Karol J. Wojtyla, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometres from Cracow, on May 18, 1920. He was the second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer died in 1941.

He made his First Holy Communion at age 9 and was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Cracow’s Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.

The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry (1940-1944) and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany.

In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Cracow, run by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, archbishop of Cracow. At the same time, Karol Wojtyla was one of the pioneers of the “Rhapsodic Theatre,” also clandestine.

After the Second World War, he continued his studies in the major seminary of Cracow, once it had re-opened, and in the faculty of theology of the Jagiellonian University, until his priestly ordination in Cracow on November 1, 1946.

Soon after, Cardinal Sapieha sent him to Rome where he worked under the guidance of the French Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology in 1948 with a thesis on the topic of faith in the works of St. John of the Cross. At that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral ministry among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland.

Saint John Paul II Biography

Karol J. Wojtyla, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometres from Cracow, on May 18, 1920. He was the second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer died in 1941.

He made his First Holy Communion at age 9 and was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Cracow’s Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.

The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry (1940-1944) and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany.

In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Cracow, run by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, archbishop of Cracow. At the same time, Karol Wojtyla was one of the pioneers of the “Rhapsodic Theatre,” also clandestine.

After the Second World War, he continued his studies in the major seminary of Cracow, once it had re-opened, and in the faculty of theology of the Jagiellonian University, until his priestly ordination in Cracow on November 1, 1946.

Soon after, Cardinal Sapieha sent him to Rome where he worked under the guidance of the French Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology in 1948 with a thesis on the topic of faith in the works of St. John of the Cross. At that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral ministry among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland.

In 1948 he returned to Poland and was vicar of various parishes in Cracow as well as chaplain for the university students until 1951, when he took up again his studies on philosophy and theology. In 1953 he defended his habilitation thesis on “evaluation of the possibility of founding a Christian ethic on the ethical system of Max Scheler” at the Faculty of Theology of Jagiellonian University (It was the last habilitation before closing the Faculty by comunist goverment).

Later he became professor of moral philosophy and social ethics in the major seminary of Cracow and in the Faculty of philosophy at the Catholic University of Lubin (where he became the Director of the Chair of Ethic, and lectured for 25 years until his election for the Pope in 1978).

On July 4, 1958, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cracow by Pope Pius XII, and was consecrated September 28, 1958, in Wawel Cathedral, Cracow, by Archbishop Baziak.

On January 13, 1964, he was nominated Archbishop of Cracow by Pope Paul VI, who made him a cardinal June 26, 1967.

Besides taking part in Vatican Council II with an important contribution to the elaboration of the Constitution Gaudium et spes, Cardinal Wojtyla participated in all the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops.

Since the start of his Pontificate on October 16, 1978, Pope John Paul II has completed 95 pastoral visits outside of Italy and 142 within Italy . As Bishop of Rome he has visited 301 of the 334 parishes.

His principal documents include 14 encyclicals , 13 apostolic exhortations , 11 apostolic constitutions and 42 apostolic letters. The Pope has also published three books : “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” (October 1994); “Gift and Mystery: On the 50th Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination” (November 1996) and “Roman Tryptych – Meditations”, a book of poems (March 2003).

John Paul II has presided at 138 beatification ceremonies ( 1,310 Blesseds proclaimed ) and 48 canonization ceremonies ( 469 Saints ) during his pontificate. He has held 8 consistories in which he created 201 cardinals . He has also convened six plenary meetings of the College of Cardinals.

From 1978 to today the Holy Father has presided at 15 Synods of Bishops : six ordinary (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1994, 2001), one extraordinary (1985) and eight special (1980, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998[2] and 1999).

No other Pope has encountered so many individuals like John Paul II: to date, more than 16,700,000 pilgrims have participated in the General Audiences held on Wednesdays (more than 1,000). Such figure is without counting all other special audiences and religious ceremonies held [more than 8 million pilgrims during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 alone] and the millions of faithful met during pastoral visits made in Italy and throughout the world. It must also be remembered the numerous government personalities encountered during 38 official visits and in the 690 audiences and meetings held with Heads of State , and even the 226 audiences and meetings with Prime Ministers.

The Young Karol Wojtyla

By Deacon Keith Fournier

The Birth of Karol Josef Wojtyla

On May 18, 1920, during the month traditionally dedicated to Mary the Mother of the Lord, one of her greatest treasures for the Church of her Son was born in the town of Wodowice, 35 miles southwest of Krakow Poland. The world would later receive him as Saint Pope John Paul II. His name was Karol (Polish for Karl or Charles) Josef Wojtyla. His hometown had about 10,000 residents, roughly 8,000 Catholics and 2,000 Jews. He was given a nickname by his friends, “Lolek.”

The Baptism of Karol Josef Wojtyla

Karol was Baptized into Christ and His Church on June 20, 1920 by a Chaplain in the Polish Army, Fr. Franciszek Zak. Karol was the son of a Polish Army Lieutenant also named Karol, a tailor by trade. Karol’s mother Emilia, was a schoolteacher. He had an older brother named Edmund and sister named Olga. His brother became a Doctor in the town of Bielsko. Sadly, his sister died before Karol was born.

A Friend of Consequence

The Wojtylas were faithful Catholics. They rejected the growing anti-Semiticism among some Poles in that troubled time. One of young Karol’s friends was Jerzy Kluger. He later recalled playing soccer with Karol. The teams were divided between Catholics and Jews. However, given the disparity in numbers, he recounts that young Karol would volunteer to play on the Jewish team in order to make the game more competitive and even out the odds.

This friendship lasted for a lifetime. Jerzy later participated in the dialogue which led to the extension of the Vatican’s diplomatic recognition of the State of Israel. A special love for the Jewish people took root in young Karol. It was demonstrated dramatically during his Papacy when he visited the Central Synagogue of Rome and condemned anti-Semitism “at any time and by anyone.” It was prophetically proclaimed in actions upon his visit to Auschwitz to honor the victims of the Holocaust. He was fond of regularly referring to the Jewish people as “our elder brothers” and taught the whole Church to do the same.

Karol Loses His Mother

Young Karol lost his mother a month before his ninth birthday. She died of heart and kidney problems. When he was only 12 years old his brother the Doctor died of scarlet fever. A childhood friend named Szczepan Mogielnicki told one news source that “he lost his childhood at 12, when he lost his brother… There was no youthful folly in him. Even when he played sports, he was very concentrated, but of course, he had a lot of passion. He was a very noble person, and he expressed things in a very noble way, but there was no folly.” Father Karol and son Karol lived in a one room apartment behind the parish church.

Karol: The Father and the Son

The elder Karol sewed his sons clothing and watched over his studies. He taught him to be self disciplined and to work hard. He was deeply devoted to raising the son he loved. Another friend recalls entering the small apartment and finding father and son playing soccer with a ball made of rags. Karol credited his Catholic faith to the influence of his beloved father. The Church was a vital part of their life as a family. He made his First Holy Communion at age 9, they practiced their Catholic faith in the home and Karol was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Krakow’s Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.

Seeds of the Priestly Vocation and Response to the Call

Karol the Actor, Poet and Pilgrim

During his early schooling young Karol Wojtyla participated in his first theatrical performances. His lifelong love for the theater and all of the arts was born. He began writing poetry. He performed in his first student theatrical productions. He began the study of Greek, was elected president of the Sodality of Mary, and made his first pilgrimage to Czestochowa, home of the Image of Our Lady of Czestochowa.

A Cardinal’s Inquiry

It was also during this time that he impressed Adam Cardinal Sapieha, the Archbishop of Krakow. According to his friend Fr. Mieczyslaw Malinski, Karol’s skill as a speaker caught the Archbishops attention when he visited the young man’s school. Karol had been chosen to give the welcoming speech – and he did so with great skill. The Archbishop asked the pastor of the parish whether young Karol had considered the priesthood. He was told that Karol had his heart set on pursuing an acting career in the theatre.

Seeds Planted in the Heart

In 1987, Saint Pope John Paul II shared these thoughts with young people in Los Angeles, “I am often asked, especially by young people, why I became a priest. Maybe some of you would like to ask the same question. Let me try briefly to reply. I must begin by saying that it is impossible to explain entirely. For it remains a mystery, even to myself. How does one explain the ways of God? Yet, I know that, at a certain point in my life, I became convinced that Christ was saying to me what he had said to thousands before me: ‘Come, follow me!’

“There was a clear sense that what I heard in my heart was no human voice, nor was it just an idea of my own. Christ was calling me to serve him as a priest. And you can probably tell that I am deeply grateful to God for my vocation to the priesthood. Nothing means more to me or gives me greater joy that to celebrate Mass each day and to serve God’s people in the Church. That has been true ever since the day of my ordination as a priest. Nothing has ever changed this, not even becoming Pope.”

Actor and Student of Philosophy

When Karol enrolled in Jagiellonian University in the fall of 1938 he first entered the school of philosophy. He also joined “Studio 38” an “experimental” theatre group where he continued acting. Events in Poland intervened in his life and interrupted his formal studies. However, nothing would interrupt his continued pursuit of learning. The troops of the National Socialists of Hitler’s Germany invaded Poland in 1939. They quickly overtook the ill prepared Polish army.

The Nazi Aggressors

Among the many immediate acts of aggression undertaken by the Nazis was to close the University. Young Karol took a job in 1940 as a stone-cutter at a quarry in Zakrzowek, near Krakow. He later worked in the Solvay chemical factory to earn a living and avoid being deported to Germany. However, it was during those dark days that the seed of his priestly vocation was being watered and the light of his growing faith began to illuminate the path he would take in response to God’s call.

A Friend is used by the Lord

During this time Karol Wojtyla came to know Jan Tryanowski, a young Catholic layman and youth leader at St. Stanislaus Kostka parish in the 1940s. That was Karol’s university parish. During the Nazi occupation, priests were at a minimum. This young layman Jan had an extraordinary impact on Karol’s life. He may have also contributed to the future Pope’s lifelong conviction concerning the call of the lay faithful to fully participate in the mission of the Church. During his later participation in the Second Vatican Council and throughout his pontificate, he would be a champion of the universal call to holiness and the vital apostolate of the lay faithful.

This tailor Jan Tryanowski was a mystic, a man of deep prayer, who studied the writings of St John of the Cross and spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila with great intensity. Initially, young Karol was not all that impressed with Tryanowski. However, the Holy Spirit was unfolding a plan in young Karol’s life. He became increasingly drawn to the tailor’s interior life of prayer and deep real world aith. Tryanowski became a mentor to Karol. His influence helped to set the future Pope on a path which not only changed him but would change the whole world through him. Jan Tryanowski taught Karol about union with God and the call to abandon all to follow Jesus.

Now we call that tailor, the Servant of God Jan Tryanowski and his own cause for canonization is underway. Then, among his other youth outreaches, Tryanowski had formed a “Living Rosary” group. From that group many priestly and religious vocations emerged, including that of the young Karol Wojtyla. Years later Archbishop Karol Wojtyla wrote of the influence Jan Tyranowski had upon him:

“He was one of those unknown saints, hidden amid the others like a marvelous light at the bottom of life, at a depth where night usually reigns. He disclosed to me the riches of his inner life, of his mystical life. In his words, in his spirituality and in the example of a life given to God alone, he represented a new world that I did not yet know. I saw the beauty of a soul opened up by grace.”

Seed Planted in Fertile Ground

In 1942, the seeds of his priestly vocation had taken deep root. Aware of his call to the priesthood, Karol Wojtyla made the choice to began courses in the underground seminary of Krakow. It was being run by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, the Archbishop of Krakow. However, Karol continued his acting, writing, and poetry. He became one of the pioneers of the “Rhapsodic Theatre”. It, like seminary formation, was also forced underground by the Nazi occupation. This connection between the beauty of the Arts and the Christian vocation became a continuing theme of Karol Wojtyla. In one of his least known Papal letters entitled a “Letter to Artists” Saint Pope John Paul would write of “vocation” of artists to create “Epiphanies of Beauty.”

Karol the Seminarian

After the Second World War the seminarian Karol Wojtyla entered the re-opened major seminary in Krakow. He also enrolled once again at Jagiellonian University to study theology. He was ordained to the diaconate and then to the priesthood by Archbishop Sapieha in Krakow on November 1, 1946. His intelligence and aptitude for further study became clear to the Archbishop, by then elevated to Cardinal. He sent Fr Karol Wojtyla to Rome to study and work under one of the great scholars and spiritual writers of the Church, the French Dominican, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange.

The Student who became a Professor; the Pastor who became a Bishop

By Deacon Keith Fournier

Fr. Karol, Graduate Student

Fr. Karol Wojtyla first entered into graduate studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. His intelligence was one of the many gifts, both natural and spiritual, which he offered to the Lord. While a student, he roomed with Fr. Starowieyski, another Polish priest at the Pontifical Belgian College, with whom he became friends. In 1947, he received his STL (License) which, in the European University system, is an absolute requirement to teach. That summer the two traveled to France, Belgium and Holland. In the area of Charleroi he carried out his pastoral activities with the Polish workers. Then, under the oversight of Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, he began his studies toward a Doctorate.

The influence of Jan Tryanowski was still bearing fruit in the life and thought of Fr. Karol Wojtyla. He sought approval for a dissertation topic “The Problem of Faith in the Works of St. John of the Cross.” He wrote the dissertation and successfully defended it. He later earned a master’s degree in theology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow’s well as a doctorate in sacred theology in the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian Universiity. He was called to Krakow to be an assistant pastor at St. Florian’s in Krakow and serve as a chaplain to university students and health workers.

A Sabbatical of Preparation

In 1951 Archbishop Baziak who had replaced Cardinal Sapieha gave Fr Karol a sabbatical in order to enable him to qualify as a University Professor. For two years he worked on this further academic position successfully completed his examinations. He also had to write and defend another thesis in order to qualify for a university professorship. This he diligently pursued for the next two years.

His philosophical interests lay in the area of phenomenology and he focused on a philosopher named Max Scheler. He began to see the limitations of the approach. As a result, the seeds were planted in Fr Karol the scholar, student and professor to begin what would later become his own contribution to the field of philosophical ethics and the renewal of Catholic Moral theology. He began his teaching experiences by offering a class on social ethics to fourth year theology students in the seminary.

