April 1881. If you are not advancing more quickly in perfection, it is because your will is not united closely enough with that of God.
Jesus submits patiently you all these delays, but who is the loser? You are. If you only knew what graces Jesus is storing up for you, how He longs to be united to you, you would give up your rebellious will which submits to Him today but does not do so again on the morrow. He who is so good and so loving is asking this of you.
Jesus will not let you rest until you arrive at that perfection He has destined for you. You may do as you like, but until your will is united with that of Jesus and your actions are performed under His direction and for His pleasure, you will have neither peace, nor rest, nor happiness of soul.
September 1882. Jesus has done very much for you and He will do still more for you in the future, but you must correspond with His graces in a generous spirit. The souls that arrive at the height of perfection that He demands of them are mistresses of His Heart. He refuses them nothing. When you will have arrived at that stage, Jesus and yourself will be but one. Your sentiments, your thoughts and your desires will be the same. Be good, therefore, make haste to become a saint to procure great glory for your one Friend who waits for that moment to inundate your soul with His grace. You do not yet make sufficient effort in watching over your interior and in keeping before your mind the Divine Presence of Jesus. Try to take the trouble and you will be powerfully helped. Jesus is only waiting for a little good will on your part and He will do the rest. Say to yourself every day, "Since Jesus began to give me so many special graces, what have I become? What ought I to be? What would I be if I had always corresponded well?" These thoughts meditated on for a few minutes will do much good to your soul. Only reflect seriously on them, for it is the will of God that I have told you. He also desires that you work seriously at your perfection because upon it depends that of many others. Jesus has such an intense love for you that He desires to pour upon you His choice graces which He shares only with His intimate friends. Hasten by your prayers and sacrifices the happy moment which will witness the Divine union that Jesus wishes to form with your soul.
Acknowledge before this Divine Friend your own poverty and the abyss of your miseries and then let Him act as He wills. This is the way of His love, the enrich the most miserable. His goodness is then shown forth to advantage. Try to love Jesus very much! Cling to Him more firmly than to anything else, join yourself to Him the strength of your heart so that you may live only for His love.
For the love of Jesus love all those who live with you and those with whom you have any dealings. Do not be afraid to make an effort to be amiable towards them, to pray for them and to deny yourself out of regard for them. The more a soul loves Jesus the more she loves her neighbor.
October 30th. You are always complain because you say you would rather be like everyone else, but you have not done with me yet. You will have to listen to me as long as God wills it. You may try as hard as you can to get rid of me but I have still many things to say to you. Perhaps some day you will understand this better.
December 25th. Do not be unhappy because I am not yet in Heaven. It is true that I said, "I shall only enter Heaven when you have arrived at the perfection God demands of you." However, the high degree of perfection to which Jesus is calling you is not attained in such a short time. There are different degrees of perfection and it is not the lowest one that is demanded of you. This beloved Friend knows that it would require a miracle to arrive (immediately) at the state of perfection to which He calls some souls and He will not perform that miracle.
the soul must advance on the narrow path, often so difficult to human nature. To attain the goal which Jesus has planned for you, you must become entirely dead to self and have no longer any will of your own nor love of self. As yet, you are not there. Thus if someone accuses you wrongly and attributes to you motives you never had (you know of what I am speaking) you should not let it vex you. It is God who permits this to give you the opportunity to renounce yourself and cling only to Him. He wishes you to arrive at that state where nothing whatsoever can disturb the peace of your soul. Sorrows, joys, disappointments, all should pass by unheeded. Listen well, God wishes to fulfill all your desires, to satiate your heart and be your all in all and, believe me, this is not the work of the day.
No, you are not too indulgent. In some cases it is far better to yield than to keep the upper hand. Here is a point in a question that Jesus wants you to follow. Before giving advice or a well merited proof to a pupil or anyone else, recollect yourself for a moment, then you put yourself in the other person's place and act toward her as you would want her to act toward you in a similar situation. Then Jesus would be pleased.
1883. Again, another has passed into eternity! In like many others will pass by, days follow it each other until the one that puts an end to the short days of life on earth, and then begins the long life of eternity. Use every minute well, as each one of them is an opportunity to merit in Heaven and escape Purgatory. Every action performed in the presence of Jesus merits an extra degree of glory in Heaven and a greater love for Him. Your actions thus performed forge a chain of love that unites the soul closer and closer to its Beloved. When the last link has been completed, Jesus breaks the feeble bonds that keep the soul, now full of merit, in the body, and it becomes united with Him for all eternity. Thus you understand how a life spent in the gradual absorption of the soul with Christ can really be a happy one. If in a few minutes, the soul can be elevated in ecstatic union with Jesus and forget all its past sufferings, what must a union of eternity must be like? Oh, if you could only know! If you could understand it! You, you whom Jesus has given every possible means of attaining it, would work at your perfection without ceasing. Oh, if we here had only five minutes of the time that you waste thinking about yourself and wondering if what I say to you is true or false, what we, in turn, would do for Him for whom we yearn so ardently! It is the devil who blinds you sometimes and makes you disregard what I say. He knows well what the result would be. Avoid his tricks, throw yourself wholeheartedly into the work of your sanctification and let this year be the beginning of that perfect life that Jesus has been expecting from you all this while. Right at the beginning of this year, take as your practice not to say one useless word, do not express your opinion unless obliged to do so, speak little and do not raise your eyes out of curiosity.
Your first look in the morning should be directed at Jesus, your first thought for Him. and your first word, one of thanksgiving and love. Then at the foot of the altar, place your heart in that of Jesus for the whole day, and in spirit, speak with Him there until evening. Again in the evening, place yourself at the feet of Jesus with true sorrow for your faults and genuine thanksgiving for His graces. You remember what I have said to you on this subject. Be very faithful in these practices. Jesus wants from you an unlimited purity of intention. Do not spare yourself anything, the more a soul sacrifices herself the happier she is. It is a known fact that love is repaid by love, but love is also repaid by gratitude, the denial of self, and the gift of oneself. Therefore, you must sacrifice yourself and offer yourself without reserve. Suffering always prepares the way for love. There is a degree of love which only those attain who have suffered much and suffered well, and in this, I mean mainly the sufferings of the soul. The greatest suffering that a soul really loving Jesus can endure is that of not being able to love Him as much as she desires.
