FEAST OF THE ASCENSION
January 24, 1938
How our Lord left for Heaven remaining on earth in the Tabernacles, to accomplish the Kingdom of the Divine Will. One who lives in the Divine Will can say with Jesus: ‘I leave and I stay.’
My flight in the Divine Volition continues. While I was visiting Jesus in the Sacrament, I wanted to embrace all the Tabernacles and each Sacramental Host in order to live together with my Prisoner Jesus. And I was thinking to myself: ‘What a sacrifice. What a long imprisonment – not of days, but of centuries! Poor Jesus… could He at least be repaid for this!
And my beloved Jesus, visiting my little soul, all immersed in His flames of Love, said to me: “My good daughter, my first prison was Love. It imprisoned Me so much that I had not even have the freedom to breathe, to palpitate or to work if these too were not imprisoned in my Love. Therefore, my Love imprisoned Me inside the Tabernacle, but with reason and with highest divine Wisdom. Now, You must know that the chains of my Love made Me depart from Heaven during my Incarnation. I left to descend upon earth in search of my children and my brothers and sisters, in order to form for them, with my Love, so many prisons of Love as to make it i! mpossible for them to leave. But while I left, I also remained in Heaven, since my Love – being my prison – bound Me within the celestial regions.
Now, having completed my office down here, I left for Heaven, remaining imprisoned inside each Sacramental Host. Do you know why? Because my Love, being my sweet imprisonment, told me: ‘The purpose for which you descended from Heaven to earth is not accomplished. Where is the Kingdom of our Will? It does not exist, neither is it known. So, remain there as a Prisoner in each Sacramental Host. In this way, there will not be only one Jesus, as in your Humanity, but a Jesus for each Sacramental Host which will exist. ! In a fury of love, your many Lives will make a way to the Divinity, as well as in each heart which will receive You. These Lives will have a little word to say to make our Will known, because when they descend into each heart, they will not be mute, but speaking, and You will speak about our FIAT in the secret of their hearts. You will be the Bearer of our Kingdom.’ I recognized the demands of my Love as just, so I remained willingly on earth in order to form the Kingdom of my Will – until the complete fulfillment of the work.
You see, by departing for Heaven while remaining on earth, my Life, spread in many Sacramental Hosts, will not be useless down here. I will certainly form the Kingdom of my Will. I would never have stayed if I knew I wasn’t going to obtain the intent; more so, since this is for Me a sacrifice greater than my very mortal Life. How many secret tears, how many bitter sighs in the midst of many devouring flames of love! I would like to devour all souls inside my Love to make those who are going to live in my Divine Volition rise again to new Life. This Kingdom will come from the center of my Love. ! It will burn the evils of the earth, relying upon Itself and arming Its Omnipotence; so, victory after victory, It will win our Reign in the midst of the creatures, to give It to them.
But I was not satisfied to remain prisoner by myself. My Love, flaring up even more, made Me choose you to make you prisoner with chains so strong as to be impossible for you to escape Me. This, as an outpouring of my Love and for company in my imprisonment; to be able to talk to you extensively about my Will – Its anxiety, Its sighs for desire to reign – and also as a pretext of my Love to be able to say before the Supreme Majesty: ‘A creature of the human race is already our prisoner. We speak with her about our Will, to make It known, and extending Its Kingdom. This prisoner is like a deposit for the whole human family, so that we will! have our Kingdom by right. I can say that each of my Sacramental Lives is also like a deposit that I give You, sufficient to secure my Kingdom for my children. But to these many deposits, my Love wanted to add the deposit of a simple creature who carries the marks of my imprisonment, so as to strengthen the bonds between creature and Creator, and therefore accomplish and complete the Kingdom of our Will in the midst of the creatures.’
My prayers from each Tabernacle are incessant, so that the creatures may know my Will and may let It reign; and all I suffer – tears and sighs – I send to Heaven in order to move the Divinity to concede a grace so great. I send it to every heart, to move them to compassion for my tears and sufferings – to make them surrender to receive such a great good.”