Fr. Karol Becomes a Professor

As time passed, Jagellonian University merged its theology program with the archdiocesan seminary. In effect, the entire faculty of the theology school was eliminated. So Fr. Karol Wojtyla accepted what was originally a non-tenured professorship at the Catholic University of Lublin. In 1956 he was appointed to a Chair in Ethics and the next year he was approved as a full lecturer. For the next twenty years he taught and developed his thought in the field of Ethics and moral Theology.

From Priest to Bishop

In 1958 Fr Karol Wojtyla was called to another assignment in his continuing response to the vocation the Lord had given him. He was ordained to the fullness of Holy Orders and received his first Episcopal assignment as an auxiliary Bishop to assist Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak of Krakow. His enormous gifts of both teaching and pastoral care continued to be offered to the Church of Poland. Bishop Karol Wojtyla taught at University and provided pastoral care to students.

Bishop Wojtyla Writes His First Book

Though he had already published many articles in areas of both philosophical and theological interest in his academic studies and early University research and teaching, it was during this period of time that he wrote his first major book entitled “Love and Responsibility.” In it, the seeds of his rich understanding of the nature of the human person, created in the Image of God and called to love, began to form and be articulated. In addition his practical pastoral experience drew even more fully into consideration of the nature of human love in the Divine Plan.

Bishop, Cardinal, Contributor to the
Second Vatican Council and significant Church Leader

By Deacon Keith Fournier

Invited to Historic Vatican II Council

On October 5, 1962 Bishop Karol Wojtyla joined Bishops from around the world as the Second Vatican Council was convened in Rome. He attended every one of the sessions, contributing significantly and being deeply formed as well as changed by the experience. During this time of the Council, his life as a Bishop of the Church underwent a significant development. Archbishop Baziak of Krakow died and after the first session of the Council, Bishop Wojtyla was again called to say “yes” to the invitation of the Lord speaking through His Church.

Pope John XXIII appointed Bishop Wojtyla to become Bishop of Krakow. At the time of the appointment, his beloved Poland was under the oppression of another inhuman ideology, atheistic communism. As a result, he was not officially appointed until 1964 by Pope Paul VI and was formally installed on March 8, 1964. This son of Poland who had studied for his ordination in an underground seminary during the infamous oppression of the Nazi’s was to live and lead through another era marked by an ideology which failed to recognize God and, as a result, failed to defend the dignity of human persons created in His Image. He would later be elevated to the office Cardinal by the same Pope Paul VI on May 29, 1967.

Significant Contributor to Council Documents

During the three years of the Second Vatican Council, Bishop Karol Wojtyla played a significant role at the Council. He actively participated in the debates and assisted in the drafting of the decrees which were produced by the Council Fathers. Of particular note, the future Pope was a participant on the commission which drafted the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes. The theological anthropology which emerged from that profound document would become one of the foundations of his extraordinary teaching magisterium when he assumed the chair of Peter many years later. He is known to have also contributed to the seminal Declaration on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis Humanae, and the Decree on the Instruments of Social Communications, Inter Mirifica.

Home to Poland to Implement the Council

After this historic Council, Bishop Karol Wojtyla returned to Poland to implement the teaching of the Council Fathers. He wrote one of the most significant books concerning the teaching of the Council entitled “Sources of Renewal” in 1972. It is the only book written by a Bishop who participated in the Council. In it one finds the seeds and themes which would later come to full flourishing as he wrote his encyclicals, apostolic letters and exhortations after being elected to the Chair of Peter.

Church Reformer

Among the many effects of the Second Vatican Council were structural reforms. Two of the institutions affected were the Synods of Bishops and the Conferences of Bishops. By then Karol Wojtyla had been named a Cardinal. He was elected to Vice-presidency of the Polish Bishops Conference. His courage was evident in the strong leadership he provided to the Church of Poland as she faced persecution under Communist Rule. Throughout the 1970’s Karol Cardinal Wojtyla made significant contributions to the Bishops assemblies, serving in numerous leadership capacities. This Cardinal of Poland emerged as a courageous defender of the faith and an excellent theologian, helping to implement the reforms begun by the Second Vatican Council.

Seeds of the Council become Roots of a Magisterium

His papers and presentations continued to enrich the universal Church. The themes which would characterize his Papal magisterium sunk their roots deep and were watered by the wisdom he gained in providing pastoral care to the people of God in his beloved Poland. He was a light of truth throughout those turbulent years as he traveled to Rome for meetings. On August 11 -12, 1978, he traveled to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Paul VI and the events which followed would mark another call from the Lord; one which would both surprise and change the whole world.

From Cardinal to Chair of Peter to Grain of Wheat

The Bishop Becomes a Prince of the Church

Karol Cardinal Wojtyla’s was selected as a Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1967. In March of 1976, he was invited to give a Lenten retreat to the aging Pope. The talks became a book of deep spiritual insights and reflections entitled “Sign of Contradiction.” He was chosen by the late Pope to be his representative to the International Eucharistic Congress held in the United States in July of 1976, the Nation’s bicentennial. It would be the beginning of a deep and enduring friendship with the American people.

Champion of the Dignity of Life and Love

Cardinal Wojtyla had a deep conviction of the importance of Pope Paul VI’s Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae, On Human Life, published in 1968. It was about more than the regulation of birth and issues of contraception; it was about the dignity of the human person and human love in the Divine Plan. Sadly, the letter became a rallying point for some who chose to dissent. However, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla’s work in theological anthropology, his development of a theology of marriage and family, and his Wednesday Catechetical Instructions (later compiled as “Human Love in the Divine Plan” and popularly called the “Theology of the Body”) as Pope, clearly built upon this important Encyclical letter of Paul VI and have ensured its lasting effects.

From Cardinal to the Chair of Peter

The death of Pope Paul VI on August 6, 1978, the Feast of the Transfiguration, brought Cardinal Wojtyla to Rome where he participated in the Conclave which elected Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice as Pope. The gentle smiling Pope took the name John Paul I to represent his commitment to continuity with the pontificates of both of his predecessors and the Council which they presided over. Sadly, 33 days later Pope John Paul I died in office. 1978 then became the year of three Popes. Karol Cardinal Wojtyla soon heard the Lord call him to an assignment he probably never expected when he studied for the priesthood in an underground seminary in Poland.

On October 16, 1978, the Cardinals gathered under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and chose Karol Cardinal Wojtyla as the 263rd successor to the Apostle Peter. He took the name John Paul II as his first teaching act, sending the signal of continuity. He stepped out on to the balcony in St. Peters Square and proclaimed: “Be Not Afraid! Open up, no; swing wide the gates to Christ. Open up to his saving power the confines of the State, open up economic and political systems, the vast empires of culture, civilization and development… Be not afraid!”

Pope John Paul II Begins his Service

Affirmed by many as one of the chief architects of the Second Vatican Council and its extraordinary document on the relationship of the Church to the “modern” world” (entitled “Joy and Hope” or “Gaudium et Spes” in Latin), this strong, passionate, charismatic priest and Bishop now occupied the chair of Peter. At a critical time in the history of both the Church and the world, he stepped forward like a lion, with a prophetic roar. He strode onto that platform with strength and vitality.

This mountain climbing Polish Pope was so filled with the love of God it was contagious. A talented and gifted “man of letters”, a playwright, a philosopher, an intellectual giant, a poet, but more importantly, a genuine human being with a heart that embraced the whole world, like the Heart of the One whom he represents on earth. He truly has been the “Vicar of Christ”, representing the Lord, the King of Kings, for so many millions throughout the world.

Pope of Freedom and Fidelity

Like a lion in Peter’s chair, he consistently and tirelessly lived what he boldly proclaimed with great courage. Unafraid, he traversed the globe, proclaiming freedom to the captives and truth to the victims of failed false ideologies that had ravaged the people of the twentieth century, the bloodiest in all of human history. He has not stopped passionately re-presenting the classical, unchanging, Christian message with a prophetic urgency, profound clarity and contemporary relevance.

Prolific and Courageous

Communism, atheism, secularism, false humanisms… have now all been exposed in both their empty promises and the horrors that they unleashed in the wake of their false utopian claims. This Pope proclaimed that the “Redeemer of Man” (the title of his first encyclical letter), Jesus Christ, is the path to authentic personal, social and universal freedom! He authored more encyclical letters, apostolic exhortations, constitutions and letters than any Pope in the two thousand year history of the Christian Church. In these writings and so many allocutions, this marvelous man has given us a treasury to unpack for centuries.

Saint John Paul’s Themes

He meticulously and brilliantly developed themes during his service to the Church and the world. Among them; “The Culture of Life”, “The Civilization of Love”, “The New Evangelization”, “The New Springtime of world missions “, “The Universal Call to holiness”; “Christian Marriage and family life as a domestic church”; “A Spirituality of Communion”; “The Theology of the Body”; “The Common Good”; “The Unity of Life”; “The New Humanism”; “The New feminism and the Feminine Genius”; “The Two Lungs of East and West”; ” Catholic Action”, and a “New Advent” for all of humanity in Jesus Christ.

Saint John Paul’s Magisterium

His writings were vast, 14 Encyclicals, 15 Apostolic Exhortations, 11 Apostolic Constitutions, 45 Apostolic Letters and five books, “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” (October 1994), “Gift and Mystery, on the fiftieth anniversary of my ordination as priest” (November 1996), “Roman Triptych” poetic meditations (March 2003), “Arise, Let us Be Going” (May 2004) and “Memory and Identity” (February 2005). He promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He reformed the Eastern and Western Codes of Canon Law. He was an extraordinary Pope on every front.

His magisterium set a framework for what is becoming under his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, a new missionary age. His teaching helped to bring about an authentic renewal of the Church. It also reasserted the mission of the Church to engage and transform human culture, including the arts, politics, the academy, and economic and political realm – because no area of human experience is “off-limits” to the influence of the Gospel and the Church. The Church is, in the words of the Fathers of the second Vatican Council, an “expert in humanity”.

Saint John Paul the Evangelist

Saint Pope John Paul II called all men and women to the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. He reminded us that only in Jesus Christ can we discover the purpose and fulfillment of human life. He proclaimed that human existence itself is an invitation to communion with God and with one another. He told an age bent of “self fulfillment” that true human fulfillment only comes from giving ourselves in love to God and to one another. He called us to live a unity of life, wherein the implications of the Christian faith inform the entirety of life with no contradiction or separation.

An Apostle of Life

He confronted, exposed and opposed the “culture of death”, wherein the human person is treated as an instrument to be used rather than an unrepeatable gift to be received. He proposed a different way, building a new “culture of life” where every human person, at every age and stage, is recognized as having an inviolable dignity and right to life, freedom and love.

A Promoter of Peace

He charted a path to peace and solidarity, proclaiming to the nations that we are all our brothers’ keeper and that we owe an obligation in solidarity to one another and, most especially, to the poor in all of their manifestations. He wrote of authentic freedom as a freedom “for” and not just a freedom “from”, a freedom that must be bounded by truth and lived in accordance with the moral understanding of our obligation to do what is right.

A Champion of Freedom

He exposed what he called in his Encyclical “The Gospel of Life” the “counterfeit notion of freedom” as a raw power over others. He countered the false notion of the autonomy of the individual as the measure of a “freedom” to do whatever one wants by insisting that the path to human flourishing is communion. He proclaimed a new and true humanism, reaffirming that we were created in the Image of God, made for communion. He insisted that through applying the treasury of the social teaching of the Catholic Church – in our relationships with one another, in our families, in our societies, our nations and in the global community – authentic justice and freedom can actually be achieved.

Entrusted for twenty six years with the most important role of service in the Church and the world, Saint Pope John Paul II was a prophetic Pope in both word and deed. From his first encyclical letter entitled “The Redeemer of Man” to his last, the “Church of the Eucharist”, he proclaimed that the truth is, as he wrote in his profound Encyclical Letter on the Moral Life, a “splendor”.

A Healer of Divisions

He called for reconciliation among separated Christians in “May They Be One” and a new model of full communion with the Church which is beginning to be implemented under Pope Benedict XVI with the creation of Anglican Ordinariates as an example. With deep love for the “Light of the East” he called Eastern and Western Christianity to rediscover their dependence upon one another in order that the entire Body of Christ might once again breathe with “two lungs” and present the whole Jesus Christ to a world that needs to be liberated. Again, his successor continues the effort with extraordinary promise.

A Man of Living Faith

The oft-repeated paragraph 22 from “Joy and Hope”, one of Saint Pope John Paul’s favorite, is a key to understanding his deep faith: “In reality, it is only in the mystery of the word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear. For Adam, was a type of him who was to come, Christ the lord, Christ the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of His love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling.”

The Lion becomes a Lamb

He began his pontificate Lion roaring and ended it like a lamb. The once vibrant, strong Pope became frail, sick and physically weak. The giant of a man, who once climbed mountains, mounted the cross of human suffering and, in his frail frame, exercised the authority of his office from a unique chair, still the Chair of Peter, a wheel chair. How fitting for the champion of the weak, the disabled, the elderly, those who have no voice, was finally joined physically to them in order to show the world the truth of the beauty and dignity of every human life.

The Pope who revealed the love of God through years of emptying himself out for the Lord and His people showed us the beauty of a suffering endured in love and offered for others in his last days among us. With decreasing verbal eloquence because his lips stammered from the ravages of Parkinson’s disease, he achieved something beyond words; he demonstrated the truth of the Christian message of love by revealing the God who came to suffer for us all in his beautiful silence.

A Seed of a New Springtime

Then he went home to the Father having become a seed of the “New Springtime” he proclaimed. The Lord proclaimed that “unless a grain of wheat fall to the ground…” and when this Pope’s prophetic mission on earth was over he joined the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Lamb who was slain for our sins. On April 2, at 9.37 p.m., the Octave of Easter and the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, he died, falling to the ground as a grain of wheat in imitation of the Lord whom He loved and served so well.

