorrow is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Ransom (Our Lady of Mercy)

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Tomorrow is the Feast Day of

Our Lady of Ransom
(also known as Our Lady of Mercy)

Please check out the following web sites here and here
for more information on today’s Feast 

***

Volume 16 – January 14, 1923

The Divine Will was everything for man, and with It he needed nothing. Before the scourging, Jesus wanted to be stripped, in order to give back to the creature her royal garments.

The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

I was contemplating the mystery of the Scourging, compassionating my sweet Jesus in the moment when He saw Himself so confused in the midst of enemies – stripped of His garment, under a storm of blows. And my adorable Jesus, coming out from my interior in the state in which He found Himself when He was scourged, told me: “My daughter, do you want to know the reason for which I was stripped when I was scourged? In every mystery of My Passion, first I occupied Myself with adjusting the fracture between the human will and the Divine, and then with the offenses which this fracture produced.

“When man in Eden broke the bonds of the union between the Supreme Will and his will, he stripped himself of the royal garments of My Will, and clothed himself with the miserable rags of his will – weak, inconstant, incapable of doing any good. My Will was a sweet enchantment for him, which kept him absorbed within a most pure light, which made him know nothing but His God, from Whom he came, and which gave him nothing else but immeasurable happiness. And he was so absorbed by all that his God gave him, that he gave no thought to himself. Oh, how happy man was, and how the Divinity delighted in giving him so many particles of His being for as many as the creature can contain, in order to render him similar to Himself. So, as soon as he (Adam) broke the union of Our Will with his, he lost the royal garment; he lost enchantment, light, happiness. He looked at himself without the light of My Will, and in looking at himself without the enchantment which kept him absorbed, he knew himself and felt ashamed. He was afraid of God, to the extent that nature itself felt its sad effects: he was cold, felt his nakedness, and felt the strong need to cover himself. And just as Our Will kept him in the harbor of immense happinesses, so did his will put him in the harbor of miseries.
Our Will was everything for man, and in It he found everything. It was fair that, having been delivered by Us and living in Our Will as Our tender child, he would live of It. And this Will was to make up for all that he needed. Therefore, when he wanted to live of his will, he needed everything because the human will does not have the power to make up for all needs, nor does it contain the source of good within itself. So, he was forced to earn with hardship the necessary things of life.

“See, then, what it means not to be united with My Will! Oh, if all knew It, how they would have one single yearning: that my Will come to reign upon earth!

Therefore, had Adam not withdrawn from the Divine Will, also his nature would have had no need of clothing; he would not have felt the shame of his nakedness, nor would he have been subject to suffer cold, heat, hunger, weakness. But these natural things were almost nothing; they were, rather, symbols of the great good which his soul had lost.

“So, My daughter (Luisa), before being tied to the column to be scourged, I (Jesus) wanted to be stripped in order to suffer and repair the nakedness of man, when he stripped himself of the royal garment of My Will. I felt such confusion and pain within me in seeing Myself stripped in the midst of enemies who were making fun of Me, that I cried over the nakedness of man and I offered my nakedness to My Celestial Father, so that man might be clothed once again with the royal garment of My Will. And as ransom, so that it would not be denied to Me, I offered My Blood, My flesh torn to shreds, and I let Myself be stripped not only of my garment, but also of My flesh, to be able to pay the price and satisfy for the crime of nakedness of man. I poured so much Blood in this mystery that in no other did I pour so much of it – so much as to be enough to cover him with a second garment, a garment of Blood; to cover him again and therefore warm him and wash him, to dispose him to receive the royal garment of My Will.”