Jesus remained silent. I was thinking to myself: ‘By making Himself a Prisoner, my dear Jesus did an act of heroism so great, only a God could do it. By while He is Prisoner, He is also free; more so, since He is free in Heaven, where He enjoys the fullness of His freedom. Not only this, but even on earth, how many times does He not come to me without His sacramental veils? But having imprisoned my poor existence…, He’s really done it this time. He knows in what a narrow prison He has put me, and how hard my chains are; and I cannot be like Him, Who while being a Prisoner, is also free… My ! prison is continuous.’
But as I was thinking this, He continued saying: “My daughter, poor daughter of mine, you were given my own destiny! When my Love wants to do good, It does not hold anything back – neither sacrifices nor pains. It almost seems as if It doesn’t want to hear about anything else: Its whole purpose is to make the good It wants arise. So, certainly I had to do this. This was not about any random good, but about a Kingdom of Divine Will to be ! established on earth. This good will be so great that no other good can be compared to it; all other goods will be like many little drops before the sea – like little sparks before the Sun. Therefore, don’t be surprised if I’ve ‘really done it this time’, as you say. Your continuous imprisonment was necessary to my Love, to keep Me company and to let Me speak about the knowledge of my Will which is so important to me, and which I felt the need to make known. You must know that as I speak to you about It, my Love repays you and frees you from the shackles of your human will, setting you free in the fields and dominions of the Kingdom of my Will. All the knowledge is directed to this: to unchain the creature fr! om her will, from her passions and from her miseries. Therefore, thank me for what I have made of you. My Love will know how to repay you, and will take into account every single breath of yours, and every instant of your imprisonment.”
After this, I continued to think about the prodigies of the Divine Volition, and my beloved Jesus added: “Daughter of my Will, as your Jesus said, in descending from Heaven to earth – ‘I leave and I stay’; when He ascended into Heaven He said – ‘I stay and I leave.’ My word repeats upon descending as Sacrament in the creatures – ‘I leave and I remain in the Tabernacles.’ In the same way, the creature who lives in my Will can repeat my word in all her acts. As soon as she begins her act, her Jesus is formed in that act. My Life has the virtue of multi! plying Itself to infinity as many times I want. Therefore, in all truth, she can say: ‘I leave and I stay. I leave for Heaven to beatify It, to reach my home and to make known to everyone my dear Jesus, Whom I enclosed in my act so that all may enjoy Him and love Him. I stay on earth, as my life, support and defense for all my brothers and sisters.’ How beautiful one act in my Will!”
May 29, 1924
The ASCENSION of Jesus was the greatest sorrow of the Apostles. Pain for love of Jesus forms all the good of Jesus. The Throne and the Kingdom of the Divine Will in Luisa could be established only upon a divine pain: the continuous loss of Jesus.
I was thinking of when my sweet Jesus went back to Heaven in His glorious ASCENSION, and therefore of the sorrow of the Apostles in remaining deprived of such a great good; and my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter, the greatest sorrow for all of the Apostles, in their entire lives, was to remain deprived of their Master. As they saw Me ascend to Heaven, their hearts were consumed with the pain of my privation; and much more sharp and penetrating was this pain, since it was not a human pain – something material that they were losing – but a divine pain: it was a God that they were losing. And even though I had my Humanity, as It resurrected, It was spiritualized and glorified, therefore all the pain was in their souls; and penetrating them completely, it made them feel consumed with grief, such as to form in them the most harrowing and painful martyrdo! m. But all this was necessary for them.
One can say that until that moment, they were nothing but tender babies in virtues and in the knowledge of divine things, and of my own Person. I could say that I was in their midst and they did not really know Me, or love Me. But when they saw Me ascend into Heaven, the pain of losing Me tore the veil, and they recognized Me with so much certainty as the true Son of God, that the intense sorrow of no longer seeing Me in their midst delivered firmness in good and strength to suffer anything for love of the One whom they had lost. It delivered the light of divine science; it removed the swaddling clothes of their childhood, and formed them as intrepid men – no longer fearful, but courageous… The pain transformed them and formed in them the true character of Apostles. What I could not obtain with my presence, I obtained with the pain of my privation.
