Rounds in Creation

St Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Sun

Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honor, and all blessing.

To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no man is worthy to mention Your name.

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon
and the stars, in heaven you formed them
clear and precious and beautiful.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather through which
You give sustenance to Your creatures.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night and he is beautiful
and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains us and governs us and who produces
varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Praised be You, my Lord,
through those who give pardon for Your love,
and bear infirmity and tribulation.

Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord,
through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no living man can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will
find in Your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.

Praise and bless my Lord,
and give Him thanks
and serve Him with great humility

Canticle of the Sun





I have always been inspired by the depth of St Francis' Canticle of the Sun and his insight into our connection with all of Creation.  Francis has always prefigured, for me, the living in the Divine Will.  It's only in the Volumes that I've discovered that this Canticle is only the initial insight of a greater truth.

I believe St Francis had a glimpse of the deep connection we all have in Creation.  In the Volumes Jesus speaks of how God created everything, leaving himself in each created thing, so as to always be able to be in contact with man and to have something to do with him.  Yet man hardly even senses or acknowledges him there.

The whole of Creation is for Me like the body to the soul, like the skin to the fruit. I am in continuous immediate act with man, although created things hide Me, just as the body hides the soul. However, if it wasn’t for the soul, the body would have no life. In the same way, if I withdrew from created things, they would all remain without life. In all created things I visit man, I touch him and I give him life. I am hidden in the fire, and I visit him with its heat; if I were not there, the fire would have no heat - it would be a painted fire and without life. But while I visit man in the fire, he does not recognize Me, nor does he give Me one greeting. I am in the water, and I visit him by quenching his thirst; if I were not there, the water would quench no one’s thirst - it would be dead water. But while I visit him, he passes before Me without bowing once to Me. I am hidden in the food, and I visit man by giving him substance, strength and taste; if I were not there, in taking food man would remain on an empty stomach. Yet, ungrateful, while he feeds on Me, he turns his back to Me. I am hidden in the sun, and I visit him with my light almost every instant; yet, ungrateful, he repays Me with continuous offenses. I visit him in all things: in the air that he breathes, in the flower that gives off its fragrance, in the breeze that refreshes, in the thunder that strikes - in everything. My visits are innumerable. Do you see how much I love him? And you, being in my Will, are together with Me, visiting man and giving him life
Vol. 14, May 12,1922
　

Not only did God leave himself in each created thing so as to be able to always have something to do with man but each created thing is as a room where God meant to communicate himself and all his different attributes to man, a "communion" as he, himself, puts it.

 "My daughter, look at the creation: the sky, the countless stars, the sun, the wind, the sea, the flowered fields, the peaks and the valleys - they are all rooms which I formed, and in each room I formed My court so that I could live there. This I did so as to give man the easy possibility of wherever he wanted to come he could find his God. I made it easy to find [God] immediately, and everywhere. And God placed Himself in each room in an act of waiting for him, [and] left all the rooms open so man wouldn’t have to bother with knocking, but thus could enter freely as often as he wanted; God was ready to receive him.

"The Creator of heaven and earth didn’t place Himself in one single place, but everywhere, so that man could find Him everywhere. He placed these rooms very close together to form many shortcuts, because there must not be any distance between Creator and creature, but closeness and communion. So all these rooms were and are relations, ties, and ways between God and man...

"What did the Paternal goodness of the Creator not do in creation for love of man? Not only did He form many rooms but they were different one from another so that He could be found in many different ways, by [man] whom He loved. In the sun He let Himself be found invested in light, all majesty, burning with love, waiting for man to give him His light, to make Himself understood, [and] to give him His love so that man, entering into this room to find his God, would himself become light and love. In the sea He let Himself be found as the strong God to give man strength. In the wind He let Himself be found ruling and dominating so as to give man rule and dominion. In other words, in each created thing God was waiting for man so that He could make him participate in all of His qualities."
Vol. 21, May 26, 1927

Each created thing is a lesson on how to acquire the attributes of God.  God himself is beyond our understanding so he created all things, each as a veil, a simplified lesson, in order to make himself understood by the created mind.  God, who is unfathomable, wants us to understand him, wants us to imitate him and to grow more and more in his likeness.  And yet hardly anyone looks beyond the surface to see God in his Creation.

"My daughter, see how beautiful all of creation is: what fascination of light, what enchantment of varieties, what rare beauty! Yet these are none other than the ornaments of our Divine Being, If such are our adornments, our Being surpasses in an unfathomable way our own ornaments, [and] the creature is incapable of understanding the incomprehensibility of our own Being.

"The eye is incapable of enclosing within itself all the vastness of the light of the sun, but [the sun] pours its light into the eye for as much as it can contain. However, to enclose within [the eye] the measure of the length and breadth of wherever the light extends itself is impossible. The sun is [similar] to Our Being, [and the eye] to human capacity; it is always Our adornments that the creature sees and experiences: he sees the sun, its light touches him and makes its warmth felt; he sees the immensity of the waters of the sea; he sees the blue expanse of the sky with many stars. But who can say of what the light is formed? How much light do (the Heavens) contain? How much water does the sea contain? How many stars are there, and of what is the blue vault of Heaven made? Man doesn’t know how to respond in the least, he just sees and enjoys all those things; he is the first among the ignorant ones in arithmetic, weights, and measures.

