Jesus says:
“And now, soul of mine, now that we are at the end of the Song, I will teach you the final stratagems of the wisdom of love.
“Be pure, for your Beloved is purer than the lily and the snow, and the bride must wear the same clothes as her Lord and value what He values. The Light approaches, Maria. Also remove the tracesof the shadows of the flesh so that you, too, will be all light for the hour when I come, the Light - Jesus - will clasp you to his heart to take you to his dwelling, where there will no longer exist the separations imposed by being upon this earth.
“Always increase your beauty, for the wedding is near. Put on the jewels of the final sacrifices; adorn yourself therewith joyfully, for they have been given to you by the One who loves you with an eternal love.
“Set yourself aflame with the splendor of love so as to give brightness to your spiritual appearance. A coldbride, even just a lukewarm one, is not a bride. I want you burning with total love.
“Be intrepid against all the forces of the Enemy, who is trying to perturb you out of hellish envy. will launch his demoniacal quadrigae against you to no avail. As as you remain faithful, four and four and ten times four demons will be less than a blade of grass under your foot, which is taking the last steps to traverse what still separates you from the dwelling of your love.
“Let nothing disturb you. Proceed, leaning on Me. Remain there until the end, and your passage shall be sweet and luminous, like coming off a half-dark, rough road into a flowering meadow filled with sunlight and the song of birds. And in truth for whoever has merited the possession of Heaven by loving, death is only entrance into eternal Beauty and eternal Joy.
“And since in the past you were not blameless, cancel out even the memory of those shadows by the means I have taught you. By an increasingly intense love. only for Me, by Me, with Me. Have the Father, on observing you, see you so fused to Me as not to be able to separate you from his Son. Let my Charity cover you like a nuptial mantel under which I conceal the rents in your dress.
“Woe if you present yourselves alone to Justice. No matter how good you may be, there is always some failure upon you. But if youpresent yourselves with Me to the Father, the splendor of the Son haloes your souls to such a degree that it makes them beautiful, and my splendor is never so intense as when I can present to the Father a spirit that loves Me and has not made my Sacrifice as the Redeemer useless for itself. Father’s Justice has no wish to grieve the Son, Savior of a new citizen in the holy Jerusalem, and with a blessing cancels out the debt of that spirit and opens Heaven to it.
“Flee the distractions of the earth; isolate yourself with Me. When one is about to enter a foreign country to dwell there, one learns its language so as not to be unable to live in it; one tries to learn at least the first rudiments of that language, and one who goes without knowing even a word is imprudent. He will toil greatly at first.
“In the eternal dwelling Wisdom, it’s true, gives you instruction in the first instant. But look, soul of mine: the last times on earth are a preparation forHeaven. my Goodnessgives everyone the signals and all the time to prepare for Life, when, not only by the work of my Mercy, but also by human will you are given the final instruments for your coming to Life, then blessed is the one who prepares for it with care, which is never excessive.
“If you applied this care - all of you that age or long illness or the cruel contingency of wars leads towards an almost certain destiny of death - there would not be so many painful waits in Purgatory. You would accomplish your metamorphosis in Me with love for Me, with true repentance over having grieved Me, with true generosity, with true resignation, with all the virtues practiced with good will, and you would not have to do this work, which makes man, a mixture of flesh and blood in which the spirit has reigned little, a spirit that has known the real Truth - that is, that God is the only Object deserving all the motions of being.
“You have all the time to prepare for the Dwelling. Remember that if the one who loved much is forgiven much, much is also demanded of the one who was given much.And few mortals have had what God has given you with a special love.
“Let nothing weigh upon you; let nothing be repugnant to you; let nothing be left inactive by you to apply the finishing touches to your wedding garment. If the road is harder and harder, consider your Jesus, who also found the final path to Golgotha to be so painful. Every victim is a little redeemer: of himself and of his brothers and sisters. And the ways of redemption are not placid flowering paths: they are rocky steep ascents strewn with brambles which are traveled over with a cross on one’s shoulders, fever in one’s veins, faintness in the dying flesh, the taste of blood in one’s parched mouth, thorns on one’s head, and the prospect of the final torture in one’s heart.
“Redemption is accomplished on the summit. And as its final pomp for the propitiatory rite it has the gems of the three nails, being torn away from the last traces of sweetness in affections, solitude between Heaven and earth, and obscurity, not just of the atmosphere, but of the heart. Afterwards the sun comes to kiss the immolated one. But first there is darkness and pain.
“Remain united to Me; remain united to Me. The closer the hour comes, the more closely united to Me you should be. There is only Jesus to help, and there is only Jesus to instruct - for He lived through that experience - in enduring the martyrdom of love.
“But, as before enduring it I had to grow in life and nourish Myself on my Mother’s milk as my first food and then on the fare prepared by her holy hands, so every little redeemer must live in Mary to be shaped into being a Christ. is the strength of your souls. Mary is sweetness. Before drinking the vinegar and gall one must drink the drugged wine. And this is given you by the encouraging smile of Mary. balm that made Me happy on earth, a balm making Me happy in Paradise, and, with God, it makes all Paradise happy; the maternal smile of my Mother is a star in life and a star in death. It is a star, above all, in the pain of immolation.
“I gazed at that heroic, agonized smile of my Mother, the only comfort, a boundless comfort ascending towards my scaffold. I looked at it so as not to allow despair to approach Me. gaze at it yourself, too. Gaze at it, O you suffering men. Mary’s smile sets the devil of despair to flight.
“Live in union with Mary, whose children you are, as I am. Live upon Mary’s heart, soul that I wish to bear to Heaven. The hands of this Mother, who does not disappoint her children, are full of caresses for you. Her arms clasp you to the breast that bore Me, and her mouth speaks the words to you which comforted Me.
“So that you will not faint during your final stops on earth, I am enclosing you in Mary’s dwelling. There disturbance does not enter, for She is the Mother of Peace. There the Enemy does not enter, for She is the Victorious One.
“Let Mary teach you the supreme flames of Charity - She who is the Daughter, Mother, and Spouse of Charity.
“Cut all ties between yourself and the world. Live in Jesus and Mary. Remember that, even if man had given all his goods to possess love, that would be nothing, for Love is such that in comparison to God - the Love of your souls, the true purpose of your lives - everything loses value. To possess Love is the only thing that counts. And Love is possessed when for Him one is able to renounce everything one has.
“Afterwards peace will come, Maria. There is struggle now. But for the one who loves, it is struggle crowned by victory.
“I will come soon to exchange your crown of thorns for another one of joy. Persevere.
“Place my seal upon every heartbeat, every work. Engrave it with tears on the fibers of your heart. I am the One who save and love.”
216 On typed copy the writer adds, “Still on the .”