From Blessed to Saint John Paul II

The beatification of Blessed John Paul II on the Feast of Divine Mercy, May 1, 2011 was announced by a decree which addressed the importance of the date chosen:

“Since the beginning of his pontificate, in 1978, John Paul II often spoke in his homilies of the mercy of God. This became the theme of his second encyclical, Dives in Misericordia, in 1980. He was aware that modern culture and its language do not have a place for mercy, treating it as something strange; they try to inscribe everything in the categories of justice and law. But this does not suffice, for it is not what the reality of God is about.”

We had a saint in our midst; a man so filled with Jesus Christ that, like the Apostle Paul, he no longer lived but “Christ lived in him.” (Galatians 2) Blessed John Paul was, and is, a messenger of mercy. The cry of the faithful on the day on which his body was processed through the streets of Rome, “Santo Subito” continues. In fact, it grows stronger. We seek his intercession and are inspired by the witness of his holy life and inspiring death. We share our stories of his continued work from heaven. The final step to his canonization is an attested second miracle.

A Virtual Exhibit Hall

On the morning of July 6, 2011 Pope Benedict XVI visited an exhibition dedicated to Blessed John Paul II, his friend and predecessor. The exhibition was offered in the Charlemagne Wing at the left colonnade of St. Peter’s Square. There are many places springing up around the world dedicated to this wonderful treasure, this saint of the Lord. Catholic Online now offers this virtual exhibition place for stories, testimonies, photos, images, writings and tributes to the Blessed John Paul II as the cause for his canonization proceeds.

The Communion of Saints

In our creed we profess our belief in the “communion of saints.” This ancient belief was explained in these beautiful words by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council in their Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium): “Until the Lord shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him (266) and death being destroyed, all things are subject to Him, some of His disciples are exiles on earth, some having died are purified, and others are in glory beholding “clearly God Himself triune and one, as He is”; but all in various ways and degrees are in communion in the same charity of God and neighbor and all sing the same hymn of glory to our God. For all who are in Christ, having His Spirit, form one Church and cleave together in Him.

“Therefore the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who have gone to sleep in the peace of Christ is not in the least weakened or interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the perpetual faith of the Church, is strengthened by communication of spiritual goods. For by reason of the fact that those in heaven are more closely united with Christ, they establish the whole Church more firmly in holiness, lend nobility to the worship which the Church offers to God here on earth and in many ways contribute to its greater edification.

“For after they have been received into their heavenly home and are present to the Lord, through Him and with Him and in Him they do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, showing forth the merits which they won on earth through the one Mediator between God and man,(271) serving God in all things and filling up in their flesh those things which are lacking of the sufferings of Christ for His Body which is the Church. Thus by their brotherly interest our weakness is greatly strengthened.”

The Saints: A Great Cloud of Witnesses

The saints are the great “cloud of witnesses” to which the author of the letter to the Hebrews referred. (Hebrews 12:1) The Apostle Paul reminded the Christians in Rome that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38, 39) The Church is a communion of those who live in Jesus Christ, a relationship from which we cannot be separated. Our relationship with one another does not end.

The ancient belief in the communion of saints is explained wonderfully in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catechism offers copious references to the scriptural roots of the doctrine and the earliest teachings of the fathers and Councils of the Church affirming it. (CCC #946-962). In that section we also find two short quotes from Saints with whom we are all familiar. There are chosen from among a myriad of others in the Tradition. However, they bring this wonderful belief right down to our popular piety.

The first is found in the account of the death of St. Dominic; the words he spoke to the brothers who gathered around him: “Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life.” The second is taken from an account of the final conversation between St Therese of Lisieux and a friend: “I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth.” (CCC #956)

The Saints as Intercessors and Models

When we are in need we turn to one another for assistance through the prayer of intercession. Death does not separate us. That prayer continues. The Saints are our friends and our models. The process of canonization has evolved from the earliest centuries as a way of recognizing the heroic virtue of those who have gone on before us and are heroes to be emulated and intercessors with great efficacy and empathy. Clearly, Blessed John Paul II is numbered among them.

As the final step of the canonization process unfolds, the verification of an additional miracle (which, in the opinion of this deacon is beyond doubt) we offer this virtual place of pilgrimage, prayer and gathering along the road.

Pope John Paul II Passes to the father

On April 2, 2005 at 9:37 p.m. Blessed Pope John Paul II died. In April of 2009 his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, told Pilgrims gathered in Rome “With you, I pray for the gift of beatification”. That prayer has been answered. Friday, January 14, 2011 the Holy See released the “Decree for the Beatification of the Servant of God John Paul II” which can be read in its entirety here. http://www.radiovaticana.org/EN1/Articolo.asp?c=454138

A Prophetic Pronouncement

Sunday, January 16, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI, after praying the Angelus, Pope Benedict XVI announced “On 1 May I will have the joy of proclaiming the Blessed Pope John Paul II, my predecessor, as a blessed. The date chosen is very significant because it will, in fact, be the second Sunday of Easter which he himself dedicated to Divine Mercy and on the eve of which his earthly life came to an end…Those who knew him, those who respected and loved him cannot but share in the Church’s joy at this event.”

Blessed John Paul II

In the last ten centuries of Church history no Pope has beatified his predecessor. From the beginning of Pope Benedict’s pontificate it has been clear that he has longed for this day. On April 3, 2011 at another Angelus, he told the faithful who had gathered “I remember him in prayer with affection as I think of you all. While we journey through Lent and prepare for the feast of Easter, we come with joy to the day when we will also venerate as a saint this great pope and witness of Christ, and rely even more on his intercession.”

On April 9, 2011 Pope Benedict XVI attended a documentary film entitled “The Great Pope: Pilgrim in White”, directed by the Polish director Jaropslaw Szmidt on the pontificate of Blessed Pope John Paul II. he noted, “This film … sets out to faithfully render both the personality of the Pope and his tireless work throughout his long pontificate” and spoke of the “two pillars” of the life and ministry of his predecessor in office, “prayer and missionary zeal. John Paul II was a great scholar and great apostle of Christ. God chose him for the Chair of Peter and granted him long life in order that he might accompany the Church into the third millennium. By his example, he guided us all in this pilgrimage and continues to do so from above”.

The choice of the Feast of Divine Mercy, May 1, 2011 for this beautification is intentionally chosen. Blessed Pope John Paul II had a deep devotion to his fellow Pole Sr. Faustina Kowalska and to the Divine Mercy devotion identified with her. In August 2002, in Lagiewniki, Poland where Sr. Faustina lived and died, John Paul II entrusted the entire world “to Divine Mercy, to the unlimited trust in God the Merciful.”

The Decree of Beatification notes, “Since the beginning of his pontificate, in 1978, John Paul II often spoke in his homilies of the mercy of God. This became the theme of his second encyclical, Dives in Misericordia, in 1980. He was aware that modern culture and its language do not have a place for mercy, treating it as something strange; they try to inscribe everything in the categories of justice and law. But this does not suffice, for it is not what the reality of God is about.”

Path to Sainthood

There is no doubt that we had a saint in our midst. A man so filled with Jesus Christ that, like the Apostle Paul, he no longer lived but “Christ lived in him.” (Galatians 2) The sentiment of the faithful expressed on the day on which his body was processed through the streets of Rome, “Santo Subito” has echoed as the Church has discerned the cause of his canonization. Now, he will be raised to the Altar on the Feast of Divine Mercy and the faithful will call him “Blessed John Paul II.”

Pope John Paul’s first miracle occurred in 2006.

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun and member of the Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Maternity Wards was confined to her bed by Parkinson’s disease. It was reported that she was completely cured of the disease after members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II.

In May of 2008 she was once again continuing her good works at a maternity ward again. “I was sick and now I am cured,” she told reporter Gerry Shaw.

Pope John Paul’s second miracle occurred in 2011. A Costa Rican woman, Floribeth Mora, who was suffering from a terminal brain aneurism, was healed with no known natural (medical) cause, on the date of John Paul’s beatification.

A panel of expert theologians from the Vatican examined the evidence and determined that it was directly attributable to the intercession of John Paul.

Two other potential miracles are thought to have occurred due to the direct intercession of Pope John Paul II.

On the fourth anniversary of the Pope’s death, a Polish boy who had suffered from kidney cancer and was completely unable to walk, was visiting the tomb with his parents. Upon leaving St. Peter’s Basilica he told his parents he wanted to walk, and then began to walk normally.

The other miracle attributed to Pope John Paul is the miraculous curing of Marco Fidel Rojas, the mayor of Huila, Colombia who was suffering from Parkinsons. His doctor has authenticated his cure.

Pope Francis confirmed his approval of the canonization of John Paul II on July 4, 2013, formally recognizing the second miracle attributed to his intercession. He was canonized alongside the Blessed John XXIII on April 27, 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in Rome. The Canonization Mass was celebrated by Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Rosary, Biblical Basis

Q: Is there a biblical basis for the Rosary?

A: As you know the bible does “not” tell us to pray the rosary because this form of prayer originated only during the middle ages. However, important elements of the Rosary are biblical and/or belong to the common Christian beliefs. Judge for yourself.

1) The “creed” or profession of faith at the beginning of the Rosary is nothing else but the earliest baptismal profession still common to all Christian documentation.

2) The “Our Father”–also part of the Rosary–is literally biblical.

3) Among the “fifteen mysteries” there are very few which are not directly biblical, namely the Assumption of Mary and her crowning. The Assumption is related to Gen 3,15; the crowning can be assimilated to Apoc 12.1.

4) The first part of the “Hail Mary” corresponds to the Angel’s salutation at the Annunciation and that of Elisabeth at the Visitation (Lk 1:28 and 2:42).

5) The second half, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death,” might be understood as follows:

“Holy Mary” again corresponds to the biblical passage of the Annunciation (Lk 1:28: “full of grace”)

“Mother of God” is the very meaning of the biblical annunciation even if the term as such was approved at Ephesus (431)

“Pray for us”: although not explicitly mentioned in Scripture, the intercession can be related to the Wedding Feast at Cana where Mary intercedes with her Son for the young couple in trouble. See also Lk 18:13. The earliest prayer of intercession regarding Mary (Sub Tuum) dates from the fourth century. It was common to all Christian traditions for more than one thousand years, until the Reformation. It is important to remember that Mary intercedes for us only in and through Jesus Christ.

“Now and at the hour of our death”: these concluding words were added only in the ninteenth century. They are not in the bible but can be related to Mary’s station at the foot of the Cross as refuge of hope.

6) Finally, the “Glory be to the Father” makes direct reference to the Trinity. It is not mentioned as such in the Bible but nobody would question Father, Son and Spirit and the praise due to them.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

In the Divine Will

  From the Writings of

The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta

The Little Daughter of the Divine Will

Dedicated to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

Volume 25 – October 7, 1928 The opening of the House of the Divine Will in Corato. Simile of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.  My entrance into it.  The eucharistic lamp and the living lamp of one who does the Divine Will.  The prisoner near the Prisoner.  Jesus’ delight at this company.

My Jesus, Life of my poor heart, You who know in what bitternesses I find myself, come to my help! Overwhelm the little newborn of your Divine Volition into your flames, that You may give me, again, the strength to be able to begin another volume, and your Divine Fiat may eclipse my miserable will, that it may have life no more, and your Divine Will may take over, and It Itself may write, with the characters of Its light, that which You, my Love, want me to write.  And so that I may make no mistake, act as my prompter; and only if You commit Yourself to accepting to be my word, thought and heartbeat, and to lead my hand with yours, can I make the sacrifice of returning to write what You want.  My Jesus, I am here, near the Tabernacle of love.  From that adored little door which I have the honor to gaze at, I feel your divine fibers, your Heart palpitating, emitting flames and rays of endless light at each heartbeat; and in those flames I hear your moans, your sighs, your incessant supplications and your repeated sobs, for You want to make your Will known, to give Its life to all; and I feel myself being consumed with You and repeating what You do.  Therefore I pray You, while You gaze at me from within the Tabernacle, and I gaze at You from within my bed, to strengthen my weakness, that I may make the sacrifice of continuing to write.

Now, in order to be able to say what Jesus told me, I have to make a brief mention – that 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 daughter, 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.  Oh! 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.

So, as this House was about to be opened, one could see people, nuns, little girls – people coming and going, all in motion. I felt all impressed, and my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me:  “My daughter, this group of people whom you see all in motion for the opening of the House of my Divine Will is symbolic of that group of people when I wanted to be born in Bethlehem, and the shepherds were coming and going, to visit Me, a little Baby.  This pointed out to all the certainty of my birth.  In the same way, this group of people, all in motion, points out the rebirth of the Kingdom of my Divine Will.  Look at how all of Heaven echoes my birth, when the Angels, celebrating it, announced Me to the shepherds, and putting them in motion, made them keep coming to Me, and I recognized in them the first fruits of the Kingdom of my Redemption.  So now, in this group of people, of little girls and nuns, I recognize the beginning of the Kingdom of my Divine Will.  Oh! how my Heart exults and rejoices, and all of Heaven makes feast.  Just as the Angels celebrated my birth, so do they celebrate the beginning of the rebirth of my Fiat in the midst of creatures.  But, look at how my birth was more neglected, more poor – I had not even one priest near Me, but only poor shepherds.  On the other hand, at the beginning of my Volition, there is not only a group of nuns and little girls from out of town, and a people rushing up to celebrate the opening, but there is an archbishop and priests representing my Church.  This is symbol and announcement to all, that the Kingdom of my Divine Volition will be formed with more magnificence, with greater pomp and splendor than the very Kingdom of my Redemption; and everyone, kings and princes, bishops and priests and peoples, will know the Kingdom of my Fiat and will possess It.  Therefore, you too, celebrate this day in which my sighs and sacrifices, and yours, to make my Divine Will known see the first dawn and hope for the Sun of my Divine Fiat to soon rise.”

Then, the evening came of this day consecrated to the Queen of the Rosary, Queen of victories and of triumphs. And this is another beautiful sign that, just as the Sovereign Lady conquered Her Creator, and bejewelling 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. 

