11/21 Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Religious parents never fail by devout prayer to consecrate their children to the Divine service and love, both before and after their birth. Some amongst the Jews, not content with this general consecration of their children, offered them to God in their infancy, by the hands of the priests in the temple, to be lodged in apartments belonging to the temple, and brought up in attending the priests and Levites in the sacred ministry.

It is an ancient tradition, that the Blessed Virgin Mary was thus solemnly offered to God in the temple in her infancy. This festival of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, or, as it is often called by the Greeks, the entrance of the Blessed Virgin into the Temple, is mentioned in the most ancient Greek Menologies extant.

 

Excerpt from The Queen of Heaven in the Kingdom of the Divine Will

Day Thirteen

The Queen of Heaven in the Kingdom of the Divine Will departs for the Temple and gives example of Total Triumph in the Sacrifice.

 

The soul to the Triumphant Queen:

Celestial Mama, today I come to prostrate myself before You, to ask for Your Invincible Strength in all my pains; and You know how my heart is filled with them, to the point of feeling drowned with pains. O please! If You love so much to act as my Mother, take my heart in Your hands and pour into it the Love, the Grace and the Strength to triumph in my pains, and to convert them all into Divine Will.

Lesson of the Triumphant Queen:

My daughter, Courage, do not fear; your Mama is all for you, and today I was waiting for you so that My Heroism and My Triumph in the sacrifice may infuse in you Strength and Courage, that I may see My daughter triumphant in her pains, and with the heroism of bearing them with love and in order to do the Divine Will.

Now, My daughter, listen to Me: I had just turned three years old when My parents made known to Me that they wanted to consecrate Me to the Lord in the Temple. My heart rejoiced in hearing this—that is, consecrating Myself and spending My years in the house of God. But beneath My Joy there was a sorrow—for a privation of the dearest persons one can have on earth, which were My dear parents. I was little, I needed their maternal cares; I was depriving Myself of the presence of two great saints. Moreover, I saw that as the day approached on which they were to deprive themselves of Me, who rendered their lives full of joy and of happiness, they felt such bitterness as to feel themselves dying. But, though suffering, they were disposed to make the heroic act of taking Me to the Lord.

My parents loved Me in the order of God, and considered Me a great gift, given to them by the Lord; and this gave them the strength to make the painful sacrifice. Therefore, My daughter, if you want to have Invincible Strength to suffer the hardest pains, let all your things be in the Order of God, and hold them as precious gifts given to you by the Lord.

Now, you must know that I, with Courage, prepared Myself for My departure for the Temple, because, as I delivered My will to the Divine Being and the Supreme Fiat took Possession of My whole being, I acquired all Virtues as My own Nature. I was Dominator of Myself; all Virtues were in Me like many Noble Princesses, and according to the circumstances of My Life, they promptly showed themselves, to do their office without any resistance. In vain would they have called Me Queen, had I not possessed the Virtue of being Queen over Myself. Therefore, I had in My Dominion Perfect Charity, Invincible Patience, Enrapturing Sweetness, Profound Humility, and the whole endowment of the other Virtues. The Divine Will rendered My little earth of My humanity fortunate, always flowery, and without the thorns of vices.

Do you see then, dear daughter, what it means to Live of Divine Will? Its Light, Its Sanctity and Power convert all Virtues into one’s nature; nor does It lower Itself to Reign in a soul where there is a rebellious nature—no, no. It is Sanctity, and It wants the nature in which It must Reign to be Ordered and Holy. Therefore, by the Sacrifice of going to the Temple, it was Conquests that I made; and over this Sacrifice, the Triumph of a Divine Will was formed in Me. And these Triumphs brought into Me New Seas of Grace, of Sanctity and of Light—to the extent of feeling Happy in My Pains, in order to be able to Conquer New Triumphs.

Now, My daughter, place your hand upon your heart, and tell your Mama: do you feel your nature changed into virtue? Or, do you feel the thorns of impatience, the noxious herbs of agitations, the bad humors of affections which are not holy? Listen—let your Mama do it; place your will into My hands, determined in not wanting it any more, and I will make you be Possessed by the Divine Will, which will banish everything from you; and what you have not done in many years, you will do in one day, which will be the beginning of True Life, of Happiness, and of True Sanctity.

The soul:

Holy Mama, help your daughter; make a visit to my soul, and with Your Maternal hands, snatch from me everything You find which is not Will of God. Burn away from me the thorns, the noxious herbs, and You Yourself, call the Divine Will to Reign in my soul.

 

Little Sacrifice:

Today, to honor Me, you will call Me three times to visit your soul, and will give Me all the freedom to do with you whatever I want.

Ejaculatory Prayer:

Sovereign Queen, take my soul in Your hands, and transform it completely into Will of God.

11/20 The current chastisements are only the beginning of the purification of the world.