On hearing this, surprised I said: “My beloved Jesus, how can it be possible that, because he withdrew from Your Will, man felt the need to clothe himself, was ashamed, was afraid…? And then, You always did the Will of the Celestial Father, You were One with Him, and your Mama never knew her Will – yet, You felt the needed of clothing, of food, and You suffered cold and heat…”

And Jesus added: “Yet, My daughter, it is exactly so. If man felt ashamed of his nakedness and was subject to many natural miseries, it was exactly because he lost the sweet enchantment of My Will; and even though the evil was done by his soul, not by his body, the body, however, was an indirect accomplice in the bad will of man. His nature remained as though profaned by the bad will of man; therefore both one and the other had to feel the pain of the evil done. As far as Myself, indeed I always did the Supreme Will, but I did not come to find an innocent man, a man before sin; rather, I came to find a man sinner and with all his miseries. And so I had to join him, taking upon Myself all the evils of man, and subjecting Myself to all the necessities of life, as if I were one of them. However, in Me there was this prodigy: if I wanted, I would need nothing, either clothing, food or other things. But I did not want to use it out of love for man. I wanted to sacrifice Myself in everything, even in the most innocent things created by Me, in order to prove him My ardent love. Even more, this served to beseech My Divine Father, so that, out of regard for Me and for My will completely sacrificed to Him, He would give back to man the noble royal garment of Our Will.”

9/15 Feast Day of Our Lady of Sorrows

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Santa Maria Greca Church, Corato, Italy

Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God
Volume 6 – September 17, 1905

How one can participate in the sorrows of the Queen Mama

The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

Having been in much suffering because of the privation of my most sweet Jesus, this morning, the day of the Sorrows of Mary Most Holy, after I struggled in some way, He came and told me:  “My daughter, what do you want, that you so much yearn for Me?”

And I:  “Lord, what You have for Yourself – that is what I yearn for myself.”

And He:  “My daughter, for Myself I have thorns, nails and cross.”

And I:  “Well then, that is what I want for myself.”  So He gave me His crown of thorns and shared with me the pains of the cross.

Then He added:  “Everyone can share in the merits and in the goods produced by the sorrows of My Mother.

The one who, in advance, places herself in the hands of Providence, offering herself to suffer any kind of pains, miseries, illnesses, calumnies, and everything which the Lord will dispose upon her, comes to participate in the first sorrow of the prophecy of Simeon.

The one who actually finds herself amid sufferings, and is resigned, clings more tightly to Me and does not offend Me, it is as if she were saving Me from the hands of Herod, keeping Me safe and sound within the Egypt of her heart – and she participates in the second sorrow.

The one who feels downhearted, dry and deprived of my presence, and remains yet firm and faithful to her usual practices – even more, she takes the opportunity to love Me and to search for Me more, without tiring – comes to participate in the merits and goods which my Mother acquired when I was lost (third sorrow).

The one who, in any circumstance she encounters, especially in seeing Me gravely offended, despised, trampled upon, tries to repair Me, to compassionate Me, and to pray for the very ones who offend Me – it is as if I encountered in that soul My own Mother who, if She could have done it, would have freed Me from My enemies; and she participates in the fourth sorrow.

The one who crucifies her senses for love of My crucifixion, and tries to copy the virtues of My crucifixion within herself, participates in the fifth one.

The one who is in a continuous attitude of adoring, of kissing My wounds, of repairing, of thanking etc., in the name of all mankind, it is as if she were holding Me in her arms, just as my Mother held Me when I was deposed from the Cross – and she participates in the sixth sorrow.

The one who remains in My grace and corresponds to it, giving a place to no one else but Me within her heart, it is as if she buried Me in the center of her heart – and she participates in the seventh one.”

9/14 Feast Day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

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The Exaltation of The Holy Cross

   We adore You O Christ and we bless You, because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world!

The faithful bow, venerate and devoutly kiss The Holy Cross.

“Come, all you faithful, let us adore the Life-giving tree, upon which Christ the King of glory willingly stretched out His arms and raising us up, restored us to that original happiness, the enemy stole from us in the past, seducing us by vain pleasures so that we became estranged from God.
Come, all you faithful, let us bow down before the tree, through which we have become worthy to crush the heads of invisible enemies.
Come, all you nations, let us extol the Cross, perfect salvation of fallen Adam.
Our most faithful kings glory in you, for by your power they overcame their enemies.
Today we Christians with awe kiss you, we glorify the crucified God upon you and say,
‘O Lord, crucified on the Cross, have mercy on us, for you are good and you love mankind.’”

