Accessibility Tools

Return to REFLECTIONS ON THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

Reflections On The Beauty Of Nothingness Of The Soul

Reflections on the Beauty of Nothingness of the Soul

“The greatest favor that I can do for a soul…”

Letters of Luisa #3

My good and reverend Mother,

I don’t know what to say, because my littleness is such that I am good at nothing; therefore I ask Jesus to do Himself what I should do.  And for my wishes, may He bring you His Heart, His words animated by His Will, and taking dominion within you, may It reign with all Its fullness, in such a way that not you, but Jesus Himself, will carry out the office of Mother General, and you will be only the garment that covers Jesus.  He will do everything well; He will put all things in place and will give you that peace that you so much desire.

These are my wishes for your Name Day, wishes of interior and external peace.  You have great need that Jesus be the one who does everything and takes the reins, so that He may put each one in the place disposed by His Will.  Therefore, courage, trust; let Jesus do everything and you will be content.

I renew my wishes together with my sister; pray for me and, from the heart, I will do it for you.  Kissing your right hand with all my esteem, I say,

Letters of Luisa #88

You must know that no even humility exists in the Divine Will, but pure nothingness, which knows clearly that anything good which can be done is the All operating in the nothing.  So the poor nothing is in the act of being continuously born; it is the All that grows and forms Its life in the nothing.  Oh power of the Divine Will – as soon as the soul decides and wants to live in It, the Most Holy Trinity takes Its prime operating place in her.  And since this is an Act of Divine Will, all want their place of honor in that Act:  the Queen of Heaven, the Angels, the Saints, and all created things.  So, with one single Act of Divine Will, we enclose everything, we embrace everything, and we give everything to God, even all that the Eternal Word did upon earth.  The goods which descend for the benefit of all are incalculable.

Volume 1

So, from the beginning, the Divine Master began to strip my heart of all creatures, and through an interior voice, He would tell me: “I am all that is beautiful and that deserves to be loved. See, if you do not remove this little world that surrounds you – that is, thoughts of creatures, imagination – I cannot enter freely into your heart. This murmuring in your mind is a hindrance to letting you hear my voice more clearly, to pouring my graces, to truly enamoring you of Me. Promise Me that you will be all Mine, and I Myself will put my hand in the work. You are right that you can do nothing. Do not fear, I will do everything; give Me your will – this is enough for Me.”

*

And it happened in this way: every morning, after Holy Communion, He would tell me what I was supposed to do during the day. I will say everything briefly, because after so much time it is impossible to say everything. I don’t remember for sure, but it seems to me that He told me that the first thing which was necessary in order to purify the interior of my heart, was the annihilation of myself – that is, humility. And He continued: “See, so that I may pour My Graces in your heart, I really want you to understand that you can do nothing by yourself. I am very much wary of those souls who attribute what they do to themselves, wanting to make of My Graces as many thefts. On the other hand, with those who know themselves, I am generous in pouring My Graces in torrents. Knowing very well that they can attribute nothing to themselves, they are grateful to Me; they hold it in that esteem which befits it, and they live with the continuous fear that, if they do not correspond to Me, I may take away from them that which I gave, knowing that it does not belong to them. It is all the opposite in the hearts which reek of pride. I cannot even enter into their hearts because they are so swollen with themselves that there is no space in which to put Myself. These miserable ones take My Graces into no account, and they go from fall to fall, up to their ruin. Therefore, on this day I want you to make continuous acts of humility; I want you to be like a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, who can move neither a foot to take a step, nor a hand to work, but expects everything from his mother. In the same way, you will stay close to Me like a baby, always praying Me to assist you, to help you; always confessing your nothingness – in sum, expecting everything from Me.”

*

So I received more Lights about the annihilation of myself. He said to me: “You are nothing but a shadow – as you try to grab it, it escapes you. You are nothing.

I felt so annihilated, that I would have wanted to hide in the deepest abysses, but I saw myself incapable of doing it. I felt such blushing that I remained mute. While I was in this undoing of my nothingness, He said to Me: “Draw near Me, cling to My arm – I will sustain you with My hands and you will receive strength. You are blind, but My light will serve you as guide. See, I will place Myself in front of you, and you will do nothing but look at Me in order to imitate Me.”

Then He said to me: “The first thing I want you to mortify is your will. That ‘self’ must be destroyed in you; I want you to keep it sacrificed as victim before Me, so that your will and Mine may become one. Aren’t you happy?”

‘Yes, Lord, but give me the grace, for I see that by myself I can do nothing.’ And He continued: “Yes, I Myself will contradict you in everything, and occasionally by means of creatures.”

*

‘Lord, my all and my life, how can I survive without You – who will give me the strength? How is it, after You have made me leave everything, so much so that I feel as if no one existed for me – You want to leave me alone and abandoned. What, have You perhaps forgotten how bad I am, and that without You I can do nothing?’ And because of this objection, assuming a more serious look, He added: “The reason is that I want you to understand well who you are. See, I do this for your good; do not be saddened – I want to prepare your heart to receive the graces which I have designed for you. Up until now, I have assisted you sensibly; now I will do it less sensibly – I will make you touch your nothingness with your own hands; I will fuse you thoroughly in profound humility, in order to be able to build high walls upon you. So, instead of afflicting yourself, you should rejoice and thank Me, because the faster I make you cross the stormy sea, the sooner you will reach the port of safety; the harder the trials to which I will submit you, the greater the graces I will give you. Courage, then, courage, and I will come back soon.” And in saying this, He seemed to bless me, and then He left.

*

1 – “You were wrong in being so disturbed. Don’t you know that I am Spirit of Peace, and the first thing I recommend is that you do not disturb the peace of the heart? When in prayer you are not able to recollect yourself, I do not want you to think of this or that – of how it is, or how it is not – because in doing so, you yourself call the distraction. Instead, when you find yourself in that state, the first thing to do is to humble yourself, confessing that you deserve those pains, and placing yourself in the arms of the executioner, like a humble little lamb that licks his hand while he kills it. The same for you: while seeing yourself beaten, disheartened and alone, you will resign yourself to My Holy dispositions, you will thank Me with all your heart, you will kiss My hand that strikes you, recognizing yourself unworthy of those pains. Then, you will offer to Me that bitterness, anguish and tedium, praying Me to accept them as a sacrifice of praise, of satisfaction for your sins, and of reparation for the offenses that they give Me. If you do so, your prayer will ascend before My Throne as most fragrant incense; it will wound My Heart, and you will draw New Graces and New Charisms upon you. In seeing you humble and resigned, all plunged into your nothingness, the devil will not have the power to get close. And here is how, where you thought you were losing, you will make great gains.”

*

After I came round from that state, I felt such pains, such annihilation of myself, that I saw myself as a miserable little worm that was able to do nothing but crawl on the earth. And I said to the Lord: ‘Help – your omnipotence knocks me down; I see that if You do not lift me, my nothing will undo and be dissolved. Give me suffering, but I beg You to give me strength, for I feel I am dying.’ And so an alternation began, of visits from Our Lord and of torments on the part of demons. The more I resigned myself, the more they increased their rage.

*

One morning – it was the eve of the nativity of Mary Most Holy – my always benign Jesus Himself came to dispose me. He did nothing but come and go continuously. He would speak to me now about Faith, and then He would leave me, and I would feel a life of faith being infused in my soul. As rough as I felt it before, at the speaking of Jesus, I would feel my soul become very light, in such a way as to penetrate into God; and I would contemplate now His Power, now His Sanctity, now His Goodness, and so on. My soul would remain stupefied, and in a sea of stupefaction, I would say: ‘Powerful God, what power is not undone before You? Immense Sanctity of God, what other sanctity, as sublime as it might me, would dare to appear before You?’ Then I would feel myself descend into myself, and I could see my nothingness, the nonentity of earthly things, how everything is nothing before God. I would see myself as a little worm, all full of dust, climbing up in order to take a few steps; it would take nothing to destroy me but someone who would trample me under foot, and I would be undone. So, seeing myself so ugly, I almost would not dare to go to God, but His Goodness would make itself present before my mind, and I would feel drawn as though by a magnet, to go to Him. And I would say to myself: ‘If He is holy, He is also merciful; if He is powerful, He also contains full and highest Goodness within Himself.’ It seemed to me that Goodness surrounded Him on the outside and inundated Him from within. So I would contemplate the Goodness of God. It seemed to me that it would surpass all of the other attributes, but then, looking at the others, I would see them all equal among themselves – immense, immeasurable and incomprehensible to the human nature. While my soul would be in this state, Jesus would come back and speak about Hope.

