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Aug 07
8/7 The Feast of God The Father of All Mankind
The Feast of God The Father of All Mankind
Deus Abba – Omnipotens Pater
God The Father – All Powerful Father
Mother Eugenia asked a famous painter to paint a picture of the Father just as she had seen Him: with long black hair, dark eyes, without a beard, with a sceptre and a crown at His feet. Later, His face was touched up by adding a thick, black beard.
Bishop Approves the Apparition of God The Father
“I desire only this: that one day, or at least a Sunday, be dedicated to me under the title of Father of All Mankind.” – The Eternal Father To Mother Eugenia Elisabetta Ravasio on July 1, 1932, the Feast of the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
In 1932, an extraordinary event occurred. A nun named Mother Eugenia Ravasio reported that God the Eternal Father appeared to her on two separate occasions. The first time was on July 1, 1932. The second time was on August 12, 1932. After a ten year investigation, the Church approved the apparition.
According to the book, “God is Father,” there was beautiful singing, incomprehensible harmony, and finally the appearance of the Eternal Father. Mother Eugenia stated that God our Father sat next to her to reveal His great love for His children. He also stated that He desired a feast in His honor. God our Father gave this message to Mother Eugenia in Latin, a language totally unknown to her.
In our opinion, Mother Eugenia is one of the greatest lights in our times, the little prophet of a new Church, in which the Father is the center and apex of all mankind, and in which unity is the highest ideal of spirituality. She is a light given by the Father to the world at this time of chaos and darkness, so that we may see the road that has to be followed.
She was born in San Gervasio d’Adda, a small town in the province of Bergamo, Italy, on September 4th, 1907, in a family of peasant background. Quite apart from her spiritual qualities, her work in the social field alone would suffice to ensure her a place in history. In twelve years of missionary activity she opened over 70 centers – each with infirmary, school and church – in the remotest spots of Africa, Asia and Europe. Mother Eugenia returned to the Father on August 10th, 1990.
Bishop’s Statement
In 1935, Bishop Alexander Caillot of Grenoble, France, convened a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the report. The commission took ten years to complete its work. In his final report, Bishop Caillot stated that Mother Eugenia had reflected great piety, humility and obedience during the 10 year investigation. She endured many trials and displayed outmost docility while submitting to the Inquiry. The following is a brief summary of the Bishop’s approval:
“Following the dictates of my soul and my conscience, and with the keenest sense of my responsibility to the Church, I declare that the supernatural events and divine intervention seems to me the only logical and satisfactory answer of the facts. Isolated from all the surrounding features of the case, this essential fact seems to me to be noble, lofty and supernaturally rich: that a humble nun has called souls to true devotion to the Father, such as Jesus taught and the Church has enshrined in its liturgy. There is nothing alarming in this, only something that is simple and in accordance with solid doctrine. I deem it proper to let her continue her work. I believe that the hand of God is in all this. After ten years of research, reflection, and prayer, I bless the Father for having deigned to choose my diocese as the place for such touching manifestations of His love.”
This book also has an IMPRIMATUR from Vicor General Cardinal Canisius Van Lierde, Vatican City, Rome, March 13, 1988.
For your free booklet, please send your name and address to Casa Pater, Box 1260, Emmitsburg, MD 21727. lease include a donation, if possible. “Be generous, as God your Father in heaven has been generous to you.”
Mother Eugenia Elisabetta Ravasio
Who is Mother Eugenia, whom God the Father called “My beloved daughter”, “My little plant”?
In our opinion, Mother Eugenia is one of the greatest lights of our times, the little prophet of a new Church, in which the Father is the centre and apex of all mankind, and in which unity is the highest ideal of spirituality. She is a light given by the Father to the world at this time of chaos and darkness, so that we may see the road that has to be followed.
She was born in San Gervasio d’Adda (now Capriato San Gervasio), a small town in the province of Bergamo, Italy, on 4 September 1907, in a family of peasant background.
She received only an elementary education. After a few years working in a factory, she entered the Congregation of Our Lady of the Apostles at the age of 20 years. It was here that her great charismatic personality developed, leading to her election as Mother General of the Congregation at the age of only 25.
Quite apart from her spiritual qualities, her work in the social field alone would suffice to ensure her a place in history. In twelve years of missionary activity she opened over 70 centres – each with infirmary, school and church in the remotest spots of Africa, Asia and Europe.
It was she who discovered the first medicine for the cure of leprosy, extracting it from the seed of a tropical plant. This medicine was later studied and developed further at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
She encouraged the apostolate of Raoul Follereau, who, following in her footsteps and building on the foundations laid by her, is regarded as the apostle of the lepers.
During the period 1939-41 she conceived, planned and brought to fruition the project for a “Lepers’ City” at Azopte (Ivory Coast). This was a vast centre, covering an area of 200,000 sq.m., for the care of leprosy sufferers. It remains even today one of Africa’s and the world’s leading centres of its kind.
In recognition of this achievement, France conferred the highest national honour for social work on the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, of which Mother Eugenia was Superior General from 1935 to 1947. Mother Eugenia returned to the Father on 10 August 1990.
Her most important legacy to us is the Message of the Father (“The Father speaks to His children”), the only private revelation made personally by God the Father and recognized as authentic by the Church after ten years of the most rigorous examination. We reproduce at the beginning of the text the statement issued by Mgr Alexandre Caillot, Bishop of Grenoble, following the investigation.
It is noteworthy that the Father (in 1932) dictated the Message to Mother Eugenia in Latin, a language totally unknown to her.
In 1981 this Message came to our notice, and in 1982, its fiftieth anniversary, we published it in Italian.
The many miracles of grace worked by the Message have led us to disseminate it gratis, especially in prisons, barracks and hospitals. In addition to English, it is available in French, Italian, Spanish, German and other languages.
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Aug 06
8/6 Feast of the Transfiguration
Transfiguration
Transubstantiation
Transmutation
In the Divine Will
From the Writings of
The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta
The Little Daughter of the Divine Will
Transfiguration
The Transfiguration of Christ is the culminating point of His public life, as His Baptism is its starting point, and His Ascension its end. Moreover, this glorious event has been related in detail by St. Matthew (17:1-6), St. Mark (9:1-8), and St. Luke (9:28-36), while St. Peter (II Peter 1:16-18) and St. John (1:14), two of the privileged witnesses, make allusion to it.
About a week after His sojourn in Cæsarea Philippi, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them to a high mountain apart, where He was transfigured before their ravished eyes. St. Matthew and St. Mark express this phenomenon by the word metemorphothe, which the Vulgate renders transfiguratus est. The Synoptics explain the true meaning of the word by adding “his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow,” according to the Vulgate, or “as light,” according to the Greek text.
This dazzling brightness which emanated from His whole Body was produced by an interior shining of His Divinity. False Judaism had rejected the Messias, and now true Judaism, represented by Moses and Elias, the Law and the Prophets, recognized and adored Him, while for the second time God the Father proclaimed Him His only-begotten and well-loved Son. By this glorious manifestation the Divine Master, who had just foretold His Passion to the Apostles (Matthew 16:21), and who spoke with Moses and Elias of the trials which awaited Him at Jerusalem, strengthened the faith of his three friends and prepared them for the terrible struggle of which they were to be witnesses in Gethsemani, by giving them a foretaste of the glory and heavenly delights to which we attain by suffering.
