✞ Signs to know whether the soul is in Grace.
I was praying, fusing all of myself in the Most Holy Will of God, and with some doubts in my mind concerning all that my sweet Jesus keeps telling me about this Most Holy Volition. And He, clasping me to Himself, with a light which He cast into my mind, told me: “My daughter, my Will is beginning, means and end of every virtue; without the seed of my Will, it cannot be given the name of true virtue. It is like the seed for the plant: after it has sunk its roots into the ground, the deeper they are, the higher the tree becomes, which the seed contains. So, first there is the seed; this forms the roots; the roots have the strength to make the plant sprout from under the earth; and as the roots sink into it, the branches are formed, which keep growing so high as to form a beautiful crown. And this will form the glory of the tree which, unloading abundant fruits, will form the utility and the glory of the one who sowed the seed.
This is the image of my Church. The seed is my Will, in which She was born and raised. But in order for the tree to grow, it takes time; and in order for some trees to give fruit, it takes the length of centuries - the more precious the plant is, the longer it takes. The same for the tree of my Will, which is the most precious, the most noble and divine, the highest - and therefore it took time for it to grow, and for its fruits to be made known. So, the Church has known the seed, and there is no sanctity without it; then She has known the branches, but it is always the same tree that She has been around. Now She must know the fruits in order to nourish Herself and to enjoy them; and this will be all my glory and my crown, as well as of all virtues and of the entire Church.
Now, what is your wonder, if instead of manifesting the fruits of my Will before, I have manifested them to you after so many centuries? If the tree was not yet formed, how could I make the fruits known? All things go like this: if someone is to be made king, the king is not crowned before the kingdom, the army, the ministers and the royal palace are formed - he is crowned at the very end. And if anyone wanted to crown the king without forming the kingdom, the army, etc., that would be a king for mockery. Now, my Will was to be the crown of everything and the fulfillment of my glory on the part of the creature, because only in my Will can she say: ‘I have accomplished everything’. And finding in her, accomplished, everything I want, not only do I make her know the fruits, but I nourish her and I make her reach such height as to surpass everyone. This is why I love so much and I so much care that the fruits, the effects, the immense goods contained in my Will, and the great good which the soul receives by living in It, be known. If they are not known, how can they be desired? Much less can anyone be nourished by them. And if I did not make known the living in my Will – what It means, the values It contains - the crown would be missing to Creation and to virtues, and my work would be a work without crown. See, then, how necessary it is that everything I have told you about my Will be manifested and known; and also the reason for which I push you so much, and how I always make you go outside the order of others; and if these, as well as the graces given to them, I make known after their death, in your case, instead, I allow that what I have told you about my Will be known while you are still living. If It is not known, It will not be appreciated, nor loved. Knowledge will be like manure for the tree, which will make the fruits mature; and once they are well matured, the creatures will nourish themselves from them. What will not be my contentment and yours?”