"If it is that way with our ornaments, much more is it with our Divine Being. But you must know that all of creation, and each created thing, gives a lesson to man. They all narrate Our Divine qualities, and each thing gives a lesson about the quality that it contains: the sun gives a lesson in light, and teaches that to be light it is necessary to be pure, stripped of every material thing. Light always contains heat united to it - you cannot detach the light from the heat - so if you want to be light you must love only your Creator, and this will bring to you, like the sun, the fecundity of good. The sky gives you a lesson about My Celestial Fatherland, it calls you continuously to your Creator, it gives you a lesson of detaching yourself from that which is of the earth, [and gives you a lesson] on the heights of holiness which you must reach. (It teaches you that) you must adorn yourself, with all the Divine virtues more than the stars. Each thing gives a lesson and calls man to reflect himself in them, to copy and imitate them. I did not create My ornaments just to make them be seen, but so that by imitating them man could be adorned. Yet who pays attention and listens to so many lessons? Almost no one!"

Vol. 21, April 22, 1927

"My daughter, My Will never exhausts Itself If I do not speak to you about It, all of creation will speak to you. Even the stones will change into voices to speak to you; the heavens, the sun, the sea, all creation has much to say about My Eternal Volition, because being full of Its Life, all things have a great deal to say about the Life of My Will, which they possess. So you must pay attention, because if you look at or touch something, you will hear new lessons about My Will."
Vol. 21, May 4, 1927

Each meeting with his creature in Creation was to be a "communion" his presence in each created thing is an "exposition" of himself.  Because mankind does not recognize God in Creation he does not give God his due honors.  We are called to adore God in all his manifestations and make up for those who don't.



"Oh! If the creatures paid attention to all the expositions which My Will makes in all of creation, they would need to stay always in an act of adoration to adore My Will exposed in the flowered fields with its radiant scents, in the loaded fruit trees with their variety of sweet flavors. There is no created thing which does not have its special Divine exposition, and because the creatures do not bestow the honors upon [My Will in creation] as they should, it’s up to you to maintain perpetual adoration in the exposition that the Supreme Fiat has in all of creation. My daughter, let it be you who offers herself as a perpetual adorer of this Will, for now It is absent of adorers and receives no exchange of love on the part of the creature.
Vol. 21, February 26, 1927



We can make God happy by bringing to him all of his Creation.  This is often referred to as a round.  In fact it is a duty of ours to do so.  We recognize God in each created thing, we thank him, we adore him, we praise him, we do this for ourselves as is our duty and for all mankind.  Only in the Divine Will is this possible.  And by doing so God reflects each of his attributes more and more in us, continuing and extending his Creation, his Kingdom within us.

"Besides that, all Our Divine qualities are spread out in creation, and each created thing occupies an office of Our Attributes. One is a child of Our Power, another of Justice, another of Light, another of Peace, another of Goodness - each created thing is a child of one of Our Attributes. So when you bring Me all of creation, you are the bearer of My happiness which is scattered in it, and I recognize My child of the light, of the sun, and my child of justice. In the sea I recognize the child of the surging wind, and the child of peace in the flowering earth. In other words I recognize each part of My Attributes in all created things, and I rejoice in recognizing My children which the little daughter of My Volition brings to Me. I do just as that father who has many children and each one of them occupies an office of love - one is prince, one is judge, one is a representative, one is a senator, one is a governor. The father feels happier as he recognizes each of these offices in the very fruit of his loins, and the honored nobility of his own children.

"All things were created to flow before and delight the children of the Supreme Fiat, and as I see you bring back to Us Our works We recognize in you Our design; and oh, how We rejoice seeing you make your rounds to gather together all Our works to again give Us Our joy which is dispersed in all of creation. So let your flight in My Will be continuous."
Vol. 21, February 23, 1927
　

I thought to myself: ‘If I spent one day without doing these acts, what would be the good I would lose and the evil I would do?’ And my always lovable Jesus told me: "My daughter, do you know what you would do? By not doing your acts in my Will, you would lack the reflection of all Creation; and because you would lack Its reflection, on that day the heavens would not extend within you, the sun would not rise, the sea would not flow within you, your earth would not let the new flowering bloom, nor would the joy, the music, the singing of the inhabitants of the air, the sweet symphony of the spheres, be heard in you. My Will would not find Its echo in you, therefore It would feel the sorrow that, on that day, the little daughter of Its Volition has not given It the requital of a heaven for love of It, because she lacked the reflection of Its heaven; she has not made the sun rise in return for Its eternal light; she has not let It hear the sea flowing, nor its sweet murmuring, nor the darting of the mute inhabitants of the waves. My Will would feel all of Its acts, the reflection of Its works, missing in you, nor could It form Its echo in you. And in Its sorrow, It would say: ‘Ah! today my little daughter has not given me a heaven as I have given to her, nor a sun, a sea, flowers, singing, music and joy, as I have given to her. So, she has gone out of my likeness; her notes have not harmonized with mine. I have loved her with many manifestations and with incessant love – she did not.’ See what you would do! My Will would not tolerate in you, Its little daughter, the void of Its works."
 Vol. 20, Nov.14, 1926

This purpose of Creation is to reflect each of it's attributes in man teaching us who God is and helping us to be more and more like him.  Like our Catholic catechism teaches us:  "God put us into the world to know, love and serve him, and so come to the happiness of paradise." 1720  The more we know him, the more we love him, the better we serve him in his Will.  It can also be seen in the Bible how Creation has longed to achieve it's goal.
 