Oh, how much Jesus loves you in spite of your coldness and misery. Recall all the graces He bestowed upon you, how He drew you to Himself by kindness, suffering and trials. He detaches you from yourself and by love He desires to unite you so closely to Himself that you might become as it were "Another Jesus".
Mother ___ is in the Purgatory. Souls of religious, priests and those on whom graces have been showered have a terrible Purgatory if they abuse the means which odd as placed at their disposal.
May 1883 - Retreat. When God desires something special from a soul He has many ways of achieving it. His plans are well laid out and kept. He makes Himself known on the great day when it pleases Him. It is for you especially that Jesus has from all eternity decreed to prepare and sanctify the person of whom I spoke to you. You will sanctify each other. God loves you ad you love Him.
During this retreat your union must be still closer. Your love must increase, your will must be one with that of Jesus and His interests must be yours. Why do you worry yourself about your Father? All that God does is well done. Is it not He who has prepared and given him to you? Why should He take him away? The ways of God are impenetrable. What will He not do to unite Himself to a soul that He wishes to be His alone? What unknown ways He has in His power! So be very trustful of your Jesus; do not doubt His goodness. The better you are the more you will try to please Him in every way and the more generous He will be to you.
This retreat must be the beginning of that high stage of perfection to which Jesus has been calling you for so long. Jesus expects much from this retreat. He has given you a new special grace. In return give yourself without reserve. Let Him be the Master of your heart. Watch very carefully over soul. Let your communication with Jesus always be heart to heart.
Let no word, no thought, not even a desire come from you that is not according to His adorable Will. If only you knew what that union is that Jesus wishes to contract with your soul, you would never put any hindrance in the way. Neither would you kick against the goad as you do. At last do you understand? This height of portion is scaring you, as you think you are being deceived. But with Jesus, why should you fear? He is your Father, your Spouse, your All. Has He not the right to demand what He wills from a soul without telling it why? He is the great Master, the Lord of all. Why do you try with your limited vision to examine His conduct? Adore His designs and obey blindly. This is what He demands of you, therefore, with all your heart, work seriously at your sanctification. Renew your love and tenderness for Jesus. Console Him, try to make up to Him for all the affronts He receives in the world. Love Him for all those who do not think of doing so. Jesus expects this of you; will you refuse Him?
May 20th. Jesus gives proof of His love for you, but in return He demands proof of your love for Him. You are aware of all that He is asking of you; you must no longer hesitate. Give yourself entirely to Him. Bury yourself in Him and never recall the gift. On earth we manage our own affairs, but in the next world, God arranges for us as He thinks fit. There are but few real friendships on earth. Often people love each other from caprice or self-interest. Then a little coldness, a word, a want of attention separates friends who seem inseparable. That is because God is not in possession of their souls; only hearts that are overflowing with the love of Jesus can give of their superabundance to their friends. All friendships that is not rooted in God is false and is not lasting. But when Jesus takes possession of a heart, it can love and do good to its friends, because it has in it the source of pure and unalloyed friendship. All the rest is human and nothing else. Always have a higher aim than those of the earth, which is worldliness.
Never seek the esteem or the friendship of anyone. Jesus alone is yours and He wishes you to be His forever. Your heart is not too large for Him. Love Him alone.
June 1883. Well, are you satisfied? Will you now believe me? I forgive you all that you have been thinking about me these last days. Under the circumstances, it could not be otherwise. You have committed no sin. Look at the kindness of Jesus; after having allowed the devil to make you suffer so much, He finally vanquished him and His Holy Will was accomplished. That is what He is waiting for. When God has special designs on a soul, they are not fulfilled without much suffering. You have proven this once more, have you not? But you were not alone.
M.L. must never permit himself to be discouraged. There may come moments of worry and fatigue, but he has the Tabernacle, let him open his heart to Jesus and ask with great confidence for light so that he may be a light to the souls confided to his care. Jesus loves him and will prove it to him. In return, he can never do enough for so good a God.
June 1883 Are you not happy in finally having found a spiritual Father? Pay great attention to all he says to you and you will greatly please God. This is another grace, so profit well by it. It is a great fortune for a soul to meet a director that understands her. That is indeed rare on earth. Jesus meets with such few generous souls on earth; there are so few who love Him, even among His priests. The good Master hopes for much from your Father. Oh how great a Priest he is! What a sublime mission is his but, alas, in these days there are few who understand this.
August 28, 1883 - Feast of St Augustine. So far, you have never prayed as Jesus wants you to pray. You do not pay enough attention to His inspirations, and you often lose sight of His presence which is the cause of your not advancing in perfection as He has planned for you. Watch carefully therefore, over your interior. I have been asking this of you in His Name for such a long time.
August 29th-Retreat. For many years God has been pursuing you, but on one pretext or another you have always turned a deaf ear. It is high time that you should begin to pay attention to all that I have told you. Profit by these holy days of the retreat and put into practice all you have written down. See how you stand with Jesus who is so good and so patient with you. Remember, He might grow weary of you in the end, seeing that you make so little account of the graces He has already given you and those He has still in store for you in the future. Once and for all, show Jesus that you do really love Him and give up your will to Him. There have been enough hesitations. Tell Him that He may do what He wills with you, but this must come from the bottom of your heart. To arrive at sanctity is not so difficult as you imagine. You suffer more in resisting and struggling every day against God, who is drawing you to Himself, than you would if you definitely gave yourself to Him without reserve.