Volume 21 – March 22, 1927
Searching for Jesus everywhere. How one who lives in the Divine Will, lives in the echo of the voice of Jesus. Effects of the rising of the Sun of the Divine Will within the soul.
Continuing in my usual state, I was following the Divine Will in the creation; and going from one created thing to another, I called my sweet life, dear Jesus, to come to follow the acts of His Will in all created things, together with me. But not seeing Him, I felt the nail of His privation pierce me through, and in my sorrow I said to Him: ‘My Jesus, I don’t know what to do in order to find You. I have You called by your Justice within the sea, by your Power in its roaring waves – and You do not listen to me. I have You called by your light in the sun, by the intensity of its heat which symbolizes your love – and You do not come? I have You called by your immensity, by all of your works in the vastness of the vault of the heavens – and it seems it is not for You. But, tell me at least: what should I do to find You? If I do not find You, in your own Will – in the midst of your works which are your boundaries, where can I find my Life?’
But while I was pouring out my sorrow, He moved within me, telling me: “How beautiful is my daughter – how beautiful it is to see your littleness as though dissolved in my Will, searching for Me in the midst of my works, and not finding Me.”
And I: ‘My Jesus, You make me die. Tell me: where do You hide?’
And Jesus: “I hide within you. If you hear the voice of someone, in hearing his voice you can say that he is near you. Now, my Will is the echo of my voice; if you are in It, going around all the works of my Fiat, you are already in the echo of my voice. And since you are in It, I am near you or inside of you, and with my Fiat I give you the gift of letting you go around, up to where my voice reaches, and up to where my Fiat extends.”
Surprised, I said: ‘My love, so your voice becomes very, very long, because there is no point in which your Will is not. And Jesus added: “My daughter, indeed there cannot be will or voice without the person who emits them. So, just as my Will is everywhere, there is no point which is not reached by my voice which brings my Fiat to all things. Therefore, if you are in my Will, in the midst of Its works, you can be more than certain that your Jesus is with you.”
After this, I was thinking about the great good that the Divine Will brings to us; and while I was all immersed in It, my sweet Jesus added: “My daughter, when the sun rises, it dispels the darkness and makes the light arise. It changes the humidity of the night, with which the plants are so invested as to become oppressed, numb and melancholic; but as the sun rises, it turns that humidity into pearls, studding everything – plants, flowers and all nature. Its silvery halo brings back joy and beauty, taking away the torpor of the night; and with the enchantment of its light, it seems to take all nature by the hand, in order to vivify it, embellish it, and give life to it. The sea, the rivers, the springs, are frightening, but it makes the variety and the vividness of their colors stand out.
In the same way, as my Will rises, all the human acts are invested with light; they take their place of honor in my Will, and each one receives its special shade of beauty and the vividness of the Divine colors, in such a way that the soul is transfigured and enveloped with an indescribable beauty. As the sun of my Will rises, it puts to flight all the evils of the soul; it takes away the torpor produced by passions; even more, before the light of the Divine Fiat, the very passions lap up that light, and aspire to convert into virtues, to pay homage to my Eternal Will. As It rises, everything is joy. And even the pains, which, like seas at night, are frightening for the creatures – if my Will rises, It puts to flight the night of the human will, and removing every fear, It forms Its golden background in those pains. With Its light, It invests the bitter waters of the pains, and crystallizes then into a sea of sweetness, in such a way as to form an enchanting and admirable horizon.
What can my Will not do? It can do everything, and It can give everything. Wherever It rises, It does things worthy of Our creative hands.”
Transubstantiation
Transubstantiation is the belief that at the moment of Consecration, the elements bread and wine are transformed (literally trans-substance-iated) into the actual Body and Blood of Christ. The terms “elements” or “gifts” are preferred, as it is theologically incorrect to refer to the “bread” or “wine” after they have been consecrated, as Catholics believe they are no longer bread and wine.
This doctrine holds that the elements are not only spiritually transformed, but are actually (substantially) transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. The elements retain the appearance or “accidents” of bread and wine, but are indeed the actual Body and Blood of Christ, the actual, physical presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. For this reason, what remains of the sacrament after the Communion procession is reserved in the Tabernacle, where it can be utilized for later Masses, for private devotion and prayer, as well as for public Eucharistic adoration.
“Substance” as a philosophical term describes what a given object is, the properties of the object that are essential to “it” being “it.” Without its substance, an object ceases to be what it “is.” Accidents are non-essential properties; even without its accidents (such as color, taste, or shape), an object remains what it “is.” For example, hair is an accident of humans, while being a mammal is substantial. If a human loses its hair, it is still human. If a human stops being a mammal, it is no longer a human, because being a mammal is essential to being human. At Consecration, the substance of the Eucharistic elements change; while the non-essential properties (shape, taste, color) remain the same, the essence of what it “is” changes into Christ’s Body and Blood.
Volume 4 – July 3, 1902
Jesus speaks about His Eucharistic Life.
Continuing in my usual state, I found myself outside of myself, inside a Church, and since I could not find my adorable Jesus I went to knock at a Tabernacle to have Him open it for me. Since He would not open, made brave, I myself opened it and I found my sole and only Good. Who can say my contentment? I remained as though ecstatic in looking at an unspeakable beauty. On seeing me, Jesus flung Himself into my arms and told me: “My daughter, each period of my life receives from man distinct and special acts and degrees of imitation, of love, of reparation and other things. But the period of my Eucharistic Life is all life of hiddenness, of transformation and of continuous consummation; so much so, that I can say that after my love reached the excess and was even consumed, in my infinite wisdom I could not find any other external sign to prove my love for man. And just as my Incarnation, Life and Passion on the cross receive love, praise, thanksgiving, imitation – my Sacramental Life receives from man an ecstatic love, a love of dissolving oneself in Me, a love of perfect consummation; and as the soul is consumed in my very Sacramental Life, she can say that she performs, before the Divinity, the same offices that I perform continuously before God for love of men. And this consummation will make the soul overflow into eternal life.”
Volume 11 – August 20, 1913
One who lives in the Divine Will must have trust, simplicity and disinterest in giving to all. Her life and her work are ended, because the Divine Will consecrates her and transubstantiates her.
While I was praying, I saw my always lovable Jesus within me, and many souls around me, who were saying: ‘Lord, You have placed everything in this soul!’ And stretching their hands toward me, they said: ‘Since Jesus is in you, and all His goods are with Him, take them and give them to us.’ I remained confused, and blessed Jesus told me: “My daughter, all possible goods are contained in my Will, and it is necessary for the soul who lives in It to be in It with trust, operating as owner together with Me. Creatures expect everything from this soul, and if they don’t receive, they feel defrauded. But how can she give if she does not operate together with Me in complete confidence? Therefore, trust in giving; simplicity in communicating herself to all; disinterest for herself, to be able to live completely for Me and for her neighbor are necessary for the soul who lives in my Will. Such am I.”
