The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

April 9, 1926

Difference between the virtues and the Divine Will. The Divine Will, symbolized by the rising sun and the overflowing sea. Difference between the soul who lets herself be dominated by the Divine Will and the soul who lets herself be dominated by the human will.

I was thinking to myself:  ‘My sweet Jesus says many great, admirable, highest and wonderful things about the Will of God, yet it seems to me that creatures do not have that concept which It deserves, nor that great impression of the wonders which are in It.  On the contrary, it seems that they place It on the same level as the virtues, and maybe they care more about those, than about the Most Holy Will of God.’  And my always lovable Jesus, moving in my interior, told me:  “My daughter, do you want to know why?  Because their palates are not purged, and they are accustomed to the ordinary foods of this low world, which are the virtues, and not to the celestial and divine food, which is my Will.  This celestial food is appreciated only by those who consider earth, things, and even people, as nothing, or as fully ordered in God.  The virtues which can be practiced on earth are rarely exempt from human purposes, from self-esteem, from self-glory, love of appearing and of pleasing people.  All these aims are like many tastes for the ordinary palate of the soul; and many times one operates more for these tastes than for the good that the virtue contains.  This is why virtues breach more easily – because the human will always gains something.  On the other hand, the first thing that my Will knocks down is the human will, and It tolerates no purpose which gives of human.  My Will is from Heaven, and wants to place in the soul that which is divine and which belongs to Heaven; therefore one’s own self remains on an empty stomach and feels itself dying.  So, in feeling her own self dying and in losing the hope of having any other food left, the soul makes up her mind to take the food of my Will; and as she takes it, her palate being purged, she feels the taste of the food of my Will, which is such that she would not exchange it at the cost of her life. 

My Will does not know how to compromise, as virtues do, with the low and little things that can be done on earth; rather, It wants to keep everything and everyone as a footstool at Its feet, and change the whole interior of the soul and the very virtues into Divine Will.  In a word, It wants Its own heaven in the depth of the soul, otherwise It would remain hindered, and would not be able to carry out Its Divine Life.  So, here is the great difference which exists between the virtues and my Will - between the sanctity of one and of the other:  the virtues can be of creatures and can form a human sanctity at the most; my Will is of God and can form a Sanctity which is fully divine.  What a difference!  However, since the creatures are used to looking down below, they are more impressed by the little lamps of the virtues, than by the great Sun of my Will.”

Afterwards, I found myself outside of myself, in the act in which the sun was rising.  All things changed their appearance:  the plants became brilliant, the flowers received the life of their fragrance and of the different colors which the light of the sun brought to each flower; all things received, sip by sip, the life of the light of the sun in order to develop and to be formed.  Yet, one was the light, one the heat – nothing else could be seen.  But where did so many different effects, so many different colors, which it gave to nature, come from?  And my sweet Jesus told me:  “My daughter, why does the sun contain the seed of fecundity, the seed of the substance of all colors?  Because light is greater than the goods it contains; therefore it keeps them all eclipsed within itself.  One cannot give something if he does not possess it.  In the same way, the sun would not be able to give either fecundity, or sweetness to fruits, or color to flowers, nor could it work so many wonders on earth as to transform it from an abyss of darkness into an abyss of light, if it did not contain within itself all the effects it produces.  The sun is the symbol of my Will.  As It rises over the soul, It vivifies her, It bejewels her with graces, It gives her the most beautiful shades of the divine colors, It transforms her in God.  And It does this all at once - it is enough to let It rise for It to operate wonderful things.  By giving, my Will loses nothing, just as the sun loses nothing by doing so much good to the earth; on the contrary, It remains glorified in the work of the creature.  Our Being is always in perfect balance; It neither increases, nor can It decrease.  But do you know how this happens?  Imagine a sea full to the brim; a wind invests its surface and forms the waves, which overflow outside of the sea.  In swelling, this sea has lost nothing, and just as the waters have overflowed outside, so have they immediately risen, and they appear at the same level as before.  The same happens between the soul and God:  she can be called the little wind which forms the waves in the divine sea, in such a way that she can take as much water as she wants; but Our sea will remain always at its level, because Our nature is not subject to undergoing mutations.  Therefore, the more you take, the more delight you will give Me and the more glorified I will be in you.”

Then, afterwards, I was thinking about the difference that exists between one who lets herself be dominated by the Will of God and one who lets herself be dominated by the human will.  At that moment, I saw a person before my mind - bent over, her forehead touching her knees, covered with a black veil, enwrapped within a thick fog which prevented her from seeing the light.  Poor one, she seemed to be drunk and staggering; she fell now to the right, now to the left.  Truly, she aroused pity.  Now, while I was seeing this, my sweet Jesus moved in my interior, telling me:  “My daughter, this is the image of one who lets herself be dominated by her own will.  The human will bends the soul so much, that she is forced to always look at the earth; and by looking at the earth, this is what she knows and loves.  This knowledge and this love form many exhalations; they form that thick and black fog which enwraps her completely, and removes from her the sight of Heaven and the beautiful light of the eternal truths.  Therefore, the endowment of the human reason is left drunk with the things of the earth, and so she does not have a firm step, but she staggers to the right and to the left, wrapping herself more in the thick darkness that surrounds her.  Therefore, there is no greater misfortune than a soul who lets herself be dominated by her will.

