Thanksgiving

I wanted to take this time on Thanksgiving to reflect on the effects of gratitude and the consequences of human ingratitude.  Throughout the volumes Jesus cries over human ingratitude and how horrendous it is to him.

"...Ingratitude was the sharpest thorn that pierced my heart, from my conception up to the last moment of my life.  Look at my little heart - it is wounded, and pours out blood.  What pain!  What torture I feel!  My daughter, do not be ungrateful to Me.  Ingratitude is the hardest pain for your Jesus; it is to close the door in my face, leaving Me numb with cold."

Vol. 1

 

Here he not only speaks about how it wounds him but also how it keeps him from giving.

 

"...The second mortal wound of my Heart is ingratitude. With ingratitude, the creature closes my Heart; even more, she herself turns the key with double locks; and my Heart swells because It wants to pour graces and love, and It cannot, because the creature has closed It, and has put on It the seal with her ingratitude. And I become delirious, I agonize, without hope that this wound may be healed, because ingratitude keeps embittering it more and more, giving Me mortal pain."

Vol. 12, January 27, 1919

 

Ingratitude keeps us from receiving the gifts Gods wants to make us, and worse it changes goods into chastisements.

 

"...since We are not known, We are forced by their ingratitude not to tell them even a word, and to keep repressed inside Our womb the goods which We had to give them. And seeing our poor children dissimilar from us, only because they don't know us, is a suffering for us. Even if We gave to them, it would happen as the Gospel says: don't give pearls to the pigs, because they don't know what they are, and they would cover them with mud and trample on them."

Vol. 36, July 6, 1938

 

"Poor man, who does not recognize us, either in the veils which hide us within him, or in the veils of each created thing; he just keeps running away from our life and from the scope for which he was created; so, many times, when we cannot tolerate his ingratitude, the very goods contained in our veils are turned into chastisement for him."

Vol. 36,  December 8, 1938

 

The effects of gratitude however are spoken of as acting as the key to all of God's treasures.

 

"...be grateful for the graces I am giving you, because gratitude is the key to be able to open as one pleases the treasures that God contains."

Vol. 4, September 4, 1901

 

"Let your memory be the bell that rings continuously within you, and reminds you of what I have done and suffered for you, and of how many graces I have given to your soul, so as to thank Me and be grateful to Me, since gratitude is the key that opens the divine treasures."
Vol. 5, June 6, 1903

 

So gratitude is the key to God's continued giving to us.  He further explains gratitude's role as a guardian.

 

"...knowledge is the sight to the soul, that makes the desire and the love arise and hence the gratitude toward me that I so very want to give, and with jealousy [souls] guard my treasure deposited in them and in the circumstances they make use of my Life for guide, of my works in order to confirm their works, of my sufferings for support of their sufferings and my tears in order to wash them if they are stained, and oh, how content I am that they make use of me and of my works in order to help themselves!"

Vol. 30, December 21, 1931

 

Without gratitude we do not appreciate and therefore guard that which is given to us.  We, as it says in the gospel, would be swine trampling pearls.  How important it is to pay attention to the gifts God gives us every day but especially on this Thanksgiving Day.  Lets be sure to give God the refreshment of our gratitude for ourselves, our country and all of humanity to appease his wounded heart.

 

 

Chastisement or Not?

  

I came upon this quote from a secular Psychiatrist's post concerning the current unrest in the USA:

"According to psychiatrist Joshua Morganstein, the country is now dealing with "three disasters superimposed on top of one another": the pandemic, the economic fallout and civil unrest. "Certainly, one way of responding, and a common way of responding, is anger," said Morganstein, who chairs the American Psychiatric Association's Committee on the Psychiatric Dimensions of Disaster."

Americans are living in a big 'anger incubator.' Experts have tips for regulating our rage.