*

After this, I remember that a few days passed and I received Communion. I lost consciousness, and I saw, present before me, the Most Holy Trinity whom I had seen in Heaven. I immediately prostrated myself at Their presence, I adored Them, I confessed my nothingness. I remember that I felt so plunged within myself that I did not dare to utter a single word, when a voice came from Their midst and said: “Do not fear, pluck up courage, We have come to confirm you as Our own, and to take possession of your heart.” While this voice was saying this, I saw that the Most Holy Trinity descended into my heart and took possession of it – and there, They formed Their dwelling. Who can tell the change that occurred in me? I felt divinized; it was no longer I who lived, but They were Living in me. It seemed to me that my body was like a residence, and that the Living God was residing in it, because I could feel, sensibly, Their Real Presence in my interior. I could hear Their Voice clearly, coming from within my interior and resounding at the ears of my body. It happened precisely as when there are people speaking inside a room, and their voices can be heard, clearly and distinctly, also outside.

*

Few are those words, but I understood so many things that it is impossible to say all that I comprehended. In the first words I comprehended the Immensity, the Greatness, the Presence of God in each existing thing, such that not even a shadow of our thought can escape Him. I also understood my nothingness compared to a Majesty so Great and Holy. In the word “I sinned”, I understood the ugliness of sin, the malice, the daring I had had in offending Him. Now, while my soul was considering this, in hearing Jesus Christ say “Yet I loved you, and at that very moment, I preserved you”, my heart was taken by such sorrow, that I felt I was dying, because I could understand the immense love that the Lord had for me in the very act in which I tried to offend Him, and even to kill Him. Ah Lord, how good You have been with me, and I – always ungrateful, and still so bad!

*

And blessed Jesus, who can deny nothing when it is for our good, one morning made Himself seen and told me: “This time I Myself want to do the Office of Confessor. You will confess all of your sins to Me, and in the act in which you do this, I will make you comprehend, one by one, the sorrows you have given to My Heart in offending Me, so that, by comprehending what sin is, as much as it is possible for a creature, you may be resolved to die rather than to offend Me. You, in the meantime, enter into your nothingness, and recite the Confiteor.”

VOL. 2 – May 19, 1899

Humility is the safeguard of the celestial favors.

 

This morning I felt a fear within me that it might not be Jesus, but the devil, who wanted to deceive me. Jesus came, and seeing me with this fear, He said to me: “Humility is the safeguard of the celestial favors. Humility clothes the soul with such safety that the tricks of the devil cannot penetrate into her. Humility places all celestial graces in safety, so much so, that when I see humility, I let flow, abundantly, all kinds of celestial favors. Therefore, do not want to disturb yourself for this, but rather, with a simple eye, look always into your interior, to see whether you are invested with beautiful humility, and do not worry about all the rest.”

Volume 2 – May 26. 1899

My good Jesus, always benign with this miserable sinner, came and told me: “Contempt of yourself is praiseworthy when it is well invested with the spirit of Faith; but when it is not invested with the spirit of Faith, instead of doing you good, it can harm you. In fact, in seeing yourself as you are, unable to do anything good, you will be discouraged, disheartened, without daring to take one step on the path of good. But by leaning on Me – that is, by investing yourself with the spirit of Faith – you will come to know and despise yourself, and at the same time, to know Me, confident of being able to do anything with my help. And here is how, by acting in this way, you will walk according to the truth.”How much good these words of Jesus have done to my soul! I understood that I must enter into my nothingness and know who I am, but I must not stop there. Rather, immediately after I have known myself, I must fly into the Immense Sea of God, and stop there, to draw all the Graces that my soul needs; otherwise, nature becomes weary and the devil will look for means in order to cast it into discouragement. May the Lord be always blessed, and may everything be for His glory.

Volume 2 – June 2, 1899

This morning, my most sweet Jesus wanted to let me touch my nothingness with my own hands. In the act in which He made Himself seen, the first words with which He addressed me were: “Who am I., and who are you?” In these two words I saw two immense lights: in one I comprehended God, in the other I saw my misery, my nothingness. I saw I was nothing but a shadow, just like the shadow formed by the Sun in illuminating the earth: it is dependent on the Sun, and as the Sun moves from it to other places, the shadow ceases to exist outside of Its splendor. The same for my shadow – that is, my being: it is dependent on the mystical Sun God, who can dissolve this shadow in one simple instant. What to say, then, about how I have deformed this shadow which the Lord has given me, which is not even my own? The mere thought of it was horrifying; it was stinking, putrid, all full of worms. Yet, in such a horrifying state I was forced to stand before a God so holy. Oh, how content I would have been, had I been allowed to hide in the darkest abysses!

           After this, Jesus told me: “The greatest favor I can do for a soul, is to make her know herself. The knowledge of self and the knowledge of God go together; the more you know yourself, the more you know God. When the soul has known herself, as she sees that she can do nothing good by herself, her shadow, her being, transforms her in God, and it happens that she does all of her operations in God. It happens that the soul is in God and walks beside Him, without looking, without investigating, without speaking – in a word, as if she were dead. In fact, knowing the depth of her nothingness, she dares to do nothing by herself, but she blindly follows the trajectory of the operations of God.”

It seems to me that to a soul who knows herself it happens as to those people who travel in a steamer: in moving from one point to another, without taking a step of their own, they make long journeys, but everything by virtue of the steamer that transports them. In the same way, the soul, by placing herself in God, just like the people in a steamer, makes sublime flights on the way to perfection, knowing, however, that it is not her, but rather, she does it by virtue of that blessed God who carries her within Himself. Oh, how the Lord favors her, enriches her, and concedes the greatest graces, knowing that she attributes nothing to herself, but everything to Him. Oh, soul, you who know yourself – how fortunate you are!

Volume 2 -June 12, 1899

After this, Jesus seemed to clothe my soul with the garment of Faith, of Hope and of Charity, and in the very act of clothing me, Jesus whispered to me the way I was to exercise myself in these three virtues. Now, while I was doing this, unleashing another ray of light, Jesus made me understand my nothingness. Ah! I seemed to be a grain of sand in the midst of a most extensive sea, which is God; and this little grain went to dissolve itself inside that immense sea – it dissolved in God. Then He transported me outside of myself, carrying me in His arms, and kept whispering to me various acts of contrition for my sins. I only remember that I have been an abyss of iniquities. Lord, oh, how many awful ingratitudes I have had toward You!

Volume 2 -August 7, 1899

This morning my lovable Jesus would not come. After much waiting and waiting, finally He came; my confusion and annihilation was such that I was unable to tell Him anything. Jesus told me: “The more you annihilate yourself and come to know your nothingness, the more My Humanity, unleashing Rays of Light, will communicate My Virtues to you.”

I said to Him: ‘Lord, I am so bad and ugly as to be horrifying to myself. What must I be before You?’ And Jesus: “If you are ugly, I can make you Beautiful.” And in the act of saying this, He sent a Light from Himself to my soul, and it seemed that He would communicate His Beauty to it. Then, embracing me, He began to say: “How Beautiful you are – but Beautiful of My Own Beauty; this is why I am drawn to Love you.” Who can say how confused I remained, more than ever! But, may everything be for His glory.

Volume 2 -August 15, 1899

After this, I felt I was going out of myself into the vault of the heavens, together with my loving Jesus. It seemed that everything was in feast – Heaven, earth and Purgatory. All were inundated with a new joy and jubilation. Many souls were going out of Purgatory and, like bolts of lightning, reached Heaven in order to be present at the feast of our Queen Mama. I too pushed myself through that immense crowd of people – Angels, Saints and souls from Purgatory which already occupied that new Heaven. It was so immense, that the heavens that we see, compared to that one, seemed a little hole to me; more so, since I had the obedience of the confessor. But as I went about looking, I could see nothing but a most refulgent Sun spreading Its rays, which penetrated through me, in such a way as to make me become like crystal; so much so, that my little spots appeared very clearly, as well as the infinite distance that exists between Creator and creature. More so, since each one of those rays had its imprint: some delineated the sanctity of God, some the purity, some the power, some the wisdom, and all the other virtues and attributes of God. So, in seeing her nothingness, her miseries and her poverty, the soul would feel annihilated, and instead of looking, she would fall down, her face to the ground, before that Eternal Sun which no one can face.

Volume 2 -August 27, 1899

This morning, while seeing my sweet Jesus, I felt a fear in me that it might not be Him, but the devil, to deceive me. And Jesus, answering my fear, told me: “When I am the one that goes to the soul, all of her interior powers are annihilated and recognize their nothingness; and I, seeing the soul humiliated, make My Love overabound like many streams, in such a way as to inundate her and strengthen her in good. All the opposite happens when it is the devil.”