Then He added: “My daughter, it happens to one who does my Will as to a grafted tree: the power of the graft has the virtue of destroying the life of the tree which receives the graft. Therefore, one can no longer see the fruits and the leaves of the first tree, but those of the graft. And if the first tree said to the graft: ‘I want to keep at least a little branch, so that I too will be able to give some fruits, in order to make everybody know that I still exist,’ the graft would say: ‘You have no more reason to exist after you submitted yourself to receive my graft. Life will be all mine.’
In the same way, the soul who does my Will can say: ‘My life is ended. I will no longer produce my works, my thoughts, my words, but the works, thoughts and words of the One whose Will is my Life.’ Therefore, I say to the one who does my Will: ‘You are my life, my blood, my bones,….’ The true, real, sacramental transformation takes place, not by virtue of the words of the Priest, but by virtue of my Will. As soon as the soul decides to live in my Volition, my Will creates Myself within the soul; and as my Will flows in the will, works and steps of the soul, she undergoes as many of my creations. It happens just as to a pyx full of consecrated particles: there are as many Jesuses for as many particles – one for each particle. In the same way, by virtue of my Will, the soul contains Myself in her whole being, as well as in each particle of it. One who does my Will fulfills the true eternal Communion – a Communion with complete fruit.”
Volume 15 – March 27, 1923
After I received Communion, my sweet Jesus made Himself seen, and as soon as I saw Him, I threw myself at His feet, to kiss them and to cling to Him with all of myself. And Jesus, extending His hand to me, told me: “My daughter, come into my arms, and even inside my Heart. I have covered Myself with the eucharistic veils so as not to strike fear. I have descended into the deepest abyss of humiliations in this Sacrament in order to raise the creature up to Me, identifying her with Me so much as to form one single thing with Me, and, by letting my Sacramental Blood flow inside her veins, constitute Myself life of her heartbeat, of her thought, and of her whole being. My love devoured Me and wanted to devour the creature in my flames, to make her be reborn as another Me. This is why I wanted to hide Myself under these eucharistic veils and, so hidden, enter into her to form this transformation of the creature into Myself. But in order for this transformation to take place, the dispositions were needed on the part of creatures; and my love, giving in to excess, in instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist, released from within my Divinity more graces, gifts, favors and light for the good of man, to render him worthy to receive Me. I could say that it released so much good as to surpass the gifts of Creation. First, I wanted to give him the graces in order for him to receive Me, and then Myself, to give him the true fruit of my Sacramental Life.
However, in order to anticipate souls with these gifts, it takes a little emptying of themselves, hate of sin, and desire to receive Me. These gifts do not descend into rot, into mud. Therefore, without my gifts they do not have the true dispositions to receive Me, and in descending into them, I do not find the space to communicate my Life; I am as though dead for them, and they are dead for Me; I burn, and they do not feel my flames; I am light, and they remain more blinded. Alas! how many sorrows in my Sacramental Life. Many, feeling nothing good in receiving Me because of lack of dispositions, reach the point of nauseating Me; and if they continue to receive Me, it is to form my continuous Calvary and their eternal damnation. If it is not love that pushes them to receive Me, it is one more affront that they give Me – one more sin which they add to their souls. Therefore, pray and repair for the many abuses and sacrileges that are committed in receiving Me in the Sacrament.”
Volume 23 – October 2, 1927
My poor mind continued to wander in the Divine Volition, and it marveled at the sublimeness, fullness and totality of the acts done in It; and my beloved Jesus, moving in my interior, added: “My daughter, let your marvel cease; the living in my Divine Fiat is to operate in It, it is the transfusion of the Creator into the creature, and there is an infinite distance between the divine operating and the operating of the creature alone. She lends herself to her God as matter, to let Him operate great things, just as the matter of light lent itself to the Divine Fiat in Creation, to let It form the sun, the heavens, the stars, the sea – all matters in which the Supreme Fiat resounded, and It manufactured the whole Creation. A prodigy of It is the sun, the heavens, the sea, the earth, which were vivified and animated by the Fiat – perennial and enchanting display of what my Will knows how to do, and can do. It happens with the soul as with the accidents of the host which, though being matter, lends itself to let itself be animated by my sacramental life, as long as those same words spoken by Me in instituting the Most Holy Sacrament are pronounced by the priest. Those were words animated by my Fiat, which contained the creative power, and this is why the matter of the host undergoes the transubstantiation of the divine life. One can pronounce as many words as one wants over the host, but if they are not those few words established by the Fiat, my life remains in Heaven and the host remains the wretched matter that it is. So it happens with the soul: she can do, say, suffer whatever she wants, but if my Divine Fiat does not run inside of them, those are always finite and wretched things. On the other hand, for one who lives in It, her words, her works, her pains, are like veils that hide the Creator, and the One who created heaven and earth makes use of these veils and makes of them works worthy of Himself, placing in them His sanctity, His creative power, His infinite love. Therefore, no one else, though he might do great things, can compare to that creature in whom my Divine Will lives, reigns and dominates.
Among creatures also it happens that, according to the material they have in their hands with which to form their works, so does the value which they possess and acquire vary. Suppose that someone has properties of iron: how much he has to work, sweat and toil to render that iron soft, to give it the shape of the container he wants to make; and the earning he makes is so small that he can barely make a living. On the other hand, someone else has properties of gold, of precious stones: this one works – oh! how much less; but he earns millions. So, it is not the work that brings great earning, exuberant riches, but the value of the material that one possesses. Someone works little and earns much because the material he possesses contains great value; someone else works much, but because the material he possesses is wretched and of very little value, is always the poor ragged one, and his stomach half-empty. So it happens to one who possesses my Divine Will: he possesses the life, the creative virtue, and his littlest acts contain a divine and immeasurable value; therefore no one can equal his riches. On the other hand, one who does not possess my Will as his own life, is without life, and he works with the material of his own will, and therefore he is always the poor ragged one before God, and he is empty of that food which forms in him the Fiat Voluntas Tua on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Volume 33 – July 8, 1935
“My daughter, how beautiful is my Mama, her empire extends itself everywhere, her beauty enraptures and enchains everyone, there is no being that doesn’t fall on its knees in order to venerate her. My Divine Will made her such for Me, he made her inseparable from Me, in a way that there was no act that I did that the Sovereign Queen didn’t do it together with Me. The power of that Divine Fiat pronounced by Me and by Her, that made Me conceived in her Virginal Bosom, giving me life to my Humanity, that Fiat always identical, and every time that I worked, the Divine Fiat of my Mother hold the right in my Divine Fiat to do that which I did. Now you should know that when I instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, her Divine Fiat was together with mine, and together we pronounced the Fiat that the bread and wine might be transubstantiated into my Body, Blood, soul and Divinity. Ah! As in the conception I wanted her Fiat, thus I wanted it in this solemn act that gave beginning to my Sacramental Life; who would have had the heart to put my Mama aside, in an act in which my love showed off with excesses so exuberant that it gives of the incredible! Rather, not only was she together with Me, (but) I constituted Her Queen of love of my Sacramental Life, and She with (the) love of my true Mother, offered her bosom again to Me, her beautiful soul in order to hold me defended and repaired from the horrendous ingratitudes and enormous sacrileges that I unfortunately would have received in this Sacrament of love. My daughter, this is my purpose, I want that my Will be life of the creature, in order to hold her together with me, in order to make her love with my love, work in my works, in short the company that I want in my acts, I don’t want to be alone, and if this might not be to what advantage to call the creature in my Will if I should remain as (the) isolated God and she alone, without taking part in our Divine works? And not only in instituting the Most Holy Sacrament, but in all the acts that I did the whole course of my Life, in virtue of the unique Volition with which we were animated, that which I did, my Mama did, if I did miracles, she was together with Me to work the prodigy, I felt in the power of my Will the Sovereign Lady of Heaven, that together with me, we called to life the corpses, if I suffered she was together with Me to suffer, there was no thing in which I didn’t have the company of Her, and her and my work fused together. This was the greatest honor that my Fiat gave Her, the inseparability with her Son, the unity with his works. And the Virgin, the greatest glory that attested to Me, so much so that I deposited it and She received the deposit of the completed works, in her Maternal heart, jealous of guarding even the breath. This unity of Will and of works, ignited such love between the one and the other than it was enough to set afire the whole entire world and to consume it with pure love.”
