Published 2/20/16 by the Official Website of Luisa Piccarreta
The 24 Hours of the Passion
The Value and Benefit of Meditating them.
The desire to represent the sacred, to give form to the mystery of God revealed in Jesus, is not only legitimate, but also responds to the needs of the Catholic faith that recognizes in the incarnation of the Son of God, the full and definitive revelation of the Father. The incarnation of the Son for the redemption of all past, present and future generations. A return to origins, to the creation, to the state of grace in which Adam had lived.
Well, in the representation of the movie “The Passion” by Mel Gibson, it begins with a passage from the prophet Isaiah: “As many were astonished at him, his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance…” “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…” ” like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.” (Is 52:14; 53:4; 53:7) The film director shows all the realism of the event on the last hours of the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ in a very visual way compared to the various artistic expressions (painting, sculpture, writing).
What better introduction to the work of Luisa, the Hours of the Passion? ” The reading of this work is a hymn to the strength, tenacity, resignation, obedience, to our Lord’s exhortation addressed to all the creatures, which highlights that His sacrifice is an act of love, and all the acts done in his earthly life, were destined to the salvation of all mankind. Here then the need to learn every day to live in the Divine Will through our acts that are aimed at the One Act, that is the reunion between God and his creatures.
For years, at night, Luisa entered the contemplation of the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, with the addition of distinct information about many scenes of the Passion, of His last 24 hours of life on earth. It all starts with the Legal Supper and ends with Jesus’ death on the cross, thus giving future generations this magnificent work with that is important for a good meditation.
The key message of this meditation, in the light of the Divine Will, is repairing all the acts that fail to give glory, praise and thanksgiving to God and for the salvation of souls. And where there are those who meditate these hours new graces will come down from heaven for the benefit of all creatures.
The satisfaction that Jesus receives from the meditation of these Hours is great: it would happen as if Jesus heard His own voice and His prayers being reproduced in those reparations, just as the ones He raised to His Father during His sorrowful Passion with the purpose to placate the Divine Justice.
On Ash Wednesday, the Association Little Children of the Divine Will, in the footsteps of Luisa, begins the meditation of “The 24 Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ “, which lasts until Good Friday, with the creation, as in other parts of the world, of ” living clocks “, so that Jesus in every suffering has souls at His side.
Therefore, we invite all those who want to start this sublime meditation to form living clocks to give more satisfaction to our Lord when he fells repeat in an orderly and continuous way, as Luisa did, all the moments of His Passion.
FIAT!
FROM THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF THE PASSION
Presentation
This book is a translation of the Italian book, L’Orologio della Passione di Nostro Signore Gesu Cristo, written by Luisa Piccarreta, “The Little Daughter of the Divine Will,” about the year 1914, in obedience to the ecclesiastical authority at that time, the now Saint Annibale Maria di Francia. This presentation was taken largely from the preface of the fourth edition, which Saint Annibale Maria di Francia had written for the original Italian.
Luisa was seventeen years old (she relates these facts in the first of thirty-six volumes which she wrote by order of holy obedience). On the last day of a Christmas Novena which Jesus Himself prompted her to do, He surprised her with an unusually vivid experience of the marvelous Mysteries of His Love. And He told her He wanted to lavish New and Greater Graces on her, manifesting to her other, even more lofty Excesses of His Immense Love, and inviting her to continue giving Him uninterrupted company during the twenty-four hours of His Sorrowful Passion and death.
Much later, after Luisa had already been Living these Hours of the Passion intensely in her interior for more than thirty years, the now Saint Annibale di Francia, who was the ecclesiastic delegate on matters concerning Luisa’s writings and who had come to know about this practice of hers, gave her the obedience to write these Hours down. This, then, is how the book, The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ began.
It was then that Saint Annibale di Francia published it for the first time. To this edition, there followed seven others: five in Italian and two in German—always with the proper ecclesiastical permissions. It was recently published in English and Spanish as well.
When Luisa had finished writing the Hours of the Passion, she wrote a letter which she gave to Saint Annibale together with the book, who included it in the book’s preface when he published it. From this letter, we come to appreciate how pleased Jesus is, and how many benefits are lavished upon the soul, when it practices these Hours on a daily basis, as Bread without which one cannot live. Here is the letter.
“I am finally sending you this hand-written copy of The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. May it all be for His greater Glory. I have also enclosed a few sheets on which I have described the Effects and the beautiful Promises which Jesus makes to all those who meditate these Hours of the Passion.
“I believe that if whoever meditates on them is a sinner he will convert; if he is imperfect he will become perfect; if he is holy he will become holier; if he is tempted he will find victory; if suffering he will find strength, medicine and comfort in these Hours; if weak and poor he will find a spiritual food and a mirror in which to look at himself continually, and so become beautiful and similar to Jesus, our Model.