 
¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Romans 8: 19-21
 


Each created thing contains a sea of the qualities of God which they want to form within us.  And with the fall of man Creation has been frustrated in achieving this end.  It is only by living in the Divine Will and doing our rounds in it that we can bring this about.  But it is not us who brings this about but only our cooperation in God's plan.  For as creatures it is impossible to follow his continuous motion in Creation.  God, however, has given us the echo of this continuous motion to join to his own.  It is always God who achieves these things but he needs our faithful cooperation and good will to be united and to live in his Divine Will.

 
 "My daughter, as you go around in my Will, to follow It in each created thing, all of my attributes hear your call and enter the field in order to form, each one of them, the little sea of their qualities. Oh! how they triumph in seeing themselves active – being able to form each one its own little sea. But their highest pleasure and delight increases in being able to form in the little creature their seas of love, of light, of beauty, of tenderness, of power, and so forth. My wisdom acts as a talented artisan and with marvelous ingenuity, in placing its immense and infinite qualities in the littleness. Oh! how the soul who lives in my Will harmonizes with my attributes. Each one of them takes on its office in order to establish its divine quality. If you knew the great good that comes to you by following my Will in all of Its acts, and the crafting It carries out in you, you too would feel the joy of a continuous feast."

Then, after this, I continued to follow the Creation, and I could see that eternal motion that never stops, flowing everywhere; and I thought to myself: ‘How can I follow the Supreme Volition in everything, if It runs so rapidly in all things? I do not have Its virtue, nor Its rapidity; therefore I have to remain behind, without being able to follow Its eternal murmuring in everything.’ But while I was thinking of this, my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: "My daughter, all things have a continuous motion, because, having come out of a Supreme Being who contains a motion full of life, as a consequence, all things that came out of God were to contain a vital motion that never ceases. And if it ceases, it means that life ceases. See, you yourself have a murmuring, a continuous motion in your interior. Even more, the Divinity, in creating the creature, gave him the likeness of the Three Divine Persons; It placed in him three motions which were to murmur continuously, to unite themselves to that continuous motion and murmuring of love of their Creator. And these are: the motion of the beating of the heart that never ceases, the blood circulation that always circulates without ever stopping, the breathing of the breath that never stops. This, in the body; in the soul, then, there are three more motions that murmur continuously: the intellect, the memory and the will. Therefore, everything is in keeping your motion bound to the motion of your Creator, in order to murmur together with His eternal motion. In this way, you will follow my Will in Its motion that never stops, in Its acts that never cease, and you will make your motion return into the womb of your Creator, who awaits with so much love the return of His works, of His love, and of His murmuring.
Vol. 20, Nov. 20, 1926

 
　
The purpose of Creation will not be complete until creatures take possession of all of their riches.  In order for this to happen the creature must come to know the divine acts in Creation and by knowing them they will come to love them and in loving them they will come to acquire the right to possess them.  Only by turning and returning in all the acts of Creation, that is by doing rounds in the Creation, can one arrive to that point in which God has been calling us to return to him.  In this way God can return to resume his Creation in man which became interrupted with the fall and establish his Kingdom.
　

　


How, in the Creation, the Divinity bilocated Its Will. The nature of the Divine Will is happiness. How It constituted Itself act of everything. The possession It wants to give to the creature.
I continue in my state of abandonment in the Supreme Volition, and while I was going around with my mind in the whole Creation, to follow It in all created things and make my will one with Its own, so as to form one single act with Its own, my always lovable Jesus, making me pause, told me: "My daughter, in issuing the Creation, the Divinity bilocated Its Will, and One remained within Us, for Our regime, joy, happiness, contentments and innumerable and infinite beatitudes which We possess; because Our Will has the first place in all Our acts. The Other bilocated Will of Ours came out from Us into Creation, to give Us, also externally, divine honors and glory, and innumerable happinesses and joys. In fact, Our Will possesses joys, happinesses and beatitudes as Its own qualities – this is Its nature; and if It did not release from Itself these innumerable beatitudes and contentments which It possesses, it would be for It something against Its own nature. Now, the Supreme Majesty, by issuing Our bilocated Will into the whole Creation so that It might be constituted life and act of each created thing, issued from Itself innumerable riches, countless beatitudes and joys, which only the Power of the Eternal Fiat could preserve, maintaining their regime, so that they would never lose their integrity and beauty.

Now, while all these properties issued by Us glorified Us, giving Us the glory of as many continuous and divine acts for as many created things as came out to light, they were established as properties of creatures, who, unifying their wills with Ours, were to have their act in each act of Our Will, in such a way that, just as We were to have the divine act of Our Will in each created thing, We were to have the act of the creature, transfused, as if they were one alone. With this, she would come to know Its riches; by knowing them, she would love them, and she would acquire the right to possess them. How many divine acts does my Supreme Will not do in each created thing, and the creature has not even the most remote knowledge of these acts? And if she does not know them, how can she love them and possess them, if they are unknown to her? So, all the riches, the happinesses, the divine acts present in the whole Creation are inactive and lifeless for creatures; and if they receive anything at all, it is not as property, but as the effect of the Supreme Goodness which always gives of Its own. It gives, as alms, also to those who have no right of possession; others, then, take them as usurpations. In fact, in order to possess these goods which the Celestial Father put out in the Creation, the creature must make her way; she must elevate herself to union with that Divine Will, in order to work together with It, do the same acts, know them in order to do them, so as to be able to say: ‘What It does, I do’. With this, she acquires the right of possession in all the acts of this Supreme Will; and when two wills form one single will, ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ no longer exist; rather, by right, what is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.

