St. Annibale Maria Di Francia

From the Letters of St. Di Francia to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta:

16.                                         J.M.J.A.

Messina, March 4, 1927

Most Esteemed one in the Lord,

I received your second letter.  The first one I gave to read to Mother Superior also and to some of the Old Sisters, and all of us have remained consoled – also my Priests, because the rumor has spread in our Institutes that the Lord, by His infinite goodness, has destined me to start up to a good point, the publication of the Divine Will, and therefore all of them hope for my healing – and I do too.

In truth, it seems that the Lord wants it, both because He has placed all of the writings – that is, the great deposit of His Divine Revelations – in our power, and also because of the special enlightenment that the Lord has given me on how to regulate the publication, which you will see rather soon in the first booklet that is being printed in Oria; and also because of the great means and equipment that are necessary, as well as labor – and of all this, the Lord has given us, and gives us, a unique abundance.

If these works were to be published in an external press, it would be an expense of hundreds of thousands of lira – and it would even reach the million.  Another sign is the terrible war that the devil has been waging against me in order to destroy me – by divine permission, so that I myself may begin the practice of the Divine Will.

Only my sins would make me fear that the Lord would withdraw such infinite Mercy from us.

Now, for this, I commend myself to your fervent prayers.

I spent last night awfully, but today, from 3pm on, I got up from my rest almost like in the days of my good health, and I feel as if I were on the way to recovery.

In my afflictions, I have kept in mind that everything is the love of Jesus that operates.  Your advice and suggestions are most dear to me, but I am still a baby in this great Science of the Divine Will.  I thank you very much for your holy encouragements.

As far as the Pious Universal Union of the Children of the Divine Will, I have not conceived it in the way you understood, that is, with many houses that should be formed in the world of Sisters dedicated as Daughters of the Divine Will.  In this way the Institution would not be universal, nor could it develop rapidly.  In the way I conceived it, all Religious Houses of men and women, and all lay categories, and any person in the entire world, can become son or daughter of the Divine Will, by simply accepting the Card, and reciting every day, with no obligation of conscience, 5 decades of the ejaculatory prayer:  “Fiat, Domine, Voluntas Tua – Sicut in Coelo et in Terra.  Amen”, alternating with the Glory Be, and with the premise of a Pater, Ave and Gloria.  There will not be registers for memberships, nor regulations, but impetrators – men and women, to spread the Cards.

As far as our House in Corato, it is understood that our Sisters and all of the internal and external personnel will be Children of the Divine Will.

Our Msgr. Archbishop prays, and has made others pray, for the healing of my miserable self; and he wants me to pray the Adorable Heart of Jesus to heal me, though always submitted to the Divine Volition.  However, he ignores the sublime Mission of the Divine Will that was given to us, and for now I will not let him know, nor is it necessary.

This Mother Superior thanks you for your gentle manners.

March 8, 1927

P.S.  I must add that I suffer gravely of breathlessness if I make movements.

The origin of it – a pleurisy which the doctors have discovered recently in me; because three years ago, in Rome, I has a bronchial pneumonia, a sort of Spanish fever.  I recovered, but I incubated the pleurisy.  However, the doctors give assurance of a sure recovery, yet not this Winter, but in the Spring (let us hope in Jesus).  I suffer most anguishing nights; and you, who spend the nights with Jesus, remember me, who spend them in agony.  The doctors are not concerned at all about my sufferings; they say that it is the nervous system that is altered.  But I feel I am dying.

I answer to your letter.

The proofs are being reviewed by my people.  As far as the writings, don’t worry.  If I should pass away, my Priests have received from me all the lights that the Lord has given me, and they will continue the work.

I apologize to dear Father Calvi, but we are already a Religious Order approved by the Holy Church, and therefore we can give greater guarantee than a simple individual.  And then, how could Fr. Calvi manage to improvise press, labor, means, etc. etc. etc.?

Therefore, let us follow the Divine Will.

Pray, pray for miserable me, who am crucified day and night…

You will receive the first prints as soon as possible – hopefully this month.

I bless you, and, at night, pray Jesus for me.  I see everything closed – Jesus, the Most Holy Virgin, the Saints, etc. etc.

I bless you again, and please distribute my usual regards.  But my letters for you are secret, except for that which you must relate, and which it is good to manifest.