7:00 o'clock. Accustom yourself to speak to Our Lord as to your most sincere and devoted friend. Neither do or say anything without consulting Him. You have been told this repeatedly during many years past and I have also told it to you. Today, I repeat it once more. God wants you to pay attention to it and above all to put it into practice. This glance of your soul towards Jesus, so as to catch each slightest wish, together with the colloquies He wished to have with you, will not disturb you and will never prevent you from discharging your exterior occupations well. On the contrary, it is impossible to be calm and recollected if the interior is not so. This is what Jesus asks of you, a life of faith and perpetual union with Him, a humble, hidden life known to Him alone. Let Jesus be everything to you. Regard everything as a means which He makes use of so as to unite Himself ever more closely to you, and thus to accomplish His designs on you. Do not put any obstacles in the way; be generous, sparing neither energy nor good will. So start this life of self-denial, of sacrifice and above all love, which Jesus is determined to obtain from you. Thus only will you find the peace and calm which He has been offering to you so for many years.
Let the Holy Will of God be the foundation of all that you may have to do or suffer. Jesus expects much from you, much suffering of soul and body, and especially your love. It is impossible to love without suffering. This you know well and you have had abundant proof of it in the past. Prepare yourself for what is to come in the future. God has endowed you with the ability to suffer more than anyone else. This is a grace and an act of mercy to you. When there are great sacrifices to be made there is more merit. I plead with you not to resist ant longer the designs which God has in regard to you. Do not ask for any further proofs-you have experienced enough. You know well that Jesus wants you to be entirely His. Weigh all these things at the foot of the Tabernacle, ask Him for guidance and do not delay any longer to carry out His plans. Ask Him for His help, first of all for yourself, and then for other souls.
Some day you will have to answer for all these privileges. All for Jesus! Pay no attention to what others may think of you. The devil is stirring this up to stop your spiritual progress and Jesus allows it to detach you from all that surrounds you. Let your one object always be to carry out all your duties and perform all your actions for love of Jesus. This is all that matters, the rest is secondary. Be very generous, put your Ego behind you and put Jesus in front of you. Think often of this if you want your actions to be pleasing to Jesus. there must be a little sacrifice in each one of them, something that cost you an effort. Without that there is no merit. Surely it is not difficult for you above all people to please Jesus. No longer think that when anything cost you a great deal of effort that there is no merit in it. The very opposite is the truth. Let only Jesus and yourself know about it. Ask me every evening if God is pleased with you and I will tell you how you stand. You have suffered much and you will suffer still more but in exchange Jesus has been good to you and He has a lot more in store for you in the future.
May 1886. It is true that no one merits graces from God. They are His gifts, and when He bestows them we are to receive them with gratitude and profit by them. For the soul of religious, the interior spirit of recollection is essential, also a life of sacrifice and purity of intention. This is the sum total of religious life. Learn to respect the Rule and Priest. Those who attack the ministers of Jesus Christ wound Him seriously, as they are the apple of His eye. Woe, three times woe, to any man or women who acts in this manner.
It is more pleasing to God for a religious to perform all her actions in conscious union with Him and with a pure intention in behalf of her deceased relatives rather than to say many prayers for them.
It is the soul that God loves most that He crucifies on earth, but this cross sent by God has always a certain sweetness mingled with its bitterness. It is not so with the crosses that come to us through our own fault; in them we find unmixed bitterness.
November 1886. You talk about these trials! Well, God has permitted them as a trial and thus He has given you strength of soul to make His glory, justice and love triumph. He desires a life of union with Him, a life of reparation and prayer. If you will take these interests of Jesus to heart He will also share in yours.
Christmas 1886. if you just wanted to you could soon be rid of me and I would be delivered from Purgatory.
February 1887. When God has any particular designs on a person, when He wishes her to be out of the ordinary, He gives her a magnanimous soul, a generous heart, a sound judgment and a level head. When you do not meet with these qualities or characteristics in anyone, it means that God does not expect anything out of the ordinary from him. Jesus does not make known to a soul at once what He requires of her. She would be terrified. Little by little as His grace makes her stronger, He reveals His secrets to her and He makes her a partner in His crucifixion. God loves you in a special manner. You are His daughter of predilection. All that has happened to you was for your greater good. Everyone must love God intensely but for you it is a\special obligation. You must reciprocate.
June 24th. Remain closely united to Jesus. Before every action, however trivial, or whatever you may have to do or say, ask His\advice. Speak to Him heart to heart as to a friend whom one has always close at hand. Jesus wants your whole soul with all its faculties and powers, your heart with all its affections, all its love. The good Jesus wants to be one with you and all the graces and devotedness you require for others, you should draw from His Sacred Heart, that Divine Source which can never be exhausted. This is how spouses who love each other should act, and you especially whom He loves above all. Jesus desires that you render Him an equal love. Oh, if I could only tell you all the graces God has in store for you if you do not put any obstacles in the way of His actions; compelling graces which would bind you irrevocably to Him, choice, rare and deep graces and trust. He has many things to confide to you for yourself alone, as well as for the common good.
Whenever you can pass by the church, make a little visit to Jesus and pour out the love of your heart to Him. Tell Him all your sorrows, your joys, your sufferings, in one word, everything. Speak to Him as to a loving Friend, a Father, a Spouse. Tell Him of all your tender love for Him, and when you cannot go church, speak to Him in your heart. From time to time, during the day, fill your mind for a few minutes with the Divine Presence, recollect yourself before His Majesty, acknowledging your own misery but also His goodness and thank Him affectionately. All the day long you can speak to Jesus heart to heart. That is what He expects from you and what He has been waiting for so long.
If you are faithful to all I tell you, if you take the trouble to try to please your Jesus in everything, if you give to Him all the little loving attentions of a devoted heart, always on the lookout to pleasure her spouse, Jesus on His part will keep for you His most secret communications, His Divine caresses, His most tender love as a Father and Spouse and He will refuse you nothing. If you give yourself entirely to Him, He will give Himself entirely to you. God wishes that this retreat should establish in you a state in which He has desired to see you for ever so long a time.
