Them bones, Them bones, Them dry bones, now hear the word of the Lord

The imagery of the Valley of dry bones in the book of Ezekiel is both dramatic and haunting.  Like most things from God there are many different levels of meaning.  There is the most direct one which speaks of the house of Israel and how even though they seemingly were dead and unable to rise God would restore them to life and to their land making of them a mighty nation.  It is also interpreted by many as the promise of the resurrection and of eternal life for the saints.  But there is another interpretation relevant to our days and the Kingdom of the Divine Will which deals with the Mystical Body of Christ.

There is a passage in the Volumes, Vol. 13, Jan. 11, 1922 where Luisa asks the Lord, "All the children of the Church are members of the Mystical Body, of which Jesus is the Head.  What place will the souls who do the Will of God occupy in this Mystical Body?"  We'll get to that in a bit but first I'd like to examine this valley of bones and their rebirth in view of the Mystical Body of Christ, his Church and Bride.

Now following the fall of Adam and Eve in God's eyes, man was dead, dead to the life of the Divine Will and thereby the Divine Life that they were originally gifted with.  Each act that was before animated by a Divine Will and therefore became a Divine Life was dead.  That's a lot of dry bones.  This is the state of man, a valley full of dead, dried out bones, impossible to revive by any natural means.  Even though man might be appear alive and walking and moving, before God he was as dead.  But God will not be frustrated in his plans and through the prophet Ezekiel he outlined his plan to deal with his creature slain by original sin.

 

 

 

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. ³ He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶ I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴ I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

Ezekiel 37: 1-23

 

 All the members of the people of God are members of the Mystical Body of God.  Each of us have gifts to contribute but there is also an evolution which God has been unveiling over the ages in his people, revealing, preparing, building on in order to obtain his final goal; a whole, complete, healthy, beautiful, sanctified Bride.  One can see this progression in the prophecy of Ezekiel.  First the bones come together and form the frame, they are connected and held firm by the tendons and ligaments, they take on the ability to move with the muscles and become covered with skin beautifying them and completing their physical appearance.  This can be also be seen in the progression of the people of God.  Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, the Patriarchs, formed the bones, the structure of the Church. Those that followed, Joshua, the prophets, the Judges, David and all who lived their lives by the law of God and the examples of their forefathers held this structure together forming the sinews which hold the bones together.  And then there are the muscles of the Church, the Apostles, all the Saints reaching out extending the motion and function of the Church of the Mystical Body.   The last step in rebuilding this physical body is the skin to cover and complete.  And here is how Jesus answered Luisa's question.

 

Finding myself in my usual state, I was thinking about the Holy Divine Will, and I said to myself:  ‘All the children of the Church are members of the Mystical Body, of which Jesus is the Head.  What place will the souls who do the Will of God occupy in this Mystical Body?’  And Jesus, always benign, on coming, told me:

“My daughter, the Church is my Mystical Body, of which I glory in being the Head.  But in order to enter this Mystical Body, the members must grow to a proper stature, otherwise they would deform my Body.  But alas! how many not only do not have the due proportion, but are rotten, wounded - so much as to be disgusting to my Head and to the other healthy members.  Now, the souls who live, or will live in my Will, will be for the Body of my Church like skin to the body.  The body has internal skin and external skin, and because in the skin there is the blood circulation which gives life to the whole body, it is by virtue of this circulation that the members reach the proper stature.  If it wasn’t for the skin and for the blood circulation, the human body would be horrid to the sight, and its members would not grow to due proportion.