Transmutation
Transmutation is the conversion of one object into another. To change from one element inside and outside into a completely different element. It is most commonly used in reference to extremely basic objects, for example turning lead to gold or gold to pure energy
Volume 1
The third way in which Jesus speaks to me is when, in speaking, He communicates its very substance to the soul. It seems to me that just as when the Lord created the world, at one word things were created, in the same way, since His word is creative, in the very act in which He pronounces the word, He creates in the soul that very thing which He is saying. As for example, Jesus says to the soul: “See how beautiful things are, but as much as your eye may flow over the earth and in Heaven, you will never find a beauty similar to Me.” At these words of Jesus, the souls feels a certain something divine enter herself; the soul remains so very drawn toward this beauty, and at the same time she loses attraction for all the other things. As beautiful and precious as they may be, they make no impression on her soul. That which remains fixed within her and almost transmuted into her is the beauty of Jesus: of that beauty she thinks, with that beauty she feels invested, and she remains so enamored that if the Lord did not operate another miracle, her heart would crack, and the soul would breathe her last out of pure love for this beauty of Jesus, so as to fly into Heaven and delight in this beauty of Jesus. I myself don’t know whether I am speaking nonsense.
In order to explain myself better about this substantial speaking of Jesus, I will say something else. Jesus says: “See how pure I am – in you also I want to find purity in everything.” At these words the soul feels a divine purity enter into her. This purity is transmuted into herself, and she arrives at living as if she no longer had a body – and so with the other virtues. Oh! how desirable is this speaking of Jesus. As for myself, I would give away everything that is on earth – if I could possess it – to have one alone of these words of Jesus alone.
Volume 3 – January 6, 1900
This morning I received Communion, and as I found myself together with Jesus, the Queen Mama was also there, and – oh, marvel! – I looked at the Mother and I could see Her Heart transmuted into Baby Jesus; I looked at the Son and I could see the Mother in the Heart of the Baby. In the meantime, I remembered that today is the Epiphany, and in the example of the Holy Magi, I was to offer something to Baby Jesus, but I saw myself as having nothing to give Him. So, in seeing my misery, the thought came to me of offering my body as myrrh, with all the sufferings of the twelve years in which I had been in bed, ready to suffer and to remain there as much longer as He pleased; as gold, the pain I feel when He deprives me of His presence, which is the most painful and sorrowful thing for me; as incense, my poor prayers, united to those of the Queen Mama, so that they might be more pleasing to Baby Jesus. So I made the offering with full confidence that the Baby would accept everything.
Volume 4 – November 25, 1900
The nature of true love is to transmute pains into joys, and bitternesses into sweetnesses.
Since my most sweet Jesus delayed in coming, I was almost afraid He would not come; but then, to my surprise, all of a sudden He came and told me: “My beloved, do you want to know when it is that a work is done for one’s beloved? When, encountering sacrifices, bitternesses and pains, it has the virtue of changing them into sweetnesses and delights. In fact, this is the nature of true love: to transmute pains into joys, and bitternesses into sweetnesses. If one experiences the opposite, it is a sign that it is not true love that is acting. Oh, in how many works they say: ‘I do this for God’; but then, at some encounters, they draw back. With this they show that it was not for God, but for their own interest and for the pleasure they felt.”
Then He added: “Generally it is said that one’s own will ruins everything and infects the holiest works. Yet, if it is connected with the Will of God, there is no other virtue that can surpass this one’s own will, because where there is a will there is life in operating good, but where there is no will, there is death in operating, or one operates with difficulty, as though agonizing.”
Volume 4 – December 25, 1900
The birth of Jesus.
As I was in my usual state, I felt I was outside of myself; after wandering around, I found myself inside a cave, and I saw the Queen Mama in the act of giving birth to Little Baby Jesus. What a wonderful prodigy! It seemed that both Mother and Son were transmuted into most pure light. But in that light one could see very well 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 dwell 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 the beauty of the Little Baby who, at the moment of His birth, transfused, also externally, the rays of the Divinity? Who can tell the beauty of the Mother, who remained all absorbed in those Divine rays? And Saint Joseph? It seemed to me that he was not present at the act of the birth, but remained in another corner of the cave, all engrossed in that profound Mystery. And if he did not see with the eyes of the body, he saw very well with the eyes of the soul, because he remained enraptured in sublime ecstasy.
Volume 4 – October 14, 1901
Jesus shows Himself like a flash and makes her comprehend something about the divine attributes.
Blessed Jesus comes in passing, almost like a flash, and in that flash He releases from His interior, now a special distinction of one of His attributes, now another. How many things He makes me comprehend in that flash! But once the flash has withdrawn, my mind remains in the dark, and is unable to adapt itself to repeating what it has comprehended in that flash of light; more so, since it is about things that touch on the Divinity, and the human tongue struggles in trying to repeat them, and the more it tries, the more mute it remains. Even more, in these things it is always a newborn little girl. But obedience wants me to try to say the little I can; and here it is:
It seemed to me that God contains all goods within Himself, in such a way that, finding all goods which God contains within Him, one does not need to go anywhere else to see the vastness of His boundaries – no; but He alone is enough to find everything that is His. Now, in one flash He showed a special distinction of His beauty – but who can say how beautiful He is? I can only say that all the angelic and human beauties, the beauties of the variety of flowers and fruits, the splendid azure and starry heavens which seem to enchant us and speak to us of a supreme beauty as we look at them, compared to His beauty, are shadows, or a breath that God has sent forth from His beauty which He contains within Himself. That is, they are little drops of dew compared to the immense waters of the sea. I move on for my mind begins to get lost. In another flash He showed a special distinction of the attribute of charity – but how can I, miserable one, open my mouth about this attribute, Trice Holy, which is the fount from which all other attributes derive? I will only say what I understood with regard to the human nature.