And so, this is the reason why my Supreme Will calls you – awaits you in each created thing, to make known to you the riches which are in It, to make you repeat Its divine acts together with It, and to give you the right of possession. You yourself become Its own property; you remain dissolved within Its immense riches and within Its very acts, and - oh! how the Divine Fiat enjoys making you the owner of Its immense riches. Its desire of constituting Its heiresses is so great, that It feels twice as happy when It sees one who knows Its possessions and makes Its divine act her own; so much so, that even though It saw that man, by withdrawing from Its Will, lost his way to reach the possession of Its dominions, It did not stop, but in the excess of Its Love and of Its long sorrow of seeing Its riches inactive for the good of creatures, as soon as the Eternal Word clothed Himself with human flesh, It constituted Itself life of each of His acts, so as to form more goods for them, powerful aids and effective remedies, more within the reach of decayed humanity, so as to realize the purpose of making them possess what was issued in Creation. There is nothing that comes from Us, which does not have this purpose – that the creature and everything return into Our Will. If it were not so, We would render Ourselves extraneous to Our own works. So, Creation, Redemption, my daughter, have the primary purpose that everything be Our Will, in Heaven and on earth; therefore, It flows everywhere, It is present in every place, to make everything Its own, and to give everything that belongs to It. Therefore, be attentive in following Our works; satisfy this desire, so insistent, of my Supreme Will, which wants those who possess Its goods."
Vol. 20, December 19, 1926 　

　
In so many words all of this speaks of the return of the Kingdom.  "Creation, Redemption...have the primary purpose that everything be Our Will, in Heaven and on earth."  So to turn and return in all of Creation every day, and in Redemption too...it's a Herculean task to be sure but Jesus promises that all of Creation is an army which is always ready to regain this Kingdom and it will not retreat.  It's presence is a sure promise that the Kingdom will return.




“It is similar to that which happens to a king who, because of war, lost his kingdom - but is there not the possibility that one of his children could win back with another war, his father’s kingdom which is already his?  It is [even] more likely [for the Kingdom of My Will] because I, as the Divine Winner, came to earth to recover man’s losses; and, having found one who would want to receive this Kingdom, I restored these forces to him by once again putting My army at his disposition to maintain the order, the decorum, and the glory of [My Kingdom].

“And. what is this army?  It is all of creation, more than a wondrous and formidable army; it is the life of My Will which is bilocated within each created thing, [put] there to maintain the Life of this Kingdom.  How could man lose hope of again possessing this Kingdom?  If he had seen this invincible army of creation totally disappear, then he could have said that God had withdrawn from the face of the earth His Will which vivifies, beautifies, and enriches this Kingdom, [and] there is no longer any hope that It may return into [man’s] possession.  But as long as this [army] exists, We must wait until the times are right to find those who will want to receive It.

“Then again, if there was no longer any hope for the possession of the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat, it would not have been necessary that God manifest to you so many knowledges regarding It, nor how His Volition wishes to reign, nor the extent of His sorrow because It doesn’t reign.  When something cannot be done, it is useless to speak about it; in that case I would not have had such interest in relating so many things regarding My Divine Will.  The mere fact of [My] having spoken about It is a sign that I want It to be possessed once again.

Vol. 21, March 19, 1927Now for those who would like to know better just how Luisa did these rounds there is a little book which can be read here online, which her confessor had her write, again, under obedience.

The Rounds of the Soul in the Divine Will

Now I typically can only do little rounds as my mind gets lost in such large undertakings.  So in order to make it even smaller for me to handle I've come up with a little rhyme to do in the mornings to help me.

Thank you Lord for this new day.

Thank you Lord in every way,

For the sun high up above,

which burns with the purity of your love.

Within this sun I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this burning fire of your purity.

 

I thank you Lord for the sky so high,

so blue, so wide, eternal smile.

Symbol of your eternity,

your ever present love for me.

Within this sky I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this symbol of your eternity.

 

I thank you Lord for water all,

the springs, the rivers, the waterfalls.

The babbling brooks, the deep blue sea,

a symbol of you power and humility.

Within all water I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this symbol of your humility.

 

I thank you Lord for the Earth so green,

the hills, the valleys and all in-between.

the burning steppes and deep ravines,

symbol of your immutability.

 Within this world I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in my this symbol of your immutability.

 

I thank you Lord for the stars up high,

that shine and twinkle in the sky.

A symbol of your order and harmony,

your virtues displayed for all to see.

Within them all I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me your order and you harmony.

 

I thank you Lord for the birds and fish,

that fly, that dart, that splash and splish.

In loving notes each pass they weave,

A loving woven tapestry.

Within them all I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this constant weave of love for thee.

 

I thank you Lord for the animals all,

the big, the tall, the fast, the small.

The ones with fur, the ones with shells,

with hair, with scales or only skin.

Within them all I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this symbol of you fecundity.

 

 

 

   

Confession, more than Forgiveness

Josefina de Vasconcellos



I myself have struggled with going to Confession in the past and I just recently ran into a practicing Catholic who told me, "I don't do anything really bad, so I don't go to Confession."  Going to Confession in the past had been a struggle for me, I always knew it was a pride thing.  Standing in line there were always all sorts of attacks from the devil trying to get me to leave.  Of course at the time, I didn't recognize them as attacks.  It is humbling to go to a priest and admit sins and faults to someone else that you wouldn't tell anyone.  When I finally realized, however, that Confession did not just give me forgiveness from my sins but gave me the corresponding graces to counter them and grow stronger in my relationship with God I now go as regularly as possible.  Also over the years I've discovered that Confession is key to keeping communication channels open with God.  The longer I've put Confession off the less and less I can sense God in my soul and without this I can't sense his often subtle promptings.