I had not at all thought that, on that very evening, I would move to the House of Divine Will, near my Prisoner Jesus; only, I prayed Him not to let me know when this would be, so as not to profane such an act with my human will, so that I might put nothing of my own, but do the Divine Will in everything.  It was eight o’clock in the evening when, out of the ordinary, the confessor came, who, prayed by the reverend mothers superior, imposed out of obedience that I should surrender and make the superior content.  I resisted quite a bit, because I thought that if the Lord wanted so, it would be in the month of April, a warmer season, and so we would think about it then.  But the confessor insisted so much that I had to surrender.  So, around nine thirty in the evening, I was brought to this House, near my Prisoner Jesus.  And this is the little story of why I find myself in the House of the Divine Will.

Now I resume my speaking. At night, I remained alone with my Jesus in the Sacrament; my eyes were fixed on the little door of the Tabernacle.  It seemed to me that the lamp, with its continuous flickering, was about to go out, but then it would revive again; and my heart gave a jump, fearing that Jesus might remain in the dark.  And my always lovable Jesus, moving in my interior, clasped me in His arms and told me:  “My daughter, do not fear, for the lamp will not go out; and if it did go out, I have you, living lamp – a lamp which, with your flickering, more than with the flickering of the eucharistic lamp, tells Me:  ‘I love You, I love You, I love You….’  Oh! how beautiful is the flickering of your ‘I love You’; your flickering says love to Me, and uniting with my Will, from two wills we form one alone.  Oh! how beautiful is your lamp and the flickering of your ‘I love You’.  It cannot be compared to the lamp that burns before my Tabernacle of love.  More so since, my Divine Will being in you, you form the flickering of your ‘I love You’ in the center of the Sun of my Fiat, and I see and hear, not a lamp, but a sun burning before Me.  My prisoner be welcomed.  You have come to keep company with your Prisoner; we are both in prison – you, in bed, and I, in the Tabernacle.  It is right that we be close to each other; more so, since one is the purpose that keeps us in prison – the Divine Will, love, souls.  How pleasing will the company of my prisoner be to Me; we will feel it together, to prepare the Kingdom of the Supreme Fiat.  But, know, my daughter, that my love has anticipated you; I was first in putting Myself, prisoner, in this cell, to wait for my prisoner and your sweet company.  See, then, how my love was first in running toward you; how I have loved you, and I love you, for in so many centuries of imprisonment in this Tabernacle I never had a prisoner who would keep Me company, who would remain so very close to Me; I have always been alone, or, at the most, in the company of souls who were not prisoners, in whom I did not see my same chains.  Now, finally, the time has come for Me to have a prisoner, to keep her constantly near Me, under my sacramental gazes – one whom the chains of my Divine Will alone keep imprisoned.  A sweeter and more pleasing company could not come to Me.  And so, while we are together in prison, we will occupy ourselves with the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat, and will work together, and will sacrifice ourselves together, to make It known to creatures.”

Volume 34 – December 20, 1936       

…“Now you should know that, our love is not content, it never says enough, how much more it gives more it wants to give and when we give it is our feast, we prepare the table to one who loves us and we press her to remain with us, in order to have life together.  Now my daughter, listen to another prodigy of our Fiat in this Holy Creature, and how She loved us and made her Maternity extend to all creatures.  In every act that she did, if she loved, prayed, adored, if she suffered, everything even the breath, the heartbeat, the step, being our Fiat, they were triumphs and victories that our Supreme Being made in the acts of the Virgin, the Celestial Lady triumphed and conquered in God, in every instant of her admirable and prodigious life they were triumphs and victories between God and the Virgin; but this is nothing, doing as True Mother she called all her children, and covered and hid all their acts in hers and covered them with her triumphs and with her victories, giving all her acts as dowry, with all her victories and her triumphs. And then with a tenderness and love as to break hearts and feel ourselves conquered she said to us:  Adorable majesty, look at them, they are all my children, my victories and triumphs are of my children, they are my conquests that I give to them, and if the Mama has conquered and triumphed, the children have conquered and triumphed.  And so many triumphs and victories she did in God, for how many acts all creatures would have done, so that everyone might be able to say:  I am endowed by the acts of my Queen Mama, and for seal she has invested them with me with her triumphs and victories that she made with her Creator.

“So that who wants to make herself holy finds the dowry of her Celestial Mother and her triumphs and victories in order to arrive to the greatest sanctity, the weak one finds the strength of the sanctity of her Mama and her triumphs in order to be strong, the afflicted one, the suffering one finds the dowry of the sufferings of her Celestial Mother in order to obtain the triumph, the victory of resignation, the sinner finds the victory and the triumph of pardon, in short everyone finds in this Sovereign Queen the dowry, the support, the help to the state in which they find themselves. And oh, how beautiful it is, it is the most moving scene, enrapturing and enchanting, to see this Celestial Mother in every single creature, that she does as Mama, we feel her that she loves and prays in her children. This is the greatest prodigy between Heaven and earth, good more great we could not give to creatures.

Luisa’s Day

Her day began at about 5.00 a.m., when the priest came to the house to bless it and to celebrate Holy Mass. Either her confessor officiated, or some delegate of his: a privileged granted by Leo XIII and confirmed by St. Pius X in 1907.   After Holy Mass, Luisa would remain in prayer and thanksgiving for about two hours.

At about 8.00 a.m. she would begin her work which she continued until midday; after her frugal lunch she would stay alone in her room in meditation.

In the afternoon – after several hours of work –

 she would recite the holy Rosary.

In the evening, towards 8.00 p.m., Luisa would begin to write her diary; at about midnight she would fall asleep.

In the morning she would be found immobile, rigid, huddled up on her bed, her head turned to the right, and the intervention of priestly authority would be necessary to recall her to her daily tasks and allow her to sit up in bed.

Excerpt from Letter 35. To Mr. Vincenzo Messina, imprisoned in the jail of Favignana, Trapani

Know that I am your sister in prison. For more than fifty years the Supreme Fiat has kept me imprisoned in a bed. Yet, I am glad – I am happy; but what makes me happy? The Divine Will, Which I try to do always. You too can be happy, if you do the Divine Will. Oh, how It will change your bitterness! You will feel a true divine strength that will ease your painful state. Never neglect the Rosary to the Celestial Mother, and if you can, be a missionary in the prison, by making known that the Queen of Heaven wants to visit all the prisoners to give them the gift of the Divine Will. And if you need some more copies and you cannot pay, I am willing to send them for free. I leave you under the mantle of the Celestial Mother, listening to Her lessons of Heaven – and with a thousand regards, I say,

your most affectionate sister,

LUISA PICCARRETA

The Round of the Soul in the Divine Will

Meditations for the Holy Rosary From the Writings of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, The Little Daughter of the Divine Will

THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

1. The Annunciation (Humility)

Our Celestial Mother: “Your Mama felt ignited with love, and echoing the love of my Creator, I wanted to form one single sea of love, so that the Word might descend upon earth within it. My prayers were incessant, and while I was praying in my little room, an angel came, sent from Heaven as messenger of the great King. He came before me, and bowing, he hailed me: “Hail, O Mary, our Queen; the Divine Fiat has filled you with grace. He has already pronounced His Fiat, for He wants to descend; He is just behind my shoulders, but He wants your Fiat to form the fulfillment of His Fiat.”

At such a great announcement, so much desired by me – although I had never thought I was to be the chosen one – I was stupefied and I hesitated one instant. But the angel of the Lord told me: “Do not fear, our Queen, for you have found grace before God. You have conquered your Creator; therefore, to complete the victory – pronounce your Fiat.”

I pronounced my Fiat, and – oh, marvel! The two Fiats fused together and the Divine Word descended into Me. My Fiat, receiving the same value as the Divine Fiat, from the seed of my humanity, formed the tiny little humanity which was to enclose the Word, and so the great prodigy of the Incarnation was accomplished.” (From “The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will”; Day 19)

2. The Visitation (Charity)

Our Celestial Mother: “…So I departed from Nazareth, accompanied by Saint Joseph, facing a long journey, and crossing mountains to go visit Elisabeth in Judea, who, in her advanced age, had miraculously become a mother.

I went to her, not to make a simple visit, but because I burned with the desire to bring her Jesus. The fullness of grace, love and light which I felt in me, pushed me to bring, to multiply – to increase a hundredfold the life of my Son in creatures.

Yes, my child, the love of Mother which I had for all men, and for you in particular, was so great that I felt the extreme need to give my dear Jesus to everyone, that all might possess Him and love Him. The right of Mother, given to me by the Fiat, enriched me with such power as to multiply Jesus as many times as there are creatures who want to receive Him. This was the greatest miracle I could perform: to have Jesus ready to give to whomever desired Him. How happy I felt!

How I wish that you too, my child, in approaching and visiting people, would always be the bearer of Jesus, capable of making Him known, and yearning to make Him loved.”

“Dearest child, the Divine Will does great and unheard-of things wherever It reigns. If I worked many prodigies, it was because It had Its royal place in me. If you let the Divine Will reign in your soul, you too will become the bearer of Jesus to the creatures – you too will feel the irresistible need to give Him to all!” (From “The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will”; Meditation 1, Appendix)

3.The Birth of Jesus (Love of God)

Luisa: “As I was in my usual state, I found myself outside of myself; after wandering around, I found myself in a cave, and I saw the Queen Mama giving birth to Little Baby Jesus. What a wonderful prodigy! It seemed that both Mother and Son were transformed into most pure light. But in that light one could see very clearly the human nature of Jesus containing the Divinity within Itself, and serving as a veil to cover the Divinity; in such a way that, in tearing the veil of human nature, He was God, while covered by that veil, He was man. Here is the prodigy of prodigies: God and Man, Man and God! Without leaving the Father and the Holy Spirit – because true love never separates – He comes to live in our midst, taking on human flesh. Now, it seemed to me that Mother and Son, in that most happy instant, remained as though spiritualized, and without the slightest difficulty Jesus came out of the Maternal womb, while both of them overflowed with excess of Love. In other words: those Most Pure bodies were transformed into light, and without the slightest impediment, Light Jesus came out of the Light of the Mother, while both One and the Other remained whole and intact, returning, then, to their natural state. Who can tell of the beauty of the Little Baby, who, in the moment of His birth, transfused, also externally, the rays of the Divinity?” (From Vol. 4; December 25, 1900)

4. The Presentation and Consecration of Jesus in the Temple (Obedience) Our Celestial Mother: “Forty days from the birth of little King Jesus are about to sound – when the Divine Fiat calls us to the temple in order to fulfill the law of the Presentation of my Son. So, we went to the temple. It was the first time that we went out together with my sweet baby. A vein of sorrow opened in my heart: I was going to offer Him as victim for the salvation of all! We entered the temple, and first we adored the Divine Majesty; then we called the priest, and placing Him in his arms, I made the offering of the celestial baby to the eternal Father – offering Him in sacrifice for the salvation of all. The priest was Simeon, and as I placed Him in his arms, he recognized that He was the Divine Word and exulted with immense joy; and after the offering, assuming the attitude of prophet, he prophesied all my sorrows… Oh, how the Supreme Fiat sounded over my maternal heart – thoroughly, with vibrating sound, the cruel tragedy of all the pains of my little Son! But that which pierced me the most were the words that the holy prophet said to me: “This dear baby will be the salvation and ruin of many, and will be the target of contradictions.”

If the Divine Will had not sustained me, I would have died instantly of pure pain. But It gave me life, and used it to form in me the Kingdom of sorrows, within the Kingdom of Its Will. Therefore, in addition to the right of Mother which I had over all, I acquired the right of Mother and Queen of all Sorrows. Ah, yes, with my sorrows, I acquired the little coin to pay the debts of my children, and even those of the ungrateful children…

“Now, listen to your Mama: in your sufferings, in the painful encounters which are not lacking for you, never lose heart; but with heroic love let the Divine Will assume Its royal place in your pains, so that It may convert them into little coins of infinite value, with which you will be able to pay the debts of your brothers – to ransom them from the slavery of the human will, and make them enter again, as free children, into the Kingdom of the Divine Will.” (From “The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will”; Day 23)

5. The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Joy)

Our Celestial Mother: “…After three days of most bitter sighs, tears, anxieties and fears, we entered the temple. I was all eyes and looked everywhere, when, finally, overcome with jubilation, I saw my Son in the midst of the doctors of the law! He was speaking with such wisdom and majesty as to make those who were listening remain enraptured and amazed. Only in seeing Him, I felt life come back to me, and soon I understood the secret reason of His being lost.

And now, a little word to you, dearest child. In this mystery, my Son wanted to give to me and to you, a sublime teaching. Could you perhaps assume that He was ignoring what I was suffering?

On the contrary, my tears, my searching, and my cruel and intense sorrow, resounded in His heart. Yet, during those hours, so painful, He sacrificed to the Divine Will, His own Mama, the one whom He loves so much, in order to show me how I too, one day, was to sacrifice His own Life to the Divine Will.

In this unspeakable pain, I did not forget you, my beloved one. Thinking that it would serve as an example for you, I kept it at your disposal, so that you too, at the appropriate time, might have the strength to sacrifice everything to the Divine Will. As Jesus finished speaking, we approached Him reverently, and addressed Him with a sweet reproach: “Son, why have you done this to us?” And He, with divine dignity, answered us: “Why did you look for me? Did you not know that I came to the world to glorify my Father?” Having comprehended the high meaning of His answer, and adored in it the Divine Will, we returned to Nazareth. Child of my maternal heart, listen. When I lost my Jesus, the pain I felt was so very intense; yet, a second one added to this – that of losing you.

In fact, in foreseeing that you would have gone far from the Divine Will, I felt at one time deprived of the Son and of the daughter, and so my maternity suffered a double blow.

My child, when you are in the act of doing your own will rather than that of God, think that by abandoning the Divine Fiat, you are about to lose Jesus and me, and fall into the kingdom of miseries and vices.