God attains His ends by ways often unknown to us. Set yourself to work well, seriously and courageously. On His side Jesus is about to give you new graces. Respond to them generously for your own sake and for the good of the community. Permit Jesus to bend and mold you as He pleases. Listen attentively to His voice in the depth of your soul and do not lose one of His graces. Let your will be one with His adorable will and let your heart be lost in His. He will soon accomplish His designs in you if you do not place any obstacles in His way. Do not lose sight of His Divine Presence. God wishes you to be extraordinarily holy and to belong to Him alone. If only you would take the trouble to do this. Above all things, Jesus desires to find in your heart love that is pure, disinterested, generous; love that does not fear suffering nor seek its own ease. All this is to be done with the sole object of pleasing Jesus alone.
God does not forbid us to take care of our bodies, but there are some people whom He Himself wishes to nurse and cure whenever He thinks it proper to do so. For such, remedies do not help. A little mortification is better for them than anything else. Believe what I say to you-you will see that it is true. A common life, that is what Jesus wants of you whom He cherish so intimately. Let practical faith animate all your actions and let your trust in Jesus and His love make you undertake generously all that He requires of you. Every morning on awakening say to your Beloved: "My Jesus, I am ready to accomplish Your Will-what do You want me to do to please you today?" Perform all your exercise of piety with great love in the presence of Jesus. You can do souls only in proportion as you are united to God. God is seeking for souls to repair the outrages which He receives; souls that love Him and make Him loved by other. He wants you to be of this number.
At a given moment, God unmasks the plots and defeats the plans of those who do not act solely for His glory. Before allowing a soul such intimate union with Himself, Jesus purifies it by trials, and the greater his designs on a soul, all the greater are the trials. The devil sees very well that God has special designs on you, that is why he harasses you so much and causes you to be worried by his agents. Do not be discouraged. God is helping you and will help you. Fight with great courage in spite of the efforts of Hell, God will achieve His goal. God makes use of me to encourage you because you have no one else. Remember that and see how human nature has need of these little encouragements. Think of this when the occasion arrives, since you have, and will continue to have, charge of souls.
God gives you an example of this in the Agony in the Garden. Have entire confidence in Jesus, He will never fail you. Fix your habitual dwelling place in the Heart of Jesus. Let love be the chain which unites your heart to His adorable Heart. Your heart which is so miserable will be purified and become detached by contact with His pure Heart. Draw also from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces you need for others and for your changes. He will refuse you nothing that you ask of Him with confidence and love. The trials and sufferings of the soul are more acute than those of the body. But for souls that love Jesus, the greatest sorrow is to know that they cause Him pain daily by their sins and ingratitude. Ask from the Heart of Jesus for that strength that is necessary for you that He may be able to work out His designs in you.
If God requires such great purity in a soul that He admits into Heaven, it is because He is the Eternal Purity, Beauty and Justice, the Eternal Goodness and Perfection.
God permits that you should thus suffer in body and soul that He may be able to fulfill in you all His great designs, in order that you may know the art of perfecting others by your own experience.
In order to fix your mind firmly on the presence of God, take each day one of the fourteen Stations of Our Lord in His Passion and dwell on it more particularly. Jesus wishes that we recall all the sufferings He has endured for us. On feast days, meditate in like manner on one of the glorious, eg., the Resurrection, the Ascension,. Think often on the Holy Eucharist, on the hidden life of Jesus in the Tabernacle. There, above all, you will see His loved concealed, alone and waiting in vain for someone to come and say to Him, "Jesus I love You". Every Sunday make your little plan for the week ahead, in one word, seek to please Jesus and He will repay you in the same measure. By Holy Communion, Jesus will unite you to Himself most intimately - more so than He has ever done to anyone before. You will find in this Divine Food an extraordinary strength to raise you up to the height of perfection that Jesus requires of you.
All things pass and pass quickly. Do not fret so much about things that will end one day. Aim at what will never end. By our holy actions united to Jesus, let us embellish our heavenly throne. Let us raise it up a few steps nearer to Him whom we shall contemplate and love throughout eternity.This is what should be our sole concern on earth. For a soul that He loves, Jesus does things that at first seem impossible. That is how He will act towards you. It is Jesus who is drawing you to Himself sweetly and gently but at the same time strongly and perseveringly. Do not refuse His Divine attraction.
In a short time Jesus will tell you what He requires of you. In the meantime, it is I whom He charges to make known to you His Divine Will. Listen well to His voice which is speaking to you in the secrets depths of your heart. Refuse Him nothing and you will gain everything, because if you are generous He will be much more so. You already have had proof of this many times.
God wants in His service generous souls who have no thought of themselves, but who direct all their attention and good will to making Him loved and who serve Him at the expense of their own interests. God's graces are pure gifts which He does not owe us. He gives them to whomever He pleases without anyone having the right to question Him about it. Who has the right to lay down the law to the Divine Master? Therefore, receive in all humility and gratitude the special graces with which Jesus favors you, without trying to understand the why and the wherefore. Jesus wishes you to soar above all that is created so that not one bond or thread binds you to this earth. You must live the life of the elect, whose only occupation is to enjoy, love and lose themselves entirely in God Himself.
November 2, 1890 - A Remembrance. This is the last Benediction of the month of the Rosary.
I am going to try to make you understand, as far as you can upon earth, what Heaven is like. There are ever new Feasts which succeed each other without interruption. There is happiness, always new and such, it would seem, as has never been enjoyed. It is a torrent of joy which flows unceasingly over the elect. Heaven is above all and beyond all - GOD: God loved, God relished, God delighted in; in one word, it is to be satisfied with God without ever being satisfied!
The more a soul loves God on earth, the higher she advances in perfection, the more she will love and understand God in Heaven. Jesus is the true joy upon earth and the eternal felicity of Heaven.