So, I understood that as God creates us, this attribute of charity pours into us and fills us completely of itself, in such a way that if the soul corresponded, being filled with the breath of the charity of God, her very nature should be transmuted into charity toward God. But as the soul keeps diffusing herself in the love of creatures, or of pleasures, or of interests, or of any other thing, that divine breath keeps going out of the soul; and if the soul arrives at diffusing herself in everything, she becomes empty of divine charity. But since the soul cannot enter into Heaven if she is not a complex of most pure charity, fully divine, if the soul is saved, this breath which she received in being created, she will acquire again by dint of fire in the purging flames, and only when she comes to the point of overflowing with it, then will she go out. So, who knows what an extremely long stop she has to make in that expiatory place! Now, if the creature should be so, what must God be? I believe I am speaking much nonsense, but I am not surprised, because I am not at all some learned one – I am always an ignorant one, and if there is anything of truth in these writings, it is not mine, but God’s, while I remain always the little ignorant one that I am.
Volume 6 – May 5, 1905
Effects of Grace.
As I was in my usual state, blessed Jesus came for just a little, and it seemed that another Image, completely similar to Him, would come out from within His interior – only, it was smaller. I was surprised on seeing this, and He said to me: “My daughter, everything that can come out from within a person is called a birth, and this birth becomes the child of the one who gives birth to it. Now, this daughter of mine is Grace which, coming out of Me, communicates Herself to all the souls who want to receive Her and transmutes them into as many other children of mine. Not only this, but everything good and virtuous that can come out of these second children, becomes the children of Grace. See now, what a long generation of children Grace forms for Herself, if only they receive Her. But, how many reject Her; and my daughter comes back into my womb, alone and childless.” While He was saying this, that Image enclosed Herself within me, filling me completely with Herself.”
Volume 6 – June 23, 1905
One who is united with the Humanity of Jesus finds herself at the door of His Divinity.
Continuing in my usual state, I was thinking of how Jesus Christ died, and that in no way could He fear death, because, being so united with the Divinity, or rather, transmuted into It, He was already safe, like someone in his own palace. But for the soul – oh, how different it is! While I was thinking of this and other nonsense, blessed Jesus came and told me: “My daughter, one who is united with my Humanity already finds herself at the door of my Divinity, because my Humanity is mirror for the soul, from which the Divinity is reflected in her. If one is in the reflections of this mirror, it is natural that all of her being be transmuted into love; because, my daughter, everything that comes out of the creature, even the movements of her eyes, of her lips, the moving of her thoughts, and all the rest – everything should be love, and done out of love; and since my Being is all love, wherever I find love I absorb everything within Myself, and the soul dwells safely in Me, like someone in his own palace. So, what fear can the soul have, in her dying, of coming to Me, if she is already in Me?”
Volume 6 – November 8, 1905
The first step to enter the Will of God is resignation. The soul who is resigned to the Divine Will comes to make of God her favorite food.
After I struggled very much, He came for just a little and told me: “My daughter, it happens to the soul who resigns herself to my Will as to someone who, drawing near a beautiful food in order to see it, feels the desire to eat it, and as his desire is excited, he begins to enjoy that food, and to transmute it into His flesh and into his blood. Had he not seen that beautiful food, the desire could not have come, he could not have experienced its taste, and would have continued to remain on an empty stomach. Now, such is resignation for the soul. As she resigns herself, in her very resigning she sees a divine light, and this light dispels what prevents her from seeing God; and as she sees God, she desires to enjoy Him; and while she enjoys Him, she feels as if she were eating Him, in such a way as to feel God Himself all transmuted into herself.
Therefore, it follows that the first step is to resign oneself; the second is to desire to do the Will of God in everything; the third is to make of It one’s favorite food, daily; the fourth is to consume the Will of God within one’s own. But if one does not take the first step, he will remain empty of God.”
Volume 7 – February 23, 1906
How Jesus was nailed to the Cross in the Will of the Father.
This morning I was thinking of Our Lord in the act in which they were nailing Him to the cross; I was compassionating all of Him, and blessed Jesus told me: “My daughter, not only my hands and feet were nailed to the cross, but all the particles of my Humanity, soul and Divinity were all nailed in the Will of the Father. In fact, the crucifixion was the Will of the Father, therefore I was nailed and transmuted completely in His Will. This was necessary because, what is sin but withdrawing from the Will of God, from everything that is good and holy which God has given us, believing to be something of one’s own, and offending the Creator? And I, in order to repair for this audacity and for this self idol which the creature makes of herself, wanted to dissolve my will completely and live from the Will of the Father at the cost of great sacrifice.”
Volume 9 – October 1, 1910
Love for Jesus forms the transformation of the soul in Him.
Having received Communion I felt all transformed in blessed Jesus, and I said to myself: ‘How can one maintain this transformation with Jesus?’ And in my interior it seemed that Jesus was saying: “My daughter, if you want to be always transformed in Me – even more, to be one single thing with Me – love Me always and you will maintain your transformation with Me. In fact, love is fire, and whatever woods are thrown into the fire, small or big, green or dry, they all take the form of fire and convert into fire itself; and after these woods have been burned, one can no longer discern which wood was one and which another, neither the green one nor the dry one – one can see nothing but fire. The same when the soul never ceases to love Me. Love is fire that transmutes the soul in God; love unites, its flames invest all of the human operations and give them the form of the divine operations.”
Volume 14 – September 5, 1922
My always adorable Jesus continues to make Himself seen with His Heart pierced and embittered to the summit. It seemed that all the pains of creatures were inflicted in that Heart; in fact, it is not only sins that wound that Heart, but also the sufferings that the creature causes herself by not corresponding to grace. And it seemed that, since they were wounding a Heart that loves, as they wounded that loving Heart, Its love was so great that It tried to transmute the very offenses into graces and blessings. Oh, goodness of Jesus! He alone can boast of really loving the creatures, and up to the incredible. So, the pains of each one of them also pierced It, but the offenses were so many as to turn the very graces which came from that Most Holy Heart into lightnings. Therefore He told me: “My daughter, how unbearable man has rendered himself. He changes my graces into lightnings, and drives himself toward a general revolution. So, he himself is plotting his own destruction, and has reached such a point as to deserve to be struck by Me.” And while He was saying this, He showed troubles everywhere – cities collapsed, and evils of new kind.
Volume 18 – January 30, 1926
“My daughter, have patience; remember that the destiny of the world weighs upon you. Ah! you do not know what it means to be in this state of pain together with Me, even for half an hour or five minutes. It is my real Life that is repeated upon earth; it is this Divine Life that suffers, that prays, that repairs in you, and transmutes my very Will into you, so that It may operate in you as It operated in my Humanity. And do you think this is trivial?” And, keeping silent, He continued to cry. I felt my heart break in seeing Jesus cry, and I comprehended that He was crying for me, to give me the grace that His Will have Its full rights over me, that It maintain Its Life whole within my soul, and that my will would never have life. So, the reason for His tears was to place His Will in safety within my poor soul. And He cried for priests, in order to give them the grace to comprehend His works, that they too would be willing to do His Will.