To arouse ourselves to a greater veneration and love for The Holy Cross, let us frequently call to mind those profound thoughts expressed by the great venerator of The Holy Cross, St. Ephrem the Syrian (+373) in the following hymn:

The Cross is – the Resurrection of the dead.
The Cross is – the Staff of the lame.
The Cross is – the Consolation of the poor.
The Cross is – the Dethronement of the proud.
The Cross is – the Hope of the hopeless.
The Cross is – the Helm of those who sail.
The Cross is – the Harbor of the storm-tossed.
The Cross is – the Father of orphans.
The Cross is – the Comfort of the afflicted.
The Cross is – the Protector of youth.
The Cross is – the Glory of men.
The Cross is – the Crown of the aged.
The Cross is – the Purity of virgins.
The Cross is – the Bread of the hungry and the fountain of the thirsty.

… Therefore, let us make the sign of this Life-Giving Cross on our forehead, lips and breast…
Let us not do anything without it, but whether we are going to sleep, or getting up; whether we are eating or drinking, whether we are traveling on land, sailing the sea, or crossing rivers, we should adorn all the members of our body with the sign of the Life-Giving Cross.”

On this day The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta receives the last bond with Jesus in “the Marriage of the Cross”

Fiat!

Feast Day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, Little Daughter of the Divine Will, receives the last bond with Our Lord Jesus Christ:  the Marriage of the Cross

Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God
Volume One

The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

One morning – it was the day of the Exaltation of the Cross – my sweet Jesus transported me to the holy sites; and first, He told me many things about the virtue of the cross. I don’t remember all, but just a few things: “My beloved, do you
want to be beautiful? The cross will give you the most beautiful features that
can possibly be found, both in Heaven and on earth; so much so, as to enamor
God, who contains all beauties within Himself.”

Jesus continued: “Do you want to be filled with immense riches – not for a short time, but for all eternity? Well then, the cross will administer to you all kinds of riches – from the tiniest cents, which are the little crosses, up to the greatest amounts, which are the heavier crosses. Yet, men are so greedy to earn a temporal penny, which they soon will have to leave, but do not give a thought to earning one eternal cent. And when I, having compassion for them, in seeing their carelessness for all that regards eternity, kindly offer them the
opportunity – instead of cherishing it, they get angry and offend Me. What
human madness – it seems that they understand it upside down. My beloved (Luisa), in the cross are all the triumphs, all the victories, and the greatest gains. You must have no aim other than the cross, and it will be enough for you, in everything. Today I want to make you content; that cross which until now has not been enough to lay you on and crucify you completely, is the cross that you have carried up to now. But since I have to crucify you completely, you need new crosses which I will let descend upon you. So, the cross you have had until now, I will bring to Heaven, to show it to the whole celestial court as pledge
of your love, and I will make another one descend from Heaven – a larger one,
to be able to satisfy the ardent desires I have upon you.”

While Jesus was saying this, that cross which I had seen the other times made itself present before me. I took it and I laid myself on it. As I was in this way, the
Heavens opened and Saint John the Evangelist came down, carrying the cross that Jesus had indicated to me. The Queen Mother and many Angels, when they arrived near me, lifted me from that cross and placed me over the one which they had brought me, which was much larger. Then, an Angel took the cross I had before and took it to Heaven with him. After this, with His own hand, Jesus began to nail me to that cross; Queen Mama assisted me, while the Angels and Saint John were handing the nails. My sweet Jesus showed such contentment, such joy in crucifying me, that just to be able to give that contentment to Jesus, I would have suffered not only the cross, but yet more pains. Ah! it seemed to me that Heaven was making new feast for me, in seeing the contentment of Jesus. Many souls were freed from Purgatory and took flight toward Heaven, and quite a few sinners were converted, because my Divine Spouse let everyone participate in the good of my sufferings. Who can tell, then, the intense pains I felt while being stretched so well over the cross, and pierced through by the nails in my hands and feet? But especially the feet – the atrocity of the pains was such that they cannot be described. When they finished crucifying me and I felt I was swimming in the sea of pains and sufferings, Queen Mama said to Jesus:  “My Son, today is a day of grace – I want You to let her share in all of
Your pains. There is nothing left but to pierce her heart through with the lance, and to renew for her the crown of thorns.” So, Jesus Himself took the lance and pierced my heart through; the Angels took a crown of thorns, well thickened, and handed it to the Most Holy Virgin – and She Herself drove it into my head.