There are several sites which go into all the Spiritual and Psychological benefits of Confession.  I remember when hearing that Catholics were reported by Psychologists as one of the most psychologically healthy populations in the country.  Of course that was when Catholics frequented Confession.  Here is one site I found, Fr. Hardon also addresses how Confession of even venial sins is important:  The Spiritual and Psychological Value of Frequent Confession, Fr. Hardon.


In this blog I wanted to review some passages concerning Confession.  Here are some messages from Our Lady of Medjugorje through the years they can all be found at this site:    Messages of our Lady of Medjugorje.  In them our Lady repeatedly calls us to conversion through the first step of Confession.  It's promised as the remedy to the Western Church and the only way to beat through the wall of arrogance which and obtain peace and joy through union with Jesus.  She states that an impure heart can never be united with Jesus.


Friday, August 6, 1982 (Feast of the Transfiguration)
A response to questions which were asked concerning Confession:
"One must invite people to go to Confession each month, especially the first Saturday. Here I have not spoken about it yet. I have invited people to frequent Confession. I will give you yet some concrete messages for our time. Be patient because the time has not yet come. Do what I have told you. They are numerous who do not observe it. Monthly Confession will be a remedy for the Church in the West. One must convey this message to the West."
Messages of our Lady of Medjugorje 


December 1983
"Monthly confession will be a remedy for the Church in the west. Whole sections of the Church could be cured, if the believers would go to confession once a month." 


March 24, 1985 (Sunday) "Today I wish to call you all to confession, even if you have confessed a few days ago. I wish that you all experience my feast day within yourselves. But you cannot experience it unless you abandon yourselves completely to God. Therefore, I am inviting you all to reconciliation with God!"


January 25, 1995 "Dear children! I invite you to open the door of your heart to Jesus as the flower opens itself to the sun. Jesus desires to fill your hearts with peace and joy. You cannot, little children, realize peace if you are not at peace with Jesus. Therefore, I invite you to confession so Jesus may be your truth and peace. So, little children, pray to have the strength to realize what I am telling you. I am with you and I love you. Thank you for having responded to my call."


November 25, 2002 "Dear children! I call you also today to conversion. Open your heart to God, little children, through Holy Confession and prepare your soul so that little Jesus can be born anew in your heart. Permit Him to transform you and lead you on the way of peace and joy. Little children, decide for prayer. Especially now, in this time of grace, may your heart yearn for prayer. I am close to you and intercede before God for all of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."


March 25, 2014 "Dear children! I am calling you anew: begin the battle against sin as in the first days, go to confession and decide for holiness. The love of God will begin to flow through you into the world, peace will begin to rule in your hearts and God's blessing will fill you. I am with you and intercede for all of you before my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call."


July 2, 2007 "Dear children! In the great love of God, I come to you today to lead you on the way of humility and meekness. The first station on that way, my children, is confession. Reject your arrogance and kneel down before my Son. Comprehend, my children, that you have nothing and you can do nothing. The only thing that you have and that you possess is sin. Be cleansed and accept meekness and humility. My Son could have won with strength, but He chose meekness, humility and love. Follow my Son and give me your hands so that, together, we may climb the mountain* and win. Thank you."


May 2, 2011 "Dear children; God the Father is sending me to show you the way of salvation, because He, my children, desires to save you and not to condemn you. That is why I, as a mother, am gathering you around me, because with my motherly love I desire to help you to be free of the dirtiness of the past and to begin to live anew and differently. I am calling you to resurrect in my Son. Along with confession of sins, renounce everything that has distanced you from my Son and that has made your life empty and unsuccessful. Say 'yes' to the Father with the heart and set out on the way of salvation to which He is calling you through the Holy Spirit. Thank you. I am especially praying for the shepherds (priests), for God to help them to be alongside you with a fullness of heart."



July 2, 2011 "Dear children; today I call you to a difficult and painful step for your unity with my Son. I call you to complete admission and confession of sins, to purification. An impure heart cannot be in my Son and with my Son. An impure heart cannot give the fruit of love and unity. An impure heart cannot do correct and just things; it is not an example of the beauty of God's love to those who surround it and to those who have not come to know that love. You, my children, are gathering around me full of enthusiasm, desires and expectations, and I implore the Good Father to, through the Holy Spirit, put my Son faith, into your purified hearts. My children, obey me, set out with me."


Monday, November 7, 1983
To Jelena:
"Do not go to confession through habit, to remain the same after it. No, it is not good. Confession should give an impulse to your faith. It should stimulate you and bring you closer to Jesus. If confession does not mean anything for you, really, you will be converted with great difficulty."





 In the Diary of St Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy in my Soul, she is allowed to experience the terror of an unprepared death even though it did not lead to her death.  She implores people to frequent Confession to avoid this terror.

321 A sudden illness-a mortal suffering. It was not death, that is to say, a passing over to real life, but a taste of the sufferings of death. Although it gives us eternal life, death is dreadful.  Suddenly, I felt sick, I gasped for breath, there was darkness before my eyes, my limbs grew numb-and there was a terrible suffocation. Even a moment of such suffocation is extremely long.... There also comes a strange fear, in spite of trust. I wanted to receive the last sacraments, but it was extremely difficult to make a confession even though I desired to do so. A person does not know what he is saying; not finishing one thing, he begins another.  Oh, may God keep every soul from delaying confession until the last hour! I understood the  great power of the priest's words when they are poured out upon the sick person's soul.  When I asked my spiritual father whether I was ready to stand before the Lord and whether I could be at peace, I received the reply, "You can be completely at peace, not only right now but after each weekly confession." Great is the divine grace that accompanies these words of the priest. The soul feels power and courage for battle.