Volume 2 – September 9, 1899

“Dearest daughter of mine, the three roots you see, which this tree contains, are Faith, Hope and Charity. The fact that you see this trunk coming out of Me and entering into your heart means that there is no good that souls possess which does not come from Me. Then, after Faith, Hope and Charity, the first development of this trunk is to make known that everything good comes from God, that creatures have nothing of their own but their nothingness, and that this nothingness does nothing but give Me the freedom to enter into them and do what I want. However, there are other ‘nothings’ – that is, other souls – who make opposition with their own human will; so, because this knowledge is lacking, the trunk produces neither branches, nor fruits, nor anything else that is good. The branches which this tree contains, with all the apparatus of flowers, fruits, pearls and precious stones, are all the different virtues that a soul can possess. Now, who has given life to such a beautiful tree? Certainly the roots. This means that Faith, Hope and Charity embrace everything and contain all virtues, so much so, that they are placed there as the basis and the foundation of the tree, and without them no other virtue can be produced.”

“How Beautiful you are! You are My Simple Dove, My Beloved Dwelling, My Living Temple, in which I am pleased to delight United with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Your continuous languishing for Me relieves Me and refreshes Me from the continuous offenses that creatures give Me. Know that the Love I have for you is so great that I am forced to hide it in part, so that you may not go mad, but may Live. In fact, if I showed it to you, you would not only go mad, but would not be able to continue to live; your weak nature would be consumed by the Flames of My Love.” While He was saying this, I felt all confused and annihilated, and I felt myself sinking into the abyss of my nothingness, because I saw myself all imperfect; especially, I noted my ingratitude and coldness at the so many graces that the Lord gives me. But I hope that everything will be for His glory and honor, hoping with firm confidence that in an effort of His love He may want to conquer my hardness.

Volume 2 – September 19, 1899

“Here is how I want you to occupy your soul. First, fly upon the wings of Faith, and in that Light, by plunging yourself into it, you will know and acquire ever more news about Me, your God; but by knowing Me more, your nothingness will feel almost dissolved, and you will have no place to lean on. You, however, rise more, and dive into the immense Sea of Hope, which is made of all My Merits that I acquired in the course of My Mortal Life, and of all the Pains of My Passion, which I also gave to man as Gift. Only through these can you hope for the Immense Goods of Faith, because there is no other way to obtain them. So, as you avail yourself of these Merits of Mine as if they were your own, your ‘nothing’ will no longer feel dissolved and sinking into the abyss of nothingness, but acquiring New Life, it will be embellished and enriched, in such a way as to draw the very Divine Gazes upon itself.

Volume 2 – October 28, 1899

This morning my lovable Jesus came surrounded by a light, and looking at me, as though penetrating me everywhere, so much so, that I felt annihilated, He told me: ‘Who am I, and who are you?”

These words penetrated me deep into the marrow of my bones, and I could see the infinite distance that exists between the Infinite and the finite, between the All and the nothing. Not only this, but I could also see the malice of this nothing, and how it had covered itself with mud. It seemed to me like a fish that swims in the water; so was my soul swimming in rot, amid worms and many other things, which are fit only for striking horror to the sight. Oh! God, what an abominable sight! My soul would have wanted to flee before the sight of God trice Holy, but with two more words He binds me; and these are: “What is My Love for you? And what is your return for Me?”

Volume 3 – January 31, 1900

Then He added:  “What is the passport to enter into the Kingdom of Grace?  It is Humility.  Through humility, by always looking at her nothingness and seeing that she is nothing but dust or wind, the soul will place all her trust in Grace, so much so, as to make of it her Master.  And Grace, taking Dominion over all of the soul, leads her along the path of all Virtues, and makes her reach the Summit of Perfection.”

Volume 3 – February 5, 1900

Continuing in the same state, with a little bit more courage, though I was not perfectly free, my dearest Jesus, on coming, told me:  “My daughter, sometimes the soul feels an encounter in some virtue, and plucking up her strength, the soul overcomes that encounter; and then, that virtue becomes more resplendent and rooted in the soul.  However, the soul must be very attentive in order to avoid that she herself might provide the little rope to let herself be bound by lack of confidence; and she will do this by always restricting herself within the Circle of Truth, without ever leaving it, which is the knowledge of her nothingness.”

Volume 3 – May 20, 1900

All things have their origin from nothing.  Necessity of rest and of interior silence.

 

Finding myself outside of myself, it seemed to me it was nighttime and I could see the whole universe, the whole order of nature, the starry heaven, the silence of the night.… In sum, it seemed to me that everything had a meaning.  While seeing this, I seemed to see Our Lord who, beginning to speak about what I was seeing, said:  “All nature invites one to rest; but what is true rest?  It is the interior rest and the silence of all that is not God.  Look at the stars, twinkling with tempered light, not dazzling like the sun; the sleep and the silence of all nature, of men and also of animals – they all look for a place, a den, in which to be in silence and rest from the tiredness of life.  If this is necessary for the body, much more is it necessary for the soul to rest in her own center, which is God.  But in order to be able to rest in God, interior silence is necessary, just as exterior silence is necessary to the body in order to peacefully fall asleep.  But what is this interior silence?  It is to silence one’s own passions by keeping them in their place; it is to impose silence on desires, on inclinations, on affections – in sum, on all that does not call upon God.  Now, what is the means to reach this? The only means, and absolutely necessary, is for the soul to undo her own being and reduce herself to nothing, just as she was before being created; and once she has reduced her being to nothing, she must take it again in God.

My daughter, all things have their origin from nothing.  If this very machine of the universe which you are admiring with its great order had been full of other things before I created it, I could not have put My Creative hand to make it with such Great Mastery and to render it so Splendid and Adorned.  At the most, I could have undone everything that might have been there, to then redo it according to my liking.  But we always come to this:  all of my works have their origin from nothing, and when there is a mixing with other things, it is not decorous for My Majesty to descend and operate in the soul.  But when the soul reduces herself to nothing and rises to Me, and takes her being within Mine, then I operate as the God that I am, and the soul finds True Rest.  And here is how all virtues, from humility to the annihilation of oneself, begin.”

Who can say how much I understood about what blessed Jesus told me?  Oh, how happy my soul would be if I could reach the point of undoing my poor being to be able to receive from my God His Divine Being!  Oh, how I would ennoble myself, how sanctified I would be!  But what foolishness is mine, where is my brain, if still I do not do it?  What a human misery – instead of looking for its true good and taking wing on high, it contents itself with scrabbling on the ground and with living amidst mud and rot!

Volume 3 – June 20, 1900

As for the rest, I do not want you to think about it, because the most perfect, the most sublime humility is that of losing every reason and of not discoursing on ‘why’ and ‘how’, but of undoing oneself in one’s own nothingness.  And while the soul does this, without realizing it, she finds herself dissolved in God, and this produces in the soul the Union Most Intimate, the Love Most Perfect toward her Highest Good.  This, however, to the greatest advantage of the soul, because in losing her own reason, she acquires Divine Reason, and in losing every discoursing about herself – whether she is cold or warm, whether the things that happen to her are favorable or adverse – she will be interested in and will acquire a Language Fully Celestial and Divine.  In addition to this, humility produces a garment of safety in the soul, in such a way that, wrapped in this garment of safety, the soul remains in the most profound calm, embellishing all of herself in order to be pleasing to her Dearest and Beloved Jesus.”

Volume 3 – June 27, 1900

“My daughter, what I want from you is that you no longer recognize yourself in yourself, but that you recognize yourself only in Me.  So you will no longer remember yourself, nor will you ever again have recognition of yourself, but you will remember Me, and un-recognizing yourself, you will acquire the recognition of Me alone.  According to how much you will forget and destroy yourself, so will you advance in the knowledge of Me and will recognize yourself only in Me.  Once you have done all this, you will no longer think with your mind, but with Mine; you will not look with your eyes, you will no longer speak with your mouth, nor will you palpitate with your heart, work with your hands, or walk with your feet, but will do everything with Mine.  In fact, in order to recognize herself only in God, the soul needs to go to her origin and to return to her beginning – God, from whom she came – and to conform all of herself to her Creator.  And anything which she keeps of herself and which is not conformed to her beginning, she must undo and reduce to nothing.  Only in this way, naked, undone, can she return to her origin, recognize herself only in God, and operate according to the Purpose for which she was Created.  This is why in order to conform to Me completely, the soul must render herself indivisible with Me.”

Volume 3 – August 3, 1900

As I was in my usual state, I was longing and searching for my loving Jesus.  Then, after I waited for Him for a long time, He came and told me:  “My daughter, why do you look for Me outside of yourself, while you could find Me more easily within yourself?  When you want to find Me, enter into yourself, go deep into your ‘nothing’, and there, without yourself, in the most tiny circle of your ‘nothing’, you will see the foundations that the Divine Being laid within you, as well as the factories It raised in you.  Look and see.”

