Luisa, as a teenager, had just finished a guided meditation on the 9 months of Jesus being in the womb of Mary, the Christmas novena, when Jesus told her to go on and begin a daily meditation on His Passion. This is how the Hours of the Passion began to be formed. In the foreword of the book it says:
Luisa was seventeen years old (she relates these facts in the first of
thirty-six volumes which she wrote by order of holy obedience). On the last day
of a Christmas Novena which Jesus Himself prompted her to do, He surprised her
with an unusually vivid experience of the marvelous Mysteries of His Love. And
He told her He wanted to lavish New and Greater Graces on her, manifesting to
her other, even more lofty Excesses of His Immense Love, and inviting her to
continue giving Him uninterrupted company during the twenty-four hours of His
Sorrowful Passion and death.
Much later, after Luisa had already been Living these Hours of the
Passion intensely in her interior for more than thirty years, the now Saint
Annibale di Francia, who was the ecclesiastic delegate on matters concerning
Luisa’s writings and who had come to know about this practice of hers, gave her
the obedience to write these Hours down. This, then, is how the book, The
Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ began.
The Hours of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ
In Volume 1, before she speaks of Jesus' invitation to her to meditate on his Passion he brings her through a few lessons which he states were preparations for this work. They can be read more thoroughly in Volume 1 but in short they are:
- How to detach herself from the external world in order to focus solely on him
- Jesus purifies the interior of her heart, lessons on humility
- About knowing the truth of her nothingness
- Sorrow of sins, but with confession she is not to think more on it
- To look only at Jesus and do everything with him and for him
- To die to herself with a spirit of continual mortification and charity
Jesus wants the soul
to love suffering for his sake, so he encourages her to enter into the
limitless sea of his passion. The first
vision of Jesus suffering.
After
these things, one day, after Communion, I felt Him within me, all love – loving
me so much that I myself was very much amazed, for I saw myself as so bad and
unrequiting. And I said within myself: ‘If only I were good and
requiting. I fear that He may leave me (I have always had this fear that
He might leave me, and I still do; and sometimes the pain I feel is so great,
that I believe that the pain of death would be minor, and if He Himself does
not come to calm me, I can give myself no peace) - while He wants to draw more
intimately close to me.’ While I felt Him within me in this way, through
an interior voice, He said to me:
“My beloved, the things of the past
have been nothing but a preparation. Now I want to come to the facts, and
in order to dispose your heart to do what I want from you – that is, the
imitation of my life - I want you to enter into the immense sea of my
Passion. After you have understood well the bitterness of my pains, the
love with which I suffered them, Who I am who suffered so much, and who you
are, a most wretched creature – ah! your heart will not dare to oppose the
blows, the cross, which I have prepared only for your good. On the
contrary, by just thinking that I, your master, have suffered so much, your
pains will seem shadows to you compared to mine. Suffering will be sweet
for you, and you will reach the point of not being able to be without
sufferings.”
My
nature trembled at the mere thought of sufferings; I prayed that He Himself
would give me the strength, because without Him I would use His very gifts to
offend the giver. So, I gave all of myself to meditating the Passion, and
this did so much good to my soul, that I believe that all the good came to me
from that source. I saw the Passion of Jesus Christ as an immense sea of
light, which wounded me all over with His innumerable rays – rays of patience, of
humility, of obedience, and of many other virtues. I saw myself all
surrounded by this light, and I remained annihilated at seeing myself so
different from Him. Those rays that inundated me were so many reproaches
for me. I heard them say: “A God so patient - and you? A God
humble and submitted also to His very enemies – and you? A God who
suffers so much for love of you – and where are your sufferings for love of
Him?”
Sometimes,
He Himself would make me the narration of the pains suffered by Him, and I was
so touched that I would cry bitterly. One day, while working, I was
considering the most bitter pains that my good Jesus suffered; I felt my heart
so oppressed by the pain, that I could not breathe. Fearing something, I
wanted to distract myself by going out to the balcony. But as I go about
looking in the middle of the street – what do I see? I see the street all
filled with people, and in the middle of it my loving Jesus with the Cross upon
His shoulders. Some pulled Him to one side, some to another. All
panting, with His face dripping with blood, He raised His eyes toward me in the
act of asking for help. Who can tell the sorrow I felt, and the
impression that a scene so pitiful made on my soul. I immediately went
inside, I myself did not know where I was; I felt my heart crack with
pain. I shouted, and crying, I said to Him: ‘My Jesus, if only I
could help You! If only I could free You from those wolves so
rabid! Ah! I wish at least to suffer those pains in your place, to give a
relief to my sorrow. O please! my Good, give me suffering, for it is not
fair that You suffer so much, while I, a sinner, remain without suffering.’
