The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

May 2, 1899

How all Heaven is veiled in the Church.

This morning, Jesus aroused much compassion; He was so afflicted and in suffering that I would not dare to ask Him any question. We would look at each other in silence; every now and then He would give me a kiss, and I would kiss Him; and He continued to make Himself seen in this way several times. On the last time He made me see the Church, telling me these exact words: "All Heaven is veiled in my Church. Just as in Heaven one is the head, which is God, and many are the saints, of different conditions, orders and merits, so in my Church, in which all Heaven is veiled, one is the head, which is the Pope, and the Sacrosanct Trinity is veiled even in the triple tiara that covers his head; and many are the members that depend on this head – that is, different dignities, various orders, superior and inferior, from the littlest to the greatest, they all serve to embellish my Church. Each one, according to its degree, has the office entrusted to it, and by the exact fulfillment of the virtues it comes to give from itself a splendor so very fragrant to my Church, that the earth and Heaven are perfumed and illuminated, and the people are so drawn by this light and by this fragrance, that it is almost impossible for them not to surrender to the truth. I leave it to you, then, to consider those infected members which, instead of shedding light, cast darkness. How much torment they cause in my Church."

While Jesus was saying this, I saw the confessor near Him. Jesus stared at him with His penetrating gaze; then He turned to me and told me: "I want you to have full confidence in the confessor, even in the smallest things; so much so, that there must be no difference for you between Me and him, and according to your confidence and faith in his words, so I will concur." In the very act in which Jesus was saying these words, I remembered about certain temptations of the devil which had produced a little bit of distrust in me. But Jesus, with His vigilant eye, immediately corrected me, and at that very moment I felt that distrust being removed from within my interior. May the Lord be always blessed, who has so much care for this soul, so miserable and sinful.