I looked again and I saw solid foundations and very high walls that reached up to the Heavens; but that which stupefied me was to see that the Lord had done this Beautiful Work upon my nothing, and the walls were all walled up, with no openings.  One could see only one opening in the vault, which corresponded only to Heaven, and in this opening dwelled Our Lord, upon a stable column that rose out of the foundations, formed over nothing.  Now, while I was looking, all stupefied, blessed Jesus added:  “The foundations formed over nothing mean that the Divine Hand operates there where there is nothing, and It never mixes Its works with material works.  The walls without openings around mean that the soul must have no correspondence with earthly things, in such a way that there may be no danger that even a little bit of dust may enter, because everything is walled up well.  The only correspondence that these walls allow is with Heaven – that is, from nothing to Heaven, from Heaven to nothing; and this is the meaning of the opening made in the Vault.  The stability of the column means that the soul is so stable in good that there is no contrary wind that can move her.  And My Dwelling upon it is the Sure Sign that the Work done is Fully Divine.”

Volume 4 – November 11, 1900

By going out of the Divine Will, one loses the knowledge of God and of self.

 

It seems that the blessed Lord wants to exercise me in patience; He has no compassion, either for my tears or for my most sorrowful state. Without Him, I see myself immersed in the greatest miseries; I believe that there is no soul more wicked than mine. Even though when I am with Jesus I see myself cattiva [bad] more than ever, however, since I am with Him who possesses all goods, my soul finds the remedy for all evils. But when I do not have Him, everything is over for me – there is no more remedy for my great miseries; and what is more, I am oppressed by the thought that my state is no longer His Will, and not being in His Will, I seem to be outside of the center, and many times I think of how to go out of It. Now, being with these dispositions, I felt Him behind my shoulders, saying to me: “You are tired, aren’t you?” And I: ‘Yes Lord, I feel quite tired.’ And He continued:”Ah, my daughter, do not go out of My Will, because by going out of My Will, you come to lose the knowledge of Me, and not knowing Me, you come to lose the knowledge of yourself. In fact, only in the reflections of the light can one distinguish with clarity whether there is gold or mud; if everything is darkness objects can easily be confused. Now, the Light is My Will, which gives you the knowledge of Me, and in the reflections of this Light you come to know who you are; and in seeing your weakness, your pure nothingness, you cling to My arms and, United with My Will, you Live with Me in Heaven. But if you want to go out of My Will, first you would come to lose true humility, and then you would come to live on the earth and would be forced to feel the earthly weight, to moan and sigh like all the other unfortunate who live outside of My Will.”

VOL. 4 – July 16, 1901

The beginning of evil in man. Distance between the love of Jesus and the human love. In order to enter into Heaven, the soul must be completely transformed in Jesus.

 

After various days of privation, this morning He deigned to come, transporting me outside of myself. Now, as I was before blessed Jesus, I could see many people, and the evil of the present generation. My adorable Jesus looked at them with compassion, and turning to me, told me: “My daughter, do you want to know where the evil of man began? The beginning of it is that as soon as he knows himself – that is, as soon as he begins to acquire reason – man says to himself: ‘I am something.’ And believing themselves to be something, they move away from Me, they do not trust Me, who am the All, and they draw all their confidence and strength from themselves. From this it happens that they even lose every good beginning, and by losing the good beginning, what will the end be? Imagine, yourself, my daughter. Moreover, by moving away from Me, who contain every good, what good can man hope for, since he is a sea of evil? Without Me everything is corruption, misery, and without a shadow of true good. This is the present society.”

Volume 4 – February 19, 1902

So, the attention of the soul must be on seeing Me and on conforming to the interior operations of the Word in everything; because when I draw the soul to Myself, it can be said that at least for the time in which I keep her in My Presence, she Lives Divine Life. My Light is like the brush with which to paint; My Virtues provide the different colors, and the soul is like a canvas, receiving the portrait of the Divine Image within herself. It happens as to those high bridges: the higher they are, the deeper beneath them does a pouring rain fall. In the same way, before My Presence, the soul puts herself in the place befitting to her – that is, at the bottom, in her nothingness, so much so, as to feel herself being destroyed; and the Divinity pours Grace in torrents upon her, and reaches the point of submerging her within Itself. Therefore, she must be content with everything – content if I Speak, content if I do not Speak.” While He was saying this, I felt myself as though being submerged in God, and then I found myself inside myself.

Volume 4 – March 23, 1902

“My daughter, the support of True Sanctity in the Knowledge of self.” And I: ‘Really?’ And He: “Certainly, because with the knowledge of self one undoes himself and leans completely on the knowledge he acquires of God, in such a way that his operating is the very Divine Operating, since nothing is left of his own being.” Then He added: “When one’s interior imbues and occupies itself with God alone and with all that belongs to Him, God communicates all of Himself to the soul. When her interior, then, occupies itself now with God, now with other things, God communicates Himself to the soul in part.”

Volume 4 – December 15, 1902

Then, forcing myself up, I kissed Him on His face; He too kissed me, and I said to Him: ‘My life and strength, by myself I am weak and can do nothing, but with You I can do everything. Therefore, strengthen my weakness by infusing your very strength in me, and I will be able to carry the weight of your person – the only way to be able to spare each other this sorrow; for me, of letting You fall, and for You, of suffering the fall.’

Volume 4 – December 24, 1902

“My daughter, one who believes himself to be something before Me and before men, is worth nothing. One who believes himself to be nothing is worth everything – first, before Me, because if he does something, he does not think he does it because he can do it, having the strength and the capacity, but rather, because he receives from God the Grace, the Helps and the Lights; therefore it can be said that he does it by Virtue of Divine Power, and one who has Divine Power with him is already worth everything. Second, before men, because this acting by Virtue of Divine Power makes him operate in a completely different way, and he does nothing but send forth the Light of the Divine Power he contains within himself, in such a way that the most perverted ones, without wanting it, feel the strength of this Light and submit to his volition; and here is how he is worth everything also before men. On the contrary, one who believes himself to be something, in addition to being worth nothing, is abominable to My Presence, and because of his ostentatious and particular manners – for he believes he is something and makes fun of others – men keep him pointed out as an object of derision and of persecution.”

Volume 4 – March 5, 1903

As I was in my usual state, I found myself together with blessed Jesus, who was carrying a bundle of crosses and of thorns in His arms, all tired and weary. On seeing Him in that state, I said: ‘Lord, why weary Yourself so much with this bundle in your arms?’ And He: “My daughter, these are the crosses of disillusion, which I keep always ready to disillusion the creatures.” As He was saying this, we found ourselves in the midst of people, and as soon as blessed Jesus would see that someone would become attached to creatures, He would take the cross of persecution from that bundle and would give it to him; and that person, seeing himself persecuted, unpopular, would be disillusioned and would comprehend that those were the creatures, and that God alone deserves to be loved. If someone would become attached to riches, He would take from that bundle the cross of poverty and would give it to him; and that person, seeing that riches had vanished away from him and he was now poor, would comprehend that everything down here is smoke, and that true riches are eternal, and so he would attach his heart to everything that is eternal. If someone else would become bound to his self-esteem, to knowledge, blessed Jesus, with all sweetness, would take the cross of slanders and of confusions and would give it to him; and that person, confused and slandered, would remove as though a mask from himself and comprehend his own nothingness, his being, and would order his whole interior in the order of God, and no longer of himself. And so on with all the other crosses.

Volume 5 – March 24, 1903

This morning, after I had gone through most bitter days, blessed Jesus came and spent time with me intimately, so much so, that I thought I would possess Him forever. But all of a sudden, He disappeared like a flash. Who can say my pain? I felt I was going insane; more so, since I was almost sure that I was not going to lose Him any more. Now, while I was being consumed with pains, He came back like a flash, and with sonorous and serious voice He told me: “Who are you to expect to be always with Me?” And I, insane as I was, all daring, answered: ‘I am everything while being with You; I feel I am nothing but a will come out of the womb of my Creator, and as long as this will is united with You, it feels life, existence, peace, all of its good. Without You I feel it without life, I feel I am being destroyed, I feel dispersed, restless. I can say I experience all evils, and in order to have life, and so that I may not be dispersed, this will that came out from You looks for your womb, your center, and there it wants to remain forever.’ Jesus seemed to be all moved, but then He repeated again: “But who are you?”

And I: ‘Lord, I am nothing but a drop of water, and as long as this drop of water is in your sea, it seems to it that it is the whole sea. If it does not go out of the sea, it remains clean and clear, in such a way as to be able to stand the comparison with other waters. But if it goes out of the sea, it will become muddy, and because of its littleness, it will be dispersed.’ All moved, He bent down toward me, and embracing me, told me: “My daughter, one who wants to be always in My Will keeps My very Person within himself; and even if he can go out of My Will since I created him free in his will, My Power operates a Prodigy by administering to him, continuously, the participation in Divine Life. Because of this participation he receives, he feels such strength and attraction of Union with My Divine Will, that even if he wanted to go out of It, he could not do it. This is the continuous Virtue that comes out of Me toward one who always does My Will about which I spoke to you the other day.”