Now, my daughter, a little lesson for you.
Your life can be called a continuous pain of losing Me and a continuous joy of acquiring Me. But between the pain of the loss and the joy of acquiring Me, how many surprises have I not made you? How many things have I not told you? It was pain and the painful martyrdom of losing Me to prepare you and dispose you to hear the sublime lessons on my Will. In fact, how many times it seemed to you that you had lost Me, and while you were immersed in your harrowing pain, I would come back to you with one of the most beautiful lessons on my Will, and I would make the new joy of gaining Me come back, to dispose you once again to the piercing pain of my absence? I can say that the pain of remaining deprived of Me has delivered within you the effects, the value, the knowledges, the foundation of my Will…
From Day 29 of the Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will
Now, dear child, my beloved Son Jesus remained forty days, risen, on earth. Very often He appeared to His apostles and disciples to confirm them in the faith and certainty of His Resurrection; and when He was not with the apostles, He was with His Mama in the cenacle, surrounded by the souls who had come out of Limbo. But as the forty days ended, Jesus instructed the apostles, and leaving His Mama as their guide and Teacher, He promised us the descent of the Holy Spirit. Then, blessing us all, He departed, taking flight for the vault of the heavens, together with that great crowd of people who had come out of Limbo. All those who were there, and they were a great number, saw Him ascend; but as He went up high, a cloud of light removed Him from their sight.
Now, my child, your Mama followed Him into Heaven, and was present at the great feast of the Ascension. More so, since the Celestial Fatherland was not foreign to Me; and then, the feast of my Son, ascended into Heaven, would not have been complete without Me.
Now a little word to you, dearest child. Everything you have heard and admired has been nothing other than the power of the Divine Will operating in Me and in my Son. This is why I so much love to enclose in you the life of the Divine Will – and operating life – because everyone has It, but the majority of them keep It suffocated and in their service. And while It could operate prodigies of sanctity, of grace, and works worthy of Its power, It is forced by the creatures to remain with folded arms, unable to carry out Its power. Therefore, be attentive, and let the Heaven of the Divine Will extend within you and operate, with Its power, whatever It wants and however It wants.
The soul:
Most holy Mama, your beautiful lessons enrapture me, and – oh, how I wish and sigh for the operating life of the Divine Will in my soul! I too want to be inseparable from my Jesus and from You, my Mama. But to be sure of this, You must take on the commitment to keep my will enclosed in your maternal Heart; and even if You should see that it costs me much, You must never give it to me. Only then will I be certain; otherwise, it will always be words, but I will never do facts. Therefore, your child commends herself to You, and hopes for everything from You.
Little Sacrifice:
Today, to honor Me, you will make three genuflections in the act in which my Son ascended into Heaven, and you will pray Him to make you ascend in the Divine Will.
Ejaculatory Prayer:
My Mama, with your power, triumph in my soul, and make me be reborn in the Will of God.
From the Letters of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta
Letter #29 – My good reverend Mother General,
Today is the sacred day of Ascension, the name of which you carry, and I feel the duty, although I am the least among all, to send you my sincere and affectionate wishes. But what wishes can I give you? I wouldn’t know what else to wish you other than that dear Jesus may make facts correspond to the name He gave you – that is to say, that He may take each one of your acts within Himself and bring it to Heaven, so making of all your life a continuous Ascension, like many conquests that sweet Jesus takes from earth to Heaven, and like the triumph of His Love in which your life must be consumed. To live in order to be consumed in love is the most beautiful act, which, putting us on the stake of love, consumes us with Jesus and makes His Life rise within us.
But this is not enough, most dear Mother, if I don’t let my Divine Fiat act. Therefore I send it to you with all my heart, and I pray that It may pronounce Its Omnipotent Fiat in the center of your soul, and create Its Life within it, nourish it, and carry you always in Its arms of light; and that It may pronounce Its Fiat in every action you do and form in it Its Heaven, the most beautiful stars, the brightest sun, in order to make the most adorned room in which to reign and form Its first Kingdom.
