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10/25 Privation makes one know where things come from, and the preciousness of the object lost.
Book of Heaven
10/25/01 – Vol. 4
I went through various days of fear and doubts about my state, believing that it is all a crafting of my fantasy; and sometimes my mind would become so fixated on this, that I reached the point of lamenting and regretting with Our Lord, saying: ‘What pain, what a disgrace mine has been – to be the victim of my fantasy! I believed I was seeing You, but instead, it was all the hallucination of my fantasy. I believed I was fulfilling your Will by remaining in this bed for such a long time, but who knows whether this also has been a fruit of my fantasy. Lord, the mere thought of this gives pain – it frightens. Your Will used to sweeten everything, but this embitters me down to the marrow of my bones. O please! give me the strength to get out of this imaginary state.’ And I would get so fixated as to be unable to distract myself; so much so, that I reached the point of thinking that this fantasy would prepare for me a place in hell, though I tried to snap out of it by saying: ‘Well then, I will make use of my fantasy to be able to love Him in hell.’
Now, while I was in this fixation, blessed Jesus wanted to increase the pain of my position by moving within my interior, saying: “Do not pay attention to this, otherwise I will leave you, and will show you whether it is I who comes, or it is your fantasy that hallucinates.” In spite of this, I did not then get concerned, saying: ‘Ah, yes, He will not have the courage to do it – He is so good. Yet, He actually did it.’
It is needless to say what I went through for several days without Jesus – I would be too long; the mere remembering freezes the blood in my veins, therefore I move on. Now, after I said all this to the confessor, it seemed that he became my mediator. As we began to pray together that He would deign to come, I felt I was losing consciousness, and He made Himself seen from very far, almost scowling at me for He did not want to come. I would not dare, but the confessor insisted, uniting the intention that He would share the crucifixion with me. So, to content the confessor, He drew near and shared with me the pains of the cross. Then, as if He had made peace with me, He told me: “It was necessary that I deprive you of Me, otherwise you would not have convinced yourself whether it is I or your fantasy. Privation is beneficial to make one know where things come from, and the preciousness of the object lost; and to hold it in greater esteem when it is reacquired.”
10/10 Letter #109 To Mrs A. Savorani, from Faenza
In Volunatate Dei!
My good daughter in the Divine Volition,
What I recommend to you is that the Divine Will be your life, your breath, the beating of your heart, your continuous motion. It is the greatest miracle that the Lord can make for you, and the highest sanctity we can possibly reach. Every time we live of Divine Will, we acquire divine bonds and we bound ourselves to the Divine Family. All rights are ours – both human and divine – because everything belongs to the Divine Will, therefore everything is ours. So, think that, together with the Divine Volition, I am whispering to your ear: “My daughter, live always in the Divine Will.”
I have always remembered that, among all, you had a special interest in knowing the Divine Will and in making It known (When we want to know It, we form the seed of the Divine Will), and I was bound to you. Therefore, continue your mission, I beg you, do not draw back, and in all things make an encounter with the Divine Will… Oh, how It yearns for this, and reaches the point of crying and begging us to receive It in all our acts. And when It is received, It makes feast, and puts all Heaven in a new feast, seeing that a creature wants to do Its Divine Will.
Thank you for your affection. I will pray for your brother; and you, pray for me, for I so much need it. Leaving you in the center of the sea of the Divine Will, that you may no longer leave It, I say,
The little daughter in the Divine Will.
Corato, January 22, 1942
10/09 Letter #111 from the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta to a Priest
J.M.J. – Fiat!
Most reverend Father,
I feel the duty to send you my wishes for your Name Day, but my most beautiful wish is that of sending you the Divine Will as bearer of Divine Sanctity, of light, of love and of peace, that It may plunge you into Its sea and hide you within Its light, in such a way as to not wanting or seeing anything but Divine Will. May all your life be transformed so much in It as to feel Its Life more than yours. How happy you will be! You will feel a Creative Power in all your necessary things, and also in the good you want to do to souls… In the Divine Will you will feel that it is not you who are speaking, working, walking, loving, but it is Jesus who speaks, works, walks and loves. Even more, He is too jealous to let us do; He wants to do everything Himself, and in order to do so, He puts His own Will at our disposal. Goodness of God – how adorable, great and powerful you are!