Volume 6 – June 15, 1904

As I was in my usual state, He came for just a little and told me:  “My beloved daughter, the creature is so dear to Me and I love her so much, that if the creature could comprehend it, her heart would burst with love.  This is so true, that in creating her I made her as nothing but a little container filled with a dose of all the Divine Particles, in such a way that of All My Being – Attributes, Virtues, Perfections – the soul contains many Little Particles according to the capacity given to her by Me; and this, so that I might find in her as many Little Notes corresponding to My Notes, and thus be able to Delight Perfectly and to Play with her.  Now, when the soul deals with material things and lets them enter into this little container filled with the Divine, something of the Divine flows outside of it, and something of matter enters to take its place.  What affront the Divinity receives, and what harm for the soul!  How much attention it takes so as not to let material things enter inside, if by necessity she has to deal with them!  You, My daughter, be attentive; otherwise, if I see anything which is not Divine in you, I will not make Myself seen anymore.”

Volume 6 -December 6, 1904

“My daughter, courage, the beginning of eternal beatitude is to lose every taste of one’s own.  In fact, as the soul keeps losing her own tastes, the Divine Tastes take possession of her, and the soul, having undone and lost herself, no longer recognizes herself; she finds nothing else of her own – not even spiritual things.  Seeing that the soul has nothing else of her own, God Fills her with All of Himself and replenishes her with all the Divine Happinesses.  Only then can the soul truly be called Blessed, because as long as she had something of her own, she could not be exempt from bitternesses and fears, nor could God communicate His Happiness to her.  No soul that enters the Port of Eternal Beatitude can be exempted from this point – painful, yes, but necessary; nor can she do without it.  Generally they do it at the point of death, and Purgatory does the last job; this is why, if creatures are asked what God’s Taste is, what Divine Beatitude means, these are things unknown to them and they are unable to articulate a word.  But with the souls who are My Beloved, since they have given themselves completely to Me, I do not want their Beatitude to have beginning up there in Heaven, but to have beginning down here on earth. I want to fill them not only with the Happiness, with the Glory of Heaven, but I want to fill them with the Goods, with the Sufferings, with the Virtues that My Humanity had upon earth; therefore I strip them, not only of material tastes, which the soul considers as dung, but also of spiritual tastes, in order to Fill them completely with My Goods and Give them the Beginning of True Beatitude.”

Volume 6 – May 23, 1905

This morning I found myself outside of myself and I felt someone in my arms, with his head leaning on my shoulder.  I could not manage to see who he was, so I pulled him by force, saying to him:  ‘Tell me at least who you are.’  And He:  “I am the All.”  On hearing Him say He was the All, I said:  ‘And I am the nothing.  See Lord, how right I am that this nothing must remain united with the All, otherwise it will be like a handful of dust which the wind scatters away.’

Volume 6 – October 12, 1905

Continuing in my usual state, blessed Jesus came for just a little and told me:  “My daughter, the Knowledge of self empties the soul of herself and Fills her with God.  Not only this, but in the soul there are many receptacles, and everything that can be seen in the world takes its place in these receptacles – something more, something less, according to the concept of them that she makes for herself.  Now, the soul who knows herself and is Filled with God, knowing that she is ‘a nothing’, or rather, a fragile, rotten and stinking vase, is well wary of letting more filthy rot enter into her interior, which is the things that can be seen in the world.  One who had a rotten wound and kept gathering more rot to put it on his wound, wound be quite crazy.  Now, the Knowledge of self brings with it the knowledge of the things of the world, and therefore how everything is vanity, fleetingness, goods that are only masked, deceits, inconstancy of creature.  So, knowing how things are in themselves, she is well wary of letting them enter into herself, and so all those receptacles remain Filled with the Virtues of God.”

Volume 7 – February 28, 1906

I understood it in this way. For example, the soul feels within herself the annihilation of herself; she sees her nothingness, her misery, her inability to do a shadow of good. Now, while she feels this way, God communicates His Grace, and the Grace of Truth, in such a way that the soul can see the Truth in everything without deceit, without darkness. And here is how, what God is by nature – eternal Truth which cannot deceive nor be deceived – the soul becomes by Grace. That is to say, the soul feels detachment from the things of the earth, she sees their fleetingness, their instability, how everything is false, everything is rot, which deserves to be abhorred rather than loved. While the soul feels this state, God communicates His Grace, and the Grace of True Love and of Eternal Love; He communicates His Beauty, in such a way as to make the loving soul go mad, and the soul remains Filled with the Love and the Beauty of God. And here is how, what God is by nature – Love and Eternal Beauty – the soul becomes by Grace; and so with all the other Divine Virtues, such that if I wanted to say everything, I would be too long. I only add that Grace anticipates the soul, It excites her, but only when the soul masticates those Truths, and swallows them like food into her bosom, then It Communicates Itself and enters to take Possession of her. This is why not everyone receives the effects described above – because they let them escape from their minds like lightnings, and do not make a place for them.

Volume 8 – November 3, 1907

You are nothing but tiny little grass which God delighted in endowing with a marvelous virtue; and just as one who does not know the virtue that this tiny little grass contains, tramples it and does not even look at it, in the same way, one who does not know the gift which I have placed in you and the virtue which My little grass contains, not only tramples you, but does not understand how I delight in giving value to the littlest things.”

Volume 8 – November 18, 1907

As I was in my usual state, blessed Jesus came for just a little, and as soon as I saw Him, I said: ‘My sweet life, how bad I have become – I feel I am reduced to nothing. I no longer feel anything in me, everything is empty; I just feel an enchantment in my interior, and in this enchantment I wait for You, so that You may fill me. But in vain do I wait for this filling; on the contrary, I feel I always return to nothing.’ And Jesus: “Ah, My daughter! And you afflict yourself for you feel reduced to nothing? Rather, I say to you: the more the creature is reduced to nothing, the more she is filled with the All. And if she left even one shadow of herself, that shadow would prevent Me from giving all of Myself, completely, to the soul. Your constant returning to nothing means that you are dissolving your human being to reacquire the Divine.”

VOL. 9 – August 2, 1909

The soul: a toy made of gold and diamonds.

 

I was thinking of what I wrote on the 27th of last month, and I said to myself: ‘I thought I was something in the hands of the Lord; yet, I am nothing but a toy! What a most wretched object I am! Toys can be made of clay, of earth, of paper, of a flabby elastic band, such that it is sufficient that they fall to the ground – or just the slightest inconvenience, for them to break; and no longer being useful for the game, they are thrown away. Oh, my Good, how oppressed I feel at the thought that one day or another You may throw me away!’ And good Jesus made Himself heard and told me: “My daughter, do not oppress yourself. When toys are made of wretched matter and they break, one throws them away; but if they were made of gold or of diamonds, or of any other precious material, one has them fixed, and they always serve to form the amusement of the one who has the good of possessing them. So you are for Me: a toy made of diamonds and of purest gold, because you have my Image in you, and because I paid the price of my Blood to purchase you, and you are adorned with the likeness of my sufferings. Therefore, you are not a wretched object that I could throw away; rather, it costs Me very much. You can be tranquil – there is no danger I may throw you away.”

VOL. 9 – October 4, 1909

So I tried to think about my evils, my great miseries, the privations of Jesus caused by my sins, and getting distracted from the usual things of my interior, I cried over my great misfortune. At that moment, my always lovable Jesus moved in my interior, and with sensible voice told me: “Do you want to arbitrate yourself? The work of your interior is not yours, but Mine; you do nothing but follow Me – the rest I do all by Myself. The thought of yourself you must stop; you must do nothing but what I want, and I will take care of your evils and goods. Who can do more good to you – yourself or I?” And He showed Himself displeased.

So I began to follow Him, but after a little while, as I reached another point of the way to Calvary, at which, more than anywhere else, I would penetrate into the different intentions of Jesus, a thought told me: ‘Not only must you stop the thought of sanctifying yourself, but also that of being saved. Don’t you see that by yourself you are good at nothing?

Volume 9 – December 22, 1909

 

I felt my very nature being consumed and melted into nothingness. Those seeds of strength, of light, of knowledge which I seemed to feel – everything turned into nothing. I felt I was dying; yet, I live. In the meantime He came back, and taking me in his arms, He seemed to sustain this nothingness of mine, telling me: “Do you see, my daughter, how, as the little seed of your strength, the little lamp of your light, the little knowledge of Me that you have, and all of your other little qualities dissolve, my strength, my light, my wisdom, my beauty and all of my other qualities take over and fill this nothingness of yours? Aren’t you happy?”

VOL. 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 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 cattiva [bad, naughty]. 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.

