Jesus says:
“I told you that the books of Wisdom should always be read with superhuman references.199
“Just the opposite of what the world does, and the science of the world, which is unable to raise itself to the supernatural level, but strives to lower the supernatural in things to its earthly level. In this way, it takes the artistic sensefrom inspired pages, hears and notes the poetry and music - all of which, in short, caresses its human feelings - but it does not labor to open the doors beyond which there is enclosed its spirit, which that humanity is so unconcerned about as to deny or forget it.
“And the spirit, oppressed like a slave in a dark galley, does not receive the reflection - I say ‘reflection’ because the ray does not descend through the thick walls of human pride and lust - not even the reflection of the sun of Wisdom shining for all and for it, buried as it is in the dark well of indifference to the supernatural, so far away; it does not even receive the most remote wave of that reflection of light, the most remote vibration of that harmony which is not made of words, but of sublime meanings, and becomes increasingly stupefied in criminal isolation.
“Poor spirits enclosed in beings dominated by the threefold sensuality of the flesh! When a supernatural word crosses into their prison, like an echo coming from afar, they react with a start and make an effort to get a hearing from the flesh oppressing them. But they are vain attempts by a weak man oppressed by a giant.
“To understand the Word as it is, and to make the spirit as it should be - the lord of the flesh and not a slave - mankind must set the ax to whole forests and cut down the wicked trees, planted by the imprudence of some or by their rebellious thought and left to grow freely - indeed, helped to grow by other imprudent ones and other rebels against the law of the Lord. Humanity should do this and shedlight. Allow the Light to descend from the heights of the Heavens upon the meadows of the earth, where, like grass that passes, you sprout, blossom, and fall in a short time. And blessed are those who blossom in such fashion as to be worthy of being transplanted into my Paradise.
“These are the ones for whom the light of the spirit is not precluded and extinguished. They are the strong who are able to resist human currents. They are the faithful who are able to believe even in opposition to human assertions. They are the secure who are able to go on feeling the Sun even beyond the shadows created by man, and nothing displaces them from this security of theirs. Like the tive needle of a compass they aim towards the Light, as migratory birds follow their Sun. They are able to leave homes and relatives to come to the Sun of their souls.
“And I am not referring, Maria, to those who enter a monastery. There are creatures who, while living in their families, ‘leave’ them ‘out of love for Me’ more than if they were to set themselves beyond the double grill of a monastery.You know something about this and you know what tears it costs ‘to follow Me’ in opposition to the hostile will of family members.
“Those who, going against the selfishness, derision, and incredulity of relatives, are able to follow their King of Love ‘come to Me,’ those who do not grow disturbed or cold under the daily assault of unjust remarks and the religious indifference of others. But, rather, they suffer this and labor to augment the Light in themselves and bear it into the midst of their obfuscated families and they exhaust themselves in protecting the interests of their God within the first of human societies - the family - and go so far as to give Me their lives provided they can obtain Life for the dead in their families - the spiritually dead.
“Oh, blessed, oh, holy, oh, heroic children of mine! I know what it means to go against the sweet bond of love and the harsh chain of family prejudice to break them and follow the Lord’s order. I know. I remember. And I reward with a special reward the hidden martyrs of family selfishness or family love, the holy martyrs of my Love, as irrepressible as death in them and as agonizing as a fare.
“The sentence in the Song – ‘At night in my bed I sought the love of my soul and did not find him’ - should be read supernaturally as follows.
“Often, and for different reasons, the night for the soul. The needs of life, which you frequently cause to become ‘the cares of life,’ create dusky shadows, sometimes so deep as to be like a starless night. God’s will, to test your constancy, sometimes prompts other kinds of nocturnal darkness. During these obscure times ‘the love of the soul’ withdraws.
“The soul, if it is not completely dead, spontaneously loves its Creator God. Even if you do not realize, this light of yours, this flame of yours, hidden within the dark barriers of the flesh, longingly tends towards the Kingdom from which it has come and sighs for union with its Origin. The soul on earth finds itself lost among strangers and seeks the closeness of the Only One who assures it: God.
“When, because of your heedlessness, God withdraws, for you have created the night with your human cares, the soul suffers. A kind of initial bewilderment takes place in it. But afterwards the time comes when it reawakens, and it then seeks ‘its love’ and suffers from feeling Him to be far away and because of its laxity, which has allowed the flesh to dominate with its worthless cares.
“When, on the other hand, it is God who, to test a spirit, withdraws from it and allows the night to envelope it, this vigilant spirit then realizes at once that it has been left by its Love and leaps to its feet to seek Him and experiences no peace until it has reached Him and clasped Him to its heart.
“This spirit that has comprehended the Light sets the only care you ought to have - ‘the seeking of God’ - against the cares of the earth. holy care of the soul in love, which the divine care of God, in love with the souls of his creatures to the point of giving Himself for their salvation, repays.
“Whether you have lost my closeness by your own fault or by my will, be capable of imitating the bride in the Song. Rise up without delay; search tirelessly and unhesitatingly, and fearlessly.