Keep then, the promise you made me – to remain indissolubly united to me – and I will grant you the grace of never again letting you be dominated by your will, but only by the Divine.” (From “The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will”; Meditation 5, Appendix)

THE LUMINOUS MYSTERIES

1. The Baptism of Jesus (Rebirth in the Holy Spirit)

The baptism administered by St. John the Baptist was a call for repentance and purification, the sign of the desire of the soul to be cleansed and to prepare the way and the space within herself for the gift of Redemption, the life of grace, the means of Salvation, which the longed-for Messiah, the Son of God made Man, would bring upon earth. The Sacramental Baptism instituted by Jesus frees the soul of the stain of original sin and activates the gift of grace within her, making her a child of God. However, the life of grace received through Baptism can be rendered sterile by lack of correspondence, or even suppressed by sin, since all Sacraments produce their effects within the soul according to her dispositions. But when the Divine Will reigns in the soul as her very life, baptizing every fiber of her being, she comes to possess the very source of grace, she lives of Divine Life; and that very Divine Will which has the power to purify, to baptize, to generate Divine Life is her Will too.

2.The Miracle at the Wedding of Cana (Mary’s Intercession)

The gift of the Divine Will is the choicest and most delicious wine, which the Master of the house, Our God and Father, keeps for last to the amazement and delight of His children, invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb. It is the greatest prodigy in Heaven and on earth, it is the miracle of miracles: the Sun of the Divine Will, transforming the human will into Sun, acts within it as in Its own center. All the miracles which Jesus performed during His public life are similes, shadows and images of the greatest miracle of all – that of making a creature live in His Divine Will. And just as the first miracle, which He performed at Cana, was obtained through Mary, so will the greatest miracle of the Divine Will be given through Her, who laid the foundation of Its Kingdom within Her soul, and who, untiringly, guides Her children toward It.

3.The Preaching of Jesus (Thy Kingdom Come!)

Because of original sin, Adam lost the gift of the Divine Will as his life, which he had received in creation, and could no longer transmit it to the human generations. However, in His infinite love for man, God promised the Redemption of mankind – not only from the slavery of sin, but from that of the human will; a complete Redemption (=restoration, restitution) – not only of grace, but of the Divine Will Itself as the life of man: nothing less than the restoration of man’s original state. In order to do this, He had to begin to manifest His Will again, little by little, which had been rejected and forgotten by man; and He did so by means of the word – first by communicating to His unruly children His laws and rules through the prophets; and then, by announcing the Gospel, the Good News of Redemption, through the Incarnation and the Sacrifice of the Word Himself, who is the revelation of the Father and of His Will to humanity. But Jesus has not stopped His preaching, nor can He do so until the purpose of His coming upon earth, the complete Redemption of man, has been fulfilled. The Truths on the living in the Divine Will – the words concerning Its Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven, which Jesus has manifested through Luisa, and which, like the creating Fiat, possess the virtue of communicating the good which they contain to those who, being disposed, want to receive them – brings about the fulfillment of Redemption, of the coming of the Word Incarnate upon earth: the establishment and the confirmation of the Kingdom of the Divine Will on earth as It is in Heaven.

4. The Transfiguration (Glory of Jesus)

Through the knowledges and truths on the living in the Divine Will, Jesus manifests His Divinity to the soul; He manifests how His Divine Will operated with His human will, He manifests the interior life of the Incarnate Word, He transfigures Himself before her eyes – and not just to give her simple news, but to let her share in His very Divinity, to transform her and transfigure her within Himself. And the soul who lives in His Will is not frightened as were the disciples in hearing the voice of the Father; she does not need to descend from the high mountain of the Divine Will, because the Divine Will dwells within her; she cannot keep quiet about this manifestation, but will proclaim and effuse the Divinity of Christ through each of her acts; and the tent which she prepares as permanent dwelling for Jesus and the whole Celestial Court is her very being.

5. The Institution of the Eucharist (Love of God)

He let me see, as though in act in His Most Holy Will, the moment in which my sweet Jesus, in instituting the Most Holy Sacrament, communicated Himself. How many wonders, how many prodigies, how many excesses of love in this act of communicating Himself. My mind wandered amid so many divine prodigies, and my always lovable Jesus told me: “Beloved daughter of my Supreme Volition, my Will contains everything, It preserves all of the divine works as though in act, and It lets nothing escape It; and to one who lives in It, It wants to make known all the goods It contains. Therefore, I want to make known to you the reason for which I wanted to receive Myself when I instituted the Most Holy Sacrament. The prodigy was great and incomprehensible to the human mind. For the creature to receive a Man and God, to enclose the infinite in a finite being, and to give to this infinite Being divine honors, decorum and a dwelling worthy of Him – this mystery was so abstruse and incomprehensible, that the Apostles themselves, while they easily believed in the Incarnation and in many other mysteries, remained troubled before this one, and their intellects were reluctant to believe. And it took my repeated saying for them to surrender. So, what to do? I, who instituted it, was to take care of everything, since, when the creature would receive Me, the Divinity was not to lack honors, divine decorum and a dwelling worthy of God. Therefore, my daughter, as I instituted the Most Holy Sacrament, my Eternal Will, united to my human will, made present to Me all the hosts which were to receive the sacramental consecration until the end of centuries. And I looked at them, one by one; I consumed them, and I saw my Sacramental Life palpitating in each host, yearning to give Itself to creatures. In the name of the whole human family, my Humanity took on the commitment for all, and provided a dwelling within Itself to each host; and my Divinity, which was inseparable from Me, surrounded each sacramental host with divine honors, praises and blessings, to give worthy decorum to my Majesty. So, each sacramental host was deposited in Me, and contains the dwelling of my Humanity and the cortege of the honors of my Divinity; otherwise, how could I descend into the creature? And it was only because of this that I tolerated sacrileges, coldness, irreverences, ingratitudes, since, in receiving Myself, I secured my own decorum, the honors and the dwelling which befitted my very Person. Had I not received Myself, I could not have descended into creatures, and they would have lacked the way, the door, the means to receive Me.

THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

1. The Agony in the Garden (True Repentance)

I was thinking about the Passion of my always lovable Jesus, especially of what He suffered in the Garden. I found myself all immersed in Jesus, and He told me: “My daughter, my first Passion was of Love, because the first step with which man, in sinning, gives himself to evil is the lack of Love; so, since Love is missing, he falls into sin. In order to be repaid through Me for the lack of love of the creatures, Love made Me suffer more than anyone; It almost crushed Me, more than if I were under a press. It gave Me as many deaths for as many creatures receiving life.

The second step that occurs in sin is defrauding God of His Glory. So, in order to be repaid for the Glory taken away by the creatures, the Father made Me suffer the Passion of sin, such that each sin gave Me a special Passion. Although there was one Passion, I suffered for sin as many Passions as there would be sins committed until the end of the world. So, the Glory of the Father was restored.

The third effect produced by sin is the weakness in man. Therefore, I wanted to suffer the Passion from the hands of the Jews – my third Passion – to restore in man his lost strength.

Therefore, with the Passion of Love, Love was restored and placed at the right level; with the Passion of sin, the Glory of the Father was restored and placed at Its level; with the Passion of the Jews, the strength of the creatures was placed at its level and restored. I suffered all this in the Garden, and the pain was so much, so many the deaths – the atrocious spasms inflicted upon Me that I really would have died if the Will of the Father for my death had arrived.” (From Vol. 11; January 22, 1913)

2. The Scourging at the Pillar (Purity)

Finding myself in my usual state, I was thinking about the Passion of Our Lord; and while I was doing this, He came and told me: “My daughter, one who meditates continuously on my Passion and feels sorrow for it and compassion for Me, pleases Me so much that I feel somehow comforted for all that I suffered in the course of my Passion; and by always meditating on it, the soul arrives at preparing a continuous food. In this food there are many different spices and flavors, which form different effects. Therefore, if in the course of my Passion they gave me ropes and chains to tie Me, the soul releases Me and gives Me freedom. They despised Me, spat on Me, and dishonored Me; she appreciates Me, cleans Me of the spit, and honors Me. They stripped Me and scourged Me; she heals Me and clothes Me. They crowned Me with thorns, mocking me as King, embittered my mouth with bile, and crucified Me; while the soul, meditating on all my pains, crowns Me with glory and honors Me as her King, fills my mouth with sweetness, giving Me the most delicious food, which is the memory of my own works; and unnailing Me from the Cross, she makes me rise again in her heart. And every time she does so, I give her a new Life of Grace as recompense. She is my food, and I become her continuous food. So, the thing that pleases Me the most is meditating continuously on my Passion.” (From Vol. 7; November 9, 1906)

3. The Crowning with Thorns (Moral Courage)

Jesus: “My daughter, the pains which I suffered were incomprehensible to created mind. Much more painfully than by those thorns, my mind was pierced by all the evil thoughts of creatures, in such a way that none of these thoughts could escape Me – I felt them all inside Me. Not only did I feel the pricks of the thorns, but also the disgust of the sins which those thorns represented.”

So, I looked at my lovable Jesus and I could see His Most Holy head being surrounded by spokes of thorns which came through from behind. All the thoughts of the creatures were in Jesus; they went from Jesus to them, and from them into Jesus, remaining almost linked together – the evil thoughts of the creatures with the most holy thoughts of Jesus… Oh, how Jesus suffered!

Then He added: “My daughter, only the souls who live in my Will can give Me true reparations and soothe Me from thorns so sharp. In fact, since they live in my Will, and since my Will is everywhere, they find themselves in Me and in everyone; they descend into the creatures and rise up to Me; they bring Me all the reparations; they soothe Me. And in the sick minds they turn darkness into light.” (From Vol. 11; April 24, 1915)

4. The Carrying of the Cross (Patience)

Jesus: “Adored Cross, finally I embrace you. You were the longing of my Heart, the martyrdom of my love. But you, O Cross, have delayed until now, while my steps were always toward you. Holy Cross, you were the goal of my desires, the purpose of my existence down here. In you I concentrate my whole being, in you I place all my children, and you will be their life, their light, defense, custody and strength. You will assist them in everything, and will bring them gloriously to Me in Heaven. Oh Cross, Pulpit of Wisdom, you alone will teach true sanctity; you alone will form the heroes, the athletes, the martyrs, the Saints. Beautiful Cross, you are my Throne, and since I have to leave the earth, you will remain in my place. To you I give all souls as dowry – keep them, save them; I entrust them to you!” (From “The Hours of the Passion”; 18^th Hour)

“Please, O Cross, receive Me soon into your arms, I am impatient of waiting! Holy Cross, upon you I shall come to give completion to all. Hurry, O Cross, fulfill the burning desire that consumes Me, to give life to souls. Delay no more; I anxiously yearn to lay Myself upon you in order to open the Heavens to all my children.

Oh Cross, it is true that you are my martyrdom, but in a little while you will also be my victory and my most complete triumph; and through you I will give abundant inheritances, victories, triumphs and crowns to my children.” (From “The Hours of the Passion”; 19^th Hour)

5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus on the Cross

(Final Perseverance)

Jesus: “Holy Father, here I am, loaded down with all the sins of the world. There is not one sin which does not pour upon Me; therefore,  no longer unload the scourges of your divine Justice upon man, but upon Me, your Son. O Father, allow Me to bind all souls to this Cross, and to plead forgiveness for them with the voices of my Blood and of my wounds. O Father, do You not see how I have reduced Myself? By this Cross, by virtue of these pains, concede true conversion, peace, forgiveness and sanctity to all. Arrest your fury against poor humanity, against my children. They are blind, and know not what they are doing. Look well at Me, how I have reduced Myself because of them; if you are not moved to compassion for them, may You at least be softened by this Face of mine, dirtied with spit, covered with Blood, bruised and swollen by the so many slaps and blows received. Have pity, my Father! I was the most beautiful of all, and now I am all disfigured, to the point that I no longer recognize Myself. I have become the abject of all; and so, at any cost, I want to save the poor creature!”

“My Father, look at Me, from head to foot; there is not one part of Me which is left whole, I do not know where else to let them open more wounds and to procure more sufferings. If You do not appease Yourself at this sight of love and suffering, who will ever be able to appease You? O creatures, if you do not surrender to so much Love, what hope remains for you to convert? These wounds and Blood of Mine will be voices that constantly call from Heaven to earth, graces of repentance, forgiveness and compassion for you!” (From “The Hours of the Passion”; 19^th Hour)

THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

1. The Resurrection (Faith)

Jesus: “My daughter, in my Resurrection, the right was given to creatures to rise again in me to new life. It was the confirmation, the seal of my whole life, my works and my words. If I came on earth it was to give to each and every one my Resurrection, as their own – to give them life and make them rise again in my own Resurrection.

But do you want to know where is the real resurrection of the creature? Not in the end of her days, but while she is still living on earth. One who lives in my Will rises again to light and says: ‘my night is over.’ She rises again in the love of her Creator, so that there is no more cold or snow for her, but the smile of the Heavenly Spring; she rises again to sanctity, which puts to rushed flight all weaknesses, miseries and passions; she rises again to all that is Heaven, and if she looks at the earth, Heaven and Sun, she does it to find the works of her Creator – to take the opportunity to narrate to Him His glory and His long love story.

Therefore, one who lives in my Will can say, as the Angel said to the holy women on the way to the sepulcher, ‘He is risen. He is not here any more.’ One who lives in my Will can also say, ‘my will is not with me any longer – it is risen again in the Fiat.’ And if the circumstances of life, opportunities and sufferings surround the creature, as if they were looking for her will, she can answer: ‘my will is risen again, it is not in my power anymore. I possess, in exchange, the Divine Will, and I want to cover with Its light all things around me – circumstances and sufferings, to make them like many divine conquests.’ The soul who lives in our Will finds life in the acts of her Jesus, and as always, in this Life, she finds our operating, conquering, triumphant Will. She gives Us so much glory that Heaven cannot contain it. Therefore, live always in our Will – never leave It, if you want to be our triumph and our glory.” (From Vol. 36; April 20, 1938)

2. The Ascension (Hope)

Jesus: “Daughter of my Will, as your Jesus said, in descending from Heaven to earth: ‘I leave and I stay’; when He ascended into Heaven He said: ‘I stay and I leave.’ My word repeats upon descending as Sacrament in the creatures: ‘I leave and I remain in the Tabernacles.’ In the same way, the creature who lives in my Will can repeat my word in all her acts. As soon as she begins her act, her Jesus is formed in that act. My Life has the virtue of multiplying Itself to infinity as many times as I want. Therefore, in all truth, she can say: ‘I leave and I stay. I leave for Heaven to beatify It, to reach my home and to make known to everyone my dear Jesus, Whom I enclosed in my act so that all may enjoy Him and love Him. I stay on earth, as my life, support and defense for all my brothers and sisters.’ How beautiful one act in my Will!” (From Vol. 35; January 24, 1935)

3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles (Zeal)

Our Celestial Mother: “…Then the time came for the descent of the Holy Spirit, promised by my Son in the cenacle. What a transformation, my child! As they were invested, they acquired new science, invincible strength, ardent love. A new life flowed within them, which rendered them brave and courageous, in such a way that they scattered throughout the whole world to make Redemption known, and to give their lives for their Master. I remained with beloved John, and was forced to leave Jerusalem, as the storm of persecution began.

