The Divine Game

Have you ever felt that life is one big game?  Well from the beginning of the Volumes Luisa often accused Jesus of joking and playing games with her.

Sometimes, Jesus also wanted to play jokes, and this is how:  while I would be amid these yearnings, He would come, all hurriedly, and would say to me:  “Do you want to come?”  And I would say to Him:  ‘Where?’  And He:  “To Heaven.”  And I:  ‘You really mean that?’  And He:  “But hurry, come, do not delay.”  And I:  ‘Well then, let’s go – but I fear You want to make fun of me.’  And Jesus:  “No, no, I really want to take you with me.”  And while He would say this, I would feel my soul go out of the body, and together with Jesus, I would set off for Heaven.  Oh! how happy I would be then, thinking of getting to leave the earth – life seemed to be a sleep to me, and suffering seemed very little.  As we would reach a high point of Heaven, I would hear the singing of the Blessed.  I would solicit Jesus to introduce me quickly into that blessed dwelling, but Jesus would begin to slow down.  In my interior I would start to suspect that it wasn’t true – ‘who knows’, I would say, ‘if this is not a joke that He has played on me?’  Every now and then, I would say to Him:  ‘My Jesus, dear, hurry up.’  And He would say to me:  “Wait a little longer – let us go down on earth again.  See, out there there is a sinner who is about to be lost.  Let us go - who knows whether he might convert.  Let us pray together to the Eternal Father, that He may use mercy on him.  Don’t you want him to be saved?  Are you not ready to suffer any pain for the salvation of one soul alone?”  And I:  ‘Yes, anything You want me to suffer, I am ready, as long as You save him.’  So we would go to that sinner; we would try to convince him, we would place the most powerful reasons before his mind to make him surrender - but in vain.  Then, all afflicted, Jesus would say to me:  “My spouse, return into your body once again, take upon yourself the pains destined to him; in this way, being appeased, the Divine Justice will use mercy on him.  You have seen it - words have not shaken him, and not even reasons; there is nothing left but pains, which are the most powerful means in order to satisfy justice and to make the sinner surrender.”  So He would bring me once again into my body.  Who can tell the sufferings I would receive?  Only the Lord knows, who has been the witness of it.  After a few days, then, He would make me see that soul, converted and saved.  Oh, how happy was Jesus - and I as well.

Who can tell how many times Jesus played these jokes?  When we would reach the point of entering, and sometimes even after entering, He would say that He had not let me have the obedience from the confessor, and therefore I should go back to earth.  And I would say to Him:  ‘As long as I was with the confessor, I was obliged to obey him, but now that I am with You, I am supposed to obey You, because You are the first among all.’  And Jesus would say to me:  “No, no; I want you to obey the confessor.”  Then, not to make it too long, now with one pretext, now with another, He would make me go back on earth.

Vol. 1,  Heroism of Luisa, leaving heaven many times to return to her body on earth.

This morning, my sweet Jesus wanted to continue to play His little games with me, and to joke.  He would come, He would place His hands on my face in the act of wanting to caress me, but as He was about to do it, He would disappear.  Then He would come again, He would stretch out His arms around my neck in the act of wanting to hug me, but as I stretched out my arms to hug Him, He would escape me like a flash, and I could not find Him.  Who can say the pains of my heart?  While my heart was swimming in this sea of immense grief, to the point of feeling life abandoning me, Queen Mama came, carrying a child in Her arms.  We hugged, the three of us together, Mama, the Son, and I - so I could have the time to say to Him:  ‘My Lord Jesus, it seems to me that You have withdrawn your grace from me.’  And He:  “Silly – silly little one that you are!  How can you say that I have withdrawn my grace when I am within you?  What is my grace if not Myself?”  I remained more confused than before, seeing that I was unable to speak, and that in those two words I had uttered, I had spoken nothing but nonsense.  Afterwards, the Queen Mother disappeared, and Jesus seemed to enclose Himself in my interior, and there He remained.