Diary, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy In My Soul


Again in the Diary she receive instructions on how to benefit from the sacrament of Confession.

113 And again, I would like to say three words to the soul that is determined to strive for sanctity and to derive fruit; that is to say, benefit from confession.  

 

First word-complete sincerity and openness. Even the holiest and wisest confessor cannot forcibly pour into the soul what he desires if it is not sincere and open. An insincere, secretive soul risks great dangers in the spiritual life, and even the Lord Jesus Himself does not give Himself to such a soul on a higher level, because He knows it would derive no benefit from these special graces.

Second word-humility. A soul does not benefit as it should from the sacrament of confession if it is not humble. Pride keeps it in darkness. The soul neither knows how, nor is it willing, to probe with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery.

Third word-obedience. A disobedient soul will win no victory, even if the Lord Jesus himself, in person, were to hear its confession. The most experienced confessor will be of no help whatsoever to such a soul. The disobedient soul exposes itself to great misfortunes; it will make no progress toward perfection, nor will it succeed in the spiritual life. God lavishes His graces most generously upon the soul, but it must be an obedient soul.

Diary, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy In My Soul



Jesus in The Diary tells St Faustina that he anxiously waits for souls to come to him so that he can pour forth abundant graces in their souls, but there is needed trust on their parts, trust and humility.


 1602 Today the Lord said to me,

Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls.

Diary, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy In My Soul

In the Volumes one of Jesus' initial teachings to Luisa is about how horrible sin is and how often it is through a lack of humility, a lack of wanting to stay close to Jesus.  Even though it is a huge grace and it is important to recognize how ugly even slight sin is it is also important once confessed to refocus on God and not keep ourselves occupied with revisiting our past faults.

The soul is sorry for the sins it committed in the past, but Jesus does not want it to lose its time thinking about them.

I remember that one morning, while He spoke to me about the same virtue, He told me that because of lack of humility I had committed many sins, and that if I had been more humble, I would have kept closer to Him and I would not have done so much evil.  He made me understand how ugly sin is – the affront that this miserable little worm had made to Jesus Christ, the horrendous ingratitude, the enormous wickedness, the harm caused to my soul.  I was so dismayed, that I did not know what to do in order to repair.  I did some mortifications, I asked for some more from the confessor, but few were given to me, so they all seemed shadows to me, and I did nothing but think about my sins, though clinging more and more to Him.  I had such fear of moving away and of doing worse than before, that I myself cannot express it.  When I was with Him, I did nothing but tell Him of the pain I felt for having offended Him.  I kept asking for His forgiveness, I thanked Him for having been so good to me, and I said to Him from the heart:  ‘See oh Lord, the time I have lost, while I could have loved You.’  I was unable to say anything but the grave evil I had done. 
Finally, one day, reprimanding me, He told me:  “I do not want you to think about it.  When a soul has humbled herself, being convinced of having done wrong, and has cleansed her soul in the Sacrament of Confession, and is ready to die rather than offend Me - it is an affront to my mercy, it is a hindrance to drawing her close to my love, because her mind is always trying to wrap itself with the mud of the past.  She also prevents Me from letting her take flight toward Heaven, because she is always with those ideas wrapped within herself, as she tries to think about it.  And then, see, I no longer remember anything; I have perfectly forgotten about it.  Do you see any rancor or shadow on my part?”

Vol. 1



Sin places a wall between the soul and God which can only be removed by God through confession.  Luisa, who by our standards, was always a "good" person, even as a child took ~7 hours to do a complete confession of sins with our Lord in the true light of her soul before God.  All of our powers and senses are meant to praise God and find joy in Him alone.  Any other use is an affront to God and a usurpation of His rights.

Luisa confesses her sins to Jesus.

I remember confusedly that, when I would be with Our Lord, I would often ask for sorrow for my sins and for the grace to be forgiven of all the evil I had done; and at times I reached the point of saying that only then would I be content, when I would hear Him say, from His own lips:  “I forgive all your sins.”  And blessed Jesus, who can deny nothing when it is for our good, one morning made Himself seen and told me:  “This time I Myself want to do the office of Confessor.  You will confess all your sins to Me, and in the act in which you do this, I will make you comprehend, one by one, the sorrows you have given to my Heart in offending Me, so that, by comprehending what sin is, as much as it is possible for a creature, you may be resolved to die rather than to offend Me.  You, in the meantime, enter into your nothingness, and recite the Confiteor.”

On entering myself, I could see all of my misery and my wicked deeds, and I trembled like a leaf before His presence.  I lacked the strength to pronounce the words of the Confiteor, and if the Lord had not infused new strength in me, by telling me:  “Do no fear.  If I am a Judge, I am also your Father.  Courage, let us proceed”, I would have remained there, without uttering one word.

So I said the Confiteor, all full of confusion and humiliation, and since I saw myself all covered with my sins, at one glance, I saw that the greatest one, which had given affront to Our Lord, was pride.  So I said:  ‘Lord, before your presence, I accuse myself of the sin of pride.’  And He:  “Draw near my Heart, and place your ear upon It – you will hear the cruel torment that you have caused my Heart with this sin.”  All trembling, I placed my ear upon His adorable Heart – but who can tell what I heard and comprehended in that instant?  Especially now, after so much time - I will say something confusedly.  I remember that His Heart was beating so strongly, that it seemed that His breast was going to crack.  Then it seemed to me that It was torn to shreds, and was almost destroyed by the pain.  Ah! if I could have, I would have reached the point of destroying the Divine Being with pride.