My dearest child, you must know that I still continue my Magisterium in the Church. There is nothing which does not descend from me. I can say that I pour myself out for love of my children, and that I nourish them with my maternal milk. Now, during these times, I want to display an even more special love by making known how my whole life was formed in the Kingdom of the Divine Will. So I call you onto my knees, into my maternal arms, so that, forming your ship, you may be sure to live in the sea of the Divine Will. Greater grace I could not give you. I beg you, make your Mama content! Come to live in this Kingdom so holy! And when you see that your will wants to have an act of life, come and take refuge in the safe boat of my arms, saying to me: “My Mama, my will wants to betray me, and I deliver it to you, that you may put the Divine Will in its place.”

Oh, how happy I will be, in being able to say: “My child is all mine, because she lives from Divine Will.” And I will make the Holy Spirit descend into your soul, that He may burn away from you all that is human; and by His refreshing breath, He may rule over you and confirm you in the Divine Will. (From “The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will”; Day 30)

4. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven

(Grace of a Happy Death)

Jesus: “My daughter, the true name of this Feast [of the Assumption] should be ‘Feast of the Divine Will’. It was the human will that closed Heaven, broke the bonds with its Creator, made miseries and suffering enter the field, and put an end to the feast that the creature was to enjoy in Heaven. Now, this Creature, Queen of all, by doing the Will of the Eternal One, always and in everything – even more, it can be said that Her life was Divine Will alone – opened the Heavens, bound Herself to the Eternal One, and restored in Heaven the feasts with the creature. Every act She did in the Supreme Will, was a feast that She started in Heaven; it was Suns that She formed to adorn this feast; it was melodies that She sent to delight the Celestial Jerusalem.

Therefore, the true cause of this feast is the Eternal Will operating and fulfilled in my Celestial Mama. It operated such prodigies in Her as to astonish Heaven and earth, chain the Eternal One with indissoluble bonds of love, and enrapture the Word, even from Her womb. The very Angels, enraptured, repeated among themselves: “From where comes so much glory, so much honor, such greatness and prodigies never seen before – in this excelling Creature? Yet, she is coming from the exile!” Astonished, they recognized the Will of their Creator as life operating in Her; and, trembling, they said: “Holy, Holy, Holy! Honor and glory to the Will of Our Sovereign Lord! And glory to Mary, trice Holy, She who let this Supreme Will operate!” (From Vol. 18; August 15, 1925)

5. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother, as Queen of Heaven and Earth and Queen of the Divine Will.

Our Celestial Mother: “…As I gave my last breath of pure love in the endlessness of the Divine Will, my Son received me in His arms and took me to Heaven, in the midst of the angelic choirs which praised me as their Queen. I can say that Heaven emptied Itself to come toward me. All celebrated, and in looking at me, remained enraptured and said in chorus: “Who is She, who comes from the exile, all cleaving to her Lord? All beautiful, all holy, with the scepter of Queen? Her greatness is such that the heavens have lowered themselves to receive Her. No other creature has entered the celestial regions so adorned and so striking – so powerful as to hold supremacy over all.”

Now, my child, do you want to know who She is – for Whom the whole of Heaven sings and remains enraptured? It is I – She who never did her own will. The Divine Will abounded so much with me as to extend more beautiful heaven, more refulgent suns, seas of beauty, of love, of sanctity, with which I could give light to all, love and sanctity to all, and enclose everything and everyone within my heaven. It was the work of the Divine Will operating in me to accomplish such a great prodigy; I was the only creature entering Heaven, to have formed Its Kingdom in my soul.” (From “The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will”; Day 31)

The Little Rosary of the Divine Will

As in the 1^st edition, the little rosary is composed of six sections. It will be used four times in order to do a complete round (24 Hours).

On the three small beads, we recite a Pater, Ave, Gloria; and on the large bead (rhombus with the FIAT), the ejaculatory prayer:

“Come, O Supreme Will, to reign upon earth! Invest all generations!

Win and conquer all!”

(Vol. 35 – Nov. 20, 1937)

This is the prayer that allows us to give voice to all the creatures of the universe.

We will hold hands with all of them in order to reach the Creator, with the purpose of loving Him, adoring Him, thanking Him and glorifying Him – of intensifying the prayer of life: “Come, O Supreme Will…”

THE ROSARY OF THE ROUNDS

The rosary of the rounds is a braid of all created things that hold hands and go around their Creator, because they are sustained by the same force, by the same Divine Life, with which the Supreme Being has released His FIAT.

When man unites to the Creation and penetrates into the Life of the Supreme Fiat that sustains It, he enters into the Divine Act, he unites to Its FIAT, to Its Divine Will in act, and his natural act is transformed into a Divine Act. So, his actions are gradually molded and divinized because they have received the direct transmission of the Life of God Himself.

When God made the Creation He prepared a worthy dwelling for man. And when He created man, he intended to prepare a worthy dwelling for Himself, for His Divinity, for His Supreme Being, for His Glory.

The Most Holy Name of Mary
 

by Mark Alessio

“O name of Mary! Joy in the heart, honey in the mouth, melody to the ear of Her devout clients!”
—–St. Anthony of Padua +1231

Background

  In 1513, a feast of “The Holy Name of Mary” was granted by Papal indult [Pope Julius II] to the diocese of Cuenta in Spain. It was assigned with proper Office on September 15, the octave day of Our Lady’s Nativity. With the reform of the Breviary undertaken by Pope St. Pius V, the feast was abolished, only to be reinstituted by his successor, Pope Sixtus V, who changed the date to September 17. From there, the feast spread to the Archdiocese of Toledo [1622] and, eventually, to all of Spain and to the Kingdom of Naples [1671].

Throughout this time, permission to celebrate the feast was given to various religious orders in a prudent manner as has been the custom throughout Church history regarding feast-days, their dates, offices, liturgical expression, etc. However, this Feast of the Holy Name of Mary would one day be joyfully extended to the Universal Church, and this on account of rather dramatic circumstances involving one of Poland’s great military heroes, John Sobieski  [1629-1696].

While acting as field-marshal under King John Casimir, Sobieski had raised a force of 8,000 men and enough provisions to withstand a siege of Cossacks and Tartars, who were forced to retire unsuccessfully and at a loss. In 1672, under the reign of Michael Wisniowiecki, Sobieski engaged and defeated the Turkish army, who lost 20,000 men at Chocim.

‘When King Michael died, Sobieski, a beloved hero at that point, was crowned King of Poland. But, even before his coronation could take place, he would again engage and drive back the Turkish hordes in separate battles including the raising of the siege at Trembowla. Once crowned, he advanced to the Ruthenian provinces, where, having too few soldiers to attack the Turks, who outnumbered his men ten to one, he literally wore out the enemy, garrisoning his troops at Zurawno. Because of this heroic effort, he was able to regain, by treaty, a good portion of the Ukraine.

With both Turks and Poles weary from battle, peace reigned for a time . . . until the Turks set their sights on Austria, setting out through Hungary with an army of approximately 300,000 men. Fleeing from Austria, Emperor Leopold asked for Sobieski’s assistance, a plea which was seconded by the Papal Nuncio. In July 1683, the Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha had reached Vienna and laid siege to the city, which was being defended by only 15,000 men. Sobieski set out for Vienna in August, his forces marching behind the banner of the Blessed Virgin. Passing by the Sanctuary of Mary in Czestochowa, they implored Our Lady’s help and blessing. Writing centuries later to the bishops of Poland, Pope Pius XII recalled the supplications of Sobieski to Mary at the Sanctuary on Jasna Gora [i.e., “Bright Hill”], the site of the Shrine:

“To the same Heavenly Queen, on Clear Mountain, the illustrious John Sobieski, whose eminent valor freed Christianity from the attacks of its old enemies, confided himself.”
[Letter, Cum iam lustri abeat, 1951]

In September, the men joined with the German troops under John George, Elector of Saxony, and Prince Charles of Lorraine. On the eighth day of the month, the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, Sobieski prepared himself for the ensuing conflict by the reception of Holy Communion.

Battle was engaged before the walls of Vienna on September 12, 1683, with Sobieski seemingly put to flight by “the fierce Turkish forces. However, this retreat was a minor setback only. The Hussars renewed their assault and charged the Turks, this time sending the enemy into a retreat. The combat raged on, until Sobieski finally stormed the enemy camp. The Turkish forces were routed, Vienna was saved, and Sobieski sent the “Standard of the Prophet” to Pope Innocent XI along with the good news. In a letter to the Pontiff, Sobieski summed up his victory in these words: Veni, vidi, Deus vicit —–“I came, I saw, God conquered!” To commemorate this glorious victory, and render thanksgiving to God and honor to Our Lady for their solicitude in the struggle, Pope Innocent XI extended “The Feast of the Holy Name of Mary” to the Universal Church. Although the feast was originally celebrated on the Sunday after the Nativity of Mary, Pope St. Pius X [+1914] decreed that it be celebrated on September 12, in honor of the victory of the Catholic forces under John Sobieski. The history of this feast reminds us in some ways of that of “Our Lady of the Rosary,” which was instituted to celebrate and commemorate the victory of the Catholic forces over the Turkish navy at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571: “And thus Christ’s faithful warriors, prepared to sacrifice their life and blood for the welfare of their Faith and their country, proceeded undauntedly to meet their foe near the Gulf of Corinth; while those who were unable to join them formed a band of pious supplicants, who called on Mary and, as one, saluted Her again and again in the words of the Rosary, imploring Her to grant victory to their companions engaged in battle. Our sovereign Lady did grant Her aid.” [Pope Leo XIII, Supremi Apostolatus, 1883]

Pondering the Meaning of Mary

In Hebrew, the name Mary is Miryam. In Our Lady’s time, Aramaic was the spoken language, and the form of the name then in use was Mariam. Derived from the root, merur, the name signifies “bitterness.”

Miryam was the name of the sister of Moses; and the ancient rabbinical scholars perceiving in it a symbol of the slavery of the Israelites at the hands of the Egyptians, held that Miryam was given this name because she was born during the time of the oppression of her people. The Old Testament, chronicling as it does the “Time of Expectation” of the Redeemer, is filled with “types,” or foreshadowings of people and events which would be made manifest during the “Time of Redemption,” when. Christ walked the earth. Jesus Mary and Joseph, the Sacrament of Baptism, the Eucharist, the Sacrifice of Calvary, etc., are all foreshadowed in the Old Testament, but we view them there “through a glass darkly,” so to speak, under the guidance of the Catholic Church, which alone possesses the authority to interpret the sacred texts.

Miryam, the sister of Moses is a “type” of the Blessed Virgin. Miryam was a prophetess who sang a canticle of thanksgiving after the safe crossing of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army; Mary prophesied in Her Magnificat that all generations would honor Her, and She sang of how God would topple the proud and raise the lowly. Miryam supported her brother, Moses, the liberator of his people; as the Co-Redemptrix who united Her sufferings to those of the One Mediator on Calvary, Mary labored alongside the Redeemer, the true Liberator of His people. Just as Jesus was the “antitype” [i.e., fulfillment] of Moses, so was Our Lady the “antitype” of Miryam, the fullest realization of the courageous woman standing beside, and laboring with, the one who comes to free captives.

Throughout the centuries, Saints and scholars have put forth different interpretations for the name “Mary.” A mixture of etymology and devotion has combined to produce an interesting array of meanings:

“Mary means enlightener, because She brought forth the Light of the world. In the Syriac tongue, Mary signifies Lady.” [St. Isidore of Seville +636]

“Let me say something concerning this name also, which is interpreted to mean Star of the sea, and admirably suits the Virgin Mother.” [St. Bernard +1153]

“Mary means Star of the sea, for as mariners are guided to port by the ocean star, so Christians attain to glory through Mary’s maternal intercession.” [St. Thomas Aquinas +1274]

“This most holy, sweet and worthy name was ’eminently fitted to so holy, sweet and worthy a virgin. For Mary means a bitter sea, star of the sea, the illuminated or illuminatrix. Mary is interpreted Lady. Mary is a bitter sea to the demons; to men She is the Star of the sea; to the Angels She is illuminatrix, and to all creatures She is Lady .” [St. Bonaventure +1274]

“God the Father gathered all the waters together and called them the seas or maria [Latin, seas]. He gathered all His grace together and called it Mary or Maria . . .This immense treasury is none other than Mary whom the Saints call the ‘treasury of the Lord.’ From Her fullness all men are made
rich;” [St. Louis de Montfort +1716]

The hallowed title, “Star of the Sea,” dates back to St. Jerome [+420]. It has been said that the great Doctor had originally used the phrase Stilla Maris to describe Mary as a “drop of the sea,” the sea being God. A copyist’s error, then, could have resulted in stilla [drop] being written down as stella [star]. Of course, the hallowed title, “Star of the Sea,” suits Our Lady perfectly:

” ‘And the Virgin’s name was Mary.’ Let us say a few things about this name, which can be interpreted to mean Star of the sea, an apt designation for the Virgin Mother. She is most beautifully likened to a star, for a star pours forth its light without losing anything of its nature. She gave us Her Son without losing anything of Her virginity. The glowing rays of a star take nothing away from its beauty. N either has the Son taken anything away from His Mother’s integrity.

“She is that noble star of Jacob, illuminating the whole world, penetrating from the highest heavens to the deepest depths of Hell. The warmth of Her brilliance shines in the minds of men, encouraging virtue, extinguishing vice. She is that glorious star lighting the way across this vast ocean of life, glowing with merits, guiding by example.