Book of Heaven
11/21/15 – Vol. 11

Finding myself in my usual state, as soon as I saw my always adorable Jesus, I begged Him, for pity’s sake, that He would change the decrees of the Divine Justice. I said to Him: ‘My Jesus, I cannot take any more! My poor heart is crushed in hearing about so many tragedies. Jesus, enough, these are your dear images, your beloved children, who moan, cry and ache under the weight of instruments that are almost infernal!’

And He: “Ah, my daughter, yet, all the terrible things that are happening now are only the sketch of the design. Don’t you see what a large circle I am marking? What will happen when I will complete the design? At many points they will say: ‘Here there was such a city, here such buildings.’ Some points will disappear completely. Time is tight. Man reached the extent of forcing Me to chastise him. He wanted to almost challenge Me, incite Me, and I remained patient – but all times arrive. They didn’t want to recognize Me through Love and Mercy – they will know Me through Justice. Therefore, courage – do not lose heart so soon.”

11/19 Day 16 from the Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will

My daughter, listen to your Mother (Blessed Mother), and ponder well the great evil of the human will; it removes the eyes of the soul and makes her become blind, in such a way that everything is darkness and fear for the poor creature. Therefore, place your hand upon your heart and swear to your Mama (Blessed Mother) that you would rather die than do your will. I, by never doing my will, had no fear of My Creator. And how could I be afraid if He Loved Me so much? And the Kingdom extended so much within Me, that with My Acts I (Blessed Mother) kept forming the Full Day to make the New Sun of the Eternal Word Rise upon earth. And as I saw that the Day was being formed, I increased My Supplications to obtain the longed-for Day of Peace between Heaven and earth.

11/18 Dedication of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul

We owe to the Holy Apostles the priceless treasure of the Christian faith.  They handed Chris’s teachings down to us.  From them, we recede the Holy Gospel and the letters of the Apostles.  They laid a firm foundation for the Church of Christ.

Both Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul are distinguished for this character, their zealous apostolic labors and their great cult in the Holy Church.

The Basilica of St. Peter on the Vatican and that of St. Paul outside the Walls were consecrated by St. Slyvester on November 18th.

The Basilica of St. Peter’s was completely rebuilt in the 16th century when it was falling into decay.  Julius II and Leo X had recourse to the greatest artists of the age, Bramante and Michael Angelo.  Urban VIII consecrated this church, the vastest and richest in the world, on November 18, 1626.

The Basilica of St. Paul, on the Ostian Way, was nearly completely destroyed by fire in 1823.  The church was rebuilt with unheard of magnificence by Gregory XVI and Pius IX, and consecrated by the latter on December 10, 1854, two days after the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

St. Peter’s stature located at St. Peter’s in Rome
(Note St. Peter’s right foot is warn down from all the years of pilgrim veneration)

Our Lord Jesus Christ, having great plans for St. Peter at the beginning of his calling, changed the name Simon to the symbolic name of Peter-Cephas, which means rock, for he was to be the rock that will form the foundation of His Church.  St. Peter was closely associated with Christ during His public life:  He witnessed the glory of Christ on Mt. Tabor; in the name of all the Apostles, he professed the Divinity of Christ; he was sent with St. John to prepare the Paschal Supper; He witnessed Christ’s agony in the Garden of Olives; the temple tax was paid by Christ for Himself and for Peter.

After the Ascension of Christ, St. Peter became the head of the Apostles and the leader of the first Christian community in Jerusalem.  Under his leadership, a new Apostle was elected to take the place of Judas.   Peter convoked the first church Council in Jerusalem.   St. John Chrysostom calls Peter “the firstborn lamb from the flock of the Good Sheperd.”

The love of Christ was the chief motive of St. Peter’s apostolic activity, labors and sacrifices.  That love finally led him to suffer and die for the sake of his beloved Teacher.  A pious tradition relates that he considered himself unworthy to die on the cross as Christ did, and therefore asked to be crucified upside down.  This tradition is confirmed by Bishop Eusebius (+340) in his History of the Church, and by St. John Chrysostom in a sermon on the Apostles SS. Peter and Paul, in which he says:  “Rejoice, Peter, who dies on the cross head downward.”  St. Peter died in Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero (54-58), between the years of 64-67 A.D.

***

Statue of Saint Paul
by Giuseppe De Fabris 1840
in front of the St. Peters Basilica

St. Paul did not belong to the original group of the twelve apostles, but through his apostolic labors, his dedication, his superhuman sacrifices, and his sufferings in the service of Christ, he receive the title, along with Peter, of the First Apostle.  He is the only one of the Apostles who was highly educated and was by birth a Roman citizen.  While Paul was on his way to Damascus, Christ Himself converted him in a miraculous manner and called him to be an Apostle.  After his conversion from being a persecutor of Christians, he became, in heart and soul, a zealous and courageous apostle of Christ.

