FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V6 – 4.16.04 – “…Jesus told Luisa: ‘Enough, enough, do not go any further; you want to speak of MERCY, and what about Justice – what are we going to do with It? I have told you and I repeat to you: ‘It is necessary that Justice follow Its course’.” So I replied: ‘There is no remedy – why then leave me on this earth when I can no longer placate You and suffer in the place of my neighbor? Since it is so, it is better if You let me die.’ At that moment I saw another person behind the shoulders of blessed Jesus, and He told me, almost making a sign with His eyes: “Present yourself to my Father and see what He tells you.’ I presented myself, all trembling, and as soon as He saw me, He told me: “Why have you come to Me?” And I: ‘Adorable Goodness, infinite MERCY, knowing that You are MERCY Itself, I have come to ask for your MERCY – MERCY on your very images, MERCY on the works created by You; MERCY on nothing else but your creatures themselves.’ And He said to me: “So, it is MERCY that you want. But if you want true MERCY, after Justice has poured Itself out It will produce abundant fruits of MERCY.” Not knowing what else to say, I said: ‘Father, infinitely Holy, when servants or people in need present themselves before their masters or rich people, if these are good, even if they do not give everything that is necessary for them, they always give something. And to me, who have had the good of presenting myself before You, absolute Master, rich without limit, infinite Goodness, don’t You want to give anything of what this poor little one has asked of You? Does a master perhaps not remain more honored and content when he gives, than when he denies what is necessary to his servants?’ After a moment of silence He added: “For Love of you, instead of doing ten, I will do five.” Having said this, They disappeared, and in several places of the earth, especially of Europe, I saw wars, civil wars and revolutions multiply.

V12 – 12.6.19 – Now, I remember that one night I was doing the adoration of my Crucified Jesus, telling Him: ‘My Love, in your Will I find all generations; and in the name of the whole human family, I adore You, I kiss You, I repair You for all. I give your wounds and your Blood to all, so that all may find their salvation. And if the lost souls can no longer benefit from your Most Holy Blood, nor Love You, I take It in their place, in order to do what they should have done. I do not want your Love to remain defrauded in anything on the part of creatures. I want to compensate, repair You, Love You for all, from the first to the last man…’

While I was saying this and other things, my sweet Jesus stretched His arms around my neck, and squeezing all of me, told me: “My daughter, echo of my Life, while you were praying, my MERCY was softening, and my Justice was losing sharpness – and not only in the present time, but also in the future, because your prayer will remain in act in My Divine Will. By virtue of it, my softened MERCY will flow more abundantly, and my Justice will be less rigorous. Not only this, but I will feel the note of the Love of the lost souls, and my Heart will feel for you a Love of special tenderness, finding in you the Love which these souls owed Me; and I will pour into you the graces which I had prepared for them.”

The Emeritus Pope said “inner hygiene” is Key and “the Truth, Love and Goodness that Come from God, Make Man Pure”

Vatican insider staff
Turin

August 30, 2015

“The truth, love and goodness that come from God, make man pure and truth, love and goodness come together in the Word which brings liberates a world that no longer thinks of God from ‘forgetfulness’.” This was at the heart of the homily which the Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI pronounced during a mass he presided over this morning in the Teutonic Cemetery church in the Vatican. The mass was attended by members of the Schuelerkreis (Ratzinger’s “student circle”) and the New Schuelerkreis, who gathered at Castel Gandolfo in recent days to reflect on the theme “How to speak to God today”. The priest and philosopher Tomas Halik also participated. The news was posted on the Ratzinger Foundation website.

Does not the evil that afflicts us come from the outside? This was the essence of the question posed by the Emeritus Pope in his German homily. We need to be cleansed of all the impurity that exists out there: “We could respond to the many illnesses and sometimes epidemics that threaten us, by maintaining an external cleanliness,” Benedict XVI said. It is important to care for our exterior in this way so that death does not prevail, the Emeritus Pope said. But this is not enough, he added, because there is also “the epidemic of the heart” to consider, that inner epidemic that “leads to corruption and other filth, the kind of filth that drives man to think only of himself and not of goodness.” So, aside from worship, ethos, “inner hygiene” in other words, also plays a decisive role: “What does a pure man do? What is the real power of purification? How does one come to have a cleansed heart?” Benedict XVI asked.