“Jesus’ Joy is so immense when someone meditates on the Hours of the Passion, that He would like to see at least one copy of these meditations being used in every city and town. Because then it would be as if Jesus were hearing His own Voice and His own Prayers which He raised to His Father during the twenty-four hours of His painful Passion. And if this is done at least by a few souls in each town and city, He Himself promises that the Divine Justice will be appeased in part, and punishments will be lessened.
“Reverend Father: You make an appeal to everyone. Bring this little work to completion, which my Loving Jesus has had me do.
“I would also like to add that the purpose of these Hours of the Passion is not so much that of recounting the story of the Passion, since there already are many books which deal with this pious subject, and it would not be necessary to write another one. Instead, its purpose is to make reparation: to unite ourselves to Jesus in each of the different moments of His Passion, and with His own Divine Will, make a worthy reparation for each of the various offenses He receives, and compensate Him for everything that all creatures owe Him.
“From this there derive the different ways of making reparation in these Hours. In some instances, the soul blesses Him, in others it sympathizes with Him, in others it praises Him, it comforts suffering Jesus, it compensates Him, it begs, prays and asks Him, and so on.
“So, I entrust to you the task of making known the purpose of these Hours to those who will read them.”
Therefore, in every city, town and nation, let us form so many cenacles, in which these twenty-four Hours of the Passion of Our Lord are meditated and lived. Like so many living clocks, let them faithfully mark the hours of each day, to keep Jesus company with our love, our reparation and our gratitude, for He is not loved as He deserves. Indeed, His own children offend Him and crucify Him again in their hearts, by closing the doors to Grace, to the Divine Will.
It happened that on one occasion, Saint Annibale di Francia went to Luisa’s house and recounted what had taken place on one of his visits with the Pope (being an intimate friend of Pope Saint Pius X, he was frequently received by him). While with him, he wanted to introduce him to the book, The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which he had been spreading. So, St. Annibale read a few pages of it to the Pope, specifically, from the Hour of the Crucifixion. At a certain point, the Pope interrupted him, saying:
“Father, this book should be read while kneeling: It is Jesus Christ who is speaking!”
Promises of Jesus for Whoever Prays The Hours of the Passion
from the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta
Volume 11 – April 10, 1913
“Tell me, my Good, what will You give as a reward to those who will do the Hours of the Passion the way You taught them to me?”
And He: “My daughter, I will not look at these Hours as your things, but as things done by Me. I will give you the same Merits, as if I were in the act of suffering My Passion. In this way, I will let you obtain the same Effects, according to the dispositions of the souls. This, while on earth – and I could not give you a greater thing from My own. Then, in Heaven, I will place these souls in front of Me, flashing them with Lightnings of Love and Contentment for as many times as they did the Hours of My Passion – while they will flash to Me as well. What a Sweet Enchantment this will be for all the Blessed!”
Volume 11 – September 6, 1913
I was thinking about the Hours of the Passion which have now been written, and how they are without any indulgence. So, those who do them do not gain anything, while there are many prayers enriched with many indulgences. While I was thinking of this, my always Adorable Jesus, all Kindness, told me: “My daughter, one gains something through the prayers with indulgences. But the Hours of My Passion, which are My own Prayers, My Reparations and all My Love, came really from the depth of My Heart. Did you perhaps forget how many times I united Myself with you to do them together, and I turned chastisements into Graces over the entire earth? So, My Satisfaction is such that, instead of the indulgence, I give the soul a handful of Love, which contains Infinite Love of Incalculable Price. Further, when things are done for pure love, My Love finds Its Outpouring – and it is not inconsiderable that the creature can give relief and expression to the Love of her Creator.”
Volume 11 – October 1914
I was writing the Hours of the Passion and I thought to myself: “How many sacrifices in order to write these blessed Hours of the Passion, especially to put on paper certain interior acts which had passed only between me and Jesus! What reward will He give to me?”
Letting me hear His Tender and Sweet Voice, Jesus told me: “My daughter, as a reward for having written the Hours of My Passion, for each word you have written, I will give you a kiss – a soul.”
And I: “My Love, this is for me; and what will you give to those who will do them?”
And Jesus: “If they do them together with Me and with My own Will, I will give them a soul for each word they will recite, because the greater or lesser effectiveness of these Hour of My Passion is in the greater or lesser union that they have with Me. In doing them with My Will, the creature hides inside My Volition; and since it is My Volition that is acting, I can produce all the Goods I want, even through one single word. This, for each time you will do them.”