What a memorable day that was for me – of sufferings, yes, but of contentments; of unspeakable pains, but also of joy. It is enough to say that the intensity of the pains was such, that for that entire day Jesus did not move from my side, but remained close to me in order to sustain my nature, which was failing at the liveliness of the pains. Those souls from Purgatory who had flown up to Heaven, descended together with the Angels and surrounded my bed, cheering me with their canticles, and thanking me affectionately because through my sufferings I had freed them from those pains.

It happened, then, that after five or six days of those intense pains, to my great regret, they began to diminish, and so I would solicit my beloved Jesus to renew the crucifixion. And He, sometimes quickly, and sometimes with some delay, would be pleased to transport me to the holy sites and to let me share in the pains of His Sorrowful Passion… now the crown of thorns, now the scourging, now the carrying of the cross to Calvary, now the crucifixion – sometimes one mystery per day, and sometimes everything in one day, as He pleased. This would be of highest pain and contentment for my soul. But it would become very bitter for me when the scene would change, and instead of I being the one who suffered, I would be the spectator, watching most loving Jesus suffer the pains of His Sorrowful Passion. Ah! how many times I found myself in the midst of the Jews together with Queen Mama, seeing my beloved Jesus suffer. Ah! yes, it is indeed true that it is easier for one to suffer himself, than to see the beloved suffer.

Other times, I remember that, in renewing these crucifixions, my sweet Jesus would say to me: “My beloved (Luisa), the cross allows one to distinguish the reprobates from the predestined. Just as on the day of judgment, the good will rejoice upon seeing the cross, so even now it can be seen whether one will be saved or lost. If, as the cross presents itself to the soul, she embraces it, carries it with resignation and patience, kissing and thanking that hand which is sending it – here is the sign that she is saved. If, on the contrary, as the cross is presented to her, she gets irritated, despises it, and even reaches the point of offending Me – you can say that that’s a sign that the soul is heading on the way to hell. So will the reprobates do on the day of judgment: upon seeing the cross, they will grieve and curse. The cross tells everything; the cross is a book that, without deception and in clear notes, tells you and allows you to distinguish the saint from the sinner, the perfect from the imperfect, the fervent from the lukewarm. The cross communicates such light to the soul that, even now, it allows one to distinguish not only the good from the evil, but also those who are to be more or less glorious in Heaven – those who are to occupy a higher or a lower place. All other virtues remain humble and reverent before the virtue of the cross, and grafting themselves to it, they receive greater glory and splendor.”

Who can tell what flames of ardent desires this speaking of Jesus would cast into my heart? I felt devoured by hunger for suffering, and in order to satisfy my yearnings – or rather, to say it better, in order to satisfy that which He Himself infused in me – He would renew the crucifixion.

I remember that sometimes, after renewing these crucifixions, He would say to me:
“Beloved of My Heart (Luisa), I ardently desire not only to crucify your soul and to communicate the pains of the cross to your body, but also to mark your body with the mark of my wounds; and I want to teach you the prayer in order to obtain this grace. This is the prayer: ‘I present myself before the supreme throne of God, bathed in the Blood of Jesus Christ, praying Him, by the merit of His most luminous virtues and of His Divinity, to concede to me the grace of being crucified’.”

However, I (Luisa) have always had an aversion for anything that might appear externally – and I still do – but in the act in which Jesus was saying that, I would feel such yearnings being infused in me to satisfy the desire that He Himself was expressing, that I would yet dare to ask Jesus to crucify me in the soul and in the body. And sometimes I would say to Him: “Holy Spouse, I would rather not have external things; and if sometimes I dare to ask for that, it is because You Yourself tell me to, and also to give a sign to the confessor that it is You who operates in me. But for the rest, I would like nothing but those= pains which You make me suffer when You renew the crucifixion. If only they were permanent – I would rather not have that diminution after some time. This alone is enough for me. As for the outward appearance, the more You (Jesus) can keep me (Luisa) hidden, the more You will make me content.’

The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, Little Daughter of the Divine Will outside
at the St. Anthony Orphanage in Corato, Italy. 
Normally invisable, the stigmata Luisa received can be seen
in her hand holding the Holy Rosary,
it looks like a line.