“Now, see how these souls who live in my Will are necessary to Me.  Since I have destined them to be like skin to the body of my Church, and like circulation of life for all the members, they will be the ones who will give the proper growth to the members which have not grown; who will heal the wounded members, and who will restore the freshness, the beauty, the splendor of the whole Mystical Body by their continuous living in my Will, rendering it fully similar to my Head, which will sit in full majesty upon all these members.  This is why the end of days cannot come if I do not have these souls who live as though dissolved in my Will - they interest Me more than anything.  What impression would this Mystical Body make in the Celestial Jerusalem without them?  And if this is what interests Me more than anything, it must interest you also more than anything, if you love Me.  From now on, I will give to your acts done in my Will the virtue of circulation of life for the whole Mystical Body of the Church.  Just like the blood circulation in the human body, your acts, extended within the immensity of my Will, will extend over all and will cover these members like skin, giving them proper growth.  Therefore, be attentive and faithful.”

Vol. 13, January 11, 1922


So the children of the Divine Will will act as skin to the body of the Church.  And what functions does the skin serve to a body?  Skin is the largest organ of the body and protects the body from outside invaders acting a the defense.  It helps regulate water balance and warms the internal organs as well protecting from temperature changes.  And the skin beautifies as well the creature to the eyes and touch.  Internally the skin makes up the blood vessels to transport the life giving blood throughout the body, over 60,000 miles of blood vessels in each one of us.  And although the skin is not the blood, without it the blood could not circulate, could not carry it's oxygen throughout, could not dispose of the waste products, could not circulate it's immune cells throughout acting as healing, protecting and fighting off invaders.  So too the children of the Divine Will are not the Divine Life but they transport the Divine Life throughout the Mystical Body through their acts done in the Divine Will.  This is the last epoch in the ages to complete the physical appearance of the Mystical Body.  Which will bring about the needed healing, restoration, function and proper growth to all the members of the Bride of Christ, the Mystical Body.  But in Ezekiel this is not the end still there is needed the breath of God to once again bring his creature back to life, Divine Life as he originally intended.
  

I still would like to go over the Breath of God and the three prophetic words which were spoken in Ezekiel's vision needed to fully restore man but that will have to wait for another blog.  I'd like to leave this with a clearer picture of just how the creature appears before God and the tremendous folly of the love of God to which he will go in order to save, redeem and sanctify his creature in order to bring him back to himself in full health and Divine Life.

“My beloved daughter, look well at Me, that you may know my pains in depth.  My Body is the true portrait of the man who commits sin.  Sin strips him of the garments of my grace; and I let Myself be stripped of my garments so as to give grace back to him once again.  Sin deforms him, and while he is the most beautiful creature that came out of my hands, he becomes the ugliest one - disgusting and repugnant.  I was the most beautiful of men, and I can say that, in order to give beauty back to man, my Humanity took on the ugliest form.  Look at Me - how horrid I am.  I let my skin be torn off by dint of lashes, to the point that I could no longer recognize Myself.  Not only does sin take beauty away, but it forms deep wounds, rotten and gangrenous, which corrode the most intimate parts; they consume his vital humors, so everything he does are dead - skeletal works.  They snatch from him the nobility of his origin, the light of his reason - and he becomes blind.  And I, in order to fill the depth of his wounds, let my Flesh be torn to shreds; I reduced all of Myself to a wound, and by shedding my Blood in rivers, I made the vital humors flow in his soul, so as to give life back to him once again.  Ah! Had I not had the fount of the life of my Divinity within Me, which, since my Humanity died at each pain they gave Me, substituted for my life - I would have died from the very beginning of my Passion.

“Now, my pains, my Blood, my Flesh which fell off in shreds, are always in the act of giving life to man; but man rejects my Blood so as not to receive life; he tramples upon my Flesh so as to remain wounded.  Oh, how I feel the weight of ingratitude!”  And throwing Himself into my arms, Jesus burst into tears.  I clasped Him to my heart, but He was crying strongly.  What torment, to see Jesus crying!  I would have wanted to suffer any pain so that He would not cry.  So I compassionated Him, I kissed His wounds, I dried His tears; and He, as though cheered, added:  “Do you know how I act?  I act like a father who loves his son very much.  This son is blind, deformed, crippled; and his father who loves him to folly - what does he do?  He plucks out his own eyes; he tears off his own legs, tears his own skin off, and gives everything to his son, saying:  ‘I am happier to remain blind, crippled, deformed myself, as long as I see that you, my son, can see, can walk, and are beautiful.’  Oh! how happy is that father, in seeing his son look with his eyes, walk with his legs, and covered with his beauty.  But what would the sorrow of the father be, if he saw his son, ungrateful, throwing away his eyes, legs and skin, contenting himself with remaining ugly as he is?  So I am:  I took care of everything, but men, ungrateful, form my most bitter sorrow.”

