The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

March 20, 1900

Jesus is forced to chastise, and the victim soul tries to placate Him.

Having received Communion, I saw my sweet Jesus inviting me to go out with Him, on the condition, however, that if I was to go with Him, wherever I would see that Jesus was forced to send chastisements because of sins, I should not oppose Him so that He would not send them.  With this condition we went out, going round the earth.  At first I began to see areas, not too far from us, which were all withered, especially at certain points; so, turning to Him I said:  ‘Lord, how can these poor people go on if they lack the food to nourish themselves?  O please! You can do anything – just as You made it wither, make it become green again.’  And since He had the crown of thorns, I stretched out my hand, telling Him:  ‘My Good, what have these people done to You?  Did they perhaps put this crown of thorns on You?  Well then, give it to me, so You will be placated, and will give them food so as not to let them perish.”  And removing it from Him, I pressed it onto my head.

While I was doing this, Jesus told me:  “It shows that I cannot take you with me, because taking you and being unable to do anything is the same.”  And I:  ‘Lord, I have not done anything; forgive me if You know that I have done evil, but, O please! take me with You!’  And He:  “Your way of acting binds Me everywhere.”  And I:  ‘I am not the one who does this, it is You Yourself who make me operate in this way, because in being with You, I see that all things are Yours, and if I did not care about your things, it seems to me that I would not care about You Yourself.  Therefore, You must forgive me if I act in this way, because I do it for love of You, and You must not drive me away because of this.’

So we continued to go around.  I did as much as I could not to tell Him anything at certain points so that He would not chastise, in order not to give Him any occasion to make me withdraw and lose His lovable presence.  But where I could not, I would begin to oppose Him.  We arrived at some place in Italy where they were making a plot which was to cause a great disorder, but I did not understand what it was, because as I began to say, ‘Lord, do not allow this – poor people! How shall they go on?’ - seeing that I insisted and wanted to prevent Him, Jesus told me with authority:  “Withdraw! Withdraw!”  And removing a belt of nails and pins which He wore, sunken inside His flesh, and which made Him suffer very much, He added:  “Withdraw and take this belt with you, for you will give Me great relief.”  And I:  ‘Yes, I will put it on myself in your place, but let me be with You.’  And He:  “No - withdraw!”  And He said this with such authority that, unable to resist, in one instant I found myself inside myself, and I was unable to understand what that plot was about.