I will give you a simile in order to make myself understood, otherwise I have no words to express myself.  Imagine a king, and at the feet of this king, a worm, which, rising and swelling up, begins to believe it is something, and reaches such audacity as to rise little by little, reaching the head of this king, wanting to remove the crown from him and put it on its own head.  Then, it strips him of his royal vestments; then, it throws him off his throne, and finally, it tries to kill him.  But what’s more about this worm, is that it itself does not know its own being; it very much deceives itself, while, to get rid if it, it would take the king nothing but to put it under his feet and crush it – and so it would end its days.  In reality, if this could be, it would make arise indignation and pity, as well as ridicule, toward the pride of this worm.  So did I see myself before God, and this filled me with such confusion and sorrow, that I felt the torment that blessed Jesus suffered being renewed in my heart.

After this, He left me, and I felt such pain, comprehending how ugly the sin of pride is, that it is impossible to describe it.  After I chewed all this thoroughly within myself, my good Jesus came back and told me to continue the confession of my sins.  And I, all trembling, continued to make the accusation of my thoughts, words, works, causes and omissions; and when He would see that I was unable to continue the confession because of the pain I felt at having offended Him so much…  in fact, I had such a vivid clarity, being in front of that Divine Sun; especially, I could see my littleness, the nonentity of my being, and I was stunned at how daring I had been, wondering from where had I taken that courage to offend a God so good, who, in the very act in which I was offending Him, assisted me, preserved me, nourished me.  And if He had any rancor with me, it was for the sin I committed, which He greatly hated, while He loved me immensely, He excused me before divine justice, and was all occupied with removing that wall of division between the soul and God, which sin had produced.  Oh! if all could see who God is, and who the soul is in the act of sinning, they would all die of sorrow, and I believe that sin would be exiled from the earth  …So, when blessed Jesus would see that I could not take any more because of the pain, He would withdraw and leave me, to allow me to comprehend well the evil I had done.  And then He would come back again, and I would continue the accusation of my sins.

But who can tell all that I understood, and explain, one by one, the different affronts and the special sorrows which I had caused Our Lord with my sins?  I feel it is almost impossible for me to explain myself - also because I don’t remember it too well.
Then, when I finished the accusation, which lasted about seven hours, lovable Jesus took the aspect of a most loving father.  And since I was exhausted in my strengths because of the sorrow - more so since I saw that that sorrow was not enough to be sorry as it befitted my sins - to encourage me, He told me:  “I Myself want to make up for you, and I apply to your soul the merit of the pain I had in the Garden of Gethsemani.  This alone can satisfy the divine justice.”  After He applied His pain to my soul, then I seemed to be disposed to receive the absolution.

All humbled and confused as I was, prostrated at the feet of the good Father Jesus, through the rays He was sending into my mind, I tried to excite myself more to sorrow by saying - though I don’t remember everything:  ‘Great, immense, has been the evil I have done against You.  These powers of mine and these senses of my body were meant to be as many tongues with which to praise You.  Ah! instead, they have been like many poisonous vipers which were biting You and were even trying to kill You.  But, holy Father, forgive me – do not want to cast me away because of the great wrong I have done to You by sinning.’

And Jesus:  “And you - do you promise to sin no more, and to banish from your heart any shadow of evil that might offend your Creator?”

And I:  ‘Ah! yes, with all my heart I promise You.  I would die a thousand times rather than sin again.  Never again, never again.’

And Jesus:  “And I forgive you, and I apply to your soul the merits of my Passion, and I want to wash it in my Blood.”

And as He was saying this, He raised His blessed right hand and pronounced the words of the absolution – exactly like the words that the priest says, when he gives absolution.  And in the act of doing this, a river of blood poured down from His hand, and my soul was completely inundated by it.

After this, He said to me:  “Come, oh daughter, come to make penance for your sins by kissing my wounds.”

All trembling, I stood up and I kissed His most sacred wounds; and then He said to me:  “My daughter, be more vigilant and attentive, because today I give you the grace not to fall, ever again, into voluntary venial sin.”

Then He gave me other exhortations, which I don’t remember too well; and He disappeared.

Vol. 1

January 5, 1900
Effects of sin and of Confession.

As I was in my usual state, I felt I was going outside of myself, and I found my adorable Jesus; but – oh, how full of sins I saw myself before His presence!  In my interior I felt a strong desire to make my confession to Our Lord, and so, turning to Him, I began to tell my sins, and Jesus was listening to me.  When I finished speaking, turning to me with a face full of sadness, He told me:  “My daughter, sin is a poisonous and deadly embrace to the soul, if it is grave; and not only to her, but also to all the virtues present in the soul.  If then it is venial, it is a wounding embrace, which renders the soul very weak and infirm, and together with her the virtues which she had acquired also become infirm.  What a deadly weapon sin is!  Sin alone can wound and give death to the soul!  Nothing else can harm her, nothing else but sin alone renders her opprobrious and odious before Me.”

While He was saying this, I comprehended the ugliness of sin and I felt such pain that I cannot even express it.  And Jesus, seeing me all contrite, raised His blessed right hand and pronounced the words of the absolution.  Then He added:  “Just as sin wounds and gives death to the soul, so does the Sacrament of Confession give life, heal the wounds, and give back vigor to virtues; and this, more or less, according to the dispositions of the soul – so does the virtue of the Sacrament operate.”  It seemed to me that my soul had received new life; I no longer felt the bother of before, after Jesus gave me the absolution.  May the Lord be always thanked and glorified!

