The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

September 9, 1899

Faith, Hope and Charity. The soul, royal palace of God.

Jesus continues to come, but with a look all new. It seemed that the trunk of a tree was coming out of His blessed Heart, which contained three distinct roots. This trunk was leaning out of His Heart into mine, and coming out of my heart, it formed many beautiful branches, loaded with flowers, with fruits, with pearls and precious stones, shining like most refulgent stars. Now, seeing Himself in the shade of this tree, my loving Jesus amused Himself completely; more so, since many pearls were falling from the tree, which formed a beautiful ornament for His Most Holy Humanity. While He was in this position, He told me: "Dearest daughter of mine, the three roots you see, which this tree contains, are Faith, Hope and Charity. The fact that you see this trunk coming out of Me and entering into your heart means that there is no good that souls possess which does not come from Me. Then, after Faith, Hope and Charity, the first development of this trunk is to make known that everything good comes from God, that creatures have nothing of their own but their nothingness, and that this nothingness does nothing but give Me the freedom to enter into them and do what I want. However, there are other ‘nothings’ – that is, other souls – who make opposition with their own human will; so, because this knowledge is lacking, the trunk produces neither branches, nor fruits, nor anything else that is good. The branches which this tree contains, with all the apparatus of flowers, fruits, pearls and precious stones, are all the different virtues that a soul can possess. Now, who has given life to such a beautiful tree? Certainly the roots. This means that Faith, Hope and Charity embrace everything and contain all virtues, so much so, that they are placed there as the basis and the foundation of the tree, and without them no other virtue can be produced."

I also understood that the flowers signify the virtues, the fruits, sufferings, the precious stones and pearls, suffering only out of pure love for God. This is why those pearls which were falling formed that beautiful ornament for Our Lord.

Now, while sitting in the shade of this tree, Jesus looked at me with tenderness, all paternal, and taken by a surge of love, such that it seemed He could not contain it within Himself, He embraced me tightly and began to say: "How beautiful you are! You are my simple dove, my beloved dwelling, my living temple, in which I am pleased to delight united with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Your continuous languishing for Me relieves Me and refreshes Me from the continuous offenses that creatures give Me. Know that the love I have for you is so great that I am forced to hide it in part, so that you may not go mad, but may live. In fact, if I showed it to you, you would not only go mad, but would not be able to continue to live; your weak nature would be consumed by the flames of my love." While He was saying this, I felt all confused and annihilated, and I felt myself sinking into the abyss of my nothingness, because I saw myself all imperfect; especially, I noted my ingratitude and coldness at the so many graces that the Lord gives me. But I hope that everything will be for His glory and honor, hoping with firm confidence that in an effort of His love He may want to conquer my hardness.