Vol. 14, February 9, 1922

Heros of the Old Testament and Saints of the New; Foreshadowing

Each heroic figure in the Old Testament not only foreshadowed the coming Savior but each was a symbol of a gift that the Children of the Divine Will would possess altogether.

           “My daughter, while the greatest figures of the Old Testament were figures who foreshadowed the future Messiah, these figures together expressed the gifts and symbolized all the gifts which the children of the Supreme Fiat would possess.  At his creation Adam was the true and perfect image of the children of my Kingdom.  Abraham was a symbol of the privileges of heroism of the children of my Volition, and as I called Abraham to a promised land flowing with milk and honey, making him lord of that land which was so rich that all the other nations were envious and wanted it, it was all a symbol of that which I would have done for the children of my Will.  Jacob was another symbol of the children of My Will; it was from him that the twelve tribes of Israel would come forth, from which would be born for them the future Redeemer who would establish again the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat for My children.

            “Joseph was a symbol of the dominion that the children of My Will would have, and as he did not allow such a great number of people to perish from famine - including his ungrateful brothers - so the children of the Divine Fiat will have dominion and not allow the people who will ask for the bread of My Will to perish.  Moses was a figure of the power, Samson was a symbol of the strength, of the Children of My Will.  David symbolized their reign.  All the prophets symbolized the graces, communications, the intimate closeness with God which the children of the Divine Fiat would enjoy in greater abundance than the prophets.  Do you not see how these were nothing none other than symbols and images (of the children of My Will)?  How will it be when these symbols come to life?

             “After all these came the Celestial Lady, the Sovereign Empress, the Immaculate One, the Stainless One, My Mother.  That Mother of Mine was not a symbol nor an image, but the reality, the true life, the first privileged daughter of my Will.  I saw in the Queen of Heaven the generations of the children of My Kingdom.  She was the first incomparable creature to integrally possess the Life of the Supreme Volition; for this reason She merited to conceive the Eternal Word and mature in her Maternal Heart the generations of the children of the Eternal Fiat.  Then came My own Life in which the Kingdom that these fortunate children were to possess was established.  From all this you can understand how God, in all that He did from the beginning of the world - of all that He does and will do - His first principle has been and is to form the Kingdom of His Will among creatures.  This receives all Our attention, this is Our Will, and to these children all Our goods - Our prerogatives and Our likeness - will be given.  And if I call you to follow all the acts which My Will has done, as much in the creation of the universe - as in the generations of creatures - excluding neither that which My Celestial Mother did, nor that which I did in My own Life - it is to center within you all It’s acts, to make them a gift to you, so that, all together, the gifts which a Divine Will can posses may come forth from you.  In this way I will be able to form with decorum, honor, and glory the Kingdom of the Eternal Fiat.  So be attentive in following my Will.”

Vol. 21, April 8, 1927



They each submitted to the workings of the Divine Will and so some expressed strength, others heroism, wisdom, and so on.  But the Divine Will did not reign in any of them.  Everything since the fall of Adam has been in order to rebuild and dispose man to receive the knowledge of the Divine Will so that he might truly reign again in the midst of man.