Vol. 2, June 22, 1899




This would at times concern her so much that she would complain to Jesus and worry over how she would soon be tossed aside like an old and broken toy.

‘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, Aug. 2, 1909



Jesus doesn't deny playing games with her.  Rather he admits that he likes to joke with her.   But as with all things with Jesus these jokes are a loving game.

And He:  “I wanted to joke a little bit with you.  Do spouses not joke with each other sometimes?  And could I not do likewise?”

Vol. 7, March 4, 1906



These games he plays are a means to spur the creature on to greater acts and to receive greater graces.

“My little daughter of my Volition, it is certain that all that which passes between the Creator and the creature, the acts that she does and that which she receives from God, serves to maintain the correspondence to know each other more in order to love each other more and to maintain the game between the one and the other in order to obtain the intent of that which God wants from the creature, and of that which she wants from God.  So that every act is a game that is prepared in order to make the most beautiful conquests and to predate each other.  The act serves as material in order to play (for) and as pledge in order to have something to give to one who conquers.  God with giving puts forth his pledge, the creature with doing her act puts forth hers, and they establish the game, and our goodness is so much that we make ourselves weak in order to let the creature conquer.  Other times we make ourselves strong and we conquer, and we do this in order put her in point/[competition], so that doing more acts she puts forth more pledges, and thus is able to conquer in order to redo some defeat.  After all how could one maintain the union, if we had nothing to give and the creature had nothing to give us?  You see therefore, [your] every act is a pledging to us in order to give greater graces, it is a correspondence that you open between heaven and earth, it is a game where you call your Creator to stop over with you.

Vol. 30, Nov. 16, 1931

But often Jesus' games finish without obtaining his intent.

“My daughter, have you seen how souls render my tendernesses of love vain? I keep binding hearts to unite them closely with Me, to make them lose all that is human; but instead of letting Me do it, on seeing their human being broken, they lose air, they struggle, they wriggle about, and they also want to look a little bit themselves at how cold, dry or warm they are. By this looking at themselves, struggling, wriggling about, the knot I had made becomes loose, and they want to be with Me at a distance, but not clasped in such a way as no longer to feel themselves. This afflicts Me very much, and they prevent my games of love. And do not think that these are only souls who are far away from you – rather, these are also those who are around you. You will make them comprehend well the sorrow that they give Me, and that if they do not let themselves be clasped by Me to the point of losing the feeling of themselves, I will never be able to expand my graces and my charisms with them. Have you understood?”

And I: ‘Yes, O Jesus, I understood! Poor ones, if they understood the secret contained in your clasping, they would not do this – they would let You do it; even more, they themselves would make themselves smaller so as to let You tighten the knot more.’ At that moment, I made myself very small; Jesus clasped me, and instead of wriggling about, I let Him squeeze me more tightly; and as He squeezed me, I felt the life of Jesus - losing my own. Oh! how happy I felt with the life of Jesus! I was able to love more, and I could reach everything that Jesus wanted.

Vol. 10, Jan. 19 1912




Creatures who do not live in the Will of God will always possess something of themselves and resist Jesus' game to expand his grace and charisms in souls.  But if people do not play the divine game they will play a game of their own whether for pleasure or other.

“The human life is a game; some play pleasure, some play money, some, their own lives, and many other games they play.  I too delight in playing with souls; but what are the jokes I make?  They are the crosses which I send.  If they receive them with resignation and thank Me for them, I amuse Myself and I play with them, delighting immensely, receiving great honor and glory, and letting them make the greatest gains.”

As He was saying this, He began to touch me with the lance; all the precious stones that the bow and the quiver contained came out, and turned into many crosses and arrows which wounded the creatures.  Some of them, but extremely few, rejoiced, kissed them, and thanked Him, engaging in a game with Jesus; others then, would take them and throw them in His face.  Oh, how afflicted Jesus would be left, and what a loss for those souls!  Then Jesus added:  “This is the thirst which I cried out on the cross, which, unable to quench entirely at that time, I delight in continuing to quench in the souls of my dear ones who suffer.  So, when you suffer, you come to give a refreshment to my thirst.

