‘The Kingdom of The Divine Will in the midst of creatures.  Book of Heaven. The call of the creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose for which he was created by God’

THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS

Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta,

The Little Daughter of the Divine Will

 VOLUME 1

 One morning – I don’t remember well, but I think that about three months had passed of my continuously staying in bed – while I was in my usual state, my sweet Jesus came, with a look all lovable, as a young man of the age of about eighteen. Oh! how beautiful He was. With His golden hair, all curly, He seemed to chain my thoughts, my affections, my heart. From His forehead, serene and spacious, one could admire the interior of His mind, as from within a crystal, and one could discover His infinite wisdom, His imperturbable peace. Oh! how I felt my mind, my heart brighten up; even more, before Jesus, my very passions are knocked down and do not dare to give me the slightest bother. I don’t know if I’m wrong, but I believe that one cannot see this Jesus, so beautiful, if one is not in the most profound calm; so much so, that the slightest breath of disturbance prevents one from receiving a sight so beautiful. Ah! yes, at just seeing the serenity of His adorable forehead, the infusion of peace that one receives in the interior is so great, that I believe that there is no disaster or war most fierce, which do not appease themselves before Jesus. Oh! my all and beautiful Jesus, if You communicate so much peace in the few moments You manifest Yourself in this life – in such a way that one can suffer the most painful martyrdoms, the most humiliating pains with the most perfect tranquillity (it seems to me a blend of peace and sorrow) – what will it be like in Paradise? Oh! how beautiful are His most pure eyes, sparkling with light. It is not like the light of the sun, that if one wants to look at it, it harms our sight – no; in Jesus, while being light, one can very well fix his gaze on it, and by just looking at the interior of His pupil, of a dark sky-blue – oh! how many things they would tell me. The beauty of His eyes is such that one alone of His gazes is enough to make me go outside of myself, and run after Him through paths and through mountains, through the earth and through the heavens. One single glance is enough to transform me in Him, and make me feel a certain something divine descend into me.

Who can tell, then, the beauty of His adorable face? His white complexion looks like snow colored with a shade of roses, the most beautiful ones. In His rosy cheeks, one discovers the greatness of His person, with a most majestic look, fully divine, which strikes fear and reverence, and at the same time infuses such confidence that, as for myself, I have never found anyone who would give me the least shadow of confidence that my dear Jesus gives – neither my parents, nor the confessors, nor my sisters. Ah! yes, that Holy Face, while being so majestic, is also so lovable, and that loveliness attracts one so much, that the soul does not have the slightest doubt of being welcomed by Jesus, as ugly and sinful as she may see herself. Beautiful also is His nose, which descends to a very fine point, proportioned to His most sacred face. Gracious is His mouth – small, but extremely beautiful, and His finest lips of a scarlet color; while He speaks, He contains so much graciousness that it is impossible to describe it. Sweet is the voice of my Jesus, it is gentle, it is harmonious; while He speaks, there is such fragrance coming out of His mouth, that it seems that there is nothing like it on earth. It is so penetrating as to penetrate everywhere; one feels it descend from the hearing to the heart, and – oh! how many affections it produces. But who can say everything? Then, it is so pleasant, that I believe that no other pleasures can be found, as many as are the ones which one can find in one single word of Jesus. The voice of my Jesus is immensely powerful, it is operative, and at the very moment He speaks, He already operates that which He says. Ah! yes, beautiful is His mouth, but it displays more its beautiful grace in the act of His speaking, while one can see those teeth so clear and so well arranged, and His breath of love comes out, igniting, darting through, consuming the heart. Beautiful are His hands, soft, white, most delicate, with those fingers so perfectly crafted – and He moves them with such mastery as to be an enchantment.

Oh! how beautiful You are – all beautiful, oh my sweet Jesus! What I have said of your beauty is nothing; rather, it seems to me that I have said a lot of nonsense – but what can I do? Forgive me, it is obedience that wants it so. By myself, I would not have dared to say one word, knowing my insufficiency.

Now, while I was seeing Jesus in the appearance already described, He sent me a breath from His mouth, which invested all of my soul.

‘The Kingdom of The Divine Will in the midst of creatures.  Book of Heaven. The call of the creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose for which he was created by God’

 “The fragrance of Love”

Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta,

The Little Daughter of the Divine Will

VOLUME 9

 July 8, 1910

For Jesus, the body is like the Tabernacle, the soul is like the pyx.