“In another passage of the Gospel,” he continued, “the Lord says to his people: ‘You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you’.” So we become pure by means of the Word: “The Word is Jesus Christ himself and we come across the Word even in those who reflect It, those who show us the face of God and reflect his meekness, his humble heart, his simplicity, his lovingness, his sincerity.”

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V29 – 3.16.31 – I was continuing my “I love You” in the Divine Fiat, and was thinking to myself: “But, is my love Pure?”

“My daughter, in order for you to be able to give Me a pure love, a glance to your interior says everything: if your heart palpitates, yearns for, desires only My Love; if your hands operate only for love of Me; if your feet walk only out of love; if your will wants only My Love; if your intelligence seeks always the way to love Me; your ‘I love You’ with the word—do you know what it does? It gathers all together the whole complex of the love that you have inside yourself, and makes it one, and forms an act of pure and complete love for your Jesus. So, your word does nothing other than make known its extension of the love that you have inside yourself. But if inside not everything is love, since the pure fount is missing inside, there can be neither pure nor complete love.”

In all the events of life, You Must recognize the Divine Will. Adore and bless It, especially in the things which are the hardest for you.

~Padre Pio~

click image for more of Padre Pio’s Inspiring Words of Faith

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V30 – 12.21.31 – “My daughter, to recognize what My Divine Will can do in the act of the creature forms the Divine Act in her; and in this act, as its foundation, My Divine Will places the Divine Beginning; and as it keeps forming, It invests it with Its Immutability, in such a way that the creature will feel in her act a Divine Beginning that never shows any sign of ending, and an Immutability that never changes. She will hear within herself the ringing of the little bell of her continued act that does its continuous course. This is the sign that the soul has received the Divine Beginning into her acts: the continuation—a prolixious act says God Dwelling in her and in her acts; it says Confirmation of the Good, because the Value, the Grace, the Power of a continued act is so great, that it fills the little voids of intensity of love, the little weaknesses to which the human nature is subject. It can be said that a continued act or virtue, is like the judge, the order, the sentry of the creature. This is why I care so much that your acts be continuous—because there is something of My Own inside of them, and I would feel My Act dishonored in yours.

“See, My daughter, My Ardor of Love is so great, that I want everything I have done for Love of creatures to be recognized; but this, for nothing else than to give. I feel a restlessness for giving, I want to form the Depositories of My Life, of My Works, of My Pains, of My tears—of everything. But these do not depart from Me if they are not recognized. By not recognizing them, they prevent My step from drawing near to place in them what, with so much Love, I want to give; and besides, they would remain without the Effects, they would be like many blind who cannot see what is around them.

“On the other hand, the recognizing is sight for the soul, that makes the desire and the love arise, and therefore the Gratitude toward I who so much want to give; and they jealously keep My Treasure deposited in them, and, in the circumstances, they make use of My Life as Guide, of My Works in order to Confirm their works, of My Pains as support of their pains, and of My Tears in order to wash themselves if they are stained. And—O! how happy I AM that they make use of Me and of My Works in order to help themselves. This was My Purpose for coming upon earth—to remain like a Little Brother in their midst, and inside of them as help in their needs. As they recognize Me, I do nothing other than reflect Myself in them in order to Seal the Good that they have known; almost like sun that, by reflecting its light over plants and flowers, communicates the substance of the sweetness and of the colors—not just apparent, but in reality.

“So, if you want to receive much, seek to know what My Will did and does in Creation, and what It did in Redemption, and I will be Generous with you, and will deny you nothing of what I make you know. Even more, know that if I do not stop yet acting as your Teacher, to make known to you many other things that belong to Me, it is because I want to keep giving you what I make you know. I would not remain content if I did not have something to give, and always New Things to give to My daughter; therefore I anxiously wait for you to set in place, in your soul, what you have known, that you may retain it as your own thing. And while you set it in place, in order to help you set it, I keep caressing you, molding you, strengthening you; I expand your capacity—in sum, I Renew what I did in the Creation of the first creature. More so since, those being My Own Things that you have known and that I want to deposit in you, I do not want to trust anyone—not even yourself. I Myself, with My Own Creative Hands, want to prepare the place and deposit them in you; and in order to keep them safe, I surround them with My Love, with My Strength, and with My Light as Guard. Therefore, be attentive, let nothing escape you, and in this way you will give Me the field to be able to give you the Most Beautiful Surprises.”