Jesus submits patiently you all these delays, but who is the loser? You are. If you only knew what graces Jesus is storing up for you, how He longs to be united to you, you would give up your rebellious will which submits to Him today but does not do so again on the morrow. He who is so good and so loving is asking this of you.
Jesus will not let you rest until you arrive at that perfection He has destined for you. You may do as you like, but until your will is united with that of Jesus and your actions are performed under His direction and for His pleasure, you will have neither peace, nor rest, nor happiness of soul.
September 1882. Jesus has done very much for you and He will do still more for you in the future, but you must correspond with His graces in a generous spirit. The souls that arrive at the height of perfection that He demands of them are mistresses of His Heart. He refuses them nothing. When you will have arrived at that stage, Jesus and yourself will be but one. Your sentiments, your thoughts and your desires will be the same. Be good, therefore, make haste to become a saint to procure great glory for your one Friend who waits for that moment to inundate your soul with His grace. You do not yet make sufficient effort in watching over your interior and in keeping before your mind the Divine Presence of Jesus. Try to take the trouble and you will be powerfully helped. Jesus is only waiting for a little good will on your part and He will do the rest. Say to yourself every day, "Since Jesus began to give me so many special graces, what have I become? What ought I to be? What would I be if I had always corresponded well?" These thoughts meditated on for a few minutes will do much good to your soul. Only reflect seriously on them, for it is the will of God that I have told you. He also desires that you work seriously at your perfection because upon it depends that of many others. Jesus has such an intense love for you that He desires to pour upon you His choice graces which He shares only with His intimate friends. Hasten by your prayers and sacrifices the happy moment which will witness the Divine union that Jesus wishes to form with your soul.
Acknowledge before this Divine Friend your own poverty and the abyss of your miseries and then let Him act as He wills. This is the way of His love, the enrich the most miserable. His goodness is then shown forth to advantage. Try to love Jesus very much! Cling to Him more firmly than to anything else, join yourself to Him the strength of your heart so that you may live only for His love.
For the love of Jesus love all those who live with you and those with whom you have any dealings. Do not be afraid to make an effort to be amiable towards them, to pray for them and to deny yourself out of regard for them. The more a soul loves Jesus the more she loves her neighbor.
October 30th. You are always complain because you say you would rather be like everyone else, but you have not done with me yet. You will have to listen to me as long as God wills it. You may try as hard as you can to get rid of me but I have still many things to say to you. Perhaps some day you will understand this better.
December 25th. Do not be unhappy because I am not yet in Heaven. It is true that I said, "I shall only enter Heaven when you have arrived at the perfection God demands of you." However, the high degree of perfection to which Jesus is calling you is not attained in such a short time. There are different degrees of perfection and it is not the lowest one that is demanded of you. This beloved Friend knows that it would require a miracle to arrive (immediately) at the state of perfection to which He calls some souls and He will not perform that miracle.
the soul must advance on the narrow path, often so difficult to human nature. To attain the goal which Jesus has planned for you, you must become entirely dead to self and have no longer any will of your own nor love of self. As yet, you are not there. Thus if someone accuses you wrongly and attributes to you motives you never had (you know of what I am speaking) you should not let it vex you. It is God who permits this to give you the opportunity to renounce yourself and cling only to Him. He wishes you to arrive at that state where nothing whatsoever can disturb the peace of your soul. Sorrows, joys, disappointments, all should pass by unheeded. Listen well, God wishes to fulfill all your desires, to satiate your heart and be your all in all and, believe me, this is not the work of the day.
No, you are not too indulgent. In some cases it is far better to yield than to keep the upper hand. Here is a point in a question that Jesus wants you to follow. Before giving advice or a well merited proof to a pupil or anyone else, recollect yourself for a moment, then you put yourself in the other person's place and act toward her as you would want her to act toward you in a similar situation. Then Jesus would be pleased.
1883. Again, another has passed into eternity! In like many others will pass by, days follow it each other until the one that puts an end to the short days of life on earth, and then begins the long life of eternity. Use every minute well, as each one of them is an opportunity to merit in Heaven and escape Purgatory. Every action performed in the presence of Jesus merits an extra degree of glory in Heaven and a greater love for Him. Your actions thus performed forge a chain of love that unites the soul closer and closer to its Beloved. When the last link has been completed, Jesus breaks the feeble bonds that keep the soul, now full of merit, in the body, and it becomes united with Him for all eternity. Thus you understand how a life spent in the gradual absorption of the soul with Christ can really be a happy one. If in a few minutes, the soul can be elevated in ecstatic union with Jesus and forget all its past sufferings, what must a union of eternity must be like? Oh, if you could only know! If you could understand it! You, you whom Jesus has given every possible means of attaining it, would work at your perfection without ceasing. Oh, if we here had only five minutes of the time that you waste thinking about yourself and wondering if what I say to you is true or false, what we, in turn, would do for Him for whom we yearn so ardently! It is the devil who blinds you sometimes and makes you disregard what I say. He knows well what the result would be. Avoid his tricks, throw yourself wholeheartedly into the work of your sanctification and let this year be the beginning of that perfect life that Jesus has been expecting from you all this while. Right at the beginning of this year, take as your practice not to say one useless word, do not express your opinion unless obliged to do so, speak little and do not raise your eyes out of curiosity.
Your first look in the morning should be directed at Jesus, your first thought for Him. and your first word, one of thanksgiving and love. Then at the foot of the altar, place your heart in that of Jesus for the whole day, and in spirit, speak with Him there until evening. Again in the evening, place yourself at the feet of Jesus with true sorrow for your faults and genuine thanksgiving for His graces. You remember what I have said to you on this subject. Be very faithful in these practices. Jesus wants from you an unlimited purity of intention. Do not spare yourself anything, the more a soul sacrifices herself the happier she is. It is a known fact that love is repaid by love, but love is also repaid by gratitude, the denial of self, and the gift of oneself. Therefore, you must sacrifice yourself and offer yourself without reserve. Suffering always prepares the way for love. There is a degree of love which only those attain who have suffered much and suffered well, and in this, I mean mainly the sufferings of the soul. The greatest suffering that a soul really loving Jesus can endure is that of not being able to love Him as much as she desires.