 Being very afflicted because of the privation of my highest Good, and having received Communion, in receiving the holy host, it stopped in my throat, and as I suckled it in order to push it down, I suckled a sweet and delicious humor. Then, after suckling very much, it went down, and I could see the host changed into a baby, who said: “Your body is my Tabernacle, your soul is the pyx that contains Me; the beating of your heart is like the host that serves Me in order to transform Myself into you (Luisa), as if within a host; with this difference: that in the host, as it is consumed, I am subject to continuous deaths; while the beating of your heart, symbolizing your love, is not subject to be consumed, and so my Life is continuous. Therefore, why so much affliction about my privations? If you (Luisa) don’t see Me, you (Luisa) feel Me; if you (Luisa) don’t feel Me, you (Luisa) touch Me… and now with the fragrance of my perfumes which diffuse around you (Luisa); now with the light with which you (Luisa) feel invested; now by making a liquor that cannot be found on earth descend into you (Luisa); now by just touching you (Luisa); and the many other ways which are invisible to you (Luisa).”

Now, in order to obey, I will write these things that Jesus says happen to me often, and also while being fully awake. These fragrances – I myself am unable to tell what kind they are – I call ‘the fragrance of love’; and I feel it at Communion, if I pray, if I work, especially if I have not seen Him, and I say to myself: ‘Today He has not come. Don’t You know, O Jesus, that without You I cannot be, nor do I want to be?’ And immediately, and almost suddenly, I feel as though invested by that fragrance. Other times, as I move, or if I move the bed sheets, I feel that fragrance coming out, and in my interior I hear Him say: “I am here”. Other times, while I am all afflicted, as I go about raising my eyes, a ray of light comes before my sight. However, these things I take into no account, nor do they satisfy me. That which, alone, makes me happy is Jesus; all the rest I receive with certain indifference. I wrote this only to obey.

‘The Kingdom of The Divine Will in the midst of creatures.  Book of Heaven. The call of the creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose for which he was created by God’

The day of Jesus in the Eucharist.

 Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta,

The Little Daughter of the Divine Will

VOLUME 29

September 12, 1931 

The day of Jesus in the Eucharist.

 ….After this, I continued to pray before the tabernacle of Love, and in my interior I said to myself: “What do You do, my Love, in this prison of love?” 

And Jesus, all goodness, told me: “My daughter (Luisa), do you (Luisa) want to know what I do? I do My day.  You (Luisa) must know that My whole Life, spent down here, I enclose within one day.  My day begins by being conceived and being born; the veils of the sacramental accidents serve Me as swaddling clothes for My tender age.  And when, because of human ingratitude, they leave Me alone and try to offend Me, I do My exile, left with only the company of some loving soul who, like a second mother, cannot detach herself from Me and keeps Me faithful company. 

“From the exile I move on to Nazareth, doing My Hidden Life in the company of those few good who surround Me. And continuing My day, as creatures draw near to receive Me, I do My Public Life, repeating My evangelical scenes, offering to each one My teachings, the helps, the comforts that are necessary for them; I act as Father, as Teacher, as Doctor, and, if needed, also as Judge.  So, I spend My day waiting for all and doing good to all.  And—oh! how many times I have to remain alone, without a heart that would palpitate near Me.  I feel a desert around Me, and I remain alone—alone praying.  I feel the loneliness of My days that I spent in the desert down here, and oh! how painful it is for Me—I, who am heartbeat for all in each heart; jealous, I guard everyone—feeling isolated and abandoned. 

“But My day does not end with the sole abandonment; there is not one day that ungrateful souls do not offend Me and receive Me sacrilegiously, and make Me complete My day with My Passion and with My Death on the Cross.  Ah! it is sacrilege the most ruthless death that I receive in this Sacrament of Love. So, in this Tabernacle I do My day by carrying out everything I carried out in the thirty-three years of My mortal Life.  And just as in everything I did and do, the prime purpose, the prime act of life, is the Will of My Father—that It be done on earth as It is in Heaven—so in this little Host I do nothing other than implore that one be My Will with My children.  And I call you (Luisa) in this Divine Will, in which you (Luisa) find My whole Life in act; and you (Luisa), by following it, ruminating it and offering it, unite yourself with Me in My Eucharistic day, to obtain that My Will be known and reign upon earth.  And so you (Luisa) too will be able to say:  ‘I do my day together with Jesus.’”

