IMPORTANCE OF THE CROSS
“It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it.”
― Hans Urs von Balthasar, Unless You Become Like This Child
FROM THE YEARNINGS OF SANCTITY
By the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta
O please! You Yourself, O Lord, make me comprehend how easily I can become holy, if only I embrace with love that daily cross which your love offers me; if only I do, as best I can, the daily actions which duty or charity require of me.
FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN
V1 –“Holy Spouse, give me suffering, give me crosses. From this alone will I know whether You Love me – if You content me with crosses and with sufferings.”
V2 –“Yes, my Jesus, I yearn for nothing but the cross.”
V3 – “Ah, Lord, I pray You to keep me always nailed to the cross, so that, having this Divine Mirror ever before me, I may clean all my stains and embellish myself ever more in Your Likeness.”
V3 – “My Beloved, who can say to You what the Cross is? Your mouth alone can speak worthily of the sublimity of the Cross; but since You want me to speak, I will do it.
“The Cross, suffered by You, freed me from the slavery of the devil, and espoused me to the Divinity with an indissoluble bond. The Cross is Fecund and gives birth to Grace in me. The Cross is Light, It disillusions me of what is temporal, and reveals to me what is eternal. The Cross is Fire, and reduces to ashes all that is not of God, to the point of emptying my heart of the tiniest blade of grass that might be in it. The Cross is Coin of inestimable Value, and if I have, O Holy Spouse, the fortune of possessing it, I will be enriched with Eternal Coins, to the point of becoming the richest in Paradise, because the currency that circulates in Heaven is the Cross suffered on earth. The Cross, then, makes me know myself; not only this, but It gives me the Knowledge of God. The Cross grafts all Virtues into me. The Cross is the Noble Pulpit of the uncreated Wisdom, that teaches me the highest, the finest and most sublime doctrines. So, only the Cross will reveal to me the most hidden Mysteries, the most secret things, the most perfect Perfection, hidden to the most erudite and learned of the world. The Cross is like Beneficent Water that purifies me; not only this, but It administers to me the nourishment for the Virtues, It makes them grow, and only then does It leave me, when It brings me back to Eternal Life. The Cross is like Celestial Dew, which preserves and embellishes for me the beautiful Lily of Purity. The Cross is the nourishment of Hope. The Cross is the Beacon of Operating Faith. The Cross is like Hard Wood, which preserves the Fire of Charity, keeping it always lit. The Cross is like dry wood, which dispels and puts to flight all the smokes of pride and of vainglory, producing the humble violet of humility in the soul. The Cross is the most Powerful Weapon that offends the demons, and defends me from all of their claws. Therefore, the soul who possesses the Cross is the envy and admiration of the very Angels and Saints, and the rage and indignation of the demons. The Cross is my Paradise on earth, in such a way that if the Paradise of the Blessed up there, is of delights, the Paradise down here is of sufferings. The Cross is the Chain of most Pure Gold that connects me to You, my Highest Good, and forms the most intimate union which can possibly be given, to the point of making my being disappear. And It transforms me in You, my Beloved, to the point that I feel lost within You, and I Live from Your very Life.”
V6 – O please! do not permit, after You have suffered so much, that I look at the things of this earth as anything other than dung and mud, that I take any other pleasure but in You alone, and that all my honor be anything else but the Cross.”
V8 – O please, my Love, I don’t have the heart to leave You alone – I want to share the weight of the Cross with You; and to relieve You from the weight of sins, I cling to Your Feet.
My Jesus, let me place my shoulder under the Cross to relieve You and repair with You for all hidden sins.
FROM THE TWNETY-FOUR HOURS OF THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
Hour 19 – My Love, before You lay Yourself on the Cross, allow me to hold You more tightly to my heart, and to kiss Your Loving and bleeding Wounds. Hear me, O Jesus, I do not want to leave You; I want to come with You, to lay myself on the Cross and remain nailed to It with You. True love does not tolerate separation, and You will forgive the daring of my love. Concede that I be crucified with You. See, my Tender Love, I am not the only one to ask this of You, but also Your Sorrowful Mama, inseparable Magdalene, faithful John: we all say to You that it would be more bearable to be nailed with You to Your Cross, than to see You crucified alone!