From
that time on, I remember that such a great yearning for suffering ignited
within me, that it has not dampened yet. I also remember that after
Communion I would ardently pray Him to concede me suffering; and sometimes, to
content me, He seemed to take the thorns from His crown and prick my
heart. Other times, I felt Him take my heart in His hands and squeeze it
so tightly, that I felt faint for the pain. When I realized that people
might notice something, and He was disposed to give me these pains, I would
immediately say to Him: ‘Lord, what are You doing? I beg You to
give me suffering, but let it be hidden to everyone.’ Up to a certain
time, He made me content, but my sins have made me unworthy to suffer hiddenly,
without anyone noticing it.
Vol. 1
This was the beginning of Luisa's meditation on the Passion of our Lord which continued throughout her life and was written down after 30 years by obedience. Scattered throughout the Volumes are times where it speaks specifically about the value of these Hours. Jesus says that the angels who attended Jesus in his Passion now attend every thought, word and prayer from souls uniting them to Jesus' thoughts, words and prayers and they bring them before the Divine Majesty to renew His glory. He also states that the Hours of the Passion are "sweet little sips" that gives him relief from the bitterness that he receives from creatures. This then helps to avert Justice which would otherwise have to relieve itself on the world. Even more so he promises the salvation of a soul when one repeats the Hours together with him in his Will, and not one soul for each recitation but for each word recited.
“My daughter, do not increase my pains by worrying – they are already too many. I do not expect this from you; on the contrary, I want you to make my pains, my prayers and all of Myself your own, in such a way that I may find in you another Me. In these times I want great satisfactions, and only one who makes Me his own can give them to Me. That which the Father found in Me – glory, delight, love, satisfactions whole and perfect, and for the good of all – I want to find in these souls, like as many other Jesuses that match Me. These intentions you must repeat in each Hour of the Passion that you do, in each action – in everything. If I do not find my satisfactions – ah, it is over for the world! The scourges will pour down in torrents. Ah, my daughter! Ah, my daughter!”
Vol. 11, Dec. 9, 1916
'I was doing the Hours of the Passion, and blessed Jesus told me:
Then He added: “After the so many bitternesses that creatures give Me, these Hours are sweet little sips that souls give Me; but for the many bitter sips I receive, the sweet ones are too few. Therefore, more diffusion, more diffusion!”'
Vol. 11, Oct. 13, 1916
'I was writing the Hours of the Passion, and I thought to myself: ‘How many sacrifices in order to write these blessed Hours of the Passion, especially to put on paper certain interior acts which had passed only between me and Jesus. What will be the recompense that He will give to me?’ And Jesus, letting me hear His tender and sweet voice, told me:
“My daughter, as recompense for having written the Hours of my Passion, for each word you have written I will give you a kiss - a soul.”
And I: ‘My love, this is for me; and what will You give to those who will do them?’
And Jesus: “If they do them together with Me and with my own Will, I will also give them a soul for each word they will recite, because the greater or lesser effectiveness of these Hours of my Passion is in the greater or lesser union that they have with Me. By doing them with my Will, the creature hides within my Volition, and since it is my Volition that acts, I can produce all the goods I want, even through one word alone; and this, for each time you will do them.”
Another time I was lamenting to Jesus, because after so many sacrifices to write these Hours of the Passion, very few were the souls who were doing them. And He:
“My daughter, do not lament - even if there were only one, you should be content. Would I not have suffered my whole Passion even if one soul alone were to be saved? The same for you. One should never omit good because few avail themselves of it; all the harm is for those who do not take advantage of it. And just as my Passion made my Humanity acquire the merit as if all were saved, even though not all are saved, because my Will was to save everyone, and I received merit according to what I wanted, not according to the profit which creatures would draw; the same for you: you will be rewarded depending on whether your will was identified with my Will in wanting to do good to all. All the harm is for those who, though being able to, do not do them. These Hours are the most precious of all, because they are nothing less than the repetition of what I did in the course of my mortal life, and what I continue to do in the Most Holy Sacrament. When I hear these Hours of my Passion, I hear my own voice, my own prayers. In that soul I see my Will - that is, wanting the good of all and repairing for all - and I feel drawn to dwell in her, to be able to do what she herself does within her. Oh, how I would love that even one single soul for each town did these Hours of my Passion! I would hear Myself in each town, and my Justice, greatly indignant during these times, would be placated in part.”
