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3 Kings 19582
Jesus says:
“Where am I to be found? Where must one seek Me to have Me at every minute? In grandiose things? In those alone? No. I would come too rarely, for life is made up of little things, and solemn moments are rare. This is out of mercy on my part. How could a creature withstand that was subjected from morning to night, and every day of the year, to the constant wear and tear of great pains, great struggles, and great acts of renunciation?
“Life is made up of little things. The life with which you may conquer Eternal Life. But the little things should be observed with loving eyes and exact knowledge and be carried out with an act of love. They then become great things, even if they are minute.
“Look with loving eyes and exact knowledge. I shall never finish saying, to convince you,583 that evil does not come from God and that it is the fruit of the marriage between your fellow men and Satan or of their thoughtlessness, if the evil is of small dimensions. The evil which makes you suffer does not come from God. When a pain comes from Him - as when He takes a person or thing away from you so that you will be more detached from what is human and freer to follow Him - then at the same time He gives you strength and peace. You have experienced this and know. Tell souls how different the pain coming from God is, even if it is a great pain, from the pain resulting from human harshness and hatred among brothers.
“Therefore, when you live through the events of every hour, be able to discern and love and love and love. To love the hand of God, if He offers you things. To love unfortunates and those guilty of being wicked, if things are imposed on you by them. To love always. To do all things with love. Does it come from God? It is his will. It should thus be loved. Does it come from man? Make this human thing a precious superhuman thing by enduring it with patience and charity - provided it is not contrary to my Law. In that case one must be able to resist, gently seeking to bend those who want to do evil to good, with a capacity, however, even to die if they insist on their will, in order not to arrive at sin. The martyrs are not only those who have died through the action of tyrants. There are many unknown, humble martyrs who die every day because they do not want to do evil - killed violently or dying slowly, consumed by the gradual, but continuous oppression of those hating them because they understand they are their judges and are stronger than they are, with a superhuman strength.
“But, to go back to the Book, where is the Lord to be found? In the strong, violent wind? In the earthquake? In the fire? No. In the light breeze.
“Oh, the Lord is always gentle with his children! He is always patient and merciful. He shows you a paternal face to win the love of good children increasingly and attract the prodigal children to Himself. What patience! If it were not infinite, He would continually have to fulminate with his disdain. Do not judge this to be weakness, however. He gives you life to convert you, O ungrateful children, but you will find every day of longanimity granted by God to no avail to be marked, and you will atone for it harshly when you are outside this earth, where you think you are masters, mocking its true Master.
“The light breeze is the peace enveloping what comes from God and saying to you, ‘Here is the Lord.’ Hasten then to serve Him. Do not say, ‘He is not fearsome, and I am thus not concerned.’ But, rather, precisely because He loves you, be able to love. With respect and confident love, be able to stand before God. Be able to say what the prophet said: ‘I am burning with zeal for the Lord.’
“You should all be anxious to serve God. Most, however, are ready to serve man and to neglect God. Too many children of God have abandoned his alliance and destroyed the altar of love for God in their hearts, deriding the faithful children and oppressing them, sometimes to the point of death.
“It is then that the Lord, to those who remain alone, like solitary palms between the aridity of the desert and the low-lying, bitter, thorny shrubs - the aridity is the world, and the thorny shrubs, the wicked, whereas the palm is useful, tall, and sweet in its fruits - says, ‘Go, without fear. Your life is in my hands. You and, along with you, the seven thousand who have not bent their knees to the Beast and have not kissed it are reserved for Me. You are mine, in an absolute, eternal way, with an unlimited blessedness.’
“But - the lesson is not over - as long as you are in the struggle, do not glory in God’s predilection. Like armed soldiers, you have fought and have been rewarded, but you have not yet finished fighting. God is with you as your Leader. But the one who, after the initial victories, abandons his leader and remains content with the praise received cannot call himself a victor. The victor and strong one is he who follows Him until the end. Life is a war every day. You are the armed ones who win it.