Volume 10 – January 11, 1912

After I received Holy Communion, my always lovable Jesus made Himself seen all around me, and I was in the middle, as if within a flow. Jesus was the flow and I the nothing which was in the middle of this flow. Now, who can say what I experienced in this flow? I felt I was immense, yet nothing existed of me but nothingness; I felt breathed upon by Jesus; I felt His breath around me and everywhere… But I don’t have the words to express myself, I am too ignorant; I wrote this to obey. Then, afterwards Jesus told me: “My daughter, see how much I love you and how I keep you safe within My Flow – that is, within Me. This is how you should keep Me safe and sheltered within you. Love wants to be matched by Love, so as to have the contentment of making a greater surprise of Love. Therefore, never go out from within My Love, from within My Desires, from within My Works, from within My All.”

Volume 11 – Good Morning to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

Jesus, Jesus, may our will be one, one our love, one our happiness. Never leave me alone, because I am a nothing, and the nothing cannot be without the all. Will You promise me, oh Jesus? It seems that You say Yes. And now, bless me, bless all; and together with the angels, the saints, the sweet Mama and all the creatures, I will say to You: ‘Good morning, O Jesus, good morning.’

Volume 11 – July 4, 1912

This morning, after Communion, I was saying to my always adorable Jesus: ‘To what a state I reduced myself! It seems that everything runs away from me: suffering, virtues – everything!’

And Jesus: ‘My daughter, what’s this? Do you want to waste time? Do you want to get out of your nothingness? Stay in your place – in your nothingness – so that the All may keep Its place in you. But know that you must die completely in My Will: to the suffering, to the virtues – to everything. My Will must be the tomb of the soul. Just as nature is consumed in the tomb to the extent of disappearing completely, and by that consummation it will rise again to a new and more beautiful Life, in the same way the soul, buried in My Will as if inside a tomb, will die to the suffering, to her virtues, to her spiritual goods, and will rise again in everything to Divine Life.

Ah, My daughter, it seems that you want to imitate the mundane, who tend to what is temporal, and ends, while they don’t consider what is eternal. My beloved, why don’t you want to learn to live only in My Volition? Why don’t you want to Live the Life of Heaven while still being on earth? My Will is Love, the One that never dies; therefore My Will must be your sepulcher, and Love is the lid which has to lock you and seal you in, giving you no more hope of getting out.

Volume 11 – February 19, 1913

After this, I seemed to see people around me, and I said to Jesus: ‘Who are they?’ And Jesus: “They are the ones whom I entrusted to you some time ago. I commend them to you – watch over them. I would like to form this bond of union between you in order to have them always around Me.” And He pointed out to me one in particular. And I: ‘Ah, Jesus, have You forgotten about my misery and nothingness, and the extreme need I have? What shall I do?” And Jesus: “My daughter, you will not do anything, just as you’ve never done anything. I will Speak and Operate within you, and I will speak through your mouth. If you only want it so, and if there is good disposition in them, I will offer Myself for everything. Even if I should keep you asleep in my Will, I will wake you up when necessary, and I will let you speak to them. I will delight more in hearing you speak about My Will both in vigil and in sleep.”

Then, every thought that regards oneself, even about virtues, is always gain for oneself and runs away from the Divine Life; while if the soul thinks only about Me and what regards Me, she takes the Divine Life in herself and, taking the Divine Life, she escapes the human life, taking all possible goods. Have we understood each other?”

Volume 11 – March 21, 1913

“My daughter, many times it happens to the souls the same as it happens in the air. The air is fattened by the stench which emanates from the earth, and one feels such a thick, heavy, oppressive and nauseating air that winds are necessary in order to cleanse it. Then, after the air has been purified, the finest breeze blows, such that one would remain with his mouth open in order to breathe that purified air. All this happens in the souls. Many times satisfaction, self-esteem, ego, and all that is human fatten the air of the soul, and I am forced to send to this soul the wind of coldness, the wind of temptation, of aridity, of slander, so that these winds may cleanse the air of this soul, purify her, and bring her back to her nothingness. Nothingness opens the door to the All – to God; and the All makes many fragrant breezes blow, so that the soul, with her mouth open, may swallow that air, remaining Sanctified by it.”

Volume 11 – November 1, 1915

‘My Life, You know that I have nothing; and whatever I do, I take from You, and I leave it to You again, so that my things, remaining in You, may have continuous action and life in You, while I remain always a nothing. So, I take your Love, I make It my own and I tell You: ‘I love You with an eternal and immense Love; with a Love that has no limits and no ends, and that is equal to yours.’’ And I kissed Him again and again. As I kept saying, ‘I love You’, Jesus became calm, took rest, and disappeared.

Volume 12 – June 14, 1917

Continuing in my usual state, I was praying my lovable Jesus to come in me, to love, pray and repair, because I knew how to do nothing. And sweet Jesus, moved to compassion for my nothingness, came and spent some time with me, praying, loving and repairing together with me. Then He said to me: “My daughter, the more the soul strips herself of herself, the more I clothe her with Myself. The more she believes she can do nothing, the more I act in her, and I do everything. I feel All My Love, My Prayers, My Reparations, etc. being placed in action by the creature; and to give honor to Myself, I listen to what she wants to do. Does she want to love? I go to her and love together with her. Does she want to pray? I pray together with her. In sum, her stripping and her love, which is Mine, bind Me and force Me to do with her whatever she wants to do. And I Give to the soul the Merit of My Own Love, of My Prayers and Reparations. To My Highest Contentment, I feel My Life being Repeated; and I make the Effects of My Work descend for the good of all, because it is not of the creature, who is hidden in Me – but it is Mine.”

Volume 12 – December 6, 1917

So, how could other things, outside of My Will, ever please Me, as beautiful as they might be? They are always low, human and finite acts. Instead, the acts in My Will are Noble, Divine, Interminable and Infinite – as my Volition is. They are similar to mine, and I give them the same value, love, power of my own acts; I multiply them in everyone; I extend them to all generations and to all times. What do I care if they are small? They are still My Acts that are being Repeated, and that’s enough. And then, the soul places herself in her true nothingness – not in humility, in which she always feels something of herself. And as a nothing she enters into the All, and operates with Me, in Me and like Me – completely stripped of herself, not caring about merit or self-interest, but all intent only on making Me Happy, giving Me Absolute Lordship over her acts, without even wanting to know what I do with them. Only one thought occupies her: to Live in My Will, praying to Me that I may give her the Honor. This is why I love her so much, and all My Predilections and My Love are for this soul who lives in My Will. And if I love the others, it is by Virtue of the Love which I have for this soul, and which descends from her – just as the Father Loves the creatures by Virtue of the Love He has for Me.”

And I: ‘How true it is what You say – that in your Will one wants nothing and wants to know nothing. If one wants to do something, it is because You have done it. One feels the ardent desire to repeat your things. Everything disappears; one no longer wants to do anything.’ And Jesus: “And I make her do everything, and I Give Everything to her.”

Volume 12 – February 10, 1919

‘My life, Jesus, your Will is mine. You, yourself, unite them together and form one single FIAT, so I will say “yes” together with You. I beg You to have mercy on me; my misery is great, and only because You want it, I say: “FIAT, FIAT”.’ But – oh!, how annihilated and pulverized I felt in the abyss of my nothingness; more so, since this nothing was called to live in the All.

Volume 12 – September 13, 1919

“My daughter, the surest sign and the seal of my teachings within you is that you feel nothing of your own. And then, isn’t the Living in My Will exactly this – to dissolve oneself in Me? How can you go searching for your desires, affections and other things, if you have dissolved them in My Will? My Will is Immense, and it takes too much to find them. And in order to Live in Me, it is better to live no longer from your own life; otherwise you show that you are not happy to live from My Life, and to be completely dissolved in Me.”

Volume 12 – December 26, 1919

“My daughter, why are Sacraments called Sacraments? Because they are Sacred – they have the value and the power to confer Grace and Sanctity. However, these Sacraments operate according to the dispositions of the creatures; so much so, that sometimes they remain even fruitless, unable to confer the good which they contain. Now, My Will is Sacred and Holy, and It contains altogether the Virtue of All the Sacraments. Not only this; It does not have to work to dispose the soul to receive the goods which My Will contains. In fact, as soon as the soul has disposed herself to do My Will, she has already disposed herself by herself, and My Will, finding everything prepared and disposed, even at the cost of any sacrifice, communicates Itself to the soul without delay, pouring the goods It contains, and forming the heroes – the martyrs of the Divine Volition, the most unheard-of portents… And then, what do the Sacraments do if not unite the soul with God? And what is to do My Will? Isn’t it perhaps to Unite the will of the creature with her Creator? It is to dissolve oneself in the Eternal Volition – the nothingness ascending to the All, and the All descending into the nothingness. It is the most noble, the purest, the most beautiful, the most heroic act that a creature can do.