What immediately struck me was the unholy "trinity" of disasters clearly pointed out by this Psychiatric, knowingly or unknowingly.  We, as Christians, and more so as Catholics, are called to renounce "the devil, the world, and the flesh."  Council of Trent

And here it is, even recognized by a Psychiatrist, an unholy triple disaster.  This current age is suffering from a pandemic, which effects the flesh, an economic fallout, which hits us in our worldly objectives, and civil unrest which is largely displayed in anger and unrest.  But anger and unrest from what.  Well as the above article states:   

"anger about police violence and the country's legacy of racism is still running high. At the same time, we're dealing with anger provoked by the coronavirus pandemic: anger at public officials because they've shut down parts of society, or anger because they aren't doing enough to curb the virus. Anger about being required to wear a mask, or anger toward people who refuse to wear a mask. Anger with anyone who doesn't see things the "right" way."Americans are living in a big 'anger incubator.' Experts have tips for regulating our rage.

Basically angry over things not going the way we think they should be going.  Anger about not being in control.  Anger about others not treating us the way we think they should treat us.  And all of that boils down into Pride, aka the devil's calling card.

So we are being hit by a triple whammy in the bread basket, so to speak of disasters which clearly are related to the devil, the world and the flesh.

Looks like a chastisement, smells like a chastisement, must be a chastisement.

The question is how are we going to respond as a nation, as individuals, and as the world.  Whether we return to God in conversion or become more deeply rooted in our ways will effect what comes next.  It is the correspondence with God that effects whether we receive his graces or not.

He added:  “See how many graces I was supposed to pour over the creatures, but since I find no correspondence, I am forced to hold them back within Myself; even more, they make Me change them into chastisement.  Be careful, you, o my daughter, to correspond to Me in the so many graces I am pouring into you, because correspondence is the open door to let Me enter into the heart and form my residence in it.  Correspondence is like that good welcome, that esteem, which is used with people when they come to visit us, in such a way that, drawn by that respect, by those affable manners used with them, they are forced to come again, and reach the point of not being able to detach themselves.  Everything is in corresponding to Me, and according to how souls correspond to Me and treat Me on earth, so will I behave with them in Heaven.  Making them find the doors open, I will invite the whole celestial court to welcome them, and I will place them on the most sublime throne; but it will be all the opposite for those who do not correspond to Me.”

Vol. 2, August 2, 1899

But how should we correspond?  Jesus tells us and Mary, again shows us the way with her example.

accompany Me with your sighs and with your sufferings, praying that the very chastisements may turn out for the conversion of the peoples.”

Vol. 2, October 21, 1899

Jesus:  “Even though I suffer, love pushes Me to send heavier scourges, and this, because in order to make man enter himself and recognize what his being is, there is no means more powerful than making him see himself undone.   It seems that the other means make him grow bolder; therefore, conform to my Justice.  I see well that the love you have for Me pushes you very much not to conform to Me, and you don’t have the heart to see Me suffer, but my Mother too loved Me more than all creatures - no one can equal Her; and yet, in order to save these souls She conformed to Justice and She resigned Herself to see Me suffer so much.  If my Mother did this, could you not do it yourself?”

Vol. 2, October 24, 1899

The Prevenient Act and the Actual Act

 I was asked if the morning invocations that we pray are the prevenient act as described in Vol 14.  Just to make sure everyone knows what I'm referring to, these are the Invocations to the Divine Will which we are encouraged to pray every morning in order to call the Divine Will to act and live in us:

 We are nothing, God is Everything; we love You, Father; Oh Divine Will, continue:

• thinking in our minds;
• flowing in our blood;
• seeing in our eyes;
• hearing in our ears;
• talking in our voices;
• breathing in our breathing;
• beating in our hearts;
• moving in our movements;
• suffering in our suffering, and since our souls are united to You, let us be your living crucifixes offered in sacrifice for Father's glory;
• praying in us, and then by offering this prayer to yourself as ours it will be as if everyone had prayed and will give Father the glory that we should all give Him.

Now the reading that she was referring to is this:

The prevenient act and the actual act. 

 I was thinking to myself:  “If one act done in His Will is so great, how many of them, alas, do I let escape!’  And my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me:  “My daughter, there is the prevenient act and the actual act.  The prevenient act is when the soul, at the first rising of the day, fixes her will in Mine, and decides and confirms that she wants to live and operate only in my Volition.  She anticipates all of her acts and makes them all flow in my Will.  With the prevenient will, my Sun rises, my Life remains duplicated in all of her acts, as though in one single act; and this makes up for the actual act.  However, the prevenient act can be shaded - obscured by the human ways, by one’s own will, by self-esteem, by negligence and other things, which are like clouds before the sun, that render its light less vivid on the face of the earth.