“Paul was a wolf,” says St. Chrysostom, “But he became a lamb.  He was a thorn, but he became a fruitful vine.  From an enemy, he became a friend; from a weed, he became wholesome bread . . . The blasphemer became a theologian; the persecutor, a herald of good news; the tormentor – a leader; the traitor – a fellow-champioin.”  (On the Holy Twelve Apostles)

In his apostolic work, St. Paul distinguished himself as a man of uncompromising character, remarkable strength of will and fervent spirit.  For many years, he fearlessly preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ day and night.  His unlimited love for Christ knew no obstacle, recognized no difficulties, and placed no limit to sacrifice.  His love impelled him to undertake great missionary journeys and to establish new Churches; he was always ready to suffer and die for Christ.

The apostle of the Gentiles was not only an excellent preacher and a good organizer, but also an eminent theologian and writer.  From him we have fourteen letters addressed to various Churches or persons in which he clearly expounds the teachings of Christ.  St. Paul gave up his life for Christ in 65 or 67 A.D.

11/17 Everything that one does in the Divine Will takes its place in God.

Book of Heaven
11/17/35 – Vol. 33

                  I felt myself in the arms of the Divine Will; it seems to me that It waits for me in order to Operate in my little act in order to give me rest in Its Works, and in order for It to also rest.

                  And my sweet Jesus, surprising me with His brief little visit, told me:  “My daughter, as the creature operates in My Will, so her acts take their place in Our Divine Being.  Our Goodness is so much, that it has many voids in order to receive into Our Volition all the human acts that possess the Creative Virtue.  They come to their Creator all festive and they fill these voids because Our Love has a Beautiful place formed in Us in order to be able to say with deeds:  ‘They are Our Acts.  What We do, the creature does.  What she does in Our Will, nothing remains outside of Us, nor can they remain outside of Us.  It would be so if this were possible, as if Our Life were subject to separating—that which cannot be because We not only possess the Inseparability of Our Supreme Being, but of all Our Acts.  And for one who Lives in Our Volition, We have places for everything, and We form One Single Act of everything.

                  “Now, these acts find in Us not only their place of Honor, but Perennial Life and their Rest.  And We feel the Happiness, the Joy, that the creature has enclosed in her act by doing it in Our Will.  We feel that Our Fiat Loves Us, Glorifies Us, Felicitates Us, Beatifies Us in the act of the creature as We merit. O! how Happy We feel.  To feel Happiness in Us is Natural. To feel the Happiness that the creature can give Us, We feel the Exchange of the Work of Creation—and does it seem little to you that We give the Virtue to the creature of being able to Felicitate her Creator?  And such and so much is the Joy that We experience, that We abandon Ourselves in the arms of the creature, and clasping her in Ours We Rest in her, and she rests in Us.  And then Our Rest is broken when she surprises Us with other acts of hers, in order to enjoy the Happiness that she brings Us.  In fact, We do nothing other than pass from Happiness to Rest, from Rest to Happiness.  Blessed creature who, Living in Our Divine Will, can Felicitate He who possesses the open Sea of Infinite Joys and Happiness without end.”

11/16 There is no sacrifice without denying oneself, and sacrifice and denying oneself give rise to the most pure and perfect love.

Book of Heaven
11/16/03 – Vol. 6

 

This morning, as I was outside of myself, I found myself with Baby Jesus in my arms, and with a virgin, who laid me on the ground to make me suffer the crucifixion – not with nails, but with fire, placing a charcoal of fire on my hands and feet.  Blessed Jesus was there assisting me while I was suffering, and said to me:  “My daughter, there is no sacrifice without denying oneself, and sacrifice and denying oneself give rise to the most pure and perfect love.  And since sacrifice is sacred, it happens that it consecrates the soul to Me, as a sanctuary worthy of Me to make of it my perpetual dwelling.  So, let sacrifice work in you to render your soul and body sacred, so that everything may be sacred in you; and consecrate everything to Me.”

11/15 The soul forms her paradise on earth.

Book of Heaven
11/15/16 – Vol. 11

 

I was lamenting to my sweet Jesus that He no longer loved me as before, and He, all goodness, told me: “My daughter, not loving one who loves Me is impossible for Me. Rather, I feel so drawn toward her, that at the littlest act of love she does for Me, I respond with triple love and I place a divine vein in her heart, which administers to her divine science, divine sanctity and virtue; and the more the soul loves Me, the more this divine vein rises, and watering all the powers of the soul, it diffuses for the good of the other creatures. I have placed this vein in you, and when you lack my presence and do not hear my voice, this vein will make up for everything, and will be voice for you and for the other creatures.”

Another day, I was fusing all of myself, as usual, in the Will of blessed Jesus, and He said to me: “My daughter, the more you fuse yourself in Me, the more I fuse Myself in you. So, it is on earth that the soul forms her paradise; according to how much she fills herself with holy thoughts, with holy affections, desires, words, works and steps, so does she keep forming her paradise. To one more holy thought or word, one more contentment will correspond, and many varieties of beauty, of contentments, of glory, for as much more good as she has done. What will the surprise of this soul be when, once the prison of her body is broken, immediately she will find herself in the sea of as many pleasures and happinesses, as much light and beauty, for as much more good as she has done – be it even a thought!”