Volume 19 – September 3, 1926
I was thinking about and identifying with the Holy Divine Will, and finding myself in Its immense light, I felt Its divine rays penetrating so deep into me as to transform me into Its very light. And Jesus, coming out of my interior, told me: “My daughter, how beautiful, penetrating, communicative, transforming is the light of my Will! It is more than sun which, pounding on the earth, gives with liberality the effects that its light contains; nor does it wait to be asked, but, spontaneously, as its light fills the surface of the earth, it gives what it has to everything it encounters. It gives sweetness and taste to the fruit, color and fragrance to the flower, development to the plants; to all things it gives the effects and goods it contains, it makes no exception with anyone – it is enough that its light touches them, penetrates into them and warms them for it to accomplish its work. My Will is more than sun; as long as the soul exposes herself to Its vivifying rays and banishes the darkness and the night of her human will, Its light rises and invests the soul, penetrating into her inmost fibers to dispel from her the shadows and the atoms of the human will. As Its light pounds on the soul and she receives It, It communicates all the effects It contains, because, coming out of the Supreme Being, my Will contains all the qualities of the Divine Nature. So, in investing her, It communicates the goodness, the love, the power, the firmness, the mercy and all the divine qualities – not in a superficial way, but in a real way, such as to transmute all of Its qualities into the human nature; so much so, that the soul will feel within herself, as her own, the nature of true goodness, of power, of sweetness, of mercy; and so with all the rest of the supreme qualities. My Will alone has this power to convert Its virtues into one’s nature – but only for one who abandons herself prey to Its light and to Its heat, and keeps the tenebrous night of her own will away from her, the true and perfect night of the poor creature.”
Volume 28 – July 9, 1930
Value of the human will when it enters into the Divine. Fears because of authoritative judgments. Answers of Jesus and His teachings.
My little intelligence feels the extreme need of the Divine Will, because It alone is my support, my strength, my life. Oh! Divine Will, O please! do not abandon me; and if I, ungrateful, have not been able to follow your flight, your light, O please! forgive me, and fortifying my weakness, absorb into Yourself the small atom of my existence, and may it live dissolved in You, to live only and always of your Supreme Will. But while my mind was wandering in the Divine Fiat, my sweet Jesus, making His little visit to my soul, told me: “My daughter, courage, I am with you – what do you fear? If you knew the beauty, the value that the human will acquires when it enters and has continuous dwelling in the Divine Fiat, you would not lose one instant of living in It. You must know that as the human will enters into the Divine, Our light invests it and embellishes it of a rare beauty. The soul remains so identified, that she does not feel a stranger with her Creator; on the contrary, she feels that she is all of the Supreme Being, and the Divine Being is all hers; and with the freedom of a daughter, without fear and with enrapturing trust, she rises into the unity of the Will of her Creator, and, in this unity, the atom of the human will emits her ‘I love You’. And while she forms her act of love, all the Divine Love runs, surrounds, embraces, transmutes Itself into the ‘I love You’ of the creature, and makes it so great, for as great as is Our Love. And We feel in the little ‘I love You’ of the creature the fibers, the life of Our Love; and We give it the value of Our Love, and feel in the little ‘I love You’ the happiness of Our Love. This little ‘I love You’ no longer goes out from within the unity of Our Volition; and while it remains, it spreads so much within the orbit of the Fiat, that it does nothing but follow the Divine Will everywhere; and so with all the other acts which she intends to do in Our Will. You must think that a creative Will enters into the act of the creature, and therefore It must do worthy acts, as those which a Divine Will knows how to do, and which are befitting to It.
Volume 28 – July 24, 1930
How the Divine Will is in continuous attitude in the Divine Being. Prodigy of when It operates in the creature; enjoyment of God.
My poor heart finds itself between two insurmountable powers: the Divine Fiat and the pain of the privation of my sweet Jesus – both of them powerful over my poor heart, such that, while I feel all the bitterness of being without the One who formed all the happiness of my poor existence – and now, since I don’t have Him, it has converted for me into intense bitterness – the Divine Volition, subduing me, absorbs me into Its Divine Will so as to transmute it into Itself. Now, while I was under tremendous oppressions, my sweet Jesus, giving me a surprise, told me: “My daughter, courage, do not fear, I am here with you; and the sign is that you feel in you the Life of my Fiat. I am inseparable from It.
Now, you must know that Our Will is in continuous attitude in Our Divine Being; Its motion never ceases, Its works are always in act, therefore It is always operating. But the marvelous surprises that occur when the creature enters into Our Will are enchanting and prodigious. As she enters, Our Volition encloses Itself in the creature; and while It encloses Itself to the point of filling her completely, since she cannot embrace It all or enclose It completely within herself, It overflows outside of her in such a way as to fill Heaven and earth, in a way that it can be seen that the littleness of the creature encloses a Divine Will, which maintains in her Its incessant motion and Its works operating. There is nothing holier, greater, more beautiful, more prodigious, than the operating of my Volition in the littleness of the creature. While It operates, since she can neither enclose It nor embrace It all, because she is finite and therefore does not have the capacity to enclose the immense and the infinite, yet she takes as much as she can to the point of overflowing outside. And as It overflows, one can see the creature under a rain of light and of varied and rare beauties, inside and out, such that Our Divine Being takes so much delight in it, that We feel Ourselves being enraptured, because We see the human littleness, by virtue of Our Fiat that fills it, transmuted into the beauties of Our divine qualities, which have such strength as to enrapture Us and make Us enjoy in the creature Our pure joys and Our unspeakable happinesses.
Now, you must know that every time the creature calls my Will as life operating in her, and she plunges into It to remain immersed in It, Our enjoyment is so great, that Our whole Being concurs, and We place in it such value, for as much value as Our Divine Being contains. More so, since Our Divine Fiat has Its first act of life in the act of the creature – she has been but the concurrent; therefore, as Our act, We place in it all the weight of Our Divine Life. See, then, what it means to do an act in Our Will, what it means to multiply them; and the great loss for one who does not operate in It.”
Permanent link to this article: https://luisapiccarreta.com/86-feast-of-the-transfiguration/
Aug 05
8/5 Feast of The Dedication of St. Mary Major in Rome
Dedication of St. Mary Major in Rome
Posted from acatholiclife.blogspot.com
Greater Double (1955 Calendar): August 5 Optional Memorial (1969 Calendar):
August 5 While each diocese and parish keeps its own dedication anniversary, the universal Church commemorates the consecration of the four great Roman basilicas, called the Major Basilicas: St. John Lateran, St. Peter, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major. Today we commemorate the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major. It is also called Liberian Basilica and Our Lady of the Snows, because of the miracle that occurred there. On the night of August 4-5 in the year 358 AD, snow began to fall on the location where St. Mary Major is located. This of course is a miracle considering it fell on that small location in the heat of August.