“If the distance depends on you, it would be shameful for you not to seek to have yourselves forgiven by being patient and insistent in the search. If it depends on God, it would be offensive for you to show human impatience and thereby virtually reproach God, who is beyond censure.
“And you should not even be afraid. When one seeks God, God, even if He is hidden, watches over him. world thus cannot do any ‘real’ harm to the seeker of God. Even if it rages with mockery or with persecutions, always consider that these are things of relative duration whereas the fruit of your bold love never perishes.
“When your loving searches finally grant that you may rejoin the love of your souls, hug that love with a stronger and stronger embrace until it becomes total and indissoluble fusion between yourselves and Him.
“See, my little bride, when this point is arrived at, Jesus never draws away. is enough for you to turn the spirit’s gaze to see Me near. Just like a husband in love who moves about the nuptial house: it suffices for the bride to turn around or peer out the door in order to see Him near to her or in the next room.
“Isn’t all of this sweet? Doesn’t it give you a great deal of security? Abundant peace and comfort?
“But that is still nothing. When I take your soul from this little house of yours and from the ephemeral dwelling of flesh where it is imprisoned to the eternal dwellings, you will become aware of what the blessedness of love is. The present joy is like a drop of honey compared to the river of sweetness which I shall pour upon you.”
Later, Also on October 14
Jesus says:
“When love has become so strong as to become ‘fusion,’ it is also useless to fear acts of human violence which fracture life or the length of life itself.
“Believe, soul that are listening, believe that nothing is so violent as love and so destructive as love. if the sword or the arrows of tyrants had not bled to death and pierced my martyrs, if fire or pitch had not melted them and burned them to ashes, if the water had not submerged them or the beasts torn them apart, they would have died just the same, having reached that point of incandescence in love to which mutual love between the Christian and Christ had taken them. opens veins and heart more than a sword or an arrow; love consumes more than fire and pitch; love submerges more than water; and Love breathes into Itself more than a hungry beast.
“But this annihilation of the creature in Love separates the gem from its sheath, opens the lock for the angel enclosed in the flesh - let us rather say ‘for the spirit,’ to forestall the objections of the human quibblers who lose themselves in analyzing the trimmings and do not look at the core of thought. This annihilation frees the immortal spirit and makes it be born in the Heavens, which have awaited it and which open for its entry and close behind it, placing a barrier of peace between it and the earth hostile to the saints.
“For this reason I said to you, ‘Do not fear those who can kill your bodies,’ for the killing of the body is liberation of the spirit.
“Love is an immolator, like the sword and fire, like water and the beasts. And, in your days, in which the great persecutions which crowned the nascent Church with purple do not exist, I tell you in truth that martyrs are not lacking for whom the flame of love is sword, fire, and beast.
“The one you call the ‘Little Flower’200 is no less a martyr than St. Agnes, for the blade which nipped the life of the former and the latter has a single name at bottom: ‘Love.’ And in Heaven the martyrdoms of the former and the latter, though consummated in different ways, receive the same reward, for the glory of God was the agent spurring them to encounter it, and love for souls, what spurred them to ask for it.
“It is equally useless to fear the length of the separation. Love abbreviates it because it consumes. A being caught in a vortex of fire does not withstand for long.
“Fire swiftly carries one off to Fire, to the Triune God, who is the perfection of Love, who is Love itself, and who in every instant of time renews and expands his ardor, which goes from the Center to the Three, and from the Three to the Unity, with ineffable movements of love - not comprehensible for a human mind - and, like a wave from a closed spring, then overflows and expands over the Universe and embraces, fecundates, and attracts it, gives it life and asks to receive the lives created to bring them to know Love - that is, Itself - with the perfection which is no longer of the creatures while they are separated from the Creator, but of the creatures when they are again gathered upon the Creator’s breast.
“Oh, beatific Light! Oh, thrice holy Love! Why hasn’t my sacrifice as God been sufficient to give Me all creatures? Why, indeed, has the Enemy so acted upon human weakness as to make my sacrifice not penetrate into almost all creatures?
“Oh, the pain of the God-Man, of God, who left the superessential splendors to come upon the earth for the purpose of giving earthlings Love and taking those of the earth to Love, and sees that for millions and millions of beings his holocaust as God leaving the Heavens, as Man immolating Himself, was made to no avail!
“You drift so far away from Good, from the Love that is Good, and you die. You die after I have given you Life. You die because you are unable to love and do not want to let yourselves be loved by God.
“Remain faithful, among the men unfaithful to Jesus, your Lord and Savior, unfaithful to the Triune God, Father, Redeemer, and your Love - you that have known love. Do not ever separate yourselves from this safe way, whose end is in my Heart.
“May love not only be the guide of your lives, but spur you on such a swift race that it will be a flight towards Me. Like a butterfly attracted by the light, fly to the Light. It is here to receive you and increase its flashes of joy because it sees you to be faithful. “Come. Ascend. There is nothing but God to be joy for the creature.”
199 For example, in the dictation of July 9.
200 St. Therese of Lisieux.