Holy Father, I think you will appreciate my wishes which I am sending you with all my heart, and that you will pray for me, that I may never leave the Divine Will, because It alone is my refuge, my help, the support in my sufferings… However, I feel happy that everyone has gone away from me – and you too, and that the Divine Will is the only thing left to me; and I hope It will soon take me to Heaven in Its arms.
I renew my wishes, and leaving you in the center of the sea of the Fiat, and kissing your right hand, I implore on my knees your paternal blessing.
The little daughter of the Divine Will.
Corato, March 1942
10/5 Feast Day of St. Mary Faustina Kowalska
On October 5, 1938 Sister Faustina (Helen Kowalska)
died in a convent of the
Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Cracow, Poland
More information about St. Faustina can be found by clicking here
In fulfillment of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta’s prayer (see following excerpts from the “Book of Heaven”), the following year on August 25, 1905, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, an apostle of Divine Mercy, was born.
Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God
The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the 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 (Luisa) wish I could see whether the Lord is there in the midst of these people, so as to say to Him: “Have mercy – pity on these poor people!” So I went round and round and I saw Him as a little Child; but little by
little He kept growing, until He reached the perfect age. I drew near Him and I said: “Amiable Lord, don’t You see the tragedy that is happening? You don’t want to make use of mercy anymore? Do You perhaps want to keep this attribute as useless, which has always glorified your Incarnate Divinity with so much honor, forming a special crown on Your august head, and bejeweling You with a second crown, so wanted and loved by You – which is souls?”
Now, while I was saying this, He told me: “Enough, enough, do not go any further; you want to speak of Mercy, and what about Justice – what are we going to do with It?
I have told you and I repeat to you: ‘It is necessary that Justice follow Its course’.”
So I replied: “There is no remedy – why then leave me on this earth when I can no longer placate You and suffer in the place of my neighbor? Since it is so, it is better
if You let me die.”
At that moment I saw another person behind the shoulders of blessed Jesus, and He told me, almost making a sign with His eyes: “Present yourself to My Father and see what He tells you.”
I (Luisa) presented myself (to God the Father), all trembling, and as soon as He saw me, He told me: “Why have you come to Me?”
And I (Luisa): “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 (God the Father) said to me (Luisa): “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.”
Not knowing what else to say, I (Luisa) said: “Father, infinitely Holy, when servants or people in need present themselves before their masters or rich people, if these are good, even if they do not give everything that is necessary for them, they always give something. And to me, who have had the good of presenting myself before You, absolute Master, rich without limit, infinite Goodness, don’t You want to give anything of what this poor little one has asked of You? Does a master perhaps not remain more honored and content when he gives, than when he denies what is necessary to his servants?”
After a moment of silence He (God the Father) added: “For love of you, instead of doing ten, I will do five.”
Having said this, They disappeared, and in several places of the earth, especially of Europe, I saw wars, civil wars and revolutions multiply.
Volume 6 – June 20, 1904
Victim souls are the daughters of Mercy.
After I struggled very much, blessed Jesus came for just a little and told me: “My daughter, human perfidy has reached such a point as to exhaust My Mercy on its part.
But My goodness is so great as to constitute daughters of Mercy, so that on the part of creatures also, this attribute may not be exhausted. These are the victims who are in full ownership of the Divine Will, having destroyed their own. In fact, in these souls, the container given by Me in creating them is in full vigor, and since they have
received the particle of My Mercy, being daughters, they administer it to others. It is understood, however, that in order to be able to administer the particle of My Mercy to others, they themselves must be in Justice.”
And I: “Lord, who can ever be in Justice?”
And He: “One who does not commit grave sins and abstains from committing the slightest venial sins of his own will.”
A depiction of St. Faustina Kowalska and Jesus,
who entrusted His message of Divine Mercy to the Polish nun,
hangs at at the Vatican at the canonization Mass for St. Faustina, April 30, 2000
(Photo from Catholic Press Photo)
10/1 Feast Day of St. Therese of Lisieux
Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
Virgin, Doctor of the Church
Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
Virgin, Doctor of the Church
More information on St. Therese of Lisieux can be found at the websites:
Click here or here or here
The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will
(Note the Holy Card of St. Therese at the foot of the Crucifix)
St. Therese of Lisieux was a favored Saint
of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will
St Therese of the Child Jesus, pray for us!