Vol. 2, July 28, 1899




Jesus tells Luisa that in creating man he was playing a risky game and that even though it initially failed it is a Divine game and he can continue it and make up for the initial loss.  His first victory came from Mary.

“In creating man, Our love wanted to play a risky game by placing Our things within the little circle of the human will, as though in a bank:  Our beauty, wisdom, sanctity, love, etc.  And Our Will was to become the guide and the actor of his operating, not only to make him grow in Our likeness, but to give him the shape of a little god.  Therefore, Our sorrow was great in seeing these great goods being rejected by the creature; and for the time being Our risky game failed.  But, even though it failed, it was always a divine game, which could and had to make up for its failure.  Therefore, after many years, my love wanted to gamble again, and It did so with my Immaculate Mama.  In Her Our game did not fail; it obtained its full effect, and therefore We gave Her everything and We entrusted everything to Her.  Even more, we competed – We in giving, She in receiving.

“Now, you must know that Our love wants to play this risky game with you also, so that you, united with the Celestial Mama, may let Us win the game by allowing Us to make up for the failure which the first man, Adam, caused Us; and so that Our Will, restored in Its victories, may place Its goods in the field once again, which, with so much love, It wants to give to creatures.  And just as through the Holy Virgin - because I had made up in my game - I made the Sun of Redemption rise in order to save the lost humanity; in the same way, through you, I will make the Sun of my Will rise again, that It may follow Its course in the midst of creatures.  This is the reason for so many graces of mine which I pour into you, and for the many knowledges about my Will:  it is nothing else but my risky game which I am forming in you.  Therefore be attentive, that you may not cause Me the greatest sorrow I could receive in the whole history of the world:  the failure of my second game.  Ah, no, you will not do this to Me - my love will be victorious, and my Will will find Its fulfillment.”
 

            Jesus disappeared, and I remained concerned about what He had told me, though all abandoned in the Supreme Volition.  Jesus alone knows the torment of my soul about everything I am writing, and my great repugnance in putting these things on paper, which I would rather have buried.  I felt like fighting against obedience itself, but the Fiat of Jesus won, and so I continue to write what I did not want to.

Then, my sweet Jesus came back, and seeing me concerned, told me:

“My daughter, why do you fear?  Do you not want Me to play with you?  You will put in nothing of your own but the little flame of your will, which I Myself gave you in creating you; so, all the risk of my goods will be my own.  Do you not want to be the copy of my Mama?  Therefore, come with Me before the divine throne, and there you will find the little flame of the will of the Queen of Heaven at the feet of the Supreme Majesty, which She placed into the divine game.  In fact, in order to play, one must always put something of one’s own, otherwise the one who wins has nothing to take, and the one who loses has nothing to leave.  And since I won in the game with my Mama, She lost the little flame of Her will.  But, happy loss! - by having lost Her little flame, leaving it as continuous homage at the feet of Her Creator, She formed Her life in the great divine fire, growing within the sea of the divine goods; and therefore She could obtain the longed for Redeemer.

“Now it is your turn to place the little flame of your little will near that of my inseparable Mama, so that you too may be formed in the divine fire, and may grow with the reflections of your Creator, in order to find grace before the Supreme Majesty to be able to obtain the longed for Fiat.  These two little flames will be seen at the foot of the supreme throne for all eternity, having had no life of their own; and one of them obtained Redemption, the other the fulfillment of my Will - the only purpose of Creation, of Redemption, and of my ‘return match’ in the risky game of creating man.” 

Vol. 19, March 9, 1926



So it is only by living in the Divine Will, that is to ante one's own will against the greater gain of the Divine, that the game of Jesus finds it's victory and safety.  But this is not the end of the game but only the beginning.  I'll continue this theme in the next post to keep this from getting too cumbersome.