The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

November 6, 1899

Purity of intention.

This morning, as adorable Jesus came and transported me outside of myself, He showed me streets full of human flesh.  What a ruthless slaughter!  It is horrifying to think about it!  Then He showed me how something was happening in the air, and many would die suddenly; I have also seen this since the month of March.  I began to pray Him according to my usual way, that He would placate Himself and spare His very images torments so cruel, wars so bloody; and since He had the crown of thorns, I removed it from His head to place it on mine, and this, in order to placate Him more.  But to my highest sorrow I saw that almost all the thorns would remain, broken, inside His most holy head, and so very little was left for me to suffer.  Jesus appeared serious, almost without paying attention to me; He transported me again into my bed, and since I had my arms on the cross, suffering the pains of the crucifixion which He Himself had shared with me before, He took my arms and united them together, binding them with a little rope of gold.  Not paying attention to what this might mean, in order to break that severe air that He had, I said to Him:  ‘My most sweet love, I offer You these movements of my body that You Yourself made me do, as well as all the others which I myself can do, for the sole purpose of pleasing You and glorifying You.  Ah, yes! I wish that the movements of my eyelids, of my eyes, of my lips and of all of myself, were also made for the sole purpose of pleasing You alone.  Let it be, O good Jesus, that all my bones and my nerves may resound among themselves, and with clear voices, may prove my love to You.’  And He said to me:  “Everything that is done for the sole purpose of pleasing Me shines before Me in such a way as to draw my divine gazes, and I like it so much, that to those actions, be they even a batting of eyelashes, I give the value as if they were done by Me.  On the other hand, those other actions, good in themselves and even great, but which are not done for Me alone, are like gold that is muddy and full of rust, which does not shine, and I do not so much as look at them.”  And I:  ‘Ah, Lord, how easy it is for our actions to be dirtied with dust!’  And He:  “One should not care about dust, because it can be shaken off, but what one must care about is the intention.”

Now, while we were saying this, Jesus was busy binding my arms.  I said to Him:  ‘O please, Lord, what are You doing?’  And He:  “I am doing this because when you are in that position of crucifixion, you come to placate Me; and since I want to chastise the people, I am binding them.”  Having said this, He disappeared.