Vol. 11, Oct. ?, 1914
Then I found myself outside of myself. I was in the midst of many souls who were saying to me - they seemed to be purging souls and Saints, and were mentioning one person known to me, who died not too long ago- and they were saying to me:
‘He feels as though happy in seeing that there is not one soul who enters Purgatory without carrying the mark of the Hours of the Passion; and surrounded by the cortege of these Hours and helped by them, souls take a safe place. And there is not one soul who flies into Heaven without being accompanied by these Hours of the Passion. These Hours make a continuous dew rain down from Heaven to earth, into Purgatory, and even into Heaven.’
On hearing this, I said to myself: ‘Maybe my beloved Jesus, in order to keep the word He had given -that for each word of the Hours of the Passion He would give a soul - there is not one soul whom He saves who does not benefit from these Hours.’
Afterwards, I returned into myself, and as I found my sweet Jesus, I asked Him whether that was true.
And He: “These Hours are the order of the universe; they put Heaven and earth in harmony, and hold Me back from sending the world to ruin. I feel my Blood, my wounds, my love, and everything I did, being placed in circulation; and they flow over all in order to save all. And as souls do these Hours of the Passion, I feel my Blood, my wounds, my yearnings to save souls, being put on the way, and I feel my Life being repeated. How could creatures obtain any good if not by means of these Hours? Why do you doubt? This thing is not yours, but mine. You have been the strained and weak instrument.”
Vol. 12, May 16, 1917
This seems a totally, incredible promise in light of past indulgences and devotions given to the Church throughout the ages, but he continues to explain how this is possible. With the soul fused to the Divine Will in the recitation, Jesus' acting Will is given the field of action to reproduce all his acts anew.
'I was thinking about the Hours of the Passion, which have now been written, and how they are without any indulgence. So, those who do them gain nothing, while there are many prayers enriched with many indulgences. While I was thinking of this, my always lovable Jesus, all kindness, told me:
“My daughter, through the prayers with indulgences one gains something, but the Hours of my Passion, which are my very prayers, my reparations, and all love, have come out of the very depth of my Heart. Have you perhaps forgotten how many times I have united Myself with you to do them together, and I have changed chastisements into graces over the whole earth? So, my satisfaction is such and so great, that instead of the indulgence, I give the soul a handful of love, which contains incalculable prices of infinite value. And besides, when things are done out of pure love, my love finds its outpouring, and it is not insignificant that the creature gives relief and outpouring to the love of the Creator.”'
Vol. 11, Sept 6, 1913
'As I continued the usual Hours of the Passion, my lovable Jesus told me:
“My daughter, the world is in continuous act of renewing my Passion; and since my immensity envelopes everything, inside and outside the creatures, from their contact I am forced to receive nails, thorns, scourges, scorns, spit and all the rest which I suffered in the Passion - and still more. Now, at the contact with souls who do these Hours of my Passion I feel the nails being removed, the thorns shattered, the wounds soothed, the spit taken away. I feel I am repaid in good for the evil that others do to Me, and in feeling that their contact does no harm to Me, but good, I lean more and more on them.”
In addition to this, returning to speak about these Hours of the Passion, blessed Jesus said:
“My daughter, know that by doing these Hours the soul takes my thoughts and makes them her own; she takes my reparations, prayers, desires, affections, and even my most intimate fibers, and makes them her own. And rising up between Heaven and earth, she does my same office, and as co-redemptrix, she says with Me: ‘Ecce ego, mitte me [Here I am, send me] - I want to repair for all, answer for all, and impetrate good for all’.”'
Vol. 11, Nov. 6, 1914
'I was praying for a dying soul with a certain fear and anxiety, and my lovable Jesus, on coming, told me:
“My daughter, why do you fear? Don’t you know that for each word on my Passion, for each thought, compassion, reparation, memory of my pains, as many ways of electricity of communication open between Me and the soul, and therefore the soul keeps adorning herself with as many varieties of beauties? She has done the Hours of my Passion, and I will receive her as daughter of my Passion, clothed with my Blood and adorned with my wounds. This flower has grown inside your heart, and I bless it and receive it in my Heart as a favorite flower.”