V31 – 3.5.33 –“Ah! there is neither Peace, nor Union, without My Divine Will! There is lacking one who places the cement in order to Reunite the divided parts and render it Strong against all the evils that can rise up. Therefore, your Jesus does nothing other then weep over the ruins of these more than over disordered Jerusalem, that instead of recognizing their Messiah, ignored Him and gave Him death. The same for My Divine Will, It becomes ignored while It is in the midst of them, and in them, and they form of their souls little disordered cities that constrain Me to make Me repeat the threat that ‘not a stone will remain on a stone’ for them, because without My Divine Will they are citadels without a king, therefore they have neither one who protects them, nor who defends them, nor who administers to them the necessary foods in order to do Good and not let them entangle themselves in evil. And I cry over their fate, and I pray that they recognize My Divine Will, Love It and let It Reign; and you pray together with Me.”

V32 – 3.12.33 – “… My Fiat remains with the Sorrow of not having been recognized, and with the nightmare of not having given Its Divine Gifts, because not knowing It, one lacks the capacity and the will to receive Royal Gifts.

“I act as a king who, disguising himself, passes through the midst of the people. If they pay attention to him, even though he does not wear royal garments they know him by his ways, by his face. And gathering around him they will give him the honors of king and they will ask for gifts and favors. And the king will award the attention of those who recognize him disguised, and he will give them even more of what they want. And to those who do not recognize him, he will pass unnoticed, without giving them anything. Even more, because they themselves do not ask him for anything, believing him to be one of the ordinary people.

            “In the same way does My Divine Will act when It is recognized under the Garments of created things. It reveals Itself and It does not wait like the king to be asked for gifts and favors, but It Itself says: ‘I am here, what do you want?’ And It Super-Abounds in giving Gifts and Celestial Favors. But It goes further than the king, Bilocating Itself, It gives Its own Life to the creature who has known It, that which the king does not do.

“Now you also can say, ‘I am Will of God,’ and make of yourself the covering, the Garment that hides My Divine Will. Not only if you recognize It in all created things, but if you recognize It in yourself, if you give It the Dominion in all your acts, and if all that which the covering makes of your being you place at Its Service in order to make Its Life grow in you, It will fill you so much that nothing will remain of you except just the Garment, that will serve only as covering. And you will be Happier than all the created things, because you will be the Living Covering, such that you will divide together with It Its Joys, Its Happiness, and also Its Infinite Sorrows because It wants to be the Life of each creature, but ungrateful they do not give It the Full Dominion. In sum, you will always Live together, keeping each other Perennial Company, forming one single Life.”

The Seven Sorrows Devotion

click image for meditations on the Seven Sorrows Devotion

HERE ARE THE SEVEN GRACES:

1. I will grant peace to their families.
2. They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.
3. I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.
4. I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
5. I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their Mother.
7. I have obtained from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.

Mater Dolorosa

• The prophecy of Simeon. (St. Luke 2:34, 35)
• The flight into Egypt. (St. Matthew 2:13, 14)
• The loss of the Child Jesus in the temple. (St. Luke 2: 43-45)
• The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross.
• The Crucifixion.
• The taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross.
• The burial of Jesus.

click image for more information on Our Lady of Knock

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF KNOCK, IRELAND
Eleventh Century Irish Litany of Mary

Great Mary,
Greatest of Marys,
Greatest of Women,
Mother of Eternal Glory,
Mother of the Golden Light,
Honor of the Sky,
Temple of the Divinity,
Fountain of the Gardens,
Serence as the Moon,
Bright as the Sun,
Garden Enclosed,
Temple of the Living God,
Light of Nazareth,
Beauty of the World,
Queen of Life,
Ladder of Heaven,
Mother of God.

Pray for us.  

information found at: http://catholictradition.org/Mary/snows.htm

A WEALTHY aristocrat and devout Christian known by tradition as John lived in Rome in the fourth century. He and his wife had no children, and were fearful that their lack of an heir would put an end to the family’s long prominence in the government of the city. They had often prayed for a child but without success. One day John’s wife said, “Let us ask the Blessed Virgin to nominate an heir.” They did so, and their prayer was answered dramatically.