“When you find yourself tossed by the raging storms on this great sea of life, far from land, keep your eyes fixed on this Star to avoid disaster. When the winds of temptation or the rocks of tribulation threaten, look up to the Star, call upon Mary!” [St. Bernard, Second Homily on the Missus Est]

The interpretation “Lady” for Mary was also proposed by St. Jerome, based on the Aramaic word, mar, meaning “Lord”. This would render the meaning “Lady” in the regal or noble sense [as in “Lord and Lady.”] Catholic sensibility, however, recognizing in Mary the simple dignity of a Mother, as well as the grandeur of a Queen, did not hesitate to add an affectionate touch to this majestic title. Mary is not just “Lady;” She is “Madonna,” Notre Dame—–i.e., She is Our Lady. This aspect of Mary —–“Lady” or “Mistress”—–is close to Our Lord’s Heart. We read in the Scriptures how, for a time, the youthful Christ made Himself “subject” to Her and St. Joseph, an act of Divine condescension which caused St. Bernard to wonder:

“Which shall we admire first? The tremendous submission of the Son of God, or the tremendous God-given dignity of the Mother of God? Both are marvels: both amazing. When God obeys a woman, it is humility without precedent. When a woman commands her God, it is sublime beyond measure.” [First Homily on the Missus Est]

It is not difficult to see why these various interpretations of the name “Mary” should have been proposed and cherished, for they encapsulate many of our Marian doctrines and beliefs. “Bitter sea [mara = bitter; yam = sea],” for instance, in addition to the interpretation given by St. Bonaventure, also calls to mind Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows and the sword which “pierced” Her soul on Calvary, recalling the lamentation of the mother-in-law of Ruth, who had lost a husband and two sons: “Call me not Noemi, [that is, beautiful,] but call me Mara, [that is, bitter,] for the Almighty hath quite filled me with bitterness [Rt. 1: 20].” Maror are “bitter herbs,” such as are found on the seder plate at Passover.

The “Illuminated” points us to St. John’s apocalyptic image of the “Woman clothed with the Sun,” a dual image encompassing both the Catholic Church and Mary, the Mother and Image of the Church. In addition, the “Illuminated” has also been rendered as the “Enlightener” and, like St. Bernard, St. Aelred [+1167] combines this meaning with that of the Stella Maris in a powerful passage:

“Therefore a certain Star has risen for us today: Our Lady, Saint Mary. Her name means Star of the sea; no doubt the Star of this sea which is the world. Therefore, we ought to lift up our eyes to this Star that has appeared on earth today in order that She may lead us, in order that She may enlighten us, in order that She may show us these steps so that we shall know them, in order that She may help us so that we may be able to ascend. And therefore it is a beautiful thing that Mary is placed in this stairway of which we are speaking, there where we must begin to climb. As the Evangelist says, Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, so immediately at the very moment of our conversion She appears to us and receives us into Her care and enlightens us in Her light and accompanies us along this laborious path.” [Sermon 24, For the Nativity of Holy Mary]

There is another interpretation for the name “Mary” which is quite interesting in that it relates to the Church as well. This supposes the name to be derived from the Hebrew verb mara, meaning “to be fleshy or robust. In the East, such descriptions implying corpulence were used to indicate beauty and fecundity. Here, then, Our Lady’s name would indicate “The Beautiful One,” quite fitting for the Immaculate Conception. [Tota Pulchra Es, M aria!—–“You are all beautiful, Mary!”] The Psalms prophetically describe the Church in this manner, all alluding to the fruitfulness and spiritual gifts of the Holy Ghost:

“The mountain of God is a fat mountain. A curdled mountain, a fat mountain . . . A mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell.” [Ps. 67:16-17]

This image resonates with the prophecy of Isaias concerning the New Dispensation [and the Church], and with the words of Our Lord:

“And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all the nations shall flow unto it [Is. 2: 2] . . . You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a mountain cannot be hid.” [Mt. 5: 14]

It is here that the Psalms intersect with St. John’s Apocalyptic vision, to present the maternal function of the Church, a virginal maternity mirroring that of Our Lady, which begets new “brethren” of Christ, new sons and daughters of Mary [“the rest of Her seed,” as Catholics are called by St. John in his Apocalypse] and new children of God the Father:

“But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name. Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” [Jn. 1: 12-13]

“The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains: The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. Glorious things are said of Thee, O city of God . . . Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in Her? And the Highest Himself hath founded Her.” [Ps. 86: 1-3, 5]

The inspired texts prophesy that the Church will be “exalted”—–It shall be exalted above the hills, and all the nations shall flow unto it. So, too, will be the Mother of the Church, She who prophesied that “all generations shall call Me blessed.” Another proposed meaning for the Blessed Virgin’s name reflects this exaltation, the majesty of the Queen of Heaven. It derives from ancient Canaanite literature, where the word mrym [pronounced somewhat like Maryam] means “height” [sharing the same derivation as marom, the Hebrew word for “height”]. This would render Mary’s name as “Highness” or “The Exalted One.”

This fascinating—–and very, very Catholic—–desire to explore the meaning and depths of the holy name of “Mary” is not merely a pious pursuit, unrelated to any theological concerns. In the various interpretations set forth, a wealth of Marian doctrine is made manifest, not in the clinical language of theology , but in rich, colorful meditations on Our Lady’s name, and sacred truths are explored and taught in language easily comprehended and appreciated by all.

In his fine book, The Wondrous Childhood of the Most Holy Mother of God, St. John Eudes [+1680] offers meditations on seventeen interpretations of the name “Mary,” taken from the writings of “the Holy Fathers and by some celebrated Doctors. “Among these are “God born of my race,” [St. Ambrose] “Rain of the sea, falling at convenient time and season,” [St. Peter Canisius] “Myrrh of the Sea,” [St. Jerome] and “The hope of those who voyage on the stormy sea of this world.” [St. Epiphanius] It is quite clear—–from Scripture, Tradition and history—–that the Church owes so much to Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer and our Mother “in the order of grace.” How does the gratitude and affection of Her spiritual children manifest itself in the beautiful Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, and what does this cherished name mean to those who love and venerate the Mother of God?

The Virtue and Power of Our Lady’s Name

A balanced view of salvation history will grant to the Blessed Virgin Her proper place in both the Incarnation of the Second Divine Person and in the Kingdom won by Him on Calvary. Therefore, She is venerated with thanksgiving as both the one who, in union with the Blessed Trinity, gave Jesus to the world, and as the one who stood by Him during His Passion, uniting Her “Com-Passion” to His Salvific Passion for the restoration of fallen mankind to the friendship of God. It was prophesied in Eden that the Mother of Christ would be given a share in the work of the One Mediator and, because of this, a unique share in His glory. As had been prophesied by Simeon in the Temple, the soul of the Co-Redemptrix was pierced beneath the Cross on Calvary. The Mother of the Church, who experienced no physical labor pains during the birth of the Incarnate God at Bethlehem, did undergo unimaginable spiritual ‘labor pains’ as Her Son hung on the Cross, dying the cruelest death imaginable. And God, in His wisdom, has decreed that these sufferings of Mary count for something, and something indescribably precious, in the economy of salvation. They were not the sufferings which redeemed humanity, like those of Jesus. They were not needed in order to augment or complete the superabundant Sacrifice of Jesus, which alone could and did atone for all the sins of the world. Yet, God decreed that Our Lady unite Her Sufferings to those of Jesus, the Woman of Genesis standing beside Her Seed during the restoration of the world.

Our Lady did this—–suffered as She did—–for us, for the spiritual progeny bequeathed to Her by Jesus in the person of St. John: “Woman, behold Thy son!” Therefore, we truly are brethren of Jesus, “the rest of Her seed:”

“And a great sign appeared in Heaven: A Woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under Her feet, and on Her head a crown of twelve stars: And being with child, She cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered . . . And She brought forth a man Child, Who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and Her son was taken up to God, and to His throne . . . And the dragon was angry against the Woman: and went to make war with the rest of Her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” [Apoc, 1-2, 5,17]

The Woman prophesied in Eden . . . The Virgin prophesied by Isaias . . . The Beautiful One of the Canticles . . . When the time had finally come, the world knew Her name at last: “And the Virgin’s name was Mary.” This woman uniquely honored with the title, Co-Redemptrix, was rewarded by Her Lord and Redeemer with a queenly crown in His Kingdom . . . and with the role of Mediatrix of All Graces, to dispense those graces which had cost Her Son so dearly on the Cross.

And so, we call out to this Mother and Queen in confidence: Ave Maria . . . Salve Regina . . . Ave Maris Stella . . .  Ave Regina Caelorum. Because of this, we honor, respect and set aside in our hearts a special place for Her Holy Name, “Mary,” for it was the beacon of our redemption. During the nine months that Jesus rested in His Mother’s womb, no one encountered Christ except through Mary, as did the infant St. John the Baptist in the womb of St. Elizabeth. Men and women still, and always will, go to Jesus through Mary:

“Considering things as they are, because God has decided to begin and accomplish His greatest works through the Blessed Virgin ever since He created Her, we can safely believe that He will not change His plan in the time to come, for He is God and therefore does not change in His thoughts or His way of acting.” [True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin]

Mary, the daughter of Joachim and Anne . . . She is not a goddess, not a mythological warrior-queen, not a curious, elusive character recalled through the mists of antiquity. She is a person, a uniquely blessed and honored individual, but a person still. “When you approach the time for reading about Mary Immaculate,” wrote St. Maximilian Kolbe [+1941], “always remember that you are entering into contact with a living, loving person.” No wonder, then, that Catholics [members of Christ’s Mystical Body and, therefore, the “rest” of Mary’s seed] should hold their Blessed Mother’s name in such esteem. It reminds us of God’s goodness, of His mercy and generosity to struggling mankind:
“The name of Mary is a name of salvation for those who are regenerated; it is the insignia of virtue, the honor of chastity, the sacrifice agreeable to God, the virtue of hospitality, the school of sanctity, a name altogether maternal.” [St. Peter Chrysologus +450]

Of course, in a proper understanding of doctrine and Scripture, such a declaration will not be misinterpreted as any contradiction to the words of St. Paul concerning Our Lord and His sacred Name:

“For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.” [Phil. 2: 9-11]

St. Peter Chrysologus did not say that the name of Mary is a “name of salvation.” He wrote that “the name of Mary is a name of salvation for those who are regenerated.” A person who wishes to follow Christ, yet denies the Mother given to him by Jesus on Calvary, is fooling himself. Through the inspired Gospels, Our Lady has been presented to the world as Advocate and Mediatrix [in the Visitation and Wedding at Cana episodes], and as Spiritual Mother [on Calvary]. Because there are no empty shows or meaningless displays with God, then we are bound to understand Mary’s advocacy and spiritual maternity as active, vital components in the life of the soul, for it is the good of souls that moved God to ordain the Incarnation:

“For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting [Jn. 3: 16] . . . For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” [Lk. 19: 10]

The Blessed Virgin, then is a Divine bestowal, a gift bequeathed to the Church by Her dying Savior. And Her name? Her name will become more than a name It will be a sign of Our Lord’s solicitude, a pledge of His love . . . and a prayer unto itself:

“We scarce remember now that once this name was spoken softly in a time before the Aves rang. Perhaps across some threshold it was said, so casually, by one who called to Her, ‘Mary.’ Then, She might have turned and come, obedient from where the children played together in the dusk: and no one knew that more was said than just a young girl’s name.”
[Fr. John W. Lynch, A Woman Wrapped in Silence]

The Introit for the Mass of the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, taken from Psalm 44, is an eloquent testimony to the reason we celebrate this beautiful name:

“All the rich among the people shall entreat Thy countenance: after Her shall virgins be brought to the King: Her neighbors shall be brought to Thee in gladness and rejoicing . . . My heart hath uttered a good word: I will speak my works to the King.”

We are presented to Christ by His Mother. She presents our needs and petitions to Him; She is the instrument of His mercy and of the disposition of the “Treasury of Grace” won by Him for us on Calvary; She consoles our hearts and through Her maternal care, imparts to Her children whatever peace or happiness we can know in this vale of tears—–nothing less than the peace of Christ. We may struggle to maintain this peace in our bruised and weary hearts, but Our Lady is always ready and eager to share it with us again and again. Yes, the name of Mary, this brief, simple name, speaks volumes to us. “There is hidden in that Divine name [of Mary] a spell so potent,” wrote Abbé Orsini, “and of such marvelous sweetness, that merely to pronounce it softens the heart, merely to write it beautifies the style.” St. Bonaventure declared the the name of Mary “cannot be pronounced without bringing some grace to him who does so devoutly.”

BOOK OF HEAVEN

Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, The Little Daughter of the Divine Will

Volume 34

 December 20, 1936

The Divine Fiat made the Virgin Conceived in each creature so that everyone would have a Mother completely his own. Dowry that God gave to the Virgin.  Triumphs and Victories of God, Victories and Triumphs of the Virgin, in which all creatures are provided with a Dowry.

My Highest Good Jesus holds me as immersed in the Great Prodigy of the Sovereign Queen, and it seems that He has the Will of wanting to tell what God Operated in this Great Lady. And composing Himself to feast, and with Indescribable Joy, He tells me:  “Listen to Me—here follows the same argument of what was written before—My blessed daughter (Luisa).  The Prodigies are Unheard-of.  The Surprises that I will narrate to you (luisa) will astonish everyone.  I feel the need of Love to make known what thing We have done with this Celestial Mother, and the Great Good that all the generations have received. Therefore you (Luisa) must know that in the Act of Conceiving this Holy Virgin, Our Divine Will that possesses everything, and with Its Immensity embraces everything and possesses the All-Seeingness of all the possible and imaginable beings, and with Its Virtue all Its own, that when It Operates It always does Universal Work, as She was therefore Conceived, with Its Creative Virtue It called all creatures to be conceived in the Heart of this Virgin.