“The Enemy is known to you. He is one alone, but has many faces. The first is that of the Devil; the secondary ones are the flesh, the world, and money. Be faithful. Have you won? Let the joy of victory fortify you for new struggles. Have you lost? Let discouragement not demoralize you. But let the humiliation of weakness spur you to redeem yourselves with a victory. Only the one who has arrived at the end can glory in the Lord, for until the final instant of struggle the common Enemy and the individual enemy, which is the lower part of your own self, can make you bite the mire in a fatal fall.
“‘Let whoever is armed not glory, along with whoever has laid down his arms.’ Let him trust in the Lord, but keep watch unceasingly. The time will come to embrace your King. Weapons will then be replaced with palms, and the noise of battle, with heavenly harmonies. You can then cry out your joy over being victorious.
“Life is a war; the reward is Heaven. Be able to receive it by hearing God in the light breeze, resisting Satan, with his violent whirlwinds. Be able to bend your hearts to Me alone and have loving kisses for your Lord God. You have no other God. Serve Him alone, and you will be among the seven thousand that He has reserved for Himself, among the 144,000 John speaks about:584 those chosen for the true glory which is unparalleled and endless, who come from the great tribulation of the earth to rest in the Kingdom of God.”
Last night the great Queen, who had been present for me in her splendor throughout the day,585 became a Mother again alongside her poor daughter, who was suffering so much. No longer in the shining robe and the azure of Paradise, but in her usual dress of ivory-white wool, beside my bed, so gentle and good in her smile and caress.
I took refuge on her chest, which looks like that of a slender young woman, and I remained there, caressing her hands, so lovely and small, soft and as scented as flowers. Scented with her fragrance as the Immaculate One. It is not a human fragrance. It must be the smell of Heaven. It is so beautiful, you know? To remain like that with one’s cheek over the Mother’s heart and feel her heart beating under the rough cloth and the warmth of her chest coming forth. It is beautiful to be able to play with her thin fingers, as with those of a mother. How many times I said, “Mother!” to Her.
You will say I am repeating myself. But it is so joyful to narrate my encounters with Mary to you and myself that I cannot do without it. I prayed to Her so much yesterday morning as the Queen of the Heavens for the needs of all. Yesterday, with the confidence of a daughter, I repeated my requests to Her. For all. And especially for some that I want to save from pain since for them pain would mean despair.
On rereading the life of St. Thérèse - who knows how many times I have read it now - I find this: “Placing myself in the arms of the good Lord, I imitated the child who in great fears hides his blond head on his father’s shoulder.” I exclaim, “I will hide it on the breast of the Mother. Jesus is the Spouse, Brother, and Lord. I shall lean on Him, but as a spouse and brother, and I shall take his hand, armed with the cross, as my guide. When He wants, He will encircle me with his arm to draw me to his heart. But it will be the position of a spouse. Transitory, then, and I cannot demand this at all hours. A daughter - and, moreover, a sick one - can always remain over her Mother’s heart, however. I abandon myself upon the Mother’s breast. And I do not consider this to be a defection as regards Jesus, but, rather, the opposite. I am certain that, by remaining like this, I shall always be close to Jesus, for I am most certainly sure that Jesus is always to be found in Mary’s arms. If I were to seek Him elsewhere, I might depart from his way. But if I seek Him there, I always find Him. Mother, I choose your shoulder as my refuge. With my face against your cheek, I shall ask You for everything and hope for everything. A Mother cannot bring disappointment.”
If you knew how sweet it is to feel I ]or here, entirely mine.... Truly to feel Her and see Her entirely, entirely for me, alive and real, breathing, smiling.... Yesterday there was ecstatic joy, entirely for the soul. Today there is also joy for my humanity. I am unable to explain this complete joy clearly-this peace, this company, what I am experiencing, in short. One would have to experience it to understand it. I am alonv, but in reality I am with Her, nor would I be surprised if, in the event I needed to have the door opened, I saw Her open it, or if, in the event I needed help, She gave it to me. Her presence is so real that I would not be surprised.
Oh; I don’t deserve all of this! The goodness of God is truly above every hyperbolic human calculation....
582 In the current Bible, the reference is to 1 Kings 19:9-18.
583 See May 22, for example.
584 Revelation 7:4 and 9-17.
585 August 2.