The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

February 17, 1902

Jesus explains what death is.

This morning, after much waiting, finally I found my most sweet Jesus, and lamenting to Him, I said: ‘My beloved Good, how can You make me wait so long? Do You perhaps not know that without You I cannot live, and my soul experiences a continuous dying?’ And He: "My beloved, every time you look for Me, you dispose yourself to dying, because, in truth, what is death if not stable and permanent union with Me? Such was my life – a continuous dying for love of you, and this continuous death was the preparation for the great sacrifice of dying on the cross for you. Know that one who lives in my Humanity and nourishes himself from the works of my Humanity, forms of himself a great tree, filled with abundant flowers and fruits which form the nourishment of God and of the soul. For one who lives outside of my Humanity, then, his works are odious to God and unfruitful for himself."

After this, the Lord poured abundantly into me - mixed, both bitternesses and sweetnesses; then we went round a little in the midst of people, but I could not remove my gaze from the face of my beloved Jesus. On seeing this, He told me: "My daughter, one who lets himself be enticed by the works of his Creator, leaves the works of creatures suspended." He disappeared, and I found myself inside myself.