Messina March 8, 1927

Canonico Di Francia

I am sending you the letter you asked for.  Talk about it with the Divine Spouse, and may He not look at my sins!…

Divine Mercy Novena

On Wall In Chapel at St. Anthony’s Orphanage in Corato, Italy
(“Soul, Help Me”)

Book of Heaven
Volume 6; April 11, 1905

How perseverance is seal of eternal life and development of divine life.

Being very afflicted because of the privation of my adorable Jesus, I was saying to myself:  “How cruel He has become with me – I myself cannot understand how His good Heart can reach the point of doing this.  And then, if persevering pleases Him so much, yet, my persevering does not move His good Heart.”

While I was saying this and other nonsense, all of a sudden He came and told me:  “Indeed, that of the soul which pleases Me (Jesus) the most is perseverance, because perseverance is seal of Eternal Life and development of Divine Life.  In fact, just as God is ever old and ever new and immutable, in the same way, through perseverance, by having exercised it always, the soul is old, and by her attitude of exercising it, she is ever new; and each time she exercises it she is renewed in God, remaining immutable, and without realizing it.  Since through perseverance she continuously acquires Divine Life within herself, by acquiring God she is sealed with Eternal Life.  Can there be a seal safer than God Himself?”

Divine Mercy Novena

Book of Heaven
Volume 9; April 10, 1910

Preparation and thanksgiving at Communion.

I write to obey, but I feel my heart crack from the effort I am making. But, Viva Obedience – Viva the Will of God! I write, but I tremble, and I myself don’t know what I am saying. Obedience wants me (Luisa) to write something about how I prepare myself and thank blessed Jesus at Communion. I don’t know how to say anything about it, because my sweet Jesus, in seeing my incapacity and that I am good at nothing, does everything Himself: He prepares my soul, and He Himself administers the thanksgiving to me; and I follow Him.

Now, the way of Jesus is always immense, and together with Jesus, I too feel immense, and as if I were able to do something. Then Jesus withdraws, and I remain always the stupid one that I am, the little ignorant one, the little bad one. And it is exactly because of this that Jesus loves me – because I am ignorant, and I am no one, and I can do nothing. Knowing that I want to receive Him at any cost, so as not to receive dishonor in coming into me, but rather, highest honor, He Himself prepares my poor soul. He gives me His own things, His merits, His clothing, His works, His desires – in sum, all of Himself. If necessary, also that which the Saints did, because everything is His own; if necessary, also that which the Most Holy Mama did. And I too say to all: “Jesus, give honor to Yourself in coming into me. My Queen Mama, Saints, all Angels, I am so very poor; everything that is yours – put it in my heart, not for me, but for the honor of Jesus.” And I feel that all of Heaven contributes to preparing me.

And after Jesus has descended within me, I seem to see Him all pleased, seeing Himself honored by His own things; and sometimes He tells me: “Brava, brava, my daughter, how happy I am – how pleased I am. Everywhere I look within you, I find things worthy of Me. Everything that is Mine, is yours; how many beautiful things you made Me find!”

Knowing that I am so very poor, that I have done nothing, and that nothing is mine, I laugh at the contentment of Jesus, and I say: “Thank goodness Jesus thinks like this! It is enough that He came – this is enough for me. It doesn’t matter that I have used His own things – the poor must receive from the rich.” Now, it is true that a few glimmers here and there remain in me about the way Jesus has at Communion, but I am unable to reunite these glimmers together, and form a preparation and a thanksgiving. I lack the capacity; it seems to me that I prepare Myself in Jesus Himself, and that I thank Him with Jesus Himself.

Divine Mercy Novena

The Octave of Easter, during which formerly no servile work was done, was one continual Feast.  Each day the neophytes (those novices in the Catholic Faith who were fully accepted into the Church during the Easter Service) attended Mass at a Station (a specifically designated Church), at which they received Holy Communion.  In the evening they went to St. John Lateran for the office of Vespers (Evening Prayer of the Church).

Sts. Peter (foreground) and John
at the Empty Tomb of Our Lord Jesus Christ

On the first day of the week the Station was at St. Peter’s, which contains the tomb of the head of the Church.  We hear St. Peter’s voice in the first reading (Acts 2:14-14,22-32).  He proclaims to the world the Resurrection of Christ, of which he was witness.

Day Twenty-Eight from The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will

Now, listen to Me, daughter of My Sorrows: as My Dear Son Breathed His last, He descended into Limbo, as Triumpher and Bearer of Glory and Happiness to that prison in which were all the Patriarchs and Prophets, the first father Adam, dear Saint Joseph, My holy parents, and all those who had been saved by virtue of the foreseen Merits of the future Redeemer. I was Inseparable from My Son, and not even death could take Him away from Me. So, in the Ardor of My Sorrows I followed Him into Limbo and was Spectator of the Feast, of the Thanksgivings, which that whole great crowd of people gave to My Son, who had suffered so much, and whose first step had been toward them, to Beatify them and to bring them with Himself to Celestial Glory. So, as He died, Conquests and Glory began for Jesus and for all those who loved Him. This, dear daughter, is symbol of how, as the creature makes her will die through Union with the Divine Will, Conquests of Divine Order, Glory and Joy begin, even in the midst of the greatest sorrows. Even though the eyes of My Soul followed My Son and I never lost sight of Him, at the same time, during those three days in which He was buried, I felt such Yearnings to see Him Risen, that in My Ardor of Love I kept repeating: “Rise, My Glory! Rise, My Life!” My Desires were Ardent, My Sighs, of Fire—to the point of feeling consumed.

Now, in these yearnings, I saw that My Dear Son, accompanied by that great crowd of people, went out of Limbo in Act of Triumph, and brought Himself to the sepulcher. It was the dawn of the third day, and just as all nature had cried over Him, now it rejoiced; so much so, that the sun anticipated its course to be present at the Act in which My Son was Rising Again. But—O marvel—before Rising Again, He showed that crowd of people His Most Holy Humanity— Bleeding, Wounded, Disfigured; the way it had been reduced for Love of them and of all. All were moved, and admired the Excesses of Love and the Great Portent of Redemption.

Now, My daughter, O, how I wish you to be present in the Act in which My Son Rose Again. He was all Majesty; His Divinity, United to His Soul, unleashed Seas of Light and of Enchanting Beauty, such as to Fill Heaven and earth; and, as Triumpher, making use of His Power, He Commanded His dead Humanity to receive His Soul again, and to Rise, Triumphant and Glorious, to Immortal Life. What a Solemn Act! My Dear Jesus Triumphed over death, saying: “Death, you will no longer be death—but Life.”

With this Act of Triumph, He placed the Seal that He was Man and God; and with His Resurrection, He confirmed His Doctrine, His Miracles, the Life of the Sacraments, and the whole Life of the Church. Not only this, but He obtained Triumph over the human wills, weakened and almost extinguished to True Good, to make Triumph over them the Life of that Divine Will which was to bring to creatures the Fullness of Sanctity and of all Goods. And at the same time, by virtue of His Resurrection, He cast into the bodies the Seed of Resurrection to Everlasting Glory. My daughter, the Resurrection of My Son encloses everything, says everything, confirms everything, and is the Most Solemn Act that He did for Love of creatures.

Divine Mercy Novena

Letters of Luisa Piccarreta
Letter #72.  To Mother Cecilia

In Voluntate Dei!

My good and reverend Mother,

(…) Now I (Luisa) feel the need to send you my Easter wishes.  My Mother, what wish can I send you?  I know that crosses surround you; how many times you have to swallow bitter pills, that make your heart bleed.  It seems to me that dear Jesus surrounds you with these pains in order to give you strength, and with tender and loving voice, He says to you:  “My daughter, give these pains to Me, that they may form my arms, my heart, my steps – my whole Life, to be able to live within you.”  My Mother, it is the crosses, the sufferings united to the Divine Volition, that form the raw material in order to receive in us the life of Jesus, Who calls our littleness to live in Him and to rise in Him.

Here is my wish, my Mother:  to rise not only on Easter, but continually in Jesus; so that every pain and each one of our acts, may be the means in order to rise in the One Who loves us so much.  I believe I could not send you a more beautiful wish; and I believe you will appreciate it, more so, under the rain of unheard-of crosses and of profound humiliations.  The storms give no sign of ceasing.  Pray that He will make peace rise again from the storms, otherwise one cannot live.

My sister tells you many things and sends you her affectionate wishes.  In a special way, I send my wishes to Sister Remigia (and our website sends this wish to you, dear reader), that she may form her perfect resurrection in the Divine Will, and use every act she does in order to grow in sanctity.  We must be convinced that not the great things make us saints, but the little ones, which we have in our power and which serve as the nourishment of sanctity.  I commend myself to your prayers, and leaving you rising together with Jesus, I kiss your right hand and with a thousand regards, united to my sister, I say,

The little daughter of the Divine Will.

Corato, April 5, 1939

Divine Mercy Novena