Jesus says:
“Here I am to care for you entirely. But, poor Maria, certain wounds are necessary and fall within the work which a soul must undergo to be modeled into the shape which the Divine Artificer wants to give it. The block of marble which is already roughly shaped out says to itself, ‘I think I’ve had enough of being hammered, grazed, and chiseled. I am sufficiently beautiful and convey the sculptor’s idea.’ But the sculptor does not see it that way, and goes on hitting and chiseling until the work is perfect. I do the same with souls; and the more I have special designs for a soul, the more I work it.
“Listen, then. You have been immersed for some months in mystical peace and joy. But you must not forget that many are not and that you are only by my grace. See now: the storm of yesterday served to remind you precisely of these two things.
“The first is that you are a poor, poor creature full of failings, and you greatly need the help of all so as not to be at fault; above all, you need the kindness of your Jesus. If He sets you on the ground for an instant, you act like a child a few months old: you fall at once, get dirty, and harm yourself.
“The second is that the victim soul is in continuous service for her brothers and sisters. Observe, Maria, how very many are led to desolation and despair by a complex set of circumstances. Living and living with others, above all, are as many traps to clutch poor creatures and lead them to doubt themselves, others, and God. Not all, O Maria, possess Me the way you do. And if you, while possessing Me, suffer so from others’ way of acting, consider what others must suffer who do not have my breast to cry upon.
“You have always had Me, even when you thought you were alone and did not come to Me. You did not come, but I came. My unseen closeness was enough to introduce peace into the storms of your heart. A relative peace because you were not helping Me then. But it was always enough to prevent your ruin. But the others...! The others who are my enemies, the others whose faith is so chilled that it is no longer faith...! In the storm, they do not have the Master.
“If only you were heedful when I speak to you! I have spoken to you in these days about how you should treat your mother86 and about the need, for victims, to drink the gall and vinegar in my place.87 be calm. You have drunk it, but not too cheerfully, to tell the truth. But you have drunk it. It has not been without a purpose. Offer your pain, your discouragement over not having been better at it. Offer everything for your brothers and sisters.
“And do not doubt Me. Your Master understands better than all others. If you had been spiteful or had railed against Me, you would have wounded Me. But your humiliation in regard to your mother and your taking refuge in Me for help have annulled what is contributed by the imbalance in your mastery.
“You are a child that has been naughty. Children are forgiven, especially when they are sick and repent of having been naughty. And Jesus forgives you. You will see that Father,88 who speaks in my Name and by my inspiration, also tells you the same. Do you want proof of it? Don’t give him this notebook before confession, and confess. You will see.
“Be good and trusting. Love Me and suffer. Consider that only I love you as you need to be loved, that only I understand you to perfection, that only I can truly console you. Suffer... There is an infinite need for it in these days: for all and especially for you Italians.
“I told you to be a cistern of charity89 to give everyone the sweet waters of love. But I tell you that, by a most painful operation, you must also purify the most bitter waters of hatred in order to quench the thirst more and more of your brothers and sisters dying of so many thirsts.
“Needs are growing; the cistern must grow. And since it would be sacrilegious and foolish to join love to hatred and corrupt the sweetness of the water of love with the bitterness of the water of hatred, at the price of your pain you must place upon yourself a kind of supernatural filter: yourself absorb all the bitterness and let the purified water filter through so that the surge in the cistern of charity will grow.
“Whoever has given a glass of water in my Name will be blessed. But whoever squeezes that glass out of his heart - what will he receive? Consider this and ascend.”
Yesterday I really let what is human get the upper hand over me. As a justification I do not adduce pain so spasmodic as to make me think of morphine with desire or the torments of these days or the lack of prudence and charity in others. I invoke nothing as an excuse for myself. I say that I have let what is human get the best of me and - I have overstepped the bounds.
Afterwards - while I was still overstepping the bounds, I clung to my Jesus, for I felt madness in my head and temptation in my heart. The second act of recovering my wits, after the invocation of Jesus, was to ask Mother for forgiveness. The third act, an enormous fear of having failed to deserve Jesus’ words. I made more acts of contrition last night than in a year. For I cannot bear to think that I have grieved Jesus. It is in regard to Him that I am sorry! But Jesus seemed to be smiling at me in forgiveness.
The fear lasted until eight o’clock this morning, when the Most Good One spoke to me with his dear Voice, which is a real balm for the troubled heart. I am now anxious to hear what you90 say to me so as to receive additional proof that what I am hearing really comes from Jesus.
86 In the dictation of July 10.
87 In the dictation of July 13.
88 Father Migliorini.
89 In the dictation of June 21.
90 She is addressing Father Migliorini.