Vol. 3



Confession is a key to drawing souls to Catholicism and if one doe not avail themselves of it they can not be called a true Catholic.

How to draw souls to Catholicism.

Since the confessor had given me the obedience to pray to the Lord that He would manifest to me what should be done in order to draw souls to Catholicism and to remove so much unbelief,

...

I heard Jesus behind my shoulders saying:  “All other societies know who belongs to their party, only my Church does not know who Her children are.  The first step is to know who those are who belong to Her, and these you can know by establishing a reunion one day, to which you will invite them, so that who is Catholic should convene to the appointed place for this reunion; and there, with the help of the lay Catholics, they should decide what it is advisable to do.  The second step is to oblige to confession those Catholics who convene, which is the most important thing that renews man and forms the true Catholics.  And this, not only for those who are present, but they should oblige the leaders to oblige their subjects to confession; and if they do not succeed with gentle manners, they should dismiss them from their service.  Once each priest has formed the body of his Catholics, then will they be able to advance to superior steps.  In fact, recognizing the opportunity of the moment, the way to penetrate into other parties, and the prudence in exposing themselves, is like the pruning of trees, which makes them produce large and mature fruits.  But if the tree is not pruned, it does make, yes, a beautiful display of leaves and of flowers, but as soon as a frost comes, or a wind blows, since the tree does not have enough sap and strength to sustain so many flowers in order to change them into fruits, the flowers fall off, and the tree remains stripped.  The same happens in the things of religion:  first you must form a suitable body of Catholics, so as to be able to confront the other parties, and then you can come to penetrating into the other parties to form one single party.”

Vol. 3

 

Going to Confession by itself is not enough.  One must go with the right intention and being at least submitted to the Will of God otherwise the soul will not receive the effects of the sacrament even worse to go without these intentions or the resolution to sin no more makes a mockery of Jesus and it is as though he is before Herod all over again.

 

I tell you that the Sacraments themselves produce fruits according to how souls are submitted to my Will.  They produce effects according to the connection that souls have with my Volition.  And if there is no connection with my Will, they may receive Communion, but will remain on an empty stomach; they may go to Confession, but will remain always dirty; they may come before my Sacramental Presence, but if our wills do not meet, I will be as though dead for them, because my Will alone produces all goods and gives life to the very Sacraments in the soul who lets herself be subdued by It.  And those who do not understand this - it means that they are babies in religion.”

Vol. 11, September 25, 1913

 

 

“My daughter, not only then was I clothed like a madman, sneered at and mocked, but creatures continue to give Me these pains; even more, I am amid continuous mockeries, and by all kinds of people.  If a person goes to Confession and does not maintain his resolutions not to offend Me - this is a mockery that he makes of Me. 

Vol. 13, September 16, 1921

 

 

Worse even than making a mockery of Jesus' passion is that by not going with the right intention instead of  forgiveness we will then receive fiery justice and even death, death to our relationship with God.  Each step bringing us closer to an eternal break in our relationship with God, that is Hell, eternal death.  Furthermore one should greatly consider that in receiving communion without true sorrow for our sins and going to Confession as we can beforehand what we are subjecting our God to, the only true lover of our soul.

But, do not stop, keep flying, and you will hear the anguishing moans of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Penance. How much ingratitude, how many abuses and profanations, on the part of those who administer it and on the part of those who receive it. In this Sacrament, my Blood places Itself in act over the contrite sinner, in order to descend upon his soul, to wash him, embellish him, heal him and strengthen him, to give back to him the lost grace, to place in his hands the keys of Heaven, which sin had snatched away from him; to impress on his forehead the peacemaking kiss of forgiveness. But, ah! how many harrowing moans, in seeing souls approaching this Sacrament of Penance without sorrow, out of habit, almost as a vent of the human heart. Others – horrible to be said – instead of going to find the life of their souls, of grace, go to find death, to pour out their passions. So, the Sacrament is reduced to a mockery, to a nice chat; and my Blood, instead of descending as a bath, descends as fire, which withers them even more. And so, in each Confession, Our love cries inconsolably and, sobbing, repeats: ‘Human ingratitude, how great you are. Everywhere you try to offend Me; and while I offer you life, you turn the very life I offer you into death.’ See, then, how Our moans await your requital of love in the Sacrament of Penance

Do not let your love stop; go through all the Tabernacles, through each Sacramental Host, and in each Host you will hear the Holy Spirit moan with unutterable sorrow. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is not only their own life that souls receive, but is my very Life that gives Itself to them. So, the fruit of this Sacrament is to form my Life in them, and each Communion serves to make my Life grow, to develop It, in such a way that one may be able to say: ‘I am another Christ’. But, alas!, how few take advantage of it. Even more, how many times I descend into hearts and they make Me find the weapons to wound Me, and repeat for Me the tragedy of my Passion. And as the sacramental species are consumed, instead of pressing Me to stay with them, I am forced to leave bathed with tears, crying over my sacramental lot; and I find no one who calms my crying and my sorrowful moans. If you could break those veils of the Host, which cover Me, you would find Me bathed with crying, knowing the lot that awaits Me in descending into hearts. Therefore, let your requital of love for each Host be continuous, in order to calm my crying, and to render less sorrowful the moans of the Holy Spirit.

Vol. 18, November 5, 1925