SNOW IN AUGUST

In August 352 a rectangle of snow was discovered on Mount Esquiline, one of the famous Seven Hills. Snowfall of any sort was unheard of in Rome at that time of year, but that it had fallen only in one place and in such a specific pattern was regarded as a phenomenon. People crowded to see the patch of snow, which persisted despite the heat. John was convinced that its shape and size indicated that a church should be built on the spot. In fact both John and the Pontiff had dreamt that Our Lady desired a church to be built on Mount Esquiline. The Holy Father was so moved by his dream that he visited the mysterious snowfall. When he arrived with his retinue, John and his wife were already there kneeling in prayer to the Virgin.

As soon as the plot for the building had been staked out the snow melted. John met the cost of the building, which was completed in 354 and was dedicated the Basilica Liberiana. Seventy years later the church was rebuilt on a grander scale by Pope Sixtus III, who added decorations and ornaments of silver. From then the church was known as Basilica Sixti and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore [St. Mary Major].

THE PRODIGY OF THE SNOW IS TRUE

The new basilica housed a celebrated painting provided by the Pope. It had belonged to St. Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine—–the same Helen who, according to tradition, had made a pilgrimage to Palestine and discovered the original Cross of Christ. The picture, painted on a slab of cedar wood, is of a Madonna and Child. [We were unable to obtain a print of the painting.] The infant Jesus is holding a book and both figures are haloed and crowned—–the crowns presented by Pope Gregory XVI in 1832 as a thank-offering for deliverance from cholera.

The so-called ‘new’ Lady Chapel was built by Pope Paul V in 1613 to house the miraculous painting. He declared, “This image should have a magnificent place of its own, befitting its eminence. For it has always been regarded by all faithful people and through it many miracles and wonders have been wrought.”

Salus Populi Romana [Salvation of the Roman People] is the title of this famous painting and it is rightly named because for centuries the people of Rome have prayed before it in times of famine, war and national crisis.

Many popes have held the basilica on Mount Esquiline in particular regard. When Gregory I was Pope [590-604] Rome was ravaged by a plague. Gregory carried the image of the Holy Mother in procession from the chapel as far as Hadrian’s Mausoleum. When the procession arrived they heard an invisible heavenly choir singing Regina Caeli. When the Pope asked the Virgin to pray for the city he saw an apparition of St. Michael replacing the sword of vengeance in its scabbard. The plague abated.

Pope Benedict XIV had a special affection for the legend. In 1427 he declared, “It must be acknowledged that nothing is wanting to enable us to affirm with moral certainty that the prodigy of the Snow is true: Benedict XVI attended the holy picture every Saturday and prayed the Litany. The night before he died, Paul V asked to be taken to the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin in order to pray before her image. St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, said his first Mass here at Christmas 1538.

ANGELS SING THE RESPONSES

The Chapel of the Virgin Salus Populi Romani [Protectress of the Roman People] is very close to the historic heart of the Catholic Church, so it is not surprising that many stories have enriched its tradition over the centuries. It is said that once when Pope Gregory the Great was celebrating Mass in the chapel and intoning the words “Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum,” he heard a choir of Angels sing the response “Et cum spiritu tuo.” From that day the custom in the chapel was to omit that section of the Mass in the belief that it was being offered and sung by the Angels.

THE BASILICA TODAY

The present-day church is one of the largest basilicas in the world and its Patronal Festival is held on  August 5 in remembrance of the miracle of the snow. During this celebration hundreds of white blossoms are showered from the dome of the chapel. Not to be missed are the thirteenth-century mosaics on biblical themes and the frescoes by Reni and Della Porta. There is an imposing Romanesque belltower erected in 1377.

Santa Maria Maggiore has a further claim to fame. In the seventh century a relic was brought from Bethlehem and traditionally venerated as the manger in which the Christ Child was laid at the first Christmas. And so another name for the great basilica is St. Mary of the Crib.

One of the most spectacular sights which meets today’s pilgrim is the triumphal arch which extends to almost 66 feet. It is decorated in four horizontal sections. In the middle at the top God’s throne is set in a circle, with St. Peter and St. Paul on either side. Above this mosaic are the symbols of the four Gospel writers.

On November 12, 1964 Pope Paul VI made a pilgrimage to the basilica and solemnly proclaimed Our Lady “Mother of the Church.”

On August 5 the anniversary of the miraculous snow fall, the Feast of Our Lady of Snows is celebrated at the basilica of her name. White petals are scattered throughout the place.