April 5 A.D. 2016 – Saint Vincent Ferrer

 St. Vincent Ferrer is the patron saint of builders because of his fame for “building up” and strengthening the Church:

through his preaching, missionary work, in his teachings, as confessor and adviser.

 At Valencia in Spain, this illustrious son of St. Dominic came into the world on January 23, 1357. In the year 1374, he entered the Order of St. Dominic in a monastery near his native city. Soon after his profession he was commissioned to deliver lectures on philosophy. On being sent to Barcelona, he continued his scholastic duties and at the same time devoted himself to preaching. At Lerida, the famous university city of Catalonia, he received his doctorate. After this he labored six years in Valencia, during which time he perfected himself in the Christian life. In 1390, he was obliged to      accompany Cardinal Pedro de Luna to France, but he soon returned home.

When, in 1394, de Luna himself had become Pope at Avignon he summoned St. Vincent and made him Master of the sacred palace. In this capacity St. Vincent made unsuccessful efforts to put an end to the great schism. He refused all ecclesiastical dignities, even the cardinal’s hat, and only craved to be appointed apostolical missionary. Now began those labors that made him the famous missionary of the fourteenth century. He evangelized nearly every province of Spain, and preached in France, Italy, Germany, Flanders, England, Scotland, and Ireland.

 Numerous conversions followed his preaching, which God Himself assisted by the gift of miracles. Though the Church was then divided by the great schism, the saint was honorably received in the districts subject to the two claimants to the Papacy. He was even invited to Mohammedan Granada, where he preached the gospel with much success. He lived to behold the end of the great schism and the election of Pope Martin V. Finally, crowned with labors, he died April 5, 1419.

 His feast day is April 5.

NOTE: When she was eighteen, Luisa became a Dominican Tertiary taking the name of Sr. Maddalena. She was one of the first to enroll in the Third Order, which her parish priest was promoting. Luisa’s devotion to the Mother of God was to develop into a profound Marian spirituality, a prelude to what she would one day write about Our Lady.

At Luisa’s death a sort of bib was placed on Luisa’s breast, with the letters FIAT and the cross of the Dominican Tertiaries”.

The cross of the Dominican Tertiaries which belonged to Luisa Piccarreta and is now in Fr. Bernardino’s possession

 Book of Heaven – November 11 A.D. 1899

 Obedience prevents her from conforming to Justice.

As I was in my usual state, I found myself outside of myself, and I seemed to be going around the earth.

 Oh! how inundated it was with all sorts of iniquities! It is horrifying to think about it! Now, while going around, I arrived some place and I found a priest of holy life, and in another place a virgin of unblemished and holy life. We gathered, the three of us together, and we began to converse about the many chastisements that the Lord is sending, and about the many others that He keeps prepared. I said to them:

 ‘And you, what do you do? Have you perhaps conformed to Divine Justice?’ And they: “Seeing the strict necessity of these times, and that man would not surrender even if an apostle came out, or if the Lord sent another St. Vincent Ferrer who, with miracles and prodigious signs, might induce him to conversion; on the contrary, seeing that man has reached such obstinacy and a sort of madness, such that the very power of miracles would render them more incredulous – invested by this most strict necessity, for their good, in order to arrest this rotten sea that inundates the face of the earth, and for the glory of our God, so offended, we have conformed to Justice. Only, we are praying and offering ourselves as victims, so that these chastisements may turn out for the conversion of the peoples. And you, what do you do? Have you not conformed with us?” And I: ‘Ah, no! I cannot, because obedience does not want it, even though Jesus wants me to conform; but since obedience does not want it, it must prevail over everything, and I am forced to be always in contrast with blessed Jesus, and this afflicts me very much.’ And they: “When it is the obedience, surely one must not adhere.”

 After this, finding myself inside myself, I saw dearest Jesus for just a little, and I wanted to know where that priest and that virgin were from, and He told me that they were from Peru

St. Faustina Kowalska

Saint Faustina Kowalska, in her diary on Divine Mercy, wrote that Our Lord said to her: “I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy. On that day the very depths of my tender mercy are open.” (Source: Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1987, Sister M. Faustina Kowalska)

Jesus emphasized to Saint Faustina that the depths of His Mercy were already open on that day, long before official recognition of the Feast by His Church. With the birth of Luisa Piccarreta on the day which would eventually be proclaimed the Feast of Divine Mercy, Jesus left a special sign of the unique importance of Luisa’s Mission, which her special confessor, Saint Annibale Maria Di Francia, described as “the triumph of the Divine Will in the entire universe.”