“My daughter, there is no good which has not come out of my Divine Will, but there is a great difference between Its reigning in the creatures and the releasing of an act from within Itself, communicating it to creatures. As for example, with Abraham, It released an act of heroism, and I had the man heroic in the sacrifice; with Moses an act of power, and he was the prodigious man; with Samson an act of strength, and he was the strong man; to the Prophets It revealed what regarded the future Redeemer, and they were men prophets; and so with all the others who distinguished themselves as prodigious and of uncommon virtue. According to the act that my Divine Will released, and if they gave their adhesion and correspondence, so did they receive the good of Its act. However, this is not reigning, my daughter; nor does this form the Kingdom of my Will. In order to form It, it takes not just one act, but the continuous act which It possesses. This is what It wants to give to creatures in order to form Its Kingdom: Its continuous act of power, of happiness, of light, of sanctity, of unreachable beauty. What my Fiat is by nature, It wants to render creatures by virtue of Its continuous act, which contains all possible imaginable goods. Would you say that a king reigns only because he has made a law, or has given a good to his people? Certainly not. True reigning is to form the life of the peoples with all the laws, giving a decorous regime, befitting, upright and just for their lives, giving them all the necessary means so that nothing may be lacking for their good. In order to reign, the king should have his life in the midst of the peoples, and make his will and his goods one with them, in such a way that the king should form the life of the people, and the people the life of the king; otherwise, it is not true reigning. This is the reigning of my Will – to render Itself inseparable from the children of Its Kingdom, to give them everything It possesses to the point of overflowing, so as to have children happy and holy of Its very happiness and holiness.
Now, from this it can be seen how in spite of the so many prodigies which Saints, Prophets and Patriarchs have done, they have not formed my Kingdom in the midst of creatures, nor have they made known Its value, or the great good which my Will possesses, or what It can do and wants to give, and the purpose of Its Kingdom – because Its continuous act, Its permanent life, was missing in them. And therefore, not knowing It in depth, they occupied themselves with other things concerning my glory and their good, and they put my Will aside, waiting for a more favorable time, when the paternal goodness would please to first make known, and then to give, a good so great and a Kingdom so holy, which they would not even dream of. Therefore, be attentive, and continue your flight in the Divine Fiat.”
Vol. 23, Nov. 13, 1927

Jesus' way of working is to do the minor things first and the greatest last.  So he has done with all of the Saints of old.  For as great as they appear to us Jesus states that they will be a stars before suns.

“My daughter, in creating the heavens, first I created the stars as minor spheres, and then I created the sun, major sphere, endowing it with such light as to eclipse all the stars, as though hiding them within itself, constituting it king of the stars and of all nature.  It is my usual way to do minor things first, as preparation for major ones, and these, as crowning of the minor things.  The sun, while being my relater, also veils the souls who will form their sanctity in my Will; the Saints who lived in the mirror of my Humanity and as though in the shadow of my Will, will be the stars; the former souls, though later in time, will be the suns. 

Vol, 12, April 15, 1919




But even Luisa doubted that with all the miracles and power that was worked through the Patriarchs and later on in the Saints surely the Divine Will had life in these people.  Yet this was only a foreshadowing of what he has planned and Jesus calls it only the effects of his Will but not the fullness.
 
 

“My daughter, yet it is really true that until now no one has possessed the Kingdom of my Will or enjoyed all the fullness of the unity of the light It contains.  Had it been so, since it is the thing that interests Me the most, that glorifies Me the most and that, no less, will place all the divine rights in safety and will complete the work of Creation and Redemption - and not only this, but will bring to the creature the greatest good that can exist in Heaven and on earth - I would have acted in such a way as to make it known.  Just as I have made known the many virtues and wonders of my Saints, I would have made known the one who had possessed the Kingdom of my Will, which I hold so dear, so as to transmit It to others, by imitating the one who had possessed It.