My Mother, He always gives something to do to those who live in His Divine Volition. He lets not one of our acts escape Him without animating it, molding it, investing it, caressing it with His Creative Virtue. These are the best wishes I can send you, and I want you to accept them, so that the Divine Will may fulfill the wishes I am sending you with all my heart. I commend myself very much to your prayers…
Luisa Piccarreta
Letter #19 – To live in the Divine Will is not so difficult as you and others believe, nor does sweet Jesus want impossible things, nor can He teach difficult things; rather, in all He teaches, His love is so great that not only does He facilitate His teachings, but in order to make all that He wants and teaches easier, He puts Himself at our disposition, doing together with us all that He wants and teaches. My daughter, everything is in a strong, firm, constant resolution to deliver our will into the hands of Jesus, so that His Will may underlie each one of our acts. Therefore, in all our being, in the most natural acts of life – in food, in sleep, in sufferings, in prayer, and also in legitimate pleasures, the Divine Will must have Its royal place, Its field of action, and our will must be the ground in which to receive these divine acts, and the footstool on which the Divine Will must place these acts; and these acts, united together, will form its Life. Life cannot be formed with one single act, but with many acts, repeated and incessant.
Moreover, the love of Jesus, His sighs and also His tears for desire that His Will reign in us as life, are such that He never leaves us alone; He Himself descends into the depth of our will; He molds it, strengthens it, purifies it, prepares it, and does all that we do together with us. So, if we want it, everything is done; however, it is not that we must no longer feel our will: to operate on a dead will would be neither ours nor Jesus’ victory. The dead are buried. Therefore Jesus wants our will alive, so that it may feel all the good, as His operating Will lays Its acts in it. The human will becomes the residence of the Divine, and gives It all the freedom to dominate and to do whatever It wants.
Do you see, then, how easy it is? Nor does one have to be a religious to do this. The Sanctity of living in the Divine Will is for all; or rather, to tell the truth, It is for all those who want It. Therefore, get down to work; tell Jesus from the heart: “I firmly want it, I continuously want it; I want it!”, and Jesus will make wonders, and will use everything you do and suffer as raw material so that you may ask for His Will and let It operate with Its creative virtue.
As far as the vow, do it on the day of Ascension, so that sweet Jesus may bring your will to Heaven as the most beautiful victory He has achieved over you…
I finish here, as I cannot continue further. Pray for me and make yourself a saint, for Jesus wants it. I leave you in the place of honor of the Divine Will, with a thousand regards,
the little daughter of the Divine Will
Corato, May 7, 1935
The elevation of Christ into heaven by His own power in presence of His disciples the fortieth day after His Resurrection. It is narrated in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
Although the place of the Ascension is not distinctly stated, it would appear from the Acts that it was Mount Olivet. Since after the Ascension the disciples are described as returning to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, within a Sabbath day’s journey. Tradition has consecrated this site as the Mount of Ascension and Christian piety has memorialized the event by erecting over the site a basilica. St. Helena built the first memorial, which was destroyed by the Persians in 614, rebuilt in the eighth century, to be destroyed again, but rebuilt a second time by the crusaders. This the Moslems also destroyed, leaving only the octagonal structure which encloses the stone said to bear the imprint of the feet of Christ, that is now used as an oratory.
Not only is the fact of the Ascension related in the passages of Scripture cited above, but it is also elsewhere predicted and spoken of as an established fact. Thus, in John 6:63, Christ asks the Jews: “If then you shall see the son of Man ascend up where He was before?” and 20:17, He says to Mary Magdalen: “Do not touch Me, for I am not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.” Again, in Ephesians 4:8-10, and in Timothy 3:16, the Ascension of Christ is spoken of as an accepted fact.
The language used by the Evangelists to describe the Ascension must be interpreted according to usage. To say that He was taken up or that He ascended, does not necessarily imply that they locate heaven directly above the earth; no more than the words “sitteth on the right hand of God” mean that this is His actual posture. In disappearing from their view “He was raised up and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9), and entering into glory He dwells with the Father in the honour and power denoted by the scripture phrase.