Oh, how much Jesus loves you in spite of your coldness and misery. Recall all the graces He bestowed upon you, how He drew you to Himself by kindness, suffering and trials. He detaches you from yourself and by love He desires to unite you so closely to Himself that you might become as it were "Another Jesus".
Mother ___ is in the Purgatory. Souls of religious, priests and those on whom graces have been showered have a terrible Purgatory if they abuse the means which odd as placed at their disposal.
May 1883 - Retreat. When God desires something special from a soul He has many ways of achieving it. His plans are well laid out and kept. He makes Himself known on the great day when it pleases Him. It is for you especially that Jesus has from all eternity decreed to prepare and sanctify the person of whom I spoke to you. You will sanctify each other. God loves you ad you love Him.During this retreat your union must be still closer. Your love must increase, your will must be one with that of Jesus and His interests must be yours. Why do you worry yourself about your Father? All that God does is well done. Is it not He who has prepared and given him to you? Why should He take him away? The ways of God are impenetrable. What will He not do to unite Himself to a soul that He wishes to be His alone? What unknown ways He has in His power! So be very trustful of your Jesus; do not doubt His goodness. The better you are the more you will try to please Him in every way and the more generous He will be to you.
This retreat must be the beginning of that high stage of perfection to which Jesus has been calling you for so long. Jesus expects much from this retreat. He has given you a new special grace. In return give yourself without reserve. Let Him be the Master of your heart. Watch very carefully over soul. Let your communication with Jesus always be heart to heart.
Let no word, no thought, not even a desire come from you that is not according to His adorable Will. If only you knew what that union is that Jesus wishes to contract with your soul, you would never put any hindrance in the way. Neither would you kick against the goad as you do. At last do you understand? This height of portion is scaring you, as you think you are being deceived. But with Jesus, why should you fear? He is your Father, your Spouse, your All. Has He not the right to demand what He wills from a soul without telling it why? He is the great Master, the Lord of all. Why do you try with your limited vision to examine His conduct? Adore His designs and obey blindly. This is what He demands of you, therefore, with all your heart, work seriously at your sanctification. Renew your love and tenderness for Jesus. Console Him, try to make up to Him for all the affronts He receives in the world. Love Him for all those who do not think of doing so. Jesus expects this of you; will you refuse Him?
May 20th. Jesus gives proof of His love for you, but in return He demands proof of your love for Him. You are aware of all that He is asking of you; you must no longer hesitate. Give yourself entirely to Him. Bury yourself in Him and never recall the gift. On earth we manage our own affairs, but in the next world, God arranges for us as He thinks fit. There are but few real friendships on earth. Often people love each other from caprice or self-interest. Then a little coldness, a word, a want of attention separates friends who seem inseparable. That is because God is not in possession of their souls; only hearts that are overflowing with the love of Jesus can give of their superabundance to their friends. All friendships that is not rooted in God is false and is not lasting. But when Jesus takes possession of a heart, it can love and do good to its friends, because it has in it the source of pure and unalloyed friendship. All the rest is human and nothing else. Always have a higher aim than those of the earth, which is worldliness.
Never seek the esteem or the friendship of anyone. Jesus alone is yours and He wishes you to be His forever. Your heart is not too large for Him. Love Him alone.
June 1883. Well, are you satisfied? Will you now believe me? I forgive you all that you have been thinking about me these last days. Under the circumstances, it could not be otherwise. You have committed no sin. Look at the kindness of Jesus; after having allowed the devil to make you suffer so much, He finally vanquished him and His Holy Will was accomplished. That is what He is waiting for. When God has special designs on a soul, they are not fulfilled without much suffering. You have proven this once more, have you not? But you were not alone.
M.L. must never permit himself to be discouraged. There may come moments of worry and fatigue, but he has the Tabernacle, let him open his heart to Jesus and ask with great confidence for light so that he may be a light to the souls confided to his care. Jesus loves him and will prove it to him. In return, he can never do enough for so good a God.
June 1883 Are you not happy in finally having found a spiritual Father? Pay great attention to all he says to you and you will greatly please God. This is another grace, so profit well by it. It is a great fortune for a soul to meet a director that understands her. That is indeed rare on earth. Jesus meets with such few generous souls on earth; there are so few who love Him, even among His priests. The good Master hopes for much from your Father. Oh how great a Priest he is! What a sublime mission is his but, alas, in these days there are few who understand this.
August 28, 1883 - Feast of St Augustine. So far, you have never prayed as Jesus wants you to pray. You do not pay enough attention to His inspirations, and you often lose sight of His presence which is the cause of your not advancing in perfection as He has planned for you. Watch carefully therefore, over your interior. I have been asking this of you in His Name for such a long time.
August 29th-Retreat. For many years God has been pursuing you, but on one pretext or another you have always turned a deaf ear. It is high time that you should begin to pay attention to all that I have told you. Profit by these holy days of the retreat and put into practice all you have written down. See how you stand with Jesus who is so good and so patient with you. Remember, He might grow weary of you in the end, seeing that you make so little account of the graces He has already given you and those He has still in store for you in the future. Once and for all, show Jesus that you do really love Him and give up your will to Him. There have been enough hesitations. Tell Him that He may do what He wills with you, but this must come from the bottom of your heart. To arrive at sanctity is not so difficult as you imagine. You suffer more in resisting and struggling every day against God, who is drawing you to Himself, than you would if you definitely gave yourself to Him without reserve.