“Now, the Saints of the Old Testament found themselves in the same condition as Adam:  a Divine Repairer was missing who, while rejoining the human will and the Divine, was to pay the debt of guilty man in a divine way.  However, both the ancient Saints and the modern ones have taken of my Will as much as they have known.  The very miracles they performed were particles of the power of my Will communicated to them.  So, all my Saints have lived, some in the shadow of my Will, some in the reflections of Its light, some submitted to Its power, some to the order of Its commands, because there is no sanctity without my Will.  But they have possessed of It the little they have known - no more, because only when a good is known, does one then long for it and arrives at possessing it.  No one can possess a good, a property, without knowing it; and suppose one did possess it without knowing it – that good is as though dead for him, because the life of knowledge is missing.

Vol. 19, July 1, 1926


Each saint has taken a part of Jesus Humanity.  That which we could see of his life here on earth had to have it's full expression in the saints but now he wants to go further.  He has had the full expression of the heroism and sacrifice of the Patriarchs whose hope brought forth the coming Redeemer and now he states that he has copied his Humanity and all his virtues in the Saints of the Redemption but now his love is overflowing again and he wants to go beyond this.

‘My Love, Jesus, how is it possible that after so many centuries of life of the Church, which put out so many Saints - and many of them have astonished Heaven and earth with their virtues and with the wonders they performed - they did not operate fully in the Divine Will so as to form this plane You are talking about?  Were You waiting just for me, the most unable, the most cattivella [bad little one] and ignorant one, in order to do this?  It seems just incredible.’  And Jesus:  “Listen, my daughter, my wisdom has means and ways which man ignores, such that he is obliged to lower his forehead and adore it in mute silence; and it is not up to him to dictate to Me the laws, whom I should choose and the appropriate time, which my goodness disposes.  Besides, first I had to form the Saints, who were to resemble Me and copy my Humanity in a more perfect way, as much as is possible for them; and this I have already done.  Now my goodness wants to go beyond, and wants to give in to greater excesses of love;

Vol. 14, Oct. 6, 1922


In all the sanctities of the past, one based on obedience, one on humility there has not been the fullness of the Divine Will and therefore there is waste of time and personal interest but this will not be the case with those who will live in the Divine Will.

"...In all sanctities there have always been Saints who, as the first, have started each kind of sanctity.  So, there was the Saint who started the sanctity of the penitent; another who started the sanctity of obedience; another of humility, and so with all other sanctities.  Now I want you to be the beginning of the sanctity of living in my Will.

“My daughter, all other sanctities are not exempt from waste of time and from personal interest.  As for example, a soul who lives attentive to obedience in everything:  there is much waste of time; her saying and re-saying continuously, distracts her from Me, and she mistakes the virtue for Me; and if she does not have the opportunity to take all the orders, she lives restless.  Another one suffers temptations – oh! how much waste of time.  She never tires of telling all her trials, and she mistakes the virtue of suffering for Me; and many times these sanctities end up in ruin.  But the sanctity of living in my Will is exempt from personal interest, from waste of time; there is no danger that they might mistake the virtue for Me, because I Myself am the living in my Will. 

Vol. 12, Nov. 27, 1917



Jesus states that the Sanctity of living in his Will is the Sanctity of sanctities, and that even the smallest one will "leave the other Saints behind."  But they will be hidden even though within them resides the power that allows others to work miracles.  He goes on to say that one who lives in the Divine Will contains the source from which the Saints of old have obtained their heroism, their strength, and patience and so on.

“My daughter, my Will is the Sanctity of sanctities.  The soul who does my Will, however small, ignorant, unknown, leaves the other Saints behind in spite of their prodigies, sensational conversions and miracles.  Rather, in comparison, the souls who do my Will are queens, and it is as if all the others were at their service.

“It seems that the souls who do my Will do nothing, while they do everything, because, being in my Will, they act in a divine manner, in a hidden and surprising way.  So, they are light that illuminates, they are winds that purify, they are fire that burns, they are miracles that make others do miracles.  Those who do miracles are channels; but in these souls resides the power.  Therefore, they are the foot of the missionary, the tongue of the preachers, the strength of the weak, the patience of the sick, the regime of the superiors, the obedience of the subjects, the tolerance of the slandered, the firmness in dangers, the heroism of the heroes, the courage of the martyrs, the sanctity in the saints, and so with all the rest.  Being in my Will, they concur with all the good that can exist both in Heaven and on earth.

