The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

May 25, 1916

The current war will intensify, and Italy will be invaded. How Jesus cultivates the soul, so that she may produce fruit.

Continuing in my usual state, I was all afflicted, especially because in the past days blessed Jesus had shown me how foreign soldiers were invading Italy, the great massacre of our soldiers, and rivers of blood at sight of which Jesus Himself remained horrified. I felt my poor heart bursting with pain, and I said to Jesus: ‘Save my brothers, your images, from this lake of blood! Do not permit that any soul plunge into hell!’

In seeing that the Divine Justice will ignite Its fury even more against the poor creatures, I felt like dying. Almost to distract me from such tormenting scenes, Jesus told me: "My daughter, my Love for the creatures is so great that as soon as the soul decides to give herself to Me, I surround her with so much Grace - I caress her, I move her, I pick her up, I provide her with sensible graces, fervor, inspirations, squeezes to my Heart. So, in seeing herself graceful, the soul begins to love Me, forming like a foundation of prayers and pious practices inside her heart; and she begins to exercise the virtues. All this forms a flowery field in the soul.

But my Love is not happy just with flowers - It wants fruits. So It begins to make the flowers fall - that is, It strips her of sensible love, of fervor and of everything else - in order to make the fruits be born. If the soul is loyal, she continues her pious practices, her virtues, and she has no taste for any other human thing, not thinking about herself, but only of Me. With trust in Me, she will give flavor to the fruits; with loyalty, she will let them mature; and with courage, tolerance and tranquillity, they will grow and become rich fruits. And I, the Celestial Farmer, will pick these fruits and make of them my food. Then I will plant another field, more flowery and beautiful, in which heroic fruits will grow, such as to pull unheard-of graces from my Heart... But if she is unfaithful, mistrustful, agitated, and has a taste for human things, etc., these fruits will be unripe, insipid, bitter, covered with mud, and will serve to embitter Me and to make Me withdraw from the soul."