The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

September 3, 1926

The desire purges the soul and whets her appetite for the goods of Jesus. How the Divine Will is penetrating and converts Its effects into one’s nature.

I was feeling all identified with my sweet Jesus, and I was praying Him from the heart to watch over my poor soul, so that nothing might enter into me which was not His Will.  Now, while I was doing this, my dear Good, my sweet Life, moved in my interior and told me:  “My daughter, the desire for a good, for knowing it, purges the soul and disposes her intelligence to comprehend it, her memory to remember it; her will feels its appetite for it being whet, to make of it its food and life; and it moves God to give her that good and to make it known.  So, the desire for a good, for knowing it, is like the appetite for food.  When there is appetite, one feels the taste, eats with pleasure, remains satisfied and content with having taken that food, and is left with the desire to enjoy it again.  On the other hand, if there is no appetite, that same food which is enjoyed so eagerly by someone, causes nausea and disgust to someone else who has no appetite, and he may reach the point of suffering because of it.  Such is the desire for the soul - it is like appetite; and in seeing that the desire for my things is her delight, to the point of making of them her food and life, I abound – I abound so much in giving, that I never tire of giving.  On the other hand, one who does not desire them, because the appetite is missing, will feel nausea for my things, and that Gospel saying will be repeated:  ‘It will be given to one who has, while one who does not desire my goods, my truths, celestial things, will be deprived of the little he has’.  Just penalty for one who does not desire, has no appetite for, and wants to know nothing about the things that belong to Me.  And if he has any little thing at all, it is right that it be taken away from him and be given to those who possess much.”

Then, after this, I was thinking about and identifying with the Holy Divine Will, and finding myself in Its immense light, I felt Its divine rays penetrating so deep into me as to transform me into Its very light.  And Jesus, coming out of my interior, told me:  “My daughter, how beautiful, penetrating, communicative, transforming is the light of my Will!  It is more than sun which, pounding on the earth, gives with liberality the effects that its light contains; nor does it wait to be asked, but, spontaneously, as its light fills the surface of the earth, it gives what it has to everything it encounters.  It gives sweetness and taste to the fruit, color and fragrance to the flower, development to the plants; to all things it gives the effects and goods it contains, it makes no exception with anyone – it is enough that its light touches them, penetrates into them and warms them for it to accomplish its work.  My Will is more than sun; as long as the soul exposes herself to Its vivifying rays and banishes the darkness and the night of her human will, Its light rises and invests the soul, penetrating into her inmost fibers to dispel from her the shadows and the atoms of the human will.  As Its light pounds on the soul and she receives It, It communicates all the effects It contains, because, coming out of the Supreme Being, my Will contains all the qualities of the Divine Nature.  So, in investing her, It communicates the goodness, the love, the power, the firmness, the mercy and all the divine qualities – not in a superficial way, but in a real way, such as to transmute all of Its qualities into the human nature; so much so, that the soul will feel within herself, as her own, the nature of true goodness, of power, of sweetness, of mercy; and so with all the rest of the supreme qualities.  My Will alone has this power to convert Its virtues into one’s nature – but only for one who abandons herself prey to Its light and to Its heat, and keeps the tenebrous night of her own will away from her, the true and perfect night of the poor creature.”