Faith is God.

An astonishing revelation and meditation on the theological virtue of Faith. From the Church approved Volume Two of Luisa Piccarreta’s Book of Heaven; Nihil Obstat, St. Annibale Di Francia; Imprimatur, Archbishop G. M. Leo.

 

                                              ~ ~ ~

                                   

Now, while seeing the confessor, I remembered he had told me that I was to write about Faith in the way in which the Lord had spoken to me about this virtue. While I was thinking of this, in one instant the Lord drew me so much to Himself, that I felt myself outside of myself, in the vault of the heavens together with Jesus; and He told me these exact words: “Faith is God.”

 

But these two words contained an immense light, such that it is impossible to explain them – but I will say what I can. In the word “Faith”, I comprehended that Faith is God Himself. Just as material food gives life to the body so that it may not die, so does Faith give life to the soul – without Faith, the soul is dead. Faith vivifies, Faith sanctifies, Faith spiritualizes man, and makes him keep his eye fixed on a Supreme Being, in such a way that he learns nothing of the things of down here; and if he learns them, he learns them in God.

 

Oh! the happiness of a soul who lives of Faith – her flight is always toward Heaven. In everything that happens to her, she always looks at herself in God; and so, just as in tribulation, Faith raises her in God and she does not afflict herself, nor does she lament, knowing that she is not to form her contentment here, but in Heaven; in the same way, if joy, riches, pleasures, surround her, Faith raises her in God, and she says to herself: “Oh! how much more content and rich will I be in Heaven!” So, these earthly things are a bother to her, she despises them, and tramples them underfoot.

 

It seems to me that to a soul who lives of Faith, it happens as to a person who possessed millions upon millions of coins, and even entire kingdoms, and someone else wanted to offer him a penny. What would he say? Would he not disdain it? Would he not throw it in his face? I add: and what if that penny were all muddy, just as earthly things are? Even more: what if that penny were only lent to him? Now, this person would say: “I enjoy and possess immense riches, and you dared to offer me this miserable penny, so muddy, and only for a short time?” I believe he would immediately remove his gaze from it, and would not accept the gift. So does the soul who lives of Faith with regard to earthy things.

I will espouse you in the Faith.

Now let us go back again to the idea of food: by taking food, the body is not only sustained, but shares in the substance of the food, which is transformed with the body itself. The same for the soul who lives of Faith: since Faith is God Himself, the soul comes to live of God Himself; and by feeding herself with God Himself, she comes to share in the substance of God; and by sharing in Him, she comes to resemble Him and to be transformed with God Himself. Therefore, it happens to the soul who lives of Faith, that, just as God is holy, the soul is holy; powerful God – powerful the soul; wise, strong and just God – wise, strong and just the soul; and so with all the other attributes of God. In sum, the soul becomes a little god. Oh! the blessedness of this soul on earth, to then be more blessed in Heaven.

 

I also comprehended that those words which the Lord says to His beloved souls – “I will espouse you in the Faith” – mean nothing less but that the Lord, in this mystical marriage, comes to endow the souls with His own virtues. It seems to me that it happens as to two spouses: as they join their properties together, the belongings of one can no longer be distinguished from those of the other, but both of them become the owners. However, in our case, the soul is poor – all the good comes from the Lord, who lets her share in His possessions. The life of the soul is God, Faith is God, and the soul, by possessing Faith, comes to graft all the other virtues into herself, in such a way that Faith is like a king in her heart, and the other virtues remain around It, as the subjects that serve Faith. So, without Faith, the virtues themselves are virtues that have no life.

 

It seems to me that God communicates Faith to man in two ways: the first is in holy Baptism; the second is when blessed God, by unleashing a particle of His substance into the soul, communicates to her the virtue of making miracles, like raising the dead, healing the sick, stopping the sun, and the like. Oh! if the world had Faith, it would change into a terrestrial paradise.

 

The soul who lives of Faith.

 

Oh! how high and sublime is the flight of the soul who exercises herself in Faith. It seems to me that by exercising herself in Faith, the soul acts like those timid little birds which, for fear of being caught by hunters, or of some other snare, establish their dwelling at the top of the trees, or in high places. Then, when they are forced to take food, they descend, take the food, and immediately fly back into their dwelling. And some of them, more cautious, take the food and don’t even eat it on the ground, but in order to be safer, they carry it up to the top of the trees, and there they swallow it. 

 

In the same way, the soul who lives of Faith is so timid with earthly things, that for fear of being snared, she doesn’t so much as glance at them. Her dwelling is up high – that is, above all the things of the earth, and especially in the wounds of Jesus Christ; and from within those blessed rooms [wounds] she moans, cries, prays and suffers together with her Spouse Jesus over the condition and the misery in which mankind lies. While she lives inside those holes of the wounds of Jesus, the Lord gives her a particle of His virtues, and the soul feels those virtues within herself as if they were her own. However, she realizes that, even though she sees them as her own, her possessing them is given to her, for they were communicated by the Lord.

 

It happens to her as to a person who has received a gift that he did not possess. Now, what does he do? He takes it and makes himself the owner of it; however, every time he looks at it, he says to himself: “This is mine, but it was given to me by so and so.” So also does the soul whom the Lord transmutes into Himself, by unleashing from Himself a particle of His Divine Being. Now, this soul, just as she abhors sin, also feels compassion for others, and prays for those whom she sees walking on the path of the precipice. She unites herself with Jesus Christ, and offers herself as victim in order to placate Divine Justice, and to spare creatures the deserved chastisements. And if the sacrifice of her life were necessary – oh! how gladly she would make it for the salvation of one soul alone.

Luisa Piccarreta, Book of Heaven, Volume Two, entry for February 28, 1899.

View my Catholic web site Here.