On the other hand, the actual act is not subject to clouds; on the contrary, it has the virtue of dispelling the clouds, if there are any, and it makes many more suns rise, in which my Life is duplicated, with such vividness of light and heat as to form as many new suns, one more beautiful than the other.  However, both of them are necessary:  the prevenient act gives the hand, disposes and forms the plane for the actual act; the actual act preserves and expands the plane of the prevenient.”

Vol 14, May 27, 1922

So the dictionary definition of prevenient is:

prevenient

[ pri-veen-yuh nt ]

adjective

coming before; antecedent.

anticipatory.

So basically, yes.  The invocations to the Divine Will, which the Community recommends that we do in the morning, act as a prevenient act.  That is stating that it is our intention, to do all of our acts conscious and unconscious in the unity of the Divine Will.  This sets the stage for all the actual acts to follow.  It does not replace the constancy of repeating throughout the day our desire to live in the Divine Will in each different act that we do, but both lend the hand to the other.  In other words, actions speak louder than words...but both are needed.  Words- meaning the initial intention in the morning and Actions- meaning the calling of the Divine Will into each subsequent act throughout the day in the present moment in which they are occurring.

In addition to this, this prevenient act that we do is a repetition of Jesus' blessing over all of us to call back into us his image and likeness as God first established in Creation.  So as we're doing the Invocations we can do a double round by recalling and uniting ourselves and all creatures with the first act of the Creation of Man.  And this is repeated and continued throughout the day and can be united in the Divine Will in every sign of the cross, blessing, the sacraments, themselves, and even our every "sigh" echos the "sigh" of God's Heart to see his creature restored.

 “My daughter, I bless you from the Heart in your soul and body - may my blessing be the confirmation of Our likeness in you. My blessing confirms in you what the Divinity did in the creation of man – that is, Our likeness. You must know that during the course of my mortal life, in everything I did, I always blessed. It was the first act of Creation that I called back over the creatures, and in order to confirm it, in blessing I invoked the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit. The very Sacraments are animated by these blessings and invocations. So, while calling the likeness to the Creator within souls, my blessing calls also the life of my Divine Will, that It may return as in the beginning of Creation to reign in souls, because my Will alone has the virtue of painting in them, vividly, the likeness of the One who created them, of making it known and of preserving it with its divine live colors.

See then, what blessing means: confirmation of Our creative work, because the work We do once is so filled with wisdom, with sublimity and with beauty, that We love to repeat it always. And if Our blessing is nothing other than the sigh of Our Heart to see Our image restored in the creatures, as well as the repetition of Our confirmation of what We want to do, the sign of the Cross that the Church teaches to the faithful is nothing other than impetrating Our likeness on the part of creatures; and so, echoing Our blessing, they repeat: ‘In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ Therefore, without knowing it, the Church and all the faithful harmonize with the eternal Creator, and all want the same thing: God, by blessing and pronouncing the words, ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’, wants to give His likeness; the creatures impetrate it by making the sign of the Cross, pronouncing the same words.” 

Vol 24, July 29, 1928

Jesus, I Trust in You, Divine Will and Divine Mercy

The message of Divine Mercy is inseparable from trust in Jesus.  "Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive."  The Message of Divine Mercy

Also in the Volumes on the Divine Will trust is crucial and Jesus repeats this often to Luisa, but he also expounds on why and how it is important and on how he facilitates creatures trust.

“My daughter, there is no one who can stand before my Majesty and purity; rather, all are forced to be terrified and struck by the thunderbolt of my sanctity.  Man would almost want to flee from Me, because his misery is such and so great, that he does not have the courage to stand before the Divine Being.  And here is why, giving the field to my mercy, I took on my Humanity which, tempering the rays of the Divinity, is the means to infuse in man trust and courage to come to Me.  Placing himself before my Humanity, which spreads temperate rays of the Divinity, man has the good of being able to purify, sanctity and even divinize himself in my very deified Humanity.   

