One morning – it was the day of the Exaltation of the Cross – my sweet Jesus transported me to the holy sites; and first, He told me many things about the virtue of the cross. I don’t remember all, but just a few things: “My beloved, do you want to be beautiful? The cross will give you the most beautiful features that can possibly be found, both in Heaven and on earth; so much so, as to enamor God, who contains all beauties within Himself.”
Jesus continued: “Do you want to be filled with immense riches - not for a short time, but for all eternity? Well then, the cross will administer to you all kinds of riches - from the tiniest cents, which are the little crosses, up to the greatest amounts, which are the heavier crosses. Yet, men are so greedy to earn a temporal penny, which they soon will have to leave, but do not give a thought to earning one eternal cent. And when I, having compassion for them, in seeing their carelessness for all that regards eternity, kindly offer them the opportunity - instead of cherishing it, they get angry and offend Me. What human madness – it seems that they understand it upside down. My beloved, in the cross are all the triumphs, all the victories, and the greatest gains. You must have no aim other than the cross, and it will be enough for you, in everything.
Vol. 1, September 14, 1899 The excellence of the cross. In place of the cross she had till now, Luisa receives another much larger one.
In the first reading on the day of the Exultation of the Cross:
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5 The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” 6 Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
Numbers 21: 4-9
In fact, do you want to know why Adam sinned? Because he forgot that I loved him, and he forgot to love Me. This was the first seed of his fall. Had he thought that I loved him very much and that he was obliged to love Me, he would never have decided to disobey Me. So, love ceased first, and then sin began; and as he ceased to love his God, true love toward himself also ceased. His members and powers rebelled against him; he lost dominion, order, and became fearful. Not only this, but true love toward other creatures ceased, while I had created him with the same love which reigned among the Divine Persons, by which one was to be the image of the other, the happiness, the joy and life of the other. This is why, in coming upon earth, the thing on which I placed greatest importance was that they love one another as they were loved by Me, in order to give them my first love, to let the love of the Most Holy Trinity hover over the earth.
Vol. 16, September 6, 1923
Would you not condemn a man who, taken by a childish affection for a child, only to have him around a little bit, to amuse himself with him, would give him a banknote worth a thousand; and the little boy, not knowing the value of it, tears it to a thousand pieces after a few minutes? But if, on the other hand, first he makes the child desire it, then he makes him know its value, then the good which that banknote of a thousand can do for him, and then he gives it to him - that child will not tear it to pieces, but will go put it under lock and key, appreciating the gift and loving the giver more; and you would praise that man who had the ability to make known to the little child the value of money. If man does so, much more I do, who give my gifts with wisdom, with justice and with true love. Here is, therefore, the necessity of the dispositions, of the knowledge of the gift, of the esteem and appreciation, and of love for the gift itself. Therefore, knowledge of It is like the herald of the gift of my Will which I want to give to the creature. Knowledge prepares the way; knowledge is like the contract I want to make of the gift I want to give; and the more knowledge I send to the soul, the more she is spurred on to desire the gift and to solicit the Divine Writer to place the final signature – that the gift is hers and she possesses it. So, the sign that in these times I want to give this gift of my Will is the knowledge of It. Therefore, be attentive not to let anything escape you of what I manifest to you about my Will, if you want Me to place the final signature on the gift which I yearn to give to creatures.”
Vol. 18, December 25, 1925
Poor Adam, how much it cost him to withdraw from my Will. Just by feeling isolated, no longer surrounded by the cortege of the whole Creation, he felt such fright and horror, that he became the fearful man. He was afraid of everything – even of my very works; and with reason, because it is said: ‘One who is not with Me is against Me’. Since he was no longer linked with them, by justice they were to put themselves against him. Poor Adam, there is much reason to have compassion for him. He had no example of anyone else who had fallen, and of the great evil that had occurred to him, so that he might be watchful in order not to fall. He had no idea of evil. In fact, my daughter, the evil, the sin, the fall of someone else has two effects: for one who is evil and wants to fall, it serves as example, as a spur, as an incentive to fall into the abyss of evil; for one who is good and does not want to fall, it serves as antidote, as deterrent, as help and defense so as not to fall. In fact, seeing the great evil, the misfortune of someone else, serves as an example in order not to fall and not to follow that same path, so as not to find oneself in that same misfortune. So, the evil of someone else causes one to be watchful and on guard. Therefore, the fall of Adam is for you a great help, a lesson and a call, while he had no lesson from evil, because, then, evil did not exist.”
Vol. 20, November 10, 1926
He would say: “My Spouse, virtues become weak if they are not strengthened and fortified by the grafting of the cross. Before my coming upon earth, pains, confusions, disgraces, calumnies, sufferings, poverty, illnesses, and especially the cross, were considered dishonors; but from the moment they were borne by Me, they were all sanctified and divinized by my contact. They all changed their appearance, becoming sweet, pleasant, and the soul who has the good of having some of them, receives honor - and this, because she has received the vestment of Me, Son of God. Only those who look and stop at the cortex of the cross experience the contrary; finding it bitter, they are disgusted by it, they complain, as if someone had done wrong to them. But those who penetrate into it, finding it enjoyable, form their happiness in it. My beloved daughter, I yearn for nothing else but to crucify you, body and soul.”
Vol. 1, Third marriage: the Marriage of the Cross.
“If you knew what good the cross contains within itself, how precious it renders the soul, and what a gem of inestimable value one acquires, who has the good of possessing sufferings… It is enough to tell you only that, in coming upon earth, I did not choose riches or pleasures, but I cherished as dear and intimate sisters, the cross, poverty, sufferings and ignominies.”
Vol. 1, Preciousness of the cross. Jesus renews Luisa’s crucifixion many times.