“But it was not enough for Our Love. Giving into the most incredible Excesses, It made this Virgin Conceived in every creature so that each one would have a Mother to himself, all his.  They would feel Her Maternity in the depth of their souls, Her Love that while She holds them, more than children, conceived in Herself, Bilocating Herself She Conceives Herself in every creature in order to place Herself at their disposition so as to raise them, guide them, free them from dangers, and, with Her Maternal Power, feed them the milk of Her Love and the food with which She nourishes Herself, that is, the Divine Fiat. Our Will, having Free Life in Her, Its Total Dominion, with Its Power, It called everything into this Celestial Creature in order to have the Joy of seeing everyone contained in Her, in order to hear Her say:  ‘They are already all in Me, My and Your children, therefore I Love You for everyone.’  Then She Bilocated Herself in everyone and in each one in order to make felt in every soul the Love of this Daughter of Ours, All Beautiful and All Love.

“We can say: ‘There is no creature in whom She does not take the pledge of Loving Us.’  Our Fiat elevated Her so much, as to give everything to Her.  And even from the first instant of Her Life, We constituted Her Queen of Our Fiat, Queen of Our Love.  And when She Loved Us, Her Maternity was felt in Her Love, and it harmonized with the Love of all creatures.  And O! how Beautiful it was that She formed of everything One Single Love.  How She Wounded Us, Felicitated Us, even to feeling Ourselves languish.

“Her Love disarmed Us, it made us see all created things—sky, sun, earth, seas, and creatures—covered and hidden in Her Love. O! how Beautiful it was to see Her, feel Her, that She acted as Mother in every creature, and forming in them Her Sea of Love, She sent Her notes, Her arrows, Her Loving darts to Her Creator. And acting as True Mother She brought them to Us, even to before Our Throne, in the Sea of Her Love, in order to make Us look at them, so as to render Us Favorable.  And with the Strength of Our Divine Volition She imposed Herself over Us, She placed them in Our Arms, She made Us caress and kiss them, and She made Us give Surprising Graces.  How many Sanctities were formed and impetrated by this Celestial Mother, and in order to be sure, Her Love remained to watch.

“In addition to this, you must know that even from the first instant of the Life of this Celestial Creature, so much was Our Love that We provided Her with a Dowry of all Our Divine Qualities such that She held as Dowry Our Power, Wisdom, Love, Goodness, Light, Beauty, and all the rest of Our Divine Qualities. Already for all creatures, in placing them to the light of day, We give the Dowry.  No one is born if he is not provided with a Dowry by his Creator.  But since they broke away from Our Will, one can say that they do not even know It.  On the other hand, this Holy Virgin never broke away, She made Perennial Life in the Interminable Seas of Our Fiat, therefore She grew together with Our Attributes.  And as She formed Her Acts in Our Divine Qualities, so She formed Seas of Power, of Wisdom, of Light, and others. 

“We can say that Living with Our Science We give Her continuous Lessons on who Her Creator was. She grew in Our Knowledges, and She knew so much about the Supreme Being, that not one Angel or Saint could reach Her.  Rather, they are all ignorant before Her, because no one grew and Lived together with Us.  She entered into Our Divine Secrets, into the most Intimate hiding places of Our Divine Being without beginning or end, into Our Joys and Everlasting Beatitudes.  And with Our Power that She held in Her Power, She dominated Us and lorded over Us, and We let Her do it.  Rather, We enjoyed Her lording over Us, and in order to render Her Happier, We gave Her Our Chaste Embraces, Our Smiles of Love, Our Condescesions, telling her:  ‘Do what you want.’

“Our Volition has so much Love toward the creatures, and great is Its Desire of making them Live in It, that if It obtains this, It casts her into an abyss of Graces, of Love, even to drowning her, such that the human littleness is constrained to say: ‘Enough, I am already drowned; I feel myself devoured by Your own Love, I am not able to endure more.’  Now, you must know that Our Love is not content; it never says ‘enough.’  However much more it can give, more it wants to give.  And when We give it is Our Feast, We set the table for the one who loves Us, and We urge her remain with Us in order to Live together.

“Now, My daughter, listen to another Prodigy of Our Fiat in this Celestial Creature, and how She Loved Us and rendered Her Maternity extendable to all creatures: In every Act that She did, if She Loved, Prayed, Adored, if She Suffered, everything, even the breath, the heartbeat, the step, being Our Fiat, were Triumphs and Victories that Our Supreme Being made in the Acts of the Virgin.  The Celestial Lady Triumphed and Conquered in God, in every instant of Her Admirable and Prestigious Life.  They were Triumphs and Victories between God and the Virgin.  But this is nothing.  Acting as True Mother She called all Her children, and She covered and hid all their acts in Hers, and She covered them with Her Triumphs and with Her Victories, giving all Her acts as Dowry, with all Her Victories and Triumphs. And then, with a Tenderness and Love as to break hearts and feel Ourselves Conquered, She told Us:  ‘Adorable Majesty, look at them, they are all My children.  My Victories and Triumphs are of My children, they are My Conquests that I give to them.  And if the Mama has Conquered and Triumphed, the children have Conquered and Triumphed.’ 

“And so many Triumphs and Victories She did in God, for however many acts all creatures would have done, such that all can say: ‘I am provided with a Dowry by the Acts of My Queen Mama, and for Seal She has Invested them for me with Her Triumphs and Victories that She made with Her Creator.’  In fact, one who wants to make himself holy, finds the Dowry of his Celestial Mother and Her Triumphs and Victories in order to arrive at the greatest Sanctity.  The weak one finds the Strength of the Sanctity of his Mama and Her Triumphs in order to be strong.  The afflicted, the suffering one, finds the Gift of the sufferings of his Celestial Mother in order to obtain the Triumph, the Victory, of resignation.  The sinner finds the Victory and the Triumph of pardon.  In sum, everyone finds in this Sovereign Queen the Dowry, the support, the help for the state in which they find themselves.  And O! how Beautiful it is.  It is the most moving scene, enrapturing and enchanting, to see this Celestial Mother in every creature, that She acts as Mama.  We feel that She Loves and prays in Her children.  This is the Greatest Prodigy among Heaven and earth, Greater Good We could not give to the creatures.

“Now My daughter, I must tell you a Sorrow of the Celestial Mother: to so much Love of Hers, the ingratitude of creatures. This Dowry that with so many sacrifices, even to the heroism of the Sacrifice of the Life of Her Son-God with so many atrocious sufferings, some do not know it; some hardly take a small interest, and they live poor in sanctity.  And O! how She Suffers in seeing Her children poor.  To possess Immense riches of Love, of Grace, of Sanctity—because they are not material riches, but the riches of this Celestial Mother are riches that She has placed Her Life in order to acquire for them—and not to see them possessed by Her children, and to hold them without the Purpose for which She had acquired them, is a continuous Sorrow.  And therefore She wants to make this Great Good known to everyone, because if it is not known, it cannot be possessed.  And since She acquired these Dowries in virtue of the Divine Fiat that Reigned in Her, that Loved Her so much that It let Her do what She wanted, and anywhere She would want to reach, for the Good of creatures, so it will be My Reigning Divine Volition that will make them aware of these Celestial Dowries, and will let them take possession.  Therefore pray that a Good so Great be known and wanted by creatures.”

Volume.17.-.May.4,1925 (Continuation of the previous chapter). The Mission of the Divine Will reproduces on earth the image of the Most Holy Trinity.

After writing what is written above, I began to do the adoration to my Crucified Jesus, fusing all of myself in His Most Holy Will; and my beloved Jesus came out from within my interior, and placing His Most Holy Will close to mine, all tenderness, told me: “My daughter, did you write everything on the mission of my Will?”

And I: ‘Yes, yes, I wrote everything.’

And He, again: “What if I told you that you did not write everything? Rather, you have left out The Most Essential Thing. So, continue to write, and add: ‘The Mission of My Will shall conceal the Most Holy Trinity upon earth. Just as in Heaven there are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, inseparable but distinct among themselves, Who form all the beatitude of Heaven, in the same way, on earth there will be Three Persons who, because of their Missions, shall be distinct and inseparable among themselves: the Virgin, with Her Maternity which conceals the Paternity of the Celestial Father and encloses His Power in order to Fulfill Her Mission of Mother of the Eternal Word and Co-Redemptrix of mankind; My Humanity, for the Mission of Redeemer, which was enclosed in the Divinity of the Word, without ever separating from the Father and from the Holy Spirit, in order to manifest My Celestial Wisdom, adding the bond of becoming inseparable from My Mama; and you (Luisa), for the Mission of My Divine Will, as the Holy Spirit shall display His Love in you (Luisa), manifesting to you (Luisa) His Secrets, the Prodigies of My Will, the Goods It contains, in order to make Happy those who will give themselves to knowing how much good this Supreme Will contains, to Love It and to let It Reign in their midst, offering their souls to let It dwell within their hearts, that It may be able to form Its Life in them. And the bond of inseparability will be added, between you (Luisa), the Mother (Mary) and the Eternal Word (Jesus).

These Three Missions are distinct and inseparable. The first two have prepared the Graces, the Light, the Work, and Everything, with unheard-of pains, for the Third Mission of My Divine Will, in order to be all fused in It without leaving their Office, so as to find rest, because My Will alone is Celestial Rest. These Two Missions shall be repeated, because their exuberance of Grace, of Light, of Knowledge, is so great that all human generations can be Filled with them; even more, they shall not be able to contain all the Good which they contain. These Two Missions are symbolized by the Sun, since, in creating it, I filled it with so much light and heat, that all human generations can enjoy it in superabundance. Nor did I take into account that, since in the beginning of creation there were only Adam and Eve on earth, I could have placed in the Sun enough light as to be sufficient only for the two of them, making it then grow, in proportion to the growth of the human generations. No, no – I made the Sun full of light, just as it is now, and shall be. For the decorum and the honor of Our Power, Wisdom and Love, Our works are always made with the fullness of all the good which they contain; nor are they subject to increase or decrease.

So I did with the Sun: I centralized in it all the light which it was to serve, up to the last man. But how much good does the Sun not do to the earth? What glory does it not give to its Creator, with its mute light? I can say that, for the immense good it does to the earth, with its mute language, the Sun glorifies Me and makes Me known more than all other things together; and this, because it is full in its light, and stable in its course. When I looked at the Sun which, with so much light, only Adam and Eve could enjoy, I also looked at all the living; and in seeing that that light was to serve all, my paternal goodness exulted with joy, and I remained glorified in my works.

So I did with My dear Mama: I filled Her with so much Grace, that She can give Graces to all without ever exhausting even one of them. So I did with My Humanity: there is no good which It does not possess – and the very Divinity, to be able to give It to whomever wants It. So I did with you (Luisa): I enclosed in you (Luisa) My Divine Will, and with It I enclosed Myself. I enclosed in you (Luisa) Its Knowledges, Its Secrets, Its Light. I filled your soul (Luisa) up to the brim; so much so, that what you (Luisa) write is nothing other than the outpouring of what you (Luisa) contain of My Divine Will. And even though it now serves you alone, and a few glimmers of Light serve some other souls, I am content, because being Light, it shall make its way by itself, more than a Second Sun, in order to illuminate the human generations and to bring about the Fulfillment of Our works: that Our Divine Will be Known and Loved, and that It Reign as Life within the creatures. This was the Purpose of Creation – this was its beginning, this shall be its means, and end.

Therefore, be attentive, because this is about rescuing that Eternal Will which, with so much Love, wants to dwell in the creatures. But It wants to be Known, It does not want to be like a stranger; rather, It wants to give out Its Goods and become Life of each one, but It wants Its Rights whole – Its place of honor. It wants the human will to be banished – the only enemy for It, and for man.

The Mission of My Divine Will was the purpose of the creation of man. My Divinity did not depart from Heaven, from Its Throne; My Divine Will, instead, not only departed, but descended into all created things and formed Its Life in them. However, while all things recognized Me, and I dwell in them with Majesty and Decorum, man alone drove Me away. But I want to conquer him and win him; and this is why My Mission is not finished. So I called you (Luisa), entrusting to you (Luisa) My Own Mission, that you (Luisa) may place the one who drove Me away on the lap of My Divine Will, and everything may return to Me, in My Divine Will.

Therefore, do not be surprised at the Great and Marvelous Things I may tell you (Luisa) for the sake of this Mission, or at the many graces I may give you (Luisa); because this is not about making a Saint, but about Saving the generations. This is about Rescuing a Divine Will, for which everything Must Return to the Beginning, to the Origin from which everything came, so that the Purpose of My Divine Will may have its Complete Fulfillment.’”

Fiat!

PENTECOST

Heavenly Father, we pray in the Most Holy Divine Will, in the name of Jesus and Mary through Luisa, for everyone and everything past, present and future that The Holy Spirit come with His Divine Fire and Sanctify the earth.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts those who are linked to Luisa with the inextinguishable Fire of Your Divine Love; the Fire of Divine Love that transmutes the soul in God; the Fire of Divine Love that with Its flames invests all the human operations and gives them the form of Divine Operations. 

Come Holy Spirit, fill those who are linked to Luisa with the Fire of Your Divine Will that contains such Power as to be a New Baptism for the soul, as Jesus told Luisa, “even more than Baptism itself.”  Wash from us every stain, and give us that new Baptism that will strengthen us in Grace, to be admitted to Live with You on earth as it is in Heaven.

Come Holy Spirit, baptize those who are linked to Luisa with the Baptism of Your Divine Fire.  Restore and heal us with Your Breath of Fire.  Purify us with Your Divine Fire and devour and consume all our passions and evil tendencies, and finding our souls naked with no extraneous humors, it will be easy for You, Holy Spirit, to convert us into Your very Divine Fire.  Let us feel the burning of Your Divine Fire and the palpitating Divine Life of our Creator so that all mankind will return to be the “bearer of his Creator.”  Then You, Triune God, will feel the happiness, glory and appreciation for Your Creative Work, as it returns Love into Your Divine womb, as it came out, in a Fire of Love from Your Paternal Bosom.

Come Holy Spirit with Your Divine Fire of Your Divine Love and Sanctify the earth. We ask this in the name of Jesus, Our Lord, under the blue mantle of Mary, Our Mother and through the intercession of the little daughter of the Divine Will, Luisa Piccarreta.  Amen.