Volume 14 – March 3, 1922

“My daughter, now it is appropriate that I get down to work again – to work the soil of your soul, so as to be to able sow the seed of My Word with which to feed you. I act like a farmer when he wants to sow in his field: he forms little trenches, makes the furrows, and casts the seeds into them; then he again covers with earth the little trenches and furrows in which he has sown the seeds, so as to keep them sheltered and give them the time to germinate, to then harvest them increased a hundredfold, and make of them his food. But he is careful not to put in too much earth, otherwise he would cause his seeds to suffocate and die under the earth, and he would run the risk of remaining on an empty stomach. Now, so I do: I prepare the little trenches, I form the furrows, I enlarge the capacity of her intelligence to be able to sow My Divine Word, and therefore form the food for Me and for her; then I cover the little trenches and the furrows with earth – which is humility, nothingness, the annihilation of the soul, and some little weakness or misery of hers. This is the earth, and it is necessary that I take it from her because I lack this earth; and so I cover everything and I wait for My Harvest with Joy. Now, do you want to know when too much earth is placed over the seed? When the soul feels her miseries, her weaknesses, her nothingness, and she afflicts herself. She thinks about it so much as to waste time, and the enemy uses this in order to throw her into disturbance, discouragement and despondency. All this is earth in excess over My Seed. Oh, how My Seed feels like dying – how it struggles to germinate under this earth! Many times these souls tire the Celestial Farmer, and He withdraws. Oh, how many are the souls like these!”

And I: ‘My Love, am I one of these?’ And He: “No, no; one who does My Will is not subject to forming earth that suffocates My Seed; rather, many times I find not even humility in her, but only her nothingness, which produces little earth, so I can place just one layer over My Seed. And the Sun of My Will soon Fecundates it, and it Germinates; and I make Great Harvests, to then quickly return to sow My Seed again. Besides, you can be sure of this; don’t you see how often I return to sow New Seeds of Truths into your soul?”

VOL. 15 –

February 22, 1923

Luisa’s fear that her state might be pretense.  The higher the soul must rise, the lower must she descend.

 

I was very distressed by the thought that my state might be a continuous pretense.  What a bolt from the blue this is for me!  It calls all storms upon me, and puts me below all the wicked, and even the very damned.  A soul more perverted than I am has never had existence upon earth.  But what grieves me the most is being unable to get out of this state of pretense, for I would confess my sin, and at the cost of my life I would not do it any more.  Jesus, who is so good, in His infinite mercy would forgive this soul, the most wicked of all.

Then, after I had gone through one of these storms, my always lovable Jesus made Himself seen, and I said to Him:  ‘My beloved Jesus, what an ugly thought this is.  O please! do not let pretense have existence in me; rather, send me death, but do not let me offend You with the ugliest vice, which is pretense.  It terrorizes me, it crushes me, it annihilates me, it snatches me away from your sweet arms, and puts me under the feet of all, even of the damned.  My Jesus, You say that You love me very much, and then You permit this tearing of my soul away from You.  How can your Heart endure such a great pain of mine?’  And Jesus:  “My daughter, courage, do not lose heart.  One who must rise above all, must descend to the lowest bottom, below everyone.  It is said of my Mother, Queen of all, that She was the humblest of all, because She was to be superior to all; but in order to be the humblest of all, She had to descend to the lowest bottom, below everyone.  And my Celestial Mama, with the knowledge that She had of Her God and Creator, and of who She was, a creature, descended so low that, as She descended, We would raise Her, but so high, that there is no one who can equal Her.

The same for you:  in order to give the little daughter of my Will primacy in my Will, having to raise her above all, I make her descend to the lowest bottom, below everyone; and the more she descends, the more I raise her and make her take her place in the Divine Volition.  Oh! how enraptured I am, when I see one who is above all, below everyone.  I run – I fly to take you in my arms, and I expand your boundaries within my Will.  Therefore, I allow everything for your good, and also to accomplish my highest designs upon you.  However, I do not want you to waste time thinking it over; when I take you in my arms, immediately put everything aside, and follow my Will.”

Volume 16 – November 10, 1923

“My dear little one! I chose you little, because the little ones let one do whatever he wants with them. They do not walk alone, but let themselves be led; even more, they are afraid to place one foot by themselves. If they receive gifts, feeling incapable of keeping them, they place them on the lap of their mama. The little ones are stripped of everything, nor do they care whether they are rich or poor; they are concerned with nothing. Oh, how beautiful is the tender age, full of graces, of beauty, of freshness! Therefore, the greater is the work I want to do in a soul, the smaller I choose her. I like childlike freshness and beauty very much. I like it so much that I maintain her in the littleness of the nothingness from which she came. I let nothing of her own enter her, that she may not lose her littleness, and therefore preserve the Divine freshness and beauty from which she came.”

“Now, so that My Will might be Known, in order to open Heaven to let My Will descend upon earth and to make It Reign on earth as It does in Heaven, I had to choose another little one among all generations. Since this is the greatest Work I want to do – to restore man in his Origin, from which he came, to open for him that Divine Will which he rejected, to open My arms to him to receive him again into the Womb of My Will – My Wisdom calls the most little one out of nothing.

“My poor little one, what do you fear? Courage, I am the One who will do everything in My little Daughter. You will do nothing but follow Me faithfully, will you? You are right that you are too little and that you can do nothing, but I will do everything in you. Don’t you see how I am within you, and you are nothing but the shadow that covers Me? I am the One who will cross within you the eternal and unending boundaries of My Will. I am the One who will embrace all generations to bring them, together with your shadow, at the feet of the Eternal One, so that the two wills, the human and the Divine, may kiss each other, may smile at each other, and may no longer look at each other like strangers, being divided, scowling at each other, but one may be Fused into the other, forming One Single Will. It is the power of your Jesus that must do this; you have to do nothing but comply. I know, I know that you are nothing and can do nothing, therefore you afflict yourself. But it is the power of My arm that wants and can work, and I like to work great things in the most little ones.

Volume 16 – May 13, 1924

I don’t know how, but Jesus held me more tightly and raised me higher, into the midst of an unending Light. I felt annihilated, but my annihilation was replaced by a Divine Life, which unleashed from Itself many different colors of Beauty, of Sanctity, of Light, of Goodness, of Peace, of Love, etc.; in such a way that my nothingness was Transformed by those Divine Colors, to the extent of no longer being recognized and of enamoring the very One who had so much embellished me. And my sweet Jesus continued: “Do you see, My Daughter? The prime Act of the Divine Persons is the perfect accord of Our Will. Our Will is so unified that one cannot distinguish the Will of One from That of the Other; so much so, that even though Our Persons are distinct – We are Three – Our Will is One, and this One Will produces a continuous act of Perfect Adoration among the Divine Persons – One adores the Others. This accord of Will produces equality of Sanctity, of Light, of Goodness, of Beauty, of Power, of Love, and establishes in Us the true reign of order and of peace, giving Us Immense Joys and Happinesses, and Infinite Beatitudes. Therefore, the accord of the human will with the Divine is the First Link of connection between Creator and creature; and from it, the Divine Virtues descend into her, as within a channel, producing in her True Adoration and Perfect Love for her Creator. And rising from within that same channel of connection, she receives the different shades of the Divine Gualities. And every time the soul rises in order to dive into this Eternal Will, she is embellished by and acquires as many more varieties of Divine Beauty.

Volume 19 – April 16, 1926

“My daughter, everything you experienced – your Full abandonment in the arms of our Celestial Father, no longer feeling your own life – is the image of the Living in My Will.  In fact, in order to live in It, the creature must Live more of God than of herself; even more, ‘the nothing’ must give Life to ‘the All’, to be able to do everything, and to have her act at the top of all the other acts of each creature.  Such was the Life of My Divine Mama.  She was the True Image of the Living in My Will.  Her living in It was so perfect, that She did nothing but receive from God, continuously, all that She was to do in order to Live in the Supreme Volition.  So, She received the act of Supreme Adoration, to be able to place Herself at the top of every adoration which all creatures were obliged to do for their Creator.  In fact, True Adoration has Life within the Three Divine Persons.  Our Perfect Concord, Our Reciprocal Love, Our one Will, form the Most Profound and Perfect Adoration within the Sacrosanct Trinity.  Therefore, if the creature adores Me, but her will is not in accord with Me, it is vain word – not adoration.

Volume 19 – May 27, 1926

“My daughter, since I am raising you in My Will, O please! do not want ever to give Me this sorrow, so piercing, of going out of the Unity of the Light of the Supreme Fiat.  Promise Me – swear that you will always be the Newborn of My Will.”  And I:  ‘My Love, be consoled, I promise – I swear; and You must promise me to keep me always in your arms and sunken in your Will.  You must never leave me if You want me to be always, always, the little daughter of your Will, for I tremble and I fear myself; more so, since the more You speak about this Supreme Volition, the more I feel that I am no good, and the nothingness of my nothing makes itself felt more.’