7:00 o'clock. Accustom yourself to speak to Our Lord as to your most sincere and devoted friend. Neither do or say anything without consulting Him. You have been told this repeatedly during many years past and I have also told it to you. Today, I repeat it once more. God wants you to pay attention to it and above all to put it into practice. This glance of your soul towards Jesus, so as to catch each slightest wish, together with the colloquies He wished to have with you, will not disturb you and will never prevent you from discharging your exterior occupations well. On the contrary, it is impossible to be calm and recollected if the interior is not so. This is what Jesus asks of you, a life of faith and perpetual union with Him, a humble, hidden life known to Him alone. Let Jesus be everything to you. Regard everything as a means which He makes use of so as to unite Himself ever more closely to you, and thus to accomplish His designs on you. Do not put any obstacles in the way; be generous, sparing neither energy nor good will. So start this life of self-denial, of sacrifice and above all love, which Jesus is determined to obtain from you. Thus only will you find the peace and calm which He has been offering to you so for many years.
Let the Holy Will of God be the foundation of all that you may have to do or suffer. Jesus expects much from you, much suffering of soul and body, and especially your love. It is impossible to love without suffering. This you know well and you have had abundant proof of it in the past. Prepare yourself for what is to come in the future. God has endowed you with the ability to suffer more than anyone else. This is a grace and an act of mercy to you. When there are great sacrifices to be made there is more merit. I plead with you not to resist ant longer the designs which God has in regard to you. Do not ask for any further proofs-you have experienced enough. You know well that Jesus wants you to be entirely His. Weigh all these things at the foot of the Tabernacle, ask Him for guidance and do not delay any longer to carry out His plans. Ask Him for His help, first of all for yourself, and then for other souls.
Some day you will have to answer for all these privileges. All for Jesus! Pay no attention to what others may think of you. The devil is stirring this up to stop your spiritual progress and Jesus allows it to detach you from all that surrounds you. Let your one object always be to carry out all your duties and perform all your actions for love of Jesus. This is all that matters, the rest is secondary. Be very generous, put your Ego behind you and put Jesus in front of you. Think often of this if you want your actions to be pleasing to Jesus. there must be a little sacrifice in each one of them, something that cost you an effort. Without that there is no merit. Surely it is not difficult for you above all people to please Jesus. No longer think that when anything cost you a great deal of effort that there is no merit in it. The very opposite is the truth. Let only Jesus and yourself know about it. Ask me every evening if God is pleased with you and I will tell you how you stand. You have suffered much and you will suffer still more but in exchange Jesus has been good to you and He has a lot more in store for you in the future.
May 1886. It is true that no one merits graces from God. They are His gifts, and when He bestows them we are to receive them with gratitude and profit by them. For the soul of religious, the interior spirit of recollection is essential, also a life of sacrifice and purity of intention. This is the sum total of religious life. Learn to respect the Rule and Priest. Those who attack the ministers of Jesus Christ wound Him seriously, as they are the apple of His eye. Woe, three times woe, to any man or women who acts in this manner.
It is more pleasing to God for a religious to perform all her actions in conscious union with Him and with a pure intention in behalf of her deceased relatives rather than to say many prayers for them.
It is the soul that God loves most that He crucifies on earth, but this cross sent by God has always a certain sweetness mingled with its bitterness. It is not so with the crosses that come to us through our own fault; in them we find unmixed bitterness.
November 1886. You talk about these trials! Well, God has permitted them as a trial and thus He has given you strength of soul to make His glory, justice and love triumph. He desires a life of union with Him, a life of reparation and prayer. If you will take these interests of Jesus to heart He will also share in yours.
Christmas 1886. if you just wanted to you could soon be rid of me and I would be delivered from Purgatory.February 1887. When God has any particular designs on a person, when He wishes her to be out of the ordinary, He gives her a magnanimous soul, a generous heart, a sound judgment and a level head. When you do not meet with these qualities or characteristics in anyone, it means that God does not expect anything out of the ordinary from him. Jesus does not make known to a soul at once what He requires of her. She would be terrified. Little by little as His grace makes her stronger, He reveals His secrets to her and He makes her a partner in His crucifixion. God loves you in a special manner. You are His daughter of predilection. All that has happened to you was for your greater good. Everyone must love God intensely but for you it is a\special obligation. You must reciprocate.
June 24th. Remain closely united to Jesus. Before every action, however trivial, or whatever you may have to do or say, ask His\advice. Speak to Him heart to heart as to a friend whom one has always close at hand. Jesus wants your whole soul with all its faculties and powers, your heart with all its affections, all its love. The good Jesus wants to be one with you and all the graces and devotedness you require for others, you should draw from His Sacred Heart, that Divine Source which can never be exhausted. This is how spouses who love each other should act, and you especially whom He loves above all. Jesus desires that you render Him an equal love. Oh, if I could only tell you all the graces God has in store for you if you do not put any obstacles in the way of His actions; compelling graces which would bind you irrevocably to Him, choice, rare and deep graces and trust. He has many things to confide to you for yourself alone, as well as for the common good.
Whenever you can pass by the church, make a little visit to Jesus and pour out the love of your heart to Him. Tell Him all your sorrows, your joys, your sufferings, in one word, everything. Speak to Him as to a loving Friend, a Father, a Spouse. Tell Him of all your tender love for Him, and when you cannot go church, speak to Him in your heart. From time to time, during the day, fill your mind for a few minutes with the Divine Presence, recollect yourself before His Majesty, acknowledging your own misery but also His goodness and thank Him affectionately. All the day long you can speak to Jesus heart to heart. That is what He expects from you and what He has been waiting for so long.
If you are faithful to all I tell you, if you take the trouble to try to please your Jesus in everything, if you give to Him all the little loving attentions of a devoted heart, always on the lookout to pleasure her spouse, Jesus on His part will keep for you His most secret communications, His Divine caresses, His most tender love as a Father and Spouse and He will refuse you nothing. If you give yourself entirely to Him, He will give Himself entirely to you. God wishes that this retreat should establish in you a state in which He has desired to see you for ever so long a time.