Therefore, you - remain always before my Humanity, keeping it as a mirror through which you will clean all of your stains; not only this, but as a mirror through which, by reflecting yourself in it, you will acquire beauty, and little by little you will keep adorning yourself in my own likeness.  In fact, it is a property of a mirror to make an image appear within it, similar to that of the one who is reflecting himself in it.  If such is the material mirror, much more so the divine, because my Humanity serves man as mirror in order to reflect my Divinity.  And here is how all goods come to man from my Humanity.”
Vol. 3, August 1, 1900

My lovable Jesus made Himself seen as a little child who, all clinging to me, made me many loving cuddles. Oh, how beautiful it is to see Him in His baby Humanity, all love, all trust! The soul feels so much trust in being with Jesus, because she sees His Humanity in Him, which is so much like her that they join together like brothers, they identify themselves with each other, and one is transformed into the other. So, the veil of the Humanity of Jesus, in which He encloses His adorable Divinity, serves as a means of trust, by which the poor creature loses all fear, and remains all love with Jesus - more than a son in the arms of his Celestial Father. The love of Jesus is so great, that He says to the creature: ‘Do not fear, I am yours - similar to you, clothed like you; and my love is so great, that I hide the endless light of my majesty within my Humanity so as to have you be with Me like a little child in my arms.’ On the other hand, when my beloved Jesus makes His Divinity shine through Himself, His very Humanity is eclipsed within that endless light, and I feel the great distance between myself and my Creator. His blazing divine majesty annihilates me, I plunge myself into my dust; and not knowing where to go to escape His light, because there is no point at which it is not present, my little atom remains submerged within His very light.

Vol. 24, August 30, 1928



Jesus knows that without his intervention man can not stand before God.  It is only through the Mercy expressed in and through the Humanity of Jesus that we can dare approach with trust the Divinity of God.  Without this Mercy of God which diffuses and as veils his brilliance we would remain crushed and would flee such perfection.  But when we look at ourselves in Jesus we can copy little by little his attributes in ourselves, each time bringing us closer to his Divinity.  In fact even with the filter of the Humanity of Jesus he will even go further in his Mercy by hiding from ourselves certain defects which would keep us from approaching him with full trust.  He does this so that we don't distance ourselves from him which ends up paralyzing or even killing the growth of his life in us.  Truly sometimes ignorance is bliss.

 See, I love so much that souls be with Me in full trust, that many times I hide some defect or imperfection of theirs, or some lack of correspondence to my grace, so as not to give them any occasion to not be with Me in full trust. In fact, if the soul loses trust, she remains as though separated from Me and all huddled within herself; she places herself at due distance from Me, and remains paralyzed in her surge of love, and therefore paralyzed in sacrificing herself for Me. Oh! how much harm does distrust cause! It can be said that it is like the spring frost that blocks the vegetation of the plants; and many times, if it is strong, frost can even make them die. In the same way, distrust blocks the development of virtues, and puts freezing cold into the most ardent love. Oh! how many times, because of lack of trust, my designs and the greatest sanctities are blocked. This is why I tolerate some defects rather than distrust – because those can never be so harmful.
Vol. 17, September 2, 1924

So distrust is a greater obstacle to God's grace than many defects.  While trust opens the door to God's grace in order to let his light enter.  The size of the area, the empty void, he can fill with his light can only be enlarged through humility and detachment from everything.  But without trust the door that Jesus knocks at remains closed.

“My daughter, the sun is symbol of grace.  When it finds a void, be it even a cave, a vault, a fissure, a hole, as long as there is empty space and a little opening through which to penetrate, it enters and fills everything with light; nor with this does it diminish its light in the other spaces.  And if its light does not illuminate more, it is not because it lacks light, but rather, because of the lack of space in which to be able to diffuse its light more.  So is my grace:  more than majestic sun, it envelops all creatures with its beneficial influence; however, it does not enter but into empty hearts – as much empty space as it finds, so much light does it let penetrate into hearts.

           “These voids, then - how are they formed?  Humility is the hoe that digs and forms the void.  Detachment from everything and also from oneself is the void itself.  The window in order to let the grace of light enter into this void, is trust in God and distrust of ourselves.  Therefore, as much trust as one has, so much does he enlarge the door in order to let the light in, and to take more grace.  The custodian which keeps the light and expands it, is peace.”

Vol. 9, May 16, 1909




The greater the trust the larger the door we open to Jesus the more grace he is able to pour into us.  Jesus says that the souls which will shine the brightest with his light are the ones which trust the most while the opposite is also true.  Those who do not trust will be equally darkened and constrained.  So the trusting souls become the object of God's love where he can pour himself out in love and amuse himself.

“My daughter, the souls who will shine the most, like bright gems in the crown of my mercy, are the souls who have more trust, because the more trust they have, the more they give space for the attribute of my Mercy to pour into them any grace they want.  On the other hand, the soul who does not have true trust, herself closes the graces within Me, remaining always poor and unequipped, while my love remains constrained within Me, and I suffer very much.  And in order not to suffer so much, and to be able to pour out my love more freely, I deal more with those souls who trust than with the others.  With these I can pour out my love, I can play, I can cause loving contrasts, since there is no worry that they might take offense or become fearful; on the contrary, they become more brave and take everything in order to love Me more.  Therefore, trusting souls are the outpouring and the amusement of my love, the ones who receive more graces, and the richest."

Vol. 11, April 10, 1912

...scatter every fear, in my Volition neither dread, nor fears, nor mistrust have any right to exist, they are not things that belong to Us, and you should not do other than to live of love and of my Will.  You should know that one of the purest joys that the creature can give Me is trust in Me, I feel her (as) my daughter to Me and I do that that I want with her, I can say that trust in Me makes known who I am, that I am the immense Being, my goodness without end, my mercy without limits, and when I find more trust, I love her more and I abound more toward creatures."

Vol. 33, May 26, 1935


So trust is a sign of love to Jesus and honors him and he is then able to act as the generous, powerful God that he is, but the reverse is also true.  One who distrusts Jesus dishonors him, constrains him, does not truly love him and is an affront to him.

“So, the trusting soul is my smile and my amusement.  One who has confidence in Me loves Me, esteems Me, believes I am rich, powerful, immense; on the other hand, one who has no confidence does not really love Me; she dishonors Me, believes I am poor, powerless, small.  What and affront to my goodness."
Vol. 12, October 8, 1919

The lack of trust is not only an obstacle to Gods action in the soul but it keeps her grounded and unable to take flight to God and heaven making her feel vividly her own passions and weaknesses.  It is this lack of trust which is then the greatest obstacle to letting the creature arrive to live in God's Divine Will because it takes full trust to do so.

...if there isn’t full confidence between Me and the creature, they cannot be elevated to live in my Divine Will. Lack of confidence always places an obstacle to the union between Creator and creature; it is the wing-clipper of the flight toward the One who loves her so much; it makes her live at the earth’s level; and even though she does not fall, it makes her feel, vividly, her passions. More so, since lack of confidence has been the weak act in the course of the centuries, and sometimes even good souls have drawn back in the journey of virtues because of lack of confidence. And I, in order to remove this torpor that the specter of the lack of confidence produces, wanted to show Myself with you as all love, and in an intimate way, more than father and daughter, in order to call back, not only you, but all others, to live as my children, as though rocked in my arms. And I have enjoyed, and so have you, how beautiful it is to have the creature as all love and all trust with Me; I can give whatever I want, and she has no fear of receiving what she wants. So, once true confidence is placed in order between Me and you, the greatest obstacle to letting my Divine Will reign in their souls is removed.
 Vol. 28, June 2, 1930

So what about fear?  There is holy fear after all.  But Jesus says that fear even if it is holy is a step to removing trust in Jesus and so it is a step to losing Jesus.  It is "human virtue" not Divine.  Only love is Divine virtue and can overcome fear and distrust.  And this love and trust forms the first post for the Divine Will to come and form his Kingdom in the creature where he can extend himself.  So when fears assault us we need to cast them in the Divine Will and abandon ourselves even more in Jesus' arms.

“My blessed daughter, fear although it might be holy is always human virtue, it breaks the flight to love and dread and difficulty becomes born, in walking in the way by making one always look to the right and to the left and one arrives to fear He who so very loves her, it removes the sweet enchantment of trust that lets one live in the arms of her Jesus and if she fears too much, she loses Jesus and lives by herself.  Instead love is Divine virtue and with its fire holds the purifying virtue to purify the soul from whatever stain, it unites her and transforms her in her Jesus, and gives her such trust as to make her enraptured by her Jesus, the sweet enchantment of trust is such and so much that they enrapture each other that the one can not remain without the other, and if she looks, she looks only if she loves He who so very loves her.  So that all her being becomes enclosed in the love and since love is the inseparable child of the Divine Volition, therefore it gives the first post of dominion to my Divine Will.  He extends himself in all the acts of the creature human and spiritual, ennobles everything, and although the human acts remain in the form and material with which they are formed, they don’t undergo any external change, all the change remains in the depth of the human will, all that which she does remains, even the most indifferent things, to change into Divine and confirmed by the Divine Will.  His work is incessant and over all that which the creature does he extends his sojourn of peace, and as true Mother he doesn’t do other than to enrich with Divine conquests his dear daughter.  Therefore scatter every fear, in my Volition neither dread, nor fears, nor mistrust have any right to exist, they are not things that belong to Us, and you should not do other than to live of love and of my Will.  You should know that one of the purest joys that the creature can give Me is trust in Me, I feel her (as) my daughter to Me and I do that that I want with her, I can say that trust in Me makes known who I am, that I am the immense Being, my goodness without end, my mercy without limits, and when I find more trust, I love her more and I abound more toward creatures."

Vol. 33, May 26, 1935



Even faith in God is not enough and without trust it is empty.  To know God without possessing him is empty knowledge.  Only trust in Jesus is the sure hope that leads us to find Him and as he has said, we find him, not in some distant and remote place but in our very selves.  So that love gives birth to trust which gives rise to hope.  Hope, the fruit of the memory gives rise to faith a faculty of the intellect, which as we know God better we come to love God more which gives rise to greater trust.

“God, God, God alone.  Daughter, faith makes one know God, but trust makes one find Him.  So, without trust, faith is sterile, and even though faith possesses immense riches with which the soul can enrich herself, if there is no trust she remains always poor and lacking in everything.” 

Vol. 6, July 29, 1904

 

The more trust we have the more we will learn to abandon ourselves in God and the more we will sense his life in us and we will lose the life of our passions.  This allows us to climb up so high as to become bound to God.  So that before we would have been crushed before his majesty and Divinity and would have fled now we become bound to him in an inseparable union and he states that trust forms the victory of the creature over the Creator.

“My little daughter, how much more you will abandon yourself in me, so much more you will feel my life in you, and I will take the post of primary life in your soul.  You know that true trust in me forms the arms of the soul and the feet in order to climb up even to me and to press me so very strongly as to not be able to release myself from her.  So that one who doesn’t have trust has neither the arms nor feet, hence she is a poor cripple.  Therefore your trust will be your victory over me, and I will hold you pressed in my arms(,) attached to my breast in order to give you the continuous milk of my Divine Will.

Vol. 30, November 4, 1931 

Trust and abandonment goes hand in hand and the one leads to the other and both lead to God taking his place in our souls with equal abandonment making him the soul's sweet prisoner.  Truly the creature becomes victorious.

“Daughter, I am here, abandon yourself in my arms and rest in me, your abandonment in me calls my abandonment in you and forms my sweet rest in your soul.  Abandonment in me forms the sweet and powerful chain that ties me so much to the soul, that I can not release myself from her, even to make myself her dear and sweet Prisoner.  Abandonment in me gives birth to true trust, and she has trust with me and I have trust with her, I have trust in her love that will never come to less, I have trust in her sacrifices, that will never refuse me anything of that which I want, and I have all trust that I can complete my designs.  Abandonment in me says that she gives me liberty and I am free to do that which I want, and entrusting myself to her I manifest my most intimate secrets to her.  Therefore, my daughter, I want you all abandoned in my arms, and how much more abandoned in me (you are), (so much) more you will feel my abandonment in you.”

Vol. 29, October 26, 1931