Another time I was lamenting with Jesus because, after so many sacrifices to write these Hours of the Passion, very few were the souls who were doing them. And He: “My daughter, do not lament. Even if there was only one, you should be happy. Wouldn’t I have suffered all My Passion even to save only one soul? The same for you. One should never omit good only because few benefit from it; all the harm is for those who do not take advantage of it. Just as My Passion made My Humanity acquire the Merit as if all were being saved, although not all are saved (since My Will was to save everyone, and I received Merit according to what I wanted, not according to the profit which creatures would have drawn), the same is for you: you will be rewarded depending on whether your will identified itself with Mine, wanting to benefit all. All the evil remains to those who, although being able to, do not do it.
“These Hours are the Most Precious of all, because they are nothing other than the repetition of what I did in the course of My mortal Life, and what I continue to do in the Most Blessed Sacrament. When I hear these Hours of My Passion, I hear My own Voice, My own Prayers. In that soul I see My Will – that is, wanting Good for everyone and wanting to Repair for all – and I feel moved to dwell in her, in order to do whatever she does within her. Oh, how I would Love that even one single soul for each town did these Hours of My Passion! I would hear Myself in every town, and My Justice, greatly indignant during these times, would remain partly appeased.”
Volume 11 – October 13. 1916
I was doing the Hours of the Passion, and Blessed Jesus told me: “My daughter, in the course of My mortal Life, thousands and thousands of Angels were the cortege of My Humanity, gathering everything I did – My Steps, My Works, My Words, and even My sighs, My Pains, the drops of My Blood – in sum, everything. They were the Angels in charge of My Custody, and of paying Me honor; obedient to My every Wish, they would rise to and descend from Heaven, to bring to the Father what I was doing. Now these Angels have a special office, and as the soul remembers My Life, My Passion, My Blood, My Wounds, My Prayers, they come around this soul and gather her words, her prayers, her acts of compassion for Me, her tears and her offerings; they unite them to Mine, and they bring them before My Majesty to renew for Me the Glory of My own Life. The delight of the Angels is so great that, reverent, they listen to what the soul says, and pray together with her. So, with what attention and respect must the soul do these Hours, thinking that the Angels hang upon her lips to repeat after her what she says.”
Volume 12 – May 16, 1917
Then, I found myself outside of myself. I was in the midst of many souls – they seemed to be purging souls and Saints – who were speaking to me and mentioning one person known to me, who died not too long ago. And they said to me: “He feels happy in seeing that there is not a soul who enters Purgatory without carrying the mark of the Hours of the Passion. Surrounded by the cortege of these Hours and helped by them, the souls take a safe place. And there is not a soul who flies into Heaven, without being accompanied by these Hours of the Passion. These Hours make a continuous dew pour down from Heaven to earth, into Purgatory, and even into Heaven.”
On hearing this, I said to myself: “Maybe my Beloved Jesus, in order to keep the Word He had given – that for each word of the Hours of the Passion He would give a soul – is allowing that there be not a saved soul who does not benefit from these Hours.”
Afterwards, I returned into myself, and as I found my Sweet Jesus, I asked Him whether that was true. And He: “These Hours are the Order of the Universe; they put Heaven and earth in Harmony, and restrain Me from sending the world to ruin. I feel My Blood, My Wounds, My Love and all I did, being placed in circulation; and they flow over all to save all. As souls do these Hours of the Passion, I feel My Blood, My Wounds, My anxieties to save souls, being put in motion, and I feel My own Life being repeated. How could creatures obtain any Good if not by means of these Hours? Why do you doubt? This thing is not yours, but Mine. You have been the strained and weak instrument.”
Volume 22 – June 17, 1927
After this, I found myself outside of myself, and while looking for my Sweet Jesus I encountered Father Di Francia. He was all cheerful, and he told me: “Do you know how many Beautiful Surprises I found? I did not think it would be so when I was on earth, though I thought I had done good by publishing the Hours of the Passion. But the Surprises I found are Marvelous, Enchanting, of a Rarity never before seen: all the Words regarding the Passion of Our Lord changed into Light, one more Beautiful than the other—all braided together; and these Lights grow more and more as creatures do the Hours of the Passion, so more Lights add to the first.
“But what surprised me the most were the few sayings published by me about the Divine Will: each saying changed into a Sun, and these Suns, investing all the Lights with their Rays, form such a Surprise of Beauty that one remains enraptured, enchanted. You cannot imagine how surprised I was at seeing myself in the midst of these Lights and these Suns—how content I was; and I thanked our Highest Good, Jesus, who had given me the occasion and the grace to do it. You too, thank Him on my behalf.”