The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

August 8, 1926

The more the soul is identified with God, the more He can give her and she can take. Example of the sea and the little stream.

As I was in my usual state, I felt all abandoned in the arms of Jesus; and He, moving in my interior, told me:  “My daughter, the more the soul is identified with Me, the more I can give her and she can take from Me.  It happens as between the sea and a little stream which is separated from the sea only by a wall; so much so, that if the wall were removed, the sea and the little stream would become one single sea.  Now, if the sea overflows, being near it, the little stream receives the water of the sea.  If its roaring waves rise, in lowering again they unload themselves into the nearby little stream.  The water of the sea pours into it through the cracks of the wall.  So, the tiny little stream constantly receives the waters of the sea, and because it is little, it keeps swelling up and it gives back to the sea the water it has received, to then receive it again.  However, this happens because the little stream is near the sea; but if it were far away, neither could the sea give, nor could it receive – its distance would put it in the condition of not even knowing the sea.”

While saying this, He showed to my mind, in practice, the act of the sea and of the little stream; and then He continued:  “My daughter, the sea is God, the tiny little stream is the soul, the wall that separates them is the human nature, which makes one distinguish God and the creature; the overflowings, the waves which rise continuously to unload themselves into the little stream, are my Divine Will that wants to give so much to the creature, that the little stream, being filled and swelling up, may overflow, may form its waves, swollen by the wind of the Supreme Will, and may pour back into the divine sea, to be filled again, in such a way as to be able to say:  ‘I live the life of the sea, and even though I am little, I too do what it does; I overflow, I form my waves, I rise and I try to give to the sea what it gives to me.’  So, the soul who is identified with Me and lets herself be dominated by my Will is the repeater of the divine acts.  Her love, her adorations, her prayers and everything she does, is the outpouring of God which she receives, so as to be able to say:  ‘It is your love that loves You, your adorations that adore You, your prayers that pray You; it is your Will that, investing me, makes me do what You do, to give it back to You as your own things’.”

Jesus kept silent; but then, as though taken by an irresistible emphasis of love, He added:  “Oh, power of my Will, how great You are!  You alone unite the greatest and highest Being with the littlest and lowest being, making them one.  You alone have the virtue of emptying the creature of all that does not belong to You, to be able to form in her, with your reflections, that Eternal Sun which, filling Heaven and earth with Its rays, goes to blend with the Sun of the Supreme Majesty.  You alone have this virtue of communicating the supreme strength, in such a way that, with your strength, the creature can rise to that single act of God the Creator.  Ah, my daughter, when the creature does not live in the unity of my Will, she loses the one strength and remains as though disunited from that strength that fills Heaven and earth and sustains the whole universe as if it were the littlest feather.  Now, when the soul does not let herself be dominated by my Will, she loses the one strength in all of her actions, therefore all her acts, not coming out of the same single strength, remain divided among themselves – love is divided, the action separated, the prayer disjointed.  Being divided, all the acts of the creature are poor, meager, without light; and so patience is poor, charity is weak, obedience is crippled, humility is blind, prayer is mute, sacrifice is without life, without vigor, because since my Will is missing, the one strength is missing which, uniting everything, gives the same strength to each act of the creature.  Therefore, they are left not only divided among themselves, but adulterated by the human will, and so each one is left with its own defect.

This happened to Adam.  By withdrawing from the Supreme Will, he lost the one single strength of His Creator, and since he was left with his limited human strength, he felt hardship in his operating; more so, since the strength that he employed in performing one action would debilitate him, and in having to do another, he would not feel the same strength.  So, he touched the poverty of his actions with his own hand:  not having the same strength, they were not only divided, but each one had its own defect.  It happened as to a rich lord who possesses most extensive properties:  as long as they belong to one owner only, he shows off, he makes big purchases; who knows how many servants he maintains under himself, and with the large proceeds he receives, he keeps making new purchases.  But, suppose that this property were to be divided among other heirs:  that’s it - his great power is already lost; he can no longer show off as before, nor make new purchases; he must limit himself in his expenditures, and his servants are few.  So, his greatness, his lordship, has vanished; what is left are just barely the traces of it.  So it happened to Adam; by withdrawing from my Will, he lost the one single strength of his Creator, and with it he lost his lordship, his dominion, nor did he feel the strength to show off in good any more.  The same happens for one who is not completely abandoned in the arms of my Will, because with It the strength of good converts into one’s nature, and poverty does not exist.”