And Jesus, sighing, added:  “My daughter, feeling your nothingness more does not oppose the Living in My Will; on the contrary, it is a Duty of yours.  All of My works are formed over nothing, and this is why the All can do what He wants.  If the sun had reason, and someone asked it:  ‘What good do you do?  What are your effects?  How much Light and Heat do you contain?’; it would answer:  ‘I do nothing, I just know that the Light given to me by God is invested with the Supreme Will, and I do whatever It wants.  I extend wherever It wants, and I produce the effects It wants; and while I do so much, I remain always nothing and the Divine Will does everything in me.’  The same for all my other works – all their glory is to remain in their nothingness in order to give the whole field to My Will, to let It operate. Only man wanted to do without the Will of his Creator, he wanted to make his nothingness operate, believing himself to be good at something; and the All, feeling Himself placed after the nothing, went out of man, who reduced himself from Superior to All, to inferior to all.

Therefore, let your nothingness be always at the Mercy of My Will, if you want the Unity of Its Light to operate in you and call the purpose of Creation back to New Life.”

Volume 19 – June 15, 1926

‘Jesus, my Life, have pity on me – look at how full of defects I am, and how much badness there is in me.’  And He, all goodness and tenderness, told me:  “My daughter, do not fear, I am here, watching over you and keeping your soul in custody, so that not even the slightest sin may enter into your soul.  And where you or others see defects and badnesses, I find none; rather, I see that your ‘nothing’ feels the weight of the ‘All’.  In fact, the more I elevate you intimately to Me and I make known to you what the ‘All’ wants to do with your ‘nothing’, the more you feel your nothingness and, almost frightened and crushed under the All, you would want escape from manifesting and, even more, from writing on paper that which the ‘All’ wants to make of this ‘nothing’ of yours.  More so since, as much reluctance as you feel, I always win and make you do what I want.

Volume 20 – January 25, 1927

‘My Jesus, I feel I am doing nothing, and You tell me that in your Fiat I take All and I give All?’  And Jesus added:  “My daughter, when the All operates, the nothing remains at its place – it only makes itself available to receive the All.  And then, do you not feel within yourself the strength of this All that, making you Embrace and Invade everything – heaven, stars, sun, seas and earth – and embrace all the acts which My Fiat exercises in the whole Creation, makes you bring them to your Creator, as though in one breath, to give everyone and everything back to Him?  Has there been anyone until now who has given and has been able to say:  ‘I give everything to God, even God Himself, because since I Live in His Will, God is mine, the heavens are mine, the sun and everything that this Supreme Fiat has done is Mine.  So, since everything is Mine, I can give Everything and I can take Everything’?  Now, it happens as a consequence that one who Lives in My Will has the possession of the All, and this forms and draws the Kingdom of the Divine Will upon earth; because in order to form a Kingdom, it takes the Strength of the Power of the All.”

Afterwards, He made Himself seen as a little child, staring at me so much, as to remain as though impressed within me; and He wanted me to look at Him, but so much as to remain impressed in Him.  Then, all love and tenderness, He told me:  “My daughter, this is the True Image of the Living in My Eternal Will:  the soul copies the Divine Will within herself, and the Supreme Will copies the soul, in such a way that your Creator keeps the copy of your image impressed within His womb.  He holds her so dear, because He sees her exactly as He released her from her Origin; she has lost nothing of her Freshness and Beauty.  His paternal features are impressed in this copy; and this copy, in the paternal womb of God, sings for Him the praises of all Creation with all His works, and whispers continuously to His ear:  ‘You made everything for me.  You loved me so much, and still do, and I want to convert everything – everything into love for You.’  This copy is the portent of God in His womb; she is the memory of all His works.

This is the copy of the soul in God, and the copy of God in the soul, and the carrying out of the Divine Life within the creature.  How beautiful is the Kingdom of My Will – the nothing dissolved in the All, and the All fused in the nothing; the lowliness of the creature rising into the Divine Height, and the Divine Height descending into the depth of the creature.  They are two beings bound together, inseparable, transfused, identified, such that it can barely be recognized that they are two lives palpitating together.  All the Magnificence, the Sanctity, the Sublimeness, the Prodigies of the Kingdom of My Will, will be exactly this:  the Faithful Copy of the soul in God, and the Copy of God, Whole and Beautiful, in the soul.  Therefore, the Children of the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat will be as many Images of little Gods in My Kingdom.”

VOL. 28 –

October 12, 1930
Fear is the scourge of the poor nothing.  The love that God nurtures for the creature, to the point of putting her in a contest with Himself.  How God established all the acts that all creatures were to do.

 

I am always in my dear and holy inheritance of the Divine Fiat.  I feel the extreme need never to go out of It, because my small atom of my existence feels its nothingness and, as nothing, good at doing nothing if the Divine Volition, playing with it, does not fill it with Its All, making it do what It wants.  And, oh! how I feel the need for the Divine Will to keep me in Its Life, and for me to remain always in It.

Now, I felt I could not live without the Divine Fiat – all fear; and my sweet Jesus, with an unspeakable goodness, told me:  “My daughter, do not fear; fear is the scourge of the poor nothing, in such a way that the nothing which is beaten by the whips of fear, feels itself lacking life and losing it.  On the other hand, love is the surge of the nothing into the All, such that, as the All fills it with Divine Life, the nothing feels true life, which is not subject to be lacking, but to always living.

Now, you must know that the love that Our Divine Being nurtures toward the creature is so great, that We give her of Our own in order to put her in the condition of being able to compete with her Creator.  And so We give her Our Will, Our Love and Our very Life, that she may make It fully her own, so as to fill the void of her nothing and therefore be able to give Us Will for Will, Love for Love, Life for Life.  And We, even though We Ourselves have given Them, accept Them as if They were her own, enjoying that the creature can compete with Us – she, in giving Us, and We, in receiving, to give to her again what she gave Us, that she may always have something to give Us; except for the creature who would not want to receive.  Then she feels the void of her nothing, without true life, without a Divine Will that sanctifies her, without the love that leads her to love her Creator.  And then all evils swoop down upon this nothing, lashes of fear, darkness of terror, rains of all miseries, weaknesses, such that she feels life missing in her.  Poor nothing which is not filled with the All.”

VOL. 30 – May 8, 1932

After this, He added:  “My daughter, only then does one feel the True Life in herself, when she enters into My Divine Will, because in It the creature sees with clarity her nothingness, and how this nothing feels the need of the All, that is, of He who drew her from nothing in order to Live.  And as she recognizes herself, the All fills her with Itself.  This nothing feels the True Life, she finds the immediate contact of Sanctity, of Goodness, Power, Love and Divine Wisdom; she recognizes in herself the Power of the Creative Work, Its Palpitating Life, and the extreme need for this Divine Life, otherwise, she feels as if there were no Life in her.  It is only My Will that makes her true nothingness recognized by the creature.  And It continuously Breathes over this nothing so as to maintain the Divine Life always inflamed in her, in order to make her grow as a Work Worthy of Our Creative Hands.  On the other hand, without Our Will, the creature feels as if she were something, and the All remains outside of the nothing.”

VOL. 36 –

April 25, 1938

 

Then He added with a note of sadness: “My daughter, how the creature sinks to the bottom, when she does not Live in Our Will.  Even if she does good, lacking the Light of Our Will—the Strength of Our Sanctity and Its Effects, this good remains covered by smoke, blinding and producing self esteem, pride, and love of self.  It remains poisoned—unable to produce any real benefit for anybody.  Poor good works without My Will.  They are like bells with no sound; coins without the image of the king, that have no value as money—at the most they turn into self-satisfaction.  Many times I’m forced, for Love of the creatures, to embitter the good they do, so that they enter themselves and try to operate truly and generously.  On the other hand, for the one who Lives in Our Will, there is no danger that the smoke of self-esteem may enter even the greatest works she may do.  She is the little flame fed by the Great Light that is God, and the Light knows how to get rid of the darkness of passion—the smoke of self-esteem.  Being light, she really knows that all the good she does is done by God Himself, Operating within her nothingness; and if this nothingness has not been completely emptied of all that does not belong to God, God will not descend into it to make Great Works Worthy of Him.

“Therefore, not even humility can enter Our Will; only nothingness—knowing to be nothing.  All the Good that enters It is only Divine Work—God Who brings God.  In My Will, everything changes for the creature.  She is nothing other than the little light, that has to absorb, as much as she can, the Great Light of My Fiat, so that she may be fed only by Light, Love, Goodness and Divine Sanctity.  What an honor to be fed by God!  So it is no wonder that, being the creature, the little flame of God, He also feeds Himself with it.”

Fiat!!!

Permanent link to this article: https://luisapiccarreta.com/reflection-from-book-of-heaven/reflections-on-the-beauty-of-nothingness-of-the-soul/