“I will spend my heaven doing good upon the earth. I will let fall a shower of roses”
From St Therese of Lisieux’s Autobiography “The Story of a Soul“:
Therese Martin was the last of nine children born to Louis and Zelie Martin on January 2, 1873, in Alencon, France. However, only five of these children lived to reach adulthood. Precocious and sensitive, Therese needed much attention. Her mother died when she was 4 years old. As a result, her father and sisters babied young Therese. She had a spirit that wanted everything.
At the age of 14, on Christmas Eve in 1886, Therese had a conversion that transformed her life. From then on, her powerful energy and sensitive spirit were turned toward love, instead of keeping herself happy. At 15, she entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux to give her whole life to God. She took the religious name Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. Living a hidden, simple life of prayer, she was gifted with great intimacy with God. Through sickness and dark nights of doubt and fear, she remained faithful to God, rooted in His merciful love. After a long struggle with tuberculosis, she died on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24. Her last words were the story of her life: “My God, I love You!”
The world came to know Therese through her autobiography, “Story of a Soul”. She described her life as a “little way of spiritual childhood.” She lived each day with an unshakable confidence in God’s love. “What matters in life,” she wrote, “is not great deeds, but great love.” Therese lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love. She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Therese’s spirituality is of doing the ordinary, with extraordinary love.
Therese saw the seasons as reflecting the seasons of God’s love affair with us. She loved flowers and saw herself as the “little flower of Jesus,” who gave glory to God by just being her beautiful little self among all the other flowers in God’s garden. Because of this beautiful analogy, the title “little flower” remained with St. Therese.
Her inspiration and powerful presence from heaven touched many people very quickly. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. Had she lived, she would have been only 52 years old when she was declared a Saint.
“My mission – to make God loved – will begin after my death,” she said. “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses.” Roses have been described and experienced as Saint Therese’s signature. Countless millions have been touched by her intercession and imitate her “little way.” She has been acclaimed “the greatest saint of modern times.” In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared St. Therese a Doctor of the Church – the only Doctor of his pontificate – in tribute to the powerful way her spirituality has influenced people all over the world.
Two excerpts from the Book of Heaven – Volume One, the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will writes:
… Then He (Jesus) continued: “I have made great designs upon you (Luisa), as long as you correspond to Me – I want to make of you a perfect image of Me, from the moment I was born up to my death. I (Jesus) Myself will teach you (Luisa), little by little, how to do it.” …
… “Lord”, I (Luisa) said to Him (Jesus), “I lack everything – I have nothing”
And He (Jesus) said to me (Luisa): “Do not fear, little by little we will do everything. I Myself know how weak you are, but it is from Me that you must draw strength.”
As well as from the other Volumes of the Book of Heaven:
Volume 2 – September 5, 1899
This morning I found myself in such disheartenment and I saw myself so bad, that I
myself rendered myself unbearable. When Jesus came, I told Him of my pains and
the miserable state in which I was, and He said to me: “My daughter, do not
want to lose heart. It is my usual way to operate perfection little by little,
and not everything in one instant, so that, in seeing that she is always lacking
something, the soul may push herself and make all efforts in order to reach
what she lacks, to please Me more and to sanctify herself more. …
Volume 3 – January 1, 1900
… Oh, how sorry I felt for Him! I felt absorbed in that bitterness; and the blessed little Baby, compassionating my miserable state, told me: “The more the soul
humiliates herself and knows herself, the closer she draws to the truth; and
being in the truth, she tries to push herself along the path of virtues, from
which she sees herself very far away. And if she sees herself on the path
of virtues, immediately she realizes how much there is left for her to do,
because virtues have no end – they are infinite, as I am. So, being in
the truth, the soul always tries to perfect herself, but she will never arrive
at seeing herself perfect. And this serves her, and it will make her work
continuously, striving to perfect herself more, without wasting time in
idleness. And I, pleased with this work, keep retouching her little by little, in
order to portray My likeness in her.
Volume 3 – August 1, 1900
… Placing himself before My Humanity, which spreads temperate rays of the Divinity, man has the good of being able to Purify, Sanctity and even Divinize himself in My very Deified Humanity.