Vol. 11, March 15, 1912



But the children of the Divine Will will not all be identical.  Each will be a unique expression of his Will.  Even as great as Jesus states the living in the Divine Will is, compared to the Saints of his Humanity, he still states that the creature can only take drops from God so each will be a unique expression of an attribute of God, some more of one some more of another.

 

I was thinking:  ‘If the creature had not withdrawn from the Supreme Will, one would be the sanctity, one the beauty, one the science, one the light, and there would be the same knowledge of our Creator for all.’  Now, while I was thinking of this, my beloved Jesus – and it seems to me that He Himself makes these thoughts, some doubts and difficulties, arise within my mind, in order to have the opportunity to speak to me and act as my Teacher – told me: 
 

“My daughter, you are wrong.  My wisdom would not adapt itself to forming only one sanctity, only one beauty, or to communicating only one science and the same knowledge of Me to everyone.  More so since, through highest accord between my Will and those of creatures, the Kingdom of my Will would have had free field of action.  Therefore, all would have been saints, but one distinct from the other – all beautiful, but varied, one more beautiful than the other.  And according to the sanctity of each one, I was to communicate a distinct science; and with this science, some would know one attribute of their Creator more, some another.  You must know that as much as We can give to the creature, she only takes the little drops of her Creator, so great is the distance between Creator and creatures; and We have always new and different things to give.

...

“Now, my daughter, in the order of human nature also there will be some who will surpass the sky in sanctity and in beauty; some the sun, some the sea, some the flowery earth, some the height of the mountains, some the tiny little flower, some the little plant, and some the highest tree.  And even if man should withdraw from my Will, I will multiply the centuries so as to have, in the human nature, all the order and the multiplicity of created things and of their beauty - and to have it even surpassed in a more admirable and enchanting way.”

Vol. 19, May 15, 1926




But these children of the Divine Will will be the smallest and the most overlooked and beside Mary, Luisa was the smallest of them all.

“My daughter, it is my usual way to choose the most abject, unable, poor souls for my greatest works.  Even my Mama had nothing extraordinary in her exterior life; no miracles - not a sign that would distinguish Her from other women.  Her only distinction was perfect virtue, to which almost no one paid attention.  And if to other Saints I gave the distinction of miracles, and I adorned others with my wounds, to my Mama, nothing - nothing.  Yet, She was the portent of portents, the miracle of miracles, the true and perfect crucified - no one else like Her.

“I usually act like a master who has two servants.  One of them seems a herculean giant, good at everything; the other one is short, unable, and seems to be good at nothing - not an important service.  If the master keeps him, it is more for charity, and also for fun.  Now, having to send a million - a billion, to another town, what does he do?  He calls the little and incapable one, and entrusts the great sum to him, saying to himself:  ‘If I give it to the giant, all will fix their attention on him; thieves may attack him and rob him; and if he tries to defend himself with his herculean strength, he may be wounded.  I know that he is capable, but I want to spare him; I do not want to expose him to the obvious danger.  On the other hand, no one will pay attention to this little one, knowing him to be incapable; no one would think that I would entrust such an important sum to him; and so he will come back safe and sound.’  The poor incapable one is surprised that the master would trust him, when he could have used the giant, and all trembling and humble, he goes to deposit the great sum, with no one deigning to give him even a glance.  So, he returns safe and sound to his master, more trembling and humble than before.

           “So I do:  the greater the work I want to do, the more I choose abject, poor, ignorant souls, with no outward appearance which may expose them.  The abject state of the soul will serve as safe custody for my work.  The thieves of self-esteem and love of self will not pay attention to her, knowing her inability.  And she, humble and trembling, will carry out the office entrusted by Me, knowing that she has done nothing by herself, but that I did everything in her.”

Vol. 12, Jan. 17, 1921