Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Prepare your souls to receive the Light.


Mary, our Co-Redemptrix, says:


« God forgives him who acknowledges his sin, repents and confesses it with a humble and sincere heart, He does not only forgive, He rewards. Oh! How good is My Lord to those who are humble and sincere! To those who believe in Him, and trust in Him! Clear your souls of what encumbers them and makes them insipid. Prepare your souls to receive the Light. As a light in darkness, It is a guide and a holy consolation. O holy friendship with God, beatitude of His faithful ones, wealth unequaled by anything else, who possesses you is never alone, and never tastes the bitterness of despair.


O holy friendship, you do not eradicate sorrow, because sorrow was the destiny of a God incarnate and can thus be the destiny of man. But you make this sorrow sweet in its bitterness, and you mingle with it a light and a caress which relieve the cross with a celestial touch. And when Divine Bounty grants you graces, make use of the gift received to give glory to God. Do not be like foolish people who turn a good thing into a harmful weapon, or like lavish persons who convert their wealth into misery.


You give Me too much sorrow, My children, behind whose faces I see the Enemy appear, that is, he who hurls himself against My Jesus. Too much sorrow! I would like to be the Source of Grace for everybody. But too many among you do not want Grace. You ask for “graces”, but with a soul devoid of Grace. How can Grace succor you if you are Her enemies?


The great mystery of Good Friday [...] is commemorated and celebrated in churches. But it is necessary to celebrate and commemorate it in your hearts, and to beat your breasts like those who were descending from Golgotha and say. “In truth, this Man was the Son of God, the Saviour”, and say: “Jesus, for the sake of Your Name, save us”, and say: “Father, forgive us”, and finally say: “I am not worthy, but if You forgive me and come to me, my soul will be healed, and I no longer want to commit sin, because I no longer wish to be ill and hateful to You.”


Pray, children, with the words of My Son. Say to the Father for your enemies: “Father, forgive them.” Call the Father Who has withdrawn indignant at your errors: “Father, Father, why have You forsaken me? I am a sinner. But if You forsake me, I will perish. Come back, Holy Father, that I may be saved.” Entrust your eternal good, your spirit, to the Only One Who can preserve it unhurt from the demons: “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.”


Oh! If with humility and love you surrender your spirit to God, He will lead it as a father leads his little one, neither will He allow anything to hurt your spirit. Jesus, in His agony, prayed to teach you how to pray.


[…] consider and remember that I possessed God through an ever increasing sorrow. It descended into Me with the Seed of God and like a gigantic tree it has grown until it touched Heaven with its top, and hell with its roots, when I received on My lap the lifeless remains of the Flesh of My flesh, and I saw and counted His tortures, and I touched His torn Heart to consume My sorrow right until the last drop. »



From the Church-approved “The Gospel as Revealed to Me,” by Maria Valtorta. Imprimaturs from Bishop Roman Danylak (Titular Bishop of Nysea, Rome), Bishop Bonicilli (Abano, Italy) and Archbishop Soosa Pakian of Trimandrum. From Chapter 24.

 

Visit my web site and books.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, August 19, 2022

DECALOGUE OF HUMILITY

 

By Sister Benigna Consolata Ferrero (1885-1916).


1. Thou art nothing; thou art less than nothing, because thou art a miserable culprit, and a sinful nothing.


2. Thou canst do nothing of thyself; one thing only canst thou do, offend Me by abusing My graces and preparing for thy soul eternal damnation.


3. Thou meritest nothing; and therefore nothing judges nothing, says nothing, asks for nothing, and complains of nothing.


4. Nothing is content with everything, because nothing merits nothing, asks for nothing, and complains of nothing.


5. Nothing demands not that others should be concerned about her; and when Superiors are interested in her through charity, she plunges herself in the depths of her unworthiness.


6. My spouse, thou shouldst consider thyself as a rag, but not as a clean rag, that oftentimes is valued because it serves for drying objects; but a rag all soiled, which causes one to shudder on looking at it, which one will not even touch with the hands, and tries to get rid of; or if one must take it in the hand, it is only with the tips of the fingers so as not to get soiled. This is how thou shouldst regard thyself in the Community if thou wouldst keep thy place.


7. Thou shouldst be constantly abyssed in the consideration of thy nothingness, and deem thyself unworthy of all that is given thee.


8. Do not oppose in anything what Love wishes to do with thee. Even if I grant thee great graces, receive them with humility. I have created the world out of nothing: in the world, for example, is the sun, and what a great work the sun effects! And there, too, is the little fly; I have created both and both serve to My greater glory. Do not undervalue any grace, not even the smallest; profit of all, but always through love. Nor is this to be done with sentiment. When does a tree bear fruits and bear them most abundantly? When its roots are buried deep in the earth; and the deeper they are the less they are seen outside. So shouldst thou act: hide thyself more and more in the interior life. In the exterior a common life, exact certainly, but nothing extraordinary; and yet in the interior all extraordinary, beginning with charity, then humility, and then mortification.


9. Willingly let Love call thee away from the earth of thy miseries, whenever it pleases, in order to place thee in the crown of glory of My most sweet Heart for all eternity. The diamond is not seen when it is within the mountain; and yet it does not cease to be there; so is it with the soul which I keep hidden. Imitate also the Angels, who aiding so many human beings are nevertheless unseen.


10. Finally, as long as thou remainest ingulfed in thy nothingness,—and it is this which attracts to thee so many graces—I shall be to thee always a God of goodness, a God of mercy, a God of love; but the day in which thou art elated by pride, I shall become to thee a God of justice. I tell thee this not to frighten thee, but to warn thee, because I love thee so tenderly. If thou dost practice humility, thou wilt find peace; if thou wilt practice it more perfectly, thou wilt find more peace; and if thou wilt live and breathe only humility, thou shalt be pursued by My Love, My predilection and My favors, more than a robber is sought for by the police. O Religious Soul, I would wish to be able to call thee My Humility, and I shall succeed if thou art faithful to Love.

 

_________________________________________________

I had never heard of Sister Benigna, until reading about how the Lord recommended her works a number of times to Maria Valtorta, as mentioned in Valtorta's Notebooks.


View My Website HERE