Therefore, you – remain always before My Humanity, keeping it as a mirror through which you will clean all of your stains; not only this, but as a mirror through which, by reflecting yourself in it, you will acquire beauty, and little by little you will keep adorning yourself in My own likeness. …
Volume 10 – November 29, 1910
Since a good and holy priest was coming, I was a little bit anxious to speak with him, especially about my current state, in order to know the Divine Will. Now, after he came the first and the second time, I saw that nothing would be done of what I wanted. So, having received Holy Communion, all afflicted, I was repeating my great affliction to my affectionate Jesus, saying to Him: “My Life, my Good and my All, it shows that You alone are everything for me. I have never found in any creature, as good and holy as he might be, a word, a comfort, a solution for the slightest doubt of mine. It shows how there is to be no one for me, but You alone: You alone – the All for me, and I alone, alone – always alone for You. And so I abandon myself in You, completely and always. As bad as I am, have the goodness of holding me in your arms, without leaving me for one single instant.”
While I was saying this, my blessed Jesus made Himself seen looking in my interior, turning everything upside down to see if there was something which He did not like. And while turning and turning, He (Jesus) took something like a grain of white sand in His hands, and He threw it to the ground. Then He said to me: “Dearest daughter of Mine, it is absolutely right that for one who is all for Me, I be all for her. I am too jealous that someone else might give her the slightest comfort. I alone – I Myself alone want to make up for all, and in everything. What is it that afflicts you? What do you want? I do everything to make you content. Do you see that white grain that I removed from you? It was nothing but a little bit of anxiety, for you wanted to know My Will from others. I removed it from you and I threw it on the ground so as to leave you in holy indifference – the way I want you. And now I will tell you what My Will is: I want Mass and also Communion; as for whether or not you must wait for the priest to come round, you will be indifferent to this. If you feel dozy, you will not try to come round; and if you feel awake, you will not try to doze off. However, know that I want you always ready, and always at your post of victim, even if you should not always suffer. I want you like the soldiers in the battle field: even if the act of fighting is not continuous they remain with their weapons ready, and if necessary, seated in the quarters, so that every time the enemy tries to start the fight, they may always be ready to defeat him. The same for you, My daughter: you will remain always ready, always at your post, so that every time I should want to make You suffer either for My relief or to hold back chastisements, or for anything else, I may find you always ready. I do not have to always call you, or dispose you to the sacrifice each time; but rather, you will consider yourself as being always called, even if I should not always keep you in the act of suffering. So, we have understood each other, haven’t we? Be tranquil, and fear nothing.”
This is very similar to what the “Little Flower” St. Therese of Lisieux wrote in her journal called “The Story of a Soul”:
Unfortunately when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by. Instead of being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I (St. Therese) will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new.
After St. Therese’s death in 1897 her Sisters sent 2,000 copies of Therese’s writings to other convents. By 1910 St. Therese’s writings would be well know by the Religious in Luisa’s hometown. It was also in 1910, while visiting the Trani Diocese to establish an orphanage, Saint Annibale Di Francia met Luisa Piccarreta for the first time, most likely at the suggestion of her confessor, Fr. Gennaro Di Gennaro. Soon thereafter, Saint Annibale found himself at the center of a loose association of priests who shared a common thirst for holiness and a deep admiration for Luisa. Members of the group included Father Gennaro Braccale, S.J.; Father Eustacchio Montemuro, founder of the Sisters of the Divine Side; and Father Ferdinando Cento, who later became a Cardinal.
9/27 Blessed Mother Mary’s Love for All
V33; 2/4/34
And Jesus: … “Therefore, in Heaven the Sovereign Lady (Blessed Mother Mary) still possesses Our Hidden Love toward each creature, rather, it is Her Greatest Triumph and Contentment that She feels all creatures Loved by Her Creator in Her Maternal Heart. And She, acting as True Mother, how many times She hides them from Me in Her Love in order to make them Loved, in Her Sorrows in order make them forgiven, in Her Prayers in order to make Greater Graces be given them. Ah! She is the covering who knows how to cover and excuse Her children before the Throne of Our Majesty. Therefore let yourself be covered by your Celestial Mama who will think about the needs of Her daughter.”