According to Tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to two faithful Catholics, the patrician John and his wife, as well as to Pope Liberius (352-366), asking them to build a church in her honor where the snow would fall on the night of August 4-5. Pope Liberius went and traced the outlines of the church in the snow, and the first basilica was built on that site. However, it was completed nearly a century later by Pope Sixtus III (432-440) following the Council of Ephesus in 431 during which Mary was declared to be the Mother of God. The Importance:
St. Mary Major is important to Christendom for three reasons:
(a) It stands as a venerable monument to the Council of Ephesus (431), at which the dogma of Mary’s divine Motherhood was solemnly defined; the definition of the Council occasioned a most notable increase in the veneration paid to Mary.
(b) The basilica is Rome’s “church of the crib,” a kind of Bethlehem within the Eternal City; it also is a celebrated station church, serving, for instance, as the center for Rome’s liturgy for the first Mass on Christmas. In some measure every picture of Mary with the divine Child is traceable to this church.
(c) St. Mary Major is Christendom’s first Marian shrine for pilgrims. It set the precedent for the countless shrines where pilgrims gather to honor our Blessed Mother throughout the world. Here was introduced an authentic expression of popular piety that has been the source of untold blessings and graces for Christianity in the past as in the present.
Source: The Church’s Year of Grace by Pius Parsch via Catholic Culture
From the Writings of the Little Daughter of the Divine Will,
Luisa Piccarreta
8/15/38 – Vol. 36
The Feast of Assumption is the Most Beautiful, the Most Sublime Feast. It is the Feast of the Divine Will Operating in the Heavenly Queen.
While my mind was swimming in the Sea of the Divine Will, I stopped at the Act in which my Mother and Queen was Assumed into Heaven. How many Wonders, how many Enrapturing Surprises of Love. And my Sweet Jesus, as if He Felt the need to Speak about His Celestial Mother, all festive Told me: “My blessed daughter, today is the Feast of Assumption. This is the Most Beautiful, the Most Sublime, and the Greatest Feast, in which We Remain Glorified, Loved and Honored The Most! Heaven and earth Are Invested with an Unusual Joy, never before felt. The Angels and the Saints feel as if Invested with New Joys and New Happiness, and they all praise with New Songs the Sovereign Queen who, in Her Empire, Rules over all, giving Joy to all!
“Today is the Feast of Feasts—the Unique One, the New One, which was never repeated again. Today, the Day of the Assumption, Celebrated for the first time the Divine Will Operating in the Sovereign Queen and Lady; the Marvels are Enchanting in each of Her Smallest Acts, even in Her breathing, in Her motion. Many of Our Divine Lives can be seen Flowing in Her Act as many Kings that, more than bright suns, Inundate—Surround and Embellish Her—Making Her so Beautiful as to form the Enchantment of the Celestial Regions. Do you think it’s nothing that each one of Her Breaths, Motions, Works and Pains were Filled with many of Our Divine Lives? This is exactly the Great Prodigy of My Will Operating in the creature: to Form a Divine Life for each time It could enter the motion and the acts of the creature. Then, since My Fiat Possesses the Virtue of Bilocation and Repetition—Doing again and again without ceasing everything She does—so the Great Lady feels These Divine Lives Multiplied within Herself, that do nothing other than further Extend Her Seas of Love, Beauty, Power and Infinite Wisdom! You must know that the Divine Lives She possesses are so Great and So Many that, upon Entering Heaven, They Crowded the whole Celestial Region and, being impossible to contain Them, They Filled the whole Creation as well. Therefore, there is no place where Her Seas of Love and Power do not flow, along with the many of Our Lives of which She is Possessor and Queen.
“We can say that She Dominates Us and that We Dominate Her. By Clothing Herself with Our Immensity, Power and Love, She Populated All Our Attributes with Her Acts and with the many of Our Divine Lives that She had Conquered! Therefore, from every place and everywhere, We feel Ourselves being Loved and Glorified—Inside and Outside of Ourselves, from within all created things, in the most remote hiding places—by this Celestial Creature and by Those same Divine Lives that Our Fiat Formed in Her. O! Power of Our Will, only You can do such Prodigies to make Us Loved and Glorified as We Deserve and Want—to the extent of Creating many of Our Lives in the One who lets You Dominate. This is why She can give Her God to all, because She Possesses Him. Even more, when She Sees a creature disposed to receive Our Will, without losing one of Our Divine Lives, She Has the Virtue of Reproducing, from within These Divine Lives that She Possesses, yet another of Our Divine Lives to give to whomever she wants.
“This Virgin Queen is a Continuous Prodigy. What She Did on earth, She Continues in Heaven; because, when the Divine Will Operates, both in the creature and in Ourselves, Her Acts never end, and, while remaining in It, They can be given to all. Does the sun, perhaps, cease to give its light to the human generation because it has given too much of it? Not atall. Even if it has given much, it is always rich in its light, and does not lose a single drop of it. Therefore, the Glory of This Queen is Insuperable because She Possesses Our Operating Will, that has the Virtue of Forming in the creature Eternal and Infinite Acts. She Loves Us Always and Unceasingly with Our Lives that She Possesses. She Loves Us with Our Own Love. She Loves Us Everywhere. Her Love Fills Heaven and earth and runs to pour itself inside Our Divine Womb. And We Love Her so much that We Cannot Live without Loving Her. While, in Loving Us, She Loves all, making everyone Love Us. How could We Resist and not give her anything She wants? It is Our Own Will That Asks for What She wants, Tying Us with Its Eternal Bonds So That We can refuse her nothing. This is why the Feast of the Assumption is the Most Beautiful one: it is the Feast of My Will Operating, in This Great Lady, making Her So Rich and Beautiful That the Heavens Cannot Contain Her. Even the Angels remain speechless, and don’t know how to describe what My Will Does in the creature.”
After this, while my mind remained stupefied in thinking about the Great Prodigies that the Divine Fiat Worked and Continues to Work in the Celestial Queen, my beloved Jesus Added: “My daughter, Her Beauty is Unreachable. It Enchants, It Charms, It Conquers. Her Love is such that She offers Herself to all, Loving all—leaving behind her Seas of Love. She can be called Queen of Love, Winner of Love, because She loved much, and through Love She won Her God. You must know that, by doing his will, man broke the bonds with his Creator and with all created things. By the Power of Our Fiat, that She Possessed, this Heavenly Queen Tied Her Creator to the creatures; Tied All beings together—United them—put them back in Order and with Her Love, Gave New Life to the human generations. Her Love was So Great as to cover and hide, inside Its Seas, weaknesses, evils, sin—the creatures themselves. O! If this Holy Virgin did Not Possess so much Love, it would be difficult For Us to look at the earth. Only Her Love Makes Us Look at it, but We Want to give Our Will to Reign in the middle of the creatures because She Wants It so. She wants to give to her children what She Possesses, and by Love She Will Win Us And Her children.”