God attains His ends by ways often unknown to us. Set yourself to work well, seriously and courageously. On His side Jesus is about to give you new graces. Respond to them generously for your own sake and for the good of the community. Permit Jesus to bend and mold you as He pleases. Listen attentively to His voice in the depth of your soul and do not lose one of His graces. Let your will be one with His adorable will and let your heart be lost in His. He will soon accomplish His designs in you if you do not place any obstacles in His way. Do not lose sight of His Divine Presence. God wishes you to be extraordinarily holy and to belong to Him alone. If only you would take the trouble to do this. Above all things, Jesus desires to find in your heart love that is pure, disinterested, generous; love that does not fear suffering nor seek its own ease. All this is to be done with the sole object of pleasing Jesus alone.
God does not forbid us to take care of our bodies, but there are some people whom He Himself wishes to nurse and cure whenever He thinks it proper to do so. For such, remedies do not help. A little mortification is better for them than anything else. Believe what I say to you-you will see that it is true. A common life, that is what Jesus wants of you whom He cherish so intimately. Let practical faith animate all your actions and let your trust in Jesus and His love make you undertake generously all that He requires of you. Every morning on awakening say to your Beloved: "My Jesus, I am ready to accomplish Your Will-what do You want me to do to please you today?" Perform all your exercise of piety with great love in the presence of Jesus. You can do souls only in proportion as you are united to God. God is seeking for souls to repair the outrages which He receives; souls that love Him and make Him loved by other. He wants you to be of this number.
At a given moment, God unmasks the plots and defeats the plans of those who do not act solely for His glory. Before allowing a soul such intimate union with Himself, Jesus purifies it by trials, and the greater his designs on a soul, all the greater are the trials. The devil sees very well that God has special designs on you, that is why he harasses you so much and causes you to be worried by his agents. Do not be discouraged. God is helping you and will help you. Fight with great courage in spite of the efforts of Hell, God will achieve His goal. God makes use of me to encourage you because you have no one else. Remember that and see how human nature has need of these little encouragements. Think of this when the occasion arrives, since you have, and will continue to have, charge of souls.
God gives you an example of this in the Agony in the Garden. Have entire confidence in Jesus, He will never fail you. Fix your habitual dwelling place in the Heart of Jesus. Let love be the chain which unites your heart to His adorable Heart. Your heart which is so miserable will be purified and become detached by contact with His pure Heart. Draw also from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces you need for others and for your changes. He will refuse you nothing that you ask of Him with confidence and love. The trials and sufferings of the soul are more acute than those of the body. But for souls that love Jesus, the greatest sorrow is to know that they cause Him pain daily by their sins and ingratitude. Ask from the Heart of Jesus for that strength that is necessary for you that He may be able to work out His designs in you.
If God requires such great purity in a soul that He admits into Heaven, it is because He is the Eternal Purity, Beauty and Justice, the Eternal Goodness and Perfection.
God permits that you should thus suffer in body and soul that He may be able to fulfill in you all His great designs, in order that you may know the art of perfecting others by your own experience.
In order to fix your mind firmly on the presence of God, take each day one of the fourteen Stations of Our Lord in His Passion and dwell on it more particularly. Jesus wishes that we recall all the sufferings He has endured for us. On feast days, meditate in like manner on one of the glorious, eg., the Resurrection, the Ascension,. Think often on the Holy Eucharist, on the hidden life of Jesus in the Tabernacle. There, above all, you will see His loved concealed, alone and waiting in vain for someone to come and say to Him, "Jesus I love You". Every Sunday make your little plan for the week ahead, in one word, seek to please Jesus and He will repay you in the same measure. By Holy Communion, Jesus will unite you to Himself most intimately - more so than He has ever done to anyone before. You will find in this Divine Food an extraordinary strength to raise you up to the height of perfection that Jesus requires of you.
All things pass and pass quickly. Do not fret so much about things that will end one day. Aim at what will never end. By our holy actions united to Jesus, let us embellish our heavenly throne. Let us raise it up a few steps nearer to Him whom we shall contemplate and love throughout eternity.This is what should be our sole concern on earth. For a soul that He loves, Jesus does things that at first seem impossible. That is how He will act towards you. It is Jesus who is drawing you to Himself sweetly and gently but at the same time strongly and perseveringly. Do not refuse His Divine attraction.
In a short time Jesus will tell you what He requires of you. In the meantime, it is I whom He charges to make known to you His Divine Will. Listen well to His voice which is speaking to you in the secrets depths of your heart. Refuse Him nothing and you will gain everything, because if you are generous He will be much more so. You already have had proof of this many times.
God wants in His service generous souls who have no thought of themselves, but who direct all their attention and good will to making Him loved and who serve Him at the expense of their own interests. God's graces are pure gifts which He does not owe us. He gives them to whomever He pleases without anyone having the right to question Him about it. Who has the right to lay down the law to the Divine Master? Therefore, receive in all humility and gratitude the special graces with which Jesus favors you, without trying to understand the why and the wherefore. Jesus wishes you to soar above all that is created so that not one bond or thread binds you to this earth. You must live the life of the elect, whose only occupation is to enjoy, love and lose themselves entirely in God Himself.
November 2, 1890 - A Remembrance. This is the last Benediction of the month of the Rosary.
I am going to try to make you understand, as far as you can upon earth, what Heaven is like. There are ever new Feasts which succeed each other without interruption. There is happiness, always new and such, it would seem, as has never been enjoyed. It is a torrent of joy which flows unceasingly over the elect. Heaven is above all and beyond all - GOD: God loved, God relished, God delighted in; in one word, it is to be satisfied with God without ever being satisfied!
The more a soul loves God on earth, the higher she advances in perfection, the more she will love and understand God in Heaven. Jesus is the true joy upon earth and the eternal felicity of Heaven.
The end of the Purgatory manuscript.
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