The complete opposite for one who lets herself be dominated by my Will.  My Will makes the soul grow straight, in such a way that she cannot bend toward the earth, but she always looks at Heaven.  Her constant looking toward Heaven forms many exhalations of light which envelop her completely.  This cloud of light is so thick that, eclipsing all the things of the earth, it makes them all disappear, and, in exchange, it makes reappear for her everything that is Heaven.  So, it can be said that Heaven is what she knows, and all that belongs to Heaven is what she loves.  My Will renders her step firm, therefore there is no danger that she might stagger, even slightly; and the beautiful endowment of a healthy reason is so illuminated by the light which envelops her, as to move from one truth to another.  This light uncovers for her divine mysteries, ineffable things, celestial joys.  Therefore, the greatest fortune for a soul is to let herself be dominated by my Will.  She holds supremacy over everything; she occupies the first place of honor in the whole Creation; she never moves away from the point in which God delivered her.  God finds her always on His paternal knees, singing to Him His glory, His love and His Eternal Will.  So, since she is on the knees of the Celestial Father, the first love is for her, the seas of graces which overflow continuously from the divine womb are hers; the first kisses, the most loving caresses, are precisely for her.  Only to her can We entrust Our secrets, because, being the one who is closest to Us and who remains more with Us, We let her share in all Our things.  We form her life, her joy and happiness, and she forms Our joy and Our happiness.  In fact, since her will is one with Ours, and since Our Will possesses Our very happiness, it is no wonder that, by possessing Our Will, the soul can give joys and happiness to Us.  And so we make each other happy.”

Then, my poor mind continued to think about the difference that exists between one who lets herself be dominated by the Supreme Will and one who lets herself be dominated by the human will; and my highest and only Good added:  “My daughter, my Will contains the creative power; therefore It creates in the soul the strength, the grace, the light and the very beauty with which It wants Its own things to be done by the soul.  So, the soul feels a divine strength within herself, as if it were her own; a grace which is sufficient for the good that she must do, or for a pain that she is given to suffer; a light which, as though naturally, makes her see the good that she does.  And attracted by the beauty of the divine work that she performs, she rejoices and makes feast, because the works that my Will performs in the soul carry the mark of joy and of a perennial feast.  This feast was started by my Fiat in Creation, but it was interrupted by the split of the human will from that of God; and as the soul lets the Supreme Will operate and dominate, the feast resumes its course, and the amusements, the games, the delights, continue between the creature and Us.  There is no unhappiness or sorrow within Us – how could We give it to creatures?  And if they feel unhappiness, it is because they leave the Divine Will and enclose themselves within the little field of the human will.  Therefore, as they return to the Supreme Volition, they find the joys, the happiness, the power, the strength, the light, the beauty of their Creator; and making them their own, they feel within themselves a natural divine substance, which reaches the point of giving them joy and happiness even in sorrow.  Therefore, it is always a feast between the soul and Us - we play and we delight together.

On the other hand, in the human will there is not a creative power which, if one wants to exercise the virtues, might be able to create patience, humility, obedience, etc.  This is why one feels hardship, fatigue, in order to be able to practice the virtues:  because the divine strength that sustains them, the creative power that nourishes them and gives them life, is missing.  And so inconstancy appears, and one passes easily from virtues to vices, from prayer to dissipation, from church to amusements, from patience to impatience - all this mix of good and evil produces unhappiness in the creature.  On the other hand, one who lets my Will reign within herself feels firmness in good; she feels that all things bring her happiness and joy.  More so, since all the things created by Us carry the mark - the seed of the joy and the happiness of the One who created them; and they were created by Us so that all of them might bring happiness to man.  Each created thing has the mandate from Us to bring to the creature the happiness and the joy it possesses.  In fact, what joy and happiness does the light of the sun not bring?  What pleasure do the blue heavens, a flowery field, a murmuring sea, not bring to one’s sight?  What enjoyment do a sweet and tasty fruit, some very fresh water, and many – many other things, not bring to one’s palate?  All created things say to man in their mute language:  ‘We bring you the happiness, the joy of our Creator.’  But do you want to know in whom all created things find the echo of their joy and happiness?  In one in whom they find my Will reigning and dominating, because that Will which reigns in them as whole, That which God Himself possesses, and That which reigns in the soul, become one and make seas of joys, of happiness and of contentments overflow into one another.  Indeed, it is a true feast.

Therefore, my daughter, every time you fuse yourself in my Will, and you go around through all created things to impress your love, your glory, your adoration upon each thing I created to make you happy, I feel joy, happiness and glory being renewed in Me, as in the act in which We issued the whole Creation.  You cannot understand the feast You make for Us, when We see your littleness, which, wanting to embrace everything in Our Will, repays Us in love and in glory for all created things.  Our joy is so great, that We put everything aside to enjoy the joy and the feast that you give Us.  Therefore, to live in the Supreme Will is the greatest thing for Us and for the soul - it is the outpouring of the Creator over the creature; and pouring Himself over her, He gives her His shape and makes her share in all the divine qualities, in such a way that We feel Our works, Our joy, Our happiness, being repeated by her.”