Permanent link to this article: https://luisapiccarreta.com/85-feast-of-the-dedication-of-st-mary-major-in-rome/
Aug 03
8/3 The Fifth Outpouring: Jesus Sheds Blood On The Way To Calvary
The foreigner coming in from the country
The fifth outpouring: Jesus sheds blood on the way to Calvary
8/2/2016 From Luisapiccarretaofficial.org website
From the Gospel according to Mark (Mk 15:21-23)
“A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means ‘the place of the skull’”.
It’s time to leave, the charge has been announced, yet no one understood what Jesus was doing. The crowd rejoices satisfied because on a day of celebration the reigning power had given them a gift. The teachers of the Law exult over the victory of their personal justice. The Romans laugh because for them it is becoming a game to see people being led to their death. The soldiers take Jesus by the tunic, they tug at it and push Him. He is brought into the courtyard and there they place a heavy wooden beam on His shoulders.
Jesus’ journey with the cross begins. It seems that others are forcing Him, but no one understands that it is Jesus who freely accepts it. Every wicked act He receives He transforms into an act of love that frees and saves. Jesus takes the cross that crushes his back and opens His wounds and turns it into an instrument of life. Every step along the way to Calvary brings Him closer to His death, while it brings us closer to life. His face and body no longer look as they they did a few hours before. There is nothing in His appearance that could attract the attention of men. As he passes, the people cover their faces. He is mocked and humiliated as something evil that one would wish to flee from. As Jesus walks by the people judge him, the women turn their backs and the soldiers cover Him with insults and beatings. He repeatedly falls and then gets up, growing weaker and weaker.
The way of the cross, Jesus tells Luisa, is a way that is studded with stars, and as one walks this path those stars are changed into brilliant suns. What happiness it will be for the soul to be surrounded by these suns for all eternity! Then, the great reward that Jesus gives to the cross is so much that there is no measure, no width or length; it is almost incomprehensible to the human mind, and that is because in bearing crosses there can be nothing human, instead everything is divine.
The shouts of the people can be heard hundreds of yards away. There is a man, unaware of everything, who is returning to his home, yet his curiousity draws him close to see what is happening. Simon is a man like many others. He leads a normal life. He is returning from work in the country as he does every day and at the same time. He has a family and two sons, Alexander and Rufus. He is a foreigner from Cyrene, a country far away from Jerusalem. He culture is different from that of the Jews; he knows nothing of their laws, his children are not circumcised, he is not waiting for the Messiah and does not rent his garments if there is a man who says he is the Son of God. Simon was not among those who were shouting “Crucify him”, nor was he with the Romans who washed their hands of Jesus and made fun of Him; he isn’t one of the disciples whose traces have been lost since Jesus was captured.
Simon is a common man and as such he cannot help but wonder what the meaning of his life is. Jesus is headed towards death, but is it really the end of everything? For Simon, this had never made any sense. His heart is filled with desires that are too great to be limited by space and time. The yearning of the soul is something that goes beyond the limits of death and that our earthly existence cannot contain.
Simon’s days pass by and this torment wearies and oppresses him. He wonders whether his labors have any logic in themselves, whether family love is the greatest good to be desired, or whether the good of his country could satisfy his desire for the infinite. The infinite – this is what Simon yearns for, like every other man.
The foreigner coming in from the country is unconsolable. The torment haunts him. As he approaches to see what is happening his gaze falls upon Jesus; Simon is appalled. Jesus is the man whom he had heard speak in the streets of Jerusalem just a few days before in the presence of a multitude of people enchanted by His words. He thought that everyone loved Jesus; he knew that just a week before all of Jerusalem had welcomed Him like a king. He, too, was impressed by Jesus’ words. And it was from that day onward that his heart became restless. Jesus’ words had awakened his deepest desires as if they had brought the truth to the surface. Some of the Master’s words in particular would repeat over and over in his head like a broken record: “Come and I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mt 11:28-30).
Why was Jesus there? The cross is a punishment reserved for the worst offenders. What could He have possibly done? The Cyrene looks at Jesus in awe, not believing his eyes. He is attracted by Jesus’ peace. Jesus’ face is disfigured and His body is covered with wounds, it drips with blood and moans in pain, yet all this ugliness is as if covered with a soft veil. His gaze is serene; there is no hatred toward those who persecute Him, only compassion. Simon sees in Jesus’ eyes the infinite he yearns for and the eternity that he feels is his home. The foreigner coming in from the country, who knows nothing of Jesus, recognizes in Him the meaning of all things.
The violence with which the soldiers force Simon and Jesus to walk with the cross seems to break the unspoken dialogue that was created between the two. Simon senses a strange feeling: he is suffering, but it is not the same suffering as with the other labors. It is an unjust pain, but he feels no resentment; he rather feels a sense of peace and lightness. Now he understands the words of Jesus, the words He spoke to His disciples who have now fled. No one had yet understood the deep meaning of His words, except for this foreigner coming in from the country because he had wanted to all his life. Now, at last, his eyes are lost in those of Jesus and he can walk beside Him.
After a few hundred yards, as if tired of that sadistic game, the soldiers pull Simon away from Jesus, who continues His journey while Simon looks on. Simon resumes his walk home as he had been doing before meeting Jesus along the way to Calvary, but now his heart has changed. His days will continue to unfold as always, between work in the countryside and the hearth, but the way he will live all of this has changed. The heaviest labors will never be the same, and even suffering will take on a new form. Simone understood the value of the cross and has chosen to carry it with Jesus, to continue to walk with Him and to love as He loves – giving his life for those he loves. In every cross of his life, Simon will relive the few steps taken with Jesus and still feel Him close; it will seem like he is continuing his journey to Golgotha with Jesus. Each cross carried together will be an act that completes Jesus’ passion, an act of love that frees and saves. What gives meaning to suffering is being able to live it with Jesus and to participate in His mystery of love. The meaning of life is to love as Jesus loves unto giving up one’s life.
Jesus teaches Luisa how our actions can be continuous encounters with Jesus and serve to lift Him from the weight of carrying the cross. The single intention of a truly loving soul, in all of her actions, is that of encountering the Beloved and of relieving Him from the weight of His cross. And since human life is a continuous flow of acts, both internal and external, all the soul does is engage in continuous encounters with her Beloved. But will the soul just encounter the Beloved? No, no, she will greet and embrace Him; she will kiss, console and love Him and speak a word to Him, even if only fleeting. Then the Beloved will be happy. If the soul’s act serves to meet the sacrifice contained in each one, then the act will be used to relieve Jesus from the weight of His cross. Oh how happy this soul will be, constantly in touch with Jesus as she operates! Love will continue to grow in every encounter.
In another passage (of February 1908), Jesus says that carrying the cross in life, like He and the Cyrenian did, is a burden but in death it is a treasure. It is true that life is a burden, but when this burden is carried with Jesus and when at life’s end the soul finds that she can relieve this burden in Him, this weight is transformed into treasure, where the soul will find the gems, precious stones, diamonds and all the riches to make her happy forever.
O Savior of the world,
may the Blood shed on the way to Calvary
illuminate our journey
and help us to carry the cross with You,
to behold Your passion within us.
a cura di don Marco
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