The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

June 6, 1923

The sign that the soul is all of God is that she has a taste for nothing but Him.

I was concerned about the reason why my Jesus was not coming, and I said to myself:  ‘Who knows what evil there is in my interior, that Jesus hides Himself so as not to be displeased?’  And He, moving in my interior, told me:  “My daughter, the sign that there is nothing evil and that the interior of the soul is completely filled with God, is that nothing is left to her which is not all mine, and that in everything that may happen inside and outside of her, she no longer has a taste for anything - her taste is only for Me and of Me.  And not only with profane or indifferent things, but also with holy things, pious people, services, music, etc. – everything is cold, indifferent to her, and like something that does not belong to her.  And the reason is natural:  if the soul is completely filled with Me, she is also filled with my tastes.  My taste is hers, and other tastes find no place in which to put themselves; therefore, as beautiful as they may be, they hold no attraction for the soul; rather, they are as though dead for her.

On the other hand, the soul who is not completely mine is empty, and as things surround her, she feels as many tastes within herself, if those are things which she likes; if, on the other hand, they are things which she does not like, she feels disgust.  So, she is in a continuous alternation of tastes and disgusts; and since any taste which did not come from Me is not lasting, many times tastes turn into disgusts, and this is why many variations of character can be noticed:  now too sad, now too cheerful, now all irascible, another time all affable.  It is the void of Me which she has in her soul that gives her so many variations of character - in nothing similar to mine, for I am always the same and I never change. 

Now, do you have any taste for what exists down here?  What do you fear - that there may be some evil in you, and because of it, displeased, I hide Myself?  Wherever I am, there cannot be evils.”  And I:  ‘My Love, I don’t feel like getting a taste for anything, as good as it might be.  And besides, You know it better than I do - how can I get a taste for other things if the pain of your privation absorbs me, embitters me down to the marrow of my bones, makes me forget about everything, and the only thing which is present to me, and driven into in my heart, is the nail that I am without You?’  And Jesus:  “And this tells you that you are mine and that you are filled with Me, because every taste has this power:  if it is my taste, it transforms the creature into Me; if it is a natural taste, it sweeps her into human things; if it is a taste for passions, it casts her into the current of evil.  It may seem that a taste is something trivial; yet, it is not so.  It is the first act of either good or evil.  And take a look at how it is so: 

Why did Adam sin?  Because he removed his gaze from the divine attraction, and as Eve presented to him the fruit to let him eat of it, he looked at the fruit, and his sight took pleasure in looking at it, his hearing took delight in hearing the words of Eve - that if he ate the fruit he would become like God; and His palate took pleasure in eating it.  So, taste was the first act of his ruin.  On the other hand, had he felt displeasure in looking at it, tedium and bother in hearing the words of Eve, disgust in eating it, Adam would not have sinned.  On the contrary, he would have done the first heroic act of his life, by resisting and correcting Eve for having done that, and he would have remained with the everlasting crown of faithfulness toward the One to whom he owed so much, and who had all the rights for his subjection.  Oh! how careful must one be with the different tastes which arise in the soul.  If they are purely divine tastes, one must give them life; but if they are human tastes, or of passions, one must give them death; otherwise there is the risk of falling into the current of evil.”