And while He was saying this, a flower came out of my heart, and took flight toward Jesus.'
Vol. 12, July 12, 1918
After
this, I found myself outside of myself, and while looking for my sweet Jesus I
encountered Father Di Francia. He was all cheerful, and he told me: “Do you
know how many beautiful surprises I found? I did not think it would be so when
I was on earth, though I thought I had done good by publishing the Hours of the
Passion. But the surprises I found are marvelous, enchanting, of a rarity never
before seen: all the words regarding the Passion of Our Lord changed into
light, one more beautiful than the other – all braided together; and these
lights grow more and more as creatures do the Hours of the Passion, so more
lights add to the first. But what surprised me the most were the few sayings
published by me about the Divine Will: each saying changed into a sun, and
these suns, investing all the lights with their rays, form such a surprise of
beauty that one remains enraptured, enchanted. You cannot imagine how surprised
I was at seeing myself in the midst of these lights and these suns – how
content I was; and I thanked our Highest Good, Jesus, who had given me the
occasion and the grace to do it. You too, thank Him on my behalf.”
Vol. 22, June 17, 1927
Vol. 22, June 17, 1927
“My daughter, every time the soul thinks about my Passion, remembers
what I suffered, or compassionates Me, she renews the application of my pains
within herself. My Blood rises to inundate her, and my wounds place
themselves on the path to heal her if she is wounded, or to embellish her if
she is healthy – and all my merits, to enrich her. The traffic she
produces is amazing - it is as if she placed everything I did and suffered in a
bank, earning twice as much. In fact, everything I did and suffered is in
continuous act of giving itself to man, just as the sun is in continuous act of
giving light and heat to the earth. My work is not subject to exhaustion;
if the soul just wants it so, and as many times as she wants it, she receives
the fruit of my Life. So, if she remembers my Passion twenty, a hundred,
a thousand times, so many more times will she enjoy Its effects. But how
few are those who make a treasure of it! With all the good of my Passion,
one can see souls who are weak, blind, deaf, mute, crippled - living cadavers,
such as to be disgusting. This, because my Passion is put into oblivion.
“My pains, my wounds, my Blood are strength which removes weaknesses,
light which gives sight to the blind, tongue which loosens tongues and opens
the hearing, way which straightens the crippled, life which raises the
cadavers. All the remedies needed for the whole of humanity are in my
Life and Passion. But the creature despises the medicine and does not
care about the remedies; and so one can see, in spite of all my Redemption, the
state of man perishing, as though affected by an incurable consumption.
But that which grieves Me the most is to see religious people who tire
themselves out in order to acquire doctrines, speculations, stories - but about
my Passion, nothing. So, many times my Passion is banished from churches,
from the mouths of priests; therefore, their speech is without light, and the
peoples remain more starved than before.”
Vol. 13, Oct. 21, 1921We are given an opportunity to do that which the Saints of Church could not have ever imagined nor did they have the means to do it. It has been saved for those of us living in these last days who can see the value of this work. These Hours of the Passion are not just a remembering or a meditation, but when done united in His Will they are a renewing of all that which Jesus suffered and all of His very same prayers and intentions that He made throughout all of His Passion.
'I was doing the Hours of the Passion and Jesus, all pleased, told me:
“My daughter, if you knew what great satisfaction I feel in seeing you repeating these Hours of my Passion - always repeating them, over and over again - you would be happy. It is true that my Saints have meditated on my Passion and have comprehended how much I suffered, melting in tears of compassion, so much so, as to feel consumed for love of my pains; but not in such a continuous way, and repeated many times in this order. Therefore I can say that you are the first one to give Me this pleasure, so great and special, as you keep fragmenting within you - hour by hour - my life and what I suffered. And I feel so drawn that, hour by hour, I give you this food and I eat the same food with you, doing what you do together with you. Know, however, that I will reward you abundantly with new light and new graces; and even after your death, each time souls on earth will do these Hours of my Passion, in Heaven I will clothe you with ever new light and